ABSTRACT
The radioactive nuclear waste disposal particularly receives great attention and one may find many studies in literature. Most of these studies on radioactive nuclear waste disposal are based on thermo-hydro-mechanical concepts and it is very rare to see any study, which includes diffusion phenomena of radioactive substances. The mechanical modeling of thermo-hydro-diffusion phenomena is based on the mixture theory. Therefore, a mechanical model, which includes 4 different aspects, should be the most appropriate approach for radioactive waste disposal. Although the variation of stress field around the disposal site may be of great concern for cavity stability in very near field, its effect is expected to be quite limited after back-filling the excavated space in long term. The safe disposal of nuclear wastes, petroleum and geothermal exploitations are some of examples for such problems in geo-engineering. Similar problems are also encountered in earthquake prediction studies in geoscience.
