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Evaluation of temperature-induced effects on safety-relevant properties of clay host rocks with regard to HLW/SF disposal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

M. Jobmann  and
A. Meleshyn
M. Jobmann*
Affiliation:
DBE TECHNOLOGY GmbH, Eschenstraße 55, D-31224 Peine, Germany
A. Meleshyn
Affiliation:
Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) gGmbH, Theodor-Heuss-Straße 4, D-38122 Braunschweig, Germany
*
*E-mail: jobmann@dbe.de
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Abstract

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DBE TECHNOLOGY, BGR and GRS are developing a methodology to demonstrate the safety of a repository for high-level waste and spent fuel (HLW/SF) in clays according to the requirements of the German regulating body. In particular, these requirements prescribe that the barrier effect of host rocks must not be compromised by a thermal impact resulting from HLW/SF emplacement. To substantiate and quantify this requirement, we carried out a literature survey of research on thermally-induced changes on clay properties. Effects thus compiled can be divided into thermo-hydro-mechanical and chemical-biological-mineralogical effects and were analysed with regard to their relevance to the integrity of clay host rocks. This analysis identified one effect of major influence within each group: thermal expansion and compaction as well as results of microbial activities. Importantly, it further revealed that a moderate temperature increase above 100°C cannot be expected to compromise the integrity of the geological barrier according to the current knowledge state. Evidence is presented in this paper that temperature increases up to 150°C can actually contribute to an improved performance of a radioactive waste repository by increasing the consolidation of the clay and sterilizing the repository's near-field to depress the deteriorative microbial effects. A quantitative temperature criterion for thermal impact of HLW/SF on clay host rocks is accordingly proposed.

Keywords

geological barriertemperature criterionbarrier integrityhost rocksafety
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 79 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 1389 - 1395
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2015. This is an open access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (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 2015

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