Diffusion in Crystalline Rocks

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DIFFUSION IN CRYSTALLINE ROCKS

K. Skagius and I. Neretnieks Department of Chemical Engineering Royal Institute of Technology S-IO0 44 STOCKHOLM Sweden

SUMMARY the sorption and the rate of diffusion

Laboratory experiments to determine

of cesium and strontium in pieces of granite have been performed. diffusivity,

Dp •*

The effective

p was found to be I - 2 • 10-12 m2 Is for both cesium and

strontium. The diffusion of non-sorbing species in granites and other rock materials have been studied in laboratory scale. tritiated water,

were determined to be 0.7 - 1.3

The non-sorbing species were iodide,

granites the effective diffusivities 10-13 m2 Is for iodide and 1.3 - 1.8 • 10-13

Cr-EDTA and Uranine.

In

m 2Is for tritiated water. Electrical resistivity measurements in salt water saturated rock cores have been performed.

The resistivity is

measured in the saturated core and

in the salt solution with which the core has been saturated. The ratio between these two resistivities has a direct relation to the ratio of the effective diffusivity for a component in in

the rock material and the diffusivity

free water for the same component. The results from the electrical resistivity measurements and the experiments

with diffusion of non-sorbing species are in

fair agreement.

diffusivity for cesium and strontium (sorbing species) are,

The effective however,

more than

ten times higher than expected from the results of diffusion of non-sorbing species and the electrical

resistivity measurements.

This is

interpreted as

an effect of surface diffusion.

INTRODUCTION Questions related to the final disposal of the nuclear wastes are studied intensively in many countries. radioactive waste is

The Swedish concept for a final repository for

to emplace the waste in crystalline rock. Canisters

containing the waste are placed in holes in The nuclides may, however,

stable rock at about 500 m depth.

eventually leak out from the canisters and be

transported with the moving ground water in fissures in the bedrock. estimate the velocity of the moving nuclides in the fissures it

is

To

important

to know the interaction mechanisms between the nuclides and the rock.

The

510 nuclides may sorb on the fissure surfaces and they may also diffuse through the stagnant fluid in the micropores of the rock and sorb on the micropore surfaces as well. This may have a strong impact on the retardation of the radionuclides.

(1)

Three types of experiments in the laboratory scale to determine the sorption and the diffusion of nuclides in crystalline rocks have been performed. o Sorption and diffusion experiments with cesium and strontium in two different granites. o Diffusion experiments with non-sorbing species (iodide,

tritiated water,

Uranine and Cr-EDTA) in different rock materials. o Electrical resistivity measurements in salt water saturated rock cores.

SORPTION OF STRONTIUM AND CESIUM ON GRANITE Laboratory investigation The granites in

these experiments are from Finnsj6n

(quartz-granodiorite)

outside Forsmark on t