Ken Rainwater

Aerobic Biodegradation of High Explosives, Phase I - HMX

The Pantex facility near Amarillo, Texas, has soil and groundwater contaminated with differing combinations of high explosives (HEs), including hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX), and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). This project was concerned with direct treatment of HMX in groundwater withdrawn at this plant. Several physical and chemical treatment schemes for the treatment of HMX have been successful. However, the successful biological treatment of HMX has been limited to anaerobic environments. The objective of this work was to identify microbial consortia and amendments capable of aerobically biodegrading HMX in water. Microbial consortia and amendments employed were provided as livestock manure and soil with its indigenous flora from nearby historically contaminated sites. Possible losses of HMX by nonbiological means such as adsorption and photolysis were accounted for by appropriate abiotic experiments. Loss of the parent compound was ...

Managing and allocating water resources: Adopting the integrated water resource management approach

Publisher Summary Global, regional and local water resources are subject to increasing demands. Implicit in the management of all water is the task of allocation. Allocation between uses that have become competing because of the rising overall demand will be contentious. This chapter shows that the information that underpins such contention is not just based on well-observed hydrology and rational economics. It has been shown that it is normal for identities, beliefs, and long established water using practices to have more weight in political discourses that mediate allocative outcomes than science. Public knowledge is constructed through discursive politics where scientists hold only marginal sway, unless they strategize like other interested actors. Hydrology, hydraulics, and economics will always have an important potential place in the way systems of integrated water resource management are developed, but science-based information can easily be overwhelmed by the arguments of water using interests who have a life and death stake in “who gets what, when and how.” Coalitions of the users of big volumes of water can easily build coalitions with flow up-hill to money and power. The issue of integrated water resource management is high amongst the concerns of the water science community and of water management professionals at the millennium because of a number of forces at work in the hydro-political complex.

Literature review of the lifetime of DOE materials: Aging of plastic bonded explosives and the explosives and polymers contained therein

There are concerns about the lifetime of the nation`s stockpile of high explosives (HEs) and their components. The DOE`s Core Surveillance and Enhanced Surveillance programs specifically target degradation of HE, binders, and plastic-bonded explosives (PBXs) for determination of component lifetimes and handling procedures. The principal goal of this project is to identify the decomposition mechanisms of HEs, plasticizers, and plastic polymer binders resulting from exposure to ionizing radiation, heat, and humidity. The primary HEs of concern are 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) and 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetraazocyclooctane (HMX). Hexahydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) is closely related to these two compounds and is also included in the literature review. Both Kel-F 800 and Estane are polymers of interest. A stabilizer, Irganox 1010, and an energetic plasticizer that is a blend of acetaldehyde 2,2-dinitropropyl acetal, are also of interest, but the focus of this report will be on the explosives and polymers. This presents a literature review that provides background on the synthesis, degradation, and techniques to analyze TATB, HMX, RDX, Kel-F 800, Estane, and the PBXs of these compounds. As there are many factors that can influence degradation of materials, the degradation discussion will be divided into sections based on each factor and how it might affect the degradation mechanism. The factors reviewed that influence the degradation of these materials are exposure to heat, UV- and {gamma}-irradiation, and the chemistry of these compounds. The report presents a recently compiled accounting of the available literature. 80 refs., 7 figs.

Impact of political, scientific and non-technical issues on regional groundwater modeling: Case study from Texas, USA

Abstract Recent legislation required regional “grass-roots” water resources planning across the entire state of Texas. The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), the states primary water resource planning agency, divided the state into sixteen planning regions. Each planning group developed plans to manage both groundwater and surface water sources and to meet future demands of various combinations of domestic, agricultural, municipal, and industrial water consumers. This presentation describes the challenges in developing a groundwater model for the Llano Estacado Regional Water Planning Group (LERWPG), whose region includes 21 counties in the Southern High Plains of Texas. While surface water is supplied to several cities in this region, the vast majority on the regional water use comes from the High Plains Aquifer System, often locally referred to as the Ogallala aquifer. Over 95 percent of the groundwater demand is for irrigated agriculture. The LERWPG had to predict the impact of future TWDB-projected water demands, as provided by the TWDB, on the aquifer for the period 2000 to 2050. If detrimental impacts were noted, alternative management strategies must be proposed. While much effort was spent on evaluating the current status of the groudwater reserves, an appropriate numerical model of the aquifer system was necessary to demonstrate future impacts of the predicted withdrawals, as well as the effects of the alternative strategies. The modeling effort was completed in the summer of 2000. This presentation concentrates on the political, scientific, and non-technical issues in this planning process that complicated the modeling effort.

Enzymatic degradation of plutonium-contaminated cellulose products

Enzyme solutions produced for commercial purposes unrelated to waste management have the potential for reducing the volume of wastes in streams containing cellulose, lipid and protein materials. For example, the authors have shown that cellulases used in denim production and in detergent formulations are able to digest cellulose-containing sorbents and other cellulose-based wastes contaminated either with crude oil or with radionuclides. This presentation describes the use of one such enzyme preparation (Rapidase{trademark}) for the degradation of cotton sorbents intentionally contaminated with low levels of plutonium. This is part of a feasibility study to determine if such treatments have a role in reducing the volume of low level and transuranic wastes to minimize the amount of radionuclide-contaminated waste that must be disposed of in secured storage areas.

Mechanisms of formation of trace decomposition products in complex high explosive mixtures

A significant concern in the nation`s stockpile surveillance program in prediction of the lifetimes of the high explosives (HE) and their components as the weapons age. The Department of Energy`s Core Surveillance and Enhanced Surveillance programs specifically target issues of degradation of HE, binders, and plastic-bonded explosives (PBX) for determination of component lifetimes and handling procedures. These material science topics are being addressed at the DOE national laboratories and production plants, including Pantex. The principal goal of this project is to identify the mechanisms of decomposition of HE, plasticizers, plastic polymer binders, and radical stabilizers resulting from exposures to ionizing radiation, heat, and humidity. The following reports the work completed for 1998, including a comprehensive literature review about some of the materials examined and the laboratory work completed to date. The materials focused on in the laboratory are TATB, Estane 5301, and Irganox 1010.

Calculation of energy consumption for crossflow RO desalination processes

Abstract Reverse osmosis (RO) is an energy-intensive technology and consistent efforts have been made to reduce energy requirement of the technology in order to make it a more affordable means of water supply. There is an urgent need for a more accurate quantification of energy consumption in the crossflow RO process because it is the predominant configuration used in water desalination and purification. The energy required in the crossflow RO desalination processes is affected by a complex set of parameters or variables, including raw water quality, membrane property, operating requirements such as permeate flux and water recovery, as well as option of energy recovery device in the concentrate stream. The crossflow RO process is fundamentally a heterogeneous system that can only be well defined with the localized variables for the salt concentration, cross flow velocity, and permeate flux along the membrane channel. A theoretical framework was developed in this study for a more accurate quantification of...

In Situ Biodegradation of High Explosives in Soils: Field Demonstration

The first field pilot-scale demonstration of a technology for in situ remediation of vadose zone soils contaminated with high explosives (HEs) has been performed at the Department of Energys Pantex Plant. The HEs of concern at the demonstration site were hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and the 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) metabolite 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB). Concentrations ranged from 70 ppm, above the (prior to 1999) risk reduction clean-up criteria of 2.6 and 0.51 ppm, respectively. The shallow (<10 m depth) soils at the site could not be excavated due to the presence of buried utilities. Based on previous laboratory studies, it was found that the contaminated soils had indigenous microbial populations that could be stimulated to degrade the RDX and TNB anaerobically. A 5-spot well pattern with injection at the central well and extraction at the four outer wells (each 4.6 m from the injection well) was used to flood the target vadose zone soils with nitrogen gas with the intent of stimulating the activity of the HE degraders. The system was monitored periodically for gas composition as well as HE concentrations and microbial activity in retrievable soil samples. After 295 days of in situ treatment, the average target HE concentrations were approximately one-third lower than the initial site averages. Operation of the pilot-scale treatment system continues.

Closed-Concentrate Circulation for High Recovery and Energy Efficiency in Small-Scale Brackish Reverse Osmosis

AbstractThere is a need for small-scale desalination of brackish water to meet the water needs of scattered small communities and households in the United States and other parts of the world. Reverse osmosis (RO) would be a viable means to meet this need if it could be adapted to small-scale applications in an energy-efficient manner. However, small-scale RO desalination usually operates with low recovery and/or low energy efficiency because the design features typically used in large-scale RO desalination to improve recovery and energy efficiency cannot be adapted to small-scale applications due to the limited number of membrane elements. In this study, the concept of closed concentrate circulation was investigated as a means to increase the recovery and energy efficiency of small-scale RO systems with a limited number of membrane elements. Experiments were conducted on an experimental small-scale RO system employing closed concentrate circulation and parallel single-membrane elements under various opera...

Education Outreach Associated with Technology Transfer in a Colonia of South Texas: Green Valley Farms Science and Space Club for Middle School Aged Children in Green Valley Farms, San Benito, Texas

Texas colonias are unincorporated subdivisions characterized by inadequate water and wastewater infrastructure, inadequate drainage and road infrastructure, substandard housing, and poverty. Since 1989 the Texas Legislature has implemented policies to halt further development of colonias and to address water and wastewater infrastructure needs in existing and new colonias along the border with Mexico. Government programs and non-government and private organization projects aim to address these infrastructure needs. Texas Tech Universitys Water Resources Center demonstrated the use of alternative on-site wastewater treatment in the Green Valley Farms colonia, San Benito, Texas. The work in Green Valley Farms was a component of a NASA-funded project entitled Evaluation of NASAs Advanced Life Support Integrated Water Recovery System for Non-Optimal Conditions and Terrestrial Applications. Two households within the colonia are demonstration sites for constructed wetlands. A colonia resident and activist identified educational opportunities for colonia children as a primary goal for many colonia residents. Colonia parents view education as the door to opportunity and escape from poverty for their children. The educational outreach component of the project in Green Valley Farms was a Science and Space Club for middle-school age students. Involved parents, schoolteachers, and school administrators enthusiastically supported the monthly club meetings and activities. Each month, students participated in interactive learning experiences about water use and reuse in space and on earth. Activities increased knowledge and interest in water resource issues and in science and engineering fields. The Institute for the Development and Enrichment of Advanced Learners (IDEAL) at Texas Tech University provided full scholarships for five students from Green Valley Farms to attend the Shake Hands With Your Future camp at Texas Tech University in June 2003. The educational outreach component was evaluated in February 2004 using survey instruments for students and parents, and interviews with science teachers and counselors.