Advanced Containment System

DOEpatents

Kostelnik, Kevin M.; Kawamura, Hideki; Richardson, John G.; Noda, Masaru

2004-10-12

An advanced containment system for containing buried waste and associated leachate. A trench is dug on either side of the zone of interest containing the buried waste so as to accommodate a micro tunnel boring machine. A series of small diameter tunnels are serially excavated underneath the buried waste. The tunnels are excavated by the micro tunnel boring machine at a consistent depth and are substantially parallel to each other. As tunneling progresses, steel casing sections are connected end to end in the excavated portion of the tunnel so that a steel tube is formed. Each casing section has complementary interlocking structure running its length that interlocks with complementary interlocking structure on the adjacent casing section. Thus, once the first tube is emplaced, placement of subsequent tubes is facilitated by the complementary interlocking structure on the adjacent, previously placed, casing sections.

Advanced Containment System

DOEpatents

Kostelnik, Kevin M.; Kawamura, Hideki; Richardson, John G.; Noda, Masaru

2005-05-24

An advanced containment system for containing buried waste and associated leachate. A trench is dug on either side of the zone of interest containing the buried waste so as to accommodate a micro tunnel boring machine. A series of small diameter tunnels are serially excavated underneath the buried waste. The tunnels are excavated by the micro tunnel boring machine at a consistent depth and are substantially parallel to each other. As tunneling progresses, steel casing sections are connected end to end in the excavated portion of the tunnel so that a steel tube is formed. Each casing section has complementary interlocking structure running its length that interlocks with complementary interlocking structure on the adjacent casing section. Thus, once the first tube is emplaced, placement of subsequent tubes is facilitated by the complementary interlocking structure on the adjacent, previously placed, casing sections.

A Model for Remote Depth Estimation of Buried Radioactive Wastes Using CdZnTe Detector

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

This paper presents the results of an attenuation model for remote depth estimation of buried radioactive wastes using a Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detector. Previous research using an organic liquid scintillator detector system showed that the model is able to estimate the depth of a 329-kBq Cs-137 radioactive source buried up to 12 cm in sand with an average count rate of 100 cps. The results presented in this paper showed that the use of the CZT detector extended the maximum detectable depth of the same radioactive source to 18 cm in sand with a significantly lower average count rate of 14 cps. Furthermore, the model also successfully estimated the depth of a 9-kBq Co-60 source buried up to 3 cm in sand. This confirms that this remote depth estimation method can be used with other radionuclides and wastes with very low activity. Finally, the paper proposes a performance parameter for evaluating radiation detection systems that implement this remote depth estimation method. PMID:29783644

Archaeology and public perception of a trans-scientific problem; disposal of toxic wastes in the unsaturated zone

USGS Publications Warehouse

Winograd, Isaac Judah

1986-01-01

Predicting the effects of toxic-waste disposal on the environment over periods of millenia to hundreds of millenia is a transscientific problem; that is, one not fully addressed by quantitative scientific and engineering endeavors. Archaeology is a pertinent adjunct to such predictions in several ways. First, and foremost, archaeological records demonstrate that delicate, as well as durable, objects buried in thick unsaturated zones of arid and semiarid environments may survive intact for millenia to tens of millenia. This successful preservation of Late Paleolithic to Iron Age artifacts provides independent support for the tentative favorable conclusions of earth scientists regarding the general utility of thick unsaturated zones for toxic-waste isolation. By analogy with the archaeological record, solidified toxic wastes of low solubility that are buried in arid unsaturated zones should remain isolated from the environment indefinitely; modern man presumably should be able to improve upon the techniques used by his ancestors to isolate and preserve their sacred and utilitarian objects. Second, archaeological evidence pertinent to the fate of objects buried in unsaturated zones-although qualitative in nature and subject to the limitations of arguments by analogy-is meaningful to the public and to the courts who, with some scientists and engineers, are reluctant to rely exclusively on computer-generated predictions of the effects of buried toxic wastes on the environment. Third, the archaeological record issues a warning that our descendants may intrude into our waste disposal sites and that we must therefore take special measures to minimize such entry and, if it occurs, to warn of the dangers by a variety of symbols. And fourth, archaeology provides a record of durable natural and manmade materials that may prove to be suitable for encapsulation of our wastes and from which we can construct warning markers that will last for millenia. For these four reasons, archaeologists must join with earth scientists, and other scientists and engineers, in addressing the likely fate of solidfied toxic wastes buried in the thick (200-600 m) unsaturated zones of arid and semiarid regions. Indeed, the input of archaeology might be crucial to public acceptance of even the most carefully chosen and technically sound waste repository.

Comprehensive implementation plan for the DOE defense buried TRU- contaminated waste program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Everette, S.E.; Detamore, J.A.; Raudenbush, M.H.

1988-02-01

In 1970, the US Atomic Energy Commission established a transuranic'' (TRU) waste classification. Waste disposed of prior to the decision to retrievably store the waste and which may contain TRU contamination is referred to as buried transuranic-contaminated waste'' (BTW). The DOE reference plan for BTW, stated in the Defense Waste Management Plan, is to monitor it, to take such remedial actions as may be necessary, and to re-evaluate its safety as necessary or in about 10-year periods. Responsibility for management of radioactive waste and byproducts generated by DOE belongs to the Secretary of Energy. Regulatory control for these sites containingmore » mixed waste is exercised by both DOE (radionuclides) and EPA (hazardous constituents). Each DOE Operations Office is responsible for developing and implementing plans for long-term management of its radioactive and hazardous waste sites. This comprehensive plan includes site-by-site long-range plans, site characteristics, site costs, and schedules at each site. 13 figs., 15 tabs.« less

Review of Concrete Biodeterioration in Relation to Buried Nuclear Waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Turick, C; Berry, C.

Long-term storage of low level radioactive material in below ground concrete disposal units (DUs) (Saltstone Disposal Facility) is a means of depositing wastes generated from nuclear operations of the U.S. Department of Energy. Based on the currently modeled degradation mechanisms, possible microbial induced effects on the structural integrity of buried low level wastes must be addressed. Previous international efforts related to microbial impacts on concrete structures that house low level radioactive waste showed that microbial activity can play a significant role in the process of concrete degradation and ultimately structural deterioration. This literature review examines the recent research in thismore » field and is focused on specific parameters that are applicable to modeling and prediction of the fate of concrete vaults housing stored wastes and the wastes themselves. Rates of concrete biodegradation vary with the environmental conditions, illustrating a need to understand the bioavailability of key compounds involved in microbial activity. Specific parameters require pH and osmotic pressure to be within a certain range to allow for microbial growth as well as the availability and abundance of energy sources like components involved in sulfur, iron and nitrogen oxidation. Carbon flow and availability are also factors to consider in predicting concrete biodegradation. The results of this review suggest that microbial activity in Saltstone, (grouted low level radioactive waste) is unlikely due to very high pH and osmotic pressure. Biodegradation of the concrete vaults housing the radioactive waste however, is a possibility. The rate and degree of concrete biodegradation is dependent on numerous physical, chemical and biological parameters. Results from this review point to parameters to focus on for modeling activities and also, possible options for mitigation that would minimize concrete biodegradation. In addition, key chemical components that drive microbial activity on concrete surfaces are discussed.« less

Nondestructive remote sensing of hazardous waste sites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weil, G.J.; Graf, R.J.

1994-12-31

In the past government and private industry have produced hazardous waste in ever increasing quantities. These untold millions of tons of environmentally dangerous wastes have been disposed of by undocumented burial, simple carelessness and purposeful abandonment. Society has recently dictated that before new construction may be initiated, these wastes must be found and cleaned up. The first step is to locate these undocumented waste depositories. The non-contact, nondestructive, remote sensing techniques, of Computer Enhanced Infrared Thermography and Ground Penetrating Radar, may be used to detect buried waste sites, buried tanks/pits, and tank/pit leak plumes. These technologies may be used frommore » mobile vehicles, helicopters or man-portable systems and are able to cover tens of acres per day depending upon the system fusion method used. This relatively new combination of technologies, win be described in theory, by procedure and the use of case studies based upon successful projects.« less

Safe disposal of radionuclides in low-level radioactive-waste repository sites; Low-level radioactive-waste disposal workshop, U.S. Geological Survey, July 11-16, 1987, Big Bear Lake, Calif., Proceedings

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bedinger, Marion S.; Stevens, Peter R.

1990-01-01

In the United States, low-level radioactive waste is disposed by shallow-land burial. Low-level radioactive waste generated by non-Federal facilities has been buried at six commercially operated sites; low-level radioactive waste generated by Federal facilities has been buried at eight major and several minor Federally operated sites (fig. 1). Generally, low-level radioactive waste is somewhat imprecisely defined as waste that does not fit the definition of high-level radioactive waste and does not exceed 100 nCi/g in the concentration of transuranic elements. Most low-level radioactive waste generated by non-Federal facilities is generated at nuclear powerplants; the remainder is generated primarily at research laboratories, hospitals, industrial facilities, and universities. On the basis of half lives and concentrations of radionuclides in low-level radioactive waste, the hazard associated with burial of such waste generally lasts for about 500 years. Studies made at several of the commercially and Federally operated low-level radioactive-waste repository sites indicate that some of these sites have not provided containment of waste nor the expected protection of the environment.

Understanding the toxicity of buried radioactive waste and its impacts.

PubMed

Cohen, Bernard L

2005-10-01

The oral ingestion toxicities of buried high level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and of the natural radioactivity in the ground are calculated and expressed as cancer doses, the number of fatal cancers predicted by the linear no-threshold theory if all of the material were fed to people. Unless the size of the U.S. nuclear power industry is greatly expanded, there will probably never be more than 2 trillion cancer doses (CD) in U.S. repositories, as compared with 31 trillion CD in the ground above them. Measurements of the uranium, thorium, and radium in human bodies indicate that the latter cause 500 deaths per year in U.S. The great majority of this material is derived from the top few meters of soil that are penetrated by plant roots. It is concluded that the annual number of U.S. deaths from buried nuclear wastes will be about 1.0 (or less), orders of magnitude less than the number from coal burning electricity generation, the principal competitor of nuclear power.

Methods for radiation detection and characterization using a multiple detector probe

DOEpatents

Akers, Douglas William; Roybal, Lyle Gene

2014-11-04

Apparatuses, methods, and systems relating to radiological characterization of environments are disclosed. Multi-detector probes with a plurality of detectors in a common housing may be used to substantially concurrently detect a plurality of different radiation activities and types. Multiple multi-detector probes may be used in a down-hole environment to substantially concurrently detect radioactive activity and contents of a buried waste container. Software may process, analyze, and integrate the data from the different multi-detector probes and the different detector types therein to provide source location and integrated analysis as to the source types and activity in the measured environment. Further, the integrated data may be used to compensate for differential density effects and the effects of radiation shielding materials within the volume being measured.

Solid Waste Information Management System (SWIMS). Data summary, fiscal year 1980

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batchelder, H. M.

1981-05-01

The solid waste information management system (SWIMS) maintains computerized records on a master data base. It provides a comprehensive system for cataloging and assembling data into output reports. The SWIMS data base contains information on the transuranic (TRU) and low level waste (LLW) generated, buried, or stored.

DETERMINATION OF OPTIMAL TOXICANT LOADING FOR BIOLOGICAL CLOSURE OF A HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE

EPA Science Inventory

Information on Phase I and Phase Il of a multitask effort to achieve biological closure of an abandoned hazardous waste site. aste materials, in the form of buried sludges and lagoon wastes, were examined. ptimal loading levels were evaluated on the basis of biodegradative potent...

Environmental analysis burial of offsite low-level waste at SRP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poe, W. L.; Moyer, R. A.

1980-12-01

The environmental effects of receipt and burial of low level naval waste are assessed. This low level waste was sent to the NRC-licensed burial ground operated by Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc., at Barnwell, South Carolina. The DOE announced that DOE-generated low level waste would no longer be buried at commercial waste burial sites. The SRP was selected to receive the Naval waste described in this analysis. Receipt and burial of these wastes will have a negligible effect on SRP's environment and increase only sightly the environmental effects of the SRP operations discussed in the EIS on SRP waste management operations. The environmental effects of burial of this waste at Chem-Nuclear Burial Ground or at the SRP Burial Ground are described in this environmental analysis to permit assessment of incremental effects caused by the decision to bury this Naval waste in the SRP Burial Ground rather than in the Barnwell Burial Ground. The radiological effects from burial of this waste in either the SRP or Chem-Nuclear Burial Ground are very small when compared to those from natural background radiation or to the annual population dose commitment from operation of SRP. The environmental effects of burial at SRP to dose commitments normally received by the population surrounding SRP are compared.

ENGINEERING BULLETIN: IN SITU VITRIFICATION TREATMENT

EPA Science Inventory

In situ vitrification (ISV) uses electrical power to heat and melt soil, sludge, mine tailings, buried wastes, and sediments contaminated with organic, inorganic, and metal-bearing hazardous wastes. The molten material cools to form a hard, monolithic, chemically inert, stable...

Hydrogeologic factors in the selection of shallow land burial sites for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fischer, John N.

1986-01-01

In the United States, low-level radioactive waste is disposed of by shallow land burial. Commercial low-level radioactive waste has been buried at six sites, and low-level radioactive waste generated by the Federal Government has been buried at nine major and several minor sites. Several existing low-level radioactive waste sites have not provided expected protection of the environment. These shortcomings are related, at least in part, to an inadequate understanding of site hydrogeology at the time the sites were selected. To better understand the natural systems and the effect of hydrogeologic factors on long-term site performance, the U.S. Geological Survey has conducted investigations at five of the six commercial low-level radioactive waste sites and at three Federal sites. These studies, combined with those of other Federal and State agencies, have identified and confirmed important hydrogeologic factors in the effective disposal of low-level radioactive waste by shallow land burial. These factors include precipitation, surface drainage, topography, site stability, geology, thickness of the host soil-rock horizon, soil and sediment permeability, soil and water chemistry, and depth to the water table.

Method and apparatus for increasing resistance of bipolar buried layer integrated circuit devices to single-event upsets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zoutendyk, John A. (Inventor)

1991-01-01

Bipolar transistors fabricated in separate buried layers of an integrated circuit chip are electrically isolated with a built-in potential barrier established by doping the buried layer with a polarity opposite doping in the chip substrate. To increase the resistance of the bipolar transistors to single-event upsets due to ionized particle radiation, the substrate is biased relative to the buried layer with an external bias voltage selected to offset the built-in potential just enough (typically between about +0.1 to +0.2 volt) to prevent an accumulation of charge in the buried-layer-substrate junction.

Radiation and Electromagnetic Induction Data Fusion for Detection of Buried Radioactive Metal Waste - 12282

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Long, Zhiling; Wei, Wei; Turlapaty, Anish

2012-07-01

At the United States Army's test sites, fired penetrators made of Depleted Uranium (DU) have been buried under ground and become hazardous waste. Previously, we developed techniques for detecting buried radioactive targets. We also developed approaches for locating buried paramagnetic metal objects by utilizing the electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensor data. In this paper, we apply data fusion techniques to combine results from both the radiation detection and the EMI detection, so that we can further distinguish among DU penetrators, DU oxide, and non- DU metal debris. We develop a two-step fusion approach for the task, and test it with surveymore » data collected on simulation targets. In this work, we explored radiation and EMI data fusion for detecting DU, oxides, and non-DU metals. We developed a two-step fusion approach based on majority voting and a set of decision rules. With this approach, we fuse results from radiation detection based on the RX algorithm and EMI detection based on a 3-step analysis. Our fusion approach has been tested successfully with data collected on simulation targets. In the future, we will need to further verify the effectiveness of this fusion approach with field data. (authors)« less

Technical report for a fluidless directional drilling system demonstrated at Solid Waste Storage Area 6 shallow buried waste sites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

The purpose of the research was to demonstrate a fluidless directional drilling and monitoring system (FDD) specifically tailored to address environmental drilling concerns for shallow buried wasted. The major concerns are related to worker exposure, minimizing waste generation, and confining the spread of contamination. The FDD is potentially applicable to Environmental Restoration (ER) activities for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Waste Area Grouping 6 (WAG 6) shallow buried waste disposed in unlined trenches. Major ER activities for directional drilling are to develop a drilling system for leachate collection directly beneath trenches, and to provide localized control over leachate release tomore » the environment. Other ER FDD activities could include vadose zone and groundwater monitoring of contaminant transport. The operational constraints pointed the research in the direction of purchasing a steerable impact hammer, or mole, manufactured by Steer-Rite Ltd. of Racine, Wisconsin. This drill was selected due to the very low cost ($25,000) associated with procuring the drill, steering module, instrumentation and service lines. The impact hammer is a self propelled drill which penetrates the soil by compacting cut material along the sidewalls of the borehole. Essentially, it forces its way through the subsurface. Although the pneumatic hammer exhausts compressed air which must be handled at the borehole collar, it does not generate soil cuttings or liquids. This is the basis for the term fluidless. A stub casing muffler was attached to the entrance hole for controlling exhaust gas and any airborne releases. Other environmental compliance modifications made to the equipment included operating the tool without lubrication, and using water instead of hydraulic fluid to actuate the steering fins on the tool.« less

Is It Better to Burn or Bury Waste for Clean Electricity Generation?

EPA Science Inventory

The generation of electricity through renewables has increased 5% since 2002. Although considerably less prominent than solar and wind, the use of municipal solid waste (MSW) to generate electricity represents roughly 14 percent of U.S. non-hydro renewable electricity generation....

Mortality of the harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex owyheei) after exposure to /sup 137/Cs gamma radiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gano, K.A.

1981-01-01

Harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex owyheei Cole, irradiated with 3.5 kR to 268 kR of /sup 137/Cs gamma radiation, were maintained at simulated summer (27/sup 0/C) and winter (7/sup 0/C) temperature regimes. After thirty days, the cool series was warmed to 27/sup 0/C and observed for mortality along with the warm series.Though mortality was delayed in the cool series, each series reached 50% mortality at similar rates. Because the harvester ant is extremely tolerant to radiation and experimental rates used far exceed possible environmental exposure, it is unlikely that ant colonies dwelling among low-level nuclear waste storage sites will be deleteriously affectedmore » by radiation. This species has the capability of tunneling to a depth well within the range of some buried waste. Since these harvester ants are potential transporters of buried waste, they should be considered as a biotic factor in radioactive waste management operations in semi-arid regions.« less

Mortality of the harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex owyheei) after exposure to /sup 137/Cs gamma radiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gano, K.A.

1981-01-01

Harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex owyheei Cole, irradiated with 3.5 kR to 268 kR of /sup 137/Cs gamma radiation, were maintained at simulated summer (27/sup 0/C) and winter (7/sup 0/C) temperature regimes. After thirty days, the cool series was warmed to 27/sup 0/C and observed for mortality along with the warm series. Though mortality was delayed in the cool series, each series reached 50% mortality at similar rates. Because the harvester ant is extremely tolerant to radiation and experimental rates used far exceed possible environmental exposure, it is unlikely that ant colonies dwelling among low-level nuclear waste storage sites will be deleteriouslymore » affected by radiation. This species has the capability of tunneling to a depth well within the range of some buried waste. Since these harvester ants are potential transporters of buried waste, they should be considered as a biotic factor in radioactive waste management operations in semi-arid regions.« less

Remote Excavation System technology evaluation report: Buried Waste Robotics Program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1993-09-01

This document describes the results from the Remote Excavation System demonstration and testing conducted at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory during June and July 1993. The purpose of the demonstration was to ascertain the feasibility of the system for skimming soil and removing various types of buried waste in a safe manner and within all regulatory requirements, and to compare the performances of manual and remote operation of a backhoe. The procedures and goals of the demonstration were previously defined in The Remote Excavation System Test Plan, which served as a guideline for evaluating the various components of the systemmore » and discussed the procedures used to conduct the tests.« less

Health assessment for Cemetery Industrial Waste Dump, Rose Township, Michigan, Region 5. CERCLIS No. MID980794663. Preliminary report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1988-06-24

The Cemetery Industrial Waste Dump National Priorities List Site is located in Rose Township, Oakland County, Michigan. Contamination at the site consists of an unknown quantity of buried drums which, when sampled, indicated the presence of metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and halogenated organic compounds. The site is approximately 2-4 acres. In the late 1960s 300 to 600 drums, which contained unknown industrial waste, were illegally buried at the site. Sampling of the drums on-site indicated the presence of several contaminants including: benzene, chlorobenzene, PCBs, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and others. Lead was detected in one monitoring well at 96 micro g/Lmore » and one residential well at a concentration of 61 micro g/L, both are above the Maximum Contaminant Level of 50 micro g/L. Arsenic was detected in the soil at a concentration of 12 mg/Kg. The site is of potential public health concern because of the risk to human health that could result from possible exposure to hazardous substances at levels that may result in adverse health effects. Potential human exposure pathways include direct dermal contact with the soil, the buried drums, and/or ground water; and ingestion of ground water.« less

Corrective action investigation plan: Cactus Spring Waste Trenches. Revision 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

This Correction Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains environmental sample collection objectives and logic for the Corrective Action Unit No. 426, which includes the Cactus Spring Waste Trenches, located at the Tonopah Test Range. The purpose of this investigation is to generate sufficient data to establish the types of waste buried in the trenches, identify the presence and nature of contamination, determine the vertical extent of contaminant migration below the Cactus Spring Waste Trenches, and determine the appropriate course of action for the site. The potential courses of action for the site are clean closure, closure in place (with or withoutmore » remediation), or no further action. The scope of this investigation will include drilling and collecting subsurface samples from within and below the trenches. Sampling locations will be biased toward the areas most likely to be contaminated. The Cactus Spring Waste Trenches Site is identified as one of three potential locations for buried, radioactively contaminated materials from the Double Tracks Test. This test was the first of four storage-transportation tests conducted in 1963 as part of Operation Roller Coaster. The experiment involved the use of live animals to assess the inhalation intake of a plutonium aerosol.« less

Cleanup Verification Package for the 618-8 Burial Ground

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

M. J. Appel

2006-08-10

This cleanup verification package documents completion of remedial action for the 618-8 Burial Ground, also referred to as the Solid Waste Burial Ground No. 8, 318-8, and the Early Solid Waste Burial Ground. During its period of operation, the 618-8 site is speculated to have been used to bury uranium-contaminated waste derived from fuel manufacturing, and construction debris from the remodeling of the 313 Building.

Experiments on rehabilitation of radioactive metallic waste (RMW) of reactor stainless steels of Siberian chemical plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolpakov, G. N.; Zakusilov, V. V.; Demyanenko, N. V.; Mishin, A. S.

2016-06-01

Stainless steel pipes, used to cool a reactor plant, have a high cost, and after taking a reactor out of service they must be buried together with other radioactive waste. Therefore, the relevant problem is the rinse of pipes from contamination, followed by returning to operation.

Monolithic integration of a GaAlAs buried-heterostructure laser and a bipolar phototransistor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bar-Chaim, N.; Harder, CH.; Margalit, S.; Yariv, A.; Katz, J.; Ury, I.

1982-01-01

A GaAlAs buried-heterostructure laser has been monolithically integrated with a bipolar phototransistor. The heterojunction transistor was formed by the regrowth of the burying layers of the laser. Typical threshold current values for the lasers were 30 mA. Common-emitter current gains for the phototransistor of 100-400 and light responsitivity of 75 A/W (for wavelengths of 0.82 micron) at collector current levels of 15 mA were obtained.

Selective-placement burial of drilling fluids: 2. Effects on buffalograss and fourwing saltbrush. [Atriplex canescens; Buchloe dactyloides

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McFarland, M.L.; Hartmann, S.; Ueckert, D.N.

Surface disposal of spent drilling fluids used in petroleum and natural gas exploration causes surface soil contamination that severely inhibits secondary plant succession and artificial revegetation efforts. Selective-placement burial was evaluated at two locations in western Texas for on-site disposal of drilling fluids in arid and semiarid regions. Establishment, yield, and chemical composition of fourwing saltbrush (Atriplex canescens (Pursh Nutt.)) and buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.) transplants on undisturbed soils and on plots with spent drilling fluids and cuttings buried 30, 90 (with and without a 30-cm coarse limestone capillary barrier) and 150 cm were compared. Survival of both speciesmore » was 97 to 100% 17 months after planting on plots with buried drilling wastes. Canopy cover and aboveground biomass of fourwing saltbrush were greater over buried drilling wastes than on untreated plots, whereas canopy cover and aboveground biomass of buffalograss were not affected by the treatments. Significant increases in Na, M, and Mg concentrations in buffalograss after 17 months on plots with drilling fluids buried 30 cm deep at one location indicated plant uptake of some drilling fluid constituents. Elevated Zn concentrations in fourwing saltbush indicated that a portion of the Zn in the drilling fluids was available for plant uptake, while no evidence of plant accumulation of Ba, Cr, Cu, or Ni from drilling fluids was detected.« less

An integrated analytical framework for quantifying the LCOE of waste-to-energy facilities for a range of greenhouse gas emissions policy and technical factors.

PubMed

Townsend, Aaron K; Webber, Michael E

2012-07-01

This study presents a novel integrated method for considering the economics of waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities with priced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based upon technical and economic characteristics of the WTE facility, MSW stream, landfill alternative, and GHG emissions policy. The study demonstrates use of the formulation for six different policy scenarios and explores sensitivity of the results to ranges of certain technical parameters as found in existing literature. The study shows that details of the GHG emissions regulations have large impact on the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of WTE and that GHG regulations can either increase or decrease the LCOE of WTE depending on policy choices regarding biogenic fractions from combusted waste and emissions from landfills. Important policy considerations are the fraction of the carbon emissions that are priced (i.e. all emissions versus only non-biogenic emissions), whether emissions credits are allowed due to reducing fugitive landfill gas emissions, whether biogenic carbon sequestration in landfills is credited against landfill emissions, and the effectiveness of the landfill gas recovery system where waste would otherwise have been buried. The default landfill gas recovery system effectiveness assumed by much of the industry yields GHG offsets that are very close to the direct non-biogenic GHG emissions from a WTE facility, meaning that small changes in the recovery effectiveness cause relatively larger changes in the emissions factor of the WTE facility. Finally, the economics of WTE are dependent on the MSW stream composition, with paper and wood being advantageous, metal and glass being disadvantageous, and plastics, food, and yard waste being either advantageous or disadvantageous depending upon the avoided tipping fee and the GHG emissions price. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hydrogeology, ground-water flow, and tritium movement at low-level radioactive-waste disposal site near Sheffield, Illinois

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garklavs, George; Healy, R.W.

1986-01-01

Groundwater flow and tritium movement are described at and near a low-level radioactive waste disposal site near Sheffield, Illinois. Flow in the shallow aquifer is confined to three basins that ultimately drain into a stripmine lake. Most of the flow from the site is through a buried, pebbly sandfilled channel. Remaining flow is toward alluvium of an existing stream. Conceptual flow models for the two largest basins are used to improve definition of flow velocity and direction. Flow velocities range from about 25 to 2,500 ft/yr. Tritium was found in all three basins. The most extensive migration of tritium is coincident with buried channel. Tritium concentrations ranged from detection level to more than 300 nanocuries/L. (USGS)

High-Level Waste System Process Interface Description

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

d'Entremont, P.D.

1999-01-14

The High-Level Waste System is a set of six different processes interconnected by pipelines. These processes function as one large treatment plant that receives, stores, and treats high-level wastes from various generators at SRS and converts them into forms suitable for final disposal. The three major forms are borosilicate glass, which will be eventually disposed of in a Federal Repository, Saltstone to be buried on site, and treated water effluent that is released to the environment.

Evaluation of a buried vertical well leachate recirculation system for municipal solid waste landfills.

PubMed

Kadambala, Ravi; Powell, Jon; Singh, Karamjit; Townsend, Timothy G

2016-12-01

Vertical liquids addition systems have been used at municipal landfills as a leachate management method and to enhance biostabilization of waste. Drawbacks of these systems include a limitation on pressurized injection and the occurrence of seepage. A novel vertical well system that employed buried wells constructed below a lift of compacted waste was operated for 153 days at a landfill in Florida, USA. The system included 54 wells installed in six clusters of nine wells connected with a horizontally-oriented manifold system. A cumulative volume of 8430 m 3 of leachate was added intermittently into the well clusters over the duration of the project with no incidence of surface seeps. Achievable average flow rates ranged from 9.3 × 10 -4 m 3 s -1 to 14.2 × 10 -4 m 3 s -1 , which was similar to or greater than flow rates achieved in a previous study using traditional vertical wells at the same landfill site. The results demonstrated that pressurized liquids addition in vertical wells at municipal solid waste landfills can be achieved while avoiding typical operational and maintenance issues associated with seeps. © The Author(s) 2016.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carter, E.E.; Welty, B.D.

Molten wax shows considerable promise as a fixative and dust control agent in demolition of radioactively contaminated facilities. Sticky molten wax, modified with special surfactants and wetting agents, is capable of not only coating materials but also penetrating into friable or dusty materials and making them incapable of becoming airborne during demolition. Wax also shows significant promise for stabilization of waste residuals that may be contained in buildings undergoing demolition. Some of the building materials that have been tested to date include concrete, wood, sheet rock, fiber insulation, lime, rock, and paper. Protective clothing, clay, sand, sulfur, and bentonite claymore » have been tested as surrogates for certain waste materials that may be encountered during building demolition. The paper describes several potential applications of molten wax for dust control in demolition of radioactive contaminated facilities. As a case-study, this paper describes a research test performed for a pipeline closure project being completed by the Idaho Cleanup Project at the Idaho National Laboratory. The project plans to excavate and remove a section of buried Duriron drain piping containing highly radioactive and friable and 'flighty' waste residuals. A full-scale pipeline mockup containing simulated waste was buried in sand to simulate the direct buried subsurface condition of the subject piping. The pipeline was pre-heated by drawing hot air through the line with a HEPA vacuum blower unit. Molten wax was pumped into the line and allowed to cool. The line was then broken apart in various places to evaluate the permeation performance of the wax. The wax fully permeated all the surrogate materials rendering them non-friable with a consistency similar to modeling clay. Based on the performance during the mockup, it is anticipated that the wax will be highly effective in controlling the spread of radiological contamination during pipe demolition activities. (authors)« less

Installation Restoration Program. Phase I. Records Search, Brooks AFB, Texas

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-01

decay of the cadavers occurred. The waste was packaged in plastic bags, placed in seven 55-gallon drums and buried in a hole 7 to 8 feet deep. The drums...Receptors subscore (I x factor score subtotal/maximm score subtotal) 44 - II. WASTE CARACTERISTICS A. Select the factor score based on the estimated quantity...subtotal) 44 II. WASTE CARACTERISTICS A. Select the factor score based on the estimated quantity, the degree of hazard, and the confidence level of the

Water-vapor movement through unsaturated alluvium in Amargosa Desert near Beatty, Nevada - Current understanding and continuing studies: A section in Joint US Geological Survey, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission workshop on research related to low-level radioactive waste disposal, May 4-6, 1993, National Center, Reston, Virginia; Proceedings (WRI 95-4015)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Prudic, David E.; Stevens, Peter R.; Nicholson, Thomas J.

1996-01-01

Disposal of low-level radioactive wastes has been a concern since the 1950's. These wastes commonly are buried in shallow trenches (Fischer, 1986, p. 2). Water infiltrating into the trenches is considered the principal process by which contaminants are transported away from the buried wastes, although gaseous transport in some areas may be important. Arid regions in the western United States have been suggested as places that could provide safe containment of the wastes, because little or no water would infiltrate into the trenches (Richardson, 1962), and because thick unsaturated zones would slow contaminant movement. Although burial in arid regions may greatly reduce the amount of water coming in contact with the waste and consequently may provide longterm containment, insufficient data are available on the effectiveness of burial in such regions. Of particular interest is the potential for contaminant movement, either as liquid or vapor, through unsaturated sediments to land surface or to underlying ground water.Since 1962, low-level radioactive wastes have been buried at a disposal facility in the Amargosa Desert, about 17 km south of Beatty, Nevada (fig. 50). This facility is in one of the most arid regions of the United States. Annual precipitation at the disposal facility averaged 82 mm for 1985-92; the minimum was 14 mm, recorded for 1989 (Wood and Andraski, 1992, p. 12).Investigations to determine the hydrogeology, water movement, and potential for contaminant movement at the facility began in 1976. Results from an initial study indicated that a potential exists for deep percolation of infiltrated water at the burial site (Nichols, 1987), assuming that the only water loss is by evaporation because the trenches are kept clear of vegetation. Results from a subsequent study of water movement beneath an undisturbed, vegetated site indicate that percolation of infiltrated water may be limited to the uppermost 9 m of sediments, on the basis of water potentials, subsurface temperatures, water content, and sodium chloride content of the sediments (Fischer, 1992, p. 1). One objective of a third study that began in 1987 is to determine how the typical procedure of burying wastes alters water movement and affects the potential for deep percolation of infiltrated water (Andraski, these proceedings). In addition to these studies, a fourth began in 1992 to determine the importance of vapor movement through the unsaturated zone.The purpose of this paper is to summarize the current understanding of water movement (as liquid and vapor) through the upper 13 m of unsaturated sediments beneath the undisturbed, vegetated site and to present plans for determining the importance of watervapor movement from land surface to the water table.

43 CFR 3715.6 - What things does BLM prohibit under this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

..., processing, or disposal of non-mineral, hazardous or toxic materials or waste that are generated elsewhere... electronic parts, appliances, photographic film, and chemicals; searching for buried treasure, treasure trove...

43 CFR 3715.6 - What things does BLM prohibit under this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., processing, or disposal of non-mineral, hazardous or toxic materials or waste that are generated elsewhere... electronic parts, appliances, photographic film, and chemicals; searching for buried treasure, treasure trove...

43 CFR 3715.6 - What things does BLM prohibit under this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

..., processing, or disposal of non-mineral, hazardous or toxic materials or waste that are generated elsewhere... electronic parts, appliances, photographic film, and chemicals; searching for buried treasure, treasure trove...

Summary of northern Atlantic coastal plain hydrology and its relation to disposal of high-level radioactive waste in buried crystalline rock; a preliminary appraisal

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lloyd, O.B.; Larson, J.D.; Davis, R.W.

1985-01-01

Interpretation of available hydrologic data suggests that some areas beneath the Coastal Plain in the States of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia might have some potential for the disposal of nuclear waste in crystalline rock that is buried beneath the Coastal Plain sediments. The areas of major interest occur where the top of the basement rock lies between 1,000 and 4,000 feet below sea level, the aquifer(s) immediately above the basement rock are saturated with saline water, confining material overlies the saline water bearing aquifer(s), and groundwater flow in the saline water aquifer(s) can be established. Preliminary data on (1) the distribution and thickness of the lowermost aquifers and confining beds, (2) the distribution of hydraulic conductivity in the lowermost aquifers, (3) estimated hydraulic heads and inferred direction of lateral groundwater flow for 1980, and (4) the distribution of saline water and brine, indicate eastern parts of the study area relatively best meet most of the criteria proposed for sediments that would overlie any potential buried crystalline-rock disposal site.

Genesis and continuity of quaternary sand and gravel in glacigenic sediment at a proposed low-level radioactive waste disposal site in east-central Illinois

USGS Publications Warehouse

Troost, K.G.; Curry, B. Brandon

1991-01-01

The Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety has characterized the Martinsville Alternative Site (MAS) for a proposed low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. The MAS is located in east-central Illinois approximately 1.6 km (1 mi) north of the city of Martinsville. Geologic investigation of the 5.5-km2 (1380-acre) site revealed a sequence of chiefly Illinoian glacigenic sediments from 6 to 60 m (20-200 ft) thick overlying two major bedrock valleys carved in Pennsylvanian strata. Relatively permeable buried units include basal, preglacial alluvium; a complex of intraglacial and subglacial sediment; englacial deposits; and supraglacial fluvial deposits. Postglacial alluvium underlies stream valleys on and adjacent to the site. In most areas, the buried sand units are confined by low-permeability till, lacustrine sediment, colluvium, and loess. The distribution and thickness of the most extensive and continuous buried sand units have been modified considerably by subglacial erosion, and their distributions have been influenced by the buried bedrock valleys. The most continuous of the various sand units were deposited as preglacial and postglacial alluvium and are the uppermost and lowermost stratigraphic units at the alternative site. Sand units that were deposited in englacial or ice-marginal environments are less continuous. Aquifer pumping tests, potentiometric head data, and groundwater geochemistry analyses indicate minimal interaction of groundwater across localized interconnections of the permeable units. ?? 1991 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Row erupts over US firm's plan to import nuclear waste

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gwynne, Peter

2008-06-01

A controversy is brewing in the US over a plan by a firm in Utah to import, process and dispose of 20 000 tonnes of low-level radioactive waste from decommissioned nuclear reactors built in Italy by American companies. EnergySolutions intends to recycle some of this waste at a site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, so that it can be re-used as shielding blocks in nuclear plants. The firm then wants to dispose of the remaining radioactive material at a site in Clive, Utah, where over 90% of low-level radioactive waste generated in the US is currently buried.

Laboratory Test Methods to Determine the Degradation of Plastics in Marine Environmental Conditions

PubMed Central

Tosin, Maurizio; Weber, Miriam; Siotto, Michela; Lott, Christian; Degli Innocenti, Francesco

2012-01-01

In this technology report, three test methods were developed to characterize the degradation of plastic in marine environment. The aim was to outline a test methodology to measure the physical and biological degradation in different habitats where plastic waste can deposit when littered in the sea. Previously, research has focused mainly on the conditions encountered by plastic items when floating in the sea water (pelagic domain). However, this is just one of the possible habitats that plastic waste can be exposed to. Waves and tides tend to wash up plastic waste on the shoreline, which is also a relevant habitat to be studied. Therefore, the degradation of plastic items buried under sand kept wet with sea water has been followed by verifying the disintegration (visual disappearing) as a simulation of the tidal zone. Most biodegradable plastics have higher densities than water and also as a consequence of fouling, they tend to sink and lay on the sea floor. Therefore, the fate of plastic items lying on the sediment has been followed by monitoring the oxygen consumption (biodegradation). Also the effect of a prolonged exposure to the sea water, to simulate the pelagic domain, has been tested by measuring the decay of mechanical properties. The test material (Mater-Bi) was shown to degrade (total disintegration achieved in less than 9 months) when buried in wet sand (simulation test of the tidal zone), to lose mechanical properties but still maintain integrity (tensile strength at break = −66% in 2 years) when exposed to sea water in an aquarium (simulation of pelagic domain), and substantially biodegrade (69% in 236 days; biodegradation relative to paper: 88%) when located at the sediment/sea water interface (simulation of benthic domain). This study is not conclusive as the methodological approach must be completed by also determining degradation occurring in the supralittoral zone, on the deep sea floor, and in the anoxic sediment. PMID:22737147

Laboratory test methods to determine the degradation of plastics in marine environmental conditions.

PubMed

Tosin, Maurizio; Weber, Miriam; Siotto, Michela; Lott, Christian; Degli Innocenti, Francesco

2012-01-01

In this technology report, three test methods were developed to characterize the degradation of plastic in marine environment. The aim was to outline a test methodology to measure the physical and biological degradation in different habitats where plastic waste can deposit when littered in the sea. Previously, research has focused mainly on the conditions encountered by plastic items when floating in the sea water (pelagic domain). However, this is just one of the possible habitats that plastic waste can be exposed to. Waves and tides tend to wash up plastic waste on the shoreline, which is also a relevant habitat to be studied. Therefore, the degradation of plastic items buried under sand kept wet with sea water has been followed by verifying the disintegration (visual disappearing) as a simulation of the tidal zone. Most biodegradable plastics have higher densities than water and also as a consequence of fouling, they tend to sink and lay on the sea floor. Therefore, the fate of plastic items lying on the sediment has been followed by monitoring the oxygen consumption (biodegradation). Also the effect of a prolonged exposure to the sea water, to simulate the pelagic domain, has been tested by measuring the decay of mechanical properties. The test material (Mater-Bi) was shown to degrade (total disintegration achieved in less than 9 months) when buried in wet sand (simulation test of the tidal zone), to lose mechanical properties but still maintain integrity (tensile strength at break = -66% in 2 years) when exposed to sea water in an aquarium (simulation of pelagic domain), and substantially biodegrade (69% in 236 days; biodegradation relative to paper: 88%) when located at the sediment/sea water interface (simulation of benthic domain). This study is not conclusive as the methodological approach must be completed by also determining degradation occurring in the supralittoral zone, on the deep sea floor, and in the anoxic sediment.

SEARCH AND MAPPING OF THE OLD BURIED TAILINGS WITH RADIOACTIVE WASTES AT THE URBAN TERRITORY.

PubMed

Molchanov, O I; Soroka, Y N; Podrezov, A A; Soroka, M N

2017-11-01

The article presents results of investigation on search and mapping of the old buried tailings with radioactive wastes on the territory of Kamianske City. For solving the problem used complex of methods. These methods are as follows: soil-gas 222Rn measurement and measurement of 222Rn flux density from the ground surface, gamma-radiation survey, prospecting drilling, gamma-ray logging and laboratory analysis of radionuclides. The leading method in this complex was the method of soil-gas 222Rn measurement. Using this method location of the tailings has been precisely defined. The tailings boundaries have been contoured in the plan. Other methods permitted to define such parameters as thickness of the wastes, their volume (~330 000 m3), radionuclide and chemical composition. It was found that radioactive residues occur at a depth from 2 to 11 m and contain in its composition 226Ra, 210Pb and 210Po in the range from 8370 to 37 270 Bq kg-1. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Correlation between basalt flows and radiochemical and chemical constituents in selected wells in the southwestern part of the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bartholomay, Roy C.; Hodges, Mary K. V.; Champion, Duane E.

2017-12-21

Wastewater discharged to wells and ponds and wastes buried in shallow pits and trenches at facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have contributed contaminants to the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer in the southwestern part of the INL. This report describes the correlation between subsurface stratigraphy in the southwestern part of the INL with information on the presence or absence of wastewater constituents to better understand how flow pathways in the aquifer control the movement of wastewater discharged at INL facilities. Paleomagnetic inclination was used to identify subsurface basalt flows based on similar inclination measurements, polarity, and stratigraphic position. Tritium concentrations, along with other chemical information for wells where tritium concentrations were lacking, were used as an indicator of which wells were influenced by wastewater disposal.The basalt lava flows in the upper 150 feet of the ESRP aquifer where wastewater was discharged at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) consisted of the Central Facilities Area (CFA) Buried Vent flow and the AEC Butte flow. At the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) Complex, where wastewater would presumably pond on the surface of the water table, the CFA Buried Vent flow probably occurs as the primary stratigraphic unit present; however, AEC Butte flow also could be present at some of the locations. At the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC), where contamination from buried wastes would presumably move down through the unsaturated zone and pond on the surface of the water table, the CFA Buried Vent; Late Basal Brunhes; or Early Basal Brunhes basalt flows are the flow unit at or near the water table in different cores.In the wells closer to where wastewater disposal occurred at INTEC and the ATR-Complex, almost all the wells show wastewater influence in the upper part of the ESRP aquifer and wastewater is present in both the CFA Buried Vent flow and AEC Butte flow. The CFA Buried Vent flow and AEC Butte flow are also present in wells at and north of CFA and are all influenced by wastewater contamination. All wells with the AEC Butte flow present have wastewater influence and 83 percent of the wells with the more prevalent CFA Buried Vent flow have wastewater influence. South and southeast of CFA, most wells are not influenced by wastewater disposal and are completed in the Big Lost Flow and the CFA Buried Vent flow. Wells southwest of CFA are influenced by wastewater disposal and are completed in the Big Lost flow and CFA Buried Vent flow at the top of the aquifer. Basalt stratigraphy indicates that the CFA Buried Vent flow is the predominant flow in the upper part of the ESRP aquifer at and near the RWMC as it is present in all the wells in this area. The Late Basal Brunhes flow, Middle Basal Brunhes flow, Early Basal Brunhes flow, South Late Matuyama flow, and Matuyama flow are also present in various wells influenced by waste disposal.Some wells south of RWMC do not show wastewater influence, and the lack of wastewater influence could be due to low hydraulic conductivities. Several wells south and southeast of CFA also do not show wastewater influence. Low hydraulic conductivities or ESRP subsidence are possible causes for lack of wastewater south of CFA.Multilevel monitoring wells completed much deeper in the aquifer show influence of wastewater in numerous basalt flows. Well Middle 2051 (northwest of RWMC) does not show wastewater influence in its upper three basalt flows (CFA Buried Vent, Late Basal Brunhes, and Middle Basal Brunhes); however, wastewater is present in two deeper flows (the Matuyama and Jaramillo flows). Well USGS 131A (southwest of CFA) and USGS132 (south of RWMC) both show wastewater influence in all the basalt flows sampled in the upper 600 feet of the aquifer. Wells USGS 137A, 105, 108, and 103 completed along the southern boundary of the INL all show wastewater influence in several basalt flows including the G flow, Middle and Early Basal Brunhes flows, the South Late Matuyama flow and the Matuyama flow; however, the strongest wastewater influence appears to be in the South Late Matuyama flow. The concentrations of wastewater constituents in deeper parts of these wells support the concept of groundwater flow deepening in the southwestern part of the INL.

Buried anti resonant reflecting optical waveguide based on porous silicon material for an integrated Mach Zehnder structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiraoui, M.; Guendouz, M.; Lorrain, N.; Haji, L.; Oueslati, M.

2012-11-01

A buried anti resonant reflecting optical waveguide for an integrated Mach Zehnder structure based on porous silicon material is achieved using a classical photolithography process. Three distinct porous silicon layers are then elaborated in a single step, by varying the porosity (thus the refractive index) and the thickness while respecting the anti-resonance conditions. Simulations and experimental results clearly show the antiresonant character of the buried waveguides. Significant variation of the reflectance and light propagation with different behavior depending on the polarization and the Mach Zehnder dimensions is obtained. Finally, we confirm the feasibility of this structure for sensing applications.

Aeromagnetic Expression of Buried Basaltic Volcanoes Near Yucca Mountain, Nevada

USGS Publications Warehouse

O'Leary, Dennis W.; Mankinen, E.A.; Blakely, R.J.; Langenheim, V.E.; Ponce, D.A.

2002-01-01

A high-resolution aeromagnetic survey has defined a number of small dipolar anomalies indicating the presence of magnetic bodies buried beneath the surface of Crater Flat and the Amargosa Desert. Results of potential-field modeling indicate that isolated, small-volume, highly magnetic bodies embedded within the alluvial deposits of both areas produce the anomalies. Their physical characteristics and the fact that they tend to be aligned along major structural trends provide strong support for the hypothesis that the anomalies reflect buried basaltic volcanic centers. Other, similar anomalies are identified as possible targets for further investigation. High-resolution gravity and ground-magnetic surveys, perhaps along with drilling sources of selected anomalies and radiometric age determinations, can provide valuable constraints in estimating potential volcanic hazard to the potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

A Novel Method for Remote Depth Estimation of Buried Radioactive Contamination.

PubMed

Ukaegbu, Ikechukwu Kevin; Gamage, Kelum A A

2018-02-08

Existing remote radioactive contamination depth estimation methods for buried radioactive wastes are either limited to less than 2 cm or are based on empirical models that require foreknowledge of the maximum penetrable depth of the contamination. These severely limits their usefulness in some real life subsurface contamination scenarios. Therefore, this work presents a novel remote depth estimation method that is based on an approximate three-dimensional linear attenuation model that exploits the benefits of using multiple measurements obtained from the surface of the material in which the contamination is buried using a radiation detector. Simulation results showed that the proposed method is able to detect the depth of caesium-137 and cobalt-60 contamination buried up to 40 cm in both sand and concrete. Furthermore, results from experiments show that the method is able to detect the depth of caesium-137 contamination buried up to 12 cm in sand. The lower maximum depth recorded in the experiment is due to limitations in the detector and the low activity of the caesium-137 source used. Nevertheless, both results demonstrate the superior capability of the proposed method compared to existing methods.

A Novel Method for Remote Depth Estimation of Buried Radioactive Contamination

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Existing remote radioactive contamination depth estimation methods for buried radioactive wastes are either limited to less than 2 cm or are based on empirical models that require foreknowledge of the maximum penetrable depth of the contamination. These severely limits their usefulness in some real life subsurface contamination scenarios. Therefore, this work presents a novel remote depth estimation method that is based on an approximate three-dimensional linear attenuation model that exploits the benefits of using multiple measurements obtained from the surface of the material in which the contamination is buried using a radiation detector. Simulation results showed that the proposed method is able to detect the depth of caesium-137 and cobalt-60 contamination buried up to 40 cm in both sand and concrete. Furthermore, results from experiments show that the method is able to detect the depth of caesium-137 contamination buried up to 12 cm in sand. The lower maximum depth recorded in the experiment is due to limitations in the detector and the low activity of the caesium-137 source used. Nevertheless, both results demonstrate the superior capability of the proposed method compared to existing methods. PMID:29419759

Importance of microscopy in durability studies of solidified and stabilized contaminated soils

USGS Publications Warehouse

Klich, I.; Wilding, L.P.; Drees, L.R.; Landa, E.R.

1999-01-01

Solidification/stabilization (S/S) is recognized by the U.S. EPA as a best demonstrated available technology for the containment of contaminated soils and other hazardous wastes that cannot be destroyed by chemical, thermal, or biological means. Despite the increased use of S/S technologies, little research has been conducted on the weathering and degradation of solidified and stabilized wastes once the treated materials have been buried. Published data to verify the performance and durability of landfilled treated wastes over time are rare. In this preliminary study, optical and electron microscopy (scanning electron microscopy [SEM], transmission electron microscopy [TEM] and electron probe microanalyses [EPMA]) were used to evaluate weathering features associated with metal-bearing contaminated soil that had been solidified and stabilized with Portland cement and subsequently buried on site, stored outdoors aboveground, or achieved in a laboratory warehouse for up to 6 yr. Physical and chemical alteration processes identified include: freeze-thaw cracking, cracking caused by the formation of expansive minerals such as ettringite, carbonation, and the movement of metals from waste aggregates into the cement micromass. Although the extent of degradation after 6 yr is considered slight to moderate, results of this study show that the same environmental concerns that affect the durability of concrete must be considered when evaluating the durability and permanence of the solidification and stabilization of contaminated soils with cement. In addition, such evaluations cannot be based on leaching and chemical analyses alone. The use of all levels of microscopic analyses must be incorporated into studies of the long-term performance of S/S technologies.Solidification/stabilization (S/S) is recognized by the U.S. EPA as a best demonstrated available technology for the containment of contaminated soils and other hazardous wastes that cannot be destroyed by chemical, thermal, or biological means. Despite the increased use of S/S technologies, little research has been conducted on the weathering and degradation of solidified and stabilized wastes once the treated materials have been buried. Published data to verify the performance and durability of landfilled treated wastes over time are rare. In this preliminary study, optical and electron microscopy (scanning electron microscopy [SEM], transmission electron microscopy [TEM] and electron probe microanalyses [EPMA]) were used to evaluate weathering features associated with metal-bearing contaminated soil that had been solidified and stabilized with Portland cement and subsequently buried on site, stored outdoors aboveground, or archived in a laboratory, warehouse for up to 6 yr. Physical and chemical alteration processes identified include: freeze-thaw cracking, cracking caused by the formation of expansive minerals such as ettringite, carbonation, and the movement of metals from waste aggregates into the cement micromass. Although the extent of degradation after 6 yr is considered slight to moderate, results of this study show that the same environmental concerns that affect the durability of concrete must be considered when evaluating the durability and permanence of the solidification and stabilization of contaminated soils with cement. In addition, such evaluations cannot be based on leaching and chemical analyses alone. The use of all levels of microscopic analyses must be incorporated into studies of the long-term performance of S/S technologies.

NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING (NDT) TECHNIQUES TO DETECT CONTAINED SUBSURFACE HAZARDOUS WASTE

EPA Science Inventory

The project involves the detection of buried containers with NDT (remote-sensing) techniques. Seventeen techniques were considered and four were ultimately decided upon. They were: electromagnetic induction (EMI); metal detection (MD); magnetometer (MAG); and ground penetrating r...

System to control contamination during retrieval of buried TRU waste

DOEpatents

Menkhaus, Daniel E.; Loomis, Guy G.; Mullen, Carlan K.; Scott, Donald W.; Feldman, Edgar M.; Meyer, Leroy C.

1993-01-01

A system to control contamination during the retrieval of hazardous waste comprising an outer containment building, an inner containment building, within the outer containment building, an electrostatic radioactive particle recovery unit connected to and in communication with the inner and outer containment buildings, and a contaminate suppression system including a moisture control subsystem, and a rapid monitoring system having the ability to monitor conditions in the inner and outer containment buildings.

System to control contamination during retrieval of buried TRU waste

DOEpatents

Menkhaus, D.E.; Loomis, G.G.; Mullen, C.K.; Scott, D.W.; Feldman, E.M.; Meyer, L.C.

1993-04-20

A system is described to control contamination during the retrieval of hazardous waste comprising an outer containment building, an inner containment building, within the outer containment building, an electrostatic radioactive particle recovery unit connected to and in communication with the inner and outer containment buildings, and a contaminate suppression system including a moisture control subsystem, and a rapid monitoring system having the ability to monitor conditions in the inner and outer containment buildings.

Evaluation of overweight load routing on buried utility facilities

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-02-01

Overweight traffic movements can negatively affect pavement integrity and quality. However, it is less : known to what degree buried utility plant along and across the right of way is affected by these overweight : loads, especially if the utility fa...

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carter, E.E.

Molten wax shows considerable promise as a fixative and dust control agent in demolition of radioactively contaminated facilities. Sticky molten wax, modified with special surfactants and wetting agents, is capable of not only coating materials but also penetrating into friable or dusty materials and making them incapable of becoming airborne during demolition. Wax also shows significant promise for stabilization of waste residuals that may be contained in buildings undergoing demolition. Some of the building materials that have been tested to date include concrete, wood, sheet-rock, fiber insulation, lime, rock, and paper. Protective clothing, clay, sand, sulfur, and bentonite clay havemore » been tested as surrogates for certain waste materials that may be encountered during building demolition. The paper describes several potential applications of molten wax for dust control in demolition of radioactive contaminated facilities. As a case-study, this paper describes a research test performed for a pipeline closure project being completed by the Idaho Cleanup Project at the Idaho National Laboratory. The project plans to excavate and remove a section of buried Duriron drain piping containing highly radioactive and friable and 'flighty' waste residuals. A full-scale pipeline mockup containing simulated waste was buried in sand to simulate the direct-buried subsurface condition of the subject piping. The pipeline was pre-heated by drawing hot air through the line with a HEPA vacuum blower unit. Molten wax was pumped into the line and allowed to cool. The line was then broken apart in various places to evaluate the permeation performance of the wax. The wax fully permeated all the surrogate materials rendering them non-friable with a consistency similar to modeling clay. Based on the performance during the mockup, it is anticipated that the wax will be highly effective in controlling the spread of radiological contamination during pipe demolition activities. A larger test was completed this year to simulate the work in more realistic conditions. (authors)« less

Aeromagnetic investigations of hazardous waste sites

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1995-01-01

Aeromagnetic survey data collected by helicopter over hazardous waste sites can be used to map the distribution of buried metallic (ferrous) objects at these sites, including drums and scrap metal. Thorough knowledge of the locations and nature of hazardous waste containers and contaminated objects is needed prior to the start of remediation efforts. Non-invasive geophysical techniques such as the aeromagnetic method provide the best way to obtain this knowledge. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) not only has experience in processing and interpreting aeromagnetic surveys of this type but also offers aid in the design and monitoring of contracts for such surveys.

Effect of biostimulation and bioaugmentation on degradation of polyurethane buried in soil.

PubMed

Cosgrove, L; McGeechan, P L; Handley, P S; Robson, G D

2010-02-01

This work investigated biostimulation and bioaugmentation as strategies for removing polyurethane (PU) waste in soil. Soil microcosms were biostimulated with the PU dispersion agent "Impranil" and/or yeast extract or were bioaugmented with PU-degrading fungi, and the degradation of subsequently buried PU was determined. Fungal communities in the soil and colonizing buried PU were enumerated on solid media and were analyzed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Biostimulation with yeast extract alone or in conjunction with Impranil increased PU degradation 62% compared to the degradation in untreated control soil and was associated with a 45% increase in putative PU degraders colonizing PU. Specific fungi were enriched in soil following biostimulation; however, few of these fungi colonized the surface of buried PU. Fungi used for soil bioaugmentation were cultivated on the surface of sterile wheat to form a mycelium-rich inoculum. Wheat, when added alone to soil, increased PU degradation by 28%, suggesting that wheat biomass had a biostimulating effect. Addition of wheat colonized with Nectria haematococca, Penicillium viridicatum, Penicillium ochrochloron, or an unidentified Mucormycotina sp. increased PU degradation a further 30 to 70%, suggesting that biostimulation and bioaugmentation were operating in concert to enhance PU degradation. Interestingly, few of the inoculated fungi could be detected by DGGE in the soil or on the surface of the PU 4 weeks after inoculation. Bioaugmentation did, however, increase the numbers of indigenous PU-degrading fungi and caused an inoculum-dependent change in the composition of the native fungal populations, which may explain the increased degradation observed. These results demonstrate that both biostimulation and bioaugmentation may be viable tools for the remediation of environments contaminated with polyurethane waste.

Method for treating waste containing stainless steel

DOEpatents

Kujawa, Stephan T.; Battleson, Daniel M.; Rademacher, Jr., Edward L.; Cashell, Patrick V.; Filius, Krag D.; Flannery, Philip A.; Whitworth, Clarence G.

1999-01-01

A centrifugal plasma arc furnace is used to vitrify contaminated soils and other waste materials. An assessment of the characteristics of the waste is performed prior to introducing the waste into the furnace. Based on the assessment, a predetermined amount of iron is added to each batch of waste. The waste is melted in an oxidizing atmosphere into a slag. The added iron is oxidized into Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4. Time of exposure to oxygen is controlled so that the iron does not oxidize into Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3. Slag in the furnace remains relatively non-viscous and consequently it pours out of the furnace readily. Cooled and solidified slag produced by the furnace is very resistant to groundwater leaching. The slag can be safely buried in the earth without fear of contaminating groundwater.

Method for treating waste containing stainless steel

DOEpatents

Kujawa, S.T.; Battleson, D.M.; Rademacher, E.L. Jr.; Cashell, P.V.; Filius, K.D.; Flannery, P.A.; Whitworth, C.G.

1999-03-02

A centrifugal plasma arc furnace is used to vitrify contaminated soils and other waste materials. An assessment of the characteristics of the waste is performed prior to introducing the waste into the furnace. Based on the assessment, a predetermined amount of iron is added to each batch of waste. The waste is melted in an oxidizing atmosphere into a slag. The added iron is oxidized into Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}. Time of exposure to oxygen is controlled so that the iron does not oxidize into Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}. Slag in the furnace remains relatively non-viscous and consequently it pours out of the furnace readily. Cooled and solidified slag produced by the furnace is very resistant to groundwater leaching. The slag can be safely buried in the earth without fear of contaminating groundwater. 3 figs.

In-situ vitrification of soil

DOEpatents

Brouns, Richard A.; Buelt, James L.; Bonner, William F.

1983-01-01

A method of vitrifying soil at or below a soil surface location. Two or more conductive electrodes are inserted into the soil for heating of the soil mass between them to a temperature above its melting temperature. Materials in the soil, such as buried waste, can thereby be effectively immobilized.

Leachate migration from a pesticide waste disposal site in Hardeman County, Tennessee

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sprinkle, C.L.

1978-01-01

Between 1964 and 1972, approximately 300,000 drums (55-gallon steel barrels) of waste derived from the manufacturing of pesticides were buried on 45 acres of land in northern Hardemen County, Tennessee. Leachates from these wastes are migrating from the disposal site in surface runoff, through shallow perched water zones, and through the local water-table aquifer. Compounds identified in the leachates included: dieldrin, endrin , chlordene, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, pentachlorocyclopentadiene, and hexachloro-bicycloheptadiene. The rate of migration of some of the leachate compounds in the water-table aquifer was found to be at least 80 feet per year. (Woodard-USGS)

Sediment properties and water movement through shallow unsaturated alluvium at an arid site for disposal of low-level radioactive waste near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fischer, Jeffrey M.

1992-01-01

A commercial disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste has been in operation near Beatty, Nevada, since 1962. The facility is in the arid Amargosa Desert where wastes are buried in trenches excavated into unsaturated alluvial sediments. Thick unsaturated zones in arid environments offer many potential advantages for disposal of radioactive wastes, but little is known about the natural movement of water near such facilities. Thus, a study was begun in 1982 to better define the direction and rates of water movement through the unsaturated zone in undisturbed sediments near the disposal facility. This report discusses the analyses of data collected between 1983 and 1988.

Method of operating a centrifugal plasma arc furnace

DOEpatents

Kujawa, Stephan T.; Battleson, Daniel M.; Rademacher, Jr., Edward L.; Cashell, Patrick V.; Filius, Krag D.; Flannery, Philip A.; Whitworth, Clarence G.

1998-01-01

A centrifugal plasma arc furnace is used to vitrify contaminated soils and other waste materials. An assessment of the characteristics of the waste is performed prior to introducing the waste into the furnace. Based on the assessment, a predetermined amount of iron is added to each batch of waste. The waste is melted in an oxidizing atmosphere into a slag. The added iron is oxidized into Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4. Time of exposure to oxygen is controlled so that the iron does not oxidize into Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3. Slag in the furnace remains relatively non-viscous and consequently it pours out of the furnace readily. Cooled and solidified slag produced by the furnace is very resistant to groundwater leaching. The slag can be safely buried in the earth without fear of contaminating groundwater.

Method of operating a centrifugal plasma arc furnace

DOEpatents

Kujawa, S.T.; Battleson, D.M.; Rademacher, E.L. Jr.; Cashell, P.V.; Filius, K.D.; Flannery, P.A.; Whitworth, C.G.

1998-03-24

A centrifugal plasma arc furnace is used to vitrify contaminated soils and other waste materials. An assessment of the characteristics of the waste is performed prior to introducing the waste into the furnace. Based on the assessment, a predetermined amount of iron is added to each batch of waste. The waste is melted in an oxidizing atmosphere into a slag. The added iron is oxidized into Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}. Time of exposure to oxygen is controlled so that the iron does not oxidize into Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}. Slag in the furnace remains relatively non-viscous and consequently it pours out of the furnace readily. Cooled and solidified slag produced by the furnace is very resistant to groundwater leaching. The slag can be safely buried in the earth without fear of contaminating groundwater. 3 figs.

Superfund Record of Decision (EPA Region 3): Harvey-Knott Drum site, New Castle County, Delaware, September 1985. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The Harvey-Knott Drum Site is located in New Castle County, Delaware, approximately one-half mile east of the Maryland-Delaware border. The Harvey and Knotts Trucking, Inc., operated an open dump and burning ground on the site between 1963 and 1969. The facility accepted sanitary, municipal, and industrial wastes believed to be sludges, paint pigments, and solvents. Wastes were emptied onto the ground, into excavated trenches, or left in drums (some of which were buried). Some of these wastes were either burned as a means of reducing waste volume, or allowed to seep into the soil. Contamination of soil, surface water, andmore » ground water has occurred as a result of disposal of these industrial wastes. The selected remedial action for this site is included.« less

Buried object remote detection technology for law enforcement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

del Grande, Nancy K.; Clark, Gregory A.; Durbin, Philip F.; Fields, David J.; Hernandez, Jose E.; Sherwood, Robert J.

1991-08-01

A precise airborne temperature-sensing technology to detect buried objects for use by law enforcement is developed. Demonstrations have imaged the sites of buried foundations, walls and trenches; mapped underground waterways and aquifers; and been used to locate underground military objects. The methodology is incorporated in a commercially available, high signal-to-noise, dual-band infrared scanner with real-time, 12-bit digital image processing software and display. The method creates color-coded images based on surface temperature variations of 0.2 degree(s)C. Unlike other less-sensitive methods, it maps true (corrected) temperatures by removing the (decoupled) surface emissivity mask equivalent to 1 degree(s)C or 2 degree(s)C; this mask hinders interpretation of apparent (blackbody) temperatures. Once removed, it is possible to identify surface temperature patterns from small diffusivity changes at buried object sites which heat and cool differently from their surroundings. Objects made of different materials and buried at different depths are identified by their unique spectral, spatial, thermal, temporal, emissivity and diffusivity signatures. The authors have successfully located the sites of buried (inert) simulated land mines 0.1 to 0.2 m deep; sod-covered rock pathways alongside dry ditches, deeper than 0.2 m; pavement covered burial trenches and cemetery structures as deep as 0.8 m; and aquifers more than 6 m and less than 60 m deep. The technology could be adapted for drug interdiction and pollution control. For the former, buried tunnels, underground structures built beneath typical surface structures, roof-tops disguised by jungle canopies, and covered containers used for contraband would be located. For the latter, buried waste containers, sludge migration pathways from faulty containers, and the juxtaposition of groundwater channels, if present, nearby, would be depicted. The precise airborne temperature-sensing technology has a promising potential to detect underground epicenters of smuggling and pollution.

Demonstration of close-coupled barriers for subsurface containment of buried waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dwyer, B.P.

1996-05-01

A close-coupled barrier is produced by first installing a conventional cement grout curtain followed by a thin inner lining of a polymer grout. The resultant barrier is a cement polymer composite that has economic benefits derived from the cement and performance benefits from the durable and resistant polymer layer. Close-coupled barrier technology is applicable for final, interim, or emergency containment of subsurface waste forms. Consequently, when considering the diversity of technology application, the construction emplacement and material technology maturity, general site operational requirements, and regulatory compliance incentives, the close-coupled barrier system provides an alternative for any hazardous or mixed wastemore » remediation plan. This paper discusses the installation of a close-coupled barrier and the subsequent integrity verification. The demonstration was installed at a benign site at the Hanford Geotechnical Test Facility, 400 Area, Hanford, Washington. The composite barrier was emplaced beneath a 7,500 liter tank. The tank was chosen to simulate a typical DOE Complex waste form. The stresses induced on the waste form were evaluated during barrier construction. The barrier was constructed using conventional jet grouting techniques. Drilling was completed at a 45{degree} angle to the ground, forming a conical shaped barrier with the waste form inside the cone. Two overlapping rows of cylindrical cement columns were grouted in a honeycomb fashion to form the secondary backdrop barrier layer. The primary barrier, a high molecular weight polymer manufactured by 3M Company, was then installed providing a relatively thin inner liner for the secondary barrier. The primary barrier was emplaced by panel jet grouting with a dual wall drill stem, two phase jet grouting system.« less

Characterizing a Brazilian sanitary landfill using geophysical seismic techniques.

PubMed

Abreu, A E S; Gandolfo, O C B; Vilar, O M

2016-07-01

Two different geophysical techniques, namely crosshole and multichannel analysis of surface waves - MASW, were applied to investigate the mechanical response of Municipal Solid Waste buried under humid, subtropical climate. Direct investigations revealed that the buried waste was composed mainly of soil-like material (51%) and plastics (31%) with moisture content average values of 43% near the surface and 53% after around 11m depth. Unit weight varied between 9kN/m(3) and 15kN/m(3). Seismic investigation of the landfill yielded shear wave velocities (VS) estimated from the crosshole tests ranging from 92 to 214m/s, while compression wave velocities (VP) ranged from 197 to 451m/s. Both velocities were influenced by vertical confining stress and thus tended to increase with depth. VS calculated from MASW tests were lower than the ones calculated from the crosshole tests, probably due to the different frequencies used in the tests. The results of both methods tended to configure a lower bound to the values reported in the technical literature in general, as expected for low compaction waste with small amounts of cover soil. Although VS did not show abrupt changes with depth, VP profile distribution combined with direct investigations results, such as temperature, in-place unit weight and moisture content, suggest that the waste body could be divided into two strata. The lower one is poorly drained and shows higher moisture content, as a consequence of the operational techniques used in the first years, while the upper stratum is probably related to a better drained waste stratum, resulting from the improvement of operational standards and increase in drainage facilities throughout the years. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integration of magnetometric, gpr and geoelectric measurements applied to the study of the new Viggiano archaeological site (Southern Italy).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizzo, E.; Chianese, D.; Lapenna, V.; Piscitelli, S.

2003-04-01

In the frame of a collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendence of the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy), the Geophysical Lab of IMAA-CNR planned a multidisciplinary investigation in the archaeological site of Viggiano, integrating magnetic mapping, Ground Penetrating Radar profiling and 3D electrical resistivity imaging. The archaeological site, located in Agri Valley (Southern Italy, Basilicata), is an ancient structure developed in successive phases between IV and III century B.C. In this area during some shovel tests archaeological remnants have been identified in the western part. Successively the archaeologists hypothesized the presence of buried structures in the eastern part too, where we performed a geophysical survey. In particular, a magnetic map by means of a caesium vapour magnetometer G-858 GEOMETRICS has been carried to find the external perimeter; more than 50 Georadar profiles using SIR 2000 instrument have been performed to delineate the internal buried structures and the electrical resistivity method has been applied to estimate the depth of buried structures. According to the archaeological hypothesis significant wall structures have been identified in the eastern part. In conclusion, the integration of different geophysical techniques allows us to obtain very intriguing information about the shape, the dimension and the depth of the oriental buried wall structures giving a contribute to better develop a new hypothesis about the history of the archaeological site of Viggiano.

32 CFR 935.152 - Activities for which permit is required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., offered, or sold for human consumption (except for personal or family use). (b) The practice of any... any human or animal remains, except that fish and bait scrap may be buried at beaches where fishing is..., storing, generating, or disposing of hazardous materials. (g) Importing of solid wastes and importing...

32 CFR 935.152 - Activities for which permit is required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., offered, or sold for human consumption (except for personal or family use). (b) The practice of any... any human or animal remains, except that fish and bait scrap may be buried at beaches where fishing is..., storing, generating, or disposing of hazardous materials. (g) Importing of solid wastes and importing...

Environmental waste site characterization utilizing aerial photographs and satellite imagery: Three sites in New Mexico, USA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Van Eeckhout, E.; Pope, P.; Becker, N.

1996-04-01

The proper handling and characterization of past hazardous waste sites is becoming more and more important as world population extends into areas previously deemed undesirable. Historical photographs, past records, current aerial satellite imagery can play an important role in characterizing these sites. These data provide clear insight into defining problem areas which can be surface samples for further detail. Three such areas are discussed in this paper: (1) nuclear wastes buried in trenches at Los Alamos National Laboratory, (2) surface dumping at one site at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and (3) the historical development of a municipal landfill near Lasmore » Cruces, New Mexico.« less

A design study for a medium-scale field demonstration of the viscous barrier technology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moridis, G.; Yen, P.; Persoff, P.

1996-09-01

This report is the design study for a medium-scale field demonstration of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory`s new subsurface containment technology for waste isolation using a new generation of barrier liquids. The test site is located in central California in a quarry owned by the Los Banos Gravel Company in Los Banos, California, in heterogeneous unsaturated deposits of sand, silt, and -ravel typical of many of the and DOE cleanup sites and particularly analogous to the Hanford site. The coals of the field demonstration are (a) to demonstrate the ability to create a continuous subsurface barrier isolating a medium-scale volume (30more » ft long by 30 ft wide by 20 ft deep, i.e. 1/10th to 1/8th the size of a buried tank at the Hanford Reservation) in the subsurface, and (b) to demonstrate the continuity, performance, and integrity of the barrier.« less

Corrective action investigation plan: Cactus Spring Waste Trenches. Revision 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

This Correction Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains environmental sample collection objectives and logic for the CAU No. 426, which includes the Cactus Spring Waste Trenches, CAS No. RG-08-001-RG-CS. The Cactus Spring Waste Trenches are located at the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) which is part of the Nellis Air Force Range, approximately 255 kilometers (km) (140 miles [mi]) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, by air. The purpose of this investigation is to generate sufficient data to establish the types of waste buried in the trenches, identify the presence and nature of contamination, determine the vertical extent of contaminant migration below themore » Cactus Spring Waste Trenches, and determine the appropriate course of action for the site. The potential courses of action for the site are clean closure, closure in place (with or without remediation), or no further action.« less

Radioactive Waste Management Complex low-level waste radiological performance assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maheras, S.J.; Rood, A.S.; Magnuson, S.O.

This report documents the projected radiological dose impacts associated with the disposal of radioactive low-level waste at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. This radiological performance assessment was conducted to evaluate compliance with applicable radiological criteria of the US Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency for protection of the public and the environment. The calculations involved modeling the transport of radionuclides from buried waste, to surface soil and subsurface media, and eventually to members of the public via air, groundwater, and food chain pathways. Projections of doses were made for both offsitemore » receptors and individuals inadvertently intruding onto the site after closure. In addition, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were performed. The results of the analyses indicate compliance with established radiological criteria and provide reasonable assurance that public health and safety will be protected.« less

Lateral uniformity in chemical composition along a buried reaction front in polymers using off-specular reflectivity.

PubMed

Lavery, Kristopher A; Prabhu, Vivek M; Satija, Sushil; Wu, Wen-Li

2010-12-01

Off-specular neutron reflectometry was applied to characterize the form and amplitude of lateral compositional variations at a buried reaction-diffusion front. In this work, off-specular neutron measurements were first calibrated using off-specular x-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy via a roughened glass surface, both as a free surface and as a buried interface that was prepared by spin coating thin polymer films upon the glass surface. All three methods provided consistent roughness values despite the difference in their detection mechanism. Our neutron results demonstrated, for the first time, that the compositional heterogeneity at a buried reaction front can be measured; the model system used in this study mimics the deprotection reaction that occurs during the photolithographic process necessary for manufacturing integrated circuits.

Potential of a New Technique for Remote Sensing of Hydrocarbon Accumulations and Blind Uranium Deposits: Buried Lif Thermoluminescence Dosimeters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Siegel, F. R.; Vaz, J. E.; Lindholm, R. C.

1982-01-01

Buried thermoluminescence dosimeters may be useful in remote sensing of petroleum and natural gas accumulations and blind uranium deposits. They act as integrating detectors that smooth out the effects of environmental variations that affect other measuring systems and result in irregularities and poor repeatability in measurements made during gas and radiometric surveys.

Review of the transport of selected radionuclides in the interim risk assessment for the Radioactive Waste Management Complex, Waste Area Group 7 Operable Unit 7-13/14, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rousseau, Joseph P.; Landa, Edward R.; Nimmo, John R.; Cecil, L. DeWayne; Knobel, LeRoy L.; Glynn, Pierre D.; Kwicklis, Edward M.; Curtis, Gary P.; Stollenwerk, Kenneth G.; Anderson, Steven R.; Bartholomay, Roy C.; Bossong, Clifford R.; Orr, Brennon R.

2005-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requested that the U.S. Geological Survey conduct an independent technical review of the Interim Risk Assessment (IRA) and Contaminant Screening for the Waste Area Group 7 (WAG-7) Remedial Investigation, the draft Addendum to the Work Plan for Operable Unit 7-13/14 WAG-7 comprehensive Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS), and supporting documents that were prepared by Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies, Inc. The purpose of the technical review was to assess the data and geotechnical approaches that were used to estimate future risks associated with the release of the actinides americium, uranium, neptunium, and plutonium to the Snake River Plain aquifer from wastes buried in pits and trenches at the Subsurface Disposal Area (SDA). The SDA is located at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex in southeastern Idaho within the boundaries of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Radionuclides have been buried in pits and trenches at the SDA since 1957 and 1952, respectively. Burial of transuranic wastes was discontinued in 1982. The five specific tasks associated with this review were defined in a ?Proposed Scope of Work? prepared by the DOE, and a follow-up workshop held in June 1998. The specific tasks were (1) to review the radionuclide sampling data to determine how reliable and significant are the reported radionuclide detections and how reliable is the ongoing sampling program, (2) to assess the physical and chemical processes that logically can be invoked to explain true detections, (3) to determine if distribution coefficients that were used in the IRA are reliable and if they have been applied properly, (4) to determine if transport model predictions are technically sound, and (5) to identify issues needing resolution to determine technical adequacy of the risk assessment analysis, and what additional work is required to resolve those issues.

77 FR 18270 - Acceptance Decision for the Unrestricted Use of the Former Michigan Chemical Company-Breckenridge...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-27

.... Louis plant generated a dense, clay-like waste known as ``filter cake,'' which contained elevated levels of uranium and thorium, two naturally- occurring radioactive materials. The radioactive filter cake was buried at the BDS. Burial of the filter cake at the BDS was permitted under AEC license number SMB...

Nutrient storage rates in a national marsh receiving waste water

Treesearch

J.A. Nyman

2000-01-01

Artificial wetlands are commonly used to improve water quality in rivers and the coastal zone. In most wetlands associated with rivers, denitrification is probably the primary process that reduces nutrient loading. Where rivers meet oceans, however, significant amounts of nutrients might be permanently buried in wetlands because of global sea-level rise and regional...

Impact of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) plantings on long term (137)Cs and (90)Sr recycling from a waste burial site in the Chernobyl Red Forest.

PubMed

Thiry, Yves; Colle, Claude; Yoschenko, Vasyl; Levchuk, Svjatoslav; Van Hees, May; Hurtevent, Pierre; Kashparov, Valery

2009-12-01

Plantings of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) on a waste burial site in the Chernobyl Red Forest was shown to greatly influence the long term redistribution of radioactivity contained in sub-surfaces trenches. After 15 years of growth, aboveground biomass of the average tree growing on waste trench no.22 had accumulated 1.7 times more (137)Cs than that of trees growing off the trench, and 5.4 times more (90)Sr. At the scale of the trench and according to an average tree density of 3300 trees/ha for the study zone, tree contamination would correspond to 0.024% of the (137)Cs and 2.52% of the (90)Sr contained in the buried waste material. A quantitative description of the radionuclide cycling showed a potential for trees to annually extract up to 0.82% of the (90)Sr pool in the trench and 0.0038% of the (137)Cs. A preferential (90)Sr uptake from the deep soil is envisioned while pine roots would take up (137)Cs mostly from less contaminated shallow soil layers. The current upward flux of (90)Sr through vegetation appeared at least equal to downward loss in waste material leaching as reported by Dewiere et al. (2004, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 74, 139-150). Using a prospective calculation model, we estimated that maximum (90)Sr cycling can be expected to occur at 40 years post-planting, resulting in 12% of the current (90)Sr content in the trench transferred to surface soils through biomass turnover and 7% stored in tree biomass. These results are preliminary, although based on accurate methodology. A more integrated ecosystem study leading to the coupling between biological and geochemical models of radionuclide cycling within the Red Forest seems opportune. Such a study would help in the adequate management of that new forest and the waste trenches upon which they reside.

Estimates of low-level waste volumes and classifications at 2-Unit 1100 MWe reference plants for decommissioning scenarios

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hauf, M.J.; Vance, J.N.; James, D.

1991-01-01

A number of nuclear utilities and industry organizations in the United States have evaluated the requirements for reactor decommissioning. These broad scope studies have addressed the major issues of technology, methodology, safety and costs of decommissioning and have produced substantial volumes of data to describe, in detail, the issues and impacts which result. The objective of this paper to provide CECo a reasonable basis for discussion low-level waste burial volumes for the most likely decommissioning options and to show how various decontamination and VR technologies can be applied to provide additional reduction of the volumes required to be buried atmore » low-level waste burial grounds.« less

Coaxial inverted geometry transistor having buried emitter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hruby, R. J.; Cress, S. B.; Dunn, W. R. (Inventor)

1973-01-01

The invention relates to an inverted geometry transistor wherein the emitter is buried within the substrate. The transistor can be fabricated as a part of a monolithic integrated circuit and is particularly suited for use in applications where it is desired to employ low actuating voltages. The transistor may employ the same doping levels in the collector and emitter, so these connections can be reversed.

Mapping pocket gopher burrow systems with expanding polyurethane foam

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Felthauser, M.; McInroy, D.

The impetus for this study arose from the need to isolate buried chemical and radioactive waste from burrowing animals. In a study of barrier materials that inhibit burrowing by pocket gophers (Thomomys spp.) into waste material, it was necessary to map tunnel systems as a function of depth and soil type. A method of mapping burrow systems was needed that would be economical, portable, useful in a variety of soil types, and give accurate, permanent records of burrow configurations. A method is described for injecting an expanding polyurethane foam to map burrow systems in situ.

Sustainability assessment and prioritisation of bottom ash management in Macao.

PubMed

Sou, W I; Chu, Andrea; Chiueh, P T

2016-12-01

In Macao, about 7200 t yr -1 of bottom ash (BA) is generated and conventionally landfilled with construction waste. Because the properties of BA are similar to those of natural aggregates, it is suitable to be recycled as construction material. However, pre-treatment processes for BA reuse may require more resource input and may generate additional environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment, multi-media transport model analysis, cost-benefit analysis and the analytical hierarchy process were conducted to evaluate the impacts of current and potential BA management scenarios regarding environmental, economic, social and regulatory aspects. The five analysed scenarios are as follows: (0) BA buried with construction and demolition waste (current system); (1) pre-treated BA used to replace 25% of the natural aggregate in asphalt concrete; (2) pre-treated BA used to replace 25% of the natural aggregate in cement concrete; (3) pre-treated BA used to replace 25% of cement in cement concrete; and (4) pre-treated BA sent to China, blended with municipal solid waste for landfill. The results reveal the following ranking of the scenarios: 3 > 2 > 0 > 1 > 4. Scenario 3 shows the best conditions for BA recycling, because the quantity of cement concrete output is the highest and this brings the greatest economic benefits. Our use of integrated analysis provides multi-aspect investigations for BA management systems, particularly in accounting for site-specific characteristics. This approach is suitable for application in other non-western regions. © The Author(s) 2016.

Utilization of biocatalysts in cellulose waste minimization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Woodward, J.; Evans, B.R.

1996-09-01

Cellulose, a polymer of glucose, is the principal component of biomass and, therefore, a major source of waste that is either buried or burned. Examples of biomass waste include agricultural crop residues, forestry products, and municipal wastes. Recycling of this waste is important for energy conservation as well as waste minimization and there is some probability that in the future biomass could become a major energy source and replace fossil fuels that are currently used for fuels and chemicals production. It has been estimated that in the United States, between 100-450 million dry tons of agricultural waste are produced annually,more » approximately 6 million dry tons of animal waste, and of the 190 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated annually, approximately two-thirds is cellulosic in nature and over one-third is paper waste. Interestingly, more than 70% of MSW is landfilled or burned, however landfill space is becoming increasingly scarce. On a smaller scale, important cellulosic products such as cellulose acetate also present waste problems; an estimated 43 thousand tons of cellulose ester waste are generated annually in the United States. Biocatalysts could be used in cellulose waste minimization and this chapter describes their characteristics and potential in bioconversion and bioremediation processes.« less

U.S. Department of Energy Nevada Operations Office Environmental Monitoring Program summary data report, second calendar quarter 1996

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Black, S.C.; Townsend, Y.E.

1997-02-01

The Nevada Test Site (NTS), located in southern Nevada, has been the primary location for testing of nuclear explosives in the continental US. Testing began in 1951 and continued until the moratorium in 1992. Waste storage and disposal facilities for defense radioactive and mixed waste are located in Areas 3 and 5. At the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS-5), low-level wastes (LLW) from US Department of Energy (DOE) affiliated onsite and offsite generators are disposed of using standard shallow land disposal techniques. Transuranic wastes are retrievably stored at the RWMS-5 in containers on a surface pad, pending shipmentmore » to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant facility in New Mexico. Nonradioactive hazardous wastes are accumulated at a special site before shipment to a licensed offsite disposal facility. Non-standard packages of LLW are buried in subsidence craters in the Area 3 RWMS. This report describes these activities on and around the NTS and includes a listing of the results obtained from environmental surveillance activities during the second calendar quarter of 1996.« less

[Substantiation of a complex of radiation-hygienic approaches to the management of very low-level waste].

PubMed

Korenkov, I P; Lashchenova, T N; Shandala, N K

2015-01-01

In the article there are presented materials on radiation-hygienic approaches to the treatment of very low level radioactive waste (VLLW) and industrial waste containing radionuclides. There is done detailed information on radiation-hygienic principles and criteria for the assurance ofradiation safety in the collection, transportation, storage and processing of VLLW as a category of radioactive waste.. Particular attention is paid to the problem of designing VLLW landfill site choice, system of radiation monitoring in operation and decommissioning of the landfill. There are presented data about the criteria for the release of VLLW buried at the site, from regulatory control. Also there are considered in detail the radiation-hygienic requirements for radiation safety of industrial waste containing radionuclides for which there is assumed unlimited and limited use of solid materials in economic activity, based on the requirements ofthe revised Basic Sanitary Rules for Radiation Safety - 99/2010. There are considered basic requirements for the organization of industrial waste landfill. As an example, there-are presented the hygiene requirements for industrial waste management and results of waste categorization in Northern Federal Enterprise for Radioactive Waste Management.

Soil, plant, and structural considerations for surface barriers in arid environments: Application of results from studies in the Mojave Desert near Beatty, Nevada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Andraski, Brian J.; Prudic, David E.; ,

1997-01-01

The suitability of a waste-burial site depends on hydrologic processes that can affect the near-surface water balance. In addition, the loss of burial trench integrity by erosion and subsidence of trench covers may increase the likelihood of infiltration and percolation, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the site in isolating waste. Although the main components of the water balance may be defined, direct measurements can be difficult, and actual data for specific locations are seldom available. A prevalent assumption is that little or no precipitation will percolate to buried wastes at an arid site. Thick unsaturated zones, which are common to arid regions, are thought to slow water movement and minimize the risk of waste migration to the underlying water table. Thus, reliance is commonly placed on the natural system to isolate contaminants at waste-burial sites in the arid West.Few data are available to test assumptions about the natural soil-water flow systems at arid sites, and even less is known about how the natural processes are altered by construction of a waste-burial facility. The lack of data is the result of technical complexity of hydraulic characterization of the dry, stony soils, and insufficient field studies that account for the extreme temporal and spatial variations in precipitation, soils, and plants in arid regions. In 1976, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a long-term study at a waste site in the Mojave Desert. This paper summarizes the findings of ongoing investigations done under natural-site and waste-burial conditions, and discusses how this information may be applied to the design of surface barriers for waste sites in arid environments.The waste-burial site is in one of the most arid parts of the United States and is about 40 km northeast of Death Valley, near Beatty, Nev. (Figure 1). Precipitation averaged 108 mm/yr during 1981-1992. The water table is 85-115 m below land surface (Fischer, 1992). Sediments are largely alluvial and fluvial deposits (Nichols, 1987). Vegetation is sparse; creosote bush is the dominant species. The waste facility has been used for burial of low-level radioactive waste (1962-1992) and hazardous chemical waste (1970 to present). Burial-trench construction includes excavation of native soil, emplacement of waste, and backfilling with previously stockpiled soil. Only the most recently closed hazardous-waste trench (1991) incorporates a plastic liner in the cover. The surfaces of completed burial trenches and perimeter areas are kept free of vegetation.

Thermal-gradient migration of brine inclusions in salt crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yagnik, S. K.

1982-09-01

High level nuclear waste disposal in a geologic repository was proposed. Natural salt deposits which are considered contain a small volume fraction of water in the form of brine inclusions distributed throughout the salt. Radioactive decay heating of the nuclear wastes will impose a temperature gradient on the surrounding salt which mobilizes the brine inclusions. Inclusions filled completely with brine migrate up the temperature gradient and eventually accumulate brine near the buried waste forms. The brine may slowly corrode or degrade the waste forms which is undesirable. In this work, thermal gradient migration of both all liquid and gas liquid inclusions was experimentally studied in synthetic single crystals of NaCl and KCl using a hot stage attachment to an optical microscope which was capable of imposing temperature gradients and axial compressive loads on the crystals. The migration velocities of the inclusion shape and size are discussed.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coony, F.M.; Howe, D.B.; Voigt, L.J.

The purpose of this report is to fulfill the reporting requirements of US Department of Energy (DOE) Order 5484.1, Environmental Protection, Safety, and Health Protection Information Reporting Requirements. Quantities of airborne and liquid wastes discharged by Westinghouse Hanford Company (Westinghouse Hanford) in the 200 Areas, 600 Area, and 1100 Area in 1987 are presented in this report. Also, quantities of solid wastes stored and buried by Westinghouse Hanford in the 200 Areas are presented in this report. The report is also intended to demonstrate compliance with Westinghouse Hanford administrative control limit (ACL) values for radioactive constituents and with applicable guidelinesmore » and standards for nonradioactive constituents. The summary of airborne release data, liquid discharge data, and solid waste management data for calendar year (CY) 1987 and CY 1986 are presented in Table ES-1. Data values for 1986 are cited in Table ES-1 to show differences in releases and waste quantities between 1986 and 1987. 19 refs., 3 figs., 19 tabs.« less

[The influence of the oil and gas industry on environmental safety and population health in the Khanty-Mansiĭskiĭ Region - Iugra].

PubMed

Samutin, N M; Vorob'ev, V O; Butorin, N N

2013-01-01

Production activities of oil and gas industry plants are related to technogenic impact on the environment, which has a high environmental risk. This is associated with low levels of environmental orientation of sheer technological processes of exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons and also used in this technical means, materials and chemical reagents. The main pollutants that deteriorate the toxic characteristics of drilling waste, are the most likely drilling fluids, mud flush agents and chemicals, which enter into their composition. Existing methods of disposal of drilling wastes are not effective, the technology of their use is often violated. Dumping drilling waste into water bodies and burying toxic waste in water protection areas under the guise of processed waste has been observed. In the region there are significantly exceeded the national average values rate of morbidity of allergic, cardiovascular, pulmonary and cancer diseases, mediated by environmental factors and new monofactorial and multifactorial diseases appear.

Prioritization of remedial actions for radioactive waste burials in the Chernobyl exclusion zone

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crossland, Ian

2013-07-01

Large volumes of radioactive waste were urgently buried in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (ChEZ) in the aftermath of the 1986 accident. Twenty-six years later, decisions must be taken about whether and how to remediate these sites. An attempt to resolve two key issues is described here: 1. How to assess the hazards posed by these facilities, recognizing that, for the foreseeable future, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone will remain under institutional control? and 2. What standards to apply in deciding the extent of remediation? This paper presents an examination of the issues and proposes a simple decision-making process. (authors)

Electric furnace dust: Can you bury the hazard?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McManus, G.J.

1996-04-01

Electric furnace waste treatment is moving into high gear, but the exact direction is unclear. On one hand, there is a trend toward complete recycling of the dust captured in furnace baghouses. Iron units as well as zinc and other elements are being reclaimed. On the other side, recent actions by regulators indicate recycling may not be required at all. With the correct chemical stabilization, it appears, dust may simply be placed in ordinary landfill. This paper describes three processes for waste treatment of furnace dust: Super Detox, a process for zinc removal from galvanized scrap before melting, and themore » INMETCO process.« less

Special Analysis of Transuranic Waste in Trench T04C at the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada, Revision 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greg Shott, Vefa Yucel, Lloyd Desotell

2008-05-01

This Special Analysis (SA) was prepared to assess the potential impact of inadvertent disposal of a limited quantity of transuranic (TRU) waste in classified Trench 4 (T04C) within the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The Area 5 RWMS is a low-level radioactive waste disposal site in northern Frenchman Flat on the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The Area 5 RWMS is regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under DOE Order 435.1 and DOE Manual (DOE M) 435.1-1. The primary objective of the SA is to evaluate if inadvertent disposal of limitedmore » quantities of TRU waste in a shallow land burial trench at the Area 5 RWMS is in compliance with the existing, approved Disposal Authorization Statement (DAS) issued under DOE M 435.1-1. In addition, supplemental analyses are performed to determine if there is reasonable assurance that the requirements of Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 191, Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Management and Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level, and Transuranic Radioactive Wastes, can be met. The 40 CFR 191 analyses provide supplemental information regarding the risk to human health and the environment of leaving the TRU waste in T04C. In 1989, waste management personnel reviewing classified materials records discovered that classified materials buried in trench T04C at the Area 5 RWMS contained TRU waste. Subsequent investigations determined that a total of 102 55-gallon drums of TRU waste from Rocky Flats were buried in trench T04C in 1986. The disposal was inadvertent because unclassified records accompanying the shipment indicated that the waste was low-level. The exact location of the TRU waste in T04C was not recorded and is currently unknown. Under DOE M 435.1-1, Chapter IV, Section P.5, low-level waste disposal facilities must obtain a DAS. The DAS specifies conditions that must be met to operate within the radioactive waste management basis, consisting of a performance assessment (PA), composite analysis (CA), closure plan, monitoring plan, waste acceptance criteria, and a PA/CA maintenance plan. The DOE issued a DAS for the Area 5 RWMS in 2000. The Area 5 RWMS DAS was, in part, based on review of a CA as required under DOE M 435.1-1, Chapter IV, Section P.(3). A CA is a radiological assessment required for DOE waste disposed before 26 September 1988 and includes the radiological dose from all sources of radioactive material interacting with all radioactive waste disposed at the Area 5 RWMS. The approved Area 5 RWMS CA, which includes the inventory of TRU waste in T04C, indicates that the Area 5 RWMS waste inventory and all interacting sources of radioactive material can meet the 0.3 mSv dose constraint. The composite analysis maximum annual dose for a future resident at the Area 5 RWMS was estimated to be 0.01 mSv at 1,000 years. Therefore, the inadvertent disposal of TRU in T04C is protective of the public and the environment, and compliant with all the applicable requirements in DOE M 435.1-1 and the DAS. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency promulgated 40 CFR 191 to establish standards for the planned disposal of spent nuclear fuel, high level, and transuranic wastes in geologic repositories. Although not required, the National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office requested a supplemental analysis to evaluate the likelihood that the inadvertent disposal of TRU waste in T04C meets the requirements of 40 CFR 191. The SA evaluates the likelihood of meeting the 40 CFR 191 containment requirements (CRs), assurance requirements, individual protection requirements (IPRs), and groundwater protection standards. The results of the SA indicate that there is a reasonable expectation of meeting all the requirements of 40 CFR 191. The conclusion of the SA is that the Area 5 RWMS with the TRU waste buried in T04C is in compliance with all requirements in DOE M 435.1-1 and the DAS. Compliance with the DAS is demonstrated by the results of the Area 5 RWMS CA. Supplemental analyses in the SA indicate there is a reasonable expectation that the TRU in T04C can meet all the requirements of 40 CFR 191. Therefore, inadvertent disposal of a limited quantity of TRU in a shallow land burial trench at the Area 5 RWMS does not pose a significant risk to the public and the environment.« less

Opportunities for Waste Heat Recovery at Contingency Bases

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

thermal insulation around the reactor to reduce heating requirements. Calculations demonstrate that about 44 W-hrs are required to heat a gallon of...tank ( ), which considers the convective heat transfer inside and outside the tank, the tank material, and insulation surrounding...well as provide excellent insulation to reduce heat loss during transport. Any non-buried portion (e.g., at tank or heat exchanger connec- tions

Dealing with Historical Discrepancies: The Recovery of National Research Experiment (NRX) Reactor Fuel Rods at Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) - 13324

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vickerd, Meggan

2013-07-01

Following the 1952 National Research Experiment (NRX) Reactor accident, fuel rods which had short irradiation histories were 'temporarily' buried in wooden boxes at the 'disposal grounds' during the cleanup effort. The Nuclear Legacy Liabilities Program (NLLP), funded by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), strategically retrieves legacy waste and restores lands affected by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) early operations. Thus under this program the recovery of still buried NRX reactor fuel rods and their relocation to modern fuel storage was identified as a priority. A suspect inventory of NRX fuels was compiled from historical records and various research activities. Sitemore » characterization in 2005 verified the physical location of the fuel rods and determined the wooden boxes they were buried in had degraded such that the fuel rods were in direct contact with the soil. The fuel rods were recovered and transferred to a modern fuel storage facility in 2007. Recovered identification tags and measured radiation fields were used to identify the inventory of these fuels. During the retrieval activity, a discrepancy was discovered between the anticipated number of fuel rods and the number found during the retrieval. A total of 32 fuel rods and cans of cut end pieces were recovered from the specified site, which was greater than the anticipated 19 fuel rods and cans. This discovery delayed the completion of the project, increased the associated costs, and required more than anticipated storage space in the modern fuel storage facility. A number of lessons learned were identified following completion of this project, the most significant of which was the potential for discrepancies within the historical records. Historical discrepancies are more likely to be resolved by comprehensive historical record searches and site characterizations. It was also recommended that a complete review of the wastes generated, and the total affected lands as a result of this historic 1952 NRX accident be undertaken. These lessons and recommendations have lead to changes in how the NLLP is executed in the CRL waste management areas. (authors)« less

Development of a High Level Waste Tank Inspection System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Appel, D.K.; Loibl, M.W.; Meese, D.C.

1995-03-21

The Westinghouse Savannah River Technology Center was requested by it`s sister site, West Valley Nuclear Service (WVNS), to develop a remote inspection system to gather wall thickness readings of their High Level Waste Tanks. WVNS management chose to take a proactive approach to gain current information on two tanks t hat had been in service since the early 70`s. The tanks contain high level waste, are buried underground, and have only two access ports to an annular space between the tank and the secondary concrete vault. A specialized remote system was proposed to provide both a visual surveillance and ultrasonicmore » thickness measurements of the tank walls. A magnetic wheeled crawler was the basis for the remote delivery system integrated with an off-the-shelf Ultrasonic Data Acquisition System. A development program was initiated for Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) to design, fabricate, and test a remote system based on the Crawler. The system was completed and involved three crawlers to perform the needed tasks, an Ultrasonic Crawler, a Camera Crawler, and a Surface Prep Crawler. The crawlers were computer controlled so that their operation could be done remotely and their position on the wall could be tracked. The Ultrasonic Crawler controls were interfaced with ABB Amdata`s I-PC, Ultrasonic Data Acquisition System so that thickness mapping of the wall could be obtained. A second system was requested by Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC), to perform just ultrasonic mapping on their similar Waste Storage Tanks; however, the system needed to be interfaced with the P-scan Ultrasonic Data Acquisition System. Both remote inspection systems were completed 9/94. Qualifications tests were conducted by WVNS prior to implementation on the actual tank and tank development was achieved 10/94. The second inspection system was deployed at WSRC 11/94 with success, and the system is now in continuous service inspecting the remaining high level waste tanks at WSRC.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

F.V. Perry; A. Cogbill; R. Kelley

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) considers volcanism to be a potentially disruptive class of events that could affect the safety of the proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Volcanic hazard assessment in monogenetic volcanic fields depends on an adequate understanding of the temporal and spatial pattern of past eruptions. At Yucca Mountain, the hazard is due to an 11 Ma-history of basaltic volcanism with the latest eruptions occurring in three Pleistocene episodes to the west and south of Yucca Mountain. An expert elicitation convened in 1995-1996 by the DOE estimated the mean hazard of volcanic disruption of themore » repository as slightly greater than 10{sup -8} dike intersections per year with an uncertainty of about two orders of magnitude. Several boreholes in the region have encountered buried basalt in alluvial-filled basins; the youngest of these basalts is dated at 3.8 Ma. The possibility of additional buried basalt centers is indicated by a previous regional aeromagnetic survey conducted by the USGS that detected approximately 20 magnetic anomalies that could represent buried basalt volcanoes. Sensitivity studies indicate that the postulated presence of buried post-Miocene volcanoes to the east of Yucca Mountain could increase the hazard by an order of magnitude, and potentially significantly impact the results of the earlier expert elicitation. Our interpretation of the aeromagnetic data indicates that post-Miocene basalts are not present east of Yucca Mountain, but that magnetic anomalies instead represent faulted and buried Miocene basalt that correlates with nearby surface exposures. This interpretation is being tested by drilling. The possibility of uncharacterized buried volcanoes that could significantly change hazard estimates led DOE to support an update of the expert elicitation in 2004-2006. In support of the expert elicitation data needs, the DOE is sponsoring (1) a new higher-resolution, helicopter-borne aeromagnetic survey, completed in mid-2004, and (2) drilling of selected anomalies based on the aeromagnetic survey results to better characterize the number, location and age of buried volcanoes, which began in mid-2005. The new aeromagnetic survey detected the presence of 33 anomalies interpreted as possible buried volcanoes or faulted tuff bedrock. A program to drill ten of the anomalies has begun, with the selection of drill holes prioritized based on their potential impact on the hazard assessment.« less

Formation of multiple levels of porous silicon for buried insulators and conductors in silicon device technologies

DOEpatents

Blewer, Robert S.; Gullinger, Terry R.; Kelly, Michael J.; Tsao, Sylvia S.

1991-01-01

A method of forming a multiple level porous silicon substrate for semiconductor integrated circuits including anodizing non-porous silicon layers of a multi-layer silicon substrate to form multiple levels of porous silicon. At least one porous silicon layer is then oxidized to form an insulating layer and at least one other layer of porous silicon beneath the insulating layer is metallized to form a buried conductive layer. Preferably the insulating layer and conductive layer are separated by an anodization barrier formed of non-porous silicon. By etching through the anodization barrier and subsequently forming a metallized conductive layer, a fully or partially insulated buried conductor may be fabricated under single crystal silicon.

Radioactive Waste Management Complex performance assessment: Draft

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Case, M.J.; Maheras, S.J.; McKenzie-Carter, M.A.

1990-06-01

A radiological performance assessment of the Radioactive Waste Management Complex at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory was conducted to demonstrate compliance with appropriate radiological criteria of the US Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency for protection of the general public. The calculations involved modeling the transport of radionuclides from buried waste, to surface soil and subsurface media, and eventually to members of the general public via air, ground water, and food chain pathways. Projections of doses were made for both offsite receptors and individuals intruding onto the site after closure. In addition, uncertainty analyses were performed. Resultsmore » of calculations made using nominal data indicate that the radiological doses will be below appropriate radiological criteria throughout operations and after closure of the facility. Recommendations were made for future performance assessment calculations.« less

Micropillars with a controlled number of site-controlled quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaganskiy, Arsenty; Gericke, Fabian; Heuser, Tobias; Heindel, Tobias; Porte, Xavier; Reitzenstein, Stephan

2018-02-01

We report on the realization of micropillars with site-controlled quantum dots (SCQDs) in the active layer. The SCQDs are grown via the buried stressor approach which allows for the positioned growth and device integration of a controllable number of QDs with high optical quality. This concept is very powerful as the number and the position of SCQDs in the cavity can be simultaneously controlled by the design of the buried-stressor. The fabricated micropillars exhibit a high degree of position control for the QDs above the buried stressor and Q-factors of up to 12 000 at an emission wavelength of around 930 nm. We experimentally analyze and numerically model the cavity Q-factor, the mode volume, the Purcell factor, and the photon-extraction efficiency as a function of the aperture diameter of the buried stressor. Exploiting these SCQD micropillars, we experimentally observe a Purcell enhancement in the single-QD regime with FP = 4.3 ± 0.3.

Using Downhole Probes to Locate and Characterize Buried Transuranic and Mixed Low Level Waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steinman, Donald K; Bramblett, Richard L; Hertzog, Russel C

2012-06-25

Borehole logging probes were developed and tested to locate and quantify transuranic elements in subsurface disposal areas and in contaminated sites at USDOE Weapons Complex sites. A new method of measuring very high levels of chlroine in the subsurface was developed using pulsed neutron technology from oilfield applications. The probes were demonstrated at the Hanford site in wells containing plutonium and other contaminants.

Dual-Use Applications of Infrared Sensitive Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-06-01

only limit to MCT-based detectors’ market potential is in price. Specialty systems for subsurface imaging (such as buried storage tanks, toxic wastes...and assessment of automotive paint damaged by rust or stone impacts. Since automotive paint is a multi-layered coating, it lends itself to subsurface ... imaging , as well as aerospace aluminum and epoxy composites. Another family of non-destructive evaluation techniques which could use infrared detectors

A&M. TAN633. Utilities plan and profiles. Layout of TAN633 in ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

A&M. TAN-633. Utilities plan and profiles. Layout of TAN-633 in relation to neighboring buildings: actuator building, pool building, water filter building, liquid waste treatment plant, and buried storage tanks. Ralph M. Parsons 1229-13-ANP/GE-3-301-U-1. Date: December 1956. INEEL index code no. 034-0301-00-693-107311 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Test Area North, Scoville, Butte County, ID

Technetium, Iodine, and Chromium Adsorption/Desorption Kd Values for Vadose Zone Pore Water, ILAW Glass, and Cast Stone Leachates Contacting an IDF Sand Sequence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Last, George V.; Snyder, Michelle M.V.; Um, Wooyong

Performance and risk assessments of immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) at the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) have shown that risks to groundwater are quite sensitive to adsorption-desorption interactions occurring in the near- and far-field environment. These interactions between the underlying sediments and the contaminants present in the leachates that descend from the buried glass, secondary waste grouts, and potentially Cast Stone low-activity waste packages have been represented in these assessments using the contaminant distribution coefficient (Kd) construct. Some contaminants (99Tc, 129I, and Cr) present in significant quantities in these wastes have low Kd values and tend to drive risk to publicmore » health and the environment. Relatively small changes in the Kd value can cause relatively large changes in the retardation factor. Thus, even relatively small uncertainty in the Kd value can result in a relatively large uncertainty in the risk determined through performance assessment modeling. The purpose of this study is to further reduce the uncertainty in Kd values for 99Tc, iodine (iodide and iodate), and Cr (chromate; CrO42-) by conducting systematic adsorption-desorption experiments using actual sand-dominated Hanford formation sediments from beneath the IDF and solutions that closely mimic Hanford vadose zone pore water and leachates from Cast Stone and ILAW glass waste forms. Twenty-four batch and 21 flow-through column experiments were conducted, yielding 261 Kd measurements for these key contaminants, and contributing to our understanding for predicting transport from wastes disposed to the IDF. While the batch Kd methodology is not well-suited for measuring Kd values for non-sorbing species (as noted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), the batch Kd results presented here are not wholly inconsistent with the column Kd results, and could be used for sensitivity purposes. Results from the column experiments are consistent with the best estimate and lower range of Kd values reported by Krupka et al. and Cantrell et al.« less

EML Array fabricated by SAG technique monolithically integrated with a buried ridge AWG multiplexer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Junjie; Liang, Song; Zhang, Zhike; An, Junming; Zhu, Hongliang; Wang, Wei

2017-06-01

We report the fabrication of a ten channel electroabsorption modulated DFB laser (EML) array. Different emission wavelengths of the laser array are obtained by selective area growth (SAG) technique, which is also used for the integration of electroabsorption modulators (EAM) with the lasers. An arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) combiner is integrated monolithically with the laser array by butt-joint regrowth (BJR) technique. A buried ridge waveguide structure is adopted for the AWG combiner. A self aligned fabrication procedure is adopted for the fabrication of the waveguide structure of the device to eliminate the misalignment between the laser active waveguide and the passive waveguide. A Ti thin film heater is integrated for each laser in the array. With the help of the heaters, ten laser emissions with 1.8 nm channel spacing are obtained. The integrated EAM has a larger than 11 dB static extinction ratios and larger than 8 GHz small signal modulation bandwidths. The light power collected in the output waveguide of the AWG is larger than -13 dBm for each wavelength.

Volcanic hazards: Perspectives from eruption prediction to risk assessment for disposal of radioactive waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crowe, B.

1980-12-31

This document summarizes an oral presentation that described the potential for volcanic activity at the proposed Yucca Mountain, Texas repository site. Yucca Mountain is located in a broad zone of volcanic activity known as the Death Valley-Pancake Ridge volcanic zone. The probability estimate for the likelihood that some future volcanic event will intersect a buried repository at Yucca Mountain is low. Additionally, the radiological consequences of penetration of a repository by basaltic magma followed by eruption of the magma at the surface are limited. The combination of low probability and limited consequence suggests that the risk posed by waste storagemore » at this site is low. (TEM)« less

{open_quotes}Radon{close_quotes} - the system of Soviet designed regional waste management facilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Horak, W.C.; Reisman, A.; Purvis, E.E. III

1997-07-01

The Soviet Union established a system of specialized regional facilities to dispose of radioactive waste generated by sources other than the nuclear fuel cycle. The system had 16 facilities in Russia, 5 in Ukraine, one in each of the other CIS states, and one in each of the Baltic Republics. These facilities are still being used. The major generators of radioactive waste they process these are research and industrial organizations, medical and agricultural institution and other activities not related to nuclear power. Waste handled by these facilities is mainly beta- and gamma-emitting nuclides with half lives of less than 30more » years. The long-lived and alpha-emitting isotopic content is insignificant. Most of the radwaste has low and medium radioactivity levels. The facilities also handle spent radiation sources, which are highly radioactive and contain 95-98 percent of the activity of all the radwaste buried at these facilities.« less

Environmental aspects of lunar helium-3 mining

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kulcinski, G. L.; Cameron, E. N.; Carrier, W. D., III; Schmitt, H. H.

1992-01-01

Three potential detrimental effects of lunar He-3 mining have been identified; visual changes, atmospheric contamination, and solid waste disposal. The removal of small craters (less than 20 m diameter) and the change in the albedo of the surface may cause a slight darkening of the regolith. However, it is not expected that this change will be visible from the earth even with powerful telescopes. The release of lunar volatile gases and their effect on the lunar 'atmosphere' is expected to be both local and temporary (on the order of a few weeks from the time of release). The solution to solid waste disposal is to recycle as much as possible and to bury the nonrecyclable waste. The lack of wind and water means that the waste will stay localized indefinitely and cause no contamination of the environment. The positive benefits of using lunar He-3 in terrestrial fusion plants far outweigh the detrimental effects of mining. The reduction in radioactive waste, greenhouse and acid gases, and the reduction in terrestrial mining for fossil fuels could have a major impact on the quality of life in the 21st century.

UNSAT-H Version 2. 0: Unsaturated soil water and heat flow model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fayer, M.J.; Jones, T.L.

1990-04-01

This report documents UNSAT-H Version 2.0, a model for calculating water and heat flow in unsaturated media. The documentation includes the bases for the conceptual model and its numerical implementation, benchmark test cases, example simulations involving layered soils and plant transpiration, and the code listing. Waste management practices at the Hanford Site have included disposal of low-level wastes by near-surface burial. Predicting the future long-term performance of any such burial site in terms of migration of contaminants requires a model capable of simulating water flow in the unsaturated soils above the buried waste. The model currently used to meet thismore » need is UNSAT-H. This model was developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory to assess water dynamics of near-surface, waste-disposal sites at the Hanford Site. The code is primarily used to predict deep drainage as a function of such environmental conditions as climate, soil type, and vegetation. UNSAT-H is also used to simulate the effects of various practices to enhance isolation of wastes. 66 refs., 29 figs., 7 tabs.« less

Detection of Pollution Caused by Solid Wastes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golueke, Clarence G.

1971-01-01

To develop a means of detecting pollution, it s necessary to know something about the source and nature of the pollution. The type of pollution rising from solid wastes differs considerably from hat from liquid wastes or that from gaseous wastes ni its effect on the immediate environment. It may be "defined" by a series of negatives. When solid wastes are discarded on land, the resulting pollution is not land pollution in the sense of air and water pollution. For one thing, the solid wastes do not become a "part" of the land in that the wastes are neither intimately mixed nor homogenized into the land as are liquid and gaseous wastes into their respective media. The waste particles retain not only their chemical identity but also their visible (i.e., physical) characteristics. When buried, for example, the soil is under, above, and around the solids, because the wastes are there as discrete units. Secondly, solid wastes neither diffuse nor are they carried from the place at which they were deposited. In other words they remain stationary, providing of course the disposal site is land and not moving water. In a given area, solid wastes be not distributed uniformly over that area. Even the solid wastes falling into the specification of letter meets these specifications. In contrast liquid and gaseous wastes become intimately mixed, homogenized, and even dissolved in their media. Because solid wastes remain stationary, pollution constituted by their presence is highly localized and heavily concentrated, even to the extent that the pollution could be termed "micro" when compared to the macro-pollution arising from liquid and gasequs wastes.

Managing woodwaste: Yield from residue

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nielson, E.; Rayner, S.

1993-12-31

Historically, the majority of sawmill waste has been burned or buried for the sole purpose of disposal. In most jurisdictions, environmental legislation will prohibit, or render uneconomic, these practices. Many reports have been prepared to describe the forest industry`s residue and its environmental effect; although these help those looking for industry-wide or regional solutions, such as electricity generation, they have limited value for the mill manager, who has the on-hands responsibility for generation and disposal of the waste. If the mill manager can evaluate waste streams and break them down into their usable components, he can find niche market solutionsmore » for portions of the plant residue and redirect waste to poor/no-return, rather than disposal-cost, end uses. In the modern mill, residue is collected at the individual machine centre by waste conveyors that combine and mix sawdust, shavings, bark, etc. and send the result to the hog-fuel pile. The mill waste system should be analyzed to determine the measures that can improve the quality of residues and determine the volumes of any particular category before the mixing, mentioned above, occurs. After this analysis, the mill may find a niche market for a portion of its woodwaste.« less

Environmental and health impacts of household solid waste handling and disposal practices in third world cities: the case of the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana.

PubMed

Boadi, Kwasi Owusu; Kuitunen, Markku

2005-11-01

Inadequate provision of solid waste management facilities in Third World cities results in indiscriminate disposal and unsanitary environments, which threatens the health of urban residents. The study reported here examined household-level waste management and disposal practices in the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana. The residents of Accra currently generate large amounts of solid waste, beyond the management capabilities of the existing waste management system. Because the solid waste infrastructure is inadequate, over 80 percent of the population do not have home collection services. Only 13.5 percent of respondents are served with door-to-door collection of solid waste, while the rest dispose of their waste at communal collection points, in open spaces, and in waterways. The majority of households store their waste in open containers and plastic bags in the home. Waste storage in the home is associated with the presence of houseflies in the kitchen (r = .17, p < .0001). The presence of houseflies in the kitchen during cooking is correlated with the incidence of childhood diarrhea (r = .36, p < .0001). Inadequate solid waste facilities result in indiscriminate burning and burying of solid waste. There is an association between waste burning and the incidence of respiratory health symptoms among adults (r = .25, p < .0001) and children (r = .22, p < .05). Poor handling and disposal of waste are major causes of environmental pollution, which creates breeding grounds for pathogenic organisms, and the spread of infectious diseases. Improving access to solid waste collection facilities and services will help achieve sound environmental health in Accra.

Installation Restoration Program. Phase 1 - Records Search, Robins AFB, Georgia.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-04-01

Installations U under the provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE... Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). A potentially hazardous waste is one which is suspected of being hazardous although insufficient data are available to...comprised of a concrete vault buried approximately six feet below the ground surface. 4 A locked chain -linked fence with two barbed wire strands surrounds

Method of installing subsurface barrier

DOEpatents

Nickelson, Reva A.; Richardson, John G.; Kostelnik, Kevin M.; Sloan, Paul A.

2007-10-09

Systems, components, and methods relating to subterranean containment barriers. Laterally adjacent tubular casings having male interlock structures and multiple female interlock structures defining recesses for receiving a male interlock structure are used to create subterranean barriers for containing and treating buried waste and its effluents. The multiple female interlock structures enable the barriers to be varied around subsurface objects and to form barrier sidewalls. The barrier may be used for treating and monitoring a zone of interest.

Subsurface materials management and containment system

DOEpatents

Nickelson, Reva A.; Richardson, John G.; Kosteinik, Kevin M.; Sloan, Paul A.

2004-07-06

Systems, components, and methods relating to subterranean containment barriers. Laterally adjacent tubular casings having male interlock structures and multiple female interlock structures defining recesses for receiving a male interlock structure are used to create subterranean barriers for containing and treating buried waste and its effluents. The multiple female interlock structures enable the barriers to be varied around subsurface objects and to form barrier sidewalls. The barrier may be used for treating and monitoring a zone of interest.

Subsurface materials management and containment system

DOEpatents

Nickelson, Reva A.; Richardson, John G.; Kostelnik, Kevin M.; Sloan, Paul A.

2006-10-17

Systems, components, and methods relating to subterranean containment barriers. Laterally adjacent tubular casings having male interlock structures and multiple female interlock structures defining recesses for receiving a male interlock structure are used to create subterranean barriers for containing and treating buried waste and its effluents. The multiple female interlock structures enable the barriers to be varied around subsurface objects and to form barrier sidewalls. The barrier may be used for treating and monitoring a zone of interest.

Anisotropy estimation of compacted municipal solid waste using pressurized vertical well liquids injection.

PubMed

Singh, Karamjit; Kadambala, Ravi; Jain, Pradeep; Xu, Qiyong; Townsend, Timothy G

2014-06-01

Waste hydraulic conductivity and anisotropy represent two important parameters controlling fluid movement in landfills, and thus are the key inputs in design methods where predictions of moisture movement are necessary. Although municipal waste hydraulic conductivity has been estimated in multiple laboratory and field studies, measurements of anisotropy, particularly at full scale, are rare, even though landfilled municipal waste is generally understood to be anisotropic. Measurements from a buried liquids injection well surrounded by pressure transducers at a full-scale landfill in Florida were collected and examined to provide an estimate of in-situ waste anisotropy. Liquids injection was performed at a constant pressure and the resulting pore pressures in the surrounding waste were monitored. Numerical fluid flow modeling was employed to simulate the pore pressures expected to occur under the conditions operated. Nine different simulations were performed at three different lateral hydraulic conductivity values and three different anisotropy values. Measured flowrate and pore pressures collected from conditions of approximate steady state were compared with the simulation results to assess the range of anisotropies. The results support that compacted municipal waste in landfills is anisotropic, provide anisotropy estimates greater than previous measurements, and suggest that anisotropy decreases with landfill depth. © The Author(s) 2014.

Bent channel design in buried Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate glass waveguide fabricated by field-assisted annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Ruitu; Wang, Mu; Chen, Baojie; Liu, Ke; Pun, Edwin Yue-Bun; Lin, Hai

2011-04-01

Bent waveguide structures (S-, U-, and F-bend) based on buried Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate glass waveguide channel fabricated by field-assisted annealing have been designed to achieve high-gain C-band integrated amplification. Using a simulated-bend method, the optimal radius for the curved structure is derived to be 0.90 cm with loss coefficient of 0.02 dB/cm, as the substrate size is schemed to be 4×3 cm2. In the wavelength range of 1520 to 1575 nm, obvious gain enhancement for the bent structure waveguides is anticipated, and for the F-bend waveguide, the internal gain at 1534-nm wavelength is derived to be 41.61 dB, which is much higher than the value of 26.22 and 13.81 dB in the U- and S-bend waveguides, respectively, and over three times higher than that of the straight one. The simulation results indicate that the bent structure design is beneficial in obtaining high signal gain in buried Er3+/Yb3+ codoped phosphate glass waveguides, which lays the foundation for further design and fabrication of integrated devices.

Vegetation cover and long-term conservation of radioactive waste packages: the case study of the CSM waste disposal facility (Manche District, France).

PubMed

Petit-Berghem, Yves; Lemperiere, Guy

2012-03-01

The CSM is the first French waste disposal facility for radioactive waste. Waste material is buried several meters deep and protected by a multi-layer cover, and equipped with a drainage system. On the surface, the plant cover is a grassland vegetation type. A scientific assessment has been carried out by the Géophen laboratory, University of Caen, in order to better characterize the plant cover (ecological groups and associated soils) and to observe its medium and long term evolution. Field assessments made on 10 plots were complemented by laboratory analyses carried out over a period of 1 year. The results indicate scenarios and alternative solutions which could arise, in order to passively ensure the long-term safety of the waste disposal system. Several proposals for a blanket solution are currently being studied and discussed, under the auspices of international research institutions in order to determine the most appropriate materials for the storage conditions. One proposal is an increased thickness of these materials associated with a geotechnical barrier since it is well adapted to the forest plants which are likely to colonize the site. The current experiments that are carried out will allow to select the best option and could provide feedback for other waste disposal facility sites already being operated in France (CSFMA waste disposal facility, Aube district) or in other countries.

Method of sealing casings of subsurface materials management system

DOEpatents

Nickelson, Reva A.; Richardson, John G.; Kostelnik, Kevin M.; Sloan, Paul A.

2007-02-06

Systems, components, and methods relating to subterranean containment barriers. Laterally adjacent tubular casings having male interlock structures and multiple female interlock structures defining recesses for receiving a male interlock structure are used to create subterranean barriers for containing and treating buried waste and its effluents. The multiple female interlock structures enable the barriers to be varied around subsurface objects and to form barrier sidewalls. The barrier may be used for treating and monitoring a zone of interest.

Soil-landscape development and late Quaternary environmental change in coastal Estremadura, Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniels, Michael; Haws, Jonathan; Benedetti, Michael; Bicho, Nuno

2015-04-01

This poster integrates soil-landscape analysis with archaeological survey and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Soils in surface and buried contexts in Estremadura, Portugal, provide evidence of landscape stability and instability, relative age relationships between landforms, and general paleoenvironmental conditions during the late Quaternary. These factors provide insight into the distribution and condition of Paleolithic archaeological sites and help understand the record of human settlement in the region. Late Pleistocene and Holocene dunes extend inland approximately 10 km from coastal source regions. Surface soils in Holocene dunes under maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) forest exhibit A, E, C/Bh and A, C horizon sequences and classify as Quartzipsamments. Surface soils in late Pleistocene dunes exhibit A, E, Bh, Bhs, Bs horizon sequences and classify as Haplorthods. Both Pleistocene and Holocene dunes commonly bury a heavily weathered soil formed in calcareous sandstone. The boundary between underlying buried soils and overlying surface soils is characterized by a lag deposit of medium to coarse, moderately-rounded gravels, underlain immediately by subsurface Bt and Bss horizons. The lag deposit and absence of buried A horizons both indicate intense and/or prolonged surface erosion prior to burial by late Quaternary dunes. Soil-geomorphic relationships therefore suggest at least two distinct episodes of dune emplacement and subsequent landscape stability following an extensive episode late Pleistocene landscape instability and soil erosion. A conceptual model of soil-landscape evolution through the late Quaternary and Holocene results from the integration of soil profile data, proxy paleoenvironmental data, and the partial record of human settled as revealed in the archaeological record.

Assessment of the state of food waste treatment in the United States and Canada.

PubMed

Levis, J W; Barlaz, M A; Themelis, N J; Ulloa, P

2010-01-01

Currently in the US, over 97% of food waste is estimated to be buried in landfills. There is nonetheless interest in strategies to divert this waste from landfills as evidenced by a number of programs and policies at the local and state levels, including collection programs for source separated organic wastes (SSO). The objective of this study was to characterize the state-of-the-practice of food waste treatment alternatives in the US and Canada. Site visits were conducted to aerobic composting and two anaerobic digestion facilities, in addition to meetings with officials that are responsible for program implementation and financing. The technology to produce useful products from either aerobic or anaerobic treatment of SSO is in place. However, there are a number of implementation issues that must be addressed, principally project economics and feedstock purity. Project economics varied by region based on landfill disposal fees. Feedstock purity can be obtained by enforcement of contaminant standards and/or manual or mechanical sorting of the feedstock prior to and after treatment. Future SSO diversion will be governed by economics and policy incentives, including landfill organics bans and climate change mitigation policies. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A new dawn for buried garbage? An investigation of the marketability of previously disposed shredder waste.

PubMed

Johansson, N; Krook, J; Frändegård, P

2017-02-01

This paper examines the market potential of disposed shredder waste, a resource that is increasingly emphasized as a future mine. A framework with gate requirements of various outlets was developed and contrasted with a pilot project focusing on excavated waste from a shredder landfill, sorted in an advanced recycling facility. Only the smallest fraction by percentage had an outlet, the metals (8%), which were sold according to a lower quality class. The other fractions (92%) were not accepted for incineration, as construction materials or even for re-deposition. Previous studies have shown similar lack of marketability. This means that even if one fraction can be recovered, the outlet of the other material is often unpredictable, resulting in a waste disposal problem, which easily prevents a landfill mining project altogether. This calls for marketability and usability of deposited waste to become a central issue for landfill mining research. The paper concludes by discussing how concerned actors can enhance the marketability, for example by pre-treating the disposed waste to acclimatize it to existing sorting methods. However, for concerned actors to become interested in approaching unconventional resources such as deposited waste, greater regulatory flexibility is needed in which, for example, re-deposition could be allowed as long as the environmental benefits of the projects outweigh the disadvantages. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reconnaissance investigation of the geology and hydrogeology of Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ozuna, G.B.; Small, T.A.

1993-01-01

Major pathways of potential contaminant migration off the bases include the local streams of Medio and Leon Creeks, and to a lesser extent, the shallow ground water beneath the bases. Although the Uvalde Gravel is not a source of shallow ground water at Medina Base, it drains water quickly, and wastes that might be buried in the gravel could be a potential source of contamination during brief ground-water recharge periods resulting from major precipitation.

Subsurface materials management and containment system, components thereof and methods relating thereto

DOEpatents

Nickelson, Reva A.; Richardson, John G.; Kostelnik, Kevin M.; Sloan, Paul A.

2006-04-18

Systems, components, and methods relating to subterranean containment barriers. Laterally adjacent tubular casings having male interlock structures and multiple female interlock structures defining recesses for receiving a male interlock structure are used to create subterranean barriers for containing and treating buried waste and its effluents. The multiple female interlock structures enable the barriers to be varied around subsurface objects and to form barrier sidewalls. The barrier may be used for treating and monitoring a zone of interest.

The research on the buried public monumental complexes of Lupiae (Lecce) by geophysical prospecting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leucci, Giovanni; De Giorgi, Lara; Di Giacomo, Giacomo; Ditaranto, Imma; Miccoli, Ilaria; Scardozzi, Giuseppe

2017-10-01

Ongoing and extensive urbanisation may threaten important archaeological structures that are still buried in urban areas. The ground penetrating radar (GPR) method is the most promising alternative for resolving buried archaeological structures in urban territories. This paper presents a case study that involves a geophysical survey employing the surface three-dimensional (3D) GPR techniques, in order to archaeologically characterise the investigated areas. The site is located in the south-western sector of the historical centre of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), where the modern city overlaps the main public monuments of the Roman municipium of Lupiae, only partially preserved or excavated: the amphitheatre, the theatre, the baths and maybe also the Forum. GPR measurements, integrated with the results of archaeological excavations and the topographical surveys of the preserved remains, were carried out in several areas regarding sectors of the ancient roman city. The GPR data were collected along a dense network of parallel profiles. The GPR sections were processed applying specific filters to the data in order to enhance their information content. The GPR images significantly contributed in reconstructing the complex subsurface properties in these modern urban areas. Strong GPR reflections features were correlated with possible ancient structures and they were integrated in the digital archaeological map of the city.

The impact measure of solid waste management on health: the hazard index.

PubMed

Musmeci, Loredana; Bellino, Mirella; Cicero, Maria Rita; Falleni, Fabrizio; Piccardi, Augusta; Trinca, Stefania

2010-01-01

The risk associated with waste exposure depends on the level of emissions arising from waste disposal and from the effects of these emissions on human health (dose-response). In 2007 an epidemiological study was conducted in two Italian provinces of the Campania Region, namely Naples and Caserta, with the aim of assessing the health effects deriving from exposure to waste. In these studies, the important aspect is the population exposure assessment, in relation to the different types of waste disposal. The Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA Campania) has identified and characterized the various authorized/unauthorized dumping sites in the provinces of Naples and Caserta. Most of the waste disposal used are illegal and invisible (sunken or buried); thus, the toxic substances therein contained are unknown and difficult to identify. In order to locate the possible areas exposed to a higher waste-related health risk, a synthetical "hazard index" (at the municipality level) was designed. By means of GIS, the number of waste impact areas was identified for each of the 196 municipalities in the two provinces; then, Census data (ISTAT 2001) was used to estimate the proportion of the population living in the impact areas. The synthetical hazard index at municipality level accounts for three elements: a) the intrinsic characterization of the waste disposal, determining the way in which the pollutant is released; b) the impact area of the dumping site (within 1 km radius), same areas are influenced by more than one site; c) the density of the population living in the "impact area" surrounding the waste disposal site.

Ancient fluvial processes in the equatorial highlands of Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Craddock, Robert A.; Maxwell, Ted A.

1991-01-01

Martian highland craters typically lack ejecta deposits, have no noticeable rim, and are flat floored. In addition, crater size frequency distribution curves show that highland craters have depleted populations less than 20 km in diameter. A variety of processes have been suggested to explain these observations including deposition of aeolian or volcanic materials up to the crater rim crests, thermal creep, terrain softening, and mass wasting. However, none of these processes adequately explains both the crater morphology and population distribution. In order to explain both the Martian highland crater morphology and population distribution, a fluvial process is proposed which is capable of removing the loose crater rim material. The resulting effect is to decrease the crater diameter, thereby causing the population curves to bendover. The eroded material is redistributed, burying or partially burying smaller diameter craters before complete erosion. This material may also be deposited into local topographic lows, creating the depositional basins observed. A fluvial process explains both sets of observations: crater morphology and crater population distribution curves.

Solution speciation of plutonium and Americium at an Australian legacy radioactive waste disposal site.

PubMed

Ikeda-Ohno, Atsushi; Harrison, Jennifer J; Thiruvoth, Sangeeth; Wilsher, Kerry; Wong, Henri K Y; Johansen, Mathew P; Waite, T David; Payne, Timothy E

2014-09-02

During the 1960s, radioactive waste containing small amounts of plutonium (Pu) and americium (Am) was disposed in shallow trenches at the Little Forest Burial Ground (LFBG), located near the southern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Because of periodic saturation and overflowing of the former disposal trenches, Pu and Am have been transferred from the buried wastes into the surrounding surface soils. The presence of readily detected amounts of Pu and Am in the trench waters provides a unique opportunity to study their aqueous speciation under environmentally relevant conditions. This study aims to comprehensively investigate the chemical speciation of Pu and Am in the trench water by combining fluoride coprecipitation, solvent extraction, particle size fractionation, and thermochemical modeling. The predominant oxidation states of dissolved Pu and Am species were found to be Pu(IV) and Am(III), and large proportions of both actinides (Pu, 97.7%; Am, 86.8%) were associated with mobile colloids in the submicron size range. On the basis of this information, possible management options are assessed.

The application of magnetic gradiometry and electromagnetic induction at a former radioactive waste disposal site.

PubMed

Rucker, Dale Franklin

2010-04-01

A former radioactive waste disposal site is surveyed with two non-intrusive geophysical techniques, including magnetic gradiometry and electromagnetic induction. Data were gathered over the site by towing the geophysical equipment mounted to a non-electrically conductive and non-magnetic fibre-glass cart. Magnetic gradiometry, which detects the location of ferromagnetic material, including iron and steel, was used to map the existence of a previously unknown buried pipeline formerly used in the delivery of liquid waste to a number of surface disposal trenches and concrete vaults. The existence of a possible pipeline is reinforced by historical engineering drawing and photographs. The electromagnetic induction (EMI) technique was used to map areas of high and low electrical conductivity, which coincide with the magnetic gradiometry data. The EMI also provided information on areas of high electrical conductivity unrelated to a pipeline network. Both data sets demonstrate the usefulness of surface geophysical surveillance techniques to minimize the risk of exposure in the event of future remediation efforts.

Hydraulic characteristics of an underdrained irrigation circle, Muskegon County, wastewater disposal system, Michigan

USGS Publications Warehouse

McDonald, M.G.

1981-01-01

Muskegon County, Michigan, disposes of waste water by spray irrigating farmland on its waste-disposal site. Buried drains in the highly permeable unconfined aquifer at the site control the level of the water table. Hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer and drain-leakance, the reciprocal of resistance to flow into the drains, was determined at a representative irrigation circle while calibrating a model of the ground-water flow system. Hydraulic conductivity is 0.00055 meter per second in the north zone of the circle and 0.00039 meter per second in the south zone. Drain leakance is low in both zones: 2.9 x 10-6 meters per second in the north and 9.5 x 10-6 meters per second in the south. Low drain leakance is responsible for waterlogging when irrigation rates are maintained at design levels. The capacity of the study circle to accept waste water is 35 percent less than design capacity.

Subsea Cable Tracking by Autonomous Underwater Vehicle with Magnetic Sensing Guidance.

PubMed

Xiang, Xianbo; Yu, Caoyang; Niu, Zemin; Zhang, Qin

2016-08-20

The changes of the seabed environment caused by a natural disaster or human activities dramatically affect the life span of the subsea buried cable. It is essential to track the cable route in order to inspect the condition of the buried cable and protect its surviving seabed environment. The magnetic sensor is instrumental in guiding the remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) to track and inspect the buried cable underseas. In this paper, a novel framework integrating the underwater cable localization method with the magnetic guidance and control algorithm is proposed, in order to enable the automatic cable tracking by a three-degrees-of-freedom (3-DOF) under-actuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) without human beings in the loop. The work relies on the passive magnetic sensing method to localize the subsea cable by using two tri-axial magnetometers, and a new analytic formulation is presented to compute the heading deviation, horizontal offset and buried depth of the cable. With the magnetic localization, the cable tracking and inspection mission is elaborately constructed as a straight-line path following control problem in the horizontal plane. A dedicated magnetic line-of-sight (LOS) guidance is built based on the relative geometric relationship between the vehicle and the cable, and the feedback linearizing technique is adopted to design a simplified cable tracking controller considering the side-slip effects, such that the under-actuated vehicle is able to move towards the subsea cable and then inspect its buried environment, which further guides the environmental protection of the cable by setting prohibited fishing/anchoring zones and increasing the buried depth. Finally, numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed magnetic guidance and control algorithm on the envisioned subsea cable tracking and the potential protection of the seabed environment along the cable route.

Subsea Cable Tracking by Autonomous Underwater Vehicle with Magnetic Sensing Guidance

PubMed Central

Xiang, Xianbo; Yu, Caoyang; Niu, Zemin; Zhang, Qin

2016-01-01

The changes of the seabed environment caused by a natural disaster or human activities dramatically affect the life span of the subsea buried cable. It is essential to track the cable route in order to inspect the condition of the buried cable and protect its surviving seabed environment. The magnetic sensor is instrumental in guiding the remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) to track and inspect the buried cable underseas. In this paper, a novel framework integrating the underwater cable localization method with the magnetic guidance and control algorithm is proposed, in order to enable the automatic cable tracking by a three-degrees-of-freedom (3-DOF) under-actuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) without human beings in the loop. The work relies on the passive magnetic sensing method to localize the subsea cable by using two tri-axial magnetometers, and a new analytic formulation is presented to compute the heading deviation, horizontal offset and buried depth of the cable. With the magnetic localization, the cable tracking and inspection mission is elaborately constructed as a straight-line path following control problem in the horizontal plane. A dedicated magnetic line-of-sight (LOS) guidance is built based on the relative geometric relationship between the vehicle and the cable, and the feedback linearizing technique is adopted to design a simplified cable tracking controller considering the side-slip effects, such that the under-actuated vehicle is able to move towards the subsea cable and then inspect its buried environment, which further guides the environmental protection of the cable by setting prohibited fishing/anchoring zones and increasing the buried depth. Finally, numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed magnetic guidance and control algorithm on the envisioned subsea cable tracking and the potential protection of the seabed environment along the cable route. PMID:27556465

Surface geophysical investigation of the areal and vertical extent of metallic waste at the former Tyson Valley Powder Farm near Eureka, Missouri, Spring 2004

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ball, Lyndsay B.; Kress, Wade H.; Anderson, Eric D.; Teeple, Andrew; Ferguson, James W.; Colbert, Charles R.

2004-01-01

The former Tyson Valley Powder Farm near Eureka, Missouri, was used primarily as a storage facility for the production of small arms ammunition during 1941?47 and 1951?61. A secondary use of the site was for munitions testing and disposal. Surface exposures of small arms waste, characterized by brass shell casings and fragments, as well as other miscellaneous scrap metal are remnants of disposal practices that took place during U.S. Army operation and can be found throughout the site. Little historical information exists describing disposal practices, and more debris is believed to be buried in the subsurface. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has identified several areas of concern throughout the former Tyson Valley Powder Farm. A surface-geophysical investigation was performed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to evaluate the areal and vertical extent of metallic debris in the subsurface within three of these areas of concern. Electromagnetic and magnetic methods were used to locate anomalies indicating relatively large concentrations of buried metallic debris within the selected areas of concern. Maps were created identifying twelve anomalous zones in the three areas of concern, and three of these zones were selected for further investigation. The extent and depth of the anomalies within these zones were explored using two-dimensional direct-current resistivity methods. Resistivity and time-domain induced polarization data were compared to the anomalous locations of the electromagnetic and magnetic surveys. The geophysical methods selected for this study were useful in determining the areal and vertical extent of metallic waste within the former Tyson Valley Powder Farm. However, electromagnetic and magnetic methods were not able to differentiate magnetic scrap metal from non-magnetic metallic small arms waste, most likely due to the small size and scattered distribution of the small arms waste, in addition to the mixing of both types of debris in the subsurface. Electromagnetic and magnetic data showed some zones of concentrated anomalies, while there was a general scattering of small anomalies throughout the site. Inverted resistivity sections, as well as induced polarization sections, showed the debris to have a maximum depth of approximately 1 to 2 meters below the surface.

Preliminary hydrogeologic evaluation of the Cincinnati Arch region for underground high-level radioactive waste disposal, Indiana, Kentucky , and Ohio

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lloyd, O.B.; Davis, R.W.

1989-01-01

Preliminary interpretation of available hydrogeologic data suggests that some areas underlying eastern Indiana, north-central Kentucky, and western Ohio might be worthy of further study regarding the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Precambrian crystalline rocks buried beneath Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the area. The data indicate that (1) largest areas of deepest potential burial and thickest sedimentary rock cover occur in eastern Indiana; (2) highest concentrations of dissolved solids in the basal sandstone aquifer, suggesting the most restricted circulation, are found in the southern part of the area near the Kentucky-Ohio State line and in southeastern Indiana; (3) largest areas of lowest porosity in the basal sandstone aquifer, low porosity taken as an indicator of the lowest groundwater flow velocity and contaminant migration, are found in northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio, central and southeastern Indiana, and central Kentucky; (4) the thickest confining units that directly overlie the basal sandstone aquifer are found in central Kentucky and eastern Indiana where their thickness exceeds 500 ft; (5) steeply dipping faults that form potential hydraulic connections between crystalline rock, the basal sandstone aquifer, and the freshwater circulation system occur on the boundaries of the study area mainly in central Kentucky and central Indiana. Collectively, these data indicate that the hydrogeology of the sedimentary rocks in the western part of the study area is more favorably suited than that in the remainder of the area for the application of the buried crystalline-rock concept. (USGS)

Crater gradation in Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum, Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, J. A.; Arvidson, R. E.; Crumpler, L. S.; Golombek, M. P.; Hahn, B.; Haldemann, A. F. C.; Li, R.; Soderblom, L. A.; Squyres, S. W.; Wright, S. P.; Watters, W. A.

2006-01-01

The Mars Exploration Rovers investigated numerous craters in Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum during the first ~400 sols of their missions. Craters vary in size and preservation state but are mostly due to secondary impacts at Gusev and primary impacts at Meridiani. Craters at both locations are modified primarily by eolian erosion and infilling and lack evidence for modification by aqueous processes. Effects of gradation on crater form are dependent on size, local lithology, slopes, and availability of mobile sediments. At Gusev, impacts into basaltic rubble create shallow craters and ejecta composed of resistant rocks. Ejecta initially experience eolian stripping, which becomes weathering-limited as lags develop on ejecta surfaces and sediments are trapped within craters. Subsequent eolian gradation depends on the slow production of fines by weathering and impacts and is accompanied by minor mass wasting. At Meridiani the sulfate-rich bedrock is more susceptible to eolian erosion, and exposed crater rims, walls, and ejecta are eroded, while lower interiors and low-relief surfaces are increasingly infilled and buried by mostly basaltic sediments. Eolian processes outpace early mass wasting, often produce meters of erosion, and mantle some surfaces. Some small craters were likely completely eroded/buried. Craters >100 m in diameter on the Hesperian-aged floor of Gusev are generally more pristine than on the Amazonian-aged Meridiani plains. This conclusion contradicts interpretations from orbital views, which do not readily distinguish crater gradation state at Meridiani and reveal apparently subdued crater forms at Gusev that may suggest more gradation than has occurred.

Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (IPSC) : FY10 development and integration.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Criscenti, Louise Jacqueline; Sassani, David Carl; Arguello, Jose Guadalupe, Jr.

2011-02-01

This report describes the progress in fiscal year 2010 in developing the Waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (IPSC) in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Campaign. The goal of the Waste IPSC is to develop an integrated suite of computational modeling and simulation capabilities to quantitatively assess the long-term performance of waste forms in the engineered and geologic environments of a radioactive waste storage or disposal system. The Waste IPSC will provide this simulation capability (1) for a range of disposal concepts, waste form types, engineered repository designs,more » and geologic settings, (2) for a range of time scales and distances, (3) with appropriate consideration of the inherent uncertainties, and (4) in accordance with robust verification, validation, and software quality requirements. Waste IPSC activities in fiscal year 2010 focused on specifying a challenge problem to demonstrate proof of concept, developing a verification and validation plan, and performing an initial gap analyses to identify candidate codes and tools to support the development and integration of the Waste IPSC. The current Waste IPSC strategy is to acquire and integrate the necessary Waste IPSC capabilities wherever feasible, and develop only those capabilities that cannot be acquired or suitably integrated, verified, or validated. This year-end progress report documents the FY10 status of acquisition, development, and integration of thermal-hydrologic-chemical-mechanical (THCM) code capabilities, frameworks, and enabling tools and infrastructure.« less

Potential for post-closure radionuclide redistribution due to biotic intrusion: aboveground biomass, litter production rates, and the distribution of root mass with depth at material disposal area G, Los Alamos National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

French, Sean B; Christensen, Candace; Jennings, Terry L

2008-01-01

Low-level radioactive waste (LLW) generated at the Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) is disposed of at LANL's Technical Area (T A) 54, Material Disposal Area (MDA) G. The ability of MDA G to safely contain radioactive waste during current and post-closure operations is evaluated as part of the facility's ongoing performance assessment (PA) and composite analysis (CA). Due to the potential for uptake and incorporation of radio nuclides into aboveground plant material, the PA and CA project that plant roots penetrating into buried waste may lead to releases of radionuclides into the accessible environment. The potential amount ofcontamination deposited onmore » the ground surface due to plant intrusion into buried waste is a function of the quantity of litter generated by plants, as well as radionuclide concentrations within the litter. Radionuclide concentrations in plant litter is dependent on the distribution of root mass with depth and the efficiency with which radionuclides are extracted from contaminated soils by the plant's roots. In order to reduce uncertainties associated with the PA and CA for MDA G, surveys are being conducted to assess aboveground biomass, plant litter production rates, and root mass with depth for the four prominent vegetation types (grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees). The collection of aboveground biomass for grasses and forbs began in 2007. Additional sampling was conducted in October 2008 to measure root mass with depth and to collect additional aboveground biomass data for the types of grasses, forbs, shrubs, and trees that may become established at MDA G after the facility undergoes final closure, Biomass data will be used to estimate the future potential mass of contaminated plant litter fall, which could act as a latent conduit for radionuclide transport from the closed disposal area. Data collected are expected to reduce uncertainties associated with the PA and CA for MDA G and ultimately aid in the assessment and subsequent prevention of radionuclide transport within the environment from the closed disposal area and potential exposure to site workers and the public.« less

SFG analysis of the molecular structures at the surfaces and buried interfaces of PECVD ultralow-dielectric constant pSiCOH

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaoxian; Myers, John N.; Huang, Huai; Shobha, Hosadurga; Chen, Zhan; Grill, Alfred

2016-02-01

PECVD deposited porous SiCOH with ultralow dielectric constant has been successfully integrated as the insulator in advanced interconnects to decrease the RC delay. The effects of NH3 plasma treatment and the effectiveness of the dielectric repair on molecular structures at the surface and buried interface of a pSiCOH film deposited on top of a SiCNH film on a Si wafer were fully characterized using sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy (SFG), supplemented by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. After exposure to NH3 plasma for 18 s, about 40% of the methyl groups were removed from the pSiCOH surface, and the average orientation of surface methyl groups tilted more towards the surface. The repair method used here effectively repaired the molecular structures at the pSiCOH surface but did not totally recover the entire plasma-damaged layer. Additionally, simulated SFG spectra with various average orientations of methyl groups at the SiCNH/pSiCOH buried interface were compared with the experimental SFG spectra collected using three different laser input angles to determine the molecular structural information at the SiCNH/pSiCOH buried interface after NH3 plasma treatment and repair. The molecular structures including the coverage and the average orientation of methyl groups at the buried interface were found to be unchanged by NH3 plasma treatment and repair.

Reverse logistics system and recycling potential at a landfill: A case study from Kampala City.

PubMed

Kinobe, J R; Gebresenbet, G; Niwagaba, C B; Vinnerås, B

2015-08-01

The rapid growing population and high urbanisation rates in Sub-Saharan Africa has caused enormous pressure on collection services of the generated waste in the urban areas. This has put a burden on landfilling, which is the major waste disposal method. Waste reduction, re-use and recycling opportunities exist but are not fully utilized. The common items that are re-used and re-cycled are plastics, paper, aluminum, glass, steel, cardboard, and yard waste. This paper develops an overview of reverse logistics at Kiteezi landfill, the only officially recognised waste disposal facility for Kampala City. The paper analyses, in details the collection, re-processing, re-distribution and final markets of these products into a reversed supply chain network. Only 14% of the products at Kiteezi landfill are channeled into the reverse chain while 63% could be included in the distribution chain but are left out and disposed of while the remaining 23% is buried. This is because of the low processing power available, lack of market value, lack of knowledge and limited value addition activities to the products. This paper proposes possible strategies of efficient and effective reverse logistics development, applicable to Kampala City and other similar cities. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The application of induced polarization techniques to detect metal-bearing offshore anthropogenic waste and unexploded ordnance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wynn, Jeff; Roberts, William

2009-01-01

Raw sewage and industrial waste have been dumped into sensitive estuaries, bays, and sounds for centuries. The full extents of the resulting sludge deposits are largely unknown, because they move in response to tidal and long‐shore currents, and because they are often buried by younger inert sediments. USGS field and laboratory measurements of toxic mine waste and organic effluent samples suggest that anthropogenic wastes typically contain finely‐divided metal and metal‐sulfide particles. The anoxic environment provided by anthropogenic wastes promotes the growth of anaerobic bacteria, creating a self‐reducing environment. We suggest that the finely‐divided metal and metal‐sulfide particles are the products of bacterial reduction and precipitation. The fine‐grained metallic precipitates are ideal targets for a surface‐effect electrochemical detection methodology called Induced Polarization (IP). A USGS‐patented (1998/2001) marine IP streamer technology has recently been commercialized and used to map “black smoker” sulfide deposits and their disseminated halos in the Bismarck Sea (2005), and titanium‐sand deposits offshore of South Africa (2007). The marine induced polarization system can do this mapping in three dimensions, more rapidly (it is towed at 3 knots), and with far higher resolution that land‐based measurements or vibracoring. Laboratory‐scale studies at the USGS suggest that anthropogenic wastes may display a specific multi‐frequency IP spectral signature that may be applicable to waste‐deposit mapping.

Distribution of gases in the unsaturated zone at a low-level radioactive-waste disposal site near Sheffield, Illinois

USGS Publications Warehouse

Striegl, Robert G.

1988-01-01

The unsaturated zone is a medium that provides pneumatic communication for the movement of gases from wastes buried in landfills to the atmosphere, biota, and groundwater. Gases in unsaturated glacial and eolian deposits near a waste-disposal trench at the low-level radioactive-waste disposal site near Sheffield, Bureau County, Illinois, were identified, and the spatial and temporal distributions of the partial pressures of those gases were determined for the period January 1984 through January 1986. Methods for the collection and analyses of the gases are described, as are geologic and hydrologic characteristics of the unsaturated zone that affect gas transport. The identified gases, which are of natural and of waste origin, include nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, carbon dioxide, methane, propane, butane, tritiated water vapor, 14carbon dioxide, and 222 radon. Concentrations of methane and 14carbon dioxide originated at the waste, as shown by partial-pressure gradients of the gases; 14carbon dioxide partial pressures exceeded natural background partial pressures by factors greater than 1 million at some locations. Variations in partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide were seasonal among piezometers because of increased root and soil-microbe respiration during summer. Variations in methane and 14carbon dioxide partial pressures were apparently related to discrete releases from waste sources at unpredictable intervals of time. No greater than background partial pressures for tritiated water vapor or 222 radon were measured. (USGS)

Hydrogeology and leachate movement near two chemical-waste sites in Oswego County, New York

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anderson, H.R.; Miller, Todd S.

1986-01-01

Forty-five observation wells and test holes were installed at two chemical waste disposal sites in Oswego County, New York, to evaluate the hydrogeologic conditions and the rate and direction of leachate migration. At the site near Oswego groundwater moves northward at an average velocity of 0.4 ft/day through unconsolidated glacial deposits and discharges into White Creek and Wine Creek, which border the site and discharge to Lake Ontario. Leaking barrels by chemical wastes have contaminated the groundwater within the site, as evidenced by detection of 10 ' priority pollutant ' organic compounds, and elevated values of specific conductance, chloride, arsenic, lead, and mercury. At the site near Fulton, where 8,000 barrels of chemical wastes are buried, groundwater in the sandy surficial aquifer bordering the landfill on the south and east moves southward and eastward at an average velocity of 2.8 ft/day and discharges to Bell Creek, which discharges to the Oswego River, or moves beneath the landfill. Leachate is migrating eastward, southeastward, and southwestward, as evidenced by elevated values of specific conductance, temperature, and concentrations of several trace metals at wells east, southeast, and southwest of the site. (USGS)

Subduction zones: Not relevant to present-day problems of waste disposal

USGS Publications Warehouse

Silver, E.A.

1972-01-01

SUBDUCTION zones are considered to be sites of disposal for vast areas of the Earth's surface1, while new surface is generated simultaneously at rise crests2. Bostrom and Sherif3 suggest that the world's industrial and domestic waste be dumped into subduction zones at deep sea trenches to allow nature to complete the recycling process at geologically rapid rates of 5 to 10 cm/yr. They also point out that trenches are often sites of rapid rates of deposition and suggest that the dumped wastes would, speaking geologically, soon be buried. Francis4 suggests that canisters of toxic chemical and radioactive wastes could be dumped onto trench sediments and be expected to sink at rates of 20 m/yr, assuming that the mass of turbidites in the trench fill often spontaneously liquefies on shaking by earthquakes. The assumption is based on the supposed lack of evidence for deformed sediment in trenches. I will argue that the suggestion of Bostrom and Sherif3 is not useful for the next few dozen generations of human populations and will point out observational evidence to show that Francis's4 assumption is incorrectly founded. ?? 1972 Nature Publishing Group.

Dynamic model of open shell structures buried in poroelastic soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bordón, J. D. R.; Aznárez, J. J.; Maeso, O.

2017-08-01

This paper is concerned with a three-dimensional time harmonic model of open shell structures buried in poroelastic soils. It combines the dual boundary element method (DBEM) for treating the soil and shell finite elements for modelling the structure, leading to a simple and efficient representation of buried open shell structures. A new fully regularised hypersingular boundary integral equation (HBIE) has been developed to this aim, which is then used to build the pair of dual BIEs necessary to formulate the DBEM for Biot poroelasticity. The new regularised HBIE is validated against a problem with analytical solution. The model is used in a wave diffraction problem in order to show its effectiveness. It offers excellent agreement for length to thickness ratios greater than 10, and relatively coarse meshes. The model is also applied to the calculation of impedances of bucket foundations. It is found that all impedances except the torsional one depend considerably on hydraulic conductivity within the typical frequency range of interest of offshore wind turbines.

Salang Hospital: Lack of Water and Power Severely Limits Hospital Services, and Major Construction Deficiencies Raise Safety Concerns

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

November 27, 2013 SIGAR 14-31-IP/Salang Hospital Page 3 • Hospital staff stated they believe the hospital’s septic tank is leaking. The staff told...us that, to the best of their knowledge, no leach field2 was built for the septic tank . • The statement of work required the contractor to provide...2 A leach field is typically installed with a septic tank for subsurface disposal of liquid waste. Multiple perforated pipes buried under ground

Considerations Related To Human Intrusion In The Context Of Disposal Of Radioactive Waste-The IAEA HIDRA Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Seitz, Roger; Kumano, Yumiko; Bailey, Lucy

2014-01-09

The principal approaches for management of radioactive waste are commonly termed ‘delay and decay’, ‘concentrate and contain’ and ‘dilute and disperse’. Containing the waste and isolating it from the human environment, by burying it, is considered to increase safety and is generally accepted as the preferred approach for managing radioactive waste. However, this approach results in concentrated sources of radioactive waste contained in one location, which can pose hazards should the facility be disrupted by human action in the future. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/Nuclear Energymore » Agency (OECD/NEA) agree that some form of inadvertent human intrusion (HI) needs to be considered to address the potential consequences in the case of loss of institutional control and loss of memory of the disposal facility. Requirements are reflected in national regulations governing radioactive waste disposal. However, in practice, these requirements are often different from country to country, which is then reflected in the actual implementation of HI as part of a safety case. The IAEA project on HI in the context of Disposal of RadioActive waste (HIDRA) has been started to identify potential areas for improved consistency in consideration of HI. The expected outcome is to provide recommendations on how to address human actions in the safety case in the future, and how the safety case may be used to demonstrate robustness and optimize siting, design and waste acceptance criteria within the context of a safety case.« less

Availability of environmental radioactivity to honey bee colonies at Los Alamos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hakonson, T.E.; Bostick, K.V.

Data are presented on the availability of tritium, cesium 137, and plutonium to honey bee colonies foraging in the environment surrounding the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Sources of these radionuclides in the laboratory environs include liquid and atmospheric effluents and buried solid waste. Honey bee colonies were placed in three canyon liquid waste disposal areas and were sampled frequently, along with honey, surface water, and surrounding vegetation, to qualitatively determine the availability of these radionuclides to bees (Apis mellifera) and to identify potential food chain sources of the elements. Tritium concentrations in bee and honey samples from the canyons increasedmore » rapidly from initial values of <1 pCi/ml moisture to as much as 9.2 nCi/ml in 75 days after placement of the hives in the canyons. Seasonal patterns in foraging activities as influenced by weather and food availability were apparent in the data. It appears that several sources of tritium were utilized by the colonies, including surface water in the canyons and vegetation receiving tritium from atmospheric effluents and buried solid waste. Concentrations of cesium 137 and plutonium were generally low or undetectable in bees throughout the study. However, levels of both nuclides increased by factors of 10 to 20 in bees from two of the canyon study areas during a 3-month period in 1973. It was speculated that the liquid effluents in the two canyons were the source of the increased concentrations in bee samples, since this water was the only significant source of /sup 137/Cs in the environs. The existence of at least three radionuclide sources in the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) environs complicates the interpretation of the data. However, it is apparent that honey bees can acquire /sup 3/H, /sup 137/Cs, and Pu from multiple sources in the environs.« less

Geophysical Investigation of Buried Slag at the Parrot Tailings Site, Butte, Montana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ha, C. D. M.; Shepherd, K.; Mack, A.; Rutherford, B. S.; Speece, M. A.

2016-12-01

Butte, Montana, has served as an important mining district for more than 120 years. This area contains historic mine waste from decades of unregulated mining practices. In July 1881, the Parrot smelter in Butte started operations and was soon processing ore and producing copper. The Parrot smelter also had a concentrating plant that treated the ore prior to smelting. The Parrot smelter wastes (slag and tailings) were later covered with Berkeley Pit crushed quartz monzonite overburden. The slag is bricked because it was deposited hot and, as a consequence forms a laterally extensive, cohesive, hard body that is difficult to remove without blasting. With the mine waste being covered by unknown quantities of overburden and soil throughout the area, and core data being limited and expensive to retrieve, the only economical method of discovery is geophysics. Several geophysical techniques were used to determine the lateral boundaries and depth of the buried slag body. The geophysical methods used were seismic, gravity, electromagnetic induction, and magnetics. Not all of these geophysical surveys produced useful results due to the nature of the slag. For instance, electromagnetic induction could not distinguish between the slag and adjacent tailings; and, the microgravity profiles showed only a small gravitational field variation caused by the density contrast between slag and the surrounding tailings, sediment and granitic cover. On the other hand, the seismic surveys resulted in unexpected first arrival times that distinctly showed velocity variations due to the slag. In addition, the slag body produced a large magnetic response. Unpublished, proprietary well data allowed us to model the slag body from our magnetic data. This model was confirmed by projecting velocity tomograms, that we created using seismic diving waves, onto our magnetic models. Model results were combined to form a three-dimensional image of the slag body. These results will be used to help construct a remediation plan to remove the slag along with the associated tailings.

Comparison of municipal solid waste management systems in Canada and Ghana: A case study of the cities of London, Ontario, and Kumasi, Ghana

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Asase, Mizpah; Yanful, Ernest K.; Mensah, Moses

2009-10-15

Integrated waste management has been accepted as a sustainable approach to solid waste management in any region. It can be applied in both developed and developing countries. The difference is the approach taken to develop the integrated waste management system. This review looks at the integrated waste management system operating in the city of London, Ontario-Canada and how lessons can be drawn from the system's development and operation that will help implement a sustainable waste management system in the city of Kumasi, Ghana. The waste management system in London is designed such that all waste generated in the city ismore » handled and disposed of appropriately. The responsibility of each sector handling waste is clearly defined and monitored. All major services are provided and delivered by a combination of public and private sector forces. The sustainability of the waste management in the city of London is attributed to the continuous improvement strategy framework adopted by the city based on the principles of integrated waste management. It is perceived that adopting a strategic framework based on the principles of integrated waste management with a strong political and social will, can transform the current waste management in Kumasi and other cities in developing countries in the bid for finding lasting solutions to the problems that have plagued the waste management system in these cities.« less

Condition Assessment for Drinking Water Transmission and Distribution Mains

EPA Science Inventory

This project seeks to improve the capability to characterize the condition of water infrastructure. The integrity of buried drinking water mains is critical, as it influences water quality, losses, pressure and cost. This research complements the U.S. Environmental Protection A...

Design and implementation of the protective cap/biobarrier experiment at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Limbach, W.E.; Ratzlaff, T.D.; Anderson, J.E.

1994-12-31

The Protective Cap/Biobarrier Experiment (PCBE), initiated in 1993 at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), is a strip-split plot experiment with three replications designed to rigorously test a 2.0-m loessal soil cap against a cap recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency and two caps with biological intrusion barriers. Past research at INEL indicates that it should be possible to exclude water from buried wastes using natural materials and natural processes in arid environments rather than expensive materials (geotextiles) and highly engineered caps. The PCBE will also test the effects of two vegetal covers and three irrigation levels on capmore » performance. Drainage pans, located at the bottom of each plot, will monitor cap failure. Soil water profiles will be monitored biweekly by neutron probe and continuously by time domain reflectometry. The performance of each cap design will be monitored under a variety of conditions through 1998. From 1994 to 1996, the authors will assess plant establishment, rooting depths, patterns of moisture extraction and their interactions among caps, vegetal covers, and irrigation levels. In 1996, they will introduce ants and burrowing mammals to test the structural integrity of each cap design. In 1998, the authors will apply sufficient water to determine the failure limit for each cap design. The PCBE should provide reliable knowledge of the performances of the four cap designs under a variety of conditions and aid in making hazardous-waste management decisions at INEL and at disposal sites in similar environments.« less

Integrating intrusive and nonintrusive characterization methods to achieve a conceptual site model for the SLDA FUSRAP site - 8265.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Durham, L. A.; Peterson, J. M.; Frothingham, D. G.

2008-01-01

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is addressing radiological contamination following Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) requirements at the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) site, which is a radiologically contaminated property that is part of the Formerly utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The SLDA is an 18-hectare (44-acre) site in Parks township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, about 37 kilometers (23 miles) east-northeast of Pittsburgh. According to historical record, radioactive wastes were disposed of at the SLDA in a series of trenches by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Company (NUMEC) in the 1960s. The wastes originated frommore » the nearby Apollo nuclear fuel fabrication facility, which began operations under NUMEC in the late 1950s and fabricated enriched uranium into naval reactor fuel elements. It is believed that the waste materials were buried in a series of pits constructed adjacent to one another in accordance with an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) regulation that has since been rescinded. A CERCLA remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) process was completed for the SLDA site, and the results of the human health risk assessment indicated that the radiologically contaminated wastes could pose a risk to human health in the future. There are no historical records that provide the exact location of these pits. However, based on geophysical survey results conducted in the 1980s, these pits were defined by geophysical anomalies and were depicted on historical site drawings as trenches. At the SLDA site, a combination of investigative methods and tools was used in the RI/FS and site characterization activities. The SLDA site provides an excellent example of how historical documents and data, historical aerial photo analysis, physical sampling, and nonintrusive geophysical and gamma walkover surveys were used in combination to reduce the uncertainty in the location of the trenches. The data and information from these sources were used to refine the conceptual site model, complete the RI/FS, and support the ongoing remedial design and action, which will achieve site closure acceptable to all stakeholders.« less

Integrating Intrusive and Non-intrusive Characterization Methods To Achieve A Conceptual Site Model For The SLDA FUSRAP

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Durham, L.A.; Peterson, J.M.; Frothingham, D.G.

2008-07-01

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is addressing radiological contamination following Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) requirements at the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) site, which is a radiologically contaminated property that is part of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The SLDA is an 18-hectare (44- acre) site in Parks Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, about 37 kilometers (23 miles) east-northeast of Pittsburgh. According to historical record, radioactive wastes were disposed of at the SLDA in a series of trenches by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Company (NUMEC) in the 1960's. The wastes originatedmore » from the nearby Apollo nuclear fuel fabrication facility, which began operations under NUMEC in the late 1950's and fabricated enriched uranium into naval reactor fuel elements. It is believed that the waste materials were buried in a series of pits constructed adjacent to one another in accordance with an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) regulation that has since been rescinded. A CERCLA remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) process was completed for the SLDA site, and the results of the human health risk assessment indicated that the radiologically contaminated wastes could pose a risk to human health in the future. There are no historical records that provide the exact location of these pits. However, based on geophysical survey results conducted in the 1980's, these pits were defined by geophysical anomalies and were depicted on historical site drawings as trenches. At the SLDA site, a combination of investigative methods and tools was used in the RI/FS and site characterization activities. The SLDA site provides an excellent example of how historical documents and data, historical aerial photo analysis, physical sampling, and non-intrusive geophysical and gamma walkover surveys were used in combination to reduce the uncertainty in the location of the trenches. The data and information from these sources were used to refine the conceptual site model, complete the RI/FS, and support the ongoing remedial design and action, which will achieve site closure acceptable to all stakeholders. (authors)« less

Tribal Waste Journal: What Is an Integrated Waste Management Plan (Issue 7)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Integrated Waste Management Plans (IWMPs) may offer tribes an efficient and cost-effective way to reduce open dumping, effectively manage solid waste, and protect human health and the environment for this generation and the next.

Framework for integration of informal waste management sector with the formal sector in Pakistan.

PubMed

Masood, Maryam; Barlow, Claire Y

2013-10-01

Historically, waste pickers around the globe have utilised urban solid waste as a principal source of livelihood. Formal waste management sectors usually perceive the informal waste collection/recycling networks as backward, unhygienic and generally incompatible with modern waste management systems. It is proposed here that through careful planning and administration, these seemingly troublesome informal networks can be integrated into formal waste management systems in developing countries, providing mutual benefits. A theoretical framework for integration based on a case study in Lahore, Pakistan, is presented. The proposed solution suggests that the municipal authority should draw up and agree on a formal work contract with the group of waste pickers already operating in the area. The proposed system is assessed using the integration radar framework to classify and analyse possible intervention points between the sectors. The integration of the informal waste workers with the formal waste management sector is not a one dimensional or single step process. An ideal solution might aim for a balanced focus on all four categories of intervention, although this may be influenced by local conditions. Not all the positive benefits will be immediately apparent, but it is expected that as the acceptance of such projects increases over time, the informal recycling economy will financially supplement the formal system in many ways.

Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment of Nuclear Materials Contained in High-Activity Waste Arising from the Operations at the 'SHELTER' Facility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cherkas, Dmytro

2011-10-01

As a result of the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl NPP in 1986, the explosion dispeesed nuclear materials contained in the nuclear fuel of the reactor core over the destroyed facilities at Unit No. 4 and over the territory immediately adjacent to the destroyed unit. The debris was buried under the Cascade Wall. Nuclear materials at the SHELTER can be characterized as spent nuclear fuel, fresh fuel assemblies (including fuel assemblies with damaged geometry and integrity, and individual fuel elements), core fragments of the Chernobyl NPP Unit No. 4, finely-dispersed fuel (powder/dust), uranium and plutonium compounds in water solutions, andmore » lava-like nuclear fuel-containing masses. The new safe confinement (NSC) is a facility designed to enclose the Chernobyl NPP Unit No. 4 destroyed by the accident. Construction of the NSC involves excavating operations, which are continuously monitored including for the level of radiation. The findings of such monitoring at the SHELTER site will allow us to characterize the recovered radioactive waste. When a process material categorized as high activity waste (HAW) is detected the following HLW management operations should be involved: HLW collection; HLW fragmentation (if appropriate); loading HAW into the primary package KT-0.2; loading the primary package filled with HAW into the transportation cask KTZV-0.2; and storing the cask in temporary storage facilities for high-level solid waste. The CDAS system is a system of 3He tubes for neutron coincidence counting, and is designed to measure the percentage ratio of specific nuclear materials in a 200-liter drum containing nuclear material intermixed with a matrix. The CDAS consists of panels with helium counter tubes and a polyethylene moderator. The panels are configured to allow one to position a waste-containing drum and a drum manipulator. The system operates on the ‘add a source’ basis using a small Cf-252 source to identify irregularities in the matrix during an assay. The platform with the source is placed under the measurement chamber. The platform with the source material is moved under the measurement chamber. The design allows one to move the platform with the source in and out, thus moving the drum. The CDAS system and radioactive waste containers have been built. For each drum filled with waste two individual measurements (passive/active) will be made. This paper briefly describes the work carried out to assess qualitatively and quantitatively the nuclear materials contained in high-level waste at the SHELTER facility. These efforts substantially increased nuclear safety and security at the facility.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bolotov, V. V.; Knyazev, E. V.; Ponomareva, I. V.

The oxidation of mesoporous silicon in a double-layer “macroporous silicon–mesoporous silicon” structure is studied. The morphology and dielectric properties of the buried insulating layer are investigated using electron microscopy, ellipsometry, and electrical measurements. Specific defects (so-called spikes) are revealed between the oxidized macropore walls in macroporous silicon and the oxidation crossing fronts in mesoporous silicon. It is found that, at an initial porosity of mesoporous silicon of 60%, three-stage thermal oxidation leads to the formation of buried silicon-dioxide layers with an electric-field breakdown strength of E{sub br} ~ 10{sup 4}–10{sup 5} V/cm. Multilayered “porous silicon-on-insulator” structures are shown to bemore » promising for integrated chemical micro- and nanosensors.« less

Integrated magnetic, gravity, and GPR surveys to locate the probable source of hydrocarbon contamination in Sharm El-Sheikh area, south Sinai, Egypt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morsy, Mona; Rashed, Mohamed

2013-01-01

Sharm El-Sheikh waters were suddenly hit by hydrocarbon spills which created a serious threat to the prosperous tourism industry in and around the city. Analysis of soil samples, water samples, and seabed samples collected in and around the contaminated bay area showed anomalous levels of hydrocarbons. An integrated geophysical investigation, using magnetic, gravity, and ground penetrating radar geophysical tools, was conducted in the headland overlooking the contaminated bay in order to delineate the possible subsurface source of contamination. The results of the geophysical investigations revealed three underground manmade reinforced concrete tanks and a complicated network of buried steel pipes in addition to other unidentified buried objects. The depths and dimensions of the discovered objects were determined. Geophysical investigations also revealed the presence of a north-south oblique slip fault running through the eastern part of the studied area. Excavations, conducted later on, confirmed the presence of one of the tanks delineated by the geophysical surveys.

Crater gradation in Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum, Mars

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grant, J. A.; Arvidson, R. E.; Crumpler, L.S.; Golombek, M.P.; Hahn, B.; Haldemann, A.F.C.; Li, R.; Soderblom, L.A.; Squyres, S. W.; Wright, S.P.; Watters, W.A.

2006-01-01

The Mars Exploration Rovers investigated numerous craters in Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum during the first ???400 sols of their missions. Craters vary in size and preservation state but are mostly due to secondary impacts at Gusev and primary impacts at Meridiani. Craters at both locations are modified primarily by eolian erosion and infilling and lack evidence for modification by aqueous processes. Effects of gradation on crater form are dependent on size, local lithology, slopes, and availability of mobile sediments. At Gusev, impacts into basaltic rubble create shallow craters and ejecta composed of resistant rocks. Ejecta initially experience eolian stripping, which becomes weathering-limited as lags develop on ejecta surfaces and sediments are trapped within craters. Subsequent eolian gradation depends on the slow production of fines by weathering and impacts and is accompanied by minor mass wasting. At Meridiani the sulfate-rich bedrock is more susceptible to eolian erosion, and exposed crater rims, walls, and ejecta are eroded, while lower interiors and low-relief surfaces are increasingly infilled and buried by mostly basaltic sediments. Eolian processes outpace early mass wasting, often produce meters of erosion, and mantle some surfaces. Some small craters were likely completely eroded/buried. Craters >100 m in diameter on the Hesperian-aged floor of Gusev are generally more pristine than on the Amazonian-aged Meridiani plains. This conclusion contradicts interpretations from orbital views, which do not readily distinguish crater gradation state at Meridiani and reveal apparently subdued crater forms at Gusev that may suggest more gradation than has occurred. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

A comparison of in situ methods for measuring net nitrogen mineralization rates of organic soil amendments.

PubMed

Hanselman, Travis A; Graetz, Donald A; Obreza, Thomas A

2004-01-01

In situ incubation methods may help provide site-specific estimates of N mineralization from land-applied wastes. However, there are concerns about the reliability of the data generated by the various methods due to containment artifacts. We amended a sandy soil with either poultry manure, biosolids, or yard-waste compost and incubated the mixtures using four in situ methods (buried bags, covered cylinders, standard resin traps, and "new" soil-resin traps) and a conventional laboratory technique in plastic bags. Each incubation device was destructively sampled at 45-d intervals for 180 d and net N mineralization was determined by measuring the amount of inorganic N that accumulated in the soil or soil plus resin traps. Containment effects were evaluated by comparing water content of the containerized soil to a field-reference soil column. In situ incubation methods provided reasonable estimates of short-term (< 45 d) N mineralization, but long-term (> 45 d) mineralization data were not accurate due to a variety of problems specific to each technique. Buried bags and covered cylinders did not retain mineralized N due to water movement into and out of the containers. Neither resin method captured all of the mineralized N that leached through the soil columns, but the new soil-resin trap method tracked field soil water content better than all other in situ methods evaluated. With further refinement and validation, the new soil-resin trap method may be a useful in situ incubation technique for measuring net N mineralization rates of organic soil amendments.

Pulling History from the Waste Stream: Identification and Collection of Manhattan Project and Cold War Era Artifacts on the Hanford Site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marceau, Thomas E.; Watson, Thomas L.

One man's trash is another man's treasure. Not everything called "waste" is meant for the refuse pile. The mission of the Curation Program is at direct odds with the remediation objectives of the Hanford Site. While others are busily tearing down and burying the Site's physical structures and their associated contents, the Curation Program seeks to preserve the tangible elements of the Site's history from these structures for future generations before they flow into the waste stream. Under the provisions of a Programmatic Agreement, Cultural Resources staff initiated a project to identify and collect artifacts and archives that have historicmore » or interpretive value in documenting the role of the Hanford Site throughout the Manhattan Project and Cold War Era. The genesis of Hanford's modern day Curation Program, its evolution over nearly two decades, issues encountered, and lessons learned along the way -- particularly the importance of upper management advocacy, when and how identification efforts should be accomplished, the challenges of working within a radiological setting, and the importance of first hand information -- are presented.« less

Criticality assessment of LLRWDF closure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sarrack, A.G.; Weber, J.H.; Woody, N.D.

1992-10-06

During the operation of the Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility (LLRWDF), large amounts (greater than 100 kg) of enriched uranium (EU) were buried. This EU came primarily from the closing and decontamination of the Naval Fuels Facility in the time period from 1987--1989. Waste Management Operations (WMO) procedures were used to keep the EU boxes separated to prevent possible criticality during normal operation. Closure of the LLRWDF is currently being planned, and waste stabilization by Dynamic Compaction (DC) is proposed. Dynamic compaction will crush the containers in the LLRWDF and result in changes in their geometry. Research of themore » LLRWDF operations and record keeping practices have shown that the EU contents of trenches are known, but details of the arrangement of the contents cannot be proven. Reviews of the trench contents, combined with analysis of potential critical configurations, revealed that some portions of the LLRWDF can be expected to be free of criticality concerns while other sections have credible probabilities for the assembly of a critical mass, even in the uncompacted configuration. This will have an impact on the closure options and which trenches can be compacted.« less

Superfund record of decision (EPA Region 5): Muskego Sanitary Landfill, Muskego, WI. (First remedial action), June 1992. Interim report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-06-12

The 56-acre Muskego Sanitary Landfill site was located in the City of Muskego, Waukesha County, Wisconsin. From the 1950's to 1981, municipal waste, waste oils, paint products, and other waste were disposed of at the site. The site was separated into three disposal areas: the Old Fill Area (38 acres); the Southeast Fill Area (16 acres); and the Non-Contiguous Fill Area (4.2 acres), composed of a drum trench, north and south refuse trenches, and an L-shaped fill area, all containing waste similar to the Old Fill Area. As a result of deteriorating water quality at onsite ground water monitoring wells,more » Waste Management of Wisconsin Inc. (WMWI) and the state conducted numerous investigations that revealed elevated levels of contaminants in the ground water. Two separate areas at the site were discovered to contain buried drums and contaminated soil. The first area was located east of the Non-Contiguous Fill Area. The second area, known as the drum trench, was discovered in a portion of the Non-Contiguous Fill Area and contained 989 drums and 2,500 cubic yards of contaminated soil. The interim ROD addressed the control and remediation of the contamination sources, including landfill waste, contaminated soils, leachate, and landfill gas. The primary contaminants of concern affecting the soil and ground water were VOCs, including benzene, toluene, and xylenes; and other organics, including chlorinated ethanes, ketones, PAHs, PCBs, pesticides, phenols, and phthalates.« less

Geological considerations in hazardouswaste disposal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cartwright, K.; Gilkeson, R. H.; Johnson, T. M.

1981-12-01

Present regulations assume that long-term isolation of hazardous wastes — including toxic chemical, biological, radioactive, flammable and explosive wastes — may be effected by disposal in landfills that have liners of very low hydraulic conductivity. In reality, total isolation of wastes in humid areas is not possible; some migration of leachate from wastes buried in the gound will always occur. Regulations should provide performance standards applicable on a site-by-site basis rather than rigid criteria for site selection and design. The performance standards should take into account several factors: (1) the categories, segregation, degradation and toxicity of the wastes; (2) the site hydrogeology, which governs the direction and rate of contaminant transport; (3) the attenuation of contaminants by geochemical interactions with geologic materials; and (4) the release rate of unattenuated pollutants to surface or groundwater. An adequate monitoring system is essential. The system should both test the extent to which the operation of the site meets performance standards and provide sufficient warning of pollution problems to allow implementation of remedial measures. In recent years there has been a trend away from numerous, small disposal sites toward fewer and larger sites. The size of a disposal site should be based on the attenuation capacity of the geologic material, which has a finite, though generally not well-defined, limit. For slowly degradable wastes, engineered sites with leachate-collection systems appear to be only a temporary solution since the leachate collected will also require final disposal.

Geological considerations in hazardouswaste disposal

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cartwright, K.; Gilkeson, R.H.; Johnson, T.M.

1981-01-01

Present regulations assume that long-term isolation of hazardous wastes - including toxic chemical, biological, radioactive, flammable and explosive wastes - may be effected by disposal in landfills that have liners of very low hydraulic conductivity. In reality, total isolation of wastes in humid areas is not possible; some migration of leachate from wastes buried in the gound will always occur. Regulations should provide performance standards applicable on a site-by-site basis rather than rigid criteria for site selection and design. The performance standards should take into account several factors: (1) the categories, segregation, degradation and toxicity of the wastes; (2) the site hydrogeology, which governs the direction and rate of contaminant transport; (3) the attenuation of contaminants by geochemical interactions with geologic materials; and (4) the release rate of unattenuated pollutants to surface or groundwater. An adequate monitoring system is essential. The system should both test the extent to which the operation of the site meets performance standards and provide sufficient warning of pollution problems to allow implementation of remedial measures. In recent years there has been a trend away from numerous, small disposal sites toward fewer and larger sites. The size of a disposal site should be based on the attenuation capacity of the geologic material, which has a finite, though generally not well-defined, limit. For slowly degradable wastes, engineered sites with leachate-collection systems appear to be only a temporary solution since the leachate collected will also require final disposal. ?? 1981.

Evaluation of waste tank 16 using a field mercury analyzer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Looney, B.; Cook, J.R.

1988-05-12

Liquid radioactive wastes from the chemical processing of nuclear materials at the Savannah River Plant (SRP) are stored in large tanks buried near the ground surface. Each tank has multiple containment barriers designed to prevent leakage to the surrounding soil and groundwater. The only incident in which waste leaked through the multiple containment of a waste tank at SRP occurred at Tank 16 on September 8, 1960 (Poe, 1974; Prendergast, 1982). Tank 16 was built in 1955 and has a capacity of approximately one million gallons. Tank 16 consists of a steel primary containment vessel resting in a shallow steelmore » pan. A massive concrete encasement surrounds the tank and pan. After the leak in 1960, the tank was removed from service until 1967; at that time it was placed into service for lower activity wastes. In 1972 the tank was removed from service. Subsequently, all of the waste except a sludge heel of 67,000 gallons was removed from the tank. In 1980, this sludge was removed. Following the sludge removal, the tank was exhaustively cleaned and rinsed. Concentrations of radioactivity in the rinsewater suggested that the cleaning of the tank was effective (West and Morris, 1980). Recently, there has been concern about residual nonradioactive constituents, such as mercury, in the tank. To assist in evaluating the potential for residual mercury contamination, a survey method was developed and a survey of several tanks was conducted. 3 refs., 1 tab.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mayberry, J.; Stelle, S.; O`Brien, M.

The Mixed Waste Integrated Program Logic Diagram was developed to provide technical alternative for mixed wastes projects for the Office of Technology Development`s Mixed Waste Integrated Program (MWIP). Technical solutions in the areas of characterization, treatment, and disposal were matched to a select number of US Department of Energy (DOE) treatability groups represented by waste streams found in the Mixed Waste Inventory Report (MWIR).

Hydrology of the Melton Valley radioactive-waste burial grounds at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee

USGS Publications Warehouse

Webster, D.A.; Bradley, Michael W.

1988-01-01

Burial grounds 4, 5, and 6 of the Melton Valley Radioactive-waste Burial Grounds, Oak Ridge, TN, were used sequentially from 1951 to the present for the disposal of solid, low level radioactive waste by burial in shallow trenches and auger holes. Abundant rainfall, a generally thin unsaturated zone, geologic media of inherently low permeability, and the operational practices employed have contributed to partial saturation of the buried waste, leaching of radionuclides, and transport of dissolved matter from the burial areas. Two primary methods of movement of wastes from these sites are transport in groundwater, and the overflow of fluid in trenches and subsequent flow across land surface. Whiteoak Creek and its tributaries receive all overland flow from trench spillage, surface runoff from each site, and discharge of groundwater from the regolith of each site. Potentiometric data, locally, indicate that this drainage system also receives groundwater discharges from the bedrock of burial ground 5. By projection of the bedrock flow patterns characteristic of this site to other areas of Melton Valley, it is inferred that discharges from the bedrock underlying burial grounds 4 and 6 also is to the Whiteoak Creek drainage system. The differences in potentiometric heads and a comparatively thin saturated zone in bedrock do not favor the development of deep flow through bedrock from one river system to another. (USGS)

Superfund Record of Decision (EPA Region 7): Doepke Disposal (Holliday), KS. (First remedial action), September 1989. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1989-09-21

The Doepke Disposal (Holliday) site is an inactive industrial-waste landfill located east of Holliday, Johnson County, Kansas. During the 1950s and early 1960s the site was used as a landfill for residential refuse. In 1963 Doepke Disposal Service, Inc. leased the property and operated a commercial and industrial waste landfill until 1970, when the State shut down the operation. Materials such as fiberglass, fiberglass resins, paint sludges, spent solvents, metal sludges, soaps, and pesticides were reportedly disposed of at the landfill. In 1966 fire debris and up to 374 drums of solvents and organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides were disposed ofmore » at the site as a result of a fire at a Kansas City chemical plant. Initially wastes and residues brought to the site were burned, however, in the late 1960s burning operations ceased and solid wastes were buried onsite and liquids were disposed of in two surface impoundments. In 1977 rock material excavated during the construction of an interstate was dumped onsite and in some cases over the deposited waste. The current owner uses portions of the site for storage of clay, crushed shales, and crushed limestone. The primary contaminants of concern affecting the soil and ground water are VOCs including benzene, toluene, and xylene; other organics including PAHs, PCBs, and pesticides, and metals including chromium and lead.« less

Diagnostics for a waste processing plasma arc furnace (invited) (abstract)a)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woskov, P. P.

1995-01-01

Maintaining the quality of our environment has become an important goal of society. As part of this goal new technologies are being sought to clean up hazardous waste sites and to treat ongoing waste streams. A 1 MW pilot scale dc graphite electrode plasma arc furnace (Mark II) has been constructed at MIT under a joint program among Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), MIT, and Electro-Pyrolysis, Inc. (EPI)c) for the remediation of buried wastes in the DOE complex. A key part of this program is the development of new and improved diagnostics to study, monitor, and control the entire waste remediation process for the optimization of this technology and to safeguard the environment. Continuous, real time diagnostics are needed for a variety of the waste process parameters. These parameters include internal furnace temperatures, slag fill levels, trace metals content in the off-gas stream, off-gas molecular content, feed and slag characterization, and off-gas particulate size, density, and velocity distributions. Diagnostics are currently being tested at MIT for the first three parameters. An active millimeter-wave radiometer with a novel, rotatable graphite waveguide/mirror antenna system has been implemented on Mark II for the measurement of surface emission and emissivity which can be used to determine internal furnace temperatures and fill levels. A microwave torch plasma is being evaluated for use as a excitation source in the furnace off-gas stream for continuous atomic emission spectroscopy of trace metals. These diagnostics should find applicability not only to waste remediation, but also to other high temperature processes such as incinerators, power plants, and steel plants.

Method for disposing of hazardous wastes

DOEpatents

Burton, Frederick G.; Cataldo, Dominic A.; Cline, John F.; Skiens, W. Eugene

1995-01-01

A method and system for long-term control of root growth without killing the plants bearing those roots involves incorporating a 2,6-dinitroaniline in a polymer and disposing the polymer in an area in which root control is desired. This results in controlled release of the substituted aniline herbicide over a period of many years. Herbicides of this class have the property of preventing root elongation without translocating into other parts of the plant. The herbicide may be encapsulated in the polymer or mixed with it. The polymer-herbicide mixture may be formed into pellets, sheets, pipe gaskets, pipes for carrying water, or various other forms. The invention may be applied to other protection of buried hazardous wastes, protection of underground pipes, prevention of root intrusion beneath slabs, the dwarfing of trees or shrubs and other applications. The preferred herbicide is 4-difluoromethyl-N,N-dipropyl- 2,6-dinitro-aniline, commonly known as trifluralin.

Floristic composition and plant succession on near-surface radioactive-waste-disposal facilities in the Los Alamos National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tierney, G.D.; Foxx, T.S.

1982-03-01

Since 1946, low-level radioactive waste has been buried in shallow landfills within the confines of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Five of these sites were studied for plant composition and successional patterns by reconnaissance and vegetation mapping. The data show a slow rate of recovery for all sites, regardless of age, in both the pinon-juniper and ponderosa pine communities. The sites are not comparable in succession or composition because of location and previous land use. The two oldest sites have the highest species diversity and the only mature trees. All sites allowed to revegetate naturally tend to be colonized bymore » the same species that originally surrounded the sites. Sites on historic fields are colonized by the old field flora, whereas those in areas disturbed only by grazing are revegetated by the local native flora.« less

Demonstration of geophysical methods for burial ground geophysical characterization study at the DOE Savannah River site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hasbrouck, J.C.; MacLean, H.D.; Geotech, R.

1996-11-01

Rust Geotech, operating contractor at the U.S. Department of Energy Grand Junction Projects Office (DOE-GJPO), conducted a demonstration of the trench boundary and large-object location capabilities of five nonintrusive geophysical methods in the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility (LLRWDF) at the DOE Savannah River Site (SRS). The plan for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) closure of the SRS LLRWDF specifies inplace compaction of {open_quotes}B-25{close_quotes} metal boxes containing low-level radioactive wastes. The boxes are buried in Engineered Low-Level Trenches (ELLTs) at the facility. To properly guide and control the compaction operation, the coordinates of the trench boundaries must be determinedmore » to an accuracy within 5 feet and the outer edges of the metal boxes in the trenches must be determined to within 2 feet.« less

Students investigate environmental restoration site in New Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferguson, John F.; Baldridge, W. Scott; Jiracek, George R.; Gonzalez, Victor; Pope, Paul A.

Investigations conducted during the 1997 Summer of Applied Geophysical Experience (SAGE) field course at one site at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) successfully delineated a waste disposal trench dug in the 1940s. The survey, which was popular with the students, provided them with important experience in “real world” geophysical problems and demonstrated that students can obtain useful and important results during a short field exercise.The utility of the magnetic, seismic refraction, and ground-penetrating radar methods will be demonstrated on a profile through one of the major waste trenches at the site. The magnetic and radar methods are sensitive to the presence of metallic objects buried within the trenches. A low-velocity trench structure is defined by the seismic refraction data. Models of the trench structure are both accurate (linear dimensions are probably good to within a few meters) and somewhat different from prior expectations.

[The sanitary and hygienic state of solid garbage burial grounds in the stages of a life cycle].

PubMed

Zomarev, A M; Vaĭsman, Ia I; Zaĭtseva, T A; Glushankova, I S

2010-01-01

The purpose of the study was to assess the sanitary-and-hygienic state of solid garbage (SG) burial grounds in the Perm Territory in different stage of a life cycle. This paper presents the results of the study of deposited waste, forming dump soil, and SG ground emissions by general sanitary and sanitary-microbiological parameters and their effect on environmental objects. The performed studies of the sanitary-and-hygienic situation on some grounds of the Perm Territory suggest that there is a need for setting up a system for sanitary-and-monitoring of SG ground and for elaborating engineering, organizational, and prophylactic measures to assure the sanitary-and-hygienic safety of objects and to control the quality and quantity of waste to be buried and the currents of emissions (ground body degassing, filtrating sewage drainage and purification).

Remaining Sites Verification Package for the 100-F-46, 119-F Stack Sampling French Drain, Waste Site Reclassification Form 2008-021

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

J. M. Capron

2008-08-08

The 100-F-46 french drain consisted of a 1.5 to 3 m long, vertically buried, gravel-filled pipe that was approximately 1 m in diameter. Also included in this waste site was a 5 cm cast-iron pipeline that drained condensate from the 119-F Stack Sampling Building into the 100-F-46 french drain. In accordance with this evaluation, the confirmatory sampling results support a reclassification of this site to No Action. The current site conditions achieve the remedial action objectives and the corresponding remedial action goals established in the Remaining Sites ROD. The results of confirmatory sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do notmore » preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.« less

Integrated GPR and ERT as Enhanced Detection for Subsurface Historical Structures Inside Babylonian Houses Site, Uruk City, Southern Iraq

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Khersan, Emad H.; Al-Ani, Jassim M. T.; Abrahem, Salah N.

2016-03-01

Uruk archaeological site, which located in Al-Muthanna Governorate southern Iraq, was investigated by integrated geophysical methods, ground penetration radar (GPR) and electric resistivity tomography (ERT) to image the historical buried structures. The GPR images show large radar attributes characterized by its continuous reflections having different widths. GPR attributes at shallower depth are mainly representing the upper part of Babylonian Houses that can often be found throughout the study area. In addition, radargrams characterized objects such as buried items, buried trenches and pits which were mainly concentrated near the surface. The ERT results show the presence of several anomalies at different depths generally having low resistivities. It is clear that the first upper zone can be found throughout the whole area and it may represent the top zone of the Babylonian houses. This zone is characterized by its dry clay and sandy soil containing surface broken bricks and slag mixed with core boulders. The second one underneath the top shows a prominent lower resistivity zone. It is probably caused by the moisture content that reduces the resistivity. The thickness of this zone is not equal at all parts of the site. The third deeper zone typically represents the archaeological walls. Most of the main anomalies perhaps referred to the buried clay brick walls. The map of the archaeological anomalies distribution and 3D view of the foundations at the study area using GPR and ERT techniques clearly show the characteristics of the Babylonian remains. A contour map and 3D view of Uruk show that the archaeological anomalies are concentrated mainly at the NE part of the district with higher values of wall height that range between 6 and 8 m and reach to more than 10 m. At the other directions, there are fewer walls with lower heights of 4-6 m and reach in some places the wall foot.

An Integration of Geophysical Methods to Explore Buried Structures on the Bench and in the Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Booterbaugh, A. P.; Lachhab, A.

2011-12-01

In the following study, an integration of geophysical methods and devices were implemented on the bench and in the field to accurately identify buried structures. Electrical resistivity and ground penetrating radar methods, including both a fabricated electrical resistivity apparatus and an electrical resistivity device were all used in this study. The primary goal of the study was to test the accuracy and reliability of the apparatus which costs a fraction of the price of a commercially sold resistivity instrument. The apparatus consists of four electrodes, two multimeters, a 12-volt battery, a DC to AC inverter and wires. Using this apparatus, an electrical current, is injected into earth material through the outer electrodes and the potential voltage is measured across the inner electrodes using a multimeter. The recorded potential and the intensity of the current can then be used to calculate the apparent resistivity of a given material. In this study the Wenner array, which consists of four equally spaced electrodes, was used due to its higher accuracy and greater resolution when investigating lateral variations of resistivity in shallow depths. In addition, the apparatus was used with an electrical resistivity device and a ground penetrating radar unit to explore the buried building foundation of Gustavus Adolphus Hall located on Susquehanna University Campus, Selinsgrove, PA. The apparatus successfully produced consistent results on the bench level revealing the location of small bricks buried under a soil material. In the summer of 2010, seventeen electrical resistivity transects were conducted on the Gustavus Adolphus site where and revealed remnants of the foundation. In the summer of 2011, a ground penetrating radar survey and an electrical resistivity tomography survey were conducted to further explore the site. Together these methods identified the location of the foundation and proved that the apparatus was a reliable tool for regular use on the bench and in the field.

Inferring the most probable maps of underground utilities using Bayesian mapping model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilal, Muhammad; Khan, Wasiq; Muggleton, Jennifer; Rustighi, Emiliano; Jenks, Hugo; Pennock, Steve R.; Atkins, Phil R.; Cohn, Anthony

2018-03-01

Mapping the Underworld (MTU), a major initiative in the UK, is focused on addressing social, environmental and economic consequences raised from the inability to locate buried underground utilities (such as pipes and cables) by developing a multi-sensor mobile device. The aim of MTU device is to locate different types of buried assets in real time with the use of automated data processing techniques and statutory records. The statutory records, even though typically being inaccurate and incomplete, provide useful prior information on what is buried under the ground and where. However, the integration of information from multiple sensors (raw data) with these qualitative maps and their visualization is challenging and requires the implementation of robust machine learning/data fusion approaches. An approach for automated creation of revised maps was developed as a Bayesian Mapping model in this paper by integrating the knowledge extracted from sensors raw data and available statutory records. The combination of statutory records with the hypotheses from sensors was for initial estimation of what might be found underground and roughly where. The maps were (re)constructed using automated image segmentation techniques for hypotheses extraction and Bayesian classification techniques for segment-manhole connections. The model consisting of image segmentation algorithm and various Bayesian classification techniques (segment recognition and expectation maximization (EM) algorithm) provided robust performance on various simulated as well as real sites in terms of predicting linear/non-linear segments and constructing refined 2D/3D maps.

The Integrated Waste Tracking System - A Flexible Waste Management Tool

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Robert Stephen

2001-02-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) has fully embraced a flexible, computer-based tool to help increase waste management efficiency and integrate multiple operational functions from waste generation through waste disposition while reducing cost. The Integrated Waste Tracking System (IWTS)provides comprehensive information management for containerized waste during generation,storage, treatment, transport, and disposal. The IWTS provides all information necessary for facilities to properly manage and demonstrate regulatory compliance. As a platformindependent, client-server and Web-based inventory and compliance system, the IWTS has proven to be a successful tracking, characterization, compliance, and reporting tool that meets themore » needs of both operations and management while providing a high level of management flexibility.« less

Detection of buried targets using a new enhanced very early time electromagnetic (VETEM) prototype system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cui, T.J.; Chew, W.C.; Aydiner, A.A.; Wright, D.L.; Smith, D.V.

2001-01-01

In this paper, numerical simulations of a new enhanced very early time electromagnetic (VETEM) prototype system are presented, where a horizontal transmitting loop and two horizontal receiving loops are used to detect buried targets, in which three loops share the same axis and the transmitter is located at the center of receivers. In the new VETEM system, the difference of signals from two receivers is taken to eliminate strong direct-signals from the transmitter and background clutter and furthermore to obtain a better SNR for buried targets. Because strong coupling exists between the transmitter and receivers, accurate analysis of the three-loop antenna system is required, for which a loop-tree basis function method has been utilized to overcome the low-frequency breakdown problem. In the analysis of scattering problem from buried targets, a conjugate gradient (CG) method with fast Fourier transform (FFT) is applied to solve the electric field integral equation. However, the convergence of such CG-FFT algorithm is extremely slow at very low frequencies. In order to increase the convergence rate, a frequency-hopping approach has been used. Finally, the primary, coupling, reflected, and scattered magnetic fields are evaluated at receiving loops to calculate the output electric current. Numerous simulation results are given to interpret the new VETEM system. Comparing with other single-transmitter-receiver systems, the new VETEM has better SNR and ability to reduce the clutter.

Environmental Management Waste Management Facility Waste Lot Profile 155.5 for K-1015-A Laundry Pit, East Tennessee Technology Park Oak Ridge, Tennessee

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bechtel Jacobs, Raymer J.E.

2008-06-12

In 1989, the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), which includes the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), was placed on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) National Priorities List. The Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) (DOE 1992), effective January 1, 1992, now governs environmental restoration activities conducted under CERCLA at the ORR. Following signing of the FFA, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the state of Tennessee signed the Oak Ridge Accelerated Cleanup Plan Agreement on June 18, 2003. The purpose of this agreement is to define a streamlined decision-making process to facilitatemore » the accelerated implementation of cleanup, to resolve ORR milestone issues, and to establish future actions necessary to complete the accelerated cleanup plan by the end of fiscal year 2008. While the FFA continues to serve as the overall regulatory framework for remediation, the Accelerated Cleanup Plan Agreement supplements existing requirements to streamline the decision-making process. The disposal of the K-1015 Laundry Pit waste will be executed in accordance with the 'Record of Decision for Soil, Buried Waste, and Subsurface Structure Actions in Zone, 2, East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge, Tennessee' (DOB/ORAH-2161&D2) and the 'Waste Handling Plan for the Consolidated Soil and Waste Sites with Zone 2, East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge, Tennessee' (DOE/OR/01-2328&D1). This waste lot consists of a total of approximately 50 cubic yards of waste that will be disposed at the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility (EMWMF) as non-containerized waste. This material will be sent to the EMWMF in dump trucks. This profile is for the K-1015-A Laundry Pit and includes debris (e.g., concrete, metal rebar, pipe), incidental soil, plastic and wood, and secondary waste (such as plastic sheeting, hay bales and other erosion control materials, wooden pallets, contaminated equipment, decontamination materials, etc.).« less

An ecological engineering approach for keeping water from reaching interred wastes in arid or semiarid regions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, J.E.

1997-12-31

This paper describes application of a soil-plant cover system (SPCS) to preclude water from reaching interred wastes in arid and semiarid regions. Where potential evapotranspiration far exceeds precipitation, water can be kept from reaching buried wastes by (1) providing a sufficiently deep cap of soil to store precipitation that falls while plants are dormant and (2) maintaining plant cover to deplete soil moisture during the growing season, thereby emptying the storage reservoir. Research at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) has shown that 2 m of soil is adequate to store moisture from snowmelt and spring rains. Healthy stands ofmore » perennial grasses and shrubs adapted to the INEL climate use all available soil moisture, even during a very wet growing season. However, burrowing by small mammals or ants may affect the performance of a SPCS by increasing infiltration of water. Intrusion barriers of gravel and cobble can be used to restrict burrowing, but emplacement of such barriers affects soil moisture storage and plant rooting depths. A replicated field experiment to investigate the implications of those effects is in progress. Incorporation of an SPCS should be considered in the design of isolation barriers for shallow land burial of hazardous wastes in and regions.« less

Three-dimensional imaging of buried objects in very lossy earth by inversion of VETEM data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cui, T.J.; Aydiner, A.A.; Chew, W.C.; Wright, D.L.; Smith, D.V.

2003-01-01

The very early time electromagnetic system (VETEM) is an efficient tool for the detection of buried objects in very lossy earth, which allows a deeper penetration depth compared to the ground-penetrating radar. In this paper, the inversion of VETEM data is investigated using three-dimensional (3-D) inverse scattering techniques, where multiple frequencies are applied in the frequency range from 0-5 MHz. For small and moderately sized problems, the Born approximation and/or the Born iterative method have been used with the aid of the singular value decomposition and/or the conjugate gradient method in solving the linearized integral equations. For large-scale problems, a localized 3-D inversion method based on the Born approximation has been proposed for the inversion of VETEM data over a large measurement domain. Ways to process and to calibrate the experimental VETEM data are discussed to capture the real physics of buried objects. Reconstruction examples using synthesized VETEM data and real-world VETEM data are given to test the validity and efficiency of the proposed approach.

49 CFR 195.553 - What special definitions apply to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

.... Buried means covered or in contact with soil. Direct assessment means an integrity assessment method that... of closely spaced pipe-to-soil readings over a pipeline that are subsequently analyzed to identify... environment includes soil resistivity (high or low), soil moisture (wet or dry), soil contaminants that may...

49 CFR 195.553 - What special definitions apply to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

.... Buried means covered or in contact with soil. Direct assessment means an integrity assessment method that... of closely spaced pipe-to-soil readings over a pipeline that are subsequently analyzed to identify... environment includes soil resistivity (high or low), soil moisture (wet or dry), soil contaminants that may...

49 CFR 195.553 - What special definitions apply to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

.... Buried means covered or in contact with soil. Direct assessment means an integrity assessment method that... of closely spaced pipe-to-soil readings over a pipeline that are subsequently analyzed to identify... environment includes soil resistivity (high or low), soil moisture (wet or dry), soil contaminants that may...

49 CFR 195.553 - What special definitions apply to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

.... Buried means covered or in contact with soil. Direct assessment means an integrity assessment method that... of closely spaced pipe-to-soil readings over a pipeline that are subsequently analyzed to identify... environment includes soil resistivity (high or low), soil moisture (wet or dry), soil contaminants that may...

49 CFR 195.553 - What special definitions apply to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

.... Buried means covered or in contact with soil. Direct assessment means an integrity assessment method that... of closely spaced pipe-to-soil readings over a pipeline that are subsequently analyzed to identify... environment includes soil resistivity (high or low), soil moisture (wet or dry), soil contaminants that may...

Advanced Containment System

DOEpatents

Kostelnik, Kevin M.; Kawamura, Hideki; Richardson, John G.; Noda, Masaru

2005-02-08

An advanced containment system for containing buried waste and associated leachate. The advanced containment system comprises a plurality of casing sections with each casing section interlocked to an adjacent casing section. Each casing section includes a complementary interlocking structure that interlocks with the complementary interlocking structure on an adjacent casing section. A barrier filler substantially fills the casing sections and may substantially fill the spaces of the complementary interlocking structure to form a substantially impermeable barrier. Some of the casing sections may include sensors so that the casing sections and the zone of interest may be remotely monitored after the casing sections are emplaced in the ground.

Shallow Water Imaging Sonar System for Environmental Surveying Final Report CRADA No. TC-1130-95

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ng, L. C.; Rosenbaum, H.

The scope of this research is to develop a shallow water sonar system designed to detect and map the location of objects such as hazardous wastes or discarded ordnance in coastal waters. The system will use high frequency wide-bandwidth imaging sonar, mounted on a moving platform towed behind a boat, to detect and identify objects on the sea bottom. Resolved images can be obtained even if the targets are buried in an overlayer of silt. Reference 1 ( also attached) summarized the statement of work and the scope of collaboration.

Analytical results from an environmental investigation of six sites on Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, 1993-94

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wilcox, Ralph

1995-01-01

The six sites investigated include silver recovery units; a buried caustic drain line; a neutralization pit; an evaporation/infiltration pond; the Manzano fire training area; and a waste oil underground storage tank. Environmental samples of soil, pond sediment, soil gas, and water and gas in floor drains were collected and analyzed. Field quality-control samples were also collected and analyzed in association with the environmental samples. The six sites were investigated because past or current activities could have resulted in contamination of soil, pond sediment, or water and sediment in drains.

Integrated waste and water management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murray, R. W.; Sauer, R. L.

1986-01-01

The performance requirements of the NASA Space Station have prompted a reexamination of a previously developed integrated waste and water management system that used distillation and catalytic oxydation to purify waste water, and microbial digestion and incineration for waste solids disposal. This system successfully operated continuously for 206 days, for a 4-man equivalent load of urine, feces, wash water, condensate, and trash. Attention is given to synergisms that could be established with other life support systems, in the cases of thermal integration, design commonality, and novel technologies.

New method for the detection and monitoring of subsea power cable

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Held, Philipp; Schneider, Jens; Feldens, Peter; Wilken, Dennis

2016-04-01

Marine renewable energy farms, no matter what kind of, have in common that they need a connection with the onshore power grid. Thus, not only their offshore generation facilities could have impacts on the surrounding environment, but also associated submarine power cables. These cables have to be buried in the seabed - at least in coastal heavy shipping environments - for safety reasons. Cable laying disturbs the local seafloor and the sub-bottom. Refillment of dredged sediments are expected softer than the original material and could be washed away by currents. Therefore, buried cables have to be repeatedly monitored to ensure their burial depth. This study presents a new method for efficient cable detection. A parametric echosounder system using 15 kHz as secondary frequency was adapted to investigate the angular response of sub-bottom backscatter strength of layered mud and to introduce a new method for enhanced acoustic detection of buried targets. Adaptations to achieve both vertical (0°) and non-vertical inclination of incident sound on the seabed (1-15°, 30°, 45°, and 60°) comprise mechanical tilting of the acoustic transducer and electronic beam steering. A sample data set was acquired at a study site at 18 m water depth and a flat and muddy seafloor. At this site, a 0.1 m diameter power cable is buried 1-2 m below the sea floor. Surveying the cable with vertical incidence revealed that the buried cable can hardly be discriminated against the backscatter strength of the layered mud. However, the backscatter strength of layered mud was found to strongly decrease at >3±0.5° incidence and the layered mud echo pattern vanished beyond 5°. As a consequence the visual recognition of the cable echo in acoustic images improves for higher incidence angles of 15°, 30°, 45°, and 60°. Data analysis support this visual impression. The size of the cable echo pattern was found to linearly increase with incidence, whereas the signal-to-noise ratio peaks at about 40°. At the peak, the signal-to-noise ratio is up to 2.6 times higher than at normal incidence. The effects are attributed to reflection loss from layered mud at larger incidence and to the scattering of the 0.1 m diameter buried cable. Thus, the presented method is suitable for cable detection and monitoring and can also provide information of the surrounding sedimentological strati. One of its advantages is that it is based on small and mobile transducers and is therefore useable on reasonable small survey platforms. We foresee a large potential using the presented mechanic or electronic sound inclination approach for enhanced sub-bottom classification and to better detect shallow buried acoustic scatterers like cables, pipelines, stones, dumping material (mines, waste), submerged shipwrecks, archaeological settlement remains, manganese nodules and shallow gas.

The MIST /MIUS Integration and Subsystems Test/ laboratory - A testbed for the MIUS /Modular Integrated Utility System/ program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beckham, W. S., Jr.; Keune, F. A.

1974-01-01

The MIUS (Modular Integrated Utility System) concept is to be an energy-conserving, economically feasible, integrated community utility system to provide five necessary services: electricity generation, space heating and air conditioning, solid waste processing, liquid waste processing, and residential water purification. The MIST (MIUS Integration and Subsystem Test) integrated system testbed constructed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston includes subsystems for power generation, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), wastewater management, solid waste management, and control and monitoring. The key design issues under study include thermal integration and distribution techniques, thermal storage, integration of subsystems controls and displays, incinerator performance, effluent characteristics, and odor control.

Radioactive waste management complex low-level waste radiological composite analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McCarthy, J.M.; Becker, B.H.; Magnuson, S.O.

1998-05-01

The composite analysis estimates the projected cumulative impacts to future members of the public from the disposal of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) and all other sources of radioactive contamination at the INEEL that could interact with the LLW disposal facility to affect the radiological dose. Based upon the composite analysis evaluation, waste buried in the Subsurface Disposal Area (SDA) at the RWMC is the only source at the INEEL that will significantly interact with the LLW facility. The source term used in the composite analysis consistsmore » of all historical SDA subsurface disposals of radionuclides as well as the authorized LLW subsurface disposal inventory and projected LLW subsurface disposal inventory. Exposure scenarios evaluated in the composite analysis include all the all-pathways and groundwater protection scenarios. The projected dose of 58 mrem/yr exceeds the composite analysis guidance dose constraint of 30 mrem/yr; therefore, an options analysis was conducted to determine the feasibility of reducing the projected annual dose. Three options for creating such a reduction were considered: (1) lowering infiltration of precipitation through the waste by providing a better cover, (2) maintaining control over the RWMC and portions of the INEEL indefinitely, and (3) extending the period of institutional control beyond the 100 years assumed in the composite analysis. Of the three options investigated, maintaining control over the RWMC and a small part of the present INEEL appears to be feasible and cost effective.« less

3 Steps to Developing a Tribal Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

An Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) is the blueprint of a comprehensive waste management program. The steps to developing an IWMP are collect background data, map out the tribal IWMP framework, and write and implement the tribal IWMP.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Washenfelder, D. J.; Girardot, C. L.; Wilson, E. R.

The twenty-eight double-shell underground radioactive waste storage tanks at the U. S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site near Richland, WA are interconnected by the Waste Transfer System network of buried steel encased pipelines and pipe jumpers in below-grade pits. The pipeline material is stainless steel or carbon steel in 51 mm to 152 mm (2 in. to 6 in.) sizes. The pipelines carry slurries ranging up to 20 volume percent solids and supernatants with less than one volume percent solids at velocities necessary to prevent settling. The pipelines, installed between 1976 and 2011, were originally intended to last until themore » 2028 completion of the double-shell tank storage mission. The mission has been subsequently extended. In 2010 the Tank Operating Contractor began a systematic evaluation of the Waste Transfer System pipeline conditions applying guidelines from API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 (2007), Fitness-For-Service. Between 2010 and 2014 Fitness-for-Service examinations of the Waste Transfer System pipeline materials, sizes, and components were completed. In parallel, waste throughput histories were prepared allowing side-by-side pipeline wall thinning rate comparisons between carbon and stainless steel, slurries and supernatants and throughput volumes. The work showed that for transfer volumes up to 6.1E+05 m 3 (161 million gallons), the highest throughput of any pipeline segment examined, there has been no detectable wall thinning in either stainless or carbon steel pipeline material regardless of waste fluid characteristics or throughput. The paper describes the field and laboratory evaluation methods used for the Fitness-for-Service examinations, the results of the examinations, and the data reduction methodologies used to support Hanford Waste Transfer System pipeline wall thinning conclusions.« less

Reverse logistics system and recycling potential at a landfill: A case study from Kampala City

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kinobe, J.R., E-mail: joel.kinobe@slu.se; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Makerere University College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology; Gebresenbet, G.

Highlights: • Quantifies the different waste streams delivered at the landfill. • Evaluates the amount of potential waste products that enters into the reverse cycle. • Drawing out the reverse logistics activities from Kampala City to Kiteezi landfill. • Identify the storage, collection and transportation mechanisms of products to the various destinations; and finally. • The study suggests efficient measures to improve reverse logistics system. - Abstract: The rapid growing population and high urbanisation rates in Sub-Saharan Africa has caused enormous pressure on collection services of the generated waste in the urban areas. This has put a burden on landfilling,more » which is the major waste disposal method. Waste reduction, re-use and recycling opportunities exist but are not fully utilized. The common items that are re-used and re-cycled are plastics, paper, aluminum, glass, steel, cardboard, and yard waste. This paper develops an overview of reverse logistics at Kiteezi landfill, the only officially recognised waste disposal facility for Kampala City. The paper analyses, in details the collection, re-processing, re-distribution and final markets of these products into a reversed supply chain network. Only 14% of the products at Kiteezi landfill are channeled into the reverse chain while 63% could be included in the distribution chain but are left out and disposed of while the remaining 23% is buried. This is because of the low processing power available, lack of market value, lack of knowledge and limited value addition activities to the products. This paper proposes possible strategies of efficient and effective reverse logistics development, applicable to Kampala City and other similar cities.« less

Biological Observations on Aedes Seatoi Huang in Thailand with Notes on Rural Aedes Aegypti (L.) and Other Stegomyia Populations

DTIC Science & Technology

1972-03-15

distribution is herein extended by 6 provinces : Ang Thong, Chiang Mai , Lop Buri, Nakhon Sawan, Prachin Buri and Sara Buri (FIG. 1). These new...of Thailand : 1. Ang Thong. 2. Chiang Mai . 3. Chon Buri. 4. Kanchanaburi. 5. Lop Buri. 6. Nakhon Sawan. 7. Prachin Buri. 8. Sara Buri. Provinces

Plastic debris in the coastal environment: The invincible threat? Abundance of buried plastic debris on Malaysian beaches.

PubMed

Fauziah, S H; Liyana, I A; Agamuthu, P

2015-09-01

Studies on marine debris have gained worldwide attention since many types of debris have found their way into the food chain of higher organisms. Thus, it is crucial that more focus is given to this area in order to curb contaminations in sea food. This study was conducted to quantify plastic debris buried in sand at selected beaches in Malaysia. Marine debris was identified according to size range and distribution, and this information was related to preventive actions to improve marine waste issues. For the purpose of this study, comparison of plastic waste abundance between a recreational beach and fish-landing beaches was also carried out, since the different beach types represent different activities that produce debris. Six beaches along the Malaysian coastline were selected for this study. The plastic types in this study were related to the functions of the beach. While recreational beaches have abundant quantities of plastic film, foamed plastic including polystyrene, and plastic fragment, fish-landing beaches accumulated line and foamed plastic. A total of 2542 pieces (265.30 g m(-2)) of small plastic debris were collected from all six beaches, with the highest number from Kuala Terengganu, at 879 items m(-2) on Seberang Takir Beach, followed by Batu Burok Beach with 780 items m(-2). Findings from studies of Malaysian beaches have provided a clearer understanding of the distribution of plastic debris. This demonstrates that commitments and actions, such as practices of the 'reduce, reuse, recycle' (3R) approach, supporting public awareness programmes and beach clean-up activities, are essential in order to reduce and prevent plastic debris pollution. © The Author(s) 2015.

Bacterial communities of tyre monofill sites: growth on tyre shreds and leachate.

PubMed

Vukanti, R; Crissman, M; Leff, L G; Leff, A A

2009-06-01

To investigate bacterial communities of tyre monofill sites, colonization of tyre material by bacteria and the effect of tyre leachate on bacteria. Culturable bacteria were isolated from buried tyre shreds and identified using fatty acid methyl ester analysis. Isolates belonged to taxonomic groups such as Bacilli, Actinobacteria, Clostridia, Flavobacteria, beta and gamma-proteobacteria. For tyre material colonization experiments, Bacillus megatarium, Bacillus cereus, Hydrogenophaga flava, Janthinobacterium lividum, Cellulosimicrobium cellulans, Arthrobacter globiformis (isolated from tyre shreds or leachate at the study site); Escherichia coli and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans were used. Beakers containing tyre shreds and artificial rain water were inoculated with a given bacterial culture, incubated at room temperature and sampled at regular intervals. 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining followed by epifluorescent microscopy was used to enumerate bacteria in samples. Of the bacteria tested, B. megatarium, J. lividum, E. coli, C. cellulans and A. globiformis exhibited the most extensive colonization of the tyre shreds. However, the extent of colonization varied among bacteria. Response to tyre leachate was also examined using B. cereus and J. lividum. Both bacteria increased in abundance due to the addition of leachate. Bacteria associated with buried tyre shreds were identified and found to include typical soil and freshwater organisms. The majority of indigenous isolates grew on tyre material (or leachate) suggesting that they play an active role in the ecology of these sites and that their potential role in tyre degradation should be explored. This study provides information on bacterial communities of tyre-waste disposal sites, explores the interaction between tyre material and bacteria and identifies bacteria that could be involved in or employed for recycling tyre-waste.

An analysis of the breakdown of paper products (toilet paper, tissues and tampons) in natural environments, Tasmania, Australia.

PubMed

Bridle, Kerry L; Kirkpatrick, J B

2005-01-01

An examination of the relative breakdown rates of unused toilet paper, facial tissues and tampons was undertaken in nine different environments typical of Tasmanian natural areas. Bags of the paper products (toilet paper, facial tissues, tampons) were buried for periods of 6, 12 and 24 months at depths of 5 and 15 cm. A nutrient solution simulating human body wastes was added to half of the samples, to test the hypothesis that the addition of nutrients would enhance the breakdown of paper products buried in the soil. Mean annual rainfall was the most important measured variable determining mean breakdown in the nutrient addition treatment between sites, with high rainfall sites (mean annual rainfall of greater than 650 mm) recording less decayed products than the drier sites (mean annual rainfall of 500-650 mm). Temperature and soil organic content were important influences on the breakdown of the unfertilised products. Toilet paper and tissues decayed more readily than tampons. Nutrient addition enhanced decay for all products across all sites. Depth of burial was not important in determining the degree to which products decayed. In alpine environments, burial under rocks at the surface did not increase the speed of decay of any product. The Western Alpine site, typical of alpine sites in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, showed very little decay over the two-year period, even for nutrient enhanced products. Management prescriptions should be amended to dissuade people from depositing human toilet waste in the extreme (montane to alpine) environments in western Tasmania. Tampons should continue to be carried out as currently prescribed.

Geometric integration for particle accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forest, Étienne

2006-05-01

This paper is a very personal view of the field of geometric integration in accelerator physics—a field where often work of the highest quality is buried in lost technical notes or even not published; one has only to think of Simon van der Meer Nobel prize work on stochastic cooling—unpublished in any refereed journal. So I reconstructed the relevant history of geometrical integration in accelerator physics as much as I could by talking to collaborators and using my own understanding of the field. The reader should not be too surprised if this account is somewhere between history, science and perhaps even fiction.

Biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) by isolated fungi in solid waste medium.

PubMed

Zahra, Sahebnazar; Abbas, Shojaosadati Seyed; Mahsa, Mohammad-Taheri; Mohsen, Nosrati

2010-03-01

In this study, biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) by isolated landfill-source fungi was evaluated in a controlled solid waste medium. The fungi, including Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus terreus and Fusarium solani, were isolated from samples taken from an aerobic aged municipal landfill in Tehran. These fungi could degrade LDPE via the formation of a biofilm in a submerged medium. In the sterilized solid waste medium, LPDE films were buried for 100 days in a 1-L flask containing 400 g sterile solid waste raw materials at 28 degrees C. Each fungus was added to a separate flask. The moisture content and pH of the media were maintained at the optimal levels for each fungus. Photo-oxidation (25 days under UV-irradiation) was used as a pretreatment of the LDPE samples. The progress of the process was monitored by measurement of total organic carbon (TOC), pH, temperature and moisture. The results obtained from monitoring the process using isolated fungi under sterile conditions indicate that these fungi are able to grow in solid waste medium. The results of FT-IR and SEM analyses show that A. terreus and A. fumigatus, despite the availability of other organic carbon of materials, could utilize LDPE as carbon source. While there has been much research in the field of LDPE biodegradation under solid conditions, this is the first report of degradation of LDPE by A. fumigatus. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) by isolated fungi in solid waste medium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zahra, Sahebnazar; Abbas, Shojaosadati Seyed, E-mail: sa_shoja@modares.ac.i; Mahsa, Mohammad-Taheri

In this study, biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) by isolated landfill-source fungi was evaluated in a controlled solid waste medium. The fungi, including Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus terreus and Fusarium solani, were isolated from samples taken from an aerobic aged municipal landfill in Tehran. These fungi could degrade LDPE via the formation of a biofilm in a submerged medium. In the sterilized solid waste medium, LPDE films were buried for 100 days in a 1-L flask containing 400 g sterile solid waste raw materials at 28 deg. C. Each fungus was added to a separate flask. The moisture content and pHmore » of the media were maintained at the optimal levels for each fungus. Photo-oxidation (25 days under UV-irradiation) was used as a pretreatment of the LDPE samples. The progress of the process was monitored by measurement of total organic carbon (TOC), pH, temperature and moisture. The results obtained from monitoring the process using isolated fungi under sterile conditions indicate that these fungi are able to grow in solid waste medium. The results of FT-IR and SEM analyses show that A. terreus and A. fumigatus, despite the availability of other organic carbon of materials, could utilize LDPE as carbon source. While there has been much research in the field of LDPE biodegradation under solid conditions, this is the first report of degradation of LDPE by A. fumigatus.« less

Test-trench studies in the Amargosa Desert, southern Nevada: Results and application of information to landfill covers in arid environments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Andraski, Brian J.; Reynolds, Timothy D.; Morris, Randall C.

1997-01-01

As arid sites in the western United States are increasingly sought for disposal of the Nation's hazardous wastes and as volumes of locally generated wastes increase, concern about the potential effect of contaminants on environmental quality is being raised. Studies at the U.S. Geological Survey's Amargosa Desert research site near Beatty, Nevada are being done to evaluate mechanisms that can affect waste isolation in an arid environment. Precipitation at the site averages about 108 mm yr-1. Results have shown that, under undisturbed conditions, the naturally stratified soils in combination with native plants are effective in limiting the potential for percolation of precipitation. Under nonvegetated waste-site conditions, data indicated the accumulation and shallow, but continued, penetration of infiltrated water, However, water potentials below the test trenches and below the 2-m depth for nonvegetated soil indicated the persistence of an upward driving force for water flow during the 5-yr test period. General trends in trench-cover subsidence suggested a positive relation with cumulative precipitation, but subsidence did not appear to have a measurable effect on the water balance. Erosion rates were inversely related to near-surface rock-fragment content. Results suggest that the ultimate fate of contaminants buried at properly managed solid-waste sites may be determined largely by the interactions among climate and the surface-cover features of the disposal facility, and how these factors change with time.

Dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical water oxidation through a buried junction.

PubMed

Xu, Pengtao; Huang, Tian; Huang, Jianbin; Yan, Yun; Mallouk, Thomas E

2018-06-18

Water oxidation has long been a challenge in artificial photosynthetic devices that convert solar energy into fuels. Water-splitting dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells (WS-DSPECs) provide a modular approach for integrating light-harvesting molecules with water-oxidation catalysts on metal-oxide electrodes. Despite recent progress in improving the efficiency of these devices by introducing good molecular water-oxidation catalysts, WS-DSPECs have poor stability, owing to the oxidation of molecular components at very positive electrode potentials. Here we demonstrate that a solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell (ss-DSSC) can be used as a buried junction for stable photoelectrochemical water splitting. A thin protecting layer of TiO 2 grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) stabilizes the operation of the photoanode in aqueous solution, although as a solar cell there is a performance loss due to increased series resistance after the coating. With an electrodeposited iridium oxide layer, a photocurrent density of 1.43 mA cm -2 was observed in 0.1 M pH 6.7 phosphate solution at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, with good stability over 1 h. We measured an incident photon-to-current efficiency of 22% at 540 nm and a Faradaic efficiency of 43% for oxygen evolution. While the potential profile of the catalyst layer suggested otherwise, we confirmed the formation of a buried junction in the as-prepared photoelectrode. The buried junction design of ss-DSSs adds to our understanding of semiconductor-electrocatalyst junction behaviors in the presence of a poor semiconducting material.

Transport of elemental mercury in the unsaturated zone from a waste disposal site in an arid region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Walvoord, Michelle Ann; Andraski, Brian J.; Krabbenhoft, D.P.; Striegl, Robert G.

2008-01-01

Mercury contained in buried landfill waste may be released via upward emission to the atmosphere or downward leaching to groundwater. Data from the US Geological Survey’s Amargosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) in arid southwestern Nevada reveal another potential pathway of Hg release: long-distance (102 m) lateral migration of elemental Hg (Hg0) through the unsaturated zone. Gas collected from multiple depths from two instrumented boreholes that sample the entire 110-m unsaturated zone thickness and are located 100 and 160 m away from the closest waste burial trench exhibit gaseous Hg concentrations of up to 33 and 11 ng m−3, respectively. The vertical distribution of gaseous Hg in the borehole closest to the disposal site shows distinct subsurface peaks in concentration at depths of 1.5 and 24 m that cannot be explained by radial diffusive transport through a heterogeneous layered unsaturated zone. The inability of current models to explain gaseous Hg distribution at the ADRS highlights the need to advance the understanding of gas-phase contaminant transport in unsaturated zones to attain a comprehensive model of landfill Hg release.

Superfund Record of Decision (EPA Region 4): Newsom Brothers/Old Reichhold, Columbia, MS. (First remedial action), September 1989. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1989-09-18

The 81-acre Newsom Brothers/Old Reichhold site is in Marion County, Columbia, Mississippi. Site activities included producing tall oils, turpentine, calcium and zinc resinates, and polymerized and rubber resins. Furthermore, PCP was apparently mixed with diesel oil and sold, and xylenes were used in a number of processes. A State investigation in 1976 revealed that waste water containing phenols, oil, and grease was discharging to a small creek. Further investigations resulted in EPA performing an immediate removal action in 1984, which included the removal of over 600 surface drums from the site and excavating and draining two ponds, one of whichmore » was subsequently filled with clean fill. Onsite buried drum areas were the target of another EPA removal action conducted in 1987-88. In addition there is an extensive system of concrete drains that served to collect and drain spilled wastes and rain water that has an area of runoff of approximately 300,000 square feet. The primary contaminants of concern in the soil, sediment, and bulked wastes are organics including PAHs, PCBs, and PCP, and metals.« less

SRS stainless steel beneficial reuse program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boettinger, W.L.

1997-02-01

The US Department of Energy`s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) has thousands of tons of stainless steel radioactive scrap metal (RSNI). Much of the metal is volumetrically contaminated. There is no {open_quotes}de minimis{close_quotes} free release level for volumetric material, and therefore no way to recycle the metal into the normal commercial market. If declared waste, the metal would qualify as low level radioactive waste (LLW) and ultimately be dispositioned through shallow land buried at a cost of millions of dollars. The metal however could be recycled in a {open_quotes}controlled release{close_quote} manner, in the form of containers to hold other typesmore » of radioactive waste. This form of recycle is generally referred to as {open_quotes}Beneficial Reuse{close_quotes}. Beneficial reuse reduces the amount of disposal space needed and reduces the need for virgin containers which would themselves become contaminated. Stainless steel is particularly suited for long term storage because of its resistance to corrosion. To assess the practicality of stainless steel RSM recycle the SRS Benficial Reuse Program began a demonstration in 1994, funded by the DOE Office of Science and Technology. This paper discusses the experiences gained in this program.« less

Review of buried crystalline rocks of eastern United States in selected hydrogeologic environments potentially suitable for isolating high-level radioactive wastes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Davis, R.W.

1984-01-01

Among the concepts suggested for the deep disposal of high-level radioactive wastes from nuclear power reactors is the excavation of a repository in suitable crystalline rocks overlain by a thick sequence of sedimentary strata in a hydrogeologic environment that would effectively impede waste transport. To determine the occurrence of such environments in the Eastern United States, a review was made of available sources of published or unpublished information, using the following hydrogeologic criteria:The top of the crystalline basement rock is 1,000 to 4,000 feet below land surface.The crystalline rock is overlain by sedimentary rock whose lowermost part, at least, contains ground water with a dissolved-solids concentration of 10,000 milligrams per liter or more.Shale or clay confining beds overlie the saline-water aquifer.The flow system in the saline-water aquifer is known or determinable from presently available data.All of these hydrogeologic conditions occur in two general areas: (1) parts of Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, underlain by part of the geologic structure known as the Cincinnati arch, and (2) parts of the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Georgia to New Jersey.

Kd Values for Agricultural and Surface Soils for Use in Hanford Site Farm, Residential, and River Shoreline Scenarios

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Serne, R. Jeffrey

This report provides best estimate Kd values and a minimum and maximum range of Kd values to be used for agricultural soils and Columbia River bank sediments that exist today or would exist in the future when portions of the Hanford Site are released for farming, residential, and recreational use after the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) completes clean up of defense waste on the site. The Kd values should be used to determine the fate and transport rates of contaminants and their availability for plant and animal uptake in selected non-groundwater scenarios included in Hanford Site environmental impactmore » statements, risk assessments and specific facility performance assessments. This report describes scenarios such as a small farm where drilling of a well inadvertently goes through buried waste and brings waste to the surface, allowing the tailings to become available for direct human exposure or incorporation into garden crops and farm animals used for food by the farm family. The Kd values recommended in this report can also be used to calculate sediment-water partitioning factors used to predict plant and animal uptake from interaction with the contaminated soil.« less

Contaminated groundwater characterization at the Chalk River Laboratories, Ontario, Canada

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schilk, A.J.; Robertson, D.E.; Thomas, C.W.

1993-03-01

The licensing requirements for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste (10 CFR 61) specify the performance objectives and technical requisites for federal and commercial land disposal facilities, the ultimate goal of which is to contain the buried wastes so that the general population is adequately protected from harmful exposure to any released radioactive materials. A major concern in the operation of existing and projected waste disposal sites is subterranean radionuclide transport by saturated or unsaturated flow, which could lead to the contamination of groundwater systems as well as uptake by the surrounding biosphere, thereby directly exposing the general public tomore » such materials. Radionuclide transport in groundwater has been observed at numerous commercial and federal waste disposal sites [including several locations within the waste management area of Chalk River Laboratories (CRL)], yet the physico-chemical processes that lead to such migration are still not completely understood. In an attempt to assist in the characterization of these processes, an intensive study was initiated at CRL to identify and quantify the mobile radionuclide species originating from three separate disposal sites: (a) the Chemical Pit, which has received aqueous wastes containing various radioisotopes, acids, alkalis, complexing agents and salts since 1956, (b) the Reactor Pit, which has received low-level aqueous wastes from a reactor rod storage bay since 1956, and (c) the Waste Management Area C, a thirty-year-old series of trenches that contains contaminated solid wastes from CRL and various regional medical facilities. Water samples were drawn downgradient from each of the above sites and passed through a series of filters and ion-exchange resins to retain any particulate and dissolved or colloidal radionuclide species, which were subsequently identified and quantified via radiochemical separations and gamma spectroscopy. These groundwaters were also analyzed for anions, trace metals, Eh, pH, alkalinity and dissolved oxygen.« less

Buried superconducting layers comprised of magnesium diboride nanocrystals formed by ion implantation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, H. Y.; Christen, H. M.; White, C. W.; Budai, J. D.; Lowndes, D. H.; Meldrum, A.

2002-06-01

Superconducting layers of MgB2 were formed on Si substrates using techniques that are widely used and accepted in the semiconductor industry. Mg ions were implanted into boron films deposited on Si or Al2O3 substrates. After a thermal processing step, buried superconducting layers comprised of MgB2 nanocrystals were obtained which exhibit the highest Tc reported so far for MgB2 on silicon (Tconsetapproximately33.6 K, DeltaTc=0.5 K, as measured by current transport). These results show that our approach is clearly applicable to the fabrication of superconducting devices that can be operated at much higher temperatures (approximately20 K) than the current Nb technology (approximately6 K) while their integration with silicon structures remains straight-forward.

Solid state television camera (CCD-buried channel)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

The development of an all solid state television camera, which uses a buried channel charge coupled device (CCD) as the image sensor, was undertaken. A 380 x 488 element CCD array is utilized to ensure compatibility with 525 line transmission and display monitor equipment. Specific camera design approaches selected for study and analysis included (a) optional clocking modes for either fast (1/60 second) or normal (1/30 second) frame readout, (b) techniques for the elimination or suppression of CCD blemish effects, and (c) automatic light control and video gain control (i.e., ALC and AGC) techniques to eliminate or minimize sensor overload due to bright objects in the scene. Preferred approaches were determined and integrated into a deliverable solid state TV camera which addressed the program requirements for a prototype qualifiable to space environment conditions.

Solid state television camera (CCD-buried channel), revision 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

An all solid state television camera was designed which uses a buried channel charge coupled device (CCD) as the image sensor. A 380 x 488 element CCD array is utilized to ensure compatibility with 525-line transmission and display monitor equipment. Specific camera design approaches selected for study and analysis included (1) optional clocking modes for either fast (1/60 second) or normal (1/30 second) frame readout, (2) techniques for the elimination or suppression of CCD blemish effects, and (3) automatic light control and video gain control techniques to eliminate or minimize sensor overload due to bright objects in the scene. Preferred approaches were determined and integrated into a deliverable solid state TV camera which addressed the program requirements for a prototype qualifiable to space environment conditions.

Solid state, CCD-buried channel, television camera study and design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoagland, K. A.; Balopole, H.

1976-01-01

An investigation of an all solid state television camera design, which uses a buried channel charge-coupled device (CCD) as the image sensor, was undertaken. A 380 x 488 element CCD array was utilized to ensure compatibility with 525 line transmission and display monitor equipment. Specific camera design approaches selected for study and analysis included (a) optional clocking modes for either fast (1/60 second) or normal (1/30 second) frame readout, (b) techniques for the elimination or suppression of CCD blemish effects, and (c) automatic light control and video gain control techniques to eliminate or minimize sensor overload due to bright objects in the scene. Preferred approaches were determined and integrated into a design which addresses the program requirements for a deliverable solid state TV camera.

Transmission mode acoustic time-reversal imaging for nondestructive evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehman, Sean K.; Devaney, Anthony J.

2002-11-01

In previous ASA meetings and JASA papers, the extended and formalized theory of transmission mode time reversal in which the transceivers are noncoincident was presented. When combined with the subspace concepts of a generalized MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm, this theory is used to form super-resolution images of scatterers buried in a medium. These techniques are now applied to ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of parts, and shallow subsurface seismic imaging. Results are presented of NDE experiments on metal and epoxy blocks using data collected from an adaptive ultrasonic array, that is, a ''time-reversal machine,'' at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Also presented are the results of seismo-acoustic subsurface probing of buried hazardous waste pits at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. [Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.] [Work supported in part by CenSSIS, the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, under the Engineering Research Centers Program of the NSF (award number EEC-9986821) as well as from Air Force Contracts No. F41624-99-D6002 and No. F49620-99-C0013.

The use of geoscience methods for terrestrial forensic searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pringle, J. K.; Ruffell, A.; Jervis, J. R.; Donnelly, L.; McKinley, J.; Hansen, J.; Morgan, R.; Pirrie, D.; Harrison, M.

2012-08-01

Geoscience methods are increasingly being utilised in criminal, environmental and humanitarian forensic investigations, and the use of such methods is supported by a growing body of experimental and theoretical research. Geoscience search techniques can complement traditional methodologies in the search for buried objects, including clandestine graves, weapons, explosives, drugs, illegal weapons, hazardous waste and vehicles. This paper details recent advances in search and detection methods, with case studies and reviews. Relevant examples are given, together with a generalised workflow for search and suggested detection technique(s) table. Forensic geoscience techniques are continuing to rapidly evolve to assist search investigators to detect hitherto difficult to locate forensic targets.

In situ retreival of contaminants or other substances using a barrier system and leaching solutions and components, processes and methods relating thereto

DOEpatents

Nickelson, Reva A.; Walsh, Stephanie; Richardson, John G.; Dick, John R.; Sloan, Paul A.

2005-06-28

Processes and methods relating to treating contaminants and collecting desired substances from a zone of interest using subterranean collection and containment barriers. Tubular casings having interlock structures are used to create subterranean barriers for containing and treating buried waste and its effluents. The subterranean barrier includes an effluent collection system. Treatment solutions provided to the zone of interest pass therethrough and are collected by the barrier and treated or recovered, allowing on-site remediation. Barrier components may be used to in the treatment by collecting or removing contaminants or other materials from the zone of interest.

Method of in situ retrieval of contaminants or other substances using a barrier system and leaching solutions

DOEpatents

Nickelson, Reva A.; Walsh, Stephanie; Richardson, John G.; Dick, John R.; Sloan, Paul A.

2006-12-26

Processes and methods relating to treating contaminants and collecting desired substances from a zone of interest using subterranean collection and containment barriers. Tubular casings having interlock structures are used to create subterranean barriers for containing and treating buried waste and its effluents. The subterranean barrier includes an effluent collection system. Treatment solutions provided to the zone of interest pass therethrough and are collected by the barrier and treated or recovered, allowing on-site remediation. Barrier components may be used to in the treatment by collecting or removing contaminants or other materials from the zone of interest.

Topographic Change of the Dichotomy Boundary Suggested by Crustal Inversion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neumann, G. A.

2004-01-01

Linear negative gravity anomalies in Acidalia Planitia along the eastern edge of Tempe Terra and along the northern edge of Arabia Terra have been noted in Mars Global Surveyor gravity fields. Once proposed to represent buried fluvial channels, it is now believed that these gravity troughs mainly arise from partial compensation of the hemispheric dichotomy topographic scarp. A recent inversion for crustal structure finds that mantle compensation of the scarp is offset from the present-day topographic expression of the dichotomy boundary. The offset suggests that erosion or other forms of mass wasting occurred after lithosphere thickened and no longer accomodated topographic change through viscous relaxation.

Regulatory Requirements and Technical Analysis for Department of Energy Regulated Performance Assessments of Shallow-Trench Disposal of Low-Level Radioactive Waste at the Nevada Test Site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crowe, B.; Black, P.; Tauxe, J.; Yucel, V.; Rawlinson, S.; Colarusso, A.; DiSanza, F.

2001-12-01

The National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Operations Office (NNSA/NV) operates and maintains two active facilities on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) that dispose Department of Energy (DOE) defense-generated low-level radioactive (LLW), mixed radioactive, and classified waste in shallow trenches, pits and large-diameter boreholes. The operation and maintenance of the LLW disposal sites are self-regulated under DOE Order 435.1, which requires review of a Performance Assessment for four performance objectives: 1) all pathways 25 mrem/yr limit; 2) atmospheric pathways 10 mrem/yr limit; 3) radon flux density of 20 pCi/m2/s; and 4) groundwater resource protection (Safe Drinking Water Act; 4 mrem/yr limit). The inadvertent human intruder is protected under a dual 500- and 100-mrem limit (acute and chronic exposure). In response to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 92 2, a composite analysis is required that must examine all interacting sources for compliance against both 30 and 100 mrem/yr limits. A small component of classified transuranic waste is buried at intermediate depths in 3-meter diameter boreholes at the Area 5 LLW disposal facility and is assessed through DOE-agreement against the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s 40 CFR 191. The hazardous components of mixed LLW are assessed against RCRA requirements. The NTS LLW sites fall directly under three sets of federal regulations and the regulatory differences result not only in organizational challenges, but also in different decision objectives and technical paths to completion. The DOE regulations require deterministic analysis for a 1,000-year compliance assessment supplemented by probabilistic analysis under a long-term maintenance program. The EPA regulations for TRU waste are probabilistically based for a compliance interval of 10,000 years. Multiple steps in the assessments are strongly dependent on assumptions for long-term land use policies. Integrating the different requirements into coherent and consistent sets of conceptual models of the disposal setting, alternative scenarios, and system models of fate, transport and dose-based assessments is technically challenging. Environmental assessments for these sites must be broad-based and flexible to accommodate the multiple objectives.

Hanford Double-Shell Tank AY-102 Radioactive Waste Leak Investigation Update

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Washenfelder, Dennis J.

2015-02-03

The presentation outline is: Briefly review leak integrity status of tank AY-102 and current leak behavior; Summarize recent initiatives to understand leak mechanism and to verify integrity of remaining waste confinement structures; describe planned waste recovery activities; and, introduce other papers on tank AY-102 topics.

Pyrolysis system evaluation study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

An evaluation of two different pyrolysis concepts which recover energy from solid waste was conducted in order to determine the merits of each concept for integration into a Integrated Utility System (IUS). The two concepts evaluated were a Lead Bath Furnace Pyrolysis System and a Slagging Vertical Shaft, Partial Air Oxidation Pyrolysis System. Both concepts will produce a fuel gas from the IUS waste and sewage sludge which can be used to offset primary fuel consumption in addition to the sanitary disposal of the waste. The study evaluated the thermal integration of each concept as well as the economic impact on the IUS resulting from integrating each pyrolysis concepts. For reference, the pyrolysis concepts were also compared to incineration which was considered the baseline IUS solid waste disposal system.

On the detection of adobe buried archaeological structures using multiscale remote sensing techniques : Piramide Naranja in Cahuachi (Peru)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masini, N.; Rizzo, E.; Lasaponara, R.; Orefici, G.

2009-04-01

The detection of buried adobe structures is a crucial issue for the remote sensing (ground, aerial and satellite) applied to archaeology for the widespread of sun-dried earth as building material in several ancient civilizations in Central and Southern America, Middle East and North Africa. Moreover it is complex, due to the subtle contrast existing between the archaeological features and the surrounding, especially in arid setting, as in the case of the well know Nazca Ceremonial Centre of Cahuachi, located in the desert of Nazca (Southern Peru) . During the last two decades of excavations adobe monuments dating back from the 6th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D have been highlighted by the Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos Precolombinos (CEAP), an italian-peruvian mission directed by Giuseppe Orefici. Actually, the archaeologists are excavating and restoring the core of the Ceremonial centre where is located a great pyramid (kown as Gran Piramide). Beginning from 2007 the two institutes of CNR, IMAA and IBAM, have been involved by CEAP, in order to provide a scientific and technological support for the archaeological research. Therefore, a multi-scale approach based on the integration of aerial and satellite remote sensing with geophysical techniques was employed in order to provide data useful for archaeological excavations. The abstract refers to the last investigations performed on a mound, known as "Piramide Naranja", during the 2008. The processing of an aerial imagery time series and two QuickBird satellite images acquired in 2002 and 2005, allowed for identifying some features related to shallow and buried structures. Such features were verified by means of geophysical prospections, performed by using the magnetometric method which observed changes in the magnetic field within the first few metres beneath the subsurface detecting buried walls and anomalies linked to ceramic deposits referable to possible tombs. Finally, the integration of all data acquired by the different remote sensing techniques allowed for spatially characterizing the archaeological features, thus providing important information for the planning of the next archaeological campaign scheduled on July 2009

Low-level radioactive-waste burial at the Palos Forest Preserve, Illinois; geology and hydrology of the glacial drift, as related to the migration of tritium

USGS Publications Warehouse

Olimpio, Julio C.

1984-01-01

A low-level radioactive-waste burial site is located in Palos Forest Preserve, about 22 kilometers southwest of Chicago, Illinois. Between 1943 and 1949 the site, named Plot M, was filled with radioactive waste from the first Argonne National Laboratory and from the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory. Since 1973, tritium concentration levels up to 14 nanocuries per liter have been measured in water samples collected from a well 360 meters from the burial site. The U.S. Geological Survey is studying the geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical properties of the glacial drift and underlying bedrock at the Plot M site to determine the factors that control the movement of radionuclides. Test wells were drilled into the drift to collect water and core samples for laboratory analysis, to gather geologic and hydrologic data, and to conduct geophysical surveys. Plot M is located in drift that ranges in thickness from 25 to 45 meters. The drift is a stratified sequence of clay- and silt-rich sediments that contain thin, interstratified sand layers. The silt content of the drift increases with depth. The permeability of the drift, as indicated by field and laboratory hydraulic conductivity tests, ranges from 1.0 x 10 -6 to 1.0 ? 10 -8 centimeters per second. A tritium plume, the contaminated zone in the drift in which tritium concentration levels exceed 10 nanocuries per liter of water, extends horizontally northward from Plot M at least 50 meters and vertically downward to bedrock. The center of the plume, where tritium concentration levels are as high as 50,000 nanocuries per liter, is approximately 15 meters beneath the burial site. The size, shape, and 'bull's-eye' concentration pattern indicate that the plume is a single slug and that the site no longer releases tritium into the drift. The leading edge, or front, of the plume (the 10 nanocuries per liter boundary) left the burial site in either the late 1940's or the early 1950's and intersected the underlying bedrock surface before 1973. The calculated movement rate of the front is 6.3 x 10 -6 centimeters per second. Several key factors that control both the concentration level and the extent of migration of tritium in the drift at Plot M are 1. The limited amount of tritiated waste buried at Plot M. 2. The long period of time that has elapsed since the waste was buried (30-35 years) relative to the radioactive half-life of tritium (12.3 years). 3. The great thickness and low permeability of the glacial drift at the site.

Movement of a tritium plume in shallow groundwater at a legacy low-level radioactive waste disposal site in eastern Australia.

PubMed

Hughes, C E; Cendón, D I; Harrison, J J; Hankin, S I; Johansen, M P; Payne, T E; Vine, M; Collins, R N; Hoffmann, E L; Loosz, T

2011-10-01

Between 1960 and 1968 low-level radioactive waste was buried in a series of shallow trenches near the Lucas Heights facility, south of Sydney, Australia. Groundwater monitoring carried out since the mid 1970s indicates that with the exception of tritium, no radioactivity above typical background levels has been detected outside the immediate vicinity of the trenches. The maximum tritium level detected in ground water was 390 kBq/L and the median value was 5400 Bq/L, decay corrected to the time of disposal. Since 1968, a plume of tritiated water has migrated from the disposal trenches and extends at least 100 m from the source area. Tritium in rainfall is negligible, however leachate from an adjacent and fill represents a significant additional tritium source. Study data indicate variation in concentration levels and plume distribution in response to wet and dry climatic periods and have been used to determine pathways for tritium migration through the subsurface.

Development and demonstration of a telerobotic excavation system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burks, Barry L.; Thompson, David H.; Killough, Stephen M.; Dinkins, Marion A.

1994-01-01

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is developing remote excavation technologies for the Department of Energy's Office (DOE) of Technology Development, Robotics Technology Development Program, and also for the Department of Defense (DOD) Project Manager for Ammunition Logistics. This work is being done to meet the need for remote excavation and removal of radioactive and contaminated buried waste at several DOE sites and unexploded ordnance at DOD sites. System requirements are based on the need to uncover and remove waste from burial sites in a way that does not cause unnecessary personnel exposure or additional environmental contamination. Goals for the current project are to demonstrate dexterous control of a backhoe with force feedback and to implement robotic operations that will improve productivity. The Telerobotic Small Emplacement Excavator is a prototype system that incorporates the needed robotic and telerobotic capabilities on a commercially available platform. The ability to add remote dexterous teleoperation and robotic operating modes is intended to be adaptable to other commercially available excavator systems.

System description for DART (Decision Analysis for Remediation Technologies)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nonte, J.; Bolander, T.; Nickelson, D.

1997-09-01

DART is a computer aided system populated with influence models to determine quantitative benefits derived by matching requirements and technologies. The DART database is populated with data from over 900 DOE sites from 10 Field Offices. These sites are either source terms, such as buried waste pits, or soil or groundwater contaminated plumes. The data, traceable to published documents, consists of site-specific data (contaminants, area, volume, depth, size, remedial action dates, site preferred remedial option), problems (e.g., offsite contaminant plume), and Site Technology Coordinating Group (STCG) need statements (also contained in the Ten-Year Plan). DART uses this data to calculatemore » and derive site priorities, risk rankings, and site specific technology requirements. DART is also populated with over 900 industry and DOE SCFA technologies. Technology capabilities can be used to match technologies to waste sites based on the technology`s capability to meet site requirements and constraints. Queries may be used to access, sort, roll-up, and rank site data. Data roll-ups may be graphically displayed.« less

Soil organic matter in the Moscow State University botanical garden on the Vorob'evy Hills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozanova, M. S.; Prokof'eva, T. V.; Lysak, L. V.; Rakhleeva, A. A.

2016-09-01

Humification conditions and humus status parameters in arboretum soils of the Moscow State University botanical garden on the Vorob'evy Hills have been studied. Although microbiological activity is reduced, the warm and mild climate in the city, the eutrophication of soils (due to atmospheric fallouts and dissolution of construction waste inclusions), the retention of plant waste on the soil surface, and the presence of abundant primary destructors (mesofauna) have resulted in the formation of organic matter with specific characteristics. During the 60 years that have elapsed since the arboretum establishment, soils with a high content (up to 10-14%) of humate humus (CHA/CFA > 1) characterized by a higher degree of humification than in the control soils under herbaceous vegetation have been developed in the area. Large reserves of organic carbon have been noted not only in the upper 30-cm-thick soil layer, but also in the 1-m-thick layer due to organic matter of buried and technogenic horizons.

Integrating natural and social sciences to inspire public confidence in radioactive waste policy case study - Committee on radioactive waste management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Usher, Sam

2007-07-01

Integrating Natural and Social Sciences to Inspire Public Confidence in Radioactive Waste Policy Case Study: Committee on Radioactive Waste Management Implementing effective long-term radioactive waste management policy is challenging, and both UK and international experience is littered with policy and programme failures. Policy must not only be underpinned by sound science and technical rationale, it must also inspire the confidence of the public and other stakeholders. However, in today's modern society, communities will not simply accept the word of scientists for setting policy based purely on technical grounds. This is particularly so in areas where there are significant social andmore » ethical issues, such as radioactive waste disposal. To develop and implement effective policy, governments, waste owners and implementing bodies must develop processes which effectively integrate both complex technical and scientific issues, with equally challenging social and ethical concerns. These integrating processes must marry often intricate technical issues with broad public and stakeholder engagement programmes, in programmes which can expect the highest levels of public scrutiny, and must invariably be delivered within challenging time and budget constraints. This paper considers a model for how such integrating processes can be delivered. The paper reviews, as a case study, how such challenges were overcome by the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), which, in July 2006, made recommendations to the UK government for the establishment of a long-term radioactive waste policy. Its recommendations were underpinned by sound science, but also engendered public confidence through undertaking the largest and most significant deliberative public and stakeholder engagement programme on a complex policy issue in the UK. Effective decision-making was enabled through the integration of both proven and bespoke methodologies, including Multi-criteria Decision Analysis and Holistic assessments, coupled with an overarching deliberative approach. How this was managed and delivered to programme demonstrates how important effective integration of different issues, interests and world views can be achieved, and the paper looks forward to how the continued integration of both natural and social sciences is essential if public confidence is to be maintained through implementation stages. This paper will be particularly relevant to governments, waste owners and implementing bodies who are responsible for developing and implementing policy. (author)« less

Integrated environmental policy: A review of economic analysis.

PubMed

Wiesmeth, Hans; Häckl, Dennis

2017-04-01

Holistic environmental policies, which emerged from a mere combination of technical activities in waste management some 40 years ago, constitute the most advanced level of environmental policies. These approaches to environmental policy, among them the policies in integrated waste management, attempt to guide economic agents to an environment-friendly behaviour. Nevertheless, current holistic policies in waste management, including policies on one-way drinks containers and waste electrical and electronic equipment, and implementations of extended producer responsibility with further applications to waste electrical and electronic equipment, reveal more or less severe deficiencies - despite some positive examples. This article relates these policy failures, which are not necessarily the result of an insufficient compliance with the regulations, to missing constitutive elements of what is going to be called an 'integrated environmental policy'. This article therefore investigates - mostly from a practical point of view - constitutive elements, which are necessary for a holistic policy to serve as a well-functioning allocation mechanism. As these constitutive elements result from a careful 'integration' of the environmental commodities into the economic allocation problems, we refer to these policies as 'integrated environmental policies'. The article also discusses and illustrates the main steps of designing such a policy - for waste electrical and electronic equipment and a (possible) ban of Glyphosat in agriculture. As these policies are dependent on economic and political stability with environmental awareness sufficiently developed, the article addresses mostly waste management policies in highly industrialised countries.

Computer simulation of thermal and fluid systems for MIUS integration and subsystems test /MIST/ laboratory. [Modular Integrated Utility System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rochelle, W. C.; Liu, D. K.; Nunnery, W. J., Jr.; Brandli, A. E.

1975-01-01

This paper describes the application of the SINDA (systems improved numerical differencing analyzer) computer program to simulate the operation of the NASA/JSC MIUS integration and subsystems test (MIST) laboratory. The MIST laboratory is designed to test the integration capability of the following subsystems of a modular integrated utility system (MIUS): (1) electric power generation, (2) space heating and cooling, (3) solid waste disposal, (4) potable water supply, and (5) waste water treatment. The SINDA/MIST computer model is designed to simulate the response of these subsystems to externally impressed loads. The computer model determines the amount of recovered waste heat from the prime mover exhaust, water jacket and oil/aftercooler and from the incinerator. This recovered waste heat is used in the model to heat potable water, for space heating, absorption air conditioning, waste water sterilization, and to provide for thermal storage. The details of the thermal and fluid simulation of MIST including the system configuration, modes of operation modeled, SINDA model characteristics and the results of several analyses are described.

A novel design of the high-precision magnetic locator with three-dimension measurement capability applying dynamically sensing mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Wen-Nan; Chen, Po-Shen; Chen, Mu-Ping; Teng, Ching-Cheng

2006-09-01

A novel design of the magnetic locator, for obtaining the high-precision measurement information of variety of the buried metal pipes, is presented in this paper. The concept of dynamically sensing mechanism, including the vibrating and moving devices, proposed herein is a simple and effective way to improve the precision of three-dimension location sensing for the underground utilities. Based on the primary magnetism of Lenz's law and Faraday's law, the functions of the amplifying effect for the sensing magnetic signals, as well as the distinguishing effect by the simple filtering algorithms embedded in processing programs, are achieved while the relatively strong noise exists. The verification results of these integration designs demonstrate the effectiveness both by precise locating for the buried utility, and accurate measurement for the depth.

NIITEK-NVESD AMDS program and interim field-ready system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hibbard, Mark W.; Etebari, Ali

2010-04-01

NIITEK (Non-Intrusive Inspection Technology, Inc) develops and fields vehicle-mounted mine and buried threat detection systems. Since 2003, the NIITEK has developed and tested a remote robot-mounted mine detection system for use in the NVESD AMDS program. This paper will discuss the road map of development since the outset of the program, including transition from a data collection platform towards a militarized field-ready system for immediate use as a remote countermine and buried threat detection solution with real-time autonomous threat classification. The detection system payload has been integrated on both the iRobot Packbot and the Foster-Miller Talon robot. This brief will discuss the requirements for a successful near-term system, the progressive development of the system, our current real-time capabilities, and our planned upgrades for moving into and supporting field testing, evaluation, and ongoing operation.

Ratiometric, filter-free optical sensor based on a complementary metal oxide semiconductor buried double junction photodiode.

PubMed

Yung, Ka Yi; Zhan, Zhiyong; Titus, Albert H; Baker, Gary A; Bright, Frank V

2015-07-16

We report a complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit (CMOS IC) with a buried double junction (BDJ) photodiode that (i) provides a real-time output signal that is related to the intensity ratio at two emission wavelengths and (ii) simultaneously eliminates the need for an optical filter to block Rayleigh scatter. We demonstrate the BDJ platform performance for gaseous NH3 and aqueous pH detection. We also compare the BDJ performance to parallel results obtained by using a slew scanned fluorimeter (SSF). The BDJ results are functionally equivalent to the SSF results without the need for any wavelength filtering or monochromators and the BDJ platform is not prone to errors associated with source intensity fluctuations or sensor signal drift. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Timing of compaction and quartz cementation from integrated petrographic and burial-history analyses, Lower Cretaceous Fall River Formation, Wyoming and South Dakota

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dutton, S.P.

1997-01-01

Integrated petrographic and burial-history studies of Fall River sandstones from outcrop and the subsurface provide insight into the timing of compaction and quartz cementation, the two main porosity-reducing processes in quartzose sandstones. Petrographic study of 95 thin sections of Fall River fluvial valley-fill sandstones from outcrop, Donkey Creek field at 2 km burial depth, and Buck Draw field at 3.8 km indicates that reservoir quality differs significantly in these three areas. Fall River sandstones at the surface contain an average of 31% intergranular volume (IGV) and 2% quartz cement. In both Donkey Creek and Buck Draw fields, the sandstones averagemore » 22% IGV, but quartz-cement volume averages 8% in the shallower field and 12% in the deeper. Geometric mean permeability at the surface is 4,700 md, compared with 42 md at 2 km and 2 md at 3.8 km. Burial history of the Fall River sandstone differs greatly in the three areas. The outcropping sandstones were buried to 2 km and had reached 80 C by the end of the Cretaceous. They were then uplifted and have remained at near-surface temperatures since the Paleocene; the calculated time-temperature index (TTI) of these sandstones is 1. Fall River sandstones at Donkey Creek were also buried to 2 km and had reached 80 C by the end of the Cretaceous but remained at that depth during the Tertiary; TTI is 14. In Buck Draw field, Fall River sandstones were buried to 2.5 km during the Cretaceous and then continued to subside during the Tertiary, reaching depths of 4 km and temperatures of 140 C; TTI is 512.« less

An Overview of Opportunities for Waste Heat Recovery and Thermal Integration in the Primary Aluminum Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nowicki, Cassandre; Gosselin, Louis

2012-08-01

Efficient smelters currently consume roughly 13 MWh of electricity per ton of aluminum, while roughly half of that energy is lost as thermal waste. Although waste heat is abundant, current thermal integration in primary aluminum facilities remains limited. This is due to both the low quality of waste heat available and the shortage of potential uses within reasonable distance of identified waste heat sources. In this article, we present a mapping of both heat dissipation processes and heat demands around a sample facility (Alcoa Deschambault Quebec smelter). Our primary aim is to report opportunities for heat recovery and integration in the primary aluminum industry. We consider potential heat-to-sink pairings individually and assess their thermodynamic potential for producing energy savings.

Rooting Characteristics of Vegetation Near Areas 3 and 5 Radioactive Waste Management Sites at the Nevada Test Site--Part 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D. J. Hansen

2003-09-30

The U.S. Department of Energy emplaced high-specific-activity low-level radioactive wastes and limited quantities of classified transuranic wastes in Greater Confinement Disposal (GCD) boreholes from 1984 to 1989. The boreholes are located at the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS) on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in southern Nevada. The boreholes were backfilled with native alluvium soil. The surface of these boreholes and trenches is expected to be colonized by native vegetation in the future. Considering the long-term performance of the disposal facilities, bioturbation (the disruption of buried wastes by biota) is considered a primary release mechanism for radionuclides disposedmore » in GCD boreholes as well as trenches at both Areas 3 and 5 RWMSs. This report provides information about rooting characteristics of vegetation near Areas 3 and 5 RWMSs. Data from this report are being used to resolve uncertainties involving parameterization of performance assessment models used to characterize the biotic mixing of soils and radionuclide transport processes by biota. The objectives of this study were to: (1) survey the prior ecological literature on the NTS and identify pertinent information about the vegetation, (2) conduct limited field studies to describe the current vegetation in the vicinity of Areas 3 and 5 RWMSs so as to correlate findings with more extensive vegetation data collected at Yucca Mountain and the NTS, ( 3 ) review prior performance assessment documents and evaluate model assumptions based on current ecological information, and (4) identify data deficiencies and make recommendations for correcting such deficiencies.« less

Response to waste electrical and electronic equipments in China: legislation, recycling system, and advanced integrated process.

PubMed

Zhou, Lei; Xu, Zhenming

2012-05-01

Over the past 30 years, China has been suffering from negative environmental impacts from distempered waste electrical and electronic equipments (WEEE) recycling activities. For the purpose of environmental protection and resource reusing, China made a great effort to improve WEEE recycling. This article reviews progresses of three major fields in the development of China's WEEE recycling industry: legal system, formal recycling system, and advanced integrated process. Related laws concerning electronic waste (e-waste) management and renewable resource recycling are analyzed from aspects of improvements and loopholes. The outcomes and challenges for existing formal recycling systems are also discussed. The advantage and deficiency related to advanced integrated recycling processes for typical e-wastes are evaluated respectively. Finally, in order to achieve high disposal rates of WEEE, high-quantify separation of different materials in WEEE and high added value final products produced by separated materials from WEEE, an idea of integrated WEEE recycling system is proposed to point future development of WEEE recycling industry. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Integrated carbon budget models for the Everglades terrestrial-coastal-oceanic gradient: Current status and needs for inter-site comparisons

Treesearch

T. G. Troxler; E. Gaiser; J. Barr; J. D. Fuentes; R. Jaffe; D. L. Childers; L. Collado-Vides; V. H. Rivera-Monroy; E. Castaneda-Moya; W. Anderson; R. Chambers; M. Chen; C. Coronado-Molina; S. E. Davis; V. Engel; C. Fitz; J. Fourqurean; T. Frankovich; J. Kominoski; C. Madden; S. L. Malone; S. F. Oberbauer; P. Olivas; J. Richards; C. Saunders; J. Schedlbauer; L. J. Scinto; F. Sklar; T. Smith; J. M. Smoak; G. Starr; R. R. Twilley; K. Whelan

2013-01-01

Recent studies suggest that coastal ecosystems can bury significantly more C than tropical forests, indicating that continued coastal development and exposure to sea level rise and storms will have global biogeochemical consequences. The Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (FCE LTER) site provides an excellent subtropical system for examining...

Improvement of both bandwidth and driving voltage of polymer phase modulators using buried in-plane coupled micro-strip driving electrodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadjloum, Massinissa; El Gibari, Mohammed; Li, Hongwu; Daryoush, Afshin S.

2017-06-01

A large performance improvement of polymer phase modulators is reported by using buried in-plane coupled microstrip (CMS) driving electrodes, instead of standard vertical Micro-Strip electrodes. The in-plane CMS driving electrodes have both low radio frequency (RF) losses and high overlap integral between optical and RF waves compared to the vertical designs. Since the optical waveguide and CMS electrodes are located in the same plane, optical injection and microwave driving access cannot be separated perpendicularly without intersection between them. A via-less transition between grounded coplanar waveguide access and CMS driving electrodes is introduced in order to provide broadband excitation of optical phase modulators and avoid the intersection of the optical core and the electrical probe. Simulation and measurement results of the benzocyclobutene polymer as a cladding material and the PMMI-CPO1 polymer as an optical core with an electro-optic coefficient of 70 pm/V demonstrate a broadband operation of 67 GHz using travelling-wave driving electrodes with a half-wave voltage of 4.5 V, while satisfying its low RF losses and high overlap integral between optical and RF waves of in-plane CMS electrodes.

Analysis of Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Samples: Integrated Summary Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Britt, Phillip F

2015-03-01

Analysis of Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Samples: Integrated Summary Report. Summaries of conclusions, analytical processes, and analytical results. Analysis of samples taken from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico in support of the WIPP Technical Assessment Team (TAT) activities to determine to the extent feasible the mechanisms and chemical reactions that may have resulted in the breach of at least one waste drum and release of waste material in WIPP Panel 7 Room 7 on February 14, 2014. This report integrates and summarizes the results contained in three separate reports, described below, and draws conclusions basedmore » on those results. Chemical and Radiochemical Analyses of WIPP Samples R-15 C5 SWB and R16 C-4 Lip; PNNL-24003, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, December 2014 Analysis of Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Underground and MgO Samples by the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL); SRNL-STI-2014-00617; Savannah River National Laboratory, December 2014 Report for WIPP UG Sample #3, R15C5 (9/3/14); LLNL-TR-667015; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, January 2015 This report is also contained in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Technical Assessment Team Report; SRNL-RP-2015-01198; Savannah River National Laboratory, March 17, 2015, as Appendix C: Analysis Integrated Summary Report.« less

Development of integrated radioactive waste packaging and conditioning solutions in the UK

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sibley, Peter; Butter, Kevin; Zimmerman, Ian

2013-07-01

In order to offer a more cost effective, safer and efficient Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) management service, EnergySolutions EU Ltd. and Gesellschaft fur Nuklear-Service mbH (GNS) have been engaged in the development of integrated radioactive waste retrieval, packaging and conditioning solutions in the UK. Recognising the challenges surrounding regulatory endorsement and on-site implementation in particular, this has resulted in an alternative approach to meeting customer, safety regulator and disposability requirements. By working closely with waste producers and the organisation(s) responsible for endorsing radioactive waste management operations in the UK, our proposed solutions are now being implemented. By combining GNS' off-the-shelf,more » proven Ductile Cast Iron Containers (DCICs) and water removal technologies, with EnergySolutions EU Ltd.'s experience and expertise in waste retrieval, safety case development and disposability submissions, a fully integrated service offering has been developed. This has involved significant effort to overcome technical challenges such as onsite equipment deployment, active commissioning, conditioning success criteria and disposability acceptance. Our experience in developing such integrated solutions has highlighted the importance of working in collaboration with all parties to achieve a successful and viable outcome. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure reliable, safe and effective delivery of waste management solutions. (authors)« less

Berkeley Lab - Materials Sciences Division

Science.gov Websites

? Click Here! Resources for MSD Safety MSD Safety MSD's Integrated Safety Management Plan [PDF] Safety culture and policies at MSD MSD0010: Integrated Safety Management: Principles and Case Studies Calendar for MSD classes on Integrated Safety Management MSD0015 Handout - Waste Briefing Document [PDF] Waste

Design and implementation of integrated solid wastes management pattern in industrial zones, case study of Shahroud, Iran.

PubMed

Saeid, Nazemi; Roudbari, Aliakbar; Yaghmaeian, Kamyar

2014-01-14

The aim of the study was to design and implementation of integrated solid wastes management pattern in Shahroud industrial zone, evaluates the results and determine possible performance problems. This cross - sectional study was carried out for 4 years in Shahroud industrial zone and the implementation process included:1- Qualitative and quantitative analysis of all solid waste generated in the city, 2- determine the current state of solid waste management in the zone and to identify programs conducted, 3- Design and implementation of integrated solid wastes management pattern including design and implementation of training programs, laws, penalties and incentives and explain and implement programs for all factories and 4- The monitoring of the implementation process and determine the results. Annually, 1,728 tons of solid wastes generated in the town including 1603 tons of industrial wastes and 125 tons of municipal wastes. By implementing this pattern, the two separated systems of collection and recycling of domestic and industrial wastes was launched in this zone. Also consistent with the goals, the amount of solid wastes generated and disposed in 2009 was 51.5 and 28.6 kg per 100 million Rials production, respectively. Results showed that implementation of pattern of separated collection, training programs, capacity building, providing technical services, completing chain of industries and strengthening the cooperation between industrial estate management and industrial units could greatly reduce the waste management problems.

Method of forming through substrate vias (TSVs) and singulating and releasing die having the TSVs from a mechanical support substrate

DOEpatents

Okandan, Murat; Nielson, Gregory N

2014-12-09

Accessing a workpiece object in semiconductor processing is disclosed. The workpiece object includes a mechanical support substrate, a release layer over the mechanical support substrate, and an integrated circuit substrate coupled over the release layer. The integrated circuit substrate includes a device layer having semiconductor devices. The method also includes etching through-substrate via (TSV) openings through the integrated circuit substrate that have buried ends at or within the release layer including using the release layer as an etch stop. TSVs are formed by introducing one or more conductive materials into the TSV openings. A die singulation trench is etched at least substantially through the integrated circuit substrate around a perimeter of an integrated circuit die. The integrated circuit die is at least substantially released from the mechanical support substrate.

European trends in greenhouse gases emissions from integrated solid waste management.

PubMed

Calabrò, Paolo S; Gori, Manuela; Lubello, Claudio

2015-01-01

The European Union (EU) has 28 member states, each with very different characteristics (e.g. surface, population density, per capita gross domestic product, per capita municipal solid waste (MSW) production, MSW composition, MSW management options). In this paper several integrated waste management scenarios representative of the European situation have been generated and analysed in order to evaluate possible trends in the net emission of greenhouse gases and in the required landfill volume. The results demonstrate that an integrated system with a high level of separate collection, efficient energy recovery in waste-to-energy plants and very limited landfill disposal is the most effective according to the indices adopted. Moreover, it is evident that a fully integrated system can make MSW management a carbon sink with a potentiality of up to approximately 40 Mt CO2eq year(-1).

Development of an Integrated Raman and Turbidity Fiber Optic Sensor for the In-Situ Analysis of High Level Nuclear Waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gasbarro, Christina; Bello, Job M.; Bryan, Samuel A.

2013-02-24

Stored nuclear waste must be retrieved from storage, treated, separated into low- and high-level waste streams, and finally put into a disposal form that effectively encapsulates the waste and isolates it from the environment for a long period of time. Before waste retrieval can be done, waste composition needs to be characterized so that proper safety precautions can be implemented during the retrieval process. In addition, there is a need for active monitoring of the dynamic chemistry of the waste during storage since the waste composition can become highly corrosive. This work describes the development of a novel, integrated fibermore » optic Raman and light scattering probe for in situ use in nuclear waste solutions. The dual Raman and turbidity sensor provides simultaneous chemical identification of nuclear waste as well as information concerning the suspended particles in the waste using a common laser excitation source.« less

Development of an Integrated Raman and Turbidity Fiber Optic Sensor for the In-Situ Analysis of High Level Nuclear Waste - 13532

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gasbarro, Christina; Bello, Job; Bryan, Samuel

2013-07-01

Stored nuclear waste must be retrieved from storage, treated, separated into low- and high-level waste streams, and finally put into a disposal form that effectively encapsulates the waste and isolates it from the environment for a long period of time. Before waste retrieval can be done, waste composition needs to be characterized so that proper safety precautions can be implemented during the retrieval process. In addition, there is a need for active monitoring of the dynamic chemistry of the waste during storage since the waste composition can become highly corrosive. This work describes the development of a novel, integrated fibermore » optic Raman and light scattering probe for in situ use in nuclear waste solutions. The dual Raman and turbidity sensor provides simultaneous chemical identification of nuclear waste as well as information concerning the suspended particles in the waste using a common laser excitation source. (authors)« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

F.V. Perry

Basaltic volcanism poses a potential hazard to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository because multiple episodes of basaltic volcanism have occurred in the Yucca Mountain region (YMR) in the past 11 Ma. Intervals between eruptive episodes average about 1 Ma. Three episodes have occurred in the Quaternary at approximately 1.1 Ma (5 volcanoes), 350 ka (2 volcanoes), and 80 ka (1 volcano). Because Yucca Mountain lies within the Basin and Range Province, a significant portion of the pre-Quaternary volcanic history of the YMR may be buried in alluvial-filled basins. An exceptionally high-resolution aeromagnetic survey and subsequent drilling program sponsoredmore » by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) began in 2004 and is gathering data that will enhance understanding of the temporal and spatial patterns of Pliocene and Miocene volcanism in the region (Figure 1). DOE has convened a ten-member expert panel of earth scientists that will use the information gathered to update probabilistic volcanic hazard estimates originally obtained by expert elicitation in 1996. Yucca Mountain is a series of north-trending ridges of eastward-tilted fault blocks that are bounded by north to northeast-trending normal faults. Topographic basins filled with up to 500 m of alluvium surround it to the east, south and west. In the past several decades, nearly 50 holes have been drilled in these basins, mainly for Yucca Mountain Project Site Characterization and the Nye County Early Warning Drilling Program. Several of these drill holes have penetrated relatively deeply buried (300-400 m) Miocene basalt; a Pliocene basalt dated at 3.8 Ma was encountered at a relatively shallow depth (100 m) in the northern Amargosa Desert (Anomaly B in Figure 1). The current drilling program is the first to specifically target and characterize buried basalt. Based on the new aeromagnetic survey and previous air and ground magnetic surveys (Connor et al. 2000; O'Leary et al. 2002), at least eight drill holes are planned with the goal of sampling each geographic subpopulation of magnetic anomalies in the region (Figure 1). This will result in a more complete characterization of the location, age, volume and composition of buried basaltic features for the purpose of updating the volcanic hazard assessment. Smith and Keenan (2005) suggested that volcanic hazard estimates might be 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than estimated by the DOE expert elicitation in 1996, based on (1) a proposed relationship between recurrence rates in the YMR and the Reveille-Lunar Crater volcanic field to the north, and (2) the implication that a number of so-far-undiscovered buried volcanoes would have a significant impact on hazard estimates. This article presents the new aeromagnetic data and an interpretation of the data that suggests magnetic anomalies nearest the proposed repository site represent buried Miocene basalt that will likely have only a minor impact on the volcanic hazard.« less

Examples of Disposition Alternatives for WTP Solid Secondary Waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Seitz, R.

The Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant is planned to produce a variety of solid secondary wastes that will require disposal at the Integrated Disposal Facility on the Hanford Site. Solid secondary wastes include a variety of waste streams that are a result of waste treatment and processing activities.

Integrated software system for low level waste management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Worku, G.

1995-12-31

In the continually changing and uncertain world of low level waste management, many generators in the US are faced with the prospect of having to store their waste on site for the indefinite future. This consequently increases the set of tasks performed by the generators in the areas of packaging, characterizing, classifying, screening (if a set of acceptance criteria applies), and managing the inventory for the duration of onsite storage. When disposal sites become available, it is expected that the work will require re-evaluating the waste packages, including possible re-processing, re-packaging, or re-classifying in preparation for shipment for disposal undermore » the regulatory requirements of the time. In this day and age, when there is wide use of computers and computer literacy is at high levels, an important waste management tool would be an integrated software system that aids waste management personnel in conducting these tasks quickly and accurately. It has become evident that such an integrated radwaste management software system offers great benefits to radwaste generators both in the US and other countries. This paper discusses one such approach to integrated radwaste management utilizing some globally accepted radiological assessment software applications.« less

Multi-criteria analysis for municipal solid waste management in a Brazilian metropolitan area.

PubMed

Santos, Simone Machado; Silva, Maisa Mendonça; Melo, Renata Maciel; Gavazza, Savia; Florencio, Lourdinha; Kato, Mario T

2017-10-15

The decision-making process involved in municipal solid waste management (MSWM) must consider more than just financial aspects, which makes it a difficult task in developing countries. The Recife Metropolitan Region (RMR) in the Northeast of Brazil faces a MSWM problem that has been ongoing since the 1970s, with no common solution. In order to direct short-term solutions, three MSWM alternatives were outlined for the RMR, considering the current and future situations, the time and cost involved and social/environmental criteria. A multi-criteria approach, based on the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE), was proposed to rank these alternatives. The alternative that included two private landfill sites and seven transfer, sorting and composting stations was confirmed as the most suitable and stable option for short-term MSWM, considering the two scenarios for the criteria weights. Sensitivity analysis was also performed to support the robustness of the results. The implementation of separate collections would minimize the amount of waste buried, while maximizing the useful life of landfill sites and increasing the timeframe of the alternative. Overall, the multi-criteria analysis was helpful and accurate during the alternative selection process, considering the similarities and restrictions of each option, which can lead to difficulties during the decision-making process.

Development and application of biotechnologies in the metal mining industry.

PubMed

Johnson, D Barrie

2013-11-01

Metal mining faces a number of significant economic and environmental challenges in the twenty-first century for which established and emerging biotechnologies may, at least in part, provide the answers. Bioprocessing of mineral ores and concentrates is already used in variously engineered formats to extract base (e.g., copper, cobalt, and nickel) and precious (gold and silver) metals in mines throughout the world, though it remains a niche technology. However, current projections of an increasing future need to use low-grade primary metal ores, to reprocess mine wastes, and to develop in situ leaching technologies to extract metals from deep-buried ore bodies, all of which are economically more amenable to bioprocessing than conventional approaches (e.g., pyrometallurgy), would suggest that biomining will become more extensively utilized in the future. Recent research has also shown that bioleaching could be used to process a far wider range of metal ores (e.g., oxidized ores) than has previously been the case. Biotechnologies are also being developed to control mine-related pollution, including securing mine wastes (rocks and tailings) by using "ecological engineering" approaches, and also to remediate and recover metals from waste waters, such as acid mine drainage. This article reviews the current status of biotechnologies within the mining sector and considers how these may be developed and applied in future years.

Nuclear Waste Management under Approaching Disaster: A Comparison of Decommissioning Strategies for the German Repository Asse II.

PubMed

Ilg, Patrick; Gabbert, Silke; Weikard, Hans-Peter

2017-07-01

This article compares different strategies for handling low- and medium-level nuclear waste buried in a retired potassium mine in Germany (Asse II) that faces significant risk of uncontrollable brine intrusion and, hence, long-term groundwater contamination. We survey the policy process that has resulted in the identification of three possible so-called decommissioning options: complete backfilling, relocation of the waste to deeper levels in the mine, and retrieval. The selection of a decommissioning strategy must compare expected investment costs with expected social damage costs (economic, environmental, and health damage costs) caused by flooding and subsequent groundwater contamination. We apply a cost minimization approach that accounts for the uncertainty regarding the stability of the rock formation and the risk of an uncontrollable brine intrusion. Since economic and health impacts stretch out into the far future, we examine the impact of different discounting methods and rates. Due to parameter uncertainty, we conduct a sensitivity analysis concerning key assumptions. We find that retrieval, the currently preferred option by policymakers, has the lowest expected social damage costs for low discount rates. However, this advantage is overcompensated by higher expected investment costs. Considering all costs, backfilling is the best option for all discounting scenarios considered. © 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.

Interim report on nuclear waste depository thermal analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Altenbach, T.J.

1978-07-25

A thermal analysis of a deep geologic depository for spent nuclear fuel is being conducted. The TRUMP finite difference heat transfer code is used to analyze a 3-dimensional model of the depository. The model uses a unit cell consisting of one spent fuel canister buried in salt beneath a ventilated room in the depository. A base case was studied along with several parametric variations. It is concluded that this method is appropriate for analyzing the thermal response of the system, and that the most important parameter in determining the maximum temperatures is the canister heat generation rate. The effects ofmore » room ventilation and different depository media are secondary.« less

Development of an Integrated Waste Plan for Chalk River Laboratories - 13376

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jones, L.

2013-07-01

To further its Strategic Planning, the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) required an effective approach to developing a fully integrated waste plan for its Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) site. Production of the first Integrated Waste Plan (IWP) for Chalk River was a substantial task involving representatives from each of the major internal stakeholders. Since then, a second revision has been produced and a third is underway. The IWP remains an Interim IWP until all gaps have been resolved and all pathways are at an acceptable level of detail. Full completion will involve a number of iterations, typically annually formore » up to six years. The end result of completing this process is a comprehensive document and supporting information that includes: - An Integrated Waste Plan document summarizing the entire waste management picture in one place; - Details of all the wastes required to be managed, including volume and timings by waste stream; - Detailed waste stream pathway maps for the whole life-cycle for each waste stream to be managed from pre-generation planning through to final disposition; and - Critical decision points, i.e. decisions that need to be made and timings by when they need to be made. A waste inventory has been constructed that serves as the master reference inventory of all waste that has been or is committed to be managed at CRL. In the past, only the waste that is in storage has been effectively captured, and future predictions of wastes requiring to be managed were not available in one place. The IWP has also provided a detailed baseline plan at the current level of refinement. Waste flow maps for all identified waste streams, for the full waste life cycle complete to disposition have been constructed. The maps identify areas requiring further development, and show the complexities and inter-relationships between waste streams. Knowledge of these inter-dependencies is necessary in order to perform effective options studies for enabling facilities that may be necessary for multiple related waste streams. The next step is to engage external stakeholders in the optioneering work required to provide enhanced confidence that the path forward identified within future iterations of the IWP will be acceptable to all. (authors)« less

Determinants of sustainability in solid waste management - The Gianyar Waste Recovery Project in Indonesia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zurbruegg, Christian, E-mail: zurbrugg@eawag.ch; Gfrerer, Margareth, E-mail: margareth.gfrerer@gmx.net; Ashadi, Henki, E-mail: henki@eng.ui.ac.id

2012-11-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Our assessment tool helps evaluate success factors in solid waste projects. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Success of the composting plant in Indonesia is linked to its community integration. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Appropriate technology is not a main determining success factor for sustainability. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Structured assessment of 'best practices' can enhance replication in other cities. - Abstract: According to most experts, integrated and sustainable solid waste management should not only be given top priority, but must go beyond technical aspects to include various key elements of sustainability to ensure success of any solid waste project. Aside from project sustainable impacts, the overall enabling environmentmore » is the key feature determining performance and success of an integrated and affordable solid waste system. This paper describes a project-specific approach to assess typical success or failure factors. A questionnaire-based assessment method covers issues of: (i) social mobilisation and acceptance (social element), (ii) stakeholder, legal and institutional arrangements comprising roles, responsibilities and management functions (institutional element); (iii) financial and operational requirements, as well as cost recovery mechanisms (economic element). The Gianyar Waste Recovery Project in Bali, Indonesia was analysed using this integrated assessment method. The results clearly identified chief characteristics, key factors to consider when planning country wide replication but also major barriers and obstacles which must be overcome to ensure project sustainability. The Gianyar project consists of a composting unit processing 60 tons of municipal waste per day from 500,000 inhabitants, including manual waste segregation and subsequent composting of the biodegradable organic fraction.« less

Performance evaluation of integrated solid-liquid wastes treatment technology in palm oil industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amelia, J. R.; Suprihatin, S.; Indrasti, N. S.; Hasanudin, U.; Fujie, K.

2017-05-01

The oil palm industry significantly contributes to environmental degradation if without waste management properly. The newest alternative waste management that might be developed is by utilizing the effluent of POME anaerobic digestion with EFB through integrated anaerobic decomposition process. The aim of this research was to examine and evaluate the integrated solid-liquid waste treatment technology in the view point of greenhouse gasses emission, compost, and biogas production. POME was treated in anaerobic digester with loading rate about 1.65 gCOD/L/day. Treated POME with dosis of 15 and 20 L/day was sprayed to the anaerobic digester that was filled of 25 kg of EFB. The results of research showed that after 60 days, the C/N ratio of EFB decreased to 12.67 and 10.96 for dosis of treated POME 15 and 20 L/day, respectively. In case of 60 day decomposition, the integrated waste treatment technology could produce 51.01 and 34.34 m3/Ton FFB which was equivalent with 636,44 and 466,58 kgCO2e/ton FFB for dosis of treated POME 15 and 20 L/day, respectively. The results of research also showed that integrated solid-liquid wastes treatment technology could reduce GHG emission about 421.20 and 251.34 kgCO2e/ton FFB for dosis of treated POME 15 and 20 L/day, respectively.

Degradation and depolymerization of plastic waste by local bacterial isolates and bubble column reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hussein, Amal A.; Alzuhairi, Mohammed; Aljanabi, Noor H.

2018-05-01

Accumulation of plastics, especially Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is an ever increasing ecological threat due to its excessive usage in everyday human life. Nowadays, there are many methods to get rid of plastic wastes including burning, recycling and burying. However, these methods are not very active since their long period, anaerobic conditions that increase the rate of toxic materials released into the environment. This work aims to study the biological degradation of PET microorganism isolated from soil sample. Thirty eight (38) bacterial isolates were isolated from ten soil and plastic waste sample collected from four different waste disposal sites in Baghdad city during different periods between December 2016 and March 2017. Isolation was performed using enrichment culture method (flasks method) by culturing the soil samples in flasks with MSM medium where there is no carbon source only PET. Results showed that Al-Za'farania sample gave a higher number of isolates (13 isolates), while other samples gave less number of isolates. Screening was performed depending on their ability to grow in liquid MSM which contains PET powder and pieces and change the color of the PET-emulsified liquid medium as well as their ability to form the clear zone on PET-MSM agar. The results showed that NH-D-1 isolate has the higher ability to degrade DPET and PET pieces. According to morphological, biochemical characterization and Vitek-2 technique, the most active isolate was identified as Acinetobacter baumannii.

Bio-charcoal production from municipal organic solid wastes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

AlKhayat, Z. Q.

2017-08-01

The economic and environmental problems of handling the increasingly huge amounts of urban and/or suburban organic municipal solid wastes MSW, from collection to end disposal, in addition to the big fluctuations in power supply and other energy form costs for the various civilian needs, is studied for Baghdad city, the ancient and glamorous capital of Iraq, and a simple control device is suggested, built and tested by carbonizing these dried organic wastes in simple environment friendly bio-reactor in order to produce low pollution potential, economical and local charcoal capsules that might be useful for heating, cooking and other municipal uses. That is in addition to the solve of solid wastes management problem which involves huge human and financial resources and causes many lethal health and environmental problems. Leftovers of different social level residential campuses were collected, classified for organic materials then dried in order to be supplied into the bio-reactor, in which it is burnt and then mixed with small amounts of sugar sucrose that is extracted from Iraqi planted sugar cane, to produce well shaped charcoal capsules. The burning process is smoke free as the closed burner’s exhaust pipe is buried 1m underground hole, in order to use the subsurface soil as natural gas filter. This process has proved an excellent performance of handling about 120kg/day of classified MSW, producing about 80-100 kg of charcoal capsules, by the use of 200 l reactor volume.

Waste flow analysis and life cycle assessment of integrated waste management systems as planning tools: Application to optimise the system of the City of Bologna.

PubMed

Tunesi, Simonetta; Baroni, Sergio; Boarini, Sandro

2016-09-01

The results of this case study are used to argue that waste management planning should follow a detailed process, adequately confronting the complexity of the waste management problems and the specificity of each urban area and of regional/national situations. To support the development or completion of integrated waste management systems, this article proposes a planning method based on: (1) the detailed analysis of waste flows and (2) the application of a life cycle assessment to compare alternative scenarios and optimise solutions. The evolution of the City of Bologna waste management system is used to show how this approach can be applied to assess which elements improve environmental performance. The assessment of the contribution of each waste management phase in the Bologna integrated waste management system has proven that the changes applied from 2013 to 2017 result in a significant improvement of the environmental performance mainly as a consequence of the optimised integration between materials and energy recovery: Global Warming Potential at 100 years (GWP100) diminishes from 21,949 to -11,169 t CO2-eq y(-1) and abiotic resources depletion from -403 to -520 t antimony-eq. y(-1) This study analyses at great detail the collection phase. Outcomes provide specific operational recommendations to policy makers, showing the: (a) relevance of the choice of the materials forming the bags for 'door to door' collection (for non-recycled low-density polyethylene bags 22 kg CO2-eq (tonne of waste)(-1)); (b) relatively low environmental impacts associated with underground tanks (3.9 kg CO2-eq (tonne of waste)(-1)); (c) relatively low impact of big street containers with respect to plastic bags (2.6 kg CO2-eq. (tonne of waste)(-1)). © The Author(s) 2016.

Burying by rats in response to aversive and nonaversive stimuli

PubMed Central

Poling, Alan; Cleary, James; Monaghan, Michael

1981-01-01

Previous investigations have shown that rats bury a variety of conditioned and unconditioned aversive stimuli. Such burying has been considered as a species-typical defensive reaction. In the present studies, rats buried spouts filled with Tabasco sauce, or condensed milk to which a taste aversion was conditioned, but did not bury water-filled spouts or spouts filled with a palatable novel food (apple juice) to which a taste aversion was not conditioned. However, in other experiments rats consistently and repeatedly buried Purina Rat Chow, Purina Rat Chow coated with quinine, and glass marbles. This indicates that a variety of stimuli, not all aversive or novel, evoke burying by rats. Whereas the behavior may reasonably be considered as a species-typical defensive behavior in some situations, the wide range of conditions that occasion burying suggests that the behavior has no single biological function. PMID:16812198

Secondary Waste Cementitious Waste Form Data Package for the Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cantrell, Kirk J.; Westsik, Joseph H.; Serne, R Jeffrey

A review of the most up-to-date and relevant data currently available was conducted to develop a set of recommended values for use in the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) performance assessment (PA) to model contaminant release from a cementitious waste form for aqueous wastes treated at the Hanford Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF). This data package relies primarily upon recent data collected on Cast Stone formulations fabricated with simulants of low-activity waste (LAW) and liquid secondary wastes expected to be produced at Hanford. These data were supplemented, when necessary, with data developed for saltstone (a similar grout waste form used at themore » Savannah River Site). Work is currently underway to collect data on cementitious waste forms that are similar to Cast Stone and saltstone but are tailored to the characteristics of ETF-treated liquid secondary wastes. Recommended values for key parameters to conduct PA modeling of contaminant release from ETF-treated liquid waste are provided.« less

Integrated models for solid waste management in tourism regions: Langkawi Island, Malaysia.

PubMed

Shamshiry, Elmira; Nadi, Behzad; Mokhtar, Mazlin Bin; Komoo, Ibrahim; Hashim, Halimaton Saadiah; Yahaya, Nadzri

2011-01-01

The population growth, changing consumption patterns, and rapid urbanization contribute significantly to the growing volumes of solid waste that are generated in urban settings. As the rate of urbanization increases, demand on the services of solid waste management increases. The rapid urban growth in Langkawi Island, Malaysia, combined with the increasing rates of solid waste production has provided evidence that the traditional solid waste management practices, particularly the methods of waste collection and disposal, are inefficient and quite nonsustainable. Accordingly, municipal managers and planners in Langkawi need to look for and adopt a model for solid waste management that emphasizes an efficient and sustainable management of solid wastes in Langkawi Island. This study presents the current practices of solid waste management in Langkawi Island, describes the composition of the solid waste generated in that area, and presents views of local residents and tourist on issues related to solid waste management like the aesthetic value of the island environment. The most important issue of this paper is that it is the first time that integrated solid waste management is investigated in the Langkawi Island.

Integrated Models for Solid Waste Management in Tourism Regions: Langkawi Island, Malaysia

PubMed Central

Shamshiry, Elmira; Nadi, Behzad; Bin Mokhtar, Mazlin; Komoo, Ibrahim; Saadiah Hashim, Halimaton; Yahaya, Nadzri

2011-01-01

The population growth, changing consumption patterns, and rapid urbanization contribute significantly to the growing volumes of solid waste that are generated in urban settings. As the rate of urbanization increases, demand on the services of solid waste management increases. The rapid urban growth in Langkawi Island, Malaysia, combined with the increasing rates of solid waste production has provided evidence that the traditional solid waste management practices, particularly the methods of waste collection and disposal, are inefficient and quite nonsustainable. Accordingly, municipal managers and planners in Langkawi need to look for and adopt a model for solid waste management that emphasizes an efficient and sustainable management of solid wastes in Langkawi Island. This study presents the current practices of solid waste management in Langkawi Island, describes the composition of the solid waste generated in that area, and presents views of local residents and tourist on issues related to solid waste management like the aesthetic value of the island environment. The most important issue of this paper is that it is the first time that integrated solid waste management is investigated in the Langkawi Island. PMID:21904559

Integrating Archaeological Modeling in DoD Cultural Resource Compliance

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

that Eglin-area populations shared behaviors and values with other regions. Evidence for maize horticulture appears for the first time during the...ceramic containers, the introduction of maize agriculture, the practice of pipe smoking, the existence of more substantial sedentary villages with storage...excavations undertaken during survey to locate buried artifacts and features. Phase 2 is the phase after initial survey when STPs that yielded artifacts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Paul, Johannes G., E-mail: jp.aht.p3@gmail.com; Arce-Jaque, Joan; Ravena, Neil

The integration of the informal sector into municipal solid waste management is a challenge many developing countries face. In Iloilo City, Philippines around 220 tons of municipal solid waste are collected every day and disposed at a 10 ha large dumpsite. In order to improve the local waste management system the Local Government decided to develop a new Waste Management Center with integrated landfill. However, the proposed area is adjacent to the presently used dumpsite where more than 300 waste pickers dwell and depend on waste picking as their source of livelihood. The Local Government recognized the hidden threat imposedmore » by the waste picker's presence for this development project and proposed various measures to integrate the informal sector into the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) program. As a key intervention a Waste Workers Association, called USWAG Calahunan Livelihood Association Inc. (UCLA) was initiated and registered as a formal business enterprise in May 2009. Up to date, UCLA counts 240 members who commit to follow certain rules and to work within a team that jointly recovers wasted materials. As a cooperative they are empowered to explore new livelihood options such as the recovery of Alternative Fuels for commercial (cement industry) and household use, production of compost and making of handicrafts out of used packages. These activities do not only provide alternative livelihood for them but also lessen the generation of leachate and Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions from waste disposal, whereby the life time of the proposed new sanitary landfill can be extended likewise.« less

Design and implementation of integrated solid wastes management pattern in industrial zones, case study of Shahroud, Iran

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The aim of the study was to design and implementation of integrated solid wastes management pattern in Shahroud industrial zone, evaluates the results and determine possible performance problems. This cross - sectional study was carried out for 4 years in Shahroud industrial zone and the implementation process included:1- Qualitative and quantitative analysis of all solid waste generated in the city, 2- determine the current state of solid waste management in the zone and to identify programs conducted, 3- Design and implementation of integrated solid wastes management pattern including design and implementation of training programs, laws, penalties and incentives and explain and implement programs for all factories and 4- The monitoring of the implementation process and determine the results. Results Annually, 1,728 tons of solid wastes generated in the town including 1603 tons of industrial wastes and 125 tons of municipal wastes. By implementing this pattern, the two separated systems of collection and recycling of domestic and industrial wastes was launched in this zone. Also consistent with the goals, the amount of solid wastes generated and disposed in 2009 was 51.5 and 28.6 kg per 100 million Rials production, respectively. Conclusion Results showed that implementation of pattern of separated collection, training programs, capacity building, providing technical services, completing chain of industries and strengthening the cooperation between industrial estate management and industrial units could greatly reduce the waste management problems. PMID:24423020

Developing Tribal Integrated Waste Management Plans

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

An IWMP outlines how the tribe will reduce, manage, and dispose of its waste. It identifies existing waste systems, assesses needs, and sets forth the ways to design, implement, and monitor a more effective and sustainable waste management program.

Natural attenuation of trichloroethylene in fractured shale bedrock.

PubMed

Lenczewski, M; Jardine, P; McKay, L; Layton, A

2003-07-01

This paper describes one of the first well-documented field examples of natural attenuation of trichloroethylene (TCE) in groundwater in a fractured shale bedrock. The study was carried out adjacent to a former waste burial site in Waste Area Grouping 5 (WAG5) on the Oak Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge, TN. A contaminant plume containing TCE and its daughter products were detected downgradient from the buried waste pits, with most of the contamination occurring in the upper 6 m of the bedrock. The monitoring well array consists of a 35-m-long transect of multilevel sampling wells, situated along a line between the waste pits and a seep which discharges into a small stream. Concentrations of volatile organic carbons (VOCs) were highest in the waste trenches and decreased with distance downgradient towards the seep. Sampling wells indicated the presence of overlapping plumes of TCE, cis-dichloroethylene (cDCE), vinyl chloride (VC), ethylene, ethane, and methane, with the daughter products extending further downgradient than the parent (TCE). This type of distribution suggests anaerobic biodegradation. Measurements of redox potential at the site indicated that iron-reduction, sulfate reduction, and potentially methanogensis were occurring and are conducive to dechlorination of TCE. Bacteria enrichment of groundwater samples revealed the presence of methanotrophs, methanogens, iron-reducing bacteria and sulfate-reducing bacteria, all of which have previously been implicated in anaerobic biodegradation of TCE. 16S rDNA sequence from DNA extracted from two wells were similar to sequences of organisms previously implicated in the anaerobic biodegradation of chlorinated solvents. The combined data strongly suggest that anaerobic biodegradation of the highly chlorinated compounds is occurring. Aerobic biodegradation may also be occurring in oxygenated zones, including near a seep where groundwater exits the site, or in the upper bedrock during seasonal fluctuations in water table elevation and oxygen levels.

Fungal communities associated with the biodegradation of polyester polyurethane buried under compost at different temperatures.

PubMed

Zafar, Urooj; Houlden, Ashley; Robson, Geoffrey D

2013-12-01

Plastics play an essential role in the modern world due to their low cost and durability. However, accumulation of plastic waste in the environment causes wide-scale pollution with long-lasting effects, making plastic waste management expensive and problematic. Polyurethanes (PUs) are heteropolymers that made up ca. 7% of the total plastic production in Europe in 2011. Polyester PUs in particular have been extensively reported as susceptible to microbial biodegradation in the environment, particularly by fungi. In this study, we investigated the impact of composting on PUs, as composting is a microbially rich process that is increasingly being used for the processing of green waste and food waste as an economically viable alternative to landfill disposal. PU coupons were incubated for 12 weeks in fresh compost at 25°C, 45°C, and 50°C to emulate the thermophilic and maturation stages of the composting process. Incubation at all temperatures caused significant physical deterioration of the polyester PU coupons and was associated with extensive fungal colonization. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis and pyrosequencing of the fungal communities on the PU surface and in the surrounding compost revealed that the population on the surface of PU was different from the surrounding compost community, suggesting enrichment and selection. The most dominant fungi identified from the surfaces of PU coupons by pyrosequencing was Fusarium solani at 25°C, while at both 45°C and 50°C, Candida ethanolica was the dominant species. The results of this preliminary study suggest that the composting process has the potential to biodegrade PU waste if optimized further in the future.

Fungal Communities Associated with the Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane Buried under Compost at Different Temperatures

PubMed Central

Zafar, Urooj; Houlden, Ashley

2013-01-01

Plastics play an essential role in the modern world due to their low cost and durability. However, accumulation of plastic waste in the environment causes wide-scale pollution with long-lasting effects, making plastic waste management expensive and problematic. Polyurethanes (PUs) are heteropolymers that made up ca. 7% of the total plastic production in Europe in 2011. Polyester PUs in particular have been extensively reported as susceptible to microbial biodegradation in the environment, particularly by fungi. In this study, we investigated the impact of composting on PUs, as composting is a microbially rich process that is increasingly being used for the processing of green waste and food waste as an economically viable alternative to landfill disposal. PU coupons were incubated for 12 weeks in fresh compost at 25°C, 45°C, and 50°C to emulate the thermophilic and maturation stages of the composting process. Incubation at all temperatures caused significant physical deterioration of the polyester PU coupons and was associated with extensive fungal colonization. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis and pyrosequencing of the fungal communities on the PU surface and in the surrounding compost revealed that the population on the surface of PU was different from the surrounding compost community, suggesting enrichment and selection. The most dominant fungi identified from the surfaces of PU coupons by pyrosequencing was Fusarium solani at 25°C, while at both 45°C and 50°C, Candida ethanolica was the dominant species. The results of this preliminary study suggest that the composting process has the potential to biodegrade PU waste if optimized further in the future. PMID:24056469

Landfill area estimation based on integrated waste disposal options and solid waste forecasting using modified ANFIS model.

PubMed

Younes, Mohammad K; Nopiah, Z M; Basri, N E Ahmad; Basri, H; Abushammala, Mohammed F M; Younes, Mohammed Y

2016-09-01

Solid waste prediction is crucial for sustainable solid waste management. The collection of accurate waste data records is challenging in developing countries. Solid waste generation is usually correlated with economic, demographic and social factors. However, these factors are not constant due to population and economic growth. The objective of this research is to minimize the land requirements for solid waste disposal for implementation of the Malaysian vision of waste disposal options. This goal has been previously achieved by integrating the solid waste forecasting model, waste composition and the Malaysian vision. The modified adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (MANFIS) was employed to develop a solid waste prediction model and search for the optimum input factors. The performance of the model was evaluated using the root mean square error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (R(2)). The model validation results are as follows: RMSE for training=0.2678, RMSE for testing=3.9860 and R(2)=0.99. Implementation of the Malaysian vision for waste disposal options can minimize the land requirements for waste disposal by up to 43%. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integration of Cleaner Production and Waste Water Treatment on Tofu Small Industry for Biogas Production using AnSBR Reactor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahayu, Suparni Setyowati; Budiyono; Purwanto

2018-02-01

A research on developing a system that integrates clean production and waste water treatment for biogas production in tofu small industry has been conducted. In this research, tofu waste water was turned into biogas using an AnSBR reactor. Mud from the sewage system serves as the inoculums. This research involved: (1) workshop; (2) supervising; (3) technical meeting; (4) network meeting, and (5) technical application. Implementation of clean production integrated with waste water treatment reduced the amount of waste water to be treated in a treatment plant. This means less cost for construction and operation of waste water treatment plants, as inherent limitations associated with such plants like lack of fund, limited area, and technological issues are inevitable. Implementation of clean production prior to waste water treatment reduces pollution figures down to certain levels that limitations in waste water treatment plants can be covered. Results show that biogas in 16 days HRT in an AnSBR reactor contains CH4(78.26 %) and CO2 (20.16 %). Meanwhile, treatments using a conventional bio-digester result in biogas with 72.16 % CH4 and 18.12 % CO2. Hence, biogas efficiency for the AnSBR system is 2.14 times greater than that of a conventional bio-digester.

Determinants of sustainability in solid waste management--the Gianyar Waste Recovery Project in Indonesia.

PubMed

Zurbrügg, Christian; Gfrerer, Margareth; Ashadi, Henki; Brenner, Werner; Küper, David

2012-11-01

According to most experts, integrated and sustainable solid waste management should not only be given top priority, but must go beyond technical aspects to include various key elements of sustainability to ensure success of any solid waste project. Aside from project sustainable impacts, the overall enabling environment is the key feature determining performance and success of an integrated and affordable solid waste system. This paper describes a project-specific approach to assess typical success or failure factors. A questionnaire-based assessment method covers issues of: (i) social mobilisation and acceptance (social element), (ii) stakeholder, legal and institutional arrangements comprising roles, responsibilities and management functions (institutional element); (iii) financial and operational requirements, as well as cost recovery mechanisms (economic element). The Gianyar Waste Recovery Project in Bali, Indonesia was analysed using this integrated assessment method. The results clearly identified chief characteristics, key factors to consider when planning country wide replication but also major barriers and obstacles which must be overcome to ensure project sustainability. The Gianyar project consists of a composting unit processing 60 tons of municipal waste per day from 500,000 inhabitants, including manual waste segregation and subsequent composting of the biodegradable organic fraction. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

5. View, oxidizer waste tanks and containment basin in foreground ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

5. View, oxidizer waste tanks and containment basin in foreground with Systems Integration Laboratory (T-28) uphill in background, looking northeast. - Air Force Plant PJKS, Systems Integration Laboratory, Waterton Canyon Road & Colorado Highway 121, Lakewood, Jefferson County, CO

Do manganese nodules grow or dissolve after burial? Results from the Central Indian Ocean Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pattan, J. N.; Parthiban, G.

2007-07-01

Fifty buried manganese nodules at different depth intervals were recovered in 12 sediment cores from the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB). A maximum of 15 buried nodules were encountered in one sediment core (AAS-22/GC-07) and the deepest nodule was recovered at 5.50 m below seafloor in core AAS-04/GC-5A. Approximately 80% of the buried nodules are small in size (˜2 cm diameter) in contrast to the Atlantic Ocean and Peru Basin (Pacific Ocean) where the majority of the buried nodules are large, ˜8 cm and >6 cm, respectively. Buried nodule size decreases with core depth and this distribution appears to be similar to the phenomenon of "Brazil Nut Effect". Buried nodules exhibit both smooth and rough surface textures and are ellipsoidal, elongated, rounded, sub rounded, irregular and polynucleated. Buried nodules from siliceous ooze are enriched in Mn, Cu, Ni, Zn, Mo, Ga, V and Rb whereas those from red clay are enriched in Fe, Co, Ti, U, Th, Y, Cr, Nb and Rare Earth Elements (REE). Buried nodules from siliceous ooze suggest their formation under hydrogenetic, early digenetic and diagenetic processes whereas those from red clay are of hydrogenetic origin. REE are enriched more than 1.5 times in buried nodules from red clay compared to siliceous ooze. However, the mode of incorporation of REE into buried nodules from both sedimentary environments is by a single authigenic phase consisting of Fe-Ti-P. Shale-normalized REE patterns and Ce anomalies suggest that nodules from siliceous ooze formed under more oxidizing conditions than those from red clay. Nodules buried at depths between 1.5 and 2.5 m are diagenetic (Mn/Fe ratio 10-15), formed in highly oxic environments (large positive Ce anomalies) and record aeolian dust (high Eu anomalies). Chemical composition, surface texture and morphology of buried nodules are similar to those of surface nodules from the same basin. Furthermore, buried nodule compositions do not exhibit any distinct patterns within the core depth, suggesting that buried nodules neither grow nor dissolve after their burial in the sediment column.

Superfund Record of Decision (EPA Region 5): Summit National Liquid Disposal Service, Deerfield, OH. (First remedial action), (Amendment), November 1990. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The 11.5-acre Summit National Liquid Disposal Service site is a former liquid waste disposal facility in rural Deerfield Township, Ohio. The site contains two ponds, an inactive incinerator, and several vacant buildings. Surrounding the site are several residences, two landfills, light industries, and farmland. From 1973 to 1978, Summit National operated a solvent recycling and waste disposal facility onsite. The Record of Decision (ROD) amends a 1988 ROD that provided for remediation of contaminated soil, sediment, debris, ground water, and surface water. In both the 1990 proposed remedy for the ROD amendment and the 1988 ROD, the remedy for themore » most highly contaminated soil and sediment is excavation and treatment. The amended remedial action for the site includes expanding site boundaries to include contaminated areas along the site perimeters; excavating and incinerating onsite 24,000 cubic yards of soil excavated to a depth of 2 feet, 4,000 cubic yards of sediment from the site perimeter, drainage ditches and offsite ponds, and 900 to 1,600 buried drums.« less

Why consider subseabed disposal of high-level nuclear waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heath, G. R.; Hollister, C. D.; Anderson, D. R.

1980-01-01

Large areas of the deep seabed warrant assessment as potential disposal sites for high-level radioactive waste because: (1) they are far from seismically and tectonically active lithospheric plate boundaries; (2) they are far from active or young volcanos; (3) they contain thick layers of very uniform fine-grained clays; (4) they are devoid of natural resources likely to be exploited in the forseeable future; (5) the geologic and oceanographic processes governing the deposition of sediments in such areas are well understood, and are remarkably insensitive to past oceanographic and climatic changes; and (6) sedmentary records of tens of millions of yearsmore » of slow, uninterrupted deposition of fine grained clay support predictions of the future stability of such sites. Data accumulated to date on the permeability, ion-retardation properties, and mechanical strength of pelagic clay sediments indicate that they can act as a primary barrier to the escape of buried nuclides. Work in progress should determine within the current decade whether subseabed disposal is environmentally acceptable and technically feasible, as well as address the legal, political and social issues raised by this new concept.« less

A pilot and field investigation on mobility of PCDDs/PCDFs in landfill site with municipal solid waste incineration residue.

PubMed

Osako, Masahiro; Kim, Yong-Jin; Lee, Dong-Hoon

2002-09-01

A field investigation by boring was carried out in a landfill site primarily with municipal solid waste incineration residue. From the collected core samples, vertical profiles of homologous content of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/PCDFs) in the landfill layer were traced and the behavior of PCDDs/PCDFs was examined. In addition, a pilot-scale study was conducted on the PCDDs/PCDFs leached from incineration fly ash and the treated one using large landfill simulation columns (lysimeters) and the leaching behavior of PCDDs/PCDFs was examined. As a result, it was found that the coexistence of dissolved coloring constituents (DCCs), which might be composed of constituents like dissolved humic matters having strong affinity for hydrophobic organic pollutants, could enhance the leachability of PCDDs/PCDFs, thus contributing to the vertical movement and leaching behavior of PCDDs/PCDFs in the landfill layers of the incineration residue. Moreover, it is highly probable that DCCs derive from the unburned carbon in the bottom ash mixed and buried with the fly ash containing a high content of PCDDs/PCDFs.

Repurposing Waste Streams: Lessons on Integrating Hospital Food Waste into a Community Garden.

PubMed

Galvan, Adri M; Hanson, Ryan; George, Daniel R

2018-04-06

There have been increasing efforts in recent decades to divert institutional food waste into composting programs. As major producers of food waste who must increasingly demonstrate community benefit, hospitals have an incentive to develop such programs. In this article, we explain the emerging opportunity to link hospitals' food services to local community gardens in order to implement robust composting programs. We describe a partnership model at our hospital in central Pennsylvania, share preliminary outcomes establishing feasibility, and offer guidance for future efforts. We also demonstrate that the integration of medical students in such efforts can foster systems thinking in the development of programs to manage hospital waste streams in more ecologically-friendly ways.

International Space Station USOS Waste and Hygiene Compartment Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Link, Dwight E., Jr.; Broyan, James Lee, Jr.; Gelmis, Karen; Philistine, Cynthia; Balistreri, Steven

2007-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) currently provides human waste collection and hygiene facilities in the Russian Segment Service Module (SM) which supports a three person crew. Additional hardware is planned for the United States Operational Segment (USOS) to support expansion of the crew to six person capability. The additional hardware will be integrated in an ISS standard equipment rack structure that was planned to be installed in the Node 3 element; however, the ISS Program Office recently directed implementation of the rack, or Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC), into the U.S. Laboratory element to provide early operational capability. In this configuration, preserved urine from the WHC waste collection system can be processed by the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) in either the U.S. Lab or Node 3 to recover water for crew consumption or oxygen production. The human waste collection hardware is derived from the Service Module system and is provided by RSC-Energia. This paper describes the concepts, design, and integration of the WHC waste collection hardware into the USOS including integration with U.S. Lab and Node 3 systems.

Low-Activity Waste Pretreatment System Additional Engineering-Scale Integrated Test Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Landon, Matt R.; Wilson, Robert A.

Washington River Protections Solutions, LLC’s (WRPS) Low Activity Waste Pretreatment System (LAWPS) Project provides for the early production of immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) by feeding LAW directly from Tank Farms to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) LAW Facility, bypassing the WTP Pretreatment Facility. Prior to the transfer of feed to the WTP LAW Vitrification Facility, tank supernatant waste will be pretreated in the LAWPS to meet the WTP LAW waste acceptance criteria (WAC). Full-scale and engineering-scale testing of critical technology elements, as part of the technology maturation process, are components of the overall LAWPS Project. WRPS awarded themore » engineering-scale integrated testing scope to AECOM via WRPS Subcontract 58349. This report is deliverable MSR-008 of the subcontract.« less

Biological intrusion of low-level-waste trench covers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hakonson, T. E.; Gladney, E. S.

The long-term integrity of low-level waste shallow land burialsites is dependent on the interaction of physical, chemical, and biological factors that modify the waste containment system. The need to consider biological processes as being potentially important in reducing the integrity of waste burial site cover treatment is demonstrated. One approach to limiting biological intrusion through the waste cover is to apply a barrier within the profile to limit root and animal penetration with depth. Experiments in the Los Alamos Experimental Engineered Test Facility were initiated to develop and evaluate biological barriers that are effective in minimizing intrusion into waste trenches. The experiments that are described employ four different candidate barrier materials of geologic origin. Experimental variables that will be evaluated, in addition to barrier type, are barrier depth and sil overburden depth.

Proglacial Hydrogeology of the Cordillera Blanca (Peru): Integrating Field Observations with Hydrogeophysical Inversions to Inform Groundwater Flow Simulations and Conceptual Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glas, R. L.; Lautz, L.; McKenzie, J. M.; Moucha, R.; Mark, B. G.

2017-12-01

Geological and depositional conditions of the glaciated Cordillera Blanca in Peru have given way to proglacial aquifer systems that contribute substantially to regional streams and rivers, particularly during the dry season. As glacial retreat accelerates, the dry season water budget will be increasingly dominated by groundwater inputs, although predictions of future groundwater quantities require estimations of groundwater storage capacity, aquifer extents, and groundwater residence time. We present a characterization of the sediment structure in a prototypical proglacial valley in the central portion of the range, the Quilcayhuanca Valley. Northern and Central valleys of the Cordillera Blanca feature ubiquitous talus deposits that line the steep granite walls, and have become partially buried beneath lacustrine sediments deposited in proglacial lake beds. The portion of the talus still exposed near the valley walls provides recharge to deeper portions of the valley aquifers that underlie lacustrine clay, resulting in a confined aquifer system that is connected to the surface via perennial springs. Seismic refraction surveys reveal an interface separating relatively slow ( 400-800 m/s) and fast ( 2500 m/s) p-wave velocities. The depth of this refractor coincides with the depth to buried talus observed in drilling records. Electrical resistivity tomography profiles of the same transect show depths near the buried talus to be relatively conductive (10-100 Ωm). At these depths, we hypothesize that electrical conductance is elevated by saturated clay particles in the sediment matrix of the talus deposit. The resistivity models all show a more resistive ( 700 Ω m) region at depth, likely corresponding to a more hydraulically conductive material. The resistive zone is interpreted to be a deeper portion of a buried talus deposit that did not accumulate clay in the matrix. Other possibilities include a thick deposit of gravelly glacial outwash, or a relatively clay-poor glacial till. We present a groundwater modeling framework to resolve the nature of the sediments in deeper layers, where geophysical data become less certain. Sediment permeability estimates will allow for more refined predictions of groundwater storage volume in buried talus aquifers, which are likely prevalent throughout the range.

The effect of food waste disposers on municipal waste and wastewater management.

PubMed

Marashlian, Natasha; El-Fadel, Mutasem

2005-02-01

This paper examines the feasibility of introducing food waste disposers as a waste minimization option within urban waste management schemes, taking the Greater Beirut Area (GBA) as a case study. For this purpose, the operational and economic impacts of food disposers on the solid waste and wastewater streams are assessed. The integration of food waste disposers can reduce the total solid waste to be managed by 12 to 43% under market penetration ranging between 25 and 75%, respectively. While the increase in domestic water consumption (for food grinding) and corresponding increase in wastewater flow rates are relatively insignificant, wastewater loadings increased by 17 to 62% (BOD) and 1.9 to 7.1% (SS). The net economic benefit of introducing food disposers into the waste and wastewater management systems constitutes 7.2 to 44.0% of the existing solid waste management cost under the various scenarios examined. Concerns about increased sludge generation persist and its potential environmental and economic implications may differ with location and therefore area-specific characteristics must be taken into consideration when contemplating the adoption of a strategy to integrate food waste disposers in the waste-wastewater management system.

Integrated Passive Biological Treatment System/ Mine Waste Technology Program Report #16

EPA Science Inventory

This report summarizes the results of the Mine Waste Technology Program (MWTP) Activity III, Project 16, Integrated, Passive Biological Treatment System, funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and jointly administered by EPA and the United States Depar...

49 CFR 193.2629 - External corrosion control: buried or submerged components.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false External corrosion control: buried or submerged... corrosion control: buried or submerged components. (a) Each buried or submerged component that is subject to external corrosive attack must be protected from external corrosion by— (1) Material that has been designed...

49 CFR 193.2629 - External corrosion control: buried or submerged components.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false External corrosion control: buried or submerged... corrosion control: buried or submerged components. (a) Each buried or submerged component that is subject to external corrosive attack must be protected from external corrosion by— (1) Material that has been designed...

49 CFR 193.2629 - External corrosion control: buried or submerged components.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false External corrosion control: buried or submerged... corrosion control: buried or submerged components. (a) Each buried or submerged component that is subject to external corrosive attack must be protected from external corrosion by— (1) Material that has been designed...

49 CFR 193.2629 - External corrosion control: buried or submerged components.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false External corrosion control: buried or submerged... corrosion control: buried or submerged components. (a) Each buried or submerged component that is subject to external corrosive attack must be protected from external corrosion by— (1) Material that has been designed...

TOOLS FOR DETERMINING SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT THROUGH APPLICATION OF LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT: UPDATE ON U.S. RESEARCH

EPA Science Inventory

The paper is an update on U.S. research to develop tools and information for evaluating integrated solid waste management strategies. In the past, waste management systems consisted primarily of waste collection and disposal at a local landfill. Today's municipal solid waste ma...

Fiber reinforced concrete: An advanced technology for LL/ML radwaste conditioning and disposal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tchemitcheff, E.; Verdier, A.

Radioactive waste immobilization is an integral part of operations in nuclear facilities. The goal of immobilization is to contain radioactive materials in a waste form which can maintain its integrity over very long periods of time, thus effectively isolating the materials from the environment and hence from the public. This is true regardless of the activity of the waste, including low-, and medium-level waste (LLW, MLW). A multiple-year research effort by Cogema culminated in the development of a new process to immobilize nuclear waste in concrete containers reinforced with metal fibers. The fiber concrete containers satisfy all French safety requirementsmore » relating to waste immobilization and disposal, and have been certified by ANDRA, the national radioactive waste management agency. The fiber concrete containers have been fabricated on a production scale since July 1990 by Sogefibre, a jointly-owned subsidiary of SGN and Compagnie Generale des Eaux.« less

Waste Separations and Pretreatment Workshop report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cruse, J.M.; Harrington, R.A.; Quadrel, M.J.

1994-01-01

This document provides the minutes from the Waste Separations and Pretreatment Workshop sponsored by the Underground Storage Tank-Integrated Demonstration in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 3--5, 1993. The Efficient Separations and Processing-Integrated Program and the Hanford Site Tank Waste Remediation System were joint participants. This document provides the detailed minutes, including responses to questions asked, an attendance list, reproductions of the workshop presentations, and a revised chart showing technology development activities.

Munitions Detection Using Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Equipped with Advanced Sensors

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-29

buried target. The RTG is a small passive magnetic sensor using fluxgate magnetometers measuring 3- orthogonal magnetic-field vector components at 3...surveys. Figure 6 shows the RTG magnetic sensor in both an open (showing the fluxgate magnetometers ) and enclosed state (mode for integration onto...7.6 Real-time Tracking Gradiometer (RTG) System The RTG is a small passive magnetic sensor using fluxgate magnetometers measuring 3- orthogonal

Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 140: Waste Dumps, Burn Pits, and Storage Area, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, July 2002, Rev. No. 0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NNSA /NV

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan contains the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office's approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 140 under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Corrective Action Unit 140 consists of nine Corrective Action Sites (CASs): 05-08-01, Detonation Pits; 05-08-02, Debris Pits; 05-17-01, Hazardous Waste Accumulation Site (Buried); 05-19-01, Waste Disposal Site; 05-23-01, Gravel Gertie; 05-35-01, Burn Pit; 05-99-04, Burn Pit; 22-99-04, Radioactive Waste Dump; 23-17-01, Hazardous Waste Storage Area. All nine of these CASs are located withinmore » Areas 5, 22, and 23 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in Nevada, approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. This CAU is being investigated because disposed waste may be present without appropriate controls (i.e., use restrictions, adequate cover) and hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present or migrating at concentrations and locations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. The NTS has been used for various research and development projects including nuclear weapons testing. The CASs in CAU 140 were used for testing, material storage, waste storage, and waste disposal. A two-phase approach has been selected to collect information and generate data to satisfy needed resolution criteria and resolve the decision statements. Phase I will determine if contaminants of potential concern (COPCs) are present in concentrations exceeding preliminary action levels. This data will be evaluated at all CASs. Phase II will determine the extent of the contaminant(s) of concern (COCs). This data will only be evaluated for CASs with a COC identified during Phase I. Based on process knowledge, the COPCs for CAU 140 include volatile organics, semivolatile organics, petroleum hydrocarbons, explosive residues, herbicides, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, metals, and radionuclides. The results of this field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of corrective action alternatives in the corrective action decision document.« less

Understanding the role of waste prevention in local waste management: A literature review.

PubMed

Zacho, Kristina O; Mosgaard, Mette A

2016-10-01

Local waste management has so far been characterised by end-of-pipe solutions, landfilling, incineration, and recycling. End-of-pipe solutions build on a different mind-set than life cycle-based approaches, and for this reason, local waste managers are reluctant to consider strategies for waste prevention. To accelerate the transition of waste and resource management towards a more integrated management, waste prevention needs to play a larger role in the local waste management. In this review article, we collect knowledge from the scientific community on waste prevention of relevance to local waste management. We analyse the trends in the waste prevention literature by organising the literature into four categories. The results indicate an increasing interest in waste prevention, but not much literature specifically concerns the integration of prevention into the local waste management. However, evidence from the literature can inform local waste management on the prevention potential; the environmental and social effects of prevention; how individuals in households can be motivated to reduce waste; and how the effects of prevention measures can be monitored. Nevertheless, knowledge is still lacking on local waste prevention, especially regarding the methods for monitoring and how local waste management systems can be designed to encourage waste reduction in the households. We end the article with recommendations for future research. The literature review can be useful for both practitioners in the waste sector and for academics seeking an overview of previous research on waste prevention. © The Author(s) 2016.

Eco-efficient waste glass recycling: Integrated waste management and green product development through LCA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blengini, Gian Andrea, E-mail: blengini@polito.it; CNR-IGAG, Institute of Environmental Geology and Geo-Engineering, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin; Busto, Mirko, E-mail: mirko.busto@polito.it

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A new eco-efficient recycling route for post-consumer waste glass was implemented. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Integrated waste management and industrial production are crucial to green products. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Most of the waste glass rejects are sent back to the glass industry. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Recovered co-products give more environmental gains than does avoided landfill. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Energy intensive recycling must be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled. - Abstract: As part of the EU Life + NOVEDI project, a new eco-efficient recycling route has been implemented to maximise resources and energy recovery from post-consumer waste glass, through integrated waste management and industrial production.more » Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to identify engineering solutions to sustainability during the development of green building products. The new process and the related LCA are framed within a meaningful case of industrial symbiosis, where multiple waste streams are utilised in a multi-output industrial process. The input is a mix of rejected waste glass from conventional container glass recycling and waste special glass such as monitor glass, bulbs and glass fibres. The green building product is a recycled foam glass (RFG) to be used in high efficiency thermally insulating and lightweight concrete. The environmental gains have been contrasted against induced impacts and improvements have been proposed. Recovered co-products, such as glass fragments/powders, plastics and metals, correspond to environmental gains that are higher than those related to landfill avoidance, whereas the latter is cancelled due to increased transportation distances. In accordance to an eco-efficiency principle, it has been highlighted that recourse to highly energy intensive recycling should be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled.« less

Characterization of 618-11 solid waste burial ground, disposed waste, and description of the waste generating facilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hladek, K.L.

1997-10-07

The 618-11 (Wye or 318-11) burial ground received transuranic (TRTJ) and mixed fission solid waste from March 9, 1962, through October 2, 1962. It was then closed for 11 months so additional burial facilities could be added. The burial ground was reopened on September 16, 1963, and continued operating until it was closed permanently on December 31, 1967. The burial ground received wastes from all of the 300 Area radioactive material handling facilities. The purpose of this document is to characterize the 618-11 solid waste burial ground by describing the site, burial practices, the disposed wastes, and the waste generatingmore » facilities. This document provides information showing that kilogram quantities of plutonium were disposed to the drum storage units and caissons, making them transuranic (TRU). Also, kilogram quantities of plutonium and other TRU wastes were disposed to the three trenches, which were previously thought to contain non-TRU wastes. The site burial facilities (trenches, caissons, and drum storage units) should be classified as TRU and the site plutonium inventory maintained at five kilograms. Other fissile wastes were also disposed to the site. Additionally, thousands of curies of mixed fission products were also disposed to the trenches, caissons, and drum storage units. Most of the fission products have decayed over several half-lives, and are at more tolerable levels. Of greater concern, because of their release potential, are TRU radionuclides, Pu-238, Pu-240, and Np-237. TRU radionuclides also included slightly enriched 0.95 and 1.25% U-231 from N-Reactor fuel, which add to the fissile content. The 618-11 burial ground is located approximately 100 meters due west of Washington Nuclear Plant No. 2. The burial ground consists of three trenches, approximately 900 feet long, 25 feet deep, and 50 feet wide, running east-west. The trenches constitute 75% of the site area. There are 50 drum storage units (five 55-gallon steel drums welded together) buried in three rows in the northeast comer. In addition, five eight-foot diameter caissons are located at the west end of the center row of the drum storage units. Initially, wastes disposed to the caissons and drum storage units were from the 325 and 327 building hot cells. Later, a small amount of remote-handled (RH) waste from the 309 building Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor (PRTR) cells, and the newly built 324 building hot cells, was disposed at the site.« less

Sexual and Overall Quality of Life Improvements After Surgical Correction of "Buried Penis".

PubMed

Hughes, Duncan B; Perez, Edgar; Garcia, Ryan M; Aragón, Oriana R; Erdmann, Detlev

2016-05-01

"Buried penis" is an increasing burden in our population with many possible etiologies. Although surgical correction of buried penis can be rewarding and successful for the surgeon, the psychological and functional impact of buried penis on the patient is less understood. The study's aim was to evaluate the sexual satisfaction and overall quality of life before and after buried penis surgery in a single-surgeon's patient population using a validated questionnaire (Changes in Sexual Functioning Questionnaire short-form). Using Likert scales generated from the questionnaire and 1-tailed paired t test analysis, we found that there was significantly improved sexual function after correction of a buried penis. Variables individually showed that there was significant improvement with sexual pleasure, urinating, and with genital hygiene postoperatively. There were no significant differences concerning frequency of pain with orgasms. Surgical correction of buried penis significantly improves the functional, sexual, and psychological aspects of patient's lives.

An integrated approach to energy recovery from biomass and waste: Anaerobic digestion-gasification-water treatment.

PubMed

Milani, M; Montorsi, L; Stefani, M

2014-07-01

The article investigates the performance of an integrated system for the energy recovery from biomass and waste based on anaerobic digestion, gasification and water treatment. In the proposed system, the organic fraction of waste of the digestible biomass is fed into an anaerobic digester, while a part of the combustible fraction of the municipal solid waste is gasified. Thus, the obtained biogas and syngas are used as a fuel for running a cogeneration system based on an internal combustion engine to produce electric and thermal power. The waste water produced by the integrated plant is recovered by means of both forward and inverse osmosis. The different processes, as well as the main components of the system, are modelled by means of a lumped and distributed parameter approach and the main outputs of the integrated plant such as the electric and thermal power and the amount of purified water are calculated. Finally, the implementation of the proposed system is evaluated for urban areas with a different number of inhabitants and the relating performance is estimated in terms of the main outputs of the system. © The Author(s) 2014.

Redesigning Urban Carbon Cycles: from Waste Stream to Commodity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brabander, D. J.; Fitzstevens, M. G.

2013-12-01

While there has been extensive research on the global scale to quantify the fluxes and reservoirs of carbon for predictive climate change models, comparably little attention has been focused on carbon cycles in the built environment. The current management of urban carbon cycles presents a major irony: while cities produce tremendous fluxes of organic carbon waste, their populations are dependent on imported carbon because most urban have limited access to locally sourced carbon. The persistence of outdated management schemes is in part due to the fact that reimagining the handling of urban carbon waste streams requires a transdisciplinary approach. Since the end of the 19th century, U.S. cities have generally relied on the same three options for managing organic carbon waste streams: burn it, bury it, or dilute it. These options still underpin the framework for today's design and management strategies for handling urban carbon waste. We contend that urban carbon management systems for the 21st century need to be scalable, must acknowledge how climate modulates the biogeochemical cycling of urban carbon, and should carefully factor local political and cultural values. Urban waste carbon is a complex matrix ranging from wastewater biosolids to municipal compost. Our first goal in designing targeted and efficient urban carbon management schemes has been examining approaches for categorizing and geochemically fingerprinting these matrices. To date we have used a combination of major and trace element ratio analysis and bulk matrix characteristics, such as pH, density, and loss on ignition, to feed multivariable statistical analysis in order to identify variables that are effective tracers for each waste stream. This approach was initially developed for Boston, MA, US, in the context of identifying components of municipal compost streams that were responsible for increasing the lead inventory in the final product to concentrations that no longer permitted its use in supporting urban agriculture. We are now extending this approach to additional large U.S. and European urban centers where different philosophical and technological approaches to managing urban waste carbon have resulted in a range of infrastructures, from highly distributed systems (Germany) to centralized mega facilities (London). Ultimately, this research will lead to a decision-making matrix model that will permit cities to customize their urban carbon waste stream facilities and transform this waste into a usable commodity.

Solid Waste Activity Packet for Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois Univ., Urbana. Cooperative Extension Service.

This solid waste activity packet introduces students to the solid waste problem in Illinois. Topics explore consumer practices in the market place, packaging, individual and community garbage generation, and disposal practices. The activities provide an integrated approach to incorporating solid waste management issues into subject areas. The…

Wet powder seal for gas containment

DOEpatents

Stang, Louis G.

1982-01-01

A gas seal is formed by a compact layer of an insoluble powder and liquid filling the fine interstices of that layer. The smaller the particle size of the selected powder, such as sand or talc, the finer will be the interstices or capillary spaces in the layer and the greater will be the resulting sealing capacity, i.e., the gas pressure differential which the wet powder layer can withstand. Such wet powder seal is useful in constructing underground gas reservoirs or storage cavities for nuclear wastes as well as stopping leaks in gas mains buried under ground or situated under water. The sealing capacity of the wet powder seal can be augmented by the hydrostatic head of a liquid body established over the seal.

Wet powder seal for gas containment

DOEpatents

Stang, L.G.

1979-08-29

A gas seal is formed by a compact layer of an insoluble powder and liquid filling the fine interstices of that layer. The smaller the particle size of the selected powder, such as sand or talc, the finer will be the interstices or capillary spaces in the layer and the greater will be the resulting sealing capacity, i.e., the gas pressure differential which the wet powder layer can withstand. Such wet powder seal is useful in constructing underground gas reservoirs or storage cavities for nuclear wastes as well as stopping leaks in gas mains buried under ground or situated under water. The sealing capacity of the wet powder seal can be augmented by the hydrostatic head of a liquid body established over the seal.

Medium term municipal solid waste generation prediction by autoregressive integrated moving average

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Younes, Mohammad K.; Nopiah, Z. M.; Basri, Noor Ezlin A.

2014-09-12

Generally, solid waste handling and management are performed by municipality or local authority. In most of developing countries, local authorities suffer from serious solid waste management (SWM) problems and insufficient data and strategic planning. Thus it is important to develop robust solid waste generation forecasting model. It helps to proper manage the generated solid waste and to develop future plan based on relatively accurate figures. In Malaysia, solid waste generation rate increases rapidly due to the population growth and new consumption trends that characterize the modern life style. This paper aims to develop monthly solid waste forecasting model using Autoregressivemore » Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), such model is applicable even though there is lack of data and will help the municipality properly establish the annual service plan. The results show that ARIMA (6,1,0) model predicts monthly municipal solid waste generation with root mean square error equals to 0.0952 and the model forecast residuals are within accepted 95% confident interval.« less

Medium term municipal solid waste generation prediction by autoregressive integrated moving average

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Younes, Mohammad K.; Nopiah, Z. M.; Basri, Noor Ezlin A.; Basri, Hassan

2014-09-01

Generally, solid waste handling and management are performed by municipality or local authority. In most of developing countries, local authorities suffer from serious solid waste management (SWM) problems and insufficient data and strategic planning. Thus it is important to develop robust solid waste generation forecasting model. It helps to proper manage the generated solid waste and to develop future plan based on relatively accurate figures. In Malaysia, solid waste generation rate increases rapidly due to the population growth and new consumption trends that characterize the modern life style. This paper aims to develop monthly solid waste forecasting model using Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), such model is applicable even though there is lack of data and will help the municipality properly establish the annual service plan. The results show that ARIMA (6,1,0) model predicts monthly municipal solid waste generation with root mean square error equals to 0.0952 and the model forecast residuals are within accepted 95% confident interval.

Strategy and design of Innovation Policy Road Mapping for a waste biorefinery.

PubMed

Rama Mohan, S

2016-09-01

Looming energy crisis, climate change concerns coupled with decreasing fossil fuel resources has garnered significant global attention toward development of alternative, renewable, carbon-neutral and eco-friendly fuels to fulfil burgeoning energy demands. Waste utilization and its management are being pursued with renewed interest due to the gamut of biobased products it can offer apart from providing enough energy to meet a major fraction of the world's energy demand. Biorefining is the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of marketable products and energy. Integrating all components of waste treatment culminating into biobased products and energy recovery in a single integrated waste biorefinery is self sufficient, highly sustainable and is very beneficial. Designing systematic innovation policies are essential for development and commercialization of new technologies in this important futuristic research area. This communication explores Innovation Policy Road Mapping (IPRM) methodology available in the literature and applies it to design integrated waste biorefinery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of GPR for the shape and integrity of Chu tombs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Daxin; Peng, Gelin

2000-04-01

The shape and integrity of the ancient tombs is valuable data to archaeological excavation. The synthetic survey methods of ground penetrating radar, mercurometric survey and drilling with Luoyang shovels were used for the shape and integrity investigation of four Chu-tombs, which were buried in Northwest Hunan Province two thousands years ago. Firstly the holes dug by a Luoyang shovel with manpower were for gravel passage searching. Then parallel and vertical profiles to the passage were surveyed with GPR and soil mercury over the gravel pit. The reflective radar arrivals of the radargrams were used for the hollow and pit outlining of the tombs. High soil mercury anomaly and horizontal discontinuous traces indicated destroyed tombs with robbed holes.

FY 1996 solid waste integrated life-cycle forecast characteristics summary. Volumes 1 and 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Templeton, K.J.

1996-05-23

For the past six years, a waste volume forecast has been collected annually from onsite and offsite generators that currently ship or are planning to ship solid waste to the Westinghouse Hanford Company`s Central Waste Complex (CWC). This document provides a description of the physical waste forms, hazardous waste constituents, and radionuclides of the waste expected to be shipped to the CWC from 1996 through the remaining life cycle of the Hanford Site (assumed to extend to 2070). In previous years, forecast data has been reported for a 30-year time period; however, the life-cycle approach was adopted this year tomore » maintain consistency with FY 1996 Multi-Year Program Plans. This document is a companion report to two previous reports: the more detailed report on waste volumes, WHC-EP-0900, FY1996 Solid Waste Integrated Life-Cycle Forecast Volume Summary and the report on expected containers, WHC-EP-0903, FY1996 Solid Waste Integrated Life-Cycle Forecast Container Summary. All three documents are based on data gathered during the FY 1995 data call and verified as of January, 1996. These documents are intended to be used in conjunction with other solid waste planning documents as references for short and long-term planning of the WHC Solid Waste Disposal Division`s treatment, storage, and disposal activities over the next several decades. This document focuses on two main characteristics: the physical waste forms and hazardous waste constituents of low-level mixed waste (LLMW) and transuranic waste (both non-mixed and mixed) (TRU(M)). The major generators for each waste category and waste characteristic are also discussed. The characteristics of low-level waste (LLW) are described in Appendix A. In addition, information on radionuclides present in the waste is provided in Appendix B. The FY 1996 forecast data indicate that about 100,900 cubic meters of LLMW and TRU(M) waste is expected to be received at the CWC over the remaining life cycle of the site. Based on ranges provided by the waste generators, this baseline volume could fluctuate between a minimum of about 59,720 cubic meters and a maximum of about 152,170 cubic meters. The range is primarily due to uncertainties associated with the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) program, including uncertainties regarding retrieval of long-length equipment, scheduling, and tank retrieval technologies.« less

Tailings Pond Characterization And Designing Through Geophysical Surveys In Dipping Sedimentary Formations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muralidharan, D.; Andrade, R.; Anand, K.; Sathish, R.; Goud, K.

2009-12-01

Mining activities results into generation of disintegrated waste materials attaining increased mobilization status and requires a safe disposal mechanism through back filling process or secluded storage on surface with prevention of its interaction with environment cycle. The surface disposal of waste materials will become more critical in case of mined minerals having toxic or radioactive elements. In such cases, the surface disposal site is to be characterized for its sub-surface nature to understand its role in environmental impact due to the loading of waste materials. Near surface geophysics plays a major role in mapping the geophysical characters of the sub-surface formations in and around the disposal site and even to certain extent helps in designing of the storage structure. Integrated geophysical methods involving resistivity tomography, ground magnetic and shallow seismic studies were carried out over proposed tailings pond area of 0.3 sq. kms underlined by dipping sedimentary rocks consisting of ferruginous shales and dolomitic to siliceous limestone with varying thicknesses. The investigated site being located in tectonically disturbed area, geophysical investigations were carried out with number of profiles to visualize the sub-surface nature with clarity. The integration of results of twenty profiles of resistivity tomography with 2 m (shallow) and 10 m (moderate depth) electrode spacing’s enabled in preparing probable sub-surface geological section along the strike direction of the formation under the tailings pond with some geo-tectonic structure inferred to be a fault. Similarly, two resistivity tomography profiles perpendicular to the strike direction of the formations brought out the existence of buried basic intrusive body on the northern boundary of the proposed tailings pond. Two resistivity tomography profiles in criss-cross direction over the suspected fault zone confirmed fault existence on the north-eastern part of tailings pond. Thirty two magnetic profiles inside the tailings pond and surrounding areas on the southern part of the tailings pond enabled in identifying two parallel east-west intrusive bodies forming the impermeable boundary for the tailings pond. The shallow seismic refraction and the geophysical studies in and around the proposed tailings pond brought out the suitability of the site, even when the toxic elements percolates through the subsurface formations in to the groundwater system, the existence of dykes on either side of the proposed ponding area won’t allow the water to move across them thus by restricting the contamination within the tailings pond area. Similarly, the delineation of a fault zone within the tailings pond area helped in shifting the proposed dam axis of the pond to avoid leakage through the fault zone causing concern to environment pollution.

Instability of buried hydration sites increases protein subdomains fluctuations in the human prion protein by the pathogenic mutation T188R

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomobe, Katsufumi; Yamamoto, Eiji; Akimoto, Takuma; Yasui, Masato; Yasuoka, Kenji

2016-05-01

The conformational change from the cellular prion protein (PrPc) to scrapie prion protein (PrPsc) is a key process in prion diseases. The prion protein has buried water molecules which significantly contribute to the stability of the protein; however, there has been no report investigating the influence on the buried hydration sites by a pathogenic mutation not adjacent to the buried hydration sites. Here, we perform molecular dynamics simulations of wild type (WT) PrPc and pathogenic point mutant T188R to investigate conformational changes and the buried hydration sites. In WT-PrPc, four buried hydration sites are identified by residence time and rotational relaxation analysis. However, there are no stable buried hydration sites in one of T188R simulations, which indicates that T188R sometimes makes the buried hydration sites fragile. We also find that fluctuations of subdomains S1-H1-S2 and H1-H2 increase in T188R when the buried hydration sites become unstable. Since the side chain of arginine which is replaced from threonine in T188R is larger than of threonine, the side chain cannot be embedded in the protein, which is one of the causes of the instability of subdomains. These results show correlations between the buried hydration sites and the mutation which is far from them, and provide a possible explanation for the instability by mutation.

Commercially developed mixed-signal CMOS process features for application in advanced ROICs in 0.18μm technology node

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kar-Roy, Arjun; Hurwitz, Paul; Mann, Richard; Qamar, Yasir; Chaudhry, Samir; Zwingman, Robert; Howard, David; Racanelli, Marco

2012-06-01

Increasingly complex specifications for next-generation focal plane arrays (FPAs) require smaller pixels, larger array sizes, reduced power consumption and lower cost. We have previously reported on the favorable features available in the commercially available TowerJazz CA18 0.18μm mixed-signal CMOS technology platform for advanced read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) applications. In his paper, new devices in development for commercial purposes and which may have applications in advanced ROICs are reported. First, results of buried-channel 3.3V field effect transistors (FETs) are detailed. The buried-channel pFETs show flicker (1/f) noise reductions of ~5X in comparison to surface-channel pFETs along with a significant reduction of the body constant parameter. The buried-channel nFETs show ~2X reduction of 1/f noise versus surface-channel nFETs. Additional reduced threshold voltage nFETs and pFETs are also described. Second, a high-density capacitor solution with a four-stacked linear (metal-insulator-metal) MIM capacitor having capacitance density of 8fF/μm2 is reported. Additional stacking with MOS capacitor in a 5V tolerant process results in >50fC/μm2 charge density. Finally, one-time programmable (OTP) and multi-time programmable (MTP) non-volatile memory options in the CA18 technology platform are outlined.

Implementation of SAP Waste Management System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Frost, M.L.; LaBorde, C.M.; Nichols, C.D.

2008-07-01

The Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) assumed responsibility for newly generated waste on October 1, 2005. To ensure effective management and accountability of newly generated waste, Y-12 has opted to utilize SAP, Y-12's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool, to track low-level radioactive waste (LLW), mixed waste (MW), hazardous waste, and non-regulated waste from generation through acceptance and disposal. SAP Waste will include the functionality of the current waste tracking system and integrate with the applicable modules of SAP already in use. The functionality of two legacy systems, the Generator Entry System (GES) and the Waste Information Tracking System (WITS), andmore » peripheral spreadsheets, databases, and e-mail/fax communications will be replaced by SAP Waste. Fundamentally, SAP Waste will promote waste acceptance for certification and disposal, not storage. SAP Waste will provide a one-time data entry location where waste generators can enter waste container information, track the status of their waste, and maintain documentation. A benefit of the new system is that it will provide a single data repository where Y-12's Waste Management organization can establish waste profiles, verify and validate data, maintain inventory control utilizing hand-held data transfer devices, schedule and ship waste, manage project accounting, and report on waste handling activities. This single data repository will facilitate the production of detailed waste generation reports for use in forecasting and budgeting, provide the data for required regulatory reports, and generate metrics to evaluate the performance of the Waste Management organization and its subcontractors. SAP Waste will replace the outdated and expensive legacy system, establish tools the site needs to manage newly generated waste, and optimize the use of the site's ERP tool for integration with related business processes while promoting disposition of waste. (authors)« less

Integrated pneumatic transporter-incinerator-afterburner subsystem development. [for spacecraft waste disposal

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manning, J. R.

1974-01-01

The design and fabrication of a prototype automatic transport system to move wastes to an incinerator onboard a spacecraft are described. The commode and debris collector, subsystems to treat noncondensible gases, oxygen supply to incinerator and afterburner, and removal and ash collection from the incinerator are considered, as well as a zero gravity condenser. In-depth performance testing of a totally integrated incineration system and autoclaving as a waste treatment method are included.

Expanding worldwide urban solid waste recycling: The Brazilian social technology in waste pickers inclusion.

PubMed

Rutkowski, Jacqueline E; Rutkowski, Emília W

2015-12-01

'If an integrated urban waste management system includes the informal recycling sector (IRS), there is a good chance that more solid waste is recycled' is common sense. However, informal integration brings additional social, environmental, and economic benefits, such as reduction of operational costs and environmental impacts of landfilling. Brazil is a global best practice example in terms of waste picker inclusion, and has received international recognition for its recycling levels. In addition to analysing the results of inclusive recycling approaches, this article evaluates a selection of the best Brazilian inclusive recycling practices and summaries and presents the resulting knowledge. The objective is to identify processes that enable the replication of the inclusion of the informal recycling sector model as part of municipal solid waste management. Qualitative and quantitative data have been collected in 25 Brazilian cities that have contracted waste pickers co-operatives for door-to-door selective collection of recyclables. Field data was collected in action research projects that worked with waste pickers co-operatives between 2006 and 2013. The Brazilian informal recycling sector integration model improves municipal solid waste recycling indicators: it shows an increase in the net tonness recycled, from 140 to 208 t month(-1), at a much lower cost per tonne than conventional selective collection systems. Inclusive systems show costs of US$35 per tonne of recyclables collected, well below the national average of US$195.26. This inclusive model improves the quality of collected material and the efficiency of municipal selective collection. It also diminishes the negative impacts of informal recycling, by reducing child labour, and by improving the conditions of work, occupational health and safety, and uncontrolled pollution. Although treating the Brazilian experience as a blueprint for transfer of experience in every case is unrealistic, the results suggest that this approach to informal sector integration can be considered among the global best practices for informal sector integration. The article closes with recommendations for deploying technology in other urban areas throughout the world. © The Author(s) 2015.

SLOPE STABILITY EVALUATION AND EQUIPMENT SETBACK DISTANCES FOR BURIAL GROUND EXCAVATIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MCSHANE DS

2010-03-25

After 1970 Transuranic (TRU) and suspect TRU waste was buried in the ground with the intention that at some later date the waste would be retrieved and processed into a configuration for long term storage. To retrieve this waste the soil must be removed (excavated). Sloping the bank of the excavation is the method used to keep the excavation from collapsing and to provide protection for workers retrieving the waste. The purpose of this paper is to document the minimum distance (setback) that equipment must stay from the edge of the excavation to maintain a stable slope. This evaluation examinesmore » the equipment setback distance by dividing the equipment into two categories, (1) equipment used for excavation and (2) equipment used for retrieval. The section on excavation equipment will also discuss techniques used for excavation including the process of benching. Calculations 122633-C-004, 'Slope Stability Analysis' (Attachment A), and 300013-C-001, 'Crane Stability Analysis' (Attachment B), have been prepared to support this evaluation. As shown in the calculations the soil has the following properties: Unit weight 110 pounds per cubic foot; and Friction Angle (natural angle of repose) 38{sup o} or 1.28 horizontal to 1 vertical. Setback distances are measured from the top edge of the slope to the wheels/tracks of the vehicles and heavy equipment being utilized. The computer program utilized in the calculation uses the center of the wheel or track load for the analysis and this difference is accounted for in this evaluation.« less

Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 536: Area 3 Release Site, Nevada Test Site, Nevada

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NSTec Environmental Restoration

Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 536 is located in Area 3 of the Nevada Test Site. CAU 536 is listed in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order of 1996 as Area 3 Release Site, and comprises a single Corrective Action Site (CAS): {sm_bullet} CAS 03-44-02, Steam Jenny Discharge The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP)-approved corrective action alternative for CAS 03-44-02 is clean closure. Closure activities included removing and disposing of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH)- and polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-impacted soil, soil impacted with plutonium (Pu)-239, and concrete pad debris. CAU 536 was closed in accordance with the NDEP-approved CAU 536more » Corrective Action Plan (CAP), with minor deviations as approved by NDEP. The closure activities specified in the CAP were based on the recommendations presented in the CAU 536 Corrective Action Decision Document (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office, 2004). This Closure Report documents CAU 536 closure activities. During closure activities, approximately 1,000 cubic yards (yd3) of hydrocarbon waste in the form of TPH- and PAH-impacted soil and debris, approximately 8 yd3 of Pu-239-impacted soil, and approximately 100 yd3 of concrete debris were generated, managed, and disposed of appropriately. Additionally, a previously uncharacterized, buried drum was excavated, removed, and disposed of as hydrocarbon waste as a best management practice. Waste minimization techniques, such as the utilization of laboratory analysis to characterize and classify waste streams, were employed during the performance of closure« less

Summary of International Waste Management Programs (LLNL Input to SNL L3 MS: System-Wide Integration and Site Selection Concepts for Future Disposition Options for HLW)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greenberg, Harris R.; Blink, James A.; Halsey, William G.

2011-08-11

The Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) within the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Technology (FCT) program has been tasked with investigating the disposal of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW) for a range of potential waste forms and geologic environments. This Lessons Learned task is part of a multi-laboratory effort, with this LLNL report providing input to a Level 3 SNL milestone (System-Wide Integration and Site Selection Concepts for Future Disposition Options for HLW). The work package number is: FTLL11UF0328; the work package title is: Technical Bases / Lessons Learned;more » the milestone number is: M41UF032802; and the milestone title is: “LLNL Input to SNL L3 MS: System-Wide Integration and Site Selection Concepts for Future Disposition Options for HLW”. The system-wide integration effort will integrate all aspects of waste management and disposal, integrating the waste generators, interim storage, transportation, and ultimate disposal at a repository site. The review of international experience in these areas is required to support future studies that address all of these components in an integrated manner. Note that this report is a snapshot of nuclear power infrastructure and international waste management programs that is current as of August 2011, with one notable exception. No attempt has been made to discuss the currently evolving world-wide response to the tragic consequences of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11, 2011, leaving more than 15,000 people dead and more than 8,000 people missing, and severely damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex. Continuing efforts in FY 2012 will update the data, and summarize it in an Excel spreadsheet for easy comparison and assist in the knowledge management of the study cases.« less

Superfund Record of Decision (EPA Region 7): Vogel Paint and Wax, Maurice, IA. (First remedial action), September 1989. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1989-09-20

The Vogel Paint and Wax (VPW) site is an approximately two-acre disposal area two miles southwest of the town of Maurice, in Sioux County, Iowa. Adjacent land uses are primarily agricultural; however, several private residences are within one-quarter mile of the site. A surficial sand and gravel aquifer underlies the site and supplies nearby private wells and the Southern Sioux County Rural Water System, located a mile and one half southeast of the site. Paint sludge, resins, solvents, and other paint-manufacturing wastes were disposed of at the site between 1971 and 1979. VPW records indicate that approximately 43,000 gallons ofmore » aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons and 6,000 pounds of metals waste were buried at the site. The primary contaminants of concern affecting the soil and ground water are VOCs including benzene, toluene, and xylenes; and metals including chromium and lead. The selected remedial action for this site includes excavation of contaminated soil and separation of solid and liquid wastes; onsite bioremediation of 3,000 cubic yards of the contaminated soil in a fully contained surface impoundment unit, or onsite thermal treatment if soil contains high metal content; and stabilization of treated soil, if necessary to prevent leaching of metals, followed by disposal in the excavated area.« less

TTP AL921102: An integrated geophysics program for non-intrusive characterization of mixed-waste landfill sites. FY 1992 year-end progress report: Volume 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hasbrouck, J.C.

1992-11-01

Chem-Nuclear Geotech, Inc. (Geotech), operating contractor for the US Department of Energy Grand Junction Projects Office, is conducting the Integrated Geophysics Program for Non-Intrusive Characterization of Mixed-Waste Landfill Sites (Technical Task Plan [TTP] AL921102). The TTP is part of the Mixed-Waste Landfill Integrated Demonstration (MWLID). The objective of this task was to demonstrate that an integrated program of surface geophysics can be used to effectively and nonintrusively characterize n-mixed-waste landfill sites. To accomplish this objective, integrated field demonstrations were conducted over two previously identified areas of interest (designated Areas A and B) within the MWLID test site at the Chemicalmore » Waste Landfill (CWL), Technical Area 3, at the Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Figures 1 and 2). Area A was centered roughly around the Chromic Acid and Organics Pits in the southeast-central portion of the landfill and Area B was centered around the ``60`s Pits`` area in the northeast-central portion of the landfill. Pit locations were known in Area A and suspected in Area B. This progress report describes the geophysical surveys conducted by Geotech and presents preliminary displays and analyses. Volume 2 of this report contains the raw data for all the surveys conducted by Geotech for this TTP.« less

TTP AL921102: An integrated geophysics program for non-intrusive characterization of mixed-waste landfill sites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hasbrouck, J.C.

1992-11-01

Chem-Nuclear Geotech, Inc. (Geotech), operating contractor for the US Department of Energy Grand Junction Projects Office, is conducting the Integrated Geophysics Program for Non-Intrusive Characterization of Mixed-Waste Landfill Sites (Technical Task Plan [TTP] AL921102). The TTP is part of the Mixed-Waste Landfill Integrated Demonstration (MWLID). The objective of this task was to demonstrate that an integrated program of surface geophysics can be used to effectively and nonintrusively characterize n-mixed-waste landfill sites. To accomplish this objective, integrated field demonstrations were conducted over two previously identified areas of interest (designated Areas A and B) within the MWLID test site at the Chemicalmore » Waste Landfill (CWL), Technical Area 3, at the Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Figures 1 and 2). Area A was centered roughly around the Chromic Acid and Organics Pits in the southeast-central portion of the landfill and Area B was centered around the 60's Pits'' area in the northeast-central portion of the landfill. Pit locations were known in Area A and suspected in Area B. This progress report describes the geophysical surveys conducted by Geotech and presents preliminary displays and analyses. Volume 2 of this report contains the raw data for all the surveys conducted by Geotech for this TTP.« less

Buried topography of Utopia, Mars - Persistence of a giant impact depression

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcgill, George E.

1989-01-01

Knobs, partially buried craters, ring fractures, and some mesas permit a qualitative determination of the topography buried beneath younger northern plains materials. These features are widely distributed in the Utopia area but are absent in a large, roughly circular region centered at about 48 deg N, 240 deg W. This implies the existence of a circular depression about 3300 km in diameter buried beneath Utopia Planitia that is interpreted to represent the central part of a very large impact basin. The presence of buried curved massifs around part of this depression, and a roughly coincident mascon, lend further support. Present topography, areal geology, and paleotopography of buried surfaces all point to the persistence of this major depression for almost the entire history of Mars.

Fluorescent protein integrated white LEDs for displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Press, Daniel Aaron; Melikov, Rustamzhon; Conkar, Deniz; Nur Firat-Karalar, Elif; Nizamoglu, Sedat

2016-11-01

The usage time of displays (e.g., TVs, mobile phones, etc) is in general shorter than their functional life time, which worsens the electronic waste (e-waste) problem around the world. The integration of biomaterials into electronics can help to reduce the e-waste problem. In this study, we demonstrate fluorescent protein integrated white LEDs to use as a backlight source for liquid crystal (LC) displays for the first time. We express and purify enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) and monomeric Cherry protein (mCherry), and afterward we integrate these proteins as a wavelength-converter on a blue LED chip. The protein-integrated backlight exhibits a high luminous efficacy of 248 lm/Wopt and the area of the gamut covers 80% of the NTSC color gamut. The resultant colors and objects in the image on the display can be well observed and distinguished. Therefore, fluorescent proteins show promise for display applications.

One System Integrated Project Team: Retrieval And Delivery Of The Hanford Tank Wastes For Vitrification In The Waste Treatment Plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harp, Benton J.; Kacich, Richard M.; Skwarek, Raymond J.

The One System Integrated Project Team (IPT) was formed in late 2011 as a way for improving the efficiency of delivery and treatment of highly radioactive waste stored in underground tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) 586-square-mile Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State. The purpose of the One System IPT is to improve coordination and integration between the Hanford's Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) contractor and the Tank Operations Contractor (TOC). The vision statement is: One System is a WTP and TOC safety conscious team that, through integrated management and implementation of risk-informed decision and mission-based solutions, will enablemore » the earliest start of safe and efficient treatment of Hanford's tank waste, to protect the Columbia River, environment and public. The IPT is a formal collaboration between Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI), which manages design and construction of the WTP for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of River Protection (DOEORP), and Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), which manages the TOC for ORP. More than fifty-six (56) million gallons of highly radioactive liquid waste are stored in one hundred seventy-seven (177) aging, underground tanks. Most of Hanford's waste tanks - one hundred forty-nine (149) of them - are of an old single-shell tank (SST) design built between 1944 and 1964. More than sixty (60) of these tanks have leaked in the past, releasing an estimated one million gallons of waste into the soil and threatening the nearby Columbia River. There are another twenty-eight (28) new double-shelled tanks (DSTs), built from 1968 to 1986, that provide greater protection to the environment. In 1989, DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) signed a landmark agreement that required Hanford to comply with federal and state environmental standards. It also paved the way for agreements that set deadlines for retrieving the tank wastes and for building and operating the WTP. The tank wastes are the result of Hanford's nearly fifty (50) years of plutonium production. In the intervening years, waste characteristics have been increasingly better understood. However, waste characteristics that are uncertain and will remain as such represent a significant technical challenge in terms of retrieval, transport, and treatment, as well as for design and construction ofWTP. What also is clear is that the longer the waste remains in the tanks, the greater the risk to the environment and the people of the Pacific Northwest. The goal of both projects - tank operations and waste treatment - is to diminish the risks posed by the waste in the tanks at the earliest possible date. About two hundred (200) WTP and TOC employees comprise the IPT. Individual work groups within One System include Technical, Project Integration & Controls, Front-End Design & Project Definition, Commissioning, Nuclear Safety & Engineering Systems Integration, and Environmental Safety and Health and Quality Assurance (ESH&QA). Additional functions and team members will be added as the WTP approaches the operational phase. The team has undertaken several initiatives since its formation to collaborate on issues: (1) alternate scenarios for delivery of wastes from the tank farms to WTP; (2) improvements in managing Interface Control Documents; (3) coordination on various technical issues, including the Defense Nuclear Facilities Nuclear Safety Board's Recommendation 2010-2; (4) deployment of the SmartPlant Foundation-configuration Management System; and (5) preparation of the joint contract deliverable of the Operational Readiness Support Plan.« less

ENGINEERING BULLETIN: SOLIDIFICATION/STABILIZATION OF ORGANICS AND INORGANICS

EPA Science Inventory

Solidification refers to techniques that encapsulate hazardous waste into a solid material of high structural integrity. Encapsulation involves either fine waste particles (microencapsulation) or a large block or container of wastes (macroencapsulation). Stabilization refe...

Robust telerobotics - an integrated system for waste handling, characterization and sorting

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Couture, S.A.; Hurd, R.L.; Wilhelmsen, K.C.

The Mixed Waste Management Facility (MWMF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was designed to serve as a national testbed to demonstrate integrated technologies for the treatment of low-level organic mixed waste at a pilot-plant scale. Pilot-scale demonstration serves to bridge the gap between mature, bench-scale proven technologies and full-scale treatment facilities by providing the infrastructure needed to evaluate technologies in an integrated, front-end to back-end facility. Consistent with the intent to focus on technologies that are ready for pilot scale deployment, the front-end handling and feed preparation of incoming waste material has been designed to demonstrate the application ofmore » emerging robotic and remotely operated handling systems. The selection of telerobotics for remote handling in MWMF was made based on a number of factors - personnel protection, waste generation, maturity, cost, flexibility and extendibility. Telerobotics, or shared control of a manipulator by an operator and a computer, provides the flexibility needed to vary the amount of automation or operator intervention according to task complexity. As part of the telerobotics design effort, the technical risk of deploying the technology was reduced through focused developments and demonstrations. The work involved integrating key tools (1) to make a robust telerobotic system that operates at speeds and reliability levels acceptable to waste handling operators and, (2) to demonstrate an efficient operator interface that minimizes the amount of special training and skills needed by the operator. This paper describes the design and operation of the prototype telerobotic waste handling and sorting system that was developed for MWMF.« less

Building America Case Study: Compact Buried Ducts in a Hot-Humid Climate House, Lady's Island, South Carolina

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

2016-02-01

A system of compact, buried ducts provides a high-performance and cost-effective solution for delivering conditioned air throughout the building. This report outlines research activities that are expected to facilitate adoption of compact buried duct systems by builders. The results of this research would be scalable to many new house designs in most climates and markets, leading to wider industry acceptance and building code and energy program approval. The primary research question with buried ducts is potential condensation at the outer jacket of the duct insulation in humid climates during the cooling season. Current best practices for buried ducts rely onmore » encapsulating the insulated ducts with closed-cell spray polyurethane foam insulation to control condensation and improve air sealing. The encapsulated buried duct concept has been analyzed and shown to be effective in hot-humid climates. The purpose of this project is to develop an alternative buried duct system that performs effectively as ducts in conditioned space - durable, energy efficient, and cost-effective - in a hot-humid climate (IECC warm-humid climate zone 3A) with three goals that distinguish this project: 1) Evaluation of design criteria for buried ducts that use common materials and do not rely on encapsulation using spray foam or disrupt traditional work sequences, 2) Establishing design criteria for compact ducts and incorporate those with the buried duct criteria to further reduce energy losses and control installed costs, and 3) Developing HVAC design guidance for performing accurate heating and cooling load calculations for compact buried ducts.« less

Compact Buried Ducts in a Hot-Humid Climate House

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mallay, Dave

2016-01-07

"9A system of compact, buried ducts provides a high-performance and cost-effective solution for delivering conditioned air throughout the building. This report outlines research activities that are expected to facilitate adoption of compact buried duct systems by builders. The results of this research would be scalable to many new house designs in most climates and markets, leading to wider industry acceptance and building code and energy program approval. The primary research question with buried ducts is potential condensation at the outer jacket of the duct insulation in humid climates during the cooling season. Current best practices for buried ducts rely onmore » encapsulating the insulated ducts with closed-cell spray polyurethane foam insulation to control condensation and improve air sealing. The encapsulated buried duct concept has been analyzed and shown to be effective in hot-humid climates. The purpose of this project is to develop an alternative buried duct system that performs effectively as ducts in conditioned space - durable, energy efficient, and cost-effective - in a hot-humid climate (IECC warm-humid climate zone 3A) with three goals that distinguish this project: 1) Evaluation of design criteria for buried ducts that use common materials and do not rely on encapsulation using spray foam or disrupt traditional work sequences; 2) Establishing design criteria for compact ducts and incorporate those with the buried duct criteria to further reduce energy losses and control installed costs; 3) Developing HVAC design guidance for performing accurate heating and cooling load calculations for compact buried ducts.« less

Annual Summary of the Integrated Disposal Facility Performance Assessment 2011

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lehman, L. L.

2012-03-12

An annual summary of the adequacy of the Hanford Immobilized Low-Activity Waste (ILAW) Performance Assessment (PA) is required each year (DOE O 435.1 Chg 1,1 DOE M 435.1-1 Chg 1,2 DOE/ORP-2000-013). The most recently approved PA is DOE/ORP-2000-24.4 The ILAW PA evaluated the adequacy of the ILAW disposal facility, now referred to as the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF), for the safe disposal of vitrified Hanford Site tank waste. More recently, a preliminary evaluation for the disposal of offsite low-level waste and mixed low-level waste was considered in RPP-1583.

Waste biorefineries - integrating anaerobic digestion and microalgae cultivation for bioenergy production.

PubMed

Chen, Yi-di; Ho, Shih-Hsin; Nagarajan, Dillirani; Ren, Nan-Qi; Chang, Jo-Shu

2018-04-01

Commercialization of microalgal cultivation has been well realized in recent decades with the use of effective strains that can yield the target products, but it is still challenged by the high costs arising from mass production, harvesting, and further processing. Recently, more interest has been directed towards the utilization of waste resources, such as sludge digestate, to enhance the economic feasibility and sustainability of microalgae production. Anaerobic digestion for waste disposal and phototrophic microalgal cultivation are well-characterized technologies in both fields. However, integration of anaerobic digestion and microalgal cultivation to achieve substantial economic and environmental benefits is extremely limited, and thus deserves more attention and research effort. In particular, combining these two makes possible an ideal 'waste biorefinery' model, as the C/N/P content in the anaerobic digestate can be used to produce microalgal biomass that serves as feedstock for biofuels, while biogas upgrading can simultaneously be performed by phototrophic CO 2 fixation during microalgal growth. This review is thus aimed at elucidating recent advances as well as challenges and future directions with regard to waste biorefineries associated with the integration of anaerobic waste treatment and microalgal cultivation for bioenergy production. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Shallow water imaging sonar system for environmental surveying. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1998-05-01

The scope of this research is to develop a shallow water sonar system designed to detect and map the location of objects such as hazardous wastes or discarded ordnance in coastal waters. The system will use high frequency wide-bandwidth imaging sonar, mounted on a moving platform towed behind a boat, to detect and identify objects on the sea bottom. Resolved images can be obtained even if the targets are buried in an overlayer of silt. The specific technical objective of this research was to develop and test a prototype system that is capable of (1) scan at high speeds (upmore » to 10m/s), even in shallow water (depth to ten meters), without motion blurring or loss of resolution; (2) produce images of the bottom structure that are detailed enough for unambiguous detection of objects as small as 15cm, even if they are buried up to 30cm deep in silt or sand. The critical technology involved uses an linear FM (LFM) or similar complex waveform, which has a high bandwidth for good range resolution, with a long pulse length for similar Dopper resolution. The lone duration signal deposits more energy on target than a narrower pulse, which increases the signal-to-noise ratio and signal-to-clutter ratio. This in turn allows the use of cheap, lightweight, low power, piezoelectric transducers at the 30--500 kHz range.« less

Numerical Modeling of Mechanical Behavior for Buried Steel Pipelines Crossing Subsidence Strata

PubMed Central

Han, C. J.

2015-01-01

This paper addresses the mechanical behavior of buried steel pipeline crossing subsidence strata. The investigation is based on numerical simulation of the nonlinear response of the pipeline-soil system through finite element method, considering large strain and displacement, inelastic material behavior of buried pipeline and the surrounding soil, as well as contact and friction on the pipeline-soil interface. Effects of key parameters on the mechanical behavior of buried pipeline were investigated, such as strata subsidence, diameter-thickness ratio, buried depth, internal pressure, friction coefficient and soil properties. The results show that the maximum strain appears on the outer transition subsidence section of the pipeline, and its cross section is concave shaped. With the increasing of strata subsidence and diameter-thickness ratio, the out of roundness, longitudinal strain and equivalent plastic strain increase gradually. With the buried depth increasing, the deflection, out of roundness and strain of the pipeline decrease. Internal pressure and friction coefficient have little effect on the deflection of buried pipeline. Out of roundness is reduced and the strain is increased gradually with the increasing of internal pressure. The physical properties of soil have a great influence on the mechanical properties of buried pipeline. The results from the present study can be used for the development of optimization design and preventive maintenance for buried steel pipelines. PMID:26103460

Buried Oxide Densification for Low Power, Low Voltage CMOS Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allen, L. P.; Anc, M. J.; Dolan, B.; Jiao, J.; Guss, B.; Seraphin, S.; Liu, S. T.; Jenkins, W.

1998-01-01

Special technology and circuit architecture are of growing interest for implementation of circuits which operate at low supply voltages and consume low power levels without sacrificing performance[1]. Use of thin buried oxide SOI substrates is a primary approach to simultaneously achieve these goals. A significant aspect regarding SIMOX SOI for low voltage, low power applications is the reliability and performance of the thin buried oxide. In addition, when subjected to high total dose irradiation, the silicon islands within the BOX layer of SIMOX can store charges and significantly effect the back channel threshold voltages of devices. Thus, elimination of the islands within the buried oxide (BOX) layer is preferred in order to prevent leakage through these conductive islands and charge build-up within the buried oxide layer. A differential (2-step) ramp rate as applied to full and 100 nm BOX SIMOX was previously reported to play a significant role in the stoichiometry and island formation within the buried layer[2]. This paper focus is on the properties of a thin (120nm) buried oxide as a function of the anneal ramp rate and the temperature of anneal. In this research, we have found an improvement in the buried oxide stoichiometry with the use of a slower, singular ramp rate for specified thin buried oxides, with slower ramp rates and higher temperatures of anneal suggested for reducing the presence of Si islands within the BOX layer.

The acute and long-term neurotoxic effects of MDMA on marble burying behaviour in mice.

PubMed

Saadat, Kathryn S; Elliott, J Martin; Colado, M Isabel; Green, A Richard

2006-03-01

When mice are exposed to harmless objects such as marbles in their cage they bury them, a behaviour sometimes known as defensive burying. We investigated the effect of an acute dose of MDMA (èecstasy') and other psychoactive drugs on marble burying and also examined the effect of a prior neurotoxic dose of MDMA or p-chloroamphetamine (PCA) on burying. Acute administration of MDMA produced dose-dependent inhibition of marble burying (EC50: 7.6 micro mol/kg). Other drugs that enhance monoamine function also produced dose-dependent inhibition: methamphetamine PCA paroxetine MDMA GBR 12909 methylphenidate. None of these drugs altered locomotor activity at a dose that inhibited burying. A prior neurotoxic dose of MDMA, which decreased striatal dopamine content by 60%, but left striatal 5-HT content unaltered, did not alter spontaneous marble burying 18 or 40 days later. However, a neurotoxic dose of PCA which decreased striatal dopamine by 60% and striatal 5-HT by 70% attenuated marble burying 28 days later. Overall, these data suggest that MDMA, primarily by acutely increasing 5-HT function, acts like several anxiolytic drugs in this behavioural model. Long-term loss of cerebral 5-HT content also produced a similar effect. Since this change was observed only after 28 days, it is probably due to an adaptive response in the brain.

Buried aquifers in the Brooten-Belgrade and Lake Emily areas, west-central Minnesota--Factors related to developing water for irrigation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wolf, R.J.

1976-01-01

Potential water problems include slow rate of recharge to buried aquifers, and head loss caused by screening of the surficial and buried aquifers in the same well, and by allowing well to flow unabated. Another potential problem is possible pollution of the buried aquifers through the boreholes of multiaquifer wells.

Effects of sediment burial on tropical ruderal seagrasses are moderated by clonal integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ooi, Jillian Lean Sim; Kendrick, Gary A.; Van Niel, Kimberly P.

2011-12-01

Seagrasses are clonal plants that grow submerged in dynamic sedimentary environments where burial is a common occurrence. Clonal organisms may respond to burial in very different ways depending on how strongly integrated they are through horizontal rhizomes, but the effect of clonal integration under conditions of stress such as burial is poorly studied for seagrasses. We test the effect of burial on tropical seagrasses that occur in multispecific meadows by subjecting plants in mixed stands to burial of 0, 2, 4, 8 and 16 cm for 27 days. Treatments were divided into those where rhizomes were severed and those where rhizomes were left intact. We hypothesize that species withstand burial better if clonal integration is maintained (intact rhizomes). Results showed that all species tolerated burial of up to 4 cm without adverse effects but significant reductions in shoot density and biomass become evident at 8 cm of burial. Furthermore, Cymodocea serrulata and Syringodium isoetifolium were strong integrators, i.e. they provide support for buried shoots, whereas Halophila ovalis and Halodule uninervis were weak integrators that did not show evidence of subsidizing buried shoots. Vertical elongation was observed for C. serrulata and H. uninervis as a response to burial only when rhizomes were severed, leading us to speculate on whether species rely on vertical elongation as an escape strategy only in the absence of resource translocation. Our distinction between the responses of treatments with intact rhizomes from those with severed rhizomes may be extended to an interpretation of burial scale (intact rhizomes=broad spatial-scale burial; severed rhizomes=fine spatial-scale burial). We concluded that broad spatial-scale burial exceeding 4 cm leads to rapid loss or reduction of all species. However, fine spatial-scale burial exceeding 4 cm, such as those caused by shrimp mounds (bioturbation), is expected to favor C. serrulata and S. isoetifolium, while H. ovalis and H. uninervis are disadvantaged. Clonal integration is an important trait in moderating the response of seagrasses to sediment burial and in this way, helps them to cope in high-stress habitats.

Integrated bioleaching of copper metal from waste printed circuit board-a comprehensive review of approaches and challenges.

PubMed

Awasthi, Abhishek Kumar; Zeng, Xianlai; Li, Jinhui

2016-11-01

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (e-waste) is the most rapidly growing waste stream in the world, and the majority of the residues are openly disposed of in developing countries. Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) make up the major portion of e-waste, and their informal recycling can cause environmental pollution and health risks. Furthermore, the conventional disposal and recycling techniques-mechanical treatments used to recover valuable metals, including copper-are not sustainable in the long term. Chemical leaching is rapid and efficient but causes secondary pollution. Bioleaching is a promising approach, eco-friendly and economically feasible, but it is slower process. This review considers the recycling potential of microbes and suggests an integrated bioleaching approach for Cu extraction and recovery from WPCBs. The proposed recycling system should be more effective, efficient and both technically and economically feasible.

Time delay and integration array (TDI) using charge transfer device technology. Phase 2, volume 1: Technical

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

The 20x9 TDI array was developed to meet the LANDSAT Thematic Mapper Requirements. This array is based upon a self-aligned, transparent gate, buried channel process. The process features: (1) buried channel, four phase, overlapping gate CCD's for high transfer efficiency without fat zero; (2) self-aligned transistors to minimize clock feedthrough and parasitic capacitance; and (3) transparent tin oxide electrode for high quantum efficiency with front surface irradiation. The requirements placed on the array and the performance achieved are summarized. This data is the result of flat field measurements only, no imaging or dynamic target measurements were made during this program. Measurements were performed with two different test stands. The bench test equipment fabricated for this program operated at the 8 micro sec line time and employed simple sampling of the gated MOSFET output video signal. The second stand employed Correlated Doubled Sampling (CDS) and operated at 79.2 micro sec line time.

Sewage sludge drying process integration with a waste-to-energy power plant.

PubMed

Bianchini, A; Bonfiglioli, L; Pellegrini, M; Saccani, C

2015-08-01

Dewatered sewage sludge from Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is encountering increasing problems associated with its disposal. Several solutions have been proposed in the last years regarding energy and materials recovery from sewage sludge. Current technological solutions have relevant limits as dewatered sewage sludge is characterized by a high water content (70-75% by weight), even if mechanically treated. A Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) with good thermal characteristics in terms of Lower Heating Value (LHV) can be obtained if dewatered sludge is further processed, for example by a thermal drying stage. Sewage sludge thermal drying is not sustainable if the power is fed by primary energy sources, but can be appealing if waste heat, recovered from other processes, is used. A suitable integration can be realized between a WWTP and a waste-to-energy (WTE) power plant through the recovery of WTE waste heat as energy source for sewage sludge drying. In this paper, the properties of sewage sludge from three different WWTPs are studied. On the basis of the results obtained, a facility for the integration of sewage sludge drying within a WTE power plant is developed. Furthermore, energy and mass balances are set up in order to evaluate the benefits brought by the described integration. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of an integrated transuranic waste management system for a large research facility: NUCEF

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mineo, Hideaki; Matsumura, Tatsuro; Takeshita, Isao

1997-03-01

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Safety Engineering Research Facility (NUCEF) is a large complex of research facilities where transuranic (TRU) elements are used. Liquid and solid waste containing TRU elements is generated mainly in the treatment of fuel for critical experiments and in the research of reprocessing and TRU waste management in hot cells and glove boxes. The rational management of TRU wastes is a very important issue not only for NUCEF but also for Japan. An integrated TRU waste management system is being developed with NUCEF as the test bed. The basic policy for establishing the system is to classifymore » wastes by TRU concentration, to reduce waste volume, and to maximize reuse of TRU elements. The principal approach of the development program is to apply the outcomes of the research carried out in NUCEF. Key technologies are TRU measurement for classification of solid wastes and TRU separation and volume reduction for organic and aqueous wastes. Some technologies required for treating the wastes specific to the research activities in NUCEF need further development. Specifically, the separation and stabilization technologies for americium recovery from concentrated aqueous waste, which is generated in dissolution of mixed oxide when preparing fuel for critical experiments, needs further research.« less

Application of Vadose Zone Monitoring Technology for Characterization of Leachate Generation in Landfills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

aharoni, imri; dahan, ofer

2016-04-01

Ground water contamination due to landfill leachate percolation is considered the most severe environmental threat related to municipal solid waste landfills. Natural waste degradation processes in landfills normally produce contaminated leachates up to decades after the waste has been buried. Studies have shown that understanding the mechanisms which govern attenuation processes and the fate of pollutants in the waste and in the underlying unsaturated zone is crucial for evaluation of environmental risks and selection of a restoration strategy. This work focuses on a closed landfill in the coastal plain of Israel that was active until 2002 without any lining infrastructure. A vadose zone monitoring system (VMS) that was implemented at the site enables continuous measurements across the waste body (15 m thick) and underlying sandy vadose zone (16 m thick). Data collected by the VMS included continuous measurements of water content as well as chemical composition of the leachates across the entire waste and vadose zone cross section. Results indicated that winter rain percolated through the waste, generating wetting waves which were observed across the waste and unsaturated sediment from land surface until groundwater at 31 m bls. Quick percolation and high fluxes were observed in spite of the clay cover that was implemented at the site as part of the rehabilitation scheme. The results show that the flow pattern is controlled by a preferential mechanism within the waste body. Specific sections showed rapid fluxes in response to rain events, while other sections remained unaffected. In the underlying sandy vadose zone the flow pattern exhibited characteristics of matrix flow. Yet, some sections received higher fluxes due to the uneven discharge of leachates from the overlying waste body. Water samples collected from the waste layer indicate production of highly polluted leachates over 14 years after the landfill was closed. The chemical composition within the waste body shows extreme variability between sampling ports with respect to DOC (407-31,464 mg/L), BOD/COD ratios (0.07-0.55), Fe2+ (6.8-1154 mg/L), NH4+ (68-2924 mg/L) and heavy metal concentrations. The results show for the first time the magnitude of heterogeneity inside a single landfill unit. Waste degradation hot-spots creating concentrated aggressive 'acid phase' leachates exist only 2m away from a 'stable methanogenic' environment which create basic and less polluted leachates. In the underlying vadose zone, contaminant concentrations decrease significantly especially with respect to organic matter and metals. The results suggest that biogeochemical attenuation processes are taking place in the deep unsaturated zone, changing the chemical characteristics of the solute before reaching the groundwater. On the other hand, the chemical composition is highly affected by the distribution of fluxes coming from the above waste layer.

LIFE-CYCLE EVALUATION OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES

EPA Science Inventory

The paper discusses a life-cycle evaluation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from municipal soild waste (MSW) management in the U.S. (NOTE: Using integrated waste management, recycling/composting, waste-to-energy, and better control of landfill gas, communities across the U.S. a...

Nasreya: a treatment and disposal facility for industrial hazardous waste in Alexandria, Egypt: phase I.

PubMed

Ramadan, Adham R; Kock, Per; Nadim, Amani

2005-04-01

A facility for the treatment and disposal of industrial hazardous waste has been established in Alexandria, Egypt. Phase I of the facility encompassing a secure landfill and solar evaporation ponds is ready to receive waste, and Phase II encompassing physico-chemical treatment, solidification, and interim storage is underway. The facility, the Nasreya Centre, is the first of its kind in Egypt, and represents the nucleus for the integration, improvement and further expansion of different hazardous waste management practices and services in Alexandria. It has been developed within the overall legal framework of the Egyptian Law for the Environment, and is expected to improve prospects for enforcement of the regulatory requirements specified in this law. It has been developed with the overall aim of promoting the establishment of an integrated industrial hazardous waste management system in Alexandria, serving as a demonstration to be replicated elsewhere in Egypt. For Phase I, the Centre only accepts inorganic industrial wastes. In this respect, a waste acceptance policy has been developed, which is expected to be reviewed during Phase II, with an expansion of the waste types accepted.

Applications of fiber reinforced concrete containers in France and in Slovakia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Verdier, A.; Delgrande, J.; Remias, V.

Radioactive waste immobilization is an integral part of operations in nuclear facilities. The goal of immobilization is to contain radioactive materials in a waste form which can maintain its integrity over very long periods of time, thus effectively isolating the materials from the environment and hence from the public. This is true regardless of the activity of the waste, including low-, and medium-level waste (LLW, MLW). A multiple-year research effort by COGEMA culminated in the development of a new process to immobilize nuclear waste in concrete containers reinforced with metal fibers. The fiber reinforced concrete containers satisfy all French safetymore » requirements relating to waste immobilization and disposal, and have been certified by ANDRA, the national radioactive waste management agency. The fiber reinforced concrete containers have been fabricated on a production scale since July 1990 by Sogefibre, a jointly-owned subsidiary of SGN and Campaign Generale des Eaux. This technology is being transferred to Slovenske Elektrarne (Slovak Power Plant) to intern the waste produced by Bohunice and Mochovce power plants in cubical fiber reinforced concrete containers.« less

Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation Waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (NEAMS Waste IPSC).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schultz, Peter Andrew

The objective of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation Waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (NEAMS Waste IPSC) is to provide an integrated suite of computational modeling and simulation (M&S) capabilities to quantitatively assess the long-term performance of waste forms in the engineered and geologic environments of a radioactive-waste storage facility or disposal repository. Achieving the objective of modeling the performance of a disposal scenario requires describing processes involved in waste form degradation and radionuclide release at the subcontinuum scale, beginning with mechanistic descriptions of chemical reactions and chemical kinetics at the atomicmore » scale, and upscaling into effective, validated constitutive models for input to high-fidelity continuum scale codes for coupled multiphysics simulations of release and transport. Verification and validation (V&V) is required throughout the system to establish evidence-based metrics for the level of confidence in M&S codes and capabilities, including at the subcontiunuum scale and the constitutive models they inform or generate. This Report outlines the nature of the V&V challenge at the subcontinuum scale, an approach to incorporate V&V concepts into subcontinuum scale modeling and simulation (M&S), and a plan to incrementally incorporate effective V&V into subcontinuum scale M&S destined for use in the NEAMS Waste IPSC work flow to meet requirements of quantitative confidence in the constitutive models informed by subcontinuum scale phenomena.« less

Closing the Loop: Exploring Integrated Waste Management and Resource Conservation, Kindergarten through Grade Six. 2000 Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clymire, Olga

This document is designed to teach concepts of source reduction, recycling, composting, and integrated waste management to kindergarten through grade six students. The lessons correlate to grade level and include sections on the lesson's concepts, purpose, overview, correlations to California's content standards and frameworks, scientific thinking…

Infrastructure Task Force Tribal Solid Waste Management

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

These documents describe 1) issues to consider when planning and designing community engagement approaches for tribal integrated waste management programs and 2) a proposed approach to improve tribal open dumps data and solid waste projects, and 3) an MOU.

Waste Management Information System (WMIS) User Guide

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

R. E. Broz

2008-12-22

This document provides the user of the Waste Management Information System (WMIS) instructions on how to use the WMIS software. WMIS allows users to initiate, track, and close waste packages. The modular design supports integration and utilization of data throuh the various stages of waste management. The phases of the waste management work process include generation, designation, packaging, container management, procurement, storage, treatment, transportation, and disposal.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), operated by Battelle Memorial Institute under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, operates tank systems for the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL), that contain dangerous waste constituents as defined by Washington State Department of Ecology (WDOE) Dangerous Waste Regulations, Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-303-040(18). Chapter 173-303-640(2) of the WAC requires the performance of integrity assessments for each existing tank system that treats or stores dangerous waste, except those operating under interim status with compliant secondary containment. This Integrity Assessment Plan (IAP) identifies all tasks that will be performed during the integritymore » assessment of the PNL-operated Radioactive Liquid Waste Systems (RLWS) associated with the 324 and 325 Buildings located in the 300 Area of the Hanford Site. It describes the inspections, tests, and analyses required to assess the integrity of the PNL RLWS (tanks, ancillary equipment, and secondary containment) and provides sufficient information for adequate budgeting and control of the assessment program. It also provides necessary information to permit the Independent, Qualified, Registered Professional Engineer (IQRPE) to approve the integrity assessment program.« less

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and communication technologies for solid waste bin and truck monitoring system.

PubMed

Hannan, M A; Arebey, Maher; Begum, R A; Basri, Hassan

2011-12-01

This paper deals with a system of integration of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and communication technologies for solid waste bin and truck monitoring system. RFID, GPS, GPRS and GIS along with camera technologies have been integrated and developed the bin and truck intelligent monitoring system. A new kind of integrated theoretical framework, hardware architecture and interface algorithm has been introduced between the technologies for the successful implementation of the proposed system. In this system, bin and truck database have been developed such a way that the information of bin and truck ID, date and time of waste collection, bin status, amount of waste and bin and truck GPS coordinates etc. are complied and stored for monitoring and management activities. The results showed that the real-time image processing, histogram analysis, waste estimation and other bin information have been displayed in the GUI of the monitoring system. The real-time test and experimental results showed that the performance of the developed system was stable and satisfied the monitoring system with high practicability and validity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Numerical modeling of subsurface communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burke, G. J.; Dease, C. G.; Didwall, E. M.; Lytle, R. J.

1985-02-01

Techniques are described for numerical modeling of through-the-Earth communication. The basic problem considered is evaluation of the field at a surface or airborne station due to an antenna buried in the Earth. Equations are given for the field of a point source in a homogeneous or stratified earth. These expressions involve infinite integrals over wave number, sometimes known as Sommerfield integrals. Numerical techniques used for evaluating these integrals are outlined. The problem of determining the current on a real antenna in the Earth, including the effect of insulation, is considered. Results are included for the fields of a point source in homogeneous and stratified earths and the field of a finite insulated dipole. The results are for electromagnetic propagation in the ELF-VLF range, but the codes also can address propagation problems at higher frequencies.

Surface Instabilities From Buried Explosives

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-07-21

interface between soil and air during buried explosions. The purpose of understanding this instability is to determine its effect on local vehicle loading...Except when the target is on the surface, e.g., a tank track, the most important loading mechanism from a buried charge is the impact of soil propelled...rising soil and the air. This unstable 15. SUBJECT TERMS Buried Explosions, Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability, Target Loading, Jetting, 16 SECURITY

Influence of contaminant burial depth on the bioaccumulation of PCBs and PBDEs by two benthic invertebrates (Monoporeia affinis and Marenzelleria spp.).

PubMed

Josefsson, Sarah; Leonardsson, Kjell; Gunnarsson, Jonas S; Wiberg, Karin

2011-11-01

The bioaccumulation of buried polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) added to specific depths in sediment (2.0-2.5, 5.0-5.5 and 10.0-10.5cm) was studied in two infaunal species with similar feeding habits (surface deposit-feeders) but different bioturbation modes. The deep-burrowing polychaetes Marenzelleria spp. (Mz) displayed up to 36 times higher tissue concentrations of buried (spiked) contaminants than the surface-dwelling biodiffusing amphipod Monoporeia affinis. The differences in bioaccumulation were most pronounced for less hydrophobic contaminants due to the bioirrigating activity of Mz. Contaminants buried at shallow depths displayed higher accumulation than more deeply buried contaminants. In contrast, the bioaccumulation of unspiked (native) contaminants with a uniform vertical distribution in the sediment was similar between the species. For Mz, the BSAFs increased with increased K(OW) for the uniformly distributed contaminants, but decreased for the buried contaminants, which indicates that the dominant uptake routes of the buried contaminants can differ from the uniformly distributed contaminants. The surface sediment concentration of buried contaminants increased in Mz treatments, showing that Mz bioturbation can remobilize historically buried contaminants to the biologically active surface layer and increase the exposure for surface-dwelling species. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural and thermodynamic consequences of burial of an artificial ion pair in the hydrophobic interior of a protein.

PubMed

Robinson, Aaron C; Castañeda, Carlos A; Schlessman, Jamie L; García-Moreno, E Bertrand

2014-08-12

An artificial charge pair buried in the hydrophobic core of staphylococcal nuclease was engineered by making the V23E and L36K substitutions. Buried individually, Glu-23 and Lys-36 both titrate with pKa values near 7. When buried together their pKa values appear to be normal. The ionizable moieties of the buried Glu-Lys pair are 2.6 Å apart. The interaction between them at pH 7 is worth 5 kcal/mol. Despite this strong interaction, the buried Glu-Lys pair destabilizes the protein significantly because the apparent Coulomb interaction is sufficient to offset the dehydration of only one of the two buried charges. Save for minor reorganization of dipoles and water penetration consistent with the relatively high dielectric constant reported by the buried ion pair, there is no evidence that the presence of two charges in the hydrophobic interior of the protein induces any significant structural reorganization. The successful engineering of an artificial ion pair in a highly hydrophobic environment suggests that buried Glu-Lys pairs in dehydrated environments can be charged and that it is possible to engineer charge clusters that loosely resemble catalytic sites in a scaffold protein with high thermodynamic stability, without the need for specialized structural adaptations.

Structural and thermodynamic consequences of burial of an artificial ion pair in the hydrophobic interior of a protein

PubMed Central

Robinson, Aaron C.; Castañeda, Carlos A.; Schlessman, Jamie L.; García-Moreno E., Bertrand

2014-01-01

An artificial charge pair buried in the hydrophobic core of staphylococcal nuclease was engineered by making the V23E and L36K substitutions. Buried individually, Glu-23 and Lys-36 both titrate with pKa values near 7. When buried together their pKa values appear to be normal. The ionizable moieties of the buried Glu–Lys pair are 2.6 Å apart. The interaction between them at pH 7 is worth 5 kcal/mol. Despite this strong interaction, the buried Glu–Lys pair destabilizes the protein significantly because the apparent Coulomb interaction is sufficient to offset the dehydration of only one of the two buried charges. Save for minor reorganization of dipoles and water penetration consistent with the relatively high dielectric constant reported by the buried ion pair, there is no evidence that the presence of two charges in the hydrophobic interior of the protein induces any significant structural reorganization. The successful engineering of an artificial ion pair in a highly hydrophobic environment suggests that buried Glu–Lys pairs in dehydrated environments can be charged and that it is possible to engineer charge clusters that loosely resemble catalytic sites in a scaffold protein with high thermodynamic stability, without the need for specialized structural adaptations. PMID:25074910

System and method for removal of buried objects

DOEpatents

Alexander, Robert G [Richland, WA; Crass, Dennis [Kennewick, WA; Grams, William [Kennewick, WA; Phillips, Steven J [Sunnyside, WA; Riess, Mark [Kennewick, WA

2008-06-03

The present invention is a system and method for removal of buried objects. According to one embodiment of the invention, a crane with a vibrator casing driver is used to lift and suspend a large diameter steel casing over the buried object. Then the casing is driven into the ground by the vibratory driver until the casing surrounds the buried object. Then the open bottom of the casing is sealed shut by injecting grout into the ground within the casing near its bottom. When the seal has cured and hardened, the top of the casing is lifted to retrieve the casing, with the buried object inside, from the ground.

Dependence of the Carrier Transport Characteristics on the Buried Layer Thickness in Ambipolar Double-Layer Organic Field-Effect Transistors Investigated by Electrical and Optical Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Le; Taguchi, Dai; Manaka, Takaaki; Iwamoto, Mitsumasa

2013-05-01

By using current-voltage (I-V) measurements and optical modulation spectroscopy, we investigated the dependence of the carrier behaviour on the film thickness of the buried pentacene layer in C60/pentacene ambipolar double-layer organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). It was found that the buried pentacene layer not only acted as a hole transport layer, but also accounted for the properties of the C60/pentacene interface. The hole and electron behaviour exhibited different thickness dependence on the buried pentacene layer, implying the presence of the spatially separated conduction paths. It was suggested that the injected holes transported along the pentacene/gate dielectric interface, which were little affected by the buried pentacene layer thickness or the upper C60 layer; while, the injected electrons accumulated at the C60/pentacene interface, which were sensitive to the interfacial conditions or the buried pentacene layer. Furthermore, it was suggested that the enhanced surface roughness of the buried pentacene layer was responsible for the observed electron behaviour, especially when dpent>10 nm.

Experimental soil warming effects on CO2 and CH4 flux from a low elevation spruce-fir forest soil in Maine, USA

Treesearch

Lindsey E. Rustad; Ivan J. Fernandez

1998-01-01

The effect of soil warming on CO2 and CH4 flux from a spruce-fir forest soil was evaluated at the Howland Integrated Forest Study site in Maine, USA from 1993 to 1995. Elevated soil temperatures (~5 °C) were maintained during the snow-free season (May-November) in replicated 15 × 15-m plots using electric cables buried 1-2...

Mechatronic description of a laser autoguided vehicle for greenhouse operations.

PubMed

Sánchez-Hermosilla, Julián; González, Ramón; Rodríguez, Francisco; Donaire, Julián G

2013-01-08

This paper presents a novel approach for guiding mobile robots inside greenhouses demonstrated by promising preliminary physical experiments. It represents a comprehensive attempt to use the successful principles of AGVs (auto-guided vehicles) inside greenhouses, but avoiding the necessity of modifying the crop layout, and avoiding having to bury metallic pipes in the greenhouse floor. The designed vehicle can operate different tools, e.g., a spray system for applying plant-protection product, a lifting platform to reach the top part of the plants to perform pruning and harvesting tasks, and a trailer to transport fruits, plants, and crop waste. Regarding autonomous navigation, it follows the idea of AGVs, but now laser emitters are used to mark the desired route. The vehicle development is analyzed from a mechatronic standpoint (mechanics, electronics, and autonomous control).

Monitoring estuarine circulation and ocean waste dispersion using an integrated satellite-aircraft-drogue approach. [Continental Shelf and Delaware Bay

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klemas, V. (Principal Investigator); Davis, G. R.; Wang, H.

1975-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. An integrated satellite-aircraft-drogue approach was developed which employs remotely tracked expendable drogues together with satellite and aircraft observations of oil slicks, waste plumes, and natural tracers, such as suspended sediment. Tests conducted on the Continental Shelf and in Delaware Bay indicate that the system provides a cost effective means of monitoring current circulation and verifying oil slick and ocean waste dispersion models even under severe environmental conditions.

Management of radioactive waste in Belgium: ONDRAF/NIRAS and Belgoprocess as major actors of the waste acceptance system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zaelen, Gunter van; Verheyen, Annick

2007-07-01

The management of radioactive waste in Belgium is undertaken by the national agency for radioactive waste and enriched fissile materials, ONDRAF/NIRAS, and its industrial partner Belgoprocess. ONDRAF/NIRAS has set up a management system designed to guarantee that the general public and the environment are protected against the potential hazards arising from radioactive waste. Belgoprocess is a private company, founded in 1984 and located in Dessel, Belgium. It is a subsidiary of ONDRAF/NIRAS and its activities focus on the safe processing and storage of radioactive waste. The management system of ONDRAF/NIRAS includes two aspects: a) an integrated system and b) anmore » acceptance system. The integrated system covers all aspects of management ranging from the origin of waste to its transport, processing, interim storage and long-term management. The safety of radioactive waste management not only depends on the quality of the design and construction of the processing, temporary storage or disposal infrastructure, but also on the quality of the waste accepted by ONDRAF/NIRAS. In order to be manage d safely, both in the short and the long term, the waste transferred to ONDRAF/NIRAS must meet certain specific requirements. To that end, ONDRAF/NIRAS has developed an acceptance system. (authors)« less

Oxygen Penalty for Waste Oxidation in an Advanced Life Support System: A Systems Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pisharody, Suresh; Wignarajah, K.; Fisher, John

2002-01-01

Oxidation is one of a number of technologies that are being considered for waste management and resource recovery from waste materials generated on board space missions. Oxidation processes are a very effective and efficient means of clean and complete conversion of waste materials to sterile products. However, because oxidation uses oxygen there is an "oxygen penalty" associated either with resupply of oxygen or with recycling oxygen from some other source. This paper is a systems approach to the issue of oxygen penalty in life support systems and presents findings on the oxygen penalty associated with an integrated oxidation-Sabatier-Oxygen Generation System (OGS) for waste management in an Advanced Life Support System. The findings reveal that such an integrated system can be operated to form a variety of useful products without a significant oxygen penalty.

High-performance a-IGZO thin-film transistor with conductive indium-tin-oxide buried layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahn, Min-Ju; Cho, Won-Ju

2017-10-01

In this study, we fabricated top-contact top-gate (TCTG) structure of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with a thin buried conductive indium-tin oxide (ITO) layer. The electrical performance of a-IGZO TFTs was improved by inserting an ITO buried layer under the IGZO channel. Also, the effect of the buried layer's length on the electrical characteristics of a-IGZO TFTs was investigated. The electrical performance of the transistors improved with increasing the buried layer's length: a large on/off current ratio of 1.1×107, a high field-effect mobility of 35.6 cm2/Vs, a small subthreshold slope of 116.1 mV/dec, and a low interface trap density of 4.2×1011 cm-2eV-1 were obtained. The buried layer a-IGZO TFTs exhibited enhanced transistor performance and excellent stability against the gate bias stress.

Theoretical investigation of metal magnetic memory testing technique for detection of magnetic flux leakage signals from buried defect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Kunshan; Qiu, Xingqi; Tian, Xiaoshuai

2018-01-01

The metal magnetic memory testing (MMMT) technique has been extensively applied in various fields because of its unique advantages of easy operation, low cost and high efficiency. However, very limited theoretical research has been conducted on application of MMMT to buried defects. To promote study in this area, the equivalent magnetic charge method is employed to establish a self-magnetic flux leakage (SMFL) model of a buried defect. Theoretical results based on the established model successfully capture basic characteristics of the SMFL signals of buried defects, as confirmed via experiment. In particular, the newly developed model can calculate the buried depth of a defect based on the SMFL signals obtained via testing. The results show that the new model can successfully assess the characteristics of buried defects, which is valuable in the application of MMMT in non-destructive testing.

Municipal solid waste composition determination supporting the integrated solid waste management system in the island of Crete.

PubMed

Gidarakos, E; Havas, G; Ntzamilis, P

2006-01-01

A one-year survey was conducted in the greater region of Crete (located at the lower region of the Aegean Sea) for the purpose of identifying waste composition (including chemical and physical characterization), as well as any seasonal variation. The investigation was carried out repeatedly at seven landfills and one transfer station in Crete, in four phases. Each sampling phase corresponded to a season (autumn, winter, spring, summer). ASTM D5231-92(2003) standard method and RCRA Waste Sampling Draft Technical Guidance were used. Hand sorting was used for classifying the collected wastes into the following categories: plastics, paper, metals, aluminium, leather-wood-textiles-rubbers, organic wastes, non-combustibles and miscellaneous. Further analysis included proximate and ultimate analysis of combustible materials. Metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury were also investigated. The results show that there has been a significant decrease of organic wastes during the last decade due to the increase of packaging materials, as a result of a change in consumption patterns. Three main waste categories were determined: organic wastes, paper and plastics, which combined represent 76% of the total waste in Crete. Furthermore, a high fraction of glass and a seasonal variation of aluminium indicate a strong correlation of waste composition with certain human activities, such as tourism. There is also a variation between the municipal solid waste (MSW) composition in the region of Crete (2003-2004) and MSW composition suggested in the National Solid Waste Planning (2000) [National Solid Waste Planning, 2000. Completion and particularization of Common Ministerial Act 113944//1944/1997: National Solid Waste Planning, June 2000]. The results of this survey are to be utilized by the regional solid waste authorities in order to establish an integrated waste treatment site, capable of fulfilling the regional waste management demands.

Electromagnetic mixed waste processing system for asbestos decontamination

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kasevich, R.S.; Vaux, W.; Ulerich, N.

The overall objective of this three-phase program is to develop an integrated process for treating asbestos-containing material that is contaminated with radioactive and hazardous constituents. The integrated process will attempt to minimize processing and disposal costs. The objectives of Phase 1 were to establish the technical feasibility of asbestos decomposition, inorganic radionuclide nd heavy metal removal, and organic volatilization. Phase 1 resulted in the successful bench-scale demonstration of the elements required to develop a mixed waste treatment process for asbestos-containing material (ACM) contaminated with radioactive metals, heavy metals, and organics. Using the Phase 1 data, a conceptual process was developed.more » The Phase 2 program, currently in progress, is developing an integrated system design for ACM waste processing. The Phase 3 program will target demonstration of the mixed waste processing system at a DOE facility. The electromagnetic mixed waste processing system employs patented technologies to convert DOE asbestos to a non-hazardous, radionuclide-free, stable waste. The dry, contaminated asbestos is initially heated with radiofrequency energy to remove organic volatiles. Second,the radionuclides are removed by solvent extraction coupled with ion exchange solution treatment. Third, the ABCOV method converts the asbestos to an amorphous silica suspension at low temperature (100{degrees}C). Finally the amorphous silica is solidified for disposal.« less

A One System Integrated Approach to Simulant Selection for Hanford High Level Waste Mixing and Sampling Tests - 13342

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thien, Mike G.; Barnes, Steve M.

2013-07-01

The Hanford Tank Operations Contractor (TOC) and the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) contractor are both engaged in demonstrating mixing, sampling, and transfer system capabilities using simulated Hanford High-Level Waste (HLW) formulations. This represents one of the largest remaining technical issues with the high-level waste treatment mission at Hanford. Previous testing has focused on very specific TOC or WTP test objectives and consequently the simulants were narrowly focused on those test needs. A key attribute in the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Recommendation 2010-2 is to ensure testing is performed with a simulant that represents the broadmore » spectrum of Hanford waste. The One System Integrated Project Team is a new joint TOC and WTP organization intended to ensure technical integration of specific TOC and WTP systems and testing. A new approach to simulant definition has been mutually developed that will meet both TOC and WTP test objectives for the delivery and receipt of HLW. The process used to identify critical simulant characteristics, incorporate lessons learned from previous testing, and identify specific simulant targets that ensure TOC and WTP testing addresses the broad spectrum of Hanford waste characteristics that are important to mixing, sampling, and transfer performance are described. (authors)« less

Remote detection of buried explosives by fluorescent and bioluminescent microbial sensors (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belkin, Shimshon; Yagur-Kroll, Sharon; Zohar, Cheinat; Rabinovitz, Zahi; Nussinovitch, Amos; Kabessa, Yossi; Agranat, Aharon J.

2017-06-01

Current landmine detection methodologies are not much different in principle from those employed 75 years ago, in that they require actual presence in the minefield, with obvious risks to personnel and equipment. Other limitations include an extremely large ratio of false positives, as well as a very limited ability to detect non-metallic landmines. In this lecture a microbial-based solution for the remote detection of buried landmines described. The small size requirements, rapid responses and sensing versatility of bacterial bioreporters allow their integration into diverse types of devices, for laboratory as well as field applications. The relative ease by which molecular sensing and reporting elements can be fused together to generate dose-dependent quantifiable physical (luminescent, fluorescent, colorimetric, electrochemical) responses to pre-determined conditions allows the construction of diverse classes of sensors. Over the last two decades we and others have employed this principle to design and construct microbial bioreporter strains for the sensitive detection of (a) specific chemicals of environmental concern (heavy metals, halogenated organics etc.) or (b) their deleterious biological effects on living systems (such as toxicity or genotoxicity). In many of these cases, additional molecular manipulations beyond the initial sensor-reporter fusion may be highly beneficial for enhancing the performance of the engineered sensor systems. This presentation highlights several of the approaches we have adopted over the years to achieve this aim, while focusing on the application of live cell microbeads for the remote detection of buried landmines and other explosive devices.

A new segmentation strategy for processing magnetic anomaly detection data of shallow depth ferromagnetic pipeline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Shuo; Liu, Dejun; Cheng, Xing; Fang, Huafeng; Li, Caifang

2017-04-01

Magnetic anomalies produced by underground ferromagnetic pipelines because of the polarization of earth's magnetic field are used to obtain the information on the location, buried depth and other parameters of pipelines. In order to achieve a fast inversion and interpretation of measured data, it is necessary to develop a fast and stable forward method. Magnetic dipole reconstruction (MDR), as a kind of integration numerical method, is well suited for simulating a thin pipeline anomaly. In MDR the pipeline model must be cut into small magnetic dipoles through different segmentation methods. The segmentation method has an impact on the stability and speed of forward calculation. Rapid and accurate simulation of deep-buried pipelines has been achieved by exciting segmentation method. However, in practical measurement, the depth of underground pipe is uncertain. When it comes to the shallow-buried pipeline, the present segmentation may generate significant errors. This paper aims at solving this problem in three stages. First, the cause of inaccuracy is analyzed by simulation experiment. Secondly, new variable interval section segmentation is proposed based on the existing segmentation. It can help MDR method to obtain simulation results in a fast way under the premise of ensuring the accuracy of different depth models. Finally, the measured data is inversed based on new segmentation method. The result proves that the inversion based on the new segmentation can achieve fast and accurate inversion of depth parameters of underground pipes without being limited by pipeline depth.

77 FR 10485 - Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Idaho National Laboratory

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-22

... Status EM/National Nuclear Security Administration Integration Ecological Surveys Ground Water Waste Area... and site management in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management, and related... Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) Workforce Reductions Advanced Mixed Waste Cleanup Project (AMWTP) Workforce...

The EPA-Wide Plan to Provide Solid Waste Management Capacity Assistance to Tribes

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This Plan is a strategy for building tribal capacity to manage solid waste. The Plan promotes the development and implementation of integrated waste management plans and describes how EPA will prioritize its resources to maximize environmental benefits.

Using the Triad Approach to Improve the Cost-effectiveness of Hazardous Waste Site Cleanups

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

U.S. EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response is promoting more effective strategies for characterizing, monitoring, and cleaning up hazardous waste sites. In particular, a paradigm based on using an integrated triad of systematic planning...

A comparison between decomposition rates of buried and surface remains in a temperate region of South Africa.

PubMed

Marais-Werner, Anátulie; Myburgh, J; Becker, P J; Steyn, M

2018-01-01

Several studies have been conducted on decomposition patterns and rates of surface remains; however, much less are known about this process for buried remains. Understanding the process of decomposition in buried remains is extremely important and aids in criminal investigations, especially when attempting to estimate the post mortem interval (PMI). The aim of this study was to compare the rates of decomposition between buried and surface remains. For this purpose, 25 pigs (Sus scrofa; 45-80 kg) were buried and excavated at different post mortem intervals (7, 14, 33, 92, and 183 days). The observed total body scores were then compared to those of surface remains decomposing at the same location. Stages of decomposition were scored according to separate categories for different anatomical regions based on standardised methods. Variation in the degree of decomposition was considerable especially with the buried 7-day interval pigs that displayed different degrees of discolouration in the lower abdomen and trunk. At 14 and 33 days, buried pigs displayed features commonly associated with the early stages of decomposition, but with less variation. A state of advanced decomposition was reached where little change was observed in the next ±90-183 days after interment. Although the patterns of decomposition for buried and surface remains were very similar, the rates differed considerably. Based on the observations made in this study, guidelines for the estimation of PMI are proposed. This pertains to buried remains found at a depth of approximately 0.75 m in the Central Highveld of South Africa.

The role of dung beetles as a secondary seed disperser after dispersal by frugivore mammals in a temperate deciduous forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koike, Shinsuke; Morimoto, Hideto; Kozakai, Chinatsu; Arimoto, Isao; Soga, Masashi; Yamazaki, Koji; Koganezawa, Masaaki

2012-05-01

We studied the effects of dung beetles on the fates of endozoochorous seeds of five species (Prunus jamasakura, Prunus verecunda, Prunus grayana, Swida controversa, and Vitis coignetiae) in a temperate deciduous forest in Japan during 2004-2006. In field experiments using dung of the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), we investigated the depths that dung beetles (Onthophagus atripennis, Onthophagus lenzii, and Phelotrupes auratus) buried seeds (4.8-6.8 mm diameter) and plastic markers (2 or 5 mm diameter), the levels of predation on buried and unburied seeds, and germination rates of seeds buried to different depths. All three species buried the 2-mm markers, but only P. auratus buried the seeds and 5-mm markers. There were seasonal differences in mean seed burial rates (range, 27-51%) and depths (range, 1-27 mm). Significantly more seeds were buried in June, July, and September than in August or October, and the mean burial depth was significantly deeper in June and July. Most seeds and markers were buried to a 3-6 cm depth. Germination of seeds that were positioned at depths of 1-4 cm was significantly greater than that of seeds left on the surface or buried at greater depths. Buried seeds were less likely to disappear than seeds at the surface, which may reflect differential predation. These results suggested that dung beetles, especially P. auratus, acted as a secondary seed disperser that affected the survival and distribution of seeds dispersed by a frugivore.

Testing of Lithium-Sulfur Dioxide Cells for Waste Disposal Hazards.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-10-01

r AD-AO90 785 WAPORA INC CHEVY CHASE NO F/G 10/3 TESTING OF LITHIUM-SULFUR DIOXIDE CELLS FOR WASTE DISPOSAL HAZA-ETC(U) OCT 80 D B BOIES OAAK20-79-C... TESTING ION T HUM -SUFU DIXD-EL ORWSEDSOA Daved B. pBli else 69stributonsi nlmied.e OCTOBELE198 Fia PRepr for Peio OCT 23198008 STRYUIO AELETOISRSA...34 cell Toxic waste Sulfur dioxide vapor pressure Structural Integrity Test Ignitable waste Extraction procedure results Corrosive waste ftactive waste

Technology integration performance assessment using lean principles in health care.

PubMed

Rico, Florentino; Yalcin, Ali; Eikman, Edward A

2015-01-01

This study assesses the impact of an automated infusion system (AIS) integration at a positron emission tomography (PET) center based on "lean thinking" principles. The authors propose a systematic measurement system that evaluates improvement in terms of the "8 wastes." This adaptation to the health care context consisted of performance measurement before and after integration of AIS in terms of time, utilization of resources, amount of materials wasted/saved, system variability, distances traveled, and worker strain. The authors' observations indicate that AIS stands to be very effective in a busy PET department, such as the one in Moffitt Cancer Center, owing to its accuracy, pace, and reliability, especially after the necessary adjustments are made to reduce or eliminate the source of errors. This integration must be accompanied by a process reengineering exercise to realize the full potential of AIS in reducing waste and improving patient care and worker satisfaction. © The Author(s) 2014.

Multi-discipline Waste Acceptance Process at the Nevada National Security Site - 13573

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carilli, Jhon T.; Krenzien, Susan K.

2013-07-01

The Nevada National Security Site low-level radioactive waste disposal facility acceptance process requires multiple disciplines to ensure the protection of workers, the public, and the environment. These disciplines, which include waste acceptance, nuclear criticality, safety, permitting, operations, and performance assessment, combine into the overall waste acceptance process to assess low-level radioactive waste streams for disposal at the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site. Four waste streams recently highlighted the integration of these disciplines: the Oak Ridge Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators and Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project material, West Valley Melter, and classified waste. (authors)

Waste Management Project fiscal year 1998 multi-year work plan, WBS 1.2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacobsen, P.H.

The Waste Management Project manages and integrates (non-TWRS) waste management activities at the site. Activities include management of Hanford wastes as well as waste transferred to Hanford from other DOE, Department of Defense, or other facilities. This work includes handling, treatment, storage, and disposal of radioactive, nonradioactive, hazardous, and mixed solid and liquid wastes. Major Waste Management Projects are the Solid Waste Project, Liquid Effluents Project, and Analytical Services. Existing facilities (e.g., grout vaults and canyons) shall be evaluated for reuse for these purposes to the maximum extent possible.

The burial of headwater streams in drainage pipes reduces in-stream nitrate retention: results from two US metropolitan areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beaulieu, J. J.; Mayer, P. M.; Kaushal, S.; Pennino, M. J.; Arango, C. P.; Balz, D. A.; Fritz, K. M.; Golden, H. E.; Knightes, C. D.

2012-12-01

Nitrogen (N) retention in stream networks is an important ecosystem service that may be affected by the widespread burial of headwater streams in urban watersheds. Stream burial occurs when segments of a channel are encased in drainage pipe and buried beneath the land surface to facilitate above ground development or stormwater runoff. We predicted that burial suppresses the capacity of streams to retain and transform nitrate, the dominate form of bioavailable N in urban streams, by eliminating primary production, reducing respiration rates, and decreasing water residence time. We tested these predictions by measuring whole-stream nitrate (NO3-) removal rates using 15NO3- isotope tracer releases in reaches that were buried and open to the sunlight in three streams in Cincinnati, Ohio and three streams in Baltimore, Maryland during four seasons. Nitrate uptake lengths in buried reaches (range: 560 - 43,650 m) were 2-98 times greater than open reaches exposed to daylight (range: 85 - 7195 m), indicating that buried reaches were substantially less effective at retaining NO3- than open reaches. Nitrate retention in buried reaches was suppressed by a combination of hydrological and biological processes. High water velocities in buried reaches (buried= 5.8 m/s, open=1.48 m/s) rapidly exported NO3- from the channel, reducing the potential for in-stream NO3- retention. Uptake lengths in the buried reaches were lengthened further by low in-stream biological NO3- demand, as indicated by NO3- uptake velocities 16-fold lower than that of the open reaches. Similarly, buried reaches had lower ecosystem respiration rates than open reaches (buried=1.5g O2/m2/hr, open=4.5g O2/m2/hr), likely due to lower organic matter standing stocks (buried=12 gAFMD/m2, open=48 gAFDM/m2). Biological activity in the buried reaches was further suppressed by the absence of light which precluded photosynthetic activity and the associated assimilative N demand. Overall, our results demonstrate that the combined effects of elevated water velocity and reduced biological activity as a result of stream burial inhibits NO3- retention, exacerbating the export of excess N to downstream water bodies. Future work will scale these results to a river network to assess the cumulative effect of stream burial on watershed NO3- export.

Optimization of greenhouse gas emissions in second-hand consumer product recovery through reuse platforms.

PubMed

Fortuna, Lorena M; Diyamandoglu, Vasil

2017-08-01

Product reuse in the solid waste management sector is promoted as one of the key strategies for waste prevention. This practice is considered to have favorable impact on the environment, but its benefits have yet to be established. Existing research describes the perspective of "avoided production" only, but has failed to examine the interdependent nature of reuse practices within an entire solid waste management system. This study proposes a new framework that uses optimization to minimize the greenhouse gas emissions of an integrated solid waste management system that includes reuse strategies and practices such as reuse enterprises, online platforms, and materials exchanges along with traditional solid waste management practices such as recycling, landfilling, and incineration. The proposed framework uses material flow analysis in combination with an optimization model to provide the best outcome in terms of GHG emissions by redistributing product flows in the integrated solid waste management system to the least impacting routes and processes. The optimization results provide a basis for understanding the contributions of reuse to the environmental benefits of the integrated solid waste management system and the exploration of the effects of reuse activities on waste prevention. A case study involving second-hand clothing is presented to illustrate the implementation of the proposed framework as applied to the material flow. Results of the case study showed the considerable impact of reuse on GHG emissions even for small replacement rates, and helped illustrate the interdependency of the reuse sector with other waste management practices. One major contribution of this study is the development of a framework centered on product reuse that can be applied to identify the best management strategies to reduce the environmental impact of product disposal and to increase recovery of reusable products. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Nuclear Waste Management Cost Model for Policy Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barron, R. W.; Hill, M. C.

2017-12-01

Although integrated assessments of climate change policy have frequently identified nuclear energy as a promising alternative to fossil fuels, these studies have often treated nuclear waste disposal very simply. Simple assumptions about nuclear waste are problematic because they may not be adequate to capture relevant costs and uncertainties, which could result in suboptimal policy choices. Modeling nuclear waste management costs is a cross-disciplinary, multi-scale problem that involves economic, geologic and environmental processes that operate at vastly different temporal scales. Similarly, the climate-related costs and benefits of nuclear energy are dependent on environmental sensitivity to CO2 emissions and radiation, nuclear energy's ability to offset carbon emissions, and the risk of nuclear accidents, factors which are all deeply uncertain. Alternative value systems further complicate the problem by suggesting different approaches to valuing intergenerational impacts. Effective policy assessment of nuclear energy requires an integrated approach to modeling nuclear waste management that (1) bridges disciplinary and temporal gaps, (2) supports an iterative, adaptive process that responds to evolving understandings of uncertainties, and (3) supports a broad range of value systems. This work develops the Nuclear Waste Management Cost Model (NWMCM). NWMCM provides a flexible framework for evaluating the cost of nuclear waste management across a range of technology pathways and value systems. We illustrate how NWMCM can support policy analysis by estimating how different nuclear waste disposal scenarios developed using the NWMCM framework affect the results of a recent integrated assessment study of alternative energy futures and their effects on the cost of achieving carbon abatement targets. Results suggest that the optimism reflected in previous works is fragile: Plausible nuclear waste management costs and discount rates appropriate for intergenerational cost-benefit analysis produce many scenarios where nuclear energy is economically unattractive.

Determination of low-level mercury in coralline aragonite by calcination-isotope dilution-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and its application to Diploria specimens from Castle Harbour, Bermuda

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamborg, Carl H.; Swarr, Gretchen; Hughen, Konrad; Jones, Ross J.; Birdwhistell, Scot; Furby, Kathryn; Murty, Sujata A.; Prouty, Nancy; Tseng, Chun-Mao

2013-05-01

We have developed a technique that combines a high temperature quartz furnace with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry for the determination of Hg stored in the annual CaCO3 bands found in coral skeletons. Substantial matrix effects, presumably due to the discontinuous introduction of CO2 to the gas stream, were corrected for by simultaneously supplying a stream of argon containing highly enriched elemental 202Hgo and observing peaks in the 200Hg/202Hg signal as the sample was decomposed. Primary signal calibration for Hg was achieved using gas injections from a saturated vapor standard. The absolute instrument detection limit was low (about 0.2 fmol), with a practical limit of detection (3σ of blanks) of 2 fmol. Reproducibility of samples was (RSD) 15-27%. We applied this method to the determination of Hg concentrations in two colonies of Diploria labyrinthiformis collected from Castle Harbour, Bermuda, at a site about to be buried under the municipal waste landfill. The temporal reconstructions of Castle Harbour seawater Hg concentrations implied by the coral record show a decline throughout the period of record (1949-2008). The coral archived no apparent signal associated with waste disposal practices in the Harbour (bulk waste land-filling or, since 1994, disposal of waste incinerator ash), and mercury concentrations in the coral did not correlate to growth rate as assessed by linear extension. There was, however, a large and nearly exponential decrease in apparent Hg concentration in the Harbour which circumstantially implicates the dredging and/or landfilling operations associated with the construction of the airport on St. David's Island.

Emergy analysis of the recycling options for construction and demolition waste.

PubMed

Yuan, Fang; Shen, Li-yin; Li, Qi-ming

2011-12-01

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is becoming a major contributor to environmental pollution. In Shanghai, China, the quantity of C&D waste is 2.11E+07 t/yr, which accounts for 45% of the total quantity of solid waste. There has been a growing promotion of recycling C&D waste as an effective way to solve this waste problem. However, the evaluation of the efficiency of recycling C&D waste as a potential source of resources is largely based on traditional economic analysis. The economic analysis emphasizes money instead of the harmony between economic benefit and environmental effects. There is a need for a new strategic approach to investigate the efficiency of recycling C&D waste to achieve the integration between economic, social and environmental effects. Emergy theory can be employed to analyze different recycling options for C&D waste. With reference to the Chinese construction industry, this paper demonstrates that the close-loop recycling option is better than the open-loop recycling option for C&D waste in terms of the integration of social, environmental and sustainable aspects. To evaluate different technology solutions for C&D waste recycling, the emergy theory and method is not limited to a cost-benefit balance but can include economic, social, environmental and sustainable effects. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weiss, Paul

Spectroscopic imaging tools and methods, based on scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs), are being developed and applied to examine buried layers and interfaces with ultrahigh resolution. These new methods measure buried contacts, molecule-substrate bonds, buried dipoles in molecular layers, and key structural aspects of adsorbed molecules, such as tilt angles. We are developing the ability to locate lateral projections of molecular parts as a means of determining the structures of molecular layers. We are developing the ability to measure the orientation of buried functionality.

Centrifugal and Numerical Modeling of Buried Structures. Volume 2. Dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-07-14

RD-RISE 368 CENTRIFUGAL AND NUMERICAL MODELING OF BURIED STRUCTURES 1/3 VOLUME 2 DYNAMIC..(U) COLORADO UNIV AT BOULDER DEPT OF CIVIL ENVIRONMENTAL...20332-6448 ELEMENT NO NO. NO ACCESSION NO 61102F 2302 Cl 11 TITLE (Include Security Classification) (U) Centrifugal and Numerical Modeling of Buried ...were buried in a dry sand and tested in the centrifuge to simulate the effects of gravity-induced overburden stresses which played a major role in

Analysis of waste management issues arising from a field study evaluating decontamination of a biological agent from a building.

PubMed

Lemieux, P; Wood, J; Drake, J; Minamyer, S; Silvestri, E; Yund, C; Nichols, T; Ierardi, M; Amidan, B

2016-01-01

The Bio-response Operational Testing and Evaluation (BOTE) Project was a cross-government effort designed to operationally test and evaluate a response to a biological incident (release of Bacillus anthracis [Ba] spores, the causative agent for anthrax) from initial public health and law enforcement response through environmental remediation. The BOTE Project was designed to address site remediation after the release of a Ba simulant, Bacillus atrophaeus spp. globigii (Bg), within a facility, drawing upon recent advances in the biological sampling and decontamination areas. A key component of response to a biological contamination incident is the proper management of wastes and residues, which is woven throughout all response activities. Waste is generated throughout the response and includes items like sampling media packaging materials, discarded personal protective equipment, items removed from the facility either prior to or following decontamination, aqueous waste streams, and materials generated through the application of decontamination technologies. The amount of residual contaminating agent will impact the available disposal pathways and waste management costs. Waste management is an integral part of the decontamination process and should be included through "Pre-Incident" response planning. Overall, the pH-adjusted bleach decontamination process generated the most waste from the decontamination efforts, and fumigation with chlorine dioxide generated the least waste. A majority of the solid waste generated during pH-adjusted bleach decontamination was the nonporous surfaces that were removed, bagged, decontaminated ex situ, and treated as waste. The waste during the two fumigation rounds of the BOTE Project was associated mainly with sampling activities. Waste management activities may represent a significant contribution to the overall cost of the response/recovery operation. This paper addresses the waste management activities for the BOTE field test. Management of waste is a critical element of activities dealing with remediation of buildings and outdoor areas following a biological contamination incident. Waste management must be integrated into the overall remediation process, along with sampling, decontamination, resource management, and other important response elements, rather than being a stand-alone activity. The results presented in this paper will provide decision makers and emergency planners at the federal/state/tribal/local level information that can be used to integrate waste management into an overall systems approach to planning and response activities.

An MDA Based Ontology Platform: AIR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaševic, Dragan; Djuric, Dragan; Devedžic, Vladan

In the past few years, software engineering has witnessed two major shifts: model-driven engineering has entered the mainstream, and some leading development tools have become open and extensible.1 AI has always been a spring of new ideas that have been adopted in software engineering, but most of its gems have stayed buried in laboratories, available only to a limited number of AI practitioners. Should AI tools be integrated into mainstream tools and could it be done? We think that it is feasible, and that both communities can benefit from this integration. In fact, some efforts in this direction have already been made, both by major industrial standardization bodies such as the OMG, and by academic laboratories.

A practical approach for calculating the settlement and storage capacity of landfills based on the space and time discretization of the landfilling process.

PubMed

Gao, Wu; Xu, Wenjie; Bian, Xuecheng; Chen, Yunmin

2017-11-01

The settlement of any position of the municipal solid waste (MSW) body during the landfilling process and after its closure has effects on the integrity of the internal structure and storage capacity of the landfill. This paper proposes a practical approach for calculating the settlement and storage capacity of landfills based on the space and time discretization of the landfilling process. The MSW body in the landfill was divided into independent column units, and the filling process of each column unit was determined by a simplified complete landfilling process. The settlement of a position in the landfill was calculated with the compression of each MSW layer in every column unit. Then, the simultaneous settlement of all the column units was integrated to obtain the settlement of the landfill and storage capacity of all the column units; this allowed to obtain the storage capacity of the landfill based on the layer-wise summation method. When the compression of each MSW layer was calculated, the effects of the fluctuation of the main leachate level and variation in the unit weight of the MSW on the overburdened effective stress were taken into consideration by introducing the main leachate level's proportion and the unit weight and buried depth curve. This approach is especially significant for MSW with a high kitchen waste content and landfills in developing countries. The stress-biodegradation compression model was used to calculate the compression of each MSW layer. A software program, Settlement and Storage Capacity Calculation System for Landfills, was developed by integrating the space and time discretization of the landfilling process and the settlement and storage capacity algorithms. The landfilling process of the phase IV of Shanghai Laogang Landfill was simulated using this software. The maximum geometric volume of the landfill error between the calculated and measured values is only 2.02%, and the accumulated filling weight error between the calculated value and measured value is less than 5%. These results show that this approach is practical for satisfactorily and reliably calculating the settlement and storage capacity. In addition, the development of the elevation lines in the landfill sections created with the software demonstrates that the optimization of the design of the structures should be based on the settlement of the landfill. Since this practical approach can reasonably calculate the storage capacity of landfills and efficiently provide the development of the settlement of each landfilling stage, it can be used for the optimizations of landfilling schemes and structural designs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-objective reverse logistics model for integrated computer waste management.

PubMed

Ahluwalia, Poonam Khanijo; Nema, Arvind K

2006-12-01

This study aimed to address the issues involved in the planning and design of a computer waste management system in an integrated manner. A decision-support tool is presented for selecting an optimum configuration of computer waste management facilities (segregation, storage, treatment/processing, reuse/recycle and disposal) and allocation of waste to these facilities. The model is based on an integer linear programming method with the objectives of minimizing environmental risk as well as cost. The issue of uncertainty in the estimated waste quantities from multiple sources is addressed using the Monte Carlo simulation technique. An illustrated example of computer waste management in Delhi, India is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed model and to study tradeoffs between cost and risk. The results of the example problem show that it is possible to reduce the environmental risk significantly by a marginal increase in the available cost. The proposed model can serve as a powerful tool to address the environmental problems associated with exponentially growing quantities of computer waste which are presently being managed using rudimentary methods of reuse, recovery and disposal by various small-scale vendors.

G189A analytical simulation of the RITE Integrated Waste Management-Water System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coggi, J. V.; Clonts, S. E.

1974-01-01

This paper discusses the computer simulation of the Integrated Waste Management-Water System Using Radioisotopes for Thermal Energy (RITE) and applications of the simulation. Variations in the system temperature and flows due to particular operating conditions and variations in equipment heating loads imposed on the system were investigated with the computer program. The results were assessed from the standpoint of the computed dynamic characteristics of the system and the potential applications of the simulation to system development and vehicle integration.

Environmental Education: Compendium for Integrated Waste Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California Integrated Waste Management Board, Sacramento.

This compendium is a tool for bringing waste management education into classrooms. Curriculum materials gathered from across the country were reviewed by California's top environmental educators, both for correlation with the state's educational frameworks and for accuracy and completeness of waste management information. Materials that cover…

Office of River Protection Advanced Low-Activity Waste Glass Research and Development Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kruger, A. A.; Peeler, D. K.; Kim, D. S.

2015-11-23

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of River Protection (ORP) has initiated and leads an integrated Advanced Waste Glass (AWG) program to increase the loading of Hanford tank wastes in glass while meeting melter lifetime expectancies and process, regulatory, and product performance requirements. The integrated ORP program is focused on providing a technical, science-based foundation for making key decisions regarding the successful operation of the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) facilities in the context of an optimized River Protection Project (RPP) flowsheet. The fundamental data stemming from this program will support development of advanced glass formulations, keymore » product performance and process control models, and tactical processing strategies to ensure safe and successful operations for both the low-activity waste (LAW) and high-level waste vitrification facilities. These activities will be conducted with the objective of improving the overall RPP mission by enhancing flexibility and reducing cost and schedule.« less

Management of hazardous medical waste in Croatia.

PubMed

Marinković, Natalija; Vitale, Ksenija; Janev Holcer, Natasa; Dzakula, Aleksandar; Pavić, Tomo

2008-01-01

This article provides a review of hazardous medical waste production and its management in Croatia. Even though Croatian regulations define all steps in the waste management chain, implementation of those steps is one of the country's greatest issues. Improper practice is evident from the point of waste production to final disposal. The biggest producers of hazardous medical waste are hospitals that do not implement existing legislation, due to the lack of education and funds. Information on quantities, type and flow of medical waste are inadequate, as is sanitary control. We propose an integrated approach to medical waste management based on a hierarchical structure from the point of generation to its disposal. Priority is given to the reduction of the amounts and potential for harm. Where this is not possible, management includes reduction by sorting and separating, pretreatment on site, safe transportation, final treatment and sanitary disposal. Preferred methods should be the least harmful for human health and the environment. Integrated medical waste management could greatly reduce quantities and consequently financial strains. Landfilling is the predominant route of disposal in Croatia, although the authors believe that incineration is the most appropriate method. In a country such as Croatia, a number of small incinerators would be the most economical solution.

Bedrock mapping of buried valley networks using seismic reflection and airborne electromagnetic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oldenborger, G. A.; Logan, C. E.; Hinton, M. J.; Pugin, A. J.-M.; Sapia, V.; Sharpe, D. R.; Russell, H. A. J.

2016-05-01

In glaciated terrain, buried valleys often host aquifers that are significant groundwater resources. However, given the range of scales, spatial complexity and depth of burial, buried valleys often remain undetected or insufficiently mapped. Accurate and thorough mapping of bedrock topography is a crucial step in detecting and delineating buried valleys and understanding formative valley processes. We develop a bedrock mapping procedure supported by the combination of seismic reflection data and helicopter time-domain electromagnetic data with water well records for the Spiritwood buried valley aquifer system in Manitoba, Canada. The limited spatial density of water well bedrock observations precludes complete depiction of the buried valley bedrock topography and renders the water well records alone inadequate for accurate hydrogeological model building. Instead, we leverage the complementary strengths of seismic reflection and airborne electromagnetic data for accurate local detection of the sediment-bedrock interface and for spatially extensive coverage, respectively. Seismic reflection data are used to define buried valley morphology in cross-section beneath survey lines distributed over a regional area. A 3D model of electrical conductivity is derived from inversion of the airborne electromagnetic data and used to extrapolate buried valley morphology over the entire survey area. A spatially variable assignment of the electrical conductivity at the bedrock surface is applied to different features of the buried valley morphology identified in the seismic cross-sections. Electrical conductivity is then used to guide construction of buried valley shapes between seismic sections. The 3D locus of points defining each morphological valley feature is constructed using a path optimization routine that utilizes deviation from the assigned electrical conductivities as the cost function. Our resulting map represents a bedrock surface of unprecedented detail with more complexity than has been suggested by previous investigations. Our procedure is largely data-driven with an adaptable degree of expert user input that provides a clear protocol for incorporating different types of geophysical data into the bedrock mapping procedure.

Microbial electrolysis cells for waste biorefinery: A state of the art review.

PubMed

Lu, Lu; Ren, Zhiyong Jason

2016-09-01

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) is an emerging technology for energy and resource recovery during waste treatment. MECs can theoretically convert any biodegradable waste into H2, biofuels, and other value added products, but the system efficacy can vary significantly when using different substrates or are operated in different conditions. To understand the application niches of MECs in integrative waste biorefineries, this review provides a critical analysis of MEC system performance reported to date in terms of H2 production rate, H2 yield, and energy efficiency under a variety of substrates, applied voltages and other crucial factors. It further discusses the mutual benefits between MECs and dark fermentation and argues such integration can be a viable approach for efficient H2 production from renewable biomass. Other marketable products and system integrations that can be applied to MECs are also summarized, and the challenges and prospects of the technology are highlighted. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Corrrective action decision document for the Cactus Spring Waste Trenches (Corrective Action Unit No. 426). Revision No. 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

The Corrective Action Decision Document (CADD) for the Cactus Spring Waste Trenches (Corrective Action Unit [CAU] No. 426) has been prepared for the US Department of Energy`s (DOE) Nevada Environmental Restoration Project. This CADD has been developed to meet the requirements of the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) of 1996, stated in Appendix VI, {open_quotes}Corrective Action Strategy{close_quotes} (FFACO, 1996). The Cactus Spring Waste Trenches Corrective Action Site (CAS) No. RG-08-001-RG-CS is included in CAU No. 426 (also referred to as the {open_quotes}trenches{close_quotes}); it has been identified as one of three potential locations for buried, radioactively contaminated materials frommore » the Double Tracks Test. The trenches are located on the east flank of the Cactus Range in the eastern portion of the Cactus Spring Ranch at the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) in Nye County, Nevada, on the northern portion of Nellis Air Force Range. The TTR is approximately 225 kilometers (km) (140 miles [mi]) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, by air and approximately 56 km (35 mi) southeast of Tonopah, Nevada, by road. The trenches were dug for the purpose of receiving waste generated during Operation Roller Coaster, primarily the Double Tracks Test. This test, conducted in 1963, involved the use of live animals to assess the biological hazards associated with non-nuclear detonation of plutonium-bearing devices (i.e., inhalation uptake of plutonium aerosol). The CAS consists of four trenches that received solid waste and had an overall impacted area of approximately 36 meters (m) (120 feet [ft]) long x 24 m (80 ft) wide x 3 to 4.5 m (10 to 15 ft) deep. The average depressions at the trenches are approximately 0.3 m (1 ft) below land surface.« less

One System Integrated Project Team: Retrieval and Delivery of Hanford Tank Wastes for Vitrification in the Waste Treatment Plant - 13234

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harp, Benton J.; Kacich, Richard M.; Skwarek, Raymond J.

The One System Integrated Project Team (IPT) was formed in late 2011 as a way for improving the efficiency of delivery and treatment of highly radioactive waste stored in underground tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) 586-square-mile Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State. The purpose of the One System IPT is to improve coordination and integration between the Hanford's Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) contractor and the Tank Operations Contractor (TOC). The vision statement is: One System is a WTP and TOC safety-conscious team that, through integrated management and implementation of risk-informed decision and mission-based solutions, will enable themore » earliest start of safe and efficient treatment of Hanford's tank waste, to protect the Columbia River, environment and public. The IPT is a formal collaboration between Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI), which manages design and construction of the WTP for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of River Protection (DOEORP), and Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), which manages the TOC for ORP. More than fifty-six (56) million gallons of highly radioactive liquid waste are stored in one hundred seventy-seven (177) aging, underground tanks. Most of Hanford's waste tanks - one hundred forty-nine (149) of them - are of an old single-shell tank (SST) design built between 1944 and 1964. More than sixty (60) of these tanks have leaked in the past, releasing an estimated one million gallons of waste into the soil and threatening the nearby Columbia River. There are another twenty-eight (28) new double-shelled tanks (DSTs), built from 1968 to 1986, that provide greater protection to the environment. In 1989, DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) signed a landmark agreement that required Hanford to comply with federal and state environmental standards. It also paved the way for agreements that set deadlines for retrieving the tank wastes and for building and operating the WTP. The tank wastes are the result of Hanford's nearly fifty (50) years of plutonium production. In the intervening years, waste characteristics have been increasingly better understood. However, waste characteristics that are uncertain and will remain as such represent a significant technical challenge in terms of retrieval, transport, and treatment, as well as for design and construction of WTP. What also is clear is that the longer the waste remains in the tanks, the greater the risk to the environment and the people of the Pacific Northwest. The goal of both projects - tank operations and waste treatment - is to diminish the risks posed by the waste in the tanks at the earliest possible date. About two hundred (200) WTP and TOC employees comprise the IPT. Individual work groups within One System include Technical, Project Integration and Controls, Front-End Design and Project Definition, Commissioning, Nuclear Safety and Engineering Systems Integration, and Environmental Safety and Health and Quality Assurance (ESH and QA). Additional functions and team members will be added as the WTP approaches the operational phase. The team has undertaken several initiatives since its formation to collaborate on issues: (1) alternate scenarios for delivery of wastes from the tank farms to WTP; (2) improvements in managing Interface Control Documents; (3) coordination on various technical issues, including the Defense Nuclear Facilities Nuclear Safety Board's Recommendation 2010-2; (4) deployment of the SmartPlant{sup R} Foundation-Configuration Management System; and (5) preparation of the joint contract deliverable of the Operational Readiness Support Plan. (authors)« less

EARTHSAWtm IN-SITU CONTAINMENT OF PITS AND TRENCHES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ernest E. Carter, P.E.

2002-09-20

EarthSaw{trademark} is a proposed technology for construction of uniform high quality barriers under and around pits and trenches containing buried radioactive waste without excavating or disturbing the waste. The method works by digging a deep vertical trench around the perimeter of a site, filling that trench with high specific gravity grout sealant, and then cutting a horizontal bottom pathway at the base of the trench with a simple cable saw mechanism. The severed block of earth becomes buoyant in the grout and floats on a thick layer of grout, which then cures into an impermeable barrier. The ''Interim Report onmore » task 1 and 2'' which is incorporated into this report as appendix A, provided theoretical derivations, field validation of formulas, a detailed quantitative engineering description of the technique, engineering drawings of the hardware, and a computer model of how the process would perform in a wide variety of soil conditions common to DOE waste burial sites. The accomplishments of task 1 and 2 are also summarized herein Task 3 work product provides a comprehensive field test plan in Appendix B and a health and safety plan in Appendix C and proposal for a field-scale demonstration of the EarthSaw barrier technology. The final report on the subcontracted stress analysis is provided in Appendix D. A copy of the unified computer model is provided as individual non-functional images of each sheet of the spreadsheet and separately as a Microsoft Excel 2000 file.« less

One-dimensional Spatial Distributions of Gamma-ray Emitting Contaminants in Field Lysimeters Using a Collimated Gamma-ray Spectroscopy System.

PubMed

Erdmann, Bryan J; Powell, Brian A; Kaplan, Daniel I; DeVol, Timothy A

2018-05-01

One-dimensional scans of gamma-ray emitting contaminants were conducted on lysimeters from the RadFLEX facility at the Savannah River Nationals Laboratory (SRNL). The lysimeters each contained a contamination source that was buried in SRNL soil. A source consisted of Cs, Co, Ba, and Eu incorporated either into a solid waste form (Portland cement and reducing grout) or applied to a filter paper for direct soil exposure. The lysimeters were exposed to natural environmental conditions for 3 to 4 y. The initial contaminant activities range from 4.0 to 9.0 MBq for the solid wasteforms and 0.25 to 0.47 MBq for the soil-incorporated source. The measurements were performed using a collimated high-purity germanium gamma-ray spectrometer with a spatial resolution of 2.5 mm. These scans showed downward mobility of Co and Ba when the radionuclides were incorporated directly into the SRNL soil. When radionuclides were incorporated into the solid waste forms positioned in the SRNL soil, Cs exhibited both upward and downward dispersion while the other radionuclides showed no movement. This dispersion was more significant for the Portland cement than the reducing grout wasteform. Europium-152 was the only radionuclide of those studied that showed no movement within the spatial resolution of the scanner from the original placement within the lysimeter. Understanding radionuclide movement in the environment is important for developing strategies for waste management and disposal.

Elevated Building Lift Systems on Permanent Snowfields: A Report on the Elevated Building Lift Systems in Polar Environments Workshop

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-18

the power plant and mechanical systems, the “Noisy” building, and the “Quiet” building...6040 m² Garage (buried): 835 m² Cargo Arch (buried) : 1640 m² Power Plant (buried) : 600 m² Fuel Arch (buried) : 1325 m² Habitat: 1640 m...Laboratory: 210 m² Garage: 2623 m² Total: 4473 m² Main Bldgs.: 1612 m² Power plant : 188 m² Population Summer: 52 Winter: 16 Summer (3 mo.): 150

4. View, fuel waste tanks and containment basin in foreground ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

4. View, fuel waste tanks and containment basin in foreground with Systems Integration Laboratory (T-28) uphill in background, looking southeast. At the extreme right is the Long-Term Oxidizer Silo (T-28B) and the Oxidizer Conditioning Structure (T-28D). - Air Force Plant PJKS, Systems Integration Laboratory, Waterton Canyon Road & Colorado Highway 121, Lakewood, Jefferson County, CO

Development of tools for evaluating integrated municipal waste management using life-cycle management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thorneloe, S.; Weitz, K.; Nishtala, S.

1998-08-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management increasingly is based on integrated systems. The US initiated research in 1994 through funding by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy to develop (1) a decision support tool; (2) a database; and (3) case studies. This paper provides an overview of the research that is in process.

Integrated nonthermal treatment system study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biagi, C.; Bahar, D.; Teheranian, B.

1997-01-01

This report presents the results of a study of nonthermal treatment technologies. The study consisted of a systematic assessment of five nonthermal treatment alternatives. The treatment alternatives consist of widely varying technologies for safely destroying the hazardous organic components, reducing the volume, and preparing for final disposal of the contact-handled mixed low-level waste (MLLW) currently stored in the US Department of Energy complex. The alternatives considered were innovative nonthermal treatments for organic liquids and sludges, process residue, soil and debris. Vacuum desorption or various washing approaches are considered for treatment of soil, residue and debris. Organic destruction methods include mediatedmore » electrochemical oxidation, catalytic wet oxidation, and acid digestion. Other methods studied included stabilization technologies and mercury separation of treatment residues. This study is a companion to the integrated thermal treatment study which examined 19 alternatives for thermal treatment of MLLW waste. The quantities and physical and chemical compositions of the input waste are based on the inventory database developed by the US Department of Energy. The Integrated Nonthermal Treatment Systems (INTS) systems were evaluated using the same waste input (2,927 pounds per hour) as the Integrated Thermal Treatment Systems (ITTS). 48 refs., 68 figs., 37 tabs.« less

A Nexus Approach for Sustainable Urban Energy-Water-Waste Systems Planning and Operation.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaonan; Guo, Miao; Koppelaar, Rembrandt H E M; van Dam, Koen H; Triantafyllidis, Charalampos P; Shah, Nilay

2018-03-06

Energy, water, and waste systems analyzed at a nexus level are important to move toward more sustainable cities. In this paper, the "resilience.io" platform is developed and applied to emphasize on waste-to-energy pathways, along with the water and energy sectors, aiming to develop waste treatment capacity and energy recovery with the lowest economic and environmental cost. Three categories of waste including wastewater (WW), municipal solid waste (MSW), and agriculture waste are tested as the feedstock for thermochemical treatment via incineration, gasification, or pyrolysis for combined heat and power generation, or biological treatment such as anaerobic digestion (AD) and aerobic treatment. A case study is presented for Ghana in sub-Saharan Africa, considering a combination of waste treatment technologies and infrastructure, depending on local characteristics for supply and demand. The results indicate that the biogas generated from waste treatment turns out to be a promising renewable energy source in the analyzed region, while more distributed energy resources can be integrated. A series of scenarios including the business-as-usual, base case, naturally constrained, policy interventions, and environmental and climate change impacts demonstrate how simulation with optimization models can provide new insights in the design of sustainable value chains, with particular emphasis on whole-system analysis and integration.

Improving integrated waste management at the regional level: the case of Lombardia.

PubMed

Rigamonti, Lucia; Falbo, Alida; Grosso, Mario

2013-09-01

The article summarises the main results of the 'Gestione Rifiuti in Lombardia: Analisi del ciclo di vita' (Waste management in Lombardia region: Life cycle assessment; GERLA) project. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been selected by Regione Lombardia as a strategic decision support tool in the drafting of its new waste management programme. The goal was to use the life cycle thinking approach to assess the current regional situation and thus to give useful strategic indications for the future waste management. The first phase of the study consisted of the LCA of the current management of municipal waste in the Lombardia region (reference year: 2009). The interpretation of such results has allowed the definition of four possible waste management scenarios for the year 2020, with the final goal being to improve the environmental performance of the regional system. The results showed that the current integrated waste management of Lombardia region is already characterised by good energy and environmental performances. However, there is still room for further improvement: actions based, on the one hand, on a further increase in recycling rates and, on the other hand, on a series of technological modifications, especially in food waste and residual waste management, can be undertaken to improve the overall system.

Joint Integration Office Independent Review Committee annual report, 1985

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

Comprised of seven persons with extensive experience in the issues of nuclear waste, the Independent Review Committee (IRC) provides independent and objective review of Defense Transuranic Waste Program (DTWP) activities managed by the Joint Integration Office (JIO), formerly the Defense Transuranic Waste Lead Organization (TLO). The Committee is ensured a broad, interdisciplinary perspective since its membership includes representatives from the fields of nuclear engineering, nuclear waste transportation, industrial quality control, systems and environmental engineering and state and local government. The scope of IRC activities includes overall review of specific TLO plans, projects and activities, and technical review of particular researchmore » and development projects. The Committee makes specific suggestions and recommendations based upon expertise in the field of TRU Waste Management. The IRC operates as a consulting group, under an independent charter providing objective review of program activities. This report summarizes the 12 major topics reviewed by the committee during 1985.« less

Trends in the management of residual municipal solid waste.

PubMed

Rada, E C; Istrate, I A; Ragazzi, M

2009-06-01

In agreement with European Union directives, the integrated management of municipal solid waste must be developed ensuring a balanced relationship between the streams of selective collection and the one regarding the residual waste. A theoretical scenario is made where the residual municipal solid waste is composed only of non-recyclable fractions. An important aspect concerns the role of the organic fraction as selective collection can significantly decrease its content in the residual waste. This paper focuses on the planning, design and management consequences of this unsteady scenario. The treatments that are considered are: combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, integrated thermal plants, aerobic mechanical-biological treatments, anaerobic mechanical-biological treatments and other types of treatment. The considerations are based on the experience of the authors not only in terms of development of research but also in terms of transfer of the research results to the real scale, and knowledge of the state-of-the-art of the sector.

Integration of National Laboratory and Low-Activity Waste Pre-Treatment System Technology Service Providers - 16435

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Subramanian, Karthik H.; Thien, Michael G.; Wellman, Dawn M.

The National Laboratories are a critical partner and provide expertise in numerous aspects of the successful execution of the Direct-Feed Low Activity Waste Program. The National Laboratories are maturing the technologies of the Low-Activity Waste Pre-Treatment System (LAWPS) consistent with DOE Order 413.3B “Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets” expectations. The National Laboratories continue to mature waste forms, i.e. glass and secondary waste grout, for formulations and predictions of long-term performance as inputs to performance assessments. The working processes with the National Laboratories have been developed in procurements, communications, and reporting to support the necessary delivery-basedmore » technology support. The relationship continues to evolve from planning and technology development to support of ongoing operations and integration of multiple highly coordinated facilities.« less

Working on Waste.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Sue; Moen, Dave

This guide provides background information and youth activities for youth leaders and classroom teachers interested in integrating waste management issues into current educational programming. Five parts suggest ideas for action that youth can take at home, in their group, or in the community to solve waste management problems. Part 1 introduces…

Geology and hydrology of radioactive solid-waste burial grounds at the Hanford Reservation, Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

LaSala, Albert Mario; Doty, Gene C.

1976-01-01

The geology and hydrology of radioactive solid waste burial grounds at the Hanford Reservation were investigated, using existing data, by the U.S. Geological Survey as part of the waste management plan of the Richland Operations Office of the Energy Research and Development Administration. The purpose of the investigation was to assist the operations office in characterizing the burial sites as to present environmental safety and as to their suitability for long-term storage (several thousand to tens of thousands of years) of radioactive sol id wastes. The burial ground sites fall into two classifications: (1) those on the low stream terraces adjacent to the Columbia River, mainly in the 100 Areas and 300 Area, and (2) those lying on the high terraces south of Gable Mountain in the 200 Areas. Evaluation of the suitability of the burial grounds for long-term storage was made almost entirely on hydrologic, geologic, and topographic criteria. Of greatest concern was the possibility that radionuclides might be leached from the buried wastes by infiltrating water and carried downward to the water table. The climate is semi-arid and the average annual precipitation is 6.4 inches at the Hanford Meteorological Station. However, the precipitation is seasonally distributed with about 50 percent occurring during the months of November, December, January, and February when evapotranspiration is negligible and conditions for infiltration are most favorable. None of the burial grounds are instrumented with monitoring devices that could be used to determine if radionuclides derived from them are reaching the water table. Burial grounds on the low stream terraces are mainly underlain by permeable materials and the water table lies at relatively shallow depths. Radionuclides conceivably could be leached from these burial grounds by percolating soil water, and radionuclides might reach the Columbia River in a relatively short time. These sites could also be inundated by erosion during a catastrophic flood. For these reasons, they are judged to be unsuited for long-term storage. Local conditions at several of these burial grounds are particularly unfavorable from the standpoint of safety. Depressions and swales at some burial grounds, such as numbers 4 and 5 in the 300 Area in which runoff can collect, enhance the possibility of water infiltrating through the buried wastes and transporting radionuclides to the water table. Also, during a high stage of the Columbia River, the water table conceivably could rise into burial grounds l and 2 of the 100 F Area. Most of the burial grounds on the low terraces contain either (1) reactor components and related equipment bearing activation products, principally cobalt-60, or (2) less hazardous radioactive materials such as uranium. The inventory of activation products in these burial grounds will decay to a safe level in a relatively short period of time (about 100 years), according to estimates made by C. D. Corbit, Douglas United Nuclear, Inc., 1969. The inventory of radionuclides is not considered by the ERDA staff to be complete, however. At these burial grounds containing activation products or less hazardous materials, investigations should be made of the radioactivity in soil and ground water beneath selected representative sites to verify that radionuclides are not migrating from the burial grounds. If migration is detected, field investigations should be made to determine the source or sources of the radionuclides and the desirability of removing the source wastes. Other burial grounds on the low terraces contain plutonium and fission products, which require long-term storage. Both the 300 WYE and the 300 North burial grounds are reported to contain plutonium in large quantities. Burial ground no. l in the 300 Area reportedly also contains plutonium. The inventory records of any other burial grounds on the low terraces suspected of containing plutonium should be reviewed to determine if pl

Inertial/GPS Integrated Geolocation System for Detection and Recovery of Buried Munitions

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

notwithstanding any other provision of law , no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not...ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR( S ) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME( S ) AND ADDRESS(ES) Ohio State...University,154 W 12th Avenue,Columbus,OH,43210 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME( S ) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10

A Hybrid Approach for Characterizing Linear and Nonlinear Electromagnetic Scattering: Theory and Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-01

axis at a 2-m height above the ground and the observation point is at a 1.7-m height along a radial line at ϕ = 30°. Ground properties: εr’ = 4...fields of a horizontal electric dipole as a function of range. The dipole is buried in the ground at a 10-cm depth and the observation point is at...would necessitate the evaluation of a triple integral. To expedite the matrix filling process, different common schemes are available in efficiently

Numerical modeling of subsurface communication, revision 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burke, G. J.; Dease, C. G.; Didwall, E. M.; Lytle, R. J.

1985-08-01

Techniques are described for numerical modeling of through-the-Earth communication. The basic problem considered is evaluation of the field at a surface or airborne station due to an antenna buried in the earth. Equations are given for the field of a point source in a homogeneous or stratified Earth. These expressions involve infinite integrals over wave number, sometimes known as Sommerfeld integrals. Numerical techniques used for evaluating these integrals are outlined. The problem of determining the current on a real antenna in the Earth, including the effect of insulation, is considered. Results are included for the fields of a point source in homogeneous and stratified earths and the field of a finite insulated dipole. The results are for electromagnetic propagation in the ELF-VLF range, but the codes also can address propagation problems at higher frequencies.

Design of concrete waste basin in Integrated Temporarily Sanitary Landfill (ITSL) in Siosar, Karo Regency, Indonesia on supporting clean environment and sustainable fertilizers for farmers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ginting, N.; Siahaan, J.; Tarigan, A. P.

2018-03-01

A new settlement in Siosar village of Karo Regency has been developed for people whose villages have been completely destroyed by the prolong eruptions of Sinabung. An integrated temporarily sanitary landfill (ITSL) was built there to support the new living environment. The objective of this study is to investigate the organic waste decomposing in order to improve the design of the conventional concrete waste basin installed in the ITSL. The study was last from May until August 2016. The used design was Completely Randomized Design (CRD) in which organic waste was treated using decomposer with five replications in three composter bins. Decomposting process lasted for three weeks. Research parameters were pH, temperature, waste reduction in weight, C/N, and organic fertilizer production(%). The results of waste compost as follows : pH was 9.45, ultimate temperature was 31.6°C, C/N was in the range of 10.5-12.4, waste reduction was 53% and organic fertilizer production was 47%. Based on the decomposting process and the analysis, it is recommended that the conventional concrete waste basin should be divided into three colums and each column would be filled with waste when previous column is fulled. It is predicted that when the third column is fully occupied then the waste in the first column already become a sustainable fertilizer.

Buried Object Detection Method Using Optimum Frequency Range in Extremely Shallow Underground

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugimoto, Tsuneyoshi; Abe, Touma

2011-07-01

We propose a new detection method for buried objects using the optimum frequency response range of the corresponding vibration velocity. Flat speakers and a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV) are used for noncontact acoustic imaging in the extremely shallow underground. The exploration depth depends on the sound pressure, but it is usually less than 10 cm. Styrofoam, wood (silver fir), and acrylic boards of the same size, different size styrofoam boards, a hollow toy duck, a hollow plastic container, a plastic container filled with sand, a hollow steel can and an unglazed pot are used as buried objects which are buried in sand to about 2 cm depth. The imaging procedure of buried objects using the optimum frequency range is given below. First, the standardized difference from the average vibration velocity is calculated for all scan points. Next, using this result, underground images are made using a constant frequency width to search for the frequency response range of the buried object. After choosing an approximate frequency response range, the difference between the average vibration velocity for all points and that for several points that showed a clear response is calculated for the final confirmation of the optimum frequency range. Using this optimum frequency range, we can obtain the clearest image of the buried object. From the experimental results, we confirmed the effectiveness of our proposed method. In particular, a clear image of the buried object was obtained when the SLDV image was unclear.

Monitoring underground water leakage pattern by ground penetrating radar (GPR) using 800 MHz antenna frequency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amran, T. S. T.; Ismail, M. P.; Ahmad, M. R.; Amin, M. S. M.; Ismail, M. A.; Sani, S.; Masenwat, N. A.; Basri, N. S. M.

2018-01-01

Water is the most treasure natural resources, however, a huge amount of water are lost during its distribution that leads to water leakage problem. The leaks meant the waste of money and created more economic loss to treat and fix the damaged pipe. Researchers and engineers have put tremendous attempts and effort, to solve the water leakage problem especially in water leakage of buried pipeline. An advanced technology of ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been established as one of the non-destructive testing (NDT) method to detect the underground water pipe leaking. This paper focuses on the ability of GPR in water utility field especially on detection of water leaks in the underground pipeline distribution. A series of laboratory experiments were carried out using 800-MHz antenna, where the performance of GPR on detecting underground pipeline and locating water leakage was investigated and validated. A prototype to recreate water-leaking system was constructed using a 4-inch PVC pipe. Different diameter of holes, i.e. ¼ inch, ½ inch, and ¾ inch, were drilled into the pipe to simulate the water leaking. The PVC pipe was buried at the depth of 60 cm into the test bed that was filled with dry sand. 15 litres of water was injected into the PVC pipe. The water leakage patterns in term of radargram data were gathered. The effectiveness of the GPR in locating the underground water leakage was ascertained, after the results were collected and verified.

78 FR 46940 - Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Identification and Listing of Special Wastes...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-02

... your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and....epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/ccr-rule/index.htm . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I... Integrity Surface Impoundment Assessments at: http://www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/industrial.special/fossil...

Material and energy recovery in integrated waste management systems. An evaluation based on life cycle assessment.

PubMed

Giugliano, Michele; Cernuschi, Stefano; Grosso, Mario; Rigamonti, Lucia

2011-01-01

This paper reports the environmental results, integrated with those arising from mass and energy balances, of a research project on the comparative analysis of strategies for material and energy recovery from waste, funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. The project, involving the cooperation of five University research groups, was devoted to the optimisation of material and energy recovery activities within integrated municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems. Four scenarios of separate collection (overall value of 35%, 50% without the collection of food waste, 50% including the collection of food waste, 65%) were defined for the implementation of energetic, environmental and economic balances. Two sizes of integrated MSW management system (IWMS) were considered: a metropolitan area, with a gross MSW production of 750,000 t/year and an average province, with a gross MSW production of 150,000 t/year. The environmental analysis was conducted using Life Cycle Assessment methodology (LCA), for both material and energy recovery activities. In order to avoid allocation we have used the technique of the expansion of the system boundaries. This means taking into consideration the impact on the environment related to the waste management activities in comparison with the avoided impacts related to the saving of raw materials and primary energy. Under the hypotheses of the study, both for the large and for the small IWMS, the energetic and environmental benefits are higher than the energetic and environmental impacts for all the scenarios analysed in terms of all the indicators considered: the scenario with 50% separate collection in a drop-off scheme excluding food waste shows the most promising perspectives, mainly arising from the highest collection (and recycling) of all the packaging materials, which is the activity giving the biggest energetic and environmental benefits. Main conclusions of the study in the general field of the assessment of the environmental performance of any integrated waste management scheme address the importance of properly defining, beyond the design value assumed for the separate collection as a whole, also the yields of each material recovered; particular significance is finally related to the amount of residues deriving from material recovery activities, resulting on average in the order of 20% of the collected materials. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmental impacts and benefits of state-of-the-art technologies for E-waste management.

PubMed

Ikhlayel, Mahdi

2017-10-01

This study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts and benefits of state-of-the-art technologies for proper e-waste handling using Jordan as a case study. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was employed to evaluate five advanced management systems represent state-of-the-art treatment technologies, including sanitary landfilling; proper recycling of metals, materials, and precious metals (PMs); and incineration of plastic and the hazardous portion of printed circuit boards (PCBs). Six e-waste products that contribute the most to the e-waste in Jordan were included in the assessment of each scenario, which resulted in 30 total cases of e-waste management. The findings indicated that landfills for the entire components of the e-waste stream are the worst option and should be avoided. The most promising e-waste management scenario features integrated e-waste processes based on the concept of Integrated Waste Management (IWM), including recycling materials such as non-PMs and PMs, incinerating plastic and the hazardous content of PCBs using the energy recovered from incineration, and using sanitary landfills of residues. For this scenario, the best environmental performance was obtained for the treatment of mobile phones. Incineration of the portion of hazardous waste using energy recovery is an option that deserves attention. Because scenario implementation depends on more than just the environmental benefits (e.g., economic cost and technical aspects), the study proposes a systematic approach founded on the IWM concept for e-waste management scenario selection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Finite Element Modeling and Long Wave Infrared Imaging for Detection and Identification of Buried Objects

DTIC Science & Technology

surface temperature profile of a sandbox containing buried objects using a long-wave infrared camera. Images were recorded for several days under ambient...time of day . Best detection of buried objects corresponded to shallow depths for observed intervals where maxima/minima ambient temperatures coincided

75 FR 59933 - Specifications and Drawings for Construction of Direct Buried Plant

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-29

... for Construction of Direct Buried Plant AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA. ACTION: Final rule..., Specifications and Drawings for Construction of Direct Buried Plant (Form 515a). The revised specifications will include new construction units for Fiber-to-the-Home, remove redundant or outdated requirements, and...

An integrated biohydrogen refinery: synergy of photofermentation, extractive fermentation and hydrothermal hydrolysis of food wastes.

PubMed

Redwood, Mark D; Orozco, Rafael L; Majewski, Artur J; Macaskie, Lynne E

2012-09-01

An Integrated Biohydrogen Refinery (IBHR) and experimental net energy analysis are reported. The IBHR converts biomass to electricity using hydrothermal hydrolysis, extractive biohydrogen fermentation and photobiological hydrogen fermentation for electricity generation in a fuel cell. An extractive fermentation, developed previously, is applied to waste-derived substrates following hydrothermal pre-treatment, achieving 83-99% biowaste destruction. The selective separation of organic acids from waste-fed fermentations provided suitable substrate for photofermentative hydrogen production, which enhanced the gross energy generation up to 11-fold. Therefore, electrodialysis provides the key link in an IBHR for 'waste to energy'. The IBHR compares favourably to 'renewables' (photovoltaics, on-shore wind, crop-derived biofuels) and also emerging biotechnological options (microbial electrolysis) and anaerobic digestion. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advanced High-Level Waste Glass Research and Development Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peeler, David K.; Vienna, John D.; Schweiger, Michael J.

2015-07-01

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of River Protection (ORP) has implemented an integrated program to increase the loading of Hanford tank wastes in glass while meeting melter lifetime expectancies and process, regulatory, and product quality requirements. The integrated ORP program is focused on providing a technical, science-based foundation from which key decisions can be made regarding the successful operation of the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) facilities. The fundamental data stemming from this program will support development of advanced glass formulations, key process control models, and tactical processing strategies to ensure safe and successful operations formore » both the low-activity waste (LAW) and high-level waste (HLW) vitrification facilities with an appreciation toward reducing overall mission life. The purpose of this advanced HLW glass research and development plan is to identify the near-, mid-, and longer-term research and development activities required to develop and validate advanced HLW glasses and their associated models to support facility operations at WTP, including both direct feed and full pretreatment flowsheets. This plan also integrates technical support of facility operations and waste qualification activities to show the interdependence of these activities with the advanced waste glass (AWG) program to support the full WTP mission. Figure ES-1 shows these key ORP programmatic activities and their interfaces with both WTP facility operations and qualification needs. The plan is a living document that will be updated to reflect key advancements and mission strategy changes. The research outlined here is motivated by the potential for substantial economic benefits (e.g., significant increases in waste throughput and reductions in glass volumes) that will be realized when advancements in glass formulation continue and models supporting facility operations are implemented. Developing and applying advanced glass formulations will reduce the cost of Hanford tank waste management by reducing the schedule for tank waste treatment and reducing the amount of HLW glass for storage, transportation, and disposal. Additional benefits will be realized if advanced glasses are developed that demonstrate more tolerance for key components in the waste (such as Al 2O 3, Cr 2O 3, SO 3 and Na 2O) above the currently defined WTP constraints. Tolerating these higher concentrations of key waste loading limiters may reduce the burden on (or even eliminate the need for) leaching to remove Cr and Al and washing to remove excess S and Na from the HLW fraction. Advanced glass formulations may also make direct vitrification of the HLW fraction without significant pretreatment more cost effective. Finally, the advanced glass formulation efforts seek not only to increase waste loading in glass, but also to increase glass production rate. When coupled with higher waste loading, ensuring that all of the advanced glass formulations are processable at or above the current contract processing rate leads to significant improvements in waste throughput (the amount of waste being processed per unit time),which could significantly reduce the overall WTP mission life. The integration of increased waste loading, reduced leaching/washing requirements, and improved melting rates provides a system-wide approach to improve the effectiveness of the WTP process.« less

Application of fuel cells with heat recovery for integrated utility systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shields, V.; King, J. M., Jr.

1975-01-01

This paper presents the results of a study of fuel cell powerplants with heat recovery for use in an integrated utility system. Such a design provides for a low pollution, noise-free, highly efficient integrated utility. Use of the waste heat from the fuel cell powerplant in an integrated utility system for the village center complex of a new community results in a reduction in resource consumption of 42 percent compared to conventional methods. In addition, the system has the potential of operating on fuels produced from waste materials (pyrolysis and digester gases); this would provide further reduction in energy consumption.

Municipal solid waste composition determination supporting the integrated solid waste management system in the island of Crete

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gidarakos, E.; Havas, G.; Ntzamilis, P.

A one-year survey was conducted in the greater region of Crete (located at the lower region of the Aegean Sea) for the purpose of identifying waste composition (including chemical and physical characterization), as well as any seasonal variation. The investigation was carried out repeatedly at seven landfills and one transfer station in Crete, in four phases. Each sampling phase corresponded to a season (autumn, winter, spring, summer). ASTM D5231-92(2003) standard method and RCRA Waste Sampling Draft Technical Guidance were used. Hand sorting was used for classifying the collected wastes into the following categories: plastics, paper, metals, aluminium, leather-wood-textiles-rubbers, organic wastes,more » non-combustibles and miscellaneous. Further analysis included proximate and ultimate analysis of combustible materials. Metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury were also investigated. The results show that there has been a significant decrease of organic wastes during the last decade due to the increase of packaging materials, as a result of a change in consumption patterns. Three main waste categories were determined: organic wastes, paper and plastics, which combined represent 76% of the total waste in Crete. Furthermore, a high fraction of glass and a seasonal variation of aluminium indicate a strong correlation of waste composition with certain human activities, such as tourism. There is also a variation between the municipal solid waste (MSW) composition in the region of Crete (2003-2004) and MSW composition suggested in the National Solid Waste Planning (2000) [National Solid Waste Planning, 2000. Completion and particularization of Common Ministerial Act 113944//1944/1997: National Solid Waste Planning, June 2000]. The results of this survey are to be utilized by the regional solid waste authorities in order to establish an integrated waste treatment site, capable of fulfilling the regional waste management demands.« less

Climate impact analysis of waste treatment scenarios--thermal treatment of commercial and pretreated waste versus landfilling in Austria.

PubMed

Ragossnig, A M; Wartha, C; Pomberger, R

2009-11-01

A major challenge for modern waste management lies in a smart integration of waste-to-energy installations in local energy systems in such a way that the energy efficiency of the waste-to-energy plant is optimized and that the energy contained in the waste is, therefore, optimally utilized. The extent of integration of thermal waste treatment processes into regular energy supply systems plays a major role with regard to climate control. In this research, the specific waste management situation looked at scenarios aiming at maximizing the energy recovery from waste (i.e. actual scenario and waste-to-energy process with 75% energy efficiency [22.5% electricity, 52.5% heat]) yield greenhouse gas emission savings due to the fact that more greenhouse gas emissions are avoided in the energy sector than caused by the various waste treatment processes. Comparing dedicated waste-to-energy-systems based on the combined heat and power (CHP) process with concepts based on sole electricity production, the energy efficiency proves to be crucial with regard to climate control. This underlines the importance of choosing appropriate sites for waste-to-energy-plants. This research was looking at the effect with regard to the climate impact of various waste management scenarios that could be applied alternatively by a private waste management company in Austria. The research is, therefore, based on a specific set of data for the waste streams looked at (waste characteristics, logistics needed, etc.). Furthermore, the investigated scenarios have been defined based on the actual available alternatives with regard to the usage of treatment plants for this specific company. The standard scenarios for identifying climate impact implications due to energy recovery from waste are based on the respective marginal energy data for the power and heat generation facilities/industrial processes in Austria.

Study on the Control Strategy of Ground Source Heat Pump of Complex Buildings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dandan, Zhang; Wei, Li; Siyi, Tang

2018-05-01

The complex building group is a building group which integrates residential, business and office. Study on the operation of buried tube heat exchanger (BHE) with 30%, 50%, 70% and 100% occupancy rate by numerical simulation under the condition of full operation of the business and office, the optimal operation control strategy of a hybrid ground-source heat pump (HGSHP) system with different occupancy rates can be obtained. The results show that: at low occupancy rate the optimal operation control of the heat pump system is to use the cooling tower in the valley load period (June and September) and the heat absorption of the buried tube in winter; While at high occupancy rates, opening the cooling tower when the temperature of the outlet of the BHE is 2 degrees centigrade higher than the temperature of the wet bulb at the corresponding time is the optimal operating strategy. This paper is based on the annual energy consumption and optimization of soil temperature rise, which has an important guideline value for the design and operation of HGSHP system in complex buildings.

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) active pixel sensors with the photosite implemented in the substrate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pain, Bedabrata (Inventor); Zheng, Xinyu (Inventor)

2002-01-01

Active pixel sensors for a high quality imager are fabricated using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process by integrating the photodetectors on the SOI substrate and forming pixel readout transistors on the SOI thin-film. The technique can include forming silicon islands on a buried insulator layer disposed on a silicon substrate and selectively etching away the buried insulator layer over a region of the substrate to define a photodetector area. Dopants of a first conductivity type are implanted to form a signal node in the photodetector area and to form simultaneously drain/source regions for a first transistor in at least a first one of the silicon islands. Dopants of a second conductivity type are implanted to form drain/source regions for a second transistor in at least a second one of the silicon islands. Isolation rings around the photodetector also can be formed when dopants of the second conductivity type are implanted. Interconnections among the transistors and the photodetector are provided to allow signals sensed by the photodetector to be read out via the transistors formed on the silicon islands.

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) active pixel sensors with the photosite implemented in the substrate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zheng, Xinyu (Inventor); Pain, Bedabrata (Inventor)

2005-01-01

Active pixel sensors for a high quality imager are fabricated using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process by integrating the photodetectors on the SOI substrate and forming pixel readout transistors on the SOI thin-film. The technique can include forming silicon islands on a buried insulator layer disposed on a silicon substrate and selectively etching away the buried insulator layer over a region of the substrate to define a photodetector area. Dopants of a first conductivity type are implanted to form a signal node in the photodetector area and to form simultaneously drain/source regions for a first transistor in at least a first one of the silicon islands. Dopants of a second conductivity type are implanted to form drain/source regions for a second transistor in at least a second one of the silicon islands. Isolation rings around the photodetector also can be formed when dopants of the second conductivity type are implanted. Interconnections among the transistors and the photodetector are provided to allow signals sensed by the photodetector to be read out via the transistors formed on the silicon islands.

Device and method for producing a containment barrier underneath and around in-situ buried waste

DOEpatents

Gardner, Bradley M.; Smith, Ann M.; Hanson, Richard W.; Hodges, Richard T.

1998-01-01

An apparatus for building a horizontal underground barrier by cutting through soil and depositing a slurry, preferably on which cures into a hardened material. The apparatus includes a digging means for cutting and removing soil to create a void under the surface of the ground and injection means for inserting barrier-forming material into the void. In one embodiment, the digging means is a continuous cutting chain. Mounted on the continuous cutting chain are cutter teeth for cutting through soil and discharge paddles for removing the loosened soil. This invention includes a barrier placement machine, a method for building an underground horizontal containment barrier using the barrier placement machine, and the underground containment system. Preferably the underground containment barrier goes underneath and around the site to be contained in a bathtub-type containment.

La-oxides as tracers for PuO{sub 2} to simulate contaminated aerosol behavior

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meyer, L.C.; Newton, G.J.; Cronenberg, A.W.

1994-04-01

An analytical and experimental study was performed on the use of lanthanide oxides (La-oxides) as surrogates for plutonium oxides (PuO{sub 2}) during simulated buried waste retrieval. This study determined how well the La-oxides move compared to PuO{sub 2} in aerosolized soils during retrieval scenarios. As part of the analytical study, physical properties of La-oxides and PuO{sub 2}, such as molecular diameter, diffusivity, density, and molecular weight are compared. In addition, an experimental study was performed in which Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) soil, INEL soil with lanthanides, and INEL soil with plutonium were aerosolized and collected in filters. Comparison ofmore » particle size distribution parameters from this experimental study show similarity between INEL soil, INEL soil with lanthanides, and INEL soil with plutonium.« less

An efficient approach to imaging underground hydraulic networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Mohi

2012-07-01

To better locate natural resources, treat pollution, and monitor underground networks associated with geothermal plants, nuclear waste repositories, and carbon dioxide sequestration sites, scientists need to be able to accurately characterize and image fluid seepage pathways below ground. With these images, scientists can gain knowledge of soil moisture content, the porosity of geologic formations, concentrations and locations of dissolved pollutants, and the locations of oil fields or buried liquid contaminants. Creating images of the unknown hydraulic environments underfoot is a difficult task that has typically relied on broad extrapolations from characteristics and tests of rock units penetrated by sparsely positioned boreholes. Such methods, however, cannot identify small-scale features and are very expensive to reproduce over a broad area. Further, the techniques through which information is extrapolated rely on clunky and mathematically complex statistical approaches requiring large amounts of computational power.

Three-dimensional integration of microoptical components buried inside photosensitive glass by femtosecond laser direct writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhongke; Sugioka, Koji; Midorikawa, Katsumi

2007-12-01

We report the three-dimensional (3D) integration of microoptical components such as microlenses, micromirrors and optical waveguides in a single glass chip by femtosecond (fs) laser direct writing. First, two types of microoptical lenses were fabricated inside photosensitive Foturan glass by forming hollow microstructures using fs laser direct writing followed by thermal treatment, successive wet etching and additional annealing. One type of lens is the cylindrical microlens with a curvature radius R of 1.0 mm, and the other is the plano-convex microlens with radius R of 0.75 mm. Subsequently, by the continuous procedure of hollow microstructure fabrication, a micromirror was integrated with the plano-convex microlens in the single glass chip. Further integration of waveguides was performed by internal refractive index modification using fs laser direct writing after the hollow structure fabrication of the microlens and the micromirror. A demonstration of the laser beam transmission in the integrated optical microdevice shows that the 3D integration of waveguides with a micromirror and a microoptical lens in a single glass chip is highly effective for light beam guiding and focusing.

Incident Waste Decision Support Tool - Waste Materials ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Report This is the technical documentation to the waste materials estimator module of I-WASTE. This document outlines the methodology and data used to develop the Waste Materials Estimator (WME) contained in the Incident Waste Decision Support Tool (I-WASTE DST). Specifically, this document reflects version 6.4 of the I-WASTE DST. The WME is one of four primary features of the I-WASTE DST. The WME is both a standalone calculator that generates waste estimates in terms of broad waste categories, and is also integrated into the Incident Planning and Response section of the tool where default inventories of specific waste items are provided in addition to the estimates for the broader waste categories. The WME can generate waste estimates for both common materials found in open spaces (soil, vegetation, concrete, and asphalt) and for a vast array of items and materials found in common structures.

Bioelectrochemical Integration of Waste Heat Recovery, Waste-to- Energy Conversion, and Waste-to-Chemical Conversion with Industrial Gas and Chemical Manufacturing Processes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mac Dougall, James

2016-02-05

Many U.S. manufacturing facilities generate unrecovered, low-grade waste heat, and also generate or are located near organic-content waste effluents. Bioelectrochemical systems, such as microbial fuel cells and microbial electrolysis cells, provide a means to convert organic-content effluents into electric power and useful chemical products. A novel biochemical electrical system for industrial manufacturing processes uniquely integrates both waste heat recovery and waste effluent conversion, thereby significantly reducing manufacturing energy requirements. This project will enable the further development of this technology so that it can be applied across a wide variety of US manufacturing segments, including the chemical, food, pharmaceutical, refinery, andmore » pulp and paper industries. It is conservatively estimated that adoption of this technology could provide nearly 40 TBtu/yr of energy, or more than 1% of the U.S. total industrial electricity use, while reducing CO 2 emissions by more than 6 million tons per year. Commercialization of this technology will make a significant contribution to DOE’s Industrial Technology Program goals for doubling energy efficiency and providing a more robust and competitive domestic manufacturing base.« less

Emerging trends in informal sector recycling in developing and transition countries.

PubMed

Ezeah, Chukwunonye; Fazakerley, Jak A; Roberts, Clive L

2013-11-01

Optimistic estimates suggest that only 30-70% of waste generated in cities of developing countries is collected for disposal. As a result, uncollected waste is often disposed of into open dumps, along the streets or into water bodies. Quite often, this practice induces environmental degradation and public health risks. Notwithstanding, such practices also make waste materials readily available for itinerant waste pickers. These 'scavengers' as they are called, therefore perceive waste as a resource, for income generation. Literature suggests that Informal Sector Recycling (ISR) activity can bring other benefits such as, economic growth, litter control and resources conservation. This paper critically reviews trends in ISR activities in selected developing and transition countries. ISR often survives in very hostile social and physical environments largely because of negative Government and public attitude. Rather than being stigmatised, the sector should be recognised as an important element for achievement of sustainable waste management in developing countries. One solution to this problem could be the integration of ISR into the formal waste management system. To achieve ISR integration, this paper highlights six crucial aspects from literature: social acceptance, political will, mobilisation of cooperatives, partnerships with private enterprises, management and technical skills, as well as legal protection measures. It is important to note that not every country will have the wherewithal to achieve social inclusion and so the level of integration must be 'flexible'. In addition, the structure of the ISR should not be based on a 'universal' model but should instead take into account local contexts and conditions. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Eco-efficient waste glass recycling: Integrated waste management and green product development through LCA.

PubMed

Blengini, Gian Andrea; Busto, Mirko; Fantoni, Moris; Fino, Debora

2012-05-01

As part of the EU Life + NOVEDI project, a new eco-efficient recycling route has been implemented to maximise resources and energy recovery from post-consumer waste glass, through integrated waste management and industrial production. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to identify engineering solutions to sustainability during the development of green building products. The new process and the related LCA are framed within a meaningful case of industrial symbiosis, where multiple waste streams are utilised in a multi-output industrial process. The input is a mix of rejected waste glass from conventional container glass recycling and waste special glass such as monitor glass, bulbs and glass fibres. The green building product is a recycled foam glass (RFG) to be used in high efficiency thermally insulating and lightweight concrete. The environmental gains have been contrasted against induced impacts and improvements have been proposed. Recovered co-products, such as glass fragments/powders, plastics and metals, correspond to environmental gains that are higher than those related to landfill avoidance, whereas the latter is cancelled due to increased transportation distances. In accordance to an eco-efficiency principle, it has been highlighted that recourse to highly energy intensive recycling should be limited to waste that cannot be closed-loop recycled. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards a coherent European approach for taxation of combustible waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dubois, Maarten, E-mail: maarten.dubois@kuleuven.be

2013-08-15

Highlights: • Current European waste taxes do not constitute a level playing field. • Integrating waste incineration in EU ETS avoids regional tax competition. • A differentiated incineration tax is a second-best instrument for NO{sub x} emissions. • A tax on landfilled incineration residues stimulates ash treatment. - Abstract: Although intra-European trade of combustible waste has grown strongly in the last decade, incineration and landfill taxes remain disparate within Europe. The paper proposes a more coherent taxation approach for Europe that is based on the principle of Pigovian taxation, i.e. the internalization of environmental damage costs. The approach aims tomore » create a level playing field between European regions while reinforcing incentives for sustainable management of combustible waste. Three important policy recommendations emerge. First, integrating waste incineration into the European Emissions Trading System for greenhouse gases (EU ETS) reduces the risk of tax competition between regions. Second, because taxation of every single air pollutant from waste incineration is cumbersome, a differentiated waste incineration tax based on NO{sub x} emissions can serve as a second-best instrument. Finally, in order to strengthen incentives for ash treatment, a landfill tax should apply for landfilled incineration residues. An example illustrates the coherence of the policy recommendations for incineration technologies with diverse environmental effects.« less

76 FR 77270 - Board Meeting; January 9, 2012, Arlington, VA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-12

... NUCLEAR WASTE TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD Board Meeting; January 9, 2012, Arlington, VA The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will meet to discuss integration efforts undertaken by DOE-NE and DOE... Amendments Act of 1987, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will hold a public meeting in Arlington...

ReSource Your Waste: A Teacher's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Missouri State Dept. of Natural Resources, Jefferson City.

This curriculum guide is intended for teachers of students in grades 4-8 and may be used as supplementary lessons, especially for science and social studies. The guide is divided into four major sections, a glossary, and large appendix. Sections include: (1) Sources of Resources; (2) Sources of Wastes; (3) Integrated Waste Management; and (4)…

INTEGRATED MULTIMEDIA DECISION-MAKING FOR HUMAN AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT: A NATIONAL-SCALE STUDY OF LAND APPLICATION OF ARSENIC-BEARING WASTES

EPA Science Inventory

Requisite to the development and application of sound waste management policies, decision-makers must discern the impact of a given waste management approach upon both human and ecological receptors. To configure such policies solely upon the assessment of impact to humans, for ...

49 CFR 192.455 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed after July 31, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.455 External corrosion control: Buried or... against external corrosion, including the following: (1) It must have an external protective coating...

49 CFR 192.457 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed before August 1, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.457 External corrosion control: Buried or... areas in which active corrosion is found: (1) Bare or ineffectively coated transmission lines. (2) Bare...

49 CFR 192.457 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed before August 1, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.457 External corrosion control: Buried or... areas in which active corrosion is found: (1) Bare or ineffectively coated transmission lines. (2) Bare...

49 CFR 192.459 - External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when exposed.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false External corrosion control: Examination of buried... Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.459 External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when... portion must be examined for evidence of external corrosion if the pipe is bare, or if the coating is...

49 CFR 192.459 - External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when exposed.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false External corrosion control: Examination of buried... Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.459 External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when... portion must be examined for evidence of external corrosion if the pipe is bare, or if the coating is...

49 CFR 192.457 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed before August 1, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.457 External corrosion control: Buried or... areas in which active corrosion is found: (1) Bare or ineffectively coated transmission lines. (2) Bare...

49 CFR 192.455 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed after July 31, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.455 External corrosion control: Buried or... against external corrosion, including the following: (1) It must have an external protective coating...

49 CFR 192.455 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed after July 31, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.455 External corrosion control: Buried or... against external corrosion, including the following: (1) It must have an external protective coating...

49 CFR 192.459 - External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when exposed.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false External corrosion control: Examination of buried... Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.459 External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when... portion must be examined for evidence of external corrosion if the pipe is bare, or if the coating is...

49 CFR 192.455 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed after July 31, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.455 External corrosion control: Buried or... against external corrosion, including the following: (1) It must have an external protective coating...

49 CFR 192.459 - External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when exposed.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false External corrosion control: Examination of buried... Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.459 External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when... portion must be examined for evidence of external corrosion if the pipe is bare, or if the coating is...

49 CFR 192.457 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed before August 1, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.457 External corrosion control: Buried or... areas in which active corrosion is found: (1) Bare or ineffectively coated transmission lines. (2) Bare...

49 CFR 192.457 - External corrosion control: Buried or submerged pipelines installed before August 1, 1971.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false External corrosion control: Buried or submerged... SAFETY STANDARDS Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.457 External corrosion control: Buried or... areas in which active corrosion is found: (1) Bare or ineffectively coated transmission lines. (2) Bare...

49 CFR 192.459 - External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when exposed.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false External corrosion control: Examination of buried... Requirements for Corrosion Control § 192.459 External corrosion control: Examination of buried pipeline when... portion must be examined for evidence of external corrosion if the pipe is bare, or if the coating is...

INSTALLATION OF A 10-ELEMENT SHALLOW-BURIED ARRAY AT THE UINTA BASIN SEISMOLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, VERNAL, UTAH

DTIC Science & Technology

the array are buried to a depth of approximately 200 feet. This report outlines, in some detail, the installation of a buried array at the Uinta ... Basin Seismological Observatory. Major considerations in such an undertaking included the selection of the most effective array pattern and the most

Les perspectives de l'énergie nucléaire dans le cadre des changements climatiquesThe future of nuclear energy in relation with climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dautray, Robert

2001-12-01

Electronuclear energy associated with hydrogen production can replace fossil fuels while emitting as few greenhouse gases as renewable energies. Besides waste management for which a solution has to be rapidly demonstrated, other key issues are to be examined to complete the demonstration of the viability of electronuclear energy. First, waste management and evolution of plutonium and its daughters must be considered together. A basic study has already been performed but what else to be done is huge and cannot be achieved in France (because of its geological and geographic features, because of the rural distribution of its population, etc.), except if a substantial and quite focused endeavour could bring concerned populations and workers, protection and confidence - which requires from the latter, represented by their elected representatives and thus by a public authority, that they work out "a general protection and confidence criterion for concerned populations and workers". The unique solution in order to protect public health from a potential major danger is to bury as soon as possible all of the ultimate waste products, keeping in mind all of the unfavourable factors such as residual power of these products, their mobility in the confining geological beds and then through aquifers. There are so many categories of waste products whose treatment requires different durations, that storing is necessary in order to make them compatible after sorting by means of chemical separation (called reprocessing). Among all of these potential risks, the present-day most serious one, by far, is that of plutonium and its daughters, which are the most potentially radiotoxic. The unique solution consists in a separation of plutonium (and its daughters), followed by its fissions until a rather complete reduction in a product able to be buried after dilution in a matrix (for example, vitrification). But that solution faces serious handicaps. The examination of waste products and especially of the potentially most dangerous and difficult to treat, that is plutonium (and its daughters), leads thus necessarily to a 'plutonium (and its daughters) plan'. Nuclear safety is a major preoccupation. The French electronuclear stock is a recognized success and when it will be necessary to replace the latter, it will be possible to use the European Pressurized Reactor French-German project; the latter includes protections against very unlikely events and its implementation would be a factor of substantial progress for nuclear safety. Radioprotection, as well as its scientific bases, epidemiology and radiobiology, have funding that is not at the level of the funding devoted to the technical and industrial realizations. As for proliferation, it can be noticed that the countries that have recently at their disposal nuclear weapons have done it independently of their eventual electronuclear stock and furthermore each of the latter used a different scientific and technical process. As for the eventual relations between reprocessing and proliferation, the problem should be solved if the total produced plutonium could be denatured in the reactors of the electronuclear stock. It must be noticed that the major potential danger would rather be the dispersion of radiotoxic products about which the department of ONU in charge of all of these questions is aware of increasing contraband from eastern Europe since some years.

Monolithic integration of GMR sensors for standard CMOS-IC current sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Marcellis, A.; Reig, C.; Cubells-Beltrán, M.-D.; Madrenas, J.; Santos, J. D.; Cardoso, S.; Freitas, P. P.

2017-09-01

In this work we report on the development of Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors for off-line current measurements in standard integrated circuits. An ASIC has been specifically designed and fabricated in the well-known AMS-0.35 μm CMOS technology, including the electronic circuitry for sensor interfacing. It implements an oscillating circuit performing a voltage-to-frequency conversion. Subsequently, a fully CMOS-compatible low temperature post-process has been applied for depositing the GMR sensing devices in a full-bridge configuration onto the buried current straps. Sensitivity and resolution of these sensors have been investigated achieving experimental results that show a detection sensitivity of about 100 Hz/mA, with a resolution of about 5 μA.

Integrated optics interferometer for high precision displacement measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Persegol, Dominique; Collomb, Virginie; Minier, Vincent

2017-11-01

We present the design and fabrication aspects of an integrated optics interferometer used in the optical head of a compact and lightweight displacement sensor developed for spatial applications. The process for fabricating the waveguides of the optical chip is a double thermal ion exchange of silver and sodium in a silicate glass. This two step process is adapted for the fabrication of high numerical aperture buried waveguides having negligible losses for bending radius as low as 10 mm. The optical head of the sensor is composed of a reference arm, a sensing arm and an interferometer which generates a one dimensional fringe pattern allowing a multiphase detection. Four waveguides placed at the output of the interferometer deliver four ideally 90° phase shifted signals.

Al transmon qubits on silicon-on-insulator for quantum device integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, Andrew J.; Dieterle, Paul B.; Fang, Michael; Berger, Brett; Fink, Johannes M.; Painter, Oskar

2017-07-01

We present the fabrication and characterization of an aluminum transmon qubit on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. Key to the qubit fabrication is the use of an anhydrous hydrofluoric vapor process which selectively removes the lossy silicon oxide buried underneath the silicon device layer. For a 5.6 GHz qubit measured dispersively by a 7.1 GHz resonator, we find T1 = 3.5 μs and T2* = 2.2 μs. This process in principle permits the co-fabrication of silicon photonic and mechanical elements, providing a route towards chip-scale integration of electro-opto-mechanical transducers for quantum networking of superconducting microwave quantum circuits. The additional processing steps are compatible with established fabrication techniques for aluminum transmon qubits on silicon.

Developing a monitoring and evaluation framework to integrate and formalize the informal waste and recycling sector: the case of the Philippine National Framework Plan.

PubMed

Serrona, Kevin Roy B; Yu, Jeongsoo; Aguinaldo, Emelita; Florece, Leonardo M

2014-09-01

The Philippines has been making inroads in solid waste management with the enactment and implementation of the Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Waste Management Act of 2000. Said legislation has had tremendous influence in terms of how the national and local government units confront the challenges of waste management in urban and rural areas using the reduce, reuse, recycle and recovery framework or 4Rs. One of the sectors needing assistance is the informal waste sector whose aspiration is legal recognition of their rank and integration of their waste recovery activities in mainstream waste management. To realize this, the Philippine National Solid Waste Management Commission initiated the formulation of the National Framework Plan for the Informal Waste Sector, which stipulates approaches, strategies and methodologies to concretely involve the said sector in different spheres of local waste management, such as collection, recycling and disposal. What needs to be fleshed out is the monitoring and evaluation component in order to gauge qualitative and quantitative achievements vis-a-vis the Framework Plan. In the process of providing an enabling environment for the informal waste sector, progress has to be monitored and verified qualitatively and quantitatively and measured against activities, outputs, objectives and goals. Using the Framework Plan as the reference, this article developed monitoring and evaluation indicators using the logical framework approach in project management. The primary objective is to institutionalize monitoring and evaluation, not just in informal waste sector plans, but in any waste management initiatives to ensure that envisaged goals are achieved. © The Author(s) 2014.

Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (IPSC) : gap analysis for high fidelity and performance assessment code development.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Joon H.; Siegel, Malcolm Dean; Arguello, Jose Guadalupe, Jr.

2011-03-01

This report describes a gap analysis performed in the process of developing the Waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (IPSC) in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Campaign. The goal of the Waste IPSC is to develop an integrated suite of computational modeling and simulation capabilities to quantitatively assess the long-term performance of waste forms in the engineered and geologic environments of a radioactive waste storage or disposal system. The Waste IPSC will provide this simulation capability (1) for a range of disposal concepts, waste form types, engineered repositorymore » designs, and geologic settings, (2) for a range of time scales and distances, (3) with appropriate consideration of the inherent uncertainties, and (4) in accordance with rigorous verification, validation, and software quality requirements. The gap analyses documented in this report were are performed during an initial gap analysis to identify candidate codes and tools to support the development and integration of the Waste IPSC, and during follow-on activities that delved into more detailed assessments of the various codes that were acquired, studied, and tested. The current Waste IPSC strategy is to acquire and integrate the necessary Waste IPSC capabilities wherever feasible, and develop only those capabilities that cannot be acquired or suitably integrated, verified, or validated. The gap analysis indicates that significant capabilities may already exist in the existing THC codes although there is no single code able to fully account for all physical and chemical processes involved in a waste disposal system. Large gaps exist in modeling chemical processes and their couplings with other processes. The coupling of chemical processes with flow transport and mechanical deformation remains challenging. The data for extreme environments (e.g., for elevated temperature and high ionic strength media) that are needed for repository modeling are severely lacking. In addition, most of existing reactive transport codes were developed for non-radioactive contaminants, and they need to be adapted to account for radionuclide decay and in-growth. The accessibility to the source codes is generally limited. Because the problems of interest for the Waste IPSC are likely to result in relatively large computational models, a compact memory-usage footprint and a fast/robust solution procedure will be needed. A robust massively parallel processing (MPP) capability will also be required to provide reasonable turnaround times on the analyses that will be performed with the code. A performance assessment (PA) calculation for a waste disposal system generally requires a large number (hundreds to thousands) of model simulations to quantify the effect of model parameter uncertainties on the predicted repository performance. A set of codes for a PA calculation must be sufficiently robust and fast in terms of code execution. A PA system as a whole must be able to provide multiple alternative models for a specific set of physical/chemical processes, so that the users can choose various levels of modeling complexity based on their modeling needs. This requires PA codes, preferably, to be highly modularized. Most of the existing codes have difficulties meeting these requirements. Based on the gap analysis results, we have made the following recommendations for the code selection and code development for the NEAMS waste IPSC: (1) build fully coupled high-fidelity THCMBR codes using the existing SIERRA codes (e.g., ARIA and ADAGIO) and platform, (2) use DAKOTA to build an enhanced performance assessment system (EPAS), and build a modular code architecture and key code modules for performance assessments. The key chemical calculation modules will be built by expanding the existing CANTERA capabilities as well as by extracting useful components from other existing codes.« less

Ultrasonic/Sonic Impacting Penetrators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bao, Xiaoqi; Bar-Cohen, Yoseph; Chang, Zensheu; Sherrit, Stewart; Stark, Randall A.

2008-01-01

Ultrasonic/sonic impacting penetrators (USIPs) are recent additions to the series of apparatuses based on ultrasonic/sonic drill corers (USDCs). A USIP enables a rod probe to penetrate packed soil or another substance of similar consistency, without need to apply a large axial force that could result in buckling of the probe or in damage to some buried objects. USIPs were conceived for use in probing and analyzing soil to depths of tens of centimeters in the vicinity of buried barrels containing toxic waste, without causing rupture of the barrels. USIPs could also be used for other purposes, including, for example, searching for pipes, barrels, or other hard objects buried in soil; and detecting land mines. USDCs and other apparatuses based on USDCs have been described in numerous previous NASA Tech Briefs articles. The ones reported previously were designed, variously, for boring into, and/or acquiring samples of, rock or other hard, brittle materials of geological interest. To recapitulate: A USDC can be characterized as a lightweight, low-power, piezoelectrically driven jackhammer in which ultrasonic and sonic vibrations are generated and coupled to a tool bit. As shown in the figure, a basic USDC includes a piezoelectric stack, a backing and a horn connected to the stack, a free mass (free in the sense that it can slide axially a short distance between the horn and the shoulder of tool bit), and a tool bit, i.e., probe for USIP. The piezoelectric stack is driven at the resonance frequency of the stack/horn/backing assembly to create ultrasonic vibrations that are mechanically amplified by the horn. To prevent fracture during operation, the piezoelectric stack is held in compression by a bolt. The bouncing of the free mass between the horn and the tool bit at sonic frequencies generates hammering actions to the bit that are more effective for drilling than is the microhammering action of ultrasonic vibrations in ordinary ultrasonic drills. The hammering actions are so effective that the axial force needed to make the tool bit advance into the material of interest is much smaller than in ordinary twist drilling, ultrasonic drilling, or ordinary steady pushing.

EPA Facility Registry Service (FRS): RCRA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This web feature service contains location and facility identification information from EPA's Facility Registry Service (FRS) for the subset of hazardous waste facilities that link to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Information System (RCRAInfo). EPA's comprehensive information system in support of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 and the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) of 1984, RCRAInfo tracks many types of information about generators, transporters, treaters, storers, and disposers of hazardous waste. FRS identifies and geospatially locates facilities, sites or places subject to environmental regulations or of environmental interest. Using vigorous verification and data management procedures, FRS integrates facility data from EPA's national program systems, other federal agencies, and State and tribal master facility records and provides EPA with a centrally managed, single source of comprehensive and authoritative information on facilities. This data set contains the subset of FRS integrated facilities that link to RCRAInfo hazardous waste facilities once the RCRAInfo data has been integrated into the FRS database. Additional information on FRS is available at the EPA website https://www.epa.gov/enviro/facility-registry-service-frs

Application of life cycle assessment for hospital solid waste management: A case study.

PubMed

Ali, Mustafa; Wang, Wenping; Chaudhry, Nawaz

2016-10-01

This study was meant to determine environmental aspects of hospital waste management scenarios using a life cycle analysis approach. The survey for this study was conducted at the largest hospital in a major city of Pakistan. The hospital was thoroughly analyzed from November 2014 to January 2015 to quantify its wastes by category. The functional unit of the study was selected as 1 tonne of disposable solid hospital waste. System boundaries included transportation of hospital solid waste and its treatment and disposal by landfilling, incineration, composting, and material recycling methods. These methods were evaluated based on their greenhouse gas emissions. Landfilling and incineration turned out to be the worst final disposal alternatives, whereas composting and material recovery displayed savings in emissions. An integrated system (composting, incineration, and material recycling) was found as the best solution among the evaluated scenarios. This study can be used by policymakers for the formulation of an integrated hospital waste management plan. This study deals with environmental aspects of hospital waste management scenarios. It is an increasing area of concern in many developing and resource-constrained countries of the world. The life cycle analysis (LCA) approach is a useful tool for estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from different waste management activities. There is a shortage of information in existing literature regarding LCA of hospital wastes. To the best knowledge of the authors this work is the first attempt at quantifying the environmental footprint of hospital waste in Pakistan.

Guided wave attenuation in coated pipes buried in sand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leinov, Eli; Cawley, Peter; Lowe, Michael J. S.

2016-02-01

Long-range guided wave testing (GWT) is routinely used for the monitoring and detection of corrosion defects in above ground pipelines in various industries. The GWT test range in buried, coated pipelines is greatly reduced compared to aboveground pipelines due to energy leakage into the embedding soil. In this study, we aim to increase test ranges for buried pipelines. The effect of pipe coatings on the T(0,1) and L(0,2) guided wave attenuation is investigated using a full-scale experimental apparatus and model predictions. Tests are performed on a fusion-bonded epoxy (FBE)-coated 8" pipe, buried in loose and compacted sand over a frequency range of 10-35 kHz. The application of a low impedance coating is shown to effectively decouple the influence of the sand on the ultrasound leakage from the buried pipe. We demonstrate ultrasonic isolation of a buried pipe by coating the pipe with a Polyethylene (PE)-foam layer that has a smaller impedance than both pipe and sand and the ability to withstand the overburden load from the sand. The measured attenuation in the buried PE-foam-FBE-coated pipe is substantially reduced, in the range of 0.3-1.2 dBm-1 for loose and compacted sand conditions, compared to buried FBE-coated pipe without the PE-foam, where the measured attenuation is in the range of 1.7-4.7 dBm-1. The acoustic properties of the PE-foam are measured independently using ultrasonic interferometry technique and used in model predictions of guided wave propagation in a buried coated pipe. Good agreement is found between the attenuation measurements and model predictions. The attenuation exhibits periodic peaks in the frequency domain corresponding to the through-thickness resonance frequencies of the coating layer. The large reduction in guided wave attenuation for PE-coated pipes would lead to greatly increased GWT test ranges, so such coatings would be attractive for new pipeline installations.

An evaluation of methods for identifying and interpreting buried soils in late Quaternary loess in Alaska: A section in Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998

USGS Publications Warehouse

Muhs, Daniel R.; Ager, Thomas A.; Been, Josh M.; Rosenbaum, Joseph G.; Reynolds, Richard J.

2000-01-01

The presence of buried soils in Alaskan loess is controversial, and therefore criteria for identifying buried soils in these deposits need to be evaluated. In this paper, morphologic and chemical criteria for identifying buried soils are evaluated by studying modern soils developed mostly in Holocene loess under tundra, boreal forest, and transitional coastal-boreal forest vegetation in different parts of Alaska. Data from modern Alaskan soils that developed under vegetation similar to that of the present indicate that soil morphology, organic-matter concentrations, and P concentrations can be useful diagnostic tools for identifying buried soils. Soil morphologic criteria, particularly horizon colors and horizon sequences, are essential for identifying buried soils, but some minimally developed soils may resemble organic-rich alluvial, colluvial, or lacustrine deposits. Organic matter and total P contents and distributions can aid in such studies because in well-drained soils these constituents show rapid declines with depth. However, neither of these techniques may work if the upper genetic horizons of buried soils are eroded.If buried soils are present in Alaskan loess, it would also be desirable to have techniques for determining the dominant vegetation under which the soils formed. Such techniques could then be used to reconstruct former vegetation types and paleoclimates in Alaska. A previous study suggested that tundra and boreal forest vegetation have distinctive carbon isotopic compositions, although both are dominated by C3 plants. If this is the case, then the carbon isotopic composition of organic matter in buried soils could be used to reconstruct former vegetation types. A larger suite of modern soils from Alaskan tundra and forest were analyzed to test this hypothesis. Results indicate that modern soil O horizons in these two biomes have the same range of δ13C values, and therefore carbon isotope compositions cannot be used to reconstruct former tundra or boreal forest.

DBAC: A simple prediction method for protein binding hot spots based on burial levels and deeply buried atomic contacts

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background A protein binding hot spot is a cluster of residues in the interface that are energetically important for the binding of the protein with its interaction partner. Identifying protein binding hot spots can give useful information to protein engineering and drug design, and can also deepen our understanding of protein-protein interaction. These residues are usually buried inside the interface with very low solvent accessible surface area (SASA). Thus SASA is widely used as an outstanding feature in hot spot prediction by many computational methods. However, SASA is not capable of distinguishing slightly buried residues, of which most are non hot spots, and deeply buried ones that are usually inside a hot spot. Results We propose a new descriptor called “burial level” for characterizing residues, atoms and atomic contacts. Specifically, burial level captures the depth the residues are buried. We identify different kinds of deeply buried atomic contacts (DBAC) at different burial levels that are directly broken in alanine substitution. We use their numbers as input for SVM to classify between hot spot or non hot spot residues. We achieve F measure of 0.6237 under the leave-one-out cross-validation on a data set containing 258 mutations. This performance is better than other computational methods. Conclusions Our results show that hot spot residues tend to be deeply buried in the interface, not just having a low SASA value. This indicates that a high burial level is not only a necessary but also a more sufficient condition than a low SASA for a residue to be a hot spot residue. We find that those deeply buried atoms become increasingly more important when their burial levels rise up. This work also confirms the contribution of deeply buried interfacial atomic contacts to the energy of protein binding hot spot. PMID:21689480

Integrated systems for biopolymers and bioenergy production from organic waste and by-products: a review of microbial processes.

PubMed

Pagliano, Giorgia; Ventorino, Valeria; Panico, Antonio; Pepe, Olimpia

2017-01-01

Recently, issues concerning the sustainable and harmless disposal of organic solid waste have generated interest in microbial biotechnologies aimed at converting waste materials into bioenergy and biomaterials, thus contributing to a reduction in economic dependence on fossil fuels. To valorize biomass, waste materials derived from agriculture, food processing factories, and municipal organic waste can be used to produce biopolymers, such as biohydrogen and biogas, through different microbial processes. In fact, different bacterial strains can synthesize biopolymers to convert waste materials into valuable intracellular (e.g., polyhydroxyalkanoates) and extracellular (e.g., exopolysaccharides) bioproducts, which are useful for biochemical production. In particular, large numbers of bacteria, including Alcaligenes eutrophus , Alcaligenes latus , Azotobacter vinelandii , Azotobacter chroococcum , Azotobacter beijerincki , methylotrophs, Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., Rhizobium spp., Nocardia spp., and recombinant Escherichia coli , have been successfully used to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates on an industrial scale from different types of organic by-products. Therefore, the development of high-performance microbial strains and the use of by-products and waste as substrates could reasonably make the production costs of biodegradable polymers comparable to those required by petrochemical-derived plastics and promote their use. Many studies have reported use of the same organic substrates as alternative energy sources to produce biogas and biohydrogen through anaerobic digestion as well as dark and photofermentation processes under anaerobic conditions. Therefore, concurrently obtaining bioenergy and biopolymers at a reasonable cost through an integrated system is becoming feasible using by-products and waste as organic carbon sources. An overview of the suitable substrates and microbial strains used in low-cost polyhydroxyalkanoates for biohydrogen and biogas production is given. The possibility of creating a unique integrated system is discussed because it represents a new approach for simultaneously producing energy and biopolymers for the plastic industry using by-products and waste as organic carbon sources.

Life cycle assessment of integrated waste management systems for alternative legacy scenarios of the London Olympic Park

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Parkes, Olga, E-mail: o.parkes@ucl.ac.uk; Lettieri, Paola, E-mail: p.lettieri@ucl.ac.uk; Bogle, I. David L.

Highlights: • Application of LCA in planning integrated waste management systems. • Environmental valuation of 3 legacy scenarios for the Olympic Park. • Hot-spot analysis highlights the importance of energy and materials recovery. • Most environmental savings are achieved through materials recycling. • Sensitivity analysis shows importance of waste composition and recycling rates. - Abstract: This paper presents the results of the life cycle assessment (LCA) of 10 integrated waste management systems (IWMSs) for 3 potential post-event site design scenarios of the London Olympic Park. The aim of the LCA study is to evaluate direct and indirect emissions resulting frommore » various treatment options of municipal solid waste (MSW) annually generated on site together with avoided emissions resulting from energy, materials and nutrients recovery. IWMSs are modelled using GaBi v6.0 Product Sustainability software and results are presented based on the CML (v.Nov-10) characterisation method. The results show that IWMSs with advanced thermal treatment (ATT) and incineration with energy recovery have the lowest Global Warming Potential (GWP) than IWMSs where landfill is the primary waste treatment process. This is due to higher direct emissions and lower avoided emissions from the landfill process compared to the emissions from the thermal treatment processes. LCA results demonstrate that significant environmental savings are achieved through substitution of virgin materials with recycled ones. The results of the sensitivity analysis carried out for IWMS 1 shows that increasing recycling rate by 5%, 10% and 15% compared to the baseline scenario can reduce GWP by 8%, 17% and 25% respectively. Sensitivity analysis also shows how changes in waste composition affect the overall result of the system. The outcomes of such assessments provide decision-makers with fundamental information regarding the environmental impacts of different waste treatment options necessary for sustainable waste management planning.« less

Flowsheets and source terms for radioactive waste projections

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Forsberg, C.W.

1985-03-01

Flowsheets and source terms used to generate radioactive waste projections in the Integrated Data Base (IDB) Program are given. Volumes of each waste type generated per unit product throughput have been determined for the following facilities: uranium mining, UF/sub 6/ conversion, uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication, boiling-water reactors (BWRs), pressurized-water reactors (PWRs), and fuel reprocessing. Source terms for DOE/defense wastes have been developed. Expected wastes from typical decommissioning operations for each facility type have been determined. All wastes are also characterized by isotopic composition at time of generation and by general chemical composition. 70 references, 21 figures, 53 tables.

Comprehensive Review and Case Study on the Management of Buried Penis Syndrome and Related Panniculectomy

PubMed Central

Burns, Hadley; Chowdhry, Saeed; Lee, Thomas; Schulz, Steven; Wilhelmi, Bradon J.

2018-01-01

Objective: This paper discusses the various surgical techniques and outcomes associated with management of buried penis syndrome. Methods: Presented is the case of a 49-year-old man with morbid obesity, leading to massive panniculus and buried penis. We review our technique for reconstruction of the buried penis and treatment of the overlying large panniculus. Literature search was conducted to review current techniques in correcting buried penis syndrome. Results: The patient underwent a successful panniculectomy with removal of all excess skin and tissue. Thoughtful planning and coordination between plastic surgery and urology were paramount to externalize the penis for an excellent functional and cosmetic result. Conclusions: Management of a buried, hidden penis is complex and difficult. Patients are often obese and have poor hygiene due to the inability to cleanse areas that are entrapped by excessive fat. Following removal of the overhanging panniculus, satisfactory reconstruction of a hidden penis is possible when proper care is taken to adhere the base of the penis to the pubis. Split-thickness skin grafts are often necessary but depend on the viability of the penile skin and whether it is restricting penile length. Complications with wound dehiscence and infection are not uncommon; however, patients generally recover well, are satisfied with results, and are reported to have fully regained urinary and sexual functions following surgical correction of the buried penis. PMID:29467914