Speaker
Description
Ultra-low permeability shales provide a promising repository for wastes generated from nuclear energy production. Cooling of high-energy wastes, however, thermolyzes embedded organic matter into fluid phases that may lead to local stress concentration and fracturing. Understanding and controlling the fundamental THMC coupling in these heterogeneous nanoconfined environments is therefore critical to designing safe and secure nuclear waste repositories, yet much remains unresolved due to missing micro/nanoscale probes. In this talk, I will show an operando scanning electron microscopy (SEM) platform that enables the first in situ observation of coupled THMC interactions in organics-laden shale, with ~ 2.5 nm/pixel, 10 Hz, and elemental resolutions, to constrain the necessary conditions for thermogenic pore and fracture development during high-level nuclear waste disposal. Notably, surface wetting characteristics are measured and heating-rates are mapped to constrain the conditions that enable self-sealing fluid-fracture development.
| Country | United States |
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