Chemical Cleaning is currently in progress for Tanks 5 and 6 at the Savannah River Site. The Chemical Cleaning process is being utilized to remove the residual waste heel remaining after completion of Mechanical Sludge Removal. This work is required to prepare the tanks for closure. Tanks 5 and 6 are 1950s vintage carbon steel waste tanks that do not meet current containment standards. These tanks are 22.9 meters (75 feet) in diameter, 7.5 meters (24.5 feet) in height, and have a capacity of 2.84E+6 liters (750,000 gallons). Chemical Cleaning adds 8 wt % oxalic acid to the carbon steel tank to dissolve the remaining sludge heel. The resulting acidic waste solution is transferred to Tank 7 where it is pH adjusted to minimize corrosion of the carbon steel tank. The Chemical Cleaning flowsheet includes multiple strikes of acid in each tank. Acid is delivered by tanker truck and is added to the tanks through a hose assembly connected to a pipe penetration through the tank top. The flowsheet also includes spray washing with acid and water. This paper includes an overview of the configuration required for Chemical Cleaning, the planned flowsheet, and an overview of technical concerns associated with …

The Hypothetical Accident Conditions (HAC) sequential test of radioactive materials packages includes a thermal test to confirm the ability of the package to withstand a transportation fire event. The test specified by the regulations (10 CFR 71) consists of a 30 minute, all engulfing, hydrocarbon fuel fire, with an average flame temperature of at least 800 C. The requirements specify an average emissivity for the fire of at least 0.9, which implies an essentially black radiation environment. Alternate test which provide equivalent total heat input at the 800 C time averaged environmental temperature may also be employed. When alternate tests methods are employed, such as furnace or gaseous fuel fires, the equivalence of the radiation environment may require justification. The effects of furnace and open confinement fire environments are compared with the regulatory fire environment, including the effects of gases resulting from decomposition of package overpack materials. The results indicate that furnace tests can produce the required radiation heat transfer environment, i.e., equivalent to the postulated pool fire. An open enclosure, with transparent (low emissivity) fire does not produce an equivalent radiation environment.

Determination of the strains in a polycrystalline materialusing 4-D XRD reveals sub-grain and grain-to-grain behavior as a functionof stress. Here 4-D XRD involves an experimental procedure usingpolychromatic micro-beam X-radiation (micro-Laue) to characterizepolycrystalline materials in spatial location as well as with increasingstress. The in-situ tensile loading experiment measured strain in a modelaluminum-sapphire metal matrix composite using the Advanced Light Source,Beam-line 7.3.3. Micro-Laue resolves individual grains in thepolycrystalline matrix. Results obtained from a list of grains sorted bycrystallographic orientation depict the strain states within and amongindividual grains. Locating the grain positions in the planeperpendicular to the incident beam is trivial. However, determining theexact location of grains within a 3-D space is challenging. Determiningthe depth of the grains within the matrix (along the beam direction)involved a triangulation method tracing individual rays that producespots on the CCD back to the point of origin. Triangulation wasexperimentally implemented by simulating a 3-D detector capturingmultiple diffraction images while increasing the camera to sampledistance. Hence by observing the intersection of rays from multiple spotsbelonging to the corresponding grain, depth is calculated. Depthresolution is a function of the number of images collected, grain to beamsize ratio, and the pixel resolution of the CCD. The 4DXRD methodprovides grain morphologies, strain …

Hydrogen storage is one of the greatest challenges for implementing the ever sought hydrogen economy. Here we report a novel cycle to reversibly form high density hydrogen storage materials such as aluminium hydride. Aluminium hydride (AlH{sub 3}, alane) has a hydrogen storage capacity of 10.1 wt% H{sub 2}, 149 kg H{sub 2}/m{sup 3} volumetric density and can be discharged at low temperatures (< 100 C). However, alane has been precluded from use in hydrogen storage systems because of the lack of practical regeneration methods; the direct hydrogenation of aluminium to form AlH{sub 3} requires over 10{sup 5} bars of hydrogen pressure at room temperature and there are no cost effective synthetic means. Here we show an unprecedented reversible cycle to form alane electrochemically, using alkali alanates (e.g. NaAlH{sub 4}, LiAlH{sub 4}) in aprotic solvents. To complete the cycle, the starting alanates can be regenerated by direct hydrogenation of the dehydrided alane and the alkali hydride being the other compound formed in the electrochemical cell. The process of forming NaAlH{sub 4} from NaH and Al is well established in both solid state and solution reactions. The use of adducting Lewis bases is an essential part of this cycle, in the isolation …

We propose a method for generating well-shaped curved unstructured meshes using a nonlinear elasticity analogy. The geometry of the domain to be meshed is represented as an elastic solid. The undeformed geometry is the initial mesh of linear triangular or tetrahedral elements. The external loading results from prescribing a boundary displacement to be that of the curved geometry, and the final configuration is determined by solving for the equilibrium configuration. The deformations are represented using piecewise polynomials within each element of the original mesh. When the mesh is sufficiently fine to resolve the solid deformation, this method guarantees non-intersecting elements even for highly distorted or anisotropic initial meshes. We describe the method and the solution procedures, and we show a number of examples of two and three dimensional simplex meshes with curved boundaries. We also demonstrate how to use the technique for local refinement of non-curved meshes in the presence of curved boundaries.

Microbes are the foundation for all of life. From the air we breathe to the soil we rely on for farming to the water we drink, everything humans need to survive is intimately coupled with the activities of microbes. Major advances have been made in the understanding of disease and the use of microorganisms in the industrial production of drugs, food products and wastewater treatment. However, our understanding of many complicated microbial environments (the gut and teeth), soil fertility, and biogeochemical cycles of the elements is lagging behind due to their enormous complexity. Inadequate technology and limited resources have stymied many lines of investigation. Today, most environmental microorganisms have yet to be isolated and identified, let alone rigorously studied. The American Academy of Microbiology convened a colloquium in Seattle, Washington, in February 2007, to deliberate the way forward in the study of microorganisms and microbial activities in the environment. Researchers in microbiology, marine science, pathobiology, evolutionary biology, medicine, engineering, and other fields discussed ways to build on and extend recent successes in microbiology. The participants made specific recommendations for targeting future research, improving methodologies and techniques, and enhancing training and collaboration in the field. Microbiology has made a great deal …

This paper describes the results of the analyses of High Level Waste (HLW) sludge slurry samples and of the calculations necessary to decay the radionuclides to meet the reporting requirement in the Waste Acceptance Product Specifications (WAPS) [1]. The concentrations of 45 radionuclides were measured. The results of these analyses provide input for radioactive decay calculations used to project the radionuclide inventory at the specified index years, 2015 and 3115. This information is necessary to complete the Production Records at Savannah River Site's Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) so that the final glass product resulting from Macrobatch 5 (MB5) can eventually be submitted to a Federal Repository. Five of the necessary input radionuclides for the decay calculations could not be measured directly due to their low concentrations and/or analytical interferences. These isotopes are Nb-93m, Pd-107, Cd-113m, Cs-135, and Cm-248. Methods for calculating these species from concentrations of appropriate other radionuclides will be discussed. Also the average age of the MB5 HLW had to be calculated from decay of Sr-90 in order to predict the initial concentration of Nb-93m. As a result of the measurements and calculations, thirty-one WAPS reportable radioactive isotopes were identified for MB5. The total activity of MB5 …

The Genomes On Line Database (GOLD) is a comprehensive resource of information for genome and metagenome projects world-wide. GOLD provides access to complete and ongoing projects and their associated metadata through pre-computed lists and a search page. The database currently incorporates information for more than 2900 sequencing projects, of which 639 have been completed and the data deposited in the public databases. GOLD is constantly expanding to provide metadata information related to the project and the organism and is compliant with the Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence (MIGS) specifications.

A real number alpha is said to be b-normal if every m-long string of digits appears in the base-b expansion of alpha with limiting frequency b-m. We prove that alpha is b-normal if and only if it possesses no base-b ''hot spot''. In other words, alpha is b-normal if and only if there is no real number y such that smaller and smaller neighborhoods of y are visited by the successive shifts of the base-b expansion of alpha with larger and larger frequencies, relative to the lengths of these neighborhoods

We present techniques for implicit solution of discontinuous Galerkin discretizations of the Navier-Stokes equations on parallel computers. While a block-Jacobi method is simple and straight-forward to parallelize, its convergence properties are poor except for simple problems. Therefore, we consider Newton-GMRES methods preconditioned with block-incomplete LU factorizations, with optimized element orderings based on a minimum discarded fill (MDF) approach. We discuss the difficulties with the parallelization of these methods, but also show that with a simple domain decomposition approach, most of the advantages of the block-ILU over the block-Jacobi preconditioner are still retained. The convergence is further improved by incorporating the matrix connectivities into the mesh partitioning process, which aims at minimizing the errors introduced from separating the partitions. We demonstrate the performance of the schemes for realistic two- and three-dimensional flow problems.

Scientists are front and center in quantifying and solving environmental problems. Yet, as a spate of recent news articles in scientific journals point out, much can be done to enhance sustainability within the scientific enterprise itself, particularly by trimming the energy use associated with research facilities and the equipment therein (i,ii,iii, iv). Sponsors of research unwittingly spend on the order of $10 billion each year on energy in the U.S. alone, and the underlying inefficiencies drain funds from the research enterprise while causing 80 MT CO2-equivalent greenhouse-gas emissions (see Box). These are significant sums considering the opportunity costs in terms of the amount of additional research that could be funded and emissions that could be reduced if the underlying energy was used more efficiently. By following commercially proven best practices in facility design and operation, scientists--and the sponsors of science--can cost-effectively halve these costs, while doing their part to put society on alow-carbon diet.

The plasma of a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) system has been investigated using a time-of-flight (TOF) spectrometer. The target materials included high sputter yield materials (Cu, Ag), transition metals (Nb, Cr, Ti), and carbon (graphite); the sputtering gases were argon, krypton and nitrogen, and two different target thicknesses were selected to consider the role of the magnetic field strength. Measurements for selected combinations of those parameters give quantitative information on the transition from gas-dominated to metal-dominated (self-sputtering) plasma, on the fractions of ion charge states, and in the case of molecular gases, on the fraction of atomic and molecular ions.

The drive towards sustainable, low-energy buildings has increased the need for simple, yet accurate methods to evaluate whether a daylit building meets minimum standards for energy and human comfort performance. Current metrics do not account for the temporal and spatial aspects of daylight, nor of occupants comfort or interventions. This paper reviews the historical basis of current compliance methods for achieving daylit buildings, proposes a technical basis for development of better metrics, and provides two case study examples to stimulate dialogue on how metrics can be applied in a practical, real-world context.

Simulation of ductile fracture at the atomic scale reveals many aspects of the fracture process including specific mechanisms associated with void nucleation and growth as a precursor to fracture and the plastic deformation of the material surrounding the voids and cracks. Recently we have studied void coalescence in ductile metals using large-scale atomistic and continuum simulations. Here we review that work and present some related investigations. The atomistic simulations involve three-dimensional strain-controlled multi-million atom molecular dynamics simulations of copper. The correlated growth of two voids during the coalescence process leading to fracture is investigated, both in terms of its onset and the ensuing dynamical interactions. Void interactions are quantified through the rate of reduction of the distance between the voids, through the correlated directional growth of the voids, and through correlated shape evolution of the voids. The critical inter-void ligament distance marking the onset of coalescence is shown to be approximately one void radius based on the quantification measurements used, independent of the initial separation distance between the voids and the strain-rate of the expansion of the system. No pronounced shear flow is found in the coalescence process.

Rapidly growing electricity demand brings into question theability of traditional grids to expand correspondingly while providingreliable service. An alternative path is the wider application ofdistributed energy resource (DER) that apply combined heat and power(CHP). It can potentially shave peak loads and satiate its growing thirstfor electricity demand, improve overall energy efficiency, and lowercarbon and other pollutant emissions. This research investigates a methodof choosing economically optimal DER, expanding on prior studies at theBerkeley Lab using the DER design optimization program, the DistributedEnergy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM). DER-CAM finds theoptimal combination of installed equipment from available DERtechnologies, given prevailing utility tariffs, site electrical andthermal loads, and a menu of available equipment. It provides a globaloptimization, albeit idealized, that shows how the site energy loads canbe served at minimum cost by selection and operation of on-sitegeneration, heat recovery, and cooling. Utility electricity and gastariffs are key factors determining the economic benefit of a CHPinstallation, however often be neglected. This paper describespreliminary analysis on CHP investment climate in the U.S. and Japan. DERtechnologies, energy prices, and incentive measures has beeninvestigated.

In this paper, the corner rounding bias of a commercially available extreme ultraviolet photoresist is monitored as molecular weight, photoacid generator (PAG) size, and development time are varied. These experiments show that PAG size influences corner biasing while molecular weight and development time do not. Large PAGs are shown to exhibit less corner biasing, and in some cases, lower corner rounding, than small PAGs. In addition, heavier resist polymers are shown to exhibit less corner rounding than lighter ones.

D'Angelo, Gino, J., John C. Kilgo, Christopher E. Comer, Cory D. Drennan, David A. Osborn, and Karl V. Miller. 2003. Effects of controlled dog hunting on movements of female white-tailed deer. In: Proceedings of the Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Fish and Wildl. Agencies. 57:317-325. This article explores the relationship between controlled dog hunting and the movements of female white tailed deer at the Savannah River Site, South Carolina. The data suggests that short term, controlled dog hunting has little long-term effect on adult, female white-tailed deer movement on the Savannah River Site.

Edwards, John W.; Costa, Ralph. 2004. Range-wide success of red-cockaded woodpecker translocations. In: Red-cockaded woodpecker; Road to Recovery. Proceedings of the 4th Red-cockaded woodpecker Symposium. Ralph Costa and Susan J. Daniels, eds. Savannah, Georgia. January, 2003. Chapter 6. Translocation. Pp 307-311. Abstract: Red-cockaded woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) have declined range-wide during the past century, suffering from habitat loss and the effects of fire exclusion in older southern pine forests. Red-cockaded woodpecker translocations are a potentially important tool in conservation efforts to reestablish red-cockaded woodpeckers in areas from which they have been extirpated. Currently, translocations are critical in ongoing efforts to save and restore the many existing small populations. We examined the effects of demographic and environmental factors on the range-wide success of translocations between 1989 and 1995.

Red-cockaded woodpecker; Road to Recovery. Proceedings of the 4th Red-cockaded woodpecker Symposium. Ralph Costa and Susan J. Daniels, eds. Savannah, Georgia. January, 2003. Chapter 11. Prey, Fire, and Community Ecology. Pp 633-645. Abstract: Over a 10-year period we investigated red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) prey use, sources of prey, prey distribution within trees and stands, and how forest management decisions affect prey abundance in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Cameras were operated at 31 nest cavities to record nest visits with prey in 4 locations that ranged in foraging habitat from pine stands established in old fields to an old-growth stand in South Georgia. Examination of nearly 12,000 photographs recorded over 5 years revealed that, although red-cockaded woodpeckers used over 40 arthropods for food, the majority of the nestling diet is comprised of a relatively small number of common arthropods.

Risch, Thomas S., and Susan C. Loeb. 2004. Monitoring interactions between red-cockaded woodpeckers and southern flying squirrels. In: Red-cockaded woodpecker; Road to Recovery. Proceedings of the 4th Red-cockaded woodpecker Symposium. Ralph Costa and Susan J. Daniels, eds. Savannah, Georgia. January, 2003. Chapter 8. Cavities, Cavity Trees, and Cavity Communities. Pp 504-505. Abstract: Although several studies have suggested that southern flying squirrels (Glaucomys volans) may have a significant negative impact on red-cockades woodpeckers (Picoides borealsi) (Loeb and Hooper 1997, Laves and Loeb 1999), the nature of the interactions between the species remains unclear. Particularly lacking are data that address if southern flying squirrels directly usurp red-cockaded woodpecker s from cavities, or simply occupy cavities previously abandoned by red-cockaded woodpeckers. Ridley et al. (1997) observed the displacement of a red-cockaded woodpecker by a southern flying squirrel that was released after being captured. Observations of nocturnal displacements of red-cockaded woodpeckers by flying squirrels, however, are lacking. Due to the difficulty of observing interspecific interactions, determining the mechanisims by which flying squirrels impact red-cockaded woodpeckers is problematic.

Loeb, Susan C., and Deanna L. Ruth. 2004. Seasonal use of red-cockaded woodpecker cavities by southern flying squirrels. In: Red-cockaded woodpecker; Road to Recovery. Proceedings of the 4th Red-cockaded woodpecker Symposium. Ralph Costa and Susan J. Daniels, eds. Savannah, Georgia. January, 2003. Chapter 8. Cavities, Cavity Trees, and Cavity Communities. Pp 501-502. Abstract: Southern flying squirrels can significantly impact red-cockaded woodpecker reproductive success (Laves and Loeb 1999). Thus exclusion or removal of flying squirrels from red-cockaded woodpecker cavities and clusters may be warranted in small woodpecker populations (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2003). However, development of effective and efficient protocols for southern flying squirrel control requires an understanding of the seasonal dynamics of southern flying squirrel cavity use. Most studies of southern flying squirrel use of red-cockaded woodpecker cavities have been conducted during spring (e.g., Harlow and Lennartz 1983, Rudolph et al. 1990a, Loeb 1993) and no studies have examined the effects of long term flying squirrel control on subsequent cavity use. The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) whether flying squirrel use of red-cockaded woodpecker cavities varies with season or cavity type, and (2) the long term effect of continuous squirrel removal.

Barton, Christopher, D., Diane DeSteven and John C. Kilgo. 2004. Mitigation bank promotes research on restoring Coastal Plain depression wetlands (South Carolina). Ecol. Rest. 22(4):291-292. Abstract: Carolina bays and smaller depression wetlands support diverse plant communities and provide critical habitat for semi-aquatic fauna throughout the Coastal Plain region of the southeastern United States. Historically, many depression wetlands were altered or destroyed by surface ditching, drainage, and agricultural or silviculture uses. These important habitats are now at further risk of alteration and loss following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2001 restricting federal regulation of isolated wetlands. Thus, there is increased attention towards protecting intact sites and developing methods to restore others. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) 312-mi2 (800-km2) Savannah River Site (SRS) in west-central South Carolina includes about 350 Carolina bays and bay-like wetland depressions, of which about two-thirds were degraded or destroyed prior to federal acquisition of the land. Although some of the altered wetlands have recovered naturally, others still have active active drainage ditches and contain successional forests typical of drained sites. In 1997, DOE established a wetland mitigation bank to compensate for unavoidable wetland impacts on the SRS. This effort provided an opportunity fir a systematic …

Identification of transfer RNAs in animal mitochondrial genomes is important for many areas of genome analysis including phylogenetic reconstruction, understanding inheritance of disease, and identifying forensic materials. Animal mitochondrial tRNAs differ from the canonical tRNAs in both their secondary structure and level of conservation of nucleotide sequence and therefore, conventional tRNA or general RNA searching software cannot be used for identification and custom methods are required. Here we present the results of an experimental analysis of four different methods tested on a large dataset consisting of 5,720 tRNAs extracted from the entire set of complete animal mitochondrial genomes in GenBank. Methods were evaluated based on number of false negatives and false positives. Additionally, we present a new scoring scheme customized for animal mitochondrial tRNAs.

A wide variety of applications ranging from medical (BNCT, Boron Neutron Capture Therapy) and basic science (neutron imaging, material studies) to homeland security (explosive detection and nuclear material non-proliferation) are in need of compact, high flux neutron generators. The Plasma and Ion Source Technology Group in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is developing various neutron generators for these applications. These neutron generators employed either the D-D or the D-T fusion reaction for the neutron production. The deuterium or deuterium-tritium gas mixture is ionized in an RF-driven plasma source. The ions are then accelerated to {approx}100 keV energy using high current, high voltage DC-power supply to a target where the 2.45 MeV (for D-D reaction) or 14 MeV (for the D-T reaction) neutrons are generated. The development of two different types of neutron tubes are being discussed in this presentation, namely compact, pulsed operation neutron generators and cw, high yield neutron generators. These generators are currently operating at D-D neutron yields of 108 n/s and 109 n/s respectively. A facility, incorporating the larger neutron generator, has been constructed for Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) measurements.