• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2013

Bentonite is generally used as a buffer material in high-level radioactive waste disposal facilities and consists of 50% quartz by weight. Quartz strongly affects the behavior of bentonite over very long periods. For this reason, quartz dissolution experiment was performed under high-pressure and high-alkalinity conditions based on the conditions found in a high-level radioactive waste disposal facility located deep underground. In this study, two quartz dissolution experiments were conducted on 1) quartz beads under low-pressure and high-alkalinity conditions and 2) a single quartz crystal under high-pressure and high-alkalinity conditions. Following the experiments, a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) was used to observe the surfaces of experimental samples. Numerical analyses using the finite element method (FEM) were also performed to quantify the deformation of contact area. Quartz dissolution was observed in both experiments. This deformation was due to a concentrated compressive stress field, as indicated by the quartz deformation of the contact area through the FEM analysis. According to the numerical results, a high compressive stress field acted upon the neighboring contact area, which showed a rapid dissolution rate compared to other areas of the sample.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.469-488
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• 2022

Technology for high-level-waste disposal employing a multibarrier concept using engineered and natural barrier in stable bedrock at 300-1,000 m depth is being commercialized as a safe, long-term isolation method for high-level waste, including spent nuclear fuel. Managing heat generated from waste is important for improving disposal efficiency; thus, research on efficient heat management is required. In this study, thermal management methods to maximize disposal efficiency in terms of the disposal area required were developed. They efficiently use the land in an environment, such as Korea, where the land area is small and the amount of waste is large. The thermal effects of engineered barriers and natural barriers in a high-level waste disposal repository were analyzed. The research status of thermal management for the main bedrocks of the repository, such as crystalline, clay, salt, and other rocks, were reviewed. Based on a characteristics analysis of various heat management approaches, the spent nuclear fuel cooling time, buffer bentonite thermal conductivity, and disposal container size were chosen as efficient heat management methods applicable in Korea. For each method, thermal analyses of the disposal repository were performed. Based on the results, the disposal efficiency was evaluated preliminarily. Necessary future research is suggested.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2018

There would be a possibility of uranium contamination around the nuclear power plants and the underground waste disposal sites, where the uranium could further migrate and diffuse to some distant places by groundwater. It is necessary to understand the biogeochemical behaviors of uranium in underground environments to effectively control the migration and diffusion of uranium. In general, various kinds of microbes are living in soils and geological media where the activity of microbes may be closely connected with the redox reaction of nuclides resulting in the changes of their solubility. We investigated the adsorption and precipitation behaviors of dissolved uranium on some solid materials using hydrogen gas as an electron donor instead of organic matters. Although the effect of hydrogen gas did not appear in a batch experiment that used granite as a solid material, there occurred a reduction of uranium concentration by 5~8% due to hydrogen in an experiment using bentonite. This result indicates that some indigenous bacteria in the bentonite that have utilized hydrogen as the electron donor affected the behavior (reduction) of uranium. In addition, the bentonite bacteria have showed their strong tolerance against a given high temperature and radioactivity of a specific waste environment, suggesting that the nuclear-biogeochemical reaction may be one of main mechanisms if the natural bentonite is used as a buffer material for the disposal site in the future.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.262-279
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• 2019

In the engineering barriers of high-level radioactive waste disposal, gases could be generated through a number of processes. If the gas production rate exceeds the gas diffusion rate, the pressure of the gas increases and gases could migrate through the bentonite buffer. Because people and the environment can be exposed to radioactivity, it is very important to clarify gas migration in terms of long-term integrity of the engineered barrier system. In particular, it is necessary to identify the hydro-mechanical mechanism for the dilation flow, which is a very important gas flow phenomenon only in medium containing large amounts of clay materials such as bentonite buffer, and to develop and validate new numerical approach for the quantitative evaluation of the gas migration phenomenon. Therefore, in this study, we developed a two-phase flow model considering the mechanical damage model in order to simulate the gas migration in the engineered barrier system, and validated with 1D gas flow modelling through saturated bentonite under constant volume boundary conditions. As a result of numerical analysis, the rapid increase in pore water pressure, stress, and gas outflow could be simulated when the dilation flow was occurred.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.183-202
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• 2019

For design and performance assessment of a high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal system, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) behavior. However, in previous studies for the Korean Reference HLW Disposal System (KRS), thermal analysis was performed to determine the spacing of disposal tunnels and interval of disposition holes without consideration of the coupled THM behavior. Therefore, in this study, TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D is used to conduct THM modeling for performance assessment of the Korean Reference HLW Disposal System (KRS). The peak temperature remains below the temperature limit of $100^{\circ}C$ for the whole period. A rapid rise of temperature caused by decay heat occurs in the early years, and then temperature begins to decrease as decay heat from the waste decreases. The peak temperature at the bentonite buffer is around $96.2^{\circ}C$ after about 3 years, and peak temperature at the rockmass is $68.2^{\circ}C$ after about 17 years. Saturation of the bentonite block near the canister decreases in the early stage, because water evaporation occurs owing to temperature increase. Then, saturation of the bentonite buffer and backfill increases because of water intake from the rockmass, and bentonite buffer and backfill are fully saturated after about 266 years. The stress is calculated to investigate the effect of thermal stress and swelling pressure on the mechanical behavior of the rockmass. The calculated stress is compared to a spalling criterion and the Mohr-Coulumb criterion for investigation of potential failure. The stress at the rockmass remains below the spalling strength and Mohr-Coulumb criterion for the whole period. The methodology of using the TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D simulator can be applied to predict the long-term behavior of the KRS under various conditions; these methods will be useful for the design and performance assessment of alternative concepts such as multi-layer and multi-canister concepts for geological spent fuel repositories.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.117-131
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• 2006

A coupled T-H-M(Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical) analysis was carried out for KENTEX (KAERI Engineering-scale T-H-M Experiment for Engineered Barrier System), which is a facility for validating the coupled T-H-M behavior in the engineered barrier system of the Korean reference HLW(high-level waste) disposal system. The changes of temperature, water saturation, and stress were estimated based on the coupled T-H-M analysis, and the influence of the types of mechanical constitutive material laws was investigated by using elastic model, poroelastic model, and poroelastic-plastic model. The analysis was done using ABAQUS, which is a commercial finite element code for general purposes. From the analysis, it was observed that the temperature in the bentonite increased sharply for a couple of days after heating the heater and then slowly increased to a constant value. The temperatures at all locations were nearly at a steady state after about 37.5 days. In the steady state, the temperature was maintained at $90^{\circ}C$ at the interface between the heater and the bentonite and at about $70^{\circ}C$ at the interface between the bentonite and the confining cylinder. The variation of the water saturation with time in bentonite was almost same independent of the material laws used in the coupled T-H-M processes. By comparing the saturation change of T-H-M and that of H-M(Hydro-Mechanical) processes using elastic and poroelastic material mod31 respectively, it was found that the degree of saturation near the heater from T-H-M calculation was higher than that from the coupled H-M calculation mainly because of the thermal flux, which seemed to speed up the saturation. The stresses in three cases with different material laws were increased with time. By comparing the stress change in H-M calculation using poroelasetic and poroelasetic-plastic model, it was possible to conclude that the influence of saturation on the stress change is higher than the influence of temperature. It is, therefore, recommended to use a material law, which can model the elastic-plastic behavior of buffer, since the coupled T-H-M processes in buffer is affected by the variation of void ratio, thermal expansion, as well as swelling pressure.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.359-381
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• 2020

Within the framework of DECOVALEX-2019 Task D, full-scale engineered barriers experiment (FEBEX) at Grimsel Test Site was numerically simulated to investigate an applicability of implemented Barcelona basic model (BBM) into TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D simulator, which was developed for the prediction of the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of bentonite buffer. And the calculated heater power, temperature, relative humidity, total stress, saturation, water content and dry density were compared with in situ data monitored in the various sections. In general, the calculated heater power and temperature provided a fairly good agreement with experimental observations, however, the difference between power of heater #1 and that of heater #2 could not captured in the numerical analysis. It is necessary to consider lamprophyre with low thermal conductivity around heater #1 and non-simplified installation progresses of bentonite blocks in the tunnel for better modeling results. The evolutions and distributions of relative humidity were well reproduced, but hydraulic model needs to be modified because the re-saturation process was relatively fast near the heaters. In case of stress evolutions due to the thermal and hydraulic expansions, the computed stress was in good agreement with the data. But, the stress is slightly higher than the measured in situ data at the early stage of the operation, because gap between rock mass and bentonite blocks have not been considered in the numerical simulations. The calculated distribution of saturation, water content, and dry density along the radial distance showed good agreement with the observations after the first and final dismantling. The calculated dry density near the center of the FEBEX tunnel and heaters were overestimated compared with the observations. As a result, the saturation and water content were underestimated with the measurements. Therefore, numerical model of permeability is needed to modify for the production of better numerical results. It will be possible to produce the better analysis results and more realistically predict the coupled THM behavior in the bentonite blocks by performing the additional studies and modifying the numerical model based on the results of this study.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2011

An engineering scale test, which is called KENTEX, was carried out to understand and to analyze the coupled thermal, hydrological and mechanical phenomena in the engineered barrier system(EBS) of Korean reference disposal system. Using the experimental data obtained from KENTEX, the water saturation processes in bentonite could be analyzed. From the comparison between the model calculation using ABAQUS and the experimental results, the difference of the water content between them in the unsaturating part was large because the drying phenomena due to moisture redistribution by the temperature gradient could not be included in the model. In the saturating part, the difference of the water content between them was decreased gradually and showed to be small in the full saturation. And the time of about 95% saturation could be estimated about 500 days from the model calculation and experimental results. Also it could be known that the moisture redistribution in the unsaturated part could not be affected on the saturation time of bentonite in the repository. Therefore, it is considered that this model could be used to quantitatively predict the water saturation time in bentonite as EBS for the disposal system.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.491-501
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• 2022

Bentonite has been proposed as a buffer and backfill material for high-level radioactive waste repository. Under such repository environment conditions, bentonite is subjected to combined thermal, hydrological, mechanical, and chemical processes. This study evaluates the feasibility of applying X-ray CT technology on the characterization of bentonite under hydration conditions using a newly developed testing cell. The cylindrical cell is made of platic material, with a removable cap to place the sample, enabling to apply vertical pressure on the sample and to measure swelling pressure. The hydration test was carried out with a sample made of Gyeonju bentonite, with a dry density of 1.4 g/cm³, and a water content of 20%. The sample had a diameter of 27.5 mm and a height of 34 mm. During the test, water was injected at a constant pressure of 0.207 MPa, and lasted for 7 days. After one day of hydration, bentonite swelled and filled out the space inside the cell. Moreover, CT histograms showed how the hydration process induced an initial increase and later progressive decrease on the density of the sample. Detailed profiles of the mean CT value, CT standard deviation, and CT gradient provided more details on the hydration process of the sample and showed how the bottom and top regions exhibited a decrease on density while the middle region showed an increase, especially during the first two days of hydration. Later, the differences in CT values with respect to the initial state decreased, and were small at the end of testing. The formation and later reduction of cracks was also characterized through CT scanning.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2004

This paper presents the mechanical and thermal stress analysis of a disposal canister to provide basic information for dimensioning the canister and configuration of the canister components. The structural stress analysis is carried out using a finite element analysis code, NISA, and focused on the structural strength of the canister against the expected external pressures due to the swelling of the bentonite buffer and the hydrostatic head, and the thermal load build up in the container.