Engineered barriers mine waste

Cement is used in a variety of applications in which it comes into contact with the geological environment. In hydrocarbon well-bores and mine-shafts it is a principal component of the engineered environment adjacent to the host geology. In many radioactive waste (or rad-waste ) concepts and some landfill and contaminated land sites, cementitious material forms part of the system of barriers between waste and the biosphere. Its barrier properties include high sorption capacity, potentially low permeability, and the ability to condition its porewaters to a highly alkaline pH. This is particularly important around radwaste repositories where high pH lowers the solubility of a number of the key radionuclides and also slows the corrosion of the metal canisters in which the waste may be placed. 

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