The international DECOVALEX project (Development of coupled models and their validation against experiments in nuclear waste isolation), involves developing material and numerical models to simulate the coupled thermal, hydraulic, mechanical and chemical (THMC) processes in host rocks, and in the geotechnical barrier of a geologic repository system.
After the successful completion in the past phases D2019 and D2023, BGR is participating in the new phase DECOVALEX-2027 with the support of the Environmental Research Center Leipzig (UFZ). Together with 18 international institutions, BGR will work on following topics of repository research with the program code OpenGeoSys (OGS), among others:
- SANDWICH - Vertical Hydraulic Sandwich Sealing System,
- BATS 2 (Brine Availablty Test in Salt - Phase 2),
- ANALOG - Multiscale Long-term Radionuclide Transport at Cigar Lake Uranium Ore Body,
- Reposity Modelling and Performance Assessment,
- HyMar: Hydro-micromechanics of Argillaceous Rocks and
- BasiSS - Bentonite and Sand in Sealing Systems.