Corrosion has prevented use of SiC/Mg multilayers in applications requiring good lifetime stability. We have developed Al-based barrier layers that dramatically reduce corrosion, while preserving high reflectance and low stress. The aforementioned advances may enable the implementation of corrosion-resistant, high-performance SiC/Mg coatings in the 28-75 nm region in applications such as tabletop EUV/soft x-ray laser sources and solar physics telescopes. Further study and optimization of corrosion barrier structures and coating designs is underway.

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The production of fuels from sunlight represents one of the main challenges in the development of a sustainable energy system. Hydrogen is the simplest fuel to produce and although platinum and other noble metals are efficient catalysts for photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution earth-abundant alternatives are needed for large-scale use. We show that bioinspired molecular clusters based on molybdenum and sulphur evolve hydrogen at rates comparable to that of platinum. The incomplete cubane-like clusters (Mo{sub 3}S{sub 4}) efficiently catalyse the evolution of hydrogen when coupled to a p-type Si semiconductor that harvests red photons in the solar spectrum. The current densities at the reversible potential match the requirement of a photoelectrochemical hydrogen production system with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency in excess of 10% (ref. 16). The experimental observations are supported by density functional theory calculations of the Mo{sub 3}S{sub 4} clusters adsorbed on the hydrogen-terminated Si(100) surface, providing insights into the nature of the active site.

This report documents the preparation of three actual Hanford tank waste samples for shipment to the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). Two of the samples were dissolved saltcakes from tank 241-AN-103 (hereafter AN-103) and tank 241-SX-105 (hereafter SX-105); one sample was a supernate composite from tanks 241-AZ-101 and 241-AZ-102 (hereafter AZ-101/102). The preparation of the samples was executed following the test plans LAB-PLAN-10-00006, Test Plan for the Preparation of Samples from Hanford Tanks 241-SX-105, 241-AN-103, 241-AN-107, and LAB-PLN-10-00014, Test Plan for the Preparation of a Composite Sample from Hanford Tanks 241-AZ-101 and 241-AZ-102 for Steam Reformer Testing at the Savannah River National Laboratory. All procedural steps were recorded in laboratory notebook HNF-N-274 3. Sample breakdown diagrams for AN-103 and SX-105 are presented in Appendix A. The tank samples were prepared in support of a series of treatability studies of the Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) process using a Bench-Scale Reformer (BSR) at SRNL. Tests with simulants have shown that the FBSR mineralized waste form is comparable to low-activity waste glass with respect to environmental durability (WSRC-STI-2008-00268, Mineralization of Radioactive Wastes by Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR): Comparisons to Vitreous Waste Forms and Pertinent Durability Testing). However, a rigorous assessment requires …

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) is developing and deploying Mobile Arm Retrieval System (MARS) technologies solutions to support retrieval of radioactive and chemical waste from underground single shell storage tanks (SST) located at the Hanford Site, which is near Richland, Washington. WRPS has developed the MARS using a standardized platform that is capable of deploying multiple retrieval technologies. To date, WRPS, working with their mentor-protege company, Columbia Energy and Environmental Services (CEES), has developed two retrieval mechanisms, MARS-Sluicing (MARS-S) and MARS-Vacuum (MARS-V). MARS-S uses pressurized fluids routed through spray nozzles to mobilize waste materials to a centrally located slurry pump (deployed in 2011). MARS-V uses pressurized fluids routed through an eductor nozzle. The eductor nozzle allows a vacuum to be drawn on the waste materials. The vacuum allows the waste materials to be moved to an in-tank vessel, then extracted from the SST and subsequently pumped to newer and safer double shell tanks (DST) for storage until the waste is treated for disposal. The MARS-S system is targeted for sound SSTs (i.e., non leaking tanks). The MARS-V is targeted for assumed leaking tanks or those tanks that are of questionable integrity. Both versions of MARS are beinglhave been developed in …

The balloon-borne sounding system (SONDE) provides in situ measurements (vertical profiles) of both the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere and the wind speed and direction.

The overall objective of this research was to create new proton-conducting polymer electrolytes for use in energy conversion devices including hydrogen fuel cells that could operate at high temperatures (95-130 C) and under low relative humidity (< 50% RH) conditions. The new polymers were based on the fluoroalkylphosphonic and phosphinic acid (FPA) groups (see illustration below) which offer prospects for rapid proton transport by a proton-hopping mechanism similar to that which operates in phosphoric acid, a well-known proton-transporting electrolyte that is used in a class of hydrogen fuel cells that work well under the conditions noted above and are already commercially successful. The two specific project objectives were as follows: (1) synthesize and characterize new proton-conducting electrolytes based on the fluoroalkylphosphonic and phosphinic acid (FPA) functional groups; and (2) create and apply new computer models to study protonic conduction in FPA-based electrolytes. The project was successful in creating the desired polymer electrolytes and also a series of molecular model compounds which were used to study proton transport in FPA electrolytes in general. Computer models were created to study both structure and proton-transport dynamics in the electrolytes, particularly the molecular model compounds. Rapid proton transport by a hopping mechanism was found …

Crab cavities have been proposed for a wide number of accelerators and interest in crab cavities has recently increased after the successful operation of a pair of crab cavities in KEK-B. In particular crab cavities are required for both the ILC and CLIC linear colliders for bunch alignment. Consideration of bunch structure and size constraints favour a 3.9 GHz superconducting, multi-cell cavity as the solution for ILC, whilst bunch structure and beam-loading considerations suggest an X-band copper travelling wave structure for CLIC. These two cavity solutions are very different in design but share complex design issues. Phase stabilisation, beam loading, wakefields and mode damping are fundamental issues for these crab cavities. Requirements and potential design solutions will be discussed for both colliders.

The time to simulate pp collisions in the ATLAS detector is largely dominated by the showering of electromagnetic particles in the heavy parts of the detector, especially the electromagnetic barrel and endcap calorimeters. Two procedures have been developed to accelerate the processing time of electromagnetic particles in these regions: (1) a fast shower parameterisation and (2) a frozen shower library. Both work by generating the response of the calorimeter to electrons and positrons with Geant 4, and then reintroduce the response into the simulation at runtime. In the fast shower parameterisation technique, a parameterization is tuned to single electrons and used later by simulation. In the frozen shower technique, actual showers from low-energy particles are used in the simulation. Full Geant 4 simulation is used to develop showers down to {approx} 1 GeV, at which point the shower is terminated by substituting a frozen shower. Judicious use of both techniques over the entire electromagnetic portion of the ATLAS calorimeter produces an important improvement of CPU time. We discuss the algorithms and their performance in this paper.

The light-front holographic QCD approach is used to describe baryon spectroscopy and the systematics of nucleon transition form factors. Baryon spectroscopy and the excitation dynamics of nucleon resonances encoded in the nucleon transition form factors can provide fundamental insight into the strong-coupling dynamics of QCD. The transition from the hard-scattering perturbative domain to the non-perturbative region is sensitive to the detailed dynamics of confined quarks and gluons. Computations of such phenomena from first principles in QCD are clearly very challenging. The most successful theoretical approach thus far has been to quantize QCD on discrete lattices in Euclidean space-time; however, dynamical observables in Minkowski space-time, such as the time-like hadronic form factors are not amenable to Euclidean numerical lattice computations.

In 1950 Purcell and Ramsey suggested that the electron might have a CP-violating electric dipole moment (e-EDM) proportional to its spin angular momentum. This possibility initiated an ongoing hunt for the e-EDM that has been spurred on by the recognition of the importance of CP-violation to the formation of a matter-dominated universe[2] as well as a difference in magnitude of the Supersymmetric and Standard Model[4] prediction for its value. The current limit on the e-EDM is 1.6E−27 e·cm as determined in a Ramsey beam resonance study of the Tl atom. The PbF molecule provides a unique opportunity to measure the e-EDM. The molecule’s odd electron, heavy mass, and large internal field combine to give it an intrinsic sensitivity to an e-EDM that is over three orders of magnitude bigger than that of the Tl atom. In addition to this increased intrinsic sensitivity, the ground state of the PbF molecule allows for a "magic" electric field at which the magnetic moment vanishes[7]. All of these advantages create an opportunity to significantly lower the current limit on the e-EDM. These advantages can only be realized if an intense source of ground-state PbF molecules can be created and detected with high efficiency. The …

H-Canyon will begin dissolving High Aluminum - Low Uranium (High Al/Low U) Used Nuclear Fuel (UNF) following approval by DOE which is anticipated in CY2011. High Al/Low U is an aluminum/enriched uranium UNF with small quantities of uranium relative to aluminum. The maximum enrichment level expected is 93% {sup 235}U. The High Al/Low U UNF will be dissolved in H-Canyon in a nitric acid/mercury/gadolinium solution. The resulting solution will be neutralized and transferred to Tank 39H in the Tank Farm. To confirm that the solution generated could be poisoned with Gd, neutralized, and discarded to the Savannah River Site (SRS) high level waste (HLW) system without undue nuclear safety concerns the caustic precipitation of simulant solutions was examined. Experiments were performed with three simulant solutions representative of the H-Canyon estimated concentrations in the final solutions after dissolution. The maximum U, Gd, and Al concentration were selected for testing from the range of solution compositions provided. Simulants were prepared in three different nitric acid concentrations, ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 M. The simulant solutions were neutralized to four different endpoints: (1) just before a solid phase was formed (pH 3.5-4), (2) the point where a solid phase was obtained, (3) 0.8 …

The goals of this work were: (1) to improve the University of Washington shallow cumulus parameterization, first developed by the PI's group for better simulation of shallow oceanic cumulus convection in the MM5 mesoscale model (Bretherton et al., 2004, Mon. Wea. Rev.); (2) to explore its applicability to deep (precipitating) cumulus convection; and (3) to explore fundamental physical issues related to this cumulus parameterization.

When a finite pulse of plasma expands into a magnetized background plasma, MHD predicts the pulse expel background plasma and its B-field - i.e. cause a magnetic 'bubble'. The expanding plasma is confined within the bubble, later to escape down the B-field lines. MHD suggests that the debris energy goes to expelling the B-field from the bubble volume and kinetic energy of the displaced background. For HANEs, this is far from the complete story. For many realistic HANE regimes, the long mean-free-path for collisions necessitates a Kinetic Ion Simulation Model (KISM). The most obvious effect is that the debris plasma can decouple and slip through the background plasma. The implications are: (1) the magnetic bubble is not as large as expected and (2) the debris is no longer confined within the magnetic bubble.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) has the analytical measurement capability to perform high-precision plutonium concentration measurements by controlled-potential coulometry. State-of-the-art controlled-potential coulometers were designed and fabricated by the Savannah River National Laboratory and installed in the Analytical Laboratories process control laboratory. The Analytical Laboratories uses coulometry for routine accountability measurements of and for verification of standard preparations used to calibrate other plutonium measurement systems routinely applied to process control, nuclear safety, and other accountability applications. The SRNL Coulometer has a demonstrated measurement reliability of {approx}0.05% for 10 mg samples. The system has also been applied to the characterization of neptunium standard solutions with a comparable reliability. The SRNL coulometer features: a patented current integration system; continuous electrical calibration versus Faraday's Constants and Ohm's Law; the control-potential adjustment technique for enhanced application of the Nernst Equation; a wide operating room temperature range; and a fully automated instrument control and data acquisition capability. Systems have been supplied to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russia, Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and the New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL). The most recent vintage of electronics was based on early 1990's integrated circuits. Many of the components are no longer available. At the request of the …

Epitaxial thin films of the half-metallic X{sub a}-compound Mn{sub 2}CoGa (Hg{sub 2}CuTi prototype) were prepared by dc magnetron co-sputtering with different heat treatments on MgO (001) substrates. High-quality #12;lms with a bulk magnetization of 1.95(5) {mu}{sub #22;}B per unit cell were obtained. The average Mn magnetic moment and the Co moment are parallel, in agreement with theory. The x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra agree with calculations based on density functional theory and reveal the antiparallel alignment of the two inequivalent Mn moments. X-ray magnetic linear dichroism allows to distinguish between itinerant and localized Mn moments. It is shown that one of the two Mn moments has localized character, whereas the other Mn moment and the Co moment are itinerant.

We present an analysis of the gamma-ray measurements by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in the region of the supernova remnant (SNR) Cygnus Loop (G74.0-8.5). We detect significant gamma-ray emission associated with the SNR in the energy band 0.2-100 GeV. The gamma-ray spectrum shows a break in the range 2-3 GeV. The gamma-ray luminosity is {approx} 1 x 10{sup 33} erg s{sup -1} between 1-100 GeV, much lower than those of other GeV-emitting SNRs. The morphology is best represented by a ring shape, with inner/outer radii 0{sup o}.7 {+-} 0{sup o}.1 and 1{sup o}.6 {+-} 0{sup o}.1. Given the association among X-ray rims, H{alpha} filaments and gamma-ray emission, we argue that gamma rays originate in interactions between particles accelerated in the SNR and interstellar gas or radiation fields adjacent to the shock regions. The decay of neutral pions produced in nucleon-nucleon interactions between accelerated hadrons and interstellar gas provides a reasonable explanation for the gamma-ray spectrum.

We study paths to significantly reduce the emittance of the SPEAR3 storage ring. Lattice possibilities are explored with the GLASS technique. New lattices are designed and optimized for practical dynamic aperture and beam lifetime. Various techniques are employed to optimize the nonlinear dynamics, including the Elegant-based genetic algorithm. Experimental studies are also carried out on the ring to validate the lattice design. The SPEAR3 storage ring is a third generation light source which has a racetrack layout with a circumference of 234.1 m. The requirement to maintain the photon beamline positions put a significant constraint on the lattice design. Consequently the emittance of SPEAR3 is not on par with some of the recently-built third generation light sources. The present operational lattice has an emittance of 10 nm. For the photon beam brightness of SSRL to remain competitive among the new or upgraded ring-based light sources, it is necessary to significantly reduce the emittance of SPEAR3. In this paper we report our ongoing effort to develop a lower emittance solution for SSRL. We first show the potential of the SPEAR3 lattice with results of the standard cell study using the GLASS technique. This is followed by a discussion of the design …

This project was a continuation of previous work under DOE CCPP funding in which we developed a twin approach of non-homogeneous hidden Markov models (NHMMs) and coupled ocean-atmosphere (O-A) intermediate-complexity models (ICMs) to identify the potentially predictable modes of climate variability, and to investigate their impacts on the regional-scale. We have developed a family of latent-variable NHMMs to simulate historical records of daily rainfall, and used them to downscale seasonal predictions. We have also developed empirical mode reduction (EMR) models for gaining insight into the underlying dynamics in observational data and general circulation model (GCM) simulations. Using coupled O-A ICMs, we have identified a new mechanism of interdecadal climate variability, involving the midlatitude oceans’ mesoscale eddy field and nonlinear, persistent atmospheric response to the oceanic anomalies. A related decadal mode is also identified, associated with the oceans’ thermohaline circulation. The goal of the continuation was to build on these ICM results and NHMM/EMR model developments and software to strengthen two key pillars of support for the development and application of climate models for climate change projections on time scales of decades to centuries, namely: (a) dynamical and theoretical understanding of decadal-to-interdecadal oscillations and their predictability; and (b) an interface from …

Get a GRiP (Gravitational Risk Procedure) on risk by using an approach inspired by the physics of gravitational forces between body masses! In April 2010, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Special Events staff (Protective Security Advisors [PSAs]) expressed concern about how to calculate risk given measures of consequence, vulnerability, and threat. The PSAs believed that it is not 'right' to assign zero risk, as a multiplicative formula would imply, to cases in which the threat is reported to be extremely small, and perhaps could even be assigned a value of zero, but for which consequences and vulnerability are potentially high. They needed a different way to aggregate the components into an overall measure of risk. To address these concerns, GRiP was proposed and developed. The inspiration for GRiP is Sir Isaac Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation: the attractive force between two bodies is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the squares of the distance between them. The total force on one body is the sum of the forces from 'other bodies' that influence that body. In the case of risk, the 'other bodies' are the components of risk (R): consequence, vulnerability, and threat (which …

This document provides a detailed study of materials used to shield against the hadronic particles from cosmic ray showers at Earth’s surface. This work was motivated by the need for a shield that minimizes activation of the enriched germanium during transport for the MAJORANA collaboration. The materials suitable for cosmic-ray shield design are materials such as lead and iron that will stop the primary protons, and materials like polyethylene, borated polyethylene, concrete and water that will stop the induced neutrons. The interaction of the different cosmic-ray components at ground level (protons, neutrons, muons) with their wide energy range (from kilo-electron volts to giga-electron volts) is a complex calculation. Monte Carlo calculations have proven to be a suitable tool for the simulation of nucleon transport, including hadron interactions and radioactive isotope production. The industry standard Monte Carlo simulation tool, Geant4, was used for this study. The result of this study is the assertion that activation at Earth’s surface is a result of the neutronic and protonic components of the cosmic-ray shower. The best material to shield against these cosmic-ray components is iron, which has the best combination of primary shielding and minimal secondary neutron production.

This poster reports testing to confirm that GaN devices exhibit the extreme radiation hardness needed for use at the NIF, functioning properly after 1x10{sup 12} protons/cm{sup 2} proton irradiation in one year.

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Martin Schindewolf worked during his internship at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) under the guidance of Martin Schulz at the Computer Science Group of the Center for Applied Scientific Computing. We studied the performance of the TM subsystem of BG/Q as well as researched the possibilities for tool support for TM. To study the performance, we run CLOMP-TM. CLOMP-TM is a benchmark designed for the purpose to quantify the overhead of OpenMP and compare different synchronization primitives. To advance CLOMP-TM, we added Message Passing Interface (MPI) routines for a hybrid parallelization. This enables to run multiple MPI tasks, each running OpenMP, on one node. With these enhancements, a beneficial MPI task to OpenMP thread ratio is determined. Further, the synchronization primitives are ranked as a function of the application characteristics. To demonstrate the usefulness of these results, we investigate a real Monte Carlo simulation called Monte Carlo Benchmark (MCB). Applying the lessons learned yields the best task to thread ratio. Further, we were able to tune the synchronization by transactifying the MCB. Further, we develop tools that capture the performance of the TM run time system and present it to the application's developer. The performance of the TM run …