Experiment on gas entry pressure and gas permeability of concrete silo for a low- and intermediate-level waste disposal facility in Korea

After closure of an underground disposal facility, it would be saturated with ground water and gases would be generated by various mechanisms. As the generated gases are accumulated, internal pressure of the concrete silo would increase and integrity of the silo could be damaged by overpressure. Therefore, an effective gas permeable seal is necessary to prevent the overpressurization of the concrete silo. For designing the gas permeable seal, experimental study and computer modeling on the gas migration through the concrete should be performed. In this study, in order to obtain the specific characteristics of the concrete silo which are necessary for computer modeling, gas entry pressure and gas permeability of the concrete silo were measured by using specimens which have a same composition with the concrete silo. The results of this study could be utilized to the simulation of gas migration and design of the gas permeable seal for a LILW disposal facility in Korea.