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Science and Innovation
Environmental Stewardship
Savannah River National Laboratory is the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management's national laboratory. In this role, SRNL applies its unique expertise and applied technology capabilities to assist DOE sites across the nation in meeting cleanup requirements. SRNL has deployed over 1,000 technologies for protecting and cleaning 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 (DOE), 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.
While many DOE National Laboratories have made important contributions to the Environmental Management cleanup program, SRNL has been consistently engaged in the Environmental Management program since its inception. SRNL has provided technology development and innovation for every aspect of the cleanup program at the Savannah River Site (SRS). In addition, as DOE’s EM National Laboratory, SRNL has worked at each of EM's 17 active cleanup sites, as well as many sites that have transitioned to Legacy Management. SRNL has considerable experience working with DOE, regulators, and contractors to bring science, technology, and project execution together to reduce cost, shorten cleanup schedules, and minimize risk to the environment. In the past five years alone, scientific and technical contributions from SRNL have resulted in life-cycle savings to the Environmental Management program of well over $10B.
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Innovations in Environmental Stewardship
Engineered Groundwater Solutions
Pioneering a new approach to large groundwater plume treatment, SRNL successfully replaced an active pump-and-treat remediation process with an enhanced attenuation-based remedy. The “funnel and gate” system “engineers” natural groundwater flow patterns to create focused... LEARN MORE |
Next Generation Solvent for Removal of Cesium
This innovative solvent system identified a new molecular/ chemical process, tested, and verified its readiness for deployment in the ARP/MCU pilot facility and the planned Salt
Waste Processing Facility at SRS. In developing waste treatment...LEARN MORE
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Full Scale Vessel Testing
The Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant waste cleanup depends on the flow of material from tanks to the pre-treatment facility to the vitrification facilities, where it is converted to a stable waste form. The Secretary of Energy assembled experts... LEARN MORE |
Vegetable Oil for Treating Contaminated Groundwater
A common household product is being used at the Savannah River Site to treat groundwater contamination, reducing risk to people and the environment, accelerating cleanup time, and saving millions of dollars... LEARN MORE |
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Large Nuclear Facility Closure and Decommissioning
SRNL pioneered the design, development, and deployment of materials and strategies enabling closure of four 1.3-million-gallon high-level radioactive waste storage tanks and in-situ decommissioning of two reactor complexes... LEARN MORE |
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