This report is about the INMM Annual Meeting 1998 Status of Underground Testing Program.

DOE and other Federal agencies are making a significant investment in the development of field analytical techniques, nonintrusive technologies, and sensor technologies that will have a profound impact on the way environmental monitoring is conducted. Monitoring and performance evaluation networks will likely be base on suites of in situ sensors, with physical sampling playing a much more limited role. Designing and using these types of networks effectively will require development of a new paradigm for sampling and analysis of remedial actions, which is the overall goal of this project.

This report summarizes the work conducted from September 16, 2005 through December 31, 2008 on the project entitled “Brominated Sorbents for Small Cold-Side ESPs, Hot-Side ESPs and Fly Ash Use in Concrete”. The project covers testing at three host sites: Progress Energy H.F. Lee Station and the Midwest Generation Crawford and Will County Stations. At Progress Energy Lee 1, parametric tests were performed both with and without SO{sub 3} injection in order to determine the impact on the mercury sorbent performance. In addition, tests were performed on the hot-side of the air preheater, before the SO{sub 3} is injected, with H-PAC™ sorbents designed for use at elevated temperatures. The BPAC™ injection provided the expected mercury removal when the SO{sub 3} injection was off. A mercury removal rate due to sorbent of more than 80% was achieved at an injection rate of 8 lb/MMacf. The operation with SO{sub 3} injection greatly reduced the mercury sorbent performance. An important learning came from the injection of H-PAC™ on the hot-side of the air preheater before the SO{sub 3} injection location. The H-PAC™ injected in this manner appeared to be independent of the SO{sub 3} injection and provided better mercury removal than with injecting …

The project objective is to create low cost coatable inorganic light emitting diodes, composed of quantum dot emitters and inorganic nanoparticles, which have the potential for efficiencies equivalent to that of LEDs and OLEDs and lifetime, brightness, and environmental stability between that of LEDs and OLEDs. At the end of the project the Recipient shall gain an understanding of the device physics and properties of Quantum-Dot LEDs (QD-LEDs), have reliable and accurate nanocrystal synthesis routines, and have formed green-yellow emitting QD-LEDs with a device efficiency greater than 3 lumens/W, a brightness greater than 400 cd/m2, and a device operational lifetime of more than 1000 hours. Thus the aim of the project is to break the current cost-efficiency paradigm by creating novel low cost inorganic LEDs composed of inorganic nanoparticles.

The above quote, taken from the executive summary of the Report from the US DOE Basic Energy Sciences Workshop held August 6–8, 2007,[1] places in context the research carried out at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which is reported in this document. The enormous impact of heterogeneous catalysis is exemplified by the Haber process for the synthesis of ammonia, which consumes a few % of the world’s energy supply and natural gas, and feeds as many as a third of the world’s population. While there have been numerous advances in understanding the process,[2] culminating in the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Gerhard Ertl in 2007, it is interesting to note that the catalysts themselves have changed very little since they were discovered heuristically in the the early part of the 20th century. The thesis of this report is that modern materials chemistry, with all the empirical knowledge of solid state chemistry, combined with cutting edge structural tools, can help develop and better heterogeneous catalysis. The first part of this report describes research in the area of early transition metal carbides (notably of Mo and W), potentially useful catalysts for water gas shift (WGS) and related reactions of use …

This report summarizes information on historical waste loss events associated with tanks and piplines in the 241-A and 241-AX tank farms.

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Improved power density and freeze-thaw durability in automotive applications of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) requires effective water management at the membrane. This is controlled by a porous hydrophobic gas-diffusion-layer (GDL) inserted between the membrane catalyst layer and the gas reactant channels. The GDL distributes the incoming gaseous reactants on the catalyst surface and removes excess water by capillary action. There is, however, limited understanding of the multiphase, multi-component transport of liquid water, vapor and gaseous reactants within these porous materials. This is due primarily to the challenges of in-situ diagnostics for such thin (200 -“ 300 {microns}), optically opaque (graphite) materials. Transport is typically analyzed by fitting Darcy's Law type expressions for permeability, in conjunction with capillary pressure relations based on formulations derived for media such as soils. Therefore, there is significant interest in developing predictive models for transport in GDLs and related porous media. Such models could be applied to analyze and optimize systems based on the interactions between cell design, materials, and operating conditions, and could also be applied to evaluating material design concepts. Recently, the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) has emerged as an effective tool in modeling multiphase flows in general, and flows through porous …

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Zirconium oxide is an advanced ceramic material highly useful for structural and electrical applications because of its high strength, fracture toughness, chemical and thermal stability, and biocompatibility. If highly-ordered porous zirconium oxide membranes can be successfully formed, this will expand its real-world applications, such as further enhancing solid-oxide fuel cell technology. Recent studies have achieved various morphologies of porous zirconium oxide via anodization, but they have yet to create a porous layer where nanoholes are formed in a highly ordered array. In this study, electrochemical methods were used for zirconium oxide synthesis due to its advantages over other coating techniques, and because the thickness and morphology of the ceramic fi lms can be easily tuned by the electrochemical parameters, such as electrolyte solutions and processing conditions, such as pH, voltage, and duration. The effects of additional steps such as pre-annealing and post-annealing were also examined. Results demonstrate the formation of anodic porous zirconium oxide with diverse morphologies, such as sponge-like layers, porous arrays with nanoholes ranging from 40 to 75 nm, and nanotube layers. X-ray powder diffraction analysis indicates a cubic crystallographic structure in the zirconium oxide. It was noted that increased voltage improved the ability of the membrane to …

This report documents work performed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington, and at the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) Nondestructive Examination (NDE) Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, on evalutating a low frequency ultrasonic inspection technique used for examination of cast stainless steel (CSS) and dissimilar metal (DMW) reactor piping components. The technique uses a zone-focused, multi-incident angle, low frequency (250-450 kHz) inspection protocol coupled with the synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT). The primary focus of this work is to provide information to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the utility, effectiveness and reliability of ultrasonic testing (UT) inspection techniques as related to the inservice ultrasonic inspection of coarse grained primary piping components in pressurized water reactors (PWRs).

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Over the past two decades, continuum quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) has proved to be an invaluable tool for predicting of the properties of matter from fundamental principles. By solving the Schrodinger equation through a stochastic projection, it achieves the greatest accuracy and reliability of methods available for physical systems containing more than a few quantum particles. QMC enjoys scaling favorable to quantum chemical methods, with a computational effort which grows with the second or third power of system size. This accuracy and scalability has enabled scientific discovery across a broad spectrum of disciplines. The current methods perform very efficiently at the terascale. The quantum Monte Carlo Endstation project is a collaborative effort among researchers in the field to develop a new generation of algorithms, and their efficient implementations, which will take advantage of the upcoming petaflop architectures. Some aspects of these developments are discussed here. These tools will expand the accuracy, efficiency and range of QMC applicability and enable us to tackle challenges which are currently out of reach. The methods will be applied to several important problems including electronic and structural properties of water, transition metal oxides, nanosystems and ultracold atoms.

China has been, is, and will continue to be a coal-powered economy. The rapid growth of coal demand since 2001 has created deepening strains and bottlenecks that raise questions about supply security. Although China's coal is 'plentiful,' published academic and policy analyses indicate that peak production will likely occur between 2016 and 2029. Given the current economic growth trajectory, domestic production constraints will lead to a coal gap that is not likely to be filled with imports. Urbanization, heavy industry growth, and increasing per-capita consumption are the primary drivers of rising coal usage. In 2006, the power sector, iron and steel, and cement accounted for 71% of coal consumption. Power generation is becoming more efficient, but even extensive roll-out of the highest efficiency units could save only 14% of projected 2025 coal demand. If China follows Japan, steel production would peak by 2015; cement is likely to follow a similar trajectory. A fourth wedge of future coal consumption is likely to come from the burgeoning coal-liquefaction and chemicals industries. New demand from coal-to-liquids and coal-to-chemicals may add 450 million tonnes of coal demand by 2025. Efficient growth among these drivers indicates that China's annual coal demand will reach 4.2 to …

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This presentation introduces the spin structure functions and resonant spin structure, and it discusses the experimental approaches for studying spin structure via polarized electron beam interactions with frozen polarized proton and deuteron targets.

The next generation of fracture assessment procedures for nuclear reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) will combine nonlinear analyses of crack-front response with stochastic treatments of crack size, shape, orientation, location, material properties and thermal-pressure transients. The projected computational demands needed to support stochastic approaches with detailed 3-D, nonlinear stress analyses of vessels containing defects appear well beyond current and near-term capabilities. In the interim, 2-D models become appealing to approximate certain classes of critical flaws in RPVs, and have computational demands within reach for stochastic frameworks. The present work focuses on the capability of 2-D models to provide values for the Weibull stress fracture parameter with accuracy comparable to those from very detailed 3-D models. Weibull stress approaches provide one route to connect nonlinear vessel response with fracture toughness values measured using small laboratory specimens. The embedded axial flaw located in the RPV wall near the cladding-vessel interface emerges from current linear-elastic, stochastic investigations as a critical contributor to the conditional probability of initiation. Three different types of 2-D models reflecting this configuration are subjected to a thermal-pressure transient characteristic of a critical pressurized thermal shock event. The plane-strain, 2-D models include: the modified boundary layer (MBL) model, the middle tension …

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The objective of the project was to realize an LED-based lighting technology platform for general illumination, starting with LED chips, and integrating the necessary technologies to make compact, user-friendly, high-efficiency, energy-saving sources of controlled white (or variable-colored) light. The project is to build the system around the LEDs, and not to work on the LEDs themselves, in order that working products can be introduced soon after the LEDs reach suitable efficiency for mass-production of high-power light sources for general illumination. Because the light sources are intended for general illumination, color must be accurately maintained, requiring feedback control in the electronics. The project objective has been realized and screw base demonstrators, based on the technology developed in the project, have been built.

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The objective of this project is to reduce the fuel consumption of off-highway vehicles, specifically large tonnage mine haul trucks. A hybrid energy storage and management system will be added to a conventional diesel-electric truck that will allow capture of braking energy normally dissipated in grid resistors as heat. The captured energy will be used during acceleration and motoring, reducing the diesel engine load, thus conserving fuel. The project will work towards a system validation of the hybrid system by first selecting an energy storage subsystem and energy management subsystem. Laboratory testing at a subscale level will evaluate these selections and then a full-scale laboratory test will be performed. After the subsystems have been proven at the full-scale lab, equipment will be mounted on a mine haul truck and integrated with the vehicle systems. The integrated hybrid components will be exercised to show functionality, capability, and fuel economy impacts in a mine setting.

Under the sponsorship of the U. S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, Siemens Westinghouse has conducted a three-year program to develop an ultra low NOx, fuel flexible catalytic combustor for gas turbine application in IGCC. The program is defined in three phases: Phase 1- Implementation Plan, Phase 2- Validation Testing and Phase 3 – Field Testing. Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the program have been completed. In IGCC power plants, the gas turbine must be capable of operating on syngas as a primary fuel and an available back-up fuel such as natural gas. In this program the Rich Catalytic Lean (RCLTM) technology is being developed as an ultra low NOx combustor. In this concept, ultra low NOx is achieved by stabilizing a lean premix combustion process by using a catalytic reactor to oxidize a portion of the fuel, increasing the temperature of fuel/air mixture prior to the main combustion zone. In Phase 1, the feasibility of the catalytic concept for syngas application has been evaluated and the key technology issues identified. In Phase II the technology necessary for the application of the catalytic concept to IGCC fuels was developed through detailed design and subscale testing. Phase …

Policymakers are encouraging the development of standardized and consistent methods to quantify the electric load impacts of demand response programs. For load impacts, an essential part of the analysis is the estimation of the baseline load profile. In this paper, we present a statistical evaluation of the performance of several different models used to calculate baselines for commercial buildings participating in a demand response program in California. In our approach, we use the model to estimate baseline loads for a large set of proxy event days for which the actual load data are also available. Measures of the accuracy and bias of different models, the importance of weather effects, and the effect of applying morning adjustment factors (which use data from the day of the event to adjust the estimated baseline) are presented. Our results suggest that (1) the accuracy of baseline load models can be improved substantially by applying a morning adjustment, (2) the characterization of building loads by variability and weather sensitivity is a useful indicator of which types of baseline models will perform well, and (3) models that incorporate temperature either improve the accuracy of the model fit or do not change it.