Abstract
Radioactive waste disposal, as the final step of the open nuclear fuel cycle, is an important process to protect humans and the environment from harmful effects of ionising radiation. Approaching the construction of the geological repository, the understanding and predictability of the behavior of engineered barrier material becomes more important than ever. Therefore, a number of research studies are being focused on the experimental and numerical analysis of the engineered barrier material state and behavior under repository conditions. Engineered barrier material will be in contact with the host rock and waste packages, and its properties and behavior will be governed by complex and coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes. This paper presents the modeling activities of the Lithuanian Energy Institute, performed in the framework of the H2020 project BEACON (Bentonite Mechanical Evolution). The numerical model, developed in COMSOL Multiphysics (Burlington, MA 01803, USA), was applied for the modeling of experiments, performed by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland), on granular MX-80 bentonite in the odeometer cell. The hydromechanical behavior of a compacted bentonite sample was analyzed under different conditions: hydration with groundwater under confined volume conditions and hydration under free swelling conditions and subsequent mechanical loading. Model outcomes (swelling pressure, saturation, dry density, and void ratio) were compared to the available experimental data. The modeling results were in line with the analyzed experimental data.
Highlights
Accepted: 18 February 2022The final step of the open nuclear fuel cycle is the final radioactive waste disposal.Considering the time span, some radionuclides require to decay to their natural levels, which requires a properly selected design of the disposal system to protect the environment and humans for hundreds of thousands of years
This study focused on the numerical analysis of the hydro-mechanical behavior of an MX-80 type granular bentonite sample, at the laboratory scale
A numerical model was developed in COMSOL Multiphysics (Burlington, MA, USA), in the framework of the H2020 project BEACON (Bentonite Mechanical Evolution)
Summary
Accepted: 18 February 2022The final step of the open nuclear fuel cycle is the final radioactive waste disposal.Considering the time span, some radionuclides require to decay to their natural levels, which requires a properly selected design of the disposal system to protect the environment and humans for hundreds of thousands of years. The final step of the open nuclear fuel cycle is the final radioactive waste disposal. Approaching the construction of the first geological repository for highly radioactive waste in the world, the understanding and predictability of the behavior of engineered barrier material becomes more important than ever. The radioactive waste management organization (WMO), Posiva Oy in Finland, was granted a construction license for a spent nuclear fuel encapsulation plant and final disposal facility at Olkiluoto by the Finnish government in 2015 [1]. By the end of 2021, Posiva Oy submitted the license application for the operation of the encapsulation and final disposal facility [2]. Sweden and France are the countries where the license application for the deep geological repository (DGR)
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