At Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, accelerator operators perform tasks in their areas of specialization in addition to their machine operations duties. One crucial area in which operators contribute is software development. Operators with programming skills are uniquely qualified to develop certain controls applications because of their expertise in the day-to-day operation of the accelerator. Jefferson Lab is one of the few laboratories that utilizes the skills and knowledge of operators to create software that enhances machine operations. Through the programs written; by operators, Jefferson Lab has improved machine efficiency and beam availability. Because many of these applications involve automation of procedures and need graphical user interfaces, the scripting language Tcl and the Tk toolkit have been adopted. In addition to automation, some operator-developed applications are used for information distribution. For this purpose, several standard web development tools such as perl, VBScript, and ASP are used. Examples of applications written by operators include injector steering, spin angle changes, system status reports, magnet cycling routines, and quantum efficiency measurements. This paper summarizes how the unique knowledge of accelerator operators has contributed to the success of the Jefferson Lab control system. *This work was supported by the U.S. DOE contract No. DE-AC05-84-ER40150.

A primary-pipe break accident is one of the design-basis accidents of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). When this accident occurs, air is anticipated to enter the reactor core from the break and oxidize the in-core graphite structure in the modular pebble bed reactor (MPBR). This paper presents the results of the graphite oxidation model developed as part of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory's Direct Research and Development effort. Although gas reactors have been tried in the past with limited success, the innovations of modularity and integrated state-ofart control systems coupled with improved fuel design and a pebble bed core make this design potentially very attractive from an economic and technical perspective. A schematic diagram on a reference design of the MPBR has been established on a major component level (INEEL & MIT, 1999). Steady-state and transient thermal hydraulics models will be produced with key parameters established for these conditions at all major components. Development of an integrated plant model to allow for transient analysis on a more sophisticated level is now being developed. In this paper, preliminary results of the hypothetical air ingress are presented. A graphite oxidation model was developed to determine temperature and the control mechanism …

Image reconstruction for positron emission mammography (PEM) with the breast positioned between two parallel, planar detectors is usually performed by backprojection to image planes. Three important factors affecting PEM image reconstruction by backprojection are investigated: (1) image uniformity (flood) corrections, (2) image sampling (pixel size) and (3) count allocation methods. An analytic expression for uniformity correction is developed that incorporates factors for spatial-dependent detector sensitivity and geometric effects from acceptance angle limits on coincidence events. There is good agreement between experimental floods from a PEM system with a pixellated detector and numerical simulations. The analytic uniformity corrections are successfully applied to image reconstruction of compressed breast phantoms and reduce the necessity for flood scans at different image planes. Experimental and simulated compressed breast phantom studies show that lesion contrast is improved when the image pixel size is half of, rather than equal to, the detector pixel size, though this occurs at the expense of some additional image noise. In PEM reconstruction counts usually are allocated to the pixel in the image plane intersected by the line of response (LOR) between the centers of the detection pixels. An alternate count allocation method is investigated that distributes counts to image pixels in …

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Torrefaction tests were carried out on miscanthus samples in order to understand the changes in chemical composition at temperatures of 250–350°C and residence times of 30–120 minutes. The raw material chemical composition was moisture content 7.97%, moisture-free carbon (C) 47.73%, hydrogen (H) 5.85%, nitrogen (N) 0.28%, sulphur (S) 0.02%, volatiles (V) 83.29% for volatiles, and moisture and ash-free (MAF) calorific value (CV) 8423 BTU/lb (19.59 MJ/kg). Torrefaction at temperatures of 250°C and residence time of 30 minutes resulted in a significant decrease in moisture by about 82.68%, but the other components, C, H, N, S, and V changed only marginally. Increasing the torrefaction temperature to 350°C and residence time to 120 minutes further reduced the moisture to a final value of 0.54% (a 93.2% reduction compared to original) and also resulted in a significant decrease in the other components, H, N, and V by 58.29%, 14.28%, and 70.45%, respectively. The carbon content at 350°C and 120 minutes increased by about 4% and sulfur values were below detection limits. The calorific values increased by about 5.59% at 250°C and 30 minutes, whereas at 350°C and 120 minutes, the increase was much greater (about 75.61%) and resulted in a maximum degree of …

The interaction of free electrons with intense laser beamsin vacuum is studied using a 3D test particle simulation model thatsolves the relativistic Newton-Lorentz equations of motion inanalytically specified laser fields. Recently, a group of solutions wasfound for very intense laser fields that show interesting and unusualcharacteristics. In particular, it was found that an electron can becaptured within the high-intensity laser region, rather than expelledfrom it, and the captured electron can be accelerated to GeV energieswith acceleration gradients on the order of tens of GeV/cm. Thisphenomenon is termed the capture and acceleration scenario (CAS) and isstudied in detail in this paper. The maximum net energy exchange by theCAS mechanism is found to be approximately proportional to a 2_o, in theregime where a_o>100, where a_o = eE_o/m_ewc is a dimensionlessparameter specifying the magnitude of the laser field. The acceleratedGeV electron bunch is a macro-pulse, with duration equal or less thanthat of the laser pulse, which is composed of many micro-pulses that areperiodic at the laser frequency. The energy spectrum of the CAS electronbunch is presented. The dependence of the energy exchange in the CAS onvarious parameters, e.g., a 2_o (laser intensity), w_o (laser radius atfocus), tao (laser pulse duration), b_o (the impact …

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We have applied a carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) raster scanning laser polishing technique on two types of fused silica flat optics to determine the efficacy of CO{sub 2}-laser polishing as a method to increase the 351-nm laser damage resistance of optic surfaces. R-on-1 damage test results show that the fluence for any given 355-nm damage probability is 10-15 J/cm{sup 2} higher (at 3 ns pulse length, scaled) for the CO{sub 2}-laser polished samples. Poor quality and good quality surfaces respond to the treatment such that their surface damage resistance is brought to approximately the same level. Surface stress and the resultant effect on wavefront quality remain key technology issues that would need to be addressed for a robust deployment.

Laser induced damage initiation on fused silica optics can limit the lifetime of the components when used in high power UV laser environments. Foe example in inertial confinement fusion research applications, the optics can be exposed to temporal laser pulses of about 3-nsec with average fluences of 8 J/cm{sup 2} and peak fluences between 12 and 15 J/cm{sup 2}. During the past year, we have focused on optimizing the damage performance at a wavelength of 355-nm (3{omega}), 3-nsec pulse length, for optics in this category by examining a variety of finishing technologies with a challenge to improve the laser damage initiation density by at least two orders of magnitude. In this paper, we describe recent advances in improving the 3{omega} damage initiation performance of laboratory-scale zirconium oxide and cerium oxide conventionally finished fused silica optics via application of processes incorporating magnetorheological finishing (MRF), wet chemical etching, and UV laser conditioning. Details of the advanced finishing procedures are described and comparisons are made between the procedures based upon large area 3{omega} damage performance, polishing layer contamination, and optical subsurface damage.

The Safety Observations Achieve Results (SOAR) program at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) encourages employees to perform in-field observations of each other’s behaviors. One purpose for performing these observations is that it gives the observers the opportunity to correct, if needed, their co-worker’s at-risk work practices and habits (i.e., behaviors). The underlying premise of doing this is that major injuries (e.g., OSHA-recordable events) are prevented from occurring because the lower level at-risk behaviors are identified and corrected before they can propagate into culturally accepted unsafe behaviors that result in injuries or fatalities. However, unlike other observation programs, SOAR also emphasizes positive reinforcement for safe behaviors observed. The underlying premise of doing this is that positive reinforcement of safe behaviors helps establish a strong positive safety culture. Since the SOAR program collects both safe and at-risk leading indicator data, this provides a unique opportunity to assess and compare the two kinds of data in terms of their ability to predict future adverse safety events. This paper describes the results of analyses performed on SOAR data to assess their relative predictive ability. Implications are discussed.

The sorption of Pu(VI) and Pu(V) onto manganite (MnOOH) and Hausmannite (Mn3O4) was studied at pH 5. Manganite sorbed 21-24% from a 1x10-4 M plutonium solution and the hausmannite removed between 43-66% of the plutonium. The increased sorption by hausmannite results from its larger surface area (about twice that of manganite) plus a larger number of active surface sites. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra taken at the Pu LIII edge were compared to standard spectra of plutonium in single oxidation states. Based on these spectra, it appears that both manganite and hausmannite reduce the higher valent plutonium species to Pu(IV). Between 53-59% of the plutonium was present as Pu(IV) in the manganite samples while 55-61% of the plutonium complexed to the hausmannite had also been reduced to Pu(IV). The exact mechanism behind this redox interaction between the plutonium and the manganese needs to be identified.

The development of techniques for neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) suppression or avoidance is crucial for successful high beta/high confinement tokamaks. Neoclassical tearing modes are islands destabilized and maintained by a helically perturbed bootstrap current and represent a significant limit to performance at higher poloidal beta. The confinement-degrading islands can be reduced or completely suppressed by precisely replacing the ''missing'' bootstrap current in the island O-point or by interfering with the fundamental helical harmonic of the pressure. Implementation of such techniques is being studied in the DIII-D tokamak [J.L. Luxon, et al., Plasma Phys. and Control. Fusion Research, Vol. 1 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1987) p. 159] in the presence of periodic q = 1 sawtooth instabilities, a reactor relevant regime. Radially localized off-axis electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) must be precisely located on the island. In DIII-D the plasma control system is put into a ''search and suppress'' mode to make either small rigid radial position shifts of the entire plasma (and thus the island) or small changes in toroidal field (and thus, ECCD location) to find and lock onto the optimum position for complete island suppression by ECCD. This is based on real-time measurements of an m/n = …

A well-designed control system facilitates the functions of machine operation, maintenance and development. In addition, the overall effectiveness of the control system can be greatly enhanced by providing reliable mechanisms for coordination and communication, ensuring that these functions work in concert. For good operability, the information presented to operators should be consistent and easy to understand. The user interfaces should be simple to customize. A maintainable system allows a broken element to be quickly identified and repaired while leaving the balance of the system available. In a research and development environment, the control system must meet the frequently changing requirements of a variety of customers. This means the system must be flexible enough to allow for ongoing modifications with minimal disruptions to operations. Beyond the hardware and software elements of the control system, appropriate processes must be in place to maximize system uptime and allow people to work efficiently. Processes that provide automatic electronic communication ensure that information is not lost and reaches its destination in a timely fashion. This paper discusses how these control system design and quality issues have been applied at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. *This work was supported by the U.S. DOE contract No. …

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Ion association is incorporated into the restricted-primitive model (RPM) electrolyte to account for the strong attraction between unlike ions. Two methods are investigated within the McMillan-Mayer framework: first is the binding mean-spherical approximation (BIMSA) based on the Wertheim Ornstein-Zernike integral equation formalism; and the second is the combination of the BIMSA with a simple interpolation scheme (SIS) based on the Wertheim thermodynamic perturbation theory. The latter gives a better description. Four different association constants are used to calculate the degree of dissociation, the critical point and the vapor-liquid coexistence curve. An increase in the association constant leads to a lower critical temperature and a higher critical density, and better agreement with computer simulations. When unlike ions are fully paired, corresponding to a charged hard dumbbell (CHDB) system, we obtain the best agreement with the most recent computer simulations of the RPM electrolyte.

Imaging the biodistribution of single photon emitting radiotracers in small animals and in the breast with high resolution and high sensitivity is an important challenge. Recent work has shown that single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of small objects with coded aperture collimators and iterative image reconstruction may provide an order of magnitude increase in sensitivity yet maintain high spatial resolution. We propose a new system design with compact detectors for single photon small animal and breast imaging. Key features are (1) multipinhole masks for improved sensitivity, (2) pixellated NaI(Tl) scintillator arrays with small crystals for high resolution and (3) flat panel or flangeless compact position sensitive photomultiplier tubes. Analyses for a small animal device with four 10 cm x 20 cm detectors and 1.5 mm detector resolution show that 0.9-1.3 mm resolution in image space could be achieved with high sensitivity for pinholes with 0.5-0.8 mm effective diameters. A design for a breast imager incorporates larger multipinhole masks, 20 cm x 20 cm pixellated detectors and lower magnification. Predicted image resolution in the center of the field of view is 1.9 mm for 0.8 mm pinholes. Additional modeling, iterative image reconstruction tests and device component tests are desirable …

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In large process control systems it frequently becomes desirable to establish feedback relationships that were not anticipated during the design phase of the project. The ''Generic Lock'' architecture discussed in this paper makes it possible for system operators to implement new feedback loops between arbitrary process variables quickly and with no disturbance to the underlying control system. Any available process variables may be selected for the input and output of the loops so created, regardless of their physical or logical separation. The system allows multiple user interface points distributed through the control system while ensuring consistency among the feedback loops. This system can be used to quickly prototype and test new control philosophies or to control temporary hardware arrangements without any new software development. It is implemented at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility using the Common Device (CDEV) framework on top of the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS). This paper discusses the architecture, implementation, and early usage of the system.

A Dual Digital Signal Processing VME Board is being developed for the CEBAF Beam Current Monitor system at Jefferson Lab. It is a versatile general-purpose digital signal processing board using an open architecture, which allows for adaptation to various applications. The base design uses two independent Texas Instrument (TI) TMS320C6711, which are 900 MFLOPS floating-point digital signal processors (DSP). Applications that require a fixed point DSP can be implemented by replacing the baseline DSP with the pin-for-pin compatible TMS320C6211. Both parallel and serial protocols have been implemented for communicating with off board devices. The initial implementation makes use of TI Multi-channel Serial protocol and VME bus protocol. Other communication protocols can be implemented by reprogramming the FPGA. Each DSP is equipped with FLASH PROM and SDRAM for program and data storage. Additionally, each DSP has 16 bits of digital I/O, two digital analog converters, and two analog to digital converters. Dual 160 pins mezzanine connectors provide expansion capability without design modifications. The mezzanine interface conforms to the TI Expansion Daughter Card Interface standard. The design can be manufactured with a reduced chip set without redesigning the printed circuit board. For example, it can be implemented as a single-channel DSP with …

This paper addresses two fundamental issues of fuel cycle sustainability. The two primary issues of interest are efficient use of the natural uranium resource (cradle), and management of nuclear waste radiotoxicity (grave). Both uranium utilization and radiotoxicity are directly influenced by the burnup achieved during irradiation (transmutation related) and where applicable the separation efficiency (partitioning related). Burnup influences the in-growth of transuranics by breeding them into the fuel cycle. Transuranic breeding is virtually essential to resource sustainability because it increases utilization of naturally abundant fertile U-238. However, the direct consequence of this build-up is the in-growth of transuranic isotopes which generally increase the source of future geologically committed radiotoxicity. For scenarios involving recycle, separation efficiency influences the degree to which this transuranic source term is removed from active service in the fuel stream and made a disposal legacy of human activity.

Recent measurements of the deuteron electromagnetic structure functions A, B, and T{sub 20} extracted from high energy elastic ed scattering, and the cross sections and asymmetries extracted from high energy photodisintegration gamma + d to n + p, are reviewed and compared to theory. The theoretical calculations range from nonrelativistic and relativistic models using the traditional meson and baryon degrees of freedom, to effective field theories, to models based on the underlying quark and gluon degrees of freedom of QCD, including nonperturbative quark cluster models and perturbative QCD. We review what has been learned from these experiments, and discuss why elastic ed scattering and photodisintegration seem to require very different theoretical approaches, even though they are closely related experimentally.

By developing metrics for evaluating cleanroom air system performance and overall load intensity, this paper provides energy benchmarking results for thirteen cleanroom environmental system performance, and identifies opportunities for improving cleanroom energy efficiency while maintaining or improving cleanroom contamination control. Comparisons with IEST Recommended Practice are made to examine the performance of cleanroom air systems. These results can serve as a vehicle to identify energy efficient cleanroom design practices and to highlight important issues in cleanroom operation and maintenance. Results from this study confirm that there are opportunities in improving energy efficiency of cleanroom environmental systems while maintaining effective contamination control.

We present the case for CO{sub 2} extraction from air as a means of sustaining fossil energy use by avoiding climate change. Our concept harnesses atmospheric circulation to transport CO{sub 2} to sites where the CO{sub 2} is extracted by binding it to an adsorbent. As a proof of concept, we show that an aqueous Ca(OH){sub 2} solution efficiently converts CO{sub 2} to a CaCO{sub 3} solid that can be heated to obtain pure CO{sub 2} and recover the CaO. Even with recycling costs, CO{sub 2} extraction from air blown by wind through a 1 m{sup 2} aperture could eliminate the greenhouse gas impact of 100 kW gasoline engine, making it more favorable than renewable sources as solar, wind, or bio-mass. In addition it collects CO{sub 2} from dispersed sources, preserves the energy infrastructure, can yield negative emissions, and provide free CO{sub 2} transport to sequestration sites. We report economic and scaling arguments, atmospheric simulations and experiments that support pursuing air-extraction as an advanced CO{sub 2} capture technology. This method could process today's world output of CO{sub 2} with many collection units with a net area of 10{sup 3}-10{sup 4} km{sup 2} at costs of {approx} 5{cents}/liter of gasoline, a …