idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) supports applied basic research that is helpful for the site selection of a deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste. Approximately 1.7 million euros have been allocated to the MALEK project. MALEK aims to develop a portfolio of methods to support the safety assessment of a nuclear waste repository. This includes developing methods that make it possible to model transport and reaction processes in crystalline host rock over a period of one million years. The project is coordinated by the Institute of Resource Ecology at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR).
The disposal of high-level radioactive waste presents a major technical and societal challenge. Safety is a key factor in evaluating potential sites for deep geological repositories. With this funding initiative, the Ministry seeks to address existing knowledge gaps: new research and development projects are intended to establish and further advance the scientific foundations needed to assess the safe disposal of radioactive waste.
Designed to run for 36 months, the MALEK project (Machine Learning for Complex Hydrological-Geochemical Processes in Crystalline Rock Repositories) is investigating how models should be designed to be able to predict worst case scenarios for radionuclide retention within a repository. Predictions are needed that span spatial scales from millimeters to kilometers and timescales of up to one million years. In this context, conventional numerical models and simulation methods reach their computational limits.
MALEK therefore pursues an approach that systematically augments physics-based models of radionuclide transport with machine learning methods. The key advantage is a substantial acceleration of complex simulations without disregarding the underlying physical and chemical processes. A central tool in this context is the use of so-called surrogate models: machine-learning models trained on data generated by computationally intensive simulations. Once trained, these models can replace the original simulations. Although the results are approximations, the fact that they are available much faster than those of detailed simulations is crucial.
“Surrogate models will be deployed at multiple stages throughout the overall project,” explains project coordinator Prof. Vinzenz Brendler, head of the “Thermodynamics of Actinides” department at HZDR’s Institute of Resource Ecology. “One example is sorption—how strongly radionuclides attach to rocks or minerals. This depends heavily on the surrounding chemical conditions. The stronger the binding, the more slowly radionuclides can migrate through the subsurface. Another planned surrogate model addresses reactive transport through the rock matrix. This process depends not only on sorption, but also on diffusion processes, rock properties, and chemical reactions.”
Focus on accurate, robust, and transparent methods
“MALEK will lead to understandable, verifiable, and reproducible modeling approaches, thereby making an important contribution to more robust safety assessments,” says Dr. Attila Cangi, head of the “Machine Learning for Materials Design” department at CASUS. “Our goal is to transfer the expertise we have developed in machine-learning models for the microscopic description of materials to this application, since the underlying methodological challenges are closely related.” Prof. Michael Hecht, head of the CASUS Young Investigator Group “Mathematical Foundations of Complex Systems Science”, emphasizes the planned systematic evaluation of the developed modules: “From individual surrogate models to their combinations and ultimately to different versions of an integrated assessment model, the central question is which solutions are best suited in terms of accuracy, robustness, and transparency.” To this end, extensive benchmarking and uncertainty analyses will be conducted, incorporating experience from underground research laboratories such as Äspö in Sweden and Grimsel in Switzerland.
MALEK focuses on crystalline host rock, one of the host rock types under consideration in Germany for a deep geological repository. Because the rock itself is usually very dense, fractures and fault zones play a decisive role: they control groundwater flow and thus the transport of dissolved substances such as radionuclides. These complex structural features make crystalline rock particularly challenging from a scientific perspective, and the project is therefore expected to deliver especially valuable insights.
The project, which started in early 2026, will benefit from the partners’ complementary expertise. Prof. Brendler and his team contribute experience in geochemistry, reactive transport modeling, and the development of data-driven methods. Dr. Cangi and Prof. Hecht provide expertise in machine learning and mathematical surrogate modeling. Prof. Thomas Nagel from TU Bergakademie Freiberg is an expert in issues related to fractured porous geomaterials as well as geotechnical simulations and verifications. Prof. Denise Degen from TU Darmstadt contributes expertise in uncertainty analysis in the geosciences, which helps simplify complex computational models based on physical laws.
Additional information:
Prof. Vinzenz Brendler | Head of Thermodynamics of Actinides
Institute of Resource Ecology at HZDR
phone: +49 351 260 2430 | email: v.brendler@hzdr.de
Media contact:
Dr. Martin Laqua | Officer Communications, Press and Public Relations
Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) at HZDR
cell phone: +49 1512 807 6932 | email: m.laqua@hzdr.de
About the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) performs – as an independent German research center – research in the fields of energy, health, and matter. We focus on answering the following questions:
- How can energy and resources be utilized in an efficient, safe, and sustainable way?
- How can malignant tumors be more precisely visualized, characterized, and more effectively treated?
- How do matter and materials behave under the influence of strong fields and in smallest dimensions?
To help answer these research questions, HZDR operates large-scale facilities, which are also used by visiting researchers: the Ion Beam Center, the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the ELBE Center for High-Power Radiation Sources. HZDR is a member of the Helmholtz Association and has six sites (Dresden, Freiberg, Görlitz, Grenoble, Leipzig, Schenefeld near Hamburg) with almost 1,500 members of staff, of whom about 700 are scientists, including 200 Ph.D. candidates.
About the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding
CASUS was founded 2019 in Görlitz/Germany and pursues data-intensive interdisciplinary systems research in such diverse disciplines as earth systems research, systems biology or materials research. The goal of CASUS is to create digital images of complex systems of unprecedented fidelity to reality with innovative methods from mathematics, theoretical systems research, simulations as well as data and computer science to give answers to urgent societal questions. The founding partners of CASUS are the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden (MPI-CBG), the Technical University of Dresden (TUD) and the University of Wrocław (UWr). CASUS, managed as an institute of the HZDR, is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK). www.casus.science
Prof. Vinzenz Brendler | Head of Thermodynamics of Actinides
Institute of Resource Ecology at HZDR
phone: +49 351 260 2430 | email: v.brendler@hzdr.de
https://www.hzdr.de/presse/malek
Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Journalisten
Biologie, Chemie, Physik / Astronomie, Tier / Land / Forst, Umwelt / Ökologie
überregional
Forschungsprojekte, Kooperationen
Englisch
Sie können Suchbegriffe mit und, oder und / oder nicht verknüpfen, z. B. Philo nicht logie.
Verknüpfungen können Sie mit Klammern voneinander trennen, z. B. (Philo nicht logie) oder (Psycho und logie).
Zusammenhängende Worte werden als Wortgruppe gesucht, wenn Sie sie in Anführungsstriche setzen, z. B. „Bundesrepublik Deutschland“.
Die Erweiterte Suche können Sie auch nutzen, ohne Suchbegriffe einzugeben. Sie orientiert sich dann an den Kriterien, die Sie ausgewählt haben (z. B. nach dem Land oder dem Sachgebiet).
Haben Sie in einer Kategorie kein Kriterium ausgewählt, wird die gesamte Kategorie durchsucht (z.B. alle Sachgebiete oder alle Länder).
