New article!

2016-12-28

Micans, via the journal Applied Clay Science, publishes a new scientific article. In this article, you can read about our work with how different densities of bentonite clay affects microbial sulphide-producing activity.

In the Swedish concept for disposal of spent nuclear fuel, bentonite will function as a buffer surrounding the copper canisters containing the radioactive waste. The clay has a very important role in preventing outward transport of radioactive materials if the canister should break during the long time it takes for the waste to decay. High demands are therefore placed on the type of bentonite clay that will be used and how much clay per volume (density) that is necessary for building a safe repository. Sulphide produced by sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in the underground where the repository will be built is corrosive to the metal copper. SRB activity has been observed to decrease with increasing clay density. In this article, we studied the extent to which the SRB can be active and produce sulfide at different densities in three different bentonite clays.

Until February 15, 2017 the article is available free here.