Summary of Geophysical Field Investigations to Constrain the Geologic Structure and Hydrologic Characteristics of Fortymile Wash Essential for Assessing the Performance of the Proposed High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is currently evaluating Yucca Mountain, located in southwestern Nevada, as a possible geologic high-level nuclear waste repository with a performance period of 10,000 years. Groundwater flow and possible radionuclide transport from Yucca Mountain within the saturated zone will be influenced by the geologic structure and the hydrogeologic characteristics of the subsurface in the vicinity of the site. An understanding of these characteristics is essential to evaluating the performance of the repository. South of Yucca Mountain, along the anticipated radionuclide transport pathway, uncertainties in structural geology, hydrogeologic models, and supporting data (for example, the location of the watertable transition from tuff to valley-fill, and the architecture of the basin) impact site performance assessment calculations. Some of these uncertainties will be reduced by the point information provided by the well drilling program currently being carried out by Nye County, Nevada. However, geologic and hydrologic uncertainties remain within inter-well regions which extend over several tens of square kilometers. In recognition of the uncertainties inherent in analyses based upon relatively sparse point data available for Fortymile Wash, the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have developed a surface geophysics program that targets the inter-well regions utilizing gravity, magnetic, electrical resistivity, and electromagnetic measurements to support confirmatory analyses and performance assessment calculations. This presentation describes various aspects of these surveys and their results. In particular, the presentation presents new models for the structure of the Fortymile Wash (including an improved mapping of the tuff valley-fill interface) based on the integrated geophysical approach and provides an independent basis for the watertable configuration over the region. By combining the watertable data with the improved structural model the watertable transition point from the tuff to the valley is better constrained. In addition, the presentation describes the application of the data to the continued development of a hydrologic framework model that incorporates characteristics of the wash and is used to support hydrogeologic modeling. Acknowledgments This work was performed at the CNWRA on behalf of the NRC office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Division of Waste Management under contract No. NRC-02-97-009. This paper does not necessarily reflect the views or regulatory position of the NRC.