Development of JNC geological disposal technical information integration system - an approach to integrate and share technical information among performance assessment, repository design and site investigation

This paper presents a current status of development of 'JNC Geological Disposal Technical Information Integration System (JGIS)' which aims to facilitate integration and sharing of technical information among Site Investigation (SI), Repository Design (RD) and Performance Assessment (PA) teams. SI, RD and PA are inter-independent and should strongly interact to optimize each activity. SI, in particular, needs to provide basic information for all activities. However, it is not always easy to strongly interact because geological disposal requires the integration of disciplines that are highly complicated and wide-ranging. It is also difficult to understand the entire scope of activities and to correlate one's own work with the needs of other disciplines. This difficulty increases as the site investigation proceeds and more information becomes available. JNC is developing two underground research laboratories, one in crystalline rock and the other in Tertiary sedimentary rock. RD methods and PA methods will be developed and demonstrated using these two URLs. Starting in 2001, JNC initiated the development of JGIS to activate interaction within and among each team. JGIS is an archive system of technical information in which a relational database is constructed to record, catalogue, and manage technical information in the structure of a flow chart, which systematically represents ST activities, RD activities and PA activities. JGIS facilitates the sharing of information between users and provides for up-to-date checks on the status of each activity. It also helps RD and PA to maintain traceability and consistency as well as assure quality. Thus, the system supports the integration of these three teams and facilitates the iterative SI, RD and PA processes. JNC is planning to complete the development of the initial version of the system by March 2004 and to start using it for the JNC project thereafter. (author)