The {sup 75}As(n, 2n) cross section for the population of the T{sub 1/2} = 26.8-ns isomer at E{sub x} = 259.3 keV in {sup 74}As has been measured as a function of incident neutron energy, from threshold to E{sub n} = 20 MeV. The cross section was measured using the GEANIE spectrometer at LANSCE/WNR. For convenience, the {sup 75}As(n, 2n) population cross section for the {sup 74}As ground state has been deduced as the difference between the previously-known (n, 2n) reaction cross section and the newly measured {sup 75}As(n, 2n){sup 74}As{sup m} cross section. The (n, 2n) reaction, ground-state, and isomer population cross sections are tabulated in this paper.

The objective of this AVS testing program is to use bench-scale test equipment to produce a vitrified product at maximum waste loading from the specified AZ-101 waste simulant and conduct a TTT analysis using laboratory scale melts to show compliance with the DOE Waste Acceptance Product Specifications for Vitrified High-Level Waste Forms (WAPS). The vitrified product complies with the following WAPS. A borosilicate glass with a waste loading of 60.9-wt% was produced from a slurry feed of AZ101 simulant. Glass durability testing, glass characterization testing, and testing methodology were performed in accordance with the Department of Energy approved Test Plan. The glass has two crystalline phases and good uniformity of composition. The Product Consistency Test on the 6 location-specific samples are at least 1 to 2 orders of magnitude below the mean PCT results for the EA glass. Standard deviations were less than 10% of measured values. The glass transition temperature averaged 658 {+-} 9 C. A TTT diagram was produced. There was measured cesium loss of about 2%, and compliance with the Universal Treatment Standards.

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is designed to meet the growing need for new tools that will deepen our understanding in materials science, life science, chemistry, fundamental and nuclear physics, earth and environmental sciences, and engineering sciences. The SNS is an accelerator-based neutron-scattering facility that when operational will produce an average beam power of 2 MW at a repetition rate of 60 Hz. The accelerator complex consists of the front-end systems, which will include an ion source; a 1-GeV full-energy linear accelerator; a single accumulator ring and its transfer lines; and a liquid mercury target. This report documents an as-low-as-reasonably-achievable (ALARA) review of the accumulator ring and transfer lines at their early design stage. An ALARA working group was formed and conducted a review of the SNS ring and transfer lines at the {approx}25% complete design stage to help ensure that ALARA principles are being incorporated into the design. The radiological aspects of the SNS design criteria were reviewed against regulatory requirements and ALARA principles. Proposed features and measures were then reviewed against the SNS design criteria. As part of the overall review, the working group reviewed the design manual; design drawings and process and instrumentation diagrams; the environment, safety, …

Separation efficiency for hydrogen/light hydrocarbon mixtures was examined for three inorganic membranes. Five binary gas mixtures were used in this study: H{sub 2}/CH{sub 4} , H{sub 2}/C{sub 2}H{sub 6}, H{sub 2}/C{sub 3}H{sub 8}, He/CO{sub 2}, and He/Ar. The membranes examined were produced during a development program at the Inorganic Membrane Technology Laboratory in Oak Ridge and provided to us for this testing. One membrane was a (relatively) large-pore-diameter Knudsen membrane, and the other two had much smaller pore sizes. Observed separation efficiencies were generally lower than Knudsen separation but, for the small-pore membranes, were strongly dependent on temperature, pressure, and gas mixture, with the most condensable gases showing the strongest effect. This finding suggests that the separation is strongly influenced by surface effects (i.e., adsorption and diffusion), which enhance the transport of the heavier and more adsorption-prone component and may also physically impede flow of the other component. In one series of experiments, separation reversal was observed (the heavier component preferentially separating to the low-pressure side of the membrane). Trends showing increased separation factors at higher temperatures as well as observations of some separation efficiencies in excess of that expected for Knudsen flow suggest that at higher temperatures, molecular screening …

Surface exploration techniques have been employed in separate study areas on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana. Anomalies associated with hydrocarbon seepage are documented in all three areas and a variety of surface exploration techniques can be compared. In a small area with established production, Head Gas and Thermal Desorption methods best match production; other methods also map depletion. In a moderate-size area that has prospects defined by 3D seismic data, Head Gas along with Microbial, Iodine, and Eh soil anomalies are all associated with the best hydrocarbon prospect. In a large area that contains many curvilinear patterns observed on Landsat images, that could represent micro-seepage chimneys, results are inconclusive. Reconnaissance mapping using Magnetic Susceptibility has identified a potential prospect; subsequent Soil Gas and Head Gas surveys suggest hydrocarbon potential. In the final year of this project the principle contractor, the Fort Peck Tribes, completed a second survey in the Wicape 3D Seismic Prospect Area (also known as Area 6 in Phase I of the project) and sampled several Landsat image features contained in the Smoke Creek Aeromag Anomaly Area (also known as Area 1 in Phase II of the project). Methods determined to be most useful in Phases …

The objective of this work is to develop bioactive glass coatings for metallic orthopedic implants. A new family of glasses in the SiO2-Na2O-K2O-CaO-MgO-P2O5 system has been synthesized and characterized. The glass properties (thermal expansion, softening and transformation temperatures, density and hardness) are in line with the predictions of established empirical models. The optimized firing conditions to fabricate coatings on Ti-based and Co-Cr alloys have been determined and related to the glass properties and the interfacial reactions. Excellent adhesion to alloys has been achieved through the formation of 100-200 nm thick interfacial layers (Ti5Si3 on Ti-based alloys and CrOx on Co-Cr). Finally, glass coatings, approximately 100 mu m thick, have been fabricated onto commercial Ti alloy-based dental implants.

Previous work on the detection of mercury using the cavity ring-down (CRD) technique has concentrated on the detection and characterization of the desired mercury transition. Interferent species present in flue gas emissions have been tested as well as a simulated flue gas stream. Additionally, work has been done on different mercury species such as the elemental and oxidized forms. The next phase of the effort deals with the actual sampling system. This sampling system will be responsible for acquiring a sample stream from the flue gas stack, taking it to the CRD cavity where it will be analyzed and returning the gas stream to the stack. In the process of transporting the sample gas stream every effort must be taken to minimize any losses of mercury to the walls of the sampling system as well as maintaining the mercury in its specific state (i.e. elemental, oxidized, or other mercury compounds). SRD first evaluated a number of commercially available sampling systems. These systems ranged from a complete sampling system to a number of individual components for specific tasks. SRD engineers used some commercially available components and designed a sampling system suited to the needs of the CRD instrument. This included components …

The John Day is the nation's second longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States and the longest containing entirely unsupplemented runs of anadromous fish. Located in eastern Oregon, the basin drains over 8,000 square miles, Oregon's fourth largest drainage basin, and incorporates portions of eleven counties. Originating in the Strawberry Mountains near Prairie City, the John Day River flows 284 miles in a northwesterly direction, entering the Columbia River approximately four miles upstream of the John Day dam. With wild runs of spring Chinook salmon and summer steelhead, westslope cutthroat, and redband and bull trout, the John Day system is truly a basin with national significance. The majority of the John Day basin was ceded to the Federal government in 1855 by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (Tribes). In 1997, the Tribes established an office in the basin to coordinate restoration projects, monitoring, planning and other watershed activities on private and public lands. Once established, the John Day Basin Office (JDBO) formed a partnership with the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District (GSWCD), also located in the town of John Day, who contracts the majority of the construction implementation activities for these projects from …

Western Research Institute (WRI) has successfully applied the CROWTM (Contained Recovery of Oily Wastes) process at two former manufactured gas plants (MGPs), and a large wood treatment site. The three CROW process applications have all occurred at sites contaminated with coal tars or fuel oil and pentachlorophenol (PCP) mixtures, which are generally denser than water and are classified as dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). While these types of sites are abundant, there are also many sites contaminated with gasoline, diesel fuel, or fuel oil, which are lighter than water and lie on top of an aquifer. A third site type occurs where chlorinated hydrocarbons have contaminated the aquifer. Unlike the DNAPLs found at MGP and wood treatment sites, chlorinated hydrocarbons are approximately one and a half times more dense than water and have fairly low viscosities. These contaminants tend to accumulate very rapidly at the bottom of an aquifer. Trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene, or tetrachloroethylene (PCE), are the major industrial chlorinated solvents that have been found contaminating soils and aquifers. The objective of this program was to demonstrate the effectiveness of applying the CROW process to sites contaminated with light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Individual objectives were …

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the medium to long freezing range alloys of aluminum such as A356, A357, A206, 319 for example are known to exhibit dispersed porosity, which is recognized as a factor affecting ductility, fracture toughness, and fatigue resistance of light alloy castings. The local thermal environment, for example, temperature gradient and freezing from velocity, affect the mode of solidification which, along with alloy composition, heat treatment, oxide film occlusion, hydrogen content, and the extent to which the alloy contracts on solidification, combine to exert strong effects on the porosity formation in such alloys. In addition to such factors, the availability of liquid metal and its ability to flow through the partially solidified casting, which will be affect by the pressure in the liquid metal, must also be considered. The supply of molten metal will thus be controlled by the volume of the riser available for feeding the particular casting location, its solidification time, and its location together with any external pressure that might be applied at the riser.

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Progress is reported for the period from April 1, 2003 to June 30, 2003. The pilot water injection plant became operational 4/18/03 and began long-term injection in the CO2I No.1 on 4/23/03. The CO2I No.1 exhibits sufficient injectivity for pilot requirements with average absolute permeability surrounding this well equal to {approx}85 millidarcies. Response to injection in the CO2I No.1 has established that conductivity between CO2I No.1 and CO2 No.12, No.10, No.18 and TB Carter No.5 is sufficient for the demonstration. Workovers of the CO2 No.16 and CO2 No.13 were completed in April and May, respectively. Pressure response indicates No.16 communicates with the flood pattern area but core, swab-test, and pressure response data indicate permeability surrounding No.16 is not adequate to maintain the production rates needed to support the original pattern as the well is presently completed. Decisions concerning possible further testing and stimulation have been postponed until after testing of the No.13 is complete. Production rates for the No.13 are consistent with a surrounding reservoir average absolute permeability of {approx}80 md. However, pressure and rate tests results, partially due to the nature of the testing conducted to date, have not confirmed the nature of the CO2I No.1-CO2 No.13 conductivity. A …

This report presents a methodology for assessing the impacts of potential products related to the buildings end-use energy efficiency program area that may results from projects performed as part of the California Energy Commission’s (CEC’s) Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program. The methodology developed and described in this report applies strictly to new products designed for use in commercial buildings in California. We consider a new product any product or service offering that has an energy efficiency improvement feature or component that can be clearly characterized by either a performance metric or an improvement factor that expresses the improvement potential over the best currently available products or the installed base of the same or similar products. New products could include: new equipment in support of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC), lighting, domestic water heating or any other end-uses relevant for commercial buildings; diagnostics, controls, or monitoring service products that either assists in or perform monitoring or control functions of the energy uses or the thermal integrity of the building shell.

This report describes the result of the first eight months of effort on a project directed at improving metallic interconnect materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The results include cyclic oxidation studies of a group of ferritic alloys, which are candidate interconnect materials. The exposures have been carried out in simulated fuel cell atmospheres. The oxidation morphologies have been characterized and the ASR has been measured for the oxide scales. The effect of fuel cell electric current density on chromia growth rates has been considered The thermomechanical behavior of the scales has been investigated by stress measurements using x-ray diffraction and interfacial fracture toughness measurements using indentation. The ultimate goal of this thrust is to use knowledge of changes in oxide thickness, stress and adhesion to develop accelerated testing methods for evaluating SOFC interconnect alloys. Finally a theoretical assessment of the potential for use of ''new'' metallic materials as interconnect materials has been conducted and is presented in this report. Alloys being considered include materials based on pure nickel, materials based on the ''Invar'' concept, and coated materials to optimize properties in both the anode and cathode gases.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed an automated system for separating Xe from air and can detect the following radioxenon isotopes, 131mXe, 133mXe, 133Xe, and 135Xe. This report details the techniques used to generate the various radioxenon isotopes that are used for the calibration of the detector as well as other isotopes that have the potential to interfere with the fission produced radioxenon isotopes. Fission production is covered first using highly enriched uranium followed by a description and results from an experiment to produce radioxenon isotopes from neutron activation of ambient xenon.

This document describes two tasks that support CH2M Hill Hanford Group's (CHG) Mission Acceleration Initiative (MAI) testing and demonstration/deployment of supplemental technologies, but the tasks are not to be part of the vendor's scope. The vendor's will be provided samples of radioactive waste for their testing. This document describes the preparation of the radioactive waste samples. CHG is responsible to retrieve the saltcake waste from the single-shell tanks and expects to dissolve the waste using water dissolution. When water dissolves the waste the more soluble components of the waste (including cesium) will dissolve first, leaving the lesser soluble components of the waste in the tank. This phenomenon, termed selective dissolution, is expected to provide a partial separation of cesium from the waste. This document also describes a program involving tank dissolution demonstrations, modeling, and laboratory testing to more completely understand how the composition of the retrieved salt cake waste will change during the course of retrieval.

A hydrogen economy will require readily available and affordable hydrogen fuel. Current methods of hydrogen production do not fulfill these requirements. We are working on an electrolyzer system that can provide distributed hydrogen production while taking advantage of the nation's existing natural gas infrastructure. Electrolysis is a promising hydrogen production technology both because of its ability to produce pure hydrogen from water and because it does not require large, centralized plants. Unlike other technologies, the cost of hydrogen production scales well from larger to smaller systems. Electrolysis units could be widely distributed and scaled to meet the hydrogen requirements of different users such as individual households, local fueling stations and industrial facilities. A significant drawback to traditional electrolysis is the large electricity consumption required to convert water to hydrogen and oxygen. The electricity requirements mean such systems are expensive to operate. In addition, if the electricity is provided from coal or gas-fired power plants, electrolytic hydrogen production does not mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The concept described in this report is intended to resolve some of the problems associated with electrolytic hydrogen production. By utilizing natural gas in place of air in the anode compartment in a solid oxide electrolyzer, the …

This report presents a detailed analysis of the development of miscibility during gas cycling in condensates and the formation of condensate banks at the leading edge of the displacement front. Dispersion-free, semi-analytical one-dimensional (1D) calculations are presented for enhanced condensate recovery by gas injection. The semi-analytical approach allows investigation of the possible formation of condensate banks (often at saturations that exceed the residual liquid saturation) and also allows fast screening of optimal injection gas compositions. We describe construction of the semi-analytical solutions, a process which differs in some ways from related displacements for oil systems. We use an analysis of key equilibrium tie lines that are part of the displacement composition path to demonstrate that the mechanism controlling the development of miscibility in gas condensates may vary from first-contact miscible drives to pure vaporizing and combined vaporizing/condensing drives. Depending on the compositions of the condensate and the injected gas, multicontact miscibility can develop at the dew point pressure, or below the dew point pressure of the reservoir fluid mixture. Finally, we discuss the possible impact on performance prediction of the formation of a mobile condensate bank at the displacement front in near-miscible gas cycling/injection schemes.

The remediation and deactivation and decommissioning (D&D) of nuclear waste storage tanks using telerobotics is one of the most challenging tasks faced in environmental cleanup. Since a number of tanks have reached the end of their design life and some of them have leaks, the unstructured, uncertain and radioactive environment makes the work inefficient and expensive. However, the execution time of teleoperation consumes ten to hundred times that of direct contact with an associated loss in quality. Thus, a considerable effort has been expended to improve the quality and efficiency of telerobotics by incorporating into teleoperation and robotic control functions such as planning, trajectory generation, vision, and 3-D modeling. One example is the Robot Task Space Analyzer (RTSA), which has been developed at the Robotics and Electromechanical Systems Laboratory (REMSL) at the University of Tennessee in support of the D&D robotic work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This system builds 3-D models of the area of interest in task space through automatic image processing and/or human interactive manual modeling. The RTSA generates a task plan file, which describes the execution of a task including manipulator and tooling motions. The high level controller of …

The primary accomplishments of the JOI Cooperative Agreement with DOE/NETL in this quarter were that: (1) Frank Rack, Anne Trehu, and Tim Collett presented preliminary results and operational outcomes of ODP Leg 204 at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists annual meeting in Salt Lake City, UT; (2) several Leg 204 scientists participated in special hydrate sessions at the international EGS/AGU/EUG meeting in Nice, France and presented initial science results from the cruise, which included outcomes arising from this cooperative agreement; and, (3) postcruise evaluation of the data, tools and measurement systems that were used during ODP Leg 204 continued in the preparation of deliverables under this agreement. At the EGS/EUG/AGU meeting in Nice, France in April, Leg 204 Co-chiefs Anne Trehu and Gerhard Bohrmann, as well as ODP scientists Charlie Paull, Erwin Suess, and Jim Kennett, participated in a press conference on hydrates. The well-attended press conference entitled ''Gas Hydrates: Free methane found and controversy over the 'hydrate gun''' led to stories in Nature on-line and BBC radio, among others. There were six (6) oral and fifteen (15) poster presentations on ODP Leg 204 hydrate science at the EGS/AGU/EUG Meeting in Nice, France on April 6-11, 2003. This was …

The main objectives for the first year were to produce a detailed metabolic reconstruction of synechocystis sp.pcc6803 especially in interrelated arrears of photosynthesis respiration and central carbon metabolism to support a more complete understanding and modeling of this organism. Additionally, IG, Inc. provided detailed bioinformatic analysis of selected functional systems related to carbon and energy generation and utilization, and of the corresponding pathways functional roles and individual genes to support wet lab experiments by collaborators.

The main objectives for the first year were to produce a detailed metabolic reconstruction of synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 especially in interrelated areas of photosynthesis, respiration, and central carbon metabolism to support a more complete understanding and modeling of this organism. Additionally, Integrated Genomics, Inc., provided detailed bioinformatic analysis of selected functional systems related to carbon and energy generation and utilization, and of the corresponding pathways, functional roles and individual genes to support wet lab experiments by collaborators.

The research was based on the observation that despite the extraordinarily rich coordination chemistry of technetium and rhenium and several notable successes in reagent design, the extensive investigations by numerous research groups on a variety of N{sub 2}S{sub 2} and N{sub 3}S donor type ligands and on HYNIC have revealed that the chemistries of these ligands with Tc and Re are rather complex, giving rise to considerable difficulties in the development of reliable procedures for the development of radiopharmaceutical reagents.