News

Use of drones to conduct radiological surveys from the sky, contamination monitoring 200-feet underground, and analysis of environmental data with artificial intelligence

artificial intelligence

A machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments.

Source: U.S. Department of State Source

tools, were among the captivating emerging technology themes discussed at the Global Summit on Environmental Remediation, which addressed a breadth of challenges, barriers, and innovative solutions for successful remediation and long-term stewardship of contaminated sites worldwide.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers use chemometric

chemometric

Defined as the application of mathematical and statistical methods to chemistry.

Source: NIH Source

analysis to model chemistry in molten salt. Uranium fuel dissolved in salt that is heated above its melting point is one design for a molten salt reactor (MSR), an advanced reactor concept for clean energy generation. How will nuclear power plant operators know what is happening within that extreme environment? How will they know if everything is running as expected?

Argonne is part of a multi-institutional effort to survey the sky for clues about the origins and nature of our universe. For more than five years, scientists at the South Pole Telescope in Antarctica have been observing the sky with an upgraded camera. The extended gaze toward the cosmos is picking up remnant light from the universe’s early formation. Now researchers have analyzed an initial batch of data, publishing details in the journal Physical Review D.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2024 Solicitation 1 cycle. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Since 2014, the SCGSR program has supported awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to conduct part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE national laboratory or host site in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist.

Clustering wildfires into four types based on their land-atmosphere drivers can potentially improve regional wildfire predictions. Wildfires in the Western United States (U.S.) have become more frequent and hazardous under warming, motivating a better understanding of the environmental conditions before fire ignition to improve wildfire predictions and disaster management.

Using a stable isotope technique, called pool dilution, is crucial for obtaining essential Earth system data. Biogeochemical processes,

biogeochemical processes

The complex interactions and transformations of chemical elements and compounds that occur throughout Earth's ecosystems, such as nutrient and element cycling between living organisms, the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and pedosphere (soil).

Source: Source

often called fluxes,

flux

The amount of some type of particle or energy crossing a unit area per unit time.

Source: NRC Library Source

recycle materials through the Earth system. Underlying productive and consumptive processes control the flux magnitude. Typically, these two components cannot be separated and only the net flux is measured. Using stable isotope tracers, chemically identical, microscopically “tagged” molecules can allow researchers to calculate the two gross components, but the equations are difficult to navigate.

The winners of the U.S. Department of Energy 2023 Geothermal

geothermal

Heat energy from the earth—Geo (earth) + thermal (heat).

Source: US Department of Energy Source

Collegiate Competition rose to the top by innovating to meet community energy needs through clean, renewable geothermal heating and cooling. The University of Oklahoma (Team GeoTribe) won first place in the Technical Track, and students from Columbia University and Princeton University took first in the Policy Track, for their creative proposals for geothermal systems in communities across the country.

There has been a leadership change within the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility’s signature modeling activity. Scott Giangrande, a meteorologist at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, is the new co-principal investigator of the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) ARM Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) activity. He succeeds Andrew Vogelmann, who recently retired from Brookhaven Lab after 20 years there as an atmospheric scientist.

Los Alamos National Lab programs monitor soil, water, air, animals and plants across the 40-square mile campus and surrounding area. At the Laboratory, designated employees work on environmental stewardship projects that include protecting the habitat of the Mexican spotted owl and tracking pinyon jays; sampling local honey, eggs and crops to ensure they’re not impacted by Lab operations; practicing responsible wildfire mitigation; and preserving archaeological sites.

Four DOE Projects Offer a Unified Approach to Measuring, Reporting, and Verifying the Removal of Carbon From the Atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) tapped the National Renewable Energy

renewable energy

Renewable energy comes from unlimited, naturally replenished resources, such as the sun, tides, and wind. Renewable energy can be used for electricity generation, space and water heating and cooling, and transportation.

Source: U.S Department of Energy Source

Laboratory (NREL) to support a new $15 million research effort to improve the measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) of carbon dioxide (CO2)

carbon dioxide (CO2)

An important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas, that comes from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas), from wildfires, and natural processes like volcanic eruptions.

Source: NASA Source

removal technologies. To achieve this goal, scientists must first establish robust scientific frameworks and methodologies to account for these efforts.

Do you work in the clean energy space and want to learn about grid planning and analysis tools developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)? The new Powered By webinar series hosted by NREL's Grid Planning and Analysis Center (GPAC) can be your new go-to resource. The Powered By series launches in March and will take place from 12 to 1 p.m. ET the second Tuesday of every month. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with presenters to get their questions answered in real time.

Advances in science and technology at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory take place thanks to contributions from the many individuals making up its diverse workforce. In celebration of Black History Month, Argonne is shining a spotlight on a few of these contributors — and they are shining right back! These individuals, through their roles and responsibilities at Argonne, are pursuing, causing and directing outcomes at the laboratory. Their efforts are reaching their broader science and professional disciplines and beyond — to elevate us all.