Comparative studies were done on two new types of boron based anion receptors, tris(pentafluorophenyl) borane (TFPB) and tris(pentafluorophenyl) borate (TFPBO), regarding conductivity enhancement electrochemical and thermal stability when used as additives in composite electrolytes for lithium batteries. Both additives enhance the ionic conductivity of electrolytes of simple lithium salts, LiF, CF{sub 3}CO{sub 2}Li and C{sub 2}F{sub 5}CO{sub 2}Li in several organic solvents. The electrochemical windows of TPFB based electrolytes in ethylene carbonate (EC)-propylene carbonate (PC)-dmethyl carbonate (DMC) (1:1:3, v/v) are up to 5, 4.76 and 4.96 V for LiF, CF{sub 3}CO{sub 2}Li and C{sub 2}F{sub 5}CO{sub 2}Li respectively. TPFBO has lower electrochemical stability compared to TPFB. The thermal stability of pure TFPB is better than TFPBO. The lithium salt complexes have higher thermal stability than these two compounds. TPFB based electrolytes showed high cycling efficiencies and good cycleability when they were tested in Li/LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} cells. The capacity retention of the cells using TFPB based electrolytes during multiple cycling is better than those using TFPBO based electrolytes.

Simple linear potentiodynamic cycling measurements have been made on abraded pure Al in borate, chromate, phosphate, sulfate and nitrate solutions. In borate and chromate solutions the currents continued to decrease with each subsequent cycle. In phosphate dissolution of the oxide takes place producing repetitive repeat curves. The current variations in borate and chromate were simulated using a high field conduction oxide growth model. Including oxide dissolution in the model simulated the phosphate behavior. Results in sulfate and nitrate solutions were more complex. The behavior in the sulfate solution was attributed to effects of sulfate the oxide/solution interface.

A 500-ft length, 6-level, 3-component, vertical geophone array was permanently deployed within the upper 800 ft of Unocal's well GDCF 63-29 during a plug and abandonment operation on April 7, 1998. The downhole array remains operational after a period of 1 year, at a temperature of about 150 C. Continuous monitoring and analysis of shallow seismicity (<4000 ft deep) has been conducted over that same 1-year period. The downhole array was supplemented with 4 surface stations in late-1998 and early-1999 to help constrain locations of shallow seismicity. Locations occurring within about 1 km ({approximately}3000 ft) of the array have been determined for a subset of high-frequency events detected on the downhole and surface stations for the 10-week period January 6 to March 16, 1999. These events are distinct from surface-monitored seismicity at The Geysers in that they occur predominantly above the producing reservoir, at depths ranging from about 1200 to 4000 ft depth (1450 to -1350 ft elevation). The shallow seismicity shows a northeast striking trend, similar to seismicity trends mapped deeper within the reservoir and the strike of the predominant surface lineament observed over the productive field.

Measurements have been made of the aluminum/metal galvanic couple. A wide range of geometries were investigated varying the areas of anodic and cathodic surfaces and employing specially designed galvanic cells with crevices. In situ ionic current density mapping was used to monitor galvanic corrosion and currents flowing between separated metals was measured.

Corrosion of refractory silica brick used to line the roof or crown of many-glass-melting furnaces is a serious problem in furnaces using oxygen-fuel rather than air-fuel. In this work, the authors report equilibrium calculations for the Na{sub 2}O-SiO{sub 2} system that predict the formation of a variable-composition liquid-solution phase as a function of key furnace variables. Since thermodynamic data for the relevant liquid phases are unavailable in standard compilations, new data generated using the associate species model are included in the calculations. The calculations indicate that gas-phase NaOH concentrations less than {approximately}15 ppm will not react with the silica refractory under either air-fired or oxy-fired conditions, since this is the smallest equilibrium NaOH partial pressure in a system containing crystalline SiO{sub 2} (either cristobalite or tridymite) in equilibrium with a variable-composition sodium-silicate liquid phase at refractory temperatures in the range 1,400--1,700 C. The high water content ({approximately}65%) of oxygen-fired furnaces results in measured NaOH(g) concentrations as high as 300 ppm, which greatly exceeds the 1,600 C maximum of 68 ppm NaOH(g) for oxy-fired equilibrium with a liquid-SiO{sub 2} (crystalline) system. This indicates that there is a thermodynamic driving force for NaOH(g) to react with silica refractories in oxy-fired furnaces. The …

The authors have utilized synchrotron x-ray radiation to perform ''in situ'' x-ray diffraction studies on Li{sub 1-x}CoO{sub 2} and Li{sub 1-x}NiO{sub 2} cathodes. A C/10 charging rate was used for a Li/Li{sub 1-x}CoO{sub 2} cell. For the Li/Li{sub 1-x}NiO{sub 2} cells, C/13 and C/84 rates were applied. The in situ XRD data were collected during the first charge from 3.5 to 5.2 V. For the Li{sub 1-x}CoO{sub 2} cathode, in the composition range of x = 0 to x = 0.5, a new intermediate phase H2a was observed in addition to the two expected hexagonal phases H1 and H2. In the region very close to x = 0.5, some spectral signatures for the formation of a monoclinic phase M1 were also observed. Further, in the x = 0.8 to x = 1 region, the formation of a CdI{sub 2} type hexagonal phase has been confirmed. However, this new phase is transformed from a CdCl{sub 2} type hexagonal phase, rather than from a monoclinic phase M2 as previously reported in the literature. For the Li{sub 1-x}NiO{sub 2} system, by taking the advantage of the high resolution in 2{theta} angles through the synchrotron based XRD technique, they were able to identify a …

ORIGEN-ARP is a new SCALE analytical sequence for spent fuel characterization and source term generation that serves as a faster alternative to the SAS2H sequence by using the Automatic Rapid Processing (ARP) methodology for generating problem-dependent ORIGEN-S cross-section libraries. ORIGEN-ARP provides an easy-to-use menu-driven input processor. This new sequence is two orders of magnitude faster than SAS2H while conserving the rigor and accuracy of the SAS2H methodology. ORIGEN-ARP has been validated against pressurized water reactor (PWR) and boiling water reactor (BWR) spent fuel chemical assay data.

The complete description of an integral shielding benchmark experiment includes the radiation source, materials, physical geometry, and measurement data. This information is not usually contained in a single document, but must be gathered from several sources, including personal contact with the experimentalists. A comprehensive database of the experimental details is extremely useful and cost-effective in present day computations. Further, experimental data are vulnerable to being lost or destroyed as a result of facility closures, retirement of experimental personnel, and ignorance. A standard set of experiments, used globally, establishes a framework to validate and verify models in computer codes and guarantee comparative analyses between different computational systems. SINBAD is a database that was conceived in 1992 to store, retrieve, and display the measurements from international experiments for the past 50 years in nuclear shielding. Based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Radiation Safety Information and Computational Center (RSICC) SINBAD has a collection of integral benchmark experiments from around the world. SINBAD is shared with the Office of Economic and Cooperative Development/Nuclear Energy Agency Data Bank, which provides contributions from Europe, Russia, and Japan.

A synchrotrons x-ray source was used for In Situ x-ray diffraction studies on cathode materials during charge and discharge. Two new cathode materials, LiNi{sub 0.75}Mg{sub 0.125}Ti{sub 0.125}O{sub 2} and LiNi{sub 0.56}Co{sub 0.25}Mg{sub 0.05}Ti{sub 0.05}O{sub 2}, were studied in comparison with LiNiO{sub 2}, and LiCo{sub 0.2}Ni{sub 0.8}O{sub 2}. The relationship between the structural changes and thermal stability at over-charged state has been investigated. For the W time, The thermal stability of these materials are related to their structural changes during charge, especially to the formation of a hexagonal phase H3 with collapsed lattice along ''c'' axis. A hypothesis is proposed that through suppressing the formation of H3 phase when charged above 4.3 V, the thermal stability of the cathode materials can be improved.

XANES and electrochemical impedance spectroscopes were used in parallel to correlate the amount of Cr(VI) in chromate conversion coatings (CCC) on Al 2024 and their corrosion resistance in order to understand the degradation mechanisms upon aging or heating. Cr(VI) species appear to be immobilized for temperatures higher than 80 C due to dehydration. CCC are shown to be dynamic in the first month of aging with no significant dehydration. Another degradation mechanism involving chemical changes is to be considered.

We have demonstrated a system for the temporal expansion of arbitrarily shaped ultrafast optical waveforms based on the principle of temporal imaging. This system has demonstrated 103x magnification of an input signal with 300 fs resolution, thus allowing ultrafast phenomena to be recorded with slower conventional technology. The physics of temporal imaging work on a single shot basis, thus it is expected that this technology will lead to a new class of single transient recorders with ultrafast resolution.

Twenty one hundred metric tons of spent nuclear fuel are stored in two concrete pools on the Hanford Site, known as the K Basins, near the Columbia River. The deteriorating conditions of the fuel and the basins provide engineering and management challenges to assure safe current and future storage. DE and S Hanford, Inc., part of the Fluor Daniel Hanford, Inc. lead team on the Project Hanford Management Contract, is constructing facilities and systems to move the fuel from current wet pool storage to a dry interim storage facility away from the Columbia River, and to treat and dispose of K Basins sludge, debris and water. The process starts in the K Basins where fuel elements will be removed from existing canisters, washed, and separated from sludge and scrap fuel pieces. Fuel elements will be placed in baskets and loaded into Multi-Canister Overpacks (MCOs) and into transportation casks. The MCO and cask will be transported into the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility, where free water within the MCO will be removed under vacuum at slightly elevated temperatures. The MCOs will be sealed and transported via the transport cask to the Canister Storage Building (CSB) in the 200 Area for staging prior …

The proposed research is directed at an understanding of how to exploit interactions between sodium, toxic metals and sorbents, in order to optimize sorbents injection procedures, which can be used to capture and transform these metals into environmentally benign forms. The research will use a 17kW downflow, laboratory combustor, to yield data that can be interpreted in terms of fundamental kinetic mechanisms. Metals to be considered are lead, cadmium, and arsenic. Sorbents will be kaolinite, bauxite, and limestone. The role of sulfur will also be determined.

The U.S. Department of Energy`s (Department) Advanced Radioisotope Power Systems Program maintains the sole national capability and facilities to produce radioisotope power systems for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Defense, and other Federal agencies. Projects are conducted with these agencies in accordance with written agreements and are dependent on cost sharing by the user agencies. For the past seven years the program emphasis has been on providing power systems for NASA`s Cassini mission to Saturn, which was launched earlier this month. We initiated this audit to determine whether the Department received proper reimbursement from NASA for the radioisotope power systems produced.

'This project fits well within the overall objectives established by the Environmental Management and Science Program to promote long-term basic research that will provide the tools for more effective and lower cost remediation efforts at DOE sites where hazardous and radioactive wastes or contamination zones are present. In order to develop the necessary remediation technology it has been recognized that a fundamental understanding of the various chemical and physical factors associated with waste treatment and contaminant transport must be established. Some of the specific topics include waste pretreatment, volume reduction, immobilization, separation methods, the interactions of actinides and heavy metals with surfaces in the presence of organic residues and co-contaminants, contaminant transport in the environment, and long-term storage site assessment. This project has direct and potential application in all these areas. The interaction and partitioning of contaminant metals and radionuclides between solution and solid- surface phases is a fundamental issue for waste treatment and predicting contaminant transport in the environment. Many factors are involved in the functional relationships describing chemical reactivity and physical distribution of chemical species. These include modification of chemical behavior by the suite of chemical co-contaminants in a system. Organic complexing agents are common components of waste …

The authors have investigated the stability of coupled laser systems and proposed a new scheme for communication using chaotic carrier waves. Such schemes utilize the ability of chaotic lasers to synchronize in both phase and amplitude. Statistical fluctuations of the light emitted by erbium doped fiber lasers at nanosecond time scales have been studied both experimentally and theoretically, and a new model using coupled delay-differential equations has been developed to explain the complex temporal patterns measured. Four wave mixing in optical fibers has been extensively investigated and modifications to standard models developed to explain the observations.

Research Triangle Institute (RTI), Eastman Chemical Company, and Bechtel collectively are developing a novel process for the synthesis of methyl methacrylate (MMA) from coal-derived syngas, under a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy/Federal Energy Technology Center (DOE/FETC). This three-step process consists of synthesis of a propionate, its condensation with formaldehyde, and esterification of resulting methacrylic acid (MAA) with methanol to produce MMA. Over the last quarter, RTI carried out activity tests on a pure (99 percent) Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5} catalyst, received from Alfa Aesar, under the following experimental conditions: T=300 C; P=4 atm, 72:38:16:4:220 mmol/h, PA:H{sub 2}0:HCHO:CH{sub 3}0H:N{sub 2}; 5-g catalyst charge. For the pure material, the MAA yields (based on HCHO and PA) were at 8.8 and 1.5 percent, clearly inferior compared to those for a 10-percent Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}/Si0{sub 2} catalyst (20.1 and 4.5 percent). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of pure Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5} and 20-percent Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}/Si0{sub 2} that while pure Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5} is very highly crystalline, Si0{sub 2} support for an amorphous nature of the 20 percent Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}/Si0{sub 2} catalyst the last quarter, RTI also began research on the use of dimethyl ether (DME), product of methanol dehydrocondensation, as an …

The purpose of this procedure is to document the Westronic Data units function as intended as installed at 241-AP-271 tank farm.

This document provides the Acceptance Test Report for the successful testing of the Safety Shutdown Circuit. The test was done in accordance with the requirements that were defined in WHC-SD-WM-SCH-003, Interim Stabilization Safety Class Trip Circuit CGI Dedication Criteria. The actual test procedure document was contained in WHC-SD-WM-ATP-185, Acceptance Test Procedure for the Safety Class Shutdown System.

A collisional-radiative `average atom` (AA) model is presented for the calculation of opacities of hot plasmas not in the condition of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). The electron impact and radiative rate constants are calculated using the dipole oscillator strengths of the average atom. A key element of the model is the photon escape probability which at present is calculated for a semi infinite slab. The Fermi statistics renders the rate equation for the AA level occupancies nonlinear, which requires iterations until the steady state. AA level occupancies are found. Detailed electronic configurations are built into the model after the self-consistent non-LTE AA state is found. The model shows a continuous transition from the non-LTE to the LTE state depending on the optical thickness of the plasma. 22 refs., 13 figs., 1 tab.

Various hydrogenation reactions on transition metals are important commercially whereas certain hydrogenolysis reactions are useful from fundamental point of view. Understanding the hydrogen mobility and kinetics of adsorption-desorption of hydrogen is important in understanding the mechanisms of such reactions involving hydrogen. The kinetics of hydrogen chemisorption was studied by means of selective excitation NMR on silica supported Pt, Rh and Pt-Rh catalysts. The activation energy of hydrogen desorption was found to be lower on silica supported Pt catalysts as compared to Rh and Pt-Rh catalysts. It was found that the rates of hydrogen adsorption and desorption on Pt-Rh catalyst were similar to those on Rh catalyst and much higher as compared to Pt catalyst. The Ru-Ag bimetallic system is much simpler to study than the Pt-Rh system and serves as a model system to characterize more complicated systems such as the K/Ru system. Ag was found to decrease the amounts of adsorbed hydrogen and the hydrogen-to-ruthenium stoichiometry. Ag reduced the populations of states with low and intermediate binding energies of hydrogen on silica supported Ru catalyst. The rates of hydrogen adsorption and desorption were also lower on silica supported Ru-Ag catalyst as compared to Ru catalyst. This report contains introductory …

The principal objective of this research is to demonstrate in the field that 3D seismic data can be used to aid in identifying porosity zones, permeability barriers and thief zones and thereby improve waterflood design. Geologic and engineering data will be integrated with the geophysical data to result in a detailed reservoir characterization. Reservoir simulation will then be used to determine infill drilling potential and the optimum waterflood design for the project area. This design will be implemented and the success of the waterflood evaluated.

The principal objective of this research is to demonstrate in the field that 3D seismic data can be used to aid in identifying porosity zones, permeability barriers and thief zones and thereby improve waterflood design. Geologic and engineering data will be integrated with the geophysical data to result in a detailed reservoir characterization. Reservoir simulation will then be used to determine infill drilling potential and the optimum waterflood design for the project area. This design will be implemented and the success of the waterflood evaluated.

The UTR-10 research and teaching reactor at Iowa State University (ISU) has been converted from high-enriched fuel (HEU) to low- enriched fuel (LEU) under Grant No. DE-FG702-87ER75360 from the Department of Energy (DOE). The original contract period was August 1, 1987 to July 31, 1989. The contract was extended to February 28, 1991 without additional funding. Because of delays in receiving the LEU fuel and the requirement for disassembly of the HEU assemblies, the contract was renewed first through May 31, 1992, then through May 31, 1993 with additional funding, and then again through July 31, 1994 with no additional funding. In mid-August the BMI cask was delivered to Iowa State. Preparations are underway to ship the HEU fuel when NRC license amendments for the cask are approved.