The technical basis for salt disposal of nuclear waste resides in salt’s favorable physical, mechanical and hydrological characteristics. Undisturbed salt formations are impermeable. Upon mining, the salt formation experiences damage in the near-field rock proximal to the mined opening and salt permeability increases dramatically. The volume of rock that has been altered by such damage is called the disturbed rock zone (DRZ).
This Test Plan describes procedures for conducting laboratory scale flow tests on intact, damaged, crushed, and consolidated crushed salt to measure the capillary pressure and relative permeability functions. The primary focus of the tests will be on samples of bedded geologic salt from the WIPP underground. However, the tests described herein are directly applicable to domal salt. Samples being tested will be confined by a range of triaxial stress states ranging from atmospheric pressure up to those approximating lithostatic. Initially these tests will be conducted at room temperature, but testing procedures and equipment will be evaluated to determine adaptability to conducting similar tests under elevated temperatures.