In situ migration experiment in argillaceous formation

International cooperative R and D has been performed within the five years framework of the bilateral agreement between PNC (Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation) and SCK/CEN (Studiecentrum voor Kernergie/Centre D'etude de L'energie Nucleaire, Mol, Belgium) which is focused on 'The Migration Experiment in argillaceous formation.' This Tertiary argillaceous formation, called Boom clay, is located at about 230m depth in Mol-Dessel area, Belgium. The argillaceous rock is considered to have a high capability for retardation to radionuclides when they migrate in geosphere because of a high content of clay minerals and dissolved carbon-rich pore water. The main purpose of this collaboration work is to characterize the migration phenomena in sedimentary rock through understanding of the behaviour of radionuclides migration in the argillaceous formation. The present report describes the preliminary results of in situ one-dimensional migration experiment with labelled clay core emplaced in borehole under advective condition. In the experiment, radioactive tracer Sr-85 and Eu-152+154 have been used in order to determine the apparent dispersion coefficient and retardation factor of Boom clay. Finally, the following conclusions were obtained by in situ measurement and calculation based on a appropriate migration model; a) From the Sr-85 experiment, diffusive behavior is interpreted to be a dominant phenomena on radionuclides transportation. b) From the Eu-152+154 experiment, very small non-retarded fraction is observed. (author)