Hydrogeochemical Indicators for Radioactive Waste Disposal Site Survey to the East of Nile Delta, Egypt

Abstract

The present work introduces a hydrogeochemical indicator for surveying the area to the east of Nile Delta in Egypt, to select, screen out and rank potential sites for radioactive waste disposal facility. The index and overlay methodology exemplified by DUPIT index, has been applied to determine the susceptibility of groundwater contamination through unsaturated zone reach. This provides a basis for classifying the study area into subareas and mapping them according to their suitability for hosting radioactive waste disposal facility, from hydrogeochemical point of view. The environmental isotopes (oxygen-18, deuterium, tritium and carbon-14) have been used for verifying the results of waste disposal siting survey. The transit time of chosen six radionuclides (T, C-14, Co-60, Tc-99, Ni-59 and Sr- 90) through the unsaturated zone reach, has been calculated, based on simple hydrological / pollutant retardation model. A considerable consistency exists between the calculated radioisotopes transit times and the corresponding waste disposal suitability index. A high adoptability has been proven for using the employed indicator methodology for siting survey of radioactive waste disposal facility.