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REMOTE SENSING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION WITHIN THE 
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE) 
Bryan J. Albers 
Charles L.Nalezny 
Malcom Pendergast 
Larry Tinney 
BDM - Quince Diamond 
Executive Building 
555 Quince Orchard Road, Suite 400 
Gathersburg, MD 20878, USA 
ISPRS Commission VII / Working Group 7 
ABSTRACT 
The U.S.Department of Energy (DOE) manages the Nuclear Weapons Complex, a national network of 
research laboratories and production facilities. For 45 years, the Complex has been the sole source of nuclear 
material for both weapons and fuel. Production for most of these years was hastened by the omnipresent 
threat of Cold War and unfettered by environmental regulation. These factors contributed to the waste 
processing and environmental remediation challenges faced by the DOE as material fabrication ceases and 
facilities are decontaminated, decommissioned, and converted to other uses. Geomatic (spatial data) 
technologies particularly remote sensing systems used in synergy with the Global Positioning System (GPS) 
and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), can aid in detecting, characterizing, and monitoring hazardous 
and radioactive wastes. To this end, the DOE has initiated various programs to develop Geomatic 
technologies and expand their us throughout the Complex. The goal of these programs is to demonstrate the 
proficient collection, integration, fusion, and predictive modelling of spatial data for characterizing and 
monitoring environmental cleanups at DOE sites. By expediting the initial phases of environmental cleanups, 
and by making long term ecosystem monitoring economically and technically feasible, Geomatic 
technologies have the potential to save time, tax-payer dollars, and further environmental degradation. This 
paper discusses the role of Geomatic technologies in DOE's environmental mission and gives examples of 
current applications within the Complex. 
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