Boom clay pore water chemistry

In Belgium, geological disposal in clay is the primary option for the isolation of high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel from the biosphere. The Boom Clay is studied as the potential host rock for methodological studies on the geological disposal of radioactive waste. It is present under the facilities of the SCK-CEN at Mol, at a depth of 190 to 293 m. The current R and D programme focuses on the feasibility and safety of radioactive waste disposal in the Boom Clay. In this framework, a detailed characterisation of the clay is performed (mechanical, physico-chemical and hydrogeological properties, variability, role of organic matter,...). In addition, high priority is given to the understanding of the basic phenomena which control the retention o f radionuclides in the clay. Therefore, it is very important to characterise and understand the pore water composition in the host rock. All the available information from previous studies on the Boom Clay pore water chemistry was synthesise d in a 'state of the art' report, status 2004. This report describes the pore water sampling and analytical techniques, the results, and interpretation of a series of studies carried out in-situ in the HADES URF and in the laboratories. The objective of this study was to evaluate the most reliable technique(s) to obtain representative pore water samples, to determine the variation of the pore water composition in the Boom Clay, to present a coherent geochemical model for explaining the mechanisms controlling the Boom Clay pore water composition, and to propose a reference pore water composition to be used in the laboratory experiments, for speciation calculations, and for assessments of perturbation that might influence the Boom Clay pore water. The main conclusions will be presented here. (authors)