This paper reports on the first round of R&D roadmap activities of the Generation IV (Gen IV) Technical Working Group (TWG) 3, on liquid metal-cooled reactors. Liquid metal coolants give rise to fast spectrum systems, and thus the reactor systems considered in this TWG are all fast reactors. Gas-cooled fast reactors are considered in the context of TWG 2. As is noted in other Gen IV papers, this first round activity is termed ''screening for potential'', and includes collecting the most complete set of liquid metal reactor/fuel cycle system concepts possible and evaluating the concepts against the Gen IV principles and goals. Those concepts or concept groups that meet the Gen IV principles and which are deemed to have reasonable potential to meet the Gen IV goals will pass to the next round of evaluation. Although we sometimes use the terms ''reactor'' or ''reactor system'' by themselves, the scope of the investigation by TWG 3 includes not only the reactor systems, but very importantly the closed fuel recycle system inevitably required by fast reactors. The response to the DOE Request for Information (RFI) on liquid metal reactor/fuel cycle systems from principal investigators, laboratories, corporations, and other institutions, was robust and …

During the course of experiments involving high explosives, (HE), alignment lasers are often employed where the laser beam impinges upon a metal encased HE sample or on the bare HE itself during manned operations. While most alignment lasers are of low enough power so as not to be of concern, safety questions arise when considering the maximum credible power output of the laser in a failure mode, or when multiple laser spots are focused onto the experiment simultaneously. Safety questions also arise when the focused laser spot size becomes very small, on the order of 100 {micro}m or less. This paper addresses these concerns by describing a methodology for determining safety margins for laser impingement on metal encased HE as well as one for bare HE. A variety of explosives encased in Al, Cu, Ta and stainless steel were tested using the first of these techniques. Additional experiments were performed using the second method where the laser beam was focused directly on eight different samples of pressed-powder HE.

Transmitted-reference (TR) receivers avoid the stringent synchronization requirements that exist in conventional pulse detection schemes. However, the performance of such receivers is highly sensitive to precise timing acquisition and tracking as well as the length of their integration window. This window in TR receivers defines the limits of the finite integrator prior to the final decision making block. In this paper, we propose a novel technique that allows us to extract the timing information of the integration window very accurately in UWB-TR receivers in the presence of channel noise. The principles of the method are presented and the BER performance of a modified UWB-TR receiver is investigated by computer simulation. Our studies show that the proposed estimation technique adds value to the conventional TR receiver structure with modest increase in complexity.

The coupling of a Compton-suppressed Ge (CSGe) detector array to a recoil separator has seen limited use in the past due to the low efficiency for measuring recoil--{gamma} ray coincidences (< 0.1%). With the building of new generation recoil separators and gamma-ray arrays, a substantial increase in detection efficiency has been achieved. This allows for the opportunity to measure excited states in nuclei with cross-sections below 100 nb. In this paper, results from the coupling of a modest array of CSGe detectors (AYE-Ball) and a current generation Ge array (Gammasphere) with a recoil separator (FMA) will be presented.

Significant errors related to poor time zero estimation, well deviation or mislocation of the transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) stations can render even the most sophisticated modeling and inversion routine useless. Previous examples of methods for the analysis and correction of data errors in geophysical tomography include the works of Maurer and Green (1997), Squires et al. (1992) and Peterson (2001). Here we follow the analysis and techniques of Peterson (2001) for data quality control and error correction. Through our data acquisition and quality control procedures we have very accurate control on the surface locations of wells, the travel distance of both the transmitter and receiver within the boreholes, and the change in apparent zero time. However, we often have poor control on well deviations, either because of economic constraints or the nature of the borehole itself prevented the acquisition of well deviation logs. Also, well deviation logs can sometimes have significant errors. Problems with borehole deviations can be diagnosed prior to inversion of travel-time tomography data sets by plotting the apparent velocity of a straight ray connecting a transmitter (TX) to a receiver (RX) against the take-off angle of the ray. Issues with the time-zero pick or distances between …

None

The Nd-doped phosphate laser glass described herein can withstand 2.3 times greater thermal loading without fracture, compared to APG-1 (commercially-available average-power glass from Schott Glass Technologies). The enhanced thermal loading capability is established on the basis of the intrinsic thermomechanical properties (expansion, conduction, fracture toughness, and Young`s modulus), and by direct thermally-induced fracture experiments using Ar-ion laser heating of the samples. This Nd-doped phosphate glass (referred to as APG-t) is found to be characterized by a 29% lower gain cross section and a 25% longer low-concentration emission lifetime.

Investigation of the final hadronic state properties of ultra-relativistics pp and Au+Au collisions supplies information on freeze-out conditions at RHIC and possible insights into early stages of these collisions. A variety of particle spectra measured by STAR are studied within the framework of chemical and local kinetic equilibrium models. Here we present the extracted chemical and final kinetic freeze-out temperatures, strangeness saturation factor, final collective flow velocity, and the inferred flow velocity at chemical freeze-out. In light of those measurements we discuss dynamical evolution of the collision system.

Global climate models require accurate and rapid computation of the radiative transfer through the atmosphere. Correlated-k methods are often used. One of the approximations used in correlated-k models is the weakline approximation. We introduce an approximation T/sub g/ which reduces to the weak-line limit when optical depths are small, and captures the deviation from the weak-line limit as the extinction deviates from the weak-line limit. This approximation is constructed to match the first two moments of the gamma distribution to the k-distribution of the transmission. We compare the errors of the weak-line approximation with T/sub g/ in the context of a water vapor spectrum. The extension T/sub g/ is more accurate and converges more rapidly than the weak-line approximation.

None

The OPERA collaboration has reported the observation of superluminal muon neutrinos, whose speed v{sub {nu}} exceeds that of light c, with (v{sub {nu}}-c)/c {approx_equal} 2.5 x 10{sup -5}. In a recent work, Cohen and Glashow (CG) have refuted this claim by noting that such neutrinos will lose energy, by pair-emission of particles, at unacceptable rates. Following the CG arguments, we point out that pair-emissions consistent with the OPERA anomaly can lead to detectable signals for neutrinos originating from decays of highly boosted top quarks at the LHC, allowing an independent test of the superluminal neutrino hypothesis.

Two luminescent terbium(III) complexes have been prepared from chiral ligands containing 2-hydroxyisophthalamide (IAM) antenna chromophores and their non-polarized and circularly-polarized luminescence properties have been studied. These tetradentate ligands, which form 2:1 ligand/Tb{sup III} complexes, utilize diaminocyclohexane (cyLI) and diphenylethylenediamine (dpenLI) backbones, which we reasoned would impart conformational rigidity and result in Tb{sup III} complexes that display both large luminescence quantum yield ({phi}) values and strong circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) activities. Both Tb{sup III} complexes are highly emissive, with {phi} values of 0.32 (dpenLI-Tb) and 0.60 (cyLI-Tb). Luminescence lifetime measurements in H{sub 2}O and D{sub 2}O indicate that while cyLI-Tb exists as a single species in solution, dpenLI-Tb exists as two species: a monohydrate complex with one H{sub 2}O molecule directly bound to the Tb{sup III} ion and a complex with no water molecules in the inner coordination sphere. Both cyLI-Tb and dpenLI-Tb display increased CPL activity compared to previously reported Tb{sup III} complexes made with chiral IAM ligands. The CPL measurements also provide additional confirmation of the presence of a single emissive species in solution in the case of cyLI-Tb, and multiple emissive species in the case of dpenLI-Tb.

Precipitation-dissolution reactions are important for a number of applications such as isotopic tracer transport in the subsurface. Analytical solutions have been developed for tracer transport in both single-fracture and multiple-fracture systems associated with these reactions under transient and steady-state transport conditions. These solutions also take into account advective transport in fractures and molecular diffusion in the rock matrix. For studying distributions of disturbed tracer concentration (the difference between actual concentration and its equilibrium value), effects of precipitation-dissolution reactions are mathematically equivalent to a 'decay' process with a decay constant proportional to the corresponding bulk reaction rate. This important feature significantly simplifies the derivation procedure by taking advantage of the existence of analytical solutions for tracer transport associated with radioactive decay in fractured rock. It is also useful for interpreting tracer breakthrough curves, because the impact of a decay process is relatively easy to analyze. Several illustrative examples are presented, which show that the results are sensitive to fracture spacing, matrix diffusion coefficient (fracture surface area), and bulk reaction rate (or 'decay' constant), indicating that the relevant flow and transport parameters may be estimated by analyzing tracer signals.

The deflagration behavior of thermally damaged HMX-based materials will be discussed. Strands of material were burned at pressures ranging from 10-300 MPa using the LLNL high pressure strand burner. Strands were heated in-situ and burned while still hot; temperatures range from 90-200 C and were chosen in order to allow for thermal damage of the material without significant decomposition of the HMX. The results indicate that multiple variables affect the burn rate but the most important are the polymorph of HMX and the nature and thermal stability of the non-HE portion of the material. Characterization of the strands indicate that the thermal soak produces significant porosity and permeability in the sample allowing for significantly faster burning due to the increased surface area and new pathways for flame spread into the material. Specifically, the deflagration rates of heated PBXN-9, LX-10, and PBX-9501 will be discussed and compared.

The conductive and capacitive material properties of the subsurface can be quantified through the frequency-dependent complex resistivity. However, the routine three-dimensional (3D) interpretation of voluminous induced polarization (IP) data sets still poses a challenge due to large computational demands and solution nonuniqueness. We have developed a flexible methodology for 3D (spectral) IP data inversion. Our inversion algorithm is adapted from a frequency-domain electromagnetic (EM) inversion method primarily developed for large-scale hydrocarbon and geothermal energy exploration purposes. The method has proven to be efficient by implementing the nonlinear conjugate gradient method with hierarchical parallelism and by using an optimal finite-difference forward modeling mesh design scheme. The method allows for a large range of survey scales, providing a tool for both exploration and environmental applications. We experimented with an image focusing technique to improve the poor depth resolution of surface data sets with small survey spreads. The algorithm's underlying forward modeling operator properly accounts for EM coupling effects; thus, traditionally used EM coupling correction procedures are not needed. The methodology was applied to both synthetic and field data. We tested the benefit of directly inverting EM coupling contaminated data using a synthetic large-scale exploration data set. Afterward, we further tested the monitoring …

Initiation and detonation properties are dramatically affected by an energetic material's microstructural properties. Sol-gel chemistry allows intimacy of mixing to be controlled and dramatically improved over existing methodologies. One material goal is to create very high power energetic materials which also have high energy densities. Using sol-gel chemistry we have made a nanostructured composite energetic material. Here a solid skeleton of fuel, based on resorcinol-formaldehyde, has nanocrystalline ammonium perchlorate, the oxidizer, trapped within its pores. At optimum stoichiometry it has approximately the energy density of HMX. Transmission electron microscopy indicated no ammonium perchlorate crystallites larger than 20 nm while near-edge soft x-ray absorption microscopy showed that nitrogen was uniformly distributed, at least on the scale of less than 80 nm. Small-angle neutron scattering studies were conducted on the material. Those results were consistent with historical ones for this class of nanostructured materials. The average skeletal primary particle size was on the order of 2.7 nm, while the nanocomposite showed the growth of small 1 nm size crystals of ammonium perchlorate with some clustering to form particles greater than 10 nm.

In this paper we present verification results of the BAGIRA code that was performed using data from integral thermal-hydraulic experimental test facilities as well as data obtained from operating nuclear power plants. BAGIRA is a three-dimensional numerical best-estimate code that includes non-homogeneous modeling. Special consideration was given to the recently completed experimental data from the PSB-VVER integral test facility (EREC, Electrogorsk, Russia)--a new Russian large-scale four-loop unit, which has been designed to model the primary circuits of VVER-1000 type reactors. It is demonstrated that the code BAGIRA can be used to analyze nuclear reactor behavior under normal and accident conditions.

We present the first measurement of directed flow (v{sub 1}) at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). v{sub 1} is found to be consistent with zero at pseudorapidities {eta} from -1.2 to 1.2, then rises to the level of a couple of percent over the range 2.4 < |{eta}| < 4. The latter observation is similar to that from NA49 if the SPS rapidities are shifted by the difference in beam rapidity between RHIC and SPS. We studied the evolution of elliptic flow from p + p collisions through d + Au collision, and onto Au + Au collisions. Measurements of higher harmonics are presented and discussed.

President Eisenhower's hopes for nuclear technology still resonate, but the challenges to fulfilling them are much different today. On December 8, 1953, President Eisenhower, returning from his meeting with the leaders of Britain and France at the Bermuda Summit, flew directly to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly. His presentation, known afterwards as the ''Atoms for Peace'' speech, was bold, broad, and visionary. Eisenhower highlighted dangers associated with the further spread of nuclear weapons and the end of the thermonuclear monopoly, but the president also pointed to opportunities. Earlier that year, Stalin had died and the Korean War armistice was signed. Talks on reunification of Austria were about to begin. The speech sought East-West engagement and outlined a framework for reducing nuclear threats to security while enhancing the civilian benefits of nuclear technology. One specific proposal offered to place surplus military fissile material under the control of an ''international atomic energy agency'' to be used for peaceful purposes, especially economic development. Eisenhower clearly recognized the complex interrelationships between different nuclear technologies and the risks and the benefits that accrue from each. The widespread use of civilian nuclear technology and absence of any use of a nuclear weapon …

The space-time evolution of the source of particles formed in the collision of nuclei can be studied through particle correlations. The STAR experiment is dedicated to study ultra-relativistic heavy ions collisions and allows to measure non-identical strange particle correlations. The source size can be extracted by studying p - {Lambda}, {bar p} - {bar {Lambda}}, {bar p} - {Lambda} and p - {bar {Lambda}} correlation functions. Strong interaction potential has been studied for these systems using an analytical model. Final State Interaction (FSI) parameters have been determined and has shown a significant annihilation process present in {bar p} - {Lambda} and p - {bar {Lambda}} systems not present in p - {Lambda} and {bar p} - {bar {Lambda}}.

The development of a new class of laser systems: capable of producing intense radiation in the mid-infrared (MIR) regime (photon energies between 0.3 and 0.4 eV), opens the possibility of observing multiphoton processes in a new class of systems with lower ionization potentials than those previously studied. Of particular interest are the alkali metal atoms, which are true one-(valence)-electron systems. We present theoretical calculations of above threshold ionization (ATI) and high harmonic generation (HHG) from alkali metal atoms subject to 3-4 {micro}m laser irradiation. The ATI calculations, which use a multiple gauge propagation method, show a striking dependence in the production of high-order photoelectrons on the electron-ion potential. The HHG calculations illustrate the importance of the strong ground-to-first excited state coupling in multiphoton processes in the alkali metals.

We report BRAHMS results from RHIC d+Au and p+p collisions at {radical}S{sub NN} = 200GeV. A remarkable change in the nuclear modification factor R{sub dAu} is seen as the pseudorapidity of the detected charged hadrons changes from zero at mid-rapidity to 3.2 at the most forward angle studied during the 2003 run. For pseudorapidity {eta} > 1 the suppression of the R{sub cp} factor is more pronounced in the sample of central events in contrast to the behavior at mid-rapidity where the central events show higher enhancement compared to a semi-central sample. These results are consistent with a saturated Au wave function strongly affected by quantum evolution at higher values of rapidity.

Several correlation analysis techniques are applied to p-p and Au-Au collisions at RHIC. Strong large-momentum-scale correlations are observed which can be related to local charge and momentum conservation during hadronization and to minijet (minimum-bias parton fragment) correlations.

The D phi experiment is a recently approved effort at FERMILAB to study proton-antiproton collisions at 2 TeV. A powerful new detector has been designed for this experiment and is described. The D phi detector has been designed to optimize its discovery potential in the mass range where deviations from the Standard Model might be expected to manifest themselves. Rather than discussing the detector's response to particular hypothetical new states (Higgses, squarks, etc.), we focus here on more technical capabilities (leptons, jets, etc.). After a brief physics summary to motivate our technical choices, we consider the detector design subsystem by subsystem. 9 references.