Geohydrology of the Buried Triassic Basin at the Savannah River Planta

Abstract

ABSTRACTAt the Savannah River Plant near Aiken, South Carolina, as at other locations where there are chemical separations plants for the processing of nuclear fuels, the high‐level radioactive wastes are stored in concrete and steel tanks buried just beneath the surface of the ground. This waste is of such activity and longevity that it cannot be dispersed into the environment, but it must be contained for periods of time extending at least into hundreds and perhaps thousands of years. One concept for the terminal containment of this waste is to store it in excavated chambers within the bedrock, which is covered by about 1000 feet of Coastal Plain sediments at the plantsite. As part of the safety evaluation of this concept, the geology and hydrology of both the Coastal Plain sediments and the bedrock have been studied. However, intensive investigation of bedrock waste storage has now been deferred pending more detailed evaluation of alternative concepts of waste storage and management.In the studies completed, a buried Triassic basin that might have potential for waste storage was discovered beneath the southern third of the plantsite. Investigation into the characteristics of this basin was started in 1971. This was not an engineering or design study but was aimed at understanding the geohydrology of the Triassic basin to determine its compatibility with the safe storage of waste.Seismic surveys, gravity and magnetic surveys, and the drilling of several exploratory wells indicate that the Triassic basin is about 30 miles long, 6 or more miles wide, and perhaps 5300 feet thick. One well penetrated the Triassic border, a second was in the center of the basin, and a third investigated an inferred intrabasin fault. The rock is predominantly mudstone of very low permeability with a few lenses of poorly sorted gritty sand. The water yield of all the exploratory wells is extremely low, and water‐transmitting fractures are virtually nonexistent.In two wells within the basin, heads above land surface have been measured that cannot be explained by connection with a recharge area. Ten possible explanations have been evaluated: aquifer head, fossil head, tectonic compression, rapid loading and compaction of sediments, water derived from igneous intrusions, infiltration of gas, precipitation of minerals, phase changes, temperature increase, and osmotic membrane phenomena. Systematic evaluation, particularly of the time for dissipation of an elevated head to the head of its surroundings, eliminates most of these explanations. Those that remain as possible explanations are: tectonic compression, temperature increase, and osmotic membrane phenomena. It is not known at present whether the high head is general over the entire basin or only in segments of it.