scholarly journals Experimental study on effect by cementation on self-sealing capability of bentonite buffer material

2020 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 10004
Author(s):  
Daichi Ito ◽  
Hideo Komine ◽  
Hailong Wang

In Japanese project for disposal of high-level radioactive waste, the self-sealing capability of bentonite buffer material, which results from the swelling deformation to fill the gaps between waste container and wall of disposal pit, must be retained thousands of years. However, because of the effect of high pressures, occurrence of cementation and property changes of the buffer material are a concern. Few studies had examined cementation effects because of the difficulties for simulating long-term alteration process experimentally. In this paper, swelling properties of consolidated buffer are regarded as similar as those of naturally consolidated bentonite ore. Therefore, three kinds of bentonite ores were used for experiments to elucidate influences of cementation on self-sealing capabilities. Undisturbed and reconstituted specimens were prepared to assess their swelling pressures after filling a preset gap in a swelling pressure apparatus. Results show that for Japanese ores, the swelling pressure of undisturbed specimens is about half that of reconstituted specimens. For American and Chinese ores, the difference of swelling pressure is greater when the preset gap is smaller. Results imply that effects of cementation on self-sealing capability are smaller when swelling deformation is allowed.

Clay Minerals ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuma Sawaguchi ◽  
Manabu Tsukada ◽  
Tetsuji Yamaguchi ◽  
Masayuki Mukai

AbstractThe highly alkaline environment induced by cementitious materials in a deep geological disposal system of high-level radioactive waste is likely to alter montmorillonite, the main constituent of bentonite buffer materials. Over long time periods, the alteration may cause the physical and/or chemical barrier functions of the buffer materials to deteriorate. In order to evaluate the long-term alteration behaviour, the dissolution rate, RA (kgm−3 s−1), of compacted pure montmorillonite (Kunipia-F) was investigated experimentally under conditions of hydroxide ion concentration of 0.10—1.0 mol dm−3 at temperatures of 50—90°C. The dissolution rate data, including those from a previous study at 130°C, were formulated as a function of the activity of hydroxide ions, aOH− (mol dm−3), and temperature, T (K), and expressed as RA = 104.5·(aOH−)1.3·e−55000/RT by multiple regression analysis, where R is the gas constant. The dissolution rate of montmorillonite was greater in the compacted montmorillonite than in the compacted sand-bentonite mixtures. The difference can be explained by considering the decrease in aOH− in the mixtures accompanied by dissolution of accessory minerals such as quartz and chalcedony. The dissolution rate model developed for pure montmorillonite is expected to be applied to bentonite mixtures if quantification of the decrease in aOH− is achieved somehow.


Author(s):  
Antti Lempinen

Compacted bentonite is the main candidate for buffer material in several plans for spent nuclear fuel repositories. One of its important properties is high swelling capacity, which is caused by interaction between water molecules and exchangeable cations. This interaction makes bentonite behave differently from capillary materials. In this article, a model for thermo-hydro-mechanical state of partially water saturated bentonite is presented. It couples the water retention and swelling properties with introduction of the swelling factor in effective strain. The Helmholz energy density determines the state with a relatively small set of independent parameters: swelling pressure, swelling factor, maximum confined water content and the reference state. The model parameters are determined from experimental data for FEBEX bentonite, and as a simple consistency check, confined suction curves are calculated and compared to test results. Consistency of the model with observations on nano- and microscale of bentonite is also discussed.


Author(s):  
Shun Kimura ◽  
Hideharu Takahashi ◽  
Ari Hamdani ◽  
Masanori Aritomi ◽  
Susumu Ozaki ◽  
...  

Compacted bentonite materials are often considered as a buffer material in the geological radioactive waste disposal. This bentonite is expected to fill up the space between the waste and the surrounding ground by swelling. Therefore, understanding the surrounding ground, i.e., groundwater behavior in bentonite, as a buffer material, is essential in order to evaluate the bentonite buffer performance and guarantee long-term safety. The monitoring system of the water saturation level in compacted bentonite is required because water content in buffer material may influence its elastic properties. In this study, the correlation between water content and elasticity in unsaturated compressed bentonite was experimentally evaluated. The evaluation was done by measuring the sound velocity of both longitudinal wave and transverse wave. As a result, it can be confirmed that ultrasonic velocities could evaluate a degree of saturation and bulk modulus of compacted bentonite.


1990 ◽  
Vol 212 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.P.S. Selvadurai ◽  
S.C.H. Cheung

ABSTRACTA series of laboratory experiments was conducted to establish the heat-induced moisture movement in a bentonitic clay buffer. The buffer material is proposed as an engineered barrier to isolate a heat-emitting high-level nuclear fuel waste container from its emplacement borehole located in a deep rock repository. In the experimental simulation, the hygrothermal phenomena are initiated by a cylindrical heater placed within the compacted buffer material in a borehole centrally located in a granite block. The experimental results illustrate the time-dependent distribution of temperatures within the rock mass and the residual moisture distribution at the termination of the experiment.


2003 ◽  
Vol 807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fraser King ◽  
Miroslav Kolar ◽  
Simcha Stroes-Gascoyne ◽  
Peter Maak

ABSTRACTA model has been developed to predict the impact of microbiological processes on the long-term corrosion behaviour of copper containers in a deep geologic repository. The model accounts for a range of aerobic and anaerobic microbial processes. Various factors expected to limit the extent of microbial activity in the repository, such as the lack of water, evolving redox conditions, and the nutrient-poor environment, are taken into account in the model. Amongst other effects, the model predicts that microbial activity will not occur close to the container in the presence of highly compacted bentonite buffer material.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Drai-Zerbib ◽  
Thierry Baccino

The study investigated the cross-modal integration hypothesis for expert musicians using eye tracking. Twenty randomized excerpts of classical music were presented in two modes (auditory and visual), at the same time (simultaneously) or successively (sequentially). Musicians (N = 53, 26 experts and 27 non-experts) were asked to detect a note modified between the auditory and visual versions, either in the same major/minor key or violating the key. Experts carried out the task faster and with greater accuracy than non-experts. Sequential presentation was more difficult than simultaneous (longer fixations and higher error rates) and the modified notes were more easily detected when violating the key (fewer errors), but with longer fixations (speed/accuracy trade-off strategy). Experts detected the modified note faster, especially in the simultaneous condition in which cross-modal integration may be applied. These results support the hypothesis that the main difference between experts and non-experts derives from the difference in knowledge structures in memory built over time with practice. They also suggest that these high-level knowledge structures in memory contain harmony and tonal rules, arguing in favour of cross-modal integration capacities for experts, which are related to and can be explained by the long-term working memory (LTWM) model of expert memory (e.g. Drai-Zerbib & Baccino, 2014; Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995).


1999 ◽  
Vol 556 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Lee ◽  
K. G. Mori ◽  
D. E. Longsine ◽  
B. E. Bullard

AbstractThe Viability Assessment (VA) of the potential repository for high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada was completed [1]. In the VA design concept, a two-layer waste container provides the primary component of the engineered barrier system (EBS). The VA reference design specifies a 100-mm thick carbon steel as the outer barrier and a 20-mm thick Alloy 22 as the inner barrier. A stochastic simulation model was developed to analyze long-term performance of the waste package in the potential repository. The model was developed by incorporating the latest corrosion data and models for the candidate waste package materials and the information developed from the Waste Package Degradation Expert Elicitation (WPDEE) [2].The reference case results showed that only a small fraction of waste packages fail by localized corrosion (i.e., pit penetrations). The analysis also indicated the degradation mode that is most important to long-term waste package degradation is general corrosion (or passive dissolution) of the inner barrier under dripping conditions. However, the general corrosion rates for dripping conditions used in the analysis have a range over three to five orders of magnitude. This is due mainly to a lack of information on local chemical and electrochemical conditions on the inner barrier after the outer barrier breach. This paper discusses further the areas and issues that need improvement to reduce uncertainty in the waste package degradation analysis. It also discusses additional waste package degradation modes and associated processes that need to be included in the future analysis for the potential repository to enhance the confidence of the analysis.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document