The main aim of our project was to develop technology, which converts flue gas desulfurization (FGD) sulfate-rich scrubber sludge into value-added decorative materials. Specifically, we were to establish technology for fabricating cost effective but marketable materials, like countertops and decorative tiles from the sludge. In addition, we were to explore the feasibility of forming siding material from the sludge. At the end of the project, we were to establish the potential of our products by generating 64 countertop pieces and 64 tiles of various colors. In pursuit of our above-mentioned goals, we conducted Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements of the binders and co-processed binders to identify their curing behavior. Using our 6-inch x 6-inch and 4-inch x 4-inch high pressure and high temperature hardened stainless steel dies, we developed procedures to fabricate countertop and decorative tile materials. The composites, fabricated from sulfate-rich scrubber sludge, were subjected to mechanical tests using a three-point bending machine and a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). We compared our material's mechanical performance against commercially obtained countertops. We successfully established the procedures for the development of countertop and tile composites from scrubber sludge by mounting our materials on commercial boards. We fabricated …

This report discusses cryogenic cooling superconducting insertion devices for modern light sources. The introductory part of the report discusses the difference between wiggler and undulators and how the bore temperature may affect the performance of the magnets. The steps one would take to reduce the gap between the cold magnet pole are discussed. One section of the report is devoted to showing how one would calculate the heat that enters the device. Source of heat include, heat entering through the vacuum chamber, heating due to stray electrons and synchrotron radiation, heating due to image current on the bore, heat flow by conduction and radiation, and heat transfer into the cryostat through the magnet leads. A section of he report is devoted to cooling option such as small cryo-cooler and larger conventional helium refrigerators. This section contains a discussion as to when it is appropriate to use small coolers that do not have J-T circuits. Candidates small cryo-coolers are discussed in this section of the report. Cooling circuits for cooling with a conventional refrigerator are also discussed. A section of the report is devoted to vibration isolation and how this may affect how the cooling is attached to the device. Vibration …

This report discusses cryogenic cooling superconducting insertion devices for modern light sources. The introductory part of the report discusses the difference between wiggler and undulators and how the bore temperature may affect the performance of the magnets. The steps one would take to reduce the gap between the cold magnet pole are discussed. One section of the report is devoted to showing how one would calculate the heat that enters the device. Source of heat include, heat entering through the vacuum chamber, heating due to stray electrons and synchrotron radiation, heating due to image current on the bore, heat flow by conduction and radiation, and heat transfer into the cryostat through the magnet leads. A section of the report is devoted to cooling options such as small cryo-cooler and larger conventional helium refrigerators. This section contains a discussion as to when it is appropriate to use small coolers that do not have J-T circuits. Candidate small cryo-coolers are discussed in this section of the report. Cooling circuits for cooling with a conventional refrigerator are also discussed. A section of the report is devoted to vibration isolation and how this may affect how the cooling is attached to the device. Vibration …

We present an algorithm specification for computing adaptivemesh refinement solutions for compressible self-gravitatingflows.

The Environmental Effects Laboratory of the Engineering Science and Technology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed a series of tests to further evaluate and characterize the radiological response of a ''Cricket'' radiation detection system. The Cricket, manufactured by Rad/Comm Systems Corporation of Ontario, Canada, is designed to detect radioactive material that may be contained in scrap metal. The Cricket's detection unit is designed to be mounted to the base of a grappler, allowing it to monitor material while the material is being held by the grappler tines. The Cricket was tested for background stability, energy response, spherical response, surface uniformity, angular dependence, and alarm actuation. Some of these tests were repeated from a prior test of a Cricket at the Environmental Effects Laboratory as reported in ORNL/TM-2002/94. Routine environmental tests--normal temperature and relatively humidity--were also performed as part of this testing process. Overall, the Cricket performed well during the testing process. The design of the instrument and the inherent photon energy of the radionuclides had some affect on portions of the tests but do not detract from the value-added benefits of the Cricket's detection capabilities.

Annual highway fuel taxes are collected by the Treasury Department and placed in the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). There is, however, no direct connection between the taxes collected by the Treasury Department and the gallons of on-highway fuel use, which can lead to a discrepancy between these totals. This study was conducted to determine how much of a discrepancy exists between the total fuel usages estimated based on highway revenue funds as reported by the Treasury Department and the total fuel usages used in the apportionment of the HTF to the States. The analysis was conducted using data from Highway Statistics Tables MF-27 and FE-9 for the years 1991-2001. It was found that the overall discrepancy is relatively small, mostly within 5% difference. The amount of the discrepancy varies from year to year and varies among the three fuel types (gasoline, gasohol, special fuels). Several potential explanations for these discrepancies were identified, including issues on data, tax measurement, gallon measurement, HTF receipts, and timing. Data anomalies caused by outside forces, such as deferment of tax payments from one fiscal year to the next, can skew fuel tax data. Fuel tax evasion can lead to differences between actual fuel use and …

The hydrogen (H{sub 2}) gas generation rate for neptunium dioxide (NpO{sub 2}) samples produced on a laboratory scale using the HB-Line Phase II flowsheet has been measured following exposure to 75% relative humidity (RH). As expected, the observed H{sub 2} generation rates for these samples increase with increasing moisture content. A maximum H{sub 2} generation rate of 1.8 x 10{sup -6} moles per day per kilogram (mol {center_dot} day{sup -1} kg{sup -1}) was observed for NpO{sub 2} samples with approximately one and one-half times (1 1/2 X) the expected specific surface area (SSA) for the HB-Line Phase II product. The SSA of NpO{sub 2} samples calcined at 650 C is similar to plutonium dioxide (PuO{sub 2}) calcined at 950 C according to the Department of Energy (DOE) standard for packaging and storage of PuO{sub 2}. This low SSA of the HB-Line Phase II product limits moisture uptake to less than 0.2 weight percent (wt %) even with extended exposure to 75% RH.

The effect of heat-island reduction (HIR) strategies on annual energy savings and peak-power avoidance of the building sector of the Greater Toronto Area is calculated, using an hourly building energy simulation model. Results show that ratepayers could realize potential annual energy savings of over $11M from the effects of HIR strategies. The residential sector accounts for over half (59%) of the total savings, offices 13% and retail stores 28%. Savings from cool roofs are about 20%, shade trees 30%, wind shielding of trees 37%, and ambient cooling by trees and reflective surfaces 12%. These results are preliminary and highly sensitive to the relative price of gas and electricity. Potential annual electricity savings are estimated at about 150GWh and potential peak-power avoidance at 250MW.

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory, a multi-disciplinary team led by the Advanced Power and Energy Program of the University of California at Irvine is defining the system engineering issues associated with the integration of key components and subsystems into power plant systems that meet performance and emission goals of the Vision 21 program. The study efforts have narrowed down the myriad of fuel processing, power generation, and emission control technologies to selected scenarios that identify those combinations having the potential to achieve the Vision 21 program goals of high efficiency and minimized environmental impact while using fossil fuels. The technology levels considered are based on projected technical and manufacturing advances being made in industry and on advances identified in current and future government supported research. Included in these advanced systems are solid oxide fuel cells and advanced cycle gas turbines. The results of this investigation will serve as a guide for the U. S. Department of Energy in identifying the research areas and technologies that warrant further support.

In the present quarter, experiments are presented on ceramic/metal interactions of Zirconia/ Ni-B-Si system and with a thin Ti coating deposited on zirconia surface. Existing facilities were modified for evaluation of environmental assisted slow crack growth and creep in flexural mode. Processing of perovskites of LSC, LSF and LSCF composition were continued for evaluation of mechanical properties as a function of environment. These studies in parallel to those on the LSFCO composition is expect to yield important information on questions such as the role of cation segregation and the stability of the perovskite structure on crack initiation vs. crack growth. Studies have been continued on the La{sub 1-x}Sr{sub x}FeO{sub 3-d} composition using neutron diffraction and TGA studies. A transition from p-type to n-type of conductor was observed at relative low pO{sub 2}, at which the majority carriers changed from the holes to electrons because of the valence state decreases in Fe due to the further loss of oxygen. Investigation on the thermodynamic properties of the membrane materials are continued to develop a complete model for the membrane transport. Data obtained at 850 C show that the stoichiometry in La{sub 0.2}Sr{sub 0.8}Fe{sub 0.8}Cr{sub 0.2}O{sub 3-x} vary from {approx}2.85 to 2.6 over …

Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed a study of experience credit for professional engineering licensure for the Department of Energy's Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) Program. One of the study's goals was to determine how state licensure boards grant experience credit for engineering licensure, particularly in regards to IAC experience and experience prior to graduation. Another goal involved passing IAC information to state licensure boards to allow the boards to become familiar with the program and determine if they would grant credit to IAC graduates. The National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES) has adopted a document, the ''Model Law''. This document empowers states to create state engineering boards and oversee engineering licensure. The board can also interpret and adopt rules and regulations. The Model Law also gives a general ''process'' for engineering licensure, the ''Model Law Engineer''. The Model Law Engineer requires that an applicant for professional licensure, or professional engineering (PE) licensure, obtain a combination of formal education and professional experience and successfully complete the fundamentals of engineering (FE) and PE exams. The Model Law states that a PE applicant must obtain four years of ''acceptable'' engineering experience after graduation to be allowed to sit for the PE …

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is responsible for estimating the portion of Federal highway funds attributable to each State. The process involves use of State-reported data (gallons) and a set of estimation models when accurate State data is unavailable. To ensure that the distribution of funds is equitable, FHWA periodically reviews the estimation models. Estimation of the use of gasohol is difficult because of State differences in the definition of gasohol, inability of many States to separate and report gasohol usage from other fuel types, changes in fuel composition in nonattainment areas to address concerns over the use of certain fuel additives, and the lack of a valid State-level surrogate data set for gasohol use. Under the sponsorship of FHWA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) reviewed the regression-based gasohol estimation model that has been in use for several years. Based on an analytical assessment of that model and an extensive review of potential data sets, ORNL developed an improved rule-based model. The new model uses data from Internal Revenue Service, Energy Information Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, ORNL, and FHWA sources. The model basically consists of three parts: (1) development of a controlled total of national gasohol usage, …

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Solid state experiments at very high pressures and strain rates are possible on high power laser facilities, albeit over brief intervals of time and spatial small scales. A new shockless drive has been developed on the Omega laser. VISAR measurements establish the high strain rates, 10{sup 7}-10{sup 8} s{sup -1}. Solid-state strength is inferred using the Rayleigh-Taylor instability as a ''diagnostic''. Temperature and compression in polycrystalline samples can be deduced from EXAFS measurements. Lattice response can be inferred from time-resolved x-ray diffraction. Deformation mechanisms can be identified by examining recovered samples. We will briefly review this new area of laser-based materials science research, then present a path forward for carrying these solid-state experiments to much higher pressures, P >> 1 Mbar, on the NIF laser facility.

Laser peening is an emerging modern process that impresses a compressive stress into the surfaces of metals. Treatment can reduce the rate of fatigue cracking and stress-corrosion-cracking in metals (such as gears, bolts and cutters) needed for tunnel boring and other construction & mining applications. Laser peening could also be used to form metals or alloys into a precise shape without yielding and leaving both sulfates in a crack resistant compressive state.

Summary of Anchor Glass' plant-wide assessment to identify energy and cost saving opportunities at the corporation's facilities in Warner Robins, GA and Jacksonville, FL.

We apply recent analytic solutions to the radiation diffusion equation to problems of interest for ICF hohlraums. The solutions provide quantitative values for absorbed energy which are of use for generating a desired radiation temperature vs. time within the hohlraum. Comparison of supersonic and subsonic solutions (heat front velocity faster or slower, respectively, than the speed of sound in the x-ray heated material) suggests that there may be some advantage in using high Z metallic foams as hohlraum wall material to reduce hydrodynamic losses, and hence, net absorbed energy by the walls. Analytic and numerical calculations suggest that the loss per unit area might be reduced {approx} 20% through use of foam hohlraum walls. Reduced hydrodynamic motion of the wall material may also reduce symmetry swings, as found for heavy ion targets.

Starting with an elementary discussion of quantum holography, we show that entangled quantum states of qubits provide a ''local'' representation of the global geometry and topology of quantum Riemann surfaces. This representation may play an important role in both mathematics and physics. Indeed, the simplest way to represent the fundamental objects in a ''theory of everything'' may be as muti-qubit entangled states.

Positronium (Ps) is simulated using Path Integral Monte Carlo (PIMC). This method can reproduce the results of previous simple theories in which a single quantum particle is used to represent Ps within an idealized pore. In addition, the calculations treat the e{sup -} and e{sup +} of Ps exactly and realistically model interactions with solid atoms, thereby correcting and extending the simpler theory. They study the pick-off lifetime of o-Ps and the internal contact density, {kappa}, which controls the self-annihilation behavior, for Ps in model voids (spherical pores), defects in a solid (argon), and microporous solids (zeolites).

Scene-Based Wave Front Sensing uses the correlation between successive subimages to determine phase aberrations which blur digital images. Adaptive Optics technology uses deformable mirrors to correct for these phase aberrations and make the images clearer. The correlation between temporal subimages gives tip-tilt information. If these images do not have identical image content, tip-tilt estimations may be incorrect. Motion detection is necessary to help avoid errors initiated by dynamic subimage content. In this document, I will discuss why edge detection fails as a motion detection method on low resolution images and how thresholding the normalized variance of individual pixels is successful for motion detection.

The path forward for managing of Hanford K Basin sludge calls for it to be packaged, shipped, and stored at T Plant until final processing at a future date. An important consideration for the design and cost of retrieval, transportation, and storage systems is the potential for heat and gas generation through oxidation reactions between uranium metal and water. This report, the third in a series (Series III), describes work performed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to assess corrosion and gas generation from irradiated metallic uranium particles (fuel particles) with and without K Basin sludge addition. The testing described in this report consisted of 12 tests. In 10 of the tests, 4.3 to 26.4 g of fuel particles of selected size distribution were placed into 60- or 800-ml reaction vessels with 0 to 100 g settled sludge. In another test, a single 3.72-g fuel fragment (i.e., 7150-mm particle) was placed in a 60 ml reaction vessel with no added sludge. The twelfth test contained only sludge. The fuel particles were prepared by crushing archived coupons (samples) from an irradiated metallic uranium fuel element. After loading the sludge materials (whether fuel particles, mixtures of fuel particles and sludge, or …

We present a new x-ray detection technique based on optical measurement of the effects of x-ray absorption and electron hole pair creation in a direct band-gap semiconductor. The electron-hole pairs create a frequency dependent shift in optical refractive index and absorption. This is sensed by simultaneously directing an optical carrier beam through the same volume of semiconducting medium that has experienced an xray induced modulation in the electron-hole population. If the operating wavelength of the optical carrier beam is chosen to be close to the semiconductor band-edge, the optical carrier will be modulated significantly in phase and amplitude. This approach should be simultaneously capable of very high sensitivity and excellent temporal response, even in the difficult high-energy xray regime. At xray photon energies near 10 keV and higher, we believe that sub-picosecond temporal responses are possible with near single xray photon sensitivity. The approach also allows for the convenient and EMI robust transport of high-bandwidth information via fiber optics. Furthermore, the technology can be scaled to imaging applications. The basic physics of the detector, implementation considerations, and preliminary experimental data are presented and discussed.

Summary of Inland Box Corporation's plant-wide assessment to identify energy and cost saving opportunities at the corporation's linerboard mill in Rome, Georgia.

This is a report of the Meeting of Interests for the Life-cycle Inventory (LCI) Database Project hosted by the Ford Motor Company. The meeting was held to explain the project, discuss related issues and concerns, and to seek the support of a broad spectrum of relevant organizations. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop publicly available LCI Data modules for commonly used materials, products, and processes.