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To provide the scientific understanding required to allow DOE sites to incorporate relevant biological, chemical, and physical processes into decisions concerning environmental remediation, a fundamental understanding of the controls on micro-organism growth in the subsurface is necessary. Specifically, mobility of metals in the environment, including chromium, technetium and uranium, is greatly affected by the process of dissimilatory metal reduction (DMR), which has been shown to be an important biological activity controlling contaminant mobility in the subsurface at many DOE sites. Long-term maintenance of DMR at constant rates must rely upon steady fluxes of electron donors to provide the maintenance energy needed by organisms such as Geobacter sulfurreducens to maintain steady state populations in the subsurface.

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The purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive review of the mission of the Fuel Fabrication Capability (FFC) within the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) Convert Program, along with research and development (R&D) needs that have been identified as necessary to ensuring mission success. The design and fabrication of successful nuclear fuels must be closely linked endeavors.

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 …

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This report summarizes the results of initial experiments designed to understand the radiation chemistry of an Advanced TALSPEAK process for separating trivalent lanthanides form the actinides. Biphasic aerated samples were irradiated and then analyzed for post-irradiation constituent concentrations and solvent extraction distribution ratios. The effects of irradiation on the TALSPEAK and Advanced TALSPEAK solvents were similar, with very little degradation of the organic phase extractant. Decomposition products were detected, with a major product in common for both solvents. This product may be responsible for the slight increase in distribution ratios for Eu and Am with absorbed dose, however; separation factors were not greatly affected.

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Amorphous Ni-based alloy membranes show great promise as inexpensive, hydrogenselective membrane materials. In this study, we developed membranes based on nonprecious Ni-Nb-Zr alloys by adjusting the alloying content and using additives. Several studies on crystallization of the amorphous ribbons, in-situ x-ray diffraction, SEM and TEM, hydrogen permeation, hydrogen solubility, hydrogen deuterium exchange, and electrochemical studies were conducted. An important part of the study was to completely eliminate Palladium coatings of the NiNbZr alloys by hydrogen heattreatment. The amorphous alloy (Ni0.6Nb0.4)80Zr20 membrane appears to be the best with high hydrogen permeability and good thermal stability.

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This document discusses ongoing work with non-oxide aerogels, called chalcogels, that are under development at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as sorbents for gaseous iodine. Work was conducted in fiscal year 2012 to demonstrate the feasibility of converting Sn2S3 chalcogel without iodine into a glass. This current document summarizes the work conducted in fiscal year 2013 to assess the consolidation potential of non-oxide aerogels with adsorbed iodine. The Sn2S3 and Sb13.5Sn5S20 chalcogels were selected for study. The first step in the process for these experiments was to load them with iodine (I2). The I2 uptake was ~68 mass% for Sn2S3 and ~50 mass% for Sb13.5Sn5S20 chalcogels. X-ray diffraction (XRD) of both sets of sorbents showed that metal-iodide complexes were formed during adsorption, i.e., SnI4 for Sn2S3 and SbI3 for Sb13.5Sn5S20. Additionally, metal-sulfide-iodide complexes were formed, i.e., SnSI for Sn2S3 and SbSI for Sb13.5Sn5S20. No XRD evidence for unreacted iodine was found in any of these samples. Once the chalcogels had reached maximum adsorption, the consolidation potential was assessed. Here, the sorbents were heated for consolidation in vacuum-sealed quartz vessels. The Sb13.5Sn5S20 chalcogel was heated both (1) in a glassy carbon crucible within a fused quartz tube and (2) in a …

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The process of fuel recycling is central to the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), where plutonium and the minor actinides (MA) Am, Np, and Cm are extracted from spent fuel and fabricated into new fuel for a fast reactor. Metallic alloys of U-Pu-Zr-MA are leading candidates for fast reactor fuels and are the current basis for fast spectrum metal fuels in a fully recycled closed fuel cycle. Safe and optimal use of these fuels will require knowledge of their multicomponent phase stability and thermodynamics (Gibbs free energies). In additional to their use as nuclear fuels, U-Pu-Zr-MA contain elements and alloy phases that pose fundamental questions about electronic structure and energetics at the forefront of modern many-body electron theory. This project will validate state-of-the-art electronic structure approaches for these alloys and use the resulting energetics to model U-Pu-Zr-MA phase stability. In order to keep the work scope practical, researchers will focus on only U-Pu-Zr-{Np,Am}, leaving Cm for later study. The overall objectives of this project are to: Provide a thermodynamic model for U-Pu-Zr-MA for improving and controlling reactor fuels; and, Develop and validate an ab initio approach for predicting actinide alloy energetics for thermodynamic modeling.

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