In order to treat the mixed radioactive and hazardous waste stored in 177 underground tanks, the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) program is developing a `demonstration` site for treatment and immobilization of these wastes by a private contractor. Project W-519 is providing the infrastructure support to this site by developing the designs and emplacing required pipelines, roads, electrical, etc. In support of the TWRS Phase 1 Infrastructure Project (W-519) Characterization, Numatec Hanford Corporation (NHC) contracted with Waste Management Federal Services, Inc., Northwest Operations (WMNW) to investigate a number of locations in and just outside the 200 East Area eastern fenceline boundary. These areas consisted of known or suspected waste lines or waste sites that could potentially impact the construction and emplacement of the proposed facility improvements, including waterlines and roads. These sites were all located subsurface and sugaring would be required to obtain sample material from the desired depth. The soils would then be sampled and submitted to the laboratory for analysis of radioactivity.

This is the final report of a five-month, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The authors performed a preliminary design study to explore the plausibility of using pulse-tube refrigeration to cool instruments in a hot down-hole environment for the oil and gas industry or geothermal industry. They prepared and distributed a report showing that this appears to be a viable technology.

Ten closely spaced, shallow (<100 ft) drill cores were obtained from the 1.22-Ma-old Bandelier Tuff at a 4-acre site for proposed construction at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. The goal of the investigation was to identify faults that may have potential for earthquake-induced surface ruptures at the site. Careful mapping of contact surfaces within the Bandelier Tuff was supplemented with results of geochemical analyses to establish unit boundaries with a high degree of accuracy. Analysis shows that the upper contact surface of Unit 3 of the Bandelier Tuff provides no evidence of faults beneath the building site, and that the subsurface structure is consistent with a shallowly dipping (< 2{degree}), unbroken block. Because no significant or cumulative faulting events have disturbed the site in the last 1.22 million years, it is unlikely that surface rupture will occur at the site in future large earthquakes. Uncertainty analysis suggests that this method would detect faults with {ge}2 ft of cumulative stratigraphic separation.

In this report the authors document results of high-precision geologic mapping in the vicinity of TA-55 that has been done to identify parts of the southern portion of the Rendija Canyon Fault, or any other faults, with the potential for seismic surface rupture. To assess the potential for surface rupture at TA-55, an area of approximately 3 square miles that includes the Los Alamos County Landfill and Twomile, Mortandad, and Sandia Canyons has been mapped in detail. Map units are mostly cooling or flow units within the Tshirege Member (1.2 Ma) of the Bandelier Tuff. Stratigraphic markers that are useful for determining offsets in the map area include a distinct welding break at or near the cooling Unit 2-Unit 3 contact, and the Unit 3-Unit 4 contact. At the County Landfill the contact between the Tshirege Member of the Bandelier Tuff and overlying Quaternary alluvium has also been mapped. The mapping indicates that there is no faulting in the near-surface directly below TA-55, and that the closest fault is about 1500 feet west of the Plutonium Facility. Faulting is more abundant on the western edge of the map area, west of TA-48 in uppermost Mortandad Canyon, upper Sandia Canyon, and …

The proposed "catalytic membrane sensor" (CMS) was developed to generate a device which would selectively identify a specific reagent in a complex mixture of gases. This was to be accomplished by modifying an existing Hz sensor with a series of thin films. Through selectively sieving the desired component from a complex mixture and identifying it by decomposing it into Hz (and other by-products), a Hz sensor could then be used to detect the presence of the select component. The proposed "sandwich-type" modifications involved the deposition of a catalyst layered between two size selective sol-gel layers on a Pd/Ni resistive Hz sensor. The role of the catalyst was to convert organic materials to Hz and organic by-products. The role of the membraneo was to impart both chemical specificity by molecukir sieving of the analyte and converted product streams, as well as controlling access to the underlying Pd/Ni sensor. Ultimately, an array of these CMS elements encompassing different catalysts and membranes were to be developed which would enable improved selectivity and specificity from a compiex mixture of organic gases via pattern recognition methodologies. We have successfully generated a CMS device by a series of spin-coat deposited methods; however, it was determined that …

Hydrous Metal Oxides (HMOs) are chemically synthesized materials that, because of their high cation exchange capacity, possess a unique ability to allow the preparation of highly dispersed supported-metal catalyst precursors with high metal loadings. This study evaluates high weight loading Rh/HMO catalysts with a wide range of HMO support compositions, including hydrous titanium oxide (HTO), silica-doped hydrous titanium oxide (HTO:Si), hydrous zirconium oxide (HZO), and silica-doped hydrous zirconium oxide (HZO:Si), against conventional oxide-supported Rh catalysts with similar weight loadings and support chemistries. Catalyst activity measurements for a structure-sensitive model reaction (n-butane hydrogenolysis) as a function of catalyst activation conditions show superior activity and stability for the ZrO{sub 2}, HZO, and HZO:Si supports, although all of the Rh/HMO catalysts have high ethane selectivity indicative of high Rh dispersion. For the TiO{sub 2}-, HTO-, and HTO:Si supported Rh catalysts, a significant loss of both catalyst activity and Rh dispersion is observed at more aggressive activation conditions, consistent with TiO{sub x} migration associated with SMSI phenomena. Of all the Rh/HMO catalysts, the Rh/HZO:Si catalysts appear to offer the best tradeoff in terms of high Rh dispersion, high activity, and high selectivity.

Passive sampling for monitoring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been suggested as a possible replacement to the traditional bailer method used at the Department of Energy Kansas City Plant (KCP) for routine groundwater monitoring. To compare methods, groundwater samples were collected from 19 KCP wells with VOC concentrations ranging from non-detectable to > 100,000 {micro}g/L. Analysis of the data was conducted using means and medians of multiple measurements of TCE, 1,2-DCE, 1,1-DCE and VC. All 95% confidence intervals of these VOCs overlap, providing evidence that the two methods are similar. The study also suggests that elimination of purging and decontamination of sampling equipment reduces the labor required to sample by approximately 32%. Also, because the passive method generates no waste water, there are no associated disposal costs. The results suggest evidence to continue studies and efforts to replace traditional bailer methods with passive sampling at KCP based on cost and the similarity of the methods.

Nine shallow (c70 ft), closely spaced core holes were continuously cored in the upper units of the 1.22 Ma Tshirege Member of the Bandelier Tuff at Technical Area (TA)-3 of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The goal of the investigation was to identify faults that may have potential for earthquake-induced surface rupture at the site of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) building, a sensitive Laboratory facility that houses nuclear materials research functions. The holes were located from 25 ft to 115 ft from the building perimeter. Careful mapping of Lithologic sequences in cores, supplemented with focused sampling for geochemical analyses, yielded high confidence in the accuracy of delineating buried contacts within the Tshirege Member. Geologic analysis and investigation of the trends of surfaces interpolated from contacts in the core holes using commercially available software helped infer minor faulting in the strata beneath the building. Results show that gently north-northeast-dipping beds underlie the CMR building. The tilted beds are faulted by two small, closely spaced, parallel reverse faults with a combined vertical separation of approximately 8 ft. The faults are inferred from lithologically and geochemically repeated sections of core at about 55-ft depth in hole SHB-CMR-6. The data from nearby …

The service areas for electric power substations can be estimated using a Cellular Automata (CA) model. The CA model is a discrete, iterative process whereby substations acquire service area by claiming neighboring cells. The service area expands from a substation until a neighboring substation service area is met or the substation`s total capacity or other constraints are reached. The CA-model output is dependent on the rule set that defines cell interactions. The rule set is based on a hierarchy of quantitative metrics that represent real-world factors such as land use and population density. Together, the metrics determine the rate of cell acquisition and the upper bound for service area size. Assessing the CA-model accuracy requires comparisons to actual service areas. These actual service areas can be extracted from distribution maps. Quantitative assessment of the CA-model accuracy can be accomplished by a number of methods. Some are as simple as finding the percentage of cells predicted correctly, while others assess a penalty based on the distance from an incorrectly predicted cell to its correct service area. This is an initial report of a work in progress.

In July 1996, the US Department of Energy (DOE) Kansas City Plant (KCP), AlliedSignal Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), conducted field-scale tests of in situ soil mixing and treatment technologies within the Northeast Area (NEA) of the KCP at the Former Ponds site. This demonstration, testing, and evaluation effort was conducted as part of the implementation of a deep soil mixing (DSM) innovative remedial technology demonstration project designed to test DSM in the low-permeability clay soils at the KCP. The clay soils and groundwater beneath this area are contaminated by volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily trichloroethene (TCE) and 1,2-dichloroethene (1,2-DCE). The demonstration project was originally designed to evaluate TCE and 1,2-DCE removal efficiency using soil mixing coupled with vapor stripping. Treatability study results, however, indicated that mixed region vapor stripping (MRVS) coupled with calcium oxide (dry lime powder) injection would improve TCE and 1,2-DCE removal efficiency in saturated soils. The scope of the KCP DSM demonstration evolved to implement DSM with the following in situ treatment methodologies for contaminant source reduction in soil and groundwater: DSM/MRVS coupled with calcium oxide injection; DSM/bioaugmentation; and DSM/chemical oxidation using potassium permanganate. Laboratory treatability studies were started in 1995 …

This report outlines an approach that will account for uncertainty in the development of evaluation factors used to identify transformer designs with the lowest total owning cost (TOC). The TOC methodology is described and the most highly variable parameters are discussed. The model is developed to account for uncertainties as well as statistical distributions for the important parameters. Sample calculations are presented. The TOC methodology is applied to data provided by two utilities in order to test its validity.

Techniques have been developed to improve the uniformity of the laser focal profile, to reduce the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability, and to suppress the various laser-plasma instabilities. There are now three direct-drive ignition target designs that utilize these techniques. Evaluation of these designs is still ongoing. Some of them may achieve the gains above 100 that are necessary for a fusion reactor. Two laser systems have been proposed that may meet all of the requirements for a fusion reactor.

Total hydrocarbon production in the Michigan Basin has surpassed 1 billion barrels (Bbbls) and total unrecovered reserves are estimated at 1--2 BBbls. However, hydrocarbon production in Michigan has fallen from 35 MMbbls/yr in 1979 to about 10 MMbbls/yr in 1996. In an effort to slow this decline, a field demonstration project designed around using a horizontal well to recover bypassed oil was designed and carried out at Crystal Field in Montcalm County, MI. The project had two goals: to test the viability of using horizontal wells to recover bypassed oil from the Dundee Formation, and to characterize additional Dundee reservoirs (29) that are look alikes to the Crystal Field. As much as 85 percent of the oil known to exist in the Dundee Formation in the Michigan Basin remains in the ground as bypassed oil. Early production techniques in the 137 fields were poor, and the Dundee was at risk of being abandoned, leaving millions of barrels of oil behind. Crystal Field in Montcalm County, Michigan is a good example of a worn out field. Crystal Field was once a prolific producer which had been reduced to a handful of wells, the best of which produced only 5 barrels per …

Under Sandia`s Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, novel acoustic wave-based sensors were explored for detecting gaseous chemical species in vehicle exhaust streams. The need exists for on-line, real-time monitors to continuously analyze the toxic exhaust gases -- nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and hydrocarbons (HC) -- for determining catalytic converter efficiency, documenting compliance to emission regulations, and optimizing engine performance through feedback control. In this project, the authors adapted existing acoustic wave chemical sensor technology to the high temperature environment and investigated new robust sensor materials for improving gas detection sensitivity and selectivity. This report describes one new sensor that has potential use as an exhaust stream residual hydrocarbon monitor. The sensor consists of a thickness shear mode (TSM) quartz resonator coated with a thin mesoporous silica layer ion-exchanged with palladium ions. When operated at temperatures above 300 C, the high surface area film catalyzes the combustion of the hydrocarbon vapors in the presence of oxygen. The sensor acts as a calorimeter as the exothermic reaction slightly increases the temperature, stressing the sensor surface, and producing a measurable deviation in the resonator frequency. Sensitivities as high as 0.44 (ppm-{Delta}f) and (ppm-gas) have been measured for propylene gas, …

This is the FY 1997 Progress Report for the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It gives an overview of the LDRD program, summarizes work done on individual research projects, relates the projects to major Laboratory program sponsors, and provides an index to the principal investigators. Project summaries are grouped by their LDRD component: Competency Development, Program Development, and Individual Projects. Within each component, they are further grouped into nine technical categories: (1) materials science, (2) chemistry, (3) mathematics and computational science, (4) atomic and molecular physics and plasmas, fluids, and particle beams, (5) engineering science, (6) instrumentation and diagnostics, (7) geoscience, space science, and astrophysics, (8) nuclear and particle physics, and (9) bioscience.

This data documentation discusses the procedures and methods used to measure total carbon dioxide concentration (TCO{sub 2}) and partial pressure of CO{sub 2} (pCO{sub 2}) in discrete water samples collected during three expeditions of the Research Vessel (R/V) Knorr in the South Pacific Ocean. Conducted as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), the first cruise (WOCE Section P16A/P17A) began in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia, on October 6, 1992, and returned to Papeete on November 25, 1992. The second cruise (WOCE Section P17E/P19S) began in Papeete on December 4, 1992, and finished in Punta Arenas, Chile, on January 22, 1993. The third expedition (WOCE Section P19C) started in Punta Arenas, on February 22 and finished in Panama City, Panama, on April 13, 1993. During the three expeditions, 422 hydrographic stations were occupied. Hydrographic and chemical measurements made along WOCE Sections P16A/P17A, P17E/P19S, and P19C included pressure, temperature, salinity, and oxygen [measured by conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) sensor], as well as discrete measurements of salinity, oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silicate, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12), TCO{sub 2}, and pCO{sub 2} measured at 4 and 20 C. In addition, potential temperatures were calculated from the measured variables.

This report outlines a distribution kinetics approach to macromolecular reactions that has been applied to several processes. The objective was to develop an understanding of high-temperature, dense-phase thermolytic processes for complex macromolecular systems, such as coal. Experiments and theory are described for chemical models that simulate depolymerization of coal. The approach has been exceptionally successful for the model macromolecular systems. Development of a novel chemical reaction engineering analysis, based on distribution kinetics, was a major accomplishment of the current research.

The coupling of laser light with plasmas is one of the key physics issues for the use of high-power lasers for inertial fusion, high-energy-density physics, and scientific stockpile stewardship. The coupling physics is extremely rich and challenging, particularly in the large plasmas to be accessed on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The coupling mechanisms span the gamut from classical inverse bremsstrahlung absorption to a variety of nonlinear optical processes. These include stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) from electron plasma waves, stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) from ion sound waves, resonant decay into electron plasma and ion sound waves, and laser beam filamentation. These processes depend on laser intensity and produce effects such as changes in the efficiency and location of the energy deposition or generation of a component of very energetic electrons, which can preheat capsules. Coupling physics issues have an extremely high leverage. The coupling models are clearly very important ingredients for detailed calculations of laser-irradiated target behavior. Improved understanding and models enable a more efficient use of laser facilities, which becomes even more important as these facilities become larger and more expensive. Advances in the understanding also allow a more timely and cost-effective identification of new applications of high-power lasers, …

This report documents an independent evaluation of an energy retrofit of 4,003 family housing units at Fort Polk, Louisiana, under an energy savings performance contract (ESPC). Replacement of the heating, cooling, and water heating systems in these housing units with geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) anchored the retrofit; low-flow shower heads and compact fluorescent lighting were also installed, as well as attic insulation where needed. Statistically valid findings indicate that the project will save 25.8 million kWh, or 32.5% of the pre-retrofit whole-community electrical consumption, and 100% of the whole-community natural gas previously used for space conditioning and water heating (260,000 therms) in a typical meteorological year. At the end-use level, the GHPs were found to save about 42% of the pre-retrofit electrical consumption for heating, cooling, and water heating in housing units that were all-electric in the pre-retrofit period. This report also demonstrates an improved method of predicting energy savings. Using an engineering model calibrated to pre-retrofit energy use data collected in the field, the method predicted actual energy savings on one of the electric feeders at Fort Polk with a very high degree of accuracy. The accuracy of this model was in turn dependent on data-calibrated models of the …

The adhesion of aluminum (Al) films onto sapphire substrates in the presence of controlled contaminants is being investigated. In this study, adhesion strength is evaluated by continuous scratch and nanoindentation tests to induce delamination of the Al film from the sapphire substrate. If delamination blisters or spallations can be induced, then fracture mechanics based models can be used to calculate the fracture energy or work of adhesion based on the radius of the blister. Initial specimens of 178 nm thick Al films were vapor deposited onto (0001) oriented sapphire substrates with a 5--19 nm layer of carbon sputter deposited onto the sapphire surface of selected samples. Continuous scratch tests promoted blistering of the film in specimens with carbon on the sapphire surface. Delamination blisters could not be induced by continuous indentation testing in samples with or without carbon at the interface. An overlayer of sputtered tantalum (Ta) was then used on a second set of 500 nm thick Al films with and without 10--20 nm of sputtered carbon on the sapphire surface to promote delaminations. With Ta overlayers, continuous nanoindentation techniques induced larger diameter delamination blisters in the specimens with carbon, than in the specimens without carbon. Resistance to blistering, …

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Environmental Technology Section (ETS) was tasked by the US Department of Energy EM-50 to provide field support for the Lasagna{trademark} Technology Demonstration from 1994 through 1997. The purpose of the Lasagna Technology Demonstration was to determine the effectiveness of using reductive dehalogenation to degrade trichloroethene (TCE) into its innocuous components. The purpose of this technical memorandum is to document the ORNL-ETS field effort, including results from samples analyzed using the ORNL-ETS field laboratory. The primary contribution from the ORNL-ETS field effort was the effectiveness of the field laboratory, which was found superior to standard methods since significant volatile losses occur during the transport of samples. The field laboratory is particularly effective on demonstration projects where large numbers of samples are collected. Data quality is evaluated by submitting a portion of samples to an analytical laboratory.

The Drift-Scale Test (DST) is one of the thermal tests being conducted in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, site of the potential repository for high-level nuclear waste. One of the DST`s major objectives is to study the coupled thermal-hydrologic-chemical-mechanical (THCM) processes at the potential repository`s horizon. The objectives, test design, and test layouts of the DST are included in a previous test design report. this report present results and analysis of several difference measurements made in the DST by researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory through the second quarter of the heating phase. Sections 1.1 and 1.2 describe the layout of the DST and the boreholes and instrumentation used to monitor the THCM processes in the rock of associated drifts. Section 2 presents an analysis of temperature data for the test through the end of May 1998. Sections 3 and 4 present results of electrical resistance tomography and neutron logging measurements, respectively. These two sets of measurements are designed to determine the movement of moisture in the test. Results of a series of geochemical measurements made on gas and water samples are presented in Section 5. The purpose of these measurements is to monitor the chemical …

The purpose of this work was to explore the use of immersive technologies, such as those used in synthetic environments (commordy referred to as virtual realily, or VR), in enhancing the mesh- generation process for 3-dimensional (3D) engineering models. This work was motivated by the fact that automatic mesh generation systems are still imperfect - meshing algorithms, particularly in 3D, are sometimes unable to construct a mesh to completion, or they may produce anomalies or undesirable complexities in the resulting mesh. It is important that analysts and meshing code developers be able to study their meshes effectively in order to understand the topology and qualily of their meshes. We have implemented prototype capabilities that enable such exploration of meshes in a highly visual and intuitive manner. Since many applications are making use of increasingly large meshes, we have also investigated approaches to handle large meshes while maintaining interactive response. Ideally, it would also be possible to interact with the meshing process, allowing interactive feedback which corrects problems and/or somehow enables proper completion of the meshing process. We have implemented some functionality towards this end -- in doing so, we have explored software architectures that support such an interactive meshing process. …

This report describes information pertaining to environmental issues, toxicity, environmental transport, and fate of alkanolamines and glycols associated with natural gas sweetening and dehydration operations. Waste management associated with the operations is also discussed.