The Humid Air Turbine (HAT) Cycle Technology Development Program focused on obtaining HAT cycle combustor technology that will be the foundation of future products. The work carried out under the auspices of the HAT Program built on the extensive low emissions stationary gas turbine work performed in the past by Pratt & Whitney (P&W). This Program is an integral part of technology base development within the Advanced Turbine Systems Program at the Department of Energy (DOE) and its experiments stretched over 5 years. The goal of the project was to fill in technological data gaps in the development of the HAT cycle and identify a combustor configuration that would efficiently burn high moisture, high-pressure gaseous fuels with low emissions. The major emphasis will be on the development of kinetic data, computer modeling, and evaluations of combustor configurations. The Program commenced during the 4th Quarter of 1996 and closed in the 4th Quarter of 2001. It teamed the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) with P&W, the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), and a subcontractor on-site at UTRC, kraftWork Systems Inc. The execution of the program started with bench-top experiments that were conducted at UTRC for extending kinetic mechanisms to HAT cycle …

Geologic carbon sequestration is one strategy for reducing the rate of increase of global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2} ) concentrations (IEA, 1997; Reichle, 2000). As used here, the term geologic carbon sequestration refers to the direct injection of supercritical CO{sub 2} deep into subsurface target formations. These target formations will typically be either depleted oil and gas reservoirs, or brine-filled permeable formations referred to here as brine formations. Injected CO{sub 2} will tend to be trapped by one or more of the following mechanisms: (1) permeability trapping, for example when buoyant supercritical CO{sub 2} rises until trapped by a confining caprock; (2) solubility trapping, for example when CO{sub 2} dissolves into the aqueous phase in water-saturated formations, or (3) mineralogic trapping, such as occurs when CO{sub 2} reacts to produce stable carbonate minerals. When CO{sub 2} is trapped in the subsurface by any of these mechanisms, it is effectively sequestered away from the atmosphere where it would otherwise act as a greenhouse gas. The purpose of this report is to summarize our work aimed at quantifying potential CO{sub 2} seepage due to leakage from geologic carbon sequestration sites. The approach we take is to present first the relevant properties …

A team from Argonne National Lab, Cornell, Fermilab, Jefferson Lab, and SLAC has studied the TESLA TDR and its associated cost and manpower estimates, concentrating on the five largest cost sub-systems (Main Linac Modules, Main Linac RF Systems, Civil Engineering, Machine Infrastructure, and XFEL Incremental). These elements were concerned mainly with providing energy reach. We did not study the lower cost, but still technically challenging elements providing luminosity and physics capability, namely damping rings, beam delivery system, beam injection system, positron production, polarized beams, etc. The study did not attempt to validate the TDR cost estimates, but rather its purpose was to understand the technology and status of the large cost items, and the methodology by which their estimated cost was determined. In addition, topics of project oversight were studied.

A status is presented of the development during FY2002 of a database for physical properties models for the simulation of the treatment of Sodium-Bearing Waste (SBW) at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. An activity coefficient model is needed for concentrated, aqueous, multi-electrolyte solutions that can be used by process design practitioners. Reasonable first-order estimates of activity coefficients in the relevant media are needed rather than an incremental improvement in theoretical approaches which are not usable by practitioners. A comparison of the Electrolyte Non-Random Two-Liquid (ENRTL) and Pitzer ion-interaction models for the thermodynamic representation of SBW is presented. It is concluded that Pitzer's model is superior to ENRTL in modeling treatment processes for SBW. The applicability of the Pitzer treatment to high concentrations of pertinent species and to the determination of solubilities and chemical equilibria is addressed. Alternate values of Pitzer parameters for HCl, H2SO4, and HNO3 are proposed, applicable up to 16m, and 12m, respectively. Partial validation of the implementation of Pitzer's treatment within the commercial process simulator ASPEN Plus was performed.

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan contains the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office's approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 140 under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Corrective Action Unit 140 consists of nine Corrective Action Sites (CASs): 05-08-01, Detonation Pits; 05-08-02, Debris Pits; 05-17-01, Hazardous Waste Accumulation Site (Buried); 05-19-01, Waste Disposal Site; 05-23-01, Gravel Gertie; 05-35-01, Burn Pit; 05-99-04, Burn Pit; 22-99-04, Radioactive Waste Dump; 23-17-01, Hazardous Waste Storage Area. All nine of these CASs are located within Areas 5, 22, and 23 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in Nevada, approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. This CAU is being investigated because disposed waste may be present without appropriate controls (i.e., use restrictions, adequate cover) and hazardous and/or radioactive constituents may be present or migrating at concentrations and locations that could potentially pose a threat to human health and the environment. The NTS has been used for various research and development projects including nuclear weapons testing. The CASs in CAU 140 were used for testing, material storage, waste storage, and waste disposal. A two-phase approach has …

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Metals that can sustain plastic deformation homogeneously throughout their bulk tend to be tough and malleable. Often, however, if a metal has been hardened it will no longer deform uniformly. Instead, the deformation occurs in narrow bands on a microscopic scale wherein stresses and strains become concentrated in localized zones. This strain localization degrades the mechanical properties of the metal by causing premature plastic instability failure or by inducing the formation of cracks. Irradiation with neutrons hardens a metal and makes it more prone to deformation by strain localization. Although this has been known since the earliest days of radiation damage studies, a full measure of the connection between neutron irradiation hardening and strain localization is wanting, particularly in commercial alloys used in the construction of nuclear reactors. Therefore, the goal of this project is to systematically map the extent of involvement of strain localization processes in plastic deformation of three reactor alloys that have been neutron irradiated. The deformation processes are to be identified and related to changes in the tensile properties of the alloys as functions of neutron fluence (dose) and degree of plastic strain. The intent is to define the role of strain localization in radiation embrittlement …

The central activities of the Protein Data Base continue to be the collection, archiving and distribution of high quality structural data to the scientific community on a timely basis. The systems that have been developed for doing this has become increasingly reliable and stable. We have completed the inventory of magnetic and paper media that was received from Brookhaven National Laboratory.

A variety of animal agriculture issues, including prices, the impact of consolidation in the meat production/packing industry, trade, and the environmental impacts of large feedlots, continue to generate interest in Congress. This issue brief discusses these issues, as well as the 2002 farm bill, which contains several provisions affecting animal agriculture, including protections for contract growers, disaster assistance, country-of-origin labeling, and increased funding for conservation purposes.

The nation’s health, wealth, and security rely on the production and distribution of certain goods and services. The array of physical assets, processes and organizations across which these goods and services move are called critical infrastructures (e.g. electricity, the power plants that generate it, and the electric grid upon which it is distributed). Computers and communications, themselves critical infrastructures, are increasingly tying these infrastructures together. This report aims to address the concern that this reliance on computers and computer networks raises the vulnerability of the nation’s critical infrastructures to “cyber” attacks.

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After passing a major multi-year tax cut in Mid-2001 (which was sunsetted after ten years) and a stimulus bill in 2002, Congress is considering energy tax subsidies, tax incentives for charitable giving deductions, pension diversification in the wake of the ENRON problems, and tax shelters. The House has passed several bills that would make the multiyear tax cut permanent as well as a bill to speed up certain provisions.

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Interest groups, including those who actively lobby, continue to play a role in the American legislative process. After years of congressional efforts to improve disclosure of interest groups, the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) of 1995 (P.L. 104-65) and the Lobbying Disclosure Technical Amendments Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-166) were signed into law on December 19, 1995, and April 6, 1998, respectively. Both laws seek greater disclosure of interest groups’ activities and more accuracy in reporting their spending. Information on lobbyist registrations and on interest groups in general is available from a variety of online and printed sources, including files available for public inspection. This report provides a list of directories and online services that offer background on the interest groups and lobbyists who focus on legislation in Washington.