- * Nuclear Engineer, Waste Management Consultant Project manager.* Project Manager Energy-from-Waste (thermal production, recycling and energy waste valorisation)* Fire prevention, Safety and environmental Project manager in dangerous industrial site* Radiation Safety Officer and Nuclear waste manager for safetyedit
... sulfur fugacity (fS2), in a relative fS2 range above Fe-FeS but below sulfide saturation [2].Palladium is studied in preference to the other PGE because Pd is most chalcophile and has the highest solubility of all PGE in silicate... more
... sulfur fugacity (fS2), in a relative fS2 range above Fe-FeS but below sulfide saturation [2].Palladium is studied in preference to the other PGE because Pd is most chalcophile and has the highest solubility of all PGE in silicate melts. The silicate matrix is a picrite composition and ...
Research Interests:
OPG, as part of its international collaboration, has provided Kamel with the opportunity to collect and preserve core samples from the drilling of two boreholes currently underway as part of phase one activities of the geoscientific site... more
OPG, as part of its international collaboration, has provided Kamel with the opportunity to collect and preserve core samples from the drilling of two boreholes currently underway as part of phase one activities of the geoscientific site characterization program for the DGR at the Bruce site. Once the drilling is complete, Kamel will return to Switzerland where he will conduct chemical analysis and measurements on the core samples.
Helium atoms are continuously produced in all rocks by neutralization of α-particles emitted from the radioactive elements uranium and thorium and their decay products. Based on the average concentrations of (1.92 ± 0.12) ppm U and (10.1... more
Helium atoms are continuously produced in all rocks by neutralization of α-particles emitted from the radioactive elements uranium and thorium and their decay products. Based on the average concentrations of (1.92 ± 0.12) ppm U and (10.1 ± 1.22) ppm Th measured on 4 rock samples from the Callovo-Oxfordian formation, a 4He production rate of (5.2 ± 0.4) x 10-13 cm3 STP/g rock.y is calculated (STP = Standard Temperature and Pressure; T = 0°C, p = 1 atm = 1.013 x 105 Pa). Multiplied with an average age of 165 million years of the sediments the total amount of in-situ produced helium can be calculated. Comparison of this value with measured He-concentrations in rocks shows that more than 96 % of the helium has been lost from the solid phase and was transferred to the porewater. For an average grain density of 2.66 g/cm3 of rock and an average water-content porosity of 0.15 cm3 water/cm3 rock the helium accumulation rate in porewater is (7.5 ± 0.6) x 10-12 cm3 STP 4He/cm3 water.y. This r...
Field sampling Sampling on site was performed by K. Latoui from the Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of Bern. The field-sampling procedures are described in Mazurek et al. (2009). In order to minimise He loss in the... more
Field sampling
Sampling on site was performed by K. Latoui from the Institute of Geological Sciences at the
University of Bern. The field-sampling procedures are described in Mazurek et al. (2009). In
order to minimise He loss in the time period between core drilling and emplacement in Hetight cells, the rim portions of the samples (most strongly affected by possible outgassing)
were sawn off immediately after core recovery, and then the remaining central parts of each
core were emplaced in the cells. The time period between core recovery and final sealing was
in the range of 14-24 minutes.
Laboratory procedures
The He-tight sample cylinders were stored for several months in order to allow quantitative
out-gassing of He into the surrounding void space. Then, they were connected to a highvacuum extraction system. The water contained in the sample cylinders, together with the
dissolved noble gases, was expanded into a closed volume and thereby vapourised. It was
then exposed to a hot titanium sponge (which removes some water and active gases) and then
to a cold trap, consisting of a large volume of charcoal cooled by liquid nitrogen. The
charcoal traps condensible gases (water, carbon monoxide and dioxide, methane, argon, and
other active gases). The charcoal trap was isolated from the rest of the extraction system, and
the remaining gas (helium, neon and small residues of active gases) was exposed to a special
alloy getter made by SAES for further purification, so that at the end only helium and neon
were expected to be left. These were isobarically expanded into a quadrupole mass
spectrometer. The measuring cycle included masses 4He, 20Ne, 21Ne, 22Ne, as well as potential
interferences deriving from H2O, Ar and CO2. Especially the latter two are very important,
because even if purification is efficient to 99.999%, the remaining Ar and CO2 can produce an
observable effect on 20Ne and 22Ne, respectively, due to double ionisation. Therefore, the Ne
data were corrected accordingly. Finally, the corrected Ne contents were used to correct the
He contents for excess air, i.e. for the generally small but inevitable contamination due to the
short contact of the sample with the atmosphere prior to on-site sample conditioning. The
correction ranged between 1% and 20%, and we are confident of the robustness of the results.
The corrected He and Ne intensities were converted to absolute gas volumes using sensitivity
calibrations performed on air samples having undergone the same procedure. Then, the gas
volumes were divided by the water content of the sample (measured by drying at 105 °C),
resulting in concentrations in units of cm3 STP / gpore water
Sampling on site was performed by K. Latoui from the Institute of Geological Sciences at the
University of Bern. The field-sampling procedures are described in Mazurek et al. (2009). In
order to minimise He loss in the time period between core drilling and emplacement in Hetight cells, the rim portions of the samples (most strongly affected by possible outgassing)
were sawn off immediately after core recovery, and then the remaining central parts of each
core were emplaced in the cells. The time period between core recovery and final sealing was
in the range of 14-24 minutes.
Laboratory procedures
The He-tight sample cylinders were stored for several months in order to allow quantitative
out-gassing of He into the surrounding void space. Then, they were connected to a highvacuum extraction system. The water contained in the sample cylinders, together with the
dissolved noble gases, was expanded into a closed volume and thereby vapourised. It was
then exposed to a hot titanium sponge (which removes some water and active gases) and then
to a cold trap, consisting of a large volume of charcoal cooled by liquid nitrogen. The
charcoal traps condensible gases (water, carbon monoxide and dioxide, methane, argon, and
other active gases). The charcoal trap was isolated from the rest of the extraction system, and
the remaining gas (helium, neon and small residues of active gases) was exposed to a special
alloy getter made by SAES for further purification, so that at the end only helium and neon
were expected to be left. These were isobarically expanded into a quadrupole mass
spectrometer. The measuring cycle included masses 4He, 20Ne, 21Ne, 22Ne, as well as potential
interferences deriving from H2O, Ar and CO2. Especially the latter two are very important,
because even if purification is efficient to 99.999%, the remaining Ar and CO2 can produce an
observable effect on 20Ne and 22Ne, respectively, due to double ionisation. Therefore, the Ne
data were corrected accordingly. Finally, the corrected Ne contents were used to correct the
He contents for excess air, i.e. for the generally small but inevitable contamination due to the
short contact of the sample with the atmosphere prior to on-site sample conditioning. The
correction ranged between 1% and 20%, and we are confident of the robustness of the results.
The corrected He and Ne intensities were converted to absolute gas volumes using sensitivity
calibrations performed on air samples having undergone the same procedure. Then, the gas
volumes were divided by the water content of the sample (measured by drying at 105 °C),
resulting in concentrations in units of cm3 STP / gpore water
Noble gases are a uniquely powerful tool to trace groundwater provenance across sedimentary formations, due to their chemical inertness and well-known isotope signatures (atmosphere/air-saturated water, radiogenic crust and primordial... more
Noble gases are a uniquely powerful tool to trace
groundwater provenance across sedimentary formations, due
to their chemical inertness and well-known isotope signatures
(atmosphere/air-saturated water, radiogenic crust and
primordial mantle), and increasing concentrations with time
by radioactive decay.
We further developed and modified a sampling method
originating from Heidelberg [1] for extracting the noble gas
dissolved in the porewater on freshly drilled rock cores. After
several weeks at room temperature in a gas-tight container, the
noble gas residing in pore water diffused out of the sample
into the ring space of the container, whose internal pressure
normally had risen from 10-3 to about 10 mbar. This roomtemperature procedure ensured that noble gases only derive
from porewater and not from minerals. The container was then
connected to a purification system and the porewater gas
expanded inside the entire line. Major active gases were
removed by cryogenic separation in a series of steel traps
containing charcoal at 77 °K and subsequently by getters.
Methane was successfully removed using a special design
consisting of four different getters: A CuO getter to oxydise
hydrocarbon gas to CO2 and H2O, a TiO2 getter to remove all
major gases (H2O, CO2, N2) by adsorption, and a ceramic and
a Zr-Al getter to remove H2. After gas purification, He, Ne
and Ar concentrations were measured by a quadrupole mass
spectrometer.
Our case study focused on low-permeability Paleozoic
argillaceous limestone of the Cobourg Formation from the
Michigan Basin (Ontario, Canada). The initial sampling
consisted of 32 drill core samples across a 860m-long profile
down to the Precambrian basement. The encountered pore
fluids have very high salinity and high dissolved gas
concentrations (methane, CO2, etc.). We obtained a gradient of
He concentrations that increase with depth, with values up to
1.6E-2 cm3
STP/gwater, the highest values reported so far. The
combination of age and noble gas concentrations as a function
of depth potentially allow to obtain values of effective
diffusion coefficients by modelling, in order to assess the
relevant mass transport mechanism.
groundwater provenance across sedimentary formations, due
to their chemical inertness and well-known isotope signatures
(atmosphere/air-saturated water, radiogenic crust and
primordial mantle), and increasing concentrations with time
by radioactive decay.
We further developed and modified a sampling method
originating from Heidelberg [1] for extracting the noble gas
dissolved in the porewater on freshly drilled rock cores. After
several weeks at room temperature in a gas-tight container, the
noble gas residing in pore water diffused out of the sample
into the ring space of the container, whose internal pressure
normally had risen from 10-3 to about 10 mbar. This roomtemperature procedure ensured that noble gases only derive
from porewater and not from minerals. The container was then
connected to a purification system and the porewater gas
expanded inside the entire line. Major active gases were
removed by cryogenic separation in a series of steel traps
containing charcoal at 77 °K and subsequently by getters.
Methane was successfully removed using a special design
consisting of four different getters: A CuO getter to oxydise
hydrocarbon gas to CO2 and H2O, a TiO2 getter to remove all
major gases (H2O, CO2, N2) by adsorption, and a ceramic and
a Zr-Al getter to remove H2. After gas purification, He, Ne
and Ar concentrations were measured by a quadrupole mass
spectrometer.
Our case study focused on low-permeability Paleozoic
argillaceous limestone of the Cobourg Formation from the
Michigan Basin (Ontario, Canada). The initial sampling
consisted of 32 drill core samples across a 860m-long profile
down to the Precambrian basement. The encountered pore
fluids have very high salinity and high dissolved gas
concentrations (methane, CO2, etc.). We obtained a gradient of
He concentrations that increase with depth, with values up to
1.6E-2 cm3
STP/gwater, the highest values reported so far. The
combination of age and noble gas concentrations as a function
of depth potentially allow to obtain values of effective
diffusion coefficients by modelling, in order to assess the
relevant mass transport mechanism.