SALTSTONE DISPOSAL FACILITY: DETERMINATION OF THE PROBABLE MAXIMUM WATER TABLE ELEVATION
A coverage depicting the configuration of the probable maximum water table elevation in the vicinity of the Saltstone Disposal Facility (SDF) was developed to support the Saltstone program. This coverage is needed to support the construction of saltstone vaults to assure that they remain above the maximum elevation of the water table during the Performance Assessment (PA) period of compliance. A previous investigation to calculate the historical high water table beneath the SDF (Cook, 1983) was built upon to incorporate new data that has since become available to refine that estimate and develop a coverage that could be extended to the perennial streams adjacent to the SDF. This investigation incorporated the method used in the Cook, 1983 report to develop an estimate of the probable maximum water table for a group of wells that either existed at one time at or near the SDF or which currently exist. Estimates of the probable maximum water table at these wells were used to construct 2D contour lines depicting this surface beneath the SDF and extend them to the nearby hydrologic boundaries at the perennial streams adjacent to the SDF. Although certain measures were implemented to assure that the contour lines depict a surface above which the water table will not rise, the exact elevation of this surface cannot be known with complete certainty. It is therefore recommended that the construction of saltstone vaults incorporate a vertical buffer of at least 5-feet between the base of the vaults and the depicted probable maximum water table elevation. This should provide assurance that the water table under the wet extreme climatic condition will never rise to intercept the base of a vault.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-96SR18500
- OSTI ID:
- 890221
- Report Number(s):
- WSRC-TR-2005-00131; TRN: US0604628
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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