Nye County researchers find hot water near Test Site

Nye County researchers, testing water from wells near a proposed high-level nuclear waste site, found hotter-than-expected water in some.

Eight wells drilled downhill and west of Yucca Mountain, the proposed nuclear waste dump, and the Nevada Test Site indicate that water could be coming from deep in the earth or from volcanic activity.

This is additional, independent evidence of ground-water activity around Yucca Mountain that clouds its suitability as a repository for high-level nuclear waste. Earlier research by the Department of Energy also found unexpected levels of ground water at Yucca Mountain.

One conclusion that could be reached from the hotter-than-expected water is that deep carbonate water or water from volcanic activity could be flowing through fractures in the rock -- indicating a less stable rock structure than originally assumed. Deep carbonate water is more than 10,000 years old.

In addition, one theory holds that ground water, especially water hot from geothermal activity, could corrode containers that nuclear waste is stored in, allowing deadly contamination to escape.

Nye County has not completed its analysis of the water to show its origin, Nick Stellavato, the county's project director, said at the independent Nuclear Waste Technical Board meeting Tuesday. He and Perry Montarez reported on their preliminary results at that meeting.

The Department of Energy plans to include Nye County's findings in its studies of the mountain, Paul Dixon of the government's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, said.

Nye County began its drilling program as an early warning system for runoff from both the Test Site, where above- and underground nuclear testing was conducted from 1951 until 1992, and in case Yucca Mountain becomes the burial ground for the nation's nuclear waste.

"You're the hottest act in town," Paul Craig, who chaired the board meeting, quipped to Nye County officials.

Nye County received $10 million from the Department of Energy over three years to drill the wells, hire consultants and analyze the water samples.

Stellavato said that water found north of U.S. 95 -- downhill from Yucca Mountain -- is much shallower than expected. In one well, drillers struck water at 240 feet.

The Department of Energy proposes to carve a repository 1,000 feet beneath Yucca Mountain, but at least 800 feet above the known ground-water level.

Nye County has not completed chemical analysis of the water.

The U.S. Geological Survey and Nye County are analyzing the water samples taken from the eight wells, Montarez said, and will continue to take samples.

"These wells are going to be tested for years to come," he said.

Although former Department of Energy geologist Jerry Szymanski attended the meeting, no one referred to his theory that deep, hot water could invade the proposed nuclear dump, corroding buried casks containing radioactive waste and allowing radiation to escape.

Szymanski maintains that deep water could invade the repository, creating a steam explosion that could expose people and the environment to radiation through both air and water contamination.

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