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Study of thermo-hydro-mechanical processes at a potential site of an Indian nuclear waste repository

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Abstract

A detailed scientific study is required for the disposal of high-level radioactive wastes because they generate extremely high heat during their half-life period. Although, several methods have been proposed for the disposal of nuclear wastes, deep underground repository is considered to be a suitable option.

In this paper, field investigation has been done near to Bhima basin of peninsular India. Detailed fracture analysis near the borehole shows very prominent maxima of fractures striking N55∘E coinciding with the trace of master basement cover metasediment fault. Physico-mechanical properties of rocks have been determined in the laboratory.

The host rock chosen is granite and engineered barrier near the canister is proposed to be clay. A thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) analysis has been done to study the effect of heat on deformations, stresses and pore-pressure variation in granite and clay barriers. For this purpose, finite difference method has been used. Suitable rheological models have been used to model elastic canister and elasto-plastic engineered barrier and host rock. It has been found that both temperature and stresses at any point in the rockmass is below the design criteria which are 100∘C for temperature and 0.2 for damage number.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad, Dhanbad, 826 004, India.

    Sachin Maheshwar & A K Verma

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, 400 076, India.

    T N Singh

  3. Technology Development Division, Nuclear Recycle Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400 076, India.

    R K Bajpai

Authors
  1. Sachin Maheshwar
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  2. A K Verma
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  3. T N Singh
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  4. R K Bajpai
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Correspondence to A K Verma.

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Maheshwar, S., Verma, A.K., Singh, T.N. et al. Study of thermo-hydro-mechanical processes at a potential site of an Indian nuclear waste repository. J Earth Syst Sci 124, 1693–1708 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-015-0632-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-015-0632-3

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