Table 1
Advantages and disadvantages of rock salt as a host rock.
| Aspect | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
| Geomechanical | Without considerable crack generation at low and average compression stresses | Low tensile strength |
| Low Porosity and permeability | Dissolution specially for low-depth caverns | |
| Self-healing | ||
| Economical | Economical justifiable of solution mining | High creep closure rate at deep caverns |
| Low working gas | ||
| High deliverability | ||
| Low investment | ||
| Low maintenance and operational costs | ||
| Low energy required during injection and production cycles | ||
| Accessibility of salt throughout of world | ||
| Environmental | No chemical reaction with stored material | Extruding of salt produced by solution mining is challengeable abandoning |
| Low required surface facility | ||
| Not affected or low affected by catastrophes | ||
| Strategic | Passive defense | Not enough |
| Controlling energy programs | Accessibility of salt caverns to market |