Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T19:53:53.786Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Assessment of the Performance of the Engineered Barriers in a Repository for the Disposal of Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Waste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

A. Atkinson ,
A.W. Harris ,
C.C. Naish ,
S.M. Sharland  and
A.C. Smith
A. Atkinson
Affiliation:
AEA Technology, Harwell Laboratory, Oxfordshire, OX11 ORA, U.K
A.W. Harris
Affiliation:
AEA Technology, Harwell Laboratory, Oxfordshire, OX11 ORA, U.K
C.C. Naish
Affiliation:
AEA Technology, Harwell Laboratory, Oxfordshire, OX11 ORA, U.K
S.M. Sharland
Affiliation:
AEA Technology, Harwell Laboratory, Oxfordshire, OX11 ORA, U.K
A.C. Smith
Affiliation:
AEA Technology, Harwell Laboratory, Oxfordshire, OX11 ORA, U.K
Get access

Abstract

Current plans for the disposal of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in the U.K. comprise emplacement of steel or concrete containers of waste in a deep underground repository where they will be surrounded by a cementitious backfill. Research is in progress to assess the effectiveness of steel and concrete as barriers to radionuclide release from the repository. A joint experimental and modelling approach is used. Studies of the transport properties of dissolved radionuclides and gases through concrete, and the ability of the concrete to control the pH in the repository are described. Localised and uniform corrosion of carbon and stainless steels are investigated in the high pH conditions of the repository. The research shows that engineered barriers of concrete and steel can provide useful physical containment in the short term and contribute to chemical containment for hundreds of thousands of years.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 257: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XV , 1991 , 633
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Greenfield, B.F., Moreton, A.D., Williams, S.J. and Woodwark, D.R., ‘The Effects of the Degradation of Organic Materials in the Near Field of a Radioactive Waste Repository’, to be presented at XV Int. Symp. on the Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, Strasbourg, France, Nov. 1991.Google Scholar
2. Bayliss, S., Haworth, A., McCrohan, R., Moreton, A.D., Oliver, P., Pilkington, N.J., Smith, A.J. and Briggs, J.L. Smith, ‘Radioelement Behaviour in a Cementitious Environment’, presented at XV Int. Symp. on the Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, Strasbourg, France, Nov. 1991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Harris, A.W. and Nickerson, A.K., AEA Technology, unpublished.Google Scholar
4. Lever, D.A., ‘Some Notes on Experiments Measuring Diffusion of Sorbed Nuclides through Porous Media’, UKAEA Report AERE-R12321 (1986).Google Scholar
5. McCrohan, R., U.K.Nirex Ltd. Report NSS-R277 (1991).Google Scholar
6. Harris, A.W., Atkinson, A. and Claisse, P.A., ‘Transport of Gases in Concrete Barriers’, to be submitted to Waste Management (1991).Google Scholar
7. Hearne, J.A. and Nickerson, A.K., AEA Technology, unpublished.Google Scholar
8. Harris, A.W. and Cook, A., AEA Technology, unpublished.Google Scholar
9. Haworth, A., Sharland, S.M. and Tweed, C.J., ‘Modelling of the Evolution of Porewater Chemistry in a Cementitious Repository’, AEA Technology Report D&R-0133 (1991).Google Scholar
10. Hoch, A.R. and Sharland, S.M., ‘The Aeration Period within a Deep Repository for Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Waste’, unpublished.Google Scholar
11. Sharland, S.M., Marsh, G.P., Naish, C.C. and Taylor, K.J., ‘The Assessment of Localised Corrosion of Carbon and Stainless Steel Containers for Intermediate- and Low-Level Nuclear Waste under Repository Conditions’, presented at Focus '91 meeting Las Vegas 1991.Google Scholar
12. Marsh, G.P., Bland, I.D., Taylor, K.J., ‘Statistical Study of Pit Propagation in Carbon Steel under Nuclear Waste Disposal Conditions’, Br.Corros.J., Vol 23, No.3, p 157, 1988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Sharland, S.M., Naish, C.C., Taylor, K.J. and Marsh, G.P., ‘An Experimental and Modelling Study of Localised Corrosion of Carbon Steel Overpacks for the Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste’, presented at NACE conference on ‘Lifetime Predictions of Corrodible Structures’, Cambridge. U.K. Sept 1991.Google Scholar
14. Haworth, A., Sharland, S.M., Tasker, P.W. and Tweed, C.J., ‘A Guide to the Coupled Chemical Equilibria and Migration Code CHEQMATE’, U.K.Nirex Ltd. Report NSS R 113 (1988).Google Scholar
15. Blackwood, D.J. and Thomas, M.I., AEA Technology, unpublished.Google Scholar
16. Grauer, R., Knecht, B., Kreiss, P. & Simpson, J.P. et al. , ‘Hydrogen Gas Evolution from Corrosion of Iron and Steel in Intermediate-Level Waste Repositories’, Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., Vol. 212, MRS, (1991). p 295–302.Google Scholar