Argonne MARSSIM Training Benefits

About Argonne

Argonne National Laboratory is one of the U.S. Department of Energy's largest research centers and is located about 25 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. It is also the nation's first national laboratory, chartered in 1946.

Today, the laboratory has about 4,000 employees, including about 1,500 scientists and engineers, of whom about 700 hold doctorate degrees. Argonne's annual operating budget of about $465 million supports more than 200 research projects, ranging from studies of the atomic nucleus to global climate change research. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations.

Argonne’s Environmental Management Experience

One of Argonne’s major areas of effort is environmental management, including work on managing and solving the nation’s environmental problems and promoting environmental stewardship. Research in this area includes:

• alternative energy systems,
• environmental risk and economic impact assessments,
• hazardous waste site analysis and remedial planning,
• treatment of spent nuclear fuel in preparation for disposal, and
• new technologies for decontaminating and decommissioning aging nuclear reactors.

MARSSIM Workshops Conducted by Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne is currently providing technical assistance in the characterization, remediation, and verification of numerous radiologically contaminated sites across the United States. Part of this assistance is provided by conducting both 3-day and 1-day MARSSIM workshops designed to meet the site-specific needs of the organizations responsible for radiologically contaminated site cleanup.

Each 3-day workshop provides detailed instruction on all phases of the MARSSIM process. Participants are typically managers and technical staff from the responsible governmental agency; site characterization and remedial action contractors; plus federal, state, and local regulatory officials. These workshops are certified for continuing education credits by both the American Association of Health Physicists (AAHP) and the American Board of Industrial Hygienists (ABIH).

One-day MARSSIM workshops are individually tailored to meet the informational needs of each set of participants. Participants are typically government agency representatives who need to understand MARSSIM principles but are not involved in their day-to-day application and interested members of the public.

Argonne staff members have extensive training in and practical experience with radiological site assessment and cleanup projects plus an in-depth knowledge of MARSSIM and its implementation at a wide variety of sites. Argonne staff members are available to assist with a wide range of MARSSIM-related planning and implementation issues throughout the entire radiological site assessment, remedial action, and closure process. See About the Instructors for more information about Argonne’s MARSSIM instructor qualifications.

MARSSIM Training Testimonials

Our training workshops have been recognized by numerous organizations and individuals for being practical and well-designed for their intended audiences.

"The recently conducted Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) workshop has proven to be extremely useful to the Corps, the State of New York regulators, and the remedial action contractor for the site."

Randall Battaglia
Project Manager, Colonie FUSRAP project
New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

"Argonne’s (MARSSIM for public stakeholders) presentation was finely tuned to our audience and the instructors were excellent. The presentation development and delivery were nicely done."

William Bonneau
Project Manager, Shattuck Superfund project
Omaha District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

"I officially commend (Argonne’s staff) for the presentation (entitled) Application of MARSSIM During Radiological Site Assessment and Remediation at USACE FUSRAP Sites delivered at the Louisville District’s Third Annual Analytical Conference."

Colonel Robert Slockbower
Commander
Louisville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

"(Argonne) has consistently provided extremely professional, timely, and useful assistance including a MARSSIM training workshop in support of planning for the closure of the Seneca Army Depot."

Thomas Enroth
Project Manager, Seneca Army Depot
New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers greatly appreciates the RESRAD and MARSSIM for Managers workshop provided by (Argonne) to participants of our FUSRAP meeting on October 17, 2002. Your instructors were clearly experts in their fields. They were able to concisely convey the essence of the RESRAD and MARSSIM methods, while also drawing upon their experience to address or highlight many practical items of interest to the Corps project managers and technical specialists. (The workshop participants) now have a more complete appreciation for RESRAD and MARSSIM, including how these tools relate to each other, and of the capabilities of Argonne National Laboratory."

Patricia Rivers
Chief, Environmental Division
Directorate of Military Programs
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers