A modular, transportable evaporator system, using thin film evaporative technology, is planned for deployment at the Hanford radioactive waste storage tank complex. This technology, herein referred to as a wiped film evaporator (WFE), will be located at grade level above an underground storage tank to receive pumped liquids, concentrate the liquid stream from 1.1 specific gravity to approximately 1.4 and then return the concentrated solution back into the tank. Water is removed by evaporation at an internal heated drum surface exposed to high vacuum. The condensed water stream will be shipped to the site effluent treatment facility for final disposal. This operation provides significant risk mitigation to failure of the aging 242-A Evaporator facility; the only operating evaporative system at Hanford maximizing waste storage. This technology is being implemented through a development and deployment project by the tank farm operating contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), for the Office of River Protection/Department of Energy (ORP/DOE), through Columbia Energy & Environmental Services, Inc. (Columbia Energy). The project will finalize technology maturity and install a system at one of the double-shell tank farms. This paper discusses results of pre-project pilot-scale testing by Columbia Energy and ongoing technology maturation development scope through fiscal …

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COG is a modern, general-purpose, high fidelity, multi-particle transport code developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory specifically for use in deep penetration (shielding) and criticality safety calculations. This paper describes some features in COG of special interest to criticality safety practitioners.

An engineering evaluation has been initiated to investigate conceptual engineering methods for implementing a viable gas shield strategy in the Fusion Test Facility (FTF) target chamber. The employment of a low pressure noble gas in the target chamber to thermalize energetic helium ions prior to interaction with the wall could dramatically increase the useful life of the first wall in the FTF reactor1. For the purpose of providing flexibility, two target chamber configurations are addressed: a five meter radius sphere and a ten meter radius sphere. Experimental studies at Nike have indicated that a low pressure, ambient gas resident in the target chamber during laser pulsing does not appear to impair the ability of laser light from illuminating targets2. In addition, current investigations into delivering, maintaining, and processing low pressure gas appear to be viable with slight modification to current pumping and plasma exhaust processing technologies3,4. Employment of a gas fill solution for protecting the dry wall target chamber in the FTF may reduce, or possibly eliminate the need for other attenuating technologies designed for keeping He ions from implanting in first wall structures and components. The gas fill concept appears to provide an effective means of extending the life …

As much as one million gallons of waste is believed to have leaked from tanks, pipelines or other equipment in the single-shell tank farm waste management areas (WMAs) within the 200 East and West areas of the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. Although some contamination has reached groundwater, most contamination still resides in the vadose zone. The magnitude ofthis problem requires new approaches for soil characterization if we are to understand the nature and extent of the contamination and take action to protect the enviromnent. Because of the complexity and expense of drilling traditional boreholes in contaminated soil, direct push characterization using a hydraulic hammer has been extensively employed. Direct push probe holes <3-inch diameter have been pushed to a maximum depth of 240 feet below ground surface in 200 East area. Previously gross gamma and moisture logging of these narrow probe holes was perfonned to identify the location of cesium-137 ({sup 137}Cs) (which has limited mobility in Hanford soil) and moisture peaks. Recently a bismuth germinate detector has been deployed for detecting and quantifying the spectrum of cobalt-60 ({sup 60}Co) (a more mobile contaminant), which provides additional information. The direct push system is configured to …

The ability to effectively mix, sample, certify, and deliver consistent batches of High Level Waste (HLW) feed from the Hanford Double Shell Tanks (DST) to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) presents a significant mission risk with potential to impact mission length and the quantity of HLW glass produced. DOE's River Protection Project (RPP) mission modeling and WTP facility modeling assume that individual 3785 cubic meter (l million gallon) HLW feed tanks are homogenously mixed, representatively sampled, and consistently delivered to the WTP. It has been demonstrated that homogenous mixing ofHLW sludge in Hanford DSTs is not likely achievable with the baseline design thereby causing representative sampling and consistent feed delivery to be more difficult. Inconsistent feed to the WTP could cause additional batch-to-batch operational adjustments that reduce operating efficiency and have the potential to increase the overall mission length. The Hanford mixing and sampling demonstration program will identify DST mixing performance capability, will evaluate representative sampling techniques, and will estimate feed batch consistency. An evaluation of demonstration program results will identify potential mission improvement considerations that will help ensure successful mission completion. This paper will discuss the history, progress, and future activities that will define and mitigate the …

Lithium wall coating techniques have been experimentally explored on NSTX for the last five years. The lithium experimentation on NSTX started with a few milligrams of lithium injected into the plasma as pellets and it has evolved to a lithium evaporation system which can evaporate up to ~ 100 g of lithium onto the lower divertor plates between lithium reloadings. The unique feature of the lithium research program on NSTX is that it can investigate the effects of lithium in H-mode divertor plasmas. This lithium evaporation system thus far has produced many intriguing and potentially important results; the latest of these are summarized in a companion paper by H. Kugel. In this paper, we suggest possible implications and applications of the NSTX lithium results on the magnetic fusion research which include electron and global energy confinement improvements, MHD stability enhancement at high beta, ELM control, H-mode power threshold reduction, improvements in radio frequency heating and non-inductive plasma start-up performance, innovative divertor solutions and improved operational efficiency.

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This paper describes our approach to adapting a text document similarity classifier based on the Term Frequency Inverse Document Frequency (TFIDF) metric to two massively multi-core hardware platforms. The TFIDF classifier is used to detect web attacks in HTTP data. In our parallel hardware approaches, we design streaming, real time classifiers by simplifying the sequential algorithm and manipulating the classifier's model to allow decision information to be represented compactly. Parallel implementations on the Tilera 64-core System on Chip and the Xilinx Virtex 5-LX FPGA are presented. For the Tilera, we employ a reduced state machine to recognize dictionary terms without requiring explicit tokenization, and achieve throughput of 37MB/s at slightly reduced accuracy. For the FPGA, we have developed a set of software tools to help automate the process of converting training data to synthesizable hardware and to provide a means of trading off between accuracy and resource utilization. The Xilinx Virtex 5-LX implementation requires 0.2% of the memory used by the original algorithm. At 166MB/s (80X the software) the hardware implementation is able to achieve Gigabit network throughput at the same accuracy as the original algorithm.

Between 2007 and 2009, several different multi-probe corrosion monitoring systems were designed and installed in high-level nuclear waste tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site in WaShington State. The probe systems are being monitored to ensure waste tanks operate in regions that minimize localized corrosion (i.e., pitting) and stress corrosion cracking. The corrosion monitoring systems have been installed in wastes with different chemistry types. An ongoing effort during the same time period has generated non-radioactive simulants that are tested in the laboratory to establish baseline corrosion monitoring system performance and characterize data to allow interpretation of readings from the multiple corrosion monitoring systems. Data collection from these monitoring systems has reached the point where the results allow comparison with the laboratory testing. This paper presents analytical results from the corrosion monitoring system development program.

Current proposed regulatory agreements (Consent Decree) at the Hanford Site call for closure of the Single-Shell Tank (SST) Waste Management Area (WMA) C in the year 2019. WMA C is part of the SST system in 200 East area ofthe Hanford Site and is one of the first tank farm areas built in mid-1940s. In order to close WMA C, both tank and facility closure activities and corrective actions associated with existing soil and groundwater contamination must be performed. Remedial activities for WMA C and corrective actions for soils and groundwater within that system will be supported by various types of risk assessments and interim performance assessments (PA). The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of River Protection (DOE-ORP) and the State ofWashington Department of Ecology (Ecology) are sponsoring a series of working sessions with regulators and stakeholders to solicit input and to obtain a common understanding concerning the scope, methods, and data to be used in the planned risk assessments and PAs to support closure of WMA C. In addition to DOE-ORP and Ecology staff and contractors, working session members include representatives from the U.S. Enviromnental Protection Agency, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), interested tribal nations, other stakeholders groups, …

Argonne National Laboratory (the Contractor) entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the following Participants: Vehicle Recycling Partnership, LLC (VRP, which consists of General Motors [GM], Ford, and Chrysler), and the American Chemistry Council - Plastics Division (ACC-PD). The purpose of this CRADA is to provide for the effective recycling of automotive materials. The long-term goals are to (1) enable the optimum recycling of automotive materials, thereby obviating the need for legislative mandates or directives; (2) enable the recovery of automotive materials in a cost-competitive manner while meeting the performance requirements of the applications and markets for the materials; and (3) remove recycling barriers/reasons, real or perceived, to the use of advanced lightweighting materials or systems in future vehicles. The issues, technical requirements, and cost and institutional considerations in achieving that goal are complex and will require a concerted, focused, and systematic analysis, together with a technology development program. The scope and tasks of this program are derived from 'A Roadmap for Recycling End-of-Life Vehicles of the Future,' prepared in May 2001 for the DOE Office of Energy, Efficiency, and Renewable Energy (EERE)-Vehicle Technologies Program. The objective of this research program is to enable the maximum recycling …

A principal goal at the Savannah River Site is to safely dispose of the large volume of liquid nuclear waste held in many storage tanks. In-tank ion exchange technology is being considered for cesium removal using a polymer resin made of resorcinol formaldehyde that has been engineered into microspheres. The waste under study is generally lower in potassium and organic components than Hanford waste; therefore, the resin performance was evaluated with actual dissolved salt waste. The ion exchange performance and resin chemistry results are discussed.

The Hanford tank reservation contains approximately 50 million gallons of liquid legacy radioactive waste from cold war weapons production, which is stored in 177 underground storage tanks. The tanks will be in use until waste processing operations are completed. The wastes tend to be high pH (over 10) and nitrate based. Under these alkaline conditions carbon steels tend to be passive and undergo relatively slow uniform corrosion. However, the presence of nitrate and other aggressive species, can lead to pitting and stress corrosion cracking. This work is a continuation of previous work that investigated the propensity of steels to suffer pitting and stress corrosion cracking in various waste simulants. The focus of this work is an investigation of the sensitivity of the steels' pitting and stress corrosion cracking susceptibility tosimulant pH. Previous work demonstrated that wastes that are high in aggressive nitrate and low in inhibitory nitrite are susceptible to localized corrosion. However, the previous work involved wastes with pH 12 or higher. The current work involves wastes with lower pH of 10 or 11. It is expected that at these lower pHs that a higher nitrite-to-nitrate ratio will be necessary to ensure tank integrity. This experimental work involved both …

Broad Funding Opportunity Announcement Project: MSU is developing a new engine for use in hybrid automobiles that could significantly reduce fuel waste and improve engine efficiency. In a traditional internal combustion engine, air and fuel are ignited, creating high-temperature and high-pressure gases which expand rapidly. This expansion of gases forces the engine’s pistons to pump and powers the car. MSU’s engine has no pistons. It uses the combustion of air and fuel to build up pressure within the engine, generating a shockwave that blasts hot gas exhaust into the blades of the engine’s rotors causing them to turn, which generates electricity. MSU’s redesigned engine would be the size of a cooking pot and contain fewer moving parts—reducing the weight of the engine by 30%. It would also enable a vehicle that could use 60% of its fuel for propulsion.

Cellular heterogeneity arising from stochastic expression of genes, proteins, and metabolites is a fundamental principle of cell biology, but single cell analysis has been beyond the capabilities of 'Omics' technologies. This is rapidly changing with the recent examples of single cell genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. The rate of change is expected to accelerate owing to emerging technologies that range from micro/nanofluidics to microfabricated interfaces for mass spectrometry to third- and fourth-generation automated DNA sequencers. As described in this review, single cell analysis is the new frontier in Omics, and single cell Omics has the potential to transform systems biology through new discoveries derived from cellular heterogeneity.

In 1985, carbon tetrachloride was discovered in the groundwater at Agra, Kansas, during routine sampling of public water supply wells. Two of Agra's four public water supply wells contained low but detectable levels of carbon tetrachloride; the concentrations in wells PWS-3 and PWS-4 exceeded the maximum contaminant level. These wells were removed from service in 1986, although they remain available for uses other than drinking water. Other public wells, outside the area of contamination, supply drinking water for the city of Agra. In 1987-2005, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) conducted investigations to delineate the contaminant plume and to identify source areas for the contamination - which results from the past use of grain fumigants containing carbon tetrachloride. Source areas were identified on the former CCC/USDA grain storage facility property and on the Producers Agricultural Marketing Association, Inc., property located to the south (Argonne 2006). The contaminant plume extends to the southeast, toward well PWS-3, from the identified source areas. Both the CCC/USDA and Pro-Ag Marketing are currently implementing KDHE-approved interim measures (IMs). To address the contamination identified on its former property, the CCC/USDA is implementing …

At the U. S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State, 216 million liters (57 million gallons) of nuclear waste is currently stored in aging underground tanks, threatening the Columbia River. The River Protection Project (RPP), a fully integrated system of waste storage, retrieval, treatment, and disposal facilities, is in varying stages of design, construction, operation, and future planning. These facilities face many overlapping technical, regulatory, and financial hurdles to achieve site cleanup and closure. Program execution is ongoing, but completion is currently expected to take approximately 40 more years. Strategic planning for the treatment of Hanford tank waste is by nature a multi-faceted, complex and iterative process. To help manage the planning, a report referred to as the RPP System Plan is prepared to provide a basis for aligning the program scope with the cost and schedule, from upper-tier contracts to individual facility operating plans. The Hanford Tank Waste Operations Simulator (HTWOS), a dynamic flowsheet simulation and mass balance computer model, is used to simulate the current planned RPP mission, evaluate the impacts of changes to the mission, and assist in planning near-term facility operations. Development of additional modeling tools, including an operations research model and a …

Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS) has faced significant project management challenges in managing Davis-Bacon construction work that meets contractually required small business goals. The unique challenge is to provide contracting opportunities to multiple small business construction subcontractors while performing high hazard work in a safe and productive manner. Previous to the Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC contract, Construction work at the Hanford Tank Farms was contracted to large companies, while current Department of Energy (DOE) Contracts typically emphasize small business awards. As an integral part of Nuclear Project Management at Hanford Tank Farms, construction involves removal of old equipment and structures and installation of new infrastructure to support waste retrieval and waste feed delivery to the Waste Treatment Plant. Utilizing the optimum construction approach ensures that the contractors responsible for this work are successful in meeting safety, quality, cost and schedule objectives while working in a very hazardous environment. This paper describes the successful transition from a traditional project delivery method that utilized a large business general contractor and subcontractors to a new project construction management model that is more oriented to small businesses. Construction has selected the Agency Construction Management Method. This method was implemented in the first …