Science and technology roadmapping to support project planning

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is a US national multiprogram laboratory that supports the Department of Energy's missions in environmental quality, energy resources, science and technology and national security. INEEL takes an applied science and engineering approach to remediation (clean up) of its legacy hazardous and radioactive wastes generated on the site during its nuclear reactor testing era. In 1996, the INEEL began negotiations with the State of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to address various noncompliance issues regarding Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste regulations. These negotiations culminated in June 2000 with a 'Voluntary Consent Order' (VCO). Hazardous and radioactive material in more than 700 tanks, various unused equipment, and legacy samples need to be sampled and analyzed or the tanks need to be verified to be empty. The entire process determination of tank contents or verification of empty-is termed "VCO tank characterization" in this paper.