The shallow groundwater and sediments beneath the TNX Area are contaminated with both dissolved and residual chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) such as trichloroethylene (TCE), carbon tetrachloride and perchloroethylene (PCE)..The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) is studying a new technology for remediating CVOCs known as GeoSiphon. The GeoSiphon Cell is a large diameter well uses granular cast iron for filter pack material and is operated by inducing a siphon to draw contaminated groundwater through the iron filter pack. As groundwater flows through the granular cast iron CVOCs are reduced to ethane, ethene, methane, and chloride ions. Previous laboratory and field studies (ETI, 1996, and Phifer et. al., 1997) conducted by SRTC have shown that granular cast iron is capable of remediating contaminated at TNX. SRTC will be conducting a Dual Cell test of the GeoSiphon technology in 1999 to study the hydraulic interaction of multiple cells operating simultaneously.T his report documents the installation of 3 monitoring wells and 1 pilot hole that were installed to support the Dual phase test. The three monitoring wells will be used to study the hydraulic interaction between the 2 GeoSiphon cells. Continuous core was collected from the proposed location for the second GeoSiphon Cell …

Since beginning operations in 1954, the Savannah River Site FB-Line produced Weapons Grade Plutonium for the United States National Defense Program. The facility mission was mainly to process dilute plutonium solution received from the 221-F Canyon into highly purified plutonium metal. As a result of various activities (maintenance, repair, clean up, etc.) in support of the mission, the facility generated a transuranic heterogeneous debris waste stream. Prior to January 25, 1990, the waste stream was considered suspect mixed transuranic waste (based on potential for inclusion of F-Listed solvent rags/wipes) and is not included in this characterization. Beginning January 25, 1990, Savannah River Site began segregation of rags and wipes containing F-Listed solvents thus creating a mixed transuranic waste stream and a non-mixed transuranic waste stream. This characterization addresses the non-mixed transuranic waste stream packaged in 55-gallon drums after January 25, 1990.Characterization of the waste stream was achieved using knowledge of process operations, facility safety basis documentation, facility specific waste management procedures and storage / disposal records. The report is fully responsive to the requirements of Section 4.0 "Acceptable Knowledge" from the WIPP Transuranic Waste Characterization Quality Assurance Plan, CAO-94-1010, and provides a sound, (and auditable) characterization that satisfies the WIPP …

This analysis provides a comparison of the testing of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) and RTG components with the testing requirements of ANSI N43.6-1977 (R1989) ``Sealed Radioactive Sources, Categorization``. The purpose of this comparison is to demonstrate that the RTGs meet or exceed the requirements of the ANSI standard, and thus can be excluded from the radioactive inventory of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) building in Los Alamos per Attachment 1 of DOE STD 1027-92. The approach used in this analysis is as follows: (1) describe the ANSI sealed source classification methodology; (2) develop sealed source performance requirements for the RTG and/or RTG components based on criteria from the accident analysis for CMR; (3) compare the existing RTG or RTG component test data to the CMR requirements; and (4) determine the appropriate ANSI classification for the RTG and/or RTG components based on CMR performance requirements. The CMR requirements for treating RTGs as sealed sources are derived from the radiotoxicity of the isotope ({sup 238}P7) and amount (13 kg) of radioactive material contained in the RTG. The accident analysis for the CMR BIO identifies the bounding accidents as wing-wide fire, explosion and earthquake. These accident scenarios set the requirements for RTGs …

The Data Integration 2000 Project will result in an integrated and comprehensive set of functional applications containing core information necessary to support the Project Hanford Management Contract. It is based on the Commercial-Off-The-Shelf product solution with commercially proven business processes. The COTS product solution set, of PassPort and People Soft software, supports finance, supply and chemical management/Material Safety Data Sheet, human resources.

This section provides the descriptive information for understanding the analyses presented in this preliminary performance assessment. This section addresses the approach taken in the PA, provides a general description of the Savannah River Site E-Area low-level waste facility, and discusses the performance criteria used for evaluating performance.

This report summarizes a comparative analysis of the impact of roof surface solar absorptance, attic, and duct insulation on simulated residential annual cooling and heating energy use in sixteen sunbelt climates. These locations cover a wide range of climates where cool roofs are expected to save energy and money, and are areas with high growth rates in new residential construction. The residences are single-story, single-family of new construction with either a gas furnace or an electric heat pump, and with ducts in the attic OT conditioned zone. The objective is to demonstrate that a residence with a cool roof could utilize a lower level of attic insulation than one with a dark roof with a zero net change in the annual energy bill. Annual energy use is simulated with DOE-2. lE, which was adapted with a validated residential duct-attic function, for dark and cool roofs and eleven attic insulation R-values ranging from 1 through 60. Analysis of the simulated energy savings from the light-colored roofs show that the savings can be transformed into an equivalent reduction in the level of attic insulation. Reductions in R-value are observed in varying degrees for residences with both gas and electric heat, all duct …

This is the third semi-annual report for the project. The overall objective of this project is to develop sensor-integrated intelligent diamond wheels for grinding of ceramics. Such wheels will be smart enough to monitor and supervise both the wheel preparation and grinding processes without the need to instrument the machine tool. Intelligent wheels will utilize re-useable cores integrated with sensors: to measure the acoustic emission (AE) and grinding force. Signals from the sensors will be transmitted from a rotating wheel to a receiver by telemetry. Wheels will be trained to recognize distinct characteristics associated with truing, dressing and grinding. The technical progress is summarized in this report.

Instrumentation and the components required for the probe and reactor assemblies were procured. Probes were fabricated and tested to assess their sensitivity to scaling. In October, the focus was on design and fabrication of the reactors. This required close coordination with welding and machine shop subvendors. Contact was made with the two Nevada power plants where the experimental equipment will be field tested. Each has indicated their support for the project and will accommodate field testing efforts. Lab testing of the components in November determined that a probe sensitivity problem existed. It was decided to request the specification for the materials used by the Costa Rican utility for pipelines and vessels at Miravalles. By building the probe assemblies from these same materials, experimental results would not be subject to the question of whether preferential scaling occurred due to a specific probe material. New probes were manufactured using the same material as the steel pipelines at Miravalles. Electrical problems still existed, however, probably due to the type of excitation used to monitor the scaling effects. Signal conditioning was added between the probe and recorder to convert from direct current to alternating current excitation. This eliminated additional galvanic effects which may have …

This report presents the results of the independent certified public accountants` audit of the Western Area Power Administration`s combined power system statements of assets, Federal investment and liabilities, and the related combined statements of revenues, expenses and accumulated net revenues, and cash flows. The auditors` report on Westerns internal control structure disclosed three new reportable conditions concerning the lack of: (1) a reconciliation of stores inventory from subsidiary ledgers to summary financial information, (2) communication of interest during construction and related adjustments to interest on Federal investment, and (3) a system to prevent and detect power billing errors. None of the conditions were considered to be material weaknesses. Western provided concurrence and corrective action plans. The auditors` report on Western`s compliance with laws and regulations also disclosed two new instances of noncompliance. Western failed to calculate nonreimbursable expenses in accordance with the Grand Canyon Protection Act and had an unexplained difference in gross Federal investment balances used to calculate interest on Federal investment. Western provided concurrence and corrective action plans for the instances.

Laboratory dissolution studies of aluminum clad mixed oxide fuel rods have been conducted using two different F-Canyon decladding and dissolving flowsheets. During the first phase of the experimental program, materials from three different color coded fuel rods were dissolved in caustic and nitric acid solutions. The final phase of the laboratory program involved the dissolution and characterization of materials from three cracked pellet fuel rods using a selected caustic/ nitric acid flowsheet.Laboratory results obtained from the initial dissolution studies identified several inconsistencies and potential problem issues with the behavior of materials from the color coded fuel rods. Based on these findings and influenced by the difficulties introduced by using the RCRA listed mercury during processing, the flowsheet selected for dissolving these aluminum clad fuel rods in F-Canyon dissolvers was the two- step caustic decladding/ nitric acid dissolution flowsheet.The final phase of the experimental program involved testing materials from three cracked pellet fuel rods using the selected flowsheet. Again all aluminum fuel rod components dissolved during the decladding step. However, some uranium and plutonium bearing solids remained with the caustic decladding solution which could be sent to waste. The quantities of uranium and plutonium expected to remain with the caustic solutions …

This work performed in this project is intended to support the SRS and DOE complex effort to close high-level waste tanks.

This report contains information on the Office of Inspector General audit of the Department`s Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as of September 30, 1997.

The overall electrolyte concentration in the NFE environment is expected to be somewhere between 1X and saturated J-13 well water. This covers more than three orders-of-magnitude in chloride anion concentration. The pH of this solution is expected to be somewhere between 5 and 10. Exposed patches of the CRM could see this environment.

The Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) information resources are described in this FEMIS Data Management Guide. To comprehend what types of data are present, where the data is located, and how it is managed during the life span of the system, a basic understanding of the FEMIS architecture is necessary. The system is being developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and is designed for a single Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) site that has multiple Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs). The capability to connect to remote CSEPP sites and share information will be present in a future release. Each EOC has personal computers (PCs) that emergency planners and operations personnel use to do their jobs. These PCs are connected via a local area network (LAN) to servers that provide efficient EOC-wide services. Each EOC is interconnected to other EOCs via telecommunications links. FEMIS is a client/server system where much of the application software is located in the client PC. This client software integrates the FEMIS application, government furnished dispersion and evacuation models, and Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software tools such as the ArcView geographic information system (GIS) and Microsoft Project (electron planning). A UNIX server provides data management services, ARC/INFO …

The overall electrolyte concentration in the NFE environment is expected to be somewhere between 1X and saturated J-13 well water. This covers more than three orders-of-magnitude in chloride anion concentration. The pH of this solution is expected to be somewhere between 5 and 10. Exposed patches of the CRM could see this environment.

AstroPower, Royal Group Technologies, and Solar Design Associates are jointly developing an integrated photovoltaic roofing system for residential and light commercial building applications. This family of products will rely heavily on the technological development of a roofing tile made from recycled plastic and innovative module fabrication and encapsulation processes in conjunction with an advanced Silicon-Film{trademark} solar cell product. This solar power generating roofing product is presently being referred to as the SolarTile. A conceptual drawing of the solar roofing tile is shown. The SolarTile will be integrated with non-solar tiles in a single roof installation permitting ease of assembly and the ability to use conventional roofing techniques at ridges, valleys, and eaves. The Phase 1 effort included tasks aimed at the development of the proposed product concept; product manufacturing or fabrication, and installation cost estimates; business planning; and a market assessment of the proposed product, including target selling prices, target market sectors, size estimates for each market sector, and planned distribution mechanisms for market penetration. Technical goals as stated in the Phase 1 proposal and relevant progress are reported.

The objective of this report is to assemble and analyze instrumental climate data and to develop and apply climate models as a basis for (1) detecting greenhouse-gas-induced climatic change, and (2) validation of General Circulation Models.

The purpose of the Data Management Implementation Plan (DMIP) is to document the requirements and responsibilities for managing, using, and archiving data used for the Reduction of Mercury in Plant Effluents (RMPE) project. The DMIP was created for the RMPE project in accordance with the guidance given in Environmental Data Management Implementation Handbook for the Environmental Restoration Program (ES/ER/TM- 88/R 1) and in ``Developing, implementing, and Maintaining Data Management Implementation Plans`` (EMEF/ER-P2216, Rev. 0). This document reflects the state of the RMPE project and the types of environmental monitoring planned as they existed through March 16, 1998. The scope of this document is the management of the RMPE project`s environmental information, which includes electronic or hard copy records describing environmental processes or conditions. The RMPE program was established as a best management practice to address sources in the Y-12 Plant that contribute mercury to plant effluents being discharged to Upper East Fork Poplar Creek. The strategy is multifaceted: reroute clean water through clean conduits; clean, reline, and/or replace mercury-contaminated water conduits; eliminate or reduce accumulations of mercury in tanks and sumps; isolate inaccessible mercury from contact with water; and install treatment capability for streams where the source(s) cannot be eliminated …

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The Health Council is closely involved in establishing the scientific foundation of exposure limits for substances and radiation in order to protect public health. Through the years, the Council has contributed to the formulation of principles and procedures, both for carcinogenic and for noncarcinogenic agents. As a rule, the discussion with regard to the derivation of health-based recommended exposure limits centers around the appropriateness of extrapolation methods (What can be inferred from data on high exposure levels and on experimental animals?). Generally speaking, there is a lack of direct information on the health effects of low levels of exposure. Effects at these levels cannot usually be detected by means of traditional animal experiments or epidemiological research. The capacity of these analytical instruments to distinguish between ''signal'' and ''noise'' is inadequate in most cases. Annex B of this report contains a brief outline of the difficulties and the established methods for tackling this problem. In spite of this, the hope exists that the posited weak signals, if they are indeed present, can be detected by other means. The search will have to take place on a deeper level. In other words, effort must be made to discover what occurs at underlying …

A new class of perm-selective inorganic membrane was developed by electroless deposition of palladium thin-film on a microporous {alpha}-alumina ceramic substrate ({phi}39 mm x 2 mm thickness, nominal pore size 150 nm and open porosity {approx} 42 %). The new membrane was characterized by Scanning Electron Micrography (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX) and conducting permeability experiments with hydrogen, helium, argon and carbon dioxide at temperatures from 473 K to 673 K and feed pressures from 136 kPa to 274 kPa. The results indicate that the membrane has both high permeability and selectivity for hydrogen. The hydrogen transport through the Pd-composite membrane closely followed Sievert's law. A theoretical model is presented to describe the performance of a single-stage permeation process. The model uses a unified mathematical formulation and calculation methods for two flow patterns (cocurrent and countercurrent) with two permeable components and a nonpermeable fraction in the feed and a sweep stream in the permeate. The countercurrent flow pattern is always better than the cocurrent flow pattern with respect to stage cut and membrane area. The effect of flow configuration decreases with increasing membrane selectivity or with decreasing permeate/feed ratio.

Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is presently the object of intense study as a potential permanent repository for the Nation's high-level radioactive wastes. The mountain consists of a thick sequence of volcanic tuffs in which the depth to the water table ranges from 500 to 700 meters below the land surface. This thick unsaturated zone (UZ), which would host the projected repository, coupled with the present-day arid to semi-arid environment, is considered a positive argument for the site. Evaluation of the site includes defining the relationship between climate variability, as the input function or driver of site- and regional-scale ground-water flow, and the possible transport and release of radionuclides. Secondary calcite and opal have been deposited in the UZ by meteoric waters that infiltrated through overlying soils and percolated through the tuffs. The oxygen isotopic composition ({delta}{sup 18}O values) of these minerals reflect contemporaneous meteoric waters and the {delta}{sup 13}C values reflect soil organic matter, and hence the resident plant community, at the time of infiltration (Whelan et al., 1994). Recent U/Pb age determinations of opal in these occurrences allows the {delta}{sup 13}C values of associated calcite to be used to reconstruct general climate variations during the past 9 M.y.

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The objectives of this quarterly report are to summarize the work conducted under each task during the reporting period October - December 1997 and to report all technical data and findings as specified in the "Federal Assistance Reporting Checklist". The main objective of this project is the transfer of technologies, methodologies, and findings developed and applied in this project to other operators of Slope and Basin Clastic Reservoirs. This project will study methods to identify sands with high remaining oil saturation and to recomplete existing wells using advanced completion technology. The identification of the sands with high remaining oil saturation will be accomplished by developing a deterministic three dimensional (3-D) geologic model and by using a state of the art reservoir management computer software. The wells identified by the geologic and reservoir engineering work as having the best potential will be logged with cased-hole logging tools. The application of the logging tools will be optimized in the lab by developing a rock-log model. This rock-log model will allow us to translate measurements through casing into effective porosity and hydrocarbon saturation. The wells that are shown to have the best oil production potential will be recompleted. The recompletions will be optimized …