Silo 3, a freestanding, pre-stressed concrete, domed cylindrical tank, located at the Fernald Closure Project near Cincinnati, Ohio, contains approximately 5,100 cubic yards of metal oxide waste generated from Fernald operations that extracted uranium from ore material. The baseline for the Silo 3 Project is to remove a portion of this material from the silo pneumatically by inserting vacuum retrieval wands and/or hoses in existing manways on the silo dome. After the loose material has been removed by the pneumatic system, the project intends to cut an opening in the silo wall and use a mechanical excavator to complete removal of the remaining material, including possible combination with pneumatic retrieval. Fluor Fernald previously requested that the Department of Energy Environmental Management Office of Science and Technology provide a Technical Assistance Team to review this approach. One of the key recommendations made by this team was to assess the wand operability, effectiveness, reliability, and safety in a mock-up test. A team was convened to develop the test plan, build the demonstration test loop, and perform the tests. The tests focused primarily on the operability of the system, and to a significantly lesser extent process performance. This report documents the results for …

The project, ''Reduction of U(VI) and toxic metals by Desulfovibrio cytochrome c3'', is designed to obtain spectroscopic information for or against a functional interaction of cytochrome c3 and uranium in the whole cells. That is, is the cytochrome c3 the uranium reductase? Our approach has been to start with purified cytochrome and determine any unique spectral disturbances during electron flow to U(VI). Then we will attempt to identify these signals emanating from cells actively reducing uranium. This project is being carried out in collaboration with Dr. William Woodruff at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where the spectral experiments are being carried out.

A prototype design for a plutonium air transport package capable of carrying 7.6 kg of plutonium oxide and surviving a ''worst-case'' plane crash has been developed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC). A series of impact tests were conducted on half-scale models of this design for side, end, and comer orientations at speeds close to 282 m/s onto a target designed to simulate weathered sandstone. These tests were designed to evaluate the performance of the overpack concept and impact-limiting materials in critical impact orientations. The impact tests of the Perforated Metal Air Transportable Package (PMATP) prototypes were performed at SNL's 10,000-ft rocket sled track. This report describes test facilities calibration and environmental testing methods of the PMATP under specific test conditions. The tests were conducted according to the test plan and procedures that were written by the authors and approved by SNL management and quality assurance personnel. The result of these tests was that the half-scale PMATP survived the ''worst-case'' airplane crash conditions, and indicated that a full-scale PMATP, utilizing this overpack concept and these impact-limiting materials, would also survive these crash conditions.

This paper discusses the use of addenda to the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) located at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). Addenda were prepared for several systems and processes at the facility that lacked adequate descriptive information and hazard analysis in the DSA. They were also prepared for several new activities involving unreviewed safety questions (USQs). Ten addenda to the RWMC DSA have been prepared since the last annual update.

Active, non-intrusive inspection or interrogation technologies have been used for 100 years - with the primary focus being radiographic imaging. During the last 50 years, various active interrogation systems have been investigated and most have revealed many unique and interesting capabilities and advantages that have already benefited the general public. Unfortunately, except for medical and specific industrial applications, these unique capabilities have not been widely adopted, largely due to the complexity of the technology, the overconfident reliance on passive detection systems to handle most challenges, and the unrealistic public concerns regarding radiation safety issues for a given active inspection deployment. The unique homeland security challenges facing the United States today are inviting more "out-of-the-box" solutions and are demanding the effective technological solutions that only active interrogation systems can provide. While revolutionary new solutions are always desired, these technology advancements are rare, and when found, usually take a long time to fully understand and implement for a given application. What's becoming more evident is that focusing on under-developed, but well-understood, active inspection technologies can provide many of the needed "out-of-the-box" solutions. This paper presents a brief historical overview of active interrogation. It identifies some of the major homeland defense challenges being …

In the current study we aimed to determine how the cell surface polymers, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and capsular material, of a number of strains of Shewanella influenced surface proton binding behavior. An investigation of this kind is pertinent as surface proton binding site reactivity may influence a number of important eco-physiological factors. For example, proton binding sites may sequester Fe2+, as well as other metals like Ni2+, and thus inhibit the supply and metabolic reduction of Fe3+.(Parmar et al. 2001) Further understanding the cell surface reactivity of Shewanella is also important as this may influence the ability of the microorganism to adhere and interact with metal oxides and hydroxides. This study combined acid-base titration analyses to determine proton binding behavior with SDS-PAGE analysis of LPS.

A university laboratory experiment for the US Department of Energy magnetic fusion research program required a simulant for liquid lithium. The simulant choices were narrowed to liquid gallium and galinstan (Ga-In-Sn) alloy. Safety information on liquid gallium and galinstan were compiled, and the choice was made to use galinstan. A laboratory safety walkthrough was performed in the fall of 2002 to support the galinstan experiment. The experiment has been operating successfully since early 2002.

This is the twelfth Quarterly Technical Report for DOE Cooperative Agreement No: DE-FC26-00NT40753. The goal of the project is to develop cost effective analysis tools and techniques for demonstrating and evaluating low NOx control strategies and their possible impact on boiler performance for boilers firing US coals. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is providing co-funding for this program. This program contains multiple tasks and good progress is being made on all fronts. During this quarter, a new effort was begun on the development of a corrosion management system for minimizing the impacts of low NOx combustion systems on waterwalls; a kickoff meeting was held at the host site, AEP's Gavin Plant, and work commenced on fabrication of the probes. FTIR experiments for SCR catalyst sulfation were finished at BYU and indicated no vanadium/vanadyl sulfate formation at reactor conditions. Improvements on the mass-spectrometer system at BYU have been made and work on the steady state reactor system shakedown neared completion. The slipstream reactor continued to operate at AEP's Rockport plant; at the end of the quarter, the catalysts had been exposed to flue gas for about 1000 hours. Some operational problems were addressed that enable the reactor to run without …

A Restrictive Flow Orifice (RFO) can be used to enhance the safe design of a pressure system in several ways. Pressure systems frequently incorporate a regulator and relief valve to protect the downstream equipment from accidental overpressure caused by regulator failure. Analysis frequently shows that in cases of high-flow regulator failure, the downstream pressure may rise significantly above the set pressure of the relief valve. This is due to limited flow capacity of the relief valve. A different regulator or relief valve may need to be selected. A more economical solution to this problem is to use an RFO to limit the maximum system flow to acceptable limits within the flow capacity of the relief valve, thereby enhancing the overpressure protection of laboratory equipment. An RFO can also be used to limit the uncontrolled release of system fluid (gas or liquid) upon component or line failure. As an example, potential asphyxiation hazards resultant from the release of large volumes of inert gas from a 'house' nitrogen system can be controlled by the use of an RFO. This report describes a versatile new Sandia-designed RFO available from the Swagelok Company and specifies the gas flow characteristics of this device. Two sizes, …

Gas hydrates are crystalline, ice-like compounds of gas and water molecules that are formed under certain thermodynamic conditions. Hydrate deposits occur naturally within ocean sediments just below the sea floor at temperatures and pressures existing below about 500 meters water depth. Gas hydrate is also stable in conjunction with the permafrost in the Arctic. Most marine gas hydrate is formed of microbially generated gas. It binds huge amounts of methane into the sediments. Worldwide, gas hydrate is estimated to hold about 1016 kg of organic carbon in the form of methane (Kvenvolden et al., 1993). Gas hydrate is one of the fossil fuel resources that is yet untapped, but may play a major role in meeting the energy challenge of this century. In June 2002, Westport Technology Center was requested by the Department of Energy (DOE) to prepare a ''Best Practices Manual on Gas Hydrate Coring, Handling and Analysis'' under Award No. DE-FC26-02NT41327. The scope of the task was specifically targeted for coring sediments with hydrates in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and from the present Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) drillship. The specific subjects under this scope were defined in 3 stages as follows: Stage 1: Collect information on …

Settlement Agreement between the Department of Energy and the State of Idaho mandates treatment of sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center within the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. One of the requirements of the Settlement Agreement is to complete treatment of sodium-bearing waste by December 31, 2012. Applied technology activities are required to provide the data necessary to complete conceptual design of four identified alternative processes and to select the preferred alternative. To provide a technically defensible path forward for the selection of a treatment process and for the collection of needed data, an applied technology plan is required. This document presents that plan, identifying key elements of the decision process and the steps necessary to obtain the required data in support of both the decision and the conceptual design. The Sodium-Bearing Waste Treatment Applied Technology Plan has been prepared to provide a description/roadmap of the treatment alternative selection process. The plan details the results of risk analyzes and the resulting prioritized uncertainties. It presents a high-level flow diagram governing the technology decision process, as well as detailed roadmaps for each technology. The roadmaps describe the technical steps necessary in obtaining data to quantify and …

A field experiment was conducted to demonstrate and quantify the thermal effectiveness of rigid insulation board when installed on the exterior of a buried concrete foundation wall. A heated, insulated box was constructed along one wall of an existing, unheated building to simulate the living space of a home. The crawl space beneath the living space was divided into two sections. One featured external foundation insulation, while the other side had none. 36 temperature and heat flux sensors were installed at predetermined locations to measure the temperature profile and heat flow out of the living space. The temperature profile through the foundation was then used to calculate the total heat flow out of the foundation for both cases. This experiment showed that a significant energy savings is available with exterior foundation insulation. Over the course of 3 months, the heat-loss differential between the insulated and non-insulated foundations was 4.95 kilowatt-hours per lineal foot of foundation wall, for a ratio of 3:1. For a 2200 sq. ft home with a foundation perimeter 200 ft. long, this would amount to a savings of 990 kW-hrs in just 3 months, or 330 kW-hrs per month. Extrapolating to an 8-month heating year, we would …

The most common problems affecting residential and light commercial heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are slow refrigerant leaks and dirty air filters. Equipment users are usually not aware of a problem until most of the refrigerant has escaped or the air filter is clogged with dirt. While a dirty air filter can be detected with a technology based on the air pressure differential across the filter, such as a ''whistling'' indicator, it is not easy to incorporate this technology into existing HVAC diagnostic equipment. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is developing a low-cost, nonintrusive refrigerant charge indicator and dirty air filter detection sensor. The sensors, based on temperature measurements, will be inexpensive and easy to incorporate into existing heat pumps and air conditioners. The refrigerant charge indicator is based on the fact that when refrigerant starts to leak, the evaporator coil temperature starts to drop and the level of liquid subcooling drops. When the coil temperature or liquid subcooling drops below a preset reading, a signal, such as a yellow warning light, can be activated to warn the equipment user that the system is undercharged. A further drop of coil temperature or liquid subcooling below another preset reading would trigger …

A hydrologic, geochemical and microbial characterization of the Area 3 field site has been completed. The formation is fairly impermeable, but there is a region of adequate flow approximately 50 feet bgs. The experiment will be undertaken within that depth interval. Groundwater from that depth is highly acidic (pH 3.2), and has high levels of nitrate, aluminum, uranium, and other heavy metals, as well as volatile chlorinated solvents (VOCs). Accordingly, an aboveground treatment train has been designed to remove these contaminants. The train consists of a vacuum stripper to remove VOCs, two chemical precipitation steps to adjust pH and remove metals, and a fluidized bed bioreactor to remove nitrate. The aboveground system will be coupled to a belowground recirculation system. The belowground system will contain an outer recirculation cell and a nested inner recirculation cell: the outer cells will be continuously flushed with nitrate-free treated groundwater. The inner cell will receive periodic inputs of uranium, tracer, and electron donor. Removal of uranium will be determined by comparing loss rates of conservative tracer and uranium within the inner recirculation cell. Over the past year, a detailed workplan was developed and submitted for regulatory approval. The workplan was presented to the Field …

This Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessment (PPOA) was conducted for the Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico's (SNL/NM) Fleet Services Department between December 2001 and August 2002. This is the third PPOA conducted at Fleet in the last decade. The primary purpose of this PPOA was to review progress of past initiatives and to provide recommendations for future waste reduction measures of hazardous and solid waste streams and increasing the purchase of environmentally friendly products. This report contains a summary of the information collected and analyses performed with recommended options for implementation. The Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico Pollution Prevention Group will work with SNL/NM's Fleet Services to implement these options.

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, …

This project is part of a major project (PI, Dr. Harvey Bolton, Jr. at PNNL) regarding plutonium mobility in the subsurface. Ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) is a common chelating agent that can increase the mobility of radionuclides and heavy metals in groundwater. Biodegradation of EDTA decreases the enhanced mobility. The overall objective is to understand how microbial degradation affects Plutonium-EDTA transport in the environment, and the specific objective of this component is to understand how microorganisms degrade EDTA. Over the past two years, significant progress has been made to the understanding on how EDTA is degraded by an EDTA-degrading bacterium BNC1. The characterization of EDTA and nitrilotriacetate (NTA) transport into BNC1 cells is summarized here. The uptake is the limiting step in EDTA and NTA degradation. The objectives of near-term research are described. We are making progress as projected in the proposal.

In this paper, the rheology and crystallization of composite Poly(Ethylene Oxide) (PEO) electrolytes were studied by dynamic mechanical analysis, DSC and polarized light microscopy. The effects of fumed silica nanoparticles on the conductivities of the polymer electrolytes at temperatures above and below their melting point were measured and related to their rheology and crystallization behavior, respectively. The electrolyte/electrode interfacial properties and cycling performances of the composite polymer electrolytes in Li/Li cells are also discussed. The measured electrochemical properties were found to depend heavily on the operational environments and sample processing history.

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 …

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 …

To accurately describe the constitutive response of high explosives such as PBX 9501, we need to consider the heterogeneous explosive as a composite rather than a homogeneous solid. Because of the extremely complex nature of the structural distribution of the contituents, the phase-volume fractions alone are insufficient to characterize such a complicated microstructure. What other parameter (or parameters) do we need to consider? How do we incorporate the parameter (or parameters) into a theoretical framework for developing a constitutive theory for high explosives? In this report we identify the so-called specific surface (i.e., the interfacial area-per-unit-volume of a multi-phase heterogeneous solid) as an additional parameter used in modeling the constitutive behavior of high explosives. Both the phase-volume fractions and the specific surface are needed to characterize the microstructure of the material. This report (1) provides a detailed argument that supports this conclusion, (2) presents a method (based on optical micrographs) for estimating the specific surface of PBX 9501, and (3) discusses the charcateristics of theoretical frameworks designed to construct constitutive models of high explosives. 1 ITo accurately describe the constitutive response of high explosives such as PBX 9501, we need to consider the heterogeneous explosive as a composite rather than …

To accurately describe the constitutive response of high explosives such as PBX 9501, we need to consider the heterogeneous explosive as a composite rather than a homogeneous solid. Because of the extremely complex nature of the structural distribution of the contituents, the phase-volume fractions alone are insufficient to characterize such a complicated microstructure. What other parameter (or parameters) do we need to consider? How do we incorporate the parameter (or parameters) into a theoretical framework for developing a constitutive theory for high explosives? In this report we identify the so-called specific surface (i.e., the interfacial area-per-unit-volume of a multi-phase heterogeneous solid) as an additional parameter used in modeling the constitutive behavior of high explosives. Both the phase-volume fractions and the specific surface are needed to characterize the microstructure of the material. This report (1) provides a detailed argument that supports this conclusion, (2) presents a method (based on optical micrographs) for estimating the specific surface of PBX 9501, and (3) discusses the charcateristics of theoretical frameworks designed to construct constitutive models of high explosives.

We determined migration timing and abundance of juvenile spring chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and juvenile steelhead/rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss using rotary screw traps on four streams in the Grande Ronde River basin during the 2001 migratory year (MY 2001) from 1 July 2000 through 30 June 2001. Based on migration timing and abundance, two distinct life-history strategies of juvenile spring chinook and O. mykiss could be distinguished. An 'early' migrant group left upper rearing areas from 1 July 2000 through 29 January 2001 with a peak in the fall. A 'late' migrant group descended from upper rearing areas from 30 January 2001 through 30 June 2001 with a peak in the spring. The migrant population of juvenile spring chinook salmon in the upper Grande Ronde River in MY 2001 was very low in comparison to previous migratory years. We estimated 51 juvenile spring chinook migrated out of upper rearing areas with approximately 12% of the migrant population leaving as early migrants to overwinter downstream. In the same migratory year, we estimated 16,067 O. mykiss migrants left upper rearing areas with approximately 4% of these fish descending the upper Grande Ronde River as early migrants. At the Catherine Creek trap, we …

A procedure for unfilling used lithium lenses to has been described in Pbar Note 664. To date, the procedure has been used to disassemble lenses 20, 21, 17, 18, and 16. As a result of this work, some parts of the original procedure were found to be time consuming and ineffective. Modifications to the original procedure have been made to streamline the process and are discussed in this note. The revised procedure is included in this note.