Evaluate the long-term retention of several facilities associated with the PNNL Capability Replacement Laboratory and other Hanfor mission needs. WCH prepared a mitigation plan for three scenarios with different release dates for specific buildings. The evaluations present a proposed plan for providing utility services to retained facilities in support of a long-term (+20 year) lifespan in addition to temporary services to buildings with specified delayed release dates.

This paper introduces an adaptive mesh and algorithmrefinement method for fluctuating hydrodynamics. This particle-continuumhybrid simulates the dynamics of a compressible fluid with thermalfluctuations. The particle algorithm is direct simulation Monte Carlo(DSMC), a molecular-level scheme based on the Boltzmann equation. Thecontinuum algorithm is based on the Landau-Lifshitz Navier-Stokes (LLNS)equations, which incorporate thermal fluctuations into macroscopichydrodynamics by using stochastic fluxes. It uses a recently-developedsolver for LLNS, based on third-order Runge-Kutta. We present numericaltests of systems in and out of equilibrium, including time-dependentsystems, and demonstrate dynamic adaptive refinement by the computationof a moving shock wave. Mean system behavior and second moment statisticsof our simulations match theoretical values and benchmarks well. We findthat particular attention should be paid to the spectrum of the flux atthe interface between the particle and continuum methods, specificallyfor the non-hydrodynamic (kinetic) time scales.

This report consists of communities first act and a banking taxation measure.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requested that the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) perform a confirmatory survey on the Emergency Operations Facility (EOF) at the Connecticut Yankee Haddam Neck Plant (HNP) in Haddam, Connecticut

This paper presents a design summary of the containment vessel closure for the Bulk Tritium Shipping Package (BTSP). This new package is a replacement for a package that has been used to ship tritium in a variety of content configurations and forms since the early 1970s. The new design is based on changes in the regulatory requirements. The BTSP design incorporates many improvements over its predecessor by implementing improved testing, handling, and maintenance capabilities, while improving manufacturability and incorporating new engineered materials that enhance the package's ability to withstand dynamic loading and thermal effects. This paper will specifically summarize the design philosophy and engineered features of the BTSP containment vessel closure. The closure design incorporates a concave closure lid, metallic C-Ring seals for containing tritium gas, a metal bellows valve and an elastomer O-Ring for leak testing. The efficient design minimizes the overall vessel height and protects the valve housing from damage during postulated drop and crush scenarios. Design features will be discussed.

This report describes studies of hyperons and hyperon resonances produced in charm baryon decays at BABAR. Using two-body decays of the {Xi}{sub c}{sup 0} and {Omega}{sub c}{sup 0}, it is shown, for the first time, that the spin of the {omega}{sup -} is 3/2. The {Omega}{sup -} analysis procedures are extended to three-body final states and properties of the {Xi}(1690){sup 0} are extracted from a detailed isobar model analysis of the {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} {yields} {Lambda}{bar K}{sup 0}K{sup +} Dalitz plot. The mass and width values of the {Xi}(1690){sup 0} are measured with much greater precision than attained previously. The hypothesis that the spin of the {Xi}(1690) resonance is 1/2 yields an excellent description of the data, while spin values 3/2 and 5/2 are disfavored. The {Lambda}a{sub 0}(980){sup +} decay mode of the {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} is observed for the first time. Similar techniques are then used to study {Xi}(1530){sup 0} production in {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} decay. The spin of the {Xi}(1530) is established for the first time to be 3/2. The existence of an S-wave amplitude in the {Xi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} system is shown, and its interference with the {Xi}(1530){sup 0} amplitude provides the first clear demonstration of the …

To achieve a sizable and self-sustaining market for grid-connected, customer-sited photovoltaic (PV) systems, solar will likely need to be competitive with retail electricity rates. In this report, we examine the impact of retail rate design on the economic value of commercial PV systems in California. Using 15-minute interval building load and PV production data from 24 actual commercial PV installations, we compare the value of the bill savings across 20 commercial customer retail rates currently offered in the state. We find that the specifics of the rate structure, combined with the characteristics of the customer's underlying load and the size of the PV system, can have a substantial impact on the customer-economics of commercial PV systems. Key conclusions for policymakers that emerge from our analysis are as follows: {sm_bullet} Rate design is fundamental to the economics of commercial PV. The rate-reduction value of PV for our sample of commercial customers, considering all available retail tariffs, ranges from $0.05/kWh to $0.24/kWh, reflecting differences in rate structures, the revenue requirements of the various utilities, the size of the PV system relative to building load, and customer load shapes. For the average customer in our sample, differences in rate structure, alone, alter the …

This report provides background information about the war in Kosovo and discusses issues regarding Kosovo's future status and U. S. policy.

Many automated image-based applications have need of finding small spots in a variably noisy image. For humans, it is relatively easy to distinguish objects from local surroundings no matter what else may be in the image. We attempt to capture this distinguishing capability computationally by calculating a measurement that estimates the strength of signal within an object versus the noise in its local neighborhood. First, we hypothesize various sizes for the object and corresponding background areas. Then, we compute the Local Area Signal to Noise Ratio (LASNR) at every pixel in the image, resulting in a new image with LASNR values for each pixel. All pixels exceeding a pre-selected LASNR value become seed pixels, or initiation points, and are grown to include the full area extent of the object. Since growing the seed is a separate operation from finding the seed, each object can be any size and shape. Thus, the overall process is a 2-stage segmentation method that first finds object seeds and then grows them to find the full extent of the object. This algorithm was designed, optimized and is in daily use for the accurate and rapid inspection of optics from a large laser system (National Ignition …

Neutron-absorbing Fe-based amorphous-metal coatings have been developed that are more corrosion resistant than other criticality-control materials, including Al-B{sub 4}C composites, borated stainless steels, and Ni-Cr-Mo-Gd alloys. The presence of relatively high concentration of boron in these coatings not only enhances its neutron-absorption capability, but also enables these coatings to exist in the amorphous state. Exceptional corrosion resistance has been achieved with these Fe-based amorphous-metal alloys through additions of chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten. The addition of rare earth elements such as yttrium has lowered the critical cooling rate of these materials, thereby rendering them more easily processed. Containers used for the storage of nuclear materials, and protected from corrosion through the application of amorphous metal coatings, would have greatly enhanced service lives, and would therefore provide greater long-term safety. Amorphous alloy powders have been successfully produced in multi-ton quantities with gas atomization, and applied to several half-scale spent fuel storage containers and criticality control structures with the high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spray process. Salt fog testing and neutron radiography of these prototypes indicates that such an approach is viable for the production of large-scale industrial-scale facilities and containers. The use of these durable neutron-absorbing materials to coat stainless steel containers and …

We report on a novel sensing technique combining photonics and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for the detection and monitoring of gas emissions for critical environmental, medical, and industrial applications. We discuss how MEMS-tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) can be exploited for in-situ detection and NIR spectroscopy of several gases, such as O{sub 2}, N{sub 2}O, CO{sub x}, CH{sub 4}, HF, HCl, etc., with estimated sensitivities between 0.1 and 20 ppm on footprints {approx}10{sup -3} mm{sup 3}. The VCSELs can be electrostatically tuned with a continuous wavelength shift up to 20 nm, allowing for unambiguous NIR signature determination. Selective concentration analysis in heterogeneous gas compositions is enabled, thus paving the way to an integrated optical platform for multiplexed gas identification by bandgap and device engineering. We will discuss here, in particular, our efforts on the development of a 760 nm AlGaAs based tunable VCSEL for O{sub 2} detection.

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We present recent results on thermodynamics of QCD with almost physical light quark masses and a physical strange quark mass value. These calculations have been performed with an improved staggered action especially designed for finite temperature lattice QCD. In detail we present a calculation of the transition temperature, using a combined chiral and continuum extrapolation. Furthermore we present preliminary results on the interaction measure and energy density at almost realistic quark masses. Finally we discuss the response of the pressure to a finite quark chemical potential. Within the Taylor expansion formalism we calculate quark number susceptibilities and leading order corrections to finite chemical potential. This is particularly useful for mapping out the critical region in the QCD phase diagram.

This report gathers selected statistics on the role of small businesses in the national economy that Congress has frequently asked the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to provide. Most of the statistics are calculated by CRS from Census data. The report uses the widely accepted research definition that a small business has fewer than 500 employees.

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