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EPA, DOE, NASA AND USAF EVALUATE INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Release Date: 04/09/99
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1999
EPA, DOE, NASA AND USAF EVALUATE INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
EPA, the Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are joining efforts to evaluate promising innovative technologies for the clean up of the sources for dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs), which cause ground water contamination. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), signed Tuesday, April 6, authorizes the agencies to conduct the tests at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. DNAPLs represent a major environmental problem at many federal and private industry facilities. DNAPL chemicals, particularly, chlorinated solvents, are among the most common of environmental contamination problems. Chlorinated solvents, used for metal cleaning and degreasing of precision equipment, electronics and heavy machinery were released into the environment in massive quantities between 1950 and the early 1980s. When spilled on the ground, these solvents tend to migrate downward and accumulate below the water table, making them difficult to clean up. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that the federal government will spend billions of dollars on environmental remediation of DNAPL contamination. While various DNAPL remediation, characterization and monitoring technologies have been demonstrated in the past, it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons. This MOA establishes the Interagency DNAPL Consortium to evaluate and compare cost and performance of two innovative in-situ remediation technologies, thermal removal and oxidation destruction. The technologies will be demonstrated at a solvent spill at a former launch site. This comparison will provide necessary and useful information to site remediation managers concerning the expected performance of these technologies. This will increase the use of more efficient and innovative remediation technologies.
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