The United States Department of Energy's Environmental Management Program

2009 ◽  
Vol 1193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt D. Gerdes ◽  
Steven L. Ross
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Management ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Environmental Benefit ◽  
Environmental Management Program

The year 2009 marks 20 years since the Environmental Management program was first established in the Department of Energy. At that time, nearly 50 years of nuclear activity had left a legacy that included nuclear waste and environmental contamination at more than 100 sites across the United States. The extent of the risk to our citizens and communities was unknown, and certainly many of the processes and technologies to reduce that risk had not yet been invented. Since then, the Department of Energy has closed 86 of 108 sites originally assigned to the program nationwide. The Department of Energy has packaged and safely stored the nation’s entire excess plutonium inventory. The Department has pioneered new technologies that have allowed progress in retrieving millions of liters of tank waste and safely disposing of tens of thousands of cubic meters of transuranic waste. In Fiscal years 2006 and 2007 alone, the Department of Energy demolished approximately 500 buildings (nuclear, radioactive, and industrial) as part of our decontamination and decommissioning projects. Finally, there have been great strides in restoring groundwater contaminated with radionuclides using innovative treatment systems. In August 2005, a rigorous project management system was instituted. This Department of Energy program was built on the principle of prioritizing risk reduction supported by our four guiding tenets of safety, performance, clean-up, and closure. The mission activities at our clean-up sites are targeted at our highest risk activities. In planning its environmental clean-up efforts and developing the budget for those activities, the Department seeks to focus on work that will produce the greatest environmental benefit and the largest amount of risk reduction.

Overview of Lightweighting Materials Research & Development in the United States Freedomcar and Fuel Partnership

2009 ◽  
Vol 618-619 ◽  
pp. 395-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean M. Paxton ◽  
Joseph A. Carpenter ◽  
Philip S. Sklad ◽  
Mark T. Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
High Volume ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Al Alloy ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Lightweight Materials ◽  
Hybrid Propulsion ◽  
The Usa

The United States of America’s (USA’s) transportation system is strongly dependent on petroleum as an energy source. Petroleum is used to satisfy 95 percent of the USA’s transportation energy needs, consuming two-thirds of all the petroleum used in the USA. Since roughly 60 percent of the petroleum is imported, the implications of this dependency on energy security are readily apparent. Since 2002, the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) and the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) have worked cooperatively through the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership (FC&FP) to fund high-risk, high-payoff research and development (R&D) into advanced automotive technologies with the potential for lowering this dependence. The FC&FP succeeded and built upon the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) initiative that ran from 1993 to 2001. The long-term transition of vehicles from gasoline to non-petroleum energy sources is viewed as critical in lowering the dependence of the USA economy on foreign oil, and in reducing the environmental impact of the personal transportation sector. The FC&FP supports research on technologies with the potential for energy-efficiency and renewable energy benefits, such as new engine concepts, lightweight materials, alternate non-petroleum based fuels, and hybrid propulsion components. This paper will highlight the research in the lightweight metals portion of the FC&FP. Cooperative R&D projects will be discussed which focus on processing and manufacturing technologies such as casting of magnesium (Mg) and aluminium (Al) alloy components, advanced forming techniques for Al sheet, and warm-forming of Mg sheet. The overall objective of these efforts is not only to demonstrate new technologies, but to reduce the cost of manufacturing lightweight materials and enable implementation of the technologies in high-volume automotive applications.

scholarly journals Rabies Surveillance Identifies Potential Risk Corridors and Enables Management Evaluation

Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy J. Davis ◽  
Kathleen M. Nelson ◽  
Jordona D. Kirby ◽  
Ryan Wallace ◽  
Xiaoyue Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Potential Risk ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Program ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Health Surveillance Data

Intensive efforts are being made to eliminate the raccoon variant of rabies virus (RABV) from the eastern United States and Canada. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services National Rabies Management Program has implemented enhanced rabies surveillance (ERS) to improve case detection across the extent of the raccoon oral rabies vaccination (ORV) management area. We evaluated ERS and public health surveillance data from 2006 to 2017 in three northeastern USA states using a dynamic occupancy modeling approach. Our objectives were to examine potential risk corridors for RABV incursion from the U.S. into Canada, evaluate the effectiveness of ORV management strategies, and identify surveillance gaps. ORV management has resulted in a decrease in RABV cases over time within vaccination zones (from occupancy ( ψ ¯ ) of 0.60 standard error (SE) = 0.03 in the spring of 2006 to ψ ¯ of 0.33 SE = 0.10 in the spring 2017). RABV cases also reduced in the enzootic area (from ψ ¯ of 0.60 SE = 0.03 in the spring of 2006 to ψ ¯ of 0.45 SE = 0.05 in the spring 2017). Although RABV occurrence was related to habitat type, greater impacts were associated with ORV and trap–vaccinate–release (TVR) campaigns, in addition to seasonal and yearly trends. Reductions in RABV occupancy were more pronounced in areas treated with Ontario Rabies Vaccine Bait (ONRAB) compared to RABORAL V-RG®. Our approach tracked changes in RABV occurrence across space and time, identified risk corridors for potential incursions into Canada, and highlighted surveillance gaps, while evaluating the impacts of management actions. Using this approach, we are able to provide guidance for future RABV management.

The AGT101 Advanced Automotive Gas Turbine

1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Rackley ◽  
J. R. Kidwell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gas Turbine Engine ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Single Stage ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Turbine Engine

The Garrett/Ford Advanced Gas Turbine Powertrain System Development Project, authorized under NASA Contract DEN3-167, is sponsored by and is part of the United States Department of Energy Gas Turbine Highway Vehicle System Program. Program effort is oriented at providing the United States automotive industry the technology base necessary to produce gas turbine powertrains competitive for automotive applications having: (1) reduced fuel consumption, (2) multi-fuel capability, and (3) low emissions. The AGT101 powertrain is a 74.6 kW (100 hp), regenerated single-shaft gas turbine engine operating at a maximum turbine inlet temperature of 1644 K (2500 °F), coupled to a split differential gearbox and Ford automatic overdrive production transmission. The gas turbine engine has a single-stage centrifugal compressor and a single-stage radial inflow turbine mounted on a common shaft. Maximum rotor speed is 10,472 rad/sec (100,000 rpm). All high-temperature components, including the turbine rotor, are ceramic. AGT101 powertrain development has been initiated, with testing completed on many aerothermodynamic components in dedicated test rigs and start of Mod I, Build 1 engine testing.

Performance Goal-Based Seismic Design Standards for Critical Facilities in the United States

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quazi A. Hossain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Seismic Design ◽  
Functional Performance ◽  
Design Method ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Performance Goals ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Active Member ◽  
Performance Goal

For more than the last fifteen years, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has been using a probabilistic performance goal-based seismic design method for structures, systems, and components (SSCs) in its nuclear and hazardous facilities. Using a graded approach, the method permits the selection of probabilistic performance goals or acceptable failure rates for SSCs based on the severity level of SSC failure consequences. The method uses a site-specific probabilistic seismic hazard curve as the basic seismic input motion definition, but utilizes the existing national industry consensus design codes for specifying load combination and design acceptance criteria in such a way that the target probabilistic performance goals are met. Recently, the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) have undertaken the development of a number of national consensus standards that will utilize the performance goal-based seismic design experience base in the DOE complex. These standards are presently in various stages of development, some nearing completion. Once completed, these standards are likely to be adopted by various agencies and organizations in the United States. In addition to the graded approach of DOE’s method, these standards incorporate design provisions that permit seismic design of SSCs to several levels of functional performance. This flexibility of choosing a functional performance level in the design process results in an optimum, but risk-consistent design. The paper will provide an outline of two of these standards-in-progress and will present the author’s understanding of their basic philosophies and technical bases. Even though the author is an active member of the development committees for these two standards, the technical opinions expressed in this paper are author’s own, and does not reflect the views of any of the committees or the views of the organizations with which any member of the committees are affiliated.

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