After weeks of inspections, it appears Area 25 of the Nevada Nuclear Security Site avoided significant damage due to August’s tropical rains from Hurricane Hilary, a Department of Energy citizens advisory board heard Wednesday.
Area 25, which includes Jackass Flats, is a 250-mile chunk of the Nevada Nuclear Security Site, and it largely avoided the most intense rains Aug. 23-24 from Hilary, according to comments from supervisors with DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and Nye County, Nev., emergency services.
“Some of the worst rainfall or the heaviest rainfall was to our West,” Rob Boehlecke, a supervisor with Environmental Management told the Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board.
Overall, last month’s rain did not cause the degree of erosion and flooding damage that resulted from the heavy rains of October 2015, Boehlecke said.
There was some “ponding, but no damage,” Boehlecke said. “We do see these floods from time to time … we do anticipate and expect that we have migration of contamination from some of our sites, whether it’s wind or rain,” he said. “But we put our fence lines far enough out” that only “decreased concentrations” turn up offsite.
“We remain confident that contamination from onsite is not leaving the site” at least not in significant amounts, Boehlecke said.
