These conference proceedings examine gas generation, accumulation and migration in underground repository systems for radioactive waste: safety-relevant issues.

Geological disposal is the preferred option for the long term management of British intermediate level radioactive waste. The disposal site is currently being identified, with possible geological environments including fractured crystalline rocks and low permeability rocks such as clay. The selection of the host rock will have an impact on the design of the waste repository. This thesis investigates the ways the behaviour of repository borne gas can be affected by the repository design and the selection of the host rock. Commercially available TOUGH2 package is used to model the resaturation of the disposal facility, along with gas migration out of the repository and towards the ground surface in a generic geology. A facility located in fractured rock is estimated to resaturate within 6.5 years of its closure. The resaturation time is found to be strongly dependent on the presence and properties of a low permeability liner around the disposal vaults. The inflowing water starts gas generation processes within the repository; gas initially accumulates within the facility, but it is estimated to find its way into the host rock approximately 450 years after the facility has been closed. A maximum outflow rate is reached after approximately 1,000 years. The flow of gas migrating through the host rock is strongly affected by site-specific features. In the case of a uniform crystalline rock, gas is found to break through at the surface after 29,000 years. For a disposal site with a very slow groundwater flow rate, the resaturation phase may take several decades and gas outflow will occur much later. It is estimated that, in very low permeability environments, gas breakthrough may not occur before 100,000 years.

Understanding the behaviour of gases in the context of radioactive waste disposal is a fundamental requirement in developing a safety case for the disposal of radioactive waste. Of particular importance are the long-term performance of bentonite buffers and cement-based backfill materials that may be used to encapsulate and surround the waste in a repository, and the behaviour of plastic clays, indurated mudrocks and crystalline formations that may be the host rocks for a repository. The EC Euratom programme funded project, FORGE, has provided new insights into the processes and mechanisms governing gas generation and migration with the aim of reducing uncertainty. This volume brings together papers on aspects of this topic arising from both the FORGE project and work undertaken elsewhere. This has been achieved by the acquisition of new experimental data coupled with modelling, through a series of laboratory and field-scale experiments performed at a number of underground research laboratories throughout Europe.

This book will address concepts and techniques for preparation and disposal of low- (LLW) and intermediate-level (ILW) radioactive waste from the nuclear industry, the weapons industry, university labs, research institutes, and from the commercial industry. It will aid decision-makers in finding optimal technical/economical solutions, including how site investigations, design, construction, identification and selection of construction materials (clay and concrete), and monitoring can be made. It will also examine techniques for isolating soil and rock contaminated by leaking nuclear plants and from damaged nuclear reactors such as those at the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear plants.