Thermomechanical aspects of radioactive waste disposal in rock salt

Nuclear Waste Disposal in deep salt formations is an option being considered by several countries. Rock salt is a very impervious medium, but can be easily leached; in selecting an appropriate disposal formation, adequate natural protection from water movements must be found. One must be sure that the initially favorable characteristics will not be affected by the existence of shafts and galleries, or by the important heat output generated by vitrified wastes. The subject is delicate, for a comprehensive rheological model for rocksalt is difficult to establish and to be extrapolated to long time scales; some methodological problems are raised by use of numerical computations. (author)