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Comparison of microbiological influences on the transport properties of intact mudstone and sandstone and its relevance to the geological disposal of radioactive waste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

J. Wragg ,
H. Harrison ,
J. M. West  and
H. Yoshikawa
J. Wragg
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
H. Harrison*
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
J. M. West
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
H. Yoshikawa
Affiliation:
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Muramatsu 4-33, Tokai-mura, 319-1194 Ibaraki, Japan
*
*E-mail: hmh@bgs.ac.uk
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Abstract

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The role of the microbial activity on the transport properties of host rocks for geological repositories, particularly in the far-field, is an area of active research. This paper compares results from experiments investigating changes in transport properties caused by microbial activity in sedimentary rocks in Japan (mudstones) and sandstone (UK).

These experiments show that both Pseudomonas denitrificans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa appear to survive and thrive in pressurized flow-through column experiments which utilized host rock materials of relevance to radioactive waste disposal. Indeed, despite there being a difference in the numbers of organisms introduced into both biotic experiments, numbers appear to stabilize at ∼105 ml−1 at their completion. Post experimental imaging has highlighted the distinct differences in biofilm morphology, for the chosen rock types and bacteria, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa derived biofilms completely covering the surface of the sandstone host and Pseudomonas denitrificans forming biofilament structures. Regardless of substrate host or choice of microbe, microbial activity results in measurable changes in permeability. Such activity appears to influence changes in fluid flow and suggests that the transport of radionuclides through the far-field will be complicated by the presence of microbes.

Keywords

biofilm growthgeological disposalmudstonepseudomonasradioactive wastesandstonetransport properties
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 76 , Issue 8 , December 2012 , pp. 3251 - 3259
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
© [2012] The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2012

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