The Antei Uranium Deposit: A Natural Analogue of an SNF Repository and an Underground Laboratory in Graniteстатья
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Аннотация:The estimation of the long-term stability of crystalline rock massifs with respect to natural and technogenic
loads in the course of long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is a special area of surveys at
underground research laboratories (URLs). In parallel with these surveys, data on uranium deposits—natural
analogues of repositories of SNF consisting of 95% UO
2
—are used for obtaining insight into the dynamics of
radionuclide migration and validating barrier properties of host rocks. Examples of URLs located in granitic
massifs of Sweden (Äspö), Canada (Whiteshell), Switzerland (Grimsel), Japan (Mizunami), and Finland
(ONKALO), as well as the El Berrocal (Spain), Palmottu (Finland), Sanerliu (China), and Kamaishi (Japan)
deposits, are considered in the paper. The objects listed above are distinct in tectonic settings, geology, control
of ore mineralization, redox conditions of uranium migration, and character and intensity of filtration and transportation,
which predetermine the direction and specific features of research conducted therein. A variant in
which a URL and a natural analogue are combined in one object is especially promising for validation of safe
long-term isolation of SNF. The Antei vein-stockwork uranium deposit in the southeastern Transbaikal region,
localized in Paleozoic granite at a depth of 400–1000 m and opened by mine workings at six levels, is such an
object. Its geological features, stress–strain state, and infrastructure of mine workings offer an opportunity to
study the entire spectrum of processes proceeding in near- and far-field of an SNF repository. The structural
geology, mineralogy and petrography, and petrophysical and tectonophysical features of the deposit at its three
lower levels are considered. The sequence of metasomatic alteration of rocks and the dynamics of formation of
ore-bearing faults that crosscut prototectonic elements, as well as relationships of physicomechanical properties
of rocks as a function of the intensity of their metasomatic alteration and the distance from master fault planes,
have been established. A 3D geological model of the deposit in combination with estimated parameters of the
present-day stress field and physicomechanical properties of particular rock blocks serves as the basis for prediction
of the geomechanical behavior of the massif. The practical implications of the results obtained for
assessment of the long-term safety of SNF repositories in granites are discussed.