Chemical analysis of water samples from 279 wells and springs in the Yucca Mountain area are presented. Where data are available, this report includes: site location expressed as Nevada Central Coordinates and latitude and longitude; source of data; name of analyzing laboratory; geologic unit from which water was obtained; lithology; water use; elevation of well or spring; well depth; depth to water; time pumped before taking the sample; yield; type of filtration; sampling method; date the sample was collected; and anion-cation balance.
Yucca Mountain, Nevada (fig. 1), is being investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, as a possible repository for the disposal of high-level nuclear wastes. Yucca Mountain is underlain by partially altered volcanic tuffs that probably extend to depths greater than 3,000 m (Snyder and Carr, 1982). If approved, the repository will most likely be excavated within the unsaturated zone, 150 to 300 m above the water table. One concern is that radionuclides might be leached from the stored wastes and eventually reach the saturated zone, where they would be transported in the ground-water system away from the repository.
The purpose of this report is to present a data base that consolidates the available ground-water data for the area surrounding the potential Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository. The objective of assembling this data is to provide a data base that potentially could be used to help determine: (1) Ground-water flow paths; (2) velocities and residence times of ground water; (3) the degree of vertical and lateral chemical heterogeneity of the ground-water system; and (4) chemical processes that affect the potential movement radionuclide species