Idaho National Laboratory completes an annual Integrated Safety Management System effectiveness review per 48 CFR 970.5223-1 “Integration of Environment, Safety and Health into Work Planning and Execution.” The annual review assesses ISMS effectiveness, provides feedback to maintain system integrity, and helps identify target areas for focused improvements and assessments for the following year. Using one of the three Department of Energy (DOE) descriptors in DOE M 450.4-1 regarding the state of ISMS effectiveness during Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the information presented in this review shows that INL achieved “Effective Performance.”

The two multi-purpose experiments D0 and CDF are operated at the Tevatron collider, where proton anti-proton collisions take place at a centre of mass energy of 1.96 TeV in Run II. In the kinematic plane of Q{sup 2}-scale and (anti-)proton momentum fraction x, Tevatron jet measurements cover a wide range, with phase space regions in common and beyond the HERA ep-collider reach. The kinematic limit of the Auger experiment is given by a centre of mass energy of 100 TeV. Cosmic rays cover a large region of the kinematic phase space at low momenta x, corresponding to forward proton/diffractive physics and also at low scales, corresponding to the hadronization scale and the underlying event. Therefore of particular interest are exclusive and diffractive measurements as well as underlying event, double parton scattering and minimum bias measurements. The kinematic limit of the Tevatron corresponds to the PeV energy region below the knee of the differential cosmic particle flux energy distribution. The data discussed here are in general corrected for detector effects, such as efficiency and acceptance. Therefore they can be used directly for testing and improving existing event generators and any future calculations/models. Comparisons take place at the hadronic final state (particle …

The COUPP collaboration has successfully used bubble chambers, a technology previously applied only to high-energy physics experiments, as direct dark matter detectors. It has produced the world's most stringent spin-dependent WIMP limits, and increasingly competitive spin-independent limits. These limits were achieved by capitalizing on an intrinsic rejection of the gamma background that all other direct detection experiments must address through high-density shielding and empirically-determined data cuts. The history of COUPP, including its earliest prototypes and latest results, is briefly discussed in this thesis. The feasibility of a new, windowless bubble chamber concept simpler and more inexpensive in design is discussed here as well. The dark matter limits achieved with a 15 kg windowless chamber, larger than any previous COUPP chamber (2 kg, 4 kg), are presented. Evidence of the greater radiopurity of synthetic quartz compared to natural is presented using the data from this 15 kg device, the first chamber to be made from synthetic quartz. The effective reconstruction of the three-dimensional positions of bubbles in a highly distorted optical field, with ninety-degree bottom lighting similar to cloud chamber lighting, is demonstrated. Another innovation described in this thesis is the use of the sound produced by bubbles recorded by an …

This report takes a broad look at the status of local clean energy policies in the United States to develop a better understanding of local clean energy policy development and the interaction between state and local policies. To date, the majority of clean energy policy research focuses on the state and federal levels. While there has been a substantial amount of research on local level climate change initiatives, this is one of the first analyses of clean energy policies separate from climate change initiatives. This report is one in a suite of reports analyzing clean energy and climate policy development at the local, state, and regional levels.

A design concept, device layout, and monolithic microfabrication processing sequence have been developed for a dual-metal layer atom chip for next-generation positional control of ultracold ensembles of trapped atoms. Atom chips are intriguing systems for precision metrology and quantum information that use ultracold atoms on microfabricated chips. Using magnetic fields generated by current carrying wires, atoms are confined via the Zeeman effect and controllably positioned near optical resonators. Current state-of-the-art atom chips are single-layer or hybrid-integrated multilayer devices with limited flexibility and repeatability. An attractive feature of multi-level metallization is the ability to construct more complicated conductor patterns and thereby realize the complex magnetic potentials necessary for the more precise spatial and temporal control of atoms that is required. Here, we have designed a true, monolithically integrated, planarized, multi-metal-layer atom chip for demonstrating crossed-wire conductor patterns that trap and controllably transport atoms across the chip surface to targets of interest.

We present a search for associated production of Z and Higgs bosons in 4.2 fb{sup -1} of {bar p}p collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV, produced in RunII of the Tevatron and recorded by the D0 detector. The search is performed in events containing at least two muons and at least two jets. The ZH signal is distinguished from the expected backgrounds by means of multivariate classifiers known as random forests. Binned random forest output distributions are used in comparing the data to background-only and signal+background hypotheses. No excess is observed in the data, so we set upper limits on ZH production with a 95% confidence level.

This annual report summarizes the compliance results of state and alternative fuel provider fleets covered by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) for model year 2009/fiscal year 2010.

When power production at The Geysers geothermal power complex began to falter, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) stepped in, developing advanced condensing technology that dramatically boosted production efficiency - and making a major contribution to the effective use of geothermal power. NREL developed advanced direct-contact condenser (ADCC) technology to condense spent steam more effectively, improving power production efficiency in Unit 11 by 5%.

The purpose of this report is to describe the methods commonly used to measure heat flux in fire applications at Sandia National Laboratories in both hydrocarbon (JP-8 jet fuel, diesel fuel, etc.) and propellant fires. Because these environments are very severe, many commercially available heat flux gauges do not survive the test, so alternative methods had to be developed. Specially built sensors include 'calorimeters' that use a temperature measurement to infer heat flux by use of a model (heat balance on the sensing surface) or by using an inverse heat conduction method. These specialty-built sensors are made rugged so they will survive the environment, so are not optimally designed for ease of use or accuracy. Other methods include radiometers, co-axial thermocouples, directional flame thermometers (DFTs), Sandia 'heat flux gauges', transpiration radiometers, and transverse Seebeck coefficient heat flux gauges. Typical applications are described and pros and cons of each method are listed.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Lignin is a biopolymer that comprises up to 35% of woody biomass by dry weight. It is currently underutilized compared to cellulose and hemicellulose, the other two primary components of woody biomass. Lignin has an irregular structure of methoxylated aromatic groups linked by a suite of ether and alkyl bonds which makes it difficult to degrade selectively. However, the aromatic components of lignin also make it promising as a base material for the production of aromatic fuel additives and cyclic chemical feed stocks such as styrene, benzene, and cyclohexanol. Our laboratory research focused on three methods to selectively cleave and deoxygenate purified lignin under mild conditions: acidolysis, hydrogenation and electrocatalysis. (1) Acidolysis was undertaken in CH2Cl2 at room temperature. (2) Hydrogenation was carried out by dissolving lignin and a rhodium catalyst in 1:1 water:methoxyethanol under a 1 atm H2 environment. (3) Electrocatalysis of lignin involved reacting electrically generated hydrogen atoms at a catalytic palladium cathode with lignin dissolved in a solution of aqueous methanol. In all of the experiments, the lignin degradation products were identified and quantified by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy and flame ionization detection. Yields were low, but this may have reflected the difficulty in recovering the various …

Elucidating the nature of neutrino oscillation continues to be a goal in the vanguard of the efforts of physics experiment. As neutrino oscillation searches seek an increasingly elusive signal, a thorough understanding of the possible backgrounds becomes ever more important. Measurements of neutrino-nucleus interaction cross sections are key to this understanding. Searches for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillation - a channel that may yield insight into the vanishingly small mixing parameter {theta}{sub 13}, CP violation, and the neutrino mass hierarchy - are particularly susceptible to contamination from neutral current single {pi}{sup 0} (NC 1{pi}{sup 0}) production. Unfortunately, the available data concerning NC 1{pi}{sup 0} production are limited in scope and statistics. Without satisfactory constraints, theoretical models of NC 1{pi}{sup 0} production yield substantially differing predictions in the critical E{sub {nu}} {approx} 1 GeV regime. Additional investigation of this interaction can ameliorate the current deficiencies. The Mini Booster Neutrino Experiment (MiniBooNE) is a short-baseline neutrino oscillation search operating at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). While the oscillation search is the principal charge of the MiniBooNE collaboration, the extensive data ({approx} 10{sup 6} neutrino events) offer a rich resource with which to conduct neutrino cross section measurements. This work concerns …

The new H2A Biomethane model was developed to estimate the levelized cost of biomethane by using the framework of the vetted original H2A models for hydrogen production and delivery. For biomethane production, biogas from sources such as dairy farms and landfills is upgraded by a cleanup process. The model also estimates the cost to compress and transport the product gas via the pipeline to export it to the natural gas grid or any other potential end-use site. Inputs include feed biogas composition and cost, required biomethane quality, cleanup equipment capital and operations and maintenance costs, process electricity usage and costs, and pipeline delivery specifications.

This note presents constraints on Standard Model parameters using published and preliminary precision electroweak results obtained at the electron-positron colliders LEP and SLC. The results are compared with precise electroweak measurements from other experiments, notably CDF and D0 at the Tevatron. Constraints on the input parameters of the Standard Model are derived from the combined set of results obtained in high-Q{sup 2} interactions, and used to predict results in low-Q{sup 2} experiments, such as atomic parity violation, Moeller scattering, and neutrino-nucleon scattering. The main changes with respect to the experimental results presented in 2009 are new combinations of results on the width of the W boson and the mass of the top quark.

We report a measurement of the CP violating asymmetry in D{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} decays using approximately 215,000 decays reconstructed in about 5.94 fb{sup -1} of CDF data. We use the strong D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sup +} decay ('D* tag') to identify the flavor of the charmed meson at production time and exploit CP-conserving strong c{bar c} pair-production in p{bar p} collisions. Higher statistic samples of Cabibbo-favored D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decays with and without D* tag are used to highly suppress systematic uncertainties due to detector effects. The result, A{sub CP}(D{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}) = [0.22 {+-} 0.24 (stat.) {+-} 0.11 (syst.)]%, is the world's most precise measurement to date and it is fully consistent with no CP violation.

James R. Janesick provides a method for determining the amplification of a CCD or CMOS camera when only access to the raw images is provided. However, the equation that is provided ignores the contribution of dark current. For CCD or CMOS cameras that are cooled well below room temperature, this is not a problem, however, the technique needs adjustment for use with room temperature cameras. This article describes the adjustment made to the equation, and a test of this method.

The CDF collaboration presents an updated measurement of the CP-violating parameter {beta}{sub s}{sup J/{Psi}{phi}} and of the decay width difference {Delta}{Lambda}{sub s} using approximately 6500 B{sub s} {yields} J/{Psi}{phi} decays collected by the dimuon trigger and reconstructed in a data sample corresponding to 5.2 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity. Besides exploiting the two-fold increase in the data sample with respect to the previous measurement, several improvements have been introduced in the analysis including a fully data-driven flavor tagging calibration and proper treatment of possible S-wave contributions. We find that the CP-violating phase is within the range {beta}{sub s}{sup J/{Psi}{phi}} {element_of} [0.02, 0.52] {union} [1.08, 1.55] at 68% C.L. The decay width difference is found to be {Delta}{Lambda}{sub s} = 0.075 {+-} 0.035 (stat) {+-} 0.01 (syst) ps{sup -1}. In addition, we present the most precise mean B{sub s} lifetime {tau}{sub s}, polarization amplitudes |A{sub 0}|{sup 2},|A{sub {parallel}}|{sup 2} and |A{sub {perpendicular}}|{sup 2}, as well as strong phase {delta}{sub {perpendicular}}: {tau}{sub s} = 458.6 {+-} 7.6(stat) {+-} 3.6(syst) {micro}m; |A{sub 0}|{sup 2} = 0.524 {+-} 0.013(stat) {+-} 0.015(syst); |A{sub {parallel}}|{sup 2} = 0.231 {+-} 0.014(stat) {+-} 0.015(syst); and {delta}{sub {perpendicular}} = 2.95 {+-} 0.64(stat) {+-} 0.07(syst).

This fact sheet describes NREL's accomplishments in developing a new sample activation process that reduces the time to prepare samples for measurement of hydrogen storage from several days to five minutes and provides more uniform samples. Work was performed by NREL's Chemical and Materials Science Center.

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 …

The CART3 (Controls Advanced Research Turbine, 3-bladed) at the National Wind Technology Center has recently been converted from a 2-bladed constant speed machine to a 3-bladed variable speed machine designed specically for controls research. The purpose of this conversion was to develop an advanced controls field-testing platform which has the more typical 3-bladed configuration. A result of this conversion was the emergence of several resonant vibrations, some of which initially prevented operation of the turbine until they could be explained and resolved. In this paper, the investigations into these vibrations are presented as 'lessons-learned'. Additionally, a frequency-domain technique called waterfall plotting is discussed and its usefulness in this research is illustrated.

December 2010 update from the FEMP Federal Fleet Program that outlines vehicle, alternative fuel, infrastructure, and management strategy updates to federal agencies.

Exascale systems will have hundred thousands of compute nodes and millions of components which increases the likelihood of faults. Today, applications use checkpoint/restart to recover from these faults. Even under ideal conditions, applications running on more than 50,000 nodes will spend more than half of their total running time saving checkpoints, restarting, and redoing work that was lost. Redundant computing is a method that allows an application to continue working even when failures occur. Instead of each failure causing an application interrupt, multiple failures can be absorbed by the application until redundancy is exhausted. In this paper we present a method to analyze the benefits of redundant computing, present simulation results of the cost, and compare it to other proposed methods for fault resilience.

A range of core operations and planning problems for the national electrical grid are naturally formulated and solved as stochastic programming problems, which minimize expected costs subject to a range of uncertain outcomes relating to, for example, uncertain demands or generator output. A critical decision issue relating to such stochastic programs is: How many scenarios are required to ensure a specific error bound on the solution cost? Scenarios are the key mechanism used to sample from the uncertainty space, and the number of scenarios drives computational difficultly. We explore this question in the context of a long-term grid generation expansion problem, using a bounding procedure introduced by Mak, Morton, and Wood. We discuss experimental results using problem formulations independently minimizing expected cost and down-side risk. Our results indicate that we can use a surprisingly small number of scenarios to yield tight error bounds in the case of expected cost minimization, which has key practical implications. In contrast, error bounds in the case of risk minimization are significantly larger, suggesting more research is required in this area in order to achieve rigorous solutions for decision makers.

Penguin transitions play a key role in the search of New Physics hints in the heavy flavor sector. During the last decade CDF has been exploring this opportunity with a rich study of two-body charmless decays of neutral B mesons into charged final-state particles. After briefly introducing the aspects of this physics peculiar to the hadron collision environment, I report on two interesting results: the first polarization measurement of the B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} {phi}{phi} decay and the update of the B{sub (s)}{sup 0} {yields} h{sup +}h{prime}{sup -} decays analysis.