Just So You Don't Think This Is All Play And No Work

Yep, there it is, the depressing little tunnel where we spent the better part of the last two weeks. Pretty glamorous, huh? I apparently missed the day when the more notable winners from the film festival in Cannes dropped by, but not to worry. There's so much glitz and high society in my line of work that it's nice to occasionally take a break from it. We get to do more science that way.

So there you have it. A train tunnel dug through a mountain side in the 1800's, long since abandoned, is now a center for scientific research. In fact, this little tunnel in the south near Montpellier is being used to confirm data from a large Underground Nuclear Repository Research Facility in the east of France. I have worked at both sites and must admit that even though the large site in the east is much more interesting from a scientific standpoint, this site is much closer to Montpellier, so it wins. (Still don't get it about Montpellier? I'm telling you, just go there!)

Each day in the tunnel, our group of merry Frenchmen (and me - not so merry, not so French) would go about installing equipment deep into the ground. It's a rather unique site, because the rock is very similar to the rock where the French Nuclear Agency is proposing to store spent fuel (radioactive waste) deep in the ground. Since this tunnel was constructed well over a hundred years ago, and it goes through the heart of a mountain, it provides an unparalleled opportunity to study the long term effects of excavations on this geologic material at great depths. This work will have a direct influence on the regulatory acceptance of the proposed site in the east of France.

And so, our crew does its best to shake off the influence of the ample red wine from the previous evening, and focus on the importance of the task at hand. You can tell from the picture, by how we're all bent over a table (click on the picture to enlarge, you'll see), that we're having a little trouble focusing on this particular day. Ce n'est pas une problem, however, as there will most certainly be more wine each and every evening, ensuring that we will maintain a sort of equilibrium that will enable us to be, if nothing else, consistent. It will also ensure that my "16 Rule" remains a distant memory until I return to a land where we can't afford to have a beautiful bottle of red on the table each lunch and dinner.