In addition to the record high superconducting transition temperature (T{sub c}), high temperature cuprate superconductors are characterized by their unusual superconducting properties below T{sub c}, and anomalous normal state properties above T{sub c}. In the superconducting state, although it has long been realized that superconductivity still involves Cooper pairs, as in the traditional BCS theory, the experimentally determined d-wave pairing is different from the usual s-wave pairing found in conventional superconductors. The identification of the pairing mechanism in cuprate superconductors remains an outstanding issue. The normal state properties, particularly in the underdoped region, have been found to be at odd with conventional metals which is usually described by Fermi liquid theory; instead, the normal state at optimal doping fits better with the marginal Fermi liquid phenomenology. Most notable is the observation of the pseudogap state in the underdoped region above T{sub c}. As in other strongly correlated electrons systems, these unusual properties stem from the interplay between electronic, magnetic, lattice and orbital degrees of freedom. Understanding the microscopic process involved in these materials and the interaction of electrons with other entities is essential to understand the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity. Since the discovery of high-T{sub c} superconductivity in cuprates, …

We describe our new methodology for Adaptive Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (ASPH) and its application to problems in modeling material failure. We find that ASPH is often crucial for properly modeling such experiments, since in most cases the strain placed on materials is non-isotropic (such as a stretching rod), and without the directional adaptability of ASPH numerical failure due to SPH nodes losing contact in the straining direction can compete with or exceed the physical process of failure.

We give an overview of a number of algebraic multigrid methods targeting finite element discretization problems. The focus is on the properties of the constructed hierarchy of coarse spaces that guarantee (two-grid) convergence. In particular, a necessary condition known as 'weak approximation property', and a sufficient one, referred to as 'strong approximation property' are discussed. Their role in proving convergence of the TG method (as iterative method) and also on the approximation properties of the AMG coarse spaces if used as discretization tool is pointed out. Some preliminary numerical results illustrating the latter aspect are also reported.

The objective of the proposed research is to utilize modern computational tools, integrated with focused experiments, to design innovative ferritic NiAl-strengthened superalloys for fossil-energy applications at temperatures up to 1,033 K. Specifically, the computational alloy design aims toward (1) a steady-state creep rate of approximately 3 x 10{sup -11} s{sup -1} at a temperature of 1,033 K and a stress level of 35 MPa, (2) a ductility of 10% at room temperature, and (3) good oxidation and corrosion resistance at 1,033 K. The research yielded many outstanding research results, including (1) impurity-diffusion coefficients in {alpha} Fe have been calculated by first principles for a variety of solute species; (2) the precipitates were characterized by the transmission-electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical-electron microscopy (AEM), and the elemental partitioning has been determined; (3) a bending ductility of more than 5% has been achieved in the unrolled materials; and (4) optimal compositions with minimal secondary creep rates at 973 K have been determined. Impurity diffusivities in {alpha} Fe have been calculated within the formalisms of a harmonic transition-state theory and Le Claire nine-frequency model for vacancy-mediated diffusion. Calculated diffusion coefficients for Mo and W impurities are comparable to or larger than that for Fe …

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The US nuclear data community, coordinated by CSEWG, is preparing release of the ENDF/B-VII.1 library. This new release will address deficiencies identified in ENDF/B-VII.0, include improved evaluations for some 50-60 materials and provide covariances for more than 110 materials. The major players in this undertaking are LANL, BNL, ORNL, and LLNL. We summarize deficiencies in the ENDF/B-VII.0 and outline development of the new library. We concentrate on the BNL activities which aim in providing covariances for the materials important for the design of the innovative reactors. Finally we outline a futuristic approach, known as assimilation that tries to link nuclear reaction theory and integral experiments.

This 1-year project has achieved most of its objective and successfully demonstrated the viability of the fluidized bed direct carbon fuel cell (FB-DCFC) approach under development by Direct Carbon technologies, LLC, that utilizes solid carbonaceous fuels for power generation. This unique electrochemical technology offers high conversion efficiencies, produces proportionately less CO{sub 2} in capture-ready form, and does not consume or require water for gasification. FB-DCFC employs a specialized solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) arrangement coupled to a Boudouard gasifier where the solid fuel particles are fluidized and reacted by the anode recycle gas CO{sub 2}. The resulting CO is electrochemically oxidized at the anode. Anode supported SOFC structures employed a porous Ni cermet anode layer, a dense yttria stabilized zirconia membrane, and a mixed conducting porous perovskite cathode film. Several kinds of untreated solid fuels (carbon and coal) were tested in bench scale FBDCFC prototypes for electrochemical performance and stability testing. Single cells of tubular geometry with active areas up to 24 cm{sup 2} were fabricated. The cells achieved high power densities up to 450 mW/cm{sup 2} at 850 C using a low sulfur Alaska coal char. This represents the highest power density reported in the open literature for coal …

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We have performed angle-resolved photoemission and core-level x-ray photoemission studies of the single-layer cuprate Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2-x}La{sub x}CuO{sub 6+{delta}} (Bi2201) and revealed the doping evolution of the electronic structure from the lightly-doped to optimally-doped regions. We have observed the formation of the dispersive quasi-particle band, evolution of the Fermi 'arc' into the Fermi surface and the shift of the chemical potential with hole doping as in other cuprates. The doping evolution in Bi2201 is similar to that in Ca{sub 2-x}Na{sub x}CuO{sub 2}Cl{sub 2} (Na-CCOC), where a rapid chemical potential shift toward the lower Hubbard band of the parent insulator has been observed, but is quite different from that in La{sub 2-x}Sr{sub x}CuO{sub 4} (LSCO), where the chemical potential does not shift, yet the dispersive band and the Fermi arc/surface are formed around the Fermi level already in the lightly-doped region. The (underlying) Fermi surface shape and band dispersions are quantitatively analyzed using tightbinding fit, and the deduced next-nearest-neighbor hopping integral t also confirm the similarity to Na-CCOC and the difference from LSCO.

Electricity demand has consistently exceeded available supply in India. While the electricity deficit varies across states, nationally it was estimated to be of the order of 12percent on peak and 11percent for electricity during 2008-09. This paper explores a demand-side focused potential for energy efficiency improvement to eliminate the electricity deficit compared to a business as usual (BAU) supply-side focused scenario. The limited availability of finance and other legal and administrative barriers have constrained the construction of new power plant capacity in India. As a result, under the BAU scenario, India continues to face an electricity deficit beyond the end of the Twelfth Five Year Plan. The demand-side cost-effective potential achieved through replacement of new electricity-using products, however, is large enough to eliminate the deficit as early as 2013 and subsequently reduce the future construction of power plants and thus reduce air pollutant emissions. Moreover, energy efficiency improvements cost a fraction of the cost for new supply and can lead to a substantial increase in India's economic output or gross domestic product (GDP). Eliminating the deficit permits businesses that have experienced electricity cutbacks to restore production. We estimate the size of the cumulative production increase in terms of the contribution …

More than a dozen energy experts convened in Houston, Texas, on February 13, 2009, for the first in a series of four regionally-based energy summits being held by the Council on Competitiveness. The Southern Energy Summit was hosted by Marathon Oil Corporation, and participants explored the public policy, business and technological challenges to increasing the diversity and sustainability of U.S. energy supplies. There was strong consensus that no single form of energy can satisfy the projected doubling, if not tripling, of demand by the year 2050 while also meeting pressing environmental challenges, including climate change. Innovative technology such as carbon capture and storage, new mitigation techniques and alternative forms of energy must all be brought to bear. However, unlike breakthroughs in information technology, advancing broad-based energy innovation requires an enormous scale that must be factored into any equation that represents an energy solution. Further, the time frame for developing alternative forms of energy is much longer than many believe and is not understood by the general public, whose support for sustainability is critical. Some panelists estimated that it will take more than 50 years to achieve the vision of an energy system that is locally tailored and has tremendous diversity …

The Wabash gasification facility, owned and operated by sgSolutions LLC, is one of the largest single train solid fuel gasification facilities in the world capable of transforming 2,000 tons per day of petroleum coke or 2,600 tons per day of bituminous coal into synthetic gas for electrical power generation. The Wabash plant utilizes Phillips66 proprietary E-Gas (TM) Gasification Process to convert solid fuels such as petroleum coke or coal into synthetic gas that is fed to a combined cycle combustion turbine power generation facility. During plant startup in 1995, reliability issues were realized in the gas filtration portion of the gasification process. To address these issues, a slipstream test unit was constructed at the Wabash facility to test various filter designs, materials and process conditions for potential reliability improvement. The char filtration slipstream unit provided a way of testing new materials, maintenance procedures, and process changes without the risk of stopping commercial production in the facility. It also greatly reduced maintenance expenditures associated with full scale testing in the commercial plant. This char filtration slipstream unit was installed with assistance from the United States Department of Energy (built under DOE Contract No. DE-FC26-97FT34158) and began initial testing in November of …

Recently, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has revealed a dispersion anomaly at high binding energy near 0.3-0.5 eV in various families of the high-temperature superconductors. For further studies of this anomaly we present a new two-dimensional fitting-scheme and apply it to high-statistics ARPES data of the strongly-overdoped Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CuO{sub 6} cuprate superconductor. The procedure allows us to extract the self-energy in an extended energy and momentum range. It is found that the spectral function of Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CuO{sub 6} can be parameterized using a small set of tight-binding parameters and a weakly-momentum-dependent self-energy up to 0.7 eV in binding energy and over the entire first Brillouin zone. Moreover the analysis gives an estimate of the momentum dependence of the matrix element, a quantity, which is often neglected in ARPES analyses.

Laboratory high energy density experiments using ion beam drivers rely upon the delivery of high-current, high-brightness ion beams with high peak intensity onto targets. Solid-state scintillators are typically used to measure the ion beam spatial profile but they display dose-dependent degradation and aging effects. These effects produce uncertainties and limit the accuracy of measuring peak beam intensities delivered to the target. For beam tuning and characterizing the incident beam intensity, we have developed a cross-calibrating diagnostic suite that extends the upper limit of measurable peak intensity dynamic range. Absolute intensity calibration is obtained with a 3 {micro}m thick tungsten foil calorimeter and streak spectrometer. We present experimental evidence for peak intensity measures in excess of 400 kW/cm{sup 2} using a 0.3 MV, 25 mA, 5-20 {micro}sec K{sup +1} beam. Radiative models and thermal diffusion effects are discussed because they affect temporal and spatial resolution of beam intensity profiles.

This program developed an analytical design tool for designing antenna and mirror systems to convert whispering gallery RF modes to Gaussian or HE11 modes. Whispering gallery modes are generated by gyrotrons used for electron cyclotron heating of fusion plasmas in tokamaks. These modes cannot be easily transmitted and must be converted to free space or waveguide modes compatible with transmission line systems.This program improved the capability of SURF3D/LOT, which was initially developed in a previous SBIR program. This suite of codes revolutionized quasi-optical launcher design, and this code, or equivalent codes, are now used worldwide. This program added functionality to SURF3D/LOT to allow creating of more compact launcher and mirror systems and provide direct coupling to corrugated waveguide within the vacuum envelope of the gyrotron. Analysis was also extended to include full-wave analysis of mirror transmission line systems. The code includes a graphical user interface and is available for advanced design of launcher systems.

Brief description of data collection process and plan that will be used to collect financial metrics associated with sustainable design.

The cross sections of the neutron induced reactions on {sup 233,234,236}U, {sup 237}Np, {sup 238,242}Pu, {sup 241,243}Am, {sup 242,246}Cm carried out in the energy range 1 keV-20 MeV with EMPIRE code are presented, emphasizing the fission channel. Beside a consistent, accurate set of evaluations, the paper contains arguments supporting the choice of the reaction models and input parameters. A special attention is paid to the fission parameters and their uncertainties.

A complex geology lies beneath the Hanford Site of southeastern Washington State. Within this geology is a challenging large-scale environmental cleanup project. Geologic and contaminant transport information generated by several U.S. Department of Energy contractors must be documented in geologic graphics clearly, consistently, and accurately. These graphics must then be disseminated in formats readily acceptable by general graphics and document producing software applications. The guidelines presented in this document are intended to facilitate consistent, defensible, geologic graphics and digital data/graphics sharing among the various Hanford Site agencies and contractors.

This study considered opportunities for hydrogen in stationary applications in order to make recommendations related to RD&D strategies that incorporate lessons learned and best practices from relevant national and international stationary power efforts, as well as cost and environmental modeling of pathways. The study analyzed the different strategies utilized in power generation systems and identified the different challenges and opportunities for producing and using hydrogen as an energy carrier. Specific objectives included both a synopsis/critical analysis of lessons learned from previous stationary power programs and recommendations for a strategy for hydrogen infrastructure deployment. This strategy incorporates all hydrogen pathways and a combination of distributed power generating stations, and provides an overview of stationary power markets, benefits of hydrogen-based stationary power systems, and competitive and technological challenges. The motivation for this project was to identify the lessons learned from prior stationary power programs, including the most significant obstacles, how these obstacles have been approached, outcomes of the programs, and how this information can be used by the Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program to meet program objectives primarily related to hydrogen pathway technologies (production, storage, and delivery) and implementation of fuel cell technologies for distributed stationary power. In addition, the …

The chemical interface structure between phosphorus-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon and aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films is investigated with soft x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) before and after solid-phase crystallization (SPC) at 600C. In addition to the expected SPC-induced phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline silicon, our XES data indicates a pronounced chemical interaction at the buried Si/ZnO interface. In particular, we find an SPC-enhanced formation of Si-O bonds and the accumulation of Zn in close proximity to the interface. For an assumed closed and homogeneous SiO2 interlayer, an effective thickness of (5+2)nm after SPC could be estimated.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) includes as one of its goals restoration and maintenance of the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. The CWA established various programs to accomplish that goal. Among the programs is a requirement for states to establish water quality standards that will allow protection of the designated uses assigned to each water body. Once those standards are set, state agencies must sample the water bodies to determine if water quality requirements are being met. For those water bodies that are not achieving the desired water quality, the state agencies are expected to develop total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) that outline the maximum amount of each pollutant that can be discharged to the water body and still maintain acceptable water quality. The total load is then allocated to the existing point and nonpoint sources, with some allocation held in reserve as a margin of safety. Many states have already developed and implemented TMDLs for individual water bodies or regional areas. New and revised TMDLs are anticipated, however, as federal and state regulators continue their examination of water quality across the United States and the need for new or revised standards. This report was funded …

Two major remedial campaigns have been applied to a plume of trichloroethene (TCE) contaminated groundwater near the former X-740 facility at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon Ohio. The two selected technologies, phytoremediation using a stand of hybrid poplar trees from 1999-2007 and in situ chemical oxidation using modified Fenton's Reagent from 2008-2009, have proven ineffective in achieving remedial action objectives (RAOs). The 'poor' performance of these technologies is a direct result of site specific conditions and the local contaminant hydrogeology. Key among these challenges is the highly heterogeneous subsurface geology with a thin contaminated aquifer zone (the Gallia) - the behavior of the contamination in the Gallia is currently dominated by slow release of TCE from the clay of the overlying Minford formation, from the sandstone of the underlying Berea formation, and from clayey layers within the Gallia itself. In response to the remediation challenges for the X-740 plume, the Portsmouth team (including the US Department of Energy (DOE), the site contractor (CDM), and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA)) is evaluating the feasibility of remediation at this site and identifying specific alternatives that are well matched to site conditions and that would maximize the potential for achieving …

Methane is an important contributor to global warming with a total climate forcing estimated to be close to 20% that of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the past two decades. The largest anthropogenic source of methane in the US is 'conventional' landfills, which account for over 30% of anthropogenic emissions. While controlling greenhouse gas emissions must necessarily focus on large CO2 sources, attention to reducing CH4 emissions from landfills can result in significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at low cost. For example, the use of 'controlled' or bioreactor landfilling has been estimated to reduce annual US greenhouse emissions by about 15-30 million tons of CO2 carbon (equivalent) at costs between $3-13/ton carbon. In this project we developed or advanced new management approaches, landfill designs, and landfill operating procedures for bioreactor landfills. These advances are needed to address lingering concerns about bioreactor landfills (e.g., efficient collection of increased CH4 generation) in the waste management industry, concerns that hamper bioreactor implementation and the consequent reductions in CH4 emissions. Collectively, the advances described in this report should result in better control of bioreactor landfills and reductions in CH4 emissions. Several advances are important components of an Intelligent Bioreactor Management Information System (IBM-IS).

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is organising a co-operation between the major nuclear data evaluation projects in the world. The co-operation involves the ENDF, JEFF, and JENDL projects, and, owing to the collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also the Russian RUSFOND and the Chinese CENDL projects. The Working Party on international nuclear data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC), comprised of about 20 core members, manages this co-operation and meets annually to discuss progress in each evaluation project and also related experimental activities. The WPEC assesses common needs for nuclear data improvements and these needs are then addressed by initiating joint evaluation efforts. The work is performed in specially established subgroups, consisting of experts from the participating evaluation projects. The outcome of these subgroups is published in reports, issued by the NEA. Current WPEC activities comprise for example a number of studies related to nuclear data uncertainties, including a review of methods for the combined use of integral experiments and covariance data, as well as evaluations of some of the major actinides, such as {sup 235}U and {sup 239}Pu. This paper gives an overview of current and planned activities within the WPEC.