[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 236 (Friday, December 6, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64731-64737]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-31071]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Research and Office of Environmental Management; 
Energy Research Financial Assistance Program Notice 97-03; 
Environmental Management Science Program

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice inviting grant applications.

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SUMMARY: The Offices of Energy Research (ER) and Environmental 
Management (EM), U.S. Department of Energy, hereby announce their 
interest in receiving grant applications for performance of innovative, 
fundamental research to support the management and disposal of DOE 
radioactive, hazardous chemical, and mixed wastes; the stabilization of 
nuclear materials and spent nuclear fuel; remediation of contaminated 
sites; and the decontamination and decommissioning of facilities.
    The DOE Environmental Management program currently has ongoing 
applied research and engineering efforts under its Technology 
Development program. These efforts must be supplemented with basic 
research to address long-term technical issues crucial to the EM 
mission. Basic research can also provide EM with near-term fundamental 
data that may be critical to the advancement of technologies that are 
under development but not yet at full scale nor implemented. Proposed 
basic research under this notice should contribute to environmental 
management activities that would decrease risk for the public and 
workers, provide opportunities for major cost reductions, reduce time 
required to achieve EM's mission goals, and, in general, should address 
problems that are considered intractable without new knowledge. This 
program is designed to inspire ``breakthroughs'' in areas critical to 
the EM mission through basic research and will be managed in 
partnership with ER. ER's well-established procedures, as set forth in 
the Energy Research Merit Review System, as published in the Federal 
Register, March 11, 1991, (56 FR 10244), will be used for merit review 
of applications submitted in response to this notice. This information 
is also available on the World Wide Web at http://www.er.doe.gov/
production/grants/merit.html.
    Subsequent to the formal scientific merit review, applications that 
are judged to be scientifically meritorious will be evaluated by DOE 
for relevance to the objectives of the Environmental Management Science 
Program. Additional information can be obtained at http://
www.em.doe.gov/science.

DATES: Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a brief 
preapplication. All preapplications, referencing Program Notice 97-03, 
should be received by DOE by 4:30 P.M. E.S.T., January 15,1997. A 
response encouraging or discouraging a formal application generally 
will be communicated to the applicant within three weeks of receipt. 
The deadline for receipt of formal applications is 4:30 P.M., E.D.T., 
April 16,1997, in order to be accepted for merit review and to permit 
timely consideration for award in Fiscal Year 1997.

ADDRESSES: All preapplications, referencing Program Notice 97-03, 
should be sent to Dr. Roland F. Hirsch, ER-73, Mail Stop F-240, Office 
of Health and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 
Germantown Road, Germantown, Maryland 20874-1290, telephone: (301) 903-
5349. Preapplications will be accepted if submitted by United States 
Postal Service, including Express Mail, commercial mail delivery 
service, or hand delivery, but will not be accepted by fax, electronic 
mail, or other means.
    After receiving notification from DOE concerning successful 
preapplications, applicants may prepare formal applications using the 
instructions in the Office of Energy Research Application Guide and in 
the Supplementary Information in this notice. Applications must be sent 
to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Research, Grants and 
Contracts Division, ER-64, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, Maryland 
20874-1290, Attn: Program Notice 97-03. The above address for formal 
applications must also be used when submitting formal applications by 
U.S. Postal Service Express Mail, any commercial mail delivery service, 
or when hand carried by the applicant. Please note that notification of 
a successful preapplication is not an indication that an award will be 
made in response to the formal application.

Awards

    Multiple-year funding of grant awards is anticipated, contingent 
upon the availability of funds. Award sizes are expected to be on the 
order of $100,000-$300,000 per year for total project costs for a 
typical three year grant. Applications for collaborative projects 
involving several research groups or more than one institution may 
receive larger awards if merited. Investigators considering submitting 
collaborative projects are encouraged to prepare a single application 
incorporating the entire research program and a combined

[[Page 64732]]

budget as well as separate budgets for each collaborating institution. 
DOE reserves the right to fund in whole or part any or none of the 
applications received in response to this Notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Roland F. Hirsch, ER-73, Mail Stop 
F-240, Office of Health and Environmental Research, Office of Energy 
Research, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, 
Maryland 20874-1290, telephone: (301) 903-5349, fax: (301) 903-0567, 
electronic mail: [email protected], or Dr. Carol J. Henry, 
Office of Science and Technology, Office of Environmental Management, 
1000 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, D.C. 20585, telephone: (202) 
586-7150, electronic mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Environmental Management, in 
partnership with the Office of Energy Research, sponsors the 
Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) to fulfill DOE's 
continuing commitment to the cleanup of DOE's environmental legacy. The 
program was initiated in Fiscal Year 1996.

Purpose

    The need to build a stronger scientific basis for the Environmental 
Management effort has been established in a number of recent studies 
and reports. Among the important observations and recommendations made 
by the Galvin Commission (``Alternative Futures for the Department of 
Energy National Laboratories,'' February 1995) are the following:

    There is a particular need for long term, basic research in 
disciplines related to environmental cleanup * * *. Adopting a 
science-based approach that includes supporting development of 
technologies and expertise * * * could lead to both reduced cleanup 
costs and smaller environmental impacts at existing sites and to the 
development of a scientific foundation for advances in environmental 
technologies.

    The objectives of the Environmental Management Science Program are 
to:
     Provide scientific knowledge that will revolutionize 
technologies and clean-up approaches to significantly reduce future 
costs, schedules, and risks; and
     ``Bridge the gap'' between broad fundamental research that 
has wide-ranging applicability such as that performed in DOE's Office 
of Energy Research and needs-driven applied technology development that 
is conducted in EM's Office of Science and Technology; and
     Focus the Nation's science infrastructure on critical DOE 
environmental management problems.

Representative Research Areas

    Basic research is solicited in all areas of science with the 
potential for addressing one or more of the areas of concern to the 
Department's Environmental Management program. The scientific 
disciplines relevant to the program include, but are not limited to, 
biology (including cellular and molecular biology, ecology, 
bioremediation, genetics, biochemistry, and structural biology; plant 
sciences are listed as a separate category below), chemistry (including 
analytical chemistry, catalysis, heavy element chemistry, inorganic 
chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and separations 
chemistry), computational sciences (including research and development 
of mathematical/ numerical, informatics, and communication procedures 
and software technology, for example for deterministic simulations and 
optimization), engineering sciences (including control systems and 
optimization, diagnostics, transport processes, thermophysical 
properties and bioengineering), geosciences (including geophysical 
imaging, physicochemical dynamics and chemical transport in fluid-rock 
systems, and hydrogeology), health sciences, materials science 
(including condensed matter physics, metallurgy, ceramics, waste 
minimization, welding and joining, degradation mechanisms, and remote 
sensing and monitoring), physics (including atomic, molecular, optical, 
and fluid physics) and plant science (including mechanisms of mineral 
uptake, intercellular transport, and concentration and sequestration).
    Projects in bioremediation that fall within the scope of Notices 
issued by the Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR) 
Program of the Office of Energy Research (such as Notice 97-04) should 
be submitted to that program rather than to the Environmental 
Management Science Program. Projects outside the scope of NABIR but 
within the scope of this Notice may be submitted to the EMSP.
    Applicants to the EMSP are strongly encouraged to collaborate with 
researchers in other institutions, such as universities, industry, non-
profit organizations, the DOE National Laboratories, and/or other 
Federal Laboratories, where appropriate, and to incorporate cost 
sharing and/or consortia wherever feasible. Applicants are encouraged 
to provide training opportunities, including student involvement, in 
applications submitted to the program.

Major Environmental Management Challenges

    The following is an overview of the major technical challenges 
facing the Environmental Management program that are the focus of this 
announcement. More detailed descriptions of the specific technical 
needs and areas of emphasis associated with these problem areas can be 
found in the background section of this Notice.
    The Department is the guardian of over 300 large storage tanks 
containing over 100 million gallons of highly radioactive wastes, which 
include organic and inorganic chemical compounds, in solid, colloidal, 
slurry, and liquid phases. The environment within the tanks is highly 
radioactive and chemically harsh. A few of the tanks have leaked to the 
environment while others are corroding. The contents of these tanks 
need to be characterized, removed from the tanks, treated, and 
converted to safe forms for disposal.
    The Department is the custodian of several thousand metric tons of 
spent nuclear reactor fuels, resulting primarily from weapons 
fabrication activities during the Cold War, but also including fuel 
from research and naval reactors. The long-term containment performance 
of the fuel under storage and disposal conditions is uncertain. Such 
uncertainties affect the ability to license disposal methods.
    The Office of Environmental Management is the custodian of large 
quantities of fissile materials which were left in the manufacturing 
and processing facilities after the United States halted its nuclear 
weapons production activities. These materials include plutonium 
solutions, plutonium metals and oxides, plutonium residues and 
compounds, highly enriched uranium, and nuclides of other actinides. 
Additional scientific information is required to choose processes for 
converting these materials to stable forms.
    The Department currently has on its sites over one hundred sixty 
thousand cubic meters of waste containing both radioactive and 
hazardous materials. This mixed waste contains a wide variety of 
materials, as varied as protective clothing, machining products and 
wastes, packaging materials, and process liquids. Fundamental 
scientific data are needed to improve processes associated with 
treatment systems, such as characterization, pre-treatment, and 
monitoring.

[[Page 64733]]

    The Department is committed to the safe disposal of all radioactive 
wastes, including high-level wastes, mixed wastes, and fissile 
materials. Safe disposal of these materials requires that the wide 
range of potential waste streams be converted into insoluble materials 
for long term storage. Some radioactive material-containing forms have 
been successfully developed and are being produced; however, at 
present, research challenges still exist in developing suitable forms 
for each material to be stored.
    The Department is currently conducting cleanup activities at many 
of its sites, and is preparing plans for additional remediation work. 
There is much scientific uncertainty about the levels of risk to human 
health at the end stages of the DOE clean-up effort.
    The aforementioned areas of emphasis do not preclude, and DOE 
strongly encourages, any innovative or creative ideas contributing to 
solving EM challenges mentioned throughout this Notice.

Application Evaluation and Selection

     Scientific Merit. The program will support the most 
scientifically meritorious and relevant work, regardless of the 
institution. Formal applications will be subjected to scientific merit 
review (peer review) and will be evaluated against the following 
evaluation criteria listed in descending order of importance as 
codified at 10 CFR 605.10(d).
    1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Project
    2. Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach
    3. Competency of Applicant's Personnel and Adequacy of Proposed 
Resources
    4. Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget.
    External peer reviewers are selected with regard to both their 
scientific expertise and the absence of conflict-of-interest issues. 
Non-federal reviewers may be used, and submission of an application 
constitutes agreement that this is acceptable to the investigator(s) 
and the submitting institution.
     Relevance to Mission. Subsequent to the formal scientific 
merit review, applications which are judged to be scientifically 
meritorious will be evaluated by DOE for relevance to the objectives of 
the Environmental Management Science Program. These objectives were 
established in the Conference Report for the Fiscal Year 1996 Energy 
and Water Development Appropriations Act, and are published in the 
Congressional Record--House, October 26, 1995, page H10956.
    DOE shall also consider, as part of the evaluation, program policy 
factors such as an appropriate balance among the program areas, 
including research already in progress. Research funded in the 
Environmental Management Science Program in Fiscal Year 1996 can be 
reviewed at http://www.doe.gov/em52/science-grants.html.

Application Format

    Applicants are expected to use the following format in addition to 
following instructions in the Office of Energy Research Application 
Guide. Applications must be written in English, with all budgets in 
U.S. dollars.
     ER standard face page (DOE F 4650.2 (10-91))
     Application classification sheet (see below for list of 
categories)
     Table of Contents
     Project Abstract (no more than one page)
     Budgets for each year and a summary budget page for the 
entire project period (using DOE F 4620.1)
     Budget Explanation
     Budgets and Budget explanation for each collaborative 
subproject, if any
     Project Narrative (recommended length is no more than 20 
pages; multi-investigator collaborative projects may use more pages if 
necessary up to a total of 40 pages)
    Goals
    Significance of Project to the EMSP
    Background
    Research Plan
    Preliminary Studies (if applicable)
    Research Design and Methodologies
     Literature Cited
     Collaborative Arrangements (if applicable)
     Biographical Sketches (limit 2 pages per senior 
investigator)
     Description of Facilities and Resources
     Current and Pending Support for each senior investigator
    While the original application and seven required copies must be 
submitted, applicants are encouraged to also provide a 3.5-inch 
diskette containing the application in electronic format. The label on 
the diskette must clearly identify the institution, principal 
investigator, title of application, and the computer system and program 
used to prepare the document.

Application Categories

    In order to properly classify each preapplication and application 
for evaluation and review, the documents must indicate the applicant's 
preferred scientific research field and environmental category, 
selected from the following lists. More than one environmental category 
may be indicated if desired.
Field of Scientific Research
    1. Biology, not including plant science
    Chemical Sciences (2-6):
    2. Analytical Chemistry and Instrumentation
    3. Catalysis
    4. Heavy Element Chemistry
    5. Separations Chemistry
    6. Other Topics in Chemistry
    7. Computer and Mathematical Sciences
    8. Engineering Sciences
    Geosciences (9-11):
    9. Geophysics
    10. Geochemistry
    11. Hydrogeology: Flow Modeling and Subsurface Science
    12. Health Sciences
    13. Materials Science
    14. Physics
    15. Plant Science
    16. Other
Environmental Category:
    A. Decontamination/Decommissioning
    B. Health/Ecology/Risk
    C. High-level Radioactive Waste
    D. Waste Disposal Forms
    E. Fissile materials
    F. Spent Nuclear Fuel
    G. Subsurface Characterization
    H. Subsurface Contaminant Treatment
    I. Waste Characterization & Separations
    J. Waste Treatment & Destruction
    K. Other

Program Schedule

    Preapplications must be received by DOE on or before January 15, 
1997, and full applications on or before April 16, 1997, at the times 
and addresses noted above. It is anticipated that awards will be made 
no later than September 30, 1997.

Program Funding

    Up to a total of $20,000,000 of Fiscal Year 1997 Federal funds is 
expected to be available for new Environmental Management Science 
Program awards resulting from both this Notice and a parallel 
announcement to government laboratories and Federally Funded Research 
and Development Centers, including the DOE national laboratories. All 
projects will be evaluated using the same criteria, regardless of the 
submitting institution. The program will be competitive and offered to 
investigators in universities or other institutions of higher 
education, other

[[Page 64734]]

non-profit or for-profit organizations, non-Federal agencies or 
entities, or unaffiliated individuals. Apart from this notice, the 
program also will be offered to DOE national laboratories and other 
Federal laboratories.

Preapplications

    A brief preapplication may be submitted. The original and five 
copies must be received by January 15, 1997, to be considered. The 
preapplication should identify on the cover sheet the institution, 
name, address, telephone, fax and electronic mail address for the 
principal investigator, title of the project, and the field of 
scientific research and category(ies) of environmental application to 
which the project is responding (using the list above). The 
preapplication should consist of up to three pages of narrative 
describing the research objectives and the plan for accomplishing them, 
and should also include a paragraph describing the research background 
of the principal investigator and key collaborators if any. A 3.5 inch 
diskette containing the preapplication in any common word processing 
format may also be submitted in addition to the required printed 
copies.
    Preapplications will be evaluated relative to the scope and 
research needs of the DOE's Environmental Management Science Program by 
qualified DOE program managers from both ER and EM. Preapplications are 
strongly encouraged but not required prior to submission of a full 
application.

Information

    Information about the development, submission of applications, 
eligibility, limitations, evaluation, the selection process, and other 
policies and procedures may be found in 10 CFR Part 605, and in the 
Application Guide for the Office of Energy Research Financial 
Assistance Program. The Application Guide is available from the U.S. 
Department of Energy, Office of Energy Research, ER-73, 19901 
Germantown Road, Germantown, Maryland 20874-1290. Telephone requests 
may be made by calling (301) 903-5349. Electronic access to ER's 
Financial Assistance Application Guide and forms is possible via the 
World Wide Web at http://www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html.

Background

    The United States involvement in nuclear weapons development for 
the last 50 years has resulted in the development of a vast research, 
production, and testing network known as the nuclear weapons complex. 
The Department has begun the environmental remediation of the complex 
encompassing radiological and nonradiological hazards, vast volumes of 
contaminated water and soil, and over 7,000 contaminated structures. 
The Department must characterize, treat, and dispose of hazardous and 
radioactive wastes that have been accumulating for more than 50 years 
at 120 sites in 36 states and territories. By 1995, the Department had 
spent about $23 billion in identifying and characterizing its waste, 
managing it, and assessing the remediation necessary for its sites and 
facilities. Over the next ten years at current budget projections, 
another $60 billion will be spent. The DOE cleanup of the Cold War 
legacy is the largest cleanup program in the Federal Government, even 
larger than that of the Department of Defense legacy. The Office of 
Environmental Management (EM) is responsible for waste management and 
cleanup of DOE sites. The EM operations have been historically 
compliance-based and driven to meet established goals in the shortest 
time possible using either existing technologies or those that could be 
developed and demonstrated within a few years. Environmental Management 
is also responsible for conducting the program for waste minimization 
and pollution prevention for the Department.
    The variety and volume of the Department's current activities make 
this effort a challenge itself. In some cases, fundamental science 
questions will have to be addressed before a technology or process can 
be engineered. There is a need to involve more basic science 
researchers in the challenges of the Department's remediation effort. 
The Office of Energy Research (ER) addresses fundamental, frequently 
long-term, research issues related to the many missions of the 
Department. The Environmental Management Science Program will use ER's 
experience in managing fundamental research to address the needs of 
technology breakthroughs in EM's programs.
    This research agenda has been developed for Fiscal Year 1997, along 
with a development process for a long term program within EM, with the 
objective of providing continuity in scientific knowledge that will 
revolutionize technologies and clean-up approaches for solving DOE's 
most complex environmental problems. The following are descriptions of 
the technical challenges in addressing many of these issues, in areas 
which are of particular interest for this notice.
    High-level Radioactive Waste Tanks. The Department is the guardian 
of over 300 large storage tanks containing over 100 million gallons of 
highly radioactive wastes, which include organic and inorganic chemical 
compounds, in solid, colloidal, slurry, and liquid phases. The 
environment within the tanks is highly radioactive and chemically 
harsh. A few of the tanks have leaked to the environment while others 
are corroding.
    Specific areas of emphasis in technology needs and research 
challenges related to high-level waste tank problems include, but are 
not limited to:
     The characterization and safe removal of the contents of 
these tanks, with the contents converted into forms suitable for long-
term storage. Particular challenges include the need for improved 
characterization and separation methods of these wastes, including 
pretreatment, and methods to reduce the total volume of waste requiring 
long-term storage, which will reduce the large disposal costs 
associated with these wastes. Problems exist in the plugging of 
transport lines, mobilizing waste sludge, leak detection, process 
control, and conversion to final waste forms.
     The separation of complex chemical and radioactive waste 
to minimize the final volume of high level waste remaining after 
processing. The removal of liquid from sludges is a difficult 
challenge. There is not yet sufficient understanding of the factors 
that control the selectivity and efficacy of chemical and physical 
interactions, including structure-function relationships, and the 
effect of particle shapes and kinetics. In pretreatment unit operations 
there is a need to understand waste behavior and effects at waste 
processing interfaces, as well as how pretreatment processes affect the 
ability to transport waste between unit operations. Difficulties also 
exist in separating radioactive species from high ionic strength, 
multi-component aqueous solutions of salts dominated by species such as 
sodium nitrate, nitrite, carbonate, and phosphate. Separation of 
radionuclides and hazardous substances from solid (e.g. calcined) waste 
streams is also of interest.
     The physical state of the wastes in storage tanks. Some 
tanks contain distinct layers of sludge, salt cake and supernatant, and 
these layers may also not be homogeneous. There is evidence that much 
of the solid waste exists as colloidal particles that may remain 
suspended, settle out of solution, or gel and solidify with changes in 
conditions. Fine solids or colloidal particulates can

[[Page 64735]]

carry a large fraction of contaminant and can interfere with subsequent 
processing. Important unknown factors which inhibit the remediation of 
tank wastes include the effects of temperature, pH, particle chemistry 
and morphology on agglomeration, sedimentation, viscosity, 
partitioning, dissolution, and speciation.
     The optimization of waste conversion processes. The 
presence of radionuclides results in radiation-induced, high-energy 
chemical reactions and in waste heating, which can accelerate chemical 
reactions. Some of these reactions may be catalyzed by extreme pH 
conditions and an array of active surface sites on the solids suspended 
in the waste. These processes lead to considerable variability in the 
chemical composition of the waste and therefore to difficulties in 
treatment process design. Some wastes or processes include byproducts 
which are unacceptable for long-term storage (e.g. organics, nitrates, 
nitrites, ferrocyanides, nitrogen oxides, chlorinated hydrocarbons) and 
which therefore must be destroyed or eliminated from the system. 
Treatment of both acidic and alkaline (up to several molar hydroxide) 
aqueous solutions is required.
    Spent Nuclear Fuel. The Department is the custodian of several 
thousand metric tons of spent nuclear reactor fuels which resulted 
primarily from weapons fabrication activities during the Cold War, but 
also include fuel from research and naval reactors. The long-term 
containment performance of the fuel under storage and disposal 
conditions is uncertain. Such uncertainties affect the ability to 
license disposal methods.
    Specific areas of emphasis in technology needs and research 
challenges related to spent nuclear fuel problems include, but are not 
limited to:
     Mechanisms which may adversely affect the performance of 
the fuel package during storage must be identified. Deleterious effects 
which are incompletely characterized include: radiolytic effects of the 
radiation field on surrounding materials; corrosion, degradation, and 
radionuclide release mechanisms and rates for the representative fuel 
matrices; mechanisms which may lead to accelerated degradation of 
containers; dissolution characteristics of the matrices; and the 
effects of microbes on fuel packages. Some fuel storage pools have 
water clarity problems during fuel movement which affect safe 
operations.
     A technical basis is required for other steps in the spent 
fuel program, including: mechanisms of pyrophoricity and combustion 
parameters for various fuel types; gas generation during processing; 
determination of moisture content of fuel and maximum acceptable amount 
of moisture; degradation mechanisms and kinetics of spent fuel in a dry 
storage environment over a period of several decades; fissile and 
radioisotopic content of some spent fuel types; segregation behavior of 
elements; control of criticality in the very long term; and synergistic 
effects. Methods to remove moisture without damage to the structure of 
fuel elements are required.
     Some spent fuel types require additional characterization, 
such as fission and/or gamma ray nondestructive assay or evaluation, 
before disposal activities can be commenced. Current characterization 
methods are either extremely expensive or may not yield the necessary 
information for performance criteria for safe interim storage, 
transportation, and repository deposition. Thermodynamic and kinetic 
properties of miscellaneous spent fuel types, such as mixed oxide 
fuels, are not known to the level of detail needed to include them in a 
general purpose treatment process. Online measurement of fissile 
content and nuclear poisons during stabilization must be developed.
    Fissile Materials. The Office of Environmental Management is the 
custodian of large quantities of fissile materials which were left in 
the manufacturing and processing facilities after the United States 
halted its nuclear weapons production activities. These materials 
include plutonium solutions, plutonium metals and oxides, plutonium 
residues and compounds, highly enriched uranium, and nuclides of other 
actinides.
    Specific areas of emphasis in technology needs and research 
challenges related to fissile material problems include, but are not 
limited to:
     Gaps exist in the information base needed for choosing 
among the alternate processes to be used in safe conversion of various 
types of fissile materials to optimal forms for safe interim storage, 
long term storage, and ultimate disposition. Necessary information 
includes accurate determination of thermodynamic redox potentials and 
heterogeneous electron transfer kinetics of selected actinides and 
actinide complexes; characterization of plutonium compound solubility 
in aqueous phosphate and sulfate media; actinide chemical 
thermodynamics and kinetics; behavior of mixed oxidation states of 
plutonium-containing materials; plutonium diffusion and corrosion 
behavior; the application of acid solution separation processes to 
neutralized and alkaline residues and wastes; the nature and effect of 
actinide interactions with organometallics, surfaces, and organic 
residues; and the performance of various analytical methods, including 
x-ray tomography, digital radiography, acoustic resonance spectroscopy, 
and actinide self-fluorescence.
    Mixed hazardous and radioactive low-level waste. The term ``mixed 
waste'' refers to waste containing both radioactive and hazardous 
materials. There is currently estimated to be about 167,000 cubic 
meters of mixed waste in storage awaiting treatment and disposal. There 
are over 1,400 different mixed waste streams in inventory, located at 
38 separate sites in 19 states. This inventory will be increased with 
newly generated mixed waste resulting from DOE's ongoing activities in 
environmental restoration, facility decontamination, and transition 
processes. Existing treatment and disposal capacities are presently too 
limited to allow the treatment and disposal of this inventory of mixed 
wastes. Research at a fundamental scientific level could lead to 
innovative processes or technologies, or could provide data to permit 
the advancement of technologies currently under development.
    Specific areas of emphasis in technology needs and research 
challenges related to mixed waste problems include, but are not limited 
to:
     Characterization technologies for non-destructive 
evaluation of drum and box contents for the presence of materials 
defined by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act as hazardous in 
the waste, and for segregating and routing incoming waste streams to 
appropriate treatment processes, are lacking. Effluent monitoring must 
be improved to optimize treatment operations, and to ensure compliance 
with applicable environmental requirements.
     Sorting of the large volume of wastes is impractical 
without improved nondestructive, noninvasive measurement techniques. 
Long-term performance of advanced waste forms still must be 
ascertained. To support equipment design and permitting of high-
temperature treatment processes, more information is needed on the 
thermodynamics, transport and generation of regulated hazardous 
materials and radionuclides in these processes. Real time monitors for 
heavy metals, dioxins, and volatile organic compounds are also not 
available. Alternatively, nonthermal treatment processes could be used, 
but major

[[Page 64736]]

technical issues remain unresolved. Methods for direct removal of 
radioactive material are also of interest.
     Monitoring for the presence of mercury and other toxic 
metals in wastes, and removal of mercury from wastes, are high 
priorities but large-scale techniques are not yet available. Relative 
to mercury containing wastes, methods are required for the 
stabilization of mercury and for the amalgamation of bulk, non-
recyclable mercury to meet Universal Treatment Standards and 
leachability testing standards. Improvements are required in techniques 
for identifying alpha-emitting radionuclides.
     Removal of radioactive components from waste in solid 
forms. These wastes include sludges from defense reprocessing 
activities, metals and concrete from decontamination and 
decommissioning activities, and calcined wastes. Highly radioactive 
sludges are typically metal oxides with large amounts of potentially 
soluble materials such as sodium or aluminum. A method for direct 
removal of the small radioactive fraction of these materials would 
greatly reduce disposal costs, but such methods are lacking.
    Waste Disposal Forms. Safe disposal of radioactive wastes requires 
that a wide range of potential waste streams be converted into 
insoluble materials for long term storage. Some radioactive material-
containing forms have been successfully developed and are being 
produced; however, the forms must be developed and optimized for each 
material to be stored, including high-level wastes, low-level wastes, 
mixed wastes, and fissile materials.
    Specific examples of technology needs and research challenges 
relating to waste forms include, but are not limited to:
     Borosilicate glass is a waste form which is currently used 
for the storage of some high level waste and is considered a candidate 
for disposal of other high and low level wastes. It is unclear whether 
all waste types can be dissolved in borosilicate glass. Many common 
waste components, such as phosphates, sulfates, and chromates, are 
thought to have low solubilities. Some extractant materials, such as 
crystalline silicotitanate, may have limited solubilities as well.
     A better understanding of waste form leaching performance 
is required, including the hydrodynamics of fluids in cracked media, 
transport phenomena and phase separation at surfaces, and radiation-
enhanced dissolution at interfaces. Validated chemical and 
thermodynamic models are required to predict leaching and gas bubble 
formation. The structure and bonding of waste components in waste 
forms, as well as the effect of the waste and the radiation field on 
stability, solubility, durability, and processing of the host, must be 
elucidated.
     Waste forms for mixed waste which have higher waste 
loading, improved stability and chemical durability than current forms 
are required to reduce disposal costs and facilitate waste acceptance. 
Evaluation of the long-term performance is required to ensure that 
disposal satisfies stakeholder concerns and regulatory requirements.
     Vitrification of certain plutonium-contaminated waste 
materials may be preferred to cementation due to the lower volume of 
the final waste form. Vitrification has not been as highly developed 
for actinide residues or wastes as for fission product wastes. For 
other actinide wastes, mineral waste forms may be preferred; however, 
an enhanced technical basis for alternate waste forms for stabilizing 
plutonium is needed before mineral compositions can be used as 
intermediate- and long-term storage materials.
    Risk, Quantitative Methodologies, Human and Environmental Health 
Analyses. There is much scientific uncertainty about the levels of risk 
to human health at the end stages of the DOE clean-up effort. Research 
challenges in the area of risk, quantitative, and health analyses 
include, but are not limited to:
     Accurate risk analyses require thorough knowledge of 
contaminant characteristics, basic ecological processes and principles, 
rates at which contaminants move through ecosystems, and health and 
ecological effects. In particular, better knowledge of radionuclide and 
toxic chemical transport dynamics and the potential effects of long-
term exposure to low levels of radionuclides, in combination with other 
contaminants, is essential.

--There is a need for health and environmental research to support 
adoption of performance standards that present quantifiable criteria 
for the levels to which high level waste tanks must be cleaned prior to 
closure.

     Research is required to improve understanding of 
threatened and damaged ecosystems and processes to restore the 
viability and quality of these ecosystems.
    Details of the programs of the Office of Environmental Management 
and the technologies currently under development or in use by 
Environmental Management Program can be found on the World Wide Web at 
http://www.em.doe.gov and at the extensive links contained therein. 
These programs and technologies should be used to obtain a better 
understanding of the missions and challenges in environmental 
management in DOE when considering areas of research to be proposed.

References for Background Information

    Note: World Wide Web locations of these documents are provided 
where possible. For those without access to the World Wide Web, hard 
copies of these references may be obtained by writing Dr. Carol J. 
Henry at the address listed in the contacts section.

DOE. 1996. Estimating the Cold War Mortgage: The 1996 Baseline 
Environmental Management Report. March 1996. U.S. Department of Energy 
Office of Environmental Management, Washington, D.C.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/bemr96/index.html

DOE. 1996. Office of Environmental Restoration EM-40.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/er/index.html

DOE. 1996. Office of Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization EM-60.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/menu/?nucmat.html

DOE. 1996. Office of Science and Risk Policy EM-52 and Environmental 
Management Science Program.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/science/

DOE. 1996. Office of Science and Technology EM-50.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/menu/?techdev.html

DOE. 1996. Office of Waste Management EM-30.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/menu/?wstmgmt.html

DOE. 1996. Spent Nuclear Fuel. DOE-Owned SNF Technology Integration 
Plan. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC. DOE/SNF-PP-002, May 
1996.

DOE. 1996. Taking Stock: A Look at the Opportunities and Challenges 
Posed by Inventories from the Cold War Era. The U.S. Department of 
Energy, Office of Environmental Management, Washington, DC.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/takstock/index.html

DOE. 1996. Tank Waste Information Network System.
    http://twins.pnl.gov:8001/refmain.html

DOE. 1995. Closing the Circle on the Splitting of the Atom: The 
Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production in the United States 
and What the Department of Energy is Doing About It. The U.S.

[[Page 64737]]

Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, Office of 
Strategic Planning and Analysis, Washington, D.C.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/circle/index.html

DOE. 1995. Environmental Management 1995: Progress and Plans of the 
Environmental Management Program. The U.S. Department of Energy, Office 
of Environmental Management, Washington, D.C.
    http://www.em.doe.gov/em95/

DOE. 1995. Risks and the Risk Debate: Searching for Common Ground ``The 
First Step''. The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental 
Management, Washington, D.C.
    http://raleigh.dis.anl.gov:81/cgi-bin/dispdoc--return.pl?rrd+1

DOE. 1995. Technology Summary Reports, June 1995 (Rainbow Books)
    http://www.em.doe.gov/rain/

Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. 1996. Mixed Waste Focus Area 
Integrated Technical Baseline Report. Volumes 1 and 2. U.S. Department 
of Energy, Idaho Operations Office, Idaho Falls, Idaho. DOE/ID-10524.
    http://wastenot.inel.gov/mwfa/doe_id-10524.html

National Commission on Superfund Members. Final Consensus Report of the 
National Commission on Superfund. March 1994. Keystone Center and the 
Environmental Law Center of Vermont Law School.

National Environmental Technology Strategy. Bridge to a Sustainable 
Future. April 1995. National Science and Technology Council, 
Washington, D.C.
    http://www.gnet.org/gnet/gov/usgov/whitehouse/bridge/bridge.html

National Research Council. 1996. Building an Environmental Management 
Science Program: Initial Assessment. National Academy Press, 
Washington, DC.
    http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/envmanage/

National Research Council. 1995. Improving the Environment: An 
Evaluation of DOE's Environmental Management Program. National Academy 
Press, Washington, D.C.
    http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/doeemp/

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Hanford Tank Cleanup: A Guide to 
Understanding the Technical Issues. R.E. Gephart, R.E. Lundgren. 
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington. NTIS Order 
number: DE96004127. Report Number: PNL-10773. To order, call the NTIS 
sales desk at (703) 487-4650.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Tanks Focus Area FY 1996 Site 
Needs Assessment. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, 
Washington. PNL-11091.

Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. Alternative Futures for the 
Department of Energy National Laboratories. February 1995. Task Force 
on alternative Futures for the Department of Energy National 
Laboratories, Washington, D.C.
    http://www.doe.gov/html/doe/whatsnew/galvin/tf-rpt.html

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. Complex Cleanup: The 
Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production, February 1991. U.S. 
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. NTIS Order number: 
PB91143743. To order, call the NTIS sales desk at (703) 487-4650.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1996. Availability of 1997 Grants 
for Research.
    http://es.inel.gov/ncerqa/rfa97/eparfa97.html

(The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program 
is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 CFR Part 
605)

    Issued in Washington, DC on December 2, 1996.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director for Resource Management, Office of Energy Research.
[FR Doc. 96-31071 Filed 12-5-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P