Diffusivity of Uranium(VI) in Water-Saturated Inada Granite.

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the safety assessment of high level radioactive waste disposal, a significant retardation of nuclides can be expected. When radionuclides released from an underground repository are transported with the moving groundwater along cracks in the rock, the radionuclides will be retarded by not only adsorption on the surface of the cracks but also diffusion into the micropores of rock matrix.Diffusivities of U(VI) were measured in water-saturated granite that was mined in the middle of Japan. The measured penetration profile of U(VI) was composed of two parts. Those were a steep slope near the surface and a gradual slope in the deeper part. This profile was successfully explained by considering two diffusion paths in granite. One diffusion path was possibly a fissure with a width of a few microns and another was a network of submicron pores. The volume of submicron pores was approximately 80% of the total pore volume in the granite. The orders of magnitude of apparent diffusivities for U(VI) were 10−13-10−12 m2/s through the fissure and 10−15 m2/s through the network of pores. The ratio of geometrical factors in the two paths was also calculated from each apparent diffusivity and was almost unity. This ratio calculated suggests that the pore network in the granite matrix has a similar shape to the fissure, thus the microstructure of the granite seems to be fractal.