Project: Pelletized Clay Mixtures with Enhanced Thermal Conductivity for Engineered Barriers in a Geologic Repository for High-Level Nuclear Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel.
Objectives:
The overarching goal of this project is to advance the current understanding of the behavior of pelletized clay mixtures intended for the isolation of high-level nuclear waste (HLW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The following are the four main objectives of this project:
To gain a better understanding of the key features associated with the behavior of pelletized clay mixtures, including the degradation of this type of material when subjected to multiphysics processes. Particular attention will be paid to: i) the effect of high temperatures (up to 190°C) on the response of pellet mixtures, and ii) engineering of pellet mixtures to enhance their thermal conductivity.
To produce high-quality experimental data related to clay-pellet mixtures involving tests at different scales from microfabric/microstructural studies up to medium-scale laboratory tests, which will contribute to expanding the current database in this area. The experimental campaign includes a variety of stress levels, temperatures, stress history, and clay degradation scenarios.
To upgrade the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) constitutive and numerical models to be used to gain a better understanding of this type of materials under different conditions, and for designing geological repositories for HLW/SNF.
To develop training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students on this topic.
This project will improve the current understanding of high-level nuclear waste disposal in a generic mined geologic repository, with particular focus on the design of innovative clay-pellet mixtures intended for effective and safe isolation.
