Long-Term Experiments for Demonstrating Durability of a Concrete Barrier and Gas Generation in a Low-and Intermediate-Level Waste Disposal Facility

Long-term experiments have been conducted on two important safety issues: long-term durability of a concrete barrier with the steel reinforcements and gas generation from low-and intermediate-level wastes in an underground research tunnel of a radioactive waste disposal facility. The gas generation and microbial communities were monitored from waste packages (200 L and 320 L) containing simulated dry active wastes. In the concrete experiment, corrosion sensors were installed on the steel reinforcements which were embedded 10 cm below the surface of concrete in a concrete mock-up, and groundwater was fed into the mock-up at a pressure of 2.1 bars to accelerate groundwater infiltration. No clear evidence was observed with respect to corrosion initiation of the steel reinforcement for 4 years of operation. This is attributed to the high integrity and low hydraulic conductivity of the concrete. In the gas generation experiment, significant levels of gas generation were not measured for 4 years. These experiments are expected to be conducted for a period of more than 10 years.