Basic Science Research to Support the Nuclear Materials Focus Area
The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Environmental Management (EM) is responsible for managing more than 760,000 metric tons of nuclear material that is excess to the current DOE weapons program, as a result of shutdown of elements of the weapons program, mainly during the 1990s. EMowned excess nuclear material comprises a variety of material types, including uranium, plutonium, other actinides and other radioactive elements in numerous forms, all of which must be stabilized for storage and ultimate disposition. Much of this quantity has been in storage for many years. Shutdown of DOE sites and facilities requires removal of nuclear material and consolidation at other sites, and may be delayed by the lack of available technology. Within EM, the Office of Science and Technology (OST) is dedicated to providing timely, relevant technology to accelerate completion and reduce cleanup cost of the DOE environmental legacy. OST is organized around five focus areas, addressing crucial areas of end-user-defined technology need. The Focus Areas regularly identify potential technical solutions for which basic scientific research is needed to determine if the technical solution can be developed and deployed. To achieve a portfolio of projects that is balanced between near-term priorities driven by programmatic risks (such as site closure milestones) and long-term, high-consequence needs that depend on extensive research and development, OST has established the Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) to develop the scientific basis for solutions to long-term site needs. The EMSP directs calls for proposals to address scientific needs of the focus areas. Needs are identified and validated annually by individual sites in workshops conducted across the complex. The process captures scope and schedule requirements of the sites, so that focus areas can identify technology that can be delivered to sites in time to complete site cleanup. The Nuclear Material Focus Area (NMFA) has identified over two hundred science and technology needs, of which more than thirty are science needs.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 830700
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste Management 2002 Symposium, Tucson, AZ (US), 02/24/2002--02/28/2002; Other Information: PBD: 26 Feb 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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An overview of the Nuclear Materials Focus Area research program
Technical basis for the prioritization of needs and technical programs to stabilize and disposition nuclear materials