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The DOE tasked PNNL to investigate possible technological avenues for substantially advancing the state-of-the-art in gamma detection via large-area plastic scintillators. This report describes progress on this project as of the conclusion of FY 2003. The primary focus of the report is on experimental tests conducted with a single large-area plastic scintillator outfitted with a variety of photomultiplier tube configurations. Measurements performed to date incude scintillator response under broad-area exposure to various point-like gamma sources, and light-output uniformity mappings obtained by varying the position of a collimated beta-source over the surface of the scintillator. Development of a Monte Carlo program for modeling the response of a large-area scintillator sensor to ionizing radiation, explicitly including resolution-broadening effects of scintillation light generation, propagation, and collection is also described.

This document is an integrated monitoring plan for the Groundwater Monitoring Project. It documents well and constituent lists for the monitoring required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and its implementing orders.

This document presents the vision for Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the next five years, and a roadmap for implementing that vision. Brookhaven is a multidisciplinary science-based laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), supported primarily by programs sponsored by the DOE's Office of Science. As the third-largest funding agency for science in the U.S., one of the DOE's goals is ''to advance basic research and the instruments of science that are the foundations for DOE's applied missions, a base for U.S. technology innovation, and a source of remarkable insights into our physical and biological world, and the nature of matter and energy'' (DOE Office of Science Strategic Plan, 2000 http://www.osti.gov/portfolio/science.htm). BNL shapes its vision according to this plan.

This Program Evaluation report is an updated revision to the annual assessment of PNNL's VPP Program performance with respect to DOE-VPP criteria. It contains a summary of results and a data sheet for each of the VPP Elements, including strengths, weaknesses, recent/anticipated changes that will affect each Element, and a rating for each Element. Recommendations are also offered for continuous improvement.

This describes the earthquakes that occurred on and near the Hanford Site during the second quarter of FY03. Hanford Seismic Monitoring provides an uninterrupted collection of high-quality raw and processed seismic data from the Hanford Seismic Network for the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. Hanford Seismic Monitoring also locates and identifies sources of seismic activity and monitors changes in the historical pattern of seismic activity at the Hanford Site. The data are compiled, archived, and published for use by the Hanford Site for waste management, Natural Phenomena Hazards assessments, and engineering design and construction. In addition, the seismic monitoring organization works with the Hanford Site Emergency Services Organization to provide assistance in the event of a significant earthquake on the Hanford Site. The Hanford Seismic Network and the Eastern Washington Regional Network consist of 41 individual sensor sites and 15 radio relay sites maintained by the Hanford Seismic Monitoring staff. For the Hanford Seismic Network, there were 271 triggers during the second quarter of fiscal year 2003. Of these triggers, 141 were earthquakes. Twenty earthquakes were located in the Hanford Seismic Network area. Stratigraphically 9 earthquakes occurred in the Columbia River basalt, 2 were earthquakes in the pre-basalt …

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Institutional Plan for FY 2000-2004 sets forth the laboratory's mission, roles, technical capabilities, and laboratory strategic plan. In the plan, major initiatives also are proposed and the transitioning initiatives are discussed. The Programmatic Strategy section details our strategic intent, roles, and research thrusts in each of the U.S. Department of Energy's mission areas. The Operations/Infrastructure Strategic Plan section includes information on the laboratory's human resources; environment, safety, and health management; safeguards and security; site and facilities management; information resources management; management practices and standards; and communications and trust.

In this first Institutional Plan prepared by Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC, for the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, the INEEL will focus it's efforts on three strategic thrusts; (1) Environmental Management stewardship for DOE-EM, (2) Nuclear reactor technology for DOE-Nuclear Energy (NE), and (3) Energy R&D, demonstration, and deployment (initial focus on biofuels and chemical from biomass). The first strategic thrust focuses on meeting DOE-EM's environmental cleanup and long-term stewardship needs in a manner that is safe, cost-effective, science-based, and approved by key stakeholders. The science base at the INEEL will be further used to address a grand challenge for the INEEL and the DOE complex - the development of a fundamental scientific understanding of the migration of subsurface contaminants. The second strategic thrust is directed at DOE-NE's needs for safe, economical, waste-minimized, and proliferation-resistant nuclear technologies. As NE lead laboratories, the INEEL and ANL will pursue specific priorities. The third strategic thrust focuses on DOE's needs for clean, efficient, and renewable energy technology. As an initial effort, the INEEL will enhance its capability in biofuels, bioprocessing, and biochemicals. The content of this Institutional Plan is designed to meet basic DOE requirements for content and structure and reflect the …

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab or LBNL) is a multi-program national research facility operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy (DOE). As an integral element of DOE's National Laboratory System, Berkeley Lab supports DOE's missions in fundamental science, energy resources, and environmental quality. Berkeley Lab programs advance four distinct goals for DOE and the nation: (1) To perform leading multidisciplinary research in the computing sciences, physical sciences, energy sciences, biosciences, and general sciences in a manner that ensures employee and public safety and protection of the environment. (2) To develop and operate unique national experimental facilities for qualified investigators. (3) To educate and train future generations of scientists and engineers to promote national science and education goals. (4) To transfer knowledge and technological innovations and to foster productive relationships among Berkeley Lab's research programs, universities, and industry in order to promote national economic competitiveness. In FY03, Berkeley Lab was authorized by DOE to establish a funding ceiling for the LDRD program of $15.0 M, which equates to about 3.2% of Berkeley Lab's FY03 projected operating and capital equipment budgets. This funding level was provided to develop new scientific ideas and opportunities and …

The basic science goal in this project identifies structure/affinity relationships for selected radionuclides and existing sorbents. The task will apply this knowledge to the design and synthesis of new sorbents that will exhibit increased cesium, strontium and actinide removal. The target problem focuses on the treatment of high-level nuclear wastes. The general approach can likewise be applied to non-radioactive separations.

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This document is a summary of the larger report, PNNL-14548. It describes the groundwater monitoring results for FY 2003 at the Hanford Site in southeast Washington State. The Hanford Site, a facility in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons complex, encompasses {approx}1,517 square kilometers northwest of the city of Richland along the Columbia River in southeast Washington State. The federal government acquired the site in 1943, and until the 1980s it was dedicated primarily to the production of plutonium for national defense and the management of resulting waste. In 1995, all unrestricted discharge of radioactive liquid waste to the ground was discontinued. Today, DOE's mission on the Hanford Site is to restore the Columbia River corridor and transition the central portion of the site toward its long-term waste management role. DOE has monitored groundwater on the Hanford Site since the 1940s to help determine what chemical and radiological contaminants have made their way into the groundwater. As regulatory requirements for monitoring increased in the 1980s, there began to be some overlap between various programs. DOE established the Groundwater Performance Assessment Project (groundwater project) in 1996 to ensure protection of the public and the environment while improving the efficiency …

This Institutional Plan for FY 2002-2006 is the principal annual planning document submitted to the Department of Energy's Office of Science by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. This plan describes the Laboratory's mission, roles, and technical capabilities in support of Department of Energy priorities, missions, and plans. It also describes the Laboratory strategic plan, key planning assumptions, major research initiatives, and program strategy for fundamental science, energy resources, environmental quality, and national security.

This reports earthqaukes that occurred during the first quarter of FY03.

Conceptual models have been identified as one of the sources of uncertainty in the interpretation and prediction of contaminant migration through the vadose zone at Hanford. Current conceptual models are limited partly because they often do not account for the random heterogeneity that occurs under the extremes of very nonlinear flow behavior typical of the Hanford vadose zone. Over the last two years significant progress has been made in characterizing physical heterogeneity and in the development of techniques for incorporating this heterogeneity into predictive and inverse models for field-scale subsurface flow. One of the remaining pieces of the puzzle is the impact of heterogeneity on the distribution of reactive contaminants. Reactive transport occurs over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. However, the manner in which the various subsurface physical and chemical processes interact to influence transport is not very well understood. Hydrogeologic characterization and model analysis, however, have traditionally focused on measurement of physical properties and predicting the effects of variability in these properties on flow and transport. As a result, the role of geochemical heterogeneity on solute transport has remained largely unexplored. This project will use a combination of geophysical and soil physics techniques to investigate the …

This report describes the seismic activity in and around the Hanford Site during Fiscal year 2003. Hanford Seismic Monitoring provides an uninterrupted collection of high-quality raw and processed seismic data from the Hanford Seismic Network for the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. Hanford Seismic Monitoring also locates and identifies sources of seismic activity and monitors changes in the historical pattern of seismic activity at the Hanford Site. The data are compiled, archived, and published for use by the Hanford Site for waste management, Natural Phenomena Hazards assessments, and engineering design and construction. In addition, the seismic monitoring organization works with the Hanford Site Emergency Services Organization to provide assistance in the event of a significant earthquake on the Hanford Site. The Hanford Seismic Network and the Eastern Washington Regional Network consist of 41 individual sensor sites and 15 radio relay sites maintained by the Hanford Seismic Monitoring staff. For the Hanford Seismic Network, there were 1,336 triggers during fiscal year 2003. Of these triggers, 590 were earthquakes. One hundred and one earthquakes of the 590 earthquakes were located in the Hanford Seismic Network area. Stratigraphically 35 (34.6%) occurred in the Columbia River basalt, 29 (28.7%) were earthquakes in …

This multiyear program plan (MYPP) reflects the TFA's plan for the next five fiscal years (FY00-FY04). Most of the planning emphasis is on FY00 and FY01.

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PNNL estimated the FY2003 energy, environmental, and financial benefits (i.e., metrics) of the technologies and practices in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs (BTS). BTS uses the estimates of benefits as part of its annual budget request. This report includes an overview of the analytical approaches used to estimate energy savings for the FY2003 appropriated budget for BTS. The report also includes descriptions of key assumptions and the methodology that is used to calculate energy savings estimates for each BTS program.

This report presents results obtained from detailed hydrologic characterization of the unconfined aquifer system conducted at the Hanford Site.

DOE and PNNL are working to strengthen the technical defensibility of the groundwater flow and transport model at the Hanford Site and to incorporate uncertainty into the model. One aspect of the initiative is developing and using a three-dimensional transient inverse model to estimate the hydraulic conductivities, specific yields, and other parameters using data from Hanford since 1943. The focus of the alternative conceptual model (ACM-2) inverse modeling initiative documented in this report was to address limitations identified in the ACM-1 model, complete the facies-based approach for representing the hydraulic conductivity distribution in the Hanford and middle Ringold Formations, develop the approach and implementation methodology for generating multiple ACMs based on geostatistical data analysis, and develop an approach for inverse modeling of these stochastic ACMs. The primary modifications to ACM-2 transient inverse model include facies-based zonation of Units 1 (Hanford ) and 5 (middle Ringold); an improved approach for handling run-on recharge from upland areas based on watershed modeling results; an improved approach for representing artificial discharges from site operations; and minor changes to the geologic conceptual model. ACM-2 is the first attempt to fully incorporate the facies-based approach to represent the hydrogeologic structure. Further refinement and additional improvements to …

Application of two electrical resistivity methods at the Hanford Site Mock Tank during 2002, indicate the viability of the methods as possible leak-detection tools for SST retrieval operations. Electrical Resistivity Tomography and High-Resolution Resistivity were used over a 109-day period to detect leakage of a waste simulant beneath the tank. The results of the test indicate that both of these two methods, and subset methods may be applicable to SST leak detection.

This document describes two tasks that support CH2M Hill Hanford Group's (CHG) Mission Acceleration Initiative (MAI) testing and demonstration/deployment of supplemental technologies, but the tasks are not to be part of the vendor's scope. The vendor's will be provided samples of radioactive waste for their testing. This document describes the preparation of the radioactive waste samples. CHG is responsible to retrieve the saltcake waste from the single-shell tanks and expects to dissolve the waste using water dissolution. When water dissolves the waste the more soluble components of the waste (including cesium) will dissolve first, leaving the lesser soluble components of the waste in the tank. This phenomenon, termed selective dissolution, is expected to provide a partial separation of cesium from the waste. This document also describes a program involving tank dissolution demonstrations, modeling, and laboratory testing to more completely understand how the composition of the retrieved salt cake waste will change during the course of retrieval.

The FY03 Self-Evaluation Report presents a focused, quantitative, and objective approach to evaluate the performance of PNNL. Is summarizes PNNL's progress toward accomplishing the Critical Outcomes, objectives, and performance indicators developed in partnership with DOE and codified in the FY2003 PEFA. In addition, this report summarizes PNNL's analysis of its strengths and opportunities for improvement, the state of the Laboratory's integrated assessment process and the results of the FY03 Peer Reviews.