Salt management has been a challenge to westside farmerssince the rapid expansion of irrigated agriculture in the 1900 s. Thesoils in this area are naturally salt-affected having formed from marinesedimentary rocks rich in sea salts rendering the shallow groundwater,and drainage return flows discharging into the lower reaches of the SanJoaquin River, saline. Salinity problems are affected by the importedwater supply from Delta where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Riverscombine. Water quality objectives on salinity and boron have been inplace for decades to protect beneficial uses of the river. However it wasthe selenium-induced avian toxicity that occurred in the evaporationponds of Kesterson Reservoir (the terminal reservoir of a planned but notcompleted San Joaquin Basin Master Drain) that changed public attitudesabout agricultural drainage and initiated a steady stream ofenvironmental legislation directed at reducing non-point source pollutionof the River. Annual and monthly selenium load restrictions and salinityand boron Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) are the most recent of thesepolicy initiatives. Failure by both State and Federal water agencies toconstruct a Master Drain facility serving mostly west-side irrigatedagriculture has constrained these agencies to consider only In-Valleysolutions to ongoing drainage problems. For the Westlands subarea, whichhas no surface irrigation drainage outlet to the San Joaquin …

The U.S. Department of Energy has established long-term stewardship programs to protect human health and the environment at sites where residual contamination remains after site cleanup. At the Idaho National Laboratory Site, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERLA) long-term stewardship activities performed under the aegis of regulatory agreements, the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order for the Idaho National Laboratory, and state and federal requirements are administered primarily under the direction of the Idaho Cleanup Project. It represents a subset of all on-going environmental activity at the Idaho National Laboratory Site. This plan provides a listing of applicable CERCLA long-term stewardship requirements and their planned and completed implementation goals. It proffers the Long-Term Stewardship Environmental Data Warehouse for Sitewide management of environmental data. This plan will be updated as needed over time, based on input from the U.S. Department of Energy, its cognizant subcontractors, and other local and regional stakeholders.

On November 9, 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality approved the Record of Decision Experimental Breeder Reactor-I/Boiling Water Reactor Experiment Area and Miscellaneous Sites, which requires a Sitewide Institutional Controls Plan for the then Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (now known as the Idaho National Laboratory). This document, first issued in June 2004, fulfilled that requirement. The revision is needed to provide an update as remedial actions are completed and new areas of concern are found. This Sitewide Institutional Controls Plan is based on guidance in the May 3, 1999, EPA Region 10 Final Policy on the Use of Institutional Controls at Federal Facilities; the September 29, 2000, EPA guidance Institutional Controls: A Site Manager's Guide to Identifying, Evaluating, and Selecting Institutional Controls at Superfund and RCRA Corrective Action Cleanups; and the April 9, 2003, DOE Policy 454.1, "Use of Institutional Controls." These policies establish measures that ensure short- and long-term effectiveness of institutional controls that protect human health and the environment at federal facility sites undergoing remedial action pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and/or corrective action pursuant to …

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Blocks of silicon up to 3-mm thick have been formed by directly bonding stacks of thin wafer chips. These stacks showed significant reductions in the thermal conductivity in the bonding direction. In each sample, the wafer chips were obtained by polishing a commercial wafer to as thin as 36 {micro}m, followed by dicing. Stacks whose starting wafers were patterned with shallow dots showed greater reductions in thermal conductivity. Diluted-HF treatment of wafer chips prior to bonding led to the largest reduction of the effective thermal conductivity, by approximately a factor of 50. Theoretical modeling based on restricted conduction through the contacting dots and some conduction across the planar nanometer air gaps yielded fair agreement for samples fabricated without the HF treatment.

Water and energy production issues intersect in numerous ways. Water is produced along with oil and gas, water runs off of or accumulates in coal mines, and water is needed to operate steam electric power plants and hydropower generating facilities. However, water and energy are often not in the proper balance. For example, even if water is available in sufficient quantities, it may not have the physical and chemical characteristics suitable for energy or other uses. This report provides preliminary information about an opportunity to reuse an overabundant water source--ground water accumulated in underground coal mines--for cooling and process water in electric generating facilities. The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), which has implemented a water/energy research program (Feeley and Ramezan 2003). Among the topics studied under that program is the availability and use of ''non-traditional sources'' of water for use at power plants. This report supports NETL's water/energy research program.

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Initiation of insensitive high explosives is affected by porosity in the 100 nm to micron size range. It is also recognized that as-pressed plastic bonded explosives (PBX) are heterogeneous in composition and density at much coarser length scale (10 microns-100 microns). However, variations in density and composition of these explosives have been poorly characterized. Here, we characterize the natural variations in composition and density of TATB-based PBX LX-17 with synchrotron radiation tomography and ultra small angle x-ray scattering. Large scale variations in composition occur as a result of binder enrichment at the prill particle boundaries. The pore fraction is twice as high in the prill particle as in the boundary. The pore distribution is bimodal, with small pores of 50-100 nm in radius and a broader distribution of pores in the 0.5-1.5 micron size range. The higher pore density within the prill particle is attributed to contact asperities between the crystallites that might inhibit complete consolidation and binder infiltration.

The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the energy efficiency and reduced emissions that can be obtained with a dual torch DC plasma transferred arc-melting system. Plasmelt Glass Technologies, LLC was formed to solicit and execute the project, which utilize a full-scale test melter system. The system is similar to the one that was originally constructed by Johns Manville, but Plasmelt has added significant improvements to the torch design and melter system that has extended the original JM short torch lives. The original JM design has been shown to achieve melt rates 5 to 10 times faster than conventional gas or electric melting, with improved energy efficiency and reduced emissions. This project began on 7/28/2003 and ended 7/27/06. A laboratory scale melter was designed, constructed, and operated to conduct multiple experimental melting trials on various glass compositions. Glass quality was assessed. Although the melter design is generic and equally applicable to all sectors within the glass industry, the development of this melter has focused primarily on fiberglass with additional exploratory melting trials of frits, specialty, and minerals-melting applications. Throughput, energy efficiency, and glass quality have been shown to be heavily dependent on the selected glass composition. During this project, …

Protein microarrays in which proteins are immobilized to a solid surface are ideal reagents for high-throughput experiments that require very small amounts of analyte. Such protein microarrays (''protein chips'') can be used very efficiently to analyze all kind of protein interactions en masse. Although a variety of methods are available for attaching proteins on solid surfaces. Most of them rely on non-specific adsorption methods or on the reaction of chemical groups within proteins (mainly, amino and carboxylic acid groups) with complementary reactive groups. In both cases the protein is attached to the surface in random orientations. The use of recombinant affinity tags addresses the orientation issue, however in most of the cases the interaction of the tags are reversible (e.g., glutathione S-transferase, maltose binding protein and poly-His) and, hence, are not stable over the course of subsequent assays or require large mediator proteins (e.g., biotin-avidin and antigen antibody). The key for the covalent attachment of a protein to a solid support with a total control over the orientation is to introduce two unique and mutually reactive groups on both the protein and the surface. The reaction between these two groups should be highly selective thus behaving like a molecular ''velcro''.

We consider the production of black holes at the LHC in the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model through the collisions of Standard Model(SM) fields in the bulk. In comparison to the previously studied case where the SM fields are all confined to the TeV brane, we find substantial suppressions to the corresponding collider cross sections for all initial states, i.e., gg, qq and gq, where q represents a light quark or anti-quark which lie close to the Planck brane. For b quarks, which are closer to the TeV brane, this suppression effect is somewhat weaker though b quark contributions to the cross section are already quite small due to their relatively small parton densities. Semi-quantitatively, we find that the overall black hole cross section is reduced by roughly two orders of magnitude in comparison to the traditional TeV brane localized RS model with the exact value being sensitive to the detailed localizations of the light SM fermions in the bulk.

This paper reports on a recent benchmark calculation in the four-nucleon system, aimed at investigating the reliability of the no-core shell model (NCSM) approach to the description of inclusive response functions via the Lorentz integral transform (LIT) method.

Complex engineering elastomeric materials are often characterized by a complex network structure obtained by crosslinking network chains with multiple chain lengths. Further, these networks are commonly filled with thixotropic reinforcing agents such as SiO{sub 2} or carbon black. Degradation of such materials often occurs via mechanisms that alter the fundamental network structure. In order to understand the effects of modifications of network structure and filler-polymer interaction on component performance, a series of model compounds have been studied by {sup 1}H multiple quantum NMR analysis and traditional mechanical property assessments. The {sup 1}H NMR data provides insight into the distribution of segmental dynamics that reveals insight into the changes in mechanical properties.

Trace {sup 13}CH{sub 4} injection experiments into the main scrape-off layer of low density L-mode and high-density H-mode plasmas have been performed in the DIII-D tokamak [Luxon{_}NF02] to mimic the transport and deposition of carbon arising from a main chamber sputtering source. These experiments indicated entrainment of the injected carbon in plasma flow in the main SOL, and transport toward the inner divertor. Ex-situ surface analysis showed enhanced {sup 13}C surface concentration at the corner formed by the divertor floor and the angled target plate of the inner divertor in L-mode; in H-mode, both at the corner and along the surface bounding the private flux region inboard of the outer strike point. Interpretative modeling was made consistent with these experimental results by imposing a parallel carbon ion flow in the main SOL toward the inner target, and a radial pinch toward the separatrix. Predictive modeling carried out to better understand the underlying plasma transport processes suggests that the deuterium flow in the main SOL is related to the degree of detachment of the inner divertor leg. These simulations show that carbon ions are entrained with the deuteron flow in the main SOL via frictional coupling, but higher charge state carbon …

Nuclear level densities and radiative strength functions (RSF) in {sup 56}Fe and {sup 57}Fe were measured using the {sup 57}Fe({sup 3}He,{alpha}{gamma}) and {sup 57}Fe({sup 3}He, {sup 3}He{prime}{gamma}) reactions, respectively, at Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory. A low-energy enhancement in the RSF below 4 MeV energy was observed. This finding cannot be explained by common theoretical models. In a second experiment, two-step cascade intensities with soft primary transitions from the {sup 56}Fe(n,2{gamma}) reaction were measured. The agreement between the two experiments confirms the low-energy enhancement in the RSF. In a third experiment, the neutron evaporation spectrum from the {sup 55}Mn(dn,N){sup 56}Fe reaction was measured at 7-MeV deuteron energy at John Edwards Accelerator Laboratory at Ohio University. Comparison of the level density of {sup 56}Fe obtained from the first and third experiments gives an overall good agreement. Furthermore, observed enhancement for soft {gamma} rays is supported by the last experiment.

We perform simulations of two types of large-scale Compton imaging detectors. The first type uses silicon and germanium detector crystals, and the second type uses silicon and CdZnTe (CZT) detector crystals. The simulations use realistic detector geometry and parameters. We analyze the performance of each type of detector, and we present results using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves.

Simulations are performed for seven different geometrical configurations of CdZnTe (CZT) detector arrays for Intelligent Personal Radiation Locator (IPRL) devices. IPRL devices are portable radiation detectors that have gamma-ray imaging capability. The detector performance is analyzed for each type of IPRL configuration, and the intrinsic photopeak efficiency, intrinsic photopeak count rate, detector image resolution, imaging efficiency, and imaging count rate are determined.

In an effort to develop a magnetic resonance based diagnostic tool to be used for polymer production and surveillance, we have investigated the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and unilateral relaxometry. MRI provides a spatial map of the polymer, which can be correlated to the structure heterogeneity. Though highly detailed information can be obtained with MRI, the high equipment cost and expertise required to operate the system makes it a poor choice for a production setting. Unilateral relaxometry via the NMR MOUSE provides rapid, inexpensive polymer screening, useful in the development in new polymer parts or to identify potentially defective components. The NMR ProFiler (originally called the NMR MOUSE) was procured by Kansas City originally for production support of the W80 LEP with future applications as a surveillance diagnostic. A robotic autosampler has been designed allowing the detection of several components without the need for any human interaction. A summary of the qualification experiments and results to date from the ProFiler and the robotic unit will be presented.

We present a quadratic Finite Elements approach to discretize the Kohn-Sham equations on structured non-uniform meshes. A multigrid FAC preconditioner is proposed to iteratively solve the equations by an accelerated steepest descent scheme. The method was implemented using SAMRAI, a parallel software infrastructure for general AMR applications. Examples of applications to small nanoclusters calculations are presented.

Re-entry vehicles on missiles launched at Vandenberg Air Force base in California re-enter at the Western Test Range, the Regan Test Site (RTS) at Kwajalein Atoll. An environmental Assessment (EA) was written at the beginning of the program to assess potential impact of Depleted Uranium (DU) and Beryllium (Be), the major RV materials of interest from a health and environmental perspective. The chemical and structural form of DU and Be in RVs is such that they are insoluble in soil water and sea water. Consequently, residual concentrations of DU and Be observed in soil on the island are not expected to be toxic to plant life because there is essentially no soil to plant uptake. Similarly, due to their insolubility in sea water there is no uptake of either element by marine biota including fish, mollusks, shellfish and sea mammals. No increase in either element has been observed in sea life around Illeginni Island where deposition of DU and Be has occurred. The critical terrestrial exposure pathway for U and Be is inhalation. Concentration of both elements in air over the test period (1989 to 2006) is lower by a factor of 10,000 than the most restrictive U.S. guideline for …

Savannah River National Laboratory's frit development effort for SB4 is being driven by the most current CBU option for this sludge, referred to as Case 15C Blend 1. Candidate frits have been identified for this option via a paper study approach developed by Peeler and Edwards with the intent of down-selecting to a set of key frits whose operating windows (i.e., WL intervals that meet PCCS MAR criteria) are robust to and/or selectively optimal for this sludge option. The primary frits that appear attractive on paper (i.e., down-selected via the paper study) are now being incorporated into this experimental study. The potential for the formation of a nepheline primary crystalline phase is an important factor in frit development for SB4, due to the high Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} content of this sludge. Based upon earlier work by Li et al., glasses that do not satisfy the constraint: (SiO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} + Na{sub 2}O + Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) > 0.62 where the oxides are expressed as mass fractions in the glass, will precipitate nepheline as their primary crystalline phase, hindering the durability of the glass. Based on the most recent compositional projection from the CBU for SB4 (Case 15C Blend 1), 16 …

We report high pressure dynamic compression experiments of liquid water along a quasi-adiabatic path leading to the formation of ice VII. We observe dynamic features resembling Van der Waals loops and find that liquid water is compacted to a metastable state close to the ice density before the onset of crystallization. By analyzing the characteristic kinetic time scale involved we estimate the nucleation barrier and conclude that liquid water has been compressed to a high pressure state close to its thermodynamic stability limit.

LLNL received a request from the US ITER organization to perform a scoping study of optical design for visible/IR camera systems for the 6 upper ports of ITER. A contract was put in place and the LLNL account number was opened July 19, 2006. A kickoff meeting was held at LLNL July 26. The principal work under the contract is being performed by Lynn Seppala (optical designer), Kevin Morris (mechanical designer), Max Fenstermacher (visible cameras), Mathias Groth (assisting with visible cameras), and Charles Lasnier (IR cameras and Principal Investigator), all LLNL employees. Kevin Morris has imported ITER CAD files and developed a simplified 3D view of the ITER tokamak with upper ports, which he used to determine the optimum viewing angle from an upper port to see the outer target. He also determined the minimum angular field of view needed to see the largest possible coverage of the outer target. We examined the CEA-Cadarache report on their optical design for ITER visible/IRTV equatorial ports. We found that the resolution was diffraction-limited by the 5-mm aperture through the tile. Lynn Seppala developed a similar front-end design for an upper port but with a larger 6-inch-diameter beam. This allows the beam to …