• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.571-598
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• 2024

Nuclear power generation, which belongs to the eco-friendly energy category, has a comparative advantage over other power generation methods in terms of cost and efficiency, and its share of electricity energy has recently shifted to an increasing trend worldwide. In Korea, various empirical studies have been conducted centering on KURT (KEARI Underground Research Tunnel) to secure elemental technology necessary for safe and efficient disposal of high-level radioactive waste inevitably generated during the operation of nuclear power plants. Considering the domestic rock type and geological conditions, the multi-barrier system is evaluated as the most effective among various high-level radioactive waste disposal methods. The objectives of this study were, first, to evaluate the hydraulic characteristics of deep and low-permeable rock masses and second, to secure quantitative information on the hydraulic connectivity between boreholes for establishing a large-scale in-situ test system necessary for the proper design and stability evaluation of the multi-barrier system. In this regard, diverse borehole tests using DHTS (Deep borehole Hydraulic Testing System) were performed in the two research modules in KURT, and in particular, the injection type cross-hole hydraulic connectivity tests were successfully completed for the first time in Korea. In this paper, we briefly introduced MDST (Mini Downhole Shut-in Tool) developed to update the performance of DHTS and mainly discussed the key results obtained from the stepwise in-situ borehole tests.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.33-44
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• 2005

On the basis of a stepwise and careful integration of various field and laboratory methods the analysis of groundwater flow characterization was performed with five boreholes (BH-1, -2, -3, -4, -5) on a pilot site of Natural Forest Park in Guemsan-gun, Chungcheongbook-do, Korea. The regional lineaments of NW-SE are primarily developed on the area, which results in the development of many fractures of NW-SE direction around boreholes made in the test site for the study. A series of surface geological survey, core logging, geophysical logging, tomography, tracer tests, and heat-pulse flowmeter logging were carried out to determine fracture characteristics and fracture connectivity between the boreholes. In the result of fracture connectivity analysis BH-1 the injection well has a poor connectivity with BH-2 and BH-3, whereas a good with BH-4 and BH-5. In order to analyse the hydraulic connectivity between BH-1 and BH-5, in particular, a conspicuous groundwater outflux in the depth of 12 m and influx in the depth of 65 m and 70 m, but partly in/outflux occurred in other depths in BH-5 were observed as pumping from BH-1. On the other hand, when pumping from BH-5 the strong outflux in the depths of 17 m and 70 m was occurred. The spatial connectivity between the boreholes was examined in the depth of 15 m, 67 m, and 71 m in BH-1 as well as in the depth of 15 m, 17 m, 22 m, 72 m, and 83 m in BH-5.