ABSTRACT
Abstract: TheMeuse/Haute-Marne UndergroundResearch Laboratory (URL) is located in the eastern boundary of the Paris Basin. The URL started to be built in 2000 (shaft sinking operations) in the framework of Andra’s (French national radioactive waste management agency) research program aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of a reversible deep geological disposal of high-level and intermediate-level long-lived radioactive waste (HLW, IL-LLW). Its underground drifts are used to study the CallovoOxfordian claystone layer between 420 m and 550 m in depth. Scientific and technological goals and demonstration experiments have been conducted together through a step by step approach. This chapter presents some of the field observations. The various configurations implemented in the field give insights of the influence of construction method on the excavation damaged zone, the hydromechanical behavior of drift and progressive loading of the support, which are key issues for the design and safety studies.
1 INTRODUCTION
