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Impact of iron released from steel components on the performance of the bentonite buffer: a preliminary assessment within the framework of the KBS-3H disposal concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Paul Wersin ,
Lawrence H. Johnson  and
Margit Snellman
Paul Wersin
Affiliation:
National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, 5430 Wettingen, Switzerland
Lawrence H. Johnson
Affiliation:
National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, 5430 Wettingen, Switzerland
Margit Snellman
Affiliation:
Saanio & Riekkola Oy, Helsinki, Finland
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Abstract

Steel components in the engineered barrier of HLW repositories have a potential to react with the clay buffer and induce adverse effects on its properties. These effects have been assessed within the KBS-3H disposal concept, which includes spent fuel in copper canisters surrounded by bentonite blocks and a steel supercontainer (SC), placed within tunnels in deep crystalline Olkiluoto-type host rock. Based on literature review and thermodynamic modeling, the SC is predicted to completely corrode within a minimum of a few thousand years. The resulting corrosion products are expected to be magnetite, and depending on groundwater compositions, also iron sulfide and perhaps siderite. Furthermore corrosion-derived Fe(II) may react with the clay to form non-swelling phyllosilicates, such as berthierine. From simple mass balance estimates and by applying a more realistic reactive transport model, it can be deduced, that the effect of iron from the SC on the integrity of the bentonite buffer is limited. However, large uncertainties in adequately quantifying this effect pertain due to limited process knowledge on Fe-bentonite interactions.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 932: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXIX , 2006 , 117.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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