The marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) environmental impacts knowledge management system (KMS), dubbed Tethys after the mythical Greek goddess of the seas, is being developed for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program (WHTP) by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). This requirements specification establishes the essential capabilities required of Tethys and clarifies for WHTP and the Tethys development team the results that must be achieved by the system.

This presentation outlines utility concerns when evaluating PV technologies for risk.

The recently developed code FREYA (Fission Reaction Event Yield Algorithm) generates large samples of complete fission events, consisting of two receding product nuclei as well as a number of neutrons and photons, all with complete kinematic information. Thus it is possible to calculate arbitrary correlation observables whose behavior may provide unique insight into the fission process. The presentation first discusses the present status of FREYA, which has now been extended up to energies where pre-equilibrium emission becomes significant and one or more neutrons may be emitted prior to fission. Concentrating on {sup 239}Pu(n,f), we discuss the neutron multiplicity correlations, the dependence of the neutron energy spectrum on the neutron multiplicity, and the relationship between the fragment kinetic energy and the number of neutrons and their energies. We also briefly suggest novel fission observables that could be measured with modern detectors.

An instrument has been developed to measure X-ray bang-time for inertial confinement fusion capsules; the time interval between the start of the laser pulse and peak X-ray emission from the fuel core. The instrument comprises chemical vapor deposited polycrystalline diamond photoconductive X-ray detectors with highly ordered pyrolytic graphite X-ray monochromator crystals at the input. Capsule bang-time can be measured in the presence of relatively high thermal and hard X-ray background components due to the selective band pass of the crystals combined with direct and indirect X-ray shielding of the detector elements. A five channel system is being commissioned at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for implosion optimization measurements as part of the National Ignition Campaign. Characteristics of the instrument have been measured demonstrating that X-ray bang-time can be measured with {+-} 30ps precision, characterizing the soft X-ray drive to +/- 1eV or 1.5%.

The National Wind Coordinating Collaborative (NWCC) is a consensus-based stakeholder group comprised of representatives from the utility, wind industry, environmental, consumer, regulatory, power marketer, agricultural, tribal, economic development, and state and federal government sectors. The purpose of the NWCC is to support the development of an environmentally, economically, and politically sustainable commercial market for wind power (NWCC 2010). The NWCC has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) since its inception in 1994. In order to evaluate the impact of the work of the NWCC and how this work aligns with DOE’s strategic priorities, DOE tasked Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to conduct a series of informal interviews with a small sample of those involved with NWCC.