A Model of Coupled Heat and Moisture Transport in an Annular Clay Barrier

Abstract

The design of repository seals for deeply buried high-level radioactive wastes incorporates densely compacted clayey barriers around metallic waste canisters. In this paper, a mathematical model that is based on conservation of thermal energy and mass is developed to describe the locations of moisture and temperature fronts within a barrier, around a cylindrical waste canister of 1 m radius, containing radionuclides with half-lives that range from 100 to 10,000 years. The solution developed is axisymmetric: the moisture fraction