Hydraulic and diffusive properties of clay-based backfill material for a low- and intermediate-level waste repository

Book · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:377930

Cho, W J; Lee, J O; Hahn, P S; Park, H H ^[1]

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1. Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst., Taejon (Korea, Republic of). Nuclear Environment Management Center

The results of experimental studies performed to determine the radionuclide diffusion coefficients in a compacted clay and the hydraulic conductivities of clay/crushed granite mixtures with various clay contents are presented. Clay used in the experiments is a natural clay from the southeastern part of Korea, and it contains mainly calcium bentonite. The hydraulic conductivities of clay/crushed granite mixtures decreased with increasing clay content. In case of clay content of 50 wt.%, they maintain the considerably lower values even at the dry density of 1.5 Mg/m{sup 3}. The diffusion coefficients for {sup 90}Sr, {sup 137}Cs, {sup 60}Co and {sup 125}I in water saturated clay at a dry density of 1.4 Mg/m{sup 3} were measured at room temperature. The average apparent diffusion coefficients obtained are 4.5 {times} 10{sup {minus}12} m{sup 2}/s, 9.0 {times} 10{sup {minus}13} m{sup 2}/s, 3.4 {times} 10{sup {minus}13} m{sup 2}/s, and 6.7 {times} 10{sup {minus}11} m{sup 2}/s for {sup 90}Sr, {sup 137}Cs, {sup 60}Co, and {sup 125}I, respectively.

• OSTI ID: 377930
• Report Number(s): CONF-941075--; ISBN 1-55899-253-7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
BACKFILLING
BENTONITE
BULK DENSITY
CESIUM 137
COBALT 60
DIFFUSION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GRANITES
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
IODINE 125
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
STRONTIUM 90
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL