The cement–clay interaction (CI) experiment was carried out at the Mont Terri rock laboratory to complement the current knowledge on the influence that cementitious materials have on Opalinus Clay (OPA) and bentonite (MX). Drill cores including the interface of OPA, concrete (LAC = low-alkali binder, and OPC = ordinary Portland cement), and MX, which interacted for 4.9 and 10 years, were successfully retrieved after drilling, and detailed analyses were performed to evaluate potential mineralogical changes. The saturated compacted bentonites in core samples were divided into ten slices, profiling bentonite in the direction towards the interface, to evaluate the extent and spatial variation of the mineralogical alteration of bentonite. Regarding the mineral compositions of bentonite, cristobalite was dissolved within a range of 10 mm from the interface in both LAC-MX and OPC-MX, while calcite precipitated near the interface for OPC-MX. In LAC-MX and OPC-MX, secondary products containing Mg (e.g., M-S-H) also precipitated within 20 mm of the interface. These alterations of bentonite developed during the first 4.9 years, with very limited progress observed for the subsequent 5 years. Detectable changes in the mineralogical nature of montmorillonite (i.e., the formation of illite or beidellite, increase in layer charge) did not occur during the 10 years of interaction.

In radioactive waste disposal facilities, low-permeability engineered barrier materials are important for inhibiting radionuclide migration. However, dissolution–precipitation reactions under alkaline conditions change the permeability of engineered barriers. To understand long-term dissolution–precipitation reactions under alkaline conditions in chemically complex systems, trenches and drill holes were excavated at Narra in Palawan, where alkaline fluids (pH > 11) have been naturally produced, seeping into clastic sediments derived from serpentinized ultramafic rocks and gabbro of Palawan ophiolite. Interaction between the alkaline seepage and clastic sediments, which have been deposited since 15,000 radiocarbon years before present (¹⁴C yr BP), led to dissolution of minerals and the precipitation of Si-bearing phases which were divided into two main categories: Fe-Mg-Si infillings and Ca-Si infillings. The former category was composed of iron-magnesium-silicate-hydrate (F-M-S-H) and a nontronite-like mineral and was widely recognized in the clastic sediments. The nontronite-like mineral likely formed by interaction between silicates and alkaline seepage mixed with infiltrated seawater, whereas F-M-S-H formed by the reaction of silicates with alkaline seepage in the absence of seawater infiltration. Ca-Si infillings included 14 Å tobermorite and were precipitated from alkaline seepage combined with the Ca and Si supplied by the dissolution of calcite and silicates in the clastic sediments.

In order to better understand the physical interactions between compacted bentonite and the host rock, the swelling pressure acting on a constraining material with slight deformability and the volume change of the compacted bentonite caused by unloading without consolidation history were investigated. A swelling test apparatus equipped with controls for applying a small strain and loading pressure was developed to mechanically simulate the elastic strain of a soft and a hard rock and large deformation of the constraining materials. After the equilibrium swelling pressure had been measured, the vertical pressure was unloaded. It was found that the slight deformation of the compacted bentonite decreased the swelling pressure. Furthermore, upon unloading, for the Na-bentonite with no consolidation history, after the equilibrium swelling pressure had been measured by a sufficiently confined condition, the slope angle of the unloading curve approximately equalled that of the normal consolidation line, although a slight non-linearity of the curve was observed in highly compacted bentonite. Based on the Mohr–Coulomb yield criterion, this indicated a mechanism whereby the shear strain in the saturation and one-dimensional swelling deformation processes effects an isotropy of swelling pressure and a non-linearity of the unloading curve.