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Mechanics of Bubbles in Sludges and Slurries (open access)

Mechanics of Bubbles in Sludges and Slurries

The Hanford Site has 177 underground waste storage tanks that are known to retain and release bubbles composed of flammable gases. Characterizing and understanding the behavior of these bubbles is important for the safety issues associated with the flammable gases for both ongoing waste storage and future waste-retrieval operations. The retained bubbles are known to respond to small barometric pressure changes, though in a complex manner with unusual hysteresis occurring in some tanks in the relationship between bubble volume and pressure, or V-P hysteresis. With careful analysis, information on the volume of retained gas and the interactions of the waste and the bubbles can be determined. The overall objective of this study is to create a better understanding of the mechanics of bubbles retained in high-level waste sludges and slurries. Significant advancements have been made in all the major areas of basic theoretical and experimental method development.
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Gauglitz, Phillip A; Terrones, Guillermo & Rossen, William R
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN TRICHLOROETHYLENE INDUCED LIVER CANCER: IMPORTANCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP (open access)

MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN TRICHLOROETHYLENE INDUCED LIVER CANCER: IMPORTANCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a common contaminant of groundwater as a result of poor disposal practices of the past. As a consequence, this solvent is the focus of many clean-up operations of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. TCE is carcinogenic in both mice and rats, but at different sites, the liver and kidney, respectively (NCI 1976; NTP 1988; NTP 1990). Liver tumor induction in mice has been the tumor most critical from the standpoint of environmental regulation (Bull 2000). Under the proposed cancer risk guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 1996), identifying the dose-response behavior of key events involved in carcinogenic responses can be used for developing alternative risk assessments. A major difficulty in developing alternative approaches for TCE is the fact that three of its metabolites are capable of inducing liver cancer in mice (Bull et al. 1990; Daniel et al. 1992; DeAngelo et al. 1999; Pereria 1996). Two of these metabolites have distinct modes of action, dichloroacetate (DCA) and trichloroacetate (TCA). The third metabolite, chloral hydrate, is probably active as a result of its conversion to one or both of these two metabolites. Ordinarily, the first approach to assigning causality to a metabolite in tumorigenesis would be an attempt …
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Bull, Richard J. & Thrall, Brain D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Middle East: Attitudes toward the United States (open access)

Middle East: Attitudes toward the United States

None
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Prados, Alfred B.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
New Silicotitanate Waste Forms; Development and Characterization (open access)

New Silicotitanate Waste Forms; Development and Characterization

The objective of this program is to identify new waste forms and disposal strategies specific to crystalline silicotitanate (CST) secondary waste generated from Cs and Sr ion exchange processes. Waste forms developed in this work will offer an alternative to current disposal plans. The goals of the program are to reduce the costs associated with CST waste disposal, to minimize the risk of contamination to the environment during CST processing, and to provide DOE with technical alternatives for CST disposal. The technical objectives of the proposed work are to fully characterize the phase relationships, structures, and thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities of CST waste forms and to establish a sound technical basis for understanding key waste form properties such as melting temperatures and aqueous durability, based on an in-depth understanding of waste form structures and thermochemistry.
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Balmer, Mari Lou; nenoff, Tina; Navrotsky, Alexandra & Su, Yali
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Nostoc punctiforme Genome (open access)

The Nostoc punctiforme Genome

Nostoc punctiforme is a filamentous cyanobacterium with extensive phenotypic characteristics and a relatively large genome, approaching 10 Mb. The phenotypic characteristics include a photoautotrophic, diazotrophic mode of growth, but N. punctiforme is also facultatively heterotrophic; its vegetative cells have multiple development alternatives, including terminal differentiation into nitrogen-fixing heterocysts and transient differentiation into spore-like akinetes or motile filaments called hormogonia; and N. punctiforme has broad symbiotic competence with fungi and terrestrial plants, including bryophytes, gymnosperms and an angiosperm. The shotgun-sequencing phase of the N. punctiforme strain ATCC 29133 genome has been completed by the Joint Genome Institute. Annotation of an 8.9 Mb database yielded 7432 open reading frames, 45% of which encode proteins with known or probable known function and 29% of which are unique to N. punctiforme. Comparative analysis of the sequence indicates a genome that is highly plastic and in a state of flux, with numerous insertion sequences and multilocus repeats, as well as genes encoding transposases and DNA modification enzymes. The sequence also reveals the presence of genes encoding putative proteins that collectively define almost all characteristics of cyanobacteria as a group. N. punctiforme has an extensive potential to sense and respond to environmental signals as reflected by …
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Meeks, John C.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pakistan-U.S. Relations (open access)

Pakistan-U.S. Relations

None
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: LePoer, Barbara Leitch
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The phylogeny of Nudibranchia (Opisthobranchia, Gastropoda, Mollusca) reconstructed by three molecular markers (open access)

The phylogeny of Nudibranchia (Opisthobranchia, Gastropoda, Mollusca) reconstructed by three molecular markers

None
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Wollscheid-Lengeling, Evi; Boore, Jeffrey L.; Brown, Wesley M. & Wagele, Heike
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reducing VOC Press Emission from OSB Manufacturing (open access)

Reducing VOC Press Emission from OSB Manufacturing

Current regulations require industry to meet air emission standards with regard to particulates, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and other gases. One of many industries that will be affected by the new regulations is the wood composites industry. This industry generates VOCs, HAPs, and particulates mainly during the drying and pressing of wood. Current air treatment technologies for the industry are expensive to install and operate. As regulations become more stringent, treatment technologies will need to become more efficient and cost effective. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the use of process conditions and chemical additives to reduce VOC/HAPs in air emitted from presses and dryers during the production of oriented strand board.
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: McGinnis, Gary D.; WIlliams, Laura S.; Monte, Amy E.; Niemi, Brett A. & Flicker, Thomas M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sapulpa Daily Herald (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 87, No. 93, Ed. 1 Monday, December 31, 2001 (open access)

Sapulpa Daily Herald (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 87, No. 93, Ed. 1 Monday, December 31, 2001

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Quinnelly, Lorrie J.
Object Type: Newspaper
System: The Gateway to Oklahoma History
Technical Review of the Characteristics of Spent Nuclear Fuel Scrap (open access)

Technical Review of the Characteristics of Spent Nuclear Fuel Scrap

Spent Nuclear Fuel scrap generated while washing the SNF in Hanford's K-Basins to prepare it for cold vacuum drying differed significantly from that envisioned during project design. Therefore, a technical review panel evaluated the new information about the physical characteristics of scrap generated during processing by characterizing it based on measured weights and digital photographic images. They examined images of the scrap and from them estimated the volume and hence the masses of inert material and of large fragments of spent fuel. The panel estimated the area of these particles directly from images and by fitting a lognormal distribution to the relative number particles in four size ranges and then obtaining the area-to-volume ratio from the distribution. The estimated area is 0.3 m2 for the mass of scrap that could be loaded into a container for drying, which compares to a value of 4.5 m2 assumed for safe operation of the baseline process. The small quantity of scrap generated is encouraging. However, the size and mass of the scrap depend both on processes degrading the fuel while in the basin and on processes catching the scrap during washing, the latter including essentially unintentional filtration as debris accumulates. Therefore, the panel …
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Kuhn, William L.; Abrefah, John; Pitner, Allen L.; Plys, Martin G.; Sloughter, James P.; Wiborg, James C. et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Thermospray Mass Spectrometry Ionization Processes: Fundamental Mechanisms for Speciation, Separation and Characterization of Organic Complexants in DOE Wastes (open access)

Thermospray Mass Spectrometry Ionization Processes: Fundamental Mechanisms for Speciation, Separation and Characterization of Organic Complexants in DOE Wastes

The overall objective of this research was to develop and enhance our understanding of the identity of major organic complexant species and their products with metals in aqueous mixtures such as those found in DOE radioactive tank wastes. Our approach to achieving this objective was a series of incremental studies involving cooperative efforts at ORNL and at the University of Minnesota. Investigations at ORNL characterized soft ionization mass spectrometry processes for the complexant species by developing and interpreting positive and negative ion thermospray mass spectrometry (TMS) of some organic complexants and their decomposition products and relating the spectral distributions to gas phase chemistry. This knowledge of the gas phase chemistry can be related to known solution chemistry behavior. At the University of Minnesota liquid chromatography separations on zirconia-based chromatographic supports were studied in 2 order to understand the separation of organic complexants and the products formed by complexants with metals in complex aqueous mixtures. This information was used to define the conditions needed to introduce a simplified chemical stream into the mass spectrometer. Ultimately the knowledge gained from these parallel efforts were combined at ORNL to characterize the complexant species in a multi-component aqueous mixture. The final objective was to …
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Bostick, Debra T.; Caton, John E. & Carr, Mabbott, Gary
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Umatilla River Basin Anadromous Fsh Habitat Enhancement Project : 2000 Annual Report. (open access)

Umatilla River Basin Anadromous Fsh Habitat Enhancement Project : 2000 Annual Report.

The Umatilla River Basin Anadromous Fish Habitat Enhancement Project continued to identify impacted stream reaches throughout the Umatilla River Basin for habitat improvements during the 2000 project period. Public outreach efforts, biological and physical monitoring, and continued development of a Umatilla River Basin Watershed Assessment assisted the project in fostering public cooperation, targeting habitat deficiencies and determining habitat recovery measures. Habitat enhancement projects continued to be maintained on 44 private properties, four riparian easements and one in-stream enhancement agreement were secured, two new projects implemented and two existing projects improved to enhance anadromous fish habitat and natural fisheries production capabilities in the Umatilla River Basin. New project locations included sites on the mid Umatilla River and Buckaroo Creek. Improvements were implemented at existing project sites on the upper Umatilla River and Wildhorse Creek. A stream bank stabilization project was implemented at approximately River Mile 37.4 Umatilla River to stabilize 760 feet of eroding stream bank and improve in-stream habitat diversity. Habitat enhancements at this site included construction of six rock barbs with one large conifer root wad incorporated into each barb, stinging approximately 10,000 native willow cuttings, planting 195 tubling willows and 1,800 basin wildrye grass plugs, and seeding 40 …
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Shaw, R. Todd
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
United States Postal Service: Information on Retirement Plans (open access)

United States Postal Service: Information on Retirement Plans

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report identifies long-term structural or operational issues that may affect the U. S. Postal Services's (USPS) ability to provide affordable universal postal service on a break-even basis. One key issue is the Service's retirement costs and future liabilities. USPS had a net loss of $199 million in fiscal year 2000 and recently announced a $1.7 billion net loss for fiscal year 2001. The impact of September 11 and the subsequent anthrax mailings on the volume and the cost of future mail service is unclear. USPS' annual retirement plan costs are projected to rise significantly in the next 10 years--from $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $14 billion in fiscal year 2010. USPS also faces mounting debt because of pay increases resulting from new labor contracts and annual cost-of-living adjustments for retirees. USPS reported an outstanding liability for future retirement benefits of $32.2 billion as of September 2000, and anticipates paying another $16.5 billion in interest on this liability over 30 years. The Post-Retirement Health Benefit Program--an additional benefit available to USPS retirees--cost $744 million in fiscal year 2000. When this benefit is added to …
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Uranium Metal to Oxide Conversion by Air Oxidation –Process Development (open access)

Uranium Metal to Oxide Conversion by Air Oxidation –Process Development

Published technical information for the process of metal-to-oxide conversion of uranium components has been reviewed and summarized for the purpose of supporting critical decisions for new processes and facilities for the Y-12 National Security Complex. The science of uranium oxidation under low, intermediate, and high temperature conditions is reviewed. A process and system concept is outlined and process parameters identified for uranium oxide production rates. Recommendations for additional investigations to support a conceptual design of a new facility are outlined.
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Duncan, A
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Utilization of Kinetic Isotope Effects for the Concentration of Tritium (open access)

Utilization of Kinetic Isotope Effects for the Concentration of Tritium

The objective of this project was the development of methods for concentrating tritium in water based on large primary isotope effects in catalytic redox processes. Basic research was conducted to develop the chemistry of a complete cyclic process. The general methodology developed in this work will be applicable to a number of DOE waste streams, and as a consequence of the process tritium could be incorporated in an organic polymer or other solid waste form which will prevent its ready transport in ground water. The research was aimed at developing chemical cycles that produce high concentration factors for HTO and T2O. H-T discrimination occurs in an oxidation step involving a transition metal oxidant and small organic compounds containing oxidizable C-H or C-T bonds. Strong primary kinetic isotope effects lead to preferential oxidation of C-H bonds whose products are readily removed from the unreacted C-T compound. Since the reduced transition metal oxidant may be easily regenerated in an electrochemical reaction, the oxidation of the organic substrate becomes catalytic. On the other side of the cycle, tritium in the form of HTO and T2O is incorporated into the oxidized organic substrate in a reductive process, and thus the chemical cycle may be …
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Brown, Gilbert M. & Meyer, Thomas J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant CY 2000 Site Environmental Report (open access)

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant CY 2000 Site Environmental Report

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Carlsbad Field Office and Westinghouse TRU Solutions, LLC (WTS) are dedicated to maintaining high quality management of Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) environmental resources. DOE Order 5400.1, General Environmental Protection Program, and DOE Order 231.1, Environmental, Safety, and Health Reporting, require that the environment at and near DOE facilities be monitored to ensure the safety and health of the public and the environment. This Waste Isolation Pilot Plant 2000 Site Environmental Report summarizes environmental data from calendar year (CY) 2000 that characterize environmental management performance and demonstrate compliance with federal and state regulations. This report was prepared in accordance with DOE Order 5400.1, DOE Order 231.1, the Environmental Regulatory Guide for Radiological Effluent Monitoring and Environmental Surveillance (DOE/EH-0173T), and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Environmental Protect ion Implementation Plan (DOE/WIPP 96-2199). The above orders and guidance documents require that DOE facilities submit an Annual Site Environmental Report to DOE Headquarters, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety, and Health. The purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive description of operational environmental monitoring activities, to provide an abstract of environmental activities conducted to characterize site environmental management performance to confirm compliance with …
Date: December 31, 2001
Creator: Westinghouse TRU Solutions, LLC & Environmental Science and Research Foundation, Inc.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library