Relationships between Degree of Saturation, Total Suction, and Electrical and Thermal Resistivity of Highly Compacted Bentonite
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 22, Issue 2
Abstract
Bentonite clay is a component of an engineered barrier system that is highly compacted around nuclear waste bundles in deep geological repositories (DGR). The bentonite is subject to both thermal and hydraulic gradients that may cause the barrier system to fail, compromising the stability of the deep geological repository. Regularly monitoring and assessing the condition of the highly compacted bentonite (HCB) is key to the long-term safe storage of nuclear waste bundles. The degree of saturation of the bentonite is the most critical parameter considered when assessing the performance of the material. The thermal and electrical resistivities of highly compacted bentonite samples were measured and a relationship was developed between the resistivities and the degree of saturation of the material. In addition, this study presented a relationship between total suction and electrical resistivity.
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Acknowledgments
The first author is grateful to Jonah Schwab, an undergraduate research student for his support in the lab during testing. The corresponding author would like to acknowledge the funding support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)/Discovery Grants Program (Grant No. 62R09724) for this research.
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Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 22 • Issue 2 • April 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 13, 2017
Accepted: Jul 7, 2017
Published online: Nov 23, 2017
Published in print: Apr 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Apr 23, 2018
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