• Huntsville Center, others participating in Huntsville Society of American Military Engineers Small Business Forum

    Huntsville Center will not host a separate Small Business Forum in 2021.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers performing sluice gate inspections at Whitney Lake Dam

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District has initiated a project to inspect the 16 sluice gates at Whitney Dam.
  • Chief’s Report signed for Coastal Texas Study

    Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commanding General and 55th U.S. Army Chief of Engineers, signed the Chief's Report for the Coastal Texas Protection and Restoration Study (The Coastal Texas Study) on Sept. 16, 2021.
  • Portions of Cochiti Lake to be closed during permitted special event, Sept. 22-24, 2021

    The Albuquerque District has announced that portions of Cochiti Lake will be closed due to a permitted special event, Sept. 22-24, 2021.
  • NR 21-32: Public invited to participate in Fall Lake Cumberland Cleanup, National Public Lands Day

    SOMERSET, Ky. (Sept. 21, 2021) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District invites the public to participate in the Fall Lake Cumberland Cleanup Saturday, September 25th, 2021 on National Public Lands Day.
  • Initial Survey of Microplastics in Bottom Sediments from United States Waterways

    Abstract: Given the reported extent of microplastics in the aquatic environment, environmentally relevant exposure information for sediments dredged by the US Army Corps of Engineers will lend context to the risks posed by this contaminant during dredging. We measured the occurrence, abundance, and polymer composition of microplastics in sediments collected from nine dredged waterways and two non-dredged reference areas. The number of particles in sediment samples ranged from 162 to 6110 particles/kg dry wt., with a mean of 1636 particles/kg dry wt. Fragments were the most prevalent shape observed among the 11 study sites (100% frequency of occurrence), followed by fibers (81%), spheres (75%), foams (38%) and films (34%). Based on analyses of chemical composition of the particles using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, polyethylene:propylene was the most common polymer type observed. Consistent with results presented by other investigators microplastic concentrations and polymer types in bottom sediments in this study were also aligned with the most widely used plastics worldwide.
  • Identifying Degradation Products Responsible for Increased Toxicity of UV-Degraded Insensitive Munitions

    Abstract: Degradation of insensitive munitions (IMs) by ultraviolet (UV) light has become a concern following observations that some UV-degradation products have increased toxicity relative to parent compounds in aquatic organisms. This investigation focused on the Army's IM formulation, IMX101, composed of three IM constituents: 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN), 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO), and nitroguanidine (NQ). The IM constituents and IMX101 were irradiated in a UV photo-reactor and then administered to Daphnia pulex in acute (48 h) exposures comparing toxicities relative to the parent materials. UV-degradation of DNAN had little effect on mortality whereas mortality for UV-degraded NTO and NQ increased by factors of 40.3 and 1240, making UV-degraded NQ the principle driver of toxicity when IMX101 is UV-degraded. Toxicity investigations for specific products formed during UV-degradation of NQ, confirmed greater toxicity than the parent NQ for degradation products. Summation of the individual toxic units for the complete set of individually measured UV-degradation products identified for NQ only accounted for 25% of the overall toxicity measured in the exposures to the UV-degraded NQ product mixture. Given the underestimation of toxicity using the sum toxic units for the individually measured UV-degradation products of NQ, we conclude that: (1) other unidentified NQ degradation products contributed principally to toxicity and/or (2) synergistic toxicological interactions occurred among the NQ degradation product mixture that exacerbated toxicity.
  • Facility Reduction Program named Best in Class

    Huntsville Center’s Facilities Reduction Program provides a simple process to respond to the federal government’s requirement for demolition of excess facilities and the abatement of facility contaminants.  
  • Resource management director sees tremendous value in certification

    Liz McCullough understands the value of maintaining professional certification in her field enabling her to provide comprehensive resourcing and financial management advice to Huntsville Center senior management.
  • CREATE program revolutionizes DoD acquisition efforts

    The High Performance Computing Modernization Program’s Computational Research and Engineering Acquisition Tools and Environments (CREATE) program is changing the landscape of Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition efforts. With a mission to produce high-fidelity simulation tools for ships, aircraft, ground vehicles, antenna design and meshing and geometry, the program is leading the charge to provide transformative capabilities to the defense community and currently serves over 2,400 government, industry and academic users.