Since 1995, the Applied Research Center (ARC) at Florida International University (FIU) has provided critical support to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) mission of accelerated risk reduction and cleanup of the environmental legacy of the nation’s nuclear weapons program. ARC’s applied research is performed under the DOE-FIU Cooperative Agreement (under Contract # DE-EM0005213) and provides technical support to DOE EM in the area of environmental remediation and students workforce development.
ARC’s applied research, technology development, demonstration and testing, and STEM workforce development covers four major areas of environmental cleanup operations: radioactive waste processing, facility decontamination and decommissioning, soil & groundwater remediation, and Information Technology (IT) development for environmental management. More specifically, proposed projects focus on the areas identified as highest priorities by the DOE EM as part of the Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP) and associated planning documents. All research project and tasks are coordinated by DOE site customers/stakeholders, DOE EM Headquarters (HQ), and experts from the national laboratories. All research tasks are organized into the major project areas. These projects develop technical solutions for the DOE sites at Hanford, Oak Ridge, Savannah River, Idaho and Moab. Every task under the 5 current projects will have their updated scope reviewed each year by key DOE EM HQ Leads, DOE national laboratories, and contractor personnel at the DOE sites (i.e., problem holders or customers for RDT&E solutions and DOE EM Headquarters). For all the tasks, detailed project technical plans (PTPs) are developed as stand-alone documents that will provide detailed schedules, milestones and deliverables for all projects and tasks.
FIU STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) students will be fully engaged during the development of this proposed scope of work as part of project # 5 (FIU-DOE Science & Technology Workforce Development Program). The DOE Fellows are trained and mentored by ARC technical personnel in an effort to secure the next generation of scientists and engineers that will be responsible for solving the technical challenges of the DOE nuclear complex legacy due to seven decades of nuclear research & development and production of nuclear weapons.
