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At least 847 records · Page 47
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

E Tunnel Wastewater Disposal System Quarterly Monitoring Report and Annual Summary Report Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, Water Pollution Control Permit NEV 96021: Fourth Quarter and Calendar Year 2018

This annual report includes the results of the ETOS sample collection and analysis of the effluent water from the ETOS. The effluent sample was collected on October 9, 2018. Sampling activities were performed in accordance with the requirements of WPC Permit NEV 96021, Revision 1, which is effective October 1, 2013. Although the stated end date of the WPC permit is September 3 O, 2018, the NDEP, in a letter dated September 21, 2018, provided guidance that indicated the WPC Permit NEV 96021, Revision 1, is in effect until NOEP notifies NNSA/NFO otherwise.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Catalytic Removal of Oxygen and Pollutants in Exhaust Gases from Pressurized Oxy-Combustors

The primary goal of this project was to develop and validate advanced catalytic materials and systems for purifying the flue gas generated from pressurized oxy-combustors in an effort to achieve the purity specifications of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) streams required by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) for application in enhanced oil recovery. The technology has shown great potential for improving energy efficiency, simplifying process complexity, and lowering costs compared with current state-of-the-art oxy-combustion flue gas purification technologies. Laboratory studies were conducted for the development, characterization, and screening of metal catalysts for residual oxygen (O 2 ) reduction with methane (CH 4 ) and multifunctional carbon catalysts for combined nitrogen oxides (NO x ), sulfur oxides (SO x ), and mercury (Hg) removal. A bench-scale reverse-flow fixed-bed (RFFB) reactor and a trickle-bed direct-contact cooler (DCC) reactor capable of treating 15 standard liters per min of pressurized oxy-combustion flue gas were fabricated and tested with both a simulated flue gas in the laboratory and a slipstream of actual flue gas at a 100 kW th Staged, Pressurized Oxy-Combustion (SPOC) pilot facility. Process simulation and techno-economic studies were performed to evaluate the energy efficiency and cost of the developed catalytic flue gas purification process integrated into a conceptual 550-MWe SPOC power plant. The goal and objectives of the project have been successfully accomplished. A cobalt-manganese (CoMn) oxide catalyst was developed and demonstrated in the bench-scale RFFB reactor in either a reverse-flow or one-direction flow mode of operation that met the success criterion of performance for residual O 2 reduction. A carbon catalyst was developed and demonstrated in the bench-scale DCC reactor that met the success criterion of performance for combined NO x /SO x /Hg removal. Slipstream testing of the integrated DCC-RFFB system at the SPOC pilot facility demonstrated stable operation and verified the superior performance obtained in the laboratory. The techno-economic analysis showed that a 550-MWe SPOC plant integrated with the catalytic flue gas purification process would result in costs of electricity of $\$$96.94/MWh and $\$$80.27/MWh in two assessed cases compared with $\$$91.07/MWh reported for the USDOE’s Current Technology Case, which generated only a partially pure CO 2 stream. On the basis of the results and findings from this project, scale-up studies of materials production and system demonstration and optimization studies of reactors and processes are recommended at the next stage of technology development.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Обзор политики, влияющей на загрязнение воздуха от электроэнергетического сектора в Центральной Азии [An Overview of Policies Influencing Air Pollution from the Electricity Sector in Central Asia (Russian Translation)]

Электроэнергетический сектор является значительным источником загрязнения воздуха и связанных с ним нарушений состояния здоровья в Центральной Азии и других регионах. Выбросы электростанций, работающих на ископаемом топливе, содержат широкий спектр вредных загрязняющих веществ и их прекурсоров. Из этих веществ наибольшее воздействие на здоровье оказывают твердые частицы и озон. Поскольку после попадания загрязнителей в атмосферу их практически невозможно удалить, меры по реализации политики улучшения качества воздуха должны ограничивать такие выбросы до их осуществления. Однако борьба с таким типом загрязнения воздуха сопряжена с трудностями, особенно в развивающихся странах, где электроснабжение является базовой потребностью населения и стимулом экономического роста. В настоящем докладе представлены примеры подходов, регулирующих загрязнение воздуха предприятиями электроэнергетического сектора в странах Центральной Азии — Казахстане, Кыргызстане, Таджикистане, Туркменистане и Узбекистане. Эта публикация дополняет ранее выпущенный доклад по мерам политики в Южной Азии. Как и при составлении доклада по Южной Азии, информация о политике в некоторых странах оказалась труднодоступной, поэтому данное исследование не является всесторонним, а скорее представляет собой обзор текущего состояния сектора. В обзоре представлены: 1) меры по реализации политики, направленной на прямое регулирование качества воздуха путем сокращения выбросов от конкретных источников энергии (например, за счет сокращения часов работы) и 2) примеры косвенных мер, которые создают положительные и отрицательные стимулы для деятельности, связанной с загрязнением окружающей среды, в том числе меры, поощряющие переход на более экологически чистое топливо или отказ от него. Следует обратить внимание на то, что настоящий доклад был подготовлен до начала российско-украинского конфликта, поэтому последствия данной войны для Центральной Азии в нем не учитываются. Основные выводы доклада: 1. В странах Центральной Азии, как правило, имеется относительно небольшое число инструментов политики для регулирования выбросов в атмосферу. 2. Многие страны, особенно те, в которых наблюдается несоответствие между сезонным спросом и доступностью ресурсов, могли бы повысить энергетическую безопасность и уменьшить загрязнение воздуха за счет развития международной торговли электроэнергией (МТЭ). 3. Некоторые страны проводят противоречивую политику, например, одновременно поощряя использование и угля, и возобновляемых источников энергии. This report is also available in English: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/81861.pdf.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Machine Learning Models for Mapping Groundwater Pollution Risk: Advancing Water Security and Sustainable Development Goals in Georgia, USA

The widespread use of pesticides, such as atrazine and malathion, in agricultural systems raises significant concerns regarding the contamination of groundwater, which serves as a critical resource for drinking water. This study applies machine learning techniques to predict the concentrations of atrazine and malathion in groundwater across Georgia, USA, using 2019 data. A Random Forest classifier was employed to integrate various environmental and demographic factors, including pesticide application rates, precipitation, lithology, and population density, to predict pesticide contamination in groundwater. The models demonstrated high training accuracies of 100% and moderate average testing accuracy of 55% for atrazine and 60% for malathion across five iterations. The low test accuracy of the model, ranging from 50% to 75%, is likely due to overfitting, which can be attributed to the small dataset size and the complex nature of pesticide-contamination patterns, making it challenging for the model to generalize to unseen data. Feature importance analysis revealed that average pesticide usage emerged as the most influential factor for atrazine, while aquifer lithology and precipitation played crucial roles in both models. These results provide valuable insights into the dynamics of pesticide contamination, highlighting areas at greater risk of contamination. The findings underscore the importance of integrating environmental, geological, and agricultural variables for more effective groundwater management and sustainable agricultural practices, contributing to the protection of water resources and public health.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Spirometric traits show quantile-dependent heritability, which may contribute to their gene-environment interactions with smoking and pollution

Background: “Quantile-dependent expressivity” refers to a genetic effect that is dependent upon whether the phenotype (e.g., spirometric data) is high or low relative to its population distribution. Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ), and the FEV 1 /FVC ratio are moderately heritable spirometric traits. The aim of the analyses is to test whether their heritability (h 2 ) is constant over all quantiles of their distribution. Methods: Quantile regression was applied to the mean age, sex, height and smoking-adjusted spirometric data over multiple visits in 9,993 offspring-parent pairs and 1,930 sibships from the Framingham Heart Study to obtain robust estimates of offspring-parent (β OP ), offspring-midparent (β OM ), and full-sib regression slopes (β FS ). Nonparametric significance levels were obtained from 1,000 bootstrap samples. β OP s were used as simple indicators of quantile-specific heritability (i.e.,h 2 = 2β OP /(1+r spouse ), where r spouse was the correlation between spouses). Results: β OP ± standard error (SE) decreased by 0.0009 ± 0.0003 (P = 0.003) with every one-percent increment in the population distribution of FEV 1 /FVC, i.e., β OP ± SE were: 0.182 ± 0.031, 0.152 ± 0.015; 0.136 ± 0.011; 0.121 ± 0.013; and 0.099 ± 0.013 at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles of the FEV 1 /FVC distribution, respectively. These correspond to h 2 ± SEs of 0.350 ± 0.060 at the 10th, 0.292 ± 0.029 at the 25th, 0.262 ± 0.020 at the 50th, 0.234 ± 0.025 at the 75th, and 0.191 ± 0.025 at the 90th percentiles of the FEV 1 /FVC ratio. Maximum mid-expiratory flow (MMEF) h 2 ± SEs increased 0.0025 ± 0.0007 (P = 0.0004) with every one-percent increment in its distribution, i.e.: 0.467 ± 0.046, 0.467 ± 0.033, 0.554 ± 0.038, 0.615 ± 0.042, and 0.675 ± 0.060 at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles of its distribution. This was due to forced expiratory flow at 75% of FVC (FEF75%), whose quantile-specific h 2 increased an average of 0.0042 ± 0.0008 for every one-percent increment in its distribution. It is speculated that previously reported gene-environment interactions may be partially attributable to quantile-specific h 2 , i.e., greater heritability in individuals with lower FEV 1 /FVC due to smoking or airborne particles exposure vs. nonsmoking, unexposed individuals. Conclusion: Heritabilities of FEV 1 /FVC, MMEF, and FEF75% from quantile-regression of offspring-parent and sibling spirometric data suggest their quantile-dependent expressivity.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2013

Impacts of Climate Change on Surface Ozone and Intercontinental Ozone Pollution: A Multi-Model Study

The impact of climate change between 2000 and 2095 SRES A2 climates on surface ozone (O)3 and on O3 source-receptor (S-R) relationships is quantified using three coupled climate-chemistry models (CCMs). The CCMs exhibit considerable variability in the spatial extent and location of surface O3 increases that occur within parts of high NOx emission source regions (up to 6 ppbv in the annual average and up to 14 ppbv in the season of maximum O3). In these source regions, all three CCMs show a positive relationship between surface O3 change and temperature change. Sensitivity simulations show that a combination of three individual chemical processes-(i) enhanced PAN decomposition, (ii) higher water vapor concentrations, and (iii) enhanced isoprene emission-largely reproduces the global spatial pattern of annual-mean surface O3 response due to climate change (R2 = 0.52). Changes in climate are found to exert a stronger control on the annual-mean surface O3 response through changes in climate-sensitive O3 chemistry than through changes in transport as evaluated from idealized CO-like tracer concentrations. All three CCMs exhibit a similar spatial pattern of annual-mean surface O3 change to 20% regional O3 precursor emission reductions under future climate compared to the same emission reductions applied under present-day climate. The surface O3 response to emission reductions is larger over the source region and smaller downwind in the future than under present-day conditions. All three CCMs show areas within Europe where regional emission reductions larger than 20% are required to compensate climate change impacts on annual-mean surface O3.

Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry↗
NASA NTRS2014

Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GeoCAPE) Wide Angle Spectrometer (WAS)

The GeoCAPE Wide Angle Spectrometer (WAS) Study was a revisit of the COEDI Study from 2012. The customer primary goals were to keep mass, volume and cost to a minimum while meeting the science objectives and maximizing flight opportunities by fitting on the largest number of GEO accommodations possible. Riding on a commercial GEO satellite minimizes total mission costs. For this study, it is desired to increase the coverage rate,km2min, while maintaining ground sample size, 375m, and spectral resolution, 0.4-0.5nm native resolution. To be able to do this, the IFOV was significantly increased, hence the wide angle moniker. The field of view for COEDI was +0.6 degrees or (2048) 375m ground pixels. The WAS Threshold (the IDL study baseline design) is +2.4 degrees IDL study baseline design) is +2.4 degrees.

pointing and jitter↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Spectral and Chemical Measurement of Pollutants on Snow Near South Pole, Antarctica

Remote sensing of light-absorbing particles (LAPs), or dark colored impurities, such as black carbon (BC) and dust on snow, is a key remaining challenge in cryospheric surface characterization and application to snow, ice, and climate models. We present a quantitative data set of in situ snow reflectance, measured and modeled albedo, and BC and trace element concentrations from clean to heavily fossil fuel emission contaminated snow near South Pole, Antarctica. Over 380 snow reflectance spectra (350-2500 nm) and 28 surface snow samples were collected at seven distinct sites in the austral summer season of 2014-2015. Snow samples were analyzed for BC concentration via a single particle soot photometer and for trace element concentration via an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. Snow impurity concentrations ranged from 0.14 to 7000 part per billion (ppb) BC, 9.5 to 1200 ppb sulfur, 0.19 to 660 ppb iron, 0.013 to 1.9 ppb chromium, 0.13 to 120 ppb copper, 0.63 to 6.3 ppb zinc, 0.45 to 82 parts per trillion (ppt) arsenic, 0.0028 to 6.1 ppb cadmium, 0.062 to 22 ppb barium, and 0.0044 to 6.2 ppb lead. Broadband visible to shortwave infrared albedo ranged from 0.85 in pristine snow to 0.62 in contaminated snow. LAP radiative forcing, the enhanced surface absorption due to BC and trace elements, spanned from less than 1 W m(exp. -2) for clean snow to approximately 70 W m(exp. -2) for snow with high BC and trace element content. Measured snow reflectance differed from modeled snow albedo due to specific impurity-dependent absorption features, which we recommend be further studied and improved in snow albedo models.

pollution↗
NASA NTRS2019

Desert Dust, Industrialization and Agricultural Fires: Health Impacts of Outdoor Air Pollution in Africa

The African continent continuously experiences extreme aerosol load conditions, during which the World Health Organizational (WHO) clean air standard of 10 μgm(exp ‐3) of PM(2.5) mass is systematically exceeded. Africa holds the world largest source of desert dust emissions, undergoes strong industrial growth, and produces approximately a third of the Earth's biomass burning aerosol particles. Sub‐Saharan biomass burning is driven by agricultural practices, such as burning fields and bushes in the post‐harvest season for fertilization, land management and pest control. Thus, these emissions are predominantly anthropogenic. Here we use global atmospheric composition, climate, and health models to simulate the chemical composition of the atmosphere and calculate the mortality rates for Africa by distinguishing between purely natural, industrial/domestic and biomass burning emissions. Air quality related deaths in Africa rank within the top leading causes of death in Africa. Our results of ~780,000 premature deaths annually point to the extensive health impacts of natural emissions, high mortality rate caused by industrialization in Nigeria and South Africa, and to a smaller extent by fire emissions in Central and West Africa. 43,000 premature deaths in Africa are linked to biomass burning mainly driven by agriculture. Our results also show that natural sources, in particular windblown dust emissions, have large impacts on air quality and human health in Africa.

fires↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Impacts of Improved Process Representation of Particle Dry Deposition on PM Pollution in a Global Chemistry-Climate Model: Differences Across Regions, Seasons, and PM Sizes

Dry deposition (DD) is a primary removal pathway of particulate matter (PM). The aerosol DD schemes in most global models do not reflect current mechanistic understanding gleaned from observations. The NASA GISS global chemistry-climate model has a new and more dynamic DD scheme that largely captures observed changes in deposition velocities with particle size. We quantify the response of simulated PM to changes in the DD scheme for the Northeast US, Central Europe, North China Plain, and Punjab. Relative to the widely used old scheme, the new scheme shows higher annual PM2.5 for all regions (up to +14%) except C. Europe where there are very small decreases. For PM1, annual increases occur over all regions (up to +20%). For PM10, there are decreases in C. Europe (-8%) and very small decreases in the NE US yet increases (up to +12%) in Punjab and N. China Plain. While there are always increases across seasons for Punjab and N. China Plain, there are both seasonal increases and decreases for the NE US and C. Europe. Given incomplete understanding of observed variations in deposition velocities for a given particle size, we perform sensitivity simulations that perturb the magnitude of the deposition velocities simulated by the new scheme. The annual PM response to increasing DD is similar in magnitude to decreasing DD, implying linearity in the PM sensitivity to DD. The relative annual response to perturbing the DD magnitude is weaker over Punjab and sometimes N. China Plain than the NE US and C. Europe. Higher PM over Punjab and N. China Plain implies a stronger sensitivity to DD when aerosol abundances are low. More mechanistic representation of aerosol DD can sometimes improve or worsen existing model PM biases, which suggests that PM biases due to other processes can be confounded or compounded by biases in DD. Further improvements to DD parameterizations require not only more observational constraints on aerosol deposition velocities but also an advanced understanding of the processes controlling observed variability.

Environmental pollution↗
NASA NTRS2022

The Dynamical Role of the Chesapeake Bay on the Local Ozone Pollution Using Mesoscale Modeling—A Case Study

This study investigated the dynamic influence of the Chesapeake Bay (CB) on local ozone (O3) concentration and distribution using a weather forecasting model. The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF–Chem) was employed to simulate O3 production and transportation near the CB. Baseline (water) as well as sensitivity (nowater) model experiments of bay circulation were carried out with and without bay water by changing the water surface from water to land (loam). First, the model performance simulating O3 was evaluated using the baseline experiment results and AirNow surface wind and O3 observations. The results showed that the model overestimates surface O3 by up to 20–30%. Further, the comparisons of the baseline and sensitivity experiments revealed higher O3 mixing ratios, primarily due to the resulting bay breeze circulation. These increases, after considering model overestimation, represent a mean bay dynamics circulation-induced contribution of up to 10% at night and 5% during the day. Furthermore, the boundary layer over northern CB, where it is at its narrowest width, was higher (by 1.2 km on average) during daytime due to higher surface temperatures observed. The boundary layer depth difference between the northern, central, and southern regions of the bay leads to a differential in the role of bay circulation dynamics in the observed O3 increase. The relatively wider swath of water surface over southern CB resulted in a lower boundary layer depth and stronger breeze circulation and this circulation contributed to O3 concentrations. Moreover, since the case selected has a minimal bay breeze circulation, the associated surface ozone enhancements represent what is expected at least at a minimum.

Chesapeak Bay↗
DOE OSTI2013

Peculiarities of Environment Pollution as a Special Type of Radioactive Waste: Field Means for Comprehensive Characterization of Soil and Bottom Sediments and their Application in the Survey at the Flood plain of Techa River - 13172

Contamination of natural objects - zone alarm fallout, zones and flood plains near production sites (the result of technological accidents and resource extraction) occupy large areas. Large area and volume of contaminated matter, moderate specific activity (as low - medium-level wastes) make such objects specific types of radioactive waste. These objects exist for a long time, now they are characterized by a bound state of nuclides with the matrix. There is no cost-effective ways to remove these waste, the only solution for the rehabilitation of such areas is their isolation and regular monitoring through direct and indirect measurements. The complex of instruments was developed to field mapping of contamination. It consists of a portable spectrometric collimated detector, collimated spectrometric borehole detector, underwater spectrometer detector, spectrometer for field measurements of the specific activity of Sr-90, connected to a portable MCA 'Colibry (Hummingbird)'. The complex was used in settlements of Bryansk region, rivers Techa and Yenisei. The effectiveness of the developed complex considered by the example of characterization of the reservoir 10 (artificial lake) in Techinsky cascade containing a huge amount of radioactive waste. The developed field means for comprehensive characterization of soil and bottom sediments contamination are very effective for mapping and monitoring of environment contamination after accidents. Especially in case of high non-uniformity of fallout and may be very actual in Fukushima area. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗