Underground waste repository and ground water contamination

In recent years, a broad consensus has developed that the safest solution to the terminal storage of contaminated wastes is their disposal in deep geological formations. To assess the waste-isolation capacity of a candidate repository, estimates of basic hydrologic parameters are needed, such as the rate and direction of flow or travel times along groundwater pathways. Numerical groundwater flow models play an important role in the evaluation process. The analysis will be most useful for sensitivity studies performed to examine the implications of various design scenarios, and for determining the potential effects of uncertainties in key parameters. (author) 5 figs., 6 refs