Recent Works
Jiro Yamatomi, Gento Mogi
University of Tokyo
Tetsuo Nakagawa
Kamioka Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd.
Waste-less Mining --- the Super-KAMIKANDE and Subsurface Space Utilization at Kamioka Mine, Japan
Waste-less mining is becoming a key issue in industrialized nations such as Japan and European countries where mining activities are reducing and environmental sensitivities are increasing. The Kamioka Mine, a leading metal mine located in the mountainous region of Japan, has launched the most epoch-making one, the Super-KAMIOKANDE (KAMIOKA Nucleon Decay Experiment) project, which is a scientific program to detect astronomical neutrinos and investigate the validity of "the Grand Unified Theories" in an excavated subsurface observatory.
For high accuracy and sensitivity of measurement, the mine started to excavate a super underground dome to install a 50,000 tonne water tank (Figure 1). The super dome has dimensions of 40 m in diameter and 57.6 m in height and has been excavated at a depth of about 1,000 m below the overlying mountains and away from surrounding valleys. The rock excavation was completed in August of 1994 and the water tank was set up in November of 1995, and then the observation started from March of 1996.
In the study, we have discussed and reviewed the qualified and informed underground technologies applied for the Super-KAMIOKANDE project. We have also developed a newly FEM analysis that can obtain a three-dimensional solution of stress and displacement under a general loading condition by using a two dimensional/axisymmetric finite element model.
Also, you can find the details of the study in
(a) J. Yamatomi, et al., Waste-less mining ? the Super-KAMIOKANDE and subsurface space utilization at Kamioka mine, Japan (Proceedings of 9th International Congress on Rock Mechanics, (Paris), Printing, 1999).
(b) T. Nakagawa, et al., Qualified underground technologies for excavation of the Super-KAMIOKANDE cavern, (Proc. Environmental and Safety Concerns in Underground Construction (Seoul), (125-130), 1997).