A prototype Hanford barrier was deployed over the 216-B-57 Crib at the Hanford Site in 1994 to prevent percolation through the underlying waste and to minimize spreading of buried contaminants. This barrier is being monitored to evaluate physical and hydrologic performance at the field scale. This report summarizes data collected during the period FY 2005 through FY 2007. In FY 2007, monitoring of the prototype Hanford barrier focused on barrier stability, vegetative cover, evidence of plant and animal intrusion, and the main components of the water balance, including precipitation, runoff, storage, drainage, and deep percolation. Owing to a hiatus in funding in FY 2005 through 2006, data collected were limited to automated measurements of the water-balance components. For the reporting period (October 2004 through September 2007) precipitation amount and distribution were close to normal. The cumulative amount of water received from October 1994 through September 2007 was 3043.45 mm on the northern half of the barrier, which is the formerly irrigated treatment, and 2370.58 mm on the southern, non-irrigated treatments. Water storage continued to show a cyclic pattern, increasing in the winter and declining in the spring and summer to a lower limit of around 100 mm in response to …

None

This reports on earthquakes recorded in the Hanford Seismic Network during Fiscal Year 2005.

None

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 report describes the earthquakes that occurred in the Hanford seismic monitoring network during the first and second quarters of Fiscal Year 2005

Groundwater is monitored in hundreds of wells at the Hanford Site to fulfill a variety of requirements. Separate monitoring plans are prepared for various purposes, but sampling is coordinated and data are shared among users. DOE manages these activities through the Hanford Groundwater Performance Assessment Project, which is the responsibility of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The groundwater project integrates monitoring for various objectives into a single sampling schedule to avoid redundancy of effort and to improve efficiency of sample collection.This report documents the purposes and objectives of groundwater monitoring at the DOE Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State.

In cooperation with industry, academia, national laboratories, and other government agencies, the Department of Energy's Hydrogen Program is advancing the state of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in support of the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. The initiative seeks to develop hydrogen, fuel cell, and infrastructure technologies needed to make it practical and cost-effective for Americans to choose to use fuel cell vehicles by 2020. Significant progress was made in fiscal year 2005 toward that goal.

Congressional Earmark Funding was used to create a Postdoctoral Environmental Fellowship Program, interdisciplinary Environmental Working Groups, and special initiatives to create a dialogue around the environment at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to mobilize faculty to work together to respond to emerging environmental needs and to build institutional capacity to launch programmatic environmental activities across campus over time. Developing these networks of expertise will enable the University to more effectively and swiftly respond to emerging environmental needs and assume a leadership role in varied environmental fields. Over the course of the project 20 proposals were submitted to a variety of funding agencies involving faculty teams from 19 academic departments; 4 projects were awarded totaling $950,000; special events were organized including the Environmental Lecture Series which attracted more than 1,000 attendees over the course of the project; 75 University faculty became involved in one or more Working Groups (original three Working Groups plus Phase 2 Working Groups); an expertise database was developed with approximately 275 faculty involved in environmental research and education as part of a campus-wide network of environmental expertise; 12 University centers and partners participated; and the three Environmental Fellows produced 3 publications as well as a number of …

This report documents technical details for work performed in the Solar Radiometry and Metrology Task PVC57301 in the period from October 1 2004 to March 15 2005.

The Colony Project is developing operating system and runtime system technology to enable efficient general purpose environments on tens of thousands of processors. To accomplish this, we are investigating memory management techniques, fault management strategies, and parallel resource management schemes. Recent results show promising findings for scalable strategies based on processor virtualization, in-memory checkpointing, and parallel aware modifications to full featured operating systems.

Fission fragments born within the first 7 {micro}m of the surface of U metal can eject a thousand or more atoms per fission event. Existing data in the literature show that the sputtering yield ranges from 10 to 10,000 atoms per fission event near the surface, but nothing definitive is known about the energy of the sputtered clusters. Experimental packages were constructed allowing the neutron irradiation of natural uranium foils to investigate the amount of material removed per fission event and the kinetic energy distribution of the sputtered atoms. Samples were irradiated but were never analyzed after irradiation. Similar experiments were attempted in a non-radioactive environment using accelerator driven ions in place of fission induced fragments. These experiments showed that tracks produced parallel to the surface (and not perpendicular to the surface) are the primary source of the resulting particulate ejecta. Modeling studies were conducted in parallel with the experimental work. Because the reactor irradiation experiments were not analyzed, data on the energy of the resulting particulate ejecta was not obtained. However, some data was found in the literature on self sputtering of {sup 252}Cf that was used to estimate the velocity and hence the energy of the ejected particulates. …

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Infrared Sensors team is focused on developing methods for standoff detection of nuclear proliferation. In FY05, PNNL continued the development of the FM DIAL (frequency-modulated differential absorption LIDAR) experiment. Additional improvements to the FM DIAL trailer provided greater stability during field campaigns which made it easier to explore new locations for field campaigns. In addition to the Hanford Townsite, successful experiments were conducted at the Marine Science Laboratory in Sequim, WA and the Nevada Test Site located outside Las Vegas, NV. The range of chemicals that can be detected by FM DIAL has also increased. Prior to FY05, distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers (DFB-QCL) were used in the FM DIAL experiments. With these lasers, only simple chemicals with narrow (1-2 cm-1) absorption spectra, such as CO2 and N2O, could be detected. Fabry-Perot (FP) QC lasers have much broader spectra (20-40 cm-1) which allows for the detection of larger chemicals and a wider array of chemicals that can be detected. A FP-QCL has been characterized and used during initial studies detecting DMMP (dimethyl methylphosphonate).

New corrosion-resistant, iron-based amorphous metals have been identified from published data or developed through combinatorial synthesis, and tested to determine their relative corrosion resistance. Many of these materials can be applied as coatings with advanced thermal spray technology. Two compositions have corrosion resistance superior to wrought nickel-based Alloy C-22 (UNS No. N06022) in some very aggressive environments, including concentrated calcium-chloride brines at elevated temperature. Two Fe-based amorphous metal formulations have been found that appear to have corrosion resistance comparable to, or better than that of Ni-based Alloy C-22, based on breakdown potential and corrosion rate. Both Cr and Mo provide corrosion resistance, B enables glass formation, and Y lowers critical cooling rate (CCR). SAM1651 has yttrium added, and has a nominal critical cooling rate of only 80 Kelvin per second, while SAM2X7 (similar to SAM2X5) has no yttrium, and a relatively high critical cooling rate of 610 Kelvin per second. Both amorphous metal formulations have strengths and weaknesses. SAM1651 (yttrium added) has a low critical cooling rate (CCR), which enables it to be rendered as a completely amorphous thermal spray coating. Unfortunately, it is relatively difficult to atomize, with powders being irregular in shape. This causes the powder to be …

New corrosion-resistant, iron-based amorphous metals have been identified from published data or developed through combinatorial synthesis, and tested to determine their relative corrosion resistance. Many of these materials can be applied as coatings with advanced thermal spray technology. Two compositions have corrosion resistance superior to wrought nickel-based Alloy C-22 (UNS No. N06022) in some very aggressive environments, including concentrated calcium-chloride brines at elevated temperature. Two Fe-based amorphous metal formulations have been found that appear to have corrosion resistance comparable to, or better than that of Ni-based Alloy C-22, based on breakdown potential and corrosion rate. Both Cr and Mo provide corrosion resistance, B enables glass formation, and Y lowers critical cooling rate (CCR). SAM1651 has yttrium added, and has a nominal critical cooling rate of only 80 Kelvin per second, while SAM2X7 (similar to SAM2X5) has no yttrium, and a relatively high critical cooling rate of 610 Kelvin per second. Both amorphous metal formulations have strengths and weaknesses. SAM1651 (yttrium added) has a low critical cooling rate (CCR), which enables it to be rendered as a completely amorphous thermal spray coating. Unfortunately, it is relatively difficult to atomize, with powders being irregular in shape. This causes the powder to be …

The AAA+ proteins are remarkable macromolecules that are able to self-assemble into nanoscale machines. These protein machines play critical roles in many cellular processes, including the processes that manage a cell's genetic material, but the mechanism at the molecular level has remained elusive. We applied computational molecular modeling, combined with advanced sequence analysis and available biochemical and genetic data, to structurally characterize eukaryotic AAA+ proteins and the protein machines they form. With these models we have examined intermolecular interactions in three-dimensions (3D), including both interactions between the components of the AAA+ complexes and the interactions of these protein machines with their partners. These computational studies have provided new insights into the molecular structure and the mechanism of action for AAA+ protein machines, thereby facilitating a deeper understanding of processes involved in DNA metabolism.

We have developed new algorithms to model complex biological flows in integrated biodetection microdevice components. The proposed work is important because the design strategy for the next-generation Autonomous Pathogen Detection System at LLNL is the microfluidic-based Biobriefcase, being developed under the Chemical and Biological Countermeasures Program in the Homeland Security Organization. This miniaturization strategy introduces a new flow regime to systems where biological flow is already complex and not well understood. Also, design and fabrication of MEMS devices is time-consuming and costly due to the current trial-and-error approach. Furthermore, existing devices, in general, are not optimized. There are several MEMS CAD capabilities currently available, but their computational fluid dynamics modeling capabilities are rudimentary at best. Therefore, we proposed a collaboration to develop computational tools at LLNL which will (1) provide critical understanding of the fundamental flow physics involved in bioMEMS devices, (2) shorten the design and fabrication process, and thus reduce costs, (3) optimize current prototypes and (4) provide a prediction capability for the design of new, more advanced microfluidic systems. Computational expertise was provided by Comp-CASC and UC Davis-DAS. The simulation work was supported by key experiments for guidance and validation at UC Berkeley-BioE.

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) are currently under development and will provide a peak brightness more than 10 orders of magnitude higher than modern synchrotrons. The goal of this project was to perform the fundamental research to evaluate the possibility of harnessing these unique x-ray sources to image single biological particles and molecules at atomic resolution. Using a combination of computational modeling and experimental verification where possible, they showed that it should indeed be possible to record coherent scattering patterns from single molecules with pulses that are shorter than the timescales for the degradation of the structure due to the interaction with those pulses. They used these models to determine the effectiveness of strategies to allow imaging using longer XFEL pulses and to design validation experiments to be carried out at interim ultrafast sources. They also developed and demonstrated methods to recover three-dimensional (3D) images from coherent diffraction patterns, similar to those expected from XFELs. The images of micron-sized test objects are the highest-resolution 3D images of any noncrystalline material ever formed with x-rays. The project resulted in 14 publications in peer-reviewed journals and four records of invention.

At high pressure and temperature, the phase diagram of elemental carbon is poorly known. We present predictions of diamond and BC8 melting lines and their phase boundary in the solid phase, as obtained from first principles calculations. Maxima are found in both melting lines, with a triple point located at {approx} 850 GPa and {approx} 7400 K. Our results show that hot, compressed diamond is a semiconductor which undergoes metalization upon melting. In contrast, in the stability range of BC8, an insulator to metal transition is likely to occur in the solid phase. Close to the diamond/ and BC8/liquid boundaries, molten carbon is a low-coordinated metal retaining some covalent character in its bonding up to extreme pressures. Our results provide constraints on the carbon equation of state, which is of critical importance for devising models of Neptune, Uranus and white dwarf stars, as well as of extra-solar carbon-rich planets.

An edge-plasma simulation for tokamak fusion devices is developed that couples 3D turbulence and 2D transport, including detailed sources and sinks, to determine self-consistent steady-state plasma profiles. Relaxed iterative coupling is shown to be effective when edge turbulence is partially suppressed, for example, by shear E x B shear flow as occurs during the favorable H-mode region. Unsuppressed turbulence is found to lead to large, intermittent edge transport events where the coupling procedure can lead to substantial inaccuracies in describing the true time-averaged plasma behavior.

In order to shed light on the intriguing, and not yet fully understood fcc-isostructural {gamma} {yields} {alpha} transition in cerium, we have begun an experimental program aimed at the determination of the pressure evolution of the transverse acoustic (TA) and longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonon dispersions up to and above the transition. {gamma}-Ce Crystals of 60-80 mm diameter and 20 mm thickness were prepared from a large ingot, obtained from Ames Lab, using laser cutting, micro-mechanical and chemical polishing techniques. Three samples with a surface normal approximately oriented along the [110] direction were loaded into diamond anvil cells (DAC), using neon as a pressure transmitting medium. The crystalline quality was checked by rocking curve scans and typical values obtained ranged between one and two degrees. Only a slight degradation in the sample quality was observed when the pressure was increased to reach the {alpha}-phase, and data could be therefore recorded in this phase as well. The spectrometer was operated at 17794 eV in Kirkpatrick-Baez focusing geometry, providing an energy resolution of 3 meV and a focal spot size at the sample position of 30 x 60 mm{sup 2} (horizontal x vertical, FWHM). Eight to ten IXS spectra were typically recorded per …

Using a combination of modeling and experimental work we have developed a new method for purifying water that uses less energy than conventional methods and that can be made selective for removing targeted contaminants. The method uses nanoporous membranes that are permselective for anion or cation transfer. Ion selectivity results from double layer overlap inside the pores such that they dominantly contain ions opposite in charge to the surface charge of the membrane. Membrane charge can be adjusted through functionalization. Experiments confirm membrane permselectivity and overall energy use less than that for conventional electrodialysis. The nanoporous membranes are used in a conventional electrodialysis configuration and can be incorporated in existing electrodialysis systems without modification. The technology merits further development and testing in real systems, and could result in a significant reduction in water treatment costs.

In the event of a nuclear or radiological accident or terrorist event, it is important to identify individuals that can benefit from prompt medical care and to reassure those that do not need it. Achieving these goals will maximize the ability to manage the medical consequences of radiation exposure that unfold over a period of hours, days, weeks, years, depending on dose. Medical interventions that reduce near term morbidity and mortality from high but non-lethal exposures require advanced medical support and must be focused on those in need as soon as possible. There are two traditional approaches to radiation dosimetry, physical and biological. Each as currently practiced has strengths and limitations. Physical dosimetry for radiation exposure is routine for selected sites and for individual nuclear workers in certain industries, medical centers and research institutions. No monitoring of individuals in the general population is currently performed. When physical dosimetry is available at the time of an accident/event or soon thereafter, it can provide valuable information in support of accident/event triage. Lack of data for most individuals is a major limitation, as differences in exposure can be significant due to shielding, atmospherics, etc. A smaller issue in terms of number of people …

The detection of the unconventional delivery of a nuclear weapon or the illicit transport of fissile materials is one of the most crucial, and difficult, challenges facing us today in national security. A wide array of radiation detectors are now being deployed domestically and internationally to address this problem. This initial deployment will be followed by radiation detection systems, composed of intelligent, networked devices intended to supplement the choke-point perimeter systems with more comprehensive broad-area, or regional coverage. Cataloging and fusing the data from these new detection systems will clearly be one of the most significant challenges in radiation-based security systems. We present here our results from our first 6 months of effort on this project. We anticipate the work will continue as part of the Predictive Knowledge System Strategic Initiative.