Abstract:
Montmorillonite is the main component of the buffer backfill material for geological disposal repository which is used to bury highlevel nuclear waste. The adsorption and blocking performance to radionuclides by montmorillonite in special environment (the effects of high temperature, high pressure and pH value) is very important for the evaluation of the properties of the buffer backfill material. In recent years, molecular simulation methods play important roles in investigating the adsorption and diffusion behavior of radionuclides in the interlayer of montmorillonite. In this paper, the Monte Carlo (MC) method was used to study the adsorption behavior of Cs
+ and UO
2+2 in the interlayer of montmorillonite, and the molecular dynamics (MD) technique was employed to investigate the hydration and diffusion dynamic characteristics of Cs
+ and UO
2+2 in the interlayer of montmorillonite under the effects of high temperature, high pressure, and pH value. The model system consisted of 8a×4b×1c unit cells which corresponded to a typical 2∶1 type moderate-charge montmorillonite (0.5 e/unit cell). The charge sites in the tetrahedral and octahedral sheets of montmorillonite were replaced and the charge in the octahedral layer was more than that of the tetrahedral layer. 8 Cs
+ and 4 UO
2+2 were adsorbed in the interlayer of montmorillonite to balance substitution charge, meanwhile, different numbers of OH
- were introduced to control the pH value. A Clayff force field suitable for the clay minerals was used to interact with each other between nuclides, water molecules and external clay surface during the simulations. MC calculation results show that Cs
+ and UO
2+2 are distributed nearby at the tetrahedral and octahedral charge substitution sites. In addition, one- and two-layer water hydration shells can be formed around Cs+ and UO
2+2 in the interlayer of montmorillonite, respectively. Moreover, hydrogen bonds are easily existed between water molecules and oxygen atoms in the SiO
4 tetrahedral sheet. The highest numbers of 285 water molecules are adsorbed when 8 Cs
+ and 4 UO
2+2 contained in the interlayer of montmorillonite with c=1.25 nm. MD results show that the hydration and diffusion of Cs
+ and UO
2+2 could be affected by the high temperature and high pressure as well as the pH value. Under the normal temperature and pressure, the maximum numbers of water molecules in the water hydration shells of Cs
+ and UO
2+2 are obtained when the pH value is 11.85 and 12.15, respectively. And the highest diffusion coefficients of Cs
+ and UO
2+2 are 5.31×10
-13 m
2/s and 1.11×10
-12 m
2/s when the pH value is 12.15 and 11.85, respectively. In comparison with that of the normal temperature and pressure, when the number of water molecules in the water hydration shells of Cs
+ and UO
2+2 reaches the maximum, the pH value is 7.00 and 12.15 at high temperature and pressure, respectively. Meanwhile, the pH value is all 12.15 when the maximum diffusion coefficients (1.12×10
-12 m
2/s and 1.01×10
-12 m
2/s) of Cs
+ and UO
2+2 are achieved.