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Current supercomputers use large parallel arrays of tightly coupled processors to achieve levels of performance far surpassing conventional vector supercomputers. Shock-wave physics codes have been developed for these new supercomputers at Sandia National Laboratories and elsewhere. These parallel codes run fast enough on many simulations to consider using them to study the effects of varying design parameters on the performance of models of conventional munitions and other complex systems. Such studies maybe directed by optimization software to improve the performance of the modeled system. Using a shaped-charge jet design as an archetypal test case and the CTH parallel shock-wave physics code controlled by the Dakota optimization software, we explored the use of automatic optimization tools to optimize the design for conventional munitions. We used a scheme in which a lower resolution computational mesh was used to identify candidate optimal solutions and then these were verified using a higher resolution mesh. We identified three optimal solutions for the model and a region of the design domain where the jet tip speed is nearly optimal, indicating the possibility of a robust design. Based on this study we identified some of the difficulties in using high-fidelity models with optimization software to develop improved …

This report summarizes progress through Phase 2 of the probabilistic seismic hazards analysis (PSHA) for the Santa Barbara Channel being carried out by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the US Department of the Interior. The purpose of the PSHA is to provide a basis for development by MMS of regulations governing evaluation of applications to re-license existing oil platforms in federal waters within the Channel with respect to seismic loading. The final product of the analysis will be hazard maps of ground motion parameters at specified probability levels of exceedence. This report summarizes the characterization of local earthquake sources within the Channel and onshore areas of the Western Transverse Ranges, development of a ground motion attenuation model for the region, and presents preliminary hazard results at three selected sites.

The Environmental Measurement-While-Drilling (EMWD) system and Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) were successfully demonstrated at the Mock Tank Leak Simulation Site and the Drilling Technology Test Site, Hanford, Washington. The use of directional drilling offers an alternative to vertical drilling site characterization. Directional drilling can develop a borehole under a structure, such as a waste tank, from an angled entry and leveling off to horizontal at the desired depth. The EMWD system represents an innovative blend of new and existing technology that provides the capability of producing real-time environmental and drill bit data during drilling operations. The technology demonstration consisted of the development of one borehole under a mock waste tank at a depth of {approximately} {minus}8 m ({minus}27 ft.), following a predetermined drill path, tracking the drill path to within a radius of {approximately}1.5 m (5 ft.), and monitoring for zones of radiological activity using the EMWD system. The purpose of the second borehole was to demonstrate the capability of drilling to a depth of {approximately} {minus}21 m ({minus}70 ft.), the depth needed to obtain access under the Hanford waste tanks, and continue drilling horizontally. This report presents information on the HDD and EMWD technologies, demonstration design, results of the …

Hyron Spinrad's career has spanned several decades, and has stretched from our neighboring planets to the most remote galaxies in the Universe, pausing in between to ''enrich'' our knowledge of the compositions of stars.

This conference demonstrated the coming of age of 3-D astronomy as a standard tool, rather than as a technological niche. In particular, several integral field spectrometers are now in use, and many more are now in development for the new ground-based 6-10 meter class telescopes, and in study for space use, and are described in the papers of this conference. The astronomical roles of various forms of 3-D technologies are summarized.

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Los Alamos National Laboratory lies at the western boundary of the Rio Grande rift, a major tectonic feature of the North American Continent. Three major faults locally constitute the modem rift boundary, and each of these is potentially seismogenic. In this study we have gathered structural geologic data for the northwestern portion of Los Alamos National Laboratory through high-precision geologic mapping, conventional geologic mapping, stratigraphic studies, drilling, petrologic studies, and stereographic aerial photograph analyses. Our study area encompasses TA-55 and TA-3, where potential for seismic surface rupture is of interest, and is bounded on the north and south by the townsite of Los Alamos and Twomile Canyon, respectively. The study area includes parts of two of the potentially active rift boundary faults--the Pajarito and Rendija Canyon faults-that form a large graben that we name the Diamond Drive graben. The graben embraces the western part of the townsite of Los Alamos, and its southern end is in the TA-3 area where it is defined by east-southeast-trending cross faults. The cross faults are small, but they accommodate interactions between the two major fault zones and gentle tilting of structural blocks to the north into the graben. North of Los Alamos townsite, the …

This report describes the status of the Busted Butte Unsaturated Zone Transport Test (UZTT) and documents the progress of construction activities and site and laboratory characterization activities undertaken in fiscal year 1998. Also presented are predictive flow-and-transport simulations for Test Phases 1 and 2 of testing and the preliminary results and status of these test phases. Future anticipated results obtained from unsaturated-zone (UZ) transport testing in the Calico Hills Formation at Busted Butte are also discussed in view of their importance to performance assessment (PA) needs to build confidence in and reduce the uncertainty of site-scale flow-and-transport models and their abstractions for performance for license application. The principal objectives of the test are to address uncertainties associated with flow and transport in the UZ site-process models for Yucca Mountain, as identified by the PA working group in February 1997. These include but are not restricted to: (1) The effect of heterogeneities on flow and transport in unsaturated and partially saturated conditions in the Calico Hills Formation. In particular, the test aims to address issues relevant to fracture-matrix interactions and permeability contrast boundaries; (2) The migration behavior of colloids in fractured and unfractured Calico Hills rocks; (3) The validation through field …

This effort designed, fabricated, and field tested the engineering prototype of the Cone Permeameter{trademark} system. The integrated system includes the instrumented penetrometer probe, air and water pumps, flowrate controls, flow sensors, and a laptop-controlled data system. All of the equipment is portable and can be transported as luggage on airlines. The data system acquired and displays the process measurements (pressures, flows, and downhole temperature) in real time and calculates the resulting permeability. The measurement probe is a 2 inch diameter CPT rod section, incorporating a screened injection zone near the lower end of the rod and multiple sensitive absolute pressure sensors embedded in the probe at varying distances from the injection zone. Laboratory tests in a large test cell demonstrated the system's ability to measure nominally 1 Darcy permeability soil (30 to 40 Darcy material had been successfully measured in the Phase 1 effort). These tests also provided a shakedown of the system and identified minor instrument problems, which were resolved. Supplemental numerical modeling was conducted to evaluate the effects of layered permeability (heterogeneity) and anisotropy on the measurement system's performance. The general results of the analysis were that the Cone Permeameter could measure accurately, in heterogeneous media, the volume …

Strong magnetic fields are a powerful tool for studying physical properties of low-dimensional semiconductor structures. The pulsed magnet facilities at the Los Alamos National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) have provided an unique opportunity to explore new correlated electronic phases of quantum Hall devices in ultra-high magnetic fields. We have performed both magneto-transport and photoluminescence experiments in the pulsed magnet for fields up to 50 T and temperatures down to 500 mK to study several types of GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. The findings of our exploratory experiments are summarized.

The objective of this Class III project is to demonstrate that detailed reservoir characterization of slope and basin clastic reservoirs in sandstones of the Delaware Mountain Group in the Delaware Basin of West Texas and New Mexico is a cost-effective way to recover a higher percentage of the original oil in place through geologically based field development. This year the project focused on reservoir characterization of the East Ford unit, a representative Delaware Mountain Group field that produces from the upper Bell Canyon Formation (Ramsey Sandstone). The field, discovered in 1960, is operated by Orla Petco, Inc., as the East Ford unit; it contained an estimated 19.8 million barrels (MMbbl) of original oil in place. Petrophysical characterization of the East Ford unit was accomplished by integrating core and log data and quantifying petrophysical properties from wireline logs. Most methods of petrophysical analysis that had been developed during an earlier study of the Ford Geraldine unit were successfully transferred to the East Ford unit. The approach that was used to interpret water saturation from resistivity logs, however, had to be modified because in some East Ford wells the log-calculated water saturation was too high and inconsistent with observations made during the …

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Lost Circulation is a widespread problem encountered when drilling geothermal wells, and often represents a substantial portion of the cost of drilling a well. The U.S. Department of Energy sponsors research and development work at Sandia National Laboratories in an effort to reduce these lost circulation expenditures. Sandia has developed a down hole tool that improves the effectiveness and reduces th cost of lost circulation cement treatment while drilling geothermal wells. This tool, the Drillable Straddle Packer, is a low-cost disposable device that is used to isolate the loss zone and emplace the cement treatment directly into the region of concern. This report documents the design and development of the Drillabe Straddle Packer, the laboratory and field test results, and the design package that is available to transfer this technology to industry users.

The following report provides extensive information on the Kewalo Research Facility of Oahu Island. The Kewalo Research Facility sits on Kewalo Basin and is the center for ongoing research programs designed to examine the most important environmental parameters on the behavior and physiology of tunas. Along with tuna the Kewalo Research facility is also a primary location to stage research activities associated with the studies and preservation of the Hawaiian monk seals, it also provides an important laboratory where research on and resuscitation of several threatened and endangered species of sea turtles found in the Pacific Ocean can be carried out.

The authors report here their on-ground restoration actions. Part 1 describes work conducted by the Underwood Conservation District (UCD) on private lands. This work involves the Stabler Cut-Bank project. Part 2 describes work conducted by the U.S. Forest Service. The Stabler Cut-Bank Project is a cooperative stream restoration effort between Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the UCD, private landowners, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The Stabler site was identified by UCD during stream surveys conducted in 1996 as part of a USFWS funded project aimed at initiating water quality and habitat restoration efforts on private lands in the basin. In 1997 the Wind River Watershed Council selected the project as a top priority demonstration project. The landowners were approached by the UCD and a partnership developed. Due to their expertise in channel rehabilitation, the Forest Service was consulted for the design and assisted with the implementation of the project. A portion of the initial phase of the project was funded by USFWS. However, the majority of funding (approximately 80%) has been provided by BPA and it is anticipated that additional work that is planned for the site will be conducted with BPA funds.

This report describes the ongoing efforts to document life history strategies of steelhead in the Wind River watershed and to formulate criteria for ranking restoration needs and proposed projects.

The distribution of seepage in the proposed repository will be highly variable due in part to variations in the spatial distribution of percolations. The performance of the drip shield and the backfill system may divert the water flux around the waste packages to the invert. Diversion will occur along the drift surface, within the backfill, at the drip shield, and at the Waste Package (WP) surface, even after the drip shield and WP have been breached by corrosion. The purpose and objective of this Analysis and Modeling Report (AMR) are to develop a conceptual model and constitutive properties for bounding the volume and rate of seepage water that flows around the drip shield (CRWMS M&O 1999c). This analysis model is to be compatible with the selected repository conceptual design (Wilkins and Heath, 1999) and will be used to evaluate the performance of the Engineered Barrier System (EBS), and to provide input to the EBS Water Distribution and Removal Model. This model supports the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) postclosure performance assessment for the Site Recommendation (SR). This document characterizes the hydrological constitutive properties of the backfill and invert materials (Section 6.2) and a third material that represents a mixture of the …

The concentration and distribution of soluble phosphorus (P) forms were determined in compartments of a hydrologic pathway in a forested watershed (Walker Branch, Tennessee). Rainfall, throughfall, soil water, groundwater, stream water, and water from two sites in Melton Hill reservoir downstream of Walker Branch were examined for soluble reactive and total soluble phosphorus (SRP and TSP). Soluble unreactive P (SUP) was determined from their difference. An increase of TSP from rainfall to throughfall indicated leaching or wash off of P from the canopy. SRP and SUP decreased markedly as water percolated through the soil, suggesting biological uptake and/or geochemical adsorption of phosphate groups on soil particles. Changes in soluble P. concentrations within the stream channel supported previous evidence for biological control of P dynamics in Walker Branch. Overall, SUP (an estimate of soluble organic P) constituted a significant fraction of the total soluble P present in each compartment of the flowpath. An analytical technique using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to separate the inositol phosphates (IP's) was developed and used in characterizing organic P fractions of natural systems. Commercial orthophosphate, inositol monophosphate (IMP), and inositol hexaphosphate (IHP) were adequately separated from each other on Aminex A-27 resin using a sodium chloride/tetrasodium …

The following description and any attachments and references are provided to the Washington State Department of Health (WDOH), Division of Radiation Protection, Air Emissions & Defense Waste Section as a notice of constriction (NOC) in accordance with Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 246-247, Radiation Protection - Air Emissions. The WAC 246-247-060, ''Applications, registration, and licensing'', states ''This section describes the information requirements for approval to construct, modify, and operate an emission unit. Any NOC requires the submittal of information listed in Appendix A.'' Appendix A (WAC 246-247-1 10) lists the requirements that must be addressed. Additionally, the following description, attachments and references are provided to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an NOC, in accordance with Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 61, ''National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.'' The information required for submittal to the EPA is specified in 40 CFR 61.07. The potential emissions from this activity are estimated to provide less than 0.1 millirem/year total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) to the hypothetical offsite maximally exposed individual (MEI), and commencement is needed within a short time frame. Therefore, this application is also intended to provide notification of the anticipated date of initial startup in accordance …

The objectives of the pilot study were to investigate the limitations of the technique for imaging the presence, extent, and boundaries of the low-resistance intervals and associated carbonate sediments.

This report presents the results of groundwater and vadose-zone monitoring and remediation for fiscal year (FY) 1998 on the Word Site, Washington. Soil-vapor extraction in the 200-West Area removed 777 kg of carbon tetrachloride in FY 1998, for a total of 75,490 kg removed since remediation began in 1992. Spectral gamma logging and evaluation of historical gross gamma logs near tank farms and liquid-disposal sites in the 200 Areas provided information on movement of contaminants in the vadose zone. Water-level monitoring was performed to evaluate groundwater-flow directions, to track changes in water levels, and to relate such changes to evolving disposal practices. Water levels over most of the Hanford Site continued to decline between June 1997 and June 1998. The most widespread radiological contaminant plumes in groundwater were tritium and iodine-129. Concentrations of technetium-99, uranium, strontium-90, and carbon-14 also exceeded drinking water standards in smaller plumes. Plutonium and cesium-137 exceeded standards only near the 216-B-5 injection well. Derived concentration guide levels specified in U.S. Department of Energy Order 5400.5 were exceeded for tritium, uranium, strontium-90, and plutonium in small plumes or single wells. One well completed in the basalt-confined aquifer beneath the 200-East Area exceeded the drinking water standard for …

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The Refrigerant Database is an information system on alternative refrigerants, associated lubricants, and their use in air conditioning and refrigeration. It consolidates and facilities access to property, compatibility, environmental, safety, application and other information. It provides corresponding information on older refrigerants, to assist manufacturers and those using alternative refrigerants, to make comparisons and determine differences. The underlying purpose is to accelerate phase out of chemical compounds of environmental concern.