[en] Groundwater- and migration-oriented approaches to HLW disposal suffer from uncertainty, whereas much solid evidence indicates that long-term containment of natural model substances and sensitive indicator minerals is the rule in common, groundwater-saturated silicate rocks. The conditions for persisting containment are outlined. Confirmation from investigations at study sites and actual candidate sites is needed. Elaborate models of the main flow system in this context appear unimportant, because at most sites more than 99.5% of the total ground-water flow would bypass the nearfield of the waste. Only minor, local fluxes can interact with the nearfield barriers. These fluxes and associated transport can be estimated from in-situ measurements. Therefore, licensing and final approval of HLW disposal need not be based on large-scale models of nuclide transport. Nearfield quality control, time-scaled demonstration and monitoring of local containment, and evaluation of potential future changes in the site-specific conditions, are required. (author) 2 figs., 2 tabs., 46 refs