The Los Alamos National Laboratory has been disposing of radioactive wastes since 1944. Environmental studies and monitoring for radioactive contamination started concurrently. In this report, only two mechanisms and rates by which the radionuclides can enter the environment are studied in detail: subsurface transport of radionuclides by migrating water, and diffusion of tritiated water (HTO) in the vapor phase. The report also includes a section concerning the influence of moisture on shear strength and possible resulting subsidences occurring in the pit overburdens. Because subsurface transport of radionuclides is influenced by the hydraulic conductivity and this in turn is regulated by the moisture content of any given material, a study was also undertaken involving precipitation, the most important climatic element influencing the geohydrology of any given area. Further work is in progress to correlate HTO emanation to atmospheric and pedological properties, especially including thermal characteristics of the tuff. 3000-1 , Si«rra do los Vdlles Bandolier tuff Basaltic rocks cf Chino Mesa Tschicomo formation Puye conglomerate Tssuque formotion Precombnon crystalline rocks 'i&m'''''>''Z''''"7!m&*B ondtlier tuff PajOfilo Ploteou East-2400 West Seal* East i k 8 kilometers Fig. 2. Geologic stratigraphic relationships of Los Alamos County from Sierra de los Valles to the Rio Grande. The oldest rock unit in the Los Alamos area is the Tesuque Formation, consisting of fossiliferous siltstones and sandstones with lenses of clay that were deposited as basin fill in the Rio Grande structural trough. Near Los Alamos these sediments are light pinkish-tan and include some interbedded basalts. The Tesuque underlies the Pajarito Plateau and is exposed at lower levels along the Puye Escarpment and in White Rock Canyon. The main water supply for Laboratory and domestic use is derived from the Tesuque. The age of the Tesuque is Miocene. The Tschicoma Formation forms the major part of the interior mass of the central Jemez Mountains; thus, exposures are limited to the western and northern parts of the Los Alamos area. Rock types are porphyritic dacite, rhyodacite, and quartz latite containing phenocrysts of pyroxene, hornblende, biotite, plagioclase, and quartz (Bailey et al., 1969; Smith et a!., 1970). Some units of latite and quartz latite in the Los Alamos area contain xenocrystic plagioclase that has been partially remelted, embayed, and resorbed, as well as subrounded and embayed quartz (Griggs, 1964). The maximum thickness of the 6.7 to 3.7 million-year-old (Myr) Tschicoma Formation exceeds 900 m (Bailey et al., 1969; Smith et al., 1970). The Puye Formation, named for exposures in cliffs along the Puye Escarpment, is divided into two informal members, the lower Totavi Lentil, overlain by a fanglomerate. The basal Totavi Lentil (0 to 25 m thick) consists of well-rounded pebbles, cobbles, and small boulders of Precambrian quartzite and granite in a matrix of coarse arkosic sandstone. The upper unit is a poorly consolidated, s...

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The National Waste Terminal Storage program is responsible for identifying and constructing a geologic repository for spent reactor fuel, high-level waste, and transuranic waste. Extensive research and development work is :n progress in the areas of site selection, waste treatment and waste form development, model development and validation, and long-term repository performance assessment. Many potential technologies are under investigation, but specific technologies cannot be identifled until a repository site is selected. It is too early in the program to assess the adequacy of environmental control technologies for deep geologic disposal.