Microstructure, filtration, elastic and thermal properties of granite rock samples: implications for HLW disposal

Abstract

AbstractThis contribution presents preliminary data on the petrographic and mineral—chemical composition of the granitoid and dioritoid core samples of the Itatsky and Kamenny sites in the Nizhnekansky Massif of the Krasnoyarsk Region, in combination with data on structure of their pore space, filtration, elastic, mechanical and thermophysical properties, data necessary to select a site for an underground research laboratory. This laboratory would be a precursor to an underground radioactive waste facility. It was found that the variation of petrophysical properties depends on the degree of metamorphic, hydrothermal—metasomatic and deformational transformations, and differs markedly for two groups of rocks, namely, 1 — granites and granite-gneisses, and 2 — quartz diorites and diorites. Comparative analysis of the data obtained shows that the country rocks of the Kamenny site have a relatively higher degree of heterogeneity in their petrophysical characteristics, than those of the Itatsky site. These results could be applied both to select the preferred site and to make a preliminary estimate of the thermal, hydraulic and mechanical behaviour of country rocks in the vicinity of a prospective underground heat-generating waste repository.