Clay Hydration, Drying, and Cracking in Nuclear Waste Repositories
Reference Number
EP/X011615/1
Title
Clay Hydration, Drying, and Cracking in Nuclear Waste Repositories
Status
Started
Energy Categories
Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Nuclear supporting technologies)
Research Types
Basic and strategic applied research
Science and Technology Fields
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation
Not Cross-cutting
Principal Investigator
Dr J Harrington
Land Use, Planning and Development
British Geological Survey (BGS) - NERC
Land Use, Planning and Development
British Geological Survey (BGS) - NERC
Award Type
Standard
Funding Source
EPSRC
Start Date
03 April 2023
End Date
02 April 2027
Duration
48 months
Total Grant Value
£329,561
Industrial Sectors
Energy
Region
East Midlands
Programme
Energy and Decarbonisation
Investigators
Principal Investigator
Dr J Harrington, Land Use, Planning and Development, British Geological Survey (BGS) - NERC
Other Investigator
Dr K Daniels, Sch of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract
The design of geologic repositories for high-level waste (HLW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF) remains an incompletely resolved question in the nuclear fuel cycle despite significant advances over the last several decades. A key theme in current designs is the multibarrier concept, whereby several layers of barrier materials, from canisters to EBS to low-permeability host rock, ensure the isolation of the waste. An important role is played by the Engineered Barrier System (EBS), which must maintain adequate sealing capacity (i.e., low hydraulic permeability, mechanical integrity) around the waste canisters for durations of thousands of years while exposed to (i) large thermal gradients caused by heat released by the waste; (ii) large geochemical gradients due to corrosion and ion-exchange reactions at the canister-EBS and EBS-host rock interfaces; and (iii) large geomechanical gradients driven by capillary stresses associated with the initial EBS rehydration, water evaporation and, later, with the possible generation of gases at the canister-EBS interface through corrosion and hydrolysis reactions. The objective of this project is to develop a new multi-scale simulation approach to predict the coupled thermal-hydrologic-mechanical-chemical (THMC) evolution of an engineered clay barrier in the near field of a geological repository for HLW and SNF
Data
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Added to Database
08/02/23
