50 years of excellence in science and engineering at the Savannah River Site (open access)

50 years of excellence in science and engineering at the Savannah River Site

This is a collection of papers including abstracts about the celebration of 50 years of excellence in science and engineering at the Savannah River Site. The Symposium Committee invited current and former employees to nominate the innovations to be recognized. Several selection panels of experts in various technical fields reviewed 190 nominations and selected the achievements included in this proceedings. Neither the Symposium Committee nor the selection panels claim that these accomplishments are the best of the best. Instead, they believe that they typify the outstanding quality of science and engineering at the Site during its first half-century.
Date: April 19, 2000
Creator: Phillips, A G
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ablation of NIF Targets and Diagnostic Components by High Power Lasers and X-Rays from High Temperature Plasmas (open access)

Ablation of NIF Targets and Diagnostic Components by High Power Lasers and X-Rays from High Temperature Plasmas

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) will consist of 192 laser beams that have a total energy of up to 1.8 MJ in the 3rd harmonic ({lambda} = 0.35 {micro}m) with the amount of 2nd harmonic and fundamental light depending on the pulse shape. Material near best focus of the 3rd harmonic light will be vaporized/ablated very rapidly, with a significant fraction of the laser energy converted into plasma x rays. Additional plasma x rays can come from imploding/igniting capsule inside Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) hohlraums. Material from outer portions of the target, diagnostic components, first-wall material, and optical components, are ablated by the plasma x rays. Material out to a radius of order 3 cm from target center is also exposed to a significant flux of 2nd harmonic and fundamental laser light. Ablation can accelerate the remaining material to high velocities if it has been fragmented or melted. In addition, the high velocity debris wind of the initially vaporized material pushes on the fragments/droplets and increases their velocity. The high velocity shrapnel fragments/droplets can damage the fused silica shields protecting the final optics in NIF. We discuss modeling efforts to calculate vaporization/ablation, x-ray generation, shrapnel production, and ways to mitigate …
Date: April 19, 2000
Creator: Eder, D. C.; Anderson, A. T.; Braun, D. G. & Tobin, M. T.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Accelerator mass spectrometry for quantitative in vivo tracing (open access)

Accelerator mass spectrometry for quantitative in vivo tracing

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) counts individual rare, usually radio-, isotopes such as radiocarbon at high efficiency and specificity in milligram-sized samples. AMS traces very low chemical doses ({micro}g) and radiative doses (100 Bq) of isotope labeled compounds in animal models and directly in humans for pharmaceutical, nutritional, or toxicological research. Absorption, metabolism, distribution, binding, and elimination are all quantifiable with high precision after appropriate sample definition.
Date: April 19, 2005
Creator: Vogel, J S
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Approach to Estimate the Localized Effects of an Aircraft Crash on a Facility (open access)

An Approach to Estimate the Localized Effects of an Aircraft Crash on a Facility

Aircraft crashes are an element of external events required to be analyzed and documented in facility Safety Analysis Reports (SARs) and Nuclear Explosive Safety Studies (NESSs). This paper discusses the localized effects of an aircraft crash impact into the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) located at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), given that the aircraft hits the facility. This was done to gain insight into the robustness of the DAF and to account for the special features of the DAF that enhance its ability to absorb the effects of an aircraft crash. For the purpose of this paper, localized effects are considered to be only perforation or scabbing of the facility. This paper presents an extension to the aircraft crash risk methodology of Department of Energy (DOE) Standard 3014. This extension applies to facilities that may find it necessary or desirable to estimate the localized effects of an aircraft crash hit on a facility of nonuniform construction or one that is shielded in certain directions by surrounding terrain or buildings. This extension is not proposed as a replacement to the aircraft crash risk methodology of DOE Standard 3014 but rather as an alternate method to cover situations that were not considered.
Date: April 19, 2004
Creator: Kimura, C; Sanzo, D & Sharirli, M
System: The UNT Digital Library
Atomistic Simulation of Defect Properties in BCC Tantalum (open access)

Atomistic Simulation of Defect Properties in BCC Tantalum

The fundamental atomic-level properties of point and line defects in bcc Ta have been simulated by means of quantum-based multi-ion interatomic potentials derived from the model generalized pseudopotential theory (MGPT). The potentials have been applied to the calculations of point defect formation and migration energies. The results are then compared with the ab-initio electronic-structure results and experimental data, which in turn provide rigorous validation tests of the MGPT potentials. Robust and accurate two- and three-dimensional Green's function (GF) techniques have been developed for static and dynamic simulations of single a/2<111> screw dislocation properties in bcc Ta. The transformation of the dislocation core under the influence of external stress was studied in detail using static GF method. Finite-temperature GF simulation reveals multiple-kink (thermal-kink) formation under an applied stress and the corresponding thermal-kink configuration entropy is estimated to be around 5.23k{sub B}.
Date: April 19, 2002
Creator: Yang, L H; Soderlind, P & Moriarty, J A
System: The UNT Digital Library
Attenuation of VHE Gamma Rays by the Milky Way Interstellar Radiation Field (open access)

Attenuation of VHE Gamma Rays by the Milky Way Interstellar Radiation Field

The attenuation of very high energy gamma rays by pair production on the Galactic interstellar radiation field has long been thought of as negligible. However, a new calculation of the interstellar radiation field consistent with multi-wavelength observations by DIRBE and FIRAS indicates that the energy density of the Galactic interstellar radiation field is higher, particularly in the Galactic center, than previously thought. We have made a calculation of the attenuation of very high energy gamma rays in the Galaxy using this new interstellar radiation field which takes into account its nonuniform spatial and angular distributions. We find that the maximum attenuation occurs around 100 TeV at the level of about 25% for sources located at the Galactic center, and is important for both Galactic and extragalactic sources.
Date: April 19, 2006
Creator: Moskalenko, Igor V.; /Stanford U., HEPL; Porter, Troy A.; U., /Louisiana State; Strong, Andrew W. & /Garching, Max Planck Inst., MPE
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biodefense to Cancer Office- Meeting Transcirpt (open access)

Biodefense to Cancer Office- Meeting Transcirpt

None
Date: April 19, 2004
Creator: Felton, J S; Matthews, D L & Lane, S M
System: The UNT Digital Library
Characterization of nanoparticle formation and aggregation on mineral surfaces (open access)

Characterization of nanoparticle formation and aggregation on mineral surfaces

The research effort in the Waychunas group is focused on the characterization and measurement of processes at the mineral-water interfaces specifically related to the onset of precipitation. This effort maps into one of the main project groups with the Penn State University EMSI (CEKA) known as PIG (Precipitation Interest Group), and involves collaborations with several members of that group. Both synchrotron experimentation and technique development are objectives, with the goals of allowing precipitation from single molecule attachment to sub-monolayer coverage to be detected and analyzed. The problem being addressed is the change in reactivity of mineral interfaces due to passivation or activation by precipitates or sorbates. In the case of passivation, fewer active sites may be involved in reactions with environmental fluids, while in the activated case the precipitate may be much more reactive than the substrate, or result in the creation of a higher density of active sites. We approach this problem by making direct measurements of several types of precipitation reactions: iron-aluminum oxide formation on quartz and other substrates from both homogeneous (in solution) nucleation, and heterogeneous (on the surface) nucleation; precipitation and sorption of silicate monomers and polymers on Fe oxide surfaces; and development of grazing-incidence small …
Date: April 19, 2007
Creator: Waychunas, Glenn & Jun, Young-Shin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Chemical Conversion of Energetic Materials to Higher Value Products (open access)

Chemical Conversion of Energetic Materials to Higher Value Products

The objective of this program is to develop new processes for the disposal of surplus energetic materials. Disposal through open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) is considered less attractive today due to environmental, cost and safety concerns. The use of energetic materials as chemical feedstocks for higher value products can provide environmentally sound and cost-effective alternatives to OB/OD. Our recent studies on the conversion of surplus energetic materials (Explosive D, TNT) to higher value products will be described.
Date: April 19, 2005
Creator: Mitchell, A. R.; Hsu, P. C.; Coburn, M. D.; Schmidt, R. D.; Pagoria, P. F. & Lee, G. S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Chemical Degradation of Siloxane Stress Cushions (M97 and S5370) by Thermal, Mechanical and Spectroscopic Investigations (open access)

Chemical Degradation of Siloxane Stress Cushions (M97 and S5370) by Thermal, Mechanical and Spectroscopic Investigations

We are currently investigating the long term aging of weapon organics in an effort to develop predictive capabilities for functional service life. As part of this effort, we have been studying multimechanism aging of M97 and 53370 stress cushions. Ionizing radiation, thermal degradation, and desiccation all affect the crosslink density and motional dynamics and thus the engineering performance of these materials. Our approach has been to develop molecular level understanding of the effects of such aging mechanisms on polymer properties by a combined approach utilizing solvent swelling, thermal, DMA, molecular modeling, and solid state NMR. This presentation will offer a survey of our current work, concentrating on the application of solid state NMR for correlating structure and polymer dynamics. An overview of the relationships between crosslink density, NMR relaxation times, polymer chain dynamics, and storage modulus measurements will be presented and the advantages of NMR will be discussed. It will be shown that silicone based polymers tend to crosslink upon exposure to {gamma}-radiation, undergo chain scission upon thermal degradation, and stiffen upon desiccation.
Date: April 19, 2002
Creator: Maxwell, R S; Gee, R; Balazs, B; Cohenour, R & Sung, B
System: The UNT Digital Library
Data Mining for Security Information: A Survey (open access)

Data Mining for Security Information: A Survey

This paper will present a survey of the current published work and products available to do off-line data mining for computer network security information. Hundreds of megabytes of data are collected every second that are of interest to computer security professionals. This data can answer questions ranging from the proactive, ''Which machines are the attackers going to try to compromise?'' to the reactive, ''When did the intruder break into my system and how?'' Unfortunately, there's so much data that computer security professionals don't have time to sort through it all. What we need are systems that perform data mining at various levels on this corpus of data in order to ease the burden of the human analyst. Such systems typically operate on log data produced by hosts, firewalls and intrusion detection systems as such data is typically in a standard, machine readable format and usually provides information that is most relevant to the security of the system. Systems that do this type of data mining for security information fall under the classification of intrusion detection systems. It is important to point out that we are not surveying real-time intrusion detection systems. Instead, we examined what is possible when the analysis …
Date: April 19, 2001
Creator: Brugger, S T; Kelley, M; Sumikawa, K & Wakumoto, S
System: The UNT Digital Library
Design and Implementation of Ceph: A Scalable Distributed File System (open access)

Design and Implementation of Ceph: A Scalable Distributed File System

File system designers continue to look to new architectures to improve scalability. Object-based storage diverges from server-based (e.g. NFS) and SAN-based storage systems by coupling processors and memory with disk drives, delegating low-level allocation to object storage devices (OSDs) and decoupling I/O (read/write) from metadata (file open/close) operations. Even recent object-based systems inherit decades-old architectural choices going back to early UNIX file systems, however, limiting their ability to effectively scale to hundreds of petabytes. We present Ceph, a distributed file system that provides excellent performance and reliability with unprecedented scalability. Ceph maximizes the separation between data and metadata management by replacing allocation tables with a pseudo-random data distribution function (CRUSH) designed for heterogeneous and dynamic clusters of unreliable OSDs. We leverage OSD intelligence to distribute data replication, failure detection and recovery with semi-autonomous OSDs running a specialized local object storage file system (EBOFS). Finally, Ceph is built around a dynamic distributed metadata management cluster that provides extremely efficient metadata management that seamlessly adapts to a wide range of general purpose and scientific computing file system workloads. We present performance measurements under a variety of workloads that show superior I/O performance and scalable metadata management (more than a quarter million metadata …
Date: April 19, 2006
Creator: Weil, S A; Brandt, S A; Miller, E L; Long, D E & Maltzahn, C
System: The UNT Digital Library
Design and Performance of the Soft Gamma-ray Detector for the NeXT mission (open access)

Design and Performance of the Soft Gamma-ray Detector for the NeXT mission

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) on board the NeXT (Japanese future high energy astrophysics mission) is a Compton telescope with narrow field of view (FOV), which utilizes Compton kinematics to enhance its background rejection capabilities. It is realized as a hybrid semiconductor gamma-ray detector which consists of silicon and CdTe (cadmium telluride) detectors. It can detect photons in a wide energy band (0.05-1 MeV) at a background level of 5 x 10{sup -7} counts/s/cm{sup 2}/keV; the silicon layers are required to improve the performance at a lower energy band (<0.3 MeV). Excellent energy resolution is the key feature of the SGD, allowing it to achieve both high angular resolution and good background rejection capability. An additional capability of the SGD, its ability to measure gamma-ray polarization, opens up a new window to study properties of astronomical objects. We will present the development of key technologies to realize the SGD: high quality CdTe, low noise front-end ASIC and bump bonding technology. Energy resolutions of 1.7 keV (FWHM) for CdTe pixel detectors and 1.1 keV for Si strip detectors have been measured. We also present the validation of Monte Carlo simulation used to evaluate the performance of the SGD.
Date: April 19, 2006
Creator: Tajima, Hiroyasu; Kamae, T.; Madejski, G.; Mitani, T.; Nakazawa, K.; Tanaka, T. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Design Aspects of an MSE Diagnostic for ITER (open access)

Design Aspects of an MSE Diagnostic for ITER

The Motional Stark Effect (MSE) diagnostic is unique in its ability to measure the current profile and will be essential in ITER for detailed analysis of Advanced Tokamak (AT) and other types of discharges. However, design of a MSE diagnostic for ITER presents many unique challenges. Among these is optical analysis for the convoluted optical path, required for effective neutron shielding, that employs several reflective optics arranged to form a labyrinth. The geometry of the diagnostic has been laid out and the expected Doppler shifts and channel resolution calculated. A model of the optical train has also been developed based on the Mueller matrix formalism. Unfolding the pitch angle for this complicated geometry is not straightforward and possible methods are evaluated. The CORSICA code is used to model a variety of ITER discharges including start-up, Ipramp and reverse shear. The code also incorporates a synthetic MSE diagnostic that can be used to evaluate different viewing locations and optimize channel locations for the above discharges. Simulation of the optical emission spectrum is also underway.
Date: April 19, 2004
Creator: Casper, T.; Jayakumar, J.; Makowski, M. & Ellis, R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of Chromium(VI) and Chromium(III) on Desulfovibrio vulgaris Cells (open access)

Effects of Chromium(VI) and Chromium(III) on Desulfovibrio vulgaris Cells

Desulfovibrio vulgaris ATCC 29579 is a well studied sulfate reducer that has known capabilities of reducing heavy metals and radionuclides, like chromium and uranium. Cultures grown in a defined medium (i.e. LS4D) had a lag period of approximately 40 h when exposed to 50 μMof Cr(VI). Substrate analysis revealed that although chromium is reduced within the first 5 h, growth does not resume for another 35 h. During this time, small amounts of lactate are still utilized but the reduction of sulfate does not occur. Sulfate reduction occurs concurrently with the accumulation of acetate approximately 40 h after inoculation, when growth resumes. Similar amounts of hydrogen are produced during this time compared to hydrogen production by cells not exposed to Cr(VI); therefore an accumulation of hydrogen cannot account for the utilization of lactate. There is a significant decrease in the carbohydrate to protein ratio at approximately 25 h, and this result indicated that lactate is not converted to glycogen. Most probable number analysis indicated that cell viability decreased steadily after inoculation and reached approximately 6 x 104 cells/ml 20 h post-chromium exposure. Regeneration of reducing conditions during chromium exposure does not induce growth and in fact may make the growth …
Date: April 19, 2007
Creator: Clark, M.E.; Klonowska, A.; Thieman, S.B.; Giles, B.; Wall, J.D. & Fields, and M.W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electrical Conductivity of the Lower-Mantle Ferropericlase (open access)

Electrical Conductivity of the Lower-Mantle Ferropericlase

Electrical conductivity of the lower-mantle ferropericlase-(Mg{sub 0.75},Fe{sub 0.25})O has been studied using designer diamond anvils to pressures over one megabar and temperatures up to 500 K. The electrical conductivity of (Mg{sub 0.75},Fe{sub 0.25})O gradually rises by an order of magnitude up to 50 GPa but decreases by a factor of approximately three between 50 to 70 GPa. This decrease in the electrical conductivity is attributed to the electronic high-spin to low-spin transition of iron in ferropericlase. That is, the electronic spin transition of iron results in a decrease in the mobility and/or density of the charge transfer carriers in the low-spin ferropericlase. The activation energy of the low-spin ferropericlase is 0.27 eV at 101 GPa, similar to that of the high-spin ferropericlase at relatively low temperatures. Our results indicate that low-spin ferropericlase exhibits lower electrical conductivity than high-spin ferropericlase, which needs to be considered in future geomagnetic models for the lower mantle. The extrapolated electrical conductivity of the low-spin ferropericlase, together with that of silicate perovskite, at the lower mantle pressure-temperature conditions is consistent with the model electrical conductivity profile of the lower mantle.
Date: April 19, 2007
Creator: Lin, J. F.; Weir, S. T.; Jackson, D. D.; Evans, W. J.; Vohra, Y. K.; Qiu, W. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electron Clouds and Vacuum Pressure Rise in RHIC. (open access)

Electron Clouds and Vacuum Pressure Rise in RHIC.

The luminosity in RHIC is limited by vacuum pressure rises, observed with high intensity beams of all species (Au{sup 79+}, d{sup +}, p{sup +}). At injection, the pressure rise could be linked to the existence of electron clouds. In addition, pressure rises in the experimental regions may be caused by electron clouds. They review the existing observations, comparisons with simulations, as well as corrective measures taken and planned.
Date: April 19, 2004
Creator: Fischer, W.; Blaskiewicz, M.; He, P.; Huang, H.; Hseuh, H. C.; Iriso, U. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Evolution of the Configuration Database Design (open access)

Evolution of the Configuration Database Design

The BABAR experiment at SLAC successfully collects physics data since 1999. One of the major parts of its on-line system is the configuration database which provides other parts of the system with the configuration data necessary for data taking. Originally the configuration database was implemented in the Objectivity/DB ODBMS. Recently BABAR performed a successful migration of its event store from Objectivity/DB to ROOT and this prompted a complete phase-out of the Objectivity/DB in all other BABAR databases. It required the complete redesign of the configuration database to hide any implementation details and to support multiple storage technologies. In this paper we describe the process of the migration of the configuration database, its new design, implementation strategy and details.
Date: April 19, 2006
Creator: Salnikov, A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Filtration of a Hanford AN-104 Sample (open access)

Filtration of a Hanford AN-104 Sample

The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) conducted ultrafiltration tests with samples from the Hanford Site's 241-AN-104 tank. The test objectives were to measure filter flux during dewatering and the removal of soluble species during washing. The filtration tests were conducted with the Cells Unit Filter (CUF) currently installed in Cell 16 of the SRTC High Activity Caves. Following filtration, personnel performed inhibited water washing to remove soluble species. Because of the limited volume of concentrated slurry, the washing was performed with a volumetric flask rather than a crossflow filter. Following the washing, personnel chemically cleaned the filter with 1 M nitric acid and periodically measured the clean water flux.
Date: April 19, 2004
Creator: Poirier, Michael
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fluid Flow, Solute Mixing and Precipitation In Porous Media (open access)

Fluid Flow, Solute Mixing and Precipitation In Porous Media

None
Date: April 19, 2007
Creator: Redden, George D.; Fujita, Yoshiko; Fang, Yi-Lin; Scheibe, T. D.; Tartakovsky, A. M.; Beig, Mikala et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
FRMAC Health and Safety Working Group Update (open access)

FRMAC Health and Safety Working Group Update

None
Date: April 19, 2004
Creator: Hadley, R T
System: The UNT Digital Library
Graded-density Reservoirs for Accessing High Pressure Low Temperature Material States (open access)

Graded-density Reservoirs for Accessing High Pressure Low Temperature Material States

In recently developed laser-driven shockless compression experiments an ablatively driven shock in a primary target is transformed into a ramp compression wave in a secondary target via unloading followed by stagnation across an intermediate vacuum gap. Current limitations on the achievable peak pressures are limited by the ability of shaping the temporal profile of the ramp compression pulse. We report on new techniques using graded density reservoirs for shaping the loading profile and extending these techniques to high peak pressures.
Date: April 19, 2006
Creator: Smith, R.; Lorenz, K. T.; Ho, D.; Remington, B.; Hamza, A.; Rogers, J. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Identification of clustered YY1 binding sites in Imprinting Control Regions (open access)

Identification of clustered YY1 binding sites in Imprinting Control Regions

Mammalian genomic imprinting is regulated by Imprinting Control Regions (ICRs) that are usually associated with tandem arrays of transcription factor binding sites. In the current study, the sequence features derived from a tandem array of YY1 binding sites of Peg3-DMR (differentially methylated region) led us to identify three additional clustered YY1 binding sites, which are also localized within the DMRs of Xist, Tsix, and Nespas. These regions have been shown to play a critical role as ICRs for the regulation of surrounding genes. These ICRs have maintained a tandem array of YY1 binding sites during mammalian evolution. The in vivo binding of YY1 to these regions is allele-specific and only to the unmethylated active alleles. Promoter/enhancer assays suggest that a tandem array of YY1 binding sites function as a potential orientation-dependent enhancer. Insulator assays revealed that the enhancer-blocking activity is detected only in the YY1 binding sites of Peg3-DMR but not in the YY1 binding sites of other DMRs. Overall, our identification of three additional clustered YY1 binding sites in imprinted domains suggests a significant role for YY1 in mammalian genomic imprinting.
Date: April 19, 2006
Creator: Kim, J D; Hinz, A; Bergmann, A; Huang, J; Ovcharenko, I; Stubbs, L et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ignition and Growth Modeling of LX-17 Hockey Puck Experiments (open access)

Ignition and Growth Modeling of LX-17 Hockey Puck Experiments

Detonating solid plastic bonded explosives (PBX) formulated with the insensitive molecule triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB) exhibit measurable reaction zone lengths, curved shock fronts, and regions of failing chemical reaction at abrupt changes in the charge geometry. A recent set of ''hockey puck'' experiments measured the breakout times of diverging detonation waves in ambient temperature LX-17 (92.5 % TATB plus 7.5% Kel-F binder) and the breakout times at the lower surfaces of 15 mm thick LX-17 discs placed below the detonator-booster plane. The LX-17 detonation waves in these discs grow outward from the initial wave leaving regions of unreacted or partially reacted TATB in the corners of these charges. This new experimental data is accurately simulated for the first time using the Ignition and Growth reactive flow model for LX-17, which is normalized to a great deal of detonation reaction zone, failure diameter and diverging detonation data. A pressure cubed dependence for the main growth of reaction rate yields excellent agreement with experiment, while a pressure squared rate diverges too quickly and a pressure quadrupled rate diverges too slowly in the LX-17 below the booster equatorial plane.
Date: April 19, 2004
Creator: Tarver, C M
System: The UNT Digital Library