a. National Institute of Advanced industrial Science and Technology; Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
b. Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
c. Institute of Environmental Systems, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan

Knowledge of the permeability of hydraulically-tight rock at great depth is crucially important for the design and/or assessment of facilities associated with underground disposal of radioactive nuclear wastes. This paper presents a recently developed laboratory permeability test system capable of testing low permeability rocks either by using air as a permeant or by the transient-pulse method under high confining pressure conditions that simulate ground pressures at depths. The new system was used to test Shirahama sandstone and [nada granite, which are two types of rock widely available in Japan. To investigate the effects of heterogeneity on rock permeability, specimens cored parallel to and perpendicular to bedding for sandstone, and specimens cored in the direction perpendicular to Rift Plane, Grain Plane and Hardway Plane for granite, were used. The results of this study showed that:
1) gas permeabilities of a dried rock specimen tested by air permeation are almost the same values as water permeabilities of the same saturated rock specimen tested by the transient-poise method; 2) the intrinsic permeabilities of Shirahama sandstone and Inada granite range from about 8.3×10-16 to 7.4×10-17 m2 and from 1.9×l0-17 to 6.4×l0-20 m2 respectively. They decrease monotonously with increase in effective confining pressure (defined as the difference between the confining and pore pressures), while the rate of decrease diminishes at higher confining pressures. The reduction in permeabilities is due to the closure of microcracks that control fluid how at low confining pressures and 3) Inada granite is a heterogeneous and isotropic material. Its hydraulic heterogeneity is more significant in Rift Plane than in Hardway and Grain Planes.