Countermeasures against piping and erosion of bentonite buffer; Piping inhibition due to pre-hydration

Shirase, Mitsuyasu*; Ishii, Tomoko*; Kobayashi, Ichizo*; Jo, Mayumi*; Ono, Makoto*; Nakayama, Masashi 

A candidate emplacement concept of the engineered barrier system (EBS) for geological disposal in Japan is vertical emplacement option, which has a certain gap is between the wall of the disposal hole and the buffer material. This gap is considered to be filled with the swollen buffer material (self-sealing function) when the underground water is infiltrated to the buffer material. However, some underground water flow conditions such as a pipe-shaped water channel induce erosion of the buffer material, which causes lowering of the function of the EBS. Therefore, RWMC (Radioactive Waste Management Funding and Research Center) studies engineering countermeasures against piping and erosion. RWMC used an intentional water supply system to test the pre-hydration of bentonite buffers.