Abstract
Compacted bentonite and carbon steel have been considered as the good buffer and over-pack materials in the repositories of high-level radioactive waste disposal. Sodium bentonite, Kunipia-F contains approximately 95wt% of montmorillonite. It has a high cation-exchange capacity and a high specific surface area, and its properties determine the behavior of bentonite. The pH of the pore water in compacted bentonite is an extremely important parameter because of its influence on radionuclide solubility, migration and Sorption, and as well as repository safety studies. In this study, the pH of pore water in compacted bentonite was measured with a paper pH indicator wrapped with semi-permeable membrane of fresh egg under reducing conditions. On 30 days, the paper of pH indicator in the experimental apparatus indicated that the pH of pore water in compacted bentonite had been around 9-10 before electromigration. During electromigration the pH of bentonite was decreased and it reached 6-7 on 7 days. The concentration of iron and sodium showed nearly complementary distribution in the bentonite specimen after electromigartion. It is expected that iron ion could migrate as ferrous ion through the interlayer of montmorillonite replacing exchangeable sodium ions in the interlayer. Egg shell membrane does not affect the color of pH test paper during the experiment.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 25-31 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Memoirs of the Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 22 2007 |
| Externally published | Yes |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Energy(all)
- Atmospheric Science
- Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)
- Management of Technology and Innovation