At-tank supplemental pretreatment including both filtration and small column ion exchange is currently under evaluation to facilitate salt waste retrieval and processing in the Hanford tank farms. Spherical resorcinol formaldehyde (sRF) resin is the baseline ion exchange resin for use in the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). This document provides background and technical rationale to assist in determining whether spherical resorcinol formaldehyde (sRF) is also the appropriate ion exchange resin for supplemental LAW pretreatment processes and compares sRF with crystalline silicotitanate (CST) as potential supplemental pretreatment ion exchange media.

This project presents a model for addressing several objectives envisioned by the metal casting industries through the integration of research and educational components. It provides an innovative approach to introduce technologies for real time characterization of sand molds, lost foam patterns and monitoring of the mold filling process. The technology developed will enable better control over the casting process. It is expected to reduce scrap and variance in the casting quality. A strong educational component is integrated into the research plan to utilize increased awareness of the industry professional, the potential benefits of the developed technology, and the potential benefits of cross cutting technologies.

Urbanization is reshaping China's economy, society, and energy system. Between 1990 and 2008 China added more than 300 million new urban residents, bringing the total urbanization rate to 46%. The ongoing population shift is spurring energy demand for new construction, as well as additional residential use with the replacement of rural biomass by urban commercial energy services. This project developed a modeling tool to quantify the full energy consequences of a particular form of urban residential development in order to identify energy- and carbon-efficient modes of neighborhood-level development and help mitigate resource and environmental implications of swelling cities. LBNL developed an integrated modeling tool that combines process-based lifecycle assessment with agent-based building operational energy use, personal transport, and consumption modeling. The lifecycle assessment approach was used to quantify energy and carbon emissions embodied in building materials production, construction, maintenance, and demolition. To provide more comprehensive analysis, LBNL developed an agent-based model as described below. The model was applied to LuJing, a residential development in Jinan, Shandong Province, to provide a case study and model proof of concept. This study produced results data that are unique by virtue of their scale, scope and type. Whereas most existing literature focuses on building-, …

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Small-column ion exchange (SCIX) units installed in high-level waste tanks to remove Cs-137 from highly alkaline salt solutions are among the waste treatment plans in the DOE-complex. Spherical Resorcinol-Formaldehyde (sRF) is the ion exchange resin selected for use in the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). It is also the primary ion exchange material under consideration for SCIX at the Hanford site. The elution step of the multi-step ion exchange process is typically done with 0.5 M nitric acid. An acid eluant is a potential hazard in the event of a spill, leak, etc. because the high-level waste tanks are made of carbon steel. Corrosion and associated structural damage may ensue. A study has been conducted to explore non-acid elution as an alternative. Batch contact sorption equilibrium screening tests have been conducted with 36 potential non-acid eluants. The sorption tests involve equilibrating each cesium-containing eluant solution with the sRF resin for 48 hours at 25 C in a shaker oven. In the sorption tests, an eluant is deemed to have a high cesium elution potential if it minimizes cesium sorption onto the sRF resin. The top candidates (based on lowest cesium sorption distribution coefficients) include ammonium carbonate, ammonium carbonate/ammonium …

This report highlights major international trade and finance issues Congress may address this year and next.

This report is divided into four sections in a question-and-answer format: trade concepts, U.S. trade performance, formulation of U.S. trade policy, and trade and investment issues. The first section on "Trade Concepts" deals with why countries trade, the consequences of trade expansion, and the relationship between globalization and trade. The second section, on trade performance, focuses on the U.S. trade deficit and its impact on industries. The third section deals with the roles played by the Executive Branch, Congress, the private sector, and the Judiciary in the formulation of U.S. trade policy. The fourth section, on U.S. trade and investment policy, asks questions related to trade negotiations and agreements and to imports, exports, and investments.

This final report summarizes the work conducted by the Consortium of Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) (http://www.carb-swa.com/), one of the 'Building America Energy Efficient Housing Partnership' Industry Teams, for the period January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2010. The Building America Program (BAP) is part of the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Program (BTP). The long term goal of the BAP is to develop cost effective, production ready systems in five major climate zones that will result in zero energy homes (ZEH) that produce as much energy as they use on an annual basis by 2020. CARB is led by Steven Winter Associates, Inc. with Davis Energy Group, Inc. (DEG), MaGrann Associates, and Johnson Research, LLC as team members. In partnership with our numerous builders and industry partners, work was performed in three primary areas - advanced systems research, prototype home development, and technical support for communities of high performance homes. Our advanced systems research work focuses on developing a better understanding of the installed performance of advanced technology systems when integrated in a whole-house scenario. Technology systems researched included: - High-R Wall Assemblies - Non-Ducted Air-Source Heat Pumps - Low-Load HVAC Systems - Solar …

NREL sampled and tested the quality of U.S. B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% petroleum diesel) in 2008; 32 samples from retail locations and fleets were tested against a proposed ASTM D7467 B6-B20 specification, now in effect.

This report documents the progress made through FY 2010 on a project initiated in FY 2006 to help address uncertainties related to the rates of hydrolysis in groundwater at the Hanford Site for carbon tetrachloride (CT) and chloroform (CF). The study also explores the possible effects of contact with minerals and sediment (i.e., heterogeneous hydrolysis) on these rates. The research was initiated to decrease the uncertainties in abiotic degradation rates of CT and chloroform CF associated with temperature and possible heterogeneous effects. After 2 years of data collection, the first evidence for heterogeneous effects was identified for hydrolysis of CT, and preliminary evidence for the effects of different mineral types on CF hydrolysis rates also was reported. The CT data showed no difference among mineral types, whereas significant differences were seen in the CF results, perhaps due to the fact that CF hydrolyzes by both neutral and base-catalyzed mechanisms whereas CT follows only the neutral hydrolysis path. In this report, we review the project objectives, organization, and technical approaches taken, update the status and results of the hydrolysis-rate experiments after 4 years of experimentation (i.e., through FY 2010), and provide a brief discussion of how these results add to scientific …

This report describes the operational testing of a new magnetic sector mass spectrometer that utilizes seven full-sized discrete dynode electron multipliers operating simultaneously. The instrument includes a newly developed ion dispersion lens that enables the mass dispersed individual isotope beams to be separated sufficiently to allow a full-sized discrete dynode pulse counting multiplier to be used to measure each isotope beam. The performance of the instrument was measured using SRM 996 (244Pu spike) at loadings of 2.4 and 12 fg on resin beads and with SRM 4350B Columbia River Sediment samples. The measured limit of detection (3s) for 240Pu was 3.4 attograms for SRM 996. The limit of quantitation (LOQ), defined as 10 s, was 11.2 attograms. The measured concentration of 239Pu in the CRS standard was 152 ± 6 fg/g.

This report provides background on the Congress-EP relationship and the role of the TLD. It also explores potential future options should an effort to strengthen ties between the two bodies gain momentum.

The interactions and feedbacks among plants, animals, microbes, humans, and the environment ultimately form the world in which we live. This world is now facing challenges from a growing and increasingly affluent human population whose numbers and lifestyles are driving ever greater energy demand and impacting climate. These and other contributing factors will make energy and climate sustainability extremely difficult to achieve over the 20-year time horizon that is the focus of this report. Despite these severe challenges, there is optimism that deeper understanding of our environment will enable us to mitigate detrimental effects, while also harnessing biological and climate systems to ensure a sustainable energy future. This effort is advanced by scientific inquiries in the fields of atmospheric chemistry and physics, biology, ecology, and subsurface science - all made possible by computing. The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) within the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science has a long history of bringing together researchers from different disciplines to address critical national needs in determining the biological and environmental impacts of energy production and use, characterizing the interplay of climate and energy, and collaborating with other agencies and DOE programs to improve the world's most powerful climate …

This report is a catalog of selected INL technology transfer and commercialization transactions during FY-2010.

Covert nuclear attack is one of the foremost threats facing the United States and is a primary focus of the War on Terror. The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is chartered to develop, and improve domestic systems to detect and interdict smuggling for the illicit use of a nuclear explosive device, fissile material or radiologica1 material. The CAARS (Cargo Advanced Automated Radiography System) program is a major part of the DHS effort to enhance US security by harnessing cutting-edge technologies to detect radiological and nuclear threats at points of entry to the United States. DNDO has selected vendors to develop complete radiographic systems. It is crucial that the initial design and testing concepts for the systems be validated and compared prior to the substantial efforts to build and deploy prototypes and subsequent large-scale production. An important aspect of these systems is the scatter which interferes with imaging. Monte Carlo codes, such as MCNP (X-5 Monte Carlo Team, 2005 Revision) allow scatter to be calculatied, but these calculations are very time consuming. It would be useful to have a fast scatter estimation algorithm in a fast ray tracing code. We have been extending the …

This report presents the results of an aging experiment that was established in FY09 and completed in FY10 for the Sandia MEMS Passive Shock Sensor. A total of 37 packages were aged at different temperatures and times, and were then tested after aging to determine functionality. Aging temperatures were selected at 100 C and 150 C, with times ranging from as short as 100 hours to as long as 1 year to simulate a predicted aging of up to 20 years. In all of the tests and controls, 100% of the devices continued to function normally.

The reflectivity at normal incidence of copper and aluminum samples was recently measured over a large frequency range at Brookhaven by one of us (JT). Then using the Kramers-Kroning integrals, and assuming the free-electron model of conductivity, the dependence of conductivity on frequency was obtained. The results seemed to suggest, for example, that the dc conductivities of the copper and evaporated aluminum samples are a factor of 3 lower than expected. We propose in this report, instead, directly fitting the free-electron model to the low frequency end of the reflectivity data. This fitting does not depend on the higher frequency results and on Kramers-Kronig integrations, but it does assume that the data at the low frequency end is sufficiently accurate. Note that for our LCLS wakefield studies, it is only over these (relatively) low frequencies that we need to know the electrical properties of the metals. The equations that relate reflectivity R with the free electron parameters dc conductivity {sigma} and relaxation time {tau} are: (1) {tilde {sigma}} = {sigma}/1-ikc{tau}; (2) {tilde n} = {radical} {tilde {epsilon}} = {radical}(1+4{pi}i{tilde k}c/{omega}); and (3) R = |{tilde n}-1/{tilde n} + 1|{sup 2}. The parameters are ac conductivity {tilde {sigma}}, index of refraction …

Installations of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have been growing at a rapid pace in recent years. In 2009, approximately 7,500 megawatts (MW) of PV were installed globally, up from approximately 6,000 MW in 2008, consisting primarily of grid-connected applications. With 335 MW of grid-connected PV capacity added in 2009, the United States was the world's fourth largest PV market in 2009, behind Germany, Italy, and Japan. The market for PV in the United States is driven by national, state, and local government incentives, including up-front cash rebates, production-based incentives, requirements that electricity suppliers purchase a certain amount of solar energy, and federal and state tax benefits. These programs are, in part, motivated by the popular appeal of solar energy, and by the positive attributes of PV - modest environmental impacts, avoidance of fuel price risks, coincidence with peak electrical demand, and the possible deployment of PV at the point of use. Given the relatively high cost of PV, however, a key goal of these policies is to encourage cost reductions over time. Therefore, as policy incentives have become more significant and as PV deployment has accelerated, so too has the desire to track the installed cost of PV systems over …

This report looks at the effects of the Korean Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) on side agreements via the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

This report examines the role of rare earth metals and other materials in the clean energy economy. It was prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) based on data collected and research performed during 2010. Its main conclusions include: (a) Several clean energy technologies -- including wind turbines, electric vehicles, photovoltaic cells and fluorescent lighting -- use materials at risk of supply disruptions in the short term. Those risks will generally decrease in the medium and long term. (b) Clean energy technologies currently constitute about 20 percent of global consumption of critical materials. As clean energy technologies are deployed more widely in the decades ahead, their share of global consumption of critical materials will likely grow. (c) Of the materials analyzed, five rare earth metals (dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, europium and yttrium), as well as indium, are assessed as most critical in the short term. For this purpose, 'criticality' is a measure that combines importance to the clean energy economy and risk of supply disruption. (d) Sound policies and strategic investments can reduce the risk of supply disruptions, especially in the medium and long term. (e) Data with respect to many of the issues considered in this report are sparse. …

The American impeachment process places in the legislative branch the authority to remove the President, Vice President, and other federal civil officers in the executive and judicial branches upon a determination that such officers have engaged in treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. It is one of the checks and balances grounded in the American constitutional structure. This report summarizes impeachment proceedings in the 111th Congress, examines relevant constitutional provisions, and provides a brief historical overview.

Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (HICE) technology takes advantage of existing knowledge of combustion engines to provide a means to power passenger vehicle with hydrogen, perhaps as an interim measure while fuel cell technology continues to mature. This project seeks to provide data to determine the reliability of these engines. Data were collected from an engine operated on a dynamometer for 1000 hours of continuous use. Data were also collected from a fleet of eight (8) full-size pickup trucks powered with hydrogen-fueled engines. In this particular application, the data show that HICE technology provided reliable service during the operating period of the project. Analyses of engine components showed little sign of wear or stress except for cylinder head valves and seats. Material analysis showed signs of hydrogen embrittlement in intake valves.

This battery test procedure manual was prepared for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Program. It is based on technical targets established for energy storage development projects aimed at meeting system level DOE goals for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). The specific procedures defined in this manual support the performance and life characterization of advanced battery devices under development for PHEV’s. However, it does share some methods described in the previously published battery test manual for power-assist hybrid electric vehicles. Due to the complexity of some of the procedures and supporting analysis, a revision including some modifications and clarifications of these procedures is expected. As in previous battery and capacitor test manuals, this version of the manual defines testing methods for full-size battery systems, along with provisions for scaling these tests for modules, cells or other subscale level devices.

The overall objective of this project was to validate the concept and application of a functional interconnect, based on a ferritic stainless steel, for a solid oxide fuel cell through manufacturing trials, laboratory testing, and field experience. The materials of construction and their surfaces were to be optimized for the particular service conditions and include low-cost ferritic stainless steels, novel postprocess treatments, and third-party coatings. This work aimed to optimize specific aspects of substrate alloy chemistry and to study the effects of long-term exposures on resistive oxide film structure and chemistry, interaction with applied surface coatings, and effectiveness of novel surface treatments.