Year
2001
Abstract
In June 2000, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in co-operation with the United States, organised a meeting of geophysical experts to address the application of geophysical techniques for geological repository safeguards. The purpose of the meeting was, among others, to develop (1) an assessment of geophysical techniques that might be applicable to detect undeclared excavations and excavation activities associated with the potential diversion of nuclear material from geological repositories; and (2) a recommendation of a program for testing and further development, as appropriate. The experts identified five geophysical techniques as having a “high” applicability to safeguards; i.e., active seismic, passive seismic, active electromagnetic, passive electromagnetic, and groundpenetrating radar. These techniques, though proven and extensively used elsewhere, would need further development work for application to geological repositories. This paper addresses the potentially applicable geophysical techniques and recommendations for their implementation.