Tage der Standortauswahl 2021
Vision for AI methods in site selection presented

11^th – 12^th February 2021, Freiberg (Germany)

The Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg is organizing the second edition of the “Tage der Standortauswahl” on 11^th and 12^th February 2021, in agreement with the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE), in order to inform the interested expert audience about the current state of research and the site selection process. The complete program of this online event can be found here.

On 11^th February 2021 at 9:30 AM CET, under the title "How to use AI-based algorithms for identification and evaluation of nuclear waste disposal sites", Andreas Brosig and co-authors present the possibilities and opportunities of using AI methods for the identification of exclusion criteria that are difficult to identify and for the further minimally invasive evaluation of positive sites.

The most effective pre-selection of positive areas requires the exact identification of exclusion criteria that are sometimes very difficult to identify, such as active fault zones. By using AI methods, these can be easily recognised, e.g. on the basis of their geomorphological characteristics in high-precision elevation models, and distinguished from anthropogenic structures. In this way, the areas potentially requiring further assessment can be quickly differentiated.

In the subsequent suitability assessment of potential positive areas, AI methods in combination with geophysical methods will enable the most non-destructive assessment possible of comparatively large rock volumes.

The necessary algorithms have been developed over the last 10 years for raw material exploration and geo-hazard assessment and are now available for site search and assessment.

Figure: Identification of Neotectonics using high resolution elevation models