• 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.9 no.4
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• pp.199-206
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• 2011

The influence of water salinity on the hydraulic conductivities of compacted bentonites with several dry densities were studied. The hydraulic conductivity increases with increasing salinity only when the dry density of bentonite is relatively low. The degree of increase becomes more remarkable at a lower dry density of bentonite. For bentonite with the density of 1.0 $Mg/m^3$ and 1.2 $Mg/m^3$, the hydraulic conductivity of the 0.4 M NaCl solution increases up to about 7 times and 3 times, respectively higher than that of freshwater. However, for the bentonite with a dry density higher than 1.4 $Mg/m^3$, the salinity has an insignificant effect on the hydraulic conductivity, and the hydraulic conductivity is nearly constant within the salinity range of 0.04 to 0.4 M NaCl. The pre-saturation of the bentonite specimen with freshwater has no significant influence on the hydraulic conductivity.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2011

In the compacted bentonite containing $Ag_2O$, the transport of iodide ion was investigated by Through-diffusion method. It is confirmed that Iodide ion is transported by diffusion process in the compacted bentonite containing $Ag_2O$ as well as in the compacted bentonite without $Ag_2O$. However, the lag-time of iodide ion in the compacted bentonite containing $Ag_2O$ is larger than that in the compacted bentonite without $Ag_2O$. The increase of the lag-time was observed in pure iodide ion solution and also in 0.1M NaCl-iodide ion solution. The apparent diffusion coefficient of iodide ion in the compacted bentonite containing $Ag_2O$ has lower value than that in the compacted bentonite without $Ag_2O$. The effect of $Ag_2O$ on the effective diffusion coefficient was not clearly investigated in the compacted bentonite containing $Ag_2O$ while the values of effective diffusion coefficient of iodide ion in the compacted bentonite without $Ag_2O$ obtained in this study were similar to those in the compacted bentonite reported in the literature.

• 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.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2008

For the Kyungju bentonite which is considered as a candidate material for the buffer and backfill in the high-level waste repository, the thermal conductivities of compacted bentonite and a bentonite-sand mixture were measured. The thermal conductivities of the compacted bentonites with a dry density of 1.2 to $1.8\;Mg/m^3$ and the bentonite-sand mixture with a dry density of 1.6 and $1.8\;Mg/m^3$ were measured within the gravimetric water content range of 10wt% to 20wt% and the sand fraction range of 10 to 30wt%. The thermal conductivity of compacted bentonite and a bentonite-sand mixture increases with increasing dry density and sand weight fraction in the case of constant water weight fraction, and increases with increasing water weight fraction and sand weight fraction in the case of constant dry density. The empirical correlations to describe the thermal conductivity of compacted bentonite and a bentonite-sand mixture as a function of water fraction at each dry density were suggested. These correlations can predict the thermal conductivities of bentonite and a bentonite-sand mixture with a difference below 10%.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.41-50
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• 2019

Gyeongju bentonite is a buffer material primarily considered in Korea and it is highly compacted as a part of an engineered barrier system (EBS) of high-level radioactive waste repository. The compacted bentonite undergoes swelling stress by groundwater penetration and thermal stress by decay heat from a canister. Therefore, the mechanical properties of the compacted bentonite buffer material is crucial for the performance assessment of EBS. This paper aims to evaluate deformation properties of Gyeongju compacted bentonite using seismic methods. Two sets of compacted bentonite specimens were prepared having dry densities of $1.59g/cm^3$ and $1.75g/cm^3$ with water contents of 10.6% and 8.7%. Free-free resonant column tests were performed to measure constrained and unconstrained compression wave velocities. With the measured wave velocities, Young's modulus ($E_{max}$) and constrained modulus ($M_{max}$), material damping ratio ($D_{min}$), and Poisson's ratio at small strain were determined. As results, this paper evaluates the deformation properties of Gyeongju compacted bentonite and compares them with the results of previous researches.

• 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.3 no.4
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• pp.341-348
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• 2005

Bentonite has been considered as a candidate buffer material in the underground repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste because of its low permeability, high sorption capacity, self sealing characteristics, and durability in nature. In this study, the potential for separation of bentonite particles caused by the groundwater erosion was studied experimentally for a Korean Ca-bentonite under the relevant repository conditions. Results showed that bentonite particles can be generated at the bentonite/granite interface and mobilized by the water flow although the intrusion of bentonite into fracture by swelling pressure was observed to be small. Different processes of mobilization of theses colloids from the compacted bentonite block have been identified in this study. The concentration of particles eluted in water was increased as the flow rate increased. Thus the result reveals that the erosion of the bentonite surface due to the groundwater flow together with intrusion processes is the main mechanism that can mobilize bentonite colloids in the fracture of the granite.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.5-12
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• 2010

Soil mixture using bentonite as a cutoff material is used a lot for various structures such as landfills, banks and dams as cutoff materials. But seepage water is expected to seep since shear failure of filter layer occurs due to external load, embankment load when constructed. Generally, only coefficient of permeability of Soil Mixture is considered irrespective of the changes of intensity on amount of additives. This research is to study on how the changes of amount of bentonite affects permeability and strength of soil mixture. So successive experiments for measuring permeability and strength were conducted as the amount of bentonite changes from 0 to 4%, mixing with the bed material and then making specimens. Around construction site of B dam. As a result, 2.085E-07 cm/sec was shown when the amount of Soil Mixture was 4%. It is proved that unconfined compressive strength and tensile strength increase as the amount of bentonite increases, but saturation shear strength of bentonite soil mixture from the CD experiment is hardly influenced by the amount of bentonite.

• 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.