Hydrologic and Meteorological Data for an Unsaturdated-Zone Study Area near the Radioactive Waste Management Complex, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho, 1990-96

Abstract

Trenches and pits at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) Subsurface Disposal Area (SDA) at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (formerly known as the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory) have been used for burial of radioactive waste since 1952. In 1985, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, began a multi-phase study of the geohydrology of the RWMC to provide a basis for estimating the extent of and the potential for migration of radionuclides in the unsaturated zone beneath the waste trenches and pits. This phase of the study provides hydrologic and meteorological data collected at a designated test trench area adjacent to the northern boundary of the RWMC SDA from 1990 through 1996. The test trench area was constructed by the USGS in 1985. Hydrologic data presented in this report were collected during 1990-96 in the USGS test trench area. Soil-moisture content measurement from disturbed and undisturbed soil were collected approximately monthly during 1990-96 from 11 neutron-probe access holes with a neutron moisture gage. In 1994, three additional neutron access holes were completed for monitoring. A meteorological station inside the test trench area provided data for determination of evapotranspiration rates. The soil-moisture and meteorological data are contained in files on 3-1/2 inch diskettes (disks 1 and 2) included with this report. The data are presented in simple American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format with tab-delimited fields. The files occupy a total of 1.5 megabytes of disk space.