New report about sulfate reduction in Finland!

2017-01-10

Micans in collaboration with Posiva OY has carried out a project which lasted between 2010 and 2014 where sulfate reduction in deep groundwater was studied. One of Micans’ custom built circulatory system that simulated the flow of water at different depths in Finland's future final repository for spent nuclear fuel was used in the experimental series.

Upon excavation and blasting of a new cavern the natural water streams flowing in the rock gets disturbed. Different nutrients for bacteria that are of interest from a repository perspective can be redistributed in the deep groundwater that would normally never be mixed. Water from different depths of Finland's future underground geodisposal Onkalo, circulated over artificial rock and fracture surfaces in a circulatory system in laboratory scale (see picture below). One of the objectives was to study how a bacterial population changes as a nutrient that has previously been limiting growth suddenly is not anymore. The results are summarized in a new report that can be downloaded here.

Custom built circulation system used in the experiment. Photo: Micans