The Grimsel Test Site Newsletters highlight major activities at the GTS on a regular basis and try to bring the “flavour of working underground” closer to you.
April 2021
It has already been half a year since we informed you about the latest developments at the Grimsel Test Site. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions, aswell as a long rather harsh winter, the first sixmonths of 2021 were again very intensive. Due to the still limited travel possibilities for many countries, we have decided to postpone the annual meeting of the International Steering Committee of GTS (ISCO) until September this year (22 to 23 September 2021). We hope that a face-to-face meeting or at least a hybrid variant approach will be possible again then.
Our activities onsite were particularly marked by the further emplacement works of the HotBENT (High Temperature Effects On Bentonite Buffers) experiment. In addition, it was of course also important to give all other ongoing projects and activities the appropriate attention and support - more information on those in the two focus articles and the updates in this issue.
A successful and very fruitful inspection by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) at the beginning of the year inspired us to shed a little more light in this issue on the pioneering work with radioactive tracers at the Grimsel Test Site.
Furthermore, we are pleased to welcome the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal in Germany (BGE), the German implementer, which decided to participate in the GTS activities starting fromthis year.
Another highlight of recent weeks was the visit by Nagra's new CEO, Dr. Matthias Braun, who took over this responsible position in March this year, succeeding Dr. Thomas Ernst, who is retiring in autumn this year. During the visit, he and Prof. Dr. Lino Guzzella (the new President of Nagra's Board of Directors) learned about the laboratory's current activities. Both emphasised the important role of international cooperation in radioactive waste RD&D being carried out at GTS. We hope that in the second half of the yearwe can carry out at least a few of the courses planned within the Grimsel Training Centre (GTC) programme and start with new project phases.
We would like to thank Hiroyuki Umeki (from NUMO, Japan) for his guest editorial contribution. In the thirty-seventh year since we started the Grimsel Test Site scientific programme, we are pleased to have a contribution from a colleague who himself and the organisations he represented overmany years havemade a significant contribution to the success of the laboratory.
December 2020
Right at the beginning I would like to thank my colleagues who have contributed to this newsletter. As for many of us, this year has evolved differently than planned. After the short-lived relief in the summer, the virus caught up again with us in the second half of the year. Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already caused much suffering and pushed social life to its limits, it is not that easy to distil the positive out of this year.
Nevertheless, such challenges often reveal our strengths better than any other situation. We are very pleased to report that the Grimsel team has been able to maintain operations at the Grimsel Test Site and achieve the important milestones in this very challenging year. We believe that we have been able to meet our partners' expectations despite these circumstances.
Some activities had to be postponed to next year, most notably the training programme of the Grimsel Training Centre, which could not be carried out as planned. After the short break and rest of the Christmas season, we will resume in 2021 with the same energy and enthusiasm that colleagues and partners know and expect from us.
For GTS, 2020 – especially the second half of it – was the year of the HotBENT experiment, which was started on schedule thanks to the tremendous efforts of an excellent international project team. Further information is given on the following pages.
Furthermore, we are pleased to welcome the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE), the German regulator, which decided to participate in the GTS activities starting from this year.
Finally, I would also like to thank our colleague Irina Gaus - RD&D coordinator at Nagra - for her guest editorial contribution.
June 2020
On June 3rd and 4th 2020, the annual GTS International Steering Committee meeting (ISCO 2020) took place. This year, however, under very special circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the course of planning of this year’s ISCO 2020 meeting we had many discussions on how to proceed and whether we should postpone the meeting altogether. Finally we came to the conclusion that it is better to hold the meeting and meet our colleagues from all over the world - just in a little bit different fashion than in the past years. Thanks to modern communication technology it was possible to report on GTS activities, to discuss and exchange information about upcoming tasks.
Of course, it was not the same as the usual meeting, because, as many of you know, one of the main advantages of the ISCO meeting is to meet and talk face to face. Spending time together, not only discussing important radioactive waste management issues, but also taking care of long-standing relationships between our organisations and building new relationships has always been of paramount importance for a such small community.
Since mid-March 2020, Switzerland, like many other countries, has been in COVID-19 lock-down. Nevertheless, GTS operations have been maintained thanks to the rapid introduction of appropriate measures and now we hope that we will soon be able to return to normal operations.
However, a direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is that all Grimsel Training Center (GTC) courses were postponed to 2021. Please visit our website for further details.
Many thanks to all who contributed to this newsletter with interesting content and in a timely fashion. Also, a warm thanks to Prof. Dr. Thorsten Schäfer for his guest contribution.
December 2019
In June of this year, the annual meeting of the International Steering Committee (ISCO) of the Grimsel Test Site (GTS) took place in the nearby Hotel Handeck. As every year, the ISCO meeting was dedicated primarily to the scientific and financial governance of the entire GTS programme. All Grimsel partners are invited annually to learn about current projects and planned activities, to exchange ideas and to agree on the future strategy of joint research activities at the GTS.
In addition, 2019 was a special year as we celebrated the 35th anniversary of the GTS and launched the next 5-year programme. The success of the programme is also reflected in the long-standing relationship between organisations and individuals participating in the activities.
The Spanish Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ENRESA), one of the many partner organisations at the GTS, has been involved in our activities for many years and has contributed to the success of many projects. To commemorate this, we asked our long-time colleague Juan Carlos Mayor to contribute with a guest editorial message to this second edition of the GTS Newsletter.
April 2019
For 35 years, Nagra and its partners have been conducting underground research projects at the Grimsel Test Site (GTS) to contribute to the development and confirmation of safe geological disposal concepts and to the characterisation of suitable host rock formations. Over the years, the results of this internationally recognised research programme have been, and continue to be, incorporated directly into exploration programmes, modelling, safety and engineering feasibility studies on options for the realisation of deep geological repositories.
From the start, the GTS has been a platform for focused international research and cooperation. Currently there are more than 20 partner organisations from 12 countries, who steer the GTS activities and secure a state-of-the-art RD&D programme. In 2018, we welcomed KIGAM (Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources) as a new member of the GTS family.