Nevada Natural Resources Status Report

Wastes and Environmental Contaminants

Solid and Hazardous Waste

During the past decade, Nevada has implemented federal laws that regulate municipal landfills. The Bureau of Waste Management (BWM) in the NDEP administers the federal regulations. More than 60 open dumps have been closed, replaced with a network of transfer stations and 22 regional landfills. The transfer stations and regional landfills are designed and operated to safely contain waste and prevent contaminants from reaching groundwater.

The amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposed of in landfills continues to grow each year, roughly proportional to the growth in population. However, generation of MSW per capita in Nevada at nine pounds per person per day is twice the national average of 4.5. The amount of solid waste delivered to solid waste disposal sites increased almost five percent annually from 1998 to 2000 (Table 2-6). Not included in the total is MSW imported from California.

Table 2-6
Tons of Solid Waste Dilivered to Solid Waste Disposal Sites 1998 - 2000
Click to Expand View

Of the 4.8 million tons of the MSW disposed of in 2000, about 11 percent originated in another state. Almost all imported waste was accepted at the privately owned Lockwood Regional landfill, near Sparks. A small amount is accepted at landfills by Mesquite and West Wendover (Bureau of Waste Management, 2001a).

The BWM calculates the recycling rate in Nevada each year. State laws require municipalities to operate recycling programs at varying levels, depending upon population. Recycling must be offered to residential premises and public buildings where solid waste collection is provided. However, participation in the programs is voluntary. The statutory goal for municipal recycling is 25 percent. Statewide, the MSW recycling rate has trended downward, falling from 14.5 to 11.3 percent between 1996 and 1999. The 50-state average is 28 percent.

Washoe and Carson City county recycling rates approximated 21 percent in 1999, but Clark County's rate was 8.3 percent. Nevada's tourist-based economy, coupled with low waste disposal costs at most landfills contributes to high waste generation and a low recovery rate for recyclables. Slumping prices for recyclable commodities is another reason for falling recycling rates. The NDEP participates with the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and its contractors to promote recycling market development. A number of significant obstacles have blocked progress in developing recycling markets, including few industries that might use recycled materials, a tourism economy, and large distance between urban centers (Bureau of Waste Management, 2001b).

Almost 80 facilities in Nevada generate enough hazardous waste per month (more than 1,000 kilograms) to be designated as a large quantity generator. Approximately 350 facilities are designated as small quantity generators of hazardous waste. Three commercial facilities are permitted to treat, store or dispose of hazardous waste, located at Beatty, Fernley, and North Las Vegas. Certain federal facilities, including the Nevada Test Site and Hawthorne Army Depot, have permits to manage hazardous waste on-site. The only land disposal site for hazardous waste is the state-owned Beatty facility operated under lease agreement by US Ecology, Inc. This 80-acre facility located south of Beatty, has received both low-level radioactive waste and chemical waste since the 1960's. The radioactive waste portion of the site closed in 1992. Currently, the facility receives limited types and quantities of hazardous waste. The remaining capacity is limited (Bureau of Waste Management, 2001a).

Legacy Wastes

Collectively, the federal facilities in Nevada have caused significant degradation to the environment. A large portion of the Nevada Test Site will remain restricted, requiring "in perpetuity" institutional control. The NTS was the site of 100 above ground "atmospheric" nuclear tests followed by 800 underground tests. Underground testing has contaminated groundwater over vast areas. Nearly 30 percent of the underground tests were conducted near or below the groundwater. State officials now estimate that an area more than 300 square miles is contaminated beneath the site. Surface soils at NTS are also contaminated with various radionuclides. At least 30,000 acres will remain permanently restricted for all uses at the site.

Photos of the Nevada Test Site

Contamination at the various military bases is generally limited to site-specific industrial contamination, such as solvents and aviation fuels in shallow aquifers. Included are Hawthorne Army Depot, Nellis Air Force Base, and Fallon Naval Air Station. Surface and sub-surface contamination at the various bombing and testing ranges is considered significant, including the Nellis Test and Training Range and the Fallon Range Training Complex. However, because of high costs or limited cleanup technologies, or both, many of the bombing ranges likely will never be remediated. Most of the range contamination is in the form of un-exploded ordnance and represents a significant safety hazard and potential long-term environmental risk.

On December 18, 1970, the Baneberry underground nuclear test was conducted at the Nevada Test Site (NTS); the event released radioactivity to the atmosphere. Baneberry had a yield of ten kilotons (a kiloton is the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT). The nuclear bomb was buried about 900 feet beneath the surface of Yucca Flat near the northern boundary of the NTS. The radiation release or venting resulted in a cloud of radioactive dust that reached an altitude of 10,000 feet. Following the Baneberry venting, new containment procedures were adopted to prevent similar occurrences.

Federal officials, with state government oversight, are expending considerable funds to characterize and remediate groundwater and surface soil contamination, where feasible at the respective federal facilities. At military bases, federal funds are allocated each year to address site-specific cleanup and closure activities (e.g., industrial site cleanups). About 160 contaminated sites on the military bases are under various degrees of investigation and remediation. Since most of the military bombing ranges in Nevada are active, remediation at air-to-ground bombing and testing ranges is limited to annual surface cleanup of un-exploded ordnance, scrap metals, and target debris.

The NDEP oversees site remediation activities at the national defense sites. In the early 1990's, NDEP established the Bureau of Federal Facilities to oversee remediation and focus clean-up activities at DOD and DOE facilities in Nevada. NDEP officials evaluate remediation plans, conduct site visits, and provide regulatory oversight. State concurrence is required to close sites where contamination is left in place. At the present time, the respective DOD entities are expending about $2 million annually on legacy waste site cleanup and remediation activities.

At the Nevada Test Site, federal and state officials are evaluating groundwater contamination caused by underground nuclear testing. Some of the contaminants are mobile in water, such as tritium. Because radionuclides have decay periods measured in thousands of years, monitoring groundwater flows beneath the site is of particular concern. The DOE is spending about $30 million annually to characterize, model, and define compliance boundaries of contaminated units beneath the site. The State, under a consent order administered by NDEP, provides regulatory oversight of the DOE groundwater and surface soil investigation programs. Site monitoring activities are anticipated to extend beyond 2030.

References

Bureau of Air Quality (NDEP). 2000.

Bureau of Waste Management (NDEP). 2001.

California Department of Water Resources (a). 1991.

California Department of Water Resources (b). 1991.

California Department of Water Resources (c). 1992.

Frederick, Kenneth D. and Peter H. Gleick. 1999.

Interagency Abandoned Mine Land Environmental Task Force, 1999.

Nevada Department of Transportation. 2001.

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, 1998a.

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. 1998b.

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. 2000.

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. 2001a.

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. 2001b.

Nevada Division of Water Planning. 1999a.

>Nevada Division of Water Planning, 1999b. Nevada State Water Plan, Part 3 - Water Planning and Management Issues.

Nevada Energy Office and Desert Research Institute (DRI). 1998. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for Nevada, Phase I Report Estimates for 1990 and 1995. DRI Document No. 98-8380.DF.2.

Nevada Health Division. 2001. Personal communication with the Bureau of Health Protection Services.

Nevada Health Division. 1999. Annual Compliance Report for the State of Nevada Public Water Systems.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 1998. Working Draft of the Truckee River Operating Agreement EIS/EIR.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2002. Global Warming Website. Internet address

U.S. Geological Survey. 1998. Water Quality in the Las Vegas Valley Area and the Carson and Truckee River Basins, Nevada and California, 1992 - 1996. Circular 1170.

Washoe County Department of Public Works, Utility Division, and Desert Research Institute, Water Resource Center. Circa 1995. Groundwater Contamination from Septic Tank Effluent in a Closed Basin, Washoe County

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