International Symposium on Unsaturated Soil Mechanics and Deep Geological Disposal of Nuclear Waste

High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal is a crucial environmental issue, and therefore have attracted particular attentions in many countries in the last 40 years. Recently with the great economical increase, China pays more and more attention to nuclear energy production, the installed capacity is expected to reach 40GW by 2020. As a result, the waste production after 2020 is estimated to reach 1000 t per year. In this context, nuclear waste disposal have become an urgent issue, and it is necessary to prepare appropriate and rational prospects and/or engineering solutions for these problems. The International Symposium on Unsaturated Soil Mechanics and Deep Geological Disposal of Nuclear Waste will be held in Shanghai, China, August 24-28, 2009. The Symposium program consists of two main topics: unsaturated soil mechanics and its applications to deep geological nuclear waste disposal. Beside the technical program, an additional 2-day post-conference tour to three gorge dam in Yichang is foreseen. Contributions to the Symposium will be presented either in the oral or poster sessions. All accepted papers will be published in the proceedings. Moreover, good papers will be selected for publication in the Journal of Chinese Rock Mechanics and Engineering (EI). The aim of the Symposium is to provide a forum to researchers and engineers for scientific and technique exchanges on our common topics under a friendly atmosphere. Some outstanding researchers and professors over the World will be invited to deliver lectures; and their participation will certainly constitute an excellent opportunity for the research work progress in the field of nuclear waste disposal in China. The organizing committee hopes that the symposium will help, first, to establish the network enabling all participants to easily communicate, discuss and exchange their information; secondly, to deepen their mutual understandings of expertise. To achieve these objectives, the Symposium will be organized in a workshop style. Note that all aspects are welcome: experiments at laboratory and large scale, theoretical developments, numerical analysis. Note also that a large emphasis is made on both the rock and buffer materials. Moreover, both engineered and natural barriers are considered.