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Engineered barriers are a key element to enable safe nuclear waste disposal. One method currently under research for their construction is magnesia concrete applied in a shotcrete procedure. In this study, the ultrasonic echo method is evaluated as a means for quality assurance. Imaging of internal structures (backwall, boreholes) and defects, such as delamination, has successfully been achieved in the shotcrete. Additionally, detailed information about the potential cause of selected reflectors are obtained by phase analysis. In several test blocks of various sizes, no consistent concrete section boundaries have been found by ultrasonic imaging, which was verified by subsequent drilling and complementary tests. An experiment with artificial defects imitating cracks, air-filled voids, and material with lower density has been challenging and shows the limitations of the current methods. Although significant defects, such as a large delamination, are reliably identified, several smaller defects are not identified. Generally, ultrasonic imaging provides a suitable base as a mean for quality assurance during and after the construction of sealing structures. However, further developments are required to enhance the reliability of the method and a full validation is still pending. Still, the method has potential to increase the safety of nuclear waste repositories.
The Alpine Fault zone in New Zealand marks a major transpressional plate boundary that is late in its typical earthquake cycle. Understanding the subsurface structures is crucial to understand the tectonic processes taking place. A unique seismic survey including 2D lines, a 3D array, and borehole recordings, has been performed in the Whataroa Valley and provides new insights into the Alpine Fault zone down to ∼2 km depth at the location of the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP)-2 drill site. Seismic images are obtained by focusing prestack depth migration approaches. Despite the challenging conditions for seismic imaging within a sediment filled glacial valley and steeply dipping valley flanks, several structures related to the valley itself as well as the tectonic fault system are imaged. A set of several reflectors dipping 40°–56° to the southeast are identified in a ∼600 m wide zone that is interpreted to be the minimum extent of the damage zone. Different approaches image one distinct reflector dipping at ∼40°, which is interpreted to be the main Alpine Fault reflector located only ∼100 m beneath the maximum drilled depth of the DFDP-2B borehole. At shallower depths (z < 0.5 km), additional reflectors are identified as fault segments with generally steeper dips up to 56°. Additionally, a glacially over-deepened trough with nearly horizontally layered sediments and a major fault (z < 0.5 km) are identified 0.5–1 km south of the DFDP-2B borehole. Thus, a complex structural environment is seismically imaged and shows the complexity of the Alpine Fault at Whataroa.
In the framework of non-destructive-testing advanced seismic imaging techniques have been applied to ultrasonic echo data in order to examine the integrity of an engineered test-barrier designed to be used for sealing an underground nuclear waste disposal site. Synthetic data as well as real multi-receiver ultrasonic data acquired at the test site were processed and imaged using Kirchhoff prestack depth migration reverse time migration (RTM). In general, both methods provide a good Image quality as demonstrated by various case studies, however deeper parts within the test barrier containing inclined reflectors were reconstructed more accurately by RTM. In particular, the image quality of a specific target reflector at a depth of 8 m in the test-barrier has been significantly improved compared to previous investigations using synthetic aperture Focusing technique, which justifies the considerable computing time of this method.