Forced-air heating and cooling system ducts are often located outside conditioned space in US houses. For these systems to perform efficiently it is important that these ducts be well insulated. Common practice is to use a glass fiber wrap around the ducts--either field applied or more commonly, integrated into a flexible duct. Most duct insulation has an R-value of 4.2, with R6 and R8 ducts also occasionally used. With glass fiber insulation being about R4 per inch (RSI 0.28/cm), this adds 2 to 4 inches (50 to 100 mm) to the duct diameter. Some building codes are now requiring these higher insulation levels, for example, the EPA requires the use of R6 ducts, and International Energy Conservation Code (BOCA 2003) requires R8 ducts. The difficulty with adding insulation to ducts is the increase in diameter of the ducts that makes them expensive to transport because they take up a large volume and are difficult to install in the confined spaces available for ducts in houses. The objective of this study was to evaluate Gas Filled Plenum (GFP) technology as an alternative duct insulation. GFP ducts have the potential to provide greater insulation levels than existing ducts (for a given thickness …

Forced-air heating and cooling system ducts are often located outside conditioned space in US houses. For these systems to perform efficiently it is important that these ducts be well insulated. Common practice is to use a glass fiber wrap around the ducts--either field applied or more commonly, integrated into a flexible duct. Most duct insulation has an R-value of 4.2, with R6 and R8 ducts also occasionally used. With glass fiber insulation being about R4 per inch (RSI 0.28/cm), this adds 2 to 4 inches (50 to 100 mm) to the duct diameter. Some building codes are now requiring these higher insulation levels, for example, the EPA requires the use of R6 ducts (for Energy Star ducts), and International Energy Conservation Code (BOCA 2003) requires R8 ducts. The difficulty with adding insulation to ducts is the increase in diameter of the ducts that makes them expensive to transport because they take up a large volume and are difficult to install in the confined spaces available for ducts in houses. The objective of this study was to evaluate Gas Filled Plenum (GFP) technology as an alternative duct insulation. GFP ducts have the potential to provide greater insulation levels than existing ducts …

This report describes the evaluation methods and results of a chemical safety status assessment of the process equipment at the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Nuclear Reservation Plutonium Finishing Plant. This assessment, designated as the Plutonium Finishing Plant Residual Chemical Hazards Assessment, focused particular emphasis on the idle and inactive plant systems, though certain active areas also were examined to the extent that these were examined during a previous facility vulnerability assessment completed in 1999. The Plutonium Finishing Plant is located in the 200 West Area of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation that is situated in south central Washington State.

This paper presents a summary of accomplishments at the Colonie FUSRAP Site in Fiscal Year 2002. During this period several significant milestones were achieved and have set the stage for the project to be completed in a more comprehensive manner, ahead of schedule and at a lower cost than the original Remedial Plan inherited from the Dept of Energy in 1997. Discussion of the DOE and subsequent USACE remedial plans is included along with summary level discussions of the key site infrastructure and remedial elements.

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan contains the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office's approach to collect the data necessary to evaluate corrective action alternatives appropriate for the closure of Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 529, Area 25 Contaminated Materials, Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada, under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. CAU 529 consists of one Corrective Action Site (25-23-17). For the purpose of this investigation, the Corrective Action Site has been divided into nine parcels based on the separate and distinct releases. A conceptual site model was developed for each parcel to address the translocation of contaminants from each release. The results of this investigation will be used to support a defensible evaluation of corrective action alternatives in the corrective action decision document.

The legacy project at Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) was an opportunity to work with decades worth of research. LRRI was founded in 1963 to provide inhalation research using radioactive nuclides. Over the next 35 years, scientists at the institute researched the effects of radioactivity on the lungs and the effects of inhaled radiation on the body. There were two outcomes of the research. First, the studies provided valuable information regarding radiation safety and the prevention of the inhalation of radioactive material. Second, the studies created a large amount of legacy waste that is now being cleaned up. Overall, the legacy materials project at LRRI was an interesting challenge. It provided opportunities to the team of LRRI and SEC to engineer solutions to remove and release material. It involved unique ALARA engineering to minimize dose exposure to the project team. And finally, it provided an opportunity to minimize low-level radioactive waste. This paper will expand on the waste management challenges and lessons learned.

The dimensionality (D) of manifolds of active chemical composition space has been measured using three different approaches: the Hausdorff geometrical binning method, Principal Component Analysis, and the Grassberger-Procaccia cumulative distribution method. A series of artificial manifolds is also generated using a Monte Carlo approach to discern the advantages and limitations of the three methods. Dimensionality is quantified for different levels of turbulent intensity in a simulation of the interactions of a 2D premixed hydrogen flame with a localized region of turbulence superimposed over the cold region upstream of the flame front. The simulations are conducted using an adaptive mesh refinement code for low Mach number reacting flows. By treating the N{sub s} species and temperature of the local thermo-chemical state as a point in multi-dimensional chemical composition space, a snapshot of a flame region is mapped into chemical composition space to generate the manifold associated with the 2-D flame system. An increase in D was observed with increasing turbulent intensity for all three methods. Although each method provides useful information, the Grassberger-Procaccia method is subject to fewer artifacts than the other two thereby providing the most reliable quantification of D.

Prior reservoir simulation and laboratory studies have suggested that injecting carbon dioxide into mature natural gas reservoirs for carbon sequestration with enhanced gas recovery (CSEGR) is technically feasible. Reservoir simulations show that the high density of carbon dioxide can be exploited to favor displacement of methane with limited gas mixing by injecting carbon dioxide in low regions of a reservoir while producing from higher regions in the reservoir. Economic sensitivity analysis of a prototypical CSEGR application at a large depleting gas field in California shows that the largest expense will be for carbon dioxide capture, purification, compression, and transport to the field. Other incremental costs for CSEGR include: (1) new or reconditioned wells for carbon dioxide injection, methane production, and monitoring; (2) carbon dioxide distribution within the field; and, (3) separation facilities to handle eventual carbon dioxide contamination of the methane. Economic feasibility is most sensitive to wellhead methane price, carbon dioxide supply costs, and the ratio of carbon dioxide injected to incremental methane produced. Our analysis suggests that CSEGR may be economically feasible at carbon dioxide supply costs of up to $4 to $12/t ($0.20 to $0.63/Mcf). Although this analysis is based on a particular gas field, the approach …

This document describes an evaluation of the baseline and two alternative disposition paths for the final disposition of the calcine wastes stored at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The pathways are evaluated against a prescribed set of criteria and a recommendation is made for the path forward.

We employ a novel, ultrafast terahertz probe to investigatethe dynamical interplay of optically-induced excitons and unboundelectron-hole pairs in GaAs quantum wells. Resonant creation ofheavy-hole excitons induces a new low-energy oscillator linked totransitions between the internal exciton degrees of freedom. The timeresolved terahertz optical conductivity is found to be a probe wellsuited for studies of fundamental processes such as formation, relaxationand ionization of excitons.

Long-pulse, high-beta scenarios have been established on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). Beta(sub)t(always equal to 2{mu}(sub)0{center_dot}<P>/B{sup 2}(sub)t0) {approx} 35% has been achieved during transient discharges. The machine improvements that lead to these results, including error field reduction and high-temperature bakeout of plasma-facing components are described. The highest Beta(sub)t plasmas have high triangularity (delta = 0.8) and elongation (k = 2.0) at low-aspect ratio A always equal to R/a = 1.4. The strong shaping permits large values of normalized current, I(sub)N(always equal to I(sub)p /(aB(sub)t0)) approximately equal to 6 while maintaining moderate values of q(sub)95 = 4. Long-pulse discharges up to 1 sec in duration have been achieved with substantial bootstrap current. The total noninductive current drive can be as high as 60%, comprised of 50% bootstrap current and {approx}10% neutral-beam current drive. The confinement enhancement factor H89P is in excess of 2.7. Beta(sub)N * H(sub)89P approximately or greater than 15 has been maintained for 8 * tau(sub)E {approx} 1.6 * tau(sub)CR, where tau(sub)CR is the relaxation time of the first radial moment of the toroidal current density. The ion temperature for these plasmas is significantly higher than that predicted by neoclassical theory.

Starting in 2003, Belgoprocess will proceed with the treatment and conditioning of some 200 m{sup 3} of widely varying high- and medium-level waste from earlier research and development work, to meet standard acceptance criteria for later disposal. The gross volume of primary and secondary packages amounts to 2,600 m{sup 3}. The waste has been kept in decay storage for up to 30 years. The project was started in 1997. Operation of the various processing facilities will take 7-8 years. The overall volume of conditioned waste will be of the order of 800 m{sup 3}. All conditioned waste will be stored in appropriate storage facilities onsite. At present (November, 2002), a new processing facility has been constructed, the functional tests of the equipment have been performed and the startup phase has been started. Several cells of the Pamela vitrification facility onsite will be adapted for the treatment of high-level and highly a-contaminated waste; low-level a/a waste will be treated in the existing facility for super compaction and conditioning by embedding into cement (CILVA). The bulk of these waste, of which 95% are solids, the remainder consisting of mainly solidified liquids, have been produced between 1967 and 1988. They originate from various …

This paper describes the results of work to bring forward the timing for the immobilization of first cycle raffinate from reprocessing fuel from the Dounreay Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR). First cycle raffinate is the liquor which contains > 99% of the fission products separated from spent fuel during reprocessing. Approximately 203 m3 of raffinate from the reprocessing of PFR fuel is held in four tanks at the UKAEA's site at Dounreay, Scotland. Two methods of immobilization of this high level waste (HLW) have been considered: vitrification and cementation. Vitrification is the standard industry practice for the immobilization of first cycle raffinate, and many papers have been presented on this technique elsewhere. However, cementation is potentially feasible for immobilizing first cycle raffinate because the heat output is an order of magnitude lower than typical HLW from commercial reprocessing operations such as that at the Sellafield site in Cumbria, England. In fact, it falls within the upper end of the UK definition of intermediate level waste (ILW). Although the decision on which immobilization technique will be employed has yet to be made, initial development work has been undertaken to identify a suitable cementation formulation using inactive simulant of the raffinate. An approach …

The Savannah River Site (SRS) has embarked on an aggressive D&D program to reduce the footprint of excess facilities. Key to the success of this effort is the preparation of accurate cost estimates for decommissioning. SRS traditionally uses ''top-down'' rough order-of-magnitude (ROM) estimating for decommissioning cost estimates. A second cost estimating method (POWERtool) using a ''bottoms-up'' approach has been applied to many of the SRS excess facilities in the T and D-area. This paper describes the use of both estimating methods and compares the estimated costs to actual costs of 5 facilities that were decommissioned in 2002.

Waste managers are increasingly expected to provide good security for the hazardous materials they marshal. Good security requires, among other things, effective tamper and intrusion detection. We have developed and demonstrated a new method for tamper and intrusion detection which we call the ''town crier method''. It avoids many of the problems and vulnerabilities associated with traditional approaches, and has significant advantages for hazardous waste transport. We constructed two rudimentary town crier prototype systems, and tested them for monitoring cargo inside a truck. Preliminary results are encouraging.

Incineration represents a promising weight and volume reduction technique for alpha-contaminated organic waste. Following several years of laboratory research initiated in 1983 on a nonradioactive prototype unit at the CEA's Rhone Valley (Marcoule) Research Center, an innovative process, IRIS, has been developed to meet the need for processing nuclear glove box waste containing large amounts of chlorine. In March 1999, the first highly chlorinated alpha-contaminated waste was incinerated in the industrial facility based on the IRIS process at the CEA's Valduc Center. The nonradioactive prototype at Marcoule and the radioactive facility at Valduc demonstrated that the process is highly effective with a continuously fed rotating tubular kiln and with a very effective control of corrosion by pyrolytic decomposition of the waste initially at 550 C. The ash quality meets specification requirements (< 1% carbon, < 1% chlorine) and the volume and weight reduction factors are sufficient (around 30). The offgas treatment system exhibits very high operating efficiency complying with gaseous emission standards.

Since September 11, waste managers are increasingly expected to provide effective security for their hazardous wastes. Tamper-indicating seals can help. This paper discusses seals, and offers recommendations for how to choose and use them.

Treatability testing for In Situ Chemical Oxidation was conducted on a site where the groundwater was contaminated with trichloroethylelne, nitroaromatics, nitrate, and radionuclides. The treatability testing involved characterization of the contaminated aquifer material and groundwater, soil oxidant demand testing, and batch slurry reaction tests. The aquifer oxidant demand was 0.44 to 0.89 grams KMnO4 per kg aquifer solids. This is an exceptionally low level and indicates that permanganate reagent would be used efficiently on site to treat VOCs rather than react with the aquifer matrix. The slurry reaction test data indicate that permanganate reaction with TCE, cis-1,2-DCE, and vinyl chloride present in the site groundwater occurs rapidly and are destroyed to below detectable levels (<5 {micro}g/L) in groundwater and aquifer environment within the first 8 hours of treatment. A permanganate concentration of 1,000 mg/L or above will accomplish this performance. The water quality w as not adversely affected by the treatment process. Chloride and nitrate ion concentrations in the groundwater as well as pH of the groundwater are not impacted by permanganate treatment. No adverse effect on aqueous concentrations of chromium, manganese or uranium was detected due to the permanganate treatment process.

Since 1999, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) Lead Project successfully recycled over 700,000 pounds of excess INEEL lead to the private sector. On February 14, 2000, the Secretary of Energy, Bill Richardson, formalized the January 12, 2000, moratorium on recycling radioactive scrap metal that prevented the unrestricted release of recycled scrap metals to the private sector. This moratorium created significant problems for the INEEL lead recycling program and associated plans; however, through the cooperative efforts of the INEEL and Idaho State University as well as innovative planning and creative thinking the recycling issues were resolved. This collaboration has recycled over 160,000 pounds of excess lead to Idaho State University with a cost savings of over $.5M.

The radioactive materials in ''public'' locations are typically contained in small, stainless steel capsules known as sealed radiation sources (RS). These capsules seal in the radioactive materials, but not the radiation, because it is the radiation that is needed for a wide variety of applications at hospitals, medical clinics, manufacturing plants, universities, construction sites, and other facilities in the public sector. Radiation sources are readily available, and worldwide there are hundreds of thousands of RS. The IMPRSS Project is a cooperative development between the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA), Egyptian Ministry of Health (MOH), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), New Mexico Tech University (NMT), and Agriculture Cooperative Development International (ACDI/VOCA). SNL will coordinate the work scope between the participant organizations.

This paper provides a summary of investigations done on feasibility of using Ceramicrete technology to stabilize high level salt waste streams typical of Hanford and other sites. We used two non-radioactive simulants that covered the range of properties from low activity to high level liquids and sludges. One represented tank supernate, containing Cr, Pb, and Ag as the major hazardous metals, and Cs as the fission products; the other, a waste sludge, contained Cd, Cr, Ag, Ni, and Ba as the major hazardous contaminants, and Cs, and Tc as the fission products.

The Vlasov-Maxwell equations are used to investigate the nonlinear evolution of an intense sheet beam with distribution function f{sub b}(x,x{prime},s) propagating through a periodic focusing lattice k{sub x}(s+S) = k{sub x}(s), where S = const is the lattice period. The analysis considers the special class of distribution functions with uniform phase-space density f{sub b}(x,x{prime},s) = A = const inside of the simply connected boundary curves, x{prime}{sub +}(x,s) and x{prime}{sub -}(x,s), in the two-dimensional phase space (x,x{prime}). Coupled nonlinear equations are derived describing the self-consistent evolution of the boundary curves, x{prime}{sub +}(x,s) and x{prime}{sub -}(x,s), and the self-field potential {psi}(x,s) = e{sub b}{phi}(x,s)/{gamma}{sub b}m{sub b}{beta}{sub g}{sup 2}c{sup 2}. The resulting model is shown to be exactly equivalent to a (truncated) warm-fluid description with zero heat flow and triple-adiabatic equation-of-state with scalar pressure P{sub b}(x,s) = const x [n{sub b}(x,s)]. Such a fluid model is amenable to direct analysis by transforming to Lagrangian variables following the motion of a fluid element. Specific examples of periodically focused beam equilibria are presented, ranging from a finite-emittance beam in which the boundary curves in phase space (x,x{prime}) correspond to a pulsating parallelogram, to a cold beam in which the number density of beam particles, n{sub …

Extended x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) is used to investigate the local atomic environment and vibrational properties of plutonium and gallium atoms in the {alpha}{prime} and {delta} phases of a mixed phase Pu-Ga alloy. EXAFS results measured at low temperature compare the structure of the mixed phase sample with a single-phase {delta}-Pu sample. EXAFS spectral components attributed to both {alpha}{prime}-Pu and {delta}-Pu were observed in the mixed phase sample. Ga K-edge EXAFS spectra indicate local atomic environments similar to the Pu LIII-edge EXAFS results, which suggests that Ga is substitutional for Pu atoms in both the monoclinic {alpha}{prime}-Pu and the fcc {delta}-Pu structures. In {delta}-Pu, we measure a Ga-Pu bond length contraction of 0.11 Angstroms with respect to the Pu-Pu bond length. The corresponding bond-length contraction around Ga in {alpha}{prime}-Pu is only 0.03 Angstroms. Results from temperature-dependent Pu LIII-edge EXAFS measurements are fit to a correlated Debye model, and a large difference in the Pu-Pu bond Debye temperature is observed for the {alpha}{prime} and {delta} phases: {theta}{sub cD}({alpha}{prime})=159{+-}13 K versus {theta}{sub cD}({delta})=120{+-}3 K. The corresponding analysis for the Ga K EXAFS determines a Ga-Pu bond Debye temperature of {theta}{sub cD}({delta})=188{+-}12 K in the {delta}-Pu phase. These results are related …

Russian Federation has the leading experience in applying borehole storage/disposal method for SRS. A new immobilization technology for sources being disposed of in underground repositories was mastered by 1986 and since then it is used in the country. This method uses all advantages of borehole type repositories supplementing them with metal encapsulation of sources. Sources being uniformly allocated in the volume of underground vessel are fixed in the metal block hence ensuring long-term safety. The dissipation of radiogenic heat from SRS is considerably improved, radiation fields are reduced, and direct contact of sources to an environment is completely eliminated. The capacity of a typical borehole storage/disposal facility is increased almost 6 times applying metal immobilization. That has made new technology extremely favourable economically. The metal immobilization of SRS is considered as an option in Belarus and Ukraine as well as Bulgaria. Immobilization of sources in metal matrices can be a real solution for retrieval of SRS from inadequate repositories.