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The Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in collaboration with Bechtel National are launching a new user facility dedicated to environmental and geo-engineering research. The heart of the facility is a 2-meter geocentrifuge that subjects test specimens to a high-gravity field, causing gravity-drive processes such as fluid flow to occur much faster than normal. Using this technique researchers can study in a few days or weeks the effects of tens of years of gravity-induced fluid movement.

A first-of-its-kind, small-scale natural gas liquefaction facility designed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory was unveiled June 24 by Pacific Gas and Electric Company officials in Sacramento, Calif. Other significant partners in the pioneering liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility effort include the California Energy Commission, Sacramento Air Quality Management District, SoCal Gas Company and South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Scientists are cataloguing and mapping the life inside Yellowstone’s hot pools. Hardy microorganisms ranging from emerald-green bacteria to fire-red rock slime have long fascinated microbiologists with their ability to live in the scalding hot water at Yellowstone National Park, the acidic ore deposits of abandoned mines or the salt pools of the Great Salt Lake.

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.