Used Fuel Disposition Campaign International Collaboration in Disposal Research: FS Experiment at Mont Terri Jens Birkholzer Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory FCT UFD Working Group Meeting “International Session” UNLV, Las Vegas, NV 06/9/2016

Used Fuel Disposition

Fault Slip Experiment (2015-2016)

Objectives – Potential for leakage along faults that

intersect a sealing formation (e.g., triggered by gas pressure buildup, or glacial loading, or nearby earthquakes)

– Risk of induced seismicity

Concept – Inject water into packed-off intervals in a

borehole intersecting a fault

– Stepwise increase fluid pressure in different testing sections

– Trigger fault slip

– Monitor fault permeability, stress and strain tensors evolution, and induced seismicity

Used Fuel Disposition

Experimental Design

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Used Fuel Disposition

Pressure, Flow Rate, and Displacement

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Fault Opening Pressure (FOP) Packer

3D displacement sensor

Relative displacement of upper anchor to lower anchor (reference)

Used Fuel Disposition

Seismic vs Aseismic Slip

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Used Fuel Disposition

Different Behavior in Different Fault Segments

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Used Fuel Disposition

Evolution of Fault Permeability

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Used Fuel Disposition

Testing Fault Response to Distant Seismic Events