Newsletter distributed to the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Forum members describing current news, policies, and legislation, as well as other information relevant to the management of low-level radioactive waste.

This report discusses results from several studies involved in the project. Investigations include: vibrational models for surface olefins and alkylidenes; mechanism of the formation and fragmentation of diosmacyclobutanes; reaction of dienes and allenes with diosmacyclobutanes; determination by nematic phase NMR of the structure of mononuclear and dinuclear ethylene complexes of osmium; and generation of ``coordinatively unsaturated`` complexes by protonation of methyl osmium complexes.

Final project report of natural state modeling effort for The Geysers geothermal field, California. Initial models examined the liquid-dominated state of the system, based on geologic constraints and calibrated to match observed whole rock delta-O18 isotope alteration. These models demonstrated that the early system was of generally low permeability (around 10{sup -12} m{sup 2}), with good hydraulic connectivity at depth (along the intrusive contact) and an intact caprock. Later effort in the project was directed at development of a two-phase, supercritical flow simulation package (EOS1sc) to accompany the Tough2 flow simulator. Geysers models made using this package show that ''simmering'', or the transient migration of vapor bubbles through the hydrothermal system, is the dominant transition state as the system progresses to vapor-dominated. Such a system is highly variable in space and time, making the rock record more difficult to interpret, since pressure-temperature indicators likely reflect only local, short duration conditions.

Anomalously pressured gas (APG) assets, typically called ''basin-center'' gas accumulations, represent either an underdeveloped or undeveloped energy resource in the Rocky Mountain Laramide Basins (RMLB). Historically, the exploitation of these gas resources has proven to be very difficult and costly. In this topical report, an improved exploration strategy is outlined in conjunction with a more detailed description of new diagnostic techniques that more efficiently detect anomalously pressured, gas-charged domains. The ability to delineate gas-charged domains occurring below a regional velocity inversion surface allows operators to significantly reduce risk in the search for APG resources. The Wind River Basin was chosen for this demonstration because of the convergence of public data availability (i.e., thousands of mud logs and DSTs and 2400 mi of 2-D seismic lines); the evolution of new diagnostic techniques; a 175 digital sonic log suite; a regional stratigraphic framework; and corporate interest. In the exploration scheme discussed in this topical report, the basinwide gas distribution is determined in the following steps: (1) A detailed velocity model is established from sonic logs, 2-D seismic lines, and, if available, 3-D seismic data. In constructing the seismic interval velocity field, automatic picking technology using continuous, statistically-derived interval velocity selection, as well …

The overall objective of this project is to demonstrate that a development program based on advanced reservoir management methods can significantly improve oil recovery at the Nash Draw Pool (NDP). The plan includes developing a control area using standard reservoir management techniques and comparing its performance to an area developed using advanced reservoir management methods. Specific goals are (1) to demonstrate that an advanced development drilling and pressure maintenance program can significantly improve oil recovery compared to existing technology applications and (2) to transfer these advanced methodologies to oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin and elsewhere throughout the U.S. oil and gas industry.

The West Carney Field in Lincoln County, Oklahoma is one of few newly discovered oil fields in Oklahoma. Although profitable, the field exhibits several unusual characteristics. These include decreasing water-oil ratios, decreasing gas-oil ratios, decreasing bottomhole pressures during shut-ins in some wells, and transient behavior for water production in many wells. This report explains the unusual characteristics of West Carney Field based on detailed geological and engineering analyses. We propose a geological history that explains the presence of mobile water and oil in the reservoir. The combination of matrix and fractures in the reservoir explains the reservoir's flow behavior. We confirm our hypothesis by matching observed performance with a simulated model and develop procedures for correlating core data to log data so that the analysis can be extended to other, similar fields where the core coverage may be limited.

The Nash Draw Brushy Canyon Pool (NDP) in southeast New Mexico is one of the nine projects selected in 1995 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for participation in the Class III Reservoir Field Demonstration Program. The goals of the DOE cost-shared Class Program are to: (1) extend economic production, (2) increase ultimate recovery, and (3) broaden information exchange and technology application. Reservoirs in the Class III Program are focused on slope basin and deep-basin clastic depositional types. Production at the NDP is from the Brushy Canyon formation, a low-permeability turbidite reservoir in the Delaware Mountain Group of Permian, Guadalupian age. A major challenge in this marginal-quality reservoir is to distinguish oil-productive pay intervals from water-saturated non-pay intervals. Because initial reservoir pressure is only slightly above bubble-point pressure, rapid oil decline rates and high gas/oil ratios are typically observed in the first year of primary production. Limited surface access, caused by the proximity of underground potash mining and surface playa lakes, prohibits development with conventional drilling. Reservoir characterization results obtained to date at the NDP show that a proposed pilot injection area appears to be compartmentalized. Because reservoir discontinuities will reduce effectiveness of a pressure maintenance project, the pilot …

A survey was made on methcds and related costs of disposing of radioactive wastes as practiced in 1955 by twelve atomic industry installations. Wherever possible, estimated unit costs of differentiated stages of waste handling are shown- these are integrated to show the over-all scope of waste dispesal practices at each site. Tabular data summarize costs and operation magnitades at the installations. A pattern is established for standardizing the reporting of fixed costs and equipment unsage costs. The economy of solid waste volume reduction is analyzed. Material costs are listed. An outline for recording monthly waste disposal costs is presented. Obvious conclusions drawn from the factual data are: that it is more expensive per cubic foot to handle high-level wastes than low-level wastes. and that land disposal is less expenaive than sea disposal. A reexamination of baling economics shows that high compression of solid wastes is more expensive than simpler forms of compaction. (auth)

The Idaho Energy Division issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) on March 14, 2006, inviting qualified licensed fuel wholesalers, fuel retailers, and vehicle fleet operators to provide proposals to construct and/or install infrastructure for biodiesel utilization in Idaho. The intent was to improve the ability of private and/or non-Federal public entities in Idaho to store, transport, or offer for sale biodiesel within the state. The RFP provided up $100,000 for co-funding the projects with a minimum 50% cash cost match. Four contracts were subsequetnly awarded that resulted in three new bidodiesel storage facilities immediately serving about 45 fueling stations from Sandpoint to Boise. The project also attracted considerable media attention and Idaho became more knowledgeable about biodiesel.

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On September 8-9, 2005, representatives of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA), and Argonne National Laboratory met at the KDHE's offices in Topeka to review the status of the CCC/USDA's environmental activities in Kansas. A key CCC/USDA goal for this meeting was to obtain KDHE input on the selection of possible remedial approaches to be examined as part of the Corrective Action Study (CAS) for this site. As a result of the September meeting, the KDHE recommended several additional activities for the Everest site, to further assist in selecting and evaluating remedial alternatives for the CAS. The requested actions included the following: (1) Construction of several additional interpretive cross sections to improve the depiction of the hydrogeologic characteristics affecting groundwater and contaminant movement along the apparent main plume migration pathway to the north-northwest of the former CCC/USDA facility, and in the vicinity of the Nigh property. (2) Identification of potential locations for several additional monitoring wells, to better constrain the apparent western and northwestern margins of the existing groundwater plume. (3) Development of technical recommendations for a stepwise pumping study of the Everest aquifer unit in the …

The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), formerly operated grain storage facilities at two different locations at Everest, Kansas (Figure 1.1). One facility (referred to in this report as the Everest facility) was at the western edge of the city. The second facility (referred to in this report as Everest East) was about 0.5 mi northeast of the town. The CCC/USDA operated these facilities from the early 1950s until the early 1970s, at a time when commercial fumigants containing carbon tetrachloride were in common use by the CCC/USDA and private industry for the preservation of grain in storage. In 1997 the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) sampled several domestic drinking water and non-drinking water wells in the Everest area as part of the CCC/USDA Private Well Sampling Program. All of the sampled wells were outside the Everest city limits. Carbon tetrachloride contamination was identified at a single domestic drinking water well (the Nigh well, DW06; Figure 1.1) approximately 3/8 mi northwest of the former Everest CCC/USDA grain storage facility. Subsequent KDHE investigations suggested that the contamination in DW06 could be linked to the former use of grain fumigants at the CCC/USDA …

This Work Plan outlines the scope of work for a program of twice yearly groundwater monitoring at the site of a former grain storage facility at Centralia, Kansas (Figure 1.1). The purposes of this monitoring program are to follow changes in plume dynamics and to collect data necessary to evaluate the suitability of monitored natural attenuation as a remedial option, under the requirements of Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Policy No.BER-RS-042. This monitoring program is planned for a minimum of 2 yr. The planned monitoring activity is part of an investigation at Centralia being performed on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), by the Environmental Research Division of Argonne National Laboratory. Argonne is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary research center operated by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The CCC/USDA has entered into an interagency agreement with DOE, under which Argonne provides technical assistance to the CCC/USDA with environmental site characterization and remediation at its former grain storage facilities. Details and background for this Work Plan were presented previously (Argonne 2004, 2005). Argonne has also issued a Master Work Plan (Argonne 2002) that describes the …

The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), formerly operated a grain storage facility in Courtland, Kansas. Prior to 1986, commercial grain fumigants containing carbon tetrachloride were commonly used by the CCC/USDA and the grain industry to preserve stored grain. In 1999, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) identified the former CCC/USDA operation as the likely source of carbon tetrachloride found in groundwater east of the former CCC/USDA facility in Courtland. Sampling by the KDHE in April 1998 had found carbon tetrachloride in the Garman residence lawn and garden well at a concentration of 2.1 {micro}g/L and in the Hoard residence lawn and garden well at a concentration of 0.5 {micro}g/L. Subsequent soil and groundwater sampling by the KDHE at the former CCC/USDA facility found no indication of a continuing source, and subsequent sampling of the affected wells showed generally declining contaminant levels. At the request of the KDHE and the CCC/USDA, Argonne National Laboratory prepared a Work Plan for Groundwater Sampling for Potential Site Reclassification, Courtland, Kansas (Argonne 2004). The objective of the proposed work was to conduct a single groundwater monitoring event and collect information necessary to update the status …

Explanation of research methods and data collected during a salmon survey at the Project Chariot site near Seattle, Washington.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) (DOE/EA-0347) on the proposed surface remediation of the Maybell uranium mill processing site in Moffat County, Colorado. The mill site contains radioactively contaminated materials from processing uranium ore that would be stabilized in place at the existing tailings pile location. Based on the analysis in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action does not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, Public Law 91-190 (42 U.S.C. {section}4321 et seq.), as amended. Therefore, preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required and DOE is issuing this Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).

During 1991, the activities of the John Hopkins University Plasma Spectroscopy Group have covered several areas of research, in the domain of XUV spectroscopy of magnetically confined fusion plasmas. While the main effort concentrated on the development of novel diagnostics which utilize Layered Synthetic Microstructures (LSMs) as the dispersive/filtering elements, work has been done in the area of detector development and the physics of the tokamak edge plasma. An XUV monochromator for the 20--200{Angstrom} range, which uses flat LSMs, has been built and is currently operated on the D3-D tokamak at General Atomics in San Diego. A design for a follow-up experiment at D3-D is now in progress. As a preliminary step toward tokamak plasma imaging in the XUV wavelength range using curved LSM coated substrates, a prototype XUV camera was built and operated in our laboratory in image the A1 3 emission at {lambda}-175{Angstrom} from a Penning Ionization Discharge plasma. Based on these laboratory results, the design of the XUV camera, which will image plasma in the Phaedrus T tokamak O VI emission (150{Angstrom}), has been completed. This instrument is presently under construction. Also a detailed design of a system composed of four LSM based imaging devices for N{sub …

At two uranium mill sites in Rifle, Colorado, the US Department of Energy (DOE) Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project is removing uranium mill tailings and contaminated subgrade soils. This remediation activity will result in the production of groundwater contaminated with uranium, heavy metals, ammonia, sulfates, and total dissolved solids (TDS). The initial remediation plan called for a wastewater treatment plant for removal of the uranium, heavy metals, and ammonia, with disposal of the treated water, which still includes the sulfates and TDSS, to the Colorado River. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NPDES) permit issued by the Colorado Department of Health for the two Rifle sites contained more restrictive discharge limits than originally anticipated. During the detailed review of alternate treatment systems to meet these more restrictive limits, the proposed construction procedures were reviewed emphasizing the methods to minimize groundwater production to reduce the size of the water treatment facility, or to eliminate it entirely. It was determined that with changes to the excavation procedures and use of the contaminated groundwater for use in dust suppression at the disposal site, discharge to the river could be eliminated completely.

We have implemented a 2D electrostastic plasma particle in cell (PIC) simulation code on the Caltech/JPL Mark IIIfp Hypercube. The code simulates plasma effects by evolving in time the trajectories of thousands to millions of charged particles subject to their self-consistent fields. Each particle`s position and velocity is advanced in time using a leap frog method for integrating Newton`s equations of motion in electric and magnetic fields. The electric field due to these moving charged particles is calculated on a spatial grid at each time by solving Poisson`s equation in Fourier space. These two tasks represent the largest part of the computation. To obtain efficient operation on a distributed memory parallel computer, we are using the General Concurrent PIC (GCPIC) algorithm previously developed for a 1D parallel PIC code.

Dynamic load balancing has been implemented in a concurrent one-dimensional electromagnetic plasma particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation code using a method which adds very little overhead to the parallel code. In PIC codes, the orbits of many interacting plasma electrons and ions are followed as an initial value problem as the particles move in electromagnetic fields calculated self-consistently from the particle motions. The code was implemented using the GCPIC algorithm in which the particles are divided among processors by partitioning the spatial domain of the simulation. The problem is load-balanced by partitioning the spatial domain so that each partition has approximately the same number of particles. During the simulation, the partitions are dynamically recreated as the spatial distribution of the particles changes in order to maintain processor load balance.