The DECOVALEX project is an international cooperativeproject initiated by SKI, the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, withparticipation of about 10 international organizations. The general goalof this project is to encourage multidisciplinary interactive andcooperative research on modelling coupledthermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes in geologic formationsin support of the performance assessment for underground storage ofradioactive waste. One of the research tasks, initiated in 2004 by theU.S. Department of Energy (DOE), addresses the long-term impact ofgeomechanical and geochemical processes on the flow conditions near wasteemplacement tunnels. Within this task, four international research teamsconduct predictive analysis of the coupled processes in two genericrepositories, using multiple approaches and different computer codes.Below, we give an overview of the research task and report its currentstatus.

Considered herein is a process concept that integrates fly ash amendment of brine produced as a result of oil and gas extraction with subsequent sequestration of carbon dioxide in the resulting alkaline solution. The CO2 solubility-trapping capacity of the alkaline mixture is substantially greater than that of the acidic raw brine. In addition to pH adjustment, addition of CaO-rich combustion byproduct augments the concentration of Ca++ cations initially present in the brine to increase solution capacity for mineral trapping of CO2. One- and two-stage approaches for implementation of this treatment process were considered. Batch reactions were conducted with several Class C fly ashes and one flue gas desulfurization (FGD) byproduct. Preliminary results verify the potential to substantially enhance CO2 sequestration capacity and increase mineral sequestration of absorbed CO2, primarily as CaCO3. Feasibility of the described CO2 sequestration treatment concept was, therefore, successfully demonstrated.

The evolution of hunter-gatherer maritime adaptations in western North America has been a prominent topic of discussion among archaeologists in recent years (e.g. Arnold 1992; Erlandson and Colten 1991; Erlandson and Glassow 1997; Lightfoot 1993). Although vast coastal regions of the northeastern Pacific (for example, southern California) have been investigated in detail, our understanding of hunter-gatherer developments along the coast of northern California is limited. Previous research indicates that humans have exploited marine mammals, fish and shellfish along the northern California shoreline since the early Holocene (Schwaderer 1992). By the end of the late Holocene, some groups remained year-round on the coast subsisting primarily on marine resources (e.g. Gould 1975; Hildebrandt and Levulett 2002). However, a paucity of well-dated cultural deposits has hindered our understanding of these developments, particularly during the early and middle Holocene. The lack of a long and reliable chronological sequence has restricted our interpretations of behavioral change, including the adaptive strategies (such as foraging, mobility and settlement) used by human foragers to colonize and inhabit the coastal areas of this region. These shortcomings have also hindered comparative interpretations with other coastal and inland regions in western North America. Here we present a Holocene radiocarbon chronology of …

The self-assembly of tetradecylamine (C14) and of mixtures of tetradecyl and octadecylamine (C18) molecules from chloroform solutions on mica has been studied using atomic force microscopy(AFM). For pure components self-assembly proceeds more slowly for C14 than for C18. In both cases after equilibrium is reached islands of tilted molecules cover a similar fraction of the surface. Images of films formed by mixtures of molecules acquired before equilibrium is reached (short ripening time at room temperature) show only islands with the height corresponding to C18 with many pores. After a long ripening time, when equilibrium is reached, islands of segregated pure components are formed.

The elucidation of microbial surface architecture and function is critical to determining mechanisms of pathogenesis, immune response, physicochemical properties, environmental resistance and development of countermeasures against bioterrorist agents. We have utilized high-resolution in vitro AFM for studies of structure, assembly, function and environmental dynamics of several microbial systems including bacteria and bacterial spores. Lateral resolutions of {approx}2.0 nm were achieved on pathogens, in vitro. We have demonstrated, using various species of Bacillus and Clostridium bacterial spores, that in vitro AFM can address spatially explicit spore coat protein interactions, structural dynamics in response to environmental changes, and the life cycle of pathogens at near-molecular resolution under physiological conditions. We found that strikingly different species-dependent crystalline structures of the spore coat appear to be a consequence of nucleation and crystallization mechanisms that regulate the assembly of the outer spore coat, and we proposed a unifying mechanism for outer spore coat self-assembly. Furthermore, we revealed molecular-scale transformations of the spore coat during the germination process, which include profound, previously unrecognized changes of the spore coat. We will present data on the direct visualization of stress-induced environmental response of metal-resistant Arthrobacter oxydans bacteria to Cr (VI) exposure, resulting in the formation of a supramolecular …

The ultrafast dynamics of electronic excitations of the surface dangling bond states of Si(111) 7 x 7 has been investigated by second harmonic generation as a probe of transient spectral hole burning. Spectral holes induced by a 100 fs pump at {approx_equal} 1.5 eV and their decay are interpreted in terms of electronic dephasing times as short as 15 fs. This fast time scale together with the strong excitation-induced dephasing observed is interpreted in terms of carrier-carrier scattering. In addition, strong coupling of the electronic excitation to surface optical phonons is observed and attributed to the localization at adatom sites of a surface electronic excitation and a surface phonon mode.

Self-primed ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and non-EVA (PMG) encapsulant formulations were developed that have greater resistance to damp heat exposure at 85 deg C and 85% relative humidity (RH) (in terms of adhesion strength to glass substrates) than a commonly used commercial EVA product. The self-primed EVA formulations were developed on the basis of high-performing glass priming formulations that have previously proven to significantly enhance the adhesion strength of unprimed and primed EVA films on glass substrates during damp heat exposure. The PMG encapsulant formulations were based on an ethylene-methylacrylate copolymer containing glycidyl methacrylate.

Results from Super-K, SNO, and KamLAND provide strong evidence that neutrinos undergo flavor-changing oscillations and therefore have non-zero mass. The {nu}-disappearance observations by KamLAND, assuming CPT conservation, point to matter enhanced (MSW) oscillations with large mixing angles as the solution to the solar neutrino problem--a result consistent with the MSW parameters recently defined by these experiments. This requires that the observed neutrino flavors (e, {mu}, and tau) are not mass eigenstates, but are linear combinations of the mass eigenstates of the neutrino. However, such oscillation experiments can only determine the differences in the masses of the neutrinos, not the absolute scale of neutrino mass. What can be inferred from these experiments is that at least one species of neutrino has a mass greater than 55 meV. In fact, the WMAP observations of large-scale structure point to a sum-neutrino mass of {approx} 0.7 eV (roughly 0.25 eV/species assuming democracy between the flavors). Furthermore, there is still the important issue of whether the neutrino and anti-neutrino are distinct particles (i.e. Dirac type) or not (Majorana type). The only way to answer both of these questions is through neutrinoless double beta decay (DBD) experiments. CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) is a …

A III-V on Si multijunction solar cell promises high efficiency at relatively low cost. The challenges to epitaxial growth of high-quality III-Vs on Si, though, are extensive. Lattice-matched (LM) dilute-nitride GaNPAs solar cells have been grown on Si, but their performance is limited by defects related to the nitrogen. Advances in the growth of lattice-mismatched (LMM) materials make more traditional III-Vs, such as GaInP and GaAsP, very attractive for use in multijunction solar cells on silicon.

We report the first detection of radio emission from any anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP). Data from the Very Large Array (VLA) MAGPIS survey with angular resolution 6'' reveals a point-source of flux density 4.5 {+-} 0.5 mJy at 1.4 GHz at the precise location of the 5.54 s pulsar XTE J1810-197. This is greater than upper limits from all other AXPs and from quiescent states of soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs). The detection was made in 2004 January, 1 year after the discovery of XTE J1810-197 during its only known outburst. Additional VLA observations both before and after the outburst yield only upper limits that are comparable to or larger than the single detection, neither supporting nor ruling out a decaying radio afterglow related to the X-ray turn-on. Another hypothesis is that, unlike the other AXPs and SGRs, XTE J1810-197 may power a radio synchrotron nebula by the interaction of its particle wind with a moderately dense environment that was not evacuated by previous activity from this least luminous, in X-rays, of the known magnetars.

By the end of August, 2005, the Russia Federation delivered to the United States (U.S.) more than 7,000 metric tons (MT) of low enriched uranium (LEU) containing approximately 46 million SWU and 75,000 MT of natural uranium. This uranium was blended down from weapons-grade (nominally enriched to 90% {sup 235}U) highly enriched uranium (HEU) under the 1993 HEU Purchase Agreement that provides for the blend down of 500 MT HEU into LEU for use as fuel in commercial nuclear reactors. The HEU Transparency Program, under the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), monitored the conversion and blending of the more than 250 MT HEU used to produce this LEU. The HEU represents more than half of the 500 MT HEU scheduled to be blended down through the year 2013 and is equivalent to the elimination of more than 10,000 nuclear devices. The HEU Transparency Program has made considerable progress in its mission to develop and implement transparency measures necessary to assure that Russian HEU extracted from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons is blended down into LEU for delivery to the United States. U.S. monitor observations include the inventory of in process containers, observation of plant operations, nondestructive assay measurements to determine {sup …

The ability to control the particle size and morphology of nanoparticles is of crucial importance nowadays both from a fundamental and industrial point of view considering the tremendous amount of high-tech applications. Controlling the crystallographic structure and the arrangement of atoms along the surface of nanostructured material will determine most of its physical properties. In general, electronic structure ultimately determines the properties of matter. Soft X-ray spectroscopy has some basic features that are important to consider. X-ray is originating from an electronic transition between a localized core state and a valence state. As a core state is involved, elemental selectivity is obtained because the core levels of different elements are well separated in energy, meaning that the involvement of the inner level makes this probe localized to one specific atomic site around which the electronic structure is reflected as a partial density-of-states contribution. The participation of valence electrons gives the method chemical state sensitivity and further, the dipole nature of the transitions gives particular symmetry information. The new generation synchrotron radiation sources producing intensive tunable monochromatized soft X-ray beams have opened up new possibilities for soft X-ray spectroscopy. The introduction of selectively excited soft X-ray emission has opened a new …

We document the discovery of two generating functions forzeta(2n+2), analogous to earlier work for zeta(2n+1) and zeta(4n+3),initiated by Koecher and pursued further by Borwein, Bradley andothers.

A new facility for high-pressure diffraction and spectroscopy using diamond anvil high-pressure cells has been built at the Advanced Light Source on Beamline 12.2.2. This beamline benefits from the hard X-radiation generated by a 6 Tesla superconducting bending magnet (superbend). Useful x-ray flux is available between 5 keV and 35 keV. The radiation is transferred from the superbend to the experimental enclosure by the brightness preserving optics of the beamline. These optics are comprised of: a plane parabola collimating mirror (M1), followed by a Kohzu monochromator vessel with a Si(111) crystals (E/{Delta}E {approx} 7000) and a W/B{sub 4}C multilayer (E/{Delta}E {approx} 100), and then a toroidal focusing mirror (M2) with variable focusing distance. The experimental enclosure contains an automated beam positioning system, a set of slits, ion chambers, the sample positioning goniometry and area detectors (CCD or image-plate detector). Future developments aim at the installation of a second end station dedicated for in situ laser-heating on one hand and a dedicated high-pressure single-crystal station, applying both monochromatic as well as polychromatic techniques.

The Idaho National Laboratory: An Historical Trash Trove Historians and archaeologists love trash, the older the better. Sometimes these researchers find their passion in unexpected places. In this presentation, the treasures found in a large historic dump that lies relatively untouched in the middle of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) will be described. The U.S. military used the central portion of the INL as one of only six naval proving grounds during World War II. They dumped trash in dry irrigation canals during and after their wartime activities and shortly before the federal government designated this arid and desolate place as the nation’s nuclear reactor testing station in 1949. When read critically and combined with memories and photographs, the 60-year old trash provides a glimpse into 1940s’ culture and the everyday lives of ordinary people who lived and worked during this time on Idaho’s desert. Thanks to priceless stories, hours of research, and the ability to read the language of historic artifacts, the dump was turned from just another trash heap into a treasure trove of 1940s memorabilia. Such studies of American material culture serve to fire our imaginations, enrich our understanding of past practices, and humanize history. Historical archaeology …

An integrated experiment relevant to fast ignition is described. A Cu doped CD spherical shell target is imploded around an inserted hollow Au cone by a six beam 600J, 1ns laser to a peak density of 4gcm{sup -3} and a diameter of 100 {micro}m. A 10 ps, 20TW laser pulse is focused into the cone at the time of peak compression. The flux of high-energy electrons through the imploded material is determined from the yield of Cu K{alpha} fluorescence by comparison with a Monte Carlo model and is estimated to carry 15% of the laser energy. Collisional and Ohmic heating are modeled. An electron spectrometer shows significantly greater reduction of the transmitted electron flux than is due to binary collisions and Ohmic potential. Enhanced scattering by instability-induced magnetic fields is suggested.

Science-based decision making required robust and high-fidelity mechanistic data about the system dynamics and impacts of system changes. Alkaloid cyanotoxins have the characteristics to warrant consideration for their potential threat. Since insufficient information is available to construct a systems model for the alkaloid cyanotoxins, saxitoxins, anatoxins, and anatoxin-a(S), an accurate assessments of these toxins as a potential threat for use for intentional contamination is not possible. Alkaloid cyanotoxin research that contributed to such a model has numerous areas of overlap for natural and intentional health effects issues that generates dual improvements to the state of the science. The use of sensitivity analyses of systems models can identify parameters that, when determined, result in the greatest impact to the overall system and may help to direct the most efficient use of research funding. This type of modeling-assisted experimentation may allow rapid progress for overall system understanding compared to observational or disciplinary research agendas. Assessment and management of risk from intentional contamination can be performed with greater confidence when mechanisms are known and the relationships between different components are validated. This level of understanding allows high-fidelity assessments that do not hamper legitimate possession of these toxins for research purposes, while preventing intentional …

Continued advances in the design of ignition targets have stimulating new development paths for target fabrication, with potentially important simplifications for fielding cryogenic ignition targets for the National Ignition Facility. Including graded dopants in ablators as well as optimizing capsule and fuel layer dimensions increase implosion stability. This has led to developments of micron-scale fill tubes to fill and field the targets. Rapid progress has been made in development of the graded dopant layers in capsules as well as their characterization, in fabrication methods for micro-fill-tubes, and in fuel fill control with these fill tubes. Phase-contrast x-ray radiography has allowed characterization of fuel layers in beryllium targets. This target development program includes participation from General Atomics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The second axis of the Dual Axial radiography Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT-II) facility at LANL is currently in the commissioning phase[1]. The beam parameters for the DARHT-II machine will be nominally 18 MeV, 2 kA and 1.6 {micro}s. This makes the DARHT-II downstream system the first system ever designed to transport a high current, high energy and long pulse beam [2]. We will test these physics issues of the downstream transport system on a scaled DARHT-II accelerator with a 7.8-MeV and 660-A beam at LANL before commissioning the machine at its full energy and current. The scaling laws for various physics concerns and the beam parameters selection is discussed in this paper.

We completed experiments in which we used a high-power laser to shock-melt a Bi(Zn) alloy and refreeze it in the shock release wave. We recovered the samples post shot for microscopic analysis and compared our results with the results from similar prior experiments with pure Bi. The targets in both sets of experiments were four-layer targets composed of BK7 glass, Al, the elemental Bi or Bi(Zn) alloy, and a transparent diagnostic window. There is conductive heating of the Bi through the Al layer from the hot plasma at the Al/BK7 boundary that depends on the Al thickness. Since the Bi(Zn) targets had a much thicker Al layer than did the Bi targets, the two sets of targets had somewhat different thermal histories even though they were driven to the same pressure. In this presentation we compare the resolidified Bi(Zn) microstructure to that of the Bi, accounting for the different thermal histories.

Variability of the data for CO2 absorption on coal reported by different research groups suggests that it strongly depends on experimental conditions. We investigated the effects of moisture content and pressure cycling history on temporal changes in the coal sorptive capacity for Pocahontas #3, Illinois #6, and Beulah Zap powders of Argonne premium coals. The samples were tested as received and moisture equilibrated at 96-97% RH and 55°C for 48 hours. It was demonstrated that the magnitude and dynamics of the changes are affected by the coal type (maceral) and rank. Correlation between the sample volume change (swelling/shrinkage) and the variations in absorption-desorption patterns may indicate the relationship between coal structural relaxation and kinetics of CO2 absorption. Experimental and theoretical methods are proposed to study these effects.

Shock initiation experiments on the heated PBX9501 explosive (95% HMX, 2.5% estane, and 2.5% nitro-plasticizer by weight) were performed at temperatures 150 C and 180 C to obtain in-situ pressure gauge data. A 101 mm diameter propellant driven gas gun was utilized to initiate the PBX9501 explosive and manganin piezo-resistive pressure gauge packages were placed between sample slices to measure time resolved local pressure histories. The run-distance-to-detonation points on the Pop-plot for these experiments showed the sensitivity of the heated material to shock loading. This work shows that heated PBX-9501 is more shock sensitive than it is at ambient conditions. Proper Ignition and Growth modeling parameters were obtained to fit the experimental data. This parameter set will allow accurate code predictions to be calculated for safety scenarios involving PBX9501 explosives at temperatures close to those at which experiments were performed.

Deposition of maximum laser energy into a small, high-Z enclosure in a short laser pulse creates a hot environment. Such targets were recently included in an experimental campaign using the first four of the 192 beams of the National Ignition Facility [J. A. Paisner, E. M. Campbell, and W. J. Hogan, Fusion Technology 26, 755 (1994)], under construction at the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. These targets demonstrate good laser coupling, reaching a radiation temperature of 340 eV. In addition, the Raman backscatter spectrum contains features consistent with Brillouin backscatter of Raman forward scatter [A. B. Langdon and D. E. Hinkel, Physical Review Letters 89, 015003 (2002)]. Also, NIF Early Light diagnostics indicate that 20% of the direct backscatter from these reduced-scale targets is in the polarization orthogonal to that of the incident light.

An electronic transition of iron in magnesiowuestite has been studied with synchrotron Moessbauer and X-ray emission spectroscopies under high pressures. Synchrotron Moessbauer studies show that the quadrupole splitting disappears and the isomer shift drops significantly across the spin-paring transition of iron in (Mg{sub 0.75},Fe{sub 0.25})O between 62 and 70 GPa, whereas X-ray emission spectroscopy of the Fe-K{sub {beta}} fluorescence lines in dilute (Mg{sub 0.95},Fe{sub 0.05})O also confirms that a high-spin to low-spin transition occurs between 46 GPa and 55 GPa. Based upon current results and percolation theory, we reexamine the high-pressure phase diagram of (Mg,Fe)O and find that iron-iron exchange interaction plays an important role in stabilizing the high-spin state of iron in FeO-rich (Mg,Fe)O.