Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is proposing to construct an on-site research facility for a novel electric power generation system that exploits clean-burning fossil fuels. This system, termed Zero Emission Steam Technology (ZEST), offers unique economic and environmental benefits, including: (1) Highly efficient power generation using the most advanced combustion and turbine technologies. (2) Ability to burn a range of fossil fuels, including natural gas, synthetic gas from coal (''coal syngas''), and coal-bed methane. (3) No oxides of nitrogen generated that would contribute to air pollution. (4) No greenhouse gases emitted. (5) Secure geologic sequestration of the carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) combustion product. (6) Use of the CO{sub 2} combustion product to enhance oil recovery in mature fields. The proposed research facility will provide a necessary step toward commercialization of ZEST. Despite the technology's promise, it will not be implemented by the U.S. electric power industry unless an agency such as DOE takes on the task of demonstrating its scientific and economic viability. The U.S. electric power industry typically requires 50,000 hours of operational data--nearly six years of continuous duty--before investing in a major new technology. Hence, there is a strong programmatic need for DOE to provide such data for …

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper.

We describe a scheme to produce an intense and collimated beam of neutrinos for the neutrino-oscillation experiment. The scheme feature is the presence of a Proton Driver that generates a proton beam at very large power (10mA x 15GeV), considerably higher than that proposed elsewhere for this application. With this scheme, because of the high intensity of the proton beam, to produce neutrinos at the same required rates, it is sufficient to collect {pi} and {mu} mesons only around a small angle and at reduced momentum spreads. This eliminates the need for the difficult longitudinal manipulations of the protons and mesons, and of the ionization cooling that still needs to be demonstrated. It is also shown, at the end of the paper, that the Neutrino Factory here proposed can also be used as an injector for a 1 x 1 TeV{sup 2} {mu}{sup +} - {mu}{sup -} collider at large luminosity.

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This project develops a family of novel Second Generation Advanced Reburning (SGAR) NO{sub x} control technologies, which can achieve 95% NO{sub x} control in coal fired boilers at a significantly lower cost than Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). The conventional Advanced Reburning (AR) process integrates basic reburning and N-agent injection. The SGAR systems include six AR variants: (1) AR-Lean--injection of the N-agent and promoter along with overfire air; (2) AR-Rich--injection of N-agent and promoter into the reburning zone; (3) Multiple Injection Advanced Reburning (MIAR)--injection of N-agents and promoters both into the reburning zone and with overfire air; (4) AR-Lean + Promoted SNCR--injection of N-agents and promoters with overfire air and into the temperature zone at which Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) is effective; (5) AR-Rich + Promoted SNCR--injection of N-agents and promoters into the reburning zone and into the SNCR zone; and (6) Promoted Reburning + Promoted SNCR--basic or promoted reburning followed by basic or promoted SNCR process. The project was conducted in two phases over a five-year period. The work included a combination of analytical and experimental studies to confirm the process mechanisms, identify optimum process configurations, and develop a design methodology for full-scale applications. Phase I was conducted from October, …

This report is a presentation of work carried out on Phase II of the HIPPS program under DOE contract DE-AC22-95PC95144 from June 1995 to March 2001. The objective of this report is to emphasize the results and achievements of the program and not to archive every detail of the past six years of effort. These details are already available in the twenty-two quarterly reports previously submitted to DOE and in the final report from Phase I. The report is divided into three major foci, indicative of the three operational groupings of the program as it evolved, was restructured, or overtaken by events. In each of these areas, the results exceeded DOE goals and expectations. HIPPS Systems and Cycles (including thermodynamic cycles, power cycle alternatives, baseline plant costs and new opportunities) HITAF Components and Designs (including design of heat exchangers, materials, ash management and combustor design) Testing Program for Radiative and Convective Air Heaters (including the design and construction of the test furnace and the results of the tests) There are several topics that were part of the original program but whose importance was diminished when the contract was significantly modified. The elimination of the subsystem testing and the Phase III …

The concept of using a muon storage ring to provide a well characterized beam of muon and electron neutrinos (a Neutrino Factory) has been under study for a number of years now at various laboratories throughout the world. The physics program of a Neutrino Factoryis focused on the relatively unexplored neutrino sector. In conjunction with a detector located a suitable distance from the neutrino source, the facility would make valuable contributions to the study of neutrino masses and lepton mixing. A Neutrino Factory is expected to improve the measurement accuracy of sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 23}) and {Delta}m{sup 2}{sub 32} and provide measurements of sin{sup 2}(2{theta}{sub 13}) and the sign of {Delta}m{sup 2}{sub 32}. It may also be able to measure CP violation in the lepton sector.

The project seeks to develop and validate a new pulverized coal combustion system to reduce utility PC boiler NO{sub x} emissions to 0.15 lb/million Btu or less without post-combustion flue gas cleaning. Work during the quarter included continuation of the equipment fabrication effort for pilot system components. Successful proof-of-performance testing of the IGT-designed pilot-scale natural gas-fired coal preheat combustor was completed by IGT during the quarter. The combustor was then disassembled and shipped for installation in the pilot-scale test system in BBP's Coal Burner Test Facility (CBTF) in Worcester, MA. Delivery of the balance of the pilot system components from the fabricator began near the end of the quarter, with components being installed in the pilot test facility as they were received.

The objective of the ATS program is to develop ultra-high efficiency, environmentally superior and cost competitive gas turbine systems for base load application in utility, independent power producer and industrial markets. Specific performance targets have been set using natural gas as the primary fuel: {lg_bullet} System efficiency that will exceed 60%(lower heating value basis) on natural gas for large scale utility turbine systems; for industrial applications, systems that will result in a 15% improvement in heat rate compared to currently available gas turbine systems. {lg_bullet} An environmentally superior system that will not require the use of post combustion emissions controls under full load operating conditions. {lg_bullet} Busbar energy costs that are 10% less than current state-of-the-art turbine systems, while meeting the same environmental requirements. {lg_bullet} Fuel-flexible designs that will operate on natural gas but are capable of being adapted to operate on coal-derived or biomass fuels. {lg_bullet} Reliability-Availability-Maintainability (RAM) that is equivalent to the current turbine systems. {lg_bullet} Water consumption minimized to levels consistent with cost and efficiency goals. {lg_bullet} Commercial systems that will enter the market in the year 2000. In Phase I of the ATS program, Siemens Westinghouse found that efficiency significantly increases when the traditional combined-cycle power …

ALSTOM Power Inc.'s Power Plant Laboratories (ALSTOM) has teamed with American Electric Power (AEP), ABB Lummus Global Inc. (ABB), the US Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE NETL), and the Ohio Coal Development Office (OCDO) to conduct a comprehensive study evaluating the technical feasibility and economics of alternate CO{sub 2} capture and sequestration technologies applied to an existing US coal-fired electric generation power plant. The motivation for this study was to provide input to potential US electric utility actions concerning GHG emissions reduction. If the US decides to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions, action would need to be taken to address existing power plants. Although fuel switching from coal to natural gas may be one scenario, it will not necessarily be a sufficient measure and some form of CO{sub 2} capture for use or disposal may also be required. The output of this CO{sub 2} capture study will enhance the public's understanding of control options and influence decisions and actions by government, regulators, and power plant owners in considering the costs of reducing greenhouse gas CO{sub 2} emissions. The total work breakdown structure is encompassed within three major reports, namely: (1) Literature Survey, (2) AEP's Conesville Unit No.5 Retrofit …

We are reporting here on the inexpensive fabrication and optical properties of an iron(III) oxide chromium(III) oxide nanocomposite thin film of corundum crystal structure. Its novel and unique-designed architecture consists of uniformed, well-defined and oriented nanorods of Hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) of 50 nm in diameter and 500nm in length and homogeneously distributed nonaggregated monodisperse spherical nanoparticles of Eskolaite (alpha-Cr2O3) of 250 nm in diameter. This alpha-Fe2O3 alpha-Cr2O3 nanocomposite thin film is obtained by growing, directly onto transparent polycrystalline conducting substrate, an oriented layer of hematite nanorods and growing subsequently, the eskolaite layer. The synthesis is carried out by a template-free, low-temperature, multilayer thin film coating process using aqueous solution of metal salts as precursors. Almost 100 percent of the light is absorbed by the composite film between 300 and 525 nm and 40 percent at 800 nm which yields great expectations as photoanode materials for photovoltaic cells and photocatalytic devices.

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The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 identify a number of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) as candidates for regulation. Should regulations be imposed on HAP emissions from coal-fired power plants, a sound understanding of the fundamental principles controlling the formation and partitioning of toxic species during coal combustion will be needed. With support from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the Electric Power Research Institute, and VTT (Finland), Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has teamed with researchers from USGS, MIT, the University of Arizona (UA), the University of Kentucky (UK), the University of Connecticut (UC), the University of Utah (UU) and the University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) to develop a broadly applicable emissions model useful to regulators and utility planners. The new Toxics Partitioning Engineering Model (ToPEM) will be applicable to all combustion conditions including new fuels and coal blends, low-NOx combustion systems, and new power generation plants. Development of ToPEM will be based on PSI's existing Engineering Model for Ash Formation (EMAF). The work discussed in this report covers the Phase II program. Five coals were studied (three in Phase I and two new ones in Phase II). In this work UK has used XAFS …

This report outlines progress in the third 3 quarter of the first year of the DOE project ''High Resolution Prediction of Gas Injection Process Performance for Heterogeneous Reservoirs.'' A simple theoretical formulation of vertical flow with capillary/gravity equilibrium is described. Also reported are results of experimental measurements for the same systems. The results reported indicate that displacement behavior is strongly affected by the interfacial tension of phases that form on the tie line that extends through the initial oil composition.

Zeolite and other inorganic molecular sieve membranes have shown potential for separations based on molecular size and shape because of their small pore sized, typically less than 1 nm, and their narrow pore size distribution. The high thermal and chemical stability of these inorganic crystals make them ideal materials for use in high temperature applications such as catalytic membrane reactors. Most of the progress with zeolite membranes has been with MFI zeolites prepared on porous disks and tubes. The MFI zeolite is a medium pore size structure having nearly circular pores with diameters between .53 and .56 nm. Separation experiments through MFI membranes indicate that competitive adsorption separates light gas mixtures. Light gas selectivities are typically small, however, owing to small differences in adsorption strengths and their small sizes relative to the MFI pore opening. Furthermore, competitive adsorption does not work well at high temperature where zeolite membranes are stable and have potential application. Separation by differences in size has a greater potential to work at high temperature than competitive adsorption, but pores smaller than those in MFI zeolites are required. Therefore, some studies focused on the synthesis of a small, 8-membered-pore structures such as zeolite A (0.41-nm pore diameter) …

In the structure task, the authors completed reducing the data they had collected from a N-S transect on the east side of Seneca Lake. They have calculated the fracture frequency for all the fracture sets at each site, and constructed modified rose diagrams that summarize the fracture attributes at each site. These data indicate a N-striking fault near the southeastern shore of Seneca Lake, and also indicate NE and ENE-trending FIDs and faults north of Valois. The orientation and existence of the ENE-striking FIDs and faults are thought to be guided by faults in the Precambrian basement. These basement faults apparently were sufficiently reactivated to cause faulting in the Paleozoic section. Other faults are thrust ramps above the Silurian salt section that were controlled by a far-field Alleghanian stress field. Structure contour maps and isopach maps have been revised based on additional well log analyses. Except for the Glodes Corners Field, the well spacing generally is insufficient to definitely identify faults. However, relatively sharp elevational changes east of Keuka Lake support the contention that faults occur along the east side of Keuka Lake. Outcrop stratigraphy along the east side of Seneca Lake indicates that faults and gentle folds can be …

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The ultrahigh energy cross section for neutrino interactions with nucleons is reviewed, and unitarity constraints are discussed. We argue that existing QCD extrapolations are self-consistent, and do not imply a breakdown of the perturbative expansion in the weak coupling.

In July of 1999 Louisiana State University (LSU) was awarded a two year research grant by the D.O.E. NEER program to develop a methodology for neutron transport calculations using pointwise (PW) nuclear data in the thermal energy range, and to implement the method into the CENTRM transport code being developed at LSU for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This work has extended CENTRM's current epithermal PW calculation to encompass the thermal range, providing a continuous-energy deterministic transport code that can address problems that may not be adequately treated using multigroup methods. The new version of the CENTRM code was completed, and provided to ORNL for inclusion in the next release of the SCALE code system. The new thermal calculation developed by the NEER project is a significant improvement in the CENTRM capability, and should have an impact on criticality and shipping cask analysis done by numerous organizations who use this code system.

The overall objective of this project is the engineering development of a reusable calcium-based sorbent for desulfurizing hot coal gas. A two-step pelletization method has been employed to produce relatively strong, ''core-in-shell,'' spherical pellets. Each pellet consists of a highly reactive core surrounded by a strong, inert, porous shell. A suitable core is composed largely of CaO which reacts with H{sub 2}S to form CaS. Pellet cores have been prepared by pelletizing either pulverized limestone or plaster of Paris, and shells have been made of various materials. The most suitable shell material has been formed from a mixture of alumina and limestone particles. The core-in-shell pellets require treatment at high temperature to convert the core material to CaO and to partially sinter the shell material. Pellet cores derived from plaster of Paris have proved superior to those derived from limestone because they react more rapidly with H{sub 2}S and their reactivity does not seem to decline with repeated loading and regeneration. The rate of reaction of H{sub 2}S with CaO derived from either material is directly proportional to H{sub 2}S concentration. The rate of reaction does not appear to be affected significantly by temperature in the range of 1113 K …

This report covers the electrical resistance tomography (ERT) work performed at the Hanford Reservation, 200 East Area Vadose test (Sisson and Lu) site during the period March 23 through May 5,2001. The purposes of the ERT work were to: (1) Compare and contrast the development of the highly concentrated sodium thiosulfate plume (FY 01 work) with the fresh river water plume observed during FY 00. (2) Use the resistance images to infer the dynamics of the plume during two or three of the sodium thio-sulfate releases and during the water ''chaser'' release. (3) Determine the influence of the site's steel casings on the ability to construct reliable ERT images. (4) Determine if the steel casings at the site can be used as long electrodes to provide useful images of at least one release. (5) Develop quantitative estimates of the noise in the data and its effect on reconstructed images. Eleven electrode arrays (nine electrodes arrays available for the FY00 work), each with 15 electrodes, were installed at the site. These were used to perform 3D surveys before, during, and after 3 different spills.

In this summary report of the 2001 Snowmass Electroweak Symmetry Breaking Working Group, the main candidates for theories of electroweak symmetry breaking are surveyed, and the criteria for distinguishing among the different approaches are discussed. The potential for observing electroweak symmetry breaking phenomena at the upgraded Tevatron and the LHC is described. We emphasize the importance of a high-luminosity e{sup +}e{sup -} linear collider for precision measurements to clarify the underlying electroweak symmetry breaking dynamics. Finally, we note the possible roles of the {mu}{sup +} {mu}{sup -} collider and VLHC for further elucidating the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking.

The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) is a research unit of the University of Georgia (UGA) and has been conducting ecological research on the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina for 50 years. The overall mission of the Laboratory is to acquire and communicate knowledge of ecological processes and principles. SREL conducts fundamental and applied ecological research, as well as education and outreach programs, under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SRS near Aiken, South Carolina. The Laboratory's research mission during the 2001 fiscal year was fulfilled with the publication of one book and 83 journal articles and book chapters by faculty, technical staff, students, and visiting scientists. An additional 77 journal articles have been submitted or are in press. Other noteworthy events took place as faculty members and graduate students received awards. These are described in the section Special Accomplishments of Faculty, Staff, Students, and Administration on page 54. Notable scientific accomplishments include work conducted on contaminant transport, global reptile decline, phytoremediation, and radioecology. Dr. Domy Adriano authored the second edition of his book ''Trace Elements in Terrestrial Environments: Biogeochemistry, Bioavailability, and Risks of Metals'', which was recently published by Springer-Verlag. The book provides …