FRTR Spring 2024 General Meeting: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Optimize Site Remediation

The FRTR Spring 2022 General Meeting explored applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) concepts to site cleanups. Technology advances in robotics, unmanned systems, and analysis of large data sets to support site characterization and remediation were reviewed. Projects seeking to advance use of AI/ML and support remedy decisions were presented. Potential benefits, risks, and limits of deploying AI/ML technologies were identified.

The FRTR 2024 Spring General Meeting provides an opportunity to share progress and results of recent AI/ML projects providing advanced contaminant plume characterization and predictive modeling, and improved cleanup efficiency. The meeting highlights site-specific case studies where AI/ML has substantially enhanced remedial decisions, remedy implementation and performance monitoring, and reduced needs for extensive sampling. Discussions during the meeting seek to provide remedial project managers and technical staff with information and best practices for deploying AI/ML technology.

Greg Gervais, Office Director, Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office, Office of Land and Emergency Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Greg Gervais is the national program manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Federal Facilities Superfund Program and the director for EPA's Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office in the Office of Land and Emergency Management. Greg is responsible for national policy development and oversight for over $8 billion in annual cleanup at federal facilities around the country, including 175 National Priorities List sites. He served as FFRRO deputy director from 2016 to 2018. He joined OLEM in 2011 and served until 2016 where he led EPA's innovative remedial technology assessment and knowledge transfer program for the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation. Prior to joining OLEM, Greg was a senior engineer, program manager and program evaluator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 2002 to 2011. He previously served as a project manager and chemical engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1996 to 2002. Greg began his federal career with the EPA Region 10 Superfund program. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, and is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Gilberto "Tito" Irizarry, U.S. EPA OSRTI TIFSD

Jean Pablo Pabon Quinones, Department of Energy (jean.pabon@em.doe.gov)
Jean Pablo (JP) Pabón serves as a Program/Project Manager with the Technology Development Office (TDO) in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) tasked with pursuing the development of innovative technologies to improve the safety of the EM workforce and complete EM's cleanup mission. Before working at TDO, JP supported the Office of Project and Contract Management in EM, where he provided independent oversight of EM capital assets and operation activities, including activities related to on-site cost, schedule, technical, and the management of reviews for several sites within DOE including Argonne National Lab, Portsmouth, Paducah, Waste Isolation Pilot Plan, Savannah River, MOAB, Mound, SLAC, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Energy Technology Engineering Center.

Prior to working at DOE, JP was a graduate student in the Department of Geology at University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez (UPRM) Campus. His graduate studies focused on geophysics and structural engineering by evaluating geophysics methods to identify the most effective in characterizing karsts' sinkholes, recognizing subsurface areas of high porosity, cavities, conduits and solutionally enlarged fractures in northern Puerto Rico. JP was also a Teacher Assistant for Environmental Geophysics, Engineer Geology, and Optical Crystallography undergraduate courses. Concurrently, he worked as a Geologist/Engineer consultant and supervisor for PIM Engineering Laboratory, a geotechnical engineering consulting company.

Hunter Klein, NAVFAC/EXWC

Carol Eddy-Dilek, Savannah River National Laboratory (carol.eddy-dilek@srnl.doe.gov)
Carol Eddy-Dilek is a Laboratory Fellow at the Department of Energy Savannah River National Laboratory. For the past 33 years, she has worked on a variety of programs focused on development and deployment of innovative approaches and tools for environmental characterization and remediation, specifically, the design and optimization of phased characterization strategies that can be applied to complex and challenging environments. Her efforts resulted in the successful development or deployment of over twenty innovative methods for subsurface access and characterization that have been successfully applied within the DOE complex. Since 2002, she has been the technical lead for the Department of Energy's Technical Assistance program at the Savannah River National Laboratory that provides technical support to the DOE complex. Since 2006, she has organized more than 25 teams that have visited eleven DOE sites and made recommendations yielding an estimated cost savings of $100M. She is currently the lead for the DOE EM ALTEMIS project to develop a new paradigm of long-term monitoring based on state-of-art technologies — in situ groundwater sensors, geophysics, drone/satellite-based remote sensing, reactive transport modeling, and AI — that will improve effectiveness and robustness of monitoring, while reducing the overall cost. She is also the lead for the EM National Laboratories activities focused on expanding the Office of Legacy Management access to EM technical expertise in the development and deployment of environmental strategies.

Leonel E. Lagos, FIU

Brad Bonn, Boston Dynamics
Brad Bonn is the Senior Manager of Nuclear Operations for Boston Dynamics. Brad's primary focus is to work with customers and partners to ensure their robots keep people safe, reduce costs, PPE waste, and improve mission effectiveness in hazardous scenarios. He spearheaded the development of the first radiation mapping technology on Spot by aligning sensor data with robotic localization, conducted the first testing of Spot in a high radiation environment, and has personally operated Spot robots in one of the world's most significant nuclear accident sites. Before his time at Boston Dynamics, Brad spent more than 20 years working with technologies ranging from software and cloud infrastructure, to the core backbone of the Internet.

David Adamson, Ph.D, P.E., GSI Environmental Inc.
Dr. David Adamson is a Vice President and Principal Engineer with GSI Environmental Inc. in Houston, Texas USA and has more than 24 years of experience in the environmental field. Dr. Adamson has authored or co‐authored over 60 published technical articles with a focus on PFAS, 1,4‐dioxane, and contaminant fate and transport. He has been a PI or co-PI for a number of SERDP and ESTCP research projects, including as co-author of the ESTCP‐sponsored guidance document “Frequently Asked Questions About MNA” and was one of three co‐instructors for the ESTCP-sponsored “Massive Open Online Course” (MOOC) on MNA. Dr. Adamson has been a trainer for ITRC and has served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor and Lecturer at Rice University

Charles Newell, Ph.D, P.E., GSI Environmental Inc.
Dr. Charles Newell is a Vice President of GSI Environmental Inc. in Houston, Texas, USA. He is a member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, a NGWA Certified Ground Water Professional, and an Adjunct Professor at Rice University. He has extensive experience in the remediation of soils, groundwater, and surface water impacted by hydrocarbons, solvents, and/or PFAS. He was awarded the 2018 ITRC Environmental Excellence Award; the 2020 Foundation Achievement Award presented by the Association for Environmental Health and Science; and the American Academy of Environmental Engineer’s 2024 Gordon Maskew Fair Award.

Inci Demirkanli, PNNL

Tim Johnson, PNNL

Christian Johnson, PNNL

Moderator:

Jean Balent, U.S. EPA Technology Innovation and Field Services Division (balent.jean@epa.gov or 202-566-0832)
Ms Balent is on the staff of the EPA's Technology Innovation and Field Services Division where she has worked to collect and disseminate hazardous waste remediation and characterization information since 2003. Ms Balent manages the Clean Up Information Network website and actively supports online communication and collaboration resources available to EPA. She formerly worked with the US Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Engineering Division in the Buffalo District. Ms Balent was also a member of the SUNY-Buffalo Groundwater Research Group where she constructed and tested large scale models of groundwater flow. Ms Balent has also conducted research relating to the Great Lakes, environmental remediation, and brownfields re-development. She holds a Bachelor's degree in environmental engineering from SUNY-Buffalo and a Master's degree in Information Technology from AIU.

• These materials will be available by Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Webinar Slides and References:

• These materials will be available by Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Additional Resources:

• Spring 2024 Meeting Agenda

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Rehabilitation Act Notice for Reasonable Accommodation

It is EPA's policy to make reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities wishing to participate in the agency's programs and activities, pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 791. Any request for accommodation should be made to Cindy Frickle at 202-566-0927 or frickle.cindy@epa.gov, preferably one week or more in advance of the webinar, so that EPA will have sufficient time to process the request. EPA would welcome specific recommendations from requestors specifying the nature or type of accommodation needed. EPA welcomes specific recommendations from requestors specifying the nature or type of accommodation needed. Please note that CLU-IN provides both alternate phone call-in options and closed captioning for all webinars, and requests for these specific accommodations are not necessary.

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