This report can be divided into two parts: the first part, which is composed of sections 1, 2, and 3, is devoted to report the analyses of fission gas bubbles; the second part, which is in section 4, is allocated to describe the mechanistic model development. Swelling data of irradiated U-Mo alloy typically show that the kinetics of fission gas bubbles is composed of two different rates: lower initially and higher later. The transition corresponds to a burnup of {approx}0 at% U-235 (LEU) or a fission density of {approx}3 x 10{sup 21} fissions/cm{sup 3}. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that gas bubbles appear only on the grain boundaries in the pretransition regime. At intermediate burnup where the transition begins, gas bubbles are observed to spread into the intragranular regions. At high burnup, they are uniformly distributed throughout fuel. In highly irradiated U-Mo alloy fuel large-scale gas bubbles form on some fuel particle peripheries. In some cases, these bubbles appear to be interconnected and occupy the interface region between fuel and the aluminum matrix for dispersion fuel, and fuel and cladding for monolithic fuel, respectively. This is a potential performance limit for U-Mo alloy fuel. Microscopic characterization of the evolution of …

As a gateway for scientific discovery, the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) works hand in hand with the world's best computational scientists to advance research in a diverse span of scientific domains, ranging from chemistry, applied mathematics, and materials science to engineering physics and life sciences. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science, researchers are using the IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer at the ALCF to study and explore key scientific problems that underlie important challenges facing our society. For instance, a research team at the University of California-San Diego/ SDSC is studying the molecular basis of Parkinson's disease. The researchers plan to use the knowledge they gain to discover new drugs to treat the disease and to identify risk factors for other diseases that are equally prevalent. Likewise, scientists from Pratt & Whitney are using the Blue Gene to understand the complex processes within aircraft engines. Expanding our understanding of jet engine combustors is the secret to improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. Lessons learned from the scientific simulations of jet engine combustors have already led Pratt & Whitney to newer designs with unprecedented reductions in emissions, noise, and cost of ownership. ALCF staff members provide …

NanoDynamics Inc. has undertaken a study to develop and demonstrate an anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell capable of generating a minimum of 20 W per cell on hydrogen. The cell technology will also be assed for operation on renewable hydrocarbon-based fuels such as biomass gas, as well its applicability for larger-scale power production. The project was divided into five sub-tasks, the first of which was the development and refinement of the cell manufacturing processes of gel-casting and paste extrusion for the fabrication of planar and tubular anode supports. These methods exhibited high production yields with excellent reproducibility. Using a conventional YSZ-based cell as a performance benchmark, new materials-sets and cell configurations were developed. Three prototype configurations were implemented, the best generating an average of 10 W per cell, and exhibiting excellent potential for further development and scale-up. Using a variety of techniques such as modifying the materials-set, microstructure, and cell configuration, cells with an average power output of 22.7 W were demonstrated, 13.5% in excess of the 20 W project goal. Thermal cycling was performed on such cells, and it was found that over a regime of 150 cycles (approximately 300 h), the cell power increased by 1.8%. So-called “short-stacks” …

This document summarizes findings from a literature review into the incremental costs associated with low-energy buildings. The goal of this work is to help establish as firm an analytical foundation as possible for the Building Technology Program's cost-effective net-zero energy goal in the year 2025.

The purpose of this report is to summarize and evaluate the Argonne Distance Tabletop Exercise (DISTEX) method. DISTEX is intended to facilitate multi-organization, multi-objective tabletop emergency response exercises that permit players to participate from their own facility's incident command center. This report is based on experience during its first use during the FluNami 2007 exercise, which took place from September 19-October 17, 2007. FluNami 2007 exercised the response of local public health officials and hospitals to a hypothetical pandemic flu outbreak. The underlying purpose of the DISTEX method is to make tabletop exercising more effective and more convenient for playing organizations. It combines elements of traditional tabletop exercising, such as scenario discussions and scenario injects, with distance learning technologies. This distance-learning approach also allows playing organizations to include a broader range of staff in the exercise. An average of 81.25 persons participated in each weekly webcast session from all playing organizations combined. The DISTEX method required development of several components. The exercise objectives were based on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Target Capabilities List. The ten playing organizations included four public health departments and six hospitals in the Chicago area. An extent-of-play agreement identified the objectives applicable to each …

This report highlights design and component selection considerations for compressed gas hydrogen fueling stations operating at 5000 psig or 350 bar. The primary focus is on options for compression and storage – in terms of practical equipment options as well as various system configurations and how they influence delivery performance and station economics.

This Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) sponsored study has identified human-performance issues in new and advanced nuclear power plants. To identify the issues, current industry developments and trends were evaluated in the areas of reactor technology, instrumentation and control technology, human-system integration technology, and human factors engineering (HFE) methods and tools. The issues were organized into seven high-level HFE topic areas: Role of Personnel and Automation, Staffing and Training, Normal Operations Management, Disturbance and Emergency Management, Maintenance and Change Management, Plant Design and Construction, and HFE Methods and Tools. The issues where then prioritized into four categories using a 'Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table' methodology based on evaluations provided by 14 independent subject matter experts. The subject matter experts were knowledgeable in a variety of disciplines. Vendors, utilities, research organizations and regulators all participated. Twenty issues were categorized into the top priority category. This Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) technical report provides the detailed methodology, issue analysis, and results. A summary of the results of this study can be found in NUREG/CR-6947. The research performed for this project has identified a large number of human-performance issues for new control stations and new nuclear power plant designs. The information gathered in this project …

The long-term goal of DOE’s Commercial Buildings Integration subprogram is to develop cost-effective technologies and building practices that will enable the design and construction of net Zero Energy Buildings — commercial buildings that produce as much energy as they use on an annual basis — by 2025. To support this long-term goal, DOE further called for — as part of its FY07 Statement of Needs — the development by 2010 of “five cost-effective design technology option sets using highly efficient component technologies, integrated controls, improved construction practices, streamlined commissioning, maintenance and operating procedures that will make new and existing commercial buildings durable, healthy and safe for occupants.” In response, PNNL proposed and DOE funded a scoping study investigation of one such technology option set, low-lift cooling, that offers potentially exemplary HVAC energy performance relative to ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2004. The primary purpose of the scoping study was to estimate the national technical energy savings potential of this TOS.

The Blackfeet Nation Energy Organization Development project, which was funded through the auspices of the Department of Energy First Steps to Renewable Energy Grant, has produced a centralized effort that assists the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council in the proper management, development, and informed decision making ability to negotiate and develop Blackfeet Renewable Energy opportunities, with a special emphasis on wind energy development. In addition, the Blackfeet Nation has been armed with an enhanced ability to examine environmental and legal issues, perform market research, identify additional lands for possible acquisition and development, and examine wind energy projects by other tribes that serve as models. The product of this effort has been that the Blackfeet Nation formerly petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs to approve and charter an Indian Reorganization Act, Section 17 Corporation, the Blackfeet Renewable Energy Inc. Please See Attachment.

This report summarizes work to develop a novel distributed fiber-optic micro-sensor that is capable of detecting common fossil fuel gases in harsh environments. During the 32-month research and development (R&D) program, GE Global Research successfully synthesized sensing materials using two techniques: sol-gel based fiber surface coating and magnetron sputtering based fiber micro-sensor integration. Palladium nanocrystalline embedded silica matrix material (nc-Pd/Silica), nanocrystalline palladium oxides (nc-PdO{sub x}) and palladium alloy (nc-PdAuN{sub 1}), and nanocrystalline tungsten (nc-WO{sub x}) sensing materials were identified to have high sensitivity and selectivity to hydrogen; while the palladium doped and un-doped nanocrystalline tin oxide (nc-PdSnO{sub 2} and nc-SnO{sub 2}) materials were verified to have high sensitivity and selectivity to carbon monoxide. The fiber micro-sensor comprises an apodized long-period grating in a single-mode fiber, and the fiber grating cladding surface was functionalized by above sensing materials with a typical thickness ranging from a few tens of nanometers to a few hundred nanometers. GE found that the morphologies of such sensing nanomaterials are either nanoparticle film or nanoporous film with a typical size distribution from 5-10 nanometers. nc-PdO{sub x} and alloy sensing materials were found to be highly sensitive to hydrogen gas within the temperature range from ambient to 150 …

There is growing interest in energy efficiency (EE) among state policymakers as a result of increasing environmental concerns, rising electricity and natural gas prices, and lean economic times that motivate states to look more aggressively for cost-saving opportunities in public sector buildings. One logical place for state policymakers to demonstrate their commitment to energy efficiency is to 'lead by example' by developing and implementing strategies to reduce the energy consumption of state government facilities through investments in energy efficient technologies. Traditionally, energy efficiency improvements at state government facilities are viewed as a subset in the general category of building maintenance and construction. These projects are typically funded through direct appropriations. However, energy efficiency projects are often delayed or reduced in scope whereby not all cost-effective measures are implemented because many states have tight capital budgets. Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) offers a potentially useful strategy for state program and facility managers to proactively finance and develop energy efficiency projects. In an ESPC project, Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) typically guarantee that the energy and cost savings produced by the project will equal or exceed all costs associated with implementing the project over the term of the contract. ESCOs typically provide turnkey …

The present program is centered on the experimental study of shock-induced interfacial fluid instabilities. Both 2-D (near-sinusoids) and 3-D (spheres) initial conditions are studied in a large, vertical square shock tube facility. The evolution of the interface shape, its distortion, the modal growth rates and the mixing of the fluids at the interface are all objectives of the investigation. In parallel to the experiments, calculations are performed using the Raptor code, on platforms made available by LLNL. These flows are of great relevance to both ICF and stockpile stewardship. The involvement of four graduate students is in line with the national laboratories' interest in the education of scientists and engineers in disciplines and technologies consistent with the labs' missions and activities.

This project focused on the use of Logistical Networking technology to address the challenges involved in rapid sharing of data from the the Center's gyrokinetic particle simulations, which can be on the order of terabytes per time step, among researchers at a number of geographically distributed locations. There is a great need to manage data on this scale in a flexible manner, with simulation code, file system, database and visualization functions requiring access. The project used distributed data management infrastructure based on Logistical Networking technology to address these issues in a way that maximized interoperability and achieved the levels of performance the required by the Center's application community. The work focused on the development and deployment of software tools and infrastructure for the storage and distribution of terascale datasets generated by simulations running at the National Center for Computational Science at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The 1607-F1 Sanitary Sewer System (124-F-1), consisted of a septic tank, drain field, and associated pipelines that received sanitary waste water from the 1701-F Gatehouse, 1709-F Fire Station, and the 1720-F Administrative Office via the 100-F-26:8 pipelines. The septic tank required remedial action based on confirmatory sampling. In accordance with this evaluation, the verification sampling results support a reclassification of this site to Interim Closed Out. The results of verification sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

High energy radiography capabilities are essential for many future DNT/HED experiments on NIF. We have been developing bright, high-energy (15-100 keV), high resolution (< 20 {micro}m), 1-D and 2-D radiography solutions for DNT experiments on NIF. In this LDRD, we have made significant progress utilizing high-energy, high-intensity, short-pulse lasers to generate hard K-{alpha} photons. High energy K-{alpha} sources are created by hot electrons interacting in the target fluor material after irradiation by lasers with intensity I{sub L} > 10{sup 17} W/cm{sup 2}. High resolution point projection 1-D and 2-D radiography have been achieved using {mu}-foil and {mu}-wire targets attached to low-Z substrate materials. The {mu}-wire size was 10 x 10 x 300 {micro}m on a 300 x 300 x 5 {micro}m CH substrate creating the point source size equivalent to these micro targets. This unique technique will utilize the NIF short pulse laser (ARC) as a backlighter suitable for the full range of DNT science experiments on NIF.

A robust multivariate time series method has been established for the Monte Carlo calculation of neutron multiplication problems. The method is termed Coarse Mesh Projection Method (CMPM) and can be implemented using the coarse statistical bins for acquisition of nuclear fission source data. A novel aspect of CMPM is the combination of the general technical principle of projection pursuit in the signal processing discipline and the neutron multiplication eigenvalue problem in the nuclear engineering discipline. CMPM enables reactor physicists to accurately evaluate major eigenvalue separations of nuclear reactors with continuous energy Monte Carlo calculation. CMPM was incorporated in the MCNP Monte Carlo particle transport code of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The great advantage of CMPM over the traditional Fission Matrix method is demonstrated for the three space-dimensional modeling of the initial core of a pressurized water reactor.

As this was the final year of the research contract, most of the activities centered on completing some of the research in progress, and an orderly transition to other activities. Overall, the recent years of the project have been successful as evidenced by the accomplishments listed below and the papers published between 2005 and the present, as well as their impact and the cooperation they have encouraged with people qt other universities and industry.

The Berkeley UXO Discriminator (BUD) is an optimally designed active electromagnetic system that not only detects but also characterizes UXO. The performance of the system is governed by a target size-depth curve. BUD was designed to detect UXO in the 20 mm to 155 mm size range for depths between 0 and 1.5 m, and to characterize them in a depth range from 0 to 1.1 m. The system incorporates three orthogonal transmitters and eight pairs of differenced receivers. Eight receiver coils are placed horizontally along the two diagonals of the upper and lower planes of the two horizontal transmitter loops. These receiver coil pairs are located on symmetry lines through the center of the system and each pair sees identical fields during the on-time of the pulse in all of the transmitter coils. They are wired in opposition to produce zero output during the on-time of the pulses in three orthogonal transmitters. Moreover, this configuration dramatically reduces noise in the measurements by canceling the background electromagnetic fields (these fields are uniform over the scale of the receiver array and are consequently nulled by the differencing operation), and by canceling the noise contributed by the tilt motion of the receivers …

In this project we developed further a twin approach to the study of regional-scale climate variability and change. The two approaches involved probabilistic network (PN) models (sometimes called dynamic Bayesian networks) and intermediate-complexity coupled ocean-atmosphere models (ICMs). We thus made progress in identifying the predictable modes of climate variability and investigating their impacts on the regional scale. In previous work sponsored by DOE’s Climate Change Prediction Program (CCPP), we had developed a family of PNs (similar to Hidden Markov Models) to simulate historical records of daily rainfall, and used them to downscale seasonal predictions of general circulation models (GCMs). Using an idealized atmospheric model, we had established a novel mechanism through which ocean-induced sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies might influence large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns on interannual and longer time scales; similar patterns were found in a hybrid coupled ocean–atmosphere–sea-ice model. In this continuation project, we built on these ICM results and PN model development to address prediction of rainfall and temperature statistics at the local scale, associated with global climate variability and change, and to investigate the impact of the latter on coupled ocean–atmosphere modes. Our main project results consist of extensive further development of the hidden Markov models for rainfall …

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe is a federally recognized Tribe residing on the Pyramid Lake Reservation in western Nevada. The funding for this project was used to identify blind geothermal systems disconnected from geothermal sacred sites and develop a Tribal energy corporation for evaluating potential economic development for profit.

Dose reconstruction for studies of the health effects of ionizing radiation have been carried out for many decades. Major studies have included Japanese bomb survivors, atomic veterans, downwinders of the Nevada Test Site and Hanford, underground uranium miners, and populations of nuclear workers. For such studies to be credible, significant effort must be put into applying the best science to reconstructing unbiased absorbed doses to tissues and organs as a function of time. In many cases, more and more sophisticated dose reconstruction methods have been developed as studies progressed. For the example of the Japanese bomb survivors, the dose surrogate “distance from the hypocenter” was replaced by slant range, and then by TD65 doses, DS86 doses, and more recently DS02 doses. Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that an equal level of effort must be expended on the quantitative assessment of uncertainty in such doses, and to reducing and managing uncertainty. In this context, this paper reviews difficulties in terminology, explores the nature of Berkson and classical uncertainties in dose reconstruction through examples, and proposes a path forward for Joint Coordinating Committee for Radiation Effects Research (JCCRER) Project 2.4 that requires a reasonably small level of effort for …

Carbon dioxide injection into deep sea sediments below 2700 m water depth and a few hundred meters to fifteen hundred meters deep in the sediment column may provide permanent geologic storage by gravitational trapping. At high pressures and low temperatures common in deep sea sediments a few hundred meters below sea floor, CO{sub 2} will be in its liquid phase and will be denser than the overlying pore fluid. The lower density of the pore fluid provides a cap to the denser CO{sub 2} and ensures gravitational trapping in the short term. The overall storage capacity for CO{sub 2} in such deep sea formations below the ocean floor is primarily determined by the permeability, and will vary with seafloor depth, geothermal gradient, porosity, and pore water salinity. Furthermore, the dissemination of the injected CO{sub 2} in the sediments and potential chemical reactions between CO{sub 2}, pore fluid and sediments will define its fate in the storage reservoir. The main objectives of our research was to evaluate the potential for sub-seabed CO{sub 2} storage in deep sea sediments using a range of approaches including experiments, permeability analysis, and modeling. Over the course of the three-year award, our results support an important …

Under the auspices of this funding, we have developed a program to synthesize and characterize highly monodispersed magnetic nanoparticles. We have been particularly interested in the origin of the exchange bias effect, which occurs in compound nanoparticles with a ferromagnetic core and an antiferromagnetic shell, and have mostly focused on Co/CoO core-shell nanoparticles. The exchange bias effect involves exchange coupling between the core moment and the antiferromagnetic shell which stabilizes the core moment, which would otherwise be quickly reorienting in ferromagnetic particles of this size.

The 100-F-26:8 waste site consisted of the underground pipelines that conveyed sanitary waste water from the 1701-F Gatehouse, 1709-F Fire Station, and the 1720-F Administrative Office to the 1607-F1 septic tank. The site has been remediated and presently exists as an open excavation. In accordance with this evaluation, the verification sampling results support a reclassification of this site to Interim Closed Out. The results of verification sampling demonstrated that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also showed that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.