To support the assessment of inspection findings as part of the risk-informed inspection in the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (USNRC's) Reactor Oversight Process (ROP), risk inspection notebooks, also called significance determination process (SDP) notebooks, have been developed for each of the operating plants in the United States. These notebooks serve as a tool for assessing risk significance of inspection findings along with providing an engineering understanding of the significance. Plant-specific notebooks are developed to capture plant-specific features, characteristics, and analyses that influence the risk profile of the plant. At the same time, the notebooks follow a consistent set of assumptions and guidelines to assure consistent treatment of inspection findings across the plants. To achieve these objectives, notebooks are designed to provide specific information that are unique both in the manner in which the information is provided and in the way the screening risk assessment is carried out using the information provided. The unique features of the SDP notebooks, the approaches used to present the information for assessment of inspection findings, the assumptions used in consistent modeling across different plants with due credit to plant-specific features and analyses form the technical basis of the SDP notebooks. In this document, the …

This subcontract report describes Shell Solar Industries (SSI), formerly Siemens Solar Industries, pursuing research and development of CuInSe2-based thin-film PV technology since 1980. In the 1980s, SSI demonstrated a 14.1%-efficient 3.4-cm2 active-area cell; unencapsulated integrated modules with aperture efficiencies of 11.2% on 940 cm2 and 9.1% on 3900 cm2; and an encapsulated module with 8.7% efficiency on 3883 cm2 (verified by NREL). Since these early achievements, SSI has made outstanding progress in the initial commercialization of high-performance thin-film CIS technology. Line yield has been increased from about 60% in 2000 to about 85% in 2002. This major accomplishment supports attractive cost projections for CIS. Recently, NREL confirmed a champion 12.8% aperture-area conversion efficiency for a large-area (3626 cm2) CIS module. Other than definition of the aperture area, this module is simply one module from the upper end of the production distribution for standard modules. Prerequisites for commitment to large-scale commercialization have been demonstrated at successive levels of CIS production. Remaining R&D challenges are to scale the processes to even larger areas, to reach higher production capacity, to demonstrate in-service durability over longer times, and to advance the fundamental understanding of CIS-based materials and devices with the goal of improvements for …

In complex simulation systems where humans interact with computer-generated agents, information display and the interplay of virtual agents have become dominant media and modalities of interface design. This design strategy is reflected in augmented reality (AR), an environment where humans interact with computer-generated agents in real-time. AR systems can generate large amount of information, multiple solutions in less time, and perform far better in time-constrained problem solving. The capabilities of AR have been leveraged to augment cognition in human information processing. In this sort of augmented cognition (AC) work system, while technology has become the main source for information acquisition from the environment, the human sensory and memory capacities have failed to cope with the magnitude and scale of information they encounter. This situation generates opportunity for excessive cognitive workloads, a major factor in degraded human performance. From the human effectiveness point of view, research is needed to develop, model, and validate simulation tools that can measure the effectiveness of an AR technology used to support the amplification of human cognition. These tools will allow us to predict human performance for tasks executed under an AC tool construct. This paper presents an exploration of ergonomics issues relevant to AR and …

Brief disclosures may often be sufficient for the filing of a Technical Advance with Sandia's Intellectual Property Center, but still be inadequate to facilitate an optimum patent application where more detail and explanation are required. Consequently, the crafting of a patent application may require considerably more additional interaction between the application preparer and the inventors. This inefficiency can be considerably mitigated if the inventors address some critical aspects of a patent application when they write a technical report.

Abstract: The study of superallowed beta decay in nuclei, in conjunction with other experiments, provide a test of the unitarity of the quark mixing matrix or CKM matrix. Nonunitarity of the CKM matrix could imply the existence of a fourth generation of quarks, right handed currents in the weak interaction, and/or new exotic fermions. Advances in radioactive beam techniques allow the creation of nearly pure samples of nuclei for beta decay studies. The subject of this thesis is the development of a radioactive beam of 14O and the study of the 14O halflife and branching ratio. The radioactive beam is produced by ionizing 12C14O radioactive gas and then accelerating with an ECR ion source. The 14O nucleus decays via superallowed beta decay with a branching ratio > 99 percent. The low Z of 14O is important for calculating reliable corrections to the beta decay that generally increase in with Z. The > 99 percent branching ratio can be established with modest precision on the complementary branching ratio.When this work began the experimentally determined CKM matrix was nonunitary by 2.5 standard deviations. Recent studies of Kaon, Hyperon, and B meson decays have been used to determine Vus and Vub matrix elements. …

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is currently in the process of Deactivation and Decommissioning (D and D) several process areas. These activities are expected to continue over the next several years. This paper addresses the Material Control and Accountability (MC and A) guidelines that have been developed for D and D activities at SRS. The MC and A D and D guidelines developed address topical areas that can impact activities associated with facility closures. Several areas of concern are: material hold-up, hold-up measurements, nuclear material access and surveillance requirements, updating accountability records, transition to lower category MBAs, usage of administrative MBAs, and the termination of safeguards. The goal of the guidelines were to stress the MC and A programmatic requirements identified within the Department of Energy Manual for the Accountability of Nuclear Materials while managing the potential impact on the D and D activities in an identified area.

Indoor temperature is one of the fundamental characteristics of the indoor environment. It can be controlled with different accuracy depending on the building and its HVAC system. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential benefits of improved temperature control, and apply the information for a cost-benefit analyses. The indoor temperature affects several human responses, including thermal comfort, perceived air quality, sick building syndrome symptoms and performance in work. In this study we focused on the effects of temperature on performance in work. We collected and analyzed the literature relating the performance in work and temperature. The results of multiple studies are relatively consistent and show an average relationship of 2% decrement in work performance per degree C when the temperature is above 25 C. Less data were available on the performance in low temperatures. However, studies show a strong effect on manual tasks with temperatures below thermal neutrality as soon as the temperature of hands decreased due to control of blood flow. When the estimated productivity decrement from elevated temperatures was applied to data from a study of night-time ventilative cooling, the estimated value of productivity improvements were 32 to 120 times greater than the cost of …

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator capable of simulating electrical circuits at a variety of abstraction levels. Primarily, Xyce has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: {sm_bullet} Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). Note that this includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers. {sm_bullet} Improved performance for all numerical kernels (e.g., time integrator, nonlinear and linear solvers) through state-of-the-art algorithms and novel techniques. {sm_bullet} Device models which are specifically tailored to meet Sandia's needs, including many radiation-aware devices. {sm_bullet} A client-server or multi-tiered operating model wherein the numerical kernel can operate independently of the graphical user interface (GUI). {sm_bullet} Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices that ensure that the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator will be maintainable and extensible far into the future. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase - a message passing of computing platforms. These include serial, …

Sealed lead acid cells are used in many projects in Sandia National Laboratories Department 2660 Telemetry and Instrumentation systems. The importance of these cells in battery packs for powering electronics to remotely conduct tests is significant. Since many tests are carried out in flight or launched, temperature is a major factor. It is also important that the battery packs are properly charged so that the test is completed before the pack cannot supply sufficient power. Department 2665 conducted research and studies to determine the effects of temperature on cycle time as well as charging techniques to maximize cycle life and cycle times on sealed lead acid cells. The studies proved that both temperature and charging techniques are very important for battery life to support successful field testing and expensive flight and launched tests. This report demonstrates the effects of temperature on cycle time for SLA cells as well as proper charging techniques to get the most life and cycle time out of SLA cells in battery packs.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is interested in developing tools and methods for potential U.S. use in designing and evaluating safeguards systems. For this goal several DOE National Laboratories are defining the characteristics of typical facilities of several size scales, and the safeguards measures and instrumentation that could be applied. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is providing systems modeling and analysis of facility and safeguards operations, diversion path generation, and safeguards system effectiveness. The constituent elements of diversion scenarios are structured using directed graphs (digraphs) and fault trees. Safeguards indicator probabilities are based on sampling statistics and/or measurement accuracies. Scenarios are ranked based on value and quantity of material removed and the estimated probability of non-detection. Significant scenarios, especially those involving timeliness or randomly varying order of events, are transferred to simulation analysis. Simulations show the range of conditions encountered by the safeguards measurements and inspections, e.g., the quantities of intermediate materials in temporary storage and the time sequencing of material flow. Given a diversion campaign, simulations show how much the range of the same parameters observed by the safeguards system can differ from the base-case range. The combination of digraphs, fault trees, statistics and simulation constitute a method for …

This document reports findings and recommendations as a result of a design assistance project with Fort Buchanan with the goals of developing a Water Management Plan (WMP). The WRMP developed during this task is an amalgam of the templates and guidelines from the Federal Energy Management Program and Army regulations.

The following describes the SRTC contributions to EMSP 81898 with emphasis on the specific applications to the SRS high level radioactive waste tanks. In particular, the crack growth criteria, constraint effects, and the weld residual stress effects are covered. The write-up consists of two parts: (1) Crack Growth Simulation, and (2) Stress Corrosion Cracking in Weld Residual Stress.

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The effect of ferrous sulfamate (FS) oxidation and variation in nitric acid concentration on the removal of {sup 238}Pu contamination from Np by the HB-Line anion exchange flowsheet has been tested. Significant rejection of {sup 238}Pu was observed by washing with a reductive wash solution containing 6.0 to 6.8 M nitric acid (HNO{sub 3}) with as little as 30% of the Fe{sup 2+} from the FS remaining in its reduced form. To achieve the desired 30% removal of {sup 238}Pu from the process, conditions should be controlled to maintain the Fe{sup 2+}/Fe{sup 3+} ratio in the reductive wash to be greater than 60%/40% (or 1.5). Since Fe{sup 2+} oxidation is strongly affected by temperature and nitric acid concentration, these parameters (as well as time after FS addition) need to be controlled to ensure predictable results. A shortened-height column was utilized in these tests to match changes in the plant equipment. Lab experiments scaled to plant batch sizes of 2000 g Np were observed with modest losses for ''up-flow'' washing. The following are recommended conditions for removing {sup 238}Pu from Np solutions by anion exchange in HB-Line: (1) Feed conditions: ''Up-flow'' 6.4-8.0 M HNO{sub 3}, 0.02 M hydrazine (N{sub 2}H{sub 4}), …

Sandia National Laboratories, California (SNL/CA) is a government-owned/contractor-operated laboratory. Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, operates the laboratory for the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration. The DOE Sandia Site Office oversees operations at the site, using Sandia Corporation as a management and operating contractor. This Site Environmental Report for 2003 was prepared in accordance with DOE Order 231.1A. The report provides a summary of environmental monitoring information and compliance activities that occurred at SNL/CA during calendar year 2003. General site and environmental program information is also included.

The goal of this project was to identify a viable, non-destructive methodology for the detection of cracks in electrically poled piezoelectric ceramics used in neutron generator power supply units. The following methods were investigated: Impedance Spectroscopy, Scanning Acoustic Microscopy, Lock-in Thermography, Photo-acoustic Microscopy, and Scanned Vicinal Light. In addition to the exploration of these techniques for crack detection, special consideration was given to the feasibility of integrating these approaches to the Automatic Visual Inspection System (AVIS) that was developed for mapping defects such as chips, pits and voids in piezoelectric ceramic components. Scanned Vicinal Light was shown to be the most effective method of automatically detecting and quantifying cracks in ceramic components. This method is also very effective for crack detection in other translucent ceramics.

The primary accomplishments of the JOI Cooperative Agreement with DOE/NETL in this quarter were that: (1) post-cruise evaluation of the data, tools and measurement systems that were used during ODP Leg 204 continued in the preparation of deliverables under this agreement. Work continued on analyzing data collected during ODP Leg 204 and preparing reports on the outcomes of Phase 1 projects as well as developing plans for Phase 2.

The purpose of the work is to enhance remote operations of robotic systems for D&D tasks by extending teleoperation with semi-autonomous functions. The work leverages the $1.2M dual-arm work platform (DAWP) developed with broad participation for the CP5 D&D, as well as 2,000 hr DAWP D&D operational experience. We propose to develop a reactive, agent-based control architecture well suited to unstructured and unpredictable environments, and robot control technology, which implements a virtual fixture that can be used to guide the application of tools with force-feedback control. Developed methodologies will be implemented using a structured light sensor and robot hand controller on the dual-arm system.

This document is a reference guide to the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator, and is a companion document to the Xyce Users' Guide. The focus of this document is (to the extent possible) exhaustively list device parameters, solver options, parser options, and other usage details of Xyce. This document is not intended to be a tutorial. Users who are new to circuit simulation are better served by the Xyce Users' Guide.

Automated shading and daylighting control systems have been commercially available for decades. The new challenge is to provide a fully functional and integrated fagade and lighting system that operates appropriately for all environmental conditions and meets a range of occupant subjective desires and objective performance requirements. These rigorous performance goals must be achieved with solutions that are cost effective and can operate over long periods with minimal maintenance. It will take time and effort to change the marketplace for these technologies and practices, particularly in building a series of documented success stories, and driving costs and risks to much lower levels at which their use becomes the norm. In recent years, the architectural trend toward highly-transparent all-glass buildings presents a unique challenge and opportunity to advance the market for emerging, smart, dynamic window and dimmable daylighting control technologies. We believe it is possible to accelerate product market transformation by developing projects where technical advances and the interests of motivated manufacturers and innovative owners converge. In this paper we present a case study example that explains a building owner's decision-making process to use dynamic window and dimmable daylighting controls. The case study project undertaken by a major building owner in partnership …

Three-dimensional Monte Carlo neutral transport simulations of gas flow through the Alcator C-Mod subdivertor yield conductances comparable to those found in dedicated experiments. All are significantly smaller than the conductance found with the previously used axisymmetric geometry. A benchmarking exercise of the code against known conductance values for gas flow through a simple pipe provides a physical basis for interpreting the comparison of the three-dimensional and experimental C-Mod conductances.