Subsequently, in 2005-2006, AMPAC installed an in situ (in place) bioremediation (ISB) perchlorate in groundwater treatment system in the area southeast of Sam Boyd Stadium (Las Vegas, NV) to treat groundwater containing perchlorate at a location approximately one mile up-gradient of Las Vegas Wash. It was comprised of nine shallow (less than 60 ft. below ground surface) groundwater extraction wells east of Boulder Highway, a water conditioning operation on a 1.77 acre City of Henderson site now owned by AMPAC, a re-injection system comprised of re injection wells and a deep re injection trench (treatment occurred in the ground subsequent to the re injection), and approximately 20,000 ft. of underground lines.
The system was started in mid-2006 and was shut down on June 19, 2012 to allow for expansion of perchlorate in groundwater. The following
are performance data for the ISB system's six year run:
New groundwater modeling completed by AMPAC's consultants in 2009, with peer review by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection,
resulted in a determination that groundwater closer to the former production facility is moving at a lower depth (150 ft. - 230 ft. below
ground surface) at a much slower pace than estimated previously. One of the consequences of this analysis was the conclusion that if only
the existing in situ system was maintained, the total project time would be increased significantly to more than 60 years. Therefore it was
determined that an expansion of capacity of the system that included direct extraction of groundwater in the area closer to the former
production facility was warranted in order to reduce the total time of operation. The work to achieve the system expansion commenced in
2010. The new larger capacity system will also be a bioremediation process but will be an ex situ (or above ground) Fluidized Bed Reactor
(FBR) located on the 1.77 acre property where water conditioning took place in the in situ process. The system will chemically reduce the same
target electron acceptors (perchlorate, nitrate and chlorate) as in the in situ system that operated for six years. The system will be
operational in 2012 and will have the following characteristics:
