Th is Report contains informati on of a prel im inary nature. It i s sub ject to revision or correct ion and therefore does not represent a final Report. It w as prepared primarily for internal use withIn 1 he Hockwell Han f ord Operat1on s. Any expressed v1ews and op1n1ons are t hose of the Author and not necessarily of the Company. NOTICE Th is Report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government. Nei ther the United States nor the Uni te d Sta te s Department of Energy, nor any of their Employee s, nor any of their Contractors, Subcontractors, or their Employees, makes any warranty , express or i mpl ied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefu lness of any information , apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe private ly own ed rights.

This paper discusses the regionaZ geotogy and ' hydrology of tha Hanford Reservatibn with emphasis on the characteristies of the Lower Ringotd Forma: tion and the CoZumbia River BasaZts and interbeds. These formations constitute the uppermost confined fZow systems underZying the Hanford Reservation. Work shown in this paper Zeads to the conctusion that these aquifers are rather extensive and th«t they are interconnected especiaZZy atong the Umtanum-GabZe Antictine. Recharge into the confined aquifers appears to occur at the fringed of the Pasco Basin. The eastern portion of the Hanford Reservation appears to be a discharge area for these aquifers. Areas of monocZinal downfolding such as Cotd Creek vaZZey appear to act as flow barriers, thus heZping to buiTd up the pressure in the uppermost.confined aquifers.

This report documents the results of two Hanford groundwater scenario .* studies. The first study examines the hydrologic impact of increased 3 groundwater recharge resulting from agricultural development in the Cold Creek Valley located west of the Hanford Reservation. The second study involves recovering liquid radioactive waste which has leaked into the groundwater flow system from a hypothetical buried tank containing highlevel ,radioactive waste. The predictive and control capacity of the onsite Hanford modeling technology is used to evaluate both scenarios. The results of the first study indicate that Cold Creek Valley irrigation is unlikely to cause significant changes in the water table underlying the high-level waste areas or in the movement of radionuclides already in the ground water. The hypothetical tank leak study showed that an active response (in this case waste recovery) can be modeled and is a possible alternative to passive monitoring of radionuclide movement in the unlikely event that high-level waste is introduced into the ground water. iii ARH-SA-292

The theme of this book by a lecturer in hydrology at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, is that the problems of effective utilization of water must be solved not only locally, but for the whole water basin. Of course, in the USSR this principle is widely used not only within a single basin, but also with allowance for transfer of water between basins. The book briefly describes the present scheme of the hydrologic cycle, the main factors involved in the hydrology of surface water, and the principles of determination of river flows with the aid of radioisotopes.

This document reports progress made in the Basalt Waste Isolation Project during the third quarter of fiscal year 1981. Efforts are described for the following programs of the project work breakdown structure: RHO-BWI-81-100 3Q SUMMARY This report addresses the technical progress for the Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP) for the third quarter of fiscal year (FY) 1981. The organization of the report follows the work breakdown structure for the technical areas of the project. The major highlights for the quarter are provided below. SYSTEMS During this quarter, work in the Systems program progressed in the Program Baseline, Systems Analysis, and Performance Assessment activities. The Regulatory and Institutional End Function Technical Plan was developed and approved by the BWIP Director. The BWIP Principal Criteria Document (PCD) was revised to include U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Office of National Waste Terminal Storage Integration (ONI) comments, and the draft of the BWIP Missions Document was completed and submitted to DOE and ONI. In the Systems Analysis activity, a statement of work for an engineering service agreement subcontract covering the general subject of Systems Engineering and its application to the BWIP was prepared and delivered to Rockwell Materials for subcontractor acquisition. An updated draft of a report on the interim reference repository conditions for a nuclear waste repository in basalt (NWRB) was prepared for transmittal to the Reference Repository Conditions Interface Working Group (RRC-IW6) chairman and members. In support of the BWIP Performance Assessment, a 3-day workshop meeting was held to define the status of site suitability and performance assessment. WASTE PACKAGE The BWIP Program Plan for developing waste packages was presented to the National Academy of Science Panel on the Waste Isolation System Study and to the Waste Package Overview Committee. The Program Plan was well received by both groups. Hydrothermal experimentation continued at Arizona State University and Temple University with the initiation of work to assess the interaction among supercalcine/basalt/groundwater and borosilicate glass/basalt/groundwater respectively. Preparation continued at Atomics International for the initiation of hot cell shake-down testing early in FY 1982. Continuing sorption studies conducted at 23° and 60°C showed that selenium sorption on Hanford basalts was little affected by temperature and groundwater composition. Sorption was low and essentially the same under both oxidizing and reducing conditions for Umtanum and Flow E basalts, while for Pomona basalt it was two to three times greater under both conditions. This may have been due to a possible greater concentration of sulfidic minerals in the Pomona basalt. Thermal modeling showed that for a waste package containing 10-yr-old pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent fuel emplaced in basalt, the peak temperatures reached and time to maximum were 2690c (4 yr), 2640C (5 yr), and 191°C (7 yr) for iii r RHO-BWI-81-100 3Q the wast...