The Mont Terri Rock Laboratory is located in St Ursanne, canton Jura.
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A lot of cutting-edge technology is deployed - but also superstition: a statue of St Barbara, the patron saint of miners, looks down on the proceedings.
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Researchers take a close look at an opaline layer, a key component of the Jura fold mountains.
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Waving the flags of international cooperation.
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A hermetically sealed laptop measures the most minute movements in the rock.
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Fossils of the ammonite Leioceras opalinum are often found in the Opalinus Clay.
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Core drilling is done to study the properties and density of the rock.
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One experiment looks into the permeability of the rock along fracture lines.
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Some experiments take years to complete.
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In a seven-metre-deep shaft, scientists have been able to demonstrate that seawater stored in the rock can endure temperatures up to 100° Celsius (212° Fahrenheit).
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Shotcrete - a form of concrete - is sprayed on the tunnel walls to add stability.
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A safety passage from a motorway tunnel is located behind the fire door.
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Three-hundred metres below ground, researchers from Switzerland, other European countries and Japan are studying the properties of Opalinus Clay, which could provide a way to dispose of nuclear waste. The results of the studies are exchanged among the partners of the Mont Terri Project, and are used in feasibility studies. (Pictures: Christoph Balsiger, swissinfo.ch, 2007)
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