Assessing controls on perched saturated zones beneath the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, Idaho

"Waste byproducts associated with operations at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) have the potential to contaminate the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer. Recharge to the ESRP aquifer is controlled largely by the alternating stratigraphy of fractured volcanic rocks and sedimentary interbeds within the overlying vadose zone and by the availability of water at the surface. Beneath the INTEC facilities, localized zones of saturation perched on the sedimentary interbeds are of particular concern because they may facilitate accelerated transport of contaminants."--Abstract