Burr site
Partner
Scope
On the 3rd of August 1999 , the French government passed a decree authorizing Andra to build a scientific research laboratory 500 meters underground in a 150-million-year-old layer of clay, on the border between the Meuse and Haute-Marne in the north-east of France. The underground research laboratory is a multidisciplinary research facility with a concerted scientific experimental program.
Andra must provide the necessary data for assessing the feasibility of a deep geological waste repository. The aim is to determine whether this geological formation meets the requirements of a high-level and long-lived intermediate-level waste repository.
FOS&S is involved in this project for the development of a fibre optic sensing system to monitor the thermo-mechanical properties of the clay environment. Oblique bore-holes ranging from 23 meters in length have been made on a depth of 445 meters to accommodate sensors designed to measure any local rock deformations.