Conceptualization of the predevelopment groundwater flow system and transient water-level responses in Yucca Flat, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

Fenelon, Joseph M.; Sweetkind, Donald S.; Elliott, Peggy E.; Laczniak, Randell J.

doi:10.3133/sir20125196

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…This appendix includes a comparison of the working point elevations for the Yucca Flat tests to updated water-level information to determine whether any of the Yucca Flat tests might be re-categorized with respect to their potential to interact with regional groundwater. The most current interpretations of water-level surfaces for Yucca Flat are the predevelopment carbonate and alluvialvolcanic aquifer potentiometric surfaces published in Fenelon et al (2012). These surfaces represent predevelopment (pre-testing) water levels and may be a measure of more natural water table elevations toward which the site will presumably return.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The alluvial-volcanic aquifer is generally shallower than the carbonate aquifer; its areal extent is smaller in size than and lies entirely within the footprint of the carbonate surface, as illustrated in Figure B-1. For the comparison, a single combined water table surface was generated, called here the "USGS Volcanic-Alluvial/Carbonate Combined Surface," where the two surfaces are combined giving precedence to the higher elevation between the two water table surfaces defined by Fenelon et al (2012). Outside the alluvialvolcanic aquifer surface, the carbonate aquifer defines the surface where it is present ( Figure B…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The process used to compare the pre-development water levels of Fenelon et al (2012) was to prepare surfaces representing each of the two water-table data sets (Carbonate and Alluvial-Volcanic Aquifer), combine those according to the process described above, interpolate the elevation of the water table at the location of each Yucca Flat test, and compare the results with the original determination of groundwater interaction published in DOE (1997) and used for distributing the Yucca flat inventory in .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data used as input for the Predevelopment Carbonate Aquifer System in Yucca Flat consist of the contour lines and some of the data points shown on Plate 4 of Fenelon et al (2012). Data used as input for the Predevelopment Alluvial-Volcanic Aquifer System in Yucca Flat consist of the contour lines and some of the data points shown on Plate 3 of Fenelon et al (2012). For both surfaces, additional control points were added to make the surfaces consistent with the interpretations given in Plates 3 and 4 respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nevada National Security Site Underground Radionuclide Inventory, 1951-1992: Accounting for Radionuclide Decay through September 30, 2012

Finnegan

Bowen

Thompson

et al. 2016

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This report is an update of report LA-13859-MS (Bowen et al., 2001). In that original report, the underground radionuclide inventory at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) was decay corrected to September 23, 1992, the date of the last underground nuclear test at the NNSS. In this report, the inventory is updated to account for the decay of radionuclides over two additional decades (1992-2012) and revised tritium, fission product and actinide inventory figures and tables are presented. The maximum contaminant levels for radionuclides were also updated to Safe Drinking Water Act Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) (CFR, 2013). Also, a number of minor errata found in the original publication were corrected. An inventory of radionuclides produced by 828 underground nuclear tests conducted at the NNSS by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Department of the Defense from 1951 to 1992 includes tritium, fission products, actinides, and activation products. The inventory presented in this report provides an estimate of radioactivity remaining underground at the NNSS after nuclear testing. The original test inventory is decayed to September 30, 2012, and predictions of inventory decay over the subsequent 1000 years are presented. For the purposes of summary and publication, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory authors of this report subdivided the inventory into five areas corresponding to the principal geographic test centers at the NNSS. The five areas roughly correspond to Underground Test Area "Corrective Action Units" (CAUs) for remediation of groundwater. In addition, the inventory is further subdivided for the Yucca Flat region by tests where the working point depth is more than 328 feet (100 meters) above the water table and tests that were detonated below that level. Water levels used were those from the U. S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (1997), now called the Nevada Field Office. Curie activities and atoms are reported as of September 30, 2012. This inventory is strictly a compilation of the residual radiologic inventory remaining from the underground nuclear tests conducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of the Defense from 1951 to 1992 and does not include radioactivity from other types of nuclear testing (e.g., atmospheric, reactors, rocket engines). A companion classified report (Miller et al., 2002) contains testspecific data for each test performed at the NNSS.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nevada National Security Site Underground Radionuclide Inventory, 1951-1992: Accounting for Radionuclide Decay through September 30, 2012

Finnegan

Bowen

Thompson

et al. 2016

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Testing the 14C ages and conservative behavior of dissolved 14C in a carbonate aquifer in Yucca Flat, Nevada (USA), using 36Cl from groundwater and packrat middens

Kwicklis

Farnham

2014

Hydrogeol J

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Evaluation of potential stresses and hydrologic conditions driving water-level fluctuations in well ER-5-3-2, Frenchman Flat, southern Nevada

Jackson¹,

Frus²

2023

Scientific Investigations Report

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Well ER-5-3-2 is part of a well network designed to monitor long-term water levels and radionuclide concentrations downgradient from underground nuclear tests that occurred in Frenchman Flat, an area of the U.S. Department of Energy Nevada National Security Site in southern Nevada. Interpretation of monitoring records for well ER-5-3-2 was confounded by previously unexplained water-level fluctuations in the well hydrograph. This study integrated geologic, hydrologic, and water-chemistry data to evaluate potential stresses and hydrologic conditions that likely affected the well ER-5-3-2 hydrograph. Numerical groundwater models were applied to evaluate four model scenarios: (1) wellbore leakage without recharge, (2) wellbore leakage with recharge, (3) equilibration to vertical heterogeneities between shallow (low transmissivity) and deep (higher transmissivity) carbonate zones, and (4) equilibration to lateral heterogeneities in carbonate rocks.Meteoric recharge was not the cause of the 21-foot (ft) water-level rise in well ER-5-3-2 from 2001 to 2011 or the 4-ft decline from 2012 to 2016. Based on observed water-level fluctuations in nearby wells, the water-level rise and decline from recharge for these periods was less than 3 and 1 ft, respectively. The lateral-heterogeneity scenario is based on the assumption that the 21-ft water-level rise from 2001 to 2011 was a natural water-level reequilibration following the pumping-induced depressurization of a large volume of high transmissivity and low-storage carbonate rock that is surrounded by low transmissivity and high-storage carbonate rock. The lateral-heterogeneity scenario was discounted because simulated water levels cannot match the well ER-5-3-2 hydrograph. Underground nuclear testing and temperature effects were discounted based on hydraulic connections and water-temperature data.Wellbore-leakage scenarios are based on the assumption that the water-level rise was sustained from leakage rates required to cause a localized mounding in the carbonate system near well ER-5-3-2, where the carbonate transmissivity is 530 square feet per day. Even though simulated and measured water levels compare favorably for scenarios of wellbore leakage with and without recharge, large volumes (178-184 million gallons) of

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Conceptualization of the predevelopment groundwater flow system and transient water-level responses in Yucca Flat, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada

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Cited by 3 publications

References 23 publications

Nevada National Security Site Underground Radionuclide Inventory, 1951-1992: Accounting for Radionuclide Decay through September 30, 2012

Nevada National Security Site Underground Radionuclide Inventory, 1951-1992: Accounting for Radionuclide Decay through September 30, 2012

Testing the 14C ages and conservative behavior of dissolved 14C in a carbonate aquifer in Yucca Flat, Nevada (USA), using 36Cl from groundwater and packrat middens

Evaluation of potential stresses and hydrologic conditions driving water-level fluctuations in well ER-5-3-2, Frenchman Flat, southern Nevada

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