In order to efficiently perform particle simulations in systems with widely varying magnetization, we developed a drift-Lorentz mover, which interpolates between full particle dynamics and drift kinetics in such a way as to preserve a physically correct gyroradius and particle drifts for both large and small ratios of the timestep to the cyclotron period. In order to extend applicability of the mover to systems with plasma frequency exceeding the cyclotron frequency such as one may have with fully neutralized drift compression of a heavy-ion beam we have developed an implicit version of the mover. A first step in this direction, in which the polarization charge was added to the field solver, was described previously. Here we describe a fully implicit algorithm (which is analogous to the direct-implicit method for conventionalparticle-in-cell simulation), summarize a stability analysis of it, and describe several tests of the resultant code.

We examine the relative merits of gravity measurements as a monitoring tool for geological CO{sub 2} sequestration in three different modeling scenarios. The first is a combined CO{sub 2} enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and sequestration in a producing oil field, the second is sequestration in a brine formation, and the third is for a coalbed methane formation. EOR/sequestration petroleum reservoirs have relatively thin injection intervals with multiple fluid components (oil, hydrocarbon gas, brine, and CO{sub 2}), whereas brine formations usually have much thicker injection intervals and only two components (brine and CO{sub 2}). Coal formations undergoing methane extraction tend to be thin (3-10 m), but shallow compared to either EOR or brine formations. The injection of CO{sub 2} into the oil reservoir produced a bulk density decrease in the reservoir. The spatial pattern of the change in the vertical component of gravity (G{sub z}) is directly correlated with the net change in reservoir density. Furthermore, time-lapse changes in the borehole G{sub z} clearly identified the vertical section of the reservoir where fluid saturations are changing. The CO{sub 2}-brine front, on the order of 1 km within a 20 m thick brine formation at 1900 m depth, with 30% CO{sub 2} …

Electromagnetic induction data parameterized in time dependent object intrinsic polarizabilities allow discrimination of unexploded ordnance (UXO) from false targets (scrap metal). Data from a cart-mounted system designed for discrimination of UXO with 20 mm to 155 mm diameters are used. Discrimination of UXO from irregular scrap metal is based on the principal dipole polarizabilities of a target. A near-intact UXO displays a single major polarizability coincident with the long axis of the object and two equal smaller transverse polarizabilities, whereas metal scraps have distinct polarizability signatures that rarely mimic those of elongated symmetric bodies. Based on a training data set of known targets, object identification was made by estimating the probability that an object is a single UXO. Our test survey took place on a military base where both 4.2-inch mortar shells and scrap metal were present. The results show that we detected and discriminated correctly all 4.2-inch mortars, and in that process we added 7%, and 17%, respectively, of dry holes (digging scrap) to the total number of excavations in two different survey modes. We also demonstrated a mode of operation that might be more cost effective than the current practice.

The United States (U.S.) has identified 61.5 metric tons (MT) of plutonium that is permanently excess to use in nuclear weapons programs, including 47.2 MT of weapons-grade plutonium. Except for materials that remain in use for programs outside of national defense, including programs for nuclear-energy development, the surplus inventories will be stored safely by the Department of Energy (DOE) and then transferred to facilities that will prepare the plutonium for permanent disposition. Some items will be disposed as transuranic waste, low-level waste, or spent fuel. The remaining surplus plutonium will be managed through: (1) the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility (FFF), to be constructed at the Savannah River Site (SRS), where the plutonium will be converted to fuel that will be irradiated in civilian power reactors and later disposed to a high-level waste (HLW) repository as spent fuel; (2) the SRS H-Area facilities, by dissolving and transfer to HLW systems, also for disposal to the repository; or (3) alternative immobilization techniques that would provide durable and secure disposal. From the beginning of the U.S. program for surplus plutonium disposition, DOE has sponsored research to characterize the surplus materials and to judge their suitability for planned disposition options. Because many …

A number of (semi-)analytical solutions are available to drawdown analysis and leakage estimation of shallow aquifer-aquitard systems. These solutions assume that the systems are laterally infinite. When a large-scale pumping from (or injection into) an aquifer-aquitard system of lower specific storativity occurs, induced pressure perturbation (or hydraulic head drawdown/rise) may reach the lateral boundary of the aquifer. We developed semi-analytical solutions to address the induced pressure perturbation and vertical leakage in a 'laterally bounded' system consisting of an aquifer and an overlying/underlying aquitard. A one-dimensional radial flow equation for the aquifer was coupled with a one-dimensional vertical flow equation for the aquitard, with a no-flow condition imposed on the outer radial boundary. Analytical solutions were obtained for (1) the Laplace-transform hydraulic head drawdown/rise in the aquifer and in the aquitard, (2) the Laplace-transform rate and volume of leakage through the aquifer-aquitard interface integrated up to an arbitrary radial distance, (3) the transformed total leakage rate and volume for the entire interface, and (4) the transformed horizontal flux at any radius. The total leakage rate and volume depend only on the hydrogeologic properties and thicknesses of the aquifer and aquitard, as well as the duration of pumping or injection. It was …

To ensure inheritance by daughter cells, many low-copy number bacterial plasmids, including the R1 drug-resistance plasmid, encode their own DNA segregation systems. The par operon of plasmid R1 directs construction of a simple spindle structure that converts free energy of polymerization of an actin-like protein, ParM, into work required to move sister plasmids to opposite poles of rod-shaped cells. The structures of individual components have been solved, but little is known about the ultrastructure of the R1 spindle. To determine the number of ParM filaments in a minimal R1 spindle, we used DNA-gold nanocrystal conjugates as mimics of the R1 plasmid. Wefound that each end of a single polar ParM filament binds to a single ParR/parC-gold complex, consistent with the idea that ParM filaments bind in the hollow core of the ParR/parC ring complex. Our results further suggest that multifilament spindles observed in vivo are associated with clusters of plasmidssegregating as a unit.

The Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Department of Energy's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State began operations in 1949 to process plutonium and plutonium products. Its primary mission was to produce plutonium metal, fabricate weapons parts, and stabilize reactive materials. These operations, and subsequent activities, were performed in production lines, consisting primarily of hundreds of gloveboxes. Over the years, these gloveboxes and attendant processes have been continuously modified. The plant is currently inactive and Fluor Hanford has been tasked with cleaning out contaminated equipment and gloveboxes from the facility so it can be demolished in the near future. Approximately 100 gloveboxes at PFP have been cleaned out in the past four years and about 90 gloveboxes remain to be cleaned out. Because specific commitment dates for this work have been established with the State of Washington and other entities, it is important to adopt work practices that increase the safety and speed of this effort. The most recent work practice to be adopted by Fluor Hanford D and D workers is the use of 3-D models to make the process of cleaning out the radioactive gloveboxes more efficient. The use of 3-D models has significantly improved the work-planning process by …

The most likely velocity of ions moving away from vacuum arc cathode spots was measured using a set of probes along the path of plasma expansion. The goal was to determine how much, if any, change of the ion drift velocity occurs in the expanded plasma. The arc discharge current was perturbed to create plasma density markers whose travel is picked up by the set of probes. It was found that the perturbation with current oscillations did not result in consistent data because ion current maxima and minima are not only determined by the plasma production but by the transients of the arc pulse and by the asymmetry of the ion velocity distribution function. Perturbation with a short current spike was more conclusive. The ion velocity was measured to be slightly reduced with increasing distance from the cathode, which can be explained by collisions of ions with the background of neutrals. The ion velocity was increased when the arc current was increased, which correlated with enhanced arc voltage and power dissipation. The ion velocity could be enhanced when the plasma was produced in a non-uniform magnetic field.

Growth in renewable energy in the U.S. over the past decade has been propelled by a number of forces, including rising fossil fuel prices, environmental concerns, and policy support at the state and federal levels. In this article, we review and discuss what are arguably the two most important types of state policies for supporting electricity generation from geothermal and other forms of renewable energy: renewables portfolio standards and utility integrated resource planning requirements. Within the Western U.S., where the vast majority of the nation's readily-accessible geothermal resource potential resides, these two types of state policies have been critical to the growth of renewable energy, and both promise to continue to play a fundamental role for the foreseeable future. In its essence, a renewables portfolio standard (RPS) requires utilities and other retail electricity suppliers to produce or purchase a minimum quantity or percentage of their generation supply from renewable resources. RPS purchase obligations generally increase over time, and retail suppliers typically must demonstrate compliance on an annual basis. Mandatory RPS policies are backed by various types of compliance enforcement mechanisms, although most states have incorporated some type of cost-containment provision, such as a cost cap or a cap on retail …

None

The wind power industry in the U.S. has been on a growth binge in recent years, and the rapid pace of development has made it difficult to keep up with trends in the marketplace. Yet the need for timely, objective information on the wind industry and its progress has never been greater. This article, excerpted from a longer report from the U.S. Department of Energy, attempts to fill this need by providing a comprehensive, yet detailed, overview of key developments in the U.S. wind power market, with a particular focus on 2007. This summary includes information on wind project installation trends, industry developments, and, perhaps most interestingly, project-level installed cost and pricing information that has not otherwise been widely reported. The article concentrates on larger-scale wind applications, defined here as projects utilizing turbines that exceed 50 kW in size. In many cases, the data reported here represent only a sample of all wind projects installed in the United States; furthermore, the data vary in quality. As such, emphasis should be placed on overall trends in the data, rather than on individual data points.

Motor vehicle emissions of ammonia have been measured at a California highway tunnel in the San Francisco Bay area. Between 1999 and 2006, light-duty vehicle ammonia emissions decreased by 38 {+-} 6%, from 640 {+-} 40 to 400 {+-} 20 mg kg{sup -1}. High time resolution measurements of ammonia made in summer 2001 at the same location indicate a minimum in ammonia emissions correlated with slower-speed driving conditions. Variations in ammonia emission rates track changes in carbon monoxide more closely than changes in nitrogen oxides, especially during later evening hours when traffic speeds are highest. Analysis of remote sensing data of Burgard et al. (Environ Sci. Technol. 2006, 40, 7018-7022) indicates relationships between ammonia and vehicle model year, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. Ammonia emission rates from diesel trucks were difficult to measure in the tunnel setting due to the large contribution to ammonia concentrations in a mixed-traffic bore that were assigned to light-duty vehicle emissions. Nevertheless, it is clear that heavy-duty diesel trucks are a minor source of ammonia emissions compared to light-duty gasoline vehicles.