The study of Spanish clays for their use as sealing materials in nuclear waste repositories: 20 years of progress
[EN] The paper summarises the studies that have been performed in Spain as regards the selection and characterisation of clays suitable for sealing and backfilling of radioactive waste repositories. This research began in the 80’s under the auspices of ENRESA, the Spanish agency for nuclear waste ma...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2006 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/5499 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/5499 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Radioactive waste disposal Bentonite barrier Spanish clays Montmorillonite Saponite Natural analogues Almacenamiento de residuos radiactivos Barrera de bentonita Arcillas españolas Montmorillonita Saponita Análogos naturales |
| Sumario: | [EN] The paper summarises the studies that have been performed in Spain as regards the selection and characterisation of clays suitable for sealing and backfilling of radioactive waste repositories. This research began in the 80’s under the auspices of ENRESA, the Spanish agency for nuclear waste management, and started by a survey of apt clay deposits and suppliers. The characterisation of the clays and the criteria followed for their further selection were those already accepted by the international community: mineralogical purity, retention properties, plasticity, low permeability, high swelling pressure and thermal conductivity. These initial studies resulted in the selection of deposits from the Cabo de Gata region (Almería) and the Tertiary Basin of Madrid (Toledo), whose detailed characterisation was carried out by several laboratories. The Cortijo de Archidona deposit (Almería) was finally selected and the bentonite taken there has been the object of various research projects that have ended in this bentonite being one of the best characterised from the mineralogical, thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, geochemical and alterability points of view. Besides, and more recently, the behaviour of the bentonite under the conditions of a repository has been studied at laboratory and natural scale, and the long-term evolution of the barrier is being analysed by natural analogues studies in the Cabo de Gata area.S |
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