Waste Management and Performance Assessment

Abstract

Cement barriers play an important role in many radioactive waste management and disposal systems where they may provide physical and/or chemical barriers to limit the release of many radionuclides. Therefore, an understanding of how cement barriers are likely to evolve over the very long timescales that may be considered in safety cases and performance assessments is important. This can build confidence in the basis of a performance assessment or may reduce the need to make simple overly-conservative assumptions. This section begins with an overview of the role of cementitious materials in radioactive waste management and disposal, performance assessment and the treatment of uncertainty. It then summarises relevant papers presented at the NUCPERF 2009, NUCPERF 2012 and AMP 2010 workshops on the topics of the role and durability of cement barriers in waste storage and disposal and on the impact of gas generation and carbonation of cement systems. Some recommendations for future R&D are then made after drawing conclusions.