A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Electric power plants burn fuels that can produce harmful emissions, such as carbon dioxide, mercury, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide, which can pose human health and environmental risks. To assess the potential risks of meeting future electricity demand, congressional committees asked GAO to (1) report on the Energy Information Administration's (EIA's) national and regional projections of such emissions by 2020, and (2) determine how the projections would change using alternative assumptions about future economic growth and other factors that advisers in these fields recommended. GAO also assessed the potential effects of future electricity demand on water demand and supply."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "At the direction of the House Committee on National Security, the Army began developing the Army Workload and Performance System (AWPS) in 1996. This automated system was intended to address a number of specific weaknesses highlighted in several GAO and Army studies since 1994 regarding the Army's inability to support its civilian personnel requirements by using an analytically based workload forecasting system. Army's May 2002 report on AWPS does not provide Congress with adequate information to assess the Army's progress in implementing the system. Specifically, the 2002 plan does not include (1) a detailed summary of all costs that the Army has incurred, or the expenditures that it anticipates in the future, to develop and implement the system; (2) a list of the milestones that the Army has, or has not, achieved in the previous year and a list of milestones that are projected for the future; and (3) an evaluation of how well the system has performed to date in fulfilling its primary function--that is, of matching manpower needs with depot workloads. Although the Army has begun developing an interface between AWPS and the Logistics …

This report provides a description of each policy component as well as an analysis of its potential benefits and disadvantages in the restoration process.

Our proposal focused on the following research areas: (1) Development of intermolecular potentials for water and aqueous solutions; (2) Molecular-based study of polymorphic phase transitions and growth of nanocrystalline aggregates in hydrothermal solutions; (3) Molecular simulation of ion-pairing in high-temperature high-pressure electrolyte solutions; and (4) SAFT equation of state modeling of supercritical aqueous solutions - (a) Solubility of alkanes in supercritical water, and (b) Ion speciation in ambient and supercritical aqueous solutions We have made progress in all four areas, details of which are described in the paper. Before doing so, however, we reflect on some of the significant changes impacting the research program during the past year.

Techniques were developed, and promising preliminary tests were completed in an exploratory study of the applicability of ion exchange membrane processes to such chemical operations as the separation of plutonium from uranium, the separation of americium from curium, the isolation of individual rare earths, the removal of strontium from process waste streams. This report discusses results of those tests.

Excess actinides result from the dismantlement of nuclear weapons (Pu) and the reprocessing of commercial spent nuclear fuel (mainly 241 Am, 244 Cm and 237 Np). In Europe, Canada and Japan studies have determined much improved efficiencies for burnup of actinides using inert-matrix fuels. This innovative approach also considers the properties of the inert-matrix fuel as a nuclear waste form for direct disposal after one-cycle of burn-up. Direct disposal can considerably reduce cost, processing requirements, and radiation exposure to workers.

Throughout the utility industry, there is high interest in subsurface imaging of plastic, ceramic, and metallic objects because of the cost, reliability, and safety benefits available in avoiding impacts with the existing infrastructure and in reducing inappropriate excavations. Industry interest in locating plastic pipe has resulted in funding available for the development of technologies that enable this imaging. Gas Technology Institute (GTI) proposes to develop a compact and inexpensive capacitive tomography imaging sensor that takes the form of a flat plate or flexible mat that can be placed on the ground to image objects embedded in the soil. A compact, low-cost sensor that can image objects through soil could be applied to multiple operations and will produce a number of cost savings for the gas industry. In a stand-alone mode, it could be used to survey an area prior to excavation. The technology would improve the accuracy and reliability of any operation that involves excavation by locating or avoiding buried objects. An accurate subsurface image of an area will enable less costly keyhole excavations and other cost-saving techniques. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been applied to this area with limited success. Radar requires a high-frequency carrier to be injected into …

WE have successfully completed a four-year R and D project to greatly reduce the detection limit of fluorescent tracers through the use of emerging laser-excitation, optical fiber, and CCD-spectroscopy technologies. Whereas the efforts over the first two years were directed at demonstrating a reduction in the detection limit of fluorescent compounds by a factor of 100 and at identifying several new fluorescein-derived tracer candidates, our recent efforts were focused primarily on the field demonstration of new tracers having detection limits in the low parts-per-quadrillion range. During the summer of 2001, we initiated field tests at the Dixie Valley, Nevada and at the Beowawe, Nevada geothermal fields using very small quantities of the fluorescein-derivative 6-carboxyfluorescein. Subsequently, we succeeded in measuring sub-part-per-trillion quantities of that candidate tracer at both the Beowawe and Dixie Valley geothermal reservoirs-using approximately 530 g of tracer at each setting. Our studies indicate that we could have observed a breakthrough using only 0.53 g of 6-carboxyfluorescein. This represents a reduction by a factor of 170,000 below the mass of tracer used in a previous tracer test at Beowawe.

This report is the first quarterly technical report for the RP-5 Renewable Energy Project. The report summarizes the work progress, effort and activities that took place during the period of July 12, 2002 (project inception) to September 30, 2002. The report has been prepared in accordance with the Department of Energy (DOE) Guidelines. This technical report covers all meetings and discussions that were conducted to identify and analyze potential renewable energy technologies and verify its feasibility and suitability for the project. The report covers the two-day Energy Charrette that was held at the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) Headquarters Building on May 8-9, 2002 to brainstorm, evaluate and present all available renewable energy options along with their implementations. Although the Energy Charrette was held prior to awarding of the DOE Grant, the outcome of the Charrette forms the basis of the activities that took place after July 12, 2002. Therefore, the Energy Charrette is frequently referenced and discussed in this report. The report also discusses the Energy Meeting that took place on September 24, 2002 between IEUA and CH2M Hill to follow up on the various presentations and recommendations resulting from the Energy Charrette. It should be noted that no …

Improved prediction of interwell reservoir heterogeneity has the potential to increase productivity and to reduce recovery cost for California's heavy oil sands, which contain approximately 2.3 billion barrels of remaining reserves in the Temblor Formation and in other formations of the San Joaquin Valley. This investigation involves application of advanced analytical property-distribution methods conditioned to continuous outcrop control for improved reservoir characterization and simulation, particularly in heavy oil sands. The investigation was performed in collaboration with Chevron Production Company U.S.A. as an industrial partner, and incorporates data from the Temblor Formation in Chevron's West Coalinga Field. Observations of lateral variability and vertical sequences observed in Temblor Formation outcrops has led to a better understanding of reservoir geology in West Coalinga Field. Based on the characteristics of stratigraphic bounding surfaces in the outcrops, these surfaces were identified in the subsurface using cores and logs. The bounding surfaces were mapped and then used as reference horizons in the reservoir modeling. Facies groups and facies tracts were recognized from outcrops and cores of the Temblor Formation and were applied to defining the stratigraphic framework and facies architecture for building 3D geological models. The following facies tracts were recognized: incised valley, estuarine, tide- to …

Equipment for electrolytic deposition of plutonium from molten salt solutions was designed and built and was tested with cerium as a stand-in for plutonium. The electrolysis cell is a graphite crucible that serves as the anode; the cathode is a molybdenum rod. This paper discusses results of that test.

This document describes the Records of Temperature and Heat (ROTAH) programs (one each for single and two-piece fuel elements) and the equations used in them. This code was the ultimate goal of the series and was used to calculate the operating conditions within a fuel assembly.

PNNL developed a material balance assessment methodology based on conservation of mass for detecting leaks and mis-routings in pipeline transfer of double-shell tank waste at Hanford. The main factors causing uncertainty in these transfers are variable property and tank conditions of density, existence of crust, and surface disturbance due to mixer pump operation during the waste transfer. The methodology was applied to three waste transfers from Tanks AN-105 and AZ-102.

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This report is a summary of materials characterization results on twenty cathode samples that were used in a novel aluminum reduction cell at the Northwest Aluminum Technologies laboratory. Most of these cathodes were based on the TiB2 composition and showed very little corrosion as a result of testing. Most of the samples also showed good wetting by Al metal that formed during cell operation.

The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) was requested to investigate the effects of the addition of Pu and Gd from H-Canyon to Sludge Batch 3 (SB3). This report addresses the effects of the Pu/Gd on Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) processing. Preliminary impacts of the non-traditional sludge components, which are contained in Tank 7, are also discussed.

This is the first quarterly progress report for Year-4 of the ACTS Project. It includes a review of progress made in: (1) Flow Loop construction and development and (2) research tasks during the period of time between July 1, 2002 and Sept. 30, 2002. This report presents a review of progress on the following specific tasks: (a) Design and development of an Advanced Cuttings Transport Facility Task 3: Addition of a Cuttings Injection/Separation System, Task 4: Addition of a Pipe Rotation System, (b) New Research project (Task 9b): ''Development of a Foam Generator/Viscometer for Elevated Pressure and Elevated Temperature (EPET) Conditions'', (d) Research project (Task 10): ''Study of Cuttings Transport with Aerated Mud Under Elevated Pressure and Temperature Conditions'', (e) Research on three instrumentation tasks to measure: Cuttings concentration and distribution in a flowing slurry (Task 11), Foam texture while transporting cuttings (Task 12), Viscosity of Foam under EPET (Task 9b). (f) Development of a Safety program for the ACTS Flow Loop. Progress on a comprehensive safety review of all flow-loop components and operational procedures. (Task 1S). (g) Activities towards technology transfer and developing contacts with Petroleum and service company members, and increasing the number of JIP members.

The overall objective of this project was to study the proposed Water Recycling/Removal Using Temperature-Sensitive Hydrogels. The main element of this technology is the design of a suitable hydrogel that can perform needed water separation for pulp and paper industry. The specific topics studied are to answer following questions: (a) Can water be removed using hydrogel from large molecules such as lignin? (b) Can the rate of separation be made faster? (c) What are the molecular interactions with hydrogel surface? (d) Can a hydrogel be designed for a high ionic strength and high temperature? Summary of the specific results are given.

Natural gas transmission companies mark the right-of-way areas where pipelines are buried with warning signs to prevent accidental third-party damage. Nevertheless, pipelines are sometimes damaged by third-party construction equipment. A single incident can be devastating, causing death and millions of dollars of property loss. This damage would be prevented if potentially hazardous construction equipment could be detected, identified, and an alert given before the pipeline was damaged. The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a system to solve this problem by using an optical fiber as a distributed sensor and interrogating the fiber with a custom optical time domain reflectometer. Key issues are the ability to detect encroachment and the ability to discriminate among potentially hazardous and benign encroachments. The work performed in the third quarter of the project (2nd quarter of 2002) includes design and construction of the diode laser driver and high-speed detector electronics. Fine-tuning of the electronics is proceeding. A new test site along an operating pipeline has been obtained.

The objective of this project is to perform unique laboratory experiments with artificial fractured cores (AFCs) and X-ray CT to examine the physical mechanisms of bypassing in HFR and NFR that eventually result in less efficient CO{sub 2} flooding in heterogeneous or fracture-dominated reservoirs. This report provides results of the second semi-annual technical progress report that consists of three different topics. In the first topic, laboratory experiments were performed on a Berea core to investigate the changes in rock properties and fluid flow under different stress-state conditions. A comparative study of different stress conditions was also conducted to analyze the effect of the various loading systems. The experimental results show that fracture permeability reduces significantly as the stress increases compared to matrix permeability. The hydrostatic and triaxial stresses have greater impacts on permeability reduction compared to applying stress in the uniaxial stress condition. Fracture flow dominates when the applied stress is less, however, the matrix flow rate increases as applied stress increases and dominates at high stress even if the fracture does not heal completely. In the second topic, the preliminary results of static imbibition experiments are presented as a precursor to image the saturation profiles using X-Ray CT scanner. …

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 require large reductions in emissions of NO{sub x} from coal-fired electric utility boilers. This will necessitate the use of ammonia injection, such as in selective catalytic reduction (SCR), in many power plants, resulting in the deposition of ammonia on the fly ash. The presence of ammonia could create a major barrier to fly ash utilization in concrete because of odor concerns. Although there have been limited studies of ammonia emission from concrete, little is known about the quantity of ammonia emitted during mixing and curing, and the kinetics of ammonia release. This is manifested as widely varying opinions within the concrete and ash marketing industry regarding the maximum acceptable levels of ammonia in fly ash. Therefore, practical guidelines for using ammoniated fly ash are needed in advance of the installation of many more SCR systems. The goal of this project was to develop practical guidelines for the handling and utilization of ammoniated fly ash in concrete, in order to prevent a decrease in the use of fly ash for this application. The objective was to determine the amount of ammonia that is released, over the short- and long-term, from concrete that contains ammoniated …

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