Study on migration behavior of radionuclides in engineered clay barrier (II)

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As a basic research for geological disposal of high-level radioactive wastes, diffusion behavior of radionuclides and corrosion behavior of overpack materials in clay buffer materials (bentonite) were studied. In the study on the diffusion behavior of radionuclides, basal spacing and water content were determined for water saturated, compacted Na-montmorillonite that is major clay mineral of bentonite. The apparent diffusion coefficients of Na, Sr, Cs and Cl ions and their activation energies were also determined at different dry densities of montmorillonite. For all kinds of ions, the activation energies were found to increase as the dry density increased. These findings suggest that the diffusion mechanism of ions in compacted montmorillonite changed with increasing dry density. As a reasonable explanation for the changes in the activation energy, we proposed a multiprocess diffusion model, in which predominant diffusion process is considered to change from pore water diffusion to interlayer diffusion via surface diffusion when the dry density increases. The Na-montmorillonite is expected to alter by the ion exchange with Ca ions, which could be introduced from groundwater and/or cementitious materials in a repository. The apparent diffusion coefficients of Na and Cs ions and their activation energies were studied for Na/Ca montmorillonite mixtures in order to know the effect of this kind of alteration on the diffusion behavior of ions. It was found that the alteration of montmorillonite affected diffusion coefficients and the activation energies for both kinds of cations. These effects cannot be explained only by the pore water diffusion. The multiprocess diffusion model proposed in this study is suggested as the most reasonable explanation for the effects. The oxidation behavior of pyrite in bentonite during drying process was studied for understanding corrosion behavior of overpack materials in bentonite. There ...