Ultra supercritical (USC) power plants offer the promise of higher efficiencies and lower emissions. Current goals of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Power Systems Initiatives include coal generation at 60% efficiency, which would require steam temperatures of up to 760°C. This research examines the steamside oxidation of alloys for use in USC systems, with emphasis placed on applications in high- and intermediate-pressure turbines.

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We describe a domain decomposition algorithm for use in several variants of the parallel adaptive meshing paradigm of Bank and Holst. This algorithm has low communication, makes extensive use of existing sequential solvers, and exploits in several important ways data generated as part of the adaptive meshing paradigm. We show that for an idealized version of the algorithm, the rate of convergence is independent of both the global problem size N and the number of subdomains p used in the domain decomposition partition. Numerical examples illustrate the effectiveness of the procedure.

We use TOUGH+/GasH2O to study the effects of a heat sourceburied in the Martian permafrost to evaluate the possibility ofestablishing a wet zone of liquid water, in which terrestrialmicroorganisms could survive and multiply. Analysis of the problemindicates that (1) only a limited permafrost volume (not exceeding 0.35 min radius) is affected, (2) a "wet" zone with limited amounts of liquidwater de-velops (not exceeding 8 and 0.7 kg for a 250 W and a 62.5 Wsource, respectively), (3) the wet zone per-sists for a long time,becomes practically stationary after t = 20 sols because of venting intothe Martian atmosphere, and its thickness is limited and decreases slowlyover time, (4) a "dry" zone (where SG>0.9) evolves, continues toexpand (albeit slowly) with time, but its extent remains limited, and (5)the ice front surrounding the wet zone is self-sharpening. For a range ofinitial conditions investigated, evolution of the liquid water massoccurs at approximately the same rate, reaches roughly the same maximum,and occurs at about the same time (10 to 20 sols; 1 sol = 24.39hours).

As the world moves into the 21st century, the possibility of greater reliance on nuclear energy will impose additional technical requirements to prevent proliferation. In addition to proliferation resistant reactors, a careful examination of the various possible fuel cycles from cradle to grave will provide additional technical and nonproliferation challenges in the areas of conversion, enrichment, transportation, recycling and waste disposal. Radiation detection technology and information management have a prominent role in any future global regime for nonproliferation. As nuclear energy and hence nuclear materials become an increasingly global phenomenon, using local technologies and capabilities facilitate incorporation of enhanced monitoring and detection on the regional level. Radiation detection technologies are an important tool in the prevention of proliferation and countering radiological/nuclear terrorism. A variety of new developments have enabled enhanced performance in terms of energy resolution, spatial resolution, passive detection, predictive modeling and simulation, active interrogation, and ease of operation and deployment in the field. For example, various gamma ray imaging approaches are being explored to combine spatial resolution with background suppression in order to enhance sensitivity many-fold at reasonable standoff distances and acquisition times. New materials and approaches are being developed in order to provide adequate energy resolution in …

The evolution of the Kondo effect and magnetic correlations with size reduction in CePt{sub 2} nanoparticles (3.1-26 nm) is studied by analysis of the temperature-dependent specific heat and magnetic susceptibility. The antiferromagnetic correlations diminish with size reduction. The Kondo effect predominates at small particle size with trivalent, small Kondo temperature (T{sub K}) magnetic regions coexisting with strongly mixed valent, large T{sub K} nonmagnetic regions. We discuss the role of structural disorder, background density of states and the electronic quantum size effect on the results.

Predictions of the recently developed paleoclassical transport model are compared with data from many toroidal plasma experiments: electron heat diffusivity in DIII-D, C-Mod and NSTX ohmic and near-ohmic plasmas; transport modeling of DIII-D ohmic-level discharges and of the RTP ECH 'stair-step' experiments with eITBs at low order rational surfaces; investigation of a strong eITB in JT-60U; H-mode Te edge pedestal properties in DIII-D; and electron heat diffusivities in non-tokamak experiments (NSTX/ST, MST/RFP, SSPX/spheromak). The radial electron heat transport predicted by the paleoclassical model is found to agree with a wide variety of ohmic-level experimental results and to set the lower limit (within a factor {approx} 2) for the radial electron heat transport in most resistive, current-carrying toroidal plasmas -- unless it is exceeded by fluctuation-induced transport, which often occurs in the edge of L-mode plasmas and when the electron temperature is high ({approx}>T{sub e}{sup crit} {approx}B{sup 2/3}{bar {alpha}}{sup 1/2} keV) because then paleoclassical transport becomes less than gyro-Bohm-level anomalous transport.

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Emergency response to an atmospheric release of chemical or radiological contamination is enhanced when plume predictions, field measurements, and real-time weather information are integrated into a geospatial framework. The Weather Information and Display (WIND) System at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) utilizes such an integrated framework. The rapid availability of predictions from a suite of atmospheric transport models within this geospatial framework has proven to be of great value to decision makers during an emergency involving an atmospheric contaminant release.

Worldwide incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma has increased substantially, and no screening program has yet demonstrated reduction in mortality. We evaluated the education, self examination and targeted screening campaign at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) from its beginning in July 1984 through 1996. The thickness and crude incidence of melanoma from the years before the campaign were compared to those obtained during the 13 years of screening. Melanoma mortality during the 13-year period was based on a National Death Index search. Expected yearly deaths from melanoma among LLNL employees were calculated by using California mortality data matched by age, sex, and race/ethnicity and adjusted to exclude deaths from melanoma diagnosed before the program began or before employment at LLNL. After the program began, crude incidence of melanoma thicker than 0.75 mm decreased from 18 to 4 cases per 100,000 person-years (p = 0.02), while melanoma less than 0.75mm remained stable and in situ melanoma increased substantially. No eligible melanoma deaths occurred among LLNL employees during the screening period compared with a calculated 3.39 expected deaths (p = 0.034). Education, self examination and selective screening for melanoma at LLNL significantly decreased incidence of melanoma thicker than 0.75 mm and reduced …

An interaction region (IR) with head-on collisions is considered as an alternative to the baseline configuration of the International Linear Collider (ILC) which includes two IRs with finite crossing-angles (2 and 20 mrad). Although more challenging for the beam extraction, the head-on scheme is favored by the experiments because it allows a more convenient detector configuration, particularly in the forward region. The optics of the head-on extraction is revisited by separating the e+ and e- beams horizontally, first by electrostatic separators operated at their LEP nominal field and then using a defocusing quadrupole of the final focus beam line. In this way the septum magnet is protected from the beamstrahlung power. Newly optimized final focus and extraction optics are presented, including a first look at post-collision diagnostics. The influence of parasitic collisions is shown to lead to a region of stable collision parameters. Disrupted beam and beamstrahlung photon losses are calculated along the extraction elements.

Bisection is one of the most common methods used to compute the eigenvalues of symmetric tridiagonal matrices. Bisection relies on the Sturm count: For a given shift a, the number of negative pivots in the factorization T - {sigma}I = LDL{sup T} equals the number of eigenvalues of T that are smaller than a. In IEEE-754 arithmetic, the value oo permits the computation to continue past a zero pivot, producing a correct Sturm count when T is unreduced. Demmel and Li showed that using oo rather than testing for zero pivots within the loop could significantly improve performance on certain architectures. When eigenvalues are to be computed to high relative accuracy, it is often preferable to work with LDL{sup T} factorizations instead of the original tridiagonal T. One important example is the MRRR algorithm. When bisection is applied to the factored matrix, the Sturm count is computed from LDL{sup T} which makes differential stationary and progressive qds algorithms the methods of choice. While it seems trivial to replace T by LDL{sup T}, in reality these algorithms are more complicated: In IEEE-754 arithmetic, a zero pivot produces an overflow followed by an invalid exception (NaN, or 'Not a Number') that renders …

This paper presents an analytical solution of reactive transport with equilibrium and kinetic reactions. A benchmark model of A {leftrightarrow} B {leftrightarrow} C {yields} chain reactions is developed for the purpose of verifying numerical computer codes and qualifying mathematical models. A reaction matrix is derived for both the equilibrium and first-order kinetic reactions and further decoupled as a diagonal matrix. Therefore, the partial differential equations (PDEs) coupled by the reaction matrix can be transformed into independent PDEs, for which closed-form solutions exist or can be derived. The analytical solution derived in this paper is compared with numerical results.

Using synchrotron angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction (ADXD) and Raman spectroscopy on samples of Li{sub 2}O pressurized in a diamond anvil cell, we observed a reversible phase change from the cubic antifluorite ({alpha}, Fm-3m) to orthorhombic anticotunnite ({beta}, Pnma) phase at 50({+-}5) GPa at ambient temperature. This transition is accompanied by a relatively large volume collapse of 5.4 ({+-}0.8)% and large hysteresis upon pressure reversal (P{sub down} at {approx} 25 GPa). Contrary to a recent study, our data suggest that the high-pressure {beta}-phase (B{sub o} = 188 {+-} 12 GPa) is substantially stiffer than the low-pressure {alpha}-phase (B{sub o} = 90 {+-} 1 GPa). A relatively strong and pressure-dependent preferred orientation in {beta}-Li{sub 2}O is observed. The present result is in accordance with the systematic behavior of antifluorite-to-anticotunnite phase transitions occurring in the alkali-metal sulfides.

Ge Blocked Impurity Band (BIB) photoconductors have the potential to replace stressed Ge:Ga photoconductors for far-infrared astronomical observations. A novel planar BIB device has been fabricated in which ion-implanted boron is used to form the blocking and absorbing layers of necessary purity and compensation. The effect of doping in the infrared active layer on the far-infrared photoconductive response has been studied, and the optimum doping concentration is found to be {approx} 4 x 10{sup 16} cm{sup -3}. Devices doped near this concentration show good blocking characteristics with low dark currents. The spectral response extends to {approx} 45 cm{sup -1}, clearly showing the formation of an impurity band. Under low background testing conditions these devices attain a responsivity of 0.12 A/W and NEP of 5.23 x 10{sup -15} W/Hz{sup -1/2}.

The accurate detection and removal of insect clutter from millimeter wavelength cloud radar (MMCR) returns is of high importance to boundary layer cloud research (e.g., Geerts et al., 2005). When only radar Doppler moments are available, it is difficult to produce a reliable screening of insect clutter from cloud returns because their distributions overlap. Hence, screening of MMCR insect clutter has historically involved a laborious manual process of cross-referencing radar moments against measurements from other collocated instruments, such as lidar. Our study looks beyond traditional radar moments to ask whether analysis of recorded Doppler spectra can serve as the basis for reliable, automatic insect clutter screening. We focus on the MMCR operated by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program at its Southern Great Plains (SGP) facility in Oklahoma. Here, archiving of full Doppler spectra began in September 2003, and during the warmer months, a pronounced insect presence regularly introduces clutter into boundary layer returns.

We present an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) discretization of the equations of resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) on unstructured hexahedral grids. The method is formulated using an operator-split approach with three distinct phases: electromagnetic diffusion, Lagrangian motion, and Eulerian advection. The resistive magnetic dynamo equation is discretized using a compatible mixed finite element method with a 2nd order accurate implicit time differencing scheme which preserves the divergence-free nature of the magnetic field. At each discrete time step, electromagnetic force and heat terms are calculated and coupled to the hydrodynamic equations to compute the Lagrangian motion of the conducting materials. By virtue of the compatible discretization method used, the invariants of Lagrangian MHD motion are preserved in a discrete sense. When the Lagrangian motion of the mesh causes significant distortion, that distortion is corrected with a relaxation of the mesh, followed by a 2nd order monotonic remap of the electromagnetic state variables. The remap is equivalent to Eulerian advection of the magnetic flux density with a fictitious mesh relaxation velocity. The magnetic advection is performed using a novel variant of constrained transport (CT) that is valid for unstructured hexahedral grids with arbitrary mesh velocities. The advection method maintains the divergence free nature of the …

COG is a modern, general-purpose, high fidelity, multi-particle transport code with a long history of use in criticality safety studies at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This code was released to the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC) for distribution to the public for the first time in January 2006. This paper provides an overview of the code development history, a description of features and capabilities of interest to the criticality safety practitioner, and our plans in support of the next public RSICC release.

The angular dependence of dissociative electron attachment (DEA) to polyatomic targets is formulated in the local complex potential model, under the assumption that the axial recoil approximation describes the dissociation dynamics. An additional approximation, which is found to be valid in the case of H2O but not in the case of H2S, makes it possible to describe the angular dependence of DEA solely from an analysis of the fixed-nuclei entrance amplitude, without carrying out nuclear dynamics calculations. For H2S, the final-vibrational-state-specific angular dependence of DEA is obtained by incorporating the variation of the angular dependence of the entrance amplitude with nuclear geometry into the nuclear dynamics. Scattering calculations using the complex Kohn method and, for H2S, full quantum calculations of the nuclear dynamics using the Multi-Configuration Time-Dependent Hartree method, are performed.

Magma flow in a dike rising in a crack whose strike runs from a highland or a ridge to an adjacent lowland has been modeled to determine the effect of topography on the flow. It is found that there is a distinct tendency for the flow to be diverted away from the highland end of the strike toward the lowland. Separation of the geometric effect of the topography from its effect on lateral confining stresses on the crack indicates that both contribute to the effect but that the effect of stress is less important. Although this analysis explains a tendency for volcanic eruptions to occur in low lands, it does not preclude eruptions on highlands. The particular configuration modeled mimics topography around the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, so that the results may indicate some reduction in the volcanic hazard to the site.

A new method to estimate remanent dose rates, to be used with the Monte Carlo code FLUKA, was benchmarked against measurements from an experiment that was performed at the CERN-EU high-energy reference field facility. An extensive collection of samples of different materials were placed downstream of and laterally to a copper target, intercepting a positively charged mixed hadron beam with a momentum of 120 GeV/c. Emphasis was put on the reduction of uncertainties such as careful monitoring of the irradiation parameters, the use of different instruments to measure dose rates, detailed elemental analyses of the irradiated materials and detailed simulations of the irradiation experiment. Measured and calculated dose rates are in good agreement.

The propagation of an intense relativistic electron beam through a gas that is self-ionized by the beam's space charge and wakefields is examined analytically and with 3D particle-in-cell simulations. Instability arises from the coupling between a beam and the offset plasma channel it creates when it is perturbed. The traditional electron hose instability in a preformed plasma is replaced with this slower growth instability depending on the radius of the ionization channel compared to the electron blowout radius. A new regime for hose stable plasma wakefield acceleration is suggested.

We report the results of a study of the exclusive charmless semileptonic decay, B{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup -}{ell}{sup +}{nu}, undertaken with approximately 227 million B{bar B} pairs collected at the {Gamma}(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector. The analysis uses events in which the signal B decays are reconstructed with an innovative loose neutrino reconstruction technique. We obtain partial branching fractions in 12 bins of q{sup 2}, the momentum transfer squared, from which we extract the f{sub +}(q{sup 2}) form-factor shape and the total branching fraction {beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup -}{ell}{sup +}{nu}) = (1.46 {+-} 0.07{sub stat} {+-} 0.08{sub syst}) x 10{sup -4}. Based on a recent unquenched lattice QCD calculation of the form factor in the range q{sup 2} > 16 GeV2, we find the magnitude of the CKM matrix element |V{sub ub}| to be (4.1 {+-} 0.2{sub stat} {+-} 0.2{sub syst} +0.6 -0.4 FF)x10{sup -3}, where the last uncertainty is due to the normalization of the form factor.

In this study we compare the use of kinetic and equilibrium reaction models in the simulation of gas (methane) hydrates in porous media. Our objective is to evaluate through numerical simulation the importance of employing kinetic versus equilibrium reaction models for predicting the response of hydrate-bearing systems to external stimuli, such as changes in pressure and temperature. Specifically, we (1) analyze and compare the responses simulated using both reaction models for production in various geological settings and for the case of depressurization in a core during extraction; and (2) examine the sensitivity to factors such as initial hydrate saturation, hydrate reaction surface area, and numerical discretization. We find that for systems undergoing thermal stimulation and depressurization, the calculated responses for both reaction models are remarkably similar, though some differences are observed at early times. Given these observations, and since the computational demands for the kinetic reaction model far exceed those for the equilibrium reaction model, the use of the equilibrium reaction model often appears to be justified and preferred for simulating the behavior of gas hydrates.