This paper assesses a model for the full-scale engineered barrier experiment (Febex) in situ test, simulating the disposal of heat-emitting, high-level spent nuclear fuel. The model has been developed using Code_Bright and ...

The bentonite barrier of underground repositories for high-level radioactive waste will be hydrated by the groundwater while it is subjected to high temperatures due to the radioactive decay of the wastes. These changes ...

The initial conditions (dry density and saturation state), the stress state and its history, and the deformation undergone during gas migration, affect the gas transport processes in granular compacted bentonite. Additionally, ...

Bentonite-based engineered barriers are a key component of many repository designs for the confinement of high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. Given the complexity and interaction of the phenomena affecting the ...

Bentonite-based engineered barrier materials transfer from unsaturated state as emplaced to saturated state after closure of deep geological disposal facilities for radioactive waste, while decrease in saturation could ...

In many nuclear waste disposal concepts bentonite is used as a buffer material forming the near-field around the HLW canisters and the sealing material for the backfilled repository structures. The safety functions of the ...

This paper describes an experimental programme and the corresponding modelling in order to characterise the hydromechanical (HM) behaviour of pellets. At least two levels of porosity can be distinguished in the pellets: ...

The shear modulus (G) of two different bentonites was measured by means of a resonant column apparatus. The samples were compacted at different dry densities and degrees of saturation and tested with different confinement ...

Recently, there is a tendency to explore the possibility of increasing the maximum design temperature in deep geological repositories for high-level nuclear waste and spent fuel. In the paper, a number of issues related ...