THE ROLES OF UNDERGROUND RESEARCH LABORATORIES IN ENHANCINGTECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND PUBLIC CONFIDENCE

摘要

Underground research laboratories provide the foundation for understanding the hydrological, thermal,mechanical, chemical and biological characteristics and coupled processes that control the performanceof natural and engineered barriers of geologic repositories. In addition, siting these facilities, planning theresearch program and communicating research results provides an opportunity to explore many of thesocioeconomic issues that must be addressed for siting and licensing a repository and for buildingconfidence within the public at large for the geologic disposal option. The importance of these facilities,the substantial costs associated with developing and maintaining them and public visibility of progress atthese facilities requires that they be used most effectively. At the November 1999 DOE InternationalConference on Deep Geologic Repositories, a workshop was conducted to explore the global efforts inthe development of underground research facilities with the goal of identifying and stimulatinginternational cooperation that could enhance understanding of the technical and socioeconomic factorsassociated with the siting and long-term performance of a repository.For the purposes of the workshop, the term “Underground Research Laboratory (URL)” was used in abroad sense. That is, URLs included all underground facilities used to study natural processes,engineered barriers and waste handling technologies, and included both generic and site-specificinvestigations related to geologic repositories.Major consensus reached at the workshop included:1. URLs play a central role in understanding and helping to address the scientific and technologicalissues related to short- and long-term repository performance;2. URLs are useful for integrating multiple disciplines (e.g., geology, hydrology, engineering) andbuilding technical teams, both at national and international/multilateral levels;3. URLs also play an important role in communicating with the public; if these interactions are positive,they can lead to increased public confidence in geologic repositories;4. URLs provide a unique, tested and highly effective vehicle for international cooperation andcollaboration; workshop participants reaffirmed their interest and commitment to enhancedinternational collaboration at underground research laboratories and developed a list of topics forcooperative efforts;5. In spite of the important role URLs play in interactions with the public, there is still a tendency tofocus on technical issues rather than the socioeconomic and sociopolitical issues that are needed toenhance confidence in geologic repositories; and finally,6. URLs are one of a number of important vehicles for gathering technical data and interacting with thepublic and must be viewed in the larger context of a whole set of activities leading to thedevelopment of a geologic repository.This paper describes the organization and conduct of the workshop, summarizes the key discussionpoints, and explains the conclusions.