Monthly Archives: February 2021

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2021-02-19T03:19:38-05:00

Physical Models and Construction

The Paducah Citizens Advisory Board, DOE Site Office, DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) and University of Kentucky (UK) researchers routinely discussed needs to provide an interactive map or maps of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) that could be used to support discussions about industrial site cleanup, facilities demolition, waste disposal, groundwater remediation, future use, and other issues. Historically, such a request would be answered with a series of very basic, one dimensional subject matter maps.

Discussions shifted to models to address the cited needs. Models would typically be 3-D milled surface topography with topographic maps or imagery overlays – plastic trees – maybe some physical buildings. The simple milled surface model was unlikely to serve the intended uses. The size of the PGDP and the thousands of acres impacted by historical industrial operations simply would not translate well with traditional map and model approaches.

Initial discussions with the UK-College of Design indicated that a model appropriate to support multiple uses and convey multiple relationships on a scale of the PGDP and its environs was a very achievable challenge. Proposals to build a physical model of the PGDP site and environs were discussed, drafted, reviewed and put in place. An initial model of the PGDP and vicinity was to be constructed for the PGDP Citizens Advisory Board at a scale of 1:350. The design of the PGDP model was generated via interactive Design Industry methods which became the charge of the UK-College of Design (CoD) Spring 2011 Graduate Design Studio.

By the second week of the spring 2011 semester, the Graduate Design Studio had launched The Atomic Cities Project. CoD students collected information. First, information related to the Manhattan Project was collected, followed by information related to the City of Paducah and PGDP’s quietly kept history as a very important player in the Cold War. The Graduate Design Studio utilized extensive site-related information compiled by the Public End State Vision Project, http://www.Paducahvision.org, and followed up with additional information about PGDP operations, cities with similar industry, large scale aquaponic operations, indoor food production, the railroad industry, Federal rail system upgrade plans, the radioactive materials industry, nuclear power, n uclear power trends, the electronics industry, robotics, cities with similar histories and environmental challenges, PGDP impacts to the environment, the two largest TCE plumes in the DOE Complex, groundwater cleanup technologies, worker and neighbor lawsuits, and the regulatory environmental cleanup process.

By mid-semester, the Graduate Design Studio completed organization of PGDP-related information into four common module themes amongst Atomic Cities: Energy, Economy, Education and Environment. The four modules addressed characteristics of cities with atomic pasts, similar environmental impacts, uncertain economic futures. A fifth module “The Problem is the Solution” proposed visionary and contemporary options for future development of the PGDP and vicinity.

Three semesters of Graduate Design Studios aptly named “Manhattan Redux”, “Paducah+”, and “Making City” integrated with the Spring 2011 Atomic Cities Project. Each studio developed a model relative to conveying the information related to the PGDP, infrastructure, and impacts to the local environment.

Spring and Summer 2011 Atomic Cities – Manhattan Redux Studio – 3 Dimensional Model of PGDP and Vicinity and the underlying aquifer.

Fall 2011 Atomic Cities – Paducah + Studio – Industrial Site Model

Spring 2012 Atomic Cities – (re) Making City – International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam Exhibit,

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2021-02-19T03:18:32-05:00

Adaptive Sampling and Analysis Plan (ASAP) and TRIAD Project Applications Training

A total of 26 Attendees from U.S. DOE – PPPO, U.S. DOE – PGDP, U.S. EPA – Atlanta Region IV, Paducah Remediation Services, Inc. – PGDP, the KY. Environmental Protection Cabinet-Federal Facilities Unit, Performance Results Corporation -Paducah, the KY. Cabinet for Health Services – Radiation Environmental Monitoring Lab, UK-Kentucky Transportation Center, and UK-Kentucky Geological Survey attended two-day hands-on TRIAD and ASAP training course at the UK – KY Geological Survey Core Barn.

Course instructors had been long-time collaborators in the development of the USEPA Technology Innovation Office’s TRIAD program and the DOE Argonne National Laboratory’s Adaptive Sampling and Analysis Plan program. Each participant conducted an evaluation, development of sampling methods, sampling plans, remediation and remedial verification strategies based on a multi-contaminant site utilizing “real-time” field instrumentation to accomplish attainment of project clean-up goals.

INSTRUCTORS:
Dr. Robert Johnson, Argonne National Laboratory
Deana Crumbling, USEPA, Technology Innovation Program

TRIAD Resource Center website:
www.triadcentral.org

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2021-02-19T03:17:46-05:00

Spatial Analysis Decision Assistance (SADA) Training

A total of 28 Attendees from U.S. DOE – PPPO, U.S. DOE – PGDP, U.S. EPA – Atlanta, Paducah Remediation Services, Inc. -PGDP, KY Environmental Protection Cabinet-Federal Facilities Unit, KY Cabinet for Health Services – Environmental Monitoring Lab, UK-Kentucky Transportation Center, UK-Kentucky Geological Survey attended two-day Statistical Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) training at the UK Center for Applied Energy Research.

The training was conducted in collaboration with the The Institute for Environmental Modeling at the University of Tennessee, which developed and provides technical support for the Statistical Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) software.

Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) is free software that incorporates tools from environmental assessment fields into an effective problem solving environment. These tools include integrated modules for visualization, geospatial analysis, statistical analysis, human health risk assessment, ecological risk assessment, cost/benefit analysis, sampling design, and decision analysis. The capabilities of SADA can be used independently or collectively to address site specific concerns when characterizing a contaminated site, assessing risk, determining the location of future samples, and when designing remedial action.

INSTRUCTORS:
Dr. Robert Stewart

Statistical Analysis and Decision Assistance (SADA) Website
http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~sada/visualization.shtml

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2021-02-19T03:46:43-05:00

Visual Sampling Plan (VSP) Training (cont)

VSP attendees included personnel from:

  • U.S. DOE – Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO)
  • U.S. EPA – Atlanta
  • Paducah Remediation Services, Inc. – Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP)
  • KY Environmental Protection Cabinet-Federal Facilities Unit
  • Department of Homeland Security, LAW Environmental –Atlanta
  • UK-Kentucky Transportation Center
  • UK-Kentucky Geological Survey
  • UK-Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute

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2021-02-19T03:12:44-05:00

Visual Sampling Plan (VSP) Training

Twenty-five attendees participated in a two-day Battelle-Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Visual Sampling Plan Program (VSP) hands-on software training session conducted at the University of Kentucky Mining and Minerals Resources Building.

Participants installed VSP software on their computers and each participant executed a full-scale site investigation. Through the use of VSP’s modules, participants conducted site program setup, data input, data analysis, sampling plan design, statistical-spatial evaluation of results, and development of cleanup goals. Visit the VSP information page at http://vsp.pnnl.gov/ for more detailed information.

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2021-02-18T15:02:30-05:00

Gaseous Diffusion Enrichment Process

Gaseous Diffusion is the method used at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to enrich uranium.  See the process broken down to the molecular level:

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2021-02-04T15:52:31-05:00

U-235 Concentration needed for:

Power reactor:

  • 3-5% of U-235
  • This level of uranium is called Low Enriched Uranium (LEU)

Nuclear weapon:

  • 90% of U-235
  • Referred to as Weapons Grade or Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU)

All of the uranium isotopes are fissionable materials that can undergo nuclear fission reactions (see http://paducahvision.org/nuclearenergy.html).  Uranium-235 is a “fissile” material meaning that it is capable of undergoing a self-generated and self-sustained nuclear fission reaction.  Uranium-234 and U-238 are capable of a fission reaction only when their fission reaction is initiated by an outside energy source such as bombardment by neutrons.

Use of uranium as a reactor fuel or weapons component requires the U-235 isotope to be “enriched” until the U-235 abundance exceeds that of natural uranium (see http://paducahvision.org/uranium-enrichment.html).  Typical U-235 enrichment abundance for use as a nuclear fuel is 2 – 5%.  One kilogram of enriched uranium-235 has the capacity to produce as much energy as 1,500,000 kilograms (1,500 tons) of coal.

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