In situ reaction and alteration of mudstone-cement interfaces at the Horonobe URL; Comparison between ordinary Portland cement and low alkaline cement

Dei, Shuntaro; Shibata, Masahito*; Negishi, Kumi*; Sugiura, Yuki; Amano, Yuki; Bateman, K.*; Wilson, J.*; Yokoyama, Tatsunori; Kagami, Saya; Takeda, Masaki; et al.

Results in Earth Sciences (Internet), 3, p.100097_1 - 100097_16, 2025/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rines.2025.100097

Interactions between cement and host rock in geological repositories for radioactive waste will result in a chemically disturbed zone, which may potentially affect the long-term safety. This paper investigates the chemical evolution at the interface between cement (Ordinary Portland Cement: OPC and Low Alkaline Cement: LAC) and mudstone after 11 years of in situ reactions at the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory. The study combines various analytical techniques to identify the key reactions at the cement-rock interface, including cement dissolution, precipitation of secondary minerals such as calcite and C-(A-)S-H phases, cation exchange in montmorillonite and reduced porosity in mudstone. The study also highlights the effects of cement-mudstone interactions on radionuclide migration, such as reduction of diffusivity due to reduced porosity and enhancement of sorption due to incorporation into secondary minerals in the altered mudstone.

Evolution of the reaction and alteration of granite with Ordinary Portland cement leachates; Sequential flow experiments and reactive transport modelling

Bateman, K.*; Murayama, Shota*; Hanamachi, Yuji*; Wilson, J.*; Seta, Takamasa*; Amano, Yuki; Kubota, Mitsuru*; Ouchi, Yuji*; Tachi, Yukio

Minerals (Internet), 12(7), p.883_1 - 883_20, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.3390/min12070883

The Impact of cement on argillaceous rocks in radioactive waste disposal systems; A Review focusing on key processes and remaining issues

Wilson, J.*; Bateman, K.; Tachi, Yukio

Applied Geochemistry, 130, p.104979_1 - 104979_19, 2021/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2021.104979

The concept of deep geological disposal will include the multiple use of cement-based materials. In the case of argillaceous host rocks, the presence of hyperalkaline cement porefluid results in the destabilization of primary minerals in the argillite, resulting in the development of a zone of alteration at cement-rock interfaces. The process understanding gained from experimental, analogue, and modelling studies has been reviewed, and remaining areas of uncertainty identified. Although there is a reasonably good understanding of the mineral assemblages that are likely to occur due to cement-rock interactions, there are still some areas where a degree of uncertainty remains, in particular: the evolution of cement-argillite interfaces at T 25C; the rates at which secondary minerals form; the extent of pore clogging due to secondary mineral precipitation; the implications of alteration for radionuclide transport.

Natural systems evidence for the effects of temperature and the activity of aqueous silica upon montmorillonite stability in clay barriers for the disposal of radioactive wastes

Savage, D.*; Wilson, J.*; Benbow, S.*; Sasamoto, Hiroshi; Oda, Chie; Walker, C.*; Kawama, Daisuke*; Tachi, Yukio

Applied Clay Science, 179, p.105146_1 - 105146_10, 2019/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2019.105146

Natural systems evidence for the effects of temperature and the activity of aqueous silica upon montmorillonite stability was evaluated. Thermodynamic modeling using three different TDBs shows that stability fields for montmorillonite exist from 0 to 140C, but at low values of silica activity, a stability field for illite replaces that for montmorillonite. Pore fluid chemical and mineralogical data for sediments from ODP sites from offshore Japan show a trend from montmorillonite + amorphous silica stability at temperatures up to 60C to that for illite + quartz at higher temperatures. However, even over very long timescales ( 1 Ma), smectite does not transform to illite under thermodynamically-favourable conditions at temperatures less than 80C.

Inverse odd-even staggering in nuclear charge radii and possible octupole collectivity in At revealed by in-source laser spectroscopy

Barzakh, A. E.*; Cubiss, J. G.*; Andreyev, A. N.; Seliverstov, M. D.*; Andel, B.*; Antalic, S.*; Ascher, P.*; Atanasov, D.*; Beck, D.*; Biero, J.*; et al.

Physical Review C, 99(5), p.054317_1 - 054317_9, 2019/05

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.99.054317

Uniaxial pressure effect on the magnetic ordered moment and transition temperatures in BaFeTAs ( = Co,Ni)

Tam, D. M.*; Song, Y.*; Man, H.*; Cheung, S. C.*; Yin, Z.*; Lu, X.*; Wang, W.*; Frandsen, B. A.*; Liu, L.*; Gong, Z.*; et al.

Physical Review B, 95(6), p.060505_1 - 060505_6, 2017/02

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.060505

The Martian surface radiation environment; A Comparison of models and MSL/RAD measurements

Matthi, D.*; Ehresmann, B.*; Lohf, H.*; Khler, J.*; Zeitlin, C.*; Appel, J.*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Slaba, T. C.*; Martin, C.*; Berger, T.*; et al.

Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate (Internet), 6, p.A13_1 - A13_17, 2016/03

https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2016008

The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) has been measuring the radiation environment on the surface of Mars since August 6th 2012. In this work, several models such as GEANT4, PHITS, and HZETRN/OLTARIS are used to predict the radiation environment caused by galactic cosmic rays on Mars in order to compare and validate them with the experimental results. Although good agreement is found in many cases for GEANT4, PHITS and HZETRN/OLTARIS, some models still show large, sometimes order of magnitude, discrepancies in certain particle spectra. We have found that RAD data is helping make better choices of input parameters and physical models. These results help to predict dose rates for future manned missions as well as to perform shield optimization studies.

Evaluation of bentonite alteration due to interactions with iron; Sensitivity analyses to identify the important factors for the bentonite alteration

Sasamoto, Hiroshi; Wilson, J.*; Sato, Tsutomu*

Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 20(2), p.39 - 52, 2013/12

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnuce.20.39

Performance assessment of geological disposal systems for high-level radioactive waste requires a consideration of long-term systems behaviour. In the present study, iron (as a candidate overpack material)-bentonite (I-B) interactions were evaluated as the main buffer alteration scenario. Existing knowledge on alteration of bentonite during I-B interactions was first reviewed, then the evaluation methodology was developed considering modeling techniques previously used overseas. A conceptual model for smectite alteration during I-B interactions was produced. The following reactions and processes were selected: (1) release of Fe due to overpack corrosion; (2) diffusion of Fe in compacted bentonite; (3) sorption of Fe on smectite edge and ion exchange in interlayers; (4) dissolution of primary phases and formation of alteration products. Sensitivity analyses were performed to identify the most important factors for the alteration of bentonite by I-B interactions.

On maximizing the ICRF antenna loading for ITER plasmas

Mayoral, M.-L.*; Bobkov, V.*; Colas, L.*; Goniche, M.*; Hosea, J.*; Kwak, J. G.*; Pinsker, R.*; Moriyama, Shinichi; Wukitch, S.*; Baity, F. W.*; et al.

Proceedings of 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2010) (CD-ROM), 11 Pages, 2011/03

http://www-naweb.iaea.org/napc/physics/FEC/FEC2010/html/node54.htm#14192

For any given ICRF antenna design for ITER, the maximum achievable power strongly depends on the density profiles in the SOL. It has been suggested that gas injection can be used to modify the SOL profiles and thus minimize the sensitivity of the ICRF coupling to variations in the density at the edge of the confined plasma. Recently joint experiments coordinated by the ITPA were performed to characterize further this method. An increase in SOL density during gas injection led to improved coupling for all tokamaks in this multi-machine comparison. The effectiveness of using gas injection over a wide range of conditions, as a tool to tailor the edge density in front of the ICRF antennas, is documented for different gas inlet location and plasma configurations. In addition, any deleterious effects on the confinement and interaction with the antenna near-field are not investigated.

Pedestal stability comparison and ITER pedestal prediction

Snyder, P. B.*; Aiba, Nobuyuki; Beurskens, M.*; Groebner, R. J.*; Horton, L. D.*; Hubbard, A. E.*; Hughes, J. W.*; Huysmans, G. T. A.*; Kamada, Yutaka; Kirk, A.*; et al.

Nuclear Fusion, 49(8), p.085035_1 - 085035_8, 2009/08

https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/49/8/085035

The pressure at the top of the edge transport barrier impacts fusion performance, while large ELMs can constrain material lifetimes. Investigation of intermediate wavelength MHD mode has led to improved understanding of the pedestal height and the mechanism for ELMs. The combination of high resolution diagnostics and a suite of stability codes has made edge stability analysis routine, and contribute both to understanding, and to experimental planning and performance optimization. Here we present extensive comparisons of observations to predicted edge stability boundaries on several tokamaks, both for the standard (Type I) ELM regime, and for small ELM and ELM-free regimes. We further discuss a new predictive model for the pedestal height and width (EPED1), developed by self-consistently combining a simple width model with peeling-ballooning stability calculations. This model is tested against experimental measurements, and used in initial predictions of the pedestal height for ITER.