Two students from Florida International University (FIU) visited Colorado in October 2020 to learn more about long-term stewardship activities at sites managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management (LM).  

Olivia Bustillo and Eduardo Rojas, who are LM Fellows in the DOE Fellows Program, were able to visit safely due to FIU lifting its COVID-19 travel restriction ban.  

“This trip was a great opportunity for the fellows to learn more about how their research will benefit long-term surveillance and maintenance in the future,” said Jalena Dayvault, program manager for the LM Fellows and FIU collaboration. “I am pleased that LM, our LM Strategic Partner, and FIU were able to make this happen for the students.” 

As part of her fellowship, Bustillo, an environmental engineering student, is studying the reliability of apatite, a naturally occurring mineral in soils, as a way to sequester uranium in groundwater. Rojas, a mechanical engineering student, is studying how different remote sensing technologies can benefit long-term surveillance and monitoring at LM sites.  

The two started their Colorado visit by meeting with Brian Stewart, LM’s program manager for Safety & Health, who provided them with a comprehensive overview of LM’s safety program as well as more detailed briefings.  

“Like any visitors to our LM sites, we wanted to make sure that the FIU students could perform their site visits in a safe manner, especially in light of COVID-19,” Stewart said. “I had the pleasure of sitting down with them to discuss general site safety and, in particular, our field and office job safety procedures specific to the pandemic.” 

After, the fellows visited a number of LM sites, including the Rocky Flats Site, CO; Rifle, CO, Disposal/Processing Site; Grand Junction, CO, Site; and Grand Junction, CO, Disposal/Processing Site, where they got a firsthand look at LM’s operations and maintenance activities in Colorado.  One highlight of the visit was meeting with Ken Williams of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the Old Rifle Processing site. Williams has been collaborating with LM to study how apatite can uptake uranium contamination from groundwater.  

“The Rifle site has a rich history of providing research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students,” said Tashina Jasso, site manager for LM's Rifle site. “I’m excited that the apatite study we’ve been conducting in partnership with the DOE National Labs Network continues to provide enriching learning opportunities.”  

Learn more about the LM Fellows program with FIU: EM-University STEM Alliance Opens to DOE’s Legacy Management.