The GRG is composed of six internationally recognized experts from Canada, Australia, Sweden and Switzerland. They bring extensive multidisciplinary international experience in areas relevant to the siting of deep geological repositories in both crystalline rock and sedimentary rock formations.

Members of the GRG. Back row, from left: Peter Kaiser (Chair), Alexander (Sandy) Cruden, Anders Ström. Front row, from left: Sven Follin, Michael Stephens, Andreas Gautschi.

Dr. Peter Kaiser
Dr. Peter Kaiser, Chair of the GRG, is Professor Emeritus of Mining Engineering at Laurentian University, former Chair for Rock Engineering and Ground Control, director of the Rio Tinto Centre for Underground Mine Construction, founding director of the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation, and a geomechanics consultant. His interests lie in geomechanics, underground excavation stability, mine design, mechanized excavation and the applications of emerging technologies that increase mining safety and productivity. Dr. Kaiser is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineers and a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada. 

Dr. Alexander (Sandy) Cruden
Dr. Sandy Cruden is Professor of Tectonics and Geodynamics in the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University in Australia. Dr. Cruden has more than 25 years of geoscience experience related to structural geology, analysis and characterization in both crystalline and sedimentary rock settings. Dr. Cruden completed a fault reactivation analysis and structural characterization of southwestern Ontario as part of site characterization activities for Ontario Power Generation's proposed low- and intermediate-level waste Deep Geologic Repository at the Bruce site.

Dr. Sven Follin
Dr. Sven Follin is a retired geoscience consultant who has been actively involved in the Swedish site evaluation process for hosting a deep geological repository, including geoscientific feasibility studies and the detailed site characterization of the Forsmark site, which was selected by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) as the site for the deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel in Sweden. Dr. Follin’s focus has been on hydrogeological aspects using the discrete fracture network (DFN) approach. He was also involved in SKB’s subsequent safety assessment. In addition to working with site descriptive hydraulic DFN modelling for SKB, Dr. Follin has been actively involved in the hydraulic investigations and the structural-hydraulic DFN modelling of excavated damage zones around deposition tunnels at the Olkiluoto site, which was selected by Posiva (Finland’s nuclear fuel and waste management company) as the site for the deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel in Finland.

Dr. Andreas Gautschi
Dr. Andreas Gautschi was Chief Geoscientific Advisor at the Swiss National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra). Since his retirement he has worked as an international geoscientific consultant. Dr. Gautschi has more than 30 years of geoscience experience related to the planning, co-ordination and implementation of site evaluation programs for deep geological repositories in both crystalline and sedimentary rock, in close collaboration with Nagra’s safety assessment group. For many years he had lectureships at Tübingen University and ETH Zurich on the deep geological disposal of radioactive waste.

Dr. Michael Stephens
Dr. Michael Stephens is a retired Senior State Geologist with the Geological Survey of Sweden in Uppsala. Dr. Stephens has been actively involved in the Swedish site evaluation process, including country-wide reconnaissance studies conducted in Sweden to identify potentially suitable regions for hosting a deep geological repository, geoscientific feasibility studies, and the detailed site characterization of the Forsmark site, which was selected by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) as the site for the deep geological repository in Sweden. His focus has been on base geological aspects.

Mr. Anders Ström
Mr. Anders Ström is Senior Program Manager of final disposal solutions for used fuel at the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB). Mr. Ström has been actively involved in SKB’s siting program since the early 1990s and, among other things, has been in charge of the development of site evaluation criteria and requirements for the crystalline rock for the used fuel repository. During SKB’s site characterization project, he was Chief Project Manager for the multidisciplinary site descriptive modelling conducted for the two candidate sites at Forsmark and Laxemar-Simpevarp (Oskarshamn). He is now in charge of the close co-operation between SKB and Posiva, in Finland, for implementing robust disposal solutions according to the KBS-3 concept.