Better plugs and seals for radioactive waste

Geological storage of radioactive waste is a common practice, but concerns about long-term safety remain. There is a need for standardised protocols and overall safety improvement in the use of plugs and seals for geological storage.

'Full scale demonstration of plugs and seals' (DOPAS) is an EU-funded project that is addressing this by running five full-scale plug and seal experiments in different storage facilities around Europe. They hope that the knowledge gathered from these experiments will improve standard practice in the industry.

Before the experiments were started, DOPAS spent some time defining the concept and design for each experiment. This process was recorded and compiled into a design report, which has been completed.

Two experiments have been started in France and Sweden, and are being monitored constantly. The other three experiments are at different preparation stages: one is at the design phase, and the other two are in the site preparation phase.

DOPAS will now focus on getting the last three experiments up and running. The final outcome of the project will be several reports on the design, construction and implementation of plug and seal technologies