Laser Ablation/Ionization Characterization of Solids: Final Progress Report of the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program

Abstract : The Department of Energy has undertaken the enormous task of remediating defense wastes and environmental insults which have occurred over 50 years of nuclear weapons production. It is abundantly clear that significant technology advances are needed to characterize, process, and store highly radioactive waste and to remediate contaminated zones. In addition to the processing and waste form issues, analytical technologies needed for the characterization of solids, and for monitoring storage tanks and contaminated sites do not exist or are currently expensive labor-intensive tasks. This report describes progress in developing sensitive, rapid, and widely applicable laser-based mass spectrometry techniques for analysis of mixed chemical wastes and contaminated soils. The remediation of defense waste and the long-term disposal of high-level mixed wastes requires chemical analysis of the waste streams. Efficient analytic methods are needed to characterize the chemical classes and concentrations of a wide variety of waste materials. Tank and crib waste sites contain broad distributions of radioisotopes, chelating agents, chromates, and ferrocyanides.