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Reversible solid oxide fuel cells (RSOFCs) are energy conversion devices. They are capable of operating in both power generation mode (SOFC) and electrolysis modes (SOEC). RSOFC can integrate renewable production of electricity and hydrogen when power generation and steam electrolysis are coupled in a system, which can turn intermittent solar and wind energy into "firm power." In this DOE EERE project, VPS continuously advanced RSOFC cell stack technology in the areas of endurance and performance. Over 20 types of RSOFC cells were developed in the project. Many of those exceeded performance (area specific resistance less than 300 mohmcm2) and endurance (degradation rate less than 4% per 1000 hours) targets in both fuel cell and electrolysis modes at 750C. One of those cells, RSOFC-7, further demonstrated the following: Steady-state electrolysis with a degradation rate of 1.5% per 1000 hours. Ultra high current electrolysis over 3 A/cm2 at 75% water electrolysis efficiency voltage of 1.67 V. Daily SOFC/SOEC cyclic test of over 600 days with a degradation rate of 1.5% per 1000 hours. Over 6000 SOFC/SOEC cycles in an accelerated 20-minute cycling with degradation less than 3% per 1000 cycles. In RSOFC stack development, a number of kW-class RSOFC stacks were developed …

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This document of Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) was prepared based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidance on Systematic Planning Using the Data Quality Objectives Process, EPA, QA/G4, 2/2006 (EPA 2006), as well as several other published DQOs. The intent of this report is to determine the necessary steps required to ensure that radioactive emissions to the air from the Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL) headquartered at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Sequim Marine Research Operations (Sequim Site) on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula are managed in accordance with regulatory requirements and best practices. The Sequim Site was transitioned in October 2012 from private operation under Battelle Memorial Institute to an exclusive use contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Pacific Northwest Site Office.

This report gives an overview of the federal debt limit, its history, and recent increases

Tax reductions enacted in 2001-2004 reduce the effective tax rate on capital income in several different ways. Taxes on capital arise from individual taxes on dividends, interest, capital gains, and income from non-corporate businesses. This report contains data on the distribution of income by type and class, shifting the incidence of taxes, the effect of the savings response, and related information.

The key objective of this project is to develop the enabling technology for future MRI-compatible nuclear (e.g. SPECT) imaging system, and to demonstrate the feasibility of performing simultaneous MR and SPECT imaging studies of the same object. During the past three years, we have developed (a) a MRI-compatible ultrahigh resolution gamma ray detector and associated readout electronics, (b) a theoretical approach for modeling the effect of strong magnetic field on SPECT image quality, and (c) a maximum-likelihood (ML) based reconstruction routine with correction for the MR-induced distortion. With this support, we have also constructed a four-head MR-compatible SPECT system and tested the system inside a 3-T clinical MR-scanner located on UI campus. The experimental results obtained with this system have clearly demonstrated that sub-500um spatial resolution can be achieved with a SPECT system operated inside a 3-T MRI scanner. During the past three years, we have accomplished most of the major objectives outlined in the original proposal. These research efforts have laid out a solid foundation the development of future MR-compatible SPECT systems for both pre-clinical and clinical imaging applications.

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The Savannah River Site has stored radioactive wastes in large, underground, carbon steel tanks for approximately 60 years. An assessment of potential degradation mechanisms determined that the tanks may be vulnerable to nitrate- induced pitting corrosion and stress corrosion cracking. Controls on the solution chemistry and temperature of the wastes are in place to mitigate these mechanisms. These controls are based upon a series of experiments performed using simulated solutions on materials used for construction of the tanks. The technical bases and evolution of these controls is presented in this paper.

Report that looks at the background of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), the Department of Defense's (DOD) electrical use, and DOD electricity use versus state electricity use.

Understanding the dependence of confi nement on collisionality in tokamaks is important for the design of next-step devices, which will operate at collisionalities at least one order of magnitude lower than in present generation. A wide range of collisionality has been obtained in the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) by employing two different wall conditioning techniques, one with boronization and between-shot helium glow discharge conditioning (HeGDC+B), and one using lithium evaporation (Li EVAP). Previous studies of HeGDC+B plasmas indicated a strong and favorable dependence of normalized con nement on collisionality. Discharges with lithium conditioning discussed in the present study gen- erally achieved lower collisionality, extending the accessible range of collisionality by almost an order of unity. While the confinement dependences on dimensional, engineering variables of the HeGDC+B and Li EVAP datasets differed, collisionality was found to unify the trends, with the lower collisionality lithium conditioned discharges extending the trend of increasing normalized confi nement time with decreasing collisionality when other dimension less variables were held as fi xed as possible. This increase of confi nement with decreasing collisionality was driven by a large reduction in electron transport in the outer region of the plasma. This result is consistent with gyrokinetic …

Progress is reported in addressing these questions: Why do hcef mutants have increased CEF1? Is increased CEF1 caused by elevated expression or altered regulation of CEF1 components? Which metabolic pools can be regulators of CEF1? Do metabolites influence CEF1 directly or indirectly? Which CEF1 pathways are activated in high CEF1 mutants? Is PQR a proton pump? Is elevated CEF1 activated by state transitions?

The primary goal of this collaborative proposal was to modify the code QuickPIC and apply it to study the long-time stability of beam propagation in low density electron clouds present in circular accelerators. The UCLA contribution to this collaborative proposal was in supporting the development of the pipelining scheme for the QuickPIC code, which extended the parallel scaling of this code by two orders of magnitude.

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The object of the research was to develop theory and carry out simulations of the Z pinch and plasma opening switch (POS), and compare with experimental results. In the case of the Z pinch, there was experimental evidence of ion kinetic energy greatly in excess of the ion thermal energy. It was thought that this was perhaps due to fine scale turbulence. The simulations showed that the ion energy was predominantly laminar, not turbulent. Preliminary studies of a new Z pinch experiment with an axial magnetic field were carried out. The axial magnetic is relevant to magneto - inertial fusion. These studies indicate the axial magnetic field makes the Z pinch more turbulent. Results were also obtained on Hall magnetohydrodynamic instability of the POS.

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