Constructing Around Contamination
When soil and ground water contamination are found at a construction site, completing the project on time and within budget is always a challenge. Typical problems include constraints...
Quest for the Perfect Cap
Exhuming and treating wastes may not always be the most effective way to remediate a site. In some cases, in-place disposal with a protective cap offers the best protection for human health...
Spoils of War
Watertown Arsenal, a former U.S. Army arsenal and nuclear research site noted for its innovations in armament technology, has been shut down and is destined to be returned to civilian...
Quality Assurance for Hazardous-Waste Projects
An important aspect of an environmental Quality Assurance (QA) Program, as with any system designed to improve quality of performance, is the specification of objectives which, if met,...
Small Dam Rehabs
The nation's 95,000 small dams face many of the same problems as the rest of its infrastructure, but with less money available for repair. In response, the owners of small...
Seismic Retrofitting: Spending to Save
Seismic retrofitting work is most often concerned with saving lives. But in cases of infrastructure, or historic structures, saving the structure, and making sure that it can operate after...
Large-Truck Safety Decision Support System
Large trucks, defined here as trucks having six or more wheels and a gross weight greater than 10,000 pounds, present a difficult safety problem to our nation's transportation system....
The Use of Linked Spreadsheets as a Transportation Problem Solving Tool
Spreadsheet modeling is a useful tool for business as well as engineering applications. Until the advent of linked spreadsheets this type of modeling was based on the concept of preparing...
Assessment of the Potential for Tectonic Fault Rupture for High-Level Nuclear Waste Repositories
Active faults that extend to or near the Earth's surface may threaten the safety of engineered structures. The threat can be mitigated by appropriate siting and design, which requires...
Design and Performance Requirements for Surface Facilities of a High Level Nuclear Waste Repository
This paper describes three important steps in the design process of repository surface facilities: (1) Establishing performance requirements and risk levels, (2) translating performance...
Superfund: New Leadership, Old Problems
The often contentious Superfund program faces a Democratic administration�the first one since its inception�and reauthorization by a new congress, armed with a mandate to cut government...
Environmental Consulting Grows Up
The environmental engineering industry got its first taste of maturity in 1992, courtesy of the weak U.S. economy. Revenue growth, which had raced along at a 25%-30% clip for years, abruptly...
Data Validation Practices and Risk Assessment
The accuracy of environmental site assessments depends on the validity of the data used to make them, but all too often, the people who judge the quality of the data have little idea of...
Seismic Response of Average High-Rise Building Structions in Japan
Dynamic characteristic models, representing average high-rise building structures in Japan, have been established through the regression analyses utilizing review documents of seismic...
Safety Enhancement of Bridges with Seismic Isolation Bearings
This paper summarizes the experimental and analytical studies done at Dept. of Civil Eng., Kyoto Univ., on application of base isolation bearings to highway bridges and the Menshin (base...
Seismic Design Considerations for Uplifted Tanks
An evaluation of the most commonly used seismic design procedures for unanchored tanks is presented. It is noted that current standards are inconsistent in predicting the behavior of unanchored...
Lifeline Structure Design Issues?A Case Study of Current Bridge Seismic Design and Application of Recent Seismic Design Research
The purpose of this paper is to present the major design issues addressed in the design of Terminal Separation (Replace) and I-880 Reconstruction. To address these issues Caltrans set...
Recent Improvements in the LLNL PSHA Methodology
For the purpose of comparison, the LLNL PSHA methodology is defined as the 1989 version developed under contract for the NRC. Additional work on a series of subsequent projects for DOE...
Fundamental Issues in Seismic Safety in Midwestern U.S. Due to Hazard/Vulnerability Relation
Problems in establishing and mitigating seismic risk in urban areas when seismicity is not confidently based on instrumental records are discussed. Urban Southwestern Ohio is a specific...
Seismic Standards for Existing Federally Owned and Leased Buildings
Public Law 101-614 requires the Interagency Committee on Seismic Safety in construction to develop 'standards for assessing and enhancing the seismic safety of existing buildings constructed...
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