# Presentation: 049600

##                                  U.S. Department of Energy                                 Office of Science		 Office of Biological & Environmental Research

- Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee

- Roland F. Hirsch
*April 30, 2003*

*Environmental Management Science Program*

## EMSP Goals

- Provide scientific knowledge that will revolutionize technologies and clean-up approaches to significantly reduce future costs, schedules, and risks
- “Bridge the gap” between broad fundamental research that has wide-ranging applicability such as that performed in DOE’s Office of Science and needs-driven applied technology development that is conducted in other parts of the agency and in the private sector
- Focus the Nation’s science infrastructure on critical DOE environmental management problems

## Brief History of the EMSP

- A response to an early recommendation to EM (Galvin Report, 1995)
- Implemented in Fiscal Year 1996, first grants awarded August 1996
- Initial annual budget of $50 million
- Jointly managed by SC and EM since its inception
- Since 1998 Notices targeted at EM needs (e.g., HLW, subsurface, D&D)
- To date has supported:
- 361 research projects at 97 universities and 33 laboratories
- In 40 States and 7 countries
- Over 550 university students at all levels
- Over 1100 peer-reviewed articles and presentations
- More than 30 projects that were deployed or commercialized
- Current budget is $30 million

## From the 1995 Galvin Commission ReportOn the Department of Energy Laboratories

- 	There is a particular need for long term, basic research in disciplines related to environmental cleanup ... Adopting a science-based approach that includes supporting development of technologies and expertise ... could lead to both reduced cleanup costs and smaller environmental impacts at existing sites and to the development of a scientific foundation for advances in environmental technologies.

## What Congress said in the FY 1997 Energy & Water Development Appropriation Report

- 	The conferees are pleased with the progress to date in implementing the environmental basic research program. In a recent review by the National Research Council, the Council endorsed this program and acknowledged ‘... establishment of this mission-directed, basic research program as both an urgent and a prudent investment for the nation.’ The National Research Council report further notes that the  ‘... long-term success of this program is highly dependent on the continuing partnership between EM, which understands the cleanup problems and research needs, and ER, which, through its mission to manage the department’s basic research programs, understands how to select and manage research.’ The committee endorses the efforts by EM and ER staff to work together and encourages them to continue their efforts to build an effective Environmental Management Science Program.

## Slide 6

## Slide 7

## Some EMSP Accomplishments

- Collaborative research a reality: a majority of EMSP projects are collaborations between scientists at two or more institutions, usually a DOE laboratory and a university or company
- Collaboration between EM and SC working well
- Improved communication between scientists and site managers
- Many of the most prominent researchers in key disciplines are leading research directed at solving EM cleanup problems
- At the same time, many young researchers are becoming involved: in 2001-2002 about 20% of lead PIs were in the first ten years after their Ph.D.

## Personnel Monitor for Radon and Thoron

- Deployed at the Fernald Site
- Naomi Harley, New York University Medical School

## Replacing a failed cesium separation process

- For use at Savannah River Site
- Bruce Moyer, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

## A scientific basis for predicting migration of cesium-137 leaked from high level waste tanks

**X-ray microscopy defines where and how Cs****+**** **
**and how Cs****+**** reacts with the mineral phase**

- SX-108 sediment was placed in KNO3 electrolyte and
- the desorption rate measured

- Measurements and models of 137Cs+ desorption kinetics and extent showed that 137Cs+ would not migrate to groundwater in Hanford’s S-SX tank farm in a 10 half-life period.
- John Zachara, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

**A slab diffusion ion exchange model describes ****137****Cs****+**** release kinetics to water**

- Contaminated mica particles were removed from sediment cross sectioned and imaged at 2 μm resolution

## National Research Council Reports

- Building an Effective Environmental Management Science Program, 1997
- Letter Report on Subsurface Contamination Research, 1998
- Seeing into the Earth: Noninvasive Characterization of the Shallow Subsurface for Environmental and Engineering Applications, 2000
- Research Needs in Subsurface Science, 2000
- Long-Term Research Needs for High-Level Waste at Department of Energy Sites: Interim Report, 2000
- Long-Term Research Needs on Deactivation and Decommissioning at DOE Sites, 2000
- Research Opportunities for Deactivating and Decommissioning Department of Energy Facilities, 2001
- Research Needs for High-Level Waste Stored in Tanks and Bins at U.S. Department of Energy Sites, 2001
- A Strategic Vision for Department of Energy Environmental Quality Research and Development, 2001
- Research Opportunities for Managing DOE's Transuranic and Mixed Wastes, 2002

## The EMSP Web Site

- _[http://emsp.em.doe.gov/](http://emsp.em.doe.gov/)_
- Links to:
- Funding, contacts, interim and final reports for every project, easily searchable
- Accomplishments
- Research needs and solicitations
- Internal and external reports