Two new articles on the geomechanics of nuclear waste storage
Cover of JGR and EPSL journal respectively. © JGR © EPSL
Felipe Orellana and Marie Violay from LEMR (EPFL), together with C. Collettini and Marco Scuderi from La Sapienza (Italy) have recently published two articles dealing with the frictional properties of Opalinus Clay.
The hydro-mechanical properties of the Opalinus clay (OPA) formation (Switzerland) have been widely studied in the context of nuclear waste repositories. However, how the frictional behaviour of faults and its architecture can impact over the repositories remains unclear. The PhD research project of F. Orellana, under the supervision of Prof. M. Violay, has brought new insights into the behaviour of the Main Fault, a thrust tectonic system cutting the Opalinus formation at the Mont Terri Laboratory. The two papers have been recently published in two high impact journals: JGR and EPSL. Together, they are also an effort to close the gap between the rock engineering field and geoscience research. Have a look at them here:
- Frictional properties of Opalinus Clay: Implications for nuclear waste storage has been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.
- Do scaly clays control seismicity in shale rocks? has been published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.