2011 Volume 53 Issue 2 Pages 193-206
For assessing the safety of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, it is important to understand groundwater flow as a driving force of mass transport. Authors have been carrying out the surface hydrological investigation in the Horonobe area, Hokkaido. Results of groundwater-level observations, and relationship between distributions of groundwater-level and geological structures suggest that constructions of underground facilities have no effect on shallow groundwater-level fluctuations, and that water infiltrate from ground surface into shallow underground in the snow covered season, and that water infiltrate into deeper underground along faults. In the future, it is necessary to be modeling and quantitatively assess the water infiltration and recharge based on directly and/or indirectly observed data of evapotranspiration and soil moisture content by weighing lysimeter and soil moisture meter, and tensiometer.
