Lecture Series

Dr. Yelena Katsenovich, Research Scientist from the FIU Applied Research Center, gave a lecture for the Sea Level Solutions Interdisciplinary Research & Design Studio on “Constructed Wetlands for Storm Water Contaminant Remediation: Design, Process and Function” on February 13. Her talk covered various aspects of low-cost constructed wetlands, which is an environmentally sound and affordable alternative to conventional wastewater treatment technologies. This lecture provided information that will assist a team of FIU students from multiple disciplines in…

August 31, 2017 | 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm  | EC Room 2300 Abstract Today worldwide, one of the main factors to contribute to the development of quality of life in both developing and developed metropolitan cities and urban/rural areas, is the advancing of sustainable waste management and waste to energy. The education of policy/decision makers, governmental authorities, public & private sector (local industry) is crucial in order to inform the local society…

March 31, 2017 | 1:30 pm  | EC Room 2300 Abstract A review of the nuclear waste treatment regulations indicates a lack of a rational environmental approach to deal with the problems of the nuclear industry’s waste. In fact, a few simple truths point out the depth of the problems at the federal level: No landfill standards, No treatment standards for radio isotopes of concern and rules that exist for high level waste…

March 17, 2017 | 11:00 am  | AHC4 Room 302 Nuclear forensics analysis is a growing area of study that is defined as “The technical field of interpreting signatures and other clues in or about potential nuclear threats, such as nuclear materials that have slipped outside of regulatory control, nuclear devices that could produce nuclear yield, and other classes of radiological threats such as Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDD) and Radiological Exposure Devices (RED)”. Furthermore,…

September 3, 2017 | 3:00 pm  | MMC Campus | SIPA Room 220 Soft X-ray synchrotron radiation methodologies are being developed and employed at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to elucidate the electronic structure of actinide materials. Results from these investigations have begun to provide improved fundamental knowledge that can be used as a scientific basis for the enhanced design of special-purpose actinide materials and the overall understanding…

“Plutonium in the Environment: Can we Predict its Subsurface Behavior?” December 15, 2016 | 2:0 PM | Applied Research Center | EC 2186 There is an acute need to expedite progress toward a permanent storage facility that can safely isolate long-lived actinides and fission products from the biosphere. Significant uncertainty remains on how to safely store long-lived radionuclides that will make up the majority of the dose after a few hundred years. Plutonium…

  “Synergies Between Ongoing Savannah River Site Nuclear Processes and the Savannah River National Laboratory’s Nuclear Measurements Group” November 14, 2016 | 11:30 AM | MMC Campus | CP Room 103 The Savannah River National Laboratory’s Nuclear Measurements Group provides both radiochemical analyses and non-destructive assay of nuclear material to the Savannah River Site. The radioanalytical capability of the group serves to complement the more-limited services provided by the Savannah River Site…

“Chemistry under Challenging Conditions” November 14, 2016 | 11:00 AM | MMC Campus | CP Room 103 Managing the storage, retrieval, and disposition of legacy high-level nuclear waste and developing advanced nuclear fuel separation processes are challenging endeavors due to the complex chemical matrices and high radiation fields. At the Savannah River Site, the legacy waste from nuclear materials production are mixtures of precipitated metal hydroxides and hydrous metal oxides and highly…

“Thermal Measurement and Modeling of Nuclear Waste in the Double Shell Tanks at Hanford Nuclear Waste Site Using Miniature Sensors“ September 27, 2016 | 3:00 PM | FIU Engineering Campus | Room 2186 Double Shell Tanks (DST’s) at the Hanford Site in Washington store nuclear waste and their structural integrity is a primary concern. Depending on the chemical composition and pH of the waste, certain temperature requirements are specified especially for…

“Investigation of NH3(g) Treatment for the Immobilization of Uranium in the Presence of Pure Minerals” August 18, 2016 | 2:30 PM | FIU Engineering Campus | Room 2300 The injection of NH3(gas) is under consideration as a novel remediation technique for uranium at the DOE’s Hanford Reservation. The goal of NH3(gas) injection is to raise the pH to dissolve natural silicate and aluminosilicate from sediments. This should lead to co-precipitation…

“Savannah River National Lab: Underpinning Critical National Missions” by Dr. Jeffrey (Jeff) C. Griffin July 28, 2016 | 1:00 PM | MMC AHC4 Room 302 Dr. Jeffrey (Jeff) C. Griffin is the Associate Laboratory Director for Environmental Stewardship at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), operated for the Department of Energy (DOE) by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC. In this position, he is responsible for the management, growth and development of…

“Electrochemically-Modulated Separations for Safeguards Analyses ” by Douglas C. Duckworth, Ph.D. February 12, 2016 | 3:00 PM | SIPA Room 103 Abstract The safe and secure use of nuclear power requires an advanced and robust analytical infrastructure supporting nuclear material safeguards. The International Atomic Energy Agency maintains an on-site material safeguard lab at the Rokkasho Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Facility in Japan as well as the general Safeguards Analytical Laboratory in Siebersdorf, Austria. An…

“Insights into the Culture of the Department of Defense and Its Impact on Applied Research Requirements ” by Mr. Joseph Sinicrope February 5, 2016 | 3:00 PM | EC Room 2300 Mr. Joseph Sinicrope serves as a Research Scientist for Florida International University’s Applied Research Center located in Miami, Florida. His primary areas of concentration for the Center are related to innovation, development, testing, evaluation and deployment of technologies in support of the Department…

“Sea Level Rise and Climate Change in South Florida: Implications and Adaptation” by Jayantha Obeysekera, Ph.D. November 19, 2015 | 3:30 PM | WC Room 130 Jayantha Obeysekera is the Chief Modeler at the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), a regional governmental agency in South Florida, United States. At SFWMD, he had a leading role in modeling of Kissimmee River Restoration, and the Everglades Restoration. He was responsible for establishing a large group…

“Development of Robotic Inspection Tools for the AY-102 Double-Shell Tank” by Anthony Abrahao, M.S. October 2, 2015 | 3:00 PM | FIU Engineering Campus | Room EC 2300 In August of 2012, traces of waste were found in the annulus of the AY-102 double-shell tank storing radioactive waste at the Hanford Site, prompting the need for developing inspection tools that can identify the cause and location of the leak. To help in…

September 11, 2015 | 3:00 pm  | SIPA Building Room 103, FIU MMC Add to Calendar 08-24-2015 10:00:00 08-24-2015 12:00:00 15 Lecture Series: “Consent Based Siting of Nuclear Waste Management Facilities” by Mr. Jim Voss “Consent Based Siting of Nuclear Waste Management Facilities” MARC Building International Pavilion, FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199 false MM/DD/YYYY Dr. Tsouris’ research interests include: Separations for energy applications: Separations processes…

August 24, 2015 | 10:00 am  | MARC Building International Pavilion, FIU MMC Add to Calendar 08-24-2015 10:00:00 08-24-2015 12:00:00 15 Lecture Series: “Consent Based Siting of Nuclear Waste Management Facilities” by Mr. Jim Voss “Consent Based Siting of Nuclear Waste Management Facilities” MARC Building International Pavilion, FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199 false MM/DD/YYYY Mr. James (Jim) Voss is the managing director of Waste…

FIU-ARC held the DOE Fellows lecture series on April 8, 2015 featuring Dr. Miles Denham from Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). Dr. Denham joined SRNL as a research geochemist after obtaining his Ph.D. from Texas A&M in 1992. He has been instrumental in developing innovative treatments for metals and radionuclides including mercury, uranium, strontium-90, technetium-99, and iodine-129. Dr. Denham has been the lead geochemist on several projects to transition active…

April 16, 2015 | 3:00 PM | Engineering Campus | Applied Research Center | Room 2186 RSVP To This Event Mr. José E. Sánchez became Director of the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Miss., in August 2013. ERDC R&D supports the Department of Defense and other federal agencies in military and civilian projects. Principal research mission areas include Warfighter…

March 24, 2015 | 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm | MMC – WC | Room 130 RSVP To This Event Dr. Matahel Ansar is a Section Administrator (Section Chief) for the Applied Hydraulics Section at the South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach, Florida. In this position, he provides overall management of the Section, and technical leadership to about twenty three engineers involved in hydraulic design, flow computations at water control…

February 27, 2015 | 3:00 PM | School of International & Public Affairs Building (SIPA) | Room 220 RSVP To This Event Across all of the fields of analytical chemistry, atomic spectrometry (elemental analysis) is the least evolved in terms of miniaturization and transportability. Simply put, the mainstay inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) source requires too much operational overhead. This laboratory is developing the liquid sampling-atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) microplasma for…

January 30, 2015 | 3:00 PM | School of International & Public Affairs Building (SIPA) | Room 220 RSVP To This Event Advanced fuel cycles all over the world rely on successful chemical separation of various elements in used nuclear fuel. Numerous solvent extraction processes have been developed and new systems are still being tested for recovery and purification of metal ions from this material. Classic molecular interaction is often…

Considerable research efforts in the fields of environmental remediation and water treatment focus on combining two key elements: delivery of efficient techniques and cost-effectiveness. The exploitation of materials that are abundant and easily accessible, as well as other low commercial value, agro-industrial by-products may offer a solution to those needs. The use of lignocellulosic materials with different physico-chemical properties for the pre-concentration of radionuclides from aquatic phase, as well as…