ABSTRACT
Understanding the fluid transport properties of rock salt and their relationship to its mechanical behavior is of vital importance for the design and safety analysis of underground cavities, in particular with respect to the long-term storage of heat-generating radioactive waste and the storage of oil or hydrocarbon gas in salt caverns. The integrity of the geological barrier requires a sufficient tightness against fluids and gases which has to be guaranteed during construction, operation and in the post-closure phase of a repository which are schematically depicted in Figure 1, related to the following four stages (after Popp & Schulze 2009):
4. In the long-term state it is usually assumed that due to the subsequent gas production a time dependent pressure build-up with consequences of concern may occur.
