10 CFR 850 defines a contractor as any entity, including affiliated entities, such as a parent corporation, under contract with DOE, including a subcontractor at any tier, with responsibility for performing work at a DOE site in furtherance of a DOE mission. The Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Program (CBDPP) applies to beryllium-related activities that are performed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The CBDPP or Beryllium Safety Program is integrated into the LLNL Worker Safety and Health Program and, thus, implementation documents and responsibilities are integrated in various documents and organizational structures. Program development and management of the CBDPP is delegated to the Environment, Safety and Health (ES&H) Directorate, Worker Safety and Health Functional Area. As per 10 CFR 850, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) periodically submits a CBDPP to the National Nuclear Security Administration/Livermore Site Office (NNSA/LSO). The requirements of this plan are communicated to LLNS workers through ES&H Manual Document 14.4, 'Working Safely with Beryllium.' 10 CFR 850 is implemented by the LLNL CBDPP, which integrates the safety and health standards required by the regulation, components of the LLNL Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS), and incorporates other components of the LLNL ES&H Program. As described in …

In this note, the analysis on linac quadrupole misalignment is presented for the FACET linac section LI05-09 plus LI11-19. The effectiveness of the beam-based alignment technique is preliminarily confirmed by the measurement. Beam-based alignment technique was adopted at SLAC linac since SLC time. Here the beam-based alignment algorithms are further developed and applied in the FACET commissioning during 2012 run.

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The prior project consisted of two main project lines. First, characterization of novel nanomaterials for hydrodesulfurization (HDS) applications. Second, studying more traditional model systems for HDS such as vapor-deposited silica-supported Mo and MoSx clusters. In the first subproject, we studied WS2 and MoS2 fullerene-like nanoparticles as well as WS2 nanotubes. Thiophene (C4H4S) was used as the probe molecule. Interestingly, metallic and sulfur-like adsorption sites could be identified on the silica-supported fullerene-particles system. Similar structures are seen for the traditional system (vapor-deposited clusters). Thus, this may be a kinetics fingerprint feature of modern HDS model systems. In addition, kinetics data allowed characterization of the different adsorption sites for thiophene on and inside WS2 nanotube bundles. The latter is a unique feature of nanotubes that has not been reported before for any inorganic nanotube system; however, examples are known for carbon nanotubes, including prior work of the PI. Although HDS has been studied for decades, utilizing nanotubes as nanosized HDS reactors has never been tried before, as far as we know. This is of interest from a fundamental perspective. Unfortunately, the HDS activity of the nanocatalysts at ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions was close to the detection limit of our techniques. Therefore, we …

New York University, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, participated in the “Fusion Simulation Program (FSP) Planning Activities” [http://www.pppl.gov/fsp], with C.S. Chang as the institutional PI. FSP’s mission was to enable scientific discovery of important new plasma phenomena with associated understanding that emerges only upon integration. This requires developing a predictive integrated simulation capability for magnetically-confined fusion plasmas that are properly validated against experiments in regimes relevant for producing practical fusion energy. Specific institutional goal of the New York University was to participate in the planning of the edge integrated simulation, with emphasis on the usage of large scale HPCs, in connection with the SciDAC CPES project which the PI was leading. New York University successfully completed its mission by participating in the various planning activities, including the edge physics integration, the edge science drivers, and the mathematical verification. The activity resulted in the combined report that can be found in http://www.pppl.gov/fsp/Overview.html. Participation and presentations as part of this project are listed in a separation file.

The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at the University of Rochester is proposing a collaborative effort with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL), the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and General Atomics (GA) with the goal of developing a cryogenic polar drive (PD) ignition platform on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The scope of this proposed project requires close discourse among theorists, experimentalists, and laser and system engineers. This document describes how this proposed project can be broken into a series of parallel independent activities that, if implemented, could deliver this goal in the 2017 timeframe. This Conceptual Design document is arranged into two sections: mission need and design requirements. Design requirements are divided into four subsystems: (1) A point design that details the necessary target specifications and laser pulse requirements; (2) The beam smoothing subsystem that describes the MultiFM 1D smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD); (3) New optical elements that include continuous phase plates (CPP's) and distributed polarization rotators (DPR's); and (4) The cryogenic target handling and insertion subsystem, which includes the design, fabrication, testing, and deployment of a dedicated PD ignition target insertion cryostat (PD-ITIC). This document includes appendices covering: the primary criteria and functional …

Silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells are alternative energy sources that are important in sustainable power generation. Currently, applications of PV cells are limited by the low output voltage and somewhat low efficiency of such devices. In light of this fact, this project investigates the possibility of fabricating high-voltage PV cells on float-zone silicon wafers having output voltages ranging from 50 V to 2000 V. Three designs with different geometries of diffusion layers were simulated and compared in terms of metal coverage, recombination, built-in potential, and conduction current density. One design was then chosen and optimized to be implemented in the final device design. The results of the simulation serve as a feasibility test for the design concept and provide supportive evidence of the effectiveness of silicon PV cells as high-voltage power supplies.

We report the first detection of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission above 140GeV from PKS 1424+240, a BL Lac object with an unknown redshift. The photon spectrum above 140GeV measured by VERITAS is well described by a power law with a photon index of 3.8 {+-}0.5{sub stat} {+-} 0.3{sub syst} and a flux normalization at 200 GeV of (5.1 {+-} 0.9{sub stat} {+-} 0.5{sub syst}) x 10{sup -11} TeV{sup -1} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, where stat and syst denote the statistical and systematical uncertainty, respectively. The VHE flux is steady over the observation period between MJD 54881 and 55003 (2009 February 19 to June 21). Flux variability is also not observed in contemporaneous high energy observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Contemporaneous X-ray and optical data were also obtained from the Swift XRT and MDM observatory, respectively. The broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) is well described by a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model favoring a redshift of less than 0.1. Using the photon index measured with Fermi in combination with recent extragalactic background light (EBL) absorption models it can be concluded from the VERITAS data that the redshift of PKS 1424+240 is less than 0.66.

The high operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) provides good fuel flexibility which expands potential applications, but also creates materials challenges. One such challenge is the interconnect material, which was the focus of this project. In particular, the objective of the project was to understand the interaction between the interconnect alloy and ceramic coatings which are needed to minimize chromium volatilization and the associated chromium poisoning of the SOFC cathode. This project focused on coatings based on manganese cobalt oxide spinel phases (Mn,Co)3O4, which have been shown to be effective as coatings for ferritic stainless steel alloys. Analysis of diffusion couples was used to develop a model to describe the interaction between (Mn,Co)3O4 and Cr2O3 in which a two-layer reaction zone is formed. Both layers form the spinel structure, but the concentration gradients at the interface appear like a two-phase boundary suggesting that a miscibility gap is present in the spinel solid solution. A high-chromium spinel layer forms in contact with Cr2O3 and grows by diffusion of manganese and cobalt from the coating material to the Cr2O3. The effect of coating composition, including the addition of dopants, was evaluated and indicated that the reaction rate could be decreased …

The spread of submarines and related technology is an end product of globalization. Globalization is not a new story. By one estimate, our ancestors first crossed out of Africa roughly 80,000 years ago, and began the process that they now call globalization. With the dispersion of people around the world came the development of culture and civilization as well as the spread of ideas, goods, and technology. The process of globalization then is a long-standing one, not an innovation of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Over the millennia, this process has been an uneven one. Globalization has often cuased great disruptions even to the societies that initiated various innovations in culture and civilization, including science and technology. Indeed, many cultures and civilizations have disappeared while some regions failed to advance as rapidly as others, so the process of globalization is not just one of continuing progress. Globalization in the current era seems to be penetrating the most remote corners of the world at a remarkable rate as a result of advances in science and technology, particularly information technology. The diffusion of science and technology is not necessarily a benign development. It could increase the potential for a global …

The energy-partitioning, energy-coupling (EPEC) experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) will simultaneously measure the coupling of energy into both ground shock and air-blast overpressure from a laser-driven target. The source target for the experiment is positioned at a known height above the ground-surface simulant and is heated by four beams from NIF. The resulting target energy density and specific energy are equal to those of a low-yield nuclear device. The ground-shock stress waves and atmospheric overpressure waveforms that result in our test system are hydrodynamically scaled analogs of seismic and air-blast phenomena caused by a nuclear weapon. In what follows, we discuss the motivation for our investigation and briefly describe NIF. Then, we introduce the EPEC experiments, including diagnostics, in more detail.

Experimental studies of neutrino properties, with particular emphasis on neutrino oscillation, mass and mixing parameters. This research was pursued by means of underground detectors for reactor anti-neutrinos, measuring the flux and energy spectra of the neutrinos. More recent investigations have been aimed and developing detector technologies for a long-baseline neutrino experiment (LBNE) using a neutrino beam from Fermilab.

Durability testing was performed on an external fuel processor (EFP) for a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power plant. The EFP enables the SOFC to reach high system efficiency (electrical efficiency up to 60%) using pipeline natural gas and eliminates the need for large quantities of bottled gases. LG Fuel Cell Systems Inc. (formerly known as Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems (US) Inc.) (LGFCS) is developing natural gas-fired SOFC power plants for stationary power applications. These power plants will greatly benefit the public by reducing the cost of electricity while reducing the amount of gaseous emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides compared to conventional power plants. The EFP uses pipeline natural gas and air to provide all the gas streams required by the SOFC power plant; specifically those needed for start-up, normal operation, and shutdown. It includes a natural gas desulfurizer, a synthesis-gas generator and a start-gas generator. The research in this project demonstrated that the EFP could meet its performance and durability targets. The data generated helped assess the impact of long-term operation on system performance and system hardware. The research also showed the negative impact of ambient weather (both hot and cold conditions) on system operation …

The purpose of this project was to better understand the 'Multiscale Dynamics of Relaxor Ferroelectrics'. The output of the project is summarized in the narrative. The results of the work were presented at a number of different conferences and four papers were written, the references to which are also indicated in the report and which have also been uploaded on e-link. The multiscale dynamics of relaxors was clearly identified in the three characteristic temperatures that were identified. In particular, we were the first group to identify an intermediate temperature, T*, at which the correlations between off-center ions in relaxor cross-over from being dynamic to being static and giving rise to the characteristic relaxor behavior in the dielectric constant. Other groups have now confirmed the existence of such an intermediate temperature. We also made and reported two other observations: (1) a coherent interference phenomena (EIT-like effect) near the transition of several relaxors, which provides information on the nature and mechanism of the transition; and (2) in a similar way, inelastic neutron scattering results were interpreted as resonant scattering of acoustic phonons by localized modes in polar nanodomains. In parallel with the neutron scattering work, we also developed a theory of the …

Improving the representation of local and non-local aerosol interactions in state-of-the-science regional climate models is a priority for the coming decade (Zhang, 2008). With this aim in mind, we have combined two new technologies that have a useful synergy: (1) an aerosol-enabled regional climate model (Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Chemistry WRF-Chem), whose primary weakness is a lack of high quality boundary conditions and (2) an aerosol-enabled multiscale modeling framework (PNNL Multiscale Aerosol Climate Model (MACM)), which is global but captures aerosol-convection-cloud feedbacks, and thus an ideal source of boundary conditions. Combining these two approaches has resulted in an aerosol-enabled modeling framework that not only resolves high resolution details in a particular region, but crucially does so within a global context that is similarly faithful to multi-scale aerosol-climate interactions. We have applied and improved the representation of aerosol interactions by evaluating model performance over multiple domains, with (1) an extensive evaluation of mid-continent precipitation representation by multiscale modeling, (2) two focused comparisons to transport of aerosol plumes to the eastern United States for comparison with observations made as part of the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT), with the first being idealized and the …

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This is the final report for the Research Grant DE-FG02-08ER54989 'Edge Plasma Simulations in NSTX and CTF: Synergy of Lithium Coating, Non-Diffusive Anomalous Transport and Drifts'. The UCSD group including: A.Yu. Pigarov (PI), S.I. Krasheninnikov and R.D. Smirnov, was working on modeling of the impact of lithium coatings on edge plasma parameters in NSTX with the multi-species multi-fluid code UEDGE. The work was conducted in the following main areas: (i) improvements of UEDGE model for plasma-lithium interactions, (ii) understanding the physics of low-recycling divertor regime in NSTX caused by lithium pumping, (iii) study of synergistic effects with lithium coatings and non-diffusive ballooning-like cross-field transport, (iv) simulation of experimental multi-diagnostic data on edge plasma with lithium pumping in NSTX via self-consistent modeling of D-Li-C plasma with UEDGE, and (v) working-gas balance analysis. The accomplishments in these areas are given in the corresponding subsections in Section 2. Publications and presentations made under the Grant are listed in Section 3.

The three major components of this research were: 1. Application of minimally invasive, cost effective hydrogeophysical techniques (surface and borehole), to generate fine scale (~1m or less) 3D estimates of subsurface heterogeneity. Heterogeneity is defined as spatial variability in hydraulic conductivity and/or hydrolithologic zones. 2. Integration of the fine scale characterization of hydrogeologic parameters with the hydrogeologic facies to upscale the finer scale assessment of heterogeneity to field scale. 3. Determination of the relationship between dual-domain parameters and practical characterization data.

I attended the 20th biannual International Conference on Plasma Surface Interaction (PSI) in Fusion Devices in Aachen, Germany, hosted this year by the Forschungszentrum Julich (FZJ) research center. The PSI conference is one of the main international forums for the presentation and discussion of results on plasma surface interactions and edge plasma physics relevant to magnetic confinement fusion devices. I disseminated the recent results of FESP/LLNL tokamak research by presenting three posters on: (i) understanding reconnection and controlling edge localized modes (ELMs) using the BOUT++ code, (ii) simulation of resistive ballooning mode turbulence, and (iii) innovative design of Snowflake divertors. I learned of many new and recent results from international tokamak facilities and had the opportunity for discussion of these topics with other scientists at the poster sessions, conference lunches/receptions, etc. Some of the major highlights of the PSI conference topics were: (1) Review of the progress in using metallic tungsten and beryllium (ITER-like) walls at international tokamak facilities: JET (Culham, UK), TEXTOR (FZJ, Germany) and Alcator CMOD (MIT, USA). Results included: effect of small and large-area melting on plasma impurity content and recovery, expected reduction in retention of hydrogenic species, increased heat load during disruptions and need for mitigation …

Particle physics aims to understand the universe around us. The Standard Model of particle physics describes the basic structure of matter and forces, to the extent we have been able to probe thus far. However, it leaves some big questions unanswered. Some are within the Standard Model itself, such as why there are so many fundamental particles and why they have different masses. In other cases, the Standard Model simply fails to explain some phenomena, such as the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe, the existence of dark matter and dark energy, and the mechanism that reconciles gravity with quantum mechanics. These gaps lead us to conclude that the universe must contain new and unexplored elements of Nature. Most of particle and nuclear physics is directed towards discovering and understanding these new laws of physics. These questions are best pursued with a variety of approaches, rather than with a single experiment or technique. Particle physics uses three basic approaches, often characterized as exploration along the cosmic, energy, and intensity frontiers. Each employs different tools and techniques, but they ultimately address the same fundamental questions. This allows a multi-pronged approach where attacking basic questions from different angles furthers knowledge and provides …

We have completed our contributions to the Fusion Simulation Program Definition Project. Our contributions were in the overall planning with concentration in the definition of the area of Software Integration and Support. We contributed to the planning of multiple meetings, and we contributed to multiple planning documents.

The G-Band Vapor Radiometer Precipitable Water Vapor (GVRPWV) value-added product (VAP) computes precipitable water vapor using neural network techniques from data measured by the GVR. The GVR reports time-series measurements of brightness temperatures for four channels located at 183.3 ± 1, 3, 7, and 14 GHz.

Recently, variational symplectic algorithms have been developed for the long-time simulation of charged particles in magnetic fields1-3. As a direct consequence of their derivation from a discrete variational principle, these algorithms have very good long-time energy conservation, as well as exactly preserving discrete momenta. We present stability results for these algorithms, focusing on understanding how explicit variational integrators can be designed for this type of system. It is found that for explicit algorithms an instability arises because the discrete symplectic structure does not become the continuous structure in the t → 0 limit. We examine how a generalized gauge transformation can be used to put the Lagrangian in the "antisymmetric discretization gauge," in which the discrete symplectic structure has the correct form, thus eliminating the numerical instability. Finally, it is noted that the variational guiding center algorithms are not electromagnetically gauge invariant. By designing a model discrete Lagrangian, we show that the algorithms are approximately gauge invariant as long as A and #30; are relatively smooth. A gauge invariant discrete Lagrangian is very important in a variational particle-in-cell algorithm where it ensures current continuity and preservation of Gauss's law4.

This brief report contains a critique of two key components of FiveFocal's cost model for glass compression molding of chalcogenide lenses for infrared applications. Molding preforms and mold technology have the greatest influence on the ultimate cost of the product and help determine the volumes needed to select glass molding over conventional single-point diamond turning or grinding and polishing. This brief report highlights key areas of both technologies with recommendations for further study.