SALT Workshop

1. First Results of the KOSINA-Project:
Technical Concepts, Geological Models and Numerical
Modeling
Tatjana Kühnlenz & KOSINA-Team
7th US/German Workshop on
Salt Repository Research, Design and Operation
Washington, DC
September 7-9, 2016
ABSTRACT
In 2013 the German Government restarted the siting process for a HRW repository in Germany.
The evaluation of all types of host rocks based on actual geological data is one of the most
important elements of this process.
On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the research &
development project with the title “Concept development for a generic repository for heat
generating waste in bedded salt formations as well as development and review of a safety and
safety demonstration concept” (German acronym: KOSINA) was launched in 2015 in order to
investigate the host rock bedded salt. The main goal of the project is the development of a technical
site-independent concept as well as a safety and safety demonstration concept for a repository for
heat generating waste and spent fuel on the basis of generic, geological 3d models. These models
were developed for two types of bedded formations: type “flat-bedded salt formation” and type
“salt pillow.”
All available geological data for bedded salt formations in Germany were evaluated, whereby the
first results of the BASAL project (“Distribution and properties of flat-bedded salt formations in
Germany;” 2014 – 2019) were included. This data was brought together with the minimum
requirements regarding depth and thickness of geological barriers resulting in generic geological
profiles, which represented the basis for the geological 3d models. For further characterization of
the geomechanical integrity of a repository based on the 3d models, THM numerical calculations
will be carried out in the future.
Two technical repository designs were provided: drift disposal of POLLUX® casks and horizontal
borehole disposal of BSK (BSK-H) for flat-bedded salt formations as well as vertical borehole
disposal of steel canisters “BSK” (BSK-V) type and direct disposal of transport and storage casks
in short horizontal boreholes for salt pillow.
KOSINA project provides a technical-scientific basis for the safety oriented evaluation of
repository systems in different host rocks according to the German site selection act and allows
comparing safety of repository systems in different host rocks.