Fate of individual sewage disposal system wastewater within regolith in mountainous terrain

In order to improve understanding of the fate of septic tank or individual sewage disposal system (ISDS) effluent in regolith overlying fractured-rock aquifers, effluent from an ISDS in such a setting was tracked via geophysical, hydrological, and geochemical methods. Under typical precipitation conditions, the effluent entered the fractured bedrock within 5 m of the boundary of the constructed infiltration area. During a period of unusually high spring recharge, the plume migrated between 50 and 100 m within the regolith before infiltrating the fractured bedrock. The chemical signature of the effluent is similar to that required to account for the decline in water quality, suggesting a causative relationship (as estimated from mass-balance models of the surface-water chemistry near the mouth of the basin). The elevated salt content of the effluent during periods of high natural recharge to the infiltration area correlates with elevated salt concentrations in surface and groundwater at the basin scale, suggesting that some of the effluent salt load may be stored in the unsaturated zone during dry periods and flushed during periods of elevated natural recharge.     

高庙子膨润土与砂混合物的土-水特征曲线

用滤纸法和压力板法对高庙子膨润土与福建砂的混合物进行试验研究,在不同孔隙比和不同膨润土与砂配合比情况下量测脱湿过程的土-水特征曲线,研究土-水特征曲线与孔隙比和配合比之间的关系。试验结果表明：在同一配合比下用饱和度与吸力表示土-水特征曲线时,其曲线随着孔隙比的减小向右上方移动,即当土样的吸力一定时,土样的饱和度随着孔隙比的减小而增大,当吸力小于10 MPa时,这种现象较为显著;在同一孔隙比下膨润土与砂混合物的土-水特征曲线随着膨润土的比例增加而向右上方移动,即混合物的进气值随着膨润土的比例增加而增大;另外,配合比以及孔隙比相同时,膨润土与福建砂的混合物的土-水特征曲线与日本产Kunigel膨润土与丰浦砂的混合物的土-水特征曲线非常接近。     

A solution around a backfilled cavity in a low‐permeability poroelastic medium with application in in situ heating tests

Thermo‐hydro‐mechanical responses around a cylindrical cavity drilled or excavated in a low‐permeability formation are studied when the cavity is subjected to a time‐dependent thermal loading. The cavity is considered backfilled after it is supported by casing or lining. Solutions of temperature, pore water pressure, stress, and displacement responses are analytically formulated based on Biot's consolidation theory with the assumption that the backfilling material, supporting material, and surrounding low‐permeability formation are poroelastic media. The solution is expressed in Laplace space, and numerical inversion techniques are used to find field variables in the real‐time domain. After the solution is verified with the numerical results, it is applied in a large‐scale in situ heating test – PRACLAY heating test – for a predictive reference calculation and an extensive parametric study. Another medium‐scale in situ heating test – ATLAS III heating test – is also analyzed using the solution, which provides reasonable agreement with measurements. The new analytical solution proves to be a convenient tool for a good understanding of the resulting coupled thermo‐hydro‐mechanical behavior and is therefore valuable for the interpretation of measured data in engineering practices and for a rational design of potential radioactive waste repositories. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ice ages and nuclear waste isolation

The greatest natural threats to the integrity of the geological barriers to nuclear wastes isolated in cavities mined at depths between 400 and 800 m are likely during rapid retreats of future ice sheets. The next major glacial retreat is expected at ca 70 ka, well within the lifetime of high grade nuclear waste, but it is not yet clear how long man's greenhouse effect may delay it.

This contribution discusses the potential problems posed to European waste isolation sites during erosion by ice and over-pressurizing of meltwater and gasses in a lithosphere flexed by major ice sheets. These depend on the target rocks and the location of the site with respect to the ice-streams and margins of future ice sheets of particular size.

No sites are planned under the centres of future ice sheets in Europe where end-glacial earthquakes can be expected to reactivate major faults, nor where ice can be expected to deepen and lengthen fjords along the Atlantic coast. Sites in the Alps may be vulnerable to radical changes in the patterns of glacial troughs. The stability and geohydrology of sites in coastal areas beyond future ice margins are threatened by river gorges when sea level falls ca 125 m or, in enclosed basins like the Mediterranean, ever lower. The greatest problems are likely in lowland regions exposed by the rapid retreat of thick ice fronts where large lakes on or under thick warm-based ice are dammed by more distal cold-based ice. Groundwater in subhorizontal fractures dilated by glacial unloading may reach over-pressures capable of hydraulically lifting megablocks of bedrock with fracture permeability and/or the ice damming them so that less permeable substrates are susceptible to incisions eroded to depths of ca 360 at locations controlled mainly by ice topography, kinematics and history.     

Migration of Some Elements and Radionuclides across aGranite-Granite Contact Zone: A Natural Analoguefor Safe Disposal of High-Level Radwastes

Elements and natural radionuclides in the contact zone of two granites with different ages would migrate from one to the other because of the difference in their chemical contents and later water-rock interactions. This migration could serve as an analogue for the near-field process of radwastes in a high-level radwaste deep geological disposal repository.In the contact between the Indosinian granite (whole-rock Rb-Sr isochron age at 214@3 Ma) and Hercynian granite (zircon U-Pb isochron age at 296@31 Ma) located in Ziyuan County, Guangxi, the O and Pb isotope characteristics and the activity ratios of 234U/238U, 230Th/238U, 230Th/234U and 226Ra/230Th show that, based on the whole-rock chemical contents, both of the two granites have maintained a relatively open chemical system in their evolution processes. However, as there is no obvious open fault, the migration of major elements, trace elements and natural U-series nu-clides takes place within only 1-2 m in the contact zone, and water-rock interaction     

燃煤过程中有害元素转化机理研究进展

综述了煤中有毒、有害元素经燃烧之后的存在形式与去向,元素在燃烧过程中的热解释放行为及其转化机理;强调煤中无机组分为主要存在许多有毒、爱元素在燃烧过程中会释放出来,然后再分异扩散到各种燃烧产物之中,地民人体廷民危害;指出今后研究不仅限于煤中有毒、有害元素的形成机理,更应侧重对燃烧产物中毒、有害元素的分异与去除方法作进一步的研究与试验,力求使燃煤对环境与人体健康产生的危害降低到最低程度。     

海上退役平台改作鱼礁体的稳定性及流场效应研究

海洋油气平台在达到作业寿命后必须进行废弃处置,将海上退役平台改作人工鱼礁投放,对优化渔业资源、促进海洋经济持续发展具有重要意义。基于平台拆卸结构,共制作了箱状、管状、柱状、网状4种典型鱼礁实物模型,通过室内模拟试验和数值模拟研究,分析了不同鱼礁类型单体的稳定性和流场效应。结果表明：开口率0.1至0.8的箱状礁的稳定性均能满足要求,但开口率高于0.6的箱状礁难以形成连续的背涡流区域,设计时应使开口率低于0.6;管状礁应选择堆叠放置方式投放,且堆叠层数与稳定性和流场造成能力均呈正相关,在设计时尽量提高管状礁的堆叠层数;柱状礁设计时应尽量降低其重心,并减小迎流投影面的中空面积投放;基于平台的钻井架、火炬臂、栈桥设计的3种网状礁,均满足礁体稳定条件,且均能形成大范围的背涡流区域,可作为人工鱼礁投放。研究成果为平台造礁礁体结构设计提供了理论依据与实践基础,对海上退役平台的废弃处置具有一定的参考价值。     

盐腔内回填碱渣沉降固结特性室内试验研究

碱渣回填到充满卤水的废弃盐腔后,颗粒会自由沉降到盐腔底部形成沉积层,进而在自重作用下固结。为了解盐腔内回填碱渣的沉降固结特性,以江苏淮安地区碱渣为对象,进行了沉降柱试验和固结试验。试验结果表明:(1)碱渣在卤水中的沉降过程可以分为3个阶段:絮凝阶段、沉降阶段和固结阶段。初始浓度对碱渣的沉降曲线和沉降速率有很大的影响。(2)碱渣颗粒分布、密度、含水率和孔隙比均呈现出分层特性,颗粒粒径、密度随深度的增加而增大,含水率、孔隙比随深度的增大而减小。(3)碱渣具有很高的压缩性,压缩系数a1-2为3.36 MPa-1。在压力范围小于100 kPa下,固结系数随固结压力的增加而显著减小。试验结果对了解盐腔内回填碱渣的沉降固结特性提供了参考,有利于指导回填施工工艺和碱渣的后期处理。     

中国煤矿废弃物环境效应研究进展

简述煤矿废弃物的环境地球化学效应和治理方法。分别论述了煤矸石山的自燃、淋滤和煤矿矿井水的环境效应。研究发现，煤矸石自燃会释放出SO2、CO、H2S、CO2、NOx、CH4、多环芳烃(PAHs)等多种有毒有害物质；煤矸石中的有害元素As、Cd、F、Hg、Mo、Pb等含量多与硫化物、硫酸盐等正相关，连续化学浸取能将很大部分毒害元素溶出；矿井水直接排放会引起地下水位下降和环境污染。目前我国对煤矿废弃物的环境效应研究已经很重视，但煤矸石和矿井水资源化治理还存在一些问题。