Oak Ridge Field Research Center

Integrated Field-scale Subsurface Research Challenge

Multiscale Investigations on the Rates and Mechanisms of Targeted Immobilization and Natural Attenuation of Metal, Radionuclide and Co-Contaminants in the Subsurface is one of three multi-year Integrated Field-Research Challenge (IFRC) projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR) Program. The other IFRC project locations are the Old Rifle UMTRA site, in Colorado, and the Hanford 300 area, in Washington.
The Oak Ridge IFRC seeks to advance the understanding and predictive capability of coupled hydrological, geochemical, and microbiological processes that control in situ transport, remediation and natural attenuation of metals, radionuclides, and co-contaminants across multiple scales ranging from molecular to watershed levels. Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL's) Environmental Sciences Division leads this multidisciplinary IFC project. Collaborating institutions include Argonne National Laboratory, Florida State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Tennessee. Field research takes place at a series of contaminated and uncontaminated sites at the Oak Ridge Field Research Center (ORFRC) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The ORFRC site and facilities are conducive to field research on processes that influence the transport and fate of subsurface metal and radionuclide contaminants, the effectiveness and long-term consequences of existing remediation options, and improved remediation strategies. Initiated in 2007, Oak Ridge IFRC research builds upon a suite of ORFRC investigations conducted from 2000–2006, funded primarily by ERSP's former Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR) program.

Integrated Field-Research Challenge

Geophysics—subsurface heterogeneity
Natural attenuation rates/mechanisms
Enhanced contaminant stability
Multi-scale/multi-process numerical modeling

About the site

News and coming events

CXTFIT was implemented into Excel! You can analyze lab and field tracer experiment data with great flexibility and sensitivity/uncertainty analysis functions now. The work was published in Computers & Geosciences (Link). The code, examples and new applications are publicaly available at http://www.ornl.gov/~t6g/cxtfit/

Simulation of Groundwater Composition Change Due to Deposition of Uranium Minerals in Dolomite Gravel Fill. Zhang, F., J.C. Parker, D.B. Watson, D. Phillips and P.M. Jardine. This article recieved the Best Paper Award at the GeoShanghai 2010 International Conference on June 3-5, 2010. Congratulations!

ORNL News Release. ORNL technology raises bar, lowers cost for groundwater contaminant sensors

Link

Metagenome of Stressed Microbial Community at Oak Ridge IFRC. Link

Argonne scientists seek natural remediation for uranium-rich sites. Link

In the most recent survey, local Oak Ridge residents identified as their top concern "monitoring contaminated groundwater and reduction of contamination leaving DOE property via groundwater." (The Oak Ridger, "Survey: Groundwater Monitoring Great Concern", November 11, 2009). Research conducted under the ORIFRC addresses this concern and is, in that respect, of direct importance to local stakeholders. The full article is appended to this report and can be found here.

Joel Kostka was named Chair-elect of Division N, Microbial Ecology, American Society for Microbiology.

Congratulations to Susan Hubbard for receiving the 2009 Frank Frischknecht Leadership Award in late October from the Society of Exploration Geophysics near surface geophysical community. You can view the award letter here.

Susan Hubbard was nominated as top Associate Editor by the Journal of Hydrology for 2009.

Microbial janitors: enabling microbes to clean up uranium contamination. Interview with Dr. Stefan Green, a research faculty member in the Oceanography Department at Florida State University who is working with Dr. Joel Kostka on the Oak Ridge Integrated Field Research Challenge.

In Jul 2009 the OU GeoChip was the recipient of a 2009 R&D 100 Award. This award recognizes the 100 most technologically significant products introduced in the past year. http://www.rdmag.com/RD100Home.html
Please see the recent article here.

JGI's Community Sequencing Program has approved a proposal by Florida State University to sequence the genomes of six novel denitrifying bacterial isolates from the uranium and nitrate contaminated subsurface at the U.S. DOE Oak Ridge IFRC. These new sequences will greatly benefit microbial research at the Oak Ridge IFRC. For more information contact Dr. Joel Kostka/FSU (jkostka@ocena.fsu.edu)

A First -- Oak Ridge IFRC Field Experiement uses Emulsified Vegetable Oil (EVO) to Reduce U Concentrations.

A new Geobacter Species was Isolated from the ORIFRC Contaminant Zone that has a Distinct Metabolic and Genetic Structure. Picture, Highlights, and Description.

Recent Publications

Hydrogel-encapsulated soil: a tool to measure contaminant attenuation in situ.
GeoChip-based analysis of functional microbial communities during the reoxidation of a bioreduced uranium-contaminated aquifer
Bacterial community succession during in situ uranium bioremediation: spatial similarities along controlled flow paths
Treatment of Nitric Acid, U(VI) and Tc(VII) Contaminated Groundwater in Intermediate-Scale Physical Models of an in Situ Bio-Barrier
Wu et al. (2006) is recognized as a most highly cited paper in ES&T
More...

Meetings

Past research projects and findings

Uranium, technetium reduction via push-pull techniques (Oregon State)
Two-stage uranium bioreduction (Stanford)
Passive uranium immobilization (PNNL)

Website provided by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
a multi-program research facility managed by UT-Battelle, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy

Revision Date: January 28, 2011