Over the decades, SRNL has deployed over 1,000 technologies for protecting and cleaning up the environment. Our work spans the fields of soil and water cleanup; hazardous material stabilization, processing and disposal; and facility disposition in support of the Savannah River Site, the U.S Department of Energy and customers around the world.

SRNL’s environmental scientists and engineers possess decades of experience in identifying and characterizing a wide variety of hazardous and radioactive contaminants in man-made, enclosed, and open environments. Bringing together a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines, they develop or select, deploy, and optimize remediation strategies, methods, and technologies. Using their extensive knowledge of the environment and environmental processes, scientists also develop strategies and technologies to meet regulatory requirements. This has led to the development and maintenance of some of the most extensive environmental databases available to solve national environmental issues.

SRNL’s proven capabilities in waste processing technology have supported the DOE Complex waste processing needs for over four decades. With extensive expertise in a wide range of waste types – including high-level radioactive waste, low-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, and hazardous waste – SRNL waste processing experts develop innovative methods to accelerate and lower the cost of stabilizing and disposing of these wastes in ways that protect the environment for centuries to come. The laboratory’s strength lies in applying the most effective technologies to demanding production environments. SRNL supports waste processing operations ranging from major industrial chemical processing to mobile treatment units.    top

Putting Science to Work for Environmental and Chemical Process Technology
Baroball™ Control Valve
This simple and elegant design uses natural barometric pressure differences to remove volatile contaminants from soil. The BaroBall check valve, which operates without electricity or other power source, allows natural soil gas to flow out of an underground well, while restricting air flow from the surface into the well.    top

Vitrification
Vitrification is one of SRNL’s principal waste management technologies. The process chemically bonds hazardous, radioactive, or mixed waste in glass to convert byproducts of nuclear weapons production into a stable form for long-term storage and disposal. The largest application of SRNL’s vitrification technology is the SRS Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), where over two million gallons of radioactive sludge has been converted into glass for safe storage and disposal.    top

Kineococcus radiotolerans
SRNL researchers discovered a microorganism that thrives inside the extremely toxic and radioactive environment of a high-level radioactive waste tank. Kineococcus radiotolerans is able to withstand radiation doses thousands of times the dose that is lethal to humans, along with various chemical toxins, and appears to be capable of degrading organics, like solvents and herbicides. This discovery has potential applications in environmental cleanup, as well as space and medical applications. The scientists are studying the highly resilient microorganism to learn how it repairs itself, and to understand its full range of capabilities.

Papers by SRNL researchers on a variety of topics are available through the DOE Information Bridge.

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