Environmental Resiliency in Nuclear Energy

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SPEAKER:
HARUKO WAINWRIGHT

RESEARCH SCIENTIST, LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

DATE/TIME:
MON, 09/26/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Fall 2016 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

Environmental concerns pose the biggest challenge for nuclear energy, often preventing the construction of new plants, or the disposal of radioactive waste. There are currently more than a hundred sites in the world at which surface and groundwater have been contaminated by nuclear weapon production or nuclear accidents. Many of those sites remain unused and inhabited, which have been primarily the source of public concern. Developing capabilities to respond, assess and recover from such contamination – environmental resiliency – is critical not only to address existing contamination but also to build public confidence and support for nuclear energy.

This talk introduces recent technical advances to tackle nuclear-related environmental contaminations, including (1) in situ remote monitoring, (2) techniques for non-destructive geophysical imaging and multiscale data integration, (3) data analytics for large spatial and temporal datasets, (4) predictive simulation capabilities of contaminant transport and (5) enhanced natural attenuation remedies. At the Savannah River Site F-Area, where soil and groundwater are contaminated by various radionuclides, these technologies are used to achieve cost-effective remediation and to ensure long-term stability under various disturbances like climate change. In addition, after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, a Bayesian-based data integration method has been used to integrate different types of radiation survey data (e.g., airborne, car-based), providing an integrated map of air dose rates in the regional scale. With the trend of autonomous and advanced monitoring and characterization approaches such as those discussed here, there is significant potential to develop smart early warning and leak detection systems as an integral part of future nuclear facility planning.

About the Speaker:

Haruko is a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She earned master in nuclear engineering and statistics, and PhD in nuclear engineering at University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on hydrological modeling, spatial statistics, data integration, and uncertainty quantification. She has worked on various research topics in both nuclear engineering and environmental sciences, including nuclear waste, groundwater contamination, surface contamination after the Fukushima accident, climate change impacts on ecosystems, and geological CO2 storage. She has played a key role in many multidisciplinary projects. She is currently leading a project on modeling and data analytics at the Savannah River Site F-Area. She is a recipient of 2016 Director’s Award for Early Scientific Career Achievement at LBNL.

Cyber Security for Nuclear Energy

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SPEAKER:
ROBERT A. BARI

SENIOR PHYSICIST, BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

DATE/TIME:
MON, 09/19/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Fall 2016 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

Cyber threats to high technology systems are growing concerns and approaches are being developed to detect these threats and to protect against them. The objectives of a program in the nuclear energy area will be presented along with its current status. The threats and impacts will be briefly discussed as well events that have occurred. There are both technical and institutional challenges that must be addressed in the cyber security area. Some candidate approaches to evaluation will be reviewed and an approach based on attack trees will be illustrated for a model system. Insights on how to protect systems will be suggested and future work will be outlined.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Robert A. Bari is a Senior Physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and has over 40 years of experience in nuclear energy. For more than 25 years, Dr. Bari served at all levels of management at the laboratory. He is co-chairman of the working group on proliferation resistance and physical protection of the Generation IV International Forum. Dr. Bari has served on the Board of Directors of the American Nuclear Society and as President of the International Association for Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management. He was awarded the Theo J. “Tommy” Thompson Award in 2003 by the American Nuclear Society. In 2004, he received the Brookhaven National Laboratory Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science and Technology.  He is a fellow of the American Nuclear Society and of the American Physical Society. He has been a committee member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences on Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety and Security of the U.S. Nuclear Plants. Dr. Bari has also recently chaired a workshop of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences on safety and security culture held jointly between the U.S. and Brazil in Sao Paolo.  He received his doctorate from Brandeis University (1970) and his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University (1965). He was awarded membership in the Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Pi Sigma honor societies.