The general report passes in review the 25 papers included in theme T2, grouping them by the most important topic, and presents some comments of a more general nature on different environmental issues.
Le rapport general passe en revue les 25 communications inserees dans le thème T2, en les groupant par le sujet le plus important, et presente quelques commentaires d'une nature plus generale sur de differents problèmes d'environnement.
Der Generalbericht betrachtet die 25, im Thema T2 einbegriffenen Beitrage, wobei er sie nach dem wichtigsten Gegenstand zusammenfaβt, und erbringt einige Kommentare allgemeinerer Art ueber verschiedene Umweltfragen.
The Organizing Committee of the Eurock '93 Symposium chose the "Influence of the Environment in Rock Engineering" as theme T2 of the Symposium, and included the following 6 subthemes under that heading:
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Global environmental effects;
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Heat and mass transport in fractured rock;
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Contaminant migration;
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Waste disposal;
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Underground storage of waste, hydrocarbons, and energy; and
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Control of vibrations.
In the last years, environmental questions have been receiving an ever growing attention in the scientific meetings, and a first question we may therefore ask, is: Are we really facing new problems, or only rediscovering old ones? Obviously, engineering works have always exerted some influence on the respective environment, and, vice versa, the environment has always exerted some influence on the engineering works. However, the number and the size of the major engineering works is increasing steadily, and, so, also the corresponding disturbance of the respective environment. The current environmental problems are, therefore, of a different scale than those mankind has known for long. On the other hand, our knowledge about environmental issues is also increasing steadily. We are, therefore, nowadays aware of many environmental problems which, not long ago, tended to be overseen. Finally, we are currently faced with engineering works for which there is little or no previous experience (e.g. nuclear waste disposal). Here, we are really facing new challenges, also from the environmental point of view. A second question we may ask, relates to the fact that, apparently, there is a greater awareness of the environmental problems in the rich countries: Are the environmental issues restricted to the developed countries? Rich countries, usually, have already built many, and sometimes also very large (and very expensive) engineering works, and, for this reason, have, quite often, greater environmental problems than the poor countries, where the construction of engineering works is delayed by the economic situation. On the other hand, rich countries, usually, have also invested more in developing their knowledge about environmental questions, and, so, their environmental problems are, very often, recognized much earlier. Finally, and due to the reason that the environmental problems, quite often, do not originate any immediate economic loss, the temptation exists, especially in poor countries, to consider them as negligible in face of the, sometimes large, immediate expenses incurred in their solution. Unfortunately, the solution of many environmental issues still tends to be considered a luxury. A total of 25 papers were included in theme T2, and demonstrate the widespread general interest of the rock mechanics community in the environmental issues. The response to the 6 propounded subthemes was, however, very disparate. While some of the subthemes (Global environmental effects, Contaminant migration, and Control of vibrations) had only very few contributions, the other ones (Heat and mass transport in fractured rock, Waste disposal, and Underground storage of waste, hydrocarbons, and energy) clearly depict the current great concern with the problems of the waste disposal and, specially, of the nuclear waste storage.
