Performance assessments insights on the use of cements in waste management

¹ U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, USA
² National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA

^a e-mail: david.esh@nrc.gov

Abstract

The use of cementitious materials has been proposed in a variety of waste management systems because these materials can have a variety of desirable performance characteristics: hydraulic isolation, chemical isolation, structural stability. Cementitious barriers are commonly engineered with a goal of achieving the highest quality material possible (e.g. minimizing hydraulic conductivity, porosity, tortuosity, diffusivity). However, a single performance goal may not be optimum when practical considerations of designs and performance characteristics are considered simultaneously. In addition, laboratory-scale optimized designs may have field-scale characteristics that are less than ideal.