On October 9, the ISRM (International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering) Commission on Subsurface Energy Storage held its inaugural committee meeting online. Professor Yang Shangtong from the State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Healthy Operation and Maintenance of Deep Underground Engineering of CUMT serves as co-chair of the commission.
At the beginning of the meeting, ISRM President Professor Jeon Seo-Kwon delivered a welcome address. He congratulated the establishment of the commission and acknowledged and thanked all committee members for their efforts during the preparatory stage. He noted that subsurface energy storage is an important emerging research field in rock mechanics and rock engineering, and that establishing a new commission midway through the current presidential term is not a routine arrangement, which fully reflects ISRM's urgent need for the creation of the Commission on Subsurface Energy Storage.
The ISRM Commission on Subsurface Energy Storage aims to promote academic exchange, cooperation, and professional practice in rock mechanics and rock engineering in the field of subsurface energy storage. It focuses on key rock mechanics and rock engineering issues in the construction and operation of subsurface energy storage facilities, and seeks to build a high-level international platform for academic exchange and cooperation. It aims to advance research and application in fundamental theory, experimental testing, numerical simulation, monitoring and early warning, risk assessment, and standards and specifications, to promote deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and to provide scientific and technological support for the safe and efficient development of subsurface energy storage and the global green and low-carbon energy transition.
Committee members attending the inaugural meeting included Professor Ki-Bok Min, ISRM Vice President for Asia; Senior Researcher Muriel Gasc-Barbier, ISRM Vice President for Europe; Dr. Anastasios Stavrou, representative of the ISRM British National Group; Professor Junlong Shang, co-chair of the commission; as well as committee member representatives from the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Canada, Sweden, France, and other countries and regions.
The meeting also discussed the next steps in the work plan, including establishing working groups, organizing online academic seminars, and holding a subsurface energy storage symposium during the quadrennial International Congress on Rock Mechanics (ISRM2027), to be held in Seoul, South Korea, in October 2027.
The convening of this meeting marks the official launch of the ISRM Commission on Subsurface Energy Storage. Subsurface energy storage is an important direction for the development and utilization of deep-earth space and deep-earth energy engineering, and is of great significance for expanding the utilization of deep-earth resources and space, safeguarding energy security, and advancing deep-earth science and engineering. China University of Mining and Technology has a deep heritage and distinctive strengths in the field of deep-earth science and engineering. The appointment of a faculty member of the university as co-chair of the commission will further demonstrate the university's international influence in the deep-earth field and contribute to serving the national deep-earth strategy and the global green and low-carbon energy transition.
