Award Data

As part of its mission to protect human health and the environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency develops and promotes innovative cleanup strategies that restore contaminated sites to productive use, reduce associated costs, and promotes environmental stewardship. Testing and characterization of the environment for potentially harmful contaminants is a costly endeavor. Current technolo ...

Chlorinated hydrocarbons represent the most prevalent contaminants in the subsurface, threatening the quality of groundwater at aquifers. Existing technologies for monitoring these contaminants require expensive, labor-intensive methods of sample collection and analysis. The goal of this Phase I research project is to develop a low-cost, compact, reliable, automated, unattended, and long-term mo ...

Chlorinated hydrocarbons represent the most prevalent contaminants in the subsurface, threatening the quality of groundwater at aquifers. Existing technologies for monitoring these contaminants require expensive, labor-intensive methods of sample collection and analysis. The goal of this Phase I research project is to develop a low-cost, compact, reliable, automated, unattended, and lo ...

Some bioterrorism agents cause disease at very low infective doses and their presence can be masked by the environment. Therefore, ultrasensitive detection is required for homeland defense applications. In this Phase I research project, Operational Technologies Corporation (OpTech) proposes to couple DNA aptamers made by the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX) proce ...

Some bioterrorism agents cause disease at very low infective doses and their presence can be masked by the environment. Therefore, ultrasensitive detection is required for homeland defense applications. In this Phase I research project, Operational Technologies Corporation (OpTech) proposes to couple DNA aptamers made by the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SE ...

DETERMINATION OF URANIUM IN THE URINE OF WORKERS IS REQUIRED BY THE NRC AT NUCLEAR FACILITIES. EXTREMELY LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF URANIUM, ESPECIALLY IN SMALL SAMPLES, ARE DIFFICULT TO MEASURE USING EXISTING TECHNOLOGY. FUTURE NRC PLANS TO CHARACTERIZE BIOAVAILABLE URANIUM FRACTIONS COMPRISING THE URANIUM BODY BURDEN WILL REQUIRE EVEN HIGHER SENSITIVITIES. HIGH SENSITIVITY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED FOR UR ...

MOTOR OPERATED GATE VALVE OPERABILITY PROBLEMS AND FAILURES AT NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ARE A MAJOR SAFETY CONCERN AS STATEDIN NRC IE BULLETIN 85-03 AND GENERIC LETTER 89-10. THIS PROPOSAL IS AIMED AT IMPROVING GATE VALVE PERFORMANCE BY (1) DEVELOPING COMPREHENSIVE PERFORMANCE PREDICTION MODELS FOR USE OVER A RANGE OF OPERATING CONDITIONS, (2) DEFINING LIMITS, BASED ON SPECIFIC DESIGNS, BEYOND WHICH E ...

INCREASED PUBLIC OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED PERMITS FOR LAND-BASED INCINERATOR FACILITIES AND THE GROWING MARKET TREND FOR THERMAL DESTRUCTION OF HAZARDOUS WASTES HAVE RESULTED IN A NEED FOR INNOVATIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, AND RELIABLE TRANSPORTABLE INCINERATOR FACILITIES. THIS PROJECT PROPOSES TO ADAPT A PULSED ATMOSPHERIC FLUID-BED COMBUSTION SYSTEM FOR THERMAL DESTRUCTION OF SOLID AND LIQUID HAZARDOUS ...

THE MTIC INDIRECT STEAM REFORMING PROCESS OFFERS A COST EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE TO THE EXISTING WASTE-TO-ENERGY INCINERATION OF MUNICIPAL SLUDGE WASTE (MSW) OR REFUSE- DERIVED FUEL (RDF). THE PROCESS HAS THE POTENTIAL FOR RESOLVING MANY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH INCINERATION, ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTROL OF CHLORINATED DIOXINS AND FURANS AS WELL AS EMISSIONS OF TOXIC METALS; PARTICULA ...

THIS PROJECT IS FOCUSED UPON RESOLVING THE INCOMPLETE COMBUSTION PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN RESIDENTIAL WOOD STOVES DUE TO LOW COMBUSTION TEMPERATURES, UNCONTROLLED AIR DRAFT RATES, VARIABILITY IN WOOD FUEL AND MOISTURE. A PROTOTYPE RETROFIT KIT IS TO BE FABRICATED AND TESTED TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE DEVICE AS AN INEXPENSIVE, EASILY INSTALLABLE AND OPERABLE EMISSIONS CONTROL DEVICE THAT ...