Idaho’s Drones, Other Visual Technologies Enhance Cleanup, Communications

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management at the Idaho National Laboratory Site is using a drone and other visual technologies to benefit cleanup, enhance communications with the public on technical subjects and more effectively document progress.

Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC) is relying on drones more frequently to capture and monitor progress of the construction of an onsite landfill cell, calculate the landfill’s excavation and disposal volumes, take aerial photographs and videos of operational activities and film building demolitions. These varied activities grew from ICP’s original purpose for the drones: to acquire photos to map land surfaces and contours, and calculate remaining landfill volumes.

Recently, IEC deployed light detection and ranging technology to more efficiently capture land surface and contour data. That technology uses lasers to measure the time it takes for light to be reflected from a surface.

In a world’s first in 2022, crews with ICP’s Calcine Disposition Project employed a drone to map the interior of a calcine bin set vault where 220 cubic meters of granulated high-level radioactive waste is stored. They relied on the light detection and ranging technology to compare bin set configuration with construction drawings.

IEC drone pilot Dan Mahnami works with project and safety professionals prior to a drone taking flight. He also conducts test runs to obtain the best height and angle to position a drone before it captures video footage.

Prior to the availability of drone technology, a fixed-wing aircraft pilot shot aerial photographs for ICP. That was costly and limiting because of flight elevation requirements, making it nearly impossible to obtain video. Mahnami can fly a drone closer to a subject matter than the aircraft to take high-definition photos and high-resolution video.

Employees with IEC’s Communications Department have also been using timelapse video to show progress preparing buildings for demolition as well as the teardowns themselves. Timelapse cameras are programmed to take one or more photos per day, and they can be used to create video. Also recently, they placed a video camera inside a bulldozer responsible for demolishing a building to give viewers a different perspective of demolition work.

The employees have also drawn from advanced graphic images to help write content about the cleanup. This helps communicate cleanup progress to the public, document work processes and provide lessons learned across the DOE complex.

“Using every communications tool available helps the public better understand the complexities of completing the cleanup mission and the progress being made,” said IEC Communications Director Jessica Vasseur. “These tools have improved our engagement with the public and ICP stakeholders through direct interactions and feedback received.”

-Contributor: Erik Simpson