The Protected Area of Hanford as a Refugium for Native Plants and Animals

The US Department of Energy's Hanford Site, by virtue of its large size of 1,450 km2 (560 mi2) and conservative use of undeveloped land, provides a sanctuary for plant and animal populations that have been eliminated from, or greatly reduced on, surrounding areas primarily as a result of decades of intensive agriculture. This paper describes Hanford Site biota with emphasis on fishes and other animal wildlife that are currently surveyed as part of a continuing environmental monitoring programme.

Download Full-text

Environmental monitoring of radioactive and non-radioactive constituents in the vicinity of WIP

Proceedings in Radiochemistry ◽

10.1524/rcpr.2011.0047 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 269-276

Author(s):

P. Thakur ◽

J. Monk ◽

J. L. Conca

Keyword(s):

Environmental Monitoring ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

Department Of Energy ◽

Disposal Site ◽

State University ◽

Chemical Contaminants ◽

The Public ◽

New Mexico State University ◽

The Us ◽

Waste Repositories

Abstract The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a US Department of Energy (DOE) facility, is a deep geologic transuranic waste disposal site designed for the safe disposal of transuranic (TRU) wastes generated from the US defense program. Monitoring is a key component of the development and operation of any nuclear repository and is important to the WIPP performance assessment. Initial concerns over the release of radioactive and chemical contaminants from the WIPP led to various monitoring programs, including the independent, academic-based WIPP environmental monitoring (WIPP-EM) program conducted by the New Mexico State University (NMSU) Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center (CEMRC) located in Carlsbad, NM. The mission of CEMRC is to develop and implement an independent health and environmental monitoring program in the vicinity of WIPP and make the results easily accessible to the public and all interested parties. Under the WIPP-EM program constituents monitored include: (1) selected radionuclides, elements, and ions of interest in air, soil, vegetation, drinking water, surface water and sediment from within a 100-mile radius of WIPP as well as in the air exiting the WIPP exhaust shaft, and (2) internally deposited radionuclides in the citizenry living within a 100-mile radius of WIPP. This article presents an evaluation of more than tens years of environmental monitoring data that informed the public that there is no evidence of increases in radiological contaminants in the region that could be attributed to releases from the WIPP. Such an extensive monitoring program and constant public engagement is an ideal model for all nuclear waste repositories anywhere in the world.

Download Full-text

Autonomous and In Situ Ocean Environmental Monitoring on Optofluidic Platform

Micromachines ◽

10.3390/mi11010069 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 69 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Fang Wang ◽

Jiaomeng Zhu ◽

Longfei Chen ◽

Yunfeng Zuo ◽

Xuejia Hu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Monitoring ◽

Chemical Elements ◽

Biogeochemical Cycles ◽

Chemical Parameters ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Large Size ◽

High Power Consumption ◽

Marine Disasters ◽

Ocean Monitoring

Determining the distributions and variations of chemical elements in oceans has significant meanings for understanding the biogeochemical cycles, evaluating seawater pollution, and forecasting the occurrence of marine disasters. The primary chemical parameters of ocean monitoring include nutrients, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and heavy metals. At present, ocean monitoring mainly relies on laboratory analysis, which is hindered in applications due to its large size, high power consumption, and low representative and time-sensitive detection results. By integrating photonics and microfluidics into one chip, optofluidics brings new opportunities to develop portable microsystems for ocean monitoring. Optofluidic platforms have advantages in respect of size, cost, timeliness, and parallel processing of samples compared with traditional instruments. This review describes the applications of optofluidic platforms on autonomous and in situ ocean environmental monitoring, with an emphasis on their principles, sensing properties, advantages, and disadvantages. Predictably, autonomous and in situ systems based on optofluidic platforms will have important applications in ocean environmental monitoring.

Download Full-text

Radiometric and chemical parameters in freshwater samples of Centro Experimental Aramar (CTMSP/Brazil) environmental monitoring programme

International Journal of Environmental Studies ◽

10.1080/00207230903138604 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 67 (3) ◽

pp. 373-382

Author(s):

Marco Antonio P.V. Moraes ◽

Rosane Correa Fagundes

Keyword(s):

Environmental Monitoring ◽

Monitoring Programme ◽

Chemical Parameters ◽

Environmental Monitoring Programme

Download Full-text

Procedure and Results of Decommissioning of R&D Facility of Uranium Fuel

ASME 2010 13th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management, Volume 2 ◽

10.1115/icem2010-40166 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Hirokazu Tanaka ◽

Masao Shimizu ◽

Susumu Tojo ◽

Ryoji Tanimoto ◽

Kazuhiko Maekawa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radioactive Waste ◽

Research And Development ◽

Environmental Monitoring ◽

Radioactive Wastes ◽

Nuclear Facilities ◽

Uranium Ore ◽

Uranium Fuel ◽

Surrounding Areas ◽

Ore Dressing

From 1998 through 2005, the facilities for research and development (R&D) of uranium ore-dressing and uranium fuel etc. were decommissioned and soil contaminated by uranium was collected. All the pieces of apparatus in the nuclear facilities which might be contaminated with uranium were treated as radioactive wastes. At the time of the decommissioning activity, there was no specific value to judge as radioactive wastes. So MMC considered and adopted the pragmatic procedure to judge that soil was radioactive waste or not. During decommissioning facilities and collecting soil, the environmental monitoring was conducted. And it was confirmed that these activities had no influence on the surrounding areas. All decommissioning activities were finished with no difficulty. The wastes generated from the decommissioning activities were packed in the steel containers and have been stored safely in the storehouse built in the same area. In this report, the details of decommissioning activities are described.

Download Full-text

Population size and survivorship for juvenile lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) on their nursery grounds at a marine protected area in Brazil

Neotropical Ichthyology ◽

10.1590/s1679-62252009000200011 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 205-212 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Renato Hajenius Aché de Freitas ◽

Ricardo S. Rosa ◽

Bradley M. Wetherbee ◽

Samuel H. Gruber

Keyword(s):

Population Size ◽

Protected Area ◽

Marine Protected Area ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Direct Methods ◽

Nursery Grounds ◽

Negaprion Brevirostris ◽

Animal Populations ◽

Population Size Estimates ◽

Lemon Sharks

Sharks face a number of obstacles for surviving their first several years of life and many species occupy nursery areas. Although estimates of survival, particularly for young age classes, are essential for assessing, monitoring and effectively managing animal populations, there have been relatively few calculations of survival within shark populations and even fewer estimates based on direct methods for sharks on their nursery grounds. We used tag-recapture methods to estimate the population size and survival of juvenile lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) on their nursery grounds at Atol das Rocas, a marine protected area in Brazil. Sharks were sampled from1999 to 2003. Population size estimates ranged from 12 to 100 juvenile sharks and survival estimates ranged between 24-54% with a mean of 44.6% over the most robust sampling periods. The population of juvenile lemon sharks declined over the course of our study, whereas survival rates may have increased over the same time period. Even a modest level of fishing and removal of mature females in adjacent areas may dramatically affect small populations of sharks within a small and isolated nursery such as Atol das Rocas. The lower survival rates and population size at Atol das Rocas could be the result of differences in physical characteristics of this nursery in comparison to others used by lemon sharks in the northwestern Atlantic. Such comparatively lower populational parameters suggest that the population of young lemon sharks is fragile at the Atol das Rocas nursery.

Download Full-text

Professions Susceptible to Automation; A Study on Automotive Sector Employees

European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies ◽

10.26417/ejis.v4i1.p23-33 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 23

Author(s):

Aylin Goztas ◽

Fusun Topsumer ◽

Mehmet Karanfiloglu

Keyword(s):

Industry 4.0 ◽

Automotive Sector ◽

Review Of The Literature ◽

Self Assessment ◽

The Us ◽

Computer Based ◽

Human Skills ◽

Intellectual Skills ◽

Surrounding Areas ◽

Intensive Work

The future of jobs has been a popular issue in the industry 4.0 process and digitization. Many of today's profession groups are at risk with automation in the digitalization process and most will be replaced to computer-based software and robots. By this concept, with Industry 4.0, we come up with whether the jobs are susceptible or non-susceptible to automation. According to researchers, jobs, where more routine and labor-intensive work is done, are categorized as group of jobs prone to automation, on the other hand jobs requiring human skills in which intellectual skills are used intensively, especially those that cannot be done through machines yet are categorized as group of jobs non-susceptible to automation. A recent Forrester Report predicts that by 2021, 6% of jobs in the US will be automated. In another study, it is predicted that 47% of the professions in the US will be unmanned during the automation process. By this study, a review of the literature on the susceptibility of the various professions to automation will be made and self-assessment of the automotive sector managers in İzmir and the surrounding areas regarding their future professions will be studied through a descriptive study.

Download Full-text