Crews at the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site recently finished drilling two new groundwater monitoring wells and making a third one deeper, DOE’s nuclear cleanup office said Tuesday.
Data from the new wells on Pahute Mesa should improve groundwater monitoring at the longtime nuclear testing site, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a news release.
The project was completed by the Environmental Management office’s program services contractor Navarro Research and Engineering with the assistance of subcontractor Premier Drilling. Navarro Field Operations Manager Brian Haight said the project employed close to 100 people,
The portion of the Nevada National Security Site around Pahute Mesa is the final groundwater closure area at the site,
The Environmental Management office has been studying contamination of groundwater resulting from the historic nuclear testing at the property formerly known as the Nevada Test Site since 1989. DOE uses the data to forecast where contaminated water is headed and the rate of movement, according to the release.
Over the years a number of monitoring wells have been installed at the Nevada Site, including at Frenchman Flat, Yucca Flat, Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain.