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Apartment temperature data have been collected from the archives of companies that provide energy management systems (EMS) to multifamily buildings in the Northeast U.S. The data have been analyzed from more than 100 apartments in eighteen buildings where EMS systems were already installed to quantify the degree of overheating. This research attempts to answer the question, 'What is the magnitude of apartment overheating in multifamily buildings with central hot water or steam heat?' This report provides valuable information to researchers, utility program managers and building owners interested in controlling heating energy waste and improving resident comfort. Apartment temperature data were analyzed for deviation from a 70 degrees F desired setpoint and for variation by heating system type, apartment floor level and ambient conditions. The data shows that overheating is significant in these multifamily buildings with both hot water and steam heating systems.

One man�s trash is another man�s treasure. Not everything called �waste� is meant for the refuse pile. The mission of the Curation Program is at direct odds with the remediation objectives of the Hanford Site. While others are busily tearing down and burying the Site�s physical structures and their associated contents, the Curation Program seeks to preserve the tangible elements of the Site�s history from these structures for future generations before they flow into the waste stream. Under the provisions of a Programmatic Agreement, Cultural Resources staff initiated a project to identify and collect artifacts and archives that have historic or interpretive value in documenting the role of the Hanford Site throughout the Manhattan Project and Cold War Era. The genesis of Hanford�s modern day Curation Program, its evolution over nearly two decades, issues encountered, and lessons learned along the way � particularly the importance of upper management advocacy, when and how identification efforts should be accomplished, the challenges of working within a radiological setting, and the importance of �first hand� information � are presented.

Clouds in the tropical western Pacific are an integral part of the large scale environment. An improved understanding of the multi-scale structure of clouds and their interactions with the environment is critical to the ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) program for developing and evaluating cloud parameterizations, understanding the consequences of model biases, and providing a context for interpreting the observational data collected over the ARM Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) sites. Three-dimensional cloud resolving models (CRMs) are powerful tools for developing and evaluating cloud parameterizations. However, a significant challenge in using CRMs in the TWP is that the region lacks conventional data, so large uncertainty exists in defining the large-scale environment for clouds. This project links several aspects of the ARM program, from measurements to providing improved analyses, and from cloud-resolving modeling to climate-scale modeling and parameterization development, with the overall objective to improve the representations of clouds in climate models and to simulate and quantify resolved cloud effects on the large-scale environment. Our objectives will be achieved through a series of tasks focusing on the use of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and ARM data. Our approach includes: -- Perform assimilation of COSMIC GPS radio occultation and other satellites …

The purpose of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Annual Site Environmental Report for 2012 (ASER) is to provide information required by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 231.1B, Environment, Safety, and Health Reporting. Specifically, the ASER presents summary environmental data to: Characterize site environmental management performance; Summarize environmental occurrences and responses reported during the calendar year; Confirm compliance with environmental standards and requirements; Highlight significant environmental accomplishments, including progress toward the DOE Environmental Sustainability Goals made through implementation of the WIPP Environmental Management System (EMS).

As a federal agency, the U.S. Department of Energy has been directed by Congress, the U.S. president, and the American public to provide leadership in the preservation of prehistoric, historic, and other cultural resources on the lands it administers. This mandate to preserve cultural resources in a spirit of stewardship for the future is outlined in various federal preservation laws, regulations, and guidelines such as the National Historic Preservation Act, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. The purpose of this Cultural Resource Management Plan is to describe how the Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office will meet these responsibilities at Idaho National Laboratory in southeastern Idaho. The Idaho National Laboratory is home to a wide variety of important cultural resources representing at least 13,500 years of human occupation in the southeastern Idaho area. These resources are nonrenewable, bear valuable physical and intangible legacies, and yield important information about the past, present, and perhaps the future. There are special challenges associated with balancing the preservation of these sites with the management and ongoing operation of an active scientific laboratory. The Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office is committed to a cultural resource management program that accepts …

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Model Evaluation Well ER-11-2 was drilled for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office in support of Nevada Environmental Management Operations at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada Test Site). The well was drilled in August 2012 as part of a model evaluation program in the Frenchman Flat area of Nye County, Nevada. The primary purpose of the well was to provide detailed geologic, hydrogeologic, chemical, and radionuclide data that can be used to test and build confidence in the applicability of the Frenchman Flat Corrective Action Unit flow and transport models for their intended purpose. In particular, this well was designed to provide data to evaluate the uncertainty in model forecasts of contaminant migration from the upgradient underground nuclear test PIN STRIPE, conducted in borehole U-11b in 1966. Well ER-11-2 will provide information that can be used to refine the Phase II Frenchman Flat hydrostratigraphic framework model if necessary, as well as to support future groundwater flow and transport modeling. The main 31.1-centimeter (cm) hole was drilled to a total depth of 399.6 meters (m). A completion casing string was not set in Well ER-11-2. However, a piezometer string was …

Model Evaluation Well ER-5-5 was drilled for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office in support of Nevada Environmental Management Operations at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada Test Site). The well was drilled in July and August 2012 as part of a model evaluation well program in the Frenchman Flat area of Nye County, Nevada. The primary purpose of the well was to provide detailed geologic, hydrogeologic, chemical, and radiological data that can be used to test and build confidence in the applicability of the Frenchman Flat Corrective Action Unit flow and transport models for their intended purpose. In particular, this well was designed to obtain data to evaluate the uncertainty in model forecasts of contaminant migration from the upgradient underground nuclear test MILK SHAKE, conducted in Emplacement Hole U-5k in 1968, which were considered to be uncertain due to the unknown extent of a basalt lava-flow aquifer present in this area. Well ER-5-5 is expected to provide information to refine the Phase II Frenchman Flat hydrostratigraphic framework model, if necessary, as well as to support future groundwater flow and transport modeling. The 31.1-centimeter (cm) diameter hole was drilled to …

This document describes the currently active and p

The scientific and technological programs of the Mind Research Network (MRN), reflect DOE missions in basic science and associated instrumentation, computational modeling, and experimental techniques. MRN's technical goals over the course of this project have been to develop and apply integrated, multi-modality functional imaging techniques derived from a decade of DOE-support research and technology development.

There is a need for accurate dosimetry for studies of health effects in the Japanese atomic bomb survivors because of the important role that these studies play in worldwide radiation protection standards. International experts have developed dosimetry systems, such as the Dosimetry System 2002 (DS02), which assess the initial radiation exposure to gamma rays and neutrons but only briefly consider the possibility of some minimal contribution to the total body dose by residual radiation exposure. In recognition of the need for an up-to-date review of the topic of residual radiation exposure in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, recently reported studies were reviewed at a technical session at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Health Physics Society in Sacramento, California, 22-26 July 2012. A one-day workshop was also held to provide time for detailed discussion of these newer studies and to evaluate their potential use in clarifying the residual radiation exposures to the atomic-bomb survivors at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Suggestions for possible future studies are also included in this workshop report.

Profound energy system transformation is underway. In Hawaiian mythology, Maui set out to lasso the sun in order to capture its energy. He succeeded. That may have been the most dramatic leap forward in clean energy systems that the world has known. Until now. Today, another profound transformation is underway. A combination of forces is taking us from a carbon-centric, inefficient energy system to one that draws from diverse energy sources - including the sun. NREL analysis is helping guide energy systems policy and investment decisions through this transformation. This brochure highlights NREL analysis accomplishments in the context of four thematic storylines.

At the request of the United States (U.S.) government, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assembled a team of 20 senior safety experts to review the regulatory framework for the safety of operating nuclear power plants in the United States. This review focused on the effectiveness of the regulatory functions implemented by the NRC and on its commitment to nuclear safety and continuous improvement. One suggestion resulting from that review was that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) incorporate lessons learned from periodic safety reviews (PSRs) performed in other countries as an input to the NRC’s assessment processes. In the U.S., commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) are granted an initial 40-year operating license, which may be renewed for additional 20-year periods, subject to complying with regulatory requirements. The NRC has established a framework through its inspection, and operational experience processes to ensure the safe operation of licensed nuclear facilities on an ongoing basis. In contrast, most other countries do not impose a specific time limit on the operating licenses for NPPs, they instead require that the utility operating the plant perform PSRs, typically at approximately 10-year intervals, to assure continued safe operation until the next assessment. The staff contracted with …

Regulations in the United States that govern the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in deep geologic repositories require the explicit consideration of hypothetical future human intrusions that disrupt the waste. Specific regulatory requirements regarding the consideration of human intrusion differ in the two sets of regulations currently in effect in the United States; one defined by the Environmental Protection Agency's 40 Code of Federal Regulations part 197, applied only to the formerly proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and the other defined by the Environmental Protection Agency's 40 Code of Federal Regulations part 191, applied to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and potentially applicable to any repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States other than the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. This report reviews the regulatory requirements relevant to human intrusion and the approaches taken by the Department of Energy to demonstrating compliance with those requirements.

Well ER-20-11 was drilled for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office in support of the Nevada Environmental Management Operations Underground Test Area (UGTA) Activity at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly Nevada Test Site), Nye County, Nevada. The well was drilled in September 2012 as part of the Central and Western Pahute Mesa Corrective Action Unit Phase II drilling program. Well ER-20-11 was constructed to further investigate the nature and extent of radionuclidecontaminated groundwater encountered in two nearby UGTA wells, to help define hydraulic and transport parameters for the contaminated Benham aquifer, and to provide data for the UGTA hydrostratigraphic framework model. The 44.5-centimeter (cm) surface hole was drilled to a depth of 520.0 meters (m) and cased with 34.0-cm casing to 511.5 m. The hole diameter was then decreased to 31.1 cm, and the borehole was drilled to a total depth of 915.6 m. The hole was completed to allow access for hydrologic testing and sampling in the target aquifer, which is a lava-flow aquifer known as the Benham aquifer. The completion casing string, set to the depth of 904.3 m, consists of a string of 6⅝-inch (in.) stainless-steel casing hanging from a …

Well ER-EC-14 was drilled for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office in support of the Nevada Environmental Management Operations Underground Test Area (UGTA) Activity at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS; formerly Nevada Test Site), Nye County, Nevada. The well was drilled in September and October 2012, as part of the Central and Western Pahute Mesa Corrective Action Unit Phase II drilling program. The primary purpose of the well was to provide detailed hydrogeologic information for the Fortymile Canyon composite hydrostratigraphic unit in the Timber Mountain moat area, within the Timber Mountain caldera complex, that will help address uncertainties within the Pahute Mesa–Oasis Valley hydrostratigraphic framework model. The main 55.9-centimeter (cm) hole was drilled to a total depth of 325.5 meters (m) and cased with 40.6-cm casing to 308.1 m. The hole diameter was then decreased to 37.5 cm, and drilling continued to a total depth of 724.8 m. The completion casing string, set to the depth of 690.9 m, consists of 16.8-cm stainless-steel casing hanging from 19.4-cm carbon-steel casing. The stainless-steel casing has two slotted intervals open to the Rainier Mesa Tuff. Two piezometer strings were installed in Well ER-EC-14. Both piezometer strings, …

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This document constitutes an addendum to the Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 165: Area 25 and 26 Dry Well and Washdown Areas, Nevada Test Site, Nevada as described in the document Recommendations and Justifications To Remove Use Restrictions Established under the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order dated September 2013. The Use Restriction Removal document was approved by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection on October 16, 2013. The approval of the UR Removal document constituted approval of each of the recommended UR removals. In conformance with the UR Removal document, this addendum consists of: This page that refers the reader to the UR Removal document for additional information The cover, title, and signature pages of the UR Removal document The NDEP approval letter The corresponding section of the UR Removal document This addendum provides the documentation justifying the cancellation of the UR for CAS 25-20-01, Lab Drain Dry Well. This UR was established as part of FFACO corrective actions and was based on the presence of tetrachloroethene contamination at concentrations greater than the action level established at the time of the initial investigation. Although total petroleum hydrocarbon …

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