Washoe County Still Hasn’t Fixed the Radon Problem in its Courthouse one Year Later
The courthouse is where justice is supposed to be delivered. Instead, it’s where radon has been quietly accumulating for nearly a decade. People are upset. It's time for a fix.
Jul 17, 2026
More than a year after Washoe County officials publicly acknowledged dangerously high radon levels inside the Second Judicial District Courthouse, at 75 Court Street, the County has yet to implement a permanent fix.
The story has faded from headlines, but the contamination hasn’t faded from the building, and the people who work there continue to breathe the consequences; they are getting impatient with the delays.
This isn’t a minor maintenance issue. Radon is a radioactive gas and the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. The EPA estimates radon exposure kills 21,000 Americans every year.
Yet Washoe County has allowed this problem to linger in one of the most important public buildings in Reno.
A Brief History of a Long Problem
The radon issue didn’t begin last year; it began in 2016, when the County first detected elevated levels in the courthouse basement and tunnel areas.
From the County’s own records:
“Two tests were performed with results of 10.9 pCi/L and 12.4 pCi/L.” “Elevated levels in two offices directly above the basement/tunnel (7.9 pCi/L and 8.4 pCi/L).”
These numbers are double the EPA’s recommended action level of 4.0 pCi/L.
The County’s initial response was to install temporary ducting and “air machines” — essentially portable negative‑pressure units — and hope for the best.
But radon doesn’t disappear because you hope. It disappears because you fix the building’s problem.
This is Reno reported on the problem in June of 2025. Link: County officials tight-lipped about radon contamination at downtown courthouse
A Warning That Should Have Triggered Action
In February 2025, radon levels surged again, this time in multiple locations throughout the courthouse.
One room labeled “courtroom A” tested at:
“as high as 59 pCi/L but averaged to 36 pCi/L.”
To put that in perspective:
EPA residential limit: 4 pCi/L
WHO recommended limit: 2.7 pCi/L
Courtroom A: 36–59 pCi/L
That is nine to fifteen times higher than the EPA’s recommended maximum.
The County’s response? They insisted that EPA limits “do not apply” to workplaces and instead pointed to OSHA’s outdated 100 pCi/L threshold, a standard written in 1969, before modern radon science existed.
Radon expert Bill Field called OSHA’s standard:
“scientifically indefensible.”
Yet Washoe County continues to rely on it.
A Certification Problem the County Ignored
The County hired Wise Consulting & Training to perform radon testing and mitigation. But according to the article:
“the firm that tested for radon did not appear to be certified for radon testing.”
UNR’s Cooperative Extension — the state’s recognized authority — does not list Wise Consulting as a certified tester or mitigator.
When County officials asked Wise for proof of certification, the firm produced a certificate dated April 30, 2027, suspiciously after the testing had already been done.
When contacted by the reporter, Wise Consulting’s representative hung up the phone.
This is the firm Washoe County relied on to measure radioactive contamination in a courthouse.
Delay, Deflection, and Denial from the County
When Chief Judge Lynne Jones requested all radon documentation in May 2025, the County converted her request into a public records request and told her she would receive the documents six months later, on November 5.
A chief judge — in her own courthouse — was told she had to wait half a year for basic safety information.
Commissioner Mike Clark said the county is not being transparent with information. “These are public records,” he said. “They are lying to the people.
The County insisted it has “installed negative air machines” and is “working toward permanent measures,” but more than a year later, no permanent mitigation system has been installed.
The $500,000 mechanical exhaust system discussed in 2025 has not materialized.
Why This Matters Now
Radon exposure isn’t like asbestos or mold. It doesn’t cause symptoms you can see. It causes lung cancer years later.
Every day of delay is another day of exposure for:
Judges
Court staff
Attorneys
Law enforcement
Incarcerated individuals
Members of the public
The County’s own spokesperson acknowledged:
“Washoe County must not only protect the health and safety of [court] employees… and other public persons who enter and utilize the Courthouse.”
Yet the County has failed to do exactly that.
One Year Later: What Has Been Done?
Here is the uncomfortable truth:
Nothing permanent
No certified mitigation contractor
No installed exhaust system
No public release of full test results
No transparency
The County continues to rely on temporary machines and outdated OSHA standards while ignoring EPA guidance, WHO recommendations, and its judges' concerns. The courthouse remains a building with a known radon problem and no long‑term fix.
The Public Deserves Answers
On July 16, the issue came to a head, and there was a meeting to discuss the issue, but we don’t know if any action plan was reached.
Washoe County has had ten years to fix this problem. It has had one year since the public learned the full extent of the contamination.
It has had multiple requests from experts, judges, and commissioners.
And still, the courthouse remains a place where justice is delivered in a building contaminated by a radioactive carcinogen.
The public deserves better. The people who work there deserve better. And the County should stop relying on outdated standards and uncertified contractors.
The radon problem is real. The delay is real. And the consequences will be real too unless Washoe County finally acts.
Do you have a story to tell? Write to me at: mike@mikesrenoreport.com
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