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The reactivity of bentonites: a review. An application to clay barrier stability for nuclear waste storage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

A. Meunier ,
B. Velde  and
L. Griffault
A. Meunier
Affiliation:
Hydrogéotogie, Argiles, Sols, Altérations, CNRS-UMR 6532, Univ. Poitiers, 40 avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France
B. Velde
Affiliation:
Dept. Géologie, CNRS URA 1316, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75232 Paris Cedex 05, France
L. Griffault
Affiliation:
ANDRA, DS/HG, Parc de la Croix Blanche, 1-7 rue Jean Monnet, 92298 Chatenay-Malabry Cedex, France
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Abstract

The thermal stability of bentonites is of particular interest for containment barriers in nuclear waste storage facilities. The kinetics of smectite reactions have been investigated under laboratory conditions for some time. The variables of time, chemical composition and temperature have been varied in these experiments. The results of such an assessment are that there are about as many kinetic values deduced from experiments as there are experiments.

Experiments using natural bentonite to study the smectite-to-illite conversion have been interpreted as a progressive transformation of montmorillonite to illite. It is highly probable that the initial reaction product is not illite but a high-charge beidellite + saponite + quartz mineral assemblage which gives, then, beidellite-mica interstratified mixed-layer minerals. These experimental reactions are noticeably different from those of diagenesis, being closer to reactions in hydrothermal systems.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , June 1998 , pp. 187 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1998

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