Environmental fate and transport investigations:
  Petroleum, chemical and radiological releases

  Principal Investigator
  Marco Kaltofen, PhD, PE (Civil, MA), C. NSE
  2 Summer Street - Suite 14, Natick, MA 01760
  (508) 259-6717 | mpkaltofen@gmail.com

About Us | Expert Testimony | What we do
Projects, Publications and Lectures

Environmental Fate and Transport Investigations:
Design, budgeting, project management and execution of scientific inquiries.

Above: Figure from Current Research on Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, M. Kaltofen, February 2012. Our research has been featured in Elsevier's most downloaded article in Marine Pollution Bulletin and was headlined on the Science page of the NY Times in August 2013. Our work was again acknowledged in a follow up piece in Marine Pollution Bulletin in Nov. 2013

Recent projects

• Radioactive Isotopes Measured at Olympic and Paralympic Venues in Fukushima Prefecture and Tokyo, Japan, M. Kaltofen, A. Gundersen, M. Gundersen, accepted Sept. 24, 2020, J. Environmental Engineering Science
• Radiation testing of Olympic/Paralympic venues in Japan, Zoom lecture - Boston University School of Theology, March 2020
• WPI Journal : M. Kaltofen Research News - pdf version

• Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Ohio, environmental assessment
• Love Canal area testing, Niagara Falls, NY
• Uranium processing wastes in Greater St. Louis, MO.
• Fukushima reactor core particles detected in Nagoya, Japan. Details.
• Radium in oil and gas field wastes, Broussard properties, Erath, Louisiana
• Tracking radiological plumes from Fukushima, Japan : See more
• Environmental depleted uranium, Belgrade, Serbia; supported by a grant from Jeff Ubois and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
• Nuclear forensics; Hanford, WA, Los Alamos, NM, Mayak, Russia, Ganges River, India
• Coldwater Creek, St. Louis, MO, former Manhattan Project wastes, site investigation
• 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico : See more
• Murphy Oil Co. settlement in Louisiana
• Monitoring cobalt-60 releases to the Techya River, Russia
• Citizen-led Environmental Monitoring, St. Petersburg, Russia
• Video: Fukushima Daiichi radiation and BP oil spill research project
• More US and International projects

Recent publications:

• Radioactive Isotopes Measured at Olympic and Paralympic Venues in Fukushima Prefecture and Tokyo, Japan, M. Kaltofen, A. Gunderson, M. Gunderson, accepted Sept. 23, 2020, J. Environmental Engineering Science

• Letter concerning: Clewell (2019) incorporation of in vitro metabolism data and physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling in a risk assessment for chloroprene, Marco Kaltofen, Keeve E. Nachman & Dale Hattis (2020), Inhalation Toxicology, DOI: 10.1080/08958378.2020.1806960

• Microanalysis of Particle-Based Uranium, Thorium, and Plutonium in Nuclear Workers House Dusts, accepted May 2, 2018, J. Environmental Engineering Science

• Forensic microanalysis of Manhattan Project legacy radioactive wastes in St. Louis, MO, accepted Feb. 5, 2018, J. Applied Radiation and Isotopes

• Radioactively-hot Dust Particles in Japan, (J. Sci. Total Env. 607-608C (2017) pp. 1065-1072)

• Tracking legacy radionuclides in St. Louis, MO via unsupported ²¹⁰Pb , J. Environmental Radioactivity, Accepted Dec. 7, 2015

• Assessing human exposure to contaminants in house dust, PhD dissertation defended March 12, 2015; published April 9, 2015, WPI

• High radioactivity particles in Japanese house dusts, Final report,
  November 2014, Presented at 142nd meeting of the American Public
  Health Assoc. Download

• High radioactivity particles in Japanese house dusts, Preliminary data,
  March 2014, Presented at WPI, finalist, 2014 GRAD Research
  Award. Download

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Measuring Radioactive Dust in Northern Japan: Fukashima Daiichi Isotopes in Home and Auto Air Filters and in Children's Shoes, poster presentation, March 2012

• Presentation for the 139th meeting of the American Public Health Association, Radiation Exposure to the Population in Japan After the Earthquake Oct. 31, 2011, Washington, DC

• Microanalysis of Heterogenous Radiation in Particulate Matter, an examination of radiation in dust samples from the regions surrounding the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Midnite Uranium Mine. Master's Research Report, WPI 2009

• Response to 'A critique of the manuscript: Distribution and concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons associated with the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Gulf of Mexico', Marine Pollution Bulletin, November 2013

• Microanalysis of Workplace Dusts from the Mixed Waste Tank Farm of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, J. Environmental Engineering Science, February 2010,

• "Corexit dispersants : BP Crude / Dispersant Mix Increases Polynuclear Aromatics Levels in Water & Marine Life in the Gulf of Mexico", poster presentation, WPI 2011

Selected invited lectures:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Media Lab, Lecture on radioactivity from hot particles in dusts, Sept. 2015
• Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Transport of radiation from the Fukashima Daiichi accidents, February 2012
• Tufts School of Medicine, Oil & Dispersants from the Gulf Oil Spill, November 2011, October 2013
• Tufts School of Medicine, Radiation exposure to the people of northern Japan, November 2011, October 2013
• University of Washington, Radiation Transport by Hot Particles, October 2011
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Current Research on Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico, February 2012
• Loyola University, Dispersants and their Effects on Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbon Concentrations in Seawater, October 2010
• Chelyabinsk School of Law, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, International Trade in Radioactive Wastes, October 2007