An analysis of geological conditions when choosing a site for toxic waste storage

This paper substantiates the necessity of developing an integrated specialized engineering geological approach to the problem of siting toxic waste storage facilities. The fact that the ground stratum of a storage base can serve as a natural geochemical barrier, preventing diffusion of pollutants from the storage into a water-bearing horizon, underlies such an approach. The screening capacity of the ground stratum depends on a number of natural factors that are laid out, estimated, and analyzed in the paper. It is suggested that these results should be reflected on a map of special engineering-geological zoning, on which areas with different conditions of groundwater protection are determined. This permits one to determine storage locations most rationally and to solve a number of problems of environmental protection in the course of the operation of such a facility.