Congressional interest and support of the Accelerated Site Technology Deployment (ASTD) program has continued into FY99. ASTD began as the Technology Deployment Initiative with 14 projects initiated in FY98 for $27 million. The Environmental Management Office of Science and Technology (OST) has already realized extensive benefits from the FY98 projects (consisting of 36 technologies). By the end of FY98, 13 deployments were completed across nine DOE sites, with some technologies being deployed at multiple sites. Combining the efforts of both the original FY98 and new FY99 projects, more than 60 deployments are expected by the end of FY99.

ASTD projects are required to include commitment on the part of a DOE site or facility to use the proposed technology in actual remediation operations. The purpose of ASTD is to bridge the gap between development and deployment of new technologies for environmental cleanup across the DOE weapons complex. Within the ASTD program, DOE sites and OST share project costs and ownership, including the risks associated with deployment of an innovative technology. ASTD acts as a catalyst to bring together problem holders, regulators, developers, and stakeholders to achieve rapid deployment of environmental cleanup technologies.

In conjunction with focus areas, the ASTD program solicited proposals for new deployment projects in May 1998. The competitive process involved DOE EM-30 and EM-40, as well as representatives from the sites and focus areas. In FY99, 32 new ASTD projects will be initiated (see table).

For additional information on the ASTD program, please contact the DOE-ID Field Program Manager, Jihad Aljayoushi, at (208) 526- 8297. Another source of information is the ASTD home page located at http://infoshare.inel.gov/astd/.

To read about an FY98 ASTD project that is in progress, click here.

New ASTD Projects for FY99