• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2020

An engineered barrier system (EBS) for the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) consists of a disposal canister packed with spent fuel, buffer material, backfill material, and gap-filling material. The buffer material fills the space between the canister and the near-field rock, thus serving to restrain the release of radionuclides and protect the canister from groundwater penetration. Furthermore, as significant amounts of heat energy are released from the canister to the surrounding rock, the thermal conductivity of the buffer plays an important role in maintaining the safety of the entire disposal system. Therefore, given the high levels of heat released from disposal canisters, this study measured the thermal conductivities of compacted bentonite buffers from Gyeongju under temperature variations ranging 25 to 80~90℃. There was a 5~20% increase in thermal conductivity as the temperature increased, and the temperature effect increased as the degree of saturation increased.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.5-11
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• 2021

The compacted bentonite buffer is one of the most important components in an engineered barrier system (EBS) to dispose of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) produced by nuclear power generation. The compacted bentonite buffer has a crucial role in protecting the disposal canister against the external impact and penetration of groundwater, so it has to satisfy the thermal-hydraulic-mechanical requirements. Even though there have been various researches on the investigation of thermal-hydraulic properties, few studies have been conducted to evaluate mechanical properties for the compacted bentonite buffer. For this reason, this paper conducted a series of unconfined compression tests and obtained mechanical properties such as unconfined compressive strength, elastic modulus, and void ratio of Korean compacted bentonite specimens with different water content and dry density values. The unconfined compressive strength and elastic modulus increased, and the Poisson's ratio decreased a little with increasing dry density. It showed that unconfined compressive strength and elastic modulus were proportional to dry density. However, there was not a remarkable correlation between mechanical properties and water content.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2018

A geological repository system consists of a disposal canister with packed spent fuel, buffer material, backfill material, and intact rock. The buffer is indispensable to assure the disposal safety of high-level radioactive waste. Since the heat generated from spent nuclear fuel in a disposal canister is released to the surrounding buffer materials, the thermal properties of the buffer material are very important in determining the entire disposal safety. Especially, since thermal expansion can cause thermal stress to the intact rock mass in the near-field, it is very important to evaluate thermal expansion characteristics of bentonite buffer materials. Therefore, this paper presents a thermal expansion coefficient prediction model of the Gyeongju bentonite buffer materials which is a Ca-bentonite produced in South Korea. The linear thermal expansion coefficient was measured considering heating rate, dry density and temperature variation using dilatometer equipment. Thermal expansion coefficient values of the Gyeongju bentonite buffer materials were $4.0{\sim}6.0{\times}10^{-6}/^{\circ}C$. Based on the experimental results, a non-linear regression model to predict the thermal expansion coefficient was suggested and fitted according to the dry density.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.199-206
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• 2017

A geological repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste is generally constructed in host rock at depths of 500~1,000 meters below the ground surface. A geological repository system consists of a disposal canister with packed spent fuel, buffer material, backfill material, and intact rock. The buffer is indispensable to assure the disposal safety of high-level radioactive waste, and it can restrain the release of radionuclides and protect the canister from the inflow of groundwater. Since high temperature in a disposal canister is released to the surrounding buffer material, the thermal properties of the buffer material are very important in determining the entire disposal safety. Even though there have been many studies on thermal conductivity, there have been only few studies that have investigates the specific heat capacity of the bentonite buffer. Therefore, this paper presents a specific heat capacity prediction model for compacted Gyeongju bentonite buffer material, which is a Ca-bentonite produced in Korea. Specific heat capacity of the compacted bentonite buffer was measured using a dual probe method according to various degrees of saturation and dry density. A regression model to predict the specific heat capacity of the compacted bentonite buffer was suggested and fitted using 33 sets of data obtained by the dual probe method.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.284-291
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• 2010

In the present design concept of a high-level waste repository, the bentonite and bentonite-sand mixture are considered as the buffer and backfill material. For the Kyungju bentonite which is a candidate material, the thermal conductivities of compacted bentonite and bentonite-sand mixture were measured. A correlation has been proposed to predict the thermal conductivity of the Kyungju bentonite and the bentonite-sand mixture as a function of the dry density, the water content and the sand fraction. The proposed correlation can predict the thermal conductivity with a difference less than 10% under the experimental conditions.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.193-213
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• 2020

A mathematical model to simulate more realistically the penetration of compacted bentonite buffer installed in the deposition hole into the discontinuity in the excavation damaged zone formed at the inner wall of the deposition hole in the geological repository for spent fuel is developed. In this model, the penetration of compacted bentonite is assumed to be the flow of Bingham fluid through the parallel planar rock fracture. The penetration of compacted bentonite is analyzed using the developed model. The results show that the maximum penetration depth of compacted bentonite into the rock fracture is proportioned to the swelling pressure of saturated compacted bentonite and the aperture of rock fracture. However, it is in inverse proportion to the yield strength of compacted bentonite. The viscosity of compacted bentonite dominates the penetration rate of compacted bentonite, but has no influence to the maximum penetration depth.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2009

Investigation of resaturation and thermal-hydro-mechanical behavior for the buffer of a repository requires measuring the water content of compacted bentonite. This study investigated the relative humidity of compacted bentonites using a humidity sensor (Vaisala HMT 334) applicable under high temperature and pressure, and then conducted a multi-regression analysis based on the measured results to determine relationships among the water content, relative humidity, and temperature. The relationships for the compacted bentonites with the dry densities of 1,500 $kg/m^3$ and 1,600 $kg/m^3$ were expressed as ${\omega}=0.196RH-0.029T+1.391({r^2=0.96)}$ and ${\omega}=0.199RH-0.029T+2.596({r^2=0.98)}$, respectively. These were then used to interpret the resaturation of bentonite blocks in the KENTEX test.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.264-273
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• 2011

Bentonite buffer is one of the major components of an engineered barrier for an HLW (High-Level Waste) repository. The bentonite buffer is significantly exposed to the decay heat from radioactive wastes, the inflow of groundwater from the surrounding rock of the repository, and the high swelling pressure of densely-compacted bentonite that comes in contact with the groundwater. Therefore, it is essential to understand the THM (Thermal-Hydro-Mechanical) behavior of the bentonite buffer and to acquire the input data of its related constitutive models for the performance and safety assessment of an HLW repository. This paper analyzed the THM properties which have been obtained by conducting laboratory tests with a candidate buffer material for a Korean HLW repository. Moreover the formulation recipe of the reference bentonite buffer was defined on the basis of functional criteria, thus suggesting the THM properties which correspond to the formulation recipe of the reference bentonite buffer.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2019

High-level radioactive waste (HLW) such as spent fuel is inevitably produced when nuclear power plants are operated. A geological repository has been considered as one of the most adequate options for the disposal of HLW, and it will be constructed in host rock at a depth of 500~1,000 meters below ground level with the concept of an engineered barrier system (EBS) and a natural barrier system. The compacted bentonite buffer is one of the most important components of the EBS. As the compacted bentonite buffer is located between disposal canisters with spent fuel and the host rock, it can restrain the release of radionuclides and protect canisters from the inflow of groundwater. Because of inflow of groundwater into the compacted bentonite buffer, it is essential to investigate soil-water characteristic curves (SWCC) of the compacted bentonite buffer in order to evaluate the entire safety performance of the EBS. Therefore, this paper conducted laboratory experiments to analyze the SWCC for a Korean Ca-type compacted bentonite buffer considering dry density, confined or unconfined condition, and drying or wetting path. There was no significant difference of SWCC considering dry density under unconfined condition. Furthermore, it was found that there was higher water suction in unconfined condition that in confined condition, and higher water suction during drying path than during wetting path.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.7-14
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• 2019

The compacted bentonite buffer is one of the major components of an engineered barrier system (EBS) for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW), and it is considered the best candidate for the buffer material. The buffer is located between disposal canisters and near-field rock mass, and it interrupts the release of radionuclide from disposal canisters and protect them from the penetration of groundwater. At initial disposal condition, degree of saturation of the compacted bentonite buffer decreases because of high thermal quantities released from the disposal canisters. However, the degree of saturation of the compacted bentonite buffer gradually increases caused by inflow of groundwater. The saturated and unsaturated behavior of the buffer is a very important input data since it can determine the safety performance of EBS. Therefore, this paper investigated water retention capacity (WRC) for the Korean compacted bentonite buffer. The WRC of the compacted bentonite buffer was derived by measuring volumetric water content and water suction when temperature variation was between 24℃~125℃ considering decrease of degree of saturation with respect to temperature increase. The WRC was also derived with the same volumetric water content under the room temperature condition, and it showed 1~15% larger water suction than high temperature condition.