Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:26:11.746Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gas flow in Callovo-Oxfordian claystone (COx): results from laboratory and field-scale measurements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

J. F. Harrington ,
R. de la Vaissière ,
D. J. Noy ,
R. J. Cuss  and
J. Talandier
J. F. Harrington*
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
R. de la Vaissière
Affiliation:
Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs (ANDRA), Chatenay-Malabry, France
D. J. Noy
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
R. J. Cuss
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
J. Talandier
Affiliation:
Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs (ANDRA), Chatenay-Malabry, France
*
*E-mail: jfha@bgs.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

To understand the fate and impact of gas produced within a repository for radioactive waste, a series of laboratory and field scale experiments have been performed on the Callovo-Oxfordian claystone (COx), the proposed host rock for the French repository. Results show the movement of gas is through a localized network of pathways, whose properties vary temporarily and spatially within the claystone. Significant evidence exists from detailed laboratory studies for the movement of gas along highly unstable pathways, whose aperture and geometry vary as a function of local stress, gas and porewater pressures. The coupling of these parameters results in the development of significant time-dependent effects, impacting on all aspects of COx behaviour, from gas breakthrough time, to the control of deformation processes. Variations in gas entry, breakthrough and steady-state pressures are indicative of microstructural heterogeneity which exerts an important control on the movement of gas. The localization of gas flow is also evident in preliminary results from the large scale gas injection test (PGZ) where gas flow is initially focussed within the excavation damaged zone (EDZ), which acts as a preferential pathway for gas. Numerical models based on conventional two-phase flow theory are unable to adequately describe the detailed observations from laboratory tests.

Keywords

gas flowgeological disposalmodellingradioactive waste
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 76 , Issue 8 , December 2012 , pp. 3303 - 3318
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

References

Andra (2005) Argile: Référentiel du site de Meuse/ Haute-Marne , Tome 2: Caracté risation Comportementale du Milieu Géologique sous Perturbation. Andra, Chatenay-Malabry, France.Google Scholar
Angeli, M., Soldal, M., Skurtveit, E. and Aker, E. (2009) Experimental percolation of supercritical CO2 through a caprock. Energy Procedia, 1, 3351–3358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baechler, S., Lavanchy, J.M., Armand, G. and Cruchaudet, M. (2011) Characterisation of the hydraulic properties within the EDZ around drifts at level 490 mof the Meuse/ Haute-Marne URL: a methodology for consistent interpretation of hydraulic tests. Physics and Chemisty of the Earth, Parts A/ B/C, 36, 1922–1931.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de la Vaissiére, R. and Talandier, J. (2012) Gas Entry Pressure in Callovo-Oxfordian Claystone: in situ Experiment PGZ1. Actes du Colloque National Transfert 2012/workshop organised in the framework of the EU FP7 project FORGE, Ecole Centrale de Lille/LML, 20–22.March 2012.Google Scholar
de Marsily, G. (1986) Quantitative Hydrogeology for Engineers. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida, USA.Google Scholar
Harrington, J.F. and Horseman, S.T. (1999) Gas transport properties of clays and mudrocks. Pp. 107–124.in: Muds and Mudstones: Physical and Fluid Flow Properties (A.C. Aplin A.J. Fleet, and J.H.S. Macquaker, editors). Geological Society of London Special Publication, 158. Geological Society of London, London.Google Scholar
Harrington, J.F., Noy, D.J., Horseman, S.T., Birchall, J.D. and Chadwick, R.A. (2009) Laboratory study of gas and water flow in the Nordland Shale, Sleipner, North Sea. Pp. 521–543in: Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in Geological Media - State of the Science (M. Grobe J.C.Pashin and R.L. Dodge, editors) AAPG Studies in Geology, 59. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, Oklahoma, US.Google Scholar
Horseman, S.T., Harrington, J.F. and Sellin, P. (1996) Gas migration in Mx80 buffer bentonite. Materials Research Society, 465, 1003–1010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horseman, S.T., Harrington, J.F. and Sellin, P. (2004) Water and gas flow in Mx80 bentonite buffer clay. Materials Research Society, 807, 715–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huyakorn, P.S. and Pinder, G.F. (1983) Computational Methods in Subsurface Flow. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida, USA.Google Scholar
INTERA (1983) STAFAN: A Two-Dimensional Code for Fluid Flow and the Interaction of Fluid Pressure and Stress in Fractured Rock for Repository Performance Assessment. Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation Report ONWI 427.Google Scholar
Ortiz, L., Volckaert, G. and Mallants, D. (2002) Gas generation and migration in Boom Clay, a potential host rock formation for nuclear waste storage. Engineering Geology, 64, 287–296.Google Scholar
Weetjens, E. and Sillen, X. (2006) Gas Generation and Migration in the Near Field of a Supercontainer- Based Disposal System for Vitrified High-Level Radioactive Waste. Proceedings of the 11th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conf. (IHLRWM), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.Google Scholar
Wikramaratna, R.S., Goodfield, M., Rodwell, W.R. Nash, P.J. and Agg, P.J. (1993) A Preliminary Assessment of Gas Migration from the Copper/Steel Canister. SKB Technical report TR93–31.Google Scholar
Wileveau, Y. and Bernier, F. (2008) Similarities in the hydromechanical response of Callovo-Oxfordian clay and Boom Clay during gallery excavation. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 33, S343–S349.Google Scholar
Zweigel, P., Moen, A. Vassenden, F. and Erdmann, M. (2006) The role of hysteretic two-phase flow processes during capillary leakage. American Association of Petroleum Geologists International Conference and Exhibition, Perth, 5–8.November 2006, [conference abstract].Google Scholar