Swelling in Switzerland by an Early Career Researcher
My name is Andrew Wiseall and I
am an early career researcher at the British Geological Survey (BGS). I work within
the Radioactive Waste team at the BGS based at the main office in Keyworth, Nottingham
however I also take part in research for shale gas and Carbon, Capture and
Storage. In terms of radioactive waste this primarily concerns characterising
the potential hydro-mechanical properties of potential host rocks and
engineered barriers. A key part of my role is to present my findings at
international conferences and meetings and in September 2017 the GeoEnergy
Research Centre assisted in this by awarding me funding from there Early Career
Researchers Development Fund. I presented my work in the form of a poster at
the ‘7th International Conference on Clays in Natural and Engineered
Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement’ this was held in the Swiss town of
Davos from the 24th-27th September. The work I presented
was titled ‘Three-dimensional swelling properties of clay-rich rocks and
engineered barriers.’
The Swiss Nuclear Waste
Management Organisation (NWMO), NAGRA, hosted the conference in the Swiss town
of Davos, which is surrounded by the beautiful Alps. A long day of travelling
from Luton to Zurich and onto Davos was worth it for the views of the Alps from
the train! The conference itself was held at the Congress Centre, which also
helps host the World Economic Forum every January which many worldwide presidents
and prime ministers attend, however I’m sure the Clay Conference will have been
the most glamorous event in Davos this year!..
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Swiss town of Davos, the
host of the 7th International Clay Barriers conference. The photo
was taken from the cable car to the top of the mountain in the little time off
we had!
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The conference started on the
Monday morning with well over 400 people in attendance from all over the world.
The scene was set in the first couple of sessions with key note talks from some
of the more advanced European NWMO’s in terms of being close to geological
disposal and also to highlight the importance of the ongoing research. The
conference then split off into three parallel sessions in which research was
discussed in much greater detail. Topics ranged from sample preparation to
micro-scale clay characterization to full scale disposal demonstration projects,
thus highlighting the broad nature of this research field. This gave me a great
insight into the importance of research at all scales and also allowed me to
see exactly where my research slots in to the wider research programme.
I presented my poster on the
final day of the conference in an hour long poster session. However, the poster
sessions were interactive all week so discussion on my work was held throughout
the week. My work focused on how groundwater would interact with clays in
potential host rocks and engineered barriers, in these rock types the clay
minerals will often incorporate water into their structure, resulting in swelling.
This is a wanted characteristic for geological disposal as it can lead to the
sealing of fractures and therefore stop radionuclides flowing away from a
disposal facility. The technique I used in my research was novel and therefore
attracted much discussion, especially from the Dutch NWMO for whom much of this
work was carried out.
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Presenting my poster at
the Clay Conference, Davos, Switzerland
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Overall, I believe the conference
was a success for both BGS and myself as we presented some important results on
an international stage directly to stakeholders and I learnt a lot through
doing this. I now feel that I can see
exactly where my work fits in to the wider context and I can also see where
further research needs to be done in my field. This should therefore stand me
in good stead for my future career and hopefully lead to more international
collaboration in the future.
I fully look forward to the next
Clay Conference in Nancy, France in 2020 although I expect they may not be able
to match the beautiful Swiss Alps I’m sure they will be able to match the
amount of cheese consumed!
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