Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

In 1984, Congress and the Department of Energy (DOE) established the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program to enable the director of a national laboratory to foster and expedite innovative research and development (R and D) in mission areas. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) continually examines these mission areas through strategic planning and shapes the LDRD Program to meet its long-term vision. The goal of the LDRD Program is to spur development of new scientific and technical capabilities that enable LLNL to respond to the challenges within its evolving mission areas. In addition, the LDRD Program provides LLNL with the flexibility to nurture and enrich essential scientific and technical competencies and enables the Laboratory to attract the most qualified scientists and engineers. The FY98 LDRD portfolio described in this annual report has been carefully structured to continue the tradition of vigorously supporting DOE and LLNL strategic vision and evolving mission areas. The projects selected for LDRD funding undergo stringent review and selection processes, which emphasize strategic relevance and require technical peer reviews of proposals by external and internal experts. These FY98 projects emphasize the Laboratory's national security needs: stewardship of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, responsibility for the …

A study is made of the effects of stable stratification on the fine-scale features of the flow in an evolving stable boundary layer (SBL). Large-eddy simulation (LES) techniques are used so that spatially and temporally varying and intermittent features of the turbulence can be resolved; traditional Reynolds-averaging approaches are not well suited to this. The LES model employs a subgrid turbulence model that allows upscale energy transfer (backscatter) and incorporates the effects of buoyancy. The afternoon, evening transition, and nighttime periods are simulated. Highly anisotropic turbulence is found in the developed SBL, with occasional periods of enhanced turbulence. Energy backscatter occurs in a fashion similar to that found in DNS, and is an important capability in LES of the SBL. Coherent structures are dominant in the SBL, as the damping of turbulent energy occurs more at the smaller, less organized scales.

This paper describes the successes and challenges associated with Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permitting of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory's (INEEL) Waste Experimental Reduction Facility (WERF) hazardous and mixed waste incinerator. Topics to be discussed include facility modifications and problems, trial burn results and lessons learned in each of these areas. In addition, a number of challenges remain including completion and final issue of the RCRA Permit and implementation of all the permit requirements. Results from the trial burn demonstrated that the operating conditions and procedures will result in emissions that are satisfactorily protective of human health, the environment, and are in compliance with Federal and State regulations.

This report contains English-translated abstracts of important Chinese-language literature concerning global climate change for the years 1995-1998. This body of literature includes the topics of adaptation, ancient climate change, climate variation, the East Asia monsoon, historical climate change, impacts, modeling, and radiation and trace-gas emissions. In addition to the biological citations and abstracts translated into English, this report presents the original citations and abstracts in Chinese. Author and title indexes are included to assist the reader in locating abstracts of particular interest.

This document provides a plan for implementing surveillance and maintenance (S and M) activities to ensure that Building 9401-2 Plating Shop is maintained in a cost effective and environmentally secure configuration until subsequent closure during the final disposition phase of decommissioning. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) G430.1A-2, Surveillance and Maintenance During Facility Disposition (1997), was used as guidance in the development of this plan. The S and M Plan incorporates DOE O 430.1A, Life Cycle Asset Management (LCAM) (1998a) direction to provide for conducting surveillance and maintenance activities required to maintain the facility and remaining hazardous and radioactive materials, wastes, and contamination in a stable and known condition pending facility disposition. Recommendations in the S and M plan have been made that may not be requirement-based but would reduce the cost and frequency of surveillance and maintenance activities. During the course of S and M activities, the facility's condition may change so as to present an immediate or developing hazard or unsatisfactory condition. Corrective action should be coordinated with the appropriate support organizations using the requirements and guidance stated in procedure Y10-202, Rev. 1, Integrated Safety Management Program, (Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. (LMES), 1998a) implemented at the Oak Ridge …

The Corrective Action Investigation Plan for Corrective Action Unit 232, Area 25 Sewage Lagoons, has been developed in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order that was agreed to by the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office; the State of Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; and the U. S. Department of Defense. Corrective Action Unit 232 consists of Corrective Action Site 25-03-01, Sewage Lagoon. Corrective Action Unit 232, Area 25 Sewage Lagoons, received sanitary effluent from four buildings within the Test Cell ''C'' Facility from the mid-1960s through approximately 1996. The Test Cell ''C'' Facility was used to develop nuclear propulsion technology by conducting nuclear test reactor studies. Based on the site history collected to support the Data Quality Objectives process, contaminants of potential concern include volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, herbicides, gamma emitting radionuclides, isotopic plutonium, isotopic uranium, and strontium-90. A detailed conceptual site model is presented in Section 3.0 and Appendix A of this Corrective Action Investigation Plan. The conceptual model serves as the basis for the sampling strategy. Under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, the Corrective Action Investigation Plan will …

Molten Salt Oxidation (MSO) is a promising alternative to incineration for the treatment of a variety of organic wastes. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has prepared a facility in which an integrated pilot-scale MSO treatment system is being tested and demonstrated. The system consists of a MSO vessel with a dedicated off-gas treatment system, a salt recycle system, feed preparation equipment, and a ceramic final waste forms immobilization system. This integrated system was designed and engineered based on operational experience with an engineering-scale reactor unit and extensive laboratory development on salt recycle and final forms preparation. The MSO/off-gas system has been operational since December 1997. The salt recycle system and the ceramic final forms immobilization became operational in May 1998. In FY98, we have tested the MSO facility with various organic feeds, including chlorinated solvents, tributyl phosphate/kerosene, PCB-contaminated waste oils and solvents, booties, plastic pellets, ion exchange resins, activated carbon, radioactive-spiked organics, and well-characterized low-level liquid mixed wastes. MSO is shown to be a versatile technology for hazardous waste treatment and may be a solution to many waste disposal problems in DOE sites. The results of the demonstration conducted in FY98 has been reported [1]. In FY99 (October 1998 to …

A laser imaging approach is presented that utilizes the adaptive property of photorefractive materials to produce a real-time measurement of ultrasonic traveling wave surface displacement and phase in all planar directions simultaneously without scanning. The imaging method performs optical lock-in operation. A single antisymmetric Lamb wave mode image produces direct quantitative determination of the phase velocity in all planar directions showing plate stiffness anisotropy. Excellent agreement was obtained with modeling calculations of the phase velocity in all planar directions for an anisotropic sheet material. The approach functions with diffusely scattering surfaces, subnanometer motions and at frequencies from Hz to GHz.

The primary goal of ''The Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Improvement Project'' is to access, create, improve, protect, and restore reparian and instream habitat for anadromous salmonids, thereby maximizing opportunities for natural fish production within the basin.

The Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order was entered into by the State of Nevada; U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense to identify sites of potential historical contamination and implement corrective actions based on public health and environmental considerations. The facilities subject to this agreement include the Nevada Test Site (NTS), parts of the Tonopah Test Range, parts of the Nellis Air Force Range, the Central Nevada Test Area, and the Project Shoal Area. Corrective Action Sites (CASs) are areas potentially requiring corrective actions and may include solid waste management units, individual disposal, or release sites. Based on geography, technical similarity, agency responsibility, or other appropriate reasons, CASs are grouped together into corrective Action Units (CAUs) for the purposes of determining corrective actions. This report contains the Closure Verification Forms for cleanup activities that were performed at six CASs within CAU 212 on the NTS. The form for each CAS provides the location, directions to the site, general description, and photographs of the site before and after cleanup activities. Housekeeping activities at these sites included removal of debris, drums, batteries, scrap metal, and other material. Based on these activities, no further action is required at these …

The American textile industry has lost an estimated 400,000 jobs to offshore competitors since 1980. If trends continue unchanged, it is predicted they will lose an additional 600,000 jobs by the year 2002. These losses and the resulting economic threat to the U.S. textile industry can be attributed to the low operating costs of their offshore competitors' extensive use of cheap labor. In order to stem these rising losses and gain back lost market shares, the American textile industry has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in a program called the American Textile Partnership (AMTEX). AMTEX is a working relationship aimed at leveraging technologies that currently exist at the DOE national laboratories for the benefit and development of a competitive market edge for the U.S. textile manufacturers. The application of these technologies to identified needs will result in new and emerging manufacturing innovations for the U.S. textile industry and its vendor.

Semi-monthly newspaper from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news and advertising of interest to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community.

Radiation Damage Calculations for the FUBR and BEATRIX Irradiations of Lithium Compunds in EBR-II and FFTF

The purpose of this calculation is to evaluate diffusion coefficients in unsaturated porous media for use in the TSPA-VA analyses. Using experimental data, regression techniques were used to curve fit the diffusion coefficient in unsaturated porous media as a function of volumetric water content. This calculation substantiates the model fit used in Total System Performance Assessment-1995 An Evaluation of the Potential Yucca Mountain Repository (TSPA-1995), Section 6.5.4.

The purpose of this work is to develop a low cost, non-intrusive, mass flow measurement sensor for two-phase flow conditions in geothermal applications. The emphasis of the work to date has been on a device that will monitor two-phase flow in the above-ground piping systems. The flashing brines have the potential for excessive scaling and corrosion of exposed surfaces, which can reduce the effectiveness of any measurement device. A major objective in the work has been the development of an instrument that is less susceptible to the scaling and corrosion effects. The focus of the project efforts has been on transducer noise analysis, a technology initiated at the INEEL. A transducer sensing a process condition will have, in addition to its usual signal, various noise components superimposed upon the primary signal that can be related to flow. Investigators have proposed that this technique be applied to steam and liquid water flow mixtures where the signal from an accelerometer mounted on an external pipe surface is evaluated to determine flow rate.

Electron Cyclotron Current Drive (ECCD) is considered a leading candidate for current profile control in Advanced Tokamak (AT) operation. Localized ECCD has been clearly demonstrated in recent proof-of-principle experiments on DIII-D. The measured ECCD efficiency near the magnetic axis agrees well with standard theoretical predictions. However, for off-axis current drive the normalized experimental efficiency does not decrease with minor radius as expected from the standard theory; the observed reduction of ECCD efficiency due to trapped electron effects in the off-axis cases is smaller than theoretical predictions. The standard approach of modeling ECCD in tokamaks has been based on the bounce-average calculations, which assume the bounce frequency is much larger than the effective collision frequency for trapped electrons at all energies. The assumption is clearly invalid at low energies. Finite collisionality will effectively reduce the trapped electron fraction, hence, increase current drive efficiency. Here, a velocity-space connection formula is proposed to estimate the collisionality effect on electron cyclotron current drive efficiency. The collisionality correction gives modest improvement in agreement between theoretical and recent DIII-D experimental results.

Absorption of fast Alfven waves by the energetic ions of an injected beam is evaluated in the DIII-D tokamak. Ion cyclotron resonance absorption at the fourth harmonic of the deuteron cyclotron frequency is observed with deuterium neutral beam injection (f = 60 MHz, B{sub T} = 1.9 T). Enhanced D-D neutron rates are evidence of absorption at the Doppler-shifted cyclotron resonance. Characteristics of global energy confinement provide further proof of substantial beam acceleration by the rf. In many cases, the accelerated deuterons cause temporary stabilization of the sawtooth (monster sawteeth), at relatively low rf power levels of {approximately}1 MW.

The optical constants {epsilon}(E)[{equals}{epsilon}{sub 1}(E) + i{epsilon}{sub 2}(E)] of single crystal GaSb at 300K have been measured using spectral ellipsometry in the range of 0.3--5.3 eV. The {epsilon}(E) spectra displayed distinct structures associated with critical points (CPs) at E{sub 0}(direct gap), spin-orbit split E{sub 0} + {Delta}{sub 0} component, spin-orbit split (E{sub 1}), E{sub 1} + {Delta}{sub 1} and (E{sub 0}{prime}), E{sub 0}{prime} + {Delta}{sub 0}{prime} doublets, as well as E{sub 2}. The experimental data over the entire measured spectral range (after oxide removal) has been fit using the Holden model dielectric function [Phys.Rev.B 56, 4037 (1997)] based on the electronic energy-band structure near these CPs plus excitonic and band-to-band Coulomb enhancement effects at E{sub 0}, E{sub 0} + {Delta}{sub 0}and the E{sub 1}, E{sub 1} + {Delta}{sub 1} doublet. In addition to evaluating the energies of these various band-to-band CPs, information about the binding energy (R{sub 1}) of the two-dimensional exciton related to the E{sub 1}, E{sub 1} + {Delta}{sub 1} CPS was obtained. The value of R{sub 1} was in good agreement with effective mass/{rvec k} {center_dot} {rvec p} theory. The ability to evaluate R{sub 1} has important ramifications for recent first-principles band structure calculations which include exciton …

Monthly newspaper from Double Oak, Texas that includes news, information, and entertainment for residents of the Double Oak community along with advertising.

At Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), and other DOE sites, field vadose zone observations have shown complex water seepage and mass transport behavior in a highly heterogeneous, thick vadose zone on a variety of scales. Recent investigation showed that severe contamination of soils and groundwater by organic contaminant and nuclear waste occurred because of water seepage and contaminant transport along localized, preferential, fast flow within the heterogeneous vadose zone. However, most of the existing characterization and monitoring methods are not able to locate these localized and persistent preferential pathways associated with specific heterogeneous geologic features, such as clastic dikes, caliche layers, or fractures. In addition, changes in the chemical composition of moving and indigenous solutes, particularly sodium concentration, redox conditions, biological transformation of organic materials, and high temperature, may significantly alter water, chemicals, and bio-transformation exchange between the zones of fast flow and the rest of the media. In this paper, using the data from Hanford and INEEL sites, we will (1) present evidence that central problems of the vadose zone investigations are associated with preferential, fast flow phenomena and accelerated migration of organic and radioactive elements, (2) identify gaps in current characterization …

Results of microbalance, pressure-volume-temperature, and mass spectrometric measurements show that a higher oxide of plutonium, PuO{sub 2+x}, and hydrogen are formed by reaction of plutonium dioxide with water at 25 C to 350 C. PuO{sub 2+x} has an intense green color consistent with the presence of Pu(VI). An oxide composition in excess of PuO{sub 2.25} is identified, but the maximum value of x is undefined. Reaction rates derived from linear mass-time and pressure-time data are described by an Arrhenius relationship that yields an activation energy of 9.4 {+-} 0.6 kcal/mol for the PuO{sub 2} + H{sub 2}O reaction. X-ray diffraction data for PuO{sub 2+x} shows that the oxide has a fluorite-related structure consistent with substitution of Pu(VI) on cationic lattice sites and accommodation of additional oxygen on interstitial sites. The cubic lattice parameter has a low, but well-defined, linear dependence on the O:Pu ratio, suggesting that PuO{sub 2+x} forms as a continuous solid solution. The failure of earlier attempts to prepare higher oxides of plutonium is attributed to slow oxidation kinetics and insensitivity of diagnostic techniques. Similarities of the PuO{sub 2+x} and UO{sub 2+x} phase are examined and relevance of the results to plutonium technology and environmental issues is discussed.

The CST-11 objective for the Radioactive Source Recovery Project is to evaluate a nitric acid-based flowsheet and alternatives for dissolution, separation, and recovery of americium from AmBe neutron source materials returned from private and governmental institutions. Specific tasks performed during FY97 and FY98 included the experimental investigation of material dissolution rate and efficiency as a function of time and temperature for nitric acid as compared to hydrochloric acid. Alkaline dissolution reaction conditions using sodium hydroxide and ammonium bifluoride were also investigated. In both the acidic and alkaline dissolution conditions, the objective was to effect an initial separation of the americium from the beryllium or vice versa. The process solution and remaining solids should also be amenable to further processing and purification schemes. This work was performed on actual AmBe neutron source material in order to demonstrate the feasibility of {sup 241}Am purification from dismantled neutron sources.

The national Weatherization Assistance Program, sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and implemented by state and local agencies throughout the US, weatherizes homes for low-income residents in order to increase their energy efficiency and lower utility bills. Staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) performed a metaevaluation of this program, which involved synthesizing the results from ten individuals studies of state weatherization efforts completed between April 1996 and September 1998. The states whose studies were used in this metaevaluation, the dates of program operations covered by these studies, and the fuels that were examined are shown in Table ES-1. This effort represents a follow-up to an earlier ORNL metaevaluation of the Weatherization Assistance Program that looked at 19 state studies completed between 1990 and early 1996 (Berry 1997). That study, in turn, was done as an update to a national evaluation of the Weatherization Assistance Program that examined a representative sample of several thousand structures weatherized in 1989 (Brown, Berry, Balzer, and Faby 1993).