Development and testing of redundant optical fiber sensing systems with self-control, for underground nuclear waste disposal site monitoring. Vol. 1: Summary and evaluation. Final report

Fiber optic sensors have been developed or further developed, for specific tasks of the research project reported, as for instance detecting and signalling changes of geophysical or geochemical parameters in underground waste storage sites which are of relevance to operating safety. Such changes include e.g. materials dislocations, extensions, temperatures, humidity, pH value and presence of gaseous carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The measuring principle chosen is the fiber Bragg Grating method, as a particularly versatile method easy to integrate into fiber optic networks. After development and successful lab-scale testing of all sensors, except for the gas sensors, field test systems have been made for underground applications and have been tested in situ in the experimental Konrad mine of DBE. Most of the problems discovered with these tests could be resolved within the given project period, so that finally field-test proven sensing systems are available for further activities. The report explains the system performance with a concrete example which shows inter alia beneficial aspects of the system with respect to on-site operation, and the potentials offered in establishing more direct connections between numerical safety analyses and measured results. (orig./CB)