The Antei uranium deposit: A natural analogue of an SNF repository and an underground geodynamic laboratory in granite

The estimation of the long-term stability of crystalline rock massifs with respect to natural and technogenic loads in the course of long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is a special area of surveys at underground research laboratories (URLs). In parallel with these surveys, data on uranium deposits—natural analogues of repositories of SNF consisting of 95% UO₂—are used for obtaining insight into the dynamics of radionuclide migration and validating barrier properties of host rocks. Examples of URLs located in granitic massifs of Sweden (Äspö), Canada (Whiteshell), Switzerland (Grimsel), Japan (Mizunami), and Finland (ONKALO), as well as the El Berrocal (Spain), Palmottu (Finland), Sanerliu (China), and Kamaishi (Japan) deposits, are considered in the paper. The objects listed above are distinct in tectonic settings, geology, control of ore mineralization, redox conditions of uranium migration, and character and intensity of filtration and transportation, which predetermine the direction and specific features of research conducted therein. A variant in which a URL and a natural analogue are combined in one object is especially promising for validation of safe long-term isolation of SNF. The Antei vein-stockwork uranium deposit in the southeastern Transbaikal region, localized in Paleozoic granite at a depth of 400–1000 m and opened by mine workings at six levels, is such an object. Its geological features, stress-strain state, and infrastructure of mine workings offer an opportunity to study the entire spectrum of processes proceeding in near-and far-field of an SNF repository. The structural geology, mineralogy and petrography, and petrophysical and tectonophysical features of the deposit at its three lower levels are considered. The sequence of metasomatic alteration of rocks and the dynamics of formation of ore-bearing faults that crosscut prototectonic elements, as well as relationships of physicomechanical properties of rocks as a function of the intensity of their metasomatic alteration and the distance from master fault planes, have been established. A 3D geological model of the deposit in combination with estimated parameters of the present-day stress field and physicomechanical properties of particular rock blocks serves as the basis for prediction of the geomechanical behavior of the massif. The practical implications of the results obtained for assessment of the long-term safety of SNF repositories in granites are discussed.