The analysis of specific control strategies and dynamic behavior of the supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO{sub 2}) Brayton cycle has been extended to the two reactor types selected for continued development under the Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Initiative; namely, the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) and the Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (SFR). Direct application of the standard S-CO{sub 2} recompression cycle to the VHTR was found to be challenging because of the mismatch in the temperature drop of the He gaseous reactor coolant through the He-to-CO{sub 2} reactor heat exchanger (RHX) versus the temperature rise of the CO{sub 2} through the RHX. The reference VHTR features a large temperature drop of 450 C between the assumed core outlet and inlet temperatures of 850 and 400 C, respectively. This large temperature difference is an essential feature of the VHTR enabling a lower He flow rate reducing the required core velocities and pressure drop. In contrast, the standard recompression S-CO{sub 2} cycle wants to operate with a temperature rise through the RHX of about 150 C reflecting the temperature drop as the CO{sub 2} expands from 20 MPa to 7.4 MPa in the turbine and the fact that the cycle is highly recuperated …

An increasing number of homes with existing photovoltaic (PV) energy systems have sold in the U.S., yet relatively little research exists that estimates the marginal impacts of those PV systems on the sales price. A clearer understanding of these effects might influence the decisions of homeowners, home buyers and PV home builders. This research analyzes a large dataset of California homes that sold from 2000 through mid-2009 with PV installed. Across a large number of hedonic and repeat sales model specifications and robustness tests, the analysis finds strong evidence that homes with PV systems sold for a premium over comparable homes without. The effects range, on average, from approximately $3.9 to $6.4 per installed watt (DC), with most models coalescing near $5.5/watt, which corresponds to a premium of approximately $17,000 for a 3,100 watt system. The research also shows that, as PV systems age, the premium enjoyed at the time of home sale decreases. Additionally, existing homes with PV systems are found to have commanded a larger sales price premium than new homes with similarly sized PV systems. Reasons for this discrepancy are suggested, yet further research is warranted in this area as well as a number of other areas …

This report was prepared by PNNL for the U.S. Department of Energy Building America Program. The report provides information to home owners who want to make their existing homes more energy efficient by sealing leaks in the building envelope (ceiling, walls, and floors) that let in drafts and let conditioned air escape. The report provides descriptions of 19 key areas of the home where air sealing can improve home performance and energy efficiency. The report includes suggestions on how to find a qualified weatherization or home performance contractor, what to expect in a home energy audit, opportune times for performing air sealing, and what safety and health concerns to be aware of. The report describes some basic building science concepts and topics related to air sealing including ventilation, diagnostic tools, and code requirements. The report will be available for free download from the DOE Building America website. It is a suitable consumer education tool for home performance and weatherization contractors to share with customers to describe the process and value of home energy retrofits.

None

Algebraic multigrid (AMG) is a popular solver for large-scale scientific computing and an essential component of many simulation codes. AMG has shown to be extremely efficient on distributed-memory architectures. However, when executed on modern multicore architectures, we face new challenges that can significantly deteriorate AMG's performance. We examine its performance and scalability on three disparate multicore architectures: a cluster with four AMD Opteron Quad-core processors per node (Hera), a Cray XT5 with two AMD Opteron Hex-core processors per node (Jaguar), and an IBM BlueGene/P system with a single Quad-core processor (Intrepid). We discuss our experiences on these platforms and present results using both an MPI-only and a hybrid MPI/OpenMP model. We also discuss a set of techniques that helped to overcome the associated problems, including thread and process pinning and correct memory associations.

An increasing number of homes in the U.S. have sold with photovoltaic (PV) energy systems installed at the time of sale, yet relatively little research exists that provides estimates of the marginal impacts of those PV systems on home sale prices. This research analyzes a large dataset of California homes that sold from 2000 through mid-2009 with PV installed. We find strong evidence that homes with PV systems sold for a premium over comparable homes without PV systems during this time frame. Estimates for this premium expressed in dollars per watt of installed PV range, from roughly $4 to $6.4/watt across the full dataset, to approximately $2.3/watt for new homes, to more than $6/watt for existing homes. A number of ideas for further research are suggested.

The Data group provides data analysis and visualization support to its customers. This consists primarily of the development and support of VisIt, a data analysis and visualization tool. Support ranges from answering questions about the tool, providing classes on how to use the tool, and performing data analysis and visualization for customers. The Information Management and Graphics Group supports and develops tools that enhance our ability to access, display, and understand large, complex data sets. Activities include applying visualization software for large scale data exploration; running video production labs on two networks; supporting graphics libraries and tools for end users; maintaining PowerWalls and assorted other displays; and developing software for searching and managing scientific data. Researchers in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) work on various projects including the development of visualization techniques for large scale data exploration that are funded by the ASC program, among others. The researchers also have LDRD projects and collaborations with other lab researchers, academia, and industry. The IMG group is located in the Terascale Simulation Facility, home to Dawn, Atlas, BGL, and others, which includes both classified and unclassified visualization theaters, a visualization computer floor and deployment workshop, and video production labs. We …

None

The Omega-P SBIR project described in this Report has as its goal the development, test, and evaluation of a fast electrically-controlled L-band tuner for BNL Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) in the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) upgrade of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The tuner, that employs an electrically-controlled ferroelectric component, is to allow fast compensation to cavity resonance changes. In ERLs, there are several factors which significantly affect the amount of power required from the wall-plug to provide the RF-power level necessary for the operation. When beam loading is small, the power requirements are determined by (i) ohmic losses in cavity walls, (ii) fluctuations in amplitude and/or phase for beam currents, and (iii) microphonics. These factors typically require a substantial change in the coupling between the cavity and the feeding line, which results in an intentional broadening of the cavity bandwidth, which in turn demands a significant amount of additional RF power. If beam loading is not small, there is a variety of beam-drive phase instabilities to be managed, and microphonics will still remain an issue, so there remain requirements for additional power. Moreover ERL performance is sensitive to changes in beam arrival time, …

Many scientific applications need support from a communication infrastructure that provides predictable performance, which requires effective algorithms for bandwidth reservations. Network reservation systems such as ESnet's OSCARS, establish guaranteed bandwidth of secure virtual circuits for a certain bandwidth and length of time. However, users currently cannot inquire about bandwidth availability, nor have alternative suggestions when reservation requests fail. In general, the number of reservation options is exponential with the number of nodes n, and current reservation commitments. We present a novel approach for path finding in time-dependent networks taking advantage of user-provided parameters of total volume and time constraints, which produces options for earliest completion and shortest duration. The theoretical complexity is only O(n2r2) in the worst-case, where r is the number of reservations in the desired time interval. We have implemented our algorithm and developed efficient methodologies for incorporation into network reservation frameworks. Performance measurements confirm the theoretical predictions.

None

The Phase I work reported here responds to DoE'ss stated need "...to develop improved accelerator designs that can provide very high gradient (>200 MV/m for electrons...) acceleration of intense bunches of particles." Omega-P'™s approach to this goal is through use of a ramped train of annular electron bunches to drive a coaxial dielectric wakefield accelerator (CDWA) structure. This approach is a direct extension of the CDWA concept from acceleration in wake fields caused by a single drive bunch, to the more efficient acceleration that we predict can be realized from a tailored (or ramped) train of several drive bunches. This is possible because of a much higher transformer ratio for the latter. The CDWA structure itself has a number of unique features, including: a high accelerating gradient G, potentially with G > 1 GeV/m; continuous energy coupling from drive to test bunches without transfer structures; inherent transverse focusing forces for particles in the accelerated bunch; highly stable motion of high charge annular drive bunches; acceptable alignment tolerances for a multi-section system. What is new in the present approach is that the coaxial dielectric structure is now to be energized by-not one-”but by a short train of ramped annular-shaped drive bunches …

We demonstrate a nonlinear crystal-based short pulse recirculation cavity for trapping the second harmonic of an incident high power laser pulse. This scheme aims to increase the efficiency and flux of Compton-scattering based light sources. We demonstrate up to 36x average power enhancement of frequency doubled sub-millijoule picosecond pulses, and 17x average power enhancement of 177 mJ, 10 ps, 10 Hz pulses.

Reporting the findings of the investigation of the sealed source leak at BNL in Sept 2011.

The development of a control strategy for the supercritical CO{sub 2} (S-CO{sub 2}) Brayton cycle has been extended to the investigation of alternate control strategies for a Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) nuclear power plant incorporating a S-CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle power converter. The SFR assumed is the 400 MWe (1000 MWt) ABR-1000 preconceptual design incorporating metallic fuel. Three alternative idealized schemes for controlling the reactor side of the plant in combination with the existing automatic control strategy for the S-CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle are explored using the ANL Plant Dynamics Code together with the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 Liquid Metal Reactor (LMR) Analysis Code System coupled together using the iterative coupling formulation previously developed and implemented into the Plant Dynamics Code. The first option assumes that the reactor side can be ideally controlled through movement of control rods and changing the speeds of both the primary and intermediate coolant system sodium pumps such that the intermediate sodium flow rate and inlet temperature to the sodium-to-CO{sub 2} heat exchanger (RHX) remain unvarying while the intermediate sodium outlet temperature changes as the load demand from the electric grid changes and the S-CO{sub 2} cycle conditions adjust according to the S-CO{sub 2} cycle control strategy. For …

Both first principles molecular dynamics and theoretical X-ray absorption spectroscopy have been used to investigate the aqueous solvation of cations in 0.5 M MgCl{sub 2}, CaCl{sub 2}, and NaCl solutions. We focus here on the species-specific effects that Mg{sup 2+}, Ca{sup 2+}, and Na{sup +}, have on the X-ray absorption spectrum of the respective solutions. For the divalent cations, we find that the hydrogen bonding characteristics of the more rigid magnesium first shell water molecules differ from those in the more flexible solvation shell surrounding calcium. In particular, the first solvation shell water molecules of calcium are accessible to forming acceptor hydrogen bonds, and this results in an enhancement of a post-edge peak near 540 eV. The absence of acceptor hydrogen bonds for magnesium first shell water molecules provides an explanation for the experimental and theoretical observation of a lack of enhancement at the post-main-edge peak. For the sodium monovalent cation we find that the broad tilt angle distribution results in a broadening of post-edge features, despite populations in donor-and-acceptor configurations consistent with calcium. We also present the re-averaged spectra of the MgCl{sub 2}, CaCl{sub 2}, and NaCl solutions and show that trends apparent with increasing concentration (0.5 M, 2.0 …

Although bacterial culture remains the gold standard for detection of viable bacteria in environmental specimens, the typical time requirement of twenty-four hours can delay and even jeopardize appropriate public health intervention. In addition, culture is incapable of detecting viable but not culturable (VBNC) species. Conversely, nucleic acid and antibody-based methods greatly decrease time to detection but rarely characterize viability of the bacteria detected. Through selection by membrane permeability, the method described in this work employs positive dielectrophoresis (pDEP) for separation and purification of viable and VBNC species from water and allows concentration of bacteria for downstream applications.

Shock ignition, a new concept for igniting thermonuclear fuel, offers the possibility for a near-term ({approx}3-4 years) test of high gain inertial confinement fusion on the National Ignition Facility at less than 1MJ drive energy and without the need for new laser hardware. In shock ignition, compressed fusion fuel is separately ignited by a strong spherically converging shock and, because capsule implosion velocities are significantly lower than those required for conventional hotpot ignition, fusion energy gains of {approx}60 may be achievable on NIF at laser drive energies around {approx}0.5MJ. Because of the simple all-DT target design, its in-flight robustness, the potential need for only 1D SSD beam smoothing, minimal early time LPI preheat, and use of present (indirect drive) laser hardware, this target may be easier to field on NIF than a conventional (polar) direct drive hotspot ignition target. Like fast ignition, shock ignition has the potential for high fusion yields at low drive energy, but requires only a single laser with less demanding timing and spatial focusing requirements. Of course, conventional symmetry and stability constraints still apply. In this paper we present initial target performance simulations, delineate the critical issues and describe the immediate-term R&D program that must be …

None

A novel pathway for the high efficiency production of metal from metal oxide means of electrolysis in ionic liquids at low temperature was investigated. The main emphasis was to eliminate the use of carbon and high temperature application in the reduction of metal oxides to metals. The emphasis of this research was to produce metals such as Zn, and Pb that are normally produced by the application of very high temperatures. The reduction of zinc oxide to zinc and lead oxide to lead were investigated. This study involved three steps in accomplishing the final goal of reduction of metal oxide to metal using ionic liquids: 1) Dissolution of metal oxide in an ionic liquid, 2) Determination of reduction potential using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and 3) Reduction of the dissolved metal oxide. Ionic liquids provide additional advantage by offering a wide potential range for the deposition. In each and every step of the process, more than one process variable has been examined. Experimental results for electrochemical extraction of Zn from ZnO and Pb from PbO using eutectic mixtures of Urea ((NH2)2CO) and Choline chloride (HOC2H4N(CH3)3+Cl-) or (ChCl) in a molar ratio 2:1, varying voltage and temperatures were carried out. Fourier Transform …

A significant barrier to investing in renewable energy and comprehensive energy efficiency improvements to homes across the country is the initial capital cost. Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing is one of several new financial models broadening access to clean energy by addressing this upfront cost issue. Recently, the White House cited PACE programs as an important element of its 'Recovery through Retrofit' plan. The residential PACE model involves the creation of a special clean energy financing district that homeowners elect to opt into. Once opted in, the local government (usually at the city or county level) finances the upfront investment of the renewable energy installation and/or energy efficiency improvements. A special lien is attached to the property and the assessment is paid back as a line item on the property tax bill. As of April 2010, 17 states have passed legislation to allow their local governments to create PACE programs, two already have the authority to set up PACE programs, and over 10 additional states are actively developing enabling legislation. This policy brief analyzes one of the advantages of PACE, which is the transferability of the special assessment from one homeowner to the next when the home is sold. …

None

None