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The basic idea of deep disposal of radioactive and toxic waste is to dispose the waste in suitable containers in caverns excavated in rocks beneath the surface.
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In
order to assess the performance of a deep repository it is necessary to
evaluate pathways by which contamination might return to the surface.
Chief of these is the groundwater pathway. Analysis of this requires calculations
of groundwater flow and contaminant transport between the repository and
surface. Both high and low permeability rocks have to be considered, not
just aquifers.
It
is therefore necessary to model complex geometries and high permeability
contrasts. It may also be necessary to model complex couplings of other
processes to groundwater flow. For example, high groundwater salinities
may have an important effect.
