Mission
The mission of the Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR)
program is to provide the
fundamental science that will serve as the
basis for development of cost-effective bioremediation and long-term stewardship
of radionuclides and metals in the subsurface at DOE sites. The focus of
the program is on strategies leading to long-term immobilization of contaminants
in place to reduce the risk to humans and the environment. The NABIR program
encompasses both intrinsic bioremediation by naturally occurring microbial
communities, as well as accelerated bioremediation through the use of biostimulation
(addition of inorganic or organic nutrients). Additional programmatic information
is available on the the
NABIR homepage.
Scope
The program focuses on
in situ bioremediation of heavy metals
and radionuclides. Scientific understanding will be gained from fundamental
laboratory and field research on biotransformation processes, community
dynamics and microbial ecology, biomolecular science and engineering,
biogeochemical dynamics, and innovative methods for accelerating and
assessing
in situ biogeochemical processes. The societal implications
and concerns of NABIR are also being explored. A
Field
Research Center (FRC) has been established at the Oak Ridge National
Laboratory that provides the supporting infrastructure to facilitate
long-term, interdisciplinary research.
Background
For more than 50 years, the U.S. created a vast network of more than
113 facilities for research, development, and testing of nuclear materials.
As a result of these activities, subsurface contamination has been identified
at over 7,000 discrete sites across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
complex. With the end of the Cold War threat, the DOE has shifted its
emphasis to remediation, decommissioning, and decontamination of the
immense volumes of contaminated groundwater, sediments, and structures
at its sites. It is estimated that more than 60% of DOE facilities have
groundwater contaminated with metals or radionuclides. More than 50%
of all soil and sediments at DOE facilities are contaminated with metal
and radionuclides, the contaminants found with the highest frequency
in soil at all DOE waste sites. Indeed, while filely all of the contaminants
found at industrial sites nationwide can also be found at DOE sites,
many of the metals and especially the radionuclides found on DOE sites
are unique to those sites. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management
(EM), which is responsible for the cleanup, has stated that advances
in science and technology are critical for DOE to reduce costs and successfully
address these long-term problems. NABIR has the distinction of being
the only federal program that funds fundamental research on metal and
radionuclide contaminants in the environment. The program’s greatest
strength is in focusing talents and expertise from many disciplines to
address challenging research questions. The products from NABIR will
influence the development of effective bioremediation technologies as
well as contribute new knowledge about the function of subsurface ecological
systems at the microbiological and geochemical levels. These advances
can lead to more effective stewardship as well as to remediation of DOE
sites.
Goals
Provide the fundamental science that will serve as the basis for:
- development of cost-effective, in situ bioremediation strategies
for radionuclides and metals (and complex mixtures containing radionuclides
and metals) in the subsurface at DOE sites;
- understanding intrinsic bioremediation as well as accelerated bioremediation
using nutrient amendments to immobilize contaminants in place;
- identification of societal issues associated with bioremediation
research, and communication of bioremediation research findings to
stakeholders;
- coordination with other DOE research programs (Environmental
Management Science Program
Genomes to Life BES Geosciencesand Chemical Sciences,
and with DOE customers.
These goals will be accomplished by:
- sponsoring innovative, high quality, mission-relevant research;
- fostering interdisciplinary bioremediation research among microbiologists,
geochemists, molecular biologists, hydrologists and environmental
engineers;
- encouraging hypothesis-driven, integrative field research at contaminated
DOE sites;
- training a new generation of scientists and engineers to support
NABIR’s goals;
- developing approaches to trasfer the knowledge acquired from NABIR
research to the DOE
Office of Environmental Management for
clean up of contaminants at DOE sites.
NABIR
Program Coordinator:
Mr. Paul
Bayer
Environmental Remediation
Sciences Division
Office of Biological and Environmental Research
SC-23.4/Germantown Building
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20585-1290
e-mail: Paul.Bayer@science.doe.gov
Phone: (301) 903-5324
Fax: (301) 903-4154