Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Processes and Key Technical Issues Associated with Nuclear Waste Disposal in Different Host Rocks
Abstract
Coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical (THM) processes have since the 1970s been an integral part of the performance analysis related to geologic high-level nuclear waste repositories in all types of host rock. Coupled THM processes are relatively short-lived from safety assessment perspective, but could potentially give rise to permanent changes, such as the formation of a fractured damaged zone around excavations that could provide a path for transport of radionuclides if released from a waste package. Coupled THM processes gives rise to different key technical issues depending on the host rock material, such as hard crystalline rock (e.g. granite), Argillite, salt, and tuff formations, including changes in transport properties through damage and potential healing and sealing over the long term. Coupled THM processes in any type of host rock and their potential impact on the performance assessment is frequently associated with fractures as being the main conduit for radio nuclide transport. Great progress have been made over the past decades through international collaborative projects, involving underground research laboratories as well as collaborative projects for coupled process model developments. This presentation provides brief overview of some of the key technical issues of coupled THM processes related to different host rocks, the state of the art on the understanding and prediction of such processes, and potential future directions.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMMR13A..08R
- Keywords:
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- 1805 Computational hydrology;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1822 Geomechanics;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1858 Rocks: chemical properties;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1859 Rocks: physical properties;
- HYDROLOGY