Nuclear fuel feedstock properties, such as physical, chemical, and isotopic characteristics, have a significant impact on the fuel fabrication process and, by extension, the in-reactor fuel performance. This has been demonstrated through studies with UO{sub 2} spanning greater than 50 years. The Fuel Cycle R&D Program with The Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy has initiated an effort to develop a better understanding of the relationships between oxide feedstock, fresh fuel properties, and in-reactor fuel performance for advanced mixed oxide compositions. Powder conditioning studies to enable the use of less than ideal powders for ceramic fuel pellet processing are ongoing at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and an understanding of methods to increase the green density and homogeneity of pressed pellets has been gained for certain powders. Furthermore, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is developing methods for the co-conversion of mixed oxides along with techniques to analyze the degree of mixing. Experience with the fabrication of fuel pellets using co-synthesized multi-constituent materials is limited. In instances where atomically mixed solid solutions of two or more species are needed, traditional ceramic processing methods have been employed. Solution-based processes may be considered viable synthesis options, including co-precipitation (AUPuC), direct precipitation, direct-conversion …

The commercial nuclear power industry is investing heavily in advanced fuels that can produce higher power levels with a higher safety margin and be produced at low cost. Although chemically stable and inexpensive to manufacture, the in-core performance of UO{sub 2} fuel is limited by its low thermal conductivity. There will be enormous financial benefits to any utility that can exploit a new type of fuel that is chemically stable, has a high thermal conductivity, and is inexpensive to manufacture. At reactor operating temperatures, UO{sub 2} has a very low thermal conductivity (<5 W/m {center_dot}K), which decreases with temperature and fuel burnup. This low thermal conductivity limits the rate at which energy can be removed from the fuel, thus limiting the total integrated reactor power. If the fuel thermal conductivity could be increased, nuclear reactors would be able to operate at higher powers and larger safety margins thus decreasing the overall cost of electricity by increasing the power output from existing reactors and decreasing the number of new electrical generating plants needed to meet base load demand. The objective of the work defined herein is to produce an advanced nuclear fuel based on the current UO{sub 2} fuel with superior …

Characteristics of modular coils for quasi-axisymmetric stellarators that are related to the plasma aspect ratio, number of field periods and rotational transform have been examined systematically. It is observed that, for a given plasma aspect ratio, the coil complexity tends to increase with the increased number of field periods. For a given number of field periods, the toroidal excursion of coil winding is reduced as the plasma aspect ratio is increased. It is also clear that the larger the coil-plasma separation is, the more complex the coils become. It is further demonstrated that it is possible to use other types of coils to complement modular coils to improve both the physics and the modular coil characteristics.

Thermal decomposition of poly dimethyl siloxane compounds, Sylgard{reg_sign} 184 and 186, were examined using thermal desorption coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD/GC-MS) and multivariate analysis. This work describes a method of producing multiway data using a stepped thermal desorption. The technique involves sequentially heating a sample of the material of interest with subsequent analysis in a commercial GC/MS system. The decomposition chromatograms were analyzed using multivariate analysis tools including principal component analysis (PCA), factor rotation employing the varimax criterion, and multivariate curve resolution. The results of the analysis show seven components related to offgassing of various fractions of siloxanes that vary as a function of temperature. Thermal desorption coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD/GC-MS) is a powerful analytical technique for analyzing chemical mixtures. It has great potential in numerous analytic areas including materials analysis, sports medicine, in the detection of designer drugs; and biological research for metabolomics. Data analysis is complicated, far from automated and can result in high false positive or false negative rates. We have demonstrated a step-wise TD/GC-MS technique that removes more volatile compounds from a sample before extracting the less volatile compounds. This creates an additional dimension of separation before the GC column, while simultaneously generating three-way …

The fact sheet summarizes the goals and activities of the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Program efforts within its market acceleration subprogram.

Gyrokinetics is the description of low-frequency dynamics in magnetized plasmas. In magnetic-confinement fusion, it provides the most fundamental basis for numerical simulations of microturbulence; there are astrophysical applications as well. In this tutorial, a sketch of the derivation of the novel dynamical system comprising the nonlinear gyrokinetic (GK) equation (GKE) and the coupled electrostatic GK Poisson equation will be given by using modern Lagrangian and Lie perturbation methods. No background in plasma physics is required in order to appreciate the logical development. The GKE describes the evolution of an ensemble of gyrocenters moving in a weakly inhomogeneous background magnetic field and in the presence of electromagnetic perturbations with wavelength of the order of the ion gyroradius. Gyrocenters move with effective drifts, which may be obtained by an averaging procedure that systematically, order by order, removes gyrophase dependence. To that end, the use of the Lagrangian differential one-form as well as the content and advantages of Lie perturbation theory will be explained. The electromagnetic fields follow via Maxwell's equations from the charge and current density of the particles. Particle and gyrocenter densities differ by an important polarization effect. That is calculated formally by a "pull-back" (a concept from differential geometry) of …

This report assesses current public domain cyber security practices with respect to cyber indications and warnings. It describes cybersecurity industry and government activities, including cybersecurity tools, methods, practices, and international and government-wide initiatives known to be impacting current practice. Of particular note are the U.S. Government's Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) and 'Einstein' programs, which are serving to consolidate the Government's internet access points and to provide some capability to monitor and mitigate cyber attacks. Next, this report catalogs activities undertaken by various industry and government entities. In addition, it assesses the benchmarks of HPC capability and other HPC attributes that may lend themselves to assist in the solution of this problem. This report draws few conclusions, as it is intended to assess current practice in preparation for future work, however, no explicit references to HPC usage for the purpose of analyzing cyber infrastructure in near-real-time were found in the current practice. This report and a related SAND2010-4766 National Cyber Defense High Performance Computing and Analysis: Concepts, Planning and Roadmap report are intended to provoke discussion throughout a broad audience about developing a cohesive HPC centric solution to wide-area cybersecurity problems.

A search for diphoton events with large missing transverse energy produced in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV is presented. The data were collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider between 2002 and 2010, and correspond to 6.3 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity. The observed missing transverse energy distribution is well described by the Standard Model prediction, and 95% C.L. limits are derived on two realizations of theories beyond the Standard Model. In a gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking scenario, the breaking scale {Lambda} is excluded for {Lambda} < 124 TeV. In a universal extra dimension model including gravitational decays, the compactification radius R{sub c} is excluded for R{sub c}{sup -1} < 477 GeV.

The PEBBLES manual describes the PEBBLES code. The PEBBLES code is a computer program designed to simulation the motion, packing and vibration of spheres that undergo various mechanical forces including gravitation, Hooke’s law force and various friction forces. The frictional forces include true static friction that allows non-zero angles of repose. Each pebble is individually simulated using the distinct element method.

An overview of the technical approach and data required to support development of the performance assessment, and composite analysis are presented for the remote handled low-level waste disposal facility on-site alternative being considered at Idaho National Laboratory. Previous analyses and available data that meet requirements are identified and discussed. Outstanding data and analysis needs are also identified and summarized. The on-site disposal facility is being evaluated in anticipation of the closure of the Radioactive Waste Management Complex at the INL. An assessment of facility performance and of the composite performance are required to meet the Department of Energy’s Low-Level Waste requirements (DOE Order 435.1, 2001) which stipulate that operation and closure of the disposal facility will be managed in a manner that is protective of worker and public health and safety, and the environment. The corresponding established procedures to ensure these protections are contained in DOE Manual 435.1-1, Radioactive Waste Management Manual (DOE M 435.1-1 2001). Requirements include assessment of (1) all-exposure pathways, (2) air pathway, (3) radon, and (4) groundwater pathway doses. Doses are computed from radionuclide concentrations in the environment. The performance assessment and composite analysis are being prepared to assess compliance with performance objectives and to establish …

The success of LCLS has opened up a new era of x-ray sciences. An upgrade to LCLS is currently being planned to enhance its capabilities. In this paper we study the feasibility of using the echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) technique to generate narrow bandwidth soft x-ray radiation in the proposed LCLS-II soft x-ray beam line. We focus on the conceptual design, the technical implementation and the expected performances of the echo-seeding scheme. We will also show how the echo-seeding scheme allows one to generate two color x-ray pulses with the higher energy photons leading the lower energy ones as is favored in the x-ray pump-probe experiments.

Global rooftop PV markets are growing rapidly, fueled by a combination of declining PV prices and several policy-based incentives. The future growth, and size, of the rooftop market is highly dependent on continued PV cost reductions, financing options, net metering policy, carbon prices and future incentives. Several PV market penetration models, sharing a similar structure and methodology, have been developed over the last decade to quantify the impacts of these factors on market growth. This study uses a geospatially rich, bottom-up, PV market penetration model--the Solar Deployment Systems (SolarDS) model developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory--to explore key market and policy-based drivers for residential and commercial rooftop PV markets. The identified drivers include a range of options from traditional incentives, to attractive customer financing options, to net metering and carbon policy.

The past decade has seen the development of various scenarios describing long-term patterns of future Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, with each new approach adding insights to our understanding of the changing dynamics of energy consumption and aggregate future energy trends. With the recent growing focus on China's energy use and emission mitigation potential, a range of Chinese outlook models have been developed across different institutions including in China's Energy Research Institute's 2050 China Energy and CO2 Emissions Report, McKinsey & Co's China's Green Revolution report, the UK Sussex Energy Group and Tyndall Centre's China's Energy Transition report, and the China-specific section of the IEA World Energy Outlook 2009. At the same time, the China Energy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has developed a bottom-up, end-use energy model for China with scenario analysis of energy and emission pathways out to 2050. A robust and credible energy and emission model will play a key role in informing policymakers by assessing efficiency policy impacts and understanding the dynamics of future energy consumption and energy saving and emission reduction potential. This is especially true for developing countries such as China, where uncertainties are greater while the economy continues to undergo rapid growth …

Particle-based simulations running on large high-performance computing systems over many time steps can generate an enormous amount of particle- and field-based data for post-processing and analysis. Achieving high-performance I/O for this data, effectively managing it on disk, and interfacing it with analysis and visualization tools can be challenging, especially for domain scientists who do not have I/O and data management expertise. We present the H5hut library, an implementation of several data models for particle-based simulations that encapsulates the complexity of HDF5 and is simple to use, yet does not compromise performance.

A review of various methods for generation of ultrashort x-ray pulses using relativistic electron beam from conventional accelerators is presented. Both spontaneous and coherent emission of electrons is considered. The importance of the time-resolved studies of matter at picosecond (ps), femtosecond (fs), and atttosecond (as) time scales using x-rays has been widely recognized including by award of a Nobel Prize in 1999 [Zewa]. Extensive reviews of scientific drivers can be found in [BES1, BES2, BES3, Lawr, Whit]. Several laser-based techniques have been used to generate ultrashort x-ray pulses including laser-driven plasmas [Murn, Alte, Risc, Rose, Zamp], high-order harmonic generation [Schn, Rund, Wang, Arpi], and laser-driven anode sources [Ande]. In addition, ultrafast streak-camera detectors have been applied at synchrotron sources to achieve temporal resolution on the picosecond time scale [Wulf, Lind1]. In this paper, we focus on a different group of techniques that are based on the use of the relativistic electron beam produced in conventional accelerators. In the first part we review several techniques that utilize spontaneous emission of electrons and show how solitary sub-ps x-ray pulses can be obtained at existing storage ring based synchrotron light sources and linacs. In the second part we consider coherent emission of electrons …

We have presented results in two different yet strongly linked aspects of Higgs boson physics. We have learned about the importance of the Higgs boson for the fate of the Standard Model, being either only a theory limited to explaining phenomena at the electroweak scale or, if the Higgs boson lies within a mass range of 130 < m_H < 160 GeV the SM would remain a self consistent theory up to highest energy scales O(m_Pl). This could have direct implications on theories of cosmological inflation using the Higgs boson as the particle giving rise to inflation in the very early Universe, if it couples non-minimally to gravity, an effect that would only become significant at very high energies. After understanding the immense meaning of proving whether the Higgs boson exists and if so, at which mass, we have presented a direct search for a Higgs boson in associated production with a W boson in a mass range 100 < m_H < 150 GeV. A light Higgs boson is favored regarding constraints from electroweak precision measurements. As a single analysis is not yet sensitive for an observation of the Higgs boson using 5.3 fb^-1 of Tevatron data, we set limits …

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is an option to mitigate impacts of atmospheric carbon emission. Numerous factors are important in determining the overall effectiveness of long-term geologic storage of carbon, including leakage rates, volume of storage available, and system costs. Recent efforts have been made to apply an existing probabilistic performance assessment (PA) methodology developed for deep nuclear waste geologic repositories to evaluate the effectiveness of subsurface carbon storage (Viswanathan et al., 2008; Stauffer et al., 2009). However, to address the most pressing management, regulatory, and scientific concerns with subsurface carbon storage (CS), the existing PA methodology and tools must be enhanced and upgraded. For example, in the evaluation of a nuclear waste repository, a PA model is essentially a forward model that samples input parameters and runs multiple realizations to estimate future consequences and determine important parameters driving the system performance. In the CS evaluation, however, a PA model must be able to run both forward and inverse calculations to support optimization of CO{sub 2} injection and real-time site monitoring as an integral part of the system design and operation. The monitoring data must be continually fused into the PA model through model inversion and parameter estimation. Model calculations …

Performance and purchasing specifications for commercial gas water heaters under the FEMP-designated product program.

In October 2005, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Bodman launched his Easy Ways to Save Energy campaign with a promise to provide energy assessments to 200 of the largest U.S. manufacturing plants. DOE's Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) responded to the Secretary's campaign with its Save Energy Now initiative, featuring a new and highly cost-effective form of energy savings assessment. The approach for these assessments drew heavily on the existing resources of ITP's technology delivery component. Over the years, ITP Technology Delivery has worked with industry partners to assemble a suite of respected software tools, proven assessment protocols, training curricula, certified energy experts, and strong partnerships for deployment. The Save Energy Now assessments conducted in calendar year 2006 focused on natural gas savings and targeted many of the nation's largest manufacturing plants - those that consume at least 1 TBtu of energy annually. The 2006 Save Energy Now assessments focused primarily on assessments of steam and process heating systems, which account for an estimated 74% of all natural gas use by U.S. manufacturing plants. Because of the success of the Save Energy Now assessments conducted in 2006 and 2007, the program was expanded and enhanced in two major ways in 2008: …

The Hanford Seismic Assessment Program (HSAP) provides an uninterrupted collection of high-quality raw and processed seismic data from the Hanford Seismic Network for the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. The HSAP is responsible for locating and identifying sources of seismic activity and monitoring changes in the historical pattern of seismic activity at the Hanford Site. The data are compiled, archived, and published for use by the Hanford Site for waste management, natural phenomena hazards assessments, and engineering design and construction. In addition, the HSAP works with the Hanford Site Emergency Services Organization to provide assistance in the event of a significant earthquake on the Hanford Site. The Hanford Seismic Network and the Eastern Washington Regional Network consist of 44 individual sensor sites and 15 radio relay sites maintained by the Hanford Seismic Assessment Team. The Hanford Seismic Network recorded 23 local earthquakes during the third quarter of FY 2010. Sixteen earthquakes were located at shallow depths (less than 4 km), five earthquakes at intermediate depths (between 4 and 9 km), most likely in the pre-basalt sediments, and two earthquakes were located at depths greater than 9 km, within the basement. Geographically, twelve earthquakes were located in known swarm …

A new superconducting RF cavity test facility has been commissioned at Fermilab in conjunction with first tests of a 325 MHz, {beta} = 0.22 superconducting single-spoke cavity dressed with a helium jacket and prototype tuner. The facility is described and results of full gradient, CW cavity tests with a high Q{sub ext} drive coupler are reported. Sensitivities to Q disease and externally applied magnetic fields were investigated. Results are compared to bare cavity results obtained prior to hydrogen degassing and welding into the helium jacket.

This team aimed to understand the broad implications of changes of operating performance and parameters of a fuel cycle component on the entire system. In particular, this report documents the study of the impact of changing the loss of fission products into recycled fuel and the loss of actinides into waste. When the effort started in spring 2009, an over-simplified statement of the objective was “the number of nines” – how would the cost of separation, fuel fabrication, and waste management change as the number of nines of separation efficiency changed. The intent was to determine the optimum “losses” of TRU into waste for the single system that had been the focus of the Global Nuclear Energy Program (GNEP), namely sustained recycle in burner fast reactors, fed by transuranic (TRU) material recovered from used LWR UOX-51 fuel. That objective proved to be neither possible (insufficient details or attention to the former GNEP options, change in national waste management strategy from a Yucca Mountain focus) nor appropriate given the 2009-2010 change to a science-based program considering a wider range of options. Indeed, the definition of “losses” itself changed from the loss of TRU into waste to a generic definition that a …

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A beam loss in the superconducting part of the SNS linac has been observed during its commissioning and operation. Although the loss does not prevent the SNS high power operation, it results in an almost uniform irradiation of linac components and increased radiation levels in the tunnel. Multi-particle tracking could neither account for the magnitude of the observed loss nor its dependence on machine parameters. It was recently found that the loss is consistent with the intrabeam particle collisions resulting in stripping of H{sup -} ions. The paper describes experimental observations and corresponding analytical estimates of the intrabeam stripping.