The Desert Research Institute (DRI) is assisting the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the environmental remediation of an area in Nevada where DOE conducted an underground nuclear test in 1963-Project Shoal. In February of 2004, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) accepted the three-dimensional, numeric groundwater flow model developed by DRI for the Shoal test area. This approval marks only the second time that a U.S. state has accepted a groundwater model to characterize the nature, extent, and potential rate of migration of radionuclides associated with an underground nuclear test and to determine contaminant and compliance boundaries. The first approval occurred in 2001 when the state of Nevada accepted DRI's groundwater model for the Faultless underground nuclear test, which was conducted at the Central Nevada Test Area in 1968. Efforts to model the subsurface and groundwater systems

DRI's Jenny Chapman has led this team effort through two field campaigns between 1996 and 2000, as well as through several overlapping modeling investigations. Other DRI researchers involved in the Shoal project include Karl Pohlmann, Greg Pohll, Ahmed Hassan, Todd Mihevc, Brad Lyles, Lambis Papelis, Craig Shirley, Rosemary Carroll , and graduate student, Sean Kosinski. These talented and dedicated researchers have applied their collective expertise representing numerous scientific disciplines for more than eight years to produce the three-dimensional, numeric groundwater flow model and supporting data that received approval from the state of Nevada.

Preparing for the two-well tracer test conducted during the 1999-2000 field campaign.

DRI has a long history of investigative involvement with the Shoal test area. In the 1960s, former DRI Water Resources Center Director, Dr. George Maxey, helped conduct the initial hydrologic characterization at the site. This work was part of the basis for Maxey's development of theories regarding desert basin hydrology.

The recent work was prompted by DOE's drive to clean up a legacy of decades of nuclear testing. This drive began in 1996 with DOE drilling four hydrologic characterization wells and continued with the drilling of four additional wells in 1999. DRI's research team is working with DOE to investigate the groundwater system beneath the Shoal site. The goal of this work is to identify underground boundaries over the next 1,000 years for radionuclides and other contaminants in the groundwater system, so the site can be managed to protect the public and the environment.