Ion current extracted from an ion source (ion thruster) can be increased above the Child-Langmuir limit if the ion space charge is neutralized. Similarly, the limiting kinetic energy density of the plasma flow in a Hall thruster might be exceeded if additional mechanisms of space charge neutralization are introduced. Space charge neutralization with high-mass negative ions or negatively charged dust particles seems, in principle, promising for the development of a high current or high energy density source of positive light ions. Several space charge neutralization schemes that employ heavy negatively charged particles are considered. It is shown that the proposed neutralization schemes can lead, at best, only to a moderate but nonetheless possibly important increase of the ion current in the ion thruster and the thrust density in the Hall thruster.

Pulvirenti et al. (2004) recently conducted a laboratory evaporation/condensation experiment on a synthetic solution of primarily calcium chloride. This solution represents one potential type of evaporated pore water at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a site proposed for geologic storage of high-level nuclear waste. These authors reported that boiling this solution to near dryness (a concentration factor >75,000 relative to actual pore waters) leads to the generation of acid condensate (pH 4.5) presumably due to volatilization of HCl (and minor HF and/or HNO{sub 3}). To investigate the various processes taking place, including boiling, gas transport, and condensation, their experiment was simulated by modifying an existing multicomponent and multiphase reactive transport code (TOUGHREACT). This code was extended with a Pitzer ion-interaction model to deal with high ionic strength. The model of the experiment was set-up to capture the observed increase in boiling temperature (143 C at {approx}1 bar) resulting from high concentrations of dissolved salts (up to 8 m CaCl{sub 2}). The computed HCI fugacity ({approx} 10{sup -4} bars) generated by boiling under these conditions is not sufficient to lower the pH of the condensate (cooled to 80 and 25 C) down to observed values unless the H{sub 2}O mass fraction in gas …

Vertical Transport and Mixing in Complex Terrain Airsheds: Implementation of a Stable PBL Turbulence Parameterization for the Mesoscale Model MM5 The difficulties associated with parameterization of turbulence in the stable nocturnal atmospheric boundary layer have been a great challenge for the night-time predictions of mesoscale meteorological models such as MM5. As such, there is a general consensus on the need for better stable boundary-layer parameterizations. To this end, two new turbulence parameterizations based on the measurements of the Vertical Transport and Mixing (VTMX) field campaign were implemented and evaluated in MM5. A unique aspect of this parameterization is the use of a stability dependent turbulent Prandtl number that allows momentum to be transported by the internal waves, while heat diffusion is impeded by the stratification. This improvement alleviates the problem of over-prediction of heat diffusion under stable conditions, which is a characteristic of conventional PBL schemes, such as MRF and Blackadar schemes employed in MM5. The predictions made with the new PBL scheme for the complex terrain airshed of Salt Lake City were compared with those made with a default scheme of MM5 and with observations made during the VTMX campaign. The new schemes showed an improvement in predictions, particularly …

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The objective of this Direct Surge Control project was to develop a new internal method to avoid surge of pipeline compressors. This method will safely expand the range and flexibility of compressor operations, while minimizing wasteful recycle flow at the lower end of the operating envelope. The approach is to sense the onset of surge with a probe that directly measures re-circulation at the impeller inlet. The signals from the probe are used by a controller to allow operation at low flow conditions without resorting to a predictive method requiring excessive margin to activate a recycle valve. The sensor developed and demonstrated during this project was a simple, rugged, and sensitive drag probe. Experiments conducted in a laboratory compressor clearly showed the effectiveness of the technique. Subsequent field demonstrations indicated that the increase in range without the need to recycle flow was on the order of 19% to 25%. The cost benefit of applying the direct surge control technology appears to be as much as $120 per hour per compressor for operation without the current level of recycle flow. This could amount to approximately $85 million per year for the U.S. Natural Gas Transmission industry, if direct surge control systems …

The need for better nuclear data has been stressed by various organizations throughout the world, and results of studies have been published which demonstrate that current data are inadequate for designing the projects under consideration [1] [2]. In particular, a Working Party of the OECD has been concerned with identifying these needs [3] and has produced a detailed High Priority Request List for Nuclear Data. The French Atomic Energy Commissariat (CEA) has also recognized the need for better data and launched an ambitious program aimed at measuring the integral absorption rate parameters at the CEA-Cadarache Research Center. A complete analytical program is associated with the experimental program and aims at understanding and resolving potential discrepancies between calculated and measured values. The final objective of the program is to reduce the uncertainties in predictive capabilities to a level acceptable to core designers and government regulators. Argonne National Laboratory has expertise in these areas. In the past, ANL teams have developed very accurate experimental techniques and strongly enhanced the development of several French experimental and analytical programs, and have contributed to the computational tools used at CEA-Cadarache. CEA recognized the expertise that ANL has in these areas and was interested in collaborating …

We report the first evidence of a fully reconstructed decay mode of the B{sub c}{sup {+-}} meson in the channel B{sub c}{sup {+-}} {yields} J/{psi}{sup {+-}}, with J/{psi} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 360 pb{sup -1} in p{bar p} collisions collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We observe 18.9 {+-} 5.7 signal events on a background of 10.0 {+-} 1.4 events and the fit to the J/{psi}{pi}{sup {+-}} mass spectrum yields a B{sub c}{sup {+-}} mass of 6287.0 {+-} 4.8(stat) {+-} 1.1(syst) MeV/c{sup 2}.

Environmental Energy Inc has shown that BUTANOL REPLACES GASOLINE - 100 pct and has no pollution problems, and further proved it is possible to produce 2.5 gallons of butanol per bushel corn at a production cost of less than $1.00 per gallon. There are 25 pct more Btu-s available and an additional 17 pct more from hydrogen given off, from the same corn when making butanol instead of ethanol that is 42 pct more Btu-s more energy out than it takes to make - that is the plow to tire equation is positive for butanol. Butanol is far safer to handle than gasoline or ethanol. Butanol when substituted for gasoline gives better gas mileage and does not pollute as attested to in 10 states. Butanol should now receive the same recognition as a fuel alcohol in U.S. legislation as ethanol. There are many benefits to this technology in that Butanol replaces gasoline gallon for gallon as demonstrated in a 10,000 miles trip across the United States July-August 2005. No modifications at all were made to a 1992 Buick Park Avenue; essentially your family car can go down the road on Butanol today with no modifications, Butanol replaces gasoline. It is …

In the last few years, it was clearly shown that cross-field transport in the far SOL could be significantly faster than previously thought and that this transport exhibited convective rather then diffusive features. As a result, in high density cases the plasma coming into the SOL from the core recycled at the wall of the tokamak main chamber, rather than flowing into the divertor and recycling there, as the conventional picture of edge plasma flows would suggest. It was also shown that coherent structures, often called ''blobs'', played very important roles in the particle and energy transport inside the SOL region for both L and H confinement modes. The blobs seen in the SOL are extended along the magnetic field lines and have a plasma density two to three times higher than the ambient SOL plasma density and poloidal and radial scales of about 1 cm. In experimental measurements, the blobs propagated in radial direction towards the chamber wall with a velocity {approx} 10{sup 5} cm/s, and the contribution of non-diffusive flux associated with transport of blobs to the total particle flux in the far SOL attained 70-90%. In addition, recent assessment of experimental data and theoretical models shows that …

This Data Qualification Report (DQR) is prepared in accordance with the provisions of AP-SIII.2Q, Rev. 0, ICN 3, Qualification of Unqualified Data and the Documentation of Rationale for Accepted Data and Data Qualification Plan for 1991 Topographic Maps 1:1200 Scale for use on the Yucca Mountain Project, DQP-WHS-CI-000001, Rev. 00 (BSC 2002a). This DQR presents an evaluation of a set of 90 topographic sheets at 1:1200 scale (and an associated electronic file) that covers an approximate 18 square mile area surrounding the proposed Yucca Mountain Project repository surface facilities location in Midway Valley, Nevada. These maps, that require qualification, are now being used to determine the physical characteristics of watershed sub-areas, interconnecting channels, and drainage channel cross-sections for hydrologic engineering studies of the north portal pad and vicinity. The result of this effort is to qualify one data tracking number (DTN) containing the electronic version of the mapping data. This DTN is: M09906COV98462.000. Coverage: TOP02FTS. The underlying quality assurance (QA) issue associated with these topographic maps is that the maps were originally designated as not for use in the design of items important to safety, waste isolation, and/or of programmatic importance. The maps were therefore generated outside the U.S. Department …

Three wells, PB-1, PB-2, and PB-3, were drilled in 2003 at the Nopal I uranium deposit as part of a natural analogue study to evaluate radionuclide transport processes. The wells penetrate through the Tertiary volcanic section down to the Cretaceous limestone basement, and intersect the top of the regional aquifer system. The PB-1 well, drilled immediately adjacent to the Nopal I ore body, was cored to a depth of 250 m, thus providing an opportunity to document the local stratigraphy. The uppermost unit encountered in the PB-1 well is the Nopal Formation, a densely welded, crystal-rich rhyolitic ash-flow tuff. The cored section is highly altered and devitrified, with kaolinite, quartz, chlorite, and montmorillonite replacing feldspars and much of the groundmass. Breccia zones within the tuff contain fracture fillings of hematite, limonite, and goethite. A zone of intense clay alteration encountered in the depth interval 17.45-22.30 m was interpreted to represent the basal vitrophyre of this unit. Underlying the basal vitrophyre is the Coloradas Formation, which consists of a welded, lithic-rich rhyolitic ash-flow tuff. The cored section of this unit has undergone devitrification and oxidation, and has a similar alteration mineralogy to that observed in the Nopal tuff. The Nopal I …

Our research program focuses on the development of a method to cool atoms and molecules of any choice as long as they have a stable gaseous phase. Our approach starts with a very cold supersonic beam of He seeded with the molecules of choice. The internal temperature can reach 1 milliKelvin or less. The high center of mass velocity of the particles forming the beam will be reduced by elastically scattering the atoms/molecules from a very cold single crystal surface (20-40K), which moves in the beam direction. This will enable the continuous control of the mean velocity over a large range, after scattering, down to a few tens of m/s or even below as the crystal surface's velocity approaches v/2 of the impacting particles. We will use the decelerated particles as a source for a white-fringe matter-wave interferometer, where one reflector is a very cold surface of interest. The interference pattern will reveal the real part (via integral intensities) and the imaginary part (via phase shifts) of the scattering cross sections. This is particularly interesting for H{sub 2} and resonance structures. This interferometer set-up follows closely Prichard's arrangement.

The OSMOSE program (Oscillation in Minerve of isotopes in ''Eupraxic'' spectra) is a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique (CEA). It aims at measuring integral absorption rates of minor actinides by the oscillation technique in the MINERVE experimental facility located at the CEA Cadarache Research Center. The OSMOSE program also includes a complete analytical program to understand and resolve potential discrepancies between calculated and measured values. The OSMOSE program began in 2001 and will continue until 2013. The Argonne National Laboratory has developed Monte Carlo and deterministic calculation models of the MINERVE facility to determine core and safety parameters such as axial and radial fission rate distributions, control rod worth, spectral indices, and the reactivity worth of oscillated samples. Oscillation samples include calibration samples with different uranium enrichments and boron concentrations and the OSMOSE samples--separated actinides including {sup 232}Th, {sup 233}U, {sup 234}U, {sup 235}U, {sup 236}U, {sup 238}U, {sup 237}Np, {sup 238}Pu, {sup 239}Pu, {sup 240}Pu, {sup 241}Pu, {sup 242}Pu, {sup 241}Am, {sup 243}Am, {sup 244}Cm and {sup 245}Cm. Seven different neutron spectra will be created in the MINERVE facility: an overmoderated UO{sub 2} matrix (representative of a fuel processing …

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), a demonstration reactor and hydrogen production facility proposed for construction at the INEEL, is expected to be a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). Computer codes used in design and safety analysis for the NGNP must be benchmarked against experimental data. The INEEL and ANL have examined information about several past and present experimental and prototypical facilities based on HTGR concepts to assess the potential of these facilities for use in this benchmarking effort. Both reactors and critical facilities applicable to pebble-bed and prismatic block-type cores have been considered. Four facilities--HTR-PROTEUS, HTR-10, ASTRA, and AVR--appear to have the greatest potential for use in benchmarking codes for pebble-bed reactors. Similarly, for the prismatic block-type reactor design, two experiments have been ranked as having the highest priority--HTTR and VHTRC.

A research program was carried out at the University of Illinois in which develops a scientific approach to gas-liquid flows that explains their macroscopic behavior in terms of small scale interactions. For simplicity, fully-developed flows in horizontal and near-horizontal pipes. The difficulty in dealing with these flows is that the phases can assume a variety of configurations. The specific goal was to develop a scientific understanding of transitions from one flow regime to another and a quantitative understanding of how the phases distribute for a give regime. These basic understandings are used to predict macroscopic quantities of interest, such as frictional pressure drop, liquid hold-up, entrainment in annular flow and frequency of slugging in slug flows. A number of scientific issues are addressed. Examples are the rate of atomization of a liquid film, the rate of deposition of drops, the behavior of particles in a turbulent field, the generation and growth of interfacial waves. The use of drag-reducing polymers that change macroscopic behavior by changing small scale interactions was explored.

Fouling problems are perhaps the single most important reason for relatively slow acceptance of ultrafiltration in many areas of chemical and biological processing. To overcome the losses in permeate flux associated with concentration polarization and fouling in cross flow membrane filtration, we investigated the concept of flow reversal as a method to enhance membrane flux in ultrafiltration. Conceptually, flow reversal prevents the formation of stable hydrodynamic and concentration boundary layers at or near the membrane surface. Further more, periodic reversal of the flow direction of the feed stream at the membrane surface results in prevention and mitigation of membrane fouling. Consequently, these advantages are expected to enhance membrane flux significantly. A crossflow membrane filtration unit was designed and built to test the concept of periodic flow reversal for flux enhancement. The essential elements of the system include a crossflow hollow fiber membrane module integrated with a two-way valve to direct the feed flow directions. The two-way valve is controlled by a controller-timer for periodic reversal of flow of feed stream. Another important feature of the system is that with changing feed flow direction, the permeate flow direction is also changed to maintain countercurrent feed and permeate flows for enhanced mass …

This document comprises the final technical report for atomic collisions research supported by DOE grant No. DE-FG02-87ER13778 from September 1, 2001 through August 31, 2004. The research involved the experimental investigation of excitation and charge-changing processes occurring in ion-atom and ion-molecule collisions. Major emphases of the study were: (1) interference effects resulting from coherent electron emission in H2, (2) production of doubly vacant K-shell (hollow ion) states due to electron correlation, and (3) formation of long-lived metastable states in electron transfer processes. During the period of the grant, this research resulted in 23 publications, 12 invited presentations, and 39 contributed presentations at national and international meetings and other institutions. Brief summaries of the completed research are presented below.

An attempt was made to control global plasma confinement in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak by applying ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) power to the plasma edge in order to deliberately create a minority ion tail loss. In theory, an edge fast ion loss could modify the edge electric field and so stabilize the edge turbulence, which might then reduce the H-mode power threshold or improve the H-mode barrier. However, the experimental result was that edge minority heating resulted in no improvement in the edge plasma parameters or global stored energy, at least at power levels of radio-frequency power is less than or equal to 5.5 MW. A preliminary analysis of these results is presented and some ideas for improvement are discussed.

This report discusses the EPA rule that is the subject of the disapproval resolution, describes the procedures under which the resolution can be considered, and provides additional references and background information that may be of interest in light of the potential debate.

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This report provides detailed trade information and statistics on Iraq’s trade with the world from 2001 to 2003, highlighting its major trading partners. Data on U.S. trade with Iraq from 2002 to 2004 are also provided.

This report discusses procedures for committee assignments, which both House and party rules detail. House rules address the election and membership of committees, especially limitations on membership. The Democratic Caucus and Republican Conference rules designate categories of committees and specify service limitations in addition to those in the House rules.

This report discusses the 9/11 Commission's recommendation that the U.S. government shift the focus of its efforts to counter terrorist financing from a strategy based on seizing terrorist assets to a strategy based on exploiting intelligence gathered from financial investigations.

This report discusses the processes of expulsion and censure in the House of Representatives. The House is expressly authorized within the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 5, clause 2) to discipline or "punish" its own Members. It is designed as a measure to protect the institutional integrity of the House of Representatives, its proceedings and its reputation.