The Savannah River Site (SRS) is a 310-square-mile United States Department of Energy nuclear facility located along the Savannah River near Aiken, South Carolina. During operations, which started in 1951, hazardous substances (chemicals and radionuclides) were released to the environment. The releases occurred as a result of inadvertent spills and waste disposal in unlined pits and basins which was common practice before environmental regulations existed. The hazardous substances have migrated to the vadose zone and groundwater in many areas of the SRS, resulting in 515 waste units and facilities that are required by environmental regulations, to undergo characterization and, if needed, remediation. In the initial years of the SRS environmental cleanup program (early 1990s), the focus was to use common technologies (such as pump and treat, air stripping, excavation and removal) that actively and tangibly removed contamination. Exclusive use of these technologies required continued and significant funding while often failing to meet acceptable clean-up goals and objectives. Recognizing that a more cost-effective approach was needed, SRS implemented new and complementary remediation methods focused on active and passive technologies targeted to solve specific remediation problems. Today, SRS uses technologies such as chemical/pH-adjusting injection, phytoremediation, underground cutoff walls, dynamic underground stripping, soil …

The variability of radiation responses in ovarian tumors and tumor-derived cell lines is poorly understood. Since both DNA repair capacity and p53 status can significantly alter radiation sensitivity, we evaluated these factors along with radiation sensitivity in a panel of sporadic human ovarian carcinoma cell lines. We observed a gradation of radiation sensitivity among these sixteen lines, with a five-fold difference in the LD50 between the most radiosensitive and the most radioresistant cells. The DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) is essential for the repair of radiation induced DNA double-strand breaks in human somatic cells. Therefore, we measured gene copy number, expression levels, protein abundance, genomic copy and kinase activity for DNA-PK in all of our cell lines. While there were detectable differences in DNA-PK between the cell lines, there was no clear correlation with any of these differences and radiation sensitivity. In contrast, p53 function as determined by two independent methods, correlated well with radiation sensitivity, indicating p53 mutant ovarian cancer cells are typically radioresistant relative to p53 wild-type lines. These data suggest that the activity of regulatory molecules such as p53 may be better indicators of radiation sensitivity than DNA repair enzymes such as DNAPK in ovarian cancer.

We report on a reflection microscope that operates at 13.2-nm wavelength with a spatial resolution of 55{+-}3 nm. The microscope uses a table-top EUV laser to acquire images of photolithography masks in 20 seconds.

We are carrying out coordinated theoretical and experimental studies of toward photochemical water splitting using band-gap-narrowed semiconductors (BGNSCs) with attached multi-electron molecular water oxidation and hydrogen production catalysts. We focus on the coupling between the materials properties and the H{sub 2}O redox chemistry, with an emphasis on attaining a fundamental understanding of the individual elementary steps in the following four processes: (1) Light-harvesting and charge-separation of stable oxide or oxide-derived semiconductors for solar-driven water splitting, including the discovery and characterization of the behavior of such materials at the aqueous interface; (2) The catalysis of the four-electron water oxidation by dinuclear hydroxo transition-metal complexes with quinonoid ligands, and the rational search for improved catalysts; (3) Transfer of the design principles learned from the elucidation of the DuBois-type hydrogenase model catalysts in acetonitrile to the rational design of two-electron hydrogen production catalysts for aqueous solution; (4) Combining these three elements to examine the function of oxidation catalysts on BGNSC photoanode surfaces and hydrogen production catalysts on cathode surfaces at the aqueous interface to understand the challenges to the efficient coupling of the materials functions.

We report measurements of the CKM angles {beta}/{phi}{sub 1} and {alpha}/{phi}{sub 2} done by the BABAR and Belle experiments. Both experiments have collected large data samples, corresponding to a total of more than 1 billion of B{bar B} pairs, at the e{sup +}e{sup -} asymmetric-energy colliders PEP-II (SLAC) and KEK-B (KEK), respectively.

The quantum anomaly that breaks the U(1) axial symmetry of massless multi-flavored QCD leaves behind a discrete flavor-singlet chiral invariance. With massive quarks, this residual symmetry has a close connection with the strong CP-violating parameter theta. One result is that if the lightest quarks are degenerate, then a first order transition will occur when theta passes through pi. The resulting framework helps clarify when the rooting prescription for extrapolating in the number of flavors is valid.

We report on recent progress in developing diffraction gratings which can potentially provide extremely high spectral resolution of 105-106 in the EUV and soft x-ray photon energy ranges. Such a grating was fabricated by deposition of a multilayer on a substrate which consists ofa 6-degree blazed grating with a high groove density. The fabrication of the substrate gratings was based on scanning interference lithography and anisotropic wet etch of silicon single crystals. The optimized fabrication process provided precise control of the grating periodicity, and the grating groove profile, together with very short anti-blazed facets, and near atomically smooth surface blazed facets. The blazed grating coated with 20 Mo/Si bilayers demonstrated a diffraction efficiency in the third order as high as 33percent at an incidence angle of 11? and wavelength of 14.18 nm.

The 1-MW High Voltage Converter Modulators [1] have operated in excess of 250,000 hours at the Spallation Neutron Source. Increased demands on the accelerator performance require increased modulator reliability. An effort is underway at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to redesign the modulator H-bridge switch plate with the goals of increasing reliability and performance [2]. The major difference between the SLAC design and the existing design is the use of press-pack IGBTs. Compared to other packaging options, these IGBTs have been shown to have increased performance in pulsed-power applications, have increased cooling capability, and do not fragment and disassemble during a fault event. An overview of the SLAC switch plate redesign is presented. Design steps including electrical modeling of the modulator and H-bridge, development of an integrated IGBT clamping mechanism, and fault tests are discussed. Experimental results will be presented comparing electrical performance of the SLAC switch plate to the existing switchplate under normal and fault conditions.

With demonstrated resist resolution of 20 nm half pitch, the SEMATECH Berkeley BUV microfield exposure tool continues to push crucial advances in the areas of BUY resists and masks. The ever progressing shrink in computer chip feature sizes has been fueled over the years by a continual reduction in the wavelength of light used to pattern the chips. Recently, this trend has been threatened by unavailability of lens materials suitable for wavelengths shorter than 193 nm. To circumvent this roadblock, a reflective technology utilizing a significantly shorter extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelength (13.5 nm) has been under development for the past decade. The dramatic wavelength shrink was required to compensate for optical design limitations intrinsic in mirror-based systems compared to refractive lens systems. With this significant reduction in wavelength comes a variety of new challenges including developing sources of adequate power, photoresists with suitable resolution, sensitivity, and line-edge roughness characteristics, as well as the fabrication of reflection masks with zero defects. While source development can proceed in the absence of available exposure tools, in order for progress to be made in the areas of resists and masks it is crucial to have access to advanced exposure tools with resolutions equal to …

Over a decade ago, an in-tank precipitation process to remove Cs-137 from radioactive high level waste (HLW) supernates was demonstrated at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The full scale demonstration with actual HLW was performed in SRS Tank 48 (T48). Sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB) was added to enable Cs-137 extraction as CsTPB. The CsTPB, an organic, and its decomposition products proved to be problematic for subsequent processing of the Cs-137 precipitate in the SRS HLW vitrification facility for ultimate disposal in a HLW repository. Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) is being considered as a technology for destroying the organics and nitrates in the T48 waste to render it compatible with subsequent HLW vitrification. During FBSR processing the T48 waste is converted into organic-free and nitrate-free carbonate-based minerals which are water soluble. The soluble nature of the carbonate-based minerals allows them to be dissolved and pumped to the vitrification facility or returned to the tank farm for future vitrification. The initial use of the FBSR process for T48 waste was demonstrated with simulated waste in 2003 at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) using a specially designed sealed crucible test that reproduces the FBSR pyrolysis reactions, i.e. carbonate formation, organic and nitrate …

Bunch compressors, designed to increase the peak current, can lead to a microbunching instability with detrimental effects on the beam quality. This is a major concern for free electron lasers (FELs) where very bright electron beams are required, i.e. beams with low emittance and energy spread. In this paper, we apply our self-consistent, parallel solver to study the microbunching instability in the first bunch compressor system of FERMI{at}Elettra. Our basic model is a 2D Vlasov-Maxwell system. We treat the beam evolution through a bunch compressor using our Monte Carlo mean field approximation. We randomly generate N points from an initial phase space density. We then calculate the charge density using a smooth density estimation procedure, from statistics, based on Fourier series. The electric and magnetic fields are calculated from the smooth charge/current density using a novel field formula that avoids singularities by using the retarded time as a variable of integration. The points are then moved forward in small time steps using the beam frame equations of motion, with the fields frozen during a time step, and a new charge density is determined using our density estimation procedure. We try to choose N large enough so that the charge density …

This is the first report of Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope observations of the quasar 3C 454.3, which has been undergoing pronounced long-term outbursts since 2000. The data from the Large Area Telescope (LAT), covering 2008 July 7-October 6, indicate strong, highly variable {gamma}-ray emission with an average flux of {approx} 3 x 10{sup -6} photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, for energies > 100 MeV. The {gamma}-ray flux is variable, with strong, distinct, symmetrically-shaped flares for which the flux increases by a factor of several on a time scale of about three days. This variability indicates a compact emission region, and the requirement that the source is optically thin to pair-production implies relativistic beaming with Doppler factor {delta} > 8, consistent with the values inferred from VLBI observations of superluminal expansion ({delta} {approx} 25). The observed {gamma}-ray spectrum is not consistent with a simple power-law, but instead steepens strongly above {approx} 2 GeV, and is well described by a broken power-law with photon indices of {approx} 2.3 and {approx} 3.5 below and above the break, respectively. This is the first direct observation of a break in the spectrum of a high luminosity blazar above 100 MeV, and it is likely direct …

The Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model is used to estimate the value an Oakland nursing home, a Riverside high school, and a Sunnyvale data center would need to put on higher electricity service reliability for them to adopt a Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions Microgrid (CM) based on economics alone. A fraction of each building's load is deemed critical based on its mission, and the added cost of CM capability to meet it added to on-site generation options. The three sites are analyzed with various resources available as microgrid components. Results show that the value placed on higher reliability often does not have to be significant for CM to appear attractive, about 25 $/kWcdota and up, but the carbon footprint consequences are mixed because storage is often used to shift cheaper off-peak electricity to use during afternoon hours in competition with the solar sources.

Despite substantial effort, no one has succeeded in efficiently producing methanol from CO2 using homogeneous photocatalytic systems. We are pursuing reaction schemes based on a sequence of hydride-ion transfers to carry out stepwise reduction of CO2 to methanol. We are using hydride-ion transfer from photoproduced C-H bonds in metal complexes with bio-inspired ligands (i.e., NADH-like ligands) that are known to store one proton and two electrons.

This paper describes an open-source library with component models for building energy and control systems that is based on Modelica, an equation-based objectoriented language that is well positioned to become the standard for modeling of dynamic systems in various industrial sectors. The library is currently developed to support computational science and engineering for innovative building energy and control systems. Early applications will include controls design and analysis, rapid prototyping to support innovation of new building systems and the use of models during operation for controls, fault detection and diagnostics. This paper discusses the motivation for selecting an equation-based object-oriented language. It presents the architecture of the library and explains how base models can be used to rapidly implement new models. To demonstrate the capability of analyzing novel energy and control systems, the paper closes with an example where we compare the dynamic performance of a conventional hydronic heating system with thermostatic radiator valves to an innovative heating system. In the new system, instead of a centralized circulation pump, each of the 18 radiators has a pump whose speed is controlled using a room temperature feedback loop, and the temperature of the boiler is controlled based on the speed of the …

The primary goal of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of the chop-leach process, with nitric acid solvent, to produce a nominally 300 g/L [U] and 1 M [H{sup +}] product solution. The results of this study show that this processing technique is appropriate for applications in which a low free acid and moderately high U content are desired. The 7.75 L of product solution, which was over 450 g/L in U, was successfully diluted to produce about 13 L of solvent extraction feed that was 302 g/L in U with a [H{sup +}] in the range 0.8-1.2 M. A secondary goal was to test the effectiveness of this treatment for the removal of actinides from Zircaloy cladding to produce a low-level radioactive waste (LLW) cladding product. Analysis of the cladding shows that actinides are present in the cladding at a concentration of about 5000 {eta}Ci/g, which is about 50 times greater than the acceptable transuranium element limit in low level radioactive waste. It appears that the concentration of nitric acid used for this dissolution study (initial concentration 4 M, with 10 M added as the dissolution proceeded) was inadequate to completely digest the UO{sub 2} present in the …

Carbon-climate, like other environmental sciences, has been changing. Large-scalesynthesis studies are becoming more common. These synthesis studies are often conducted by science teams that are geographically distributed and on datasets that are global in scale. A broad array of collaboration and data analytics tools are now available that could support these science teams. However, building tools that scientists actually use is hard. Also, moving scientists from an informal collaboration structure to one mediated by technology often exposes inconsistencies in the understanding of the rules of engagement between collaborators. We have developed a scientific collaboration portal, called fluxdata.org, which serves the community of scientists providing and analyzing the global FLUXNET carbon-flux synthesis dataset. Key things we learned or re-learned during our portal development include: minimize the barrier to entry, provide features on a just-in-time basis, development of requirements is an on-going process, provide incentives to change leaders and leverage the opportunity they represent, automate as much as possible, and you can only learn how to make it better if people depend on it enough to give you feedback. In addition, we also learned that splitting the portal roles between scientists and computer scientists improved user adoption and trust. The fluxdata.org portal …

Microorganisms can affect the stability and mobility of the actinides and other radionuclides released from nuclear fuel cycle and from nuclear fuel reprocessing plants. Under appropriate conditions, microorganisms can alter the chemical speciation, solubility and sorption properties and thus could increase or decrease the concentrations of radionuclides in solution in the environment and the bioavailability. Dissolution or immobilization of radionuclides is brought about by direct enzymatic action or indirect non-enzymatic action of microorganisms. Although the physical, chemical, and geochemical processes affecting dissolution, precipitation, and mobilization of radionuclides have been extensively investigated, we have only limited information on the effects of microbial processes and biochemical mechanisms which affect the stability and mobility of radionuclides. The mechanisms of microbial transformations of the major and minor actinides U, Pu, Cm, Am, Np, the fission products and other radionuclides such as Ra, Tc, I, Cs, Sr, under aerobic and anaerobic conditions in the presence of electron donors and acceptors are reviewed.

The ability to mobilize and transport non-Newtonian waste is essential to advance the closure of highly radioactive storage tanks. Recent waste removal operations from Tank 12H at the Savannah River Site (SRS) encountered sludge mixtures with a yield stress too high to pump. The waste removal equipment for Tank 12H was designed to mobilize and transport a diluted slurry mixture through an underground 550m long (1800 ft) 0.075m diameter (3 inch) pipeline. The transfer pump was positioned in a well casing submerged in the sludge slurry. The design allowed for mobilized sludge to enter the pump suction while keeping out larger tank debris. Data from a similar tank with known rheological properties were used to size the equipment. However, after installation and startup, field data from Tank 12H confirmed the yield stress of the slurry to exceed 40 Pa, whereas the system is designed for 10 Pa. A revision to the removal strategy was required, which involved metered dilution, blending, and mixing to ensure effective and safe transfer performance. The strategy resulted in the removal of over 255,000 kgs of insoluble solids with four discrete transfer evolutions for a total transfer volume of 2400 m{sup 3} (634,000 gallons) of sludge …

Cell-based fluorescence imaging assays have the potential to generate massive amount of data, which requires detailed quantitative analysis. Often, as a result of fixation, labeled nuclei overlap and create a clump of cells. However, it is important to quantify phenotypic read out on a cell-by-cell basis. In this paper, we propose a novel method for decomposing clumps of nuclei using high-level geometric constraints that are derived from low-level features of maximum curvature computed along the contour of each clump. Points of maximum curvature are used as vertices for Delaunay triangulation (DT), which provides a setof edge hypotheses for decomposing a clump of nuclei. Each hypothesis is subsequently tested against a constraint satisfaction network for a near optimum decomposition. The proposed method is compared with other traditional techniques such as the watershed method with/without markers. The experimental results show that our approach can overcome the deficiencies of the traditional methods and is very effective in separating severely touching nuclei.

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We have recently examined a large number of points in the parameter space of the phenomenological MSSM, the 19-dimensional parameter space of the CP-conserving MSSM with Minimal Flavor Violation. We determined whether each of these points satisfied existing experimental and theoretical constraints. This analysis provides insight into general features of the MSSM without reference to a particular SUSY breaking scenario or any other assumptions at the GUT scale. This study opens up new possibilities for SUSY phenomenology both in colliders and in astrophysical experiments. Here we shall discuss the implications of this analysis relevant to the study of dark matter.

Tunneling electrons in a scanning tunneling microscope were used to excite specific vibrational quantum states of adsorbed water and hydroxyl molecules on a Ru(0 0 0 1) surface. The excited molecules relaxed by transfer of energy to lower energy modes, resulting in diffusion, dissociation, desorption, and surface-tip transfer processes. Diffusion of H{sub 2}O molecules could be induced by excitation of the O-H stretch vibration mode at 445 meV. Isolated molecules required excitation of one single quantum while molecules bonded to a C atom required at least two quanta. Dissociation of single H{sub 2}O molecules into H and OH required electron energies of 1 eV or higher while dissociation of OH required at least 2 eV electrons. In contrast, water molecules forming part of a cluster could be dissociated with electron energies of 0.5 eV.

Using a streak camera, we measured the longitudinal profiles of a positron bunch in the Low Energy Ring (LER) of KEKB at various currents. The measured charge densities were used to construct a simple Q=1 broadband impedance model. The model, with three parameters, not only gave an excellent description of longitudinal dynamics for positive momentum compaction factor but also for the negative ones, including bunch shortening below a threshold and bursting modes above the threshold. Furthermore, our study indicated that the threshold of microwave instability was about 0.5 mA in bunch current in the LER. At the nominal operating current 1.0 mA, there was a 20% increase of the energy spread. The results of measurement, analysis, and simulations will be presented in this paper.