Ten years of site-specific research and its relevance to the concept of a waste disposal system in clay

A RandD program on geological disposal of conditioned high level and alpha bearing radioactive waste was started in Belgium in 1975. The host formation being considered is a cainozoic weakly hardened clay layer (the Boom clay formation). Because mining technologies in such a material have not been developed in the same way as for hard rock or rock salt, special attention was to be given to investigations dealing with soil mechanics and mining problems to evaluate the technical feasibility of a deep disposal system. Intensive site specific research, including field reconnaissance, laboratory experiments, measurements on core samples and the construction of an underground laboratory led to the provisional conclusion that the Boom clay could be considered as an exploitable and acceptable medium for safe waste disposal