ORIGINAL ARTICLE Soil characterization in and around a proposed waste disposal facility at Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, India Amrit Pal Singh 1 • Manish Chopra 2 • Faby Sunny 2 • A. Vinod Kumar 2 • R. B. Oza 2 • D. S. Suryanarayana 3 Received: 8 June 2015 / Accepted: 25 December 2015 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract Generation of site-specific hydrogeological parameters such as porosity, bulk density, hydraulic con- ductivity, pore water velocity, etc. are the pre-requisites to carry out studies on the low probability event of migration of radionuclides along with groundwater due to long-term leaching from a waste disposal site. In the present work, the hydrogeological parameters are estimated for soil samples collected from various locations in and around a proposed solid waste disposal site at the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, India. The groundwater velocity is estimated using Darcy’s law. The range of values for hydraulic conductivity, porosity, and bulk density are determined to be 16.24–76.90 m day -1 (average 48.12 m day -1 ), 0.42–0.53 (average 0.47), and 1.01–1.43 g cm -3 (average 1.24 g cm -3 ), respectively. Using the estimated values of hydraulic conductivity, porosity, and the average value of hydraulic gradient between various wells at the site, the average groundwater velocity has been estimated to be around 1.0 m day -1 which matches fairly well with the groundwater velocity estimated using radioactive tracer techniques. These site-specific results will be useful in the radiological impact assessment of a proposed near surface waste disposal facility at Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyder- abad, India. Keywords Soil characterization Á Hydraulic conductivity Á Constant head method Á Groundwater velocity Introduction Hydrogeological parameters like hydraulic conductivity and porosity significantly affect groundwater velocity and, hence, the transport of radionuclide through groundwater (Yeboah et al. 2014). To predict the movement of con- taminants in the subsurface, it is necessary to describe the movement of groundwater as the contaminants are trans- ported with the flowing groundwater. Porosity, hydraulic gradient, and hydraulic conductivity are the parameters which need to be estimated for predicting the terrestrial movement of the contaminants dissolved in the water. These parameters are determined by laboratory analysis of the undisturbed soil samples that are collected in the field. Hydraulic conductivity is the single most important parameter for assessing the flow and contaminant transport related phenomena in soil, but the results from different mea- suring methods vary under different field conditions (Mohanty et al. 1994). There are numerous methods for estimating sat- urated soil hydraulic conductivity, ranging from direct & Amrit Pal Singh apsingh@nfc.gov.in; amritchemnitj@gmail.com Manish Chopra mchopra@barc.gov.in Faby Sunny fabys@barc.gov.in A. Vinod Kumar avkumar@barc.gov.in R. B. Oza rboza@barc.gov.in D. S. Suryanarayana surigeet@gmail.com 1 Health Physics and Safety, Fuels Group, Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad 500 062, India 2 Radiation Safety Systems Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085, India 3 E-401, Pranit Happy Homes Sy. No. 90/1, Srinivasa Nagar Colony, Kukatpally, Hyderabad 500 090, India 123 Environ Earth Sci (2016)75:540 DOI 10.1007/s12665-015-5164-2