PNNL Laboratory Director Steve Ashby attended an event marking the 20th anniversary of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence program.
A radioactive chemical called pertechnetate is a bad actor when it’s in nuclear waste tanks. But researchers at PNNL and the University of South Florida have a new lead on how to selectively separate it from the nuclear waste for treatment.
Installing new access holes (up to 6 feet in diameter) could reduce the overall time and cost to retrieve waste from Hanford's underground storage tanks, according to a structural analysis of the tank domes by PNNL and Becht Engineering.
Researchers used novel methods to safely create and analyze plutonium samples. The approaches could prove influential in future studies of the radioactive material, benefitting research in legacy, national security and nuclear fuels.
Peering through the thick, green glass of a decades-old "hot cell," an expert technician manipulates robotic arms to study highly radioactive waste from Hanford, in support of ongoing cleanup.
Scientists are exploring the use of deep neural network to interpret highly technical data related to national security, the environment and the cosmos.