More wells sought to find perchlorate

Dan Kulin

Monday, Jan. 5, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.

Additional perchlorate monitoring wells may be installed around the former PEPCON plant in Henderson, where the toxic rocket fuel component was manufactured until a deadly explosion at the plant in 1988.

American Pacific Corp., the new name for PEPCON, still has administrative offices in Henderson and has about 80 wells monitoring groundwater within 2 1/2 miles of the former plant off American Pacific Drive and Gibson Road. The City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a request for permission to dig 24 new wells in public rights-of-way.

Perchlorate leaked from the plant and into the surrounding groundwater at some point during the plant's 30-year run. The chemical was also produced at Kerr-McGee's Henderson plant until 1998.

Perchlorate from the plants has been found in Lake Mead, the primary drinking water source for Southern Nevada, migrating there through the Las Vegas Wash.

Some scientists believe perchlorate is linked to thyroid disorders and possibly other ailments.

Kerr-McGee, which has about 200 of its own monitoring wells, has already begun the process of trying to clean up the perchlorate.

Jeff Gibson, director of environmental services of Nevada operations for American Pacific Corp., said his company's wells will help determine where to install its perchlorate clean-up system.

"This is about understanding where the perchlorate is," Gibson said. "To fully characterize where it is and where it is not and design a system to clean it out."

Gibson said he didn't know when the clean-up system may be installed.

Gibson said that while the plant did let perchlorate into the groundwater, the perchlorate from the former PEPCON plant has not made its way into drinking water.

On May 4, 1988, and explosion at the PEPCON plant killed two employees, injured more than 350, and damaged more than half of the buildings in Henderson.