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March, 2010
Waste Management Symposia
A total of 20 DOE Fellows have submitted abstracts and papers for the upcoming Waste Management Symposia to be held in March 7 – 11, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Fall 2009
DOE Fellow research featured in the Office of Deactivation and Decommissioning and Facility Engineering’s fall quarterly newsletter
The decision tool for prioritizing Surveillance and Maintenance investments developed by DOE Fellow Ms. Leydi Velez was featured in the Office of Deactivation and Decommissioning and Facility Engineering’s fall quarterly newsletter.
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January 28-29, 2010
DOE-EM’s Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) Visits FIU
The Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) D&D Working Group (WG) visited the Applied Research Center (ARC) at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. The purpose of the two day meeting was to better understand the capabilities and resources of each institution and to forge future collaborations and partnerships.
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January, 2010
DOE Fellows Program highlighted in “Diversity @ EM” magazine
The DOE Fellows Program and its director Dr. Lagos were featured in this month’s DOE EM’s Diversity @ EM magazine. In the January/February edition of the magazine Dr. Lagos details the programs vision and mission and explain why is this program so important to EM and DOE.
More Information....
News Archive |
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| Jose S. Rivera (Civil Engineering) |
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About DOE Fellow:
Jose Rivera earned his BS in Civil
Engineering from FIU in 2008. Jose Rivera gained
extensive research experience in the filed of
environmental engineering while working with
the Applied Research Center at FIU. Jose Rivera
assisted scientists and senior engineers on various
DOE realted projects dealing with waste remediation,
decontamination and decommissioning of radiological
contaminated facilities.
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Currently Mr. Rivera is assisting Nuclear Engineer Mr. Duriem Calderin on the project evaluating the effectiveness of a SIMWyPES wipes. The focus of the project is to evaluate the performance of the wipes in the decontamination of radioactive surfaces. The tests will be performed using beta emitter isotopes on different surfaces, such as linoleum, formic, tiles and others. The results of these tests will be compared with normal wipes used for decontamination of beta emitter in all DOE laboratories.
Mr. Rivera also provides assistance for theRapid Deployment of Engineering Solutions to Environmental Problems project. This project’s support includes: To quantify the dissolution kinetics of autunite mineral, created as a result of uranium stabilization following the application of a polyphosphate remediation strategy, in the presence of bicarbonate and investigate factors such as temperature, pH and electrolyte concentration on dissolution kinetics.
Mr. Rivera did an internship at the Idaho National Lab in the summer of 2008. Under the supervision of Chemist Rick Demmer, Mr. Rivera researched to determine criteria/requirements for tank farm pipeline unplugging.
US DOE Pipeline Unplugging Requirements
Development -9361 Idaho National Lab (INL)
Transportation of radioactive or nuclear spent waste
(NSW)
DOE sites around the country have an
ongoing effort to transport and process several tons
of radioactive waste in the form of slurry (liquids
and solids) from storage tanks to processing facilities.
A system of underground pipes is used for this purpose. Due
to high levels of radiation, the pipes are difficult
to access for maintenance or monitoring. Plugging of
the pipes creates a difficult and hazardous problem
to correct. The system of pipes used for the transportation
of this waste needs technology for maintenance and
for the prevention (and correction) of pipeline plugging.
After reviewing the results of every test, including
the benefits, advantages and disadvantages of each
technology, requirements were developed for pressure,
personnel training, environmental concerns, safety,
and compatibility with current systems, operability,
reliability, maintainability and cost.
Figure 2. Tank farm to process Spent Nuclear Waste
at INL.
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