[en] To investigate the characteristics of the vadose zone with respect to radioactive waste disposal, the mechanics of unsaturated flow in arid regions and the geohydrology of four areas with a deep water table were studied. The studies indicated that (1) arid sites with a water table deeper than 200 m can be found in at least three distinct geologic settings in the western United States, (2) the physics of unsaturated flow in soils and rock with interstitial porosity at low water contents, particularly under thermal gradients, is not yet completely understood, and (3) under certain conditions unsaturated flow can be so slow that analytic modeling of an unflawed repository is unnecessary to prove effective containment