Latest methodological developments for the measurement of diffusion and permeation coefficients in concretes and clays

In water-saturated media the main mode for contaminant transport is liquid transfer, and the confinement capacity of the materials is notably characterized by the effective diffusion coefficient (EDC) of tritiated water. The major problem lies in the duration of experiments, that can exceed several years, so two methods have been explored for the development of accelerated ones. The first consists in a variation of the through-diffusion technique: a given tracer concentration, C₀, is applied on one face of the sample that has been previously impregnated with a C₀/2 concentration. The duration of the essay can then be divided by 3. The second method involves accelerated migration under the influence of an electric field and direct measurement of the current density. The results are in the same range as the classical through-diffusion experiments, and obtained in about one month. In non water-saturated media, the diffusing fluid of interest is generally the gaseous phase. Two applications at various steps of the nuclear fuel cycle are presented: characterization of the migration of hydrogen in the host rock formation of a geological waste storage, and of the diffusion of tritium gas in the concrete containment structure of decommissioned UNGG nuclear power plants. In both cases the media are close to saturation and the pore water content must be precisely controlled. This paper presents a method which allows to determine the intrinsic permeability and gas diffusion coefficients of the materials.