New experimental approach for studying diffusion through an intact and unsaturated medium: a case study with...

The diffusion of tritiated water and anionic species was studied in an unsaturated core of Callovo-Oxfordian claystone, which is a potential host-rock for disposal of high-level radioactive wastes. The diffusion parameters in such conditions were determined using modified through-diffusion cells in which the suction is generated by the osmosis process. This specific device leads to values of saturation degree ranging from 81% to 100%. The results show that the diffusion through unsaturated samples is clearly slower than that in fully saturated samples, with steady-state fluxes decreasing by a factor up to 7 for tritium and up to 50 for anionic species. While tritium porosity values follow volumetric water contents (from 21 to 16%), the porosity accessible to anionic species significantly decreases (from 7.5 to 0.7%). Such diffusive behaviors have been modeled by means of a modified Archie's law, taking into account a critical water saturation below which no tracer can percolate. These results indicate that the largest pores, which are initially affected by dehydration, would play an important role on the connectivity of the porous medium. This would especially affect anionic species diffusion behavior because they are constrained to diffuse into the largest pores first.