Abstract
In this chapter the functions and requirements of bentonite in a repository for spent nuclear fuel are discussed. These requirements concern, for example, swelling pressure, hydraulic conductivity, and diffusion properties. Mineralogy and analysis techniques for determining physicochemical properties are presented. Bentonite properties are discussed and analyzed in detail by introducing the homogeneous mixture model. It is shown that water-saturated bentonite fundamentally is an osmotic system. A multitude of rather different physicochemical aspects can be described with remarkably simple assumptions that follow from the osmotic nature. It is demonstrated that many of the bentonite properties required in the repository for spent nuclear fuel are governed by montmorillonite interlayers.
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