The DECOVALEX III project was the third phase of the DECOVALEX project series and operated through the period 1999–2003. It was initiated with two main objectives. The first was the further verification of computer codes, developed or used by the participating member organizations and their research teams, by simulating two large scale in-situ experiments: the FEBEX T‑H‑M experiment in an underground research laboratory (URL), Grimsel, Switzerland, designated as Task 1, and the drift scale heater test at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA, designated as Task 2. The second objective was to determine the relevance of THM processes in establishing the safety of a repository by numerical modelling of three benchmark tests (BMTs) to examine the relevance of THM processes to performance and safety assessments: BMT1—the impact of THM processes in the near-field of a hypothetical repository in fractured hard rocks; BMT2—homogenisation and upscaling of hydro-mechanical properties of fractured rocks and their impact on far-field performance and safety assessments; and BMT3—impact of glaciation process on far-field performance and safety assessments. These three BMTs were designated as Task 3.
An additional Task 4 was also organized to present the status at that time of the current understanding of the impacts and treatments of the THM issues on performance assessment (PA) and safety assessment (SA) of nuclear waste repositories, from the views of the Funding organizations of the DECOVALEX project, through compilation of answers to a questionnaire prepared for this purpose.
Also, on September 25, 2000, the European Commission (EC) signed a contract for the FIKW-CT2000-00066 "BENCHPAR" project with a group of European members of the DECOVALEX III project. The BENCHPAR project acronym stands for ´Benchmark Tests and Guidance on Coupled Processes for Performance Assessment of Nuclear Waste Repositories´ and was aimed at improving the understanding of the impact of the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupled processes on the radioactive waste repository performance and safety assessment. The project had eight principal contractors, all members of the DECOVALEX III project, and four assistant contractors from universities and research organizations. The BENCHPAR project was designed to advance the state-of-the-art via five Work Packages (WPs). WP 1 was to establish a technical auditing methodology for overseeing the modelling work. WPs 2–4 parallelled the three bench mark tests (BMT1–BMT3) in the DECOVALEX III project. A Guidance Document outlining how to include the THM processes in performance assessment (PA) studies was developed in WP 5 which explained the issues concerned and the technical methodology, presented the three demonstration PA modelling studies, and provided guidance for inclusion of the THM components in PA modelling.
The tasks were coordinated by the following coordinators:
In total 15 funding organizations participated in DECOVALEX III project:
Table 1 lists all research teams and task distributions.
F.O. | Research team | Tasks studied |
ANDRA |
INERIS-LAEGO, Ecole des Mines de Nancy, France;
Ecole Polytechnique, G3S, France |
Task 1, BMT2;
Task 1. |
BGR |
University of Tuebingen, Germany;
University of Hannover, Germany; Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany. |
BMT2;
BMT2; Task 1. |
CEA | CEA/DM25/SEMT, France | Task 2 |
CNSC | Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Canada | Task1, BMT2. |
DOE |
Sandia National Laboratory, USA;
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA |
Task 1;
BMT2. |
ENRESA |
Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain
Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain |
Task 2;
BMT2. |
EU (through the BENCHPAR Project) |
University of Edinburgh, UK;
Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; INERIS-LAEGO, Ecole des Mines de Nancy, France; Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain; CEA/DM25/SEMT, France; Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. |
BMT3;
BMT1, BMT2; BMT2; BMT1; BMT1; BMT3. |
IRSN |
Paris School of Mines, France;
CEA/DM25/SEMT, France. |
Task 1;
BMT1. |
JNC | Tokai Works, JNC, Japan;
Hazama Corporation, Japan; Kyoto University, Japan. |
Task 1, Task 2;
BMT1, BMT2; BMT1, BMT2. |
NIREX | University of Birmingham, UK | BMT2. |
NRC | CNWRA, Southwest Research Institute, USA. | Task 2 |
OPG | Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., Canada. | BMT2, BMT3. |
SKB | Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden;
Clay Technology AB, Sweden. |
BMT3;
Task 1. |
SKI | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA;
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden. |
Task 1;
BMT1, BMT2. |
STUK | Technical University of Helsinki, Finland;
Uppsala University, Sweden. |
Task 1, BMT3;
BMT2. |
The following 11 research reports were generated after the completion of the DECOVALEX III project:
16 more papers were generated based on the achievements of this project and published on this special issue and they are listed at the end of each task description.