Development of the Hydrogeological Survey Method Using the Natural Dissolved Noble Gases for the Site-Characterization for Radwastes Disposal

Abstract

AbstractThis study focused on developing the tracer method using the dissolved natural noble gases. The method measures precisely helium and neon dissolved in groundwater for dating. Since the dissolved helium consists of three different components (Atmospheric He, Radiogenic He and Mantle He), if it is possible to separate total dissolved helium into each component, the mixing rate between young groundwater and ancient will be predicted in in-situ groundwater. Then, dating of young groundwater is determined by measuring tritium and tritiogenic 3He in a groundwater sample. On the other hand, the dating method for old groundwater is not still verified. In this study, the old groundwater age is predicted by the accumulating rate of radiogenic helium through the alpha decay of uranium and thorium contained in rock.This tracing method was applied to a confined aquifer in the Kumamoto plain (10km × 20km ), where the groundwater flow and the geohydrological formation of aquifer was investigated in detail in the past. The groundwater in the area consists of mixture of young groundwater (less than 20 yrs old) and ancient isolated groundwater (more than 1000 yrs old). Furthermore, the drastic change in the helium isotopic ratio revealed unexpectedly the existence of active faults covered in groundwater basins. Consequently, the method using the dissolved noble gases is practicably available for investigating the geohydrologic formation of aquifer at the early stage of the site characterization.