Grant: Alliance Grants

It is internationally recognized that the safest and most environmentally friendly location to store high-level and long-lived intermediate-level waste is in deep, stable geological formations. Argillaceous (clay-rich) formations represent the most common sediments on the surface of the earth, comprising between 50 and 70% of the geological material. Countries with argillaceous formations such as Canada, France, Belgium, Japan, Switzerland and the United States have been investigating low-porosity, low permeability argillaceous rocks to assess their potential as caprock (or host rock) for CO2 storage and nuclear waste disposal, which requires knowledge of their hydro-mechanical behaviour. The proposed research program represents an international collaboration between Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Switzerland's National Cooperative for Disposal of Radioactive Waste, Rocscience and the University of Alberta to develop a predictive numerical model that can help us understand the hydro-mechanical behaviour in argillaceous formations for the safe design of nuclear waste repositories. The primary objective of this work is to establish the relevant geomechanical coupled processes applicable for repository design and construction. This will be supplemented by the analysis of performance-based design (PBD) from other industries to aid in the development of a new PBD methodology applicable to nuclear repositories. In addition to the development of a novel numerical model and PBD methodology for industry, the research outcomes include the training of four Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) at the University of Alberta, who will be provided with invaluable research opportunities in both laboratory and field settings, aiding to prepare them to be contributing members of Canada's engineering community.