The U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office Environmental Management Program is charged with the responsibility to carry out the disposal of on-site and off-site generated low-level radioactive waste at the Nevada Test Site. Core elements of this mission are ensuring that disposal take place in a manner that is safe and cost-effective while protecting workers, the public, and the environment. This paper focuses on giving an overview of the Nevada Test Site facilities regarding currant design of disposal. In addition, technical attributes of the facilities established through the site characterization process will be further described. An update on current waste disposal volumes and capabilities will also be provided. This discussion leads to anticipated volume projections and disposal site requirements as the Nevada Test Site disposal operations look towards the future.

After a 15-year hiatus, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO) began accepting DOE off-site generated mixed low-level radioactive waste (MLLW) for disposal at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in December 2005. This action was predicated on the acceptance by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) of a waste analysis plan (WAP). The NNSA/NSO agreed to limit mixed waste disposal to 20,000 cubic meters (approximately 706,000 cubic feet) and close the facility by December 2010 or sooner, if the volume limit is reached. The WAP and implementing procedures were developed based on Hanford’s system of verification to the extent possible so the two regional disposal sites could have similar processes. Since the NNSA/NSO does not have a breaching facility to allow the opening of boxes at the site, verification of the waste occurs by visual inspection at the generator/treatment facility or by Real-Time-Radiography (RTR) at the NTS. This system allows the NTS to effectively, efficiently, and compliantly accept MLLW for disposal. The WAP, NTS Waste Acceptance Criteria, and procedures have been revised based on learning experiences. These changes include: RTR expectations; visual inspection techniques; tamper-indicating device selection; void space requirements; and …

Abstract The Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is the leading candidate for the Next Generation Nuclear Power (NGNP) Project in the U.S. which has the goal of demonstrating the production of emissions free electricity and hydrogen by 2015. Various scaled heated gas and water flow facilities were investigated for modeling VHTR upper and lower plenum flows during the decay heat portion of a pressurized conduction-cooldown scenario and for modeling thermal mixing and stratification (“thermal striping”) in the lower plenum during normal operation. It was concluded, based on phenomena scaling and instrumentation and other practical considerations, that a heated water flow scale model facility is preferable to a heated gas flow facility and to unheated facilities which use fluids with ranges of density to simulate the density effect of heating. For a heated water flow lower plenum model, both the Richardson numbers and Reynolds numbers may be approximately matched for conduction-cooldown natural circulation conditions. Thermal mixing during normal operation may be simulated but at lower, but still fully turbulent, Reynolds numbers than in the prototype. Natural circulation flows in the upper plenum may also be simulated in a separate heated water flow facility that uses the same plumbing as the lower …

Elastic light scattering spectroscopy (ESS) has the potential to provide spectra that contain both morphological and chromophore information from tissue. We report on a preliminary study of this technique, with the hope of developing a method for diagnosis of highly-pigmented skin lesions, commonly associated with skin cancer. Four opossums were treated with dimethylbenz(a)anthracene to induce both malignant melanoma and benign pigmented lesions. Skin lesions were examined in vivo using both UV-visible and near infrared (NIR) ESS, with wavelength ranges of 330-900 nm and 900-1700 nm, respectively. Both portable systems used identical fiber-optic probe geometry throughout all of the measurements. The core diameters for illuminating and collecting fibers were 400 and 200 {micro}m, respectively, with center-to-center separation of 350 {micro}m. The probe was placed in optical contact with the tissue under investigation. Biopsies from lesions were analyzed by two standard histopathological procedures. Taking into account only the biopsied lesions, UV-visible ESS showed distinct spectral correlation for 11/13 lesions. The NIR-ESS correlated well with 12/13 lesions correctly. The results of these experiments showed that UV-visible and NIR-ESS have the potential to classify benign and malignant skin lesions, with encouraging agreement to that provided by standard histopathological examination. These initial results show potential …

The stability of tungsten carbide particles in iron-rich and nickel-rich liquid during the laser surface alloying (LSA) process was investigated. Kinetic calculations indicate a rapid dissolution of tungsten carbide particles in iron-rich liquid, as compared with the dissolution rate in nickel-rich liquid. Optical microscopy indicated a heterogeneous microstructure around the tungsten particles that is in agreement with concentration gradients predicted by kinetic calculation. The work demonstrates the applicability of computational thermodynamics and kinetic models for the LSA process.

In the past years, energetic vacuum deposition methods have been developed in different laboratories to improve Nb/Cu technology for superconducting cavities. Jefferson Lab is pursuing energetic condensation deposition via Electron Cyclotron Resonance. As part of this study, the influence of the deposition energy on the material and RF properties of the Nb thin film is investigated. The film surface and structure analyses are conducted with various techniques like X-ray diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Auger Electron Spectroscopy and RHEED. The microwave properties of the films are characterized on 50 mm disk samples with a 7.5 GHz surface impedance characterization system. This paper presents surface impedance measurements in correlation with surface and material characterization for Nb films produced on copper substrates with different bias voltages and also highlights emerging opportunities for developing multilayer SRF films with a new deposition system.

Heating of figure-8 ions by odd-parity rotating magnetic fields (RMFο) applied to an elongated field-reversed configuration (FRC) is investigated. The largest energy gain occurs at resonances (s ≡ ω(sub)R⁄ω) of the RMFο frequency, ω(sub)R, with the figure-8 orbital frequency, ω, and is proportional to s^2 for s – even resonances and to s for s – odd resonances. The threshold for the transition from regular to stochastic orbits explains both the onset and saturation of heating. The FRC magnetic geometry lowers the threshold for heating below that in the tokamak by an order of magnitude.

This paper reports the use of GIS mapping software—ArcMap and ArcInfo Workstation—by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) as a non-intrusive method of locating and characterizing radioactive waste in a 97-acre landfill to aid in planning cleanup efforts. The fine-scale techniques and methods used offer potential application for other burial sites for which hazards indicate a non-intrusive approach. By converting many boxes of paper shipping records in multiple formats into a relational database linked to spatial data, the INEEL has related the paper history to our current GIS technologies and spatial data layers. The wide breadth of GIS techniques and tools quickly display areas in need of remediation as well as evaluate methods of remediation for specific areas as the site characterization is better understood and early assumptions are refined.

Single crystals of magnesium-aluminate spinel MgAl{sub 2}O{sub 4} were irradiated with 340 keV Xe{sup 2} ions at {minus}173 C ({approximately} 100 K). A fluence of 1 x 10{sup 20} Xe/m{sup 2} created an amorphous layer at the surface of the samples. The samples were annealed for 1 h at different temperatures ranging from 130 C to 880 C. Recrystallization took place in the temperature interval between 610 C and 855 C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show two distinct layers near the surface: (1) a polycrystalline layer with columnar grain structure; and (2) a buried damaged layer epitaxial with the substrate. After annealing at 1100 C for 52 days, the profile of implanted Xe ions did not change, which means that Xe ions are not mobile in the spinel structure up to 1100 C. The thickness of the buried damaged layer decreased significantly in the 1100 C annealed sample comparing to the sample annealed for 1 h at 855 C.

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The author's laboratory continues to use NMR to investigate the structure and dynamics in amorphous materials, including the local structure of ultraphosphate glasses. Changes in the alkali environment in these phosphate glasses as a function of modifier concentration has recently been probed using {sup 6}Li and {sup 23}Na solid state NMR. Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations have also been performed in an attempt to gain additional insight into the variations of the local structure. Interestingly, although there are distinct variations in the Li coordination number as well as the Li-O bond lengths in the MD simulations (with a minimum or maximum in these parameters near the 20% Li{sub 2}O concentration), a linear change in the {sup 6}Li NMR chemical shift is observed between 5 and 50% Li{sub 2}O mole fraction. One would expect that such variations should be observable in the NMR chemical shift. In an attempt to understand this behavior the author has performed empirical calculation of the {sup 6}Li NMR chemical shift directly from the structures obtained in the MD simulations. It has been argued that the NMR chemical shift of alkali species can be related to a chemical shift parameter A, where A is defined as the summation …

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Microhole technology development is based on the premise that with advances in electronics and sensors, large conventional-diameter wells are no longer necessary for obtaining subsurface information. Furthermore, microholes offer an environment for improved substance measurement. The combination of deep microholes having diameters of 1-3/8 in. at their terminal depth and 7/8-in. diameter logging tools will comprise a very low cost alternative to currently available technology for deep subsurface characterization and monitoring.

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We consider halo formation in continuous beams oscillating at natural modes by inspecting particle trajectories. Trajectory equations containing field nonlinearities are derived from a weighted polynomial expansion. We then use perturbational techniques to further analyze particle motion.

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A model is used to calculate energy absorption efficiency when a short-pulse laser impinges on a dielectric slab doped with an impurity for which the electrons have a resonant line at the laser wavelength. The amount of the energy resonant absorption is due to the overlapping between laser spectrum and resonance spectrum. The energy absorption efficiency can be maximized for a certain degree of doping concentration (at a given pulselength) and also for a certain pulselength (at a given doping concentration). For a modest amount of impurity, the resonant absorption may increase the fraction of energy absorption up to tens of percent of laser energy at 100s optical cycles when the laser wavelength is tuned within 1% of the resonant line. Dimensionless parameters are constructed so that the scaling to various parameters: laser wavelength, laser pulselength, dielectric constant, slab thickness, impurity concentration, resonant linewidth, and separation between the laser wavelength and the line resonance, could easily be obtained.

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The radiation transport and linearized thermal energy equations have been analyzed to find the temporal dependence of the component modes in a radiation/thermal front. The fully resolved spectral variation of the opacity as a function of energy, as well as the exact time and angular dependence, is treated in this work. As we are able to study arbitrarily complicated opacity spectra, we stress the importance of the new results as a check on the effect of using opacity averages.

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