Construction milestone at Chinese underground laboratory

The laboratory - in the Gobi Desert - will be used to test the suitability of the area for the long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste. It will eventually comprise a spiral ramp, three vertical shafts and horizontal disposal galleries. Two nuclear technology test platforms are to be built at a depth of 280 metres and 560 metres, respectively.

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) noted the Beishan Laboratory was one of the major projects included in China's 13th Five-Year Plan and a major nuclear environmental protection scientific research project. "As an important component of China's closed-loop nuclear fuel technology innovation system, the Beishan Laboratory will effectively fill the gap in China's underground field research and development platform and equipment for high-level radioactive waste disposal technology after its completion, providing an experimental platform and foundation for overcoming the global challenge of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste."

In 2019, the project was approved by the China Atomic Energy Authority, with CNNC's Beijing Institute of Geology of the Nuclear Industry designated as the leader of the project.

_{Part of the spiral ramp ​(Image: CNNC)}

A ground-breaking ceremony was held at the Beishan site in June 2021. An "ultra-hard rock tunnelling machine" - known as Beishan No.1 - began drilling the laboratory's underground ramp on 18 November 2022. Beishan No.1 was jointly developed by the Beijing Research Institute of Nuclear Geology, China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Group, China Nuclear Fourth Research & Design Engineering, China Railway 18th Bureau Group, and other domestic and foreign units.

In April 2023, tunnelling at the Beishan Laboratory reached a depth of 280 metres, the depth of the first of two planned technology test platforms. 

"Since its official commencement of tunnelling on 1 January 2023, Beishan No.1 has operated continuously for more than 1,000 days and nights, successfully completing the construction tasks of all seven small-radius turning sections of 255 metres and eight straight sections, with a cumulative tunnelling of nearly 7,000 metres," CNNC said. "The highest daily advance reached 21.6 metres and the highest monthly advance reached 342 metres. During the construction process, centimetre-level damage control of the surrounding rock excavation was achieved."

_{The Beishan No.1 machine (Image: CNNC)}

The laboratory's surface facilities will cover 247 hectares, with 2.39 hectares of gross floor space. The underground complex will have a total structural volume of 514,200 square cubic metres, along with 13.4 kilometres of tunnels.

The laboratory is estimated to cost more than CNY2.72 billion (USD380 million) and take seven years to build. It is designed to operate for 50 years, and if its research proves successful and the site is suitable, an underground repository for high-level waste will be built near the laboratory by 2050.

Industrial-scale disposal of low and intermediate-level waste is carried out at three sites in China: near Yumen, northwest Gansu province; at the Beilong repository in Guangdong province near the Daya Bay nuclear plant; and at Feifengshan, Sichuan province.