Curriculum Vitae

Thomas E. Hakonson

Risk Assessment, Environmental Science, Biologist

PH: 307-859-8478; Mobile: 307-214-1902

Email: tomehak@wyoming.com

Daniel, WY 83115

BIOSKETCH AND WORK INTERESTS

 I worked in the  Environmental Science Group (Health, Safety, and Environment Division) at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico from 1971-1993 where I served as both a scientist and line manager. I also worked at Colorado State University as an Associate Professor from 1993-1999 (Natural Resources and Radiation Public Health). I am currently employed by Tetra Tech/ MFG, Inc in Fort Collins with responsibility for designing and conducting ecological and human health assessments for clients in the mining/milling industry. My expertise is in the fate and effects of environmental contaminants with a focus on measuring, modeling, and remediating radionuclides and toxic chemicals in soil, air and biota, landfill covers for site closure, and human and ecological risks associated with radioactive and non-radioactive contaminants. The common thread was that my technical work focused primarily on processes in arid and semi-arid locations and on the role of hydrologic processes in controlling radionuclide transport and in contributing to long term stability of buried waste. My work has involved a large number of locations in the US to include several DOE National Laboratories, nuclear test areas at Trinity Site and Nevada Test site, and DoD bases in Utah, Florida, Colorado, and Hawaii. Major clients through the course of this work include DOE, EPA, NRC, USDA, US Army, USAF, US Navy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Rocky Flats, Newmont, Asarco, Dawn Mining Company, Sequoyah Nuclear Fuels, Exxon-Mobil, citizens groups, law firms, and universities. (see summaries below). 

RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE

Education:  

            B.S., Wildlife Management, Colorado State University, 1964

            M.S., Wildlife Management, Colorado State University, 1967

            M.S., Radiation Public Health, Colorado State University, 1969

            Ph.D., Radioecology, Colorado State University, 1972

Honors:

            Xi Sigma Pi

            Sigma Xi

            Post-Doctoral Fellow at LANL 1972-1973

            Nominated as a LANL Fellow- 1981

            LANL Distinguished Performance Award in 1982

            ASCE Best Paper Award in 1986

Specific Work Experience:

• Reclamation, revegetation, and monitoring of disturb environments and landfill covers including evapotranspiration and engineered covers, biointrusion barriers, and erosion BMPs

• Radioecology, radiological scanning; radiation dose calculations and modeling for biota and humans.

• Chemical and radionuclide environmental and human health risk assessment

• Characterization and modeling of hazardous and radionuclide distribution & transport

• Monitoring and remote data acquisition techniques for soil, air, and water quality

• Chemical and radionuclide tracer techniques for soil and water processes

• Remediation treatability (proof of concept) studies

• Radiotelemetry of wildlife to measure movements and radiation exposures

• Natural resource projects including biological assessments, T&E surveys, and TMDLs.

• Stream restoration & fish and aquatic habitat assessments

• NEPA documentation, environmental assessments and impact statements

• Forest health management plans (sustainability, fire, insects, T&E species, logging, inventory)

• Soil characterization and sampling including texture, type, nutrients, contaminants

• Stormwater management plans

• Environmental compliance, permitting

• Technical services including  litigation support and expert document review

• Geophysics, soil physics, and soil chemistry sensors and sensor techniques as follows:

• Acoustic tomography for measuring physical structure in near surface soil profiles,

• LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) for real time atmospheric moisture fluxes,

• Real time soil moisture fluxes using tensiometers, thermocouple psychrometers, neutron moisture gauges, and gravimetric methods,

• Soil bulk density using mechanical and radiation scattering techniques,

• Hydraulic conductivity using falling head, lysimeter, and pressure cell techniques,

• Soil particle size analyses using laser and mechanical techniques, and

• Solar powered data acquisition and analysis systems with modem data transfer for many forms of sensor technologies including both hardware and software.

Some Past Assignments:

• Technical Advisory Group For DOE Underground Storage Tank Integrated Demonstration- Barriers Sub-Program

• Technical Advisory Group for DOE Mixed Waste Landfill Integrated Demonstration - Containment Sub-Program

• Technical consultant on Actinide Migration Studies work on runoff, erosion, and actinide transport

• Consultant to Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board on Rocky Flats Cleanup

• IAEA consultant and principle author of report on landfill covers (Vienna 1998-2000)

• Consultant to Citizens Action on SNL Mixed Waste Landfill closure

• Consultant to State of New Mexico on LANL risk assessment

• Consultant to legal firm, Kuechler and Ellis, on Downwinder Litigation at Hanford, WA.

Training/Clearance:

I have had HAZWOPPER training (not up to date), CPR and First Aid training, drug awareness training for managers, several management courses offered by LANL for line managers, several safety courses on field operations, and budget training for managers. I held a Q security clearance at Los Alamos until retirement in 1993.

PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

LOS ALAMOS- I was a staff member in the Environmental Science Group, Health, Safety, and Environment Division, at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1972-1993.  I conducted research on the distribution and transport of radionuclides in liquid waste disposal areas at Los Alamos, in the fallout area of Trinity Site, and in Plutonium Valley at Nevada Test Site. I directed the radioecological work on environmental processes with special emphasis on hydrology in arid/semiarid ecosystems. As leader of the Environmental Science Group, I managed a 35 person group conducting multi- disciplinary programs on surface and subsurface hydrology as it relates to contaminant transport, waste disposal, and landfill remediation technology. We conducted many large field studies on the role of hydrologic processes in soil contaminant transport and on alternative landfill capping designs including monitoring equipment to measure all components of site water balance. I received the Laboratory's Distinguished Performance Award for my work on landfill covers in 1982 and was nominated as a Laboratory Fellow in 1981. All of my funding during my career at Los Alamos was derived from competitive grants, which over the course of a 21 year career, amounted to about $75M.  

I am an expert in many technical disciplines including terrestrial and aquatic radioecology, geology, geophysics, soil physics, hydrology, biology, and geochemistry with a focus on contaminant transport and waste disposal. I served as a presenter at several workshops on the role of biological processes in mobilizing buried waste and soil contaminants.  I also developed a good understanding of DOE, EPA, and NRC regulations pertaining to radioactive and hazardous waste disposal. For example, I wrote the work plan for a Los Alamos Environmental Restoration CERCLA site (TA-51) containing a CERCLA landfill and several contaminated areas that were to be closed under RCRA rules. Funding sources for my research over the years include DOE, EPA, NRC, DOD (USA, USN, USAF), USDA,  citizens groups (Citizen Action, Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, legal firms (Kuechler and Ellis), and universities NMSU, UNM, CSU). I have over 110 publications in the fields of radioecology, hydrology, ecology, and waste management.

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY- I joined the faculty at CSU to in 1993 to develop an academic, training and research program under the University's Center for Ecological Risk Assessment and Management and served as Director of the ERAM program from 1993-1996. My responsibility was to develop an ecological risk assessment program with an academic, research, and training component which involved organizing and conducting workshops on Ecological Risk Assessment. These workshops were attended by several hundred participants and generated profits which were used to fund the other two components of the ERAM program. I participated in a variety of human health and ecological risk assessments for industry, citizens groups, and DOE.  I retired from CSU as an Associate Professor in the Radiological Health Sciences Department in 1999 where my research focused on a DOE funded study on the modes of plutonium transport at three DOE sites (Rocky Flats, WIPP, and Los Alamos) in the arid western U.S. My responsibilities on this project included using a large, portable rainfall simulator to measure the role that runoff and erosion played in mobilizing soil bound plutonium

TETRA TECH/ MFG INC- I joined MFG, Inc in their Fort Collins office in July 2004. I was hired a as a senior risk assessor to conduct primarily ecological risk assessments but also human health assessments. All of these assessments involved field sampling programs to measure chemical concentrations in environmental media. Clients and products I generated with TT\MFG are as follows:

• Newmont Mining- Assessment of the Aquatic Communities Surrounding the Minera Yanacocha Mining District (~$500K)

• Sequoyah Nuclear Fuels- Screening Level Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment for Soil and Water Contaminants at Sequoyah Fuels Corporation Site, Gore Oklahoma (~$100K)

• Exxon-Mobil- Highland Pit Lake Ecological Risk Assessment (~$300K)

• ASARCO- Streamlined Human Health And Ecological Risk Assessment At The Azurite Mine Site, Okanogan National Forest, Washington (~$ 50K)

• Dawn Mining Company- Ecological And Human Health Risk Assessment For Chamokane Creek, Ford, Washington (~$300K)

Other Technical Skills:

Virtually all of my past and present work involves extensive use of computers for data acquisition, mathematical data processing, and modeling of hydrologic and chemical transport processes. I am proficient with most spreadsheet software, word processors, graphics packages, and Internet services. I also have a good working knowledge of Federal and State regulatory statues including RCRA, CERCLA, NEPA, CWA, and health, safety, and environmental issues that potentially impact assessment and remediation activities and know how to access current information from the internet.

Recent private consulting activities through my home consulting business (Environmental Evaluation Services, LLC) involve review and/or preparation of technical documents related to closure of landfills (MWL at SNL), risk assessments at contaminated and disturbed sites (Area T at LANL), and air, water, and biological pathway analysis for site contaminants in support of ongoing litigation (Downwinder litigation at Hanford).  I was recently under contract to Colorado State University to review the health and environmental risk assessment that is being done by Risk Assessment Corporation for the entire Los Alamos site. My involvement in this review stems from my intimate knowledge of the history of LANL waste disposal activities, the physical, biological, and chemical environs that received contaminated materials, and the mechanisms that control the distribution and transport of fugitive surface and subsurface contaminants associated with LANL operations.

CONSTRUCTION RELATED EXPERIENCE

My professional career as an environmental scientist, as described below, has given me a variety of practical skills related to construction activities and field operations. A major part of my work over the years involved field projects in various parts of the western U.S. and Hawaii. Those field projects required me to design, construct, and service experimental sites using engineering surveying techniques, state-of-the-art sensor technology, electronic data acquisition systems, and operation and maintenance of heavy equipment.

Heavy Equipment- I am proficient in the operation of a variety of rubber-tired diesel powered equipment including skidsteer and tractor loaders and backhoes, trackhoes, and dump trucks. I ran a dirt work business (TEMAK Earthworks, LLC) in Cheyenne Wyoming for several years and specialized in trenching, general dirt work, residential road construction, fence work, and reclamation of disturbed sites. I am especially skilled in the maintenance and repair of gas and diesel engines, mechanical equipment, and machinery as this has been my avocation for the last 40 years. I also own and operate tractors, skid steer loaders, diesel trucks, ATV’s and snowmobiles.

Surveying- I am proficient in the layout of work areas and transects using standard surveying equipment including transits and stadia rods, transect metric devices, data loggers and computer data analysis packages. I own and am proficient with GPS systems including the use of mapping software and can read and interpret 2D and 3D maps. 

Sensors and Data Acquisition Systems- I have used geophysics, soil physics, and soil chemistry sensors and sensor techniques as follows:

·        Acoustic tomography for measuring physical structure in near surface soil profiles,

·        LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) for real time atmospheric moisture fluxes,

·        Real time soil moisture fluxes using tensiometers, thermocouple psychrometers, neutron moisture gauges, and gravimetric methods,

·        Soil bulk density using mechanical and radiation scattering techniques,

·        Hydraulic conductivity using falling head, lysimeter, and pressure cell techniques,

·        Soil particle size analyses using laser and mechanical techniques, and

·        Solar powered data acquisition and analysis systems with modem data transfer for many forms of sensor technologies including both hardware and software.