The main scientific contribution of the project ''Combined approach to the inverse protein folding problem'' submitted in 1996 and funded by the Department of Energy in 1997 is the formulation and development of the idea of the multilink recognition method for identification of functional and structural homologues of newly discovered genes. This idea became very popular after they first announced it and used it in prediction of the threading targets for the CASP2 competition (Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction).

This document summarizes EMSP funded research designed to improve our understanding of and ability to simulate the influence of subsurface chemical heterogeneities on DNAPL flow and entrapment in the saturated zone. Specific project objectives include: (i) the quantification of DNAPL interfacial and hydraulic properties; (ii) development and assessment of constitutive hydraulic property and continuum based multiphase flow models; (iii) exploration of DNAPL migration and entrapment in heterogeneous systems at larger scales; and (iv) development of innovative remediation schemes.

The authors demonstrate that the free neutron structure function can be extracted in deep-inelastic scattering from A=3 mirror nuclei, with nuclear effects canceling to within 2% for x {approx_lt} 0.85.

First therapy efforts at the Bevalac using neon ions took place in the 70's and 80's. Promising results led to construction of HIMAC in Chiba Japan, and more recently to therapy trials at GSI. Both these facilities are now treating patients with carbon beams. Advances in both accelerator technology and beam delivery have taken place at these two centers. Plans are well along for new facilities in Europe and Japan.

The objective of this study is to analyze flow within the vadose zone during a mid-scale hydrologic test to and to characterize transport processes in-situ. This project will employ numerical and experimental tools that have been developed under a previously funded EMSP proposal (project number 55332). Geophysical imaging techniques will be employed to image the changes produced by the transport experiments in-situ as they occur. Results will help to better understand flow and transport modes within the vadose zone at DOE sites, including the influence of natural heterogeneities and man-made structures. In addition the data will provide checks against which numerical flow and transport simulations can be compared.

The objective of this study is to develop and field test a new, integrated Hybrid Hydrologic- Geophysical Inverse Technique (HHGIT) for characterization of the vadose zone at contaminated sites. This new approach to site characterization and monitoring can provide detailed maps of hydrogeologic heterogeneity and the extent of contamination by combining information from 3D electric resistivity tomography (ERT) and/or 2D cross-borehole ground penetrating radar (XBGPR) surveys, statistical information about heterogeneity and hydrologic processes, and sparse hydrologic data. Because the electrical conductivity and dielectric constant of the vadose zone (from the ERT and XBGPR measurements, respectively) can be correlated to the fluid saturation and/or contaminant concentration, the hydrologic and geophysical measurements are related.

The goal of this project is to develop inorganic metal oxide clusters known as polyoxoanions (POAs) as complexants for the immobilization of actinide (An) ions from high-level waste (HLW). A diverse array of rugged isopolyoxoanions, [MxOy]z- , and heteropolyoxoanions, [XaMbOc]d-, comprised of M = V, Nb, Mo, W and X = Si, P polyhedra are under investigation for their ability to incarcerate An ions. The research combines two objectives-An-POA coordination and An-POA containment. The first involves the synthesis, isolation, and characterization of POAs that can selectively bind An ions to form stable An-POA complexes in alkaline and acidic solutions. The second involves investigations of the thermochemistry of the An-POA complexes under vitrification conditions germane to the formation of proposed HLW forms, such as borosilicate glass. The approach is envisioned to provide two levels of An encapsulation for maximum stability and durability as well as the potential to incorporate higher levels of An ions (particularly Pu) in waste forms than now possible. Such versatility bodes well for prospective applications of POAs as An complexants in technology of significance to the environmental management of HLW.

We are engaged in a collaborative research effort with Los Alamos staff scientists Steven Buelow and Jeanne Robinson, staff members in group CST-6. The work proposed by these LANL staff scientists is directed towards the destruction of complexants and oxidation of chromium and technetium by hydrothermal processing in near critical or supercritical aqueous solutions. Our own work has been focused on a careful kinetic study of oxidation reactions of hydrogen peroxide with chromium hydroxide. This reaction occurs readily at ambient temperatures.

We will develop simple, inexpensive new chemical sensing materials which can be used as visual color test strips to sensitively and selectively report on the concentration and identity of environmental pollutants such as cations of Pb, U, Pu, Sr, Hg, Cs, Co as well as other species. We will develop inexpensive chemical test strips which can be immersed in water to determine these analytes in the field. We will also develop arrays of these chemical sensing materials which will be attached to fiber optic bundles to be used as rugged multichannel optrodes to simultaneously monitor numerous analytes remotely in hostile environments. These sensing materials are based on the intelligent polymerized crystalline colloidal array (PCCA) technology we recently developed. This sensing motif utilizes a mesoscopically periodic array of colloidal particles polymerized into an acrylamide hydrogel. This array Bragg diffracts light in the visible spectral region due to the periodic array of colloidal particles. This material also contains chelating agents for the analytes of interest. When an analyte binds, its charge is immobilized within the acrylamide hydrogel. The resulting Donnan potential causes an osmotic pressure which swells the array proportional to the concentration of analyte bound. The diffracted wavelength shifts and the …

Monthly newsletter discussing news and activities related to the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, articles about weather and atmospheric phenomena, and other related topics.

The Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) computational grid is being constructed to interconnect the high performance computing resources of the nuclear weapons complex. The grid will simplify access to the diverse computing, storage, network, and visualization resources, and will enable the coordinated use of shared resources regardless of location. To match existing hardware platforms, required security services, and current simulation practices, the Globus MetaComputing Toolkit was selected to provide core grid services. The ASCI grid extends Globus functionality by operating as an independent grid, incorporating Kerberos-based security, interfacing to Sandia's Cplant{trademark},and extending job monitoring services. To fully meet ASCI's needs, the architecture layers distributed work management and criteria-driven resource selection services on top of Globus. These services simplify the grid interface by allowing users to simply request ''run code X anywhere''. This paper describes the initial design and prototype of the ASCI grid.

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Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico, conducts the Energy Storage Systems Program, which is sponsored by the US Department of Energy's Office of Power Technologies. The goal of this program is to develop cost-effective electric energy storage systems for many high-value stationary applications in collaboration with academia and industry. Sandia National Laboratories is responsible for the engineering analyses, contracted development, and testing of energy storage components and systems. This report details the technical achievements realized during fiscal year 1999.

The US Department of Energy Offices of Defense Programs and Civilian Radioactive Waste Management jointly sponsored a program to evaluate elastomeric O-ring seal materials for radioactive material shipping containers. The report presents the results of low- and high-temperature tests conducted on 27 common elastomeric compounds.

The authors consider glueball-(hybrid) meson mixing for the low-lying four pseudovector states. The h{sub 1}{prime}(1380) decays dominantly to K*K with some presence in {rho}{pi} and {omega}{eta}. The newly observed h{sub 1}(1600) has a D- to S-wave width ratio to {omega}{eta} which makes its interpretation as a conventional meson unlikely. They predict the decay pattern of the isopartner conventional or hybrid meson b{sub 1}(1650). A notably narrow s{bar s} partner h{sub 1}{prime}(1810) is predicted.

To better understand the structural characteristics of vegetation in the Los Alamos region, the authors conducted two years of field surveys and associated analyses. This report introduces field methods, lists the summarized field data, and discusses the results of preliminary spatial analyses. During 1998 and 1999, seventy-six terrestrial plant communities were sampled for topographic characteristics, soil surface features, and vegetational conditions. A nested, randomized design was used to select the plot locations and to guide the sampling of the plot. The samples included a variety of fuel types, including surface fuels and ground fuels, shrubby and small tree fuels, and overstory fuels. Species composition data were also collected. The fuels data were summarized by vegetation type and evaluated for the topographic and spatial relationships of major field categories. The results of these analyses indicate that many of the fuels categories depend on topographic factors in a linear and curvilinear fashion. In particular, middle elevations within the Los Alamos region tend to support more surface fuels and ground fuels, whereas large-diameter trees are most dense at higher elevations and are specific to community types at these elevations. Small-diameter trees occur in more dense stands at lower and middle elevations and on …

The objective of this program is to identify new waste forms and disposal strategies specific to crystalline silicotitanate (CST) secondary waste that is generated from cesium and strontium ion exchange processes. Waste forms that are developed in this work will offer an alternative to current disposal plans. The goals of the program are to reduce the costs associated with CST waste disposal, minimize the risk of contamination to the environment during CST processing, and provide DOE with technical alternatives for CST disposal. The technical objectives of the proposed work are to (1) fully characterize the phase relationships, structures, and thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities of crystalline silicotitanate waste forms and (2) establish a sound technical basis for understanding key waste form properties, such as melting temperatures and aqueous durability, based on an in-depth understanding of waste form structures and thermochemistry.

The purpose of this document is to describe tests performed to validate Revision 12.0 of the TMACS Monitor and Control System (TMACS) and verify that the software functions as intended by design. This document is intended to test the software portion of TMACS. The tests will be performed on the development system. The software to be tested is the TMACS knowledge bases (KB) and the I/O driver/services. The development system will not be communicating to field equipment; instead, the field equipment is simulated using emulators or multiplexers in the lab.

The focus of this report is the coupling of conductive heat transfer and boiling convective heat transfer, with boiling flow in a rock fracture. A series of experiments observed differences in boiling regimes and behavior, and attempted to quantify a boiling convection coefficient. The experimental study involved boiling radial flow in a simulated fracture, bounded by a variety of materials. Nonporous and impermeable aluminum, highly porous and permeable Berea sandstone, and minimally porous and permeable graywacke from The Geysers geothermal field. On nonporous surfaces, the heat flux was not strongly coupled to injection rate into the fracture. However, for porous surfaces, heat flux, and associated values of excess temperature and a boiling convection coefficient exhibited variation with injection rate. Nucleation was shown to occur not upon the visible surface of porous materials, but a distance below the surface, within the matrix. The depth of boiling was a function of injection rate, thermal power supplied to the fracture, and the porosity and permeability of the rock. Although matrix boiling beyond fracture wall may apply only to a finite radius around the point of injection, higher values of heat flux and a boiling convection coefficient may be realized with boiling in a …

We are developing bifunctional anion-exchange resins that facilitate anion uptake by carefully controlling the structure of the anion receptor site. Our new ion-exchange resins interface the rapidly developing field of ion-specific chelating ligands with robust, commercial ion-exchange technology. The basic scientific issues addressed are actinide complex speciation along with modeling of the metal complex/functional site interactions in order to determine optimal binding site characteristics. Resin materials that actively facilitate the uptake of actinide complexes from solution should display both improved selectivity and kinetic properties. Our implementation of the 'bifunctionality concept' involves N-derivatization of pyridinium units from a base poly(4- vinylpyridine) resin (PVP) with a second cationic site, such that the two anion-exchange sites are linked by 'spacer' arms of varying length and flexibility. The overall objective of our research is to develop a predictive capability that allows the facile design and implementation of multi-functionalized anion-exchange materials to selectively sorb metal complexes of interest from targeted process, waste, and environmental streams. Various Focus Areas and Crosscutting Programs have described needs that would be favorably impacted by the new materials:Tanks, Plutonium; Subsurface Contaminants; Mixed Waste; and Efficient Separations. Sites within the DOE complex which would benefit from the improved anion exchange technology …

The US Geological Survey, in response to a request from the U.S Department of Energy's Pittsburgh Naval Reactors Office, Idaho Branch Office, sampled water from 13 wells during 1997-98 as part of a long-term project to monitor water quality of the Snake River Plain aquifer in the vicinity of the Naval Reactors Facility, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho. Water samples were analyzed for naturally occurring constituents and man-made contaminants. A total of 91 samples were collected from the 13 monitoring wells. The routine samples contained detectable concentrations of total cations and dissolved anions, and nitrite plus nitrate as nitrogen. Most of the samples also had detectable concentrations of gross alpha- and gross beta-particle radioactivity and tritium. Fourteen quality-assurance samples were also collected and analyzed; seven were field-blank samples, and seven were replicate samples. Most of the field blank samples contained less than detectable concentrations of target constituents; however some blank samples did contain detectable concentrations of calcium, magnesium, barium, copper, manganese, nickel, zinc, nitrite plus nitrate, total organic halogens, tritium, and selected volatile organic compounds.

Particle size distribution (PSD) analysis of radioactive slurry samples were obtained using a modified off-the-shelf classical laser light scattering particle size analyzer. A Horiba Instruments Inc. Model La-300 PSD analyzer, which has a 0.1 to 600 micron measurement range, was modified for remote application in a hot cell (gamma radiation) environment. The general details of the modifications to this analyzer are presented in this paper. This technology provides rapid and simple PSD analysis, especially down in the fine and microscopic particle size regime. Particle size analysis of these radioactive slurries down in this smaller range was not achievable - making this technology far superior than the traditional methods used previously. Remote deployment and utilization of this technology is in an exploratory stage. The risk of malfunction in this radiation environment is countered by gaining of this tremendously useful fundamental engineering data. Successful acquisition of this data, in conjunction with other characterization analyses, provides important information that can be used in the myriad of potential radioactive waste management alternatives.

Particle size distribution (PSD) analysis of radioactive slurry samples were obtained using a modified "off-the-shelf" classical laser light scattering particle size analyzer. A Horiba Instruments Inc. Model La-300 PSD analyzer, which has a 0.1 to 600 micron measurement range, was modified for remote application in a "hot cell" (gamma radiation) environment. The general details of the modifications to this analyzer are presented in this paper. This technology provides rapid and simple PSD analysis, especially down in the fine and microscopic particle size regime. Particle size analysis of these radioactive slurries down in this smaller range was not achievable - making this technology far superior than the traditional methods used previously. Remote deployment and utilization of this technology is in an exploratory stage. The risk of malfunction in this radiation environment is countered by gaining of this tremendously useful fundamental engineering data. Successful acquisition of this data, in conjunction with other characterization analyses, provides important information that can be used in the myriad of potential radioactive waste management alternatives.

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