DOE Gives $47 Million for Core Research

Abstract

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week took what it hopes will amount to a giant step toward solving its massive nuclear waste cleanup problem by funding the first round of 139 grants for basic research at universities and DOE labs. The $47 million Environmental Management Science Program, created last year by Congress, has been embraced by DOE as a fresh approach to a mind-boggling problem—3700 sites in 34 states that could take $230 billion and 75 years to clean up. The 3-year awards, from $200,000 to $2.9 million, cover projects ranging from the dynamics of plume flow and the cleansing characteristics of sound waves to the genetics of waste-eating microbes and metal-absorbing plants. DOE expects to give out $112 million over the 3 years.