Main Topics

The meeting will cover all topics concerning natural argillaceous geological barriers and clay material based engineered barrier systems, investigated by means of: laboratory experiments on clay samples (new analytical developments), in situ experiments in underground research laboratories, mock-up demonstrations, natural analogues, as well as numerical modelling and global integration approaches (including upscaling processes and treatment of uncertainties).

• General strategy
  Examples of broad research programs (national or international) on the role of natural and artificial clay barriers for radionuclide confinement.
• Clay-based repository concepts
  Repository designs, including technological and safety issues related to the use of clay for nuclear waste confinement.
• Geology and clay characterisation
  Clay mineralogy, sedimentology, paleoenvironment, diagenesis, datation techniques, discontinuities in rock clay, fracturing, self sealing processes, role of organic matter and microbiological processes.
• Geochemistry
  Pore water geochemistry, clay thermodynamics, chemical retention, geochemical modelling, advanced isotopic geochemistry.
• Mass transfer
  Water status and hydraulic properties in low permeability media, pore space geometry, water, solute & gas transfer processes, colloid mediated transport, large scale movements, long-term diffusion.
• Alteration processes
  Oxidation effects, hydration-dehydration processes, response to thermal stress, iron-clay interactions, alkaline perturbation.
• Geomechanics
  Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical behaviour of clay, rheological models, EDZ characterisation and evolution, coupled behaviour and models (HM, THM, THMC).