Acoustic emission monitoring augments other nondestructive testing methods and is sometimes applicable when other tests cannot be applied. This is, in part, due to the high sensitivity of acoustic emission monitoring. Acoustic emission monitoring is only sensitive to active flaw-growth, however, and will not detect a flaw in equilibrium. This paper describes the application of acoustic emission monitoring to nuclear reactor fuel pin end closure welds and other weldments of the reactor piping.

Acoustic Resonance Spectroscopy (ARS) is a nondestructive evaluation technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The ARS technique is a fast, safe, and nonintrusive technique that is particularly useful when a large number of objects need to be tested. Any physical object, whether solid, hollow, or fluid filled, has many modes of vibration. These modes of vibration, commonly referred to as the natural resonant modes or resonant frequencies, are determined by the object`s shape, size, and physical properties, such as elastic moduli, speed of sound, and density. If the object is mechanically excited at frequencies corresponding to its characteristic natural vibrational modes, a resonance effect can be observed when small excitation energies produce large amplitude vibrations in the object. At other excitation frequencies, i.e., vibrational response of the object is minimal.

We report on the development of an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system for the measurement of actinides at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This AMS system is centered on a recently completed heavy isotope beam line that was designed particularly for high sensitivity, robust, high-throughput measurements of actinide concentrations and isotopic ratios. A fast isotope switching capability has been incorporated in the system, allowing flexibility in isotope selection and for the quasi-continuous normalization to a reference isotope spike. Initially, our utilization of the heavy isotope system has concentrated on the measurement of Pu isotopes. Under current operating conditions, background levels equivalent to {approx}1 x 10{sup 5} atoms are observed during routine {sup 239}Pu and {sup 240}Pu measurements. Measurements of samples containing {approx}10{sup 13} {sup 238}U atoms demonstrate that the system provides a {sup 238}U rejection factor during {sup 239}Pu measurements of {approx}10{sup 7}. Measurements of known materials, combined with results from an externally organized inter-comparison program, indicate that our {sup 239}Pu measurements are accurate and precise down to the {micro}Bq level ({approx}10{sup 6} atoms). Recently, we have investigated the performance of our heavy isotope AMS system in measurements of {sup 237}Np and {sup 236}U. Results of these investigations are discussed. The …

The activation energy of a high melting temperature sol-gel (SG) derived tantalum-tungsten oxide thermite composite was determined using the Kissinger isoconversion method. The SG derived powder was consolidated using the High Pressure Spark Plasma Sintering (HPSPS) technique to 300 and 400 C to produce pellets with dimensions of 5 mm diameter by 1.5 mm height. A custom built ignition setup was developed to measure ignition temperatures at high heating rates (500-2000 C {center_dot} min{sup -1}). Such heating rates were required in order to ignite the thermite composite. Unlike the 400 C samples, results show that the samples consolidated to 300 C undergo an abrupt change in temperature response prior to ignition. This change in temperature response has been attributed to the crystallization of the amorphous WO{sub 3} in the SG derived Ta-WO{sub 3} thermite composite and not to a pre-ignition reaction between the constituents. Ignition temperatures for the Ta-WO{sub 3} thermite ranged from approximately 465-670 C. The activation energy of the SG derived Ta-WO{sup 3} thermite composite consolidated to 300 and 400 C were determined to be 37.787 {+-} 1.58 kJ {center_dot} mol{sup -1} and 57.381 {+-} 2.26 kJ {center_dot} mol{sup -1}, respectively.

We have developed an activation procedure by which the reactivity to CO{sub 2}, a principal cause of yield decay for GaAs photocathodes, is greatly reduced. The use of a second alkali in the activation process is responsible for the increased immunity of the activated surface. The best immunity was obtained by using a combination of Cs and Li without any loss in near bandgap yield. Optimally activated photocathodes have nearly equal quantities of both alkalis.

The concentrations of and activities due to N/sup 16/ and N/sup 17/ in the HFIR primary coolant water were calculated. At the pressure vessel exit, the N/sup 16/ activity is 3.9 x 10/sup 6/ dis/secml and the N/sup 17/ activity is 6.9 x 10/sup 2/ dis/sec-ml. Comparison of the N/sup 16/ activity with the data obtained from the ORR water system indicates that the calculated results are slightly conservative. (auth)

This report contains a summary of activities of Gnomon, Inc. and five sub-contractors that have taken place during the first six months (January 1, 2003--June 30, 2003) under the DOE-NETL cooperative agreement: ''Adaptive Management and Planning Models for Cultural Resources in Oil & Gas Fields in New Mexico and Wyoming'', DE-FC26-02NT15445. Gnomon, Inc. and all five (5) subcontractors have agreed on a process for the framework of this two-year project. They have also started gathering geomorphological information and entering cultural resource data into databases that will be used to create models later in the project. This data is being gathered in both the Power River Basin of Wyoming, and the Southeastern region of New Mexico. Several meetings were held with key players in this project to explain the purpose of the research, to obtain feedback and to gain support. All activities have been accomplished on time and within budget with no major setbacks.

In many situations, stand-off remote-sensing and hazard-interdiction techniques over realistic operational areas are often impractical "and difficult to characterize. An alternative approach is to implement an adap- tively deployable array of sensitive agent-specific devices. Our group has been studying the collective be- havior of an autonomous, multi-agent system applied to chedbio detection and related emerging threat applications, The current physics-based models we are using coordinate a sensor array for mukivanate sig- nal optimization and coverage as re,alized by a swarm of robots or mobile vehicles. These intelligent control systems integrate'glob"ally operating decision-making systems and locally cooperative learning neural net- works to enhance re+-timp operational responses to dynarnical environments examples of which include obstacle avoidance, res~onding to prevailing wind patterns, and overcoming other natural obscurants or in- terferences. Collectively',tkensor nefirons with simple properties, interacting according to basic community rules, can accomplish complex interconnecting functions such as generalization, error correction, pattern recognition, sensor fusion, and localization. Neural nets provide a greater degree of robusmess and fault tolerance than conventional systems in that minor variations or imperfections do not impair performance. The robotic platforms would be equipped with sensor devices that perform opticaI detection of biologicais in combination with multivariate chemical analysis tools …

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Connection of electric storage technologies to smartgrids or microgrids will have substantial implications for building energy systems. In addition to potentially supplying ancillary services directly to the traditional centralized grid (or macrogrid), local storage will enable demand response. As an economically attractive option, mobile storage devices such as plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) are in direct competition with conventional stationary sources and storage at the building. In general, it is assumed that they can improve the financial as well as environmental attractiveness of renewable and fossil based on-site generation (e.g. PV, fuel cells, or microturbines operating with or without combined heat and power). Also, mobile storage can directly contribute to tariff driven demand response in commercial buildings. In order to examine the impact of mobile storage on building energy costs and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a microgrid/distributed-energy-resources (DER) adoption problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program with minimization of annual building energy costs applying CO2 taxes/CO2 pricing schemes. The problem is solved for a representative office building in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2020. By using employees' EVs for energy management, the office building can arbitrage its costs. But since the car battery lifetime is reduced, a business model …

This report includes the several additonal system transients that are calculated for 5 kWe thermoelectric system.

This paper describes the validation, in accordance with ANSI/ANS-8.1-1983(R1988), of KENO V.a using the 27-group ENDF/B-IV cross section library for some neutronic systems containing highly-enriched uranium, carbon, and hydrogen. This constituent combination is present in many packaging applications for the safe transportation of fissile and fissionable materials. The validation has been performed for two separate computational platforms: an IBM 3090 mainframe and an HP 9000 Series 700 workstation, both using the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant Nuclear Criticality Safety Software (NCSS) code package. Critical experiments performed at the Oak Ridge Critical Experiments Facility in support of the Rover reactor program were identified as having the constitutents desired for this validation as well as sufficient experimental detail to allow accurate construction of KENO V.a calculational models. Calculated values of k{sub eff} for the Rover experiments, which contain uranium, carbon, and hydrogen, are between 1.0012 {+-} 0.0026 and 1.0245 {+-} 0.0023. These experiments can now be added to KENO V.a and other computer code critical experiment data bases which are used for validation and to establish upper limits on calculated values of k{sub eff} for specific applications.

Significant progress has been made in addressing critical issues for high repetition rate chambers, target fabrication and injection for inertial fusion energy (IFE) for both heavy ion and laser drivers. Research is being conducted in a coordinated manner by national laboratories, universities and industry. This paper provides an overview of U.S. research activities and discusses how interface considerations (such as beam propagation and target survival during injection) impact design choices.

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The AdS/CFT correspondence between theories in AdS space and conformal field theories in physical space-time provides an analytic, semi-classical, color-confining model for strongly-coupled QCD. The soft-wall AdS/QCD model modified by a positive-sign dilaton metric leads to a remarkable one-parameter description of nonperturbative hadron dynamics at zero quark mass, including a zero-mass pion and a Regge spectrum of linear trajectories with the same slope in orbital angular momentum L and radial quantum number n for both mesons and baryons. One also predicts the form of the non-perturbative effective coupling {alpha}{sub s}{sup AdS}(q) and its {beta}-function which agrees with the effective coupling {alpha}{sub ga} extracted from the Bjorken sum rule. Light-front holography, which connects the fifth-dimensional coordinate of AdS space z to an invariant impact separation variable {zeta}, allows one to compute the analytic form of the frame-independent light-front wavefunctions, the fundamental entities which encode hadron properties as well as decay constants, form factors, deeply virtual Compton scattering, exclusive heavy hadron decays and other exclusive scattering amplitudes. One thus obtains a relativistic description of hadrons in QCD at the amplitude level with dimensional counting for hard exclusive reactions at high momentum transfer. As specific examples we discuss the behavior of the pion …

Our research tasks span the range of technology areas for transmutation, gas-cooled reactor technology, and high temperature heat exchangers, including separation of actinides from spent nuclear fuel, methods of fuel fabrication, reactor-accelerator coupled experiments, corrosion of materials exposed to lead-bismuth eutectic, and special nuclear materials protection and accountability.

As the United States plays a greater role in the 21st Century as global peacekeeper and international defender of human rights and democratic principles, there is an increasing likelihood that it will become the focus of acts of terrorism. Such acts of terrorism--sometimes described as ''asymmetric''--could involve the threat or use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), particularly those considered unconventional, which include ones designed to release chemical or biological agents. In fact, biological agents are of great concern because, as noted by D.A. Henderson of the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, ''... with shortages of hospital space, vaccines, antibiotics, there would be chaos.'' (Williams, 2000). Unfortunately, potential aggressor nations, terrorist groups, and even individuals, can, for a modest cost and effort, develop covert capabilities for manufacturing, transporting, and offensively using biological weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, there is evidence to indicate that terrorist increasingly are targeting civilian populations--in order to inflict indiscriminate casualties--as well as other more traditional targets such as symbolic buildings or organizations (see Tucker, 1999), which suggest that introducing rapid treatment after a biological event may be more practical than concentrating on prevention (see Siegrist, 1999), especially because sensors …

The operation, maintenance and modifications to the Westinghouse gasification process development unit during the quarter are reviewed. The tests of the gasifier-agglomerator included direct coal feed as well as oxygen-blown gasification of a char or coal bed. Then the whole system was tested in single and double stage operation. Laboratory support involved fluidized bed test facilities at ambient temperature and at design temperature for devolatilization and gasification studies. Other laboratory systems were related to thermal analysis and pressurized high temperature studies of gasification and gas cleaning. (LTN)

A model-based flotation control scheme is being implemented to achieve optimal performance in the handling and treatment of fine coal. The control scheme monitors flotation performance through on-line analysis of tailings ash content. Then, based on an on-line estimate of incremental ash, the pulp level is adjusted using a model-based control algorithm to compensate for feed variations and other process disturbances. Recent developments in sensor technology are being applied for on-line determination of slurry ash content. During the tenth quarter of this project, Task 6 (Equipment Procurement and Installation) was completed through the efforts of J.A. Herbst and Associates, Virginia Tech, Pittston Coal Company, and FGR Automation. As a result of this work, a model-based control system is now in place which can predict incremental ash based on tailings ash content and general plant data, and adjust pulp level accordingly to maintain a target incremental ash. Testing of this control system is expected to be carried out during the next quarter, and the results of this testing will be reported in the Eleventh Quarterly report. In addition, calibration of the video-based ash analyzer was continued and an extensive set of calibration data were obtained showing that the plant is running …

A model-based flotation control scheme is being implemented to achieve optimal performance in the handling and treatment of fine coal. The control scheme monitors flotation performance through on-line analysis of ash content. Then, based on the economic and metallurgical performance of the circuit, variables such as collector dosage, frother dosage, and pulp level are adjusted using model-based control algorithms to compensate for feed variations and other process disturbances. Recent developments in sensor technology are being applied for on-line determination of slurry ash content. During the ninth quarter of this project, Task 3 (Model Building and Computer Simulation) and Task 4 (Sensor Testing) were nearly completed, and Task 6 (Equipment Procurement and Installation) was initiated. Previously, data collected from the plant sampling campaign (Task 2) were used to construct a population balance model to describe the steady-state and dynamic behavior of the flotation circuit. The details of this model were presented in the Eighth Quarterly Technical Progress Report. During the past quarter, a flotation circuit simulator was designed and used to evaluate control strategies. As a result of this work, a model-based control strategy has been conceived which will allow manipulated variables to be adjusted in response to disturbances to achieve …

This report summarizes the accomplishment made during the first year of this cooperative research effort between Washington University, Ohio State University and Air Products and Chemicals. A technical review of the variables affecting the SBCR performance, some aspects of bubble dynamics and hydrodynamics properties and physical properties of FT waxes and catalyst have been performed. The needed experimental facilities and measurement techniques have been evaluated and prepared. Exxon Norpar 14 has been suggested as a solvent to be used that mimics at room temperature and pressure up to 200 psi the hydrodynamics of FT waxes. A new correlation has been developed and tested to predict gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient at high pressure operation based on high pressure gas holdup and atmospheric data of gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient.

This report summarizes the accomplishment made during the second year of this cooperative research effort between Washington University, Ohio State University and Air Products and Chemicals. The technical difficulties that were encountered in implementing Computer Automated Radioactive Particle Tracking (CARPT) in high pressure SBCR have been successfully resolved. New strategies for data acquisition and calibration procedure have been implemented. These have been performed as a part of other projects supported by Industrial Consortium and DOE via contract DE-2295PC95051 which are executed in parallel with this grant. CARPT and Computed Tomography (CT) experiments have been performed using air-water-glass beads in 6 inch high pressure stainless steel slurry bubble column reactor at selected conditions. Data processing of this work is in progress. The overall gas holdup and the hydrodynamic parameters are measured by Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) in 2 inch slurry bubble column using Norpar 15 that mimic at room temperature the Fischer Tropsch wax at FT reaction conditions of high pressure and temperature. To improve the design and scale-up of bubble column, new correlations have been developed to predict the radial gas holdup and the time averaged axial liquid recirculation velocity profiles in bubble columns.

This report summarizes the accomplishment made during the third year of this cooperative research effort between Washington University, Ohio State University and Air Products and Chemicals. Data processing of the performed Computer Automated Radioactive Particle Tracking (CARPT) experiments in 6 inch column using air-water-glass beads (150 {micro}m) system has been completed. Experimental investigation of time averaged three phases distribution in air-Therminol LT-glass beads (150 {micro}m) system in 6 inch column has been executed. Data processing and analysis of all the performed Computed Tomography (CT) experiments have been completed, using the newly proposed CT/Overall gas holdup methodology. The hydrodynamics of air-Norpar 15-glass beads (150 {micro}m) have been investigated in 2 inch slurry bubble column using Dynamic Gas Disengagement (DGD), Pressure Drop fluctuations, and Fiber Optic Probe. To improve the design and scale-up of bubble column reactors, a correlation for overall gas holdup has been proposed based on Artificial Neural Network and Dimensional Analysis.

The results are presented of work performed on the Advanced Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactor Materials Evaluation and Development Program. The objectives of this program are to evaluate candidate alloys for Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) Nuclear Process Heat (NPH) and Direct Cycle Helium Turbine (DCHT) applications, in terms of the effect of simulated reactor primary coolant (helium containing small amounts of various other gases), high temperatures, and long time exposures, on the mechanical properties and structural and surface stability of selected candidate alloys. A second objective is to select and recommend materials for future test facilities and more extensive qualification programs. Work covered in this report includes the activities associated with the status of the simulated reactor helium supply system, testing equipment, and gas chemistry analysis instrumentation and equipment. The status of the data management system is presented. In addition, the progress in the screening test program is described.