This report details the chemical and radionuclide contaminant results for the characterization of the 2012 First Quarter sampling of Tank 50 for the Saltstone Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). Information from this characterization will be used by Waste Solidification Engineering (WSE) to support the transfer of low-level aqueous waste from Tank 50 to the Salt Feed Tank in the Saltstone Facility in Z-Area, where the waste will be immobilized. This information is also used to update the Tank 50 Waste Characterization System. The following conclusions are drawn from the analytical results provided in this memorandum: (1) The concentrations of the reported chemical and radioactive contaminants were less than their respective WAC targets or limits unless noted in this section; (2) The reported detection limit for {sup 94}Nb is above the requested limit from Reference 2 but below the estimated limit in Reference 3; (3) {sup 247}Cm and {sup 249}Cf are above the requested limits from Reference 2. however, they are below the limits established in Reference 3; (4) The reported detection limit for Norpar 13 is greater than the limit from Table 4 and Attachment 8.2 of the WAC; (5) The reported detection limit for Isopar L is greater than the …

The objectives of the project are to use microbiological in situ bioconversion technology to convert sequestered or naturally-occurring greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, into methane and other useful organic compounds. The key factors affecting coal bioconversion identified in this research include (1) coal properties, (2) thermal maturation and coalification process, (3) microbial population dynamics, (4) hydrodynamics (5) reservoir conditions, and (6) the methodology of getting the nutrients into the coal seams. While nearly all cultures produced methane, we were unable to confirm sustained methane production from the enrichments. We believe that the methane generation may have been derived from readily metabolized organic matter in the coal samples and/or biosoluble organic material in the coal formation water. This raises the intriguing possibility that pretreatment of the coal in the subsurface to bioactivate the coal prior to the injection of microbes and nutrients might be possible. We determined that it would be more cost effective to inject nutrients into coal seams to stimulate indigenous microbes in the coal seams, than to grow microbes in fermentation vats and transport them to the well site. If the coal bioconversion process can be developed on a larger scale, then the cost to …

This report documents the history of attempts to directly measure cloud extinction, the current measurement device known as the Cloud Extinction Probe (CEP), specific problems with direct measurement of extinction coefficient, and the attempts made here to address these problems. Extinction coefficient is one of the fundamental microphysical parameters characterizing bulk properties of clouds. Knowledge of extinction coefficient is of crucial importance for radiative transfer calculations in weather prediction and climate models given that Earth's radiation budget (ERB) is modulated much by clouds. In order for a large-scale model to properly account for ERB and perturbations to it, it must ultimately be able to simulate cloud extinction coefficient well. In turn this requires adequate and simultaneous simulation of profiles of cloud water content and particle habit and size. Similarly, remote inference of cloud properties requires assumptions to be made about cloud phase and associated single-scattering properties, of which extinction coefficient is crucial. Hence, extinction coefficient plays an important role in both application and validation of methods for remote inference of cloud properties from data obtained from both satellite and surface sensors (e.g., Barker et al. 2008). While estimation of extinction coefficient within large-scale models is relatively straightforward for pure water …

Globally, the cement industry accounts for approximately 5 percent of current anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) emissions. World cement demand and production are increasing significantly, leading to an increase in this industry's absolute energy use and CO{sub 2} emissions. Development of new energy-efficiency and CO{sub 2} emission-reduction technologies and their deployment in the market will be key for the cement industry's mid- and long-term climate change mitigation strategies. This report is an initial effort to compile available information on process description, energy savings, environmental and other benefits, costs, commercialization status, and references for emerging technologies to reduce the cement industry's energy use and CO{sub 2} emissions. Although studies from around the world identify a variety of sector-specific and cross-cutting energy-efficiency technologies for the cement industry that have already been commercialized, information is scarce and/or scattered regarding emerging or advanced energy-efficiency and low-carbon technologies that are not yet commercialized. This report consolidates available information on nineteen emerging technologies for the cement industry, with the goal of providing engineers, researchers, investors, cement companies, policy makers, and other interested parties with easy access to a well-structured database of information on these technologies.

Short single-stranded nucleic acids are ubiquitous in biological processes and understanding their physical properties provides insights to nucleic acid folding and dynamics. We used small angle x-ray scattering to study 8-100 residue homopolymeric single-stranded DNAs in solution, without external forces or labeling probes. Poly-T's structural ensemble changes with increasing ionic strength in a manner consistent with a polyelectrolyte persistence length theory that accounts for molecular flexibility. For any number of residues, poly-A is consistently more elongated than poly-T, likely due to the tendency of A residues to form stronger base-stacking interactions than T residues.

None

Wood is a potential source for biofuels such as ethanol if it can be digested into sugars and fermented by yeast. Biomass derived from wood is a challenging substrate for ethanol production since it is made of lignin and cellulose which cannot be broken down easily into fermentable sugars. Some insects, and termites in particular, are specialized at using enzymes in their guts to digest wood into sugars. If termite gut enzymes could be made abundantly by a recombinant protein expression vector system, they could be applied to an industrial process to make biofuels from wood. In this study, a large cDNA library of relevant termite genes was made using termites fed a normal diet, or a diet with added lignin. A subtracted library yielded genes that were overexpressed in the presence of lignin. Termite gut enzyme genes were identified and cloned into recombinant insect viruses called baculoviruses. Using our PERLXpress system for protein expression, these termite gene recombinant baculoviruses were prepared and used to infect insect larvae, which then expressed abundant recombinant termite enzymes. Many of these expressed enzymes were prepared to very high purity, and the activities were studied in conjunction with collaborators at Purdue University. Recombinant termite …

The BIOMOL grant was for 'Local System Support for PDB Biological Unit Search and Display' to augment Rasmol's [Bernstein 2000] [Sayle, Milner-White 1995] existing macromolecular display functions with new capabilities by taking advantage of recent increases in local computing power in order to move functionality that is now scattered among various local and remote systems into one local package. Work included new algorithms for molecular surface display, an extended format for Protein Data Bank Entries, work on issues relating to the integration of multiple diffraction images formats.

A new X-band RF gun (Mark-0) has been assembled, tuned and was tested in the ASTA facility at SLAC. This gun has been improved from an earlier gun used in Compton-scattering experiments at SLAC by the introduction of a racetrack dual-input coupler to reduce quadrupole fields. Waveguide-to-coupler irises were also redesigned to reduce surface magnetic fields and therefore peak pulse surface heating. Tests of this photocathode gun will allow us to gain early operational experience for beam tests of a new gun with further improvements (Mark-1) being prepared for SLAC's X-Band Test Area (XTA) program and the LLNL MEGa-ray program. Results of current testing up to {approx} 200 MV/m peak surface Electric fields are presented.

Radioactive materials are stored in a variety of locations throughout the DOE complex. At the Savannah River Site (SRS), materials are stored within dedicated facilities. Each of those facilities has a documented safety analysis (DSA) that describes accidents that the facility and the materials within it may encounter. Facilities at the SRS are planning on utilizing the certified Model 9977 Shipping Package as a long term storage package and one of these facilities required ballistics testing. Specifically, in order to meet the facility DSA, the radioactive materials (RAM) must be contained within the storage package after impact by a .223 caliber round. In order to qualify the Model 9977 Shipping Package for storage in this location, the package had to be tested under these conditions. Over the past two years, the Model 9977 Shipping Package has been subjected to a series of ballistics tests. The purpose of the testing was to determine if the 9977 would be suitable for use as a storage package at a Savannah River Site facility. The facility requirements are that the package must not release any of its contents following the impact in its most vulnerable location by a .223 caliber round. A package, assembled …

Monosodium titanate (MST) for use in the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) must be qualified and verified in advance. A single qualification sample for each batch of material is sent to SRNL for analysis, as well as a statistical sampling of verification samples. The Harrell Industries Lot #46000619120 qualification and the 13 verification samples met each of the selected specification requirements that were tested and, consequently, the material is acceptable for use in the ARP process.

None

None

Attribute Measurement Systems have been developed and demonstrated several times in the United States over the last decade or so; under the Trilateral Initiative (1996-2002), FMTTD (Fissile Material Transparency Technology Demonstration, 2000), and NG-AMS (Next Generation Attribute Measurement System, 2005-2008). Each Attribute Measurement System has contributed to the growing body of knowledge regarding the use of such systems in warhead dismantlement and other Arms Control scenarios. The Trilateral Initiative, besides developing prototype hardware/software, introduced the topic to the international community. The 'trilateral' parties included the United States, the Russian Federation, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). With the participation of a Russian delegation, the FMTTD demonstrated that measurements behind an information barrier are feasible while meeting host party security requirements. The NG-AMS system explored the consequences of maximizing the use of Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) equipment, which made construction easier, but authentication harder. The 3rd Generation Attribute Measurement System (3G-AMS) will further the scope of previous systems by including additional attributes and more rigor in authentication.

We propose a phenomenological model for the early universe where there is a smooth transition between an early quintessence phase and a radiation-dominated era. The matter content is modeled by an appropriately modified Chaplygin gas for the early universe. We constrain the model observationally by mapping the primordial power spectrum of the scalar perturbations to the latest data of WMAP7. We compute as well the spectrum of the primordial gravitational waves as would be measured today. We show that the high frequencies region of the spectrum depends on the free parameter of the model and most importantly this region of the spectrum can be within the reach of future gravitational waves detectors.

Recent progress at the SPEAR3 includes the increase in stored current from 100 mA to 200 mA and top-off injection to allow beamlines to stay open during injection. Presently the booster injects 3.0 GeV beam to SPEAR3 three times a day. The stored beam decays to about 150 mA between the injections. The growing user demands are to increase the stored current to the design value of 500 mA, and to maintain it at a constant value within a percent or so. To achieve this goal the booster must inject once every few minutes. For improved injection efficiency, all RF systems at the linac, booster and SPEAR3 need to be phase-locked. The present booster RF system is basically a copy of the SPEAR2 RF system with 358.5 MHz and 40 kW peak RF power driving a 5-cell RF cavity for 1.0 MV gap voltage. These requirements entail a booster RF system upgrade to a scaled down version of the SPEAR3 RF system of 476.3 MHz with 1.2 MW cw klystron output power capabilities. We will analyze each subsystem option for their merits within budgetary and geometric space constraints. A substantial portion of the system will come from the decommissioned PEP-II …

This report provides a methodology and requisite data to assess the potential Energy Return On Investment (EROI) for nuclear fuel cycle alternatives, and applies that methodology to a limited set of used fuel recycle scenarios. This paper is based on a study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a parallel evaluation by AREVA Federal Services LLC, both of which were sponsored by the DOE Fuel Cycle Technologies (FCT) Program. The focus of the LLNL effort was to develop a methodology that can be used by the FCT program for such analysis that is consistent with the broader energy modeling community, and the focus of the AREVA effort was to bring industrial experience and operational data into the analysis. This cooperative effort successfully combined expertise from the energy modeling community with expertise from the nuclear industry. Energy Return on Investment is one of many figures of merit on which investment in a new energy facility or process may be judged. EROI is the ratio of the energy delivered by a facility divided by the energy used to construct, operate and decommission that facility. While EROI is not the only criterion used to make an investment decision, it has been shown that, …

With the advent of X-ray Free Electron Lasers (FELs), new methods have been developed to extend capabilities at short wavelengths beyond Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE). In particular, seeding of a FEL allows for temporal control of the radiation pulse and increases the peak brightness by orders of magnitude. Most recently, Gennady Stupakov and colleagues at SLAC proposed a new technique: Echo-Enabled Harmonic Generation (EEHG). Here a laser microbunches the beam in an undulator and the beam is sheared in a chicane. This process is repeated with a second laser, undulator and chicane. The interplay between these allows a seeding of the X-ray laser up to the 100th harmonic of the first laser. After introducing the physics of FELs and the EEHG seeding technique, we describe contributions to the experimental effort. We will present detailed studies of the experiment including the choice of parameters and their optimization, the emittance effect, spontaneous emission in the undulators, the second laser phase effect, and measurements of the jitter between RF stations. Finally, the status and preliminary results of the Echo-7 experiment will be outlined.

The objective of the project is to develop and demonstrate a novel fluidized-bed process module called a “Therminator” to simultaneously destroy and/or remove tar, NH3 and H2S from raw syngas produced by a fluidized-bed biomass gasifier. The raw syngas contains as much as 10 g/m3 of tar, 4,000 ppmv of NH3 and 100 ppmv of H2S. The goal of the Therminator module would be to use promising regenerable catalysts developed for removing tar, ammonia, and H2S down to low levels (around 10 ppm). Tars are cracked to a non-condensable gas and coke that would deposit on the acid catalyst. We will deposit coke, much like a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) in a petroleum refinery. The deposited coke fouls the catalyst, much like FCC, but the coke would be burned off in the regenerator and the regenerated catalyst would be returned to the cracker. The rapid circulation between the cracker and regenerator would ensure the availability of the required amount of regenerated catalyst to accomplish our goal. Also, by removing sulfur down to less than 10 ppmv, NH3 decomposition would also be possible in the cracker at 600-700°C. In the cracker, tar decomposes and lays down coke on the acid sites …

We have designed an 'ultimate' storage ring for the PEP-X light source that achieves the diffraction limited emittances (at 1.5 {angstrom}) of 12 pm-rad in both horizontal and vertical planes with a 4.5-GeV beam. These emittances include the contribution of intrabeam scattering at a nominal current of 200 mA in 3300 bunches. This quality beam in conjunction with a conventional 4-m undulator in a straight section can generate synchrotron radiation having a spectral brightness above 10{sup 22} [photons/s/mm{sup 2}/mrad{sup 2}/0.1% BW] at a 10 keV photon energy. The high coherence at the diffraction limit makes PEP-X competitive with 4th generation light sources based on an energy recovery linac. In addition, the beam lifetime is several hours and the dynamic aperture is large enough to allow off-axis injection. The alignment and stability tolerances, though challenging, are achievable. A ring with all these properties is only possible because of several major advances in mitigating the effects of nonlinear resonances.

None

A sample of Sludge Batch 7b (SB7b) was taken from Tank 40 in order to obtain radionuclide inventory analyses necessary for compliance with the Waste Acceptance Product Specifications (WAPS). The SB7b WAPS sample was also analyzed for chemical composition including noble metals and fissile constituents. At the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) the 3-L Tank 40 SB7b sample was transferred from the shipping container into a 4-L high density polyethylene bottle and solids were allowed to settle over the weekend. Supernate was then siphoned off and circulated through the shipping container to complete the transfer of the sample. Following thorough mixing of the 3-L sample, a 558 g sub-sample was removed. This sub-sample was then utilized for all subsequent analytical samples. Eight separate aliquots of the slurry were digested, four with HNO{sub 3}/HCl (aqua regia) in sealed Teflon� vessels and four with NaOH/Na{sub 2}O{sub 2} (alkali or peroxide fusion) using Zr crucibles. Two Analytical Reference Glass ? 1 (ARG-1) standards were digested along with a blank for each preparation. Each aqua regia digestion and blank was diluted to 1:100 mL with deionized water and submitted to Analytical Development (AD) for inductively coupled plasma ? atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analysis, inductively …

The principle objective of this proposal is to develop a positron emission tomography (PET) detector with depth-of-interaction (DOI) positioning capability that will achieve state of the art spatial resolution and sensitivity performance for small animal PET imaging. When arranged in a ring or box detector geometry, the proposed detector module will support <1 mm3 image resolution and >15% absolute detection efficiency. The detector will also be compatible with operation in a MR scanner to support simultaneous multi-modality imaging. The detector design will utilize a thick, monolithic crystal scintillator readout by a two-dimensional array of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) devices using a novel sensor on the entrance surface (SES) design. Our hypothesis is that our single-ended readout SES design will provide an effective DOI positioning performance equivalent to more expensive dual-ended readout techniques and at a significantly lower cost. Our monolithic crystal design will also lead to a significantly lower cost system. It is our goal to design a detector with state of the art performance but at a price point that is affordable so the technology can be disseminated to many laboratories. A second hypothesis is that using SiPM arrays, the detector will be able to operate in a MR scanner …

N/A