Search

Many countries intend to use compacted bentonite as a barrier in their deep geological repositories for nuclear waste. In order to describe and predict hydraulic conductivity or radionuclide transport through the bentonite barrier, fundamental understanding of the microstructure of compacted bentonite is needed. This study examined the interlayer swelling and overall microstructure of Wyoming Bentonite MX-80 and the corresponding homo-ionic Na(+) and Ca(2+) forms, using XRD with samples saturated under confined swelling conditions and free swelling conditions. For the samples saturated under confined conditions, the interparticle, or so-called free or external porosity was estimated by comparing the experimental interlayer distances obtained from one-dimensional XRD profile fitting against the maximum interlayer distances possible for the corresponding water content. The results showed that interlayer porosity dominated total porosity, irrespective of water content, and that the interparticle porosity was lower than previously reported in the literature. At compactions relevant for the saturated bentonite barrier (1.4-1.8 g/cm(3)), the interparticle porosity was estimated to ≤3%., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Effective diffusion coefficients (D(e)) are usually measured by means of "through-diffusion" experiments in which steady state is reached, and the "time-lag" methods are used to estimate the apparent diffusion coefficient (D(a)). For sorbing radionuclides (as caesium), the time needed to reach steady-state conditions is very large, and the precision in D(a) determinations is not satisfactory. In this paper, a method that allows determining simultaneously effective and apparent diffusion coefficients in compacted bentonite without reaching steady-state conditions is described. Basically, this method consists of an "in-diffusion" experiment in which the concentration profile in the bentonite sample is used to estimate D(a), and the temporal evolution of the solute concentration in the reservoir is used to estimate D(e). This method has several advantages over the typical "through-diffusion" experiments, in particular: (a) experiment duration is significantly shorter, (b) D(a) values are measured with greater precision and (c) it is not necessary to maintain a constant solute concentration in the reservoir. This new method has been used to estimate the effective and apparent diffusion coefficients for caesium in FEBEX bentonite and in order to validate it, the results have been compared with results previously obtained with standard methods. Experimental results have been satisfactorily modelled using a simple model of diffusion in porewater and the measured value of D(e)(Cs) is very similar to D(e)(HTO) in the same bentonite. There is no evidence of "surface diffusion" in FEBEX bentonite for caesium., (Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.)