News By Location

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and Ceramatec, Inc. of Salt Lake City are reporting a significant development in their efforts to help the nation advance toward a clean hydrogen economy.

In the steamy waters of Yellowstone National Park's hot springs lives a type of bacterium that could help make industrial bleaching cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Scientists have found Thermus brockianus bacteria produce a hardy enzyme that can break down hydrogen peroxide in industrial wastewater, producing only harmless oxygen and water as byproducts. Most important, the so-called extremozyme endures harsh industrial conditions better than currently available alternatives and lasts thousands of times longer.

Chemicals buried underground don't always sit still. Sometimes, hazardous waste can travel out of landfills, wandering through soil layers near aquifers. Technology exists to monitor landfill perimeters, but scientists would prefer to keep an eye on contaminants long before they leave the area. Now with a new underground probing system from the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, scientists can safely and more accurately sample and monitor soil in hazardous waste sites.

A nuclear reactor safety code developed at the INEEL could help prevent another Chernobyl-type accident. INEEL engineers have put the RELAP5-3D computer code into a training module for use by many countries. One version has been translated into Russian. The five-DVD set is available to engineers operating Russian reactors of the same design as the Chernobyl reactor.

Eric Loewen, an engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, has been chosen to serve as the American Nuclear Society's 2005 Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow.

The US Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and Bechtel, the internationally recognized engineering and construction company, announced today that they are collaborating on critical infrastructure testing. Bechtel, which designs and builds critical infrastructure worldwide from nuclear power plants and telecommunications systems to road systems and bridges, is interested in the INEEL's ability to test and evaluate critical infrastructure on a scalable basis on its remote and secure 890-square mile site.

The INEEL will be home to a test center that enhances security of computer-controlled systems in this country. The Control Systems Security and Test Center, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, will be dedicated Aug. 19, in Idaho Falls. Center customers, such as utilities and manufacturers, can perform controlled, real-world tests of systems designed to protect the national infrastructure.

If he'd only had an office computer and online treasure maps, Indiana Jones might have avoided all those snakes, scrapes and sneaky rivals. Now, archaeologists exploring the southeastern Idaho desert have a new tool that Indy would really die for. Computer scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's INEEL have developed a geographic computer system that sifts through data from various sources to help find and map archaeological sites. The system will save archaeologists time, money -- and maybe some digging.

The INEEL is designing a prototype, remotely controlled system that will permanently close spent nuclear fuel containers before they are put in a government disposal repository. Nevada's Yucca Mountain is being studied as the site for the repository. The system is called the Waste Package Closure System, and the INEEL will test its operation and equipment. Construction of the prototype is scheduled to start this year.

Yellowstone National Park may soon become more accessible in both winter and summer, thanks to collaborative efforts to develop a new alternative fuel vehicle.