Management of liquid water is critical for optimal fuel-cell operation, especially at low temperatures. It is therefore important to understand the wetting properties and water holdup of the various fuel-cell layers. While the gas-diffusion layer is relatively hydrophobic and exhibits a strong intermediate wettability, the catalyst layer is predominantly hydrophilic. In addition, the water content of the ionomer in the catalyst layer is lower than that of the bulk membrane, and is affected by platinum surfaces. Liquid-water removal occurs through droplets on the surface of the gas-diffusion layer. In order to predict droplet instability and detachment, a force balance is used. While the pressure or drag force on the droplet can be derived, the adhesion or surface-tension force requires measurement using a sliding-angle approach. It is shown that droplets produced by forcing water through the gas-diffusion layer rather than placing them on top of it show much stronger adhesion forces owing to the contact to the subsurface water.

Consumers regularly forgo purchases of high efficiency appliances that appear to be cost effective at a reasonable rate of return. While some argue that this is a true revelation of preferences for appliance features, this 'efficiency gap' can be largely explained by a combination of market and behavioral failures that reduce consumers ability to evaluate the relative value of appliances and skew preferences toward initial cost savings, undervaluing future reductions in operating costs. These failures and barriers include externalities of energy use, imperfect competition between manufacturers, asymmetric information, bounded rationality, split incentives, and transaction costs (Golove 1996). Recognizing the social benefit of energy conservation, several major methods are used by policymakers to ensure that efficient appliances are purchased: minimum efficiency standards, Energy Star labeling, and rebates and tax credits. There is no single market for energy services; there are hundreds of uses, thousands of intermediaries, and millions of users, and likewise, no single appropriate government intervention (Golove 1996). Complementary approaches must be implemented, considering policy and institutional limitations. In this paper, I first lay out the rationale for government intervention by addressing the market and behavioral failures and barriers that arise in the context of residential energy efficiency. I then …

Residential thermostats play a key role in controlling heating and cooling systems. Occupants often find the controls of programmable thermostats confusing, sometimes leading to higher heating consumption than when the buildings are controlled manually. A high degree of usability is vital to a programmable thermostat's effectiveness because, unlike a more efficient heating system, occupants must engage in specific actions after installation to obtain energy savings. We developed a procedure for measuring the usability of thermostats and tested this methodology with 31 subjects on five thermostats. The procedure requires first identifying representative tasks associated with the device and then testing the subjects ability to accomplish those tasks. The procedure was able to demonstrate the subjects wide ability to accomplish tasks and the influence of a device's usability on success rates. A metric based on the time to accomplish the tasks and the fraction of subjects actually completing the tasks captured the key aspects of each thermostat's usability. The procedure was recently adopted by the Energy Star Program for its thermostat specification. The approach appears suitable for quantifying usability of controls in other products, such as heat pump water heaters and commercial lighting.

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A baseline H{sup -} ion source and low energy beam transport system (LEBT) have been identified for Project X. The filament-discharge H{sup -} ion source has been fabricated by D-Pace, Inc. and is now in operation at LBNL. The source is capable of delivering over 10mA of H{sup -} beam in cw operation with normalized 4rms emittances less than 0.7 {pi} mm mrad. A two-solenoid magnetic lens LEBT system has been design. The design has been validated with simulations of beam transport for 5 mA 30 keV H- beams using various simulation codes.

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A technique has been developed to accurately align a laser beam through a plasma channel by minimizing the shift in laser centroid and angle at the channel outptut. If only the shift in centroid or angle is measured, then accurate alignment is provided by minimizing laser centroid motion at the channel exit as the channel properties are scanned. The improvement in alignment accuracy provided by this technique is important for minimizing electron beam pointing errors in laser plasma accelerators.

In this paper, we study the sensitivity of CUORE, a bolometric double-beta decay experiment under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. Two approaches to the computation of experimental sensitivity are discussed and compared, and the formulas and parameters used in the sensitivity estimates are provided. Assuming a background rate of 10{sup -2} cts/(keV kg y), we find that, after 5 years of live time, CUORE will have a 1#27;{sigma} sensitivity to the neutrinoless double-beta decay half-life of {caret T{sup 0{nu}}{sub 1/2}}(1{sigma}#27;) = 1.6x#2;10{sup 26} y and thus a potential to probe the effective Majorana neutrino mass down to 41-95 meV; the sensitivity at 1.64{sigma}#27;, which corresponds to 90% C.L., will be {caret T{sup 0{nu}}{sub 1/2}(1.64{sigma}#27;}) = 9.5x10{sup 25} y. This range is compared with the claim of observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay in {sup 76}Ge and the preferred range in the neutrino mass parameter space from oscillation results.

With increasing numbers of communities considering wind power developments, empirical investigations regarding related community concerns are needed. One such concern is that proximate property values may be adversely affected, yet relatively little research exists on the subject. The present research investigates roughly 7,500 sales of single-family homes surrounding 24 existing U.S. wind facilities. Across four different hedonic models, and a variety of robustness tests, the results are consistent: neither the view of the wind facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities is found to have a statistically significant effect on sales prices, yet further research is warranted.

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DOE/NNSA NA‐40 was requested to provide support with consequence management activities following the incident at the Fukushima Dai’ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The response involved the deployment of several DOE/NNSA NA‐40 assets to provide specialized capabilities analysts, scientists, doctors, nurses, specialized equipment and systems to characterize the deposition for the protection of the public and the environment. General response activities revolved around the concepts of: predictive modeling; monitoring and data collection from the air and on the ground; assessing the collected data and other relevant information; interpreting the data; and coordinating the communication of the interpreted data to the appropriate stakeholders.

Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds (QECBs) are federally-subsidized debt instruments that enable state, tribal, and local government issuers to borrow money to fund a range of qualified energy conservation projects. QECBs offer issuers very attractive borrowing rates and long terms, and can fund low-interest energy efficiency loans for home and commercial property owners. Saint Louis County, MO recently issued over $10 million of QECBs to finance the Saint Louis County SAVES residential energy efficiency loan program. The county's experience negotiating QECB regulations and restrictions can inform future issuers.

Reactor safety experiments for studying the reactions of a molten core (corium) with water and/or concrete involve materials at extremely high temperature. Such high temperature severely restricts the types of sensors that can be employed to measure characteristics of the corium itself. Yet there is great interest in improving instrumentation so that the state of the melt can be established with more precision. In particular, it would be beneficial to increase both the upper range limit and accuracy of temperature measurements. The poor durability of thermocouples at high temperature is also an important issue. For experiments involving a water-quenched melt, direct measurements of the growth rate of the crust separating the melt and water would be of great interest. This is a key element in determining the nature of heat transfer between the melt and coolant. Despite its importance, no one has been able to directly measure the crust thickness during such tests. This paper considers three specialized sensors that could be introduced to enhance melt characterization: (1) A commercially fabricated, single point infrared temperature measurement with the footprint of a thermowell. A lens assembly and fiber optic cable linked to a receiver and amplifier measures the temperature at the …

Fish passage conditions through a Francis turbine and a regulating outlet (RO) at Cougar Dam on the south fork of the McKenzie River in Oregon were evaluated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, using Sensor Fish devices. The objective of the study was to describe and compare passage exposure conditions, identifying potential fish injury regions encountered during passage via specific routes. The RO investigation was performed in December 2009 and the turbine evaluation in January 2010, concurrent with HI-Z balloon-tag studies by Normandeau Associates, Inc. Sensor Fish data were analyzed to estimate 1) exposure conditions, particularly exposure to severe collision, strike, and shear events by passage route sub-regions; 2) differences in passage conditions between passage routes; and 3) relationships to live-fish injury and mortality data estimates. Comparison of the three passage routes evaluated at Cougar Dam indicates that the RO passage route through the 3.7-ft gate opening was relatively the safest route for fish passage under the operating conditions tested; turbine passage was the most deleterious. These observations were supported also by the survival and malady estimates obtained from live-fish testing. Injury rates were highest for turbine passage. Compared to mainstem Columbia …

This report covers the development of the Poncelet Kinetics RHK100 Prototype. The work was completed by Hasz Consulting, LLC; CE2 Engineers, LLC; Energetic Drives, LLC; and Applied Power and Control all operating as subcontractors to Whitestone Power and Communications during the year from October 1, 2010 to September 23, 2011. As designed, the prototype is run-of-river instream energy conversion (RISEC) system. The design is principally a three-stage undershot water wheel arranged according to the method of General Poncelet. The power train consists of an epicyclic transmission coupled to a permanent magnet generator. The electronic controls system governs the speed of the wheel and rectifies the power signal to enable the system to be integrated with infinite grid infrastructures, to operate in parallel in finite grid applications with other small power productions sources or to operate in stand-alone mode on demand.

Lithium evaporation onto NSTX plasma facing components (PFC) has resulted in improved energy confinement, and reductions in the number and amplitude of edge-localized modes (ELMs) up to the point of complete ELM suppression. The associated PFC surface chemistry has been investigated with a novel plasma material interface probe connected to an in-vacuo surface analysis station. Analysis has demonstrated that binding of D atoms to the polycrystalline graphite material of the PFCs is fundamentally changed by lithium - in particular deuterium atoms become weakly bonded near lithium atoms themselves bound to either oxygen or the carbon from the underlying material. Surface dust inside NSTX has been detected in real-time using a highly sensitive electrostatic dust detector. In a separate experiment, electrostatic removal of dust via three concentric spiral-shaped electrodes covered by a dielectric and driven by a high voltage 3-phase waveform was evaluated for potential application to fusion reactors

The analysis of complex multiphysics astrophysical simulations presents a unique and rapidly growing set of challenges: reproducibility, parallelization, and vast increases in data size and complexity chief among them. In order to meet these challenges, and in order to open up new avenues for collaboration between users of multiple simulation platforms, we present yt (available at http://yt.enzotools.org/) an open source, community-developed astrophysical analysis and visualization toolkit. Analysis and visualization with yt are oriented around physically relevant quantities rather than quantities native to astrophysical simulation codes. While originally designed for handling Enzo's structure adaptive mesh refinement data, yt has been extended to work with several different simulation methods and simulation codes including Orion, RAMSES, and FLASH. We report on its methods for reading, handling, and visualizing data, including projections, multivariate volume rendering, multi-dimensional histograms, halo finding, light cone generation, and topologically connected isocontour identification. Furthermore, we discuss the underlying algorithms yt uses for processing and visualizing data, and its mechanisms for parallelization of analysis tasks.

We summarize recent significant progress in the development of a first-principles formalism to describe the formation and evolution of matter in very high energy heavy ion collisions. The key role of quantum fluctuations both before and after a collision is emphasized. Systematic computations are now feasible to address early time isotropization, flow, parton energy loss and the Chiral Magnetic Effect.

The Small Gram Quantity (SGQ) concept is based on the understanding that small amounts of hazardous materials, in this case radioactive materials, are significantly less hazardous than large amounts of the same materials. This study describes a methodology designed to estimate an SGQ for several neutron and gamma emitting isotopes that can be shipped in a package compliant with 10 CFR Part 71 external radiation level limits regulations. These regulations require packaging for the shipment of radioactive materials perform, under both normal and accident conditions, the essential functions of material containment, subcriticality, and maintain external radiation levels within regulatory limits. 10 CFR 71.33(b)(1)(2)&(3) state radioactive and fissile materials must be identified and their maximum quantity, chemical and physical forms be included in an application. Furthermore, the U.S. Federal Regulations require application contain an evaluation demonstrating the package (i.e., the packaging and its contents) satisfies the external radiation standards for all packages (10 CFR 71.31(2), 71.35(a), & 71.47). By placing the contents in a He leak-tight containment vessel, and limiting the mass to ensure subcriticality, the first two essential functions are readily met. Some isotopes emit sufficiently strong photon radiation that small amounts of material can yield a large external dose …

In an effort to understand the reasons for system plugging problems in the SRS 2F evaporator, supernatant samples were retrieved from the evaporator feed tank (Tank 26F) and solids were collected from the evaporator eductor feed pump for characterization. The variable depth supernatant samples were retrieved from Tank 26F in early December of 2010 and samples were provided to SRNL and the F/H Area laboratories for analysis. Inspection and analysis of the samples at SRNL was initiated in early March of 2011. During the interim period, samples were frequently exposed to temperatures as low as 12 C with daily temperature fluctuations as high as 10 C. The temperature at the time of sample collection from the waste tank was 51 C. Upon opening the supernatant bottles at SRNL, many brown solids were observed in both of the Tank 26F supernatant samples. In contrast, no solids were observed in the supernatant samples sent to the F/H Area laboratories, where the analysis was completed within a few days after receipt. Based on these results, it is believed that the original Tank 26F supernatant samples did not contain solids, but solids formed during the interim period while samples were stored at ambient temperature …

A theory of Reversed Shear Alfven Eigenmodes (RSAEs) is developed for reversed magnetic field shear plasmas when the safety factor minimum, qmin, is at or above a rational value. The modes we study are known sometimes as either the bottom of the frequency sweep or the down sweeping RSAEs. We show that the ideal MHD theory is not compatible with the eigenmode solution in the reversed shear plasma with qmin above integer values. Corrected by special analytic FLR condition MHD dispersion of these modes nevertheless can be developed. Large radial scale part of the analytic RSAE solution can be obtained from ideal MHD and expressed in terms of the Legendre functions. The kinetic equation with FLR effects for the eigenmode is solved numerically and agrees with the analytic solutions. Properties of RSAEs and their potential implications for plasma diagnostics are discussed.

Aqueous radioactive wastes from Savannah River Site (SRS) separations and vitrification processes are contained in large underground carbon steel tanks. Inspections made during 2010 to evaluate these vessels and other waste handling facilities along with evaluations based on data from previous inspections are the subject of this report. The 2010 inspection program revealed that the structural integrity and waste confinement capability of the Savannah River Site waste tanks were maintained. All inspections scheduled per SRR-LWE-2009-00138, HLW Tank Farm Inspection Plan for 2010, were completed. Ultrasonic measurements (UT) performed in 2010 met the requirements of C-ESG-00006, In-Service Inspection Program for High Level Waste Tanks, Rev. 3, and WSRC-TR-2002-00061, Rev.6. UT inspections were performed on Tanks 30, 31 and 32 and the findings are documented in SRNL-STI-2010-00533, Tank Inspection NDE Results for Fiscal Year 2010, Waste Tanks 30, 31 and 32. A total of 5824 photographs were made and 1087 visual and video inspections were performed during 2010. Ten new leaksites at Tank 5 were identified in 2010. The locations of these leaksites are documented in C-ESR-G-00003, SRS High Level Waste Tank Leaksite Information, Rev.5. Ten leaksites at Tank 5 were documented during tank wall/annulus cleaning activities. None of these new leaksites …

This grant covered only a period of 4 months as the major portion of the award was returned to DOE due to an award of funding from NIH that covered the same research objectives. A letter regarding the termination of the research is attached as the last page of the Final Report. The research conducted was limited due to the short period of this grant, but the results obtained in that period are outlined in the Final Report. The studies addressed in the research effort were directed at a problem that is of critical importance to the in vivo application of the alpha-particle emitting radionuclide At-211. That problem, low in vivo stability of many astatinated molecules, severely limits the use of At-211 in therapeutic applications. The advances sought in the studies were expected to expand the types of biomolecules that can be used as carriers of At-211, and provide improved in vivo targeting of the radiation dose compared with the dose delivered to normal tissue.

I discuss recent results in radiative B decays from the Belle and BaBar collaborations. I report new measurements of the decay rate and CP asymmetries in b {yields} s{gamma} and b {yields} d{gamma} decays, and measurements of the photon spectrum in b {yields} s{gamma}. Radiative penguin decays are flavour changing neutral currents which do not occur at tree level in the standard model (SM), but must proceed via one loop or higher order diagrams. These transitions are therefore suppressed in the SM, but offer access to poorlyknown SM parameters and are also a sensitive probe of new physics. In the SM, the rate is dominated by the top quark contribution to the loop, but non-SM particles could also contribute with a size comparable to leading SM contributions. The new physics effects are potentially large which makes them theoretically very interesting, but due to their small branching fractions they are typically experimentally challenging.