Clay Conference 2024

From November 24th to 29th, the BGE, in cooperation with the BGR, organised the 9^th International Conference on Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement (Clay Conference) in Hanover. More than 460 participants from over 25 countries came together at the Congress Centrum Hannover. An introductory mini-lecture series on various issues relating to clay and clay rocks, followed by an icebreaker event, prepared the participants for the scientific part of the conference. The participants presented and discussed the latest research and development findings on clay and clay rocks as geotechnical barriers and host rocks. 130 oral and 220 poster presentations were given.

The scientific program included seven overarching plenary sessions in the mornings, 18 parallel sessions dedicated to specific specialist topics in the afternoons and daily poster sessions. Important topics of the conference were national case studies from Germany, Switzerland and Great Britain, geological-mineralogical characterization of clays and clay rocks, modelling of coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical processes, construction and operation of repository mines and, this year, a strong focus on optimization and future aspects of digitalization (artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, BIM and digital twins).

In the poster exhibition, the scientific posters were displayed centrally in the main area throughout the conference, providing plenty of space for lively discussions. 64 young researchers and newcomers presented their posters. A perfect opportunity to discuss with experienced colleagues. The nine top-rated poster presentations were awarded during the closing ceremony on Thursday.

This video gives you an impression of many emotional moments of the 9^th Clay Conference.

To sum it up: the Clay Conference was a great success. We would like to thank all participants and supporters for their contribution and hope to see many of you again next time.

The local organising committee is constituted by members from the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung; BGE) and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe; BGR).

Project Leaders: Astrid Göbel, BGE and Johanna Lippmann-Pipke, BGR

Project Members: Catherin Gemmel (BGE), Leonie Peti (BGE), Reiner Dohrmann (BGR/LBEG), Bettina Landsmann (BGR)

The scientific committee consists of representatives of the organising waste management organisations and invited members from academia and research. It supports the local organising committee in planning and carrying out the conference. Scientific committee members review submitted abstracts, decide on their quality and presentation format, chair sessions and judge posters during the conference, among other supporting tasks.

The scientific committee members of the 9^th Clay Conference were:

• Wiebke Baille, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
• Jens Birkholzer, Lawrence Berkeley  National Laboratory, USA
• Mieke De Craen, EIG Euridice, Belgium
• Reiner Dohrmann, BGR/LBEG, Germany
• Irina Gaus, Nagra, Switzerland
• Astrid Göbel, BGE, Germany
• Amadé Halasz, PURAM, Hungary
• Lucie Hausmannová, SÚRAO, Czech Republic
• Olaf Kolditz, UFZ Leipzig/Halle, Germany
• Shigeru Kubota, NUMO, Japan
• Johanna Lippmann-Pipke, BGR, Germany
• Juan Carlos Mayor, ENRESA, Spain
• Erika Neeft, COVRA, The Netherlands
• Mika Niskanen, Posiva Oy, Finland
• Simon Norris, NWS, UK
• Christophe Nussbaum, Swisstopo, Switzerland
• Wolfram Rühaak, BGE, Germany
• Thorsten Schäfer, University Jena, Germany
• Stéphan Schumacher, Andra, France
• Patrik Sellin, SKB, Sweden
• Christophe Tournassat, University of Orléans, France
• Maarten Van Geet, ONDRAF/NIRAS, Belgium
• Maria Victoria Villar, CIEMAT, Spain
• Wie-Min Ye, Tongji University, China

The topics of the 9^th Clay Conference were:

• Repository projects: Repository projects and programmes, including RD&D programmes for clay-based disposal systems worldwide
• Geo / Hydro / Geochem: Geology, Hydrogeology and Hydrogeochemistry
• Flow / Migration: Fluid flow and solute/radionuclide migration
• THMC host rock: Thermal-Hydraulic-Mechanical and -Chemical coupled processes of clay host rock (with a certain focus on temperature-induced effects)
• THMC bentonites: Thermal-Hydraulic-Mechanical and -Chemical coupled processes of bentonite barrier material (with a certain focus on temperature-induced effects)
• HM / Gas EDZ: Hydro-mechanical and gas transport processes in the EDZ/EdZ
• Chem / Min / Microbio: Chemical and mineralogical alteration processes and microbiological processes
• Technology: Technological operations, performance assessment and optimization of components
• Monitoring: Monitoring (from initial state to post-closure period and from sensors to data management)
• AI / Digitalisation: Artificial Intelligence apps, digitalisation and Digital Twins applicable to or motivated by radwaste disposal in clay based concepts

The detailed topic descriptions in a single PDF can be found here: ClayConference2024_TopicDescription

The scientific programme of the 9^th Conference on Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement featured 27 oral presentations in plenary including 4 invited keynote speeches, as well as 22 short poster talks by the future generation of clay-radwaste scientists, 81 talks in parallel sessions and 3 poster sessions with 220 posters. In addition, the 9^th Clay Conference offered an extended Scientific Support Programme in which 157 participants took part in lab-visits, workshops or excursions.

The session plan can be download here: Clay_Conference_2024_Programme. The list of the posters presented in the poster sessions can be downloaded here: Poster Sessions. The detailed conference programme is published here: Detailed programme.

The invited keynote speakers were:

Dr. Thomas Lautsch, BGE, Germany: Konrad repository – ground control in challenging clay strata

Christophe Bruggeman, SCK CEN, Belgium: Competence building in the frame of radioactive waste management – challenges and expectations

Liange Zheng, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, USA: Understanding bentonite buffer under high temperature – modelling and tests

Irina Gaus, Nagra, Switzerland: Optimisation of Clay based Repository Concepts – from site selection to operations

Outstanding science by the future generation of clay-radwaste scientists was specifically highlighted at the 9th Clay Conference. Scientists belonging to one of the following three groups were invited to participate in the poster award.

Students

enrolled in a tertiary education programme at any university, including doctoral studies/PhD, Master and Bachelor students.

The winners are:

• Camille Rolland from EPFL for her poster “Harnessing microbial processes consuming hydrogen in radioactive waste repositories”. She was invited to present her work at the BioGeo Colloquium of the University of Jena.
• Han Ming Lai from Imperial College London for his poster “Implications of groundwater composition on the performance of bentonite components in nuclear waste disposal facilities”. He was invited to present his work at the EURAD-2 WP ANCHORS PhD School 2025.
• Nadine J. Kanik from Polish Academy of Science, Krakow for her poster “Tracking bentonite-water interactions by stable-H- and O-isotope exchange over a thermal gradient: First isotopic results from the Alternative Buffer Materials 2 and 5 bentonites”. She was invited to present her work at the AIPEA Early Career Clay Scientists (ECCS) webinar.
• Rushan Wang from WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF for her poster “Differentiation of fractures and rock mass deformation in clay rocks by Machine Learning”. She was invited to present her work at the EURAD-2 Lunch & Learn Webinar.

Early Career Researchers

highest tertiary degree within the last 5 years before the Clay Conference 2024.

The winners are:

• Eriko Minari from National Institute of Environmental Studies for her poster “Study on the construction of disposal scenarios and a tentative migration modelling of cesium for the final disposal of radioactively contaminated waste outside of Fukushima Prefecture”. She was invited to present her work at the BGR Radwaste Colloquium.
• Gilles Corman from University of Liège for his poster “3D Hydro-Mechanical modelling to support the design of the REG experiment in the Callovo-Oxfordian Claystone”. He was invited to present his work at the Webinar at Swiss society “Geotechnik Schweiz“.
• Theresa Hennig from German Research Centre for Geosciences for her poster “Neptunium migration in Opalinus Clay – one experiment with multiple numerical geochemical solutions”. She was invited to present her work at the Belgian Programme Webinar.
• Norihisa Osawa from Taiheiyo Consultant Co., Ltd. for his poster “Experimental Study on Evaluation Method of Apparent Erosion Rate Constant of Bentonite using X-ray CT Images”. He was invited to present his work at Geo Colloquium of the University of Jena.

Radwaste Starters

highest tertiary degree more than 5 years before the Clay Conference 2024 but started working in the radwaste field less than 3 years before the Clay Conference 2024.

The winner is:

• Anna Golubko from SÚRAO for her poster “Current status of the in-situ interaction experiment at the Bukov URF”. She was invited to present her work at the EURAD-2 Lunch & Learn Webinar.

All abstracts of the contributions presented at the 9^th Conference on Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement are accessible and citeable at Zenodo.

Furthermore, all participants were invited to submit manuscripts to special issues in peer reviewed journals. The Scientific Committee offered to all authors to publish in special issues of Environmental Earth Sciences, Applied Clay Science and a special publication from the Geological Society of London.

These contributions have to be submitted as full papers and will be published after a regular peer review process.

• Applied Clay Science (Submit your manuscript to ACS here)
• Environmental Earth Sciences (Submit your manuscript to EES here)
• Geological Society of London special publication (Special-Publications-invitation-to-submit-Radioactive-Waste_SN120125)