News By Location

Improving engineering, procurement and construction processes in the field through advanced information technologies is the backbone of an INEEL project called BechteLink. According to National Security's Advanced Information and Communication System employee Greg Miller, BechteLink's goal is to 'provide unfettered access to knowledge.'

The Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory has demonstrated a theoretical approach to modeling fluid transport in porous, variable material (such as subsurface soil and rock) that may one day dramatically simplify the development of computer simulation models. The refined approach, called the Walker Diffusion Method (WDM), is highly accurate and requires less computer memory and computing time to use than other approaches.

A new bioremediation process developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is making the difficult job of removing chlorinated solvents from groundwater much easier.

One of the first scientists hired for INEEL's Subsurface Science Initiative uses engineering, chemistry and some creative thinking to get under the earth's skin.

The same technology that helps deliver wholesome Idaho potatoes to family kitchens may be an effective tool against terrorism. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are teaming with a small business located in Aberdeen, Idaho, to experiment with destroying anthrax using ozone.

A national program managed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory has identified what may be one of the better technologies for treating certain waste streams without using incineration. The Transuranic and Mixed Waste Focus Area (TMFA) sponsored by the DOE Office of Science and Technology, has chosen the AEA Technology Engineering Service's "Silver II" method for further testing. AEA Technology Engineering is based in Virginia.

Scientists at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are creating an army of small robots--a fleet of inexpensive mini-robots designed to work harmoniously to perform tasks too hazardous or just downright boring for humans. Simple biological societies, such as ant colonies and beehives, serve as handy models for creating large groups of small, disposable robots.

Scientists from the DOE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and Khlopin Radium Institute in Russia received an $800,000 three-year grant from DOE’s Environmental Management Science Program to study and improve their solution to separating out much of the radioactive material in nuclear waste. The Universal Extraction, or UNEX, process is the first demonstrated technology of its kind capable of removing multiple radioactive elements from high-level nuclear waste in one step.

Researchers can now precisely map mineral crystals and bacterial growth on basalt using a customized laser imaging Fourier transform mass spectrometer. A team has created high-resolution pseudo-images showing the arrangement of minerals within basalt and bacterial growth on the rock surface to better understand why some microbes are attracted to specific minerals. The technique creates highly reproducible two-dimensional maps of the bacterial-mineral interface, providing critical information about bacterial metabolism.

A different blend of gasoline is being pumped into government vehicles at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. It's reducing petroleum consumption and helping the INEEL cut air emissions without additional fuel costs.