Multiple Roles of Clays in Radioactive Waste Confinement

This Special Publication highlights the importance of clays and clayey material, and their multiple roles, in many national geological disposal facilities for higher activity radioactive wastes. Clays can be both the disposal facility host rock and part of its intrinsic engineered barriers, and may be present in the surrounding geological environment. Clays possess various characteristics that make them high-quality barriers to the migration of radionuclides and chemical contaminants, e.g. very little water movement, diffusive transport, retention capacity, self-sealing capacity, stability over millions of years, homogeneity and lateral continuity.
The 20 papers presented in this Special Publication cover a range of topics related to clays in radioactive waste confinement. Aspects of clay characterization and behaviour at various temporal and spatial scales relevant to the confinement of radionuclides in clay are discussed, from phenomenological processes to the overall understanding of the performance and safety of geological disposal facilities.
A workflow for parametric sensitivity analysis of heat and gas release from a deep geological repository for SF/HLW
Correspondence: [email protected]
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Published:January 01, 2019
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CiteCitation
Alexandros Papafotiou, Argha Namhata, Abhishek Singh, Mark Williams, Marius Jigmond, Paul Marschall, 2019. "A workflow for parametric sensitivity analysis of heat and gas release from a deep geological repository for SF/HLW", Multiple Roles of Clays in Radioactive Waste Confinement, S. Norris, E.A.C. Neeft, M. Van Geet
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Abstract
A key component of the site comparison planned for the deep geological disposal of spent fuel and high-level waste (SF/HLW) in Switzerland is the assessment of the evolution of repository-induced perturbations in the repository nearfield associated with thermal effects from heat production due to radioactive decay of radionuclides, as well as gas pressures developing in the backfilled underground structures from the anaerobic corrosion of the steel waste canisters and tunnel support materials. The assessment of such effects is integrated in the site comparison through safety indicators used to evaluate repository performance. In this context, probabilistic assessments need to integrate the uncertainty of the entire ensemble of input parameters, and estimate the propagation to these indicators in a reliable and computationally efficient manner. This paper presents the development of a methodology for an indicator-based assessment of heat- and gas-induced effects in a SF/HLW repository in Opalinus Clay integrating a probabilistic treatment of parametric uncertainty. The workflow is demonstrated using preliminary data, repository configurations and indicators. Complementary simulations are presented to demonstrate the feedback to the optimization of repository design in order to mitigate repository-induced effects that can potentially compromise the safety function of the engineered and natural barriers.
- bentonite
- Central Europe
- clastic rocks
- compressibility
- corrosion
- design
- disposal barriers
- Europe
- evaluation
- failures
- gases
- heat capacity
- heat flow
- heat transfer
- high-level waste
- Jurassic
- materials
- Mesozoic
- Monte Carlo analysis
- Opalinus Clay
- optimization
- P-T conditions
- pore pressure
- porosity
- pressure
- properties
- radioactive waste
- safety
- sampling
- saturation
- sedimentary rocks
- sensitivity analysis
- simulation
- standard deviation
- statistical analysis
- Switzerland
- temperature
- thermal conductivity
- thermal history
- thermal properties
- three-dimensional models
- tunnels
- variations
- waste disposal
- Zurich Nordost Switzerland
- Nordlich Lagern Switzerland
- Jura Ost