Or we have no chemistry with the nuclear, waste management arises in the same terms, often long. The solution of the landfill made his hole.
Talk about a hole? The well-maintained road shivering through a bleak undulating dusted with snow. Chilled groves in morning freeze emerge from the fog. We leave the Haute-Marne to Meuse. Bore, its harsh hundred souls, is not far? The hole, either.
A network of tunnels that run 490 meters underground for which ANDRA (National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management) never ceases to move heaven and earth, not without success. Prospects for increased economic benefits, guarantees of scientific experiments sized surface facilities and erased the Cage project (industrial center for geological storage) is poised to establish itself permanently in this disinherited landscape.
The site is discreet, not secret. “The 30,000 m3 excavated to dig 1,200 meters of galleries are negligible compared to the volumes resulting from the operation of a mine, gelatinized Jacques Delay, chief scientist of the site in 1999 and 2010. This is the ramble of deviation of Joinville nearby. And these experimental galleries are open to visitors. For security reasons, evacuation particular, the number of people is limited to 49, including staff, and all the participants should be equip with safety vest, so it is never more than six visitors at a time. ”
No hanging of the room, but a lamp room where waiting patiently the happy faces of the lucky ones who will not stay on the floor. We put on the robe of Bore: helmet, front, reflective clothing, relocation and device APEVA belt.
The elevator snorts. After eight minutes of a descent rocked by the grinding of metal cables, the cage opens on a network of animated galleries where pedestrians are not a priority. The air is as fresh from the bottom or near the bottom of surface air: “The natural temperature of the rock is 23.2 °. The ventilation system 15 lowers in winter. ”
Sea
“The outdoor temperature in contact with the rock of nuclear high-level waste continues hydro geologist, is 90 °, which corresponds to the Temperature meter produced by a waste package generating a thermal power of 500 watts. The decay curve is known. After 90, the vapor phase is dominating. If modeling is becoming more complex, the properties of clay which does not change after 140 ° leave the margin. Its conductivity is much lower than that of granite. ”
His hand touches the grayish rock “His 35 to 45% clay, 30 to 40% limestone, 20% silica (sand), 1 to 2% pyrite and 1 to 3% of organic materials are the product of an old and deep sea 165 million years. The sedimentary rocks of all geological epochs have compacted. ”
If it has not solemn nobility of marble, argillite offers the guarantees of a perpetual concession deemed inviolable: “Nuclear waste, in 2025, will be buried 490 meters underground, in the heart of a layer between 422 and 552 m. Characterized by its fine particle size and homogeneity, this rock astonishes by its elasticity and plasticity. It is this deformation is measured. Pressure 500 m rock above our heads is 12.7 Map, of the order of that which is exerted on the hull of a submarine at 1,200 / 1,300 m deep. ”
Instinctively, his eyes alight on the supporting posts.”The sliding hangers have closed 20 cm from the opening. Most of the deformation took place in the first fortnight. This elastic deformation followed by plastic deformation. Deferred, this creep is not reversible. The oldest galleries, aged ten, are closing today at a speed of 0.1 mm per month. The galleries are pendiculaires to study the maxima and minima of the horizontal thrust of the training. ”
It takes the granules in a bucket “Mennonite is clay which swells in humidity. Natural, after saturation impermeable, resistant to pressure, that is a sealing device which ensures at the same time stabilizing and healing the rock damaged by the excavation. ”
It is at the end of the tunnel. We saw the reflective strip from our team member’s vest, It was in the air, contaminated with the certainties of our guide.