Projects

Structural Health Monitoring of D&D Facility to Identify Cracks and Structural Defects for Surveillance and Maintenance Structural health monitoring is imperative to the ongoing surveillance and maintenance (S&M) across the DOE complex. As these facilities await decommissioning, there is a need to understand the structural health of these structures. Many of these facilities were built over 50 years ago and, in some cases, these facilities have gone beyond operational life…

Machine Learning Modeling to Identify Temporal and Spatial Relationships between Inland and Shoreline Hexavalent Chromium [Cr(VI)] Concentrations in 100 Areas Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is one of the primary contaminants in the 100 Areas at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hanford Site. Various cleanup efforts are ongoing to remediate this waste site since the late 1990s. To estimate the effects of these cleanup efforts and plan future cleanup actions, it…

FIU’s Applied Research Center (ARC) is supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site by developing robotic technologies for the evaluation of Tank 241-AY-102 and other similar tanks.  Tank waste has recently been discovered in the annulus of AY-102. Inspection tools are needed to isolate and pinpoint the source of the material entering the annulus. These tools will need to provide video feedback so that an assessment can be made…

Sponsor – DOE-EM The objective for this task was to test and evaluate the FX2 Advanced Fogging Technology, developed at INL, for potential implementation at the SRS 235-F facility to better address potential airborne contaminants; this technology is relevant to D&D activities at other DOE sites and internationally. The FX2 fogging agent is a proprietary mixture of water, latex paint, glycerin, and sodium lauryl sulfate. It displayed promising results at…

Sponsor – DOE-EM The objective for this research is to improve the operational performance of fixatives by enhancing their fire resiliency. Most fixatives begin to see degradation between 200-400°F, at which time radioisotopes could potentially be released into the environment. Intumescent coatings develop a thick char to insulate the substrate and protect it from fire and extreme heat conditions. The layering or combining of an intumescent coating with the fixative…

Sponsor – DOE This task supports US DOE EM-13 in developing plans for improving active remediation systems to improve performance while lowering resources (money, GHSs, energy) used. The initial effort identified specific improvements to the SRS A/M Area groundwater remediation system with expectation that it would apply to many “pump and treat” systems across DOE. Under “Sustainable Remediation” sustainability metrics are identified and included into environmental management decisions. Benefits: Provides…

Sponsor – DOE This task involves hydrological modeling related to water, sediment, mercury and tin in Tims Branch at Savannah River Site (SRS) which has been impacted by 60 years of anthropogenic events associated with discharges from process and laboratory facilities. Tims Branch provides a unique opportunity to study complex systems science in a full-scale ecosystem that experienced controlled step changes in boundary conditions.   FIU is continuing development and…

Sponsor – DOE FIU’s Applied Research Center (ARC) is supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in remediating uranium in F/H area seepage basins. The F/H area seepage basins received approximately 1.8 billion gallons of acidic (pH 3.2-5.5) waste solutions contaminated with radionuclides and dissolved metals. The acidic nature of the basin waste solutions caused the mobilization of metals and radionuclides, resulting in contaminated groundwater plumes. The major…

Sponsor – DOE FIU’s Applied Research Center (ARC) is supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in developing a strategy to improve the efficiency of the uranium stabilization process through polyphosphate injection technology. Tripolyphosphate injected in aqueous solutions in order to sequester uranium, undergoes hydrolysis to orthophosphate forms, which serve as readily available nutrients for the various micro-organisms that thrive under these specific conditions and may even lead to…