This addendum to the Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 547: Miscellaneous Contaminated Waste Sites, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, DOE/NV--1480, dated July 2012, documents repairs of erosion and construction of engineered erosion protection features at Corrective Action Site (CAS) 02-37-02 (MULLET) and CAS 09-99-06 (PLAYER). The final as-built drawings are included in Appendix A, and photographs of field work are included in Appendix B. Field work was completed on March 11, 2013.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) facilities are comprised of many miles of fluid-filled pipes arranged in large grids with reflective mirrors used to capture radiation from the sun. Solar radiation heats the fluid which is used to produce steam necessary to power large electricity generation turbines. Currently, organic, oil-based fluid in the pipes has a maximum temperature threshold of 400 °C, allowing for the production of electricity at approximately 15 cents per kilowatt hour. The DOE hopes to foster the development of an advanced heat transfer fluid that can operate within higher temperature ranges. The new heat transfer fluid, when used with other advanced technologies, could significantly decrease solar electricity cost. Lower costs would make solar thermal electricity competitive with gas and coal and would offer a clean, renewable source of energy. Molten salts exhibit many desirable heat transfer qualities within the range of the project objectives. Halotechnics developed advanced heat transfer fluids (HTFs) for application in solar thermal power generation. This project focused on complex mixtures of inorganic salts that exhibited a high thermal stability, a low melting point, and other favorable characteristics. A high-throughput combinatorial research and development program was conducted in order to achieve the project objective. Over …

Offshore wind is a clean, renewable source of energy and can be an economic driver in the United States. To better understand the employment opportunities and other potential regional economic impacts from offshore wind development, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded research that focuses on four regions of the country. The studies use multiple scenarios with various local job and domestic manufacturing content assumptions. Each regional study uses the new offshore wind Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) model, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This fact sheet summarizes the potential economic impacts identified by the study for the Southeast (defined here as Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia).

We show how to nd the physical Langevin equation describing the trajectories of particles un- dergoing collisionless stochastic acceleration. These stochastic di erential equations retain not only one-, but two-particle statistics, and inherit the Hamiltonian nature of the underlying microscopic equations. This opens the door to using stochastic variational integrators to perform simulations of stochastic interactions such as Fermi acceleration. We illustrate the theory by applying it to two example problems.

The purpose of this project was to develop a Phase 1 plan for assessment of Former Workers at the Pantex Facility in Amarillo, TX and to determine the suitability to start a medical surveillance program among former workers for this site.

Ion channel proteins regulate complex patterns of cellular electrical activity and ionic signaling. Certain K+ channels play an important role in immunological biodefense mechanisms of adaptive and innate immunity. Most ion channel proteins are oligomeric complexes with the conductive pore located at the central subunit interface. The long-term activity of many K+ channel proteins is dependent on the concentration of extracellular K+; however, the mechanism is unclear. Thus, this project focused on mechanisms underlying structural stability of tetrameric K+ channels. Using KcsA of Streptomyces lividans as a model K+ channel of known structure, the molecular basis of tetramer stability was investigated by: 1. Bioinformatic analysis of the tetramer interface. 2. Effect of two local anesthetics (lidocaine, tetracaine) on tetramer stability. 3. Molecular simulation of drug docking to the ion conduction pore. The results provide new insights regarding the structural stability of K+ channels and its possible role in cell physiology.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in accordance with the RE-Powering America's Land initiative, selected the Pueblo of Santo Domingo in Sandoval County, New Mexico, for a renewable energy production feasibility study. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided technical assistance for this project. The purpose of this report is to assess specific areas on the Pueblo for potential installation of photovoltaic (PV) systems and to estimate the cost, performance, and site impacts of different PV options. The report also recommends financing options that could assist in the implementation of these PV systems.

Past activities have resulted in a legacy of contaminated soil and groundwater at Department of Energy facilities nationwide. Uranium and chromium are among the most frequently encountered and highest-priority metal and radionuclide contaminants at DOE installations. Abiotic chemical reduction of uranium and chromium at contaminated DOE sites can be beneficial because the reduced metal species are less soluble in water, less mobile in the environment, and less toxic to humans and ecosystems. Although direct biological reduction has been reported for U(VI) and Cr(VI) in laboratory studies and at some field sites, the reactions can sometimes be slow or even inhibited due to unfavorable environmental conditions. One promising approach for the in-situ remediation of DOE contaminants is to develop electron shuttle catalysts that can be delivered precisely to the specific subsurface locations where contaminants reside. Previous research has shown that reduction of oxidized organic and inorganic contaminants often can be catalyzed by electron shuttle systems. Metalloporphyrins and their derivatives are well known electron shuttles for many biogeochemical systems, and thus were selected to study their catalytic capabilities for the reduction of chromium and uranium in the presence of reducing agents. Zero valent iron (ZVI) was chosen as the primary electron donor …

In the report we present a summary of the new models and algorithms developed by the PI and the students supported by this grant. These developments are described in detail in ten peer-reviewed journal articles that acknowledge support from this grant.

The analysis of process samples for radionuclide content is an important part of current procedures for material balance and accountancy in the different process streams of a recycling plant. The destructive sample analysis techniques currently available necessitate a significant amount of time. It is therefore desirable to develop new sample analysis procedures that allow for a quick turnaround time and increased sample throughput with a minimum of deviation between samples. In particular new capabilities for rapid sample dissolution and radiochemical separation are required. Most of the radioanalytical techniques currently employed for sample analysis are based on manual laboratory procedures. Such procedures are time and labor intensive and not well suited for situations in which a rapid sample analysis is requires and/or large number of samples needed to be analyzed.

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High performance buildings, also known as sustaina

Bimetallic or trimetallic materials with structural metal centers based on Mn, Fe or V were investigated under this project. These metal centers are the focus of this research as they have high earth abundance and have each shown success as cathode materials in lithium batteries. Silver ion, Ag{sup +}, was initially selected as the displacement material as reduction of this center should result in increased conductivity as Ag{sup 0} metal particles are formed in-situ upon electrochemical reduction. The in-situ formation of metal nanoparticles upon electrochemical reduction has been previously noted, and more recently, we have investigated the resulting increase in conductivity. Layered materials as well as materials with tunnel or channel type structures were selected. Layered materials are of interest as they can provide 2-dimensional ion mobility. Tunnel or channel structures are also of interest as they provide a rigid framework that should remain stable over many discharge/charge cycles. We describe some examples of materials we have synthesized that demonstrate promising electrochemistry.

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An equation for the rotation angle for optimum tracking of one-axis trackers is derived along with equations giving the relationships between the rotation angle and the surface tilt and azimuth angles. These equations are useful for improved modeling of the solar radiation available to a collector with tracking constraints and for determining the appropriate motor revolutions for optimum tracking.

During the past three years, the Brandeis experimental particle physics group was comprised of four faculty (Bensinger, Blocker, Sciolla, and Wellenstein), one research scientist, one post doc, and ten graduate students. The group focused on the ATLAS experiment at LHC. In 2011, the LHC delivered 5/fb of pp colliding beam data at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. In 2012, the center-of-mass energy was increased to 8 TeV, and 20/fb were delivered. The Brandeis group focused on two aspects of the ATLAS experiment -- the muon detection system and physics analysis. Since data taking began at the LHC in 2009, our group actively worked on ATLAS physics analysis, with an emphasis on exploiting the new energy regime of the LHC to search for indications of physics beyond the Standard Model. The topics investigated were Z' -> ll, Higgs -> ZZ* -. 4l, lepton flavor violation, muon compositeness, left-right symmetric theories, and a search for Higgs -> ee. The Brandeis group has for many years been a leader in the endcap muon system, making important contributions to every aspect of its design and production. During the past three years, the group continued to work on commissioning the muon detector and alignment …

This project performed research into enhancing the MPI programming model in two ways: developing improved algorithms and implementation strategies, tested and realized in the MPICH implementation, and exploring extensions to the MPI standard to better support PetaScale and ExaScale systems.

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The U.S. Department of Energy developed the Advanced Energy Retrofit Guides (AERGs) to provide specific methodologies, information, and guidance to help energy managers and other stakeholders successfully plan and execute energy efficiency improvements. Detailed technical discussion is fairly limited in these guides. Instead, we emphasize actionable information, practical methodologies, diverse case studies, and unbiased evaluations of the most promising retrofit measures for each building type. A series of AERGs is under development, addressing key segments of the commercial building stock. Grocery stores were selected as one of the highest priority sectors, because they represent one of the most energy-intensive market segments.

In the United States, recent environmental regulations will likely result in the removal of nearly 30 GW of oil and coal-fired generation from the power grid, mostly in the Eastern Interconnection (EI). The effects of this transition on voltage stability and transmission line flows have previously not been studied from a system-wide perspective. This report discusses the results of power flow studies designed to simulate the evolution of the EI over the next few years as traditional generation sources are replaced with environmentally friendlier ones such as natural gas and wind.

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This project addresses key issues of importance in the geochemical behavior of iron oxides and in the geochemical cycling of carbon and iron. For Fe, we are specifically studying the influence of carbonate on electron transfer reactions, solid phase transformations, and the binding of carbonate to reactive sites on the edges of particles. The emphasis on carbonate arises because it is widely present in the natural environment, is known to bind strongly to oxide surfaces, is reactive on the time scales of interest, and has a speciation driven by acid-base reactions. The geochemical behavior of carbonate strongly influences global climate change and CO{sub 2} sequestration technologies. Our goal is to answer key questions with regards to specific site binding, electron transfer reactions, and crystallization reactions of iron oxides that impact both the geochemical cycling of iron and CO{sub 2} species. Our work is focused on the molecular level description of carbonate chemistry in solution including the prediction of isotope fractionation factors. We have also done work on critical atmospheric species.

Appropriate photodetectors are a major challenge for liquid xenon technology as proposed by the next generation of double beta decay, solar neutrino, and dark matter searches. The primary photon signal is tiny and in the hard ultraviolet, the installation is cryogenic, and the sensors themselves must not introduce background. Hybrid photodiodes (HPDs) provide an easy substitute for a conventional PMT with the added advantages of low radioactivity, better area coverage, and single photoelectron counting. A computer-controlled test setup capable of characterizing optical properties of ultraviolet photodetectors was installed. It was used to compare photomultiplier tubes, silicon photomultipliers, avalanche photodiodes, and a novel-design custom HPD developed by the DEP company under this proposal.