中国高放废物深地质处置的缓冲材料选择及其基本性能

人类的许多生产、生活活动均可能产生不同活度的放射性废物,其中高放废物的安全处置倍受全球科学家和广大公众所重视。目前深地质处置被国际上公认为处置高放废物的最有效可行的方法。借鉴国外成熟的技术和经验,我国采用多重工程屏障系统(包括废物固化体、废物容器及其外包装和缓冲/回填材料)和适宜的围岩地质体共同作用,来确保高放废物与生物圈的安全隔离。膨润土由于具有极低的渗透性和优良的核素吸附等性能而被国际上选作缓冲材料的基础材料。经过全国膨润土矿床筛选,我国高放废物深地质处置库缓冲材料的研究以产自高庙子膨润土矿床深部的钠基膨润土作为基本组成材料。本文介绍了高庙子膨润土矿床的地质特征以及高庙子钠基膨润土的基本特征。该膨润土与国外同类型材料相比具有蒙脱石含量高(75%左右)、杂质矿物相对较少的特点,该材料的系统和深入研究对于开发我国缓冲回填材料技术、确保高放废物的安全有效处置有重要意义。     

中国高放废物处置库缓冲材料选择与基本性能

人类的许多生产、生活活动均可能产生不同活度的放射性废物。其中高放废物由于具有放射性水平高,发热量大,并含有对生物极有害的α放射性的长寿命核素等特点,其安全处置倍受全球科学家和广大公众所重视。目前深地质处置被国际上公认为处置高放废物的最有效可行的方法。借鉴国外成熟的技术和经验,我国采用多重工程屏障系统（包括废物固化体、废物容器及其外包装和缓冲/回填材料）和适宜的地质围岩地质体共同作用来确保高放废物与生物圈的安全隔离。膨润土由于具有极低的渗透性和优良的核素吸附等性能而被国际上选作缓冲材料的基础材料。经过全国膨润土矿床筛选,高庙子膨润土矿床被选作我国缓冲材料供应基地,我国高放废物深地质处置库缓冲材料的研究以产自该矿床的深部钠基膨润土作为基本组成材料。本文介绍了高庙子膨润土矿床的地质特征以及高庙子钠基膨润土的基本特征。该膨润土与国外同类型材料相比具有蒙脱石含量高（75%左右）,杂质矿物相对较少的特点,这对系统和深入研究该材料以开发我国缓冲回填材料技术,确保高放废物的安全有效处置具有重要意义。     

中国高放废物地质处置缓冲材料大型试验台架和热-水-力-化学耦合性能研究

缓冲材料作为高放废物深地质处置库中一道重要的人工屏障,与高放废物容器和处置库围岩直接接触,在高放废物衰变热、辐射作用和地下水等影响下产生复杂的热-水-力-化学耦合作用,为了验证缓冲材料是否能长期有效地发挥其屏障材料的作用,核工业北京地质研究院利用高庙子钠基膨润土组装并运行了模拟中国高放废物地质处置室 尺寸的大型缓冲材料膨润土试验台架（China-Mock-Up）。建立了缓冲材料试验台架的安装和试验方法,依据实测数据和理论分析,揭示了热-水-力-化学耦合作用条件下膨润土中的相对湿度是在加热器的热效应和外部供水的湿效应共同作用下发生变化的,压实膨润土中应力的变化主要是由于膨润土遇水膨胀和加热器的热效应引起的,试验验证了模拟高放废物地质处置室内加热器（废物罐）运行初期的位移过程,为缓冲材料和高放废物地质处置库的设计提供了重要的工程参数和理论依据。     

高放废物地质处置库预选缓冲材料压缩性能研究

缓冲材料是高放废物深地质处置多重屏障系统中非常重要的一道人工屏障，内蒙古高庙子钠基膨润土被确定为我国高放废物深地质处置缓冲材料的首选基料。通过研究该钠基膨润土（GMZ01）在不同含水量条件下的压实成型性、不同压实干密度和不同含水量压实样品的无侧限压缩性能，认为：含水量为15％的高庙子天然钠基膨润土压实成型性最好，压实干密度越大，无侧限抗压强度越大；在无侧限压缩实验时，含水量为15％的高密度压实膨润土样品比含水量为10％和20％的样品的抗压强度大，变形小。     

内蒙古高庙子膨润土作为高放废物处置库回填材料的可行性

本文简述高放废物处置工程要求和缓冲／回填材料在高放废物深地质处置库中的作用及要求，介绍了内蒙古兴和县高庙子膨润土的性能，认为内蒙古兴和县高庙子膨润土矿床可作为高放废物处置库回填材料的供给基地。     

高压实膨润土的非饱和渗透膨胀模型

高放废弃物深地质处置库中,作为缓冲/回填材料的高压实膨润土的设计功能是,遇水吸湿导致土体膨胀变形,以密封高压实膨润土块体砌置时形成的块体与块体之间和块体与围岩之间的施工缝隙以及围岩中因处置库开挖卸载引起的裂缝,形成阻障围岩中地下水渗入内库引起核素迁移,与库内高放废物的辐射扩散的人工屏障。高压实膨润土在自由膨胀条件下的膨胀应变和非饱和渗透系数由渗透试验测得;孔隙比和吸力的关系由压汞试验测得。吸力和含水率的函数关系可由土-水特征曲线测试试验得到。因此,自由膨胀条件下膨润土的非饱和渗透膨胀模型由膨胀应变、非饱和渗透系数和孔隙比与吸力的函数关系建立。结果表明：渗透系数和体积应变都随吸力减小而增加,因为吸力减小会导致孔隙比增加。这一发现有助于设计高放废物的最终处置方案。     

钠-蒙脱石地球化学性能模拟研究

膨润土已经被许多国家确定为高放废物深地质处置系统的缓冲/回填材料。钠-蒙脱石作为钠基膨润土的主要矿物,对钠基膨润土的地球化学稳定性能起着关键作用。以地球化学模拟软件PHREEQC和GWB为平台,对内蒙古高庙子膨润土的关键矿物——钠-蒙脱石在无氧和不同温度条件下的地球化学行为进行了模拟研究,分析了钠-蒙脱石在北山地下水体系中矿物成分、液相化学成分、pH值的长期演变规律。     

类似物研究和矿物学问题

本文叙述了核废物地质处置研究领域中涉及天然和人为类似物研究中的一些矿物学问题。在自然界的天然玻璃、膨润土、晶质铀矿等分别作为高放废物玻璃固化体、高放废物处置库的缓冲／回填材料和乏燃料的天然类似物，考古遗址中的玻璃和青铜器文物作为人为类似物。通过这些天然非晶质结晶物质和人造制品的稳定性研究来预测未来10000－100000a间处置库中废物和缓冲／回填物质的变化，放射性核素迁移规律，为高放废物处置库的设计和建造提供重要科学依据，提高公众对高放废物安全处置的信心。     

缓冲／回填材料与添加剂的选择

缓冲／回填材料是高放废物处置库的重要工程屏障之一。本文着重讨论了处置库多道屏障的意义、国内外的研究概况、添加剂的选择和选择缓冲／回填材料时应注意的问题。     

高放废物深地质处置：回顾与展望

文章对我国高放废物地质处置研究的历史进行了回顾,并对未来发展进行了展望。我国的高放废物深地质处置研究开发从1985年开始,迄今为止可初步分为3个阶段：①起步和跟踪研究阶段（1985～1998）;②逐步发展阶段（1999～2005）;③政府规划指导阶段（2006至今）。20多年来,我国在国家法律法规、战略规划、选址、工程屏障、核素迁移研究等方面取得了显著进展。我国已经提出在2020年前建成地下实验室、21世纪中叶建成高放废物处置库的目标。研究开发和处置库工程建设分成3个阶段：试验室研究开发和处置库选址阶段（2006～2020）;地下现场试验阶段（2021-2040）和处置库建设阶段（2041～本世纪中叶）。经过全国筛选对比,已初步选定甘肃北山地区为重点预选区,系统的场址评价工作正在进行。已确定采用膨润土作为处置库的回填材料,并初步确定内蒙古高庙子膨润土为我国高放废物处置库的首选缓冲回填材料。工程设计、核素迁移研究和安全评价也取得了一定进展。1999年起与国际原子能机构开展了3期高放废物地质处置技术合作项目,对提高我国的技术水平起到了积极作用。20多年的研究开发工作为我国在21世纪完成高放废物地质处置任务奠定了基础。     

Selection and Basic Properties of the Buffer Material for High-Level Radioactive Waste Repository in China

Radioactive wastes arising from a wide range of human activities are in many different physical and chemical forms, contaminated with varying radioactivity. Their common features are the potential hazard associated with their radioactivity and the need to manage them in such a way as to protect the human environment. The geological disposal is regarded as the most reasonable and effective way to safely disposing high-level radioactive wastes in the world. The conceptual model of geological disposal in China is based on a multi-barrier system that combines an isolating geological environment with an engineered barrier system. The buffer is one of the main engineered barriers for HLW repository. It is expected to maintain its low water permeability, self-sealing property, radio nuclides adsorption and retardation properties, thermal conductivity, chemical buffering property, canister supporting property, and stress buffering property over a long period of time. Bentonite is selected as the main content of buffer material that can satisfy the above requirements. The Gaomiaozi deposit is selected as the candidate supplier for China＇s buffer material of high level radioactive waste repository. This paper presents the geological features of the GMZ deposit and basic properties of the GMZ Na-bentonite. It is a super-large deposit with a high content of montmorillonite （about 75 %）, and GMZ-1, which is Na-bentonite produced from GMZ deposit is selected as the reference material for China＇s buffer material study.     

Unsaturated permeability of Gaomiaozi bentonite under partially free-swelling conditions

Acta Geotechnica - In the deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive wastes (HLW), Na-bentonite produced from Gaomiaozi (GMZ) deposit has been selected as a possible buffer and backfill...     

Experiment and validation of numerical simulation of coupled thermal,hydraulic and mechanical behaviour in the engineered buffer materials

Evaluation of the coupled heat transfer, water flow and stress changes in the engineered clay barrier is an important issue in the performance assessment of the high‐level radioactive waste disposal. To demonstrate the function of the engineered barrier system, the large‐scale experiment is conducted, which is called Big Bentonite facility (BIG‐BEN). The facility consists of an electric heater surrounded by glass beads, carbon steel overpack, buffer material and man‐made rock. The buffer is a mixture of bentonite and sand. The heater is operated at 0·8 kW. Water is injected from the interface between the buffer and the man‐made rocks at the pressure of 0·05 MPa. The duration of the experiment is 20 months. The change in temperature and swelling pressure are continuously monitored and gravimetric water content is measured by sampling. The coupled thermal, hydraulic and mechanical processes are simulated with a finite element code THAMES, which can simulate the fully coupled phenomena in the saturated and unsaturated clay under anisothermal condition. To examine the validity of the code, all the parameters used in the model are evaluated from the other laboratory tests. The simulated results are compared with the measured ones without calibration of the parameter values using the results from the BIG‐BEN experiment. It can be concluded that the changes in temperature and gravimetric water content within the buffer can be simulated reasonably well and that the mechanical effect such as swelling pressure is difficult to realize. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of high pH alkaline solutions on the mineral stability of the Boom Clay – Batch experiments at 60 °C

Boom Clay is currently viewed as a reference host formation for studies on deep geological disposal of radioactive waste in Belgium. The interactions between bulk rock Boom Clay and 0.1 M KOH, 0.1 M NaOH, 0.1 M Ca(OH)₂, young cement water and evolved cement water solutions, ranging in pH from 12.5 to 13.2, were examined as static batch experiments at 60 °C to simulate alkaline plume perturbations, which are expected to occur in the repository due to the presence of concrete. Both liquids and solids were investigated at specific times between 90 and 510 days in order to control the elemental budget and to search for potential mineralogical alterations. Also, the clay fraction was separated from the whole-rock Boom Clay at the end of each run and characterized for its mineralogical composition. Thereby, the importance of the mineral matrix to buffer the alkaline attack and the role of organic matter to protect clay minerals were also addressed. The results indicate that the degree of geochemical perturbation in Boom Clay is dependent on the initial pH of the applied solution together with the nature of the major cation in the reactant fluids. The higher the initial pH of the media, the stronger its interaction with Boom Clay. No major non-clay mineralogical alteration of the Boom Clay was detected, but dissolution of kaolinite, smectite and illite occurred within the studied experimental conditions. The dissolution of clays is accompanied by the decrease in the layer charge, followed by a decrease in the cation-exchange capacity. The highest TOC values coincide with the highest total elemental concentrations in the leachates, and correspondingly, the highest dissolution degree. However, no quantitative link could be established between the degree of organic matter decomposition and clay dissolution.     

高放废物处置库选址中低渗透介质地质研究的几个问题

低渗透介质是阻碍有害物质在地下迁移良好的天然屏障, 因此成为高放废物处置库围岩类型的首选。本文通过对高放废物处置库选址中地质研究的回顾, 阐述了低渗透介质地质研究的特点, 对地质参数测定、取样、水流模拟、地球化学模拟进行了重点介绍。     

盐溶液饱和高庙子膨润土膨胀特性及预测

甘肃北山被首选为修建高放废物处置库的地区。考虑到该地区地下水中含有总溶解固体（TDS）,选择NaCl-Na2SO4作为溶解固体。以高庙子钠基膨润土为试验材料,利用单向固结仪,进行不同TDS浓度盐溶液和蒸馏水饱和的膨胀试验。根据蒙脱石孔隙比的概念,统一整理了饱和高庙子膨润土在盐溶液和蒸馏水饱和下的膨胀特性。结果表明,当TDS浓度为12.3 g/L（预选处置库区的最高离子浓度）时,在双对数坐标中蒙脱石孔隙比与膨胀力关系和干密度与膨胀力关系均呈直线且平行于蒸馏水的试验结果;对于给定干密度试样,膨胀力的对数与TDS浓度呈线性关系。根据以上试验结果,给出了由高庙子钠基膨润土的设计干密度和离子浓度计算相应膨胀力和膨胀变形的表达式。