None

This is an invited review paper describing recent advances in molecular simulation and theory of fluids confined within well-characterized porous materials. Methods and intermolecular potential models are described. This is followed by showing results for several examples, including supercritical methane adsorption in carbons, adsorption and diffusion of argon in VPI-5, adsorption of argon in silicalite-1, nitrogen adsorption in MCM-41, and adsorption of argon and nitrogen in carbon nanotubes.

The original scope of the project was to research improvements to the processes and materials used in the manufacture of wood-epoxy blades, conduct tests to qualify any new material or processes for use in blade design and subsequently build and test six blades using the improved processes and materials. In particular, ABM was interested in reducing blade cost and improving quality. In addition, ABM needed to find a replacement material for the mature Douglas fir used in the manufacturing process. The use of mature Douglas fir is commercially unacceptable because of its limited supply and environmental concerns associated with the use of mature timber. Unfortunately, the bankruptcy of FloWind in June 1997 and a dramatic reduction in AWT sales made it impossible for ABM to complete the full scope of work. However, sufficient research and testing were completed to identify several promising changes in the blade manufacturing process and develop a preliminary design incorporating these changes.

None

Alcohol flushing, also called cosolvent flushing, is a relatively new in-situ remediation technology that shows promise for removing organic solvents from the soil and groundwater. Soil and groundwater contamination from organic solvents and petroleum products is one of the most serious and widespread environmental problems of our time. Most of the DOE facilities and inactive sites are experiencing soil and groundwater contamination from organic solvents. These water immiscible solvents have entered the subsurface from leaking underground storage tanks and piping, and from past waste handling and disposal practices such as leaking lagoons, holding ponds and landfills. In many cases, they have traveled hundreds of feet down into the saturated zone. If left in the soil, these chemicals may pose a significant environmental and human health risk. Alcohol flushing has potential for application to spilled solvents located deep within the saturated zone which are difficult if not impossible to remove by current remediation strategies, thus, greatly expediting restoration time, reducing total remediation cost and reducing risk.

None

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Alvin, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a design concept for a set of standard canisters for the handling, interim storage, transportation, and disposal in the national repository, of DOE spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The standardized DOE SNF canister has to be capable of handling virtually all of the DOE SNF in a variety of potential storage and transportation systems. It must also be acceptable to the repository, based on current and anticipated future requirements. This expected usage mandates a robust design. The canister design has four unique geometries, with lengths of approximately 10 feet or 15 feet, and an outside nominal diameter of 18 inches or 24 inches. The canister has been developed to withstand a drop from 30 feet onto a rigid (flat) surface, sustaining only minor damage - but no rupture - to the pressure (containment) boundary. The majority of the end drop-induced damage is confined to the skirt and lifting/stiffening ring components, which can be removed if de sired after an accidental drop. A canister, with its skirt and stiffening ring removed after an accidental drop, can continue to be used in service with appropriate operational steps being taken. Features of the design concept have been …

As information systems have become distributed over many computers within the enterprise, managing those applications has become increasingly important. This is an emerging area of work, recognized as such by many large organizations as well as many start-up companies. In this report, we present a summary of the move to distributed applications, some of the problems that came along for the ride, and some specific examples of the tools and techniques we have used to analyze distributed applications and gain some insight into the mechanics and politics of distributed computing.

The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is a classical fluid dynamical instability that has been extensively studied to help understand turbulent mixing. A recent numerical simulation of a shock tube experiment with an air-SF6 interface and a weak shock (Mach 1.2) used the ideal gas equation of state for air and an artificially low temperature as a surrogate for the correct SF6 gas physics. We have run a similar problem with both the correct gas physics and three versions of the air surrogate to understand the errors thereby introduced. We find that for the weakly driven single-mode case considered here, the instability amplitude is not affected, the interface location is affected only slightly, but the thermodynamic states are quite different. This result is not surprising because the flow far from the shock waves is essentially incompressible.

The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is a classical fluid dynamical instability that has been extensively studied to help understand turbulent mixing. A recent numerical simulation of a shock tube experiment with an air-SF6 interface and a weak shock (Mach 1.2) used the ideal gas equation of state for air and an artificially low temperature as a surrogate for the correct SF6 gas physics. We have run a similar problem with both the correct gas physics and three versions of the air surrogate to understand the errors thereby introduced. We find that for the weakly driven single-mode case considered here, the instability amplitude is not affected, the interface location is affected only slightly, but the thermodynamic states are quite different. This result is not surprising because the flow far from the shock waves is essentially incompressible.

A Post-Closure Program was agreed upon in the 1996 Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Closure Report Area 2 Bitcutter and Postshot Containment Shops Injection Wells Corrective Action Unit 90, Report No. DOE/NV--461. Post Closure care consists of: Site inspections done twice a year to evaluate the condition of the unit; Verify that the site is secure and the gates are locked; Note any subsidence or deficiencies that may compromise the integrity of the unit; Remedy those deficiencies within 60 days of discovery; Discuss them in the annual report. The report included an executive summary, copies of the inspection checklist, and recommendations and conclusions. The Post-Closure Inspection Checklists are found in Attachment A and a copy of the field notes are found in Attachment B.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Environmental Management (EM) has responsibility for cleanup and disposition of nuclear wastes and excess materials that are a legacy of the nuclear arms race. In fulfilling this responsibility, EM applies a systems engineering approach to identify baseline disposition plans for the wastes and materials (storage, stabilization, treatment, and disposal), assess the path viability, and develop integration opportunities to improve the disposition viability or to combine, eliminate, and/or simplify activities, technologies, and facilities across the DOE Complex, evaluate the baseline and alternatives to make informed decisions, and implement and track selected opportunities. This paper focuses on processes used to assess the disposition path viability - the likelihood that current planning for disposition of nuclear waste and materials can be implemented.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Environmental Management (EM) has responsibility for cleanup and disposition of nuclear wastes and excess materials that are a legacy of the nuclear arms race. In fulfilling this responsibility, EM applies a systems engineering approach to identify baseline disposition plans for the wastes and materials (storage, stabilization, treatment, and disposal), assess the path viability, and develop integration opportunities to improve the disposition viability or to combine, eliminate, and/or simplify activities, technologies, and facilities across the DOE Complex, evaluate the baseline and alternatives to make informed decisions, and implement and track selected opportunities. This paper focuses on processes used to assess the disposition path viability - the likelihood that current planning for disposition of nuclear waste and materials can be implemented.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Pollution Prevention (EM-77) created is successful internally competed program to fund innovative projects based on projected returns. This is called the Return-on-Investment (ROI) program. EM-77 conducted a successful ROI pilot, developed and implemented sound management practices, and successfully transferred the program to several Operations Offices. Over the past 4 years sites have completed 262 ROI projects (costing $18.8 million) with claimed first-year savings of $88 million and claimed life cycle savings exceeding $300 million. EM-77 requested that Oak Ridge National Laboratory perform an independent evaluation of the site-led, DOE-HQ-funded pollution prevention (P2) ROI program to assist the Department in determining whether claimed savings are real.

This paper presents our assessment of field experience related to pressurized water reactor (PWR) primary system leaks in terms of their number of rates, how aging affects frequency of leak events, the safety significance of such leaks, industry efforts to reduce leaks, and effectiveness of current leak detection systems. We have reviewed the licensee event reports to identify the events that took place during 1985 to the third quarter of 1996, and reviewed related technical literature and visited PWR plants to analyze these events. Our assessment shows that USNRC licensees have taken effective actions to reduce the number of leak events. One main reason for this decreasing trend was the elimination or reportable leakages from valve stem packing after 1991. Our review of leak events related to vibratory fatigue reveals a statistically significant decreasing trend with age (years of operation), but not in calendar time. Our assessment of worldwide data on leakage caused by thermal fatigue cracking is that the fatigue of aging piping is a safety significant issue. Our review of leak events has identified several susceptible sites in piping having high safety significance; but the inspection of some of these sites is not required by the ASME Code. …

None

Newspaper from Baytown, Texas published by the Exxon Corporation that includes news and information of interest to current and former employees of the Baytown facilities.

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

This report consists of a listing of research projects pertaining to the Yucca Mountain project.

Summaries of research accomplished are given for the following areas: Morphological (Diffusional) Stability; A New Algorithm for Numerical Modeling of Non-equilibrium Materials Behavior; A Unified Treatment of Single and Microcrystalline Film Edge Instabilities; and Validation of the Structure Based Grain Boundary Diffusion/Migration Model.

This report contains the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA's) authorizing statutes--the Bonneville Project Act, the Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act, the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act and other laws that contain provisions that define BPA's mission and affect the way it is carried out.

This is an attempt to document some of the measurements and analysis relating to the modulation of the spill due to the vibration of the magnets in the new C0 area. Not all of the relevant graphs were saved at the time, however an attempt has been made to show representative illustrations albeit not in the proper chronological order.