A number of the Commercial Building Partnership Projects (CBPs) will require metering, monitoring, data analysis and verification of savings after the retrofits are complete. Although monitoring and verification (M&V) agents are free to use any metering and monitoring devices that they chose, the data they collect should be reported to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in a standard format. PNNL will store the data collected in its CBP database for further use by PNNL and U.S. Department of Energy. This document describes the data storage process and the deliver format of the data from the M&V agents.

We present a model of cosmic ray (CR) injection into the Galactic space based on recent {gamma}-ray observations of supernova remnants (SNRs) and pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi) and atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (ACTs). Steady-state (SS) injection of nuclear particles and electrons (e{sup -}) from the Galactic ensemble of SNRs, and electrons and positrons (e{sup +}) from the Galactic ensemble of PWNe are assumed, with their spectra deduced from {gamma}-ray observations and recent evolution models. The ensembles of SNRs and PWNe are assumed to share the same spatial distributions and the secondary CR production in dense molecular clouds interacting with SNRs is incorporated in the model. Propagation of CRs to Earth is calculated using GALPROP with 2 source distributions and 2 Galaxy halo sizes. We show that this observation-based model reproduces the positron fraction e{sup +}/(e{sup -} + e{sup +}) and antiproton-to-proton ratio ({bar p}/p) reported by PAMELA reasonably well without calling for new sources. Significant discrepancy is found, however, between our model and the e{sup -} + e{sup +} spectrum measured by Fermi below {approx} 20 GeV. Important quantities for Galactic CRs, including their energy injection, average lifetime, and mean gas density along their …

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory performed a demonstration to determine the acceptable location in which to place an air sampling probe for emissions monitoring for radionuclides in the exhaust air discharge from the new 3430 Building Filtered Exhaust Stack. The method was to adopt the results of a previously performed test series for a system of similar configuration, followed by a partial test on the actual system to verify the applicability of previously performed tests. The qualification criteria included 1) a uniform air velocity, 2) an average flow angle that does not deviate from the axis of the duct by more than 20°, 3) a uniform concentration of tracer gases, and 4) a uniform concentration of tracer particles. Section 1 provides background information for the demonstration, and Section 2 describes the test strategy, including the criteria for the applicability of model results and the test matrix. Section 3 describes the flow -angle test and the velocity uniformity test, Section 4 provides the test results, and Section 5 provides the conclusions. Appendix A includes the test data sheets, and Appendix B gives applicable qualification results from the previously tested model stack. The data from the previously tested and similarly designed stack was …

This project is concerned with the PF.WRF model as a means to enable more accurate predictions of wind fluctuations and subsurface storage. As developed at LLNL, PF.WRF couples a groundwater (subsurface) and surface water flow model (ParFlow) to a mesoscale atmospheric model (WRF, Weather Research and Forecasting Model). It was developed as a unique tool to address coupled water balance and wind energy questions that occur across traditionally separated research regimes of the atmosphere, land surface, and subsurface. PF.WRF is capable of simulating fluid, mass, and energy transport processes in groundwater, vadose zone, root zone, and land surface systems, including overland flow, and allows for the WRF model to both directly drive and respond to surface and subsurface hydrologic processes and conditions. The current PF.WRF model is constrained to have uniform spatial gridding below the land surface and matching areal grids with the WRF model at the land surface. There are often cases where it is advantageous for land surface, overland flow and subsurface models to have finer gridding than their atmospheric counterparts. Finer vertical discretization is also advantageous near the land surface (to properly capture feedbacks) yet many applications have a large vertical extent. However, the surface flow is …

This report documents the efforts taken to develop a preliminary design for the first commercial-scale CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) project associated with biomass power integrated into a pulp and paper operation. The Boise Wallula paper mill is located near the township of Wallula in Southeastern Washington State. Infrastructure at the paper mill will be upgraded such that current steam needs and a significant portion of the current mill electric power are supplied from a 100% biomass power source. A new biomass power system will be constructed with an integrated amine-based CO2 capture plant to capture approximately 550,000 tons of CO2 per year for geologic sequestration. A customized version of Fluor Corporation’s Econamine Plus™ carbon capture technology will be designed to accommodate the specific chemical composition of exhaust gases from the biomass boiler. Due to the use of biomass for fuel, employing CCS technology represents a unique opportunity to generate a net negative carbon emissions footprint, which on an equivalent emissions reduction basis is 1.8X greater than from equivalent fossil fuel sources (SPATH and MANN, 2004). Furthermore, the proposed project will offset a significant amount of current natural gas use at the mill, equating to an additional 200,000 tons of …

Excavation and operation of an underground facility is likely to produce an extensive suite of seismic signals observable at the surface for perhaps several km. Probably a large fraction of such signals will be correlated, so the design of a monitoring framework should include consideration of a correlation processing capability. Correlation detectors have been shown to be significantly more sensitive than beam-forming power detectors. Although correlation detectors have a limited detection footprint, they can be generalized into multi-rank subspace detectors which are sensitive over a much larger range of source mechanisms and positions. Production of subspace detectors can be automated, so their use in an autonomous framework may be contemplated. Waveform correlation also can be used to produce very high precision phase picks which may be jointly inverted to simultaneously relocate groups of events. The relative precision of the resulting hypocenters is sufficient to visualize structural detail at a scale of less than a few tens of meters. Three possible correlation processor systems are presented. All use a subspace signal detection framework. The simplest system uses a single-component sensor and is capable of detection and classification of signals. The most complicated system uses many sensors deployed around the facility, and …

The study of the power density spectrum (PDS) of fluctuations in the X-ray flux from active galactic nuclei (AGN) complements spectral studies in giving us a view into the processes operating in accreting compact objects. An important line of investigation is the comparison of the PDS from AGN with those from galactic black hole binaries; a related area of focus is the scaling relation between time scales for the variability and the black hole mass. The PDS of AGN is traditionally modeled using segments of power laws joined together at so-called break frequencies; associations of the break time scales, i.e., the inverses of the break frequencies, with time scales of physical processes thought to operate in these sources are then sought. I analyze the Method of Light Curve Simulations that is commonly used to characterize the PDS in AGN with a view to making the method as sensitive as possible to the shape of the PDS. I identify several weaknesses in the current implementation of the method and propose alternatives that can substitute for some of the key steps in the method. I focus on the complications introduced by uneven sampling in the light curve, the development of a fit …

Cracking behavior of stainless steels specimens irradiated in the BOR-60 at about 320 C is studied. The primary objective of this research is to improve the mechanistic understanding of irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) of core internal components under conditions relevant to pressurized water reactors. The current report covers several baseline tests in air, a comparison study in high-dissolved-oxygen environment, and TEM characterization of irradiation defect structure. Slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) tests were conducted in air and in high-dissolved-oxygen (DO) water with selected 5- and 10-dpa specimens. The results in high-DO water were compared with those from earlier tests with identical materials irradiated in the Halden reactor to a similar dose. The SSRT tests produced similar results among different materials irradiated in the Halden and BOR-60 reactors. However, the post-irradiation strength for the BOR-60 specimens was consistently lower than that of the corresponding Halden specimens. The elongation of the BOR-60 specimens was also greater than that of their Halden specimens. Intergranular cracking in high-DO water was consistent for most of the tested materials in the Halden and BOR-60 irradiations. Nonetheless, the BOR-60 irradiation was somewhat less effective in stimulating IG fracture among the tested materials. Microstructural characterization was also …

The overwhelming majority of waste to be immobilized at the Saltstone Production Facility will come from the waste stream exiting the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF). These SWPF batches are salt solutions that result from pretreatment of the High Level Waste (HLW) supernate by an Actinide Removal Process followed by Caustic Side Solvent Extraction. The concentration of aluminate within these streams will vary and be determined by (1) the concentration in the incoming salt waste stream, (2) the degree of aluminum leaching from the HLW, (3) the method for introducing the aluminate into the waste stream (continuous or batch) and (4) and any operational or regulatory limitations. The overall Performance Assessment outcome for the Saltstone Disposal Facility will depend significantly on the performance properties of the SWPF Saltstone grouts. This report identifies and quantifies, when possible, those factors that drive the performance properties of the projected SWPF grouts. Previous work has identified aluminate concentration in the salt waste stream as a key factor in determining performance. Consequently, significant variation in the aluminate concentration to a maximum level of 0.65 M was investigated in this report. The SWPF baseline grout is a mix with a 0.60 water to cementitious ratio and …

The Retrieval Knowledge Center sponsored a meeting in June 2009 to review challenges and gaps to retrieval of tank waste heels. The facilitated meeting was held at the Savannah River Research Campus with personnel broadly representing tank waste retrieval knowledge at Hanford, Savannah River, Idaho, and Oak Ridge. This document captures the results of this meeting. In summary, it was agreed that the challenges to retrieval of tank waste heels fell into two broad categories: (1) mechanical heel waste retrieval methodologies and equipment and (2) understanding and manipulating the heel waste (physical, radiological, and chemical characteristics) to support retrieval options and subsequent processing. Recent successes and lessons from deployments of the Sand and Salt Mantis vehicles as well as retrieval of C-Area tanks at Hanford were reviewed. Suggestions to address existing retrieval approaches that utilize a limited set of tools and techniques are included in this report. The meeting found that there had been very little effort to improve or integrate the multiple proven or new techniques and tools available into a menu of available methods for rapid insertion into baselines. It is recommended that focused developmental efforts continue in the two areas underway (low-level mixing evaluation and pumping slurries …

Two concerns were raised by the Government Accountability Office following the 2001 building contaminations via letters containing Bacillus anthracis (BA). These included the: 1) lack of validated sampling methods, and 2) need to use statistical sampling to quantify the confidence of no contamination when all samples have negative results. Critical to addressing these concerns is quantifying the probability of correct detection (PCD) (or equivalently the false negative rate FNR = 1 − PCD). The PCD/FNR may depend on the 1) method of contaminant deposition, 2) surface concentration of the contaminant, 3) surface material being sampled, 4) sample collection method, 5) sample storage/transportation conditions, 6) sample processing method, and 7) sample analytical method. A review of the literature found 17 laboratory studies that focused on swab, wipe, or vacuum samples collected from a variety of surface materials contaminated by BA or a surrogate, and used culture methods to determine the surface contaminant concentration. These studies quantified performance of the sampling and analysis methods in terms of recovery efficiency (RE) and not PCD/FNR (which left a major gap in available information). Quantifying the PCD/FNR under a variety of conditions is a key aspect of validating sample and analysis methods, and also for …

Precision neutron-induced reaction data are important for modeling the network of isotope production and destruction within a given diagnostic chain. This network modeling has many applications such as the design of advanced fuel cycle for reactors and the interpretation of radiochemical data related to the stockpile stewardship and nuclear forensics projects. Our current funded effort is to improve the neutron-induced reaction data on the short-lived actinides and the specific goal is to improve the neutron capture data on {sup 238}Pu with a half-life of 87.7 years. In this report, the fabrication of a {sup 238}Pu target for the proposed measurement using the DANCE array at LANL is described. The {sup 238}Pu target was fabricated from a sample enriched to 99.35%, acquired from ORNL. A total of 395 {micro}g was electroplated onto both sides of a 3 {micro}m thick Ti foil using a custom-made plating cell, shown in Fig 1. The target-material loaded Ti foil is sandwiched between two double-side aluminized mylar foils with a thickness of 1.4 {micro}m. The mylar foil is glued to a polyimide ring. This arrangement is shown partially in Fig. 2. The assembled target is then inserted into an aluminum container with a wall thickness of …

This report summarizes the most important results of our effort to develop a new class of infrared spectrometers based on a novel broadband heterodyne design. Our results indicate that this approach could lead to a near-room temperature operation with performance limited only by quantum noise carried by the incoming signal. Using a model quantum-well infrared photodetector (QWIP), we demonstrated key performance features of our approach. For example, we directly measured the beat frequency signal generated by superimposing local oscillator (LO) light of one frequency and signal light of another through a spectrograph, by injecting the LO light at a laterally displaced input location. In parallel with the development of this novel spectrometer, we modeled a new approach to reducing detector volume though plasmonic resonance effects. Since dark current scales directly with detector volume, this ''photon compression'' can directly lead to lower currents. Our calculations indicate that dark current can be reduced by up to two orders of magnitude in an optimized ''superlens'' structure. Taken together, our spectrometer and dark current reduction strategies provide a promising path toward room temperature operation of a mid-wave and possibly long-wave infrared spectrometer.

This document reports on a series of tests to determine whether the proposed new location for air sampling probes in the CPP-666 heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) exhaust duct would meet the applicable regulatory criteria regarding the placement of an air sampling probe. Federal regulations( ) require that a sampling probe be located in the exhaust stack according to the criteria of the American National Standards Institute/Health Physical Society (ANSI/HPS) N13.1-1999, Sampling and Monitoring Releases of Airborne Radioactive Substances from the Stack and Ducts of Nuclear Facilities. These criteria address the capability of the sampling probe to extract a sample that is representative of the effluent stream.

From approximately 1949 until 1970, the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) operated a grain storage facility on federally owned property approximately 0.25 mi northwest of Savannah, Missouri (Figure 1.1). During this time, commercial grain fumigants containing carbon tetrachloride were commonly used by the CCC/USDA and the private grain storage industry to preserve grain in their facilities. In November 1998, carbon tetrachloride was detected in a private well (Morgan) roughly 50 ft south of the former CCC/USDA facility, as a result of statewide screening of private wells near former CCC/USDA facilities, conducted in Missouri by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 1999). The 1998 and subsequent investigations by the EPA and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) confirmed the presence of carbon tetrachloride in the Morgan well, as well as in a second well (on property currently occupied by the Missouri Department of Transportation [MoDOT]) described as being approximately 400 ft east of the former CCC/USDA facility. The identified concentrations in these two wells were above the EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) and the Missouri risk-based corrective action default target level (MRBCA DTL) values of 5.0 {micro}g/L for carbon tetrachloride in water used for domestic …

Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative Inc, a member owned cooperative utility based in Cadillac Michigan, proposes to demonstrate the capture, beneficial utilization and storage of CO{sub 2} in the expansion of existing Enhanced Oil Recovery operations. This project is being proposed in response to the US Department of Energy Solicitation DE-FOA-0000015 Section III D, 'Large Scale Industrial CCS projects from Industrial Sources' Technology Area 1. The project will remove 1,000 metric tons per day of CO{sub 2} from the Wolverine Clean Energy Venture 600 MW CFB power plant owned and operated by WPC. CO{sub 2} from the flue gas will be captured using Hitachi's CO{sub 2} capture system and advanced amine technology. The capture system with the advanced amine-based solvent supplied by Hitachi is expected to significantly reduce the cost and energy requirements of CO{sub 2} capture compared to current technologies. The captured CO{sub 2} will be compressed and transported for Enhanced Oil Recovery and CO{sub 2} storage purposes. Enhanced Oil Recovery is a proven concept, widely used to recover otherwise inaccessible petroleum reserves. While post-combustion CO{sub 2} capture technologies have been tested at the pilot scale on coal power plant flue gas, they have not yet been demonstrated at a …

In preparation for operations at the Radiological/Nuclear Countermeasures Test and Evaluation Complex (Rad/NucCTEC), the Department of Homeland Security Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DHS/DNDO) requested that personnel from the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) conduct a survey of the present radiological conditions at the facility. The measurements consist of the exposure rate from a high-pressure ion chamber (HPIC), high-resolution spectra from a high-purity germanium (HPGe) system in an in situ configuration, and low-resolution spectra from a sodium iodide (NaI) detector in a radiation detection backpack. Measurements with these systems were collected at discrete locations within the facility. Measurements were also collected by carrying the VECTOR backpack throughout the complex to generate a map of the entire area. The area was also to be surveyed with the Kiwi (an array of eight-2-inch x 4-inch x 16-inch NaI detectors) from the Aerial Measuring Systems; however, conflicts with test preparation activities at the site prevented this from being accomplished.

Radiation portal monitors used for interdiction of illicit materials at borders include highly sensitive neutron detection systems. There is a declining supply of 3He in the world, and thus, methods to reduce the use of this gas in RPMs with minimal changes to the current system designs and sensitivity to cargo-borne neutrons are being investigated. Four technologies have been identified as being currently commercially available, potential alternative neutron detectors to replace the use of 3He in RPMs. In addition, a few other companies have detector technologies that might be competitive in the near term as an alternative technology. Reported here are the results of tests of 6Li/ZnS(Ag)-coated scintillator paddles. This testing measured the required performance for neutron detection efficiency and gamma ray rejection capabilities of a system manufactured by Symetrica.

From September 1949 until September 1966, the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) leased property at the southeastern end of Montgomery City, Missouri, for the operation of a grain storage facility. During this time, commercial grain fumigants containing carbon tetrachloride were commonly used by the CCC/USDA and the private grain storage industry to preserve grain in their facilities. In January 2000, carbon tetrachloride was detected in a soil sample (220 {micro}g/kg) and two soil gas samples (58 {micro}g/m{sup 3} and 550 {micro}g/m{sup 3}) collected at the former CCC/USDA facility, as a result of a pre-CERCLIS site screening investigation (SSI) performed by TN & Associates, Inc., on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region VII (MoDNR 2001). In June 2001, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) conducted further sampling of the soils and groundwater at the former CCC/USDA facility as part of a preliminary assessment/site inspection (PA/SI). The MoDNR confirmed the presence of carbon tetrachloride (at a maximum identified concentration of 2,810 {micro}g/kg) and chloroform (maximum 82 {micro}g/kg) in the soils and also detected carbon tetrachloride and chloroform (42.2 {micro}g/L and 58.4 {micro}g/L, respectively) in a groundwater sample collected at the former facility (MoDNR …

Building transmission to reach renewable energy (RE) goals requires coordination among renewable developers, utilities and transmission owners, resource and transmission planners, state and federal regulators, and environmental organizations. The Western Renewable Energy Zone (WREZ) initiative brings together a diverse set of voices to develop data, tools, and a unique forum for coordinating transmission expansion in the Western Interconnection. In this report we use a new tool developed in the WREZ initiative to evaluate possible renewable resource selection and transmission expansion decisions. We evaluate these decisions under a number of alternative future scenarios centered on meeting 33% of the annual load in the Western Interconnection with new renewable resources located within WREZ-identified resource hubs. Of the renewable resources in WREZ resource hubs, and under the assumptions described in this report, our analysis finds that wind energy is the largest source of renewable energy procured to meet the 33% RE target across nearly all scenarios analyzed (38-65%). Solar energy is almost always the second largest source (14-41%). Solar exceeds wind by a small margin only when solar thermal energy is assumed to experience cost reductions relative to all other technologies. Biomass, geothermal, and hydropower are found to represent a smaller portion of …

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory performed several tests in the exhaust air discharge from the new 3420 Building Filtered Exhaust Stack to determine whether the air sampling probe for emissions monitoring for radionuclides is acceptable. The method followed involved adopting the results of a previously performed test series from a system with a similar configuration, followed by several tests on the actual system to verify the applicability of the previously performed tests. The qualification criteria for these types of stacks include metrics concerning 1) uniformity of air velocity, 2) sufficiently small flow angle with respect to the axis of the duct, 3) uniformity of tracer gas concentration, and 4) uniformity tracer particle concentration.

Flashlight usage is widespread across much of sub-Saharan Africa.1 In Kenya in particular, over half of all households report owning a flashlight (Kamfor, 2002). Aside from household use, flashlights are also widely used to perform income-earning jobs in Kenya. Lumina Research Note No.4, the first report in this series documenting flashlight use in Kenya, highlights flashlight use patterns of night watchmen and bicycle taxi drivers. Both of these are occupations that rely on the use of flashlights on a nightly basis (Tracy et al., 2009). Also highlighted by Research Note No.4, flashlight users in Kenya have reported being highly dissatisfied with the quality of the low-cost LED flashlights that are available, and they identify several reoccurring problems they have faced as flashlight end-users (Tracy et al., 2009). The fact that there exists a substantial dependency upon flashlights in Kenya and that users are disgruntled with the available products suggests reasons for concern about flashlight quality. This concern is present despite two recent technological transitions in the flashlight market. First, LED technology has quickly emerged as the dominant source of portable lighting in Kenya, outpacing incandescent flashlights (Johnstone et al., 2009). LED technology has the potential to provide efficiency and performance …

Many scientific applications and experiments, such as high energy and nuclear physics, astrophysics, climate observation and modeling, combustion, nano-scale material sciences, and computational biology, generate extreme volumes of data with a large number of files. These data sources are distributed among national and international data repositories, and are shared by large numbers of geographically distributed scientists. A large portion of data is frequently accessed, and a large volume of data is moved from one place to another for analysis and storage. One challenging issue in such efforts is the limited network capacity for moving large datasets to explore and manage. The Bulk Data Mover (BDM), a data transfer management tool in the Earth System Grid (ESG) community, has been managing the massive dataset transfers efficiently with the pre-configured transfer properties in the environment where the network bandwidth is limited. Dynamic transfer adjustment was studied to enhance the BDM to handle significant end-to-end performance changes in the dynamic network environment as well as to control the data transfers for the desired transfer performance. We describe the results from the BDM transfer management for the climate datasets. We also describe the transfer estimation model and results from the dynamic transfer adjustment.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory performed several tests in the exhaust air discharge from the new 3410 Building Filtered Exhaust Stack to determine whether the air sampling probe for emissions monitoring for radionuclides is acceptable. The method followed involved adopting the results of a previously performed test series from a system with a similar configuration, followed by several tests on the actual system to verify the applicability of the previously performed tests. The qualification criteria for these types of stacks include metrics concerning 1) uniformity of air velocity, 2) sufficiently small flow angle with respect to the axis of the duct, 3) uniformity of tracer gas concentration, and 4) uniformity tracer particle concentration.