EM Nevada Completes Well Drilling on Pahute Mesa

Drilling operations at sunrise at the second of two new groundwater monitoring wells constructed on the remote Pahute Mesa at the Nevada National Security Site.

LAS VEGAS — The U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management (EM) Nevada Program recently completed drilling of two new groundwater monitoring wells and deepened a third at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS).

Data from the new wells will help EM strengthen its groundwater monitoring models.

Pahute Mesa is the final groundwater closure area at the site, and the installation of new wells brings the program a step closer to completing the groundwater monitoring mission at NNSS. EM previously installed groundwater monitoring wells at Frenchman Flat, Yucca Flat, Rainier Mesa and Shoshone Mountain.

Since 1989, EM has been documenting the nature and extent of the contamination of groundwater resulting from the historic nuclear testing at the NNSS, forecasting where contaminated water is headed and the rate of movement. The monitoring well data is used to develop groundwater flow and transport models.

"This project required coordination among a number of organizations," said EM Nevada Program Manager Rob Boehlecke. "This coordination, coupled with an emphasis on safety, resulted in success."

Crews complete work to deepen an existing groundwater monitoring well on Pahute Mesa.

The project was completed by EM Nevada Environmental 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, with many workers coming from the small, rural communities of Beatty, Pahrump, Tonopah and Amargosa Valley, Nevada. The team used innovative technology to successfully and safely drill the wells. The driller developed a “baffle box” to reduce the pressure of water discharges and created a noise filter to reduce the amount of noise emanating from compressors onsite. 

“The wells are important,” Boehlecke said, “because they demonstrate the reliability of our computer modeling results and they support the future closure of the final groundwater corrective action units at the NNSS.”

-Contributor: Glenn Puit