DRI is teaming with AEA Technologies, Ltd., to test and further develop low-flow sampling devices for collecting water samples from deep wells. Rather than relying on electrical power, air pressure is used behind a flexible polyurethane plug or "pig" to push a water sample to the surface through bundles of flexible, U-shaped tubing placed in the well. A prototype of the sampler was used in 2003 to collect samples in New Mexico at a depth of 250 feet in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories. The sampler was used at the NTS in 2004 to sample water from a depth of approximately 850 feet. Most recently, DRI and AEA Technologies worked with Nye County, Nevada on a permanent deployment at a well head. Nye County scientists are being trained in the use of the sampling system and will operate it over the next several years to test the long term performance of the technology.  More information on the collaboration with Nye County is available at: AEA Sampler.

DRI's work with AEA Technologies is part of a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Management Office. This research is funded through a joint U.S.- United Kingdom - European Union program for facilitating the transfer of promising environmental technologies.

In another collaborative technology transfer project, the University of Nevada, Reno, and DRI are developing new in situ methods for detecting tritium in groundwater wells.

DRI is developing enhancements to evapotranspiration landfill (ET) covers for low-level and mixed waste by using design criteria from nearby analog sites to determine how waste covers change over time because of soil formation, biological activities, and changing vegetation. Results of the coupled environmental process and long-term cover performance research are already being used to design improved ET covers for Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB)  in California. For more information on the ET Cover Design Program for EAFB, see: Alternative Landfill Covers Article