Innovative Characterization Technologies to Address Environmental Problems at U.S. Department of Energy Sites

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is the governing agency of the Nuclear Weapons Complex, an industrial network of national laboratories and production facilities created to conduct research and development, and to test and produce nuclear weapons. Throughout 45 years of production, the Complex has assembled tens of thousands of warheads and generated millions of cubic meters of hazardous and radioactive waste. Some hazardous contaminants have been dumped, leaked, buried or injected into the ground and exist in concentrations well above drinking water standards at several sites. In addition, aboveground and underground weapons testing has contaminated large areas of land and hundreds of properties involved with the original Manhattan Project and thousands of other facilities in need of decontamination. Finally, thousands of sites that utilized uranium mill tailings for fill material also need to be remediated.