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PAKS II

Geological Exploration Program in Paks II. 

Determining the suitability of the site is a crucial part of the investigations prior to the construction of a new nuclear power plant everywhere in the world. Within the Paks II. investment program this assay was done with a great emphasis placed on the Geological Research Program, which aims to understand the geological surroundings of the site of the future power plant. The program was carried out under the professional and operational management of Mecsekérc Ltd. and finished in fall 2016 resulting in which was probably the most extensive and detailed geological investigation done in the country in years if not decades. The investigation covered every discipline of geology including geophysics, seismology, geotechnics and hydrogeology in addition to the increased attention given to investigating earthquake safety, determining the essential soil attributes regarding the construction and understanding the hydrogeological situation. The geological and hydrogeological investigations required 3600 km2 of the area to be mapped and a total of 118 exploratory boreholes was also drilled (with an aggregate length of 14786 m). Geophysical surveying was done in an area of 294 km2 (the total length of the segments was more than 1000 km), geotechnical surveying was done 2390 times, and last but not least 16000 laboratory test was done on water and rock samples. All of the work was summarized in an 840-page long final report.

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Due to the length and elaboration of the Geological Research Program it is considered to be exceptional in the domestic geological research. The results and the conclusions go beyond the original aim of the research making it a very significant contribution to the Hungarian and international geological knowledge.

400 km2

detailed geological mapping

3.600 km2

Reambuled geological and geomorphological mapping

 

1.950 m

maximum depth of drilling

294 km2

3 dimension seismic measurements

16.000 db

geological,geotechnical and hydrogeological sampling and laboratory asssays

174 db

final documentation, industry reports and professional summaries 

The implementation of the Program

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  • Two-round public procurement t

  • Investor: MVM Paks II. Ltd.

  • Prime contractors:    Mecsekérc Ltd, ÁKMI Ltd.

  • Contract sum: 8.045.000.000,- Ft

  • More than 50 subcontractors

  • Start: 1 April 2015.

  • The final report was handed over on 20 September, 2016.t

  • Ending of the program: 31 December 2016.

 
The methods and extent of the research
 

  • Detailed, 1:10000 scale geological maps (400 km2)

  • Enhancement of historic 1:25000 scale geological and geomorphological maps (3600 km2)

  • Evaluation and interpretation of aerial photography (400 km2)

  • 6 high-depth exploratory hole and 2 twinned holes with a total length of 8736.9 meters and a maximum depth of 1950 meters, core drilling on 6664 m length paired with complex borehole logging and 19 section of hydrological and 18 section of fracturing survey with the drill cores documented.

  • Shallow drilling: 19 holes with a total of 2282.5 m length and a maximum a depth of 150 m, core drilling on 1997 m, complex borehole logging a documentation, 5 holes were rearranged to accommodate microseismic measuring station.

  • 10 Fault investigation hole with a total length of 410,7 m, trenches totalling 12 + 84 meters.

  • 81 geotechnical and hydrogeological exploratory hole with a total of core drilling length of 1720 m, non-coring drilling on 1636 m, borehole logging and the holes were constructed to fit hydrogeological monitoring systems.

  • In-site geotechnical investigations: CPTu testing on 1338.3 m, SCPT probing on 266 m (on 9 measurement point), SPT(C) probing on 399.6 m (on 20 measurement point), GCPT probing on 299 m(on 14 measurement point), 178 field dissipation measurement,  50 Ménard pressuremeter (MPM) test, 5 self-boring pressuremeter (SBP) test

  • 3D-seismic survey on 294 km2 (under separate contract), data processing and interpretation

  • 2D compressional, P-wave (30 km) and shear, S-wave measurements (15 km)

  • Water seismic survey (5 blocks with a total area of 2.01 km2)

  • High-resolution surface seismic survey (total length: 1039.6 km), magnetotelluric survey (2 sections, 24 measurement point)

  • High-resolution surface geoelectric array with a length of 21.86 km

  • Combined seismic refraction and electrical imaging (17 lines, 8.234 km)

  • Crosshole seismic testing (2 pairs of holes with a maximum length 150 m)

  • Single-well tests, well interference tests (20 measurement campaigns) transport survey (6 survey campaigns)

  • Channel bottom relationship surveys (6 survey campaigns)

  • Enhancement of historic hydrogeological maps

  • Hydrogeological survey of the wider environment (wells, springs, streams – 293 samplings)

  • Compilation of an earthquake database building on the investigation of the major earthquakes in Hungary

  • Space geodesy survey (10 new National GPS Network points, satellite radar measurements)

  • Complex risk determination of the site regarding earthquakes

  • Determining  PGA (Peak Ground Acceleration) on the surface and UHRS (Uniform-hazard Response Spectrum)

  • Investigating the occurrences of local and global soil liquefaction

  • More than 16000 geological, geotechnical and hydrogeological sampling and laboratory tests were done

  • Development and operation of a GIS database and system

 
Concluding documents
 

  • Evaluation reports of the exploratory wells

  • Maps and explanatory notes

  • 3D geological, geodynamical, hydrogeological and seismotectonic models

  • Specialty reports in various fields of geology, geotechnics, geophysics, hydrogeology and seismology

  • Summary report of the geology-related risks

  • Final report of the research program 

 
The total size of the reports
 

  • 174 different final documents, evaluation and summary reports of various fields

  • A total of more than 10000 pages, 2800 figures, 700 charts, 200+ appendices

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