Abstract
To establish sealing performance suitable for geological environmental conditions of Japan, it is necessary to obtain basic data related to the sealing functions through laboratory and in-situ experiments. These data are to be used for practical design of the sealing materials and to establish the method for analysis of the sealing performance.
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) had joined the international project, the Tunnel Sealing Experiment (TSX), to demonstrate the sealing performance of full scale plugs in-situ, and to develop analytical method of the sealing performance of the plugs at Underground Research Laboratory of the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in Canada.
This paper presents the experimental data on the sealing performance, as well as the analytical studies for clay plug performance based on the tracer test results. The results of the experiments and the analytical studies indicate that the low permeability of the clay plug was well performed. It was also shown that the boundary between the clay plug and rock could be a dominant mass transport pathway.
