This procedure gives the methods used at LLNL for the purification of uranium and plutonium from bulk environmental samples provided by the IAEA through the DOE Network of Analytical Laboratories (NWAL).

The purpose of the environmental monitoring plan (EMP) is to promote the early identification of, and response to, potential adverse environmental impacts associated with DOE operations. Environmental monitoring supports the Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) to detect, characterize, and respond to releases from DOE activities; assess impacts; estimate dispersal patterns in the environment; characterize the pathways of exposure to members of the public; characterize the exposures and doses to individuals and to the population; and to evaluate the potential impacts to the biota in the vicinity of the DOE activity. In addition, the EMP addresses the analytical work supporting environmental monitoring to ensure the following: (1) A consistent system for collecting, assessing, and documenting environmental data of known and documented quality; (2) A validated and consistent approach for sampling and analysis of radionuclide samples to ensure laboratory data meets program-specific needs and requirements within the framework of a performance-based approach for analytical laboratory work; and (3) An integrated sampling approach to avoid duplicative data collection. Until recently, environmental monitoring at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was required by DOE Order 5400.1, which was canceled in January 2003. LLNL is in the process of adopting the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems …

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This report is about 3D Arcing for Offset Measurements with a Hamar Laser on 7th International workshop on accelerator alignment.

Stacked Blumlein Pulse Generators comprised of parallel-plate transmission lines are potentially a useful pulse-power architecture for high-gradient, compact, electron-beam induction accelerators. However, like induction accelerators driven by other pulse-power architectures, it is generally a system requirement that the multi-stage accelerator structure be enclosed in a grounded metal enclosure so that the full beam voltage is not developed on the exterior of the machine. In the past, this has been accomplished by using magnetic cores to prevent the external metal case from shorting the accelerating field. However, magnetic cores are heavy, bulky, expensive, lossy, nonlinear, and therefore generally undesirable. Various core-free pulse architectures have been reported in the past. One class uses pairs of lines with widely different dielectric constants while another class uses combinations of open-circuit lines combined with short-circuit lines. These designs are encased in metal and support stackable output pulses without the need for magnetic isolation cores. These configurations are also known as bi-polar or zero-integral configurations because they produce a positive and negative voltage pulse with a net time integral of zero. Some of these designs are inefficient leaving substantial stored energy in the lines while others have never been realized as practical accelerating structures. We present …

Protein microarrays have emerged as important tools for screening protein-protein interactions and hold great potential for various applications including proteomics research, drug discovery, and diagnostics. This work describes a novel method for the traceless immobilization of proteins to a solid support through split-intein mediated protein trans-splicing. This method has been successfully used for the immobilization of biologically active proteins from very diluted samples ({approx}1{micro}M) and it does not require the purification of the protein to be attached. This makes possible the direct immobilization of proteins from complex mixtures such as cellular lysates and it can also be easily interfaced with cell-free expression systems for high-throughput production of protein microarrays.

The name GEONET means data reduction software for the accelerator alignment community. It was developed in the early 1980's but the only thing left from the original version is the hierarchical directory structure to hold the observations and results. This poster presents the three components of WinGEONET: the Windows interface, the computational engine and the visualization tool. It also presents further developments towards a more versatile toolbox architecture.

The authors present measurements of branching ratios and CP-violating asymmetries for neutral B decays into quasi two-body final states dominated by the modes {rho}{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {-+}} and {rho}{sup {+-}}K{sup {-+}}. The data set used for these measurements was recorded during the 1999-2002 period, and corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 81.9 fb{sup -1} taken on the {Upsilon}(4S) peak, and 9.5 fb{sup -1} taken 40 MeV off-peak. From a time-dependent maximum likelihood fit they find for the branching fractions {Beta}({rho}{sup 2}{pi}{sup {-+}}) = (22.6 {+-} 1.8(stat) {+-} 2.2(syst)) x 10{sup -6}, {Beta}({rho}{sup {+-}}K{sup {-+}}) = (7.3{sub -1.2}{sup +1.3}(stat) {+-} 1.3(syst)) x 10{sup -6}. For the CP violation parameters, they measure: {Alpha}{sub CP}{sup pK} = 0.28 {+-} 0.17(stat) {+-} 0.080(syst), {Alpha}{sub CP}{sup pk} = -0.18 {+-} 0.08(stat) {+-} 0.029(syst), C{sub pk} = 0.36 {+-} 0.18(stat) {+-} 0.041(syst), S{sub pt} = 0.19 {+-} 0.24(stat) {+-} 0.031(syst), and for the remaining parameters, required to fully describe the time dependence of the B{sup 0}({bar B}{sup 0} {yields} {rho}{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {-+}}) decays, they obtain {Delta}C{sub pn} = 0.28{sub -0.19}{sup +0.18}(stat) {+-} 0.043(syst), {Delta}S{sub pk} = 0.15 {+-} 0.25(stat) {+-} 0.025(syst).

Neutron and proton resonances provide detailed level density information. However, due to experimental limitations, some levels are missed and some are assigned incorrect quantum numbers. The standard method to correct for missing levels uses the experimental widths and the Porter-Thomas distribution. Analysis of the spacing distribution provides an independent determination of the fraction of missing levels. We have derived a general expression for such an imperfect spacing distribution using the maximum entropy principle and applied it to a variety of nuclear resonance data. The problem of spurious levels has not been extensively addressed.

In order to accelerate waste treatment and disposal of Hanford tank waste by 2028, the Department of Energy (DOE) and CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CHG), Inc. are evaluating alternative technologies which will be used in conjunction with the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) to safely pretreat and immobilize the tank waste. Several technologies (Bulk Vitrification and Steam Reforming) are currently being evaluated for immobilizing the pretreated waste. Since the WTP does not have sufficient capacity to pretreat all the waste going to supplemental treatment by the 2028 milestone, two technologies (Selective Dissolution and Fractional Crystallization) are being considered for pretreatment of salt waste. The scope of this task was to: (1) evaluate the recent Savannah River Site (SRS) Tank 41 dissolution campaign and other literature to provide a more complete understanding of selective dissolution, (2) provide an update on the progress of salt dissolution and modeling activities at SRS, (3) investigate SRS experience and outside literature sources on industrial equipment and experimental results of previous fractional crystallization processes, and (4) evaluate recent Hanford AP104 boildown experiments and modeling results and recommend enhancements to the Environmental Simulation Program (ESP) to improve its predictive capabilities. This report provides a summary of this work …

Compatibility and outgassing studies of non-nuclear materials were carried out in support of the W80 Life Extension Program. These studies included small-scale laboratory experiments as well as participation in Sandia's Materials Aging and Compatibility test (MAC-1). Analysis of the outgassing signature of removable epoxy foam (REF) revealed unusually high levels of volatile organic compounds in the material. REF was replaced with the polyurethane PMDI. Laboratory compatibility tests of high priority materials were performed and revealed incompatibilities between Viton A (LX-07 binder) and syntactic polysulfide as well as Viton A and REF. With the removal of REF from the system, the incompatibility with Viton A is not an issue. In the case of the viton/polysulfide, both of these materials have a history of reliability in the stockpile, and the observed results, while scientifically interesting, appear to be a laboratory anomaly. Participation in the MAC-1 test led to a detailed study of Viton A degradation. At elevated temperatures up to 70 C, the Viton A samples darkened and exhibited increased crosslinking. Laboratory experiments were pursued to correlate the observed changes to exposure to specific compounds that were present in the MAC-1 canister atmospheres. Exposure to siloxanes resulted in changes similar to those …

Organic material contributes {approx}20-50% to the total fine aerosol mass at continental mid-latitudes (Saxena and Hildemann, 1996; Murphy et al., 1998; Peterson and Tyler, 2002; Putaud et al., 2004) and as much as 90% in tropical forested areas (Andreae and Crutzen, 1997; Artaxo et al., 2002). Significant amounts of carbonaceous aerosols are also observed in the free troposphere (Heald et al., 2005). A substantial fraction of the organic component of atmospheric particles consists of water-soluble, possibly multifunctional compounds (Saxena and Hildemann, 1996; Kavouras et al., 1998). It is critical that we understand how organic aerosols and their precursors are transformed in the atmosphere and the dependence of the transformation on the chemical and thermodynamic conditions of the ambient environment: (1) to accurately forecast how changing emissions will impact atmospheric organic aerosol concentrations and properties on the regional to global scale, and (2) to relate atmospheric measurements to sources. A large (but as yet unquantified) fraction of organic aerosol is formed in the atmosphere by precursor gases. In addition, both primary and secondary organic aerosol interact with other gas and aerosol species in the atmosphere so that their properties (i.e., size, hygroscopicity, light absorption and scattering sphere efficiency) can change significantly …

This chapter describes procedures for the collection and analysis of samples of various matrices for the purpose of determining the presence of chemical agents in a civilian setting. This appendix is intended to provide the reader with sufficient information to make informed decisions about the sampling and analysis process and to suggest analytical strategies that might be implemented by the scientists performing sampling and analysis. This appendix is not intended to be used as a standard operating procedure to provide detailed instructions as to how trained scientists should handle samples. Chemical agents can be classified by their physical and chemical properties. Table 1 lists the chemical agents considered by this report. In selecting sampling and analysis methods, we have considered procedures proposed by the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and peer-reviewed scientific literature. EPA analytical methods are good resources describing issues of quality assurance with respect to chain-of-custody, sample handling, and quality control requirements.

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Hazardous radioactive materials can be released into the atmosphere by accidents at nuclear power plants, fuel processing facilities, and other facilities, and by transportation accidents involving nuclear materials. In addition, the post-cold-war proliferation of nuclear material has increased the potential for terrorism scenarios involving radiological dispersal devices, improvised nuclear devices, and inadequately secured military nuclear weapons. To mitigate these risks, the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) serves as a national resource for the United States, providing tools and services to quickly predict the environmental contamination and health effects caused by airborne radionuclides, and to provide scientifically based guidance to emergency managers for the protection of human life. NARAC's expert staff uses computer models, supporting databases, software systems, and communications systems to predict the plume paths and consequences of radiological, chemical, and biological atmospheric releases.

Removable epoxy foam (REF) is a novel material developed by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories to simplify the removal of encapsulants from electronic components [McElhanon, et al., Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2002, 85, 1496-1502]. The material is based on a resin that includes a thermally reversible chemical bond. When the material is heated at relatively mild temperatures ({approx}50-90 C) in the presence of appropriate solvents, the reversible bonds are broken, and the material is easily rinsed away. In order to ease the removal of the encapsulant for surveillance purposes, it was proposed to use REF in the W80 LEP in place of the polyurethane TDI (toluene diisocyanate), which is being phased out at the Kansas City Plant due to toxicity concerns. Colleagues at Sandia noted that REF exhibited especially high outgassing of the liquid fluorinert, FC-72, which is used at a level of 5 wt% as the blowing agent in the foaming process. After obtaining a sample of the material from Sandia, headspace solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME GC/MS) measurements were performed. These measurements revealed significant outgassing of fluorinert as well as other solvents and siloxanes [Memo, Vance, 3/3/05 & Vance, Foam PRT presentation UCRL-PRES-212462]. This report …

Composites electrodes consisting of silver and bismuth vanadates exhibit remarkable catalytic activity for oxygen reduction at 500-550 C and greatly reduce the cathode-electrolyte (doped ceria) resistances of low temperature SOFCs, down to about 0.53 {omega}cm{sup 2} at 500 C and 0.21 {omega}cm{sup 2} at 550 C. The observed power densities of 231, 332, and 443 mWcm-2 at 500, 525 and 550 C, respectively, make it possible to operate SOFCs at temperatures about 500 C. Fuel cell performance depends strongly on the anode microstructure, which is determined by the anode compositions and fabrication conditions. Four types of anodes with two kinds of NiO and GDC powders were investigated. By carefully adjusting the anode microstructure, the GDC electrolyte/anode interfacial polarization resistances reduced dramatically. The interfacial resistance at 600 C decreased from 1.61 {omega} cm{sup 2} for the anodes prepared using commercially available powders to 0.06 {omega} cm{sup 2} for those prepared using powders derived from a glycine-nitrate process. Although steam reforming or partial oxidation is effective in avoiding carbon deposition of hydrocarbon fuels, it increases the operating cost and reduces the energy efficiency. Anode-supported SOFCs with an electrolyte of 20 {micro}m-thick Gd-doped ceria (GDC) were fabricated by co-pressing. A catalyst (1 %wt …

The production of hydrogen via the thermochemical splitting of water is being considered as a primary means for utilizing the heat from advanced nuclear reactors to provide fuel for a hydrogen economy. The Hybrid Sulfur (HyS) Process is one of the baseline candidates identified by the U.S. Department of Energy [1] for this purpose. The HyS Process is a two-step hybrid thermochemical cycle that only involves sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen compounds. Recent work has resulted in an improved process design with a calculated overall thermal efficiency (nuclear heat to hydrogen, higher heating value basis) approaching 50%. Economic analyses indicate that a nuclear hydrogen plant employing the HyS Process in conjunction with an advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactor system can produce hydrogen at competitive prices. Experimental work has begun on the sulfur dioxide depolarized electrolyzer, the major developmental component in the cycle. Proof-of-concept tests have established proton-exchange-membrane cells (a state-of-the-art technology) as a viable approach for conducting this reaction. This is expected to lead to more efficient and economical cell designs than were previously available. Considerable development and scale-up issues remain to be resolved, but the development of a viable commercial-scale HyS Process should be feasible in time to meet the commercialization …

The design and fabrication of the UXO detector has numerous challenges and is an important component to the success of this study. This section describes the overall engineering approach, as well as some of the technical details that brought us to the present design. In general, an array of sensor coils is measuring the signal generated by the UXO object in response to a stimulation provided by the driver coil. The information related to the location, shape and properties of the object is derived from the analysis of the measured data. Each sensor coil is instrumented with a waveform digitizer operating at a nominal digitization rate of 100 kSamples per second. The sensor coils record both the large transient pulse of the driver coil and the UXO object response pulse. The latter is smaller in amplitude and must be extracted from the large transient signal. The resolution required is 16 bits over a dynamic range of at least 140 dB. The useful signal bandwidth of the application extends from DC to 40 kHz. The low distortion of each component is crucial in order to maintain an excellent linearity over the full dynamic range and to minimize the calibration procedure. The …

A new Timing and Synchronization System component, the Universal Networked Timer (UNT), is under development at the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). The UNT is a second-generation multifunction timing device that emulates the timing functionality and electrical interfaces originally provided by various CAMAC modules. Using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology, each of the UNT's eight channels can be dynamically programmed to emulate a specific CAMAC module type. The timer is compatible with the existing NSTX timing and synchronization system and will also support a (future) clock system with extended performance. To assist system designers and collaborators, software will be written to integrate the UNT with EPICS, MDSplus, and LabVIEW. This paper will describe the timing capabilities, hardware design, programming/software support, and the current status of the Universal Networked Timer at NSTX.

Data samples corresponding to the isospin-violating decay D*{sub s}{sup +} {yields} D{sub s}{sup +}{pi}{sup 0} and the decays D*{sub s}{sup +} {yields} D{sub s}{sup +}, D*{sup 0} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0} and D*{sup 0} {yields} D{sup 0}{gamma} are reconstructed using 90.4 fb{sup -1} of data recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider. The following branching ratios are extracted: {Lambda}(D*{sub s}{sup +} {yields} D{sub s}{sup +}{pi}{sup 0})/{Lambda}(D*{sub s}{sup +} {yields} D{sub s}{sup +}{gamma}) = 0.062 {+-} 0.005(stat.) {+-} 0.006(syst.) and {Lambda}(D*{sup 0} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0})/{Lambda}(D*{sup 0} {yields} D{sup 0}{gamma}) = 1.74 {+-} 0.02(stat.) {+-} 0.13(syst.). Both measurements represent significant improvements over present world averages.

The purpose of this memo is to explore more fully the allowable void specification, in part to make it clearer to those doing the day-to-day evaluation and in part to help me understand the ramifications. A simulation of voids in a Be shell is used to support my understanding of Haan's analysis. The key results showing allowable void diameter as a function of void fraction are shown in Figure 6 (p. 8). What is important here is that generally in ''good'' samples we only see small voids, perhaps at most a few tenths of a {micro}m in size. For this void size the shells can be underdense by as much as 10% and still meet the 1 part in 10{sup 4} spec (though there may be other issues with reduced density).

The objective of this calculation is to determine the structural response of a waste package (WP) dropped flat on its bottom from a specified height. The WP used for that purpose is the 44-Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) WP. The scope of this document is limited to reporting the calculation results in terms of stress intensities. The Uncanistered Waste Disposal Container System is classified as Quality Level 1 (Ref. 4, page 7). Therefore, this calculation is subject to the requirements of the Quality Assurance Requirements and Description (Ref. 16). AP-3. 12Q, Design Calculations and Analyses (Ref. 11) is used to perform the calculation and develop the document. The information provided by the sketches attached to this calculation is that of the potential design of the type of 44-BWR WP considered in this calculation and provides the potential dimensions and materials for that design.

The E166 experiment is a proof-of-principle experiment to demonstrate the production of polarized positrons with a helical undulator. The experiment has taken first data in June 2005 at SLAC. This article gives a short overview of the performance of various components of the experiment.