Argonne History

A History of Providing Environmental Solutions

Argonne has been involved in environmental programs since its earliest days. The Atomic Energy Commission was concerned about the fate and transport of radionuclides due to nuclear testing in the early 1950s. As a result, early atmospheric modeling, plant uptake and human health physics programs were established.

Environmental programs have been expanded since the late 1960s in response to national needs. Even before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) was established, Argonne scientists and engineers were performing air quality evaluations throughout the greater Chicago area. Following the creation of U.S. EPA and the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, there was considerable debate over the need for a new kind of document -- the environmental impact statement. Argonne scientists, starting in 1973, began developing these statements for the Atomic Energy Commission, and later, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy. This work has continued until the present, with Argonne recognized as the preeminent laboratory for this activity.

Topics highlighted in this short history include hazardous waste cleanup, scrubbing the atmosphere and controlling pollution and contamination.

Hazardous Waste Cleanup

Argonne has been a leader in addressing hazardous waste site problems for all federal agencies since 1983 -- the time of Love Canal. Laboratory researchers have developed a number of innovative separations techniques for radioactive wastes. The 1990 discovery of the TRUEX process, a method for separation of transuranic elements from radioactive wastes, was followed by the development of a process for separating strontium-90 from liquid nuclear wastes. More recently, Diphonix, a chelating ion exchange resin, was developed to treat hazardous and radioactive wastes.

Argonne scientist John Harkness prepares to test a chemical that removes most of the nitrogen oxides from the stack gases of coal-fired power plants equipped with scrubbers. The chemical, called ArgoNox, is based on a common food additive. (Click the image to see a larger photo.)

A number of fate and transport waste programs were developed to address site remediation issues. RESRAD is an environmental pathway and health risk model used for deriving soil clean-up guidelines. Developed at Argonne, along with RISKIND for examining issues associated with transportation of wastes, these decision models are now used at many U.S. Department of Energy facilities.

Methods of rapidly assessing and characterizing sites have also been developed at Argonne. Argonne was one of the first organizations to develop expedited site characterization processes and methodologies. These techniques, first developed at Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture sites, have gained wide acceptance from regulators and are now being used by DOE, leading to significant cost and time savings. Other modeling and decision tools have been developed by Argonne, including PLUME, which was the first cooperative research and development agreement to produce royalties in the environmental arena. This software, successfully used at DOE and U.S. Air Force locations, is designed to reduce soil sampling requirements based on modeling projections.

Starting in the late 1970s, the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program was designed to examine the causes and impacts associated with acid rain. This program combined research activities in ecology, meteorology and atmospheric physics with the development of atmospheric transport models for public policy evaluations and recommendations.

Work in this area has continued under the overall umbrella of global climate change activities. Argonne is a leader in the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program. The laboratory currently runs the only fully instrumented cloud and radiation testbed site in the country. At the site on the Kansas-Oklahoma border, measurements of solar radiation, greenhouse gases, aerosols, clouds and their effects on atmospheric heat and temperature are taken and studied by scientists.

Scrubbing the Atmosphere

Argonne research has provided insights into the transport of airborne pollution through the atmosphere. (Click the image to see a larger photo.)

During the early and mid-1970s, Argonne scientists were also "pushing the envelope" in developing new instrumentation for measuring anthropogenic -- caused by humans -- pollution in the atmosphere. For example, techniques developed then reduced the time for analysis of atmospheric particulates from several hours to 20 minutes.

Argonne chemists have been active since the 1950s in addressing needs associated with separation and treatment of radionuclides in waste. Early breakthroughs included the development of methods for separation of xenon and radon from contaminated atmospheres in 1973.

The energy crisis of the mid-1970s led to new integrated assessment programs seeking to develop indigenous energy resources. With the formation of the U.S. Department of Energy, it was recognized that there could be severe environmental impacts associated with the development of resources such as coal, oil shale, uranium, and materials required for solar and renewable technologies. Two programs, the National Coal Utilization Assessment Program and the Regional Studies Program, were developed, and major portions were led by laboratory scientists and engineers. These programs were enhanced by expertise developed in other programs, such as water quality studies for the Corps of Engineers, the land reclamation program for DOE which examined the re-use of surface coal-mined lands, and atmospheric modeling activities developed for predicting the transport of atmospheric pollutants. By the late 1970s, Argonne was positioned to address practically any scientific or engineering issue related to energy and the environment.

Controlling Pollution and Contamination

William Penrose tests a toxic-gas detector developed at Argonne. The detector can identify 40 hazardous gases almost instantly. (Click the image to see a larger photo.)

Argonne is a leader in pollution control systems for fossil-fired power plants. Some of this expertise has evolved into new areas related to pollution prevention, waste minimization and recycling. The lab's nuclear, chemical and biotechnical engineering expertise and experience permits Argonne to play an increasing role in Department of Energy and other federal agency waste management activities. Some activities include development of vitrification technologies, use of separations technologies for reducing radioactive waste volume, use of biotechnology for remediation of TNT-contaminated soils, and the use of technologies and experience developed as part of the Integral Fast Reactor program. In the last use, instrumentation, facilities and pyroprocessing research and development are being used to address DOE's spent nuclear fuel issue. Argonne has been a contributor to environmental research and technology development since the early 1950s. As national needs and priorities have grown in this area, Argonne experience and capabilities have also grown to meet these needs and address priorities. Argonne's environmental programs are carried out in the national interest.