Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory is working to improve energy efficiency in high-tech facilities, i.e., laboratories, data centers, and clean rooms. With their high ventilation requirements and correspondingly high process loads, 7x24 operation, and importance to the overall economy, these types of facilities offer important (and often under-exploited) potential for energy savings. In California alone, two large electric power plants could be avoided with the widespread adoption of measures to improve energy efficiency in this arena, saving half a billion dollars per year for facility owners. To help identify specific promising opportunities, the California Energy Commission sponsored the development of technology research ''Roadmaps'' for clean rooms and laboratories (in 2002) and data centers (in 2003). These were developed with industry participation and provided dozens of specific recommendations. The balance of this article focuses on the case of clean rooms.

A method is developed to monitor the rate of loss of air from aphrons at elevated pressures. This technique is used to study the effects of pressure, fluid composition and rates of pressurization and depressurization on the kinetics of air loss from aphrons in APHRON ICS{trademark} drilling fluids.

Solar photoelectrochemical water-splitting has long been viewed as one of the “holy grails” of chemistry because of its potential impact as a clean, renewable method of fuel production. Several known photocatalytic semiconductors can be used; however, the fundamental mechanisms of the process remain poorly understood and no known material has the required properties for cost effective hydrogen production. In order to investigate morphological and compositional variations in metal oxides as they relate to opto-electrochemical properties, we have employed a combinatorial methodology using automated, high-throughput, electrochemical synthesis and screening together with conventional solid-state methods. This report discusses a number of novel, high-throughput instruments developed during this project for the expeditious discovery of improved materials for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. Also described within this report are results from a variety of materials (primarily tungsten oxide, zinc oxide, molybdenum oxide, copper oxide and titanium dioxide) whose properties were modified and improved by either layering, inter-mixing, or doping with one or more transition metals. Furthermore, the morphologies of certain materials were also modified through the use of structure directing agents (SDA) during synthesis to create mesostructures (features 2-50 nm) that increased surface area and improved rates of hydrogen production.

This Biennial Environmental Compliance Report (BECR) documents environmental regulatory compliance at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a facility designed and authorized for the safe disposal of transuranic (TRU) radioactive waste, for the reporting period of April 1, 2002, to March 31, 2004. As required by the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act (LWA) (Public Law [Pub. L.] 102-579, as amended by Pub. L. 104-201), the BECR documents U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) compliance with applicable environmental protection laws and regulations implemented by agencies of the federal government and the state of New Mexico.

This account of the beginning of the program on laser fusion at Livermore in 1962, and its subsequent development during the decade ending in 1972, was originally prepared as a contribution to the January 1991 symposium 'Achievements in Physics' honoring Professor Keith Brueckner upon his retirement from the University of San Diego at La Jolla. It is a personal recollection of work at Livermore from my vantage point as its scientific leader, and of events elsewhere that I thought significant. This period was one of rapid growth in which the technology of high-power short-pulse lasers needed to drive the implosion of thermonuclear fuel to the temperature and density needed for ignition was developed, and in which the physics of the interaction of intense light with plasmas was explored both theoretically and experimentally.

In 2003, Engelhard Corporation received a DOE award to develop a cost-effective, environmentally friendly approach to recover Pt from fuel cell membrane electrode assemblies (MEA’s). The most important precious metal used in fuel cells is platinum, but ruthenium is also added to the anode electrocatalyst if CO is present in the hydrogen stream. As part of the project, a large number of measurements of Pt and Ru need to be made. A low-cost approach to measuring Pt is using the industry standard spectrophotometric measurement of Pt complexed with stannous chloride. The interference of Ru can be eliminated by reading the Pt absorbance at 450 nm. Spectrophotometric methods for measuring Ru, while reported in the literature, are not as robust. This paper will discuss the options for measuring Pt and Ru using the method of UV-VIS spectrophotometry

Solid state experiments at extreme pressures (10-100 GPa) and strain rates ({approx}10{sup 6}-10{sup 8}s{sup -1}) are being developed on high-energy laser facilities, and offer the possibility for exploring new regimes of materials science. [Re 2004] These extreme solid-state conditions can be accessed with either shock loading or with quasi-isentropic ramped pressure pulses being developed on the Omega laser. [Ed 2004] Velocity interferometer measurements establish the high strain rates. Constitutive models for solid-state strength under these conditions are tested by comparing 2D continuum simulations with experiments measuring perturbation growth due to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in solid-state samples. Lattice compression, phase, and temperature are deduced from extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements, from which the shock-induced a-w phase transition in Ti is inferred to occur on sub-nanosecond time scales. [Ya 2004] Time resolved lattice response and phase can be inferred from dynamic x-ray diffraction measurements, where the elastic-plastic (1D-3D) lattice relaxation in shocked Cu is shown to occur promptly (< 1 ns). [Lo 2003] Subsequent large-scale MD simulations have elucidated the microscopic dynamics that underlie the 3D lattice relaxation. Deformation mechanisms are identified by examining the residual microstructure in recovered samples. [Re 2004] For example, the slip-twinning threshold in single-crystal Cu …

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CH2MHill Hanford Group, Inc. (CHG) is designing and assessing the performance of an Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) to receive immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW), Low-Level and Mixed Low-Level Wastes (LLW/MLLW), and the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) melters used to vitrify the ILAW. The IDF Performance Assessment (PA) assesses the performance of the disposal facility to provide a reasonable expectation that the disposal of the waste is protective of the general public, groundwater resources, air resources, surface water resources, and inadvertent intruders. The PA requires prediction of contaminant migration from the facilities, which is expected to occur primarily via the movement of water through the facilities and the consequent transport of dissolved contaminants in the pore water of the vadose zone. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) assists CHG in its performance assessment activities. One of PNNL’s tasks is to provide estimates of the physical, hydraulic, and transport properties of the materials comprising the disposal facilities and the disturbed region around them. These materials are referred to as the near-field materials. Their properties are expressed as parameters of constitutive models used in simulations of subsurface flow and transport. In addition to the best-estimate parameter values, information on uncertainty in the parameter values and …

Soils beneath and adjacent to the Pavlodar Chemical Plant in Kazakhstan have been contaminated with elemental mercury as a result of chlor alkali processing using mercury cathode cell technology. The work described in this paper was conducted in preparation for a demonstration of a technology to remove the mercury from the contaminated soils using a vacuum assisted thermal distillation process. The process can operate at temperatures from 250-500 C and pressures of 0.13kPa-1.33kPa. Following vaporization, the mercury vapor is cooled, condensed and concentrated back to liquid elemental mercury. It will then be treated using the Sulfur Polymer Stabilization/Solidification process developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory as described in a companion paper at this conference. The overall project objectives include chemical and physical characterization of the contaminated soils, study of the influence of the soil's physical-chemical and hydro dynamical characteristics on process parameters, and laboratory testing to optimize the mercury sublimation rate when heating in vacuum. Based on these laboratory and pilot-scale data, a full-scale production process will be designed for testing. This paper describes the soil characterization. This work is being sponsored by the International Science and Technology Center.

Gas desorption and electron emission coefficients were measured for 1 MeV potassium ions incident on stainless steel at grazing angles (between 80 and 88 degrees from normal incidence) using a new gas-electron source diagnostic (GESD). Issues addressed in design and commissioning of the GESD include effects from backscattering of ions at the surface, space-charge limited emission current, and reproducibility of desorption measurements. We find that electron emission coefficients {gamma}{sub e} scale as 1/cos({theta}) up to angles of 86 degrees, where {gamma}{sub e} = 90. Nearer grazing incidence, {gamma}{sub e} is reduced below the 1/cos({theta}) scaling by nuclear scattering of ions through large angles, reaching {gamma}{sub e} = 135 at 88 degrees. Electrons were emitted with a measured temperature of {approx}30 eV. Gas desorption coefficients {gamma}{sub 0} were much larger, of order {gamma}{sub 0} = 10{sub 4}. They also varied with angle, but much more slowly than 1/cos({theta}). From this we conclude that the desorption was not entirely from adsorbed layers of gas on the surface. Two mitigation techniques were investigated: rough surfaces reduced electron emission by a factor of ten and gas desorption by a factor of two; a mild bake to {approx}220 degrees had no effect on electron emission, …

A membrane of multiwalled carbon nanotubes embedded in a silicon nitride matrix was fabricated for use in studying fluid mechanics on the nanometer scale. Characterization by fluorescent tracer diffusion and scanning electron microscopy suggests that the membrane is void-free near the silicon substrate on which it rests, implying that the hollow core of the nanotube is the only conduction path for molecular transport. Nitrogen flow measurements of a nanoporous silicon nitride membrane, fabricated by sacrificial removal of carbon, give a flow rate of 0.086 cc/sec. Calculations of water flow across a nanotube membrane give a rate of 2.1x10{sup -6} cc/sec (0.12 {micro}L/min).

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The effects of fluoride on the corrosion behavior of Titanium Grade 7 (0.12-0.25% Pd) have been investigated. Up to 0.1 mol/L fluoride was added to the NaCl brines at 95 C, and three pH values of 4, 8, and 11 were selected for studying pH dependence of fluoride effects. It was observed that fluoride significantly altered the anodic polarization behavior, at all three pH values of 4, 8, and 11. Under acidic condition fluoride caused active corrosion. The corrosion of Titanium grade 7 was increased by three orders of magnitude when a 0.1 mol/L fluoride was added to the NaCl brines at pH 4, and the Pd ennoblement effect was not observed in acidic fluoride-containing environments. The effects of fluoride were reduced significantly when pH was increased to 8 and above.

A membrane consisting of multiwall carbon nanotubes embedded in a silicon nitride matrix was fabricated for fluid mechanics studies on the nanometer scale. Characterization by tracer diffusion and scanning electron microscopy suggests that the membrane is free of large voids. An upper limit to the diffusive flux of D{sub 2}O of 2.4x10-{sup 8} mole/m{sup 2}-s was determined, indicating extremely slow transport. By contrast, hydrodynamic calculations of water flow across a nanotube membrane of similar specifications predict a much higher molar flux of 1.91 mole/m{sup 2}-s, suggesting that the nanotubes produced possess a 'bamboo' morphology. The carbon nanotube membranes were used to make nanoporous silicon nitride membranes, fabricated by sacrificial removal of the carbon. Nitrogen flow measurements on these structures give a membrane permeance of 4.7x10{sup -4} mole/m{sup 2}-s-Pa at a pore density of 4x10{sup 10} cm{sup -2}. Using a Knudsen diffusion model, the average pore size of this membrane is estimated to be 66 nm, which agrees well with TEM observations of the multiwall carbon nanotube outer diameter. These membranes are a robust platform for the study of confined molecular transport, with applications inseparations and chemical sensing.

A new experiment has begun that builds upon the successful Staged Electron Laser Acceleration (STELLA) experiment, which demonstrated high-trapping efficiency and narrow energy spread in a staged laser-driven accelerator. STELLA was based upon inverse free electron lasers (IFEL); the new experiment, called STELLA-LW, is based upon laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA). The first phase of STELLA-LW will be to demonstrate LWFA in a capillary discharge driven by the Brookhaven National Laboratory Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) terawatt CO{sub 2} laser beam. This will be the first time LWFA is conducted at 10.6-{micro}m laser wavelength. It will also be operating in an interesting pseudo-resonant regime where the laser pulse length is too long for resonant LWFA, but too short for self-modulated LWFA. Analysis has shown that in pseudo-resonant LWFA, pulse-steepening effects occur on the laser pulse that permits generation of strong wakefields. Various approaches are being explored for the capillary discharge including polypropylene and hydrogen-filled capillaries. Planned diagnostics for the experiment include coherent Thomson scattering (CTS) to detect the wakefield generation. This will be one of the first times CTS is used on a capillary discharge.

In a new mode of measurement, the amplitude of a tearing mode rotating at frequencies of up to tens of KHz has been obtained using the spectral features of high frequency MSE data. A formulation has been developed to calculate the pitch angle oscillations associated with these instabilities, from the MSE spectrum. Density fluctuations can be simultaneously obtained from MSE measurements if the intensity response to density variation can be calibrated. Examples of observations are given and detection limits are explored.

Externally dispersed interferometry (EDI) is a technique for enhancing the performance of spectrographs for wide bandwidth high resolution spectroscopy and Doppler radial velocimetry. By placing a small angle-independent interferometer near the slit of a spectrograph, periodic fiducials are embedded on the recorded spectrum. The multiplication of the stellar spectrum times the sinusoidal fiducial net creates a moir{acute e} pattern, which manifests high detailed spectral information heterodyned down to detectably low spatial frequencies. The latter can more accurately survive the blurring, distortions and CCD Nyquist limitations of the spectrograph. Hence lower resolution spectrographs can be used to perform high resolution spectroscopy and radial velocimetry. Previous demonstrations of {approx}2.5x resolution boost used an interferometer having a single fixed delay. We report new data indicating {approx}6x Gaussian resolution boost (140,000 from a spectrograph with 25,000 native resolving power), taken by using multiple exposures at widely different interferometer delays.

In order to obtain formulas providing estimates for elastic constants of random polycrystals of laminates, some known rigorous bounds of Peselnick, Meister, and Watt are first simplified. Then, some new self-consistent estimates are formulated based on the resulting analytical structure of these bounds. A numerical study is made, assuming first that the internal structure (i.e., the laminated grain structure) is not known, and then that it is known. The purpose of this aspect of the study is to attempt to quantify the differences in the predictions of properties of the same system being modeled when such internal structure of the composite medium and spatial correlation information is and is not available.

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An adaptive optical system used to correct horizontal beam propagation paths has been demonstrated. This system utilizes an interferometric wave-front sensor and a large-actuator-number MEMS-based spatial light modulator to correct the aberrations incurred by the beam after propagation along the path. Horizontal path correction presents a severe challenge to adaptive optics systems due to the short atmospheric transverse coherence length and the high degree of scintillation incurred by laser propagation along these paths. Unlike wave-front sensors that detect phase gradients, however, the interferometric wave-front sensor measures the wrapped phase directly. Because the system operates with nearly monochromatic light and uses a segmented spatial light modulator, it does not require that the phase be unwrapped to provide a correction and it also does not require a global reconstruction of the wave-front to determine the phase as required by gradient detecting wave-front sensors. As a result, issues with branch points are eliminated. Because the atmospheric probe beam is mixed with a large amplitude reference beam, it can be made to operate in a photon noise limited regime making its performance relatively unaffected by scintillation. The MEMS-based spatial light modulator in the system contains 1024 pixels and is controlled to speeds in excess …

The Republic of Kazakhstan is continuing to develop its extensive petroleum reserves in the Tengiz region of the northeastern part of the Caspian Sea. Large quantities of by-product sulfur are being produced as a result of the removal of hydrogen sulfide from the oil and gas produced in the region. Lack of local markets and economic considerations limit the traditional outlets for by-product sulfur and the buildup of excess sulfur is a becoming a potential economic and environmental liability. Thus, new applications for re-use of by-product sulfur that will benefit regional economies including construction, paving and waste treatment are being developed. One promising application involves the cleanup and treatment of mercury at a Kazakhstan chemical plant. During 19 years of operation at the Pavlodar Khimprom chlor-alkali production facility, over 900 tons of mercury was lost to the soil surrounding and beneath the buildings. The Institute of Metallurgy and Ore Benefication (Almaty) is leading a team to develop and demonstrate a vacuum-assisted thermal process to extract the mercury from the soil and concentrate it as pure, elemental mercury, which will then be treated using the Sulfur Polymer Stabilization/Solidification (SPSS) process. The use of locally produced sulfur will recycle a low-value industrial …

We consider the collinear limit of QCD amplitudes at one-loop order, and their factorization properties directly in color space. These results apply to the multiple collinear limit of an arbitrary number of QCD partons, and are a basic ingredient in many higher-order computations. In particular, we discuss the triple collinear limit and its relation to flavor asymmetries in the QCD evolution of parton densities at three loops. As a phenomenological consequence of this new effect, and of the fact that the nucleon has non-vanishing quark valence densities, we study the perturbative generation of a strange-antistrange asymmetry s(x)-{bar s}(x) in the nucleon's sea.