The projects application goals are to: (1) To understand bacterial stress-response to the unique stressors in metal/radionuclide contamination sites; (2) To turn this understanding into a quantitative, data-driven model for exploring policies for natural and biostimulatory bioremediation; (3) To implement proposed policies in the field and compare results to model predictions; and (4) Close the experimental/computation cycle by using discrepancies between models and predictions to drive new measurements and construction of new models. The projects science goals are to: (1) Compare physiological and molecular response of three target microorganisms to environmental perturbation; (2) Deduce the underlying regulatory pathways that control these responses through analysis of phenotype, functional genomic, and molecular interaction data; (3) Use differences in the cellular responses among the target organisms to understand niche specific adaptations of the stress and metal reduction pathways; (4) From this analysis derive an understanding of the mechanisms of pathway evolution in the environment; and (5) Ultimately, derive dynamical models for the control of these pathways to predict how natural stimulation can optimize growth and metal reduction efficiency at field sites.

This report discusses Test Campaign TC15 of the Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (KBR) Transport Gasifier train with a Siemens Power Generation, Inc. (SPG) particle filter system at the Power Systems Development Facility (PSDF) located in Wilsonville, Alabama. The Transport Gasifier is an advanced circulating fluidized-bed reactor designed to operate as either a combustor or gasifier using a particulate control device (PCD). While operating as a gasifier, either air or oxygen can be used as the oxidant. Test run TC15 began on April 19, 2004, with the startup of the main air compressor and the lighting of the gasifier startup burner. The Transport Gasifier was shutdown on April 29, 2004, accumulating 200 hours of operation using Powder River Basin (PRB) subbituminous coal. About 91 hours of the test run occurred during oxygen-blown operations. Another 6 hours of the test run was in enriched-air mode. The remainder of the test run, approximately 103 hours, took place during air-blown operations. The highest operating temperature in the gasifier mixing zone mostly varied from 1,800 to 1,850 F. The gasifier exit pressure ran between 200 and 230 psig during air-blown operations and between 110 and 150 psig in oxygen-enhanced air operations.

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Recent evaluations in the field of biomass separations have resulted in a novel concept termed the “embedded membrane.” Biomass solutions, which typically consist of a sludge-like material, contain a wide range of particle types and concentrations. These highly abusive solutions have the potential to cause reduced flux and even catastrophic failure through erosion mechanisms within the membrane. The embedded membrane concept relies on embedding finer, filtration inducing particles (e.g. ceramic such as TiO2) into the interstices of a macroporous support (e.g., sintered metal such as sintered stainless steel). It is believed that the embedded membrane would be resistant to erosion processes, since only the macroporous support material would be subjected to the harsh hydrodynamic properties of the flowing bulk process fluid. Moreover, the finer, filtration inducing embedded particles that provide the necessary filtration efficiency are protected from the bulk process fluid. In an effort to investigate the embedded membrane concept, samples of sintered stainless steel membranes embedded with ceramic particles have been prepared.

This study identifies remaining undeveloped geothermal resources in California and western Nevada, and it estimates the development costs of each. It has relied on public-domain information and such additional data as geothermal developers have chosen to make available. Reserve estimation has been performed by volumetric analysis with a probabilistic approach to uncertain input parameters. Incremental geothermal reserves in the California/Nevada study area have a minimum value of 2,800 grosss MW and a most-likely value of 4,300 gross MW. For the state of California alone, these values are 2,000 and 3,000 gross MW, respectively. These estimates may be conservative to the extent that they do not take into account resources about which little or no public-domain information is available. The average capital cost of incremental generation capacity is estimated to average $3,100/kW for the California/Nevada study area, and $2,950/kW for the state of California alone. These cost estimates include exploration, confirmation drilling, development drilling, plant construction, and transmission-line costs. For the purposes of this study, a capital cost of $2,400/kW is considered competitive with other renewable resources. The amount of incremental geothermal capacity available at or below $2,400/kW is about 1,700 gross MW for the California/Nevada study area, and the same …

This document, which is prepared as directed by the Compliance Order on Consent (COOC) issued by the New Mexico Environment Department, identifies and outlines a process to evaluate remedial alternatives to identify a corrective measure for the Sandia National Laboratories New Mexico Technical Area (TA)-V Groundwater. The COOC provides guidance for implementation of a Corrective Measures Evaluation (CME) for the TA-V Groundwater. This Work Plan documents an initial screening of remedial technologies and presents a list of possible remedial alternatives for those technologies that passed the screening. This Work Plan outlines the methods for evaluating these remedial alternatives and describes possible site-specific evaluation activities necessary to estimate remedy effectiveness and cost. These methods will be reported in the CME Report. This Work Plan outlines the CME Report, including key components and a description of the corrective measures process.

The PCOR Partnership continues to make great progress. Task 2 (Deployment Issues) activities have focused on utilizing Dakota Gasification Company (DGC) experience and data with respect to DGC participation in the enhanced oil recovery project at Weyburn, Saskatchewan. A solid line of communication has been developed with the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) for the mutual benefit of the PCOR Partnership and IOGCC's complementary efforts. Task 3 (Public Education and Outreach) activities have focused on developing a foundation of background materials in order to avoid a duplication of efforts and provide the best outreach and educational materials possible. Progress in Task 4 (Characterization and Evaluation) has included the development of a database format, the preliminary collection of data regarding CO{sub 2} sources and sinks, and data on the performance and costs for CO{sub 2} separation, capture, treatment, and compression for pipeline transportation. Task 5 (Modeling and Phase II Action Plans) activities have resulted in a conceptual model for screening and qualitatively assessing sequestration options. Task 5 activities have also been useful in structuring data collection and other activities in Tasks 2, 3, and 5.

This research project is aimed at assessing the soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration potential of reclaimed minesoils (RMS). The experimental sites were characterized by distinct age chronosequences of reclaimed minesoil and were located in Guernsey, Morgan, Noble, and Muskingum Counties of Ohio. These sites are owned and maintained by Americal Electrical Power. These sites were reclaimed (1) with topsoil application, and (2) without topsoil application, and were under continuous grass or forest cover. Three core and three bulk soil samples were collected from each of the experimental site and one unmined site (UMS) for 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm depths and soil bulk density ({rho}{sub b}), texture, saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), volumes of transport (VTP) and storage (VSP) pores, available water capacity (AWC), pH and electrical conductivity (EC), SOC, total nitrogen (TN) concentrations and stocks were determined. The preliminary results from sites reclaimed with topsoil and grass indicate that sand content was highest (24%) and clay content was lowest (17%) for site reclaimed in 2003 (R03) for 0-15 cm depth. The {rho}{sub b} was highest for R03 (1.24 Mg m{sup -3}) than sites reclaimed in 1987 (R87; 1.02 Mg m{sup -3}), 1978 (R78; 0.98 Mg m{sup -3}) and UMS (0.96 …

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A study of the reforming rates, heat transfer and flow through a methanol reforming catalytic microreactor fabricated on a silicon wafer are presented. Comparison of computed and measured conversion efficiencies are shown to be favorable. Concepts for insulating the reactor while maintaining small overall size and starting operation from ambient temperature are analyzed.

During the fifth reporting period, the main goal for the team was to focus on collecting data to develop Oxygen Sensor Recording System (OSRS) parametric relationships for several rich-burn engines. An air/fuel ratio controller was intergraded with an O{sub 2} sensor. With the use of an Alternative Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (ACEMS) provided by Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), the performance will be observed during normal operation.

Bikini Island was contaminated March 1, 1954 by the Bravo detonation (U.S nuclear test series, Castle) at Bikini Atoll. About 90% of the estimated dose from nuclear fallout to potential island residents is from cesium-137 ({sup 137}Cs) transferred from soil to plants that are consumed by residents. Thus, radioecology research efforts have been focused on removing {sup 137}Cs from soil and/or reducing its uptake into vegetation. Most effective was addition of potassium (K) to soil that reduces {sup 137}Cs concentration in fruits to 3-5% of pretreatment concentrations. Initial observations indicated this low concentration continued for some time after K was last applied. Long-term studies were designed to evaluate this persistence in more detail because it is very important to provide assurance to returning populations that {sup 137}Cs concentrations in food (and, therefore, radiation dose) will remain low for extended periods, even if K is not applied annually or biennially. Potassium applied at 300, 660, 1260, and 2070 kg ha{sup -1} lead to a {sup 137}Cs concentration in drinking coconut meat that is 34, 22, 10, and about 4% of original concentration, respectively. Concentration of {sup 137}Cs remains low 8 to 10 y after K is last applied. An explanation for …

This report describes criticality benchmark experiments containing rhodium that were conducted as part of a Department of Energy Nuclear Energy Research Initiative project. Rhodium is an important fission product absorber. A capability to perform critical experiments with low-enriched uranium fuel was established as part of the project. Ten critical experiments, some containing rhodium and others without, were conducted. The experiments were performed in such a way that the effects of the rhodium could be accurately isolated. The use of the experimental results to test neutronics codes is demonstrated by example for two Monte Carlo codes. These comparisons indicate that the codes predict the behavior of the rhodium in the critical systems within the experimental uncertainties. The results from this project, coupled with the results of follow-on experiments that investigate other fission products, can be used to quantify and reduce the conservatism of spent nuclear fuel safety analyses while still providing the necessary level of safety.

An LDRD (Laboratory Directed Research and Development) project is underway at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to demonstrate the feasibility of using a three-dimensional multi-group deterministic neutron transport code (Attila®) to perform global (core-wide) criticality, flux and depletion calculations for safety analysis of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). This paper discusses the ATR, model development, capabilities of Attila, generation of the cross-section libraries, comparisons to experimental results for Advanced Fuel Cycle (AFC) concepts, and future work planned with Attila.

The addition of inexpensive high-speed oscilloscopes has enabled higher Te Thomson scattering measurements on the SSPX spheromak. Along with signal correlation techniques, the scopes allow new analyses based on the shape of the scattered laser pulse to discriminate against fluctuating background plasma light that often make gated-integrator measurements unreliable. A 1.4 J Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm is the scattering source. Spatial locations are coupled by viewing optics and fibers to 4-wavelength-channel filter polychrometers. Ratios between the channels determine Te while summations of the channels determine density. Typically, the channel that provides scattered signal at higher Te is contaminated by fluctuating background light. Individual channels are correlated with either a modeled representation of the laser pulse or a noise-free stray light signal to extract channel amplitudes.

Micromachines have the potential to significantly impact future weapon component designs as well as other defense, industrial, and consumer product applications. For both electroplated (LIGA) and surface micromachined (SMM) structural elements, the influence of processing on structure, and the resultant effects on material properties are not well understood. The behavior of dynamic interfaces in present as-fabricated microsystem materials is inadequate for most applications and the fundamental relationships between processing conditions and tribological behavior in these systems are not clearly defined. We intend to develop a basic understanding of deformation, fracture, and surface interactions responsible for friction and wear of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) materials. This will enable needed design flexibility for these devices, as well as strengthen our understanding of material behavior at the nanoscale. The goal of this project is to develop new capabilities for sub-microscale mechanical and tribological measurements, and to exercise these capabilities to investigate material behavior at this size scale.

The objective of the autonomous micro-explosive subsurface tracing system is to image the location and geometry of hydraulically induced fractures in subsurface petroleum reservoirs. This system is based on the insertion of a swarm of autonomous micro-explosive packages during the fracturing process, with subsequent triggering of the energetic material to create an array of micro-seismic sources that can be detected and analyzed using existing seismic receiver arrays and analysis software. The project included investigations of energetic mixtures, triggering systems, package size and shape, and seismic output. Given the current absence of any technology capable of such high resolution mapping of subsurface structures, this technology has the potential for major impact on petroleum industry, which spends approximately $1 billion dollar per year on hydraulic fracturing operations in the United States alone.

This project goal is to identify genes and gene products required for microbial metal reduction: reductive dissolution of iron; reductive dissolution of manganese; reductive precipitation of selenium; reductive precipitation of uranium; and reductive precipitation of technetium.

Field-structured composites (FSCs) were produced by hosting micron-sized gold-coated nickel particles in a pre-polymer and allowing the mixture to cure in a magnetic field environment. The feasibility of controlling a composite's electrical conductivity using feedback control applied to the field coils was investigated. It was discovered that conductivity in FSCs is primarily determined by stresses in the polymer host matrix due to cure shrinkage. Thus, in cases where the structuring field was uniform and unidirectional so as to produce chainlike structures in the composite, no electrical conductivity was measured until well after the structuring field was turned off at the gel point. In situations where complex, rotating fields were used to generate complex, three-dimensional structures in a composite, very small, but measurable, conductivity was observed prior to the gel point. Responsive, sensitive prototype chemical sensors were developed based on this technology with initial tests showing very promising results.

It would not be possible to confidently qualify weapon systems performance or validate computer codes without knowing the uncertainty of the experimental data used. This report provides uncertainty estimates associated with thermocouple data for temperature measurements from two of Sandia's large-scale thermal facilities. These two facilities (the Radiant Heat Facility (RHF) and the Lurance Canyon Burn Site (LCBS)) routinely gather data from normal and abnormal thermal environment experiments. They are managed by Fire Science & Technology Department 09132. Uncertainty analyses were performed for several thermocouple (TC) data acquisition systems (DASs) used at the RHF and LCBS. These analyses apply to Type K, chromel-alumel thermocouples of various types: fiberglass sheathed TC wire, mineral-insulated, metal-sheathed (MIMS) TC assemblies, and are easily extended to other TC materials (e.g., copper-constantan). Several DASs were analyzed: (1) A Hewlett-Packard (HP) 3852A system, and (2) several National Instrument (NI) systems. The uncertainty analyses were performed on the entire system from the TC to the DAS output file. Uncertainty sources include TC mounting errors, ANSI standard calibration uncertainty for Type K TC wire, potential errors due to temperature gradients inside connectors, extension wire uncertainty, DAS hardware uncertainties including noise, common mode rejection ratio, digital voltmeter accuracy, mV to …

This two-year project has led to a significant improvement in the fundamental understanding of the catalytic action of zeolite-supported redox catalysts. It turned out to be essential that we could combine four strategies for the preparation of catalysts containing transition metal (TM) ions in zeolite cavities: (1) ion exchange from aqueous solution; (2) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of a volatile halide onto a zeolite in its acidic form; (3) solid state ion exchange; and (4) hydrothermal synthesis of a zeolite having TM ions in its lattice, followed by a treatment transporting these ions to ''guest positions''. Technique (2) enables us to position more TM ions into cavities than permitted by the conventional technique (1).viz one positive charge per Al centered tetrahedron in the zeolite lattice. The additional charge is compensated by ligands to the TM ions, for instance in oxo-ions such as (GaO){sup +} or dinuclear [Cu-O-Cu]{sup 2+}. While technique (3) is preferred over CVD where volatile halides are not available, technique (4) leads to rather isolated ''ex lattice'' oxo-ions. Such oxo-ions tend to be mono-nuclear, in contrast to technique (2) which preferentially creates dinuclear oxo-ions of the same TM element. A favorable element for the present research was that …

This report describes the highlights and progress made in aprogram of measurements studying radiation transport through materials ofinterest to NASA. All measurements were preformed at acceleratorfacilities, primarily using GCR-like heavy-ion beams incident uponvarious elemental and composite targets. Both primary and secondaryparticles exiting the target were measured. The secondary particlesinclude both charged particles and neutrons. These measurements serve asuseful benchmarks and input to transport model calculations.

As electronic and optical components reach the micro- and nanoscales, efficient assembly and packaging require the use of adhesive bonds. This work focuses on resolving several fundamental issues in the transition from macro- to micro- to nanobonding. A primary issue is that, as bondline thicknesses decrease, knowledge of the stability and dewetting dynamics of thin adhesive films is important to obtain robust, void-free adhesive bonds. While researchers have studied dewetting dynamics of thin films of model, non-polar polymers, little experimental work has been done regarding dewetting dynamics of thin adhesive films, which exhibit much more complex behaviors. In this work, the areas of dispensing small volumes of viscous materials, capillary fluid flow, surface energetics, and wetting have all been investigated. By resolving these adhesive-bonding issues, we are allowing significantly smaller devices to be designed and fabricated. Simultaneously, we are increasing the manufacturability and reliability of these devices.

A preliminary estimate was developed for loading limits for high-sulfur low-activity waste (LAW) feeds that will be vitrified into borosilicate glass at the Hanford Site in the waste-cleanup effort. Previous studies reported in the literature were consulted to provide a basis for the estimate. The examination of previous studies led to questions about sulfur loading in Hanford LAW glass, and scoping tests were performed to help answer these questions. These results of these tests indicated that a formulation approach developed by Vienna and colleagues shows promise for maximizing LAW loading in glass. However, there is a clear need for follow-on work. The potential for significantly lowering the amount of LAW glass produced at Hanford (after the initial phase of processing) because of higher sulfur tolerances may outweigh the cost and effort required to perform the necessary testing.