Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-13T09:54:02.830Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Grouts and Concretes for the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

Lillian D. Wakeley*
Affiliation:
U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, 3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, MS 39180-6199, USA
Get access

Abstract

The Structures Laboratory of the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station has conducted research on cement-based composites for the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) since 1977, in cooperation with Sandia National Laboratories. Field testing requirements guided initial development of grouts. Concurrent and later laboratory studies explored the chemical stability and probable durability of these mixtures. Beginning in 1985, a series of small-scale seal performance tests at the WIPP prompted development of an expansive salt-saturated concrete. Important lessons learned from this ongoing work include: (1) carefully tailored mixtures can tolerate phase changes involving Ca, Al, and S04, without loss of structural integrity; (2) handling and placement properties are probably more crucial to the mixtures than is exact phase composition; and (3) for the environment of a geologic repository, demonstrated chemical durability will be the best indicator of long-term performance.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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. Wakeley, L. D. and Walley, D. M., Development and Field Placement of an Expansive Salt-Saturated Concrete (ESC) for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Technical Report SL-86-36, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, (1986).Google Scholar
2. Gulick, C. W. Jr, and Wakeley, L. D., Reference Properties of Cement-Based Plugging and Sealing Materials for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Technical Report TR-89-17, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, (1989).Google Scholar
3. Gulick, C. W. Jr, Walley, D. M., and Buck, A. D., Borehole Plugging Materials Development - Report 2, SAND79-1514, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, (1980).Google Scholar
4. Gulick, C. W. Jr, Boa, J. A., and Buck, A. D., Bell Canyon Test (BCT), Cement Grout Development Report, SAND80-1928, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, (1980); Borehole Plugging Materials Development Report 3, SAND81-0065, (1982).Google Scholar
5. Wakeley, L. D., Walley, D. M., and Buck, A. D., Development of Freshwater Grout Subsequent to the Bell Canyon Tests (BCT), Miscellaneous Paper SL-86-2, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, (1986).Google Scholar
6. Stormont, J. C., Technical Editor, Development and Implementation: Test Series A of the Small-Scale Seal Performance Tests, SAND85-2602, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, (1986); Small-Scale Seal Performance Test Series A Thermal/Structural Data Through the 180th Day, Report SAND87-0178, (1987).Google Scholar
7. Buck, A. D., Development of Two Candidate Concrete Mixtures (Salt, Non-salt) for Repository Sealing Applications, Miscellaneous Paper SL-85-8, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, (1985).Google Scholar
8. Wakeley, L. D., “Durability of a Chloride-Saturated Concrete for Sealing Radioactive Wastes in Bedded Rock Salt,” Scanlon, John M., Ed., Katherine and Bryant Mather International Conference, American Concrete Institute SP-100, Vol I, pp. 587597 (1987a); “Optimizing Workability and Expansion of a Salt-Saturated Concrete,” Cement and Concrete Research Journal, Vol 17, No. 5, pp. 723-733, (1987b).Google Scholar
9. Wakeley, L. D. and Poole, T. S., Studies of the Geochemical Stability of a Salt-Saturated Expansive Grout, Miscellaneous Paper SL-87-I0, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS, (1987).Google Scholar