3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece
Developing the first underground hazardous waste repository in Greece
D. Kaliampakos and A. Benardos
School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
ABSTRACT
The paper presents the development of the first
underground hazardous waste repository in
Greece, in the area of the Lavrion Technological
and Cultural Park (LTCP). The underground fa-
cility will host the hazardous wastes existing in
the LTCP site from its industrial past as a metal-
lurgical plant. In this paper, the advantages of
utilizing underground repositories for the long
term storage of hazardous waste are underlined.
Moreover, the analysis of the design process is
illustrated, along with the experience gained
from the underground construction and the solu-
tions given in particular geotechnical problems.
Finally, financial data are given by a compara-
tive analysis between the alternatives of the un-
derground storage and the export of the wastes.
1. INTRODUCTION
The management of hazardous waste is one of
the most serious environmental problems in
Europe. Even though the introduction of waste
reduction strategies, as green technologies and
more efficient processes in manufacturing have
contributed substantially in tackling the issue,
the continuous growth in the overall production
levels, makes more pressing today the pursue of
a long term feasible solution regarding hazard-
ous waste management and/or disposal sites.
Nevertheless, the controversy and conflicts (e.g.
NIMBY syndrome) associated with the siting of
the disposal sites create an explosive mix, espe-
cially in countries like Greece, where the lack in
adopting and enforcing coherent policies about
that issue remains a predominant practice. Thus,
the Greek state still cannot appropriately man-
182
age a hazardous waste volume, that reaches ap-
proximately 330,000 tn per annum (Basel Con-
vention, 2006a), and has not yet designated, any
site for their final disposal. Problems though do
exist and hazardous wastes need to be handled
differently than a “temporary” storage in the in-
dustry’s back yard (Aravossis et al., 2002; Kol-
lanou, 2004).
In this paper the approach that has been em-
ployed in the case of the Lavrion Technological
and Cultural Park (LTCP) is presented, encom-
passing the development of an underground
hazardous waste repository. This complex is the
first of its kind in Greece and amongst the few
underground repositories worldwide. Its main
goal is to facilitate the proper handling and stor-
age of the hazardous waste of the LTCP, result-
ing from its long industrial past.
In addition the advantages of establishing an
underground hazardous waste repository are
highlighted and the European experience in this
field is presented. More particularly, the consid-
erations followed in the design of the LTCP re-
pository are analyzed and the construction proc-
ess and findings during the actual excavation
stage are illustrated. Finally, a comparative
study is presented between the two alternatives
available for the management of hazardous
waste; namely their disposal at the LTCP un-
derground hazardous repository and their export
for final disposal at special facilities found
abroad, in other European countries.
2. UNDERGROUND HAZARDOUS WASTE
REPOSITORIES
Underground space can provide the setting for
activities or infrastructures that are difficult, im-
3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece
possible, environmentally undesirable or even
less profitable to be installed above ground. The
use of underground repositories for the storage
of hazardous waste presents various advantages
over above ground landfill sites (ITA, 1994).
That derives mainly from the fundamental char-
acteristics of underground space; namely the
opacity and natural protection. The natural vis-
ual screen and barrier offered by the geological
medium prohibits the diffusion of the internal
processes to the surface environment and con-
sequently protects the biosphere from the dis-
turbances and risks inherent in certain types of
activities (Kaliampakos and Menegaki, 2003).
More specifically, the main advantages concern-
ing underground hazardous waste disposal are:
- The underground structure and the stored
waste cannot be affected by surface proc-
esses such as extreme weather events, sea
level rise, tidal waves, climate changes and
weathering. Moreover, the underground re-
pository tends to be less affected by earth-
quake loadings than surface structures.
- The geologic medium constitutes an addi-
tional barrier which can effectively block the
diffusion of the waste to the biosphere.
- The high security environment of the under-
ground facilities can prevent human intru-
sion, vandalism or even undermining activi-
ties.
- The geochemical stability attained in the un-
derground environment allows the efficient
operation of the implemented engineering
barriers.
- The underground siting of the repositories
can efficiently tackle, to a degree, the
NIMBY syndrome, which is one of the most
important parameters for a successful imple-
mentation of the disposal project.
At the moment there is considerable Euro-
pean experience in those particular types of fa-
cilities. In Germany, the first underground site
opened in Hesse (Herfa Neurode), in 1972.
Other repositories were developed since then
(Zielitz - Saxony - Anhalt, Heilbronn - Baden -
Württemberg, Borth - N. Rhine - Westphalia),
licensed for selected waste types according to
the European Waste List (Doka, 2003; German
Federal Environment Agency, 2004). In France,
the first underground landfill was opened, in
February 1999 in a potash-salt mine in Wittel-
183
sheim, with a licensed capacity of 320,000 tons
and operated until 2002, while recently in the
UK, the Minosus repository, a former potash
mine, located in a 170 m deep deposit in Chesh-
ire, acquired its permit to store hazardous waste
including heavy industrial waste from incinera-
tors, as well as asbestos (Veolia, 2009).
3. THE LTCP UNDERGROUND REPOSI-
TORY
3.1 The LTCP remediation project
The LTCP remediation project aims at the com-
plete environmental restoration of this brown-
field site (Karachaliou and Kaliampakos, 2005).
The complex bears a significant mining and
metallurgical history that have affected its envi-
ronmental quality and threatened its successive
transformation to a technological and cultural
park. Thus, solutions pursuing the rehabilitation
of the contaminated land and the polluted build-
ings have been implemented for more than 10
years. The project includes the disposal of ap-
proximately 115,000 tons of contaminated soil
in a special “dry tomb” landfill structure, the
development of an underground repository that
would hold the hazardous waste found in the
Park and the setting up of a state-of-the-art envi-
ronmental monitoring laboratory (Kaliampakos
et al., 2007). All these are developed on-site,
within the premises of the LTCP.
The hazardous waste that will be deposited in
the underground repository consists mainly of
polluted materials, having unusually high con-
centrations of heavy metals and toxic metal-
loids, such as arsenic, lead, cadmium and zinc.
They are primarily derived from the dust and
debris from the restoration of the “Konofagos”
building, which used to serve as a fume air-filter
facility. The building is considered to be totally
polluted since it is covered by dust of 4% - 8%
arsenic content (Kaliampakos et al., 2009).
3.2 LTCP Underground hazardous waste re-
pository - Design and construction
The effective area of the repository is approxi-
mately 2,000 m2 with a maximum capacity at
about 5,000 tons of waste.
The repository was sited under a small hill in
the north-eastern part of the LTCP site (Benar-
dos and Kaliampakos, 2006). The area is away
3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece
Topographic relief
“Upper marble” G3
roof strata G2
G1
G6
G7
G4
Γ5
Layout of the
underground repository
Figure 1: 3D view of the underground hazardous waste
repository with respect to the exploration boreholes and
the “upper marble” roof strata.
from the Park’s established enterprise units, it
provides a relatively safe distance from the wa-
ter table compared to other LTCP areas, and
mainly offers a relatively advantageous geologi-
cal background. More specifically, the upper
layers of the hill are comprised by low strength
but impermeable formations as shales, phyllites
and graphic schists (Koumantakis et al., 1999),
whereas at the lower part a layer of marble for-
mation facilitates the structural stability of the
underground excavation.
A total of 8 test boreholes (Fig. 1) gave the
necessary data regarding the prevailing geo-
technical conditions and identified the exact po-
sition of the “upper marble” formation which
dictated to a great extent the construction level
of the repository.
More specifically, it was decided that the re-
pository should be placed at the level of +12 m,
as the roof of the marble formation was esti-
mated to be at about +20 m to +22 m, to the
greater part of the complex. Thus, the maximum
overburden depth of the facility is around 35 m.
In general, the geotechnical conditions at the
construction level were good (Pangaea, 2006).
The mean UCS value of the marble was 70
MPa, ranging from 39 to 116 MPa, as shown in
Figure 2, the Young’s modulus was 12 GPa (7
to 17 GPa), and the Poisson’s ratio was esti-
mated at 0.26. The data indicated that the rock-
mass can be characterized as “fair to good qual-
ity”, with RMR values ranging from 52 to 67,
and GSI values at about 55 to 60.
The design of the underground repository
aimed at a completely safe and yet a cost-
184
35%
30%
31%
G8
25%
20%
19%
18%
15%
10% 12%
5% 8% 7%
6%
0%
0%
< 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 60 - 70 70 - 80 80 - 90 90 - 100 > 100
Upper Marble UCS (MPa)
Figure 2: Histogram of the UCS of the “upper marble”
formation.
effective facility. That led to the adoption of an
underground mining method, namely the room-
and-pillar technique (Benardos and Kaliampa-
kos, 2006). Thus, parallel and transverse galler-
ies were developed, leaving pillars of the host
rock to support the excavation.
The initial pillar design was made using the
tributary area theory. A patterned room-and-
pillar layout was selected, having 7-m wide rec-
tangular pillars. The span of the rooms was also
selected to be 7 m (6 m in the side corridors),
and an arched roof design, with a maximum
height of 5.5 m, was employed so as to provide
better confinement and minimize potential in-
stabilities. Due to the conservative design, along
with the low overburden loading, the safety fac-
tor of the pillars was estimated to be around 10,
a quite satisfactory value. The support measures
are comprised by the systematic roof bolting, in
a 1.4 m pattern, of 3.5 m long Swellex bolts,
followed by a 250 mm thick steel-fibre rein-
forced shotcrete, applied to the roof and side-
walls. The numerical analysis showed good
structural stability and the anticipated displace-
ments were in the order of 3-5 mm.
A tunnel and a shaft serve the access to the
repository (Fig. 3). The tunnel, a horseshoe
shaped with a 5 m span, 5.5 m height and 170 m
in length, works as the main entrance to the fa-
cility. The waste transportation will be made
through the tunnel, which would also assist the
construction operations. The rectangular 35-m
deep shaft is located on the western part of the
complex and will serve ventilation and safety
purposes.
The crucial characteristic of an underground
hazardous waste repository is its isolation from
3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of 185
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece

Main access
per parts of the two adjacent entry pillars. The
tunnel minor instability phenomena which occurred
Access were not accompanied with notable displace-
shaft Underground ments. Thus, they were addressed and con-
repository

0
0+40
trolled with the use of additional support meas-
ures, namely a denser bolting pattern, with the
use of 8 m fully grouted bolts and the applica-
tion of steel wire mesh. Additionally, it was de-
cided to leave the adjacent side rooms unexca-
vated and, thus, develop a rib pillar scheme that
effectively safeguards the access to the surface.
7.45
0+53

No other problem hindered the construction

0+500 and the encountered geotechnical conditions
were, in general, within the design predictions.
Figure 3: General layout of the underground complex and The behavior of the rock pillars is so far satis-
the access works.
factory; they are not showing any sign of weak-
ness or spalling and their horizontal displace-
any water paths. This requirement was eased by ments have been stabilized to an overall maxi-
the existing geological impermeable cap, but mum value of 5 mm. The total displacements in
additional technical barriers were implemented the roof are also measured to be at about 5 mm.
in order to obtain the highest level of protection The excavation of the complex was finished
and mitigate impacts from possible major acci- in late December 2008 (Photo 1). The excava-
dents to water and ground/soil system. The bar- tion of the access shaft ended in March 2009. At
rier systems adopted suggests the use of special this time (May 2009), the construction of the in-
shotcrete mixtures (e.g. ELKEM Microsilica dustrial floor, along with the development of the
920 D) for the waterproofing of the roof and electro-mechanical systems are progressing. The
sidewalls of the complex, along with the instal- repository is expected to become fully opera-
lation of chemically resistant, impermeable, in- tional by the summer of 2009.
dustrial flooring. The design standards, in par-
ticular, aimed at attaining a permeability coeffi-
cient in the order of 10-9 m/s. These measures, 4. COST ISSUES - COMPARING THE AL-
in addition to the waste’s containment in special TERNATIVES
drums achieve the long-term safety of the un-
As no facility for the disposal of hazardous
derground repository.
waste does exist in Greece, the only environ-
PROET S.A. was awarded the contract. The
mentally sound alternative is to have them ex-
construction of the facility started with the ex-
ported to repositories or special landfills in other
cavation of the main access tunnel in the first
trimester of 2007. Nevertheless, the delay of
public authorities in granting the required per-
mit for the use of explosives caused a substan-
tial set back to the progress of the works. Fi-
nally, in the summer of 2008 the permit was
given and the tunnel reached the main area of
the repository in September 2008.
At the initial excavation stages of the reposi-
tory, an anomaly in the upper marble formation
was met. More specifically, a local fault existed
in the intersection area between the tunnel and
the main complex, resulting to a sudden drop of
the marble’s roof strata to lower levels. Conse-
quently, the graphic schist occurred to appeared Photograph 1: View of the LTCP hazardous waste reposi-
at the roof of the complex, as well as, to the up- tory.
3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of
Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece
European countries. At the moment, this prac-
tice is only applied to limited quantities of
Greek hazardous waste; regularly some 5,000
tpa or less than 2% of the total annual generated
volume (Basel Convention, 2006a). Its main re-
ceptor is Germany, one of the greater waste im-
porters in EU, with an annual import tonnage of
approximately 2.7 million tn (Basel Convention,
2006b). The export cost varies depending on the
waste’s characteristics and ranges from 1,500 €
to 3,000 € per tn.
The total as-build cost of the LTCP under-
ground repository is approximately 2.8 mil-
lion €. With its maximum storage capacity in
mind, that results to a respective cost of around
560 € per tn. Thus, the financial advantages are
profound. Of course, it should be noticed that
the repository is a small scale and locally ori-
ented facility. So, as far as feasibility is con-
cerned, things can be even more promising if
economies of scale could be reached.
5. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The underground storage of hazardous waste is
a viable and feasible solution. The development
of the LTCP hazardous waste repository in
Greece, even if it is a small scale and locally
oriented one, is undoubtedly a significant step
forward towards the proper management of the
waste in the country since it brings know-how.
It can set the guidelines for the development of
other repositories where needed in the country.
There are some notable differences between
the LTCP repository and the other underground
hazardous waste repositories:
- It is the first “mine” constructed especially as
an underground repository. The other reposi-
tories are old mines that were later trans-
formed into hazardous waste repositories.
- Technical barriers can efficiently create im-
permeable conditions where bedrock perme-
ability is not satisfactory.
- Marble and limestone formations can host
safe underground constructions in terms of
stability, even in cases where such require-
ments are very high.
- The prevailing view that only large scale haz-
ardous waste repositories are feasible ob-
scures the fact that even small scale facilities
are feasible, if compared to other alterna-
186
tives.
- An in-site hazardous waste repository pre-
sents a series of significant advantages, such
as minimizing transportation cost and the
better handling of NIMBY arguments.
However, it should be underlined that the ex-
pansion and utilization of the experience from
the construction of the LTCP repository into
other cases is not a simple and straightforward
procedure. It should be coupled with the thor-
ough investigation of each case’s specific char-
acteristic and accordingly adjusted.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The project was funded by the Greek Ministry
of Development under the 3rd Community
Framework Programme 2000-2006, Operational
Programme “Competitiveness”. The authors
would like to thank the personnel and staff of
PROET S.A. and Pangaea Ltd. companies, as
well as the N.T.U.A. Technical Services Divi-
sion for their cooperation and contribution.
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