On January 19-21, 2011, The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) successfully convened its 11th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Our Changing Oceans in Washington, DC at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Over 1,247 participants attended the conference, representing federal, state and local governments, university and colleges across the US, civil society organizations, the business community, and international entities. In addition, the conference was webcast to an audience across several states. The conference provided a forum to examine the profound changes our ocean will undergo over the next 25-50 years and share various perspectives on the new research, tools, and policy initiatives to protect and sustain our ocean. Conference highlights and recommendations are available to the public on NCSE's conference website, www.OurChangingOceans.org.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of illness and injury surveillance activities that provide an early warning system to detect health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

This report describes the groundwater monitoring and corrective-action program at the M-Area Hazardous Waste Management Facility (HWMF) and the Metallurgical Laboratory (Met Lab) HWMF at the Savannah River Site (SRS) during 2000. This program is required by South Carolina Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Hazardous Waste Permit SC1890008989 and Section 264.100(g) of the South Carolina Hazardous Waste Management Regulations.

This report summarizes a research and development program that produced a stand-alone active desiccant module (ADM) that can be easily integrated with new or existing packaged cooling equipment. The program also produced a fully integrated hybrid system, combining the active desiccant section with a conventional direct expansion air-conditioning unit, that resulted in a compact, low-cost, energy-efficient end product. Based upon the results of this investigation, both systems were determined to be highly viable products for commercialization. Major challenges--including wheel development, compact packaging, regeneration burner development, control optimization, and low-cost design--were all successfully addressed by the final prototypes produced and tested as part of this program. Extensive laboratory testing was completed in the SEMCO laboratory for each of the two ADM system approaches. This testing confirmed the performance of the ADM systems to be attractive compared with that of alternate approaches currently used to precondition outdoor air, where a return air path is not readily available for passive desiccant recovery or where first cost is the primary design criterion. Photographs, schematics, and performance maps are provided for the ADM systems that were developed; and many of the control advantages are discussed. Based upon the positive results of this research and development …

The authors have developed a new experimental approach for measuring hysteresis in the adhesion between micromachined surfaces. By accurately modeling the deformations in cantilever beams that are subject to combined interfacial adhesion and applied electrostatic forces, they determine adhesion energies for advancing and receding contacts. They draw on this new method to examine adhesion hysteresis for silane coated micromachined structures and found significant hysteresis for surfaces that were exposed to high relative humidity (RH) conditions. Atomic force microscopy studies of these surfaces showed spontaneous formation of agglomerates that they interpreted as silages that have irreversibly transformed from uniform surface layers at low RH to isolated vesicles at high RH. They used contact deformation models to show that the compliance of these vesicles could reasonably account for the adhesion hysteresis that develops at high RH as the surfaces are forced into contact by an externally applied load.

Fifteen ICF power reactor design studies published since 1980 are reviewed to illuminate the design trends they represent. There is a clear, continuing trend toward making ICF reactors inherently safer and environmentally benign. Since this trend accentuates inherent advantages of ICF reactors, we expect it to be further emphasized in the future. An emphasis on economic competitiveness appears to be a somewhat newer trend. Lower cost of electricity, smaller initial size (and capital cost), and more affordable development paths are three of the issues being addressed with new studies.

Data are presented on the results of acid and carbonate leaching studies on samples of ore from the LaBajada Mine of the Lone Star Mining Company, Santa Fe County, New Mexico. (auth)

Mutagenicity of six mild gasification product samples was studied using the Ames Salmonella/microsomal assay system. The results of the Ames testing of the MG-119 and MG-120 subfractions indicate significant mutagenic activity only in the nonpolar neutral fraction. The activity was evident on bacterial strains, TA98 and TA100, with and without metabolic activation for MG-120, and with metabolic activation for MG-119. Previous testing of MG-119 and MG-120 when solvated in DMSO had shown possible, but unconfirmable, mutagenic activity. Tween 80-solvated MG-119 and MG-120 showed low, but significant, mutagenic activity only on TA98 with metabolic activation. Comparison of these results indicate an inhibition of the mutagenic components by nonmutagenic components in the complex mixture. 4 refs., 2 tabs.

Mutagenicity of six mild gasification product samples was studied using the Ames Salmonella/microsomal assay system. The results of the Ames testing of the MG-119 and MG-120 subfractions indicate significant mutagenic activity only in the nonpolar neutral fraction. The activity was evident on bacterial strains, TA98 and TA100, with and without metabolic activation for MG-120, and with metabolic activation for MG-119. Previous testing of MG-119 and MG-120 when solvated in DMSO had shown possible, but unconfirmable, mutagenic activity. Tween 80-solvated MG-119 and MG-120 showed low, but significant, mutagenic activity only on TA98 with metabolic activation. Comparison of these results indicate an inhibition of the mutagenic components by nonmutagenic components in the complex mixture. 4 refs., 2 tabs.

The High Level Waste Tank Farms store and process high-level liquid wastes from a number of sources including F- and H-Canyons. These wastes are made alkaline prior to transfer to the Tank Farm and are subject to acceptance based on their composition. These wastes may contain significant concentrations of ammonia from flushing of the process vessel vent system. The Authorization Basis for the Tank Farm limits ammonia concentrations in canyon receipts to control flammability in pump tanks and waste tanks. However, during flushing of the canyon process vessel vent systems, the current limits pose significant operational restrictions. It was originally thought that the current limits based on data obtained by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), on a Hanford salt solution might be overly conservative with respect to salt solutions normally found in SRS Pump Tanks. However, on investigation of the possible range of concentrations based on canyon transfer data, it was found that pump tank salt solution concentrations probably did not differ significantly from the salt solution tested by PNNL. This report documents the work performed as originally described in the task technical plan.

Pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology, which is currently being revived around the world, raises fundamental questions about dense granular flow in silos. A typical reactor core is composed of graphite fuel pebbles, which drain very slowly in a continuous refueling process. Pebble flow is poorly understood and not easily accessible to experiments, and yet it has a ma jor impact on reactor physics. To address this problem, we perform full-scale, discrete-element simulations in realistic geometries, with up to 440,000 frictional, viscoelastic 6cm-diameter spheres draining in a cylindrical vessel of diameter 3.5m and height 10m with bottom funnels angled at 30◦ or 60◦ . We also simulate a bidisperse core with a dynamic central column of smaller graphite moderator pebbles and show that little mixing occurs down to a 1:2 diameter ratio. We analyze the mean velocity, diffusion and mixing, local ordering and porosity (from Voronoi volumes), the residence-time distribution, and the effects of wall friction and discuss implications for reactor design and the basic physics of granular flow.

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The anticipated behavior of uranium oxide vapor bubbles produced by the capacitor discharge vaporization (CDV) method in the Fuel Aerosol Simulant Test (FAST) Facility is discussed on the basis of relatively simple physical models. Results of calculations for the rate of bubble rise and for heat and mass transfer rates are presented. Parametric studies indicate that future analysis efforts should emphasize the diffusion condensation process and the loss of heat from the bubble by radiation. Transfer of heat in the surrounding sodium is rapid enough that simplified models should be adequate. No important effects were noted in connection with bubble depth, initial quantity of UO/sub 2/, or initial superheat.

Recent experiments with high Z disks on the Argus facility have exteanded our knowledge of the temperature (inferred from the slope of the hard x-ray spectrum) of laser generated suprathermal electrons, from the previous regime of 1 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 30 to the Z approx. = 80 regime. The systematic rise of temperature with Z is theoretically analyzed. We believe that material albedoes (electron reflectivity) which increase with Z can account for this behavior, since electrons can make multiple passes through the region of resonant electric fields and are thus reheated. We treat this effect quantitatively and obtain reasonable agreement with experiment. The effects of magnetic fields and filamentation are also examined.

Aqueous radioactive wastes from Savannah River Site (SRS) separations and vitrification processes are contained in large underground carbon steel tanks. Inspections made during 2000 to evaluate these vessels and other waste handling facilities along with evaluations based on data from previous inspections are the subject of this report.

One of the main tasks within the Aviation Performance Measurement System (APMS) program uses statistical methodologies to find atypical flights. With thousands of flights a day and hundreds of parameters being recorded every second for each flight, the amount of data escalates and the ability to find atypical flights becomes more difficult. The purpose of this paper is to explain the method known as single value decomposition (SVD) employed to search for the atypical flights and display useful graphics that facilitate understanding the causes of atypicality for these flights. Other methods could also perform this search and some are planned for future implementation.

We propose a new Monte Carlo method to study extended X-ray sources with the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard XMM Newton. The Smoothed Particle Inference (SPI) technique, described in a companion paper, is applied here to the EPIC data for the clusters of galaxies Abell 1689, Centaurus and RXJ 0658-55 (the ''bullet cluster''). We aim to show the advantages of this method of simultaneous spectral-spatial modeling over traditional X-ray spectral analysis. In Abell 1689 we confirm our earlier findings about structure in temperature distribution and produce a high resolution temperature map. We also confirm our findings about velocity structure within the gas. In the bullet cluster, RXJ 0658-55, we produce the highest resolution temperature map ever to be published of this cluster allowing us to trace what looks like the motion of the bullet in the cluster. We even detect a south to north temperature gradient within the bullet itself. In the Centaurus cluster we detect, by dividing up the luminosity of the cluster in bands of gas temperatures, a striking feature to the north-east of the cluster core. We hypothesize that this feature is caused by a subcluster left over from a substantial merger that slightly displaced the …

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Automation of the Jarrell-Ash 3.4-Meter Ebert direct-reading emission spectrometer with digital scaler readout is described. The readout is interfaced to a Data General NOVA 840 minicomputer. The automation code consists of BASIC language programs for interactive routines, data processing, and report generation. Call statements within the BASIC programs invoke assembly language routines for real-time data acquisition and control. In addition, the automation objectives as well as the spectrometer-computer system functions, coding, and operating instructions are presented.

The objective of this work is to investigate the thick diffusion limit of various spatial discretizations of the one-dimensional, steady-state, monoenergetic, discrete ordinates neutron transport equation. This work specifically addresses the two lowest order nodal methods, AHOT-N0 and AHOT-N1, as well as reconsiders the asymptotic limit of the Diamond Difference method. The asymptotic analyses of the AHOT-N0 and AHOT-N1 nodal methods show that AHOT-N0 does not possess the thick diffusion limit for cell edge or cell average fluxes except under very limiting conditions, which is to be expected considering the AHOT-N0 method limits to the Step method in the thick diffusion limit. The AHOT-N1 method, which uses a linear in-cell representation of the flux, was shown to possess the thick diffusion limit for both cell average and cell edge fluxes. The thick diffusion limit of the DD method, including the boundary conditions, was derived entirely in terms of cell average scalar fluxes. It was shown that, for vacuum boundaries, only when {sigma}{sub t}, h, and Q are constant and {sigma}{sub a} = 0 is the asymptotic limit of the DD method close to the finite-differenced diffusion equation in the system interior, and that the boundary conditions between the systems will …

We propose an alternative orthonormalization method that computes the orthonormal basis from the right singular vectors of a matrix. Its advantage are: (a) all operations are matrix-matrix multiplications and thus cache-efficient, (b) only one synchronization point is required in parallel implementations, (c) could be more stable than Gram-Schmidt. In addition, we consider the problem of incremental orthonormalization where a block of vectors is orthonormalized against a previously orthonormal set of vectors and among itself. We solve this problem by alternating iteratively between a phase of Gram-Schmidt and a phase of the new method. We provide error analysis and use it to derive bounds on how accurately the two successive orthonormalization phases should be performed to minimize total work performed. Our experiments confirm the favorable numerical behavior of the new method and its effectiveness on modern parallel computers.

Amorphous carbon films with an s p{sup 3} content up to 25% and a negligible amount of hydrogen have been grown by evaporation of graphite and concurrent Ar{sup +} ion bombardment. The s p{sup 3} content is maximized for Ar{sup +} energies between 200 and 300 eV following a subplantation mechanism. Higher ion energies deteriorate the film due to sputtering and heating processes. The hardness of the films increases in the optimal assisting range from 8 to 18 GPa, and is explained by the crosslinking of graphitic planes through s p {sup 3} connecting site.

One new Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) groundwater assessment well was installed at single-shell tank Waste Management Area (WMA) S-SX in fiscal year (FY) 2005 to fulfill commitments for well installations proposed in Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, Milestone M-24-57 (2004). The need for the new well, well 299-W22-47, was identified during a data quality objectives process for establishing a RCRA/ Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)/Atomic Energy Act (AEA) integrated 200 West and 200 East Area Groundwater Monitoring Network. This document provides a compilation of all available geologic data, spectral gamma ray logs, hydrogeologic data and well information obtained during drilling, well construction, well development, pump installation, aquifer testing, and sample collection/analysis activities. Appendix A contains the Well Summary Sheets, the Well Construction Summary Report, the geologist's Borehole Log, well development and pump installation records, and well survey results. Appendix B contains analytical results from groundwater samples collected during drilling. Appendix C contains complete spectral gamma ray logs and borehole deviation surveys.