Corrosion Science Undergraduate Intern

The intern will assist in preparation and/or analysis of various simulated waste matrices in support of the Department of Energy Environmental Management directives. Work scope may include contributions to process support of operating facilities at SRS and throughout the DOE complex to include chemical characterization, interrogation of chemical reaction thermodynamic or kinetic modeling, optimization, integration, and/or process troubleshooting of current site or DOE-complex processes.

Potential corrosion projects include:

-Soil-Side Corrosion Mitigation:
Soil-side corrosion is one of the main integrity threats to Aboveground Storage Tanks (ASTs). Most of the ASTs bottoms rest on a sand pad. Quality of sand is a paramount to controlling soil-side corrosion of the ASTs. Further, even a good quality sand gets contaminated overtime. Thus, contaminants in the sand pore water and poor sand quality may lead to elevated corrosion. Objective of this work is to find combination of sand quality and pore water composition that leads to elevated soil-side corrosion of ASTs. The summer intern will help perform analysis and help setup several experiments for the scope defined here.

Or

-Demand and availability of critical materials is one of the most urgent issues of the twenty-first century for the nations around the world. The United States has a large demand for the critical materials, but supply is limited and dependent upon the nations whose energy and security interests may not align with the US. Electrochemical methods present an opportunity to extract critical minerals from several sources of feed stock including electronic waste. SRNL has been conducting experimental studies to determine feasibility of extracting critical minerals from the e-waste. The internship will involve setting up and conduction experiments to determine feasibility and extracting the mineral from variety of e-waste feedstock."

Interns are provided an exciting learning environment to develop into the next generation of professional scientists and engineers, explore the unknown, and make impactful discoveries