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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 …

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 …

In a series of recent publications, a new approach to the non-relativistic reduction of the electromagnetic current operator in calculations of electro-nuclear reactions has been introduced. In one of these papers, the conjecture that at energies of a few GeV, the bulk of the relativistic effects comes from the current and not from the nuclear dynamics was made, based on the large relativistic effects in the transverse-longitudinal response. Here, the authors explicitly compare a fully relativistic, manifestly covariant calculation performed with the Gross equation, with a calculation that uses a non-relativistic wave function and a fully relativistic current operator. They find very good agreement up to missing momenta of 400 MeV/c, thus confirming the previous conjecture. They discuss slight deviations in cross sections for higher missing momenta and their possible origin, namely p-wave contributions and off-shell effects.

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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 …

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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.

Supernova (SN) 1987A focused attention on the critical role of hydrodynamic instabilities in the evolution of supernovae. To test the modeling of these instabilities, we are developing laboratory experiments of hydrodynamic mixing under conditions relevant to supernovae. Initial results were reported in J. Kane et al., Astrophys. J.478, L75 (1997) The Nova laser is used to shock two-layer targets, producing Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) and Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instabilities at the interfaces between the layers, analogous to instabilities seen at the interfaces of SN 1987A. Because the hydrodynamics in the laser experiments at intermediate times (3-40 ns) and in SN 1987A at intermediate times (5 s-10{sup 4} s) are well described by the Euler equations, the hydrodynamics scale between the two regimes. The experiments are modeled using the hydrodynamics codes HYADES and CALE, and the supernova code PROMETHEUS, thus serving as a benchmark for PROMETHEUS. Results of the experiments and simulations are presented. Analysis of the spike and bubble velocities in the experiment using potential flow theory and a modified Ott thin shell theory is presented. A numerical study of 2D vs. 3D differences in instability growth at the O-He and He-H interface of SN 1987A, and the design for analogous laser experiments …

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two unsaturated flow models in arid regions. The area selected for the study was the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS) at the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada. The two models selected for this evaluation were HYDRUS-1D [Simunek et al., 1998] and the SHAW model [Flerchinger and Saxton, 1989]. Approximately 5 years of soil-water and atmospheric data collected from an instrumented weighing lysimeter site near the RWMS were used for building the models with actual initial and boundary conditions representative of the site. Physical processes affecting the site and model performance were explored. Model performance was based on a detailed sensitivity analysis and ultimately on storage comparisons. During the process of developing descriptive model input, procedures for converting hydraulic parameters for each model were explored. In addition, the compilation of atmospheric data collected at the site became a useful tool for developing predictive functions for future studies. The final model results were used to evaluate the capacities of the HYDRUS and SHAW models for predicting soil-moisture movement and variable surface phenomena for bare soil conditions in the arid vadose zone. The development of calibrated models along …

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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 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.

A fully kinetic assessment of the stability properties of toroidal drift modes has been obtained for nonaxisymmetric (stellarator) geometry, in the electrostatic limit. This calculation is a comprehensive solution of the linearized gyrokinetic equation, using the lowest-order ''ballooning representation'' for high toroidal mode number instabilities, with a model collision operator. Results for toroidal drift waves destabilized by temperature gradients and/or trapped particle dynamics are presented, using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equilibria generated as part of a design effort for a quasiaxisymmetric stellarator. Comparisons of these results with those obtained for typical tokamak cases indicate that the basic trends are similar.

The purpose of this brief report is to present the results of studies over the past year concerned with the oxidation of chlorinated solvents by potassium permanganate. The study is organized with a laboratory component that looks generally at the basic reaction processes and kinetics, and a theoretical component that is developing modeling tools appropriate for designing systems under field conditions. The following sections will examine new results in both of these research strands separately.

As nuclear research has become more prevalent, environmental contamination from the disposal of radioactive waste has become a prominent issue. At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in northern New Mexico, radioactive contamination from disposal operations has raised some very specific concerns. Material Disposal Area G (Area G) is the primary low-level radioactive waste disposal site at LANL and occupies an area adjacent to land belonging to the Native American community of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso. Analyses of soil and vegetation collected from the perimeter of Area G have shown concentrations of radionuclides greater than background concentrations established for northern New Mexico. As a result, Pueblo residents had become concerned that contaminants from Area G could enter tribal lands through various ecological pathways. The residents specifically questioned the safety of consuming meat from elk and deer that forage near Area G and then migrate onto tribal lands. Consequently, this study addresses the uptake of {sup 3}H, {sup 90}Sr, {sup tot}U, {sup 238}Pu, {sup 239}Pu, {sup 241}Am, and {sup 137}Cs by elk (Cervus elaphus) and deer (Odocoileus hemionus) that forage around the perimeter of Area G and the associated doses to the animals and to humans who consume these animals. Radionuclide …

Weekly Jewish newspaper from Fort Worth, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

Weekly Jewish newspaper from Fort Worth, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

Surface synoptic weather reports for the entire globe, gathered from various available data sets, were processed, edited, and rewritten to provide a single data set of individual observations of clouds, spanning the 44 years 1952-1995 for ship data and the 26 years 1971-1996 for land station data. In addition to the cloud portion of the synoptic report, each edited report also includes the associated pressure, present weather, wind, air temperature, and dew point (and sea surface temperature over oceans).

Hanford Site National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Characterization

This paper reports the temporal changes in the spatial variability of soil nutrient concentrations across a field during the growing season, over a four-year period. This study is part of the Site-Specific Technologies for Agriculture (SST4Ag) precision farming research project at the INEEL. Uniform fertilization did not produce a uniform increase in fertility. During the growing season, several of the nutrients and micronutrients showed increases in concentration although no additional fertilization had occurred. Potato plant uptake did not explain all of these changes. Some soil micronutrient concentrations increased above levels considered detrimental to potatoes, but the plants did not show the effects in reduced yield. All the nutrients measured changed between the last sampling in the fall and the first sampling the next spring prior to fertilization. The soil microbial community may play a major role in the temporal changes in the spatial variability of soil nutrient concentrations. These temporal changes suggest potential impact when determining fertilizer recommendations, and when evaluating the results of spatially varying fertilizer application.

This document describes the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Site environment. It is updated each year and is intended to provide a consistent description of the Hanford Site environment for the many National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents being prepared by DOE contractors. No conclusions or recommendations are provided. This year's report is the twelfth revision of the original document published in 1988 and is (until replaced by the thirteenth revision) the only version that is relevant for use in the preparation of Hanford NEPA, State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) documents. The two chapters included in this document (Chapters 4 and 6) are numbered to correspond to the chapters where such information is typically presented in environmental impact statements (EISs) and other Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) NEPA or CERCLA documentation. Chapter 4.0 (Affected Environment) describes Hanford Site climate and meteorology, geology, hydrology, ecology, cultural, archaeological, and historical resources, socioeconomic, occupational safety, and noise. Sources for extensive tabular data related to these topics are provided in the chapter. Most subjects are divided into a general description of the characteristics of the Hanford Site, followed by site-specific information, where available, of …