Experimental methodology to study radionuclide sorption and migration in geological formations and engineered barriers of waste repositories

Abstract

In Spain, the waste management options include either the possibility of a final storage in a deep geological repository (DGR) or the centralized temporal surface disposal (CTS). DGRs are based in a multi-barrier concept with the geological barrier and including the vitrified waste, the metal containers and engineered barriers such as compacted bentonite and cement-based materials. On the other hand, CTS mainly considers concrete and cement to confine the metal canisters containing the waste. Radionuclide migration will mainly take place by the existence of chemical concentration gradients being thus diffusion the main transport mechanism or by the existence of hydraulic gradients due to the existence of water-conductive fractures. Radionuclide sorption/retention on the materials composing the natural and engineered barriers is the fundamental process controlling contaminant migration. The evaluation of sorption parameters and the understanding of the different mechanisms leading to radionuclide retention are very important issues. The study of diffusion processes is very relevant as well. This paper describes the main experimental methodologies applied to analyse radionuclide transport in the different barriers of radioactive repositories. Particularly we focused on obtaining of retention parameters as distribution coefficients, kd, or retardation factors, Rf, and diffusion coefficients of radionuclides.