The Chemical Engineering Division is one of six divisions within the Engineering Research Directorate at Argonne National Laboratory, one of the U.S. government's oldest and largest research laboratories. The University of Chicago oversees the laboratory on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Argonne's mission is to conduct basic scientific research, to operate national scientific facilities, to enhance the nation's energy resources, to promote national security, and to develop better ways to manage environmental problems. Argonne has the further responsibility of strengthening the nation's technology base by developing innovative technology and transferring it to industry. The Division is a diverse early-stage engineering organization, specializing in the treatment of spent nuclear fuel, development of advanced electrochemical power sources, and management of both high- and low-level nuclear wastes. Additionally, the Division operates the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, which provides a broad range of analytical services to Argonne and other organizations. The Division is multidisciplinary. Its people have formal training in chemistry; physics; materials science; and electrical, mechanical, chemical, and nuclear engineering. They are specialists in electrochemistry, ceramics, metallurgy, catalysis, materials characterization, nuclear magnetic resonance, repository science, and the nuclear fuel cycle. Our staff have experience working in and collaborating with university, industry …

We report the results of variational calculations of elastic electron scattering by tetrafluoroethene, C{sub 2}F{sub 4}, with incident electron energies ranging from 0.5 to 20 eV, using the complex Kohn method and effective core potentials. These are the first fully calculations to reproduce experimental angular differential cross sections at energies below 10 eV. Low-energy electron scattering by C{sub 2}F{sub 4} is sensitive to the inclusion of electronic correlation and target-distortion effects. We therefore present results that describe the dynamic polarization of the target by the incident electron. The calculated cross sections are compared with recent experimental measurements.

During this quarter, work was focused on testing layered composite membranes under varying feed stream flow rates at high pressure. By optimizing conditions, H{sub 2} permeation rates in excess of 400 mL {center_dot} min{sup -1} {center_dot} cm{sup -2} at 440 C were measured. Membrane stability was characterized by repeated thermal and pressure cycling. The effect of cermet grain size on permeation was determined. Finally, progress is summarized on thin film cermet fabrication, catalyst development, and H{sub 2} separation unit scale up.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 26.6 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 10% of the world's population but more than two-thirds of the worldwide total of infected people. This report discusses this issue in detail, including the cause of the African AIDS epidemic, the social and economic consequences, response and treatment, and U.S. policy.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Alvin, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

For a particle moving in nonuniform magnetic field under the action of an rf wave, ponderomotive effects result from rf-driven oscillations nonlinearly coupled with Larmor rotation. Using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism, we show how, despite this coupling, two independent integrals of the particle motion are approximately conserved. Those are the magnetic moment of free Larmor rotation and the quasi-energy of the guiding center motion parallel to the magnetic field. Under the assumption of non-resonant interaction of the particle with the rf field, these integrals represent adiabatic invariants of the particle motion.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Predictions of increasing levels of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) and the specter of global warming have intensified research efforts to identify ways to sequester carbon. A number of novel avenues of research are being considered, including bioprocessing methods to promote and accelerate biosequestration of CO{sub 2} from the environment through the growth of organisms such as coccolithophorids, which are capable of sequestering CO{sub 2} relatively permanently. Calcium and magnesium carbonates are currently the only proven, long-term storage reservoirs for carbon. Whereas organic carbon is readily oxidized and releases CO{sub 2} through microbial decomposition on land and in the sea, carbonates can sequester carbon over geologic time scales. This proposal investigates the use of coccolithophorids single-celled, marine algae that are the major global producers of calcium carbonate to sequester CO{sub 2} emissions from power plants. Cultivation of coccolithophorids for calcium carbonate (CaCO{sub 3}) precipitation is environmentally benign and results in a stable product with potential commercial value. Because this method of carbon sequestration does not impact natural ecosystem dynamics, it avoids controversial issues of public acceptability and legality associated with other options such as direct injection of CO{sub 2} into the sea and ocean fertilization. Consequently, cultivation of coccolithophorids could …

A thin foil Faraday cup array is being built to measure the loss of 3.5 MeV alpha particles and MeV ion cyclotron heating (ICH) tail ions on JET. It will consist of nine detectors spread over five different poloidal locations and three radial positions. They will measure the poloidal distribution and radial scrape off of the losses. The detectors will be comprised of four layers of thin (2.5 micron) Ni foil, giving some resolution of the lost particle energy distribution as different ranges of energies will stop in different layers of the detector. One detector will utilize eight thinner (1.0 micron) foils to obtain a better resolved energy distribution. These detectors will accept particles incident up to 45{sup o} from the normal to the foils.

The objective of this paper is to introduce the process and philosophies used to develop LLNL methodology for performing nonnuclear safety bases. Our former approach needed revision in order to implement the new Work Smart Standard (WSS), 'Safety Basis Requirements for Nonnuclear Facilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Site Specific Standard' (UCRL-ID-150214), approved in 2003 and revised January, 2004. This work relates directly to the following workshop theme: 'Improvements in Chemical, Biological, and Non-nuclear Safety analysis.' A requirements document, Environmental Safety and Health Manual, Document 3.1 provides safety bases methodology 'how-to' for LLNL personnel. This methodology document had to undergo a major revision, and essentially was completely re-written, since the nonnuclear requirements underwent a major change due to the new standard. The new methodology was based on a graded approach respective to risk level for each hazard type and facility classification. The development process included input from a cross-section of representatives of LLNL organizations at every step in the process. The initial methodology was tested in a pilot project that resulted in completed safety basis analyses and documentation for a major facility at LLNL. Feedback from the pilot was used to refine the methodology. The new methodology promotes a graded …

Results from the first use of Focused Ion Beam (FIB) technology to section Bacillus spores at LLNL in a dual-beam (electron and ion) instrument is presented and discussed. With the use of a dual-beam instrument, high resolution imaging of single spores using low voltage scanning electron microscopy followed by FIB sectioning, SEM imaging of internal structure of the same spore is demonstrated to be possible. Additionally, FIB is shown to be able to precisely micro-machine spores thus potentially facilitating micro-scale experiments on single spores.

The Language Acquisition State Grant Program under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) contains provisions intended to address the specific educational needs of limited English proficient (LEP) students and students who have recently immigrated to the United States.1 Title III represents a major overhaul of federal programs for LEP students formerly provided under ESEA, Title VII, Parts A and C.

Off-axis rf-driven current can play a critical role in sustaining high Beta spherical torus (ST) plasmas without a central solenoid. Numerical modeling of electron Bernstein wave current drive (EBWCD) for a {Beta} {approx} 40% ST plasma predicts efficient, off-axis, Ohkawa EBWCD. Current can be efficiently driven at r/a greater than 0.5 where the large trapped electron fraction precludes conventional Fisch-Boozer current drive and provides near-ideal conditions for Ohkawa EBWCD. Also, Ohkawa EBWCD efficiency increases with r/a. Enhancement over Fisch-Boozer current drive is a factor of two at r/a {approx} 0.2 rising to over an order of magnitude at r/a {approx} 0.5.

The conceptual and predictive models documented in this Engineered Barrier System: Physical and Chemical Environment Model report describe the evolution of the physical and chemical conditions within the waste emplacement drifts of the repository. The modeling approaches and model output data will be used in the total system performance assessment (TSPA-LA) to assess the performance of the engineered barrier system and the waste form. These models evaluate the range of potential water compositions within the emplacement drifts, resulting from the interaction of introduced materials and minerals in dust with water seeping into the drifts and with aqueous solutions forming by deliquescence of dust (as influenced by atmospheric conditions), and from thermal-hydrological-chemical (THC) processes in the drift. These models also consider the uncertainty and variability in water chemistry inside the drift and the compositions of introduced materials within the drift. This report develops and documents a set of process- and abstraction-level models that constitute the engineered barrier system: physical and chemical environment model. Where possible, these models use information directly from other process model reports as input, which promotes integration among process models used for total system performance assessment. Specific tasks and activities of modeling the physical and chemical environment are …

NASA's recent CRYSTAL-FACE field experiment focused on anvil cirrus clouds, an important but poorly understood element of our climate system. Data obtained include the first comprehensive measurements of aerosols and cloud particles throughout the atmospheric column during the evolution of multiple deep convective storm systems. Coupling these new measurements with detailed cloud simulations that resolve the size distributions of aerosols and cloud particles, we find several lines of evidence that most anvil crystals form on mid-tropospheric rather than boundary layer aerosols. This result defies conventional wisdom and indicates that distant pollution sources may impact anvil clouds more than local sources.

Heulandite is a common rock-forming zeolite that exhibits wide solid solution of extra framework cations, presumably due to ready ion exchange with aqueous solutions. In order to provide a quantitative basis for interpreting and predicting the distribution of aqueous species between heulandite and aqueous solutions, ion exchange equilibrium between heulandite and aqueous solutions with respect to the binary cation pairs Ca{sup 2+} - K{sup +}, Ca{sup 2+} - Na{sup +}, K{sup +} - Na{sup +}, K{sup +} - Sr{sup 2+}, Na{sup +} - Sr{sup 2+}, and Ca{sup 2+} - Sr{sup 2+} was investigated. Homoionic Ca-, K-, and Na-heulandites prepared from natural heulandite were equilibrated with 0.1 N Cl{sup -} solutions containing various proportions of the cations in a given binary pair at 55 and 85 C to define isotherms describing partitioning of the cations over a wide range of heulandite and solution composition with respect to the cations in each pair. In general, the experiments equilibrated rapidly, within 11-15 weeks at 55 C and 3-4 weeks at 85 C. The exception was the Ca{sup 2+} - Sr{sup 2+} binary exchange, which did not equilibrate even after 3 months at 55 C and 4 weeks at 85 C. Slow exchange of …

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Successful operation in NSTX of two prototype fast-response micro ionization gauges during plasma operations has motivated us to install five gauges at different toroidal and poloidal locations to measure the edge neutral pressure and its dependence on the type of discharge (L-mode, H-mode, CHI) and the fueling method and location. The edge neutral pressure is also used as an input to the transport analysis codes TRANSP and DEGAS-2. The modified PDX-type Penning gauges are well suited for pressure measurements in the NSTX divertor where the toroidal field is relatively high. Behind the NSTX outer divertor plates where the field is lower, an unshielded fast ion gauge of a new design has been installed. This gauge was developed after laboratory testing of several different designs in a vacuum chamber with applied magnetic fields.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In October 2000, Congress passed the International Anticorruption and Good Governance Act (P.L. 106-309). The purpose of this legislation is to promote good governance by helping other countries combat corruption and improve government transparency and accountability. U.S. agencies spent about $33 million per year in fiscal years 2001-2002 providing anticorruption assistance to 22 sub-Saharan African countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided the majority of this assistance, along with the Departments of the Treasury, Justice, Commerce, and State. To help Congress oversee management of anticorruption programs in sub-Saharan Africa, GAO was asked to examine (1) what is known about the extent of corruption in the region, (2) the factors that give rise to corruption in this region, (3) the anticorruption assistance U.S. agencies have provided, and (4) the lessons about anticorruption assistance that U.S. agencies and other international organizations have learned."

This report describes work to examine the gas generation behavior of actual K East (KE) Basin floor, pit and canister sludge. Mixed and unmixed and fractionated KE canister sludge were tested, along with floor and pit sludges from areas in the KE Basin not previously sampled. The first report in this series focuses on gas generation from KE floor and canister sludge collected using a consolidated sampling technique. The third report presents results of gas generation testing of irradiated uranium fuel fragments with and without sludge addition. The path forward for management of the K Basin Sludge is to retrieve, ship, and store the sludge at T Plant until final processing at some future date. Gas generation will impact the designs and costs of systems associated with retrieval, transportation and storage of sludge. This report was originally published in March 2001. In January 2004, a transcription error was discovered in the value reported for the uranium metal content of KE North Loadout Pit sample FE-3. This revision of the report corrects the U metal content of FE-3 from 0.0013 wt% to 0.013 wt%.

The purpose of the study described in this report was to generate maps and statistics that quantify contamination in groundwater, based on historical groundwater concentration data for multiple points in time. The results generated from this study include several quantitative summaries of contaminant distributions (e.g., the location of the center of mass of contaminant plumes and the total mass of contaminants in the plume) and are collectively referred to as history matching data. A primary goal of this study was to use geostatistical and Monte Carlo methods that allow one to provide an estimate of uncertainty in the history matching data generated.

In an ongoing project to relate surface hydrothermal alteration to structurally controlled geothermal aquifers, we mapped a 16 km swath of the eastern front of the Stillwater Range using Hyperspectral fault and mineral mapping techniques. The Dixie Valley Fault system produces a large fractured aquifer heating Pleistocene aged groundwater to a temperature of 285 C at 5-6 km. Periodically over the last several thousand years, seismic events have pushed these heated fluids to the surface, leaving a rich history of hydrothermal alteration in the Stillwater Mountains. At Dixie Hot Springs, the potentiometric surface of the aquifer intersects the surface, and 75 C waters flow into the valley. We find a high concentration of alunite, kaolinite, and dickite on the exposed fault surface directly adjacent to a series of active fumaroles on the range front fault. This assemblage of minerals implies interaction with water in excess of 200 C. Field spectra support the location of the high temperature mineralization. Fault mapping using a Digital Elevation Model in combination with mineral lineation and field studies shows that complex fault interactions in this region are improving permeability in the region leading to unconfined fluid flow to the surface. Seismic studies conducted 10 km …

Report on the diversity visa lottery, which "encourag[es] legal immigration from countries other than the major sending countries of current immigration to the United States" (p. 1).