EM SCIENCE PROGRAM REVIEW AND PATH FORWARD RECOMMENDATION
Robert R. Stiger, Francis X. Murray · 2000
In early 1999, the Department of Energy (DOE) requested the Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF), under a cooperative agreement with the DOE Idaho Operations Office, conduct a review of the 145 projects in the Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP). The objective of the review was to provide an evaluation of these projects, most of which were scheduled for completion in September 1999. This paper presents the status of these projects, research accomplishments to date, expected results upon completion, and recommendations for effectively using the results of this research effort. SUMMARY The EMSP was formulated and implemented in response to the Galvin Report, Alternative Futures for the Department of Energy National Laboratories 1 . At that time, Congress requested that the DOE mount an effort in longer-term basic science research to seek new and innovative cleanup methods to replace conventional approaches. Accordingly, the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), in partnership with DOE's Office of Science, designed, developed, and implemented the EMSP as a directed basic research effort to enhance the scientific and engineering understanding required to solve the most challenging technical problems facing the government’s largest, most complex environmental cleanup program. The EMSP has three main objectives: • Develop and implement a targeted long-term basic research agenda for environmental problems so that transformational or break-through approaches will lead to less costly, more innovative cleanup technologies and will reduce risks to workers, the public, and the environment; • Bridge the gap between broad fundamental research that has wide-ranging applicability, such as that performed in DOE's Energy Research (ER) Program, and needs-driven applied technology development that is conducted in EM's Office of Science and Technology; and • Focus the Nation's science infrastructure on critical DOE environmental management problems.