Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:04:04.958Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Impact of iron released from steel components on the performance of the bentonite buffer: a preliminary assessment within the framework of the KBS-3H disposal concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Paul Wersin ,
Lawrence H. Johnson  and
Margit Snellman
Paul Wersin
Affiliation:
National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, 5430 Wettingen, Switzerland
Lawrence H. Johnson
Affiliation:
National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, 5430 Wettingen, Switzerland
Margit Snellman
Affiliation:
Saanio & Riekkola Oy, Helsinki, Finland
Get access

Abstract

Steel components in the engineered barrier of HLW repositories have a potential to react with the clay buffer and induce adverse effects on its properties. These effects have been assessed within the KBS-3H disposal concept, which includes spent fuel in copper canisters surrounded by bentonite blocks and a steel supercontainer (SC), placed within tunnels in deep crystalline Olkiluoto-type host rock. Based on literature review and thermodynamic modeling, the SC is predicted to completely corrode within a minimum of a few thousand years. The resulting corrosion products are expected to be magnetite, and depending on groundwater compositions, also iron sulfide and perhaps siderite. Furthermore corrosion-derived Fe(II) may react with the clay to form non-swelling phyllosilicates, such as berthierine. From simple mass balance estimates and by applying a more realistic reactive transport model, it can be deduced, that the effect of iron from the SC on the integrity of the bentonite buffer is limited. However, large uncertainties in adequately quantifying this effect pertain due to limited process knowledge on Fe-bentonite interactions.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 932: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXIX , 2006 , 117.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Thorsager, P., Lindgren, E., SKB Report R-04-42, Sweden (2004).Google Scholar
2. Johnson, L.H., Marschall, P., Wersin, P., Gribi, P., Posiva Working Report 2005-09 (2005).Google Scholar
3. Pitkänen, P., Partamies, S., Luukkonen, A., Posiva 2003-07, Finland (2004).Google Scholar
4. Parkhurst, D.L., Appelo, C.A.J., U.S. Geological Survey Report 99-4259 (1999).Google Scholar
5. Wersin, P., J. Contam. Hydrol. 61, 405–422 (2003).Google Scholar
6. Hummel, W., Berner, U., Curti, E., Pearson, F.J., Thoenen, T., Nagra Technical Report NTB 02-16, Switzerland (2002).Google Scholar
7. Wersin, P., Johnson, L.H., Schwyn, B., Mat. Res. Soc. Proc. 807, 539–544 (2004).Google Scholar
8. Pedersen, K., Motamedi, M., Karnland, O., Sandén, T., J. Appl. Microbiol. 89, 1038–1047 (2000).Google Scholar
9. Tournassat, C., PhD thesis (unpubl.), University of Grenoble, France (2003).Google Scholar
10. Smart, N.R., Blackwood, D.J., Werme, L., SKB Technical Report TR-01-22, Sweden (2001).Google Scholar
11. Génin, J.-M., Bourrié, G., Trolard, F., Abdelmoula, M., Jafreciz, A., Refait, P., Maitre, V., Humbert, B., Herbillon, A., Environ. Sci. Technol. 32, 1058–1068 (1998).Google Scholar
12. Smart, N.R., Rance, A.P., Werme, L.O., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 807 (2003).Google Scholar
13. Xia, X., Idemitsu, K., Arima, T., Inagaki, Y., Ishidera, T., Kurosawa, S., Iijima, K., Sato, H., Appl. Clay Sci. (2004) (in press).Google Scholar
14. Oscarson, D.W., Heimann, R.B., Clay Minerals 23, 81–90 (1988).Google Scholar
15. Guillaume, D., Neaman, A., Cathalineau, M., Mosser-Ruck, R., Pfeiffert, C., Abdelmoula, M., Dubessy, J., Villeras, F., Michau, N., Clay Minerals 39, 17–34 (2004).Google Scholar
16. Cathelinau, M., ANDRA International Conference, 14-18 March 2005, Tours, France (2005).Google Scholar
17. Lantenois, S., PhD thesis (unpubl.), University of Orléans, France (2003).Google Scholar
18. Carlson, L., Karnland, O., Oversby, V.M., Rance, A.P., Smart, N.R., Snellman, M., Vähänen, M., Werme, L.O., Physics and Chemistry of the Earth (2005) (subm.).Google Scholar
19. Wilson, J., Cressey, G., Cressey, B., Cuadros, J., Ragnarsdottir, K.V., Savage, D., Shibata, M., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta (2005) (subm.).Google Scholar
20. Yu, J.-W., Neretnieks, I., SKB Technical Report TR 97-12, Sweden.Google Scholar