China Breaks Ground on US$420-million Underground Nuclear Lab in Gobi Desert

• Kongleaphy Keam
• 25 June 2021
• Construction Focus
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Construction of the US$420-million nuclear underground facility dubbed the Beishan Underground Research Laboratory has begun in China’s Gansu province, reported World Nuclear News.

With ground broken on 17 June, the lab will be situated in granite up to 560 metres below ground level in the Gobi Desert and will become the world’s largest underground laboratory with the most comprehensive functions upon completion in 2028.

The lab will serve as a research platform for the construction of a deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste, speed up the process of safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste, and ensure the healthy and sustainable development of the nuclear industry.

According to the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA), the laboratory’s surface facilities will cover 247 hectares, with 2.39 hectares of gross floor space. Meanwhile, the underground complex will have a total structural volume of 514,200 cubic metres, along with 13.4 kilometres of tunnels.

Approved in 2019, the project is expected to cost over US$420 million and take seven years to build.

If the research is successful and the site is found suitable, an underground repository for high-level waste will also be built near the laboratory by 2050.

To date, there are three industrial-scale low and intermediate-level waste disposal 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.

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