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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Radiation Exposure Calibration Of The Al2o3:C With Radium-226 And Cesium-137 Using The Osl Method, Selma Tepeli Aydin Dec 2023

Radiation Exposure Calibration Of The Al2o3:C With Radium-226 And Cesium-137 Using The Osl Method, Selma Tepeli Aydin

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Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimetry was utilized to calibrate Al2O3:C powder dosimeters, available commercially as the nanoDot® from Landauer Inc., and compare the dosimeter response to radium-226 (226Ra) and cesium-137 (137Cs). The signal from the OSL was quantified using a microSTARii® OSL reader also produced by Landauer Inc. Dose-response curves were developed for 226Ra and 137Cs experiments (5 dosimeters each) at thirteen absorbed doses. Individual dosimeter response was tracked by serial number. Linear regression analysis was performed to determine if there were significant differences between the intercepts of the …

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Evaluating The Feasibility Of Using Strain Measured During Sinusoidal Rate Pumping Tests To Characterize An Aquifer, Riley Blais Aug 2023

Evaluating The Feasibility Of Using Strain Measured During Sinusoidal Rate Pumping Tests To Characterize An Aquifer, Riley Blais

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Pumping tests with sinusoidal variation in pumping rate have been proposed as a method for improving aquifer characterization. These tests can interrogate a larger aquifer volume than slug tests and they can be more sensitive to small variations in drawdown. Current methods of using sinusoidal variations of rate are based on measuring pressure signals from the reservoir or aquifer, which requires access to monitoring wells. An alternative approach has been developed that measures the strain in the vadose zone instead of pressure in the reservoir. An instrument has been developed at Clemson University that can measure small strains using optical …

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Impacts Of Preferential Flow On Tc-99and Np-237 Vadose Transport In Soils At The Savannah River Site, Josh Parris May 2023

Impacts Of Preferential Flow On Tc-99and Np-237 Vadose Transport In Soils At The Savannah River Site, Josh Parris

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Since the 1950s, the United States has produced approximately 90,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) (Office of Nuclear Energy, 2022); however, no long-term storage solutions are available. Technecium-99 and neptunium-237, two fission products found in SNF, readily form highly mobile species in oxidizing conditions (Hu, 2008; Bondietti, 1979) and have respective half-lives of 2.13 x 105 and 2.14 x106 years (Hu, 2010). Considering these characteristics, 99Tc and 237Np are two risk-driving isotopes found in SNF storage. The process of macropore-facilitated preferential flow, transport through cracks within a soil matrix, has been recognized to increase …

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Application Of A 14c-Assay To Assess Methanotrophic Biodegradation Of Tce In Low Ph Groundwater, Evan Groome Aug 2022

Application Of A 14c-Assay To Assess Methanotrophic Biodegradation Of Tce In Low Ph Groundwater, Evan Groome

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Current biological strategies for remediating trichloroethylene (TCE) in low pH aquifers (i.e., pH14C-TCE assay was developed to determine pseudo first-order rate constants for the degradation of TCE in microcosms containing soil and groundwater from the Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center (BOMARC) superfund site, where the pH ranges from 4.1 to 4.9. The 14C-TCE assay was also adapted to calculate soil-normalized rate constants for data from this site, as well as data that Szwast21 collected from the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). In addition to natural attenuation, biostimulation through amendments of methane and nutrients were also assessed. This treatment …

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Fate And Transport Of Toxoplasma Gondii Oocysts In Saturated Porous Media: Effects Of Electrolytes And Natural Organic Matter, Christian Pullano May 2022

Fate And Transport Of Toxoplasma Gondii Oocysts In Saturated Porous Media: Effects Of Electrolytes And Natural Organic Matter, Christian Pullano

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Toxoplasma gondii is a pathogenic microorganism that is currently a threat to public health. Understanding the fate and transport of T. gondii through the soil and groundwater is vital in determining the risk it poses to water resources and human health. The physico-chemical interactions between the groundwater and the bio colloid within an aquifer will dictate its mobility and its ability to infect humans. This research examines how various naturally occurring groundwater chemistries containing organic compounds and monovalent and divalent salt solutions will alter the fate and transport of T. gondii. Solutions containing various concentrations of humic acid, fulvic …

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Transformation Of Uranium In A Geological Environment, Derrell Hood Dec 2014

Transformation Of Uranium In A Geological Environment, Derrell Hood

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Incorporation of uranium into iron oxide minerals is a promising mechanism for the environmental immobilization of U(VI). In this study, synthesized hematite was doped with uranium and analyzed with SEM-EDS, TEM, XRD, and ICP-MS. The results of this analysis strongly indicate uranium incorporation into the mineral, as well as the possible presence of a co-precipitated uranium mineral clarkeite. Preliminary results also shows an increase in the amount of uranium associated with the hematite particles as a function of mineral aging. Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) was used to induce and characterize electrochemical changes of uranium in the doped hematite system; these changes …

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An Examination Of Radionuclide Transport In The Vadose Zone Using Field Lysimeters, Michael Witmer Aug 2014

An Examination Of Radionuclide Transport In The Vadose Zone Using Field Lysimeters, Michael Witmer

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Understanding how radionuclides interact in the subsurface is important for the remediation of contaminated sites, assessment of risk due to radioactive waste disposal, and designing new radioactive waste management strategies. The current understanding of the geochemical behavior of radionuclides in the subsurface and more specifically the vadose zone has been developed through reactive transport modeling supplemented by laboratory experiments. Interactions between radionuclides with the mineral particles and organic matter in the vadose zone can be very complex and while laboratory experiments produce valuable data, few controlled, intermediate scale transport studies have been performed. In order to accurately predict vadose zone …

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Design Of A High Temperature Subsurface Thermal Energy Storage System, Qi Zheng May 2014

Design Of A High Temperature Subsurface Thermal Energy Storage System, Qi Zheng

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Solar thermal energy is taking up increasing proportions of future power generation worldwide. Thermal energy storage technology is a key method for compensating for the inherent intermittency of solar resources and solving the time mismatch between solar energy supply and electricity demand. However, there is currently no cost-effective high-capacity compact storage technology available (Bakker et al., 2008). The goal of this work is to propose a high temperature subsurface thermal energy storage (HSTES) technology and demonstrate its potential energy storage capability by developing a solar-HSTES-electricity generation system. In this work, main elements of the proposed system and their related state-of-art …

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