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One of the major challenges of high-level nuclear waste (HLW) isolation in deep boreholes is to anticipate the maturation behaviour of swelling clay when the waste, surrounded by dense clay encased in perforated tubes, is submerged into the borehole mud. The ultimate homogeneity of this clay seal acting as a barrier is expected to stabilize the borehole and to prevent possible leakage of radioactivity. In this study, a numerical model for predicting the maturation of the clay barrier has been developed. In the model, the water transport is controlled by the differences in the suction potential and the permeability. The model is able to simulate the maturation process, both the expeditious water transport and the clay migration into the surrounding mud, from beginning to end. Results from laboratory tests of the clay maturation were compared with the predictions made by the model. They are in good agreement, but refinement is proposed by taking the impact of the tube perforation on the maturation rate into more consideration. The proposed numerical model will also be useful in selecting a suitable design for clay barriers in HLW boreholes. Different combinations of clay dimensions and initial densities of mud and dense clay can thus be studied to determine the final homogenization and the end densities.

Much of the seismic activity of northern Sweden consists of micro-earthquakes occurring near postglacial faults. However, larger magnitude earthquakes do occur in Sweden, and earthquake statistics indicate that a magnitude 5 event is likely to occur once every century. This paper presents dynamic analyses of the effects of larger earthquakes on an upstream tailings dam at the Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden. The analyses were performed to evaluate the potential for liquefaction and to assess stability of the dam under two specific earthquakes: a commonly occurring magnitude 3.6 event and a more extreme earthquake of magnitude 5.8. The dynamic analyses were carried out with the finite element program PLAXIS using a recently implemented constitutive model called UBCSAND. The results indicate that the magnitude 5.8 earthquake would likely induce liquefaction in a limited zone located below the ground surface near the embankment dikes. It is interpreted that stability of the dam may not be affected due to the limited extent of the liquefied zone. Both types of earthquakes are predicted to induce tolerable magnitudes of displacements. The results of the postseismic slope stability analysis, performed for a state after a seismic event, suggest that the dam is stable during both the earthquakes.