3. Underground laboratory experimental program

3.1 The laboratory's role in project development

The 2007-2015 objectives of the experimentation and demonstration program are designed to meet the challenges facing the storage project (optimization research, factors that could have an impact on storage functions). They have been identified on the basis of feedback from the 2005 dossier and recommendations made by the evaluators of that dossier. In drawing up the program, we took into account the laboratory's operational context, the timetable set out in the program law, acquisition possibilities outside the laboratory (priority was given to objectives for which an underground environment is essential), and acquisition possibilities beyond 2015 in parallel with the construction of a storage center.

An experimental...