Actinide contamination of steel and concrete surfaces is a major problem within the DOE complex. Almost all current decontamination technologies rely on removal of the contaminated surface layer by mechanical means or by chemical methods using harsh chemicals. Some of the technologies are ineffective. Others are expensive, labor intensive, and hazardous to workers. Still others create secondary mixed wastes that are not environmentally acceptable. This project seeks fundamental information that will lead to the development of a new and more environmentally acceptable technology for decontamination of actinides, especially Pu, on steel and concrete surfaces. The key component of this technology is isosaccharinate (ISA), a degradation product of cellulose materials that is biodegradable. Isosaccharinate will be incorporated into foams/gels for safe and easy use in decontamination of actinides from steel, concrete, and other surfaces. Thermodynamic data are being developed on ISA species as a function of pH and on ISA interactions with actinides and competing metals [e.g., Fe(III) and Ca(II)] under a wide range of conditions relevant to decontamination of steel and concrete. The efficiency of the ISA containing foams/gels/solutions for decontamination is also being tested. This project builds on capabilities at three different national laboratories, and represents a joint effort …

In July of 1999, a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) was undertaken between Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Solar Turbines, Inc. and Caterpillar, Inc. (Caterpillar Technical Center) to evaluate commercial cast stainless steels for gas turbine engine and diesel engine exhaust component applications relative to the materials currently being used. If appropriate, the goal was to develop cast stainless steels with improved performance and reliability rather than switch to more costly cast Ni-based superalloys for upgraded performance. The gas-turbine components considered for the Mercury-50 engine were the combustor housing and end-cover, and the center-frame hot-plate, both made from commercial CF8C cast austenitic stainless steel (Fe-l9Cr-12Ni-Nb,C), which is generally limited to use at below 650 C. The advanced diesel engine components considered for truck applications (C10, C12, 3300 and 3400) were the exhaust manifold and turbocharger housing made from commercial high SiMo ductile cast iron with uses limited to 700-750 C or below. Shortly after the start of the CRADA, the turbine materials emphasis changed to wrought 347H stainless steel (hot-plate) and after some initial baseline tensile and creep testing, it was confirmed that this material was typical of those comprising the abundant database; and by 2000, the emphasis …

The objectives of this study were to develop two different types of simulants to support vendor agitator design studies and mixing studies. The initial simulant development task was to develop rheologically-bounding physical simulants and the final portion was to develop a nominal chemical simulant which is designed to match, as closely as possible, the actual sludge from a tank. The physical simulants to be developed included a lower and upper rheologically bounded: pretreated low activity waste (LAW) physical simulant; LAW melter feed physical simulant; pretreated high level waste (HLW) physical simulant; HLW melter feed physical simulant. The nominal chemical simulant, hereafter referred to as the HLW Precipitated Hydroxide simulant, is designed to represent the chemical/physical composition of the actual washed and leached sludge sample. The objective was to produce a simulant which matches not only the chemical composition but also the physical properties of the actual waste sample. The HLW Precipitated Hydroxide simulant could then be used for mixing tests to validate mixing, homogeneity and representative sampling and transferring issues. The HLW Precipitated Hydroxide simulant may also be used for integrated nonradioactive testing of the WTP prior to radioactive operation.

PNNL DSOM technology coordinates efficient steam plant operation with EMCS and SCADA systems, providing generation support and automated load shedding to meet peak demand limits saving over $1M in two years.

Analyses of chromium resistant microbes. Culturable xylene-degrading and chromate-resistant microbes were obtained from chronically cocontaminated soil using a microcosm enrichment technique, and shown to correlate to dominant soil populations using culture independent techniques. The soil microbial community proved able to mount a respiratory response to addition of xylene in the presence of chromate. The majority of isolates belonged to the ubiquitous but poorly studied high %G+C Gram positive genus Arthrobacter, and exhibited considerable genotypic and phenotypic variability. Phenotypic assays uncovered a wide variation in the levels of chromate resistance, even between very closely related strains. Primers designed against conserved motifs in the known chrA chromate efflux gene failed to detect similar sequences among the chromate resistant Arthrobacter isolates obtained through enrichment.

With the popularization of household electrical appliances and the rapid development of office automation and networking, a huge number of consumer electronic devices, computers, copiers, and fax machines have been put into use in China over the last two decades. These products almost all use a certain amount of standby power--the power that is consumed when a device is connected but not performing its primary function. The rapid growth of standby energy consumption due to these products--and the consequent environmental problems--has attracted more and more attentions from researchers and from many government and international agencies. Numerous countries have developed policies and measures to restrict and reduce standby energy consumption (US EPA, 2004, IEA, 2001, and GEEA, 2004). However, standby energy consumption is still a new concept for Chinese consumers and the phenomenon of ''unconscious waste of energy'' is still very common in the people's daily life and work. With the goal of reducing China's standby energy consumption, China Certification Center for Energy Conservation Products (CECP) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have, under the sponsorship of the Energy Foundation (EF), entered into a collaboration to develop technical requirements for CECP's labeling program for consumer electronics and office equipment. These …

The effect of ferrous sulfamate (FS) oxidation and variation in nitric acid concentration on the removal of {sup 238}Pu contamination from Np by the HB-Line anion exchange flowsheet has been tested. Significant rejection of {sup 238}Pu was observed by washing with a reductive wash solution containing 6.0 to 6.8 M nitric acid (HNO{sub 3}) with as little as 30% of the Fe{sup 2+} from the FS remaining in its reduced form. To achieve the desired 30% removal of {sup 238}Pu from the process, conditions should be controlled to maintain the Fe{sup 2+}/Fe{sup 3+} ratio in the reductive wash to be greater than 60%/40% (or 1.5). Since Fe{sup 2+} oxidation is strongly affected by temperature and nitric acid concentration, these parameters (as well as time after FS addition) need to be controlled to ensure predictable results. A shortened-height column was utilized in these tests to match changes in the plant equipment. Lab experiments scaled to plant batch sizes of 2000 g Np were observed with modest losses for ''up-flow'' washing. The following are recommended conditions for removing {sup 238}Pu from Np solutions by anion exchange in HB-Line: (1) Feed conditions: ''Up-flow'' 6.4-8.0 M HNO{sub 3}, 0.02 M hydrazine (N{sub 2}H{sub 4}), …

Neptunium oxalate was precipitated under nominal and bounding HB-Line flowsheet conditions. The nominal case represents expected normal HB-Line operation. The bounding case represents process flowsheet extremes that could occur which are anticipated to decrease particle size and increase surface area. The neptunium oxalate produced under bounding conditions was used to validate the effectiveness of HB-Line calcination conditions. The maximum specific surface area of the neptunium oxide (NpO2) used in gas generation testing was 5.34 m2/g. Experiments were conducted to verify that even under bounding precipitation conditions the SSA of NpO2 produced would remain within the range evaluated during gas generation testing. The neptunium oxalate from nominal and bounding precipitation conditions was calcined at 600 degrees Celsius and 625 degrees Celsius, respectively, to form NpO2. Samples from each batch of neptunium oxalate were calcined for one, two, or four hours. Results indicate that the SSA of NpO2 continues to decrease between one and four hours. After two hours of calcination at 625 degrees Celsius, the SSA of NpO2 from the bounding case meets the surface area requirements for limiting moisture uptake.

To determine prospectively whether physical activity canprevent age-related weight gain and whether changing levels of activityaffect body weight. DESIGN/SUBJECTS: The study consisted of 8,080 maleand 4,871 female runners who completed two questionnaires an average(+/-standard deviation (s.d.)) of 3.20+/-2.30 and 2.59+/-2.17 yearsapart, respectively, as part of the National Runners' Health Study.RESULTS: Changes in running distance were inversely related to changes inmen's and women's body mass indices (BMIs) (slope+/-standard error(s.e.): -0.015+/-0.001 and -0.009+/-0.001 kg/m(2) per Deltakm/week,respectively), waist circumferences (-0.030+/-0.002 and -0.022+/-0.005 cmper Deltakm/week, respectively) and percent changes in body weight(-0.062+/-0.003 and -0.041+/-0.003 percent per Deltakm/week,respectively, all P<0.0001). The regression slopes were significantlysteeper (more negative) in men than women for DeltaBMI and Deltapercentbody weight (P<0.0001). A longer history of running diminishedthe impact of changing running distance on men's weights. When adjustedfor Deltakm/week, years of aging in men and years of aging in women wereassociated with increases of 0.066+/-0.005 and 0.056+/-0.006 kg/m(2) inBMI, respectively, increases of 0.294+/-0.019 and 0.279+/-0.028 percentin Delta percentbody weight, respectively, and increases of 0.203+/-0.016and 0.271+/-0.033 cm in waist circumference, respectively (allP<0.0001). These regression slopes suggest that vigorous exercise mayneed to increase 4.4 km/week annually in men and 6.2 km/week annually inwomen to compensate for the expected gain in weight associated …

About 37% of the primary energy consumed both in the U.S. and globally is used by the industrial sector. A variety of energy efficiency policies and programs have been implemented throughout the world in an effort to improve the energy efficiency of this sector. This report provides an overview of these policies and programs in twelve industrialized nations and the European Union (EU). We focus on energy efficiency products and services that are available to industrial consumers, such as reports, guidebooks, case studies, fact sheets, profiles, tools, demonstrations, roadmaps and benchmarking. We also focus on the mechanisms to communicate the availability and features of these products and services and to disseminate them to the industrial consumers who can use them. Communication channels include customer information centers and websites, conferences and trade shows, workshops and other training mechanisms, financial assistance programs, negotiated agreements, newsletters, publicity, assessments, tax and subsidy schemes and working groups. In total, over 30 types of industrial sector energy efficiency products, services and delivery channels have been identified in the countries studied. Overall, we found that the United States has a large variety of programs and offers industry a number of supporting programs for improving industrial energy efficiency. …

Most federal programs that promote energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in the building industry focus on the larger market segments such as offices, residential buildings, etc. Niche markets such as laboratories are often overlooked and beyond the scope of such programs, for at least two reasons: (a) by definition, niche markets are a relatively small ''wedge'' of the overall energy consumption ''pie''; and (b) laboratories have health and safety concerns, complex flexibility requirements and are perceived to be less amenable to broadly applicable strategies. Nevertheless, laboratories and other ''high-tech'' buildings demand the attention of the energy efficiency and sustainable design community for several reasons: (1) They are a growing segment of the building sector. (2) They are very energy and resource intensive laboratories on average are four to six times as energy intensive as office buildings, and five to ten times as expensive to build. (3) There are significant opportunities for efficiency and conservation, especially when compared to other buildings. In this paper, we describe how the Labs21 program, a joint program of the US EPA and US DOE, is structured to meet these needs recognizing that laboratories require very specialized engineering and design knowledge not addressed in academia or …

Quarterly newsletter from DOE's Office of Industrial Technologies to promote the use of energy-efficient industrial systems.

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Equilibrium and ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability studies are reported for Compact Stellarator (ARIES-CS) reactor design equilibria based on a scaled three-period NCSX configuration and a two-period quasi-axisymmetric variant, the MHH2 stellarator. With a stabilizing shell at about twice the minor radius, robustly stable equilibria up to {beta}=6% are achievable. Recent experiments raise questions as to the applicability of linear MHD stability in stellarators since the predicted stability limits appear to be significantly exceeded. A context for interpreting this question, consistent with tokamak experience, is discussed; both the equilibria and nonlinear consequences need to be more carefully considered. Nonlinear stability is analyzed by computing solutions with highly resolved discontinuities to effectively simulate current sheets and islands. This yields {beta} limits in better agreement with measured values.

This paper describes the design, simulation, construction, and initial performance of a solar water heating system (a 360-tube evacuated-tube heat-pipe solar collector, 54 m2 in gross area, 36 m2 in net absorber area) installed at the top of the hot water recirculation loop in the Social Security Administration's Mid-Atlantic Center in Philadelphia. When solar energy is available, water returning to the hot water storage tank is heated by the solar array. This new approach, in contrast to the more conventional approach of preheating incoming water, is made possible by the thermal diode effect of heat pipes and low heat loss from evacuated-tube solar collectors. The simplicity of this approach and its low installation costs support the deployment of solar energy in existing commercial buildings, especially where the roof is some distance away from the water heating system, which is often in the basement. Initial performance measurements of the system are reported.

This reports tabulates the Test and Evaluation results of the Access Class Switch tests conducted by members of Department 9336. About 15 switches were reviewed for use in the enterprise network as access tier switches as defined in a three tier architecture. The Access Switch Tier has several functions including: aggregate customer desktop ports, preserve and apply QoS tags, provide switched LAN access, provide VLAN assignment, as well as others. The typical switch size is 48 or less user ports. The evaluation team reviewed network switch evaluation reports from the Tolly Group as well as other sources. We then used these reports as a starting point to identify particular switches for evaluation. In general we reviewed the products of dominant equipment manufacturers. Also, based on architectural design requirements, the majority of the switches tested were of relatively small monolithic unit variety.

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This report describes the methodology and results of a project to develop a neural network for the prediction of the measured hydraulic conductivity or transmissivity in a series of boreholes at the Tono, Japan study site. Geophysical measurements were used as the input to EL feed-forward neural network. A simple genetic algorithm was used to evolve the architecture and parameters of the neural network in conjunction with an optimal subset of geophysical measurements for the prediction of hydraulic conductivity. The first attempt was focused on the estimation of the class of the hydraulic conductivity, high, medium or low, from the geophysical logs. This estimation was done while using the genetic algorithm to simultaneously determine which geophysical logs were the most important and optimizing the architecture of the neural network. Initial results showed that certain geophysical logs provided more information than others- most notably the 'short-normal', micro-resistivity, porosity and sonic logs provided the most information on hydraulic conductivity. The neural network produced excellent training results with accuracy of 90 percent or greater, but was unable to produce accurate predictions of the hydraulic conductivity class. The second attempt at prediction was done using a new methodology and a modified data set. The …

The principal objective of the proposed research is the experimental study and elucidation of the role that long-ranged disorder plays in the light-induced metastable conductance changes in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). The development of sources of low-cost renewable electrical energy is a high national priority. A consensus has developed that a-Si:H is the material of choice for large-area photovoltaic devices. However, the efficiency of a-Si:H-based solar cells decreases by nearly a factor of two following extended illumination, owing to the creation of light-induced defects resulting from the recombination of photo-excited charge carriers. If this light-induced defect formation could be reduced or eliminated, the practical conversion-efficiency of a-Si:H-based solar cells would effectively double, yielding cost per kilowatt-hour values comparable to that of conventional fossil fuel generation of electricity. Recent experimental results and theoretical calculations indicate that associated with light-induced dangling-bond creation, there are alterations in the medium- and long-ranged disorder in the a-Si:H films. A determination of whether or not the long-ranged disorder is affected in the Staebler-Wronski effect is important, for if so, then even when local defect generation is prevented, there could still remain metastable conductance changes that would affect photovoltaic device performance. Alternatively, if experimental studies clearly rule …

The High Current Experiment (HCX) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is part of the US program to explore heavy-ion beam transport at a scale representative of the low-energy end of an induction linac driver for fusion energy production. The primary mission of this experiment is to investigate aperture fill factors acceptable for the transport of space-charge-dominated heavy-ion beams at high space-charge intensity (line charge density up to {approx} 0.2 {micro}C/m) over long pulse durations (4 {micro}s) in alternating gradient focusing lattices of electrostatic or magnetic quadrupoles. The experiment also contributes to the practical baseline knowledge of intense beam manipulations necessary for the design, construction and operation of a heavy ion driver for inertial fusion. This experiment is testing transport issues resulting from nonlinear space-charge effects and collective modes, beam centroid alignment and beam steering, matching, image charges, halo, electron cloud effects, and longitudinal bunch control. We first present the results for a coasting 1 MeV K{sup +} ion beam transported through the first ten electrostatic transport quadrupoles, measured with optical beam-imaging and double-slit phase-space diagnostics. This includes studies at two different radial fill factors (60% and 80%), for which the beam transverse distribution was characterized in detail. Additionally, beam energy …

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The Savannah River Technology Center Materials technology Section was requested to determine the cause of failure for a resistance temperature device and thermowell assembly that was used in the 6.8 Low Activity Waste evaporator. A methodical and well planned approach was used for the failure analysis task with special precautions because of the high radiation and contamination levels. Two sections of the failed assembly were selected for thorough analysis, the bottom of the inner tube with the end-cap and a piece of inner tube at the vapor/waste interface. The failure analysis consisted of macroscopic examination and metallographic analysis. Intergranular attack (IGA) was found to be the primary corrosion mechanism that led to eventual failure. IGA of the end cap occurred because of a presumed preferential microstructure and accelerated the corrosion rate over that of inner-tube side wall. Once the end cap was breached, the waste quickly attacked the RTD components, leading to the low resistance to ground readings that indicated the initial RTD malfunction. A metallographic analysis of an unexposed end cap is recommended to confirm the suspect microstructure.

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This report provides information about "Donor-Donee" State Issues on Federal-Aid Highway Program which raised such heated debate as the arguments over how closely the program's payment to the individual states.