During the past decades comprehensive investigations have been made on bentonite clays in order to find optimal components of the multi-barrier system of repositories for radioactive waste. The present study gives a mineralogical characterisation of some selected bentonites, in order to supply some of the necessary background data on the bentonites for evaluating their potential as tunnel back-fill materials. Two bentonites from the island of Milos, Greece (Milos BF 04 and BF 08), and two bentonites from Kutch, India (Kutch BF 04 and BF 08) were analysed for their grain size 

distribution, cation exchange properties and chemical composition. The mineralogical composition was determined by X-ray diffraction analysis and evaluated quantitatively by use of the Siroquant software. Both the bulk bentonite and the <1μm fraction were analyzed when relevant. Prior to the chemical analyses the <1 μm fractions were converted to homo-ionic clays and purified by dialysis. The chemical data were used for calculating the structural formula of the smectites. Milos BF 04 contains ca. 10% particles >63 μm. The bentonite is distinguished by a high content of dolomite and calcite, which make up almost 25% of the bulk sample. The major accessory minerals are K-feldspars and plagioclase, whereas the content of sulphur-bearing minerals is very low (0.06% total S). Smectite makes up around 60% of the bulk sample, which has a CEC value of 73 meq/100 g. The pool of 

interlayer cations has a composition Mg>Ca>>Na>>K.