Projects

Engineered Barrier System R&D

• Nuclear Energy and Waste

The objective of EBS Disposal R&D is to address the technical elements necessary to evaluate EBS design concepts specific to the select host media. Emphasis includes analysis and study of thermal, mechanical, and chemical processes that influence the performance of EBS and developing modeling capability for reliable assessment of these processes and ultimately supporting the Generic Disposal System Analysis (GDSA) model with detailed coupled THMC process models.

LianGe Zheng lzheng@lbl.gov 510-486-5502

Laura Nielsen Lammers lnlammers@lbl.gov 510-664-4210

Patricia M. Fox pmfox@lbl.gov 510-495-2037

Sharon E. Borglin seborglin@lbl.gov

Peter S. Nico psnico@lbl.gov 510-486-7118

Piotr Pawel Zarzycki ppzarzycki@lbl.gov 510-486-6272

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Induced Seismicity

• Geothermal Systems
• Geologic Carbon Sequestration
• Hydrocarbon Resources

Induced seismicity associated with energy production and waste disposal will become an increasingly important issue (geothermal, CO₂ sequestration, and oil and gas, etc.) as energy production in a climate-constrained earth progresses. Although induced seismicity has been noted for many years and associated with a variety of causes, recent attention has been focused on oil and gas, geothermal, and potential CO₂ sequestration sites...

Michelle Robertson mcrobertson@lbl.gov 510-486-5096

Ernest L. Majer elmajer@lbl.gov 510-486-6709

Susan Sprinkle ssprinkle@lbl.gov 510-486-6372

ENIGMA

• Ecosystems Biology Program

ENIGMA— Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Genes and Molecular Assemblies—seeks to advance understanding of microbial biology and the impact of microbial communities on their ecosystems. Team members collaborate closely to generate detailed quantitative understanding across scales—from molecular to cellular and community levels. Scientists within ENIGMA have the technological and scientific skills and experience to link environmental microbiological field-studies to both highly advanced field and laboratory meta-functional genomic and genetics tools.

Romy Chakraborty rchakraborty@lbl.gov 510-486-4091

ESS-DIVE Deep Insight for Earth Science Data

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE) is a new data archive for earth and environmental science data.

Deb Agarwal DAAgarwal@lbl.gov (510)486-7078

Charuleka Varadharajan cvaradharajan@lbl.gov 510-495-8890

ExaSheds

• Environmental Remediation and Water Resources

As the world population grows, so do concerns that water availability and water quality will continue to diminish. Changes in land use, climate change, and extreme weather exacerbate these concerns, which threaten not only our freshwater supply, but also systems that rely on watershed exports such as hydropower and agriculture.

Carl I. Steefel cisteefel@lbl.gov 510-502-3660

Dipankar Dwivedi ddwivedi@lbl.gov 510-486-4005

Exploring a Changing Arctic Environment Using Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing Methods (DoD–SERDP)

• Environmental Remediation and Water Resources

LBNL-ESD and the U.S. Army Core of Engineers—Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (USACE—CRREL) are collaborating to explore the use of distributed fiber-optic sensors to monitor the state of permafrost underlying transportation infrastructure, such as roads, runways, and rail lines.

Jonathan Ajo-Franklin jbajo-franklin@lbl.gov 510-495-2728

Fukushima: JAEA-LBNL Collaboration on Repository Geoscience and Technology Development

• Environmental Remediation and Water Resources
• Nuclear Energy and Waste

In the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in Japan in 2011, LBNL-EESA and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) have collaborated to develop numerical methodologies for understanding and predicting the long-term transport of radionuclides within and among different surface-environmental compartments (farmland and forest soils, water bodies, soil pore water and groundwater systems) in Japan. This research, initiated in June 2014, also contributes to the R&D activities related to environmental remediation and decommissioning after the accident.

Jens Birkholzer jtbirkholzer@lbl.gov 510-486-7134

Carl I. Steefel cisteefel@lbl.gov 510-502-3660

Haruko Murakami Wainwright hmwainwright@lbl.gov 510-495-2038

Generic Disposal R&D

• Nuclear Energy and Waste

The objective of this activity is to develop a methodology and toolsets for integrating complex, coupled models (such as THMC or THC) into the GDSA model for evaluating disposal system performance for nuclear waste. Because the GDSA model is designed for the entire repository with a thousand emplacement tunnels, a systematic methodology is needed on how to simplify some coupled processes/parameters.

Haruko Murakami Wainwright hmwainwright@lbl.gov 510-495-2038

Geo-TES Project

• Geothermal Systems

The Geologic Thermal Energy Storage (GeoTES) Project involves three main components: (1) Convert excess electricity to hot water and pump it into a deep sedimentary reservoir, (2) Store the thermal energy in the subsurface, and (3) When needed, recover hot water for energy generation or direct use applications.

Nicolas Spycher nspycher@lbl.gov 510-495-2388

Christine Doughty cadoughty@lbl.gov 510-486-6453

Patrick F. Dobson pfdobson@lbl.gov 510-486-5373

Geophysical detection and monitoring of fluids, faults and coupled processes in the earth’s crust

• Fundamental Geosciences

The overall goal of this research is to understand in a quantitative way the coupling between flow and deformation and damage so that measurements of the deformation and damage along with changes in geophysical rock properties may be used to determine where the fluid is flowing and what processes the flow is provoking.

Steven R. Pride srpride@lbl.gov 510-495-2823