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  4. Comparative Study of Gas Testing Protocols in Clayey Rocks for Nuclear Waste Repositories
 
research article

Comparative Study of Gas Testing Protocols in Clayey Rocks for Nuclear Waste Repositories

Gonzalez-Blanco, Laura
•
Llabjani, Qazim  
•
Romero, Enrique
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May 29, 2025
Environmental Geotechnics

Understanding gas transport processes in clay barriers is crucial for assessing the long-term safety of geological repositories for radioactive waste. Fundamental and well-designed experimental research at the laboratory scale is an indispensable prerequisite for conceptualising gas transport mechanisms and their simulation at repository scales. In practice, however, it turns out that comparing gas invasion experiments on argillaceous rock samples is difficult since different laboratories use different test protocols. This paper presents a collaborative and comparative study conducted by two teams from the Geotechnical Laboratory at the Universitat Polit & egrave;cnica de Catalunya (UPC, Spain) and the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (LMS/EPFL, Switzerland), carried out as part of the European Joint Programme EURAD. Both teams employed equivalent gas testing protocols to characterise two argillaceous host rocks: Boom Clay (Belgium) and Opalinus Clay (Switzerland). The integrated workflow enabled the determination of common features regarding the hydro-mechanical response of the tested samples. This research underscores the importance of verifiable testing methods to enhance the understanding of gas transport in geological repositories. The results highlight the benefits of coordinated efforts and shared methodologies in advancing geotechnical research and fostering collaboration among national agencies.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1680/jenge.24.00185
Web of Science ID

WOS:001497687100001

Author(s)
Gonzalez-Blanco, Laura

Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya

Llabjani, Qazim  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Romero, Enrique

Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya

Ferrari, Alessio  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Laloui, Lyesse  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Marschall, Paul

Natl Genossenschaft Lagerung Radioaktiver Abfalle

Date Issued

2025-05-29

Publisher

EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD

Published in
Environmental Geotechnics
Start page

1

End page

12

Subjects

laboratory tests

•

permeability & pore-related properties

•

pressure-related properties

•

radioactive waste disposal

•

testing, apparatus & methods

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LMS  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management (EURAD) (2019-2024) WP-Gas 'Mechanistic understanding of gas transport in clay materials'

Nagra (Nationale Genossenschaft fuer die Lagerung radioaktiver Abfaelle)

18713;18722

INTERMO2 project - Spanish Ministry of Science/Research Agency CIN/AEI

PID2022-141429OB-I00

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Available on Infoscience
June 3, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/250967
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