6.1. Throughout its lifetime (see Fig. 1), a disposal facility is monitored for different purposes, as follows:
- To establish a baseline.
- To monitor the behaviour of, and changes to, the disposal system barriers:
· Changes to waste packages;
· Near field chemical and physical changes induced by the construction of the disposal facility and by interactions between introduced materials, groundwater and host rock;
· Chemical and physical changes to the surrounding geosphere and in the atmosphere;
· Changes to associated buffer and sealant materials.
- To monitor radionuclide transport and the release of radionuclides to the biosphere.
- To establish a database of information on the surrounding environment.