Site Characterization Work Plan for Gasbuggy, New Mexico

Project Gasbuggy was the first of three joint government-industry experiments conducted to test the effectiveness of nuclear explosives to fracture deeply buried, low-permeability natural gas reservoirs to stimulate production. The scope of this work plan is to document the environmental objectives and the proposed technical site investigation strategies that will be utilized for the site characterization of the Project Gasbuggy Site. Its goal is the collection of data in sufficient quantity and quality to determine current site conditions, support a risk assessment for the site surfaces, and evaluate if further remedial action is required to achieve permanent closure of the site that is both protective of human health and the environment. The Gasbuggy Site is located approximately 55 air miles east of Farmington, New Mexico, in Rio Arriba County within the Carson National Forest in the northeast portion of the San Juan Basin. Historically, Project Gasbuggy consisted of the joint government-industry detonation of a nuclear device on December 10, 1967, followed by reentry drilling and gas production testing and project evaluation activities in post-detonation operations from 1967 to 1976. Based on historical documentation, no chemical release sites other than the mud pits were identified; additionally, there was no material buried at the Gasbuggy Site other than drilling fluids and construction debris. Although previous characterization and restoration activities including sensitive species surveys, cultural resources surveys, surface geophysical surveys, and limited soil sampling and analysis were performed in 1978 and again in 2000, no formal closure of the site was achieved. Also, these efforts did not adequately address the site's potential for chemical contamination at the surface/shallow subsurface ground levels or the subsurface hazards for potential migration outside of the current site subsurface intrusion restrictions. Additional investigation activities will focus on the surface/shallow subsurface sampling and modeling. Suspected potential contaminants of concern for investigative analysis at the Gasbuggy Site include total petroleum hydrocarbons (diesel- and gasoline-range), volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds, total Resource Conservation and Recovery Act metals, and radionuclides. The results of this characterization and risk assessment will be used to evaluate corrective action alternatives to include no further action, the implementation of institutional controls, capping on site, or off-site disposal of contaminated waste which will be presented in a subsequent corrective action decision document

Open Data and Models for Energy and Environment

This Special Issue aims at providing recent advancements on open data and models. Energy and environment are the fields of application.For all the aforementioned reasons, we encourage researchers and professionals to share their original works. Topics of primary interest include, but are not limited to:Open data and models for energy sustainability;Open data science and environment applications;Open science and open governance for Sustainable Development Goals;Key performance indicators of data-aware energy modelling, planning and policy;Energy, water and sustainability database for building, district and regional systems; andBest practices and case studies

Technology of high-level nuclear waste disposal. Advances in the science and engineering of the management of high-level nuclear wastes. Volume 2

The twenty papers in this volume are divided into three parts: site exploration and characterization; repository development and design; and waste package development and design. These papers represent the status of technology that existed in 1981 and 1982. Individual papers were processed for inclusion in the Energy Data Base

A study of young supernova remnants

This thesis is submitted in accordance to the University of Western Sydney's thesis rules for ‘Thesis as a Series of Papers’. This thesis comprises four lead author and twenty-seven co-authored refereed journal papers published during my candidature. The theme of the papers and thus the thesis is a study supernova remnants (SNRs), in particular ‘young’ SNRs, that is SNRs <2000 years old representing the time of the transition from Supernova to Supernova Remnant. New high resolution Australia Telescope Compact Array radio-continuum observations and multifrequency archival data from various national and international observatories are used. Considered is how the SNRs' multifrequency morphological appearance, polarisation and magnetic field relates to their age, stage of evolution and progenitor star explosion mechanism

A multifrequency study of the Magellanic Clouds

This project examines the variety and nature of the radio sources in the Magellanic Clouds reprocessing recent and archival high sensitivity radio-continuum observations from the Australia Telescope Compact Array, using newly developed techniques and other large-scale surveys. This higher resolution and quality study creates a new complete catalogue of discrete and extended sources in the Magellanic Clouds, identifying background sources, Planetary Nebulae, and Supernova Remnants

Analogue sites for Mars missions : MSL and beyond : March 5-6, 2011, The Woodlands, Texas

The goal of the workshop is to develop an inventory of analogue sites that have value to NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the Mars 2018 missions, and Mars analogue missions by the Canadian Space Agency and other space agencies. There will be a strong focus on outstanding science questions and Mars habitability.National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Lunar and Planetary Instituteconveners, Mary Voytek ... [and others]PARTIAL CONTENTS: Rover Science Operations: Lessons from Rocky 7 and FIDO Field Experiments and Mars Exploration Rover Flight Operations / R.E. Arvidson--Small, Fresh Craters at the Nevada Test Site / L.E. Kirkland and K.C. Herr--Lava Tubes as Analog Repositories for Life, Geochemistry, and Climate Records on Mars / P. Boston, J.G. Blank, D.E. Northup, and M. Deans

Modeling to Support Groundwater Contaminant Boundaries for the Shoal Underground Nuclear Test

Groundwater flow and radionuclide transport at the Shoal underground nuclear test are characterized using three-dimensional numerical models, based on site-specific hydrologic data. The objective of this modeling is to provide the flow and transport models needed to develop a contaminant boundary defining the extent of radionuclide-contaminated groundwater at the site throughout 1,000 years at a prescribed level of confidence. This boundary will then be used to manage the Project Shoal Area for the protection of the public and the environment