Environmental Data Initiative

<p class="p1">Environmental research data repositories provide much needed services for data preservation and data dissemination to diverse communities with domain specific or programmatic data needs and standards. Due to independent development these repositories serve their communities well, but were developed with different technologies, data models and using different ontologies. Hence, the effectiveness and efficiency of these services can be vastly improved if repositories work together adhering to a shared community platform that focuses on the implementation of agreed upon standards and best practices for curation and dissemination of data. Such a community platform drives forward the convergence of technologies and practices that will advance cross-domain interoperability. It will also facilitate contributions from investigators through standardized and streamlined workflows and provide increased visibility for the role of data managers and the curation services provided by data repositories, beyond preservation infrastructure. Ten specific suggestions for such standardizations are outlined without any suggestions for priority or technical implementation. Although the recommendations are for repositories to implement, they have been chosen specifically with the data provider/data curator and synthesis scientist in mind.

This document represents a summary of 27 foreign-based environmental restoration and waste management technologies that have been screened and technically evaluated for application to the cleanup problems of the Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons complex. The evaluation of these technologies was initiated in 1992 and completed in 1995 under the DOE`s International Technology Coordination Program of the Office of Technology Development. A methodology was developed for conducting a country-by-country survey of several regions of the world where specific environmental technology capabilities and market potential were investigated. The countries that were selected from a rank-ordering process for the survey included: then West Germany, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Taiwan, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and the Former Soviet Union. The notably innovative foreign technologies included in this document were screened initially from a list of several hundred, and then evaluated based on criteria that examined for level of maturity, suitability to the DOE needs, and for potential cost effective application at a DOE site. Each of the selected foreign technologies that were evaluated in this effort for DOE application were subsequently matched with site-specific environmental problem units across the DOE complex using the Technology Needs Assessment CROSSWALK Report. For ease of tracking these technologies to site problem units, and to facilitate their input into the DOE EnviroTRADE Information System, they were categorized into the following three areas: (1) characterization, monitoring and sensors, (2) waste treatment and separations, and (3) waste containment. Technical data profiles regarding these technologies include title and description, performance information, development status, key regulatory considerations, intellectual property rights, institute and contact personnel, and references.