The objective of this task was to demonstrate that metal hydrides could be produced by mechanical alloying in the quantities needed to support the tritium production facilities at the Savannah River Site. The objective for the FY07 portion of this task was to demonstrate the production of Zr-Fe getter materials by mechanical alloying and begin to optimize the milling parameters. Three starting compositions (ratios of elemental Zr and Fe powders) were selected and attritor milled under argon for times of 8 to 60 hours. Hexane and liquid nitrogen were used as process control agents. In general, milling times of at least 24 hours were required to form the desired Zr{sub 2}Fe and Zr{sub 3}Fe phases, although a considerable amount of unalloyed Zr and Fe remained. Milling in liquid nitrogen does not appear to provide any advantages over milling in hexane, particularly due to the formation of ZrN after longer milling times. Carbides of Zr formed during some of the milling experiments in hexane. Formation of carbides during milling appears to be much less of an issue than formation of nitrides, although some of the phases that were not able to be identified in the XRD results may also be carbides. …

Safe and permanent storage of carbon dioxide in geologic reservoirs is critical to geologic sequestration. The objective of this study is to quantify the conditions under which a general (simulated) fault network and a specific (field case) fault network will fail and leak carbon dioxide out of a reservoir. Faults present a potential fast-path for CO{sub 2} leakage from reservoirs to the surface. They also represent potential induced seismicity hazards. It is important to have improved quantitative understandings of the processes that trigger activity on faults and the risks they present. Fortunately, the conditions under which leakage along faults is induced can be predicted and quantified given the fault geometry, reservoir pressure, an in-situ stress tensor. We proposed to expand the current capabilities of fault threshold characterization and apply that capability to a site where is CO{sub 2} injection is active or planned. Specifically, we proposed to use a combination of discrete/explicit and continuum/implicit codes to provide constrain the conditions of fault failure. After minor enhancements of LLNL's existing codes (e.g., LDEC), we would create a 3D synthetic model of a common configuration (e.g., a faulted dome). During these steps, we will identify a field site where the necessary information …

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is engaged in research and development activities to support achieving targets and objectives set by the Energy Storage Program at the Office of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technology in the U.S. Department of Energy. These activities include: 1. supporting the Battery Technology Development Program with battery thermal characterization and modeling and with energy storage system simulations and analysis; 2. supporting the Applied Research Program by developing thermal models to address abuse of Li-Ion batteries; and 3. supporting the Focused Long-Term Research Program by investigating improved Li-Ion battery electrode materials. This report summarizes the results of NREL energy storage activities in FY07.

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