Report shows radiation, chemicals are migrating from Timet plant

Friday, Oct. 1, 1999 | 11:44 a.m.

Nevada environmental officials are reviewing a just-completed report done on behalf of Titanium Metals Corp. that shows metals, radiation and chemicals are migrating from old landfills and ponds at the company's plant in Henderson.

But the report does not consider the on-site contamination a threat to residents of Henderson, the fastest-growing city of its size in the nation.

For two years Tetra Tech EM Inc. of Houston has sampled ground water and soils at the plant that has produced titanium metal since World War II. Titanium is used for spacecraft and medical devices.

The report was prepared as part of a three-stage cleanup that has taken 10 years under the eyes of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.

Timet Environmental Manager Tony Garcia said today that this study will help officials find the basic level of radiation in Southern Nevada. Timet did the study for the entire industrial complex, which has operated since World War II, he said.

Further tests will be required. One possible source of radiation is the ore laced with uranium that Timet used in its metal processing. Another possible source is suspected in the native rocks, where uranium can occur naturally.

"We do know that some measurements are above background radiation levels," Garcia said. At least five other studies are available for comparing the results in the 3-inch-thick document, he added.

The state and the company are cooperating in testing, monitoring and eventually cleaning up any contamination that threatens the public health, the state's Bureau of Enforcement Officer Robert Kelso said. "I just received the report, I haven't read it yet," he said Thursday.

Once the state reviews the report, the company could be required to conduct further tests and take other corrective action, Kelso said. Corrective action could range from removing contaminated soil to cleaning up the ground water.

Water laden with heavy metals from the titanium production process is put into the holding ponds at the north end of the Timet property where the water evaporates, leaving the metals on the ground.

The report listed radioactive materials uranium, thorium and radium, as well as arsenic, nitrates, volatile organic compounds and chloroform in the ground water and the soils at the site.

"The results of the ground water sampling indicate that historical operations in the landfill source area may be a potential source of ground water contamination," the report said.

Ground water moves from south -- the direction of downtown Henderson -- and exits north of the Timet plant, discharging into the Las Vegas Wash three miles away. The wash flows into Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's major drinking water supply.

Palm City, a development under construction by the Rhodes Development Co. north of the plant, detected radiation in its ground water flowing under the homes and golf courses. The development area was filled with clean dirt and the state ordered Rhodes to capture the ground water.

However, the report noted, not all of the contamination may be coming from the plant.

"The identification of specific sources (of radiation) is problematic," the Timet report concluded, since some uranium was found uphill from the plant's ponds and landfill areas.

Naturally occurring uranium in Southern Nevada's rocks and soils could account for some of the radiation, the report said.

The highest radioactive level in ground water discovered at Timet reached 131 micrograms per liter while the state's limit is 20 micrograms per liter.

That is well below proposed limits by both the National Academy of Sciences and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the report noted. The state standards are stricter than the federal.

Arsenic presented another mystery in the study. The metal was detected in all of Timet's wells in concentrations that exceed the the level the state considers safe -- 50 micrograms per liter. The highest reading from a plant well was 1,330 micrograms per liter and the levels were increasing in May 1999.

"The increase in arsenic is not understood," the report said.