INL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Science

Modeling and Measurement

Continued on back

Applied and basic research

activities include:

• Developing reservoir

engineering techniques for

delineating and understanding reservoir behavior

• Performing air pathway

contaminant transport

assessment and modeling

• Investigating and developing new measurement

techniques for air pollution

• Developing risk assessment methodologies to

support various Department of Energy (DOE),

Environmental Protection

Agency, and State of Idaho

requirements

• Performing mesoscale

experiments coupled with

numerical simulations to

develop better models of

flow in fractured rock

vadose zones

• Performing test bed

experiments to validate

landfill cap and cover

performance.

Environmental and operations

support includes:

• Site characterization and

remediation

• Multipathway contaminant

fate and transport modeling

• Human health and the

environmental risk

assessment

• Performance assessments

and composite analyses.

The staff of 40 scientists,

engineers, technicians, and

post-doctoral researchers hold

degrees and experience in

geology, geochemistry,

hydrology, physics, chemistry,

subsurface modeling, atmospheric and surface transport

modeling, geophysics,

reservoir engineering, health

physics, and other earth

science and engineering

disciplines. Primary customers include DOE’s Office of

Science, Fossil Energy,

Energy Efficiency, and

various DOE sites. The

Department also performs

work for the Environmental

Protection Agency and

Bureau of Reclamation and

supports the Idaho Completion Project. INL foresees

additional opportunities with

all of these customers.

Site Characterization and

Remediation. Staff members

with experience in environmental compliance, soil and

groundwater sampling,

aquifer testing, geochemistry,

hydrology, geophysical

imaging, remediation, and

environmental regulations are

at the heart of virtually every

environmental cleanup and

applied field research effort at

INL. Work includes evaluating the nature and extent of

contamination at hazardous,

radioactive, and mixed-waste

sites; evaluating the potential

health risk of releases;

predicting contaminant fate

and transport through computer modeling; evaluating

remedial strategies; and

conducting performance

assessments and composite

analyses.

Subsurface and Contaminant

Transport Modeling. The

department’s staff perform

applied modeling in support

of environmental investigations and basic research.

Researchers are conducting

advanced modeling studies to

better understand and predict

the flow and transport of

water, vapor, and contaminants in saturated and unsaturated subsurface environments.

They are also involved in

developing new modeling

tools to increase the reliability

(reduce uncertainty) of

modeling predictions. Staff

are skilled in developing

conceptual models; identifying appropriate hydrologic,

Core sample from the

subsurface.

The Modeling and Measurement Department performs applied earth science

research and provides critical technical expertise for the Idaho Completion

Project, Environmental Affairs, and numerous other site operations. The Department bridges the gap between basic research and applied technology development and

implementation. Staff members possess a wide range of expertise and work in areas

ranging from bench-scale research to consulting services.
INL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Continued from front

05-GA50193-10

chemical, and transport

parameters for modeling

purposes; and performing and

interpreting simulation

results. Inverse models for

parameter estimation and

uncertainty analysis are also

being developed. Radiological

and Toxic Chemical Environmental Assessment. Researchers are studying how radiological and toxic chemical

releases impact human health

and the environment. The

Department’s staff support

air-permit development;

Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (RCRA) and

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,

and Liability Act (CERCLA)

human health and environmental risk assessments;

waste site performance

assessments; waste characterization and sampling; and

varied safety analyses. Staff

include environmental health

physicists and environmental

scientists with experience in

environmental transport

modeling and dose assessment. Analysts integrate

exposure assessments and

biokinetic modeling into

contaminant transport models.

Energy Sciences

Research staff apply numerical and analytical models to

better support DOE’s energy

mission and energy science

needs. Models are being

developed to correctly predict

the phase behavior in geothermal and fossil energy reservoirs, the formation and

behavior of methane hydrates,

and carbon sequestration

methods. Conventional

reservoir simulation is also

being coupled to geophysical

models in order to better

monitor energy resources.

These modeling studies are

complemented by analytic

tools used to predict flow

paths and velocities in the

subsurface.

Basic and Applied

Research

Research staff are developing

innovative numerical methods

to develop a better understanding of subsurface

processes and to provide

conceptual models that can be

applied to the prediction of

the behavior of subsurface

contaminants. Smoothed

particle hydrodynamics,

dissipative particle dynamics,

lattice Boltzmann simulations,

and level set methods are

being employed to model

multiphase fluid flow in

complex fracture apertures

and pore spaces.

Geostatistical methods and

wavelet analysis are being

used to characterize subsurface heterogeneities, and

stochastic differential equations are being developed to

describe the transport of

subsurface contaminants.

The Department operates the

INL Fracture Flow LaboraFor more information

tory, which is dedicated to

conducting experiments at a

scale sufficiently large

(mesoscale) to improve

understandings of how

multiple flow and transport

parameters interact at the field

scale to influence and/or

control subsurface fluid flow.

Results from this research

will improve predicted

simulations of contaminant

transport from hazardous and

radioactive waste sites.

Recently, the laboratory has

been performing experiments

to address the integrity of

landfill covers. Tests have

been conducted to (a) evaluate

the degradation of

geomembranes by repeated

freezing and thawing, (b)

evaluate the integrity of soil

covers after repeated wetting

and drying, (c) look at how

subsidence influences cover

performance.

Staff are also involved in the

development and application

of advanced methods to

measure and assess atmospheric transport of air

pollutants. Advanced tracegas analyzers coupled with

meteorological measurements

and dynamic surface-to-air

flux chambers are being used

to assess the transport and

cycling of mercury across

regional scales and to understand source contributions.

The staff have also developed

and applied multivariate

receptor modeling techniques,

which use measured chemical

fingerprints to quantify a

specific source’s contribution

to fallout at locations where

plumes from many sources

mix.

Greg Stormberg

208-526-1241

Gregory.Stormberg@inl.gov

Melinda Hamilton, Ph.D.

208-526-0948

Melinda.Hamilton@inl.gov

The INL is a U.S. Department of

Energy national laboratory

operated by Battelle Energy

Alliance

Simulated nitrate