Title 10 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (10 CFR Part 71.73) requires that Type B radioactive material (RAM) packages satisfy certain Hypothetical Accident Conditions (HAC) thermal design requirements to ensure package safety during accidental fire conditions. Compliance with thermal design requirements can be met by prototype tests, analyses only or a combination of tests and analyses. Normally, it is impractical to meet all the HAC using tests only and the analytical methods are too complex due to the multi-physics non-linear nature of the fire event. Therefore, a combination of tests and thermal analyses methods using commercial heat transfer software are used to meet the necessary design requirements. The authors, along with his other colleagues at Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, SC, USA, have successfully used this 'tests and analyses' approach in the design and certification of several United States' DOE/NNSA certified packages, e.g. 9975, 9977, 9978, 9979, H1700, and Bulk Tritium Shipping Package (BTSP). This paper will describe these methods and it is hoped that the RAM Type B package designers and analysts can use them for their applications.

Hydrogen explosions may occur simultaneously with water hammer accidents in nuclear facilities, and a theoretical mechanism to relate water hammer to hydrogen deflagrations and explosions is presented herein. Hydrogen and oxygen generation due to the radiolysis of water is a recognized hazard in pipe systems used in the nuclear industry, where the accumulation of hydrogen and oxygen at high points in the pipe system is expected, and explosive conditions may occur. Pipe ruptures in nuclear reactor cooling systems were attributed to hydrogen explosions inside pipelines, i.e., Hamaoka, Nuclear Power Station in Japan, and Brunsbuettel in Germany. Prior to these accidents, an ignition source for hydrogen was not clearly demonstrated, but these accidents demonstrated that a mechanism was, in fact, available to initiate combustion and explosion. A new theory to identify an ignition source and explosion cause is presented here, and further research is recommended to fully understand this explosion mechanism.

This project attempted to deposit extremely thick and dense protective barrier onto a mirror film stack with a PET substrate. The target thickness was very high for thin film products; particularly since large areas and long production lengths of film are needed to make the final product economic. The technical investigations in this project centered on maintaining a quality barrier (i.e. dense film) while evaporating alumina with a high deposition rate onto a low cost PET substrate. The project found that the proposed configuration, particularly direct ion bombardment, provides too narrow a solution space to effectively and economically produce the ASRM attempted. The initial project goals were met when depositing on a limited width and at a modest rate. However, expanding to wide deposition at aggressive deposition rates did not produce consistent film quality. Economic viability drives the process to maximize deposition rate. The current system configuration has a limiting upper rate threshold that does not appear economically viable. For future work, alternate approaches seem needed to address the challenges encountered in the scale-up phase of this project.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory initiated the application of the time-varying, one-dimensional sediment-contaminant transport code, TODAM (Time-dependent, One-dimensional, Degradation, And Migration) to simulate the cesium migration and accumulation in the Ukedo River in Fukushima. This report describes the preliminary TODAM simulation results of the Ukedo River model from the location below the Ougaki Dam to the river mouth at the Pacific Ocean. The major findings of the 100-hour TODAM simulation of the preliminary Ukedo River modeling are summarized as follows:

DOE grant used for partial fulfillment of necessary laboratory equipment for course enrichment and new graduate programs in nanotechnology at the four institutions of the Connecticut State University System (CSUS). Equipment in this initial phase included variable pressure scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy elemental analysis capability [at Southern Connecticut State University]; power x-ray diffractometer [at Central Connecticut State University]; a spectrophotometer and spectrofluorimeter [at Eastern Connecticut State University; and a Raman Spectrometer [at Western Connecticut State University]. DOE's funding was allocated for purchase and installation of this scientific equipment and instrumentation. Subsequently, DOE funding was allocated to fund the curriculum, faculty development and travel necessary to continue development and implementation of the System's Graduate Certificate in Nanotechnology (GCNT) program and the ConnSCU Nanotechnology Center (ConnSCU-NC) at Southern Connecticut State University. All of the established outcomes have been successfully achieved. The courses and structure of the GCNT program have been determined and the program will be completely implemented in the fall of 2013. The instrumentation has been purchased, installed and has been utilized at each campus for the implementation of the nanotechnology courses, CSUS GCNT and the ConnSCU-NC. Additional outcomes for this grant include curriculum development for non-majors …

Working in partnership with industry, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) is helping reduce industrial energy use, carbon emissions, and waste while boosting productivity and economic competitiveness. Operating within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), ITP conducts research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects and technology transfer activities that are producing substantial benefits to industry and helping the nation to address some of its biggest challenges in the areas of energy security and environmental performance. This document summarizes some of the impacts of ITP’s programs through 2010. The selection of 2010 as the timeframe for this report recognizes the fact that it takes at least two years to gain a full perspective on program performance and to assess the results of commercialization efforts for the technologies and practices at issue.

Energy, water and land are scarce resources, critical to humans. Developments in each affect the availability and cost of the others, and consequently human prosperity. Measures to limit greenhouse gas concentrations will inevitably exact dramatic changes on energy and land systems and in turn alter the character, magnitude and geographic distribution of human claims on water resources. We employ the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), an integrated assessment model to explore the interactions of energy, land and water systems in the context of alternative policies to limit climate change to three alternative levels: 2.5 Wm-2 (445 ppm CO2-e), 3.5 Wm-2 (535 ppm CO2-e) and 4.5 Wm-2 (645 ppm CO2-e). We explore the effects of two alternative land-use emissions mitigation policy options—one which taxes terrestrial carbon emissions equally with fossil fuel and industrial emissions, and an alternative which only taxes fossil fuel and industrial emissions but places no penalty on land-use change emissions. We find that increasing populations and economic growth could be anticipated to almost triple demand for water for agricultural systems across the century even in the absence of climate policy. In general policies to mitigate climate change increase agricultural demands for water still further, though the largest changes …