This describes a comprehensive, integrated approach for the development of HTS (high-temperature superconductivity) technology for cost-effective use in electric power applications. This approach supports the program`s mission: to develop the technology that could lead to industrial commercialization of HTS electric power applications, such as fault-current limiters, motors, generators, transmission cables, superinductors, and superconducting energy storage. The vision is that, by 2010, the US power systems equipment industry will regain a major share of the global market by offering superconducting products that outperform the competition; and in US, the power grid will gain increased efficiency and stability by incorporating many kinds of HTS devices. After an overview and a discussion of the program plan (wires, systems technology, partnership initiative), this document discusses technology status, stakeholders, and the role of US DOE.

Sandia recently completed an updated strategic plan, the essence of which is presented in chapter 4. Sandia`s Strategic Plan 1994 takes its direction from DOE`s Fueling a Competitive Economy: Strategic Plan and provides tangible guidance for Sandia`s programs and operations. Although it is impossible to foresee precisely what activities Sandia will pursue many years from now, the strategic plan makes one point clear: the application of our scientific and engineering skills to the stewardship of the nation`s nuclear deterrent will be central to our service to the nation. We will provide the necessary institutional memory and continuity, experience base, and technical expertise to ensure the continued safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile. As a multiprogram laboratory, Sandia will also continue to focus maximum effort on a broad spectrum of other topics consistent with DOE`s enduring core mission responsibilities: Defense (related to nuclear weapons), Energy, Environment (related to waste management and environmental remediation), and Basic Science.

The purpose of this revision is to update the Line Item Project, 93-L-GFW-152 Functional Design Criteria (FDC) to reflect changes approved in change control M-24-91-6, Engineering Change Notices (ECNs), and expand the scope to include subsurface investigations along with the borehole drilling. This revision improves the ability and effectiveness of maintaining RCRA and Operational groundwater compliance by combining borehole and well drilling with subsurface data gathering objectives. The total projected number of wells to be installed under this project has decreased from 200 and the scope has been broadened to include additional subsurface investigation activities that usually occur simultaneously with most traditional borehole drilling and monitoring well installations. This includes borehole hydrogeologic characterization activities, and vadose monitoring. These activities are required under RCRA 40 CFR 264 and 265 and WAC 173-303 for site characterization, groundwater and vadose assessment and well placement.

This document reaffirms the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy commitment to implement the National Oil Research Program in a way to maximize assurance of energy security, economic growth, environmental protection, jobs, improved economic competitiveness, and improved US balance of trade. There are two sections and an appendix in this document. Section 1 is background information that guided its formulation and a summary of the Oil Program Implementation Plan. This summary includes mission statements, major program drivers, oil issues and trends, budget issues, customers/stakeholders, technology transfer, measures of program effectiveness, and benefits. Section 2 contains more detailed program descriptions for the eight technical areas and the NIPER infrastructure. The eight technical areas are reservoir characterization; extraction research; exploration, drilling, and risk-based decision management; analysis and planning; technology transfer; field demonstration projects; oil downstream operations; and environmental research. Each description contains an overview of the program, descriptions on main areas, a discussion of stakeholders, impacts, planned budget projections, projected schedules with Gantt charts, and measures of effectiveness. The appendix is a summary of comments from industry on an earlier draft of the plan. Although changes were made in response to the comments, many of the suggestions will be …

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) continues to face a major radioactive waste tank remediation problem with hundreds of waste tanks containing hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of high-level waste (HLW) and transuranic (TRU) waste across the DOE complex. Approximately 80 tanks are known or assumed to have leaked. Some of the tank contents have reacted to form flammable gases, introducing additional safety risks. These tanks must be maintained in a safe condition and eventually remediated to minimize the risk of waste migration and/or exposure to workers, the public, and the environment. However, programmatic drivers are more ambitious than baseline technologies and budgets will support. Science and technology development investments are required to reduce the technical and programmatic risks associated with the tank remediation baselines. The Tanks Focus Area (TFA) was initiated in 1994 to serve as the DOE`s Office of Environmental Management`s (EM`s) national technology development program for radioactive waste tank remediation. The national program was formed to increase integration and realize greater benefits from DOE`s technology development budget. The TFA is responsible for managing, coordinating, and leveraging technology development to support DOE`s four major tank sites: Hanford Site (Washington), Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) (Idaho), …

In this first institutional plan prepared by Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC, for the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, the INEEL will focus its efforts on three strategic thrusts: (1) Environmental Management stewardship for DOE-EM, (2) Nuclear reactor technology for DOE-Nuclear Energy (NE), and (3) Energy R and D, demonstration, and deployment (initial focus on biofuels and chemicals from biomass). The first strategic thrust focuses on meeting DOE-EMs environmental cleanup and long-term stewardship needs in a manner that is safe, cost-effective, science-based, and approved by key stakeholders. The science base at the INEEL will be further used to address a grand challenge for the INEEL and the DOE complex--the development of a fundamental scientific understanding of the migration of subsurface contaminants. The second strategic thrust is directed at DOE-NEs needs for safe, economical, waste-minimized, and proliferation-resistant nuclear technologies. As NE lead laboratories, the INEEL and ANL will pursue specific priorities. The third strategic thrust focuses on DOE's needs for clean, efficient, and renewable energy technology. As an initial effort, the INEEL will enhance its capability in biofuels, bioprocessing, and biochemicals. The content of this institutional plan is designed to meet basic DOE requirements for content and structure and reflect the …

In accordance with EM's office of Science and Technology (OST), the TFA is committed to assessing the maturity of technology development projects and ensuring their readiness for implementation and subsequent deployment. The TFA conducts an annual Midyear Review to document the status of ongoing projects, reaffirm and document user commitment to selected projects, and to improve the effective deployment of technology by determining and documenting the readiness of selected projects to move ahead. Since 1995, OST has used a linear technology maturation model that spans through seven defined stages of maturity, from basic research to implementation. Application of this Stage/Gate model to technology development resulted in prescriptive and somewhat cumbersome review procedures, resulting in limited and inconsistent use. Subsequently, in February 2000, OST issued revised guidance in an effort to streamline the technology tracking and review process. While the new OST guidance reinforces peer review requirements and the use of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for independent reviews, it also implements a simplified Gate model. The TFA is now responsible for providing auditable documentation for passing only three stages of technology maturity: ready for research (Gate 0); ready for development (Gate 2); ready for demonstration (Gate 5). The …

Consistent with the Environmental Management`s (EM`s) plan titled, ``Accelerating Cleanup: Paths to Closure``, and ongoing efforts within the Executive Branch and Congress, this Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP) for the Plutonium Focus Area was written to ensure that technical gap projects are effectively managed and measured. The Plutonium Focus Area (PFA) defines and manages technology development programs that contribute to the effective stabilization of nuclear materials and their subsequent safe storage and final disposition. The scope of PFA activities includes the complete spectrum of plutonium materials, special isotopes, and other fissile materials. The PFA enables solutions to site-specific and complex-wide technology issues associated with plutonium remediation, stabilization, and preparation for disposition. The report describes the current technical activities, namely: Plutonium stabilization (9 studies); Highly enriched uranium stabilization (2 studies); Russian collaboration program (2 studies); Packaging and storage technologies (6 studies); and PFA management work package/product line (3 studies). Budget information for FY 1999 and FY 2000 is provided.

This Institutional Plan describes what Argonne management regards as the optimal future development of Laboratory activities. The document outlines the development of both research programs and support operations in the context of the nation's R and D priorities, the missions of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Argonne, and expected resource constraints. The product of many discussions between DOE and Argonne program managers, the Draft Institutional Plan is provided to the Department before Argonne's On-Site Review. Issuance of the final Institutional Plan in the fall, after further comment and discussion, marks the culmination of the Laboratory's annual planning cycle. The final Plan also reflects programmatic priorities developed during Argonne's summer strategic planning process and the allocation of Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds.

This report documents the process used by the Tanks Focus Area (TFA) to analyze and develop responses to technology needs submitted by five major U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites with radioactive tank waste problems, and the initial results of the analysis. The sites are the Hanford Site, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), Savannah River Site (SRS), and West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP). During the past year, the TFA established a link with DOE's Fernald site to exchange, on a continuing basis, mutually beneficial technical information and assistance.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory`s core mission is to deliver environmental science and technology in the service of the nation and humanity. Through basic research the lab creates fundamental knowledge of natural, engineered, and social systems that is the basis for both effective environmental technology and sound public policy. They solve legacy environmental problems by delivering technologies that remedy existing environmental hazards, they address today`s environmental needs with technologies that prevent pollution and minimize waste, and they are laying the technical foundation for tomorrow`s inherently clean energy and industrial processes. The lab also applies their capabilities to meet selected national security, energy, and human health needs; strengthen the US economy; and support the education of future scientists and engineers. The paper summarizes individual research activities under each of these areas.

Jefferson Lab contributes to the Department of Energy mission to develop and operate major cutting-edge scientific user facilities. Jefferson Lab's CEBAF (Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility) is a unique tool for exploring the transition between the regime where strongly interacting (nuclear) matter can be understood as bound states of protons and neutrons, and the regime where the underlying fundamental quark-and-gluon structure of matter is evident. The nature of this transition is at the frontier of the authors understanding of matter. Experiments proposed by 834 scientists from 146 institutions in 21 countries await beam time in the three halls. The authors user-customers have been delighted with the quality of the data they are obtaining. Driven by their expressed need for energies higher than the 4 GeV design energy and on the outstanding performance of their novel superconducting accelerator, the laboratory currently delivers beams at 5.5 GeV and expects to deliver energies approaching 6 GeV for experiments in the near future. Building on the success of Jefferson Lab and continuing to deliver value for the nation's investment is the focus of Jefferson Lab's near-term plans. The highest priority for the facility is to execute its approved experimental program to elucidate the quark …

None

A major milestone was reached in Fiscal Year (FY) 2000--the completion of the Chicago Pile-5 (CP-5) D and D Project. CP-5, the first reactor built on the Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL-E) site, was a 5-megawatt, heavy water-moderated, enriched uranium-fueled reactor. It was the principal reactor on the Argonne site used to produce neutrons for scientific research from 1954 to 1979. The reactor was shut down and defueled in 1979, and placed in a lay-up condition. In 1990, funding was provided to begin the decontamination and decommissioning (D and D) of this facility, and work began in June 1991. D and D tasks were performed by both ANL-E personnel and subcontractor personnel from Duke Engineering and Services, Marlborough MA, under the management of ANL-E D and D Program personnel. In July 2000, the final project report was presented to the Department of Energy, and the facility was formally decommissioned and transferred to the landlord. Total project duration was 97 months, and total project cost was $29.5M. Also, in FY 2000, work began on the 60 Cyclotron D and D Project. An accelerator used for basic research, this facility produced beams of deuterons, helium ions, singly charged hydrogen molecules, and neutrons of …

In August 1995, the United States took a significant step to reduce the nuclear danger. The decision to pursue a zero- yield Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will allow greater control over the proliferation of nuclear weapons and will halt the growth of new nuclear systems. This step is only possible because of the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which provides an alternative means of ensuring the safety, performance, and reliability of the United States' enduring stockpile. At the heart of the Stockpile Stewardship Program is ASCI, which will create the high-confidence simulation capabilities needed to integrate fundamental science, experiments, and archival data into the stewardship of the actual weapons in the stockpile. ASCI will also serve to drive the development of simulation as a national resource by working closely with the computer industry and with universities.

This report contains the program plan and background information for the Heavy Vehicle Hybrid Propulsion R and D Program sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies. The program is a collaboration between industry and government established for the development of advanced hybrid-electric propulsion technology for urban cycle trucks and buses. It targets specific applications to enhance potential market success. Potential end-users are also involved.

The fabrication of boron-covered crystal scintillation detectors is described. Bulk boron-loaded epoxy material was cast and cut into 0.5 mm-thick wafers that were mounted on CdWO{sub 4} and CsI(Tl) crystals. The crystals were mounted on miniature photomultiplier tubes and gamma spectra were obtained with the detectors. The ability of these small detectors to produce spectra that can be analyzed to provide isotopic identification has been demonstrated. In addition, the detector can produce a signature indicating the presence of neutrons. The same miniature size of these detectors that makes them attractive for hand-held portable use, may be a limiting factor in their efficiency. The small size of the scintillation crystals makes them not as efficient as larger NaI(Tl) crystals simply by virtue of significantly decreased sensitive volume and surface area. It may be worthwhile to consider slightly larger crystals (approximately 15 mm cubic CdWO{sub 4}) mounted on rectangular photomultipliers in a detecting head connected to the electronics package by a signal cable.

This is the FY00 Annual Progress report for the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It gives an overview of the LDRD Program, summarizes progress on each project conducted during FY00, characterizes the projects according to their relevance to major funding sources, and provides an index to principal investigators. Project summaries are grouped by LDRD component: Directed Research and Exploratory Research. Within each component, they are further grouped into the ten technical categories: (1) atomic, molecular, optical, and plasma physics, fluids, and beams, (2) bioscience, (3) chemistry, (4) computer science and software engineering, (5) engineering science, (6) geoscience, space science, and astrophysics, (7) instrumentation and diagnostics, (8) materials science, (9) mathematics, simulation, and modeling, and (10) nuclear and particle physics.

The Low-Activity Waste Process Technology Program anticipated that grouting will be used for disposal of low-level and transuranic wastes generated at the Idaho Nuclear Technology Engineering Center (INTEC). During fiscal year 2000, grout formulations were studied for transuranic waste derived from INTEC liquid sodium-bearing waste and for projected newly generated low-level liquid waste. Additional studies were completed using silica gel and other absorbents to solidify sodium-bearing wastes. A feasibility study and conceptual design were completed for the construction of a grout pilot plant for simulated wastes and demonstration facility for actual wastes.

The fabrication of boron-covered crystal scintillation detectors is described. Bulk boron-loaded epoxy material was cast and cut into 0.5 mm-thick wafers that were mounted on CdWO{sub 4} and CsI(Tl) crystals. The crystals were mounted on miniature photomultiplier tubes and gamma spectra were obtained with the detectors. The ability of these small detectors to produce spectra that can be analyzed to provide isotopic identification has been demonstrated. In addition, the detector can produce a signature indicating the presence of neutrons. The same miniature size of these detectors that makes them attractive for hand-held portable use, may be a limiting factor in their efficiency. The small size of the scintillation crystals makes them not as efficient as larger NaI(Tl) crystals simply by virtue of significantly decreased sensitive volume and surface area. It may be worthwhile to consider slightly larger crystals (approximately 15 mm cubic CdWO{sub 4}) mounted on rectangular photomultipliers in a detecting head connected to the electronics package by a signal cable.

Most large-scale high-critical-temperature superconductor applications require wires or tapes that an carry high currents in applied magnetic fields. This report describes technical progress of research and development efforts aimed at producing superconducting components and devices in the Y-Ba-Cu-O and Bi-(Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O systems. Topics discussed are formation of first- and second-generation composite conductors, characterization of structures and superconducting and mechanical properties, modeling of grain-boundary current transport, and fabrication and analysis of prototype components.

The activities and tasks needed to successfully prepare an interim, preliminary, and final performance assessment on the disposal of the low-level fraction of Hanford tank wastes are given. Included are analytic, experimental, computational, writing, and approval tasks. These statements of work will be revised annually.

This self-evaluation report offers a summary of results from FY2000 actions to achieve Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's strategy and provides an analysis of the state of their self-assessment process. The result of their integrated planning and assessment process identifies Laboratory strengths and opportunities for improvement. Critical elements of that process are included in this report; namely, a high-level summary of external oversight activities, progress against Operations Improvement Initiatives, and a summary of Laboratory strengths and areas for improvement developed by management from across the laboratory. Some key areas targeted for improvement in FY2001 are: systems approach to resource management; information protection; integrated safety management flow-down to the benchtop; cost management; integrated assessment; Price Anderson Amendments Act (PAAA) Program; and travel risk mitigation.

Problems with pipeline plugs at Hanford have occurred throughout its tank farm system. Most cross-site transfer lines at Hanford are no longer functional due to these plugs. Waste transfers frequently led to partial line plugs, resulting in substantial amounts of water being added to the tank system in an attempt to free the lines. In response to these plugs, the Hanford tank farm developed waste acceptance criteria that a waste must pass before it can be transferred (Shekarriz et al., 1997). The criteria, which include physical properties such as viscosity, specific gravity, and percent solids, are based primarily on past operational experience. Unfortunately, the chemistry of the waste solutions was not included in the criteria even though the tank farm operators are fully aware of its importance. Pipeline plugs have also occurred during relatively short waste transfers at Hanford. In FY 2000, the effort to saltwell pump 50,000 gal of filtered waste from tank U-103 to tank SY-102 was delayed for several weeks due to a plugged pipeline. Attempts to locate the plug(s) determined that it had occurred in the 02-A flex and that other plugs were possible in each of the SY-farm flexes. Modifications such as larger flex jumpers …