Characterization of samples of a cement-borehole plug in bedded evaporites
This report describes the laboratory characterization of a section of an eighteen-year-old cement-based plug emplaced to seal a four-inch (ten-centimeter) borehole in the Salado Formation near Carlsbad, NM. The dominantly halite salt strata contain a horizon rich in potassium-bearing minerals such as langbeinite, in the plug region. Other host rock minerals identified include illite, kainite, magnesite, syngenite and polyhalite. Identified in the plug were: the cement phase calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H having an intermediate degree of crystallinity), Friedel's salt, halite, sylvite and portlandite. The plug, though intact, unfractured on a macroscale, and forming an adequate physical bond with the salt formation, was weak and permeable relative to the surrounding bedded salt. Characterization of the plug and rock was carried out by a combination of measurements: compressive strength, permeability, density and porosity, thermal measurements (DTA, TGA), x-ray diffractometry, SEM and optical (including thin section) microscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray analysis for chemical composition.
- Research Organization:
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park (USA). Materials Research Labs.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 6480879
- Report Number(s):
- ONWI-70
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BOREHOLES
BUILDING MATERIALS
CAVITIES
CEMENTS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CLOSURES
COHERENT SCATTERING
COMPRESSION STRENGTH
DENSITY
DIFFERENTIAL THERMAL ANALYSIS
DIFFRACTION
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS
INTERFACES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MICROSCOPY
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OPTICAL MICROSCOPY
PERMEABILITY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POROSITY
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
ROCKS
SALT DEPOSITS
SCATTERING
STORAGE
THERMAL ANALYSIS
THERMAL GRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS
UNDERGROUND STORAGE
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE STORAGE
X-RAY DIFFRACTION