An advanced containment system for containing buried waste and associated leachate.
A trench is dug on either side of the zone of interest containing the buried waste
so as to accommodate a micro tunnel boring machine. A series of small diameter
tunnels are serially excavated underneath the buried waste. The tunnels are excavated
by the micro tunnel boring machine at a consistent depth and are substantially
parallel to each other. As tunneling progresses, steel casing sections are connected
end to end in the excavated portion of the tunnel so that a steel tube is formed.
Each casing section has complementary interlocking structure running its length
that interlocks with complementary interlocking structure on the adjacent casing
section. Thus, once the first tube is emplaced, placement of subsequent tubes is
facilitated by the complementary interlocking structure on the adjacent, previously
placed, casing sections.
