When the U.S. government has a nuclear mess that needs cleaning, officials don't punch the digits for Service Pro or the local Merry Maids. Instead, they reach out to experts such as MSU physics professor David Monts.
Monts is part of a multidisciplinary team at the university's Institute for Clean Energy Technology whose current work involves assisting with environmental cleanup of waste created by the manufacture of atomic bombs in the mid-20th century.
Using a quantitative image technique called Fourier Transform Profilometry, Monts and his team are developing a way to generate interior views of underground storage vessels of radioactive materials that lie along the Columbia River in Washington State. The images created give officials accurate information on the quantity of material remaining in the tanks to determine if the tanks are sufficiently empty.
"Our work with the Department of Energy helps ensure the safety of inhabitants in the areas near the storage reservoirs as well as helping the government safely, quickly and inexpensively dispose of radioactive material."