Multiple, stress-level slug tests were performed at selected test/depth intervals within wells 399-2-5, 399-3-22, and 399-4-14 as part of the 300 Area volatile organic compound characterization program at the Hanford Site in Washington State. The temporary test screen lengths were characterized as the boreholes were advanced to their final drill depths and before their completion as monitor-well facilities. Following well completion, slug tests were performed in the final, completed well-screen sections. The objectives of the slug tests were to provide the vertical distribution of hydraulic conductivity with depth at these locations and to support selection of the final well screen-depth interval for each of these monitor-well facilities.

In this document we assess the North American industry's current ability to manufacture polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells.

The purpose of this report is to provide status of the ingest software used to process instrument data for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility (ACRF). The report is divided into four sections: (1) news about ingests currently under development, (2) current production ingests, (3) future ingest development plans, and (4) information on retired ingests. Please note that datastreams beginning in “xxx” indicate cases where ingests run at multiple ACRF sites, which results in a datastream(s) for each location.

The purpose of this report is to provide a concise but comprehensive overview of Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility instrumentation status. The report is divided into the following four sections: (1) new instrumentation in the process of being acquired and deployed, (2) existing instrumentation and progress on improvements or upgrades, (3) proposed future instrumentation, and (4) Small Business Innovation Research instrument development.

In continuation of the development of composite materials for air separation based on molecular sieving properties and magnetic fields effects, several molecular sieve materials were tested in a flow system, and the effects of temperature, flow conditions, and magnetic fields were investigated. New carbon materials adsorbents, with and without pre-loaded super-paramagnetic nanoparticles of Fe3O4 were synthesized; all materials were packed in chromatographic type columns which were placed between the poles of a high intensity, water-cooled, magnet (1.5 Tesla). In order to verify the existence of magnetodesorption effect, separation tests were conducted by injecting controlled volumes of air in a flow of inert gas, while the magnetic field was switched on and off. Gas composition downstream the column was analyzed by gas chromatography and by mass spectrometry. Under the conditions employed, the tests confirmed that N2 - O2 separation occurred at various degrees, depending on material's intrinsic properties, temperature and flow rate. The effect of magnetic fields, reported previously for static conditions, was not confirmed in the flow system. The best separation was obtained for zeolite 13X at sub-ambient temperatures. Future directions for the project include evaluation of a combined system, comprising carbon and zeolite molecular sieves, and testing the effect …

On March 28-30 and May 1-4, 2007, CONSOL Energy Inc. Research & Development (CONSOL R&D) performed flue gas sampling at AES Greenidge to verify the performance of the multi-pollutant control system recently installed by Babcock Power Environmental Inc. (BPEI) on the 107-MW Unit 4 (Boiler 6). The multi-pollutant control system includes combustion modifications and a hybrid selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR)/in-duct selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system to reduce NO{sub x} emissions, followed by a Turbosorp{reg_sign} circulating fluidized bed dry scrubber system and baghouse to reduce emissions of SO{sub 2}, SO{sub 3}, HCl, HF, and particulate matter. Mercury removal is provided via the co-benefits afforded by the in-duct SCR, dry scrubber, and baghouse and by injection of activated carbon upstream of the scrubber, as required. The testing in March and May demonstrated that the multi-pollutant control system attained its performance targets for NO{sub x} emissions, SO{sub 2} removal efficiency, acid gas (SO{sub 3}, HCl, and HF) removal efficiency, and mercury removal efficiency. However, the ammonia slip measured between the SCR outlet and air heater inlet was consistently greater than the guarantee of 2 ppmvd {at} 3% O{sub 2}. As a result, additional testing was performed on May 30-June 1 and on June …

The purpose of this report is to give wind turbine engineers information and examples of the design, testing through simulation, field implementation, and field testing of advanced wind turbine controls.

This report, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), provides a comprehensive set of cost data supporting a cost analysis for the relative economic comparison of options for use in the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) Program. The report describes the AFCI cost basis development process, reference information on AFCI cost modules, a procedure for estimating fuel cycle costs, economic evaluation guidelines, and a discussion on the integration of cost data into economic computer models. This report contains reference cost data for 25 cost modules—23 fuel cycle cost modules and 2 reactor modules. The cost modules were developed in the areas of natural uranium mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, depleted uranium disposition, fuel fabrication, interim spent fuel storage, reprocessing, waste conditioning, spent nuclear fuel (SNF) packaging, long-term monitored retrievable storage, near surface disposal of low-level waste (LLW), geologic repository and other disposal concepts, and transportation processes for nuclear fuel, LLW, SNF, transuranic, and high-level waste.

This report summarizes power electronic interfaces for DE applications and the topologies needed for advanced power electronic interfaces. It focuses on photovoltaic, wind, microturbine, fuel cell, internal combustion engine, battery storage, and flywheel storage systems.

The role fractures play in the movement of groundwater through zeolitic tuffs that form the tuff confining unit (TCU) beneath Yucca Flat, Nevada Test Site, is poorly known. This is an important uncertainty, because beneath most of Yucca Flat the TCU lies between the sources of radionuclide contaminants produced by historic underground nuclear testing and the regional carbonate aquifer. To gain a better understanding of the role fractures play in the movement of groundwater and radionuclides through the TCU beneath Yucca Flat, a fracture analysis focusing on hydraulic properties was performed on conventional cores from four vertical exploratory holes in Area 7 of Yucca Flat that fully penetrate the TCU. The results of this study indicate that the TCU is poorly fractured. Fracture density for all fractures is 0.27 fractures per vertical meter of core. For open fractures, or those observed to have some aperture, the density is only 0.06 fractures per vertical meter of core. Open fractures are characterized by apertures ranging from 0.1 to 10 millimeter, and averaging 1.1 millimeter. Aperture typically occurs as small isolated openings along the fracture, accounting for only 10 percent of the fracture volume, the rest being completely healed by secondary minerals. Zeolite …

In the event of large-scale natural or manmade catastrophic events, access to reliable and enduring commercial communication systems is critical. Hurricane Katrina provided a recent example of the need to ensure communications during a national emergency. To ensure that communication demands are met during these critical times, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) under the guidance of United States Strategic Command has studied infrastructure issues, concerns, and vulnerabilities associated with an airborne wireless communications capability. Such a capability could provide emergency wireless communications until public/commercial nodes can be systematically restored. This report focuses on the airborne cellular restoration concept; analyzing basic infrastructure requirements; identifying related infrastructure issues, concerns, and vulnerabilities and offers recommended solutions.

Application of Taylor weighting (taper) to an antenna aperture can achieve low peak sidelobes, but combining the Taylor weighting with quantized attenuators and phase shifters at each radiating element will impact the performance of a phased-array antenna. An examination of array performance is undertaken from the simple point of view of the characteristics of the array factor. Design rules and guidelines for determining the Taylor-weighting parameters, the number of bits required for the digital phase shifter, and the dynamic range and number of bits required for the digital attenuator are developed. For a radar application, when each element is fed directly from a transmit/receive module, the total power radiated by the array will be reduced as a result of the taper. Consequently, the issue of whether to apply the taper on both transmit and receive configurations, or only on the receive configuration is examined with respect to two-way sidelobe performance.

In 2008, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program and the Climate Change Prediction Program (CCPP) have been asked to produce joint science metrics. For CCPP, the metrics will deal with a decade-long control simulation using geodesic grid-coupled climate model. For ARM, the metrics will deal with observations associated with the 2006 deployment of the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) to Niamey, Niger. Specifically, ARM has been asked to deliver data products for Niamey that describe cloud, aerosol, and dust properties.

Paper describes the evaluation of hybrid-electric transit buses purchased by New York City Transit (NYCT) in an order group of 200 (Gen II) and compares their performance to those of similar hybrid-electric transit buses purchased by NYCT in an order group of 125 (Gen I).

This battery test procedure manual was prepared fo

Strict federal regulations govern the possession, use, and transfer of pathogens and toxins with potential to cause harm to the public, either through accidental or deliberate means. Laboratories registered through either the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), or both, must prepare biosafety, security, and incident response plans, conduct drills or exercises on an annual basis, and update plans accordingly. At the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), biosafety, laboratory, and emergency management staff have been working together for 2 years to satisfy federal and DOE/NNSA requirements. This has been done through the establishment of plans, training, tabletop and walk-through exercises and drills, and coordination with local and regional emergency response personnel. Responding to the release of infectious agents or toxins is challenging, but through familiarization with the nature of the hazardous biological substances or organisms, and integration with laboratory-wide emergency response procedures, credible scenarios are being used to evaluate our ability to protect workers, the public, and the environment from agents we must work with to provide for national biodefense.

Following the success of the Anole test of portable detection system, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office organized a test and evaluation campaign for personal radiation detectors (PRDs), also known as “Pagers.” This test, “Bobcat,” was conducted from July 17 to August 8, 2006, at the Nevada Test Site. The Bobcat test was designed to evaluate the performance of PRDs under various operational scenarios, such as pedestrian surveying, mobile surveying, cargo container screening, and pedestrian chokepoint monitoring. Under these testing scenarios, many operational characteristics of the PRDs, such as gamma and neutron sensitivities, positive detection and false alarm rates, response delay times, minimum detectable activities, and source localization errors, were analyzed. This paper will present the design, execution, and methodologies used to test this equipment for the DHS.

FLASH plans to use a 'third harmonic' (3.9 GHz) superconducting cavity to compensate nonlinear distortions of the longitudinal phase space due to the sinusoidal curvature of the cavity voltage of the TESLA 1.3 GHz cavities. Higher order modes (HOMs) in the 3.9 GHz have a significant impact on the dynamics of the electron bunches in a long bunch train. Kicks due to dipole modes can be enhanced along the bunch train depending on the frequency and Q-value of the modes. The enhancement factor for a constant beam offset with respect to the cavity has been calculated. A simple Monte Carlo model of these effects, allowing for scatter in HOM frequencies due to manufacturing variances, has also been implemented and results for both FLASH and for an XFEL-like configuration are presented.

Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) high temperature electrolysis research to generate hydrogen using solid oxide electrolysis cells is presented in this paper. The research results reported here have been obtained in a laboratory-scale apparatus. These results and common scale-up issues also indicate that for the technology to be successful in a large industrial setting, several technical, economical, and manufacturing issues have to be resolved. Some of the issues related to solid oxide cells are stack design and performance optimization, identification and evaluation of cell performance degradation parameters and processes, integrity and reliability of the solid oxide electrolysis (SOEC) stacks, life-time prediction and extension of the SOEC stack, and cost reduction and economic manufacturing of the SOEC stacks. Besides the solid oxide cells, balance of the hydrogen generating plant also needs significant development. These issues are process and ohmic heat source needed for maintaining the reaction temperature (~830°C), high temperature heat exchangers and recuperators, equal distribution of the reactants into each cell, system analysis of hydrogen and associated energy generating plant, and cost optimization. An economic analysis of this plant was performed using the standardized H2A Analysis Methodology developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen Program, and using realistic financial and …

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are metals that exhibit large recoverable strains and exert large forces with tremendous energy densities. The behavior of SMAs is thermomechanically coupled. Their response to temperature is sensitive to their loading condition and their response to loading is sensitive to their thermal condition. This coupled behavior is not to be circumvented, but to be confronted and understood, since it is what manifests SMA's superior clamping performance. To reasonably characterize the coupled behavior of SMA clamping rings used in safety mechanisms, we conduct a series of experiments on SMA samples. The results of the tests will allow increased fidelity in modeling and failure analysis of parts.

High-speed microchannel plate (MCP)–based imagers are critical detectors for x-ray diagnostics employed on Z-experiments at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to measure time-resolved x-ray spectra and to image dynamic hohlraums. A design using eight half-strip x-ray photocathodes in one imager permits recordings of radiation events in discrete temporal snapshots to yield a time-evolved movie. We present data using various facilities to characterize the performance of this design. These characterization studies include DC and pulsed-voltage biased measurements in both saturated and linear operational regimes using an intense, short-pulsed UV laser and Manson source. Surface voltage profile measurements using a picoprobe help to determine the gain variation across the strips. Test data from a recent SNL ZR-experiment demonstrates the flexibility and high-quality images obtained by this MCP imager.

China first adopted minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) in 1989. Today, there are standards for a wide range of domestic, commercial and selected industrial equipment. In 1999, China launched a voluntary endorsement label, which has grown to cover over 40 products including water-saving products. Further, in 2005, China started a mandatory energy information label that initially covered two products and in 2007 was extended to cover four products total including: air conditioners; household refrigerators; clothes washers; and unitary air conditioners. These programs have had an important impact in reducing the energy consumption of appliances in China. China has built up a strong infrastructure to develop and implement standards. Historically, however, the government's primary focus has been on the technical requirements for specifying efficiency performance. Less attention has been paid to monitoring and enforcement with a minimal commitment of resources and little expansion of administrative capacity in this area. Thus, market compliance with both mandatory standard and labeling programs has been questionable. Furthermore, actual energy savings have quite possibly been undermined as a result. The establishment of a regularized monitoring system for tracking compliance with the mandatory standard and energy information label programs in China is a major area for program …

The U.S. Department of Energy, National Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO) is planning to close the 92-Acre Area of the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which is about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Closure planning for this facility must take into account the regulatory requirements for a diversity of waste streams, disposal and storage configurations, disposal history, and site conditions. This paper provides a brief background of the Area 5 RWMS, identifies key closure issues, and presents the closure strategy. Disposals have been made in 25 shallow excavated pits and trenches and 13 Greater Confinement Disposal (GCD) boreholes at the 92-Acre Area since 1961. The pits and trenches have been used to dispose unclassified low-level waste (LLW), low-level mixed waste (LLMW), and asbestiform waste, and to store classified low-level and low-level mixed materials. The GCD boreholes are intermediate-depth disposal units about 10 feet (ft) in diameter and 120 ft deep. Classified and unclassified high-specific activity LLW, transuranic (TRU), and mixed TRU are disposed in the GCD boreholes. TRU waste was also disposed inadvertently in trench T-04C. Except for three disposal units that are active, all pits and trenches are …

This is a complete (Fiscal Years 2000–2006) collection of the Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) research and development contributions to the project, “CO2 Separation Using Thermally Optimized Membranes.” The INL scientific contribution to the project has varied due to the fluctuations in funding from year to year. The focus of the project was polybenzimidazole (PBI) membranes and developing PBI compounds (both substitution and blends) that provide good film formation and gas separation membranes. The underlying problem with PBI is its poor solubility in common solvents. Typically, PBI is dissolved in “aggressive” solvents, like N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and N methylpyrrolidone (NMP). The INL FY-03 research was directed toward making soluble N-substituted PBI polymers, where INL was very successful. Many different types of modified PBI polymers were synthesized; however, film formation proved to be a big problem with both unsubstituted and N-substituted PBIs. Therefore, INL researchers directed their attention to using plasticizers or additives to make the membranes more stable and workable. During the course of these studies, other high-performance polymers (like polyamides and polyimides) were found to be better materials, which could be used either by themselves or blends with PBI. These alternative high-performance polymers provided the best pathway forward for soluble high-temperature …