Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical experiment at Kamaishi mine technical note 14-99-01; Verification of the buffer material emplacement technique

Sugita, Yutaka ; Chijimatsu, Masakazu*; Fujita, Tomoo ; Tranduc, P.*

It is an important part of the near field performance assessment of nuclear waste disposal to evaluate coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (T-H-M) phenomena, e.g., thermal effects on groundwater flow through rock matrix and water seepage into the buffer material, the generation of swelling pressure of the buffer material, and thermal stresses potentially affecting porosity and fracture apertures of the rock. An in-situ T-H-M experiment named "Engineered Barrier Experiment" was conducted at the Kamaishi Mine, in which the host rock is granodiorite, in order to establish conceptual models of the coupled T-H-M processes and to build confidence in mathematical models and computer codes. This report summarizes the results of the in-situ direct compaction technique to evaluate the appropriate conditions for this technique. The in-situ direct compaction technique is one of the major candidate emplacement techniques for the buffer material. This experiment consisted of the mock-up tests and the in-situ test. The mock-up tests showed the appropriate conditions for the in-situ direct compaction technique. For the in-situ experiment, the manufactured OT-9607 achieved dry density averaged 1.65 g/cm, which matched the demand for the thermo-hydro-mechanical experiment.