Articles techniques et présentations

Bentonite clay is used as a protecting barrier around both the copper capsules in deposition holes and in deposition tunnels in the KBS-3 final disposal concept for spent nuclear fuel. The performance of these bentonite barriers will be investigated both experimentally and by modelling. Both approaches are needed, because for example the time span in question (hundred thousand years or even more) is out of any experimental studies. Modelling is done by coupling thermal (T), hydrologic (H), mechanical (M) and chemical phenomena into a unified THMC-models. These models can be implemented in several different computing environments, of which in our use are COMSOL Multiphysics, TOUGH family codes and NUMERRIN.