An advisory board recommended Nevada National Security Site proceed with its current plans to sample potentially contaminated groundwater in the location’s northwest corner.
The Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board unanimously recommended Thursday that the site continue its plan to sample the Pahute Mesa for tritium-laced water in fiscal 2025. The 1,355-square-mile site has already sampled ground water in its eastern, central and southern areas.
Ken Rehfeldt, of Nevada Environmental Program Services contractor Navarro, speculated that contaminated groundwater could seep up to two miles north of Pahute Mesa into the Nevada Testing and Training Range.
It is unlikely that groundwater will flow south into inhabited areas for at least 1,000 years, Rehfeldt said. The sampling is to help form a baseline for planning cleanup of the mesa.
