Potential for Vault-Induced Seismicity in Nuclear Fuel Waste Disposal: Experiencefrom Canadian Mines (Possibilites de Sismicite Induite dans un Stockage de Dechets de Combustible Nucleaire: Donnees Provenant des Mines Canadiennes)

摘要

A seismic event which causes damage to an underground opening is called arockburst. Practical experience indicates that these damaging seismic events are associated with deep mines where extraction ratios are greater than 0.6 For the arrangement being considered by AECL for nuclear fuel waste disposal vaults, extraction ratios, for the room and pillar design, will be less than 0.3. At this extraction ratio the stress magnitudes will not be sufficient to induce seismic events that can damage the underground openings. Documented world-wide experience shows that unless the underground opening is very close to the source of a naturally occurring seismic event, such as an earthquake, the opening will also not experience any signficant damage. Backfilling a disposal vault will also reduce the total convergence of the openings caused by thermal loads and hence minimize the potential for thermally-induced seismic events. The purpose of this report is to document practical experience related to mining induced seismicity and to examine the conditions where mining induced faulting has occurred.