Simulant testing of a full-scale thin-film evaporator system was conducted in 2011 for technology development at the Hanford tank farms. Test results met objectives of water removal rate, effluent quality, and operational evaluation. Dilute tank waste simulant, representing a typical double-shell tank supernatant liquid layer, was concentrated from a 1.1 specific gravity to approximately 1.5 using a 4.6 m{sup 2} (50 ft{sup 2}) heated transfer area Rototherm{reg_sign} evaporator from Artisan Industries. The condensed evaporator vapor stream was collected and sampled validating efficient separation of the water. An overall decontamination factor of 1.2E+06 was achieved demonstrating excellent retention of key radioactive species within the concentrated liquid stream. The evaporator system was supported by a modular steam supply, chiller, and control computer systems which would be typically implemented at the tank farms. Operation of these support systems demonstrated successful integration while identifying areas for efficiency improvement. Overall testing effort increased the maturation of this technology to support final deployment design and continued project implementation.

Large Scale Integrated Testing (LSIT) is being planned by Bechtel National, Inc. to address uncertainties in the full scale mixing performance of the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). Testing will use simulated waste rather than actual Hanford waste. Therefore, the use of suitable simulants is critical to achieving the goals of the test program. External review boards have raised questions regarding the overall representativeness of simulants used in previous mixing tests. Accordingly, WTP requested the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to assist with development of simulants for use in LSIT. Among the first tasks assigned to SRNL was to develop a list of waste properties that matter to pulse-jet mixer (PJM) mixing of WTP tanks. This report satisfies Commitment 5.2.3.1 of the Department of Energy Implementation Plan for Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 2010-2: physical properties important to mixing and scaling. In support of waste simulant development, the following two objectives are the focus of this report: (1) Assess physical and chemical properties important to the testing and development of mixing scaling relationships; (2) Identify the governing properties and associated ranges for LSIT to achieve the Newtonian and non-Newtonian test objectives. This includes the properties to support …

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The goal of the present technology development was to increase the efficiency of internal combustion engines while minimizing the energy penalty of meeting emissions regulations. This objective was achieved through experimentation and the development of advanced combustion regimes and emission control strategies, coupled with advanced petroleum and non-petroleum fuel formulations. To meet the goals of the project, it was necessary to improve the efficiency of expansion work extraction, and this required optimized combustion phasing and minimized in-cylinder heat transfer losses. To minimize fuel used for diesel particulate filter (DPF) regeneration, soot emissions were also minimized. Because of the complex nature of optimizing production engines for real-world variations in fuels, temperatures and pressures, the project applied high-fidelity computing and high-resolution engine experiments synergistically to create and apply advanced tools (i.e., fast, accurate predictive models) developed for low-emission, fuel-efficient engine designs. The companion experiments were conducted using representative single- and multi-cylinder automotive and truck diesel engines.

This document supersedes DOE/NV/25946--801, 'Nevada Test Site Radiological Control Manual,' Revision 1 issued in February 2010. Brief Description of Revision: A complete revision to reflect a recent change in name for the NTS; changes in name for some tenant organizations; and to update references to current DOE policies, orders, and guidance documents. Article 237.2 was deleted. Appendix 3B was updated. Article 411.2 was modified. Article 422 was re-written to reflect the wording of DOE O 458.1. Article 431.6.d was modified. The glossary was updated. This manual contains the radiological control requirements to be used for all radiological activities conducted by programs under the purview of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office (NNSA/NSO). Compliance with these requirements will ensure compliance with Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 835, 'Occupational Radiation Protection.' Programs covered by this manual are located at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS); Nellis Air Force Base and North Las Vegas, Nevada; Santa Barbara and Livermore, California; and Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. In addition, fieldwork by NNSA/NSO at other locations is covered by this manual. Current activities at NNSS include operating low-level radioactive …

The 9977 package is a radioactive material package that was originally certified to ship Heat Sources and RTG contents up to 19 watts and it is now being reviewed to significantly expand its contents in support of additional DOE missions. Thermal upgrading will be accomplished by employing stacked 3013 containers, a 3013 aluminum spacer and an external aluminum sleeve for enhanced heat transfer. The 7th Addendum to the original 9977 package Safety Basis Report describing these modifications is under review for the DOE certification. The analyses described in this paper show that this well-designed and conservatively analyzed package can be upgraded to carry contents with decay heat up to 38 watts with some simple design modifications. The Model 9977 package has been designed as a replacement for the Department of Transportation (DOT) Fissile Specification 6M package. The 9977 package is a very versatile Type B package which is certified to transport and store a wide spectrum of radioactive materials. The package was analyzed quite conservatively to increase its usefulness and store different payload configurations. Its versatility is evident from several daughter packages such as the 9978 and H1700, and several addendums where the payloads have been modified to suit the …

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In this report, we summarize our current collobarative efforts, involving three national laboratories: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Los Alamos National Laboatory (LANL), to develop a computational framework for homogenous and heterogenous nucleation mechanisms into the generic phase-field model. During the studies, the Fe-Cr system was chosen as a model system due to its simplicity and availability of reliable thermodynamic and kinetic data, as well as the range of applications of low-chromium ferritic steels in nuclear reactors. For homogenous nucleation, the relavant parameters determined from atomistic studies were used directly to determine the energy functional and parameters in the phase-field model. Interfacial energy, critical nucleus size, nucleation rate, and coarsening kinetics were systematically examined in two- and three- dimensional models. For the heteregoneous nucleation mechanism, we studied the nucleation and growth behavior of chromium precipitates due to the presence of dislocations. The results demonstrate that both nucleation schemes can be introduced to a phase-field modeling algorithm with the desired accuracy and computational efficiency.

Toroidal precession is commonly understood as the orbit-averaged toroidal drift of guiding centers in axisymmetric and quasisymmetric configurations. We give a new, more natural description of precession as a geometric phase effect. In particular, we show that the precession angle arises as the holonomy of a guiding center's poloidal trajectory relative to a principal connection. The fact that this description is physically appropriate is borne out with new, manifestly coordinate-independent expressions for the precession angle that apply to all types of orbits in tokamaks and quasisymmetric stellarators alike. We then describe how these expressions may be fruitfully employed in numerical calculations of precession.

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This report covers the scientific progress and results made in the development of high efficiency multijunction solar cells and the light concentrating non-imaging optics for the commercial generation of renewable solar energy. During the contract period the efficiency of the multijunction solar cell was raised from 36.5% to 40% in commercially available fully qualified cells. In addition significant strides were made in automating production process for these cells in order to meet the costs required to compete with commercial electricity. Concurrent with the cells effort Boeing also developed a non imaging optical systems to raise the light intensity at the photovoltaic cell to the rage of 800 to 900 suns. Solar module efficiencies greater than 30% were consistently demonstrated. The technology and its manufacturing were maturated to a projected price of < $0.015 per kWh and demonstrated by automated assembly in a robotic factory with a throughput of 2 MWh/yr. The technology was demonstrated in a 100 kW power plant erected at California State University Northridge, CA.

This report details the chemical and radionuclide contaminant results for the characterization of the 2012 Third Quarter sampling of Tank 50 for the Saltstone Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). Information from this characterization will be used by Waste Solidification Engineering (WSE) to support the transfer of low-level aqueous waste from Tank 50 to the Salt Feed Tank in the Saltstone Facility in Z-Area, where the waste will be immobilized. This information is also used to update the Tank 50 Waste Characterization System.

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In this study, sediments collected from boreholes drilled in 2010 and 2011 as part of a remedial investigation/feasibility study were characterized. The wells, located within or around two process ponds and one process trench waste site, were characterized in terms of total uranium concentration, mobile fraction of uranium, particle size, and moisture content along the borehole depth. In general, the gravel-dominated sediments of the vadose zone Hanford formation in all investigated boreholes had low moisture contents. Based on total uranium content, a total of 48 vadose zone and periodically rewetted zone sediment samples were selected for more detailed characterization, including measuring the concentration of uranium extracted with 8 M nitric acid, and leached using bicarbonate mixed solutions to determine the liable uranium (U(VI)) contents. In addition, water extraction was conducted on 17 selected sediments. Results from the sediment acid and bicarbonate extractions indicated the total concentrations of anthropogenic labile uranium in the sediments varied among the investigated boreholes. The peak uranium concentration (114.84 µg/g, acid extract) in <2-mm size fractions was found in borehole 399 1-55, which was drilled directly in the southwest corner of the North Process Pond. Lower uranium concentrations (~0.3–2.5 µg/g, acid extract) in <2-mm size fractions …

Risk-based inspection methods enable estimation of the probability of spring-operated relief valves failing on demand at the United States Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, South Carolina. The paper illustrates an approach based on application of the Frechet and Weibull distributions to SRS and Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) Process Equipment Reliability Database (PERD) proof test results. The methodology enables the estimation of ANSI/ISA-84.00.01 Safety Integrity Levels (SILs) as well as the potential change in SIL level due to modification of the maintenance schedule. Current SRS practices are reviewed and recommendations are made for extending inspection intervals. The paper compares risk-based inspection with specific SILs as maintenance intervals are adjusted. Groups of valves are identified in which maintenance times can be extended as well as different groups in which an increased safety margin may be needed.

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Electrodynamic and particle simulation studies have been carried out to optimize design of a two-cavity harmonic frequency multiplier, in which a linear electron beam is energized by rotating fields near cyclotron resonance in a TE111 cavity in a uniform magnetic field, and in which the beam then radiates coherently at the nth harmonic into a TEn11 output cavity. Examples are worked out in detail for 7th and 2nd harmonic converters, showing RF-to-RF conversion efficiencies of 45% and 88%, respectively at 19.992 GHz (K-band) and 5.712 GHz (C-band), for a drive frequency of 2.856 GHz. Details are shown of RF infrastructure (S-band klystron, modulator) and harmonic converter components (drive cavity, output cavities, electron beam source and modulator, beam collector) for the two harmonic converters to be tested. Details are also given for the two-frequency (S- and C-band) coherent multi-MW test stand for RF breakdown and RF gun studies.

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A fusion pilot plant study was initiated to clarify the development needs in moving from ITER to a first of a kind fusion power plant. The mission of the pilot plant was set to encompass component test and fusion nuclear science missions yet produce net electricity with high availability in a device designed to be prototypical of the commercial device. The objective of the study was to evaluate three different magnetic configuration options, the advanced tokamak (AT), spherical tokamak (ST) and compact stellarator (CS) in an effort to establish component characteristics, maintenance features and the general arrangement of each candidate device. With the move to look beyond ITER the fusion community is now beginning to embark on DEMO reactor studies with an emphasis on defining configuration arrangements that can meet a high availability goal. This paper reviews the AT pilot plant design, detailing the selected maintenance approach, the device arrangement and sizing of the in-vessel components. Details of interfacing auxiliary systems and services that impact the ability to achieve high availability operations will also be discussed.

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This SBIR program will result in improved LTA cell technology which is the fundamental building block of the Direct Coal ECL concept. As described below, ECL can make enormous efficiency and cost contributions to utility scale coal power. This program will improve LTA cells for small scale power generation. As described in the Commercialization section, there are important intermediate military and commercial markets for LTA generators that will provide an important bridge to the coal power application. The specific technical information from this program relating to YSZ electrolyte durability will be broadly applicable SOFC developers working on coal based SOFC generally. This is an area about which very little is currently known and will be critical for successfully applying fuel cells to coal power generation.

UES Inc. and ANL teamed in this work to develop novel coating systems for the protection of surfaces from thermal degradation mainly in two applications; Machining and Die casting. These coatings were specifically designed for the purpose by incorporating required material phases and the overall architecture, which led to reduce the energy usage and increase efficiency of the operations. Following the UES/ANL'™s feasibility work, the coatings were developed utilizing High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPMS) and Large area filtered arc deposition (LAFAD) techniques. Toughness, hardness and oxidation resistance: contrasting qualities have been mixed in the right proportion to attain the suitable material characteristic for the cause. Hafnium diboride (HfB2) based materials provided such a system and its properties were tamed to attain the right combination of toughness and hardness by working on the microstructure and architecture of coatings. An effective interfacing material (graded concentrations of topcoat) was also achieved in this work to provide the required adhesion between the substrate and the coating. Combination of an appropriate bond coat and a functional top coat provided the present thermal degradation resistant coating for cutting tools and die-casting applications. Laboratory level performance tests and industrial level application tests by partner companies (Beta …

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