Modeling the Physical and Biochemical Influence of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant Discharges into their Adjacent Waters (open access)

Modeling the Physical and Biochemical Influence of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant Discharges into their Adjacent Waters

This paper describes the modeling work by Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. to simulate the biochemical effects of of the nutrient-enhanced seawater plumes that are discharged by one or several 100 megawatt OTEC plants. The modeling is needed to properly design OTEC plants that can operate sustainably with acceptably low biological impact. In order to quantify the effect of discharge configuration and phytoplankton response, Makai Ocean Engineering implemented a biological and physical model for the waters surrounding O`ahu, Hawai`i, using the EPA-approved Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC). Each EFDC grid cell was approximately 1 square kilometer by 20 meters deep, and used a time step of three hours. The biological model was set up to simulate the biochemical response for three classes of organisms: Picoplankton (< 2 um) such as prochlorococccus, nanoplankton (2-20 um), and microplankton (> 20 um) e.g., diatoms. The dynamic biological phytoplankton model was calibrated using chemical and biological data collected for the Hawaii Ocean Time Series (HOTS) project. Peer review of the biological modeling was performed. The physical oceanography model uses boundary conditions from a surrounding Hawai'i Regional Ocean Model, (ROM) operated by the University of Hawai`i and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration. The ROM provided …
Date: September 29, 2012
Creator: PAT GRANDELLI, P.E.; ROCHELEAU, GREG; JOHN HAMRICK, Ph.D.; MATT CHURCH, Ph.D. & BRIAN POWELL, Ph.D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
CHARACTERIZATION OF TENSILE STRENGTH OF GLOVEBOX GLOVES (open access)

CHARACTERIZATION OF TENSILE STRENGTH OF GLOVEBOX GLOVES

A task was undertaken to compare various properties of different glovebox gloves, having various compositions, for use in gloveboxes at the Savannah River Site (SRS). One aspect of this project was to determine the tensile strength (TS) of the gloves. Longitudinal tensile samples were cut from 15 different gloves and tensile tested. The stress, load, and elongation at failure were determined. All of the gloves that are approved for glovebox use and listed in the glovebox procurement specification met the tensile and elongation requirements. The Viton{reg_sign} compound gloves are not listed in the specification, but exhibited lower tensile strengths than permissible based on the Butyl rubber requirements. Piercan Polyurethane gloves were the thinnest samples and exhibited the highest tensile strength of the materials tested.
Date: February 29, 2012
Creator: Korinko, P. & Chapman, G.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fermi Observations of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission From GRB 080825C (open access)

Fermi Observations of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission From GRB 080825C

None
Date: March 29, 2012
Creator: Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Asano, K.; Atwood, W. B.; Axelsson, M.; Baldini, L. et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
REPOSITORY NEAR-FIELD THERMAL MODELING UPDATEINCLUDING ANALYSIS OF OPEN MODE DESIGN CONCEPTS - DRAFT REV. M (open access)

REPOSITORY NEAR-FIELD THERMAL MODELING UPDATEINCLUDING ANALYSIS OF OPEN MODE DESIGN CONCEPTS - DRAFT REV. M

None
Date: July 29, 2012
Creator: Greenberg, H R; Sutton, M; Sharma, M & Barnwell, A V
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
A PERMEABLE ACTIVE AMENDMENT CONCRETE (PAAC) FOR CONTAMINANT REMEDIATION AND EROSION CONTROL (open access)

A PERMEABLE ACTIVE AMENDMENT CONCRETE (PAAC) FOR CONTAMINANT REMEDIATION AND EROSION CONTROL

The final project report for SEED SERDP ER - 2134 describes the development of permeable active amendment concrete (PAAC), which was evaluated through four tasks: 1) development of PAAC; 2) assessment of PAAC for contaminant removal; 3) evaluation of promising PAAC formulations for potential environmental impacts; and 4) assessment of the hydraulic, physical, and structural properties of PAAC. Conventional permeable concrete (often referred to as pervious concrete) is concrete with high porosity as a result of an extensive and interconnected void content. It is made from carefully controlled amounts of water and cementitious materials used to create a paste that forms a coating around aggregate particles. The mixture has a substantial void content (e.g., 15% - 25%) that results in a highly permeable structure that drains quickly. In PAAC, the aggregate material is partly replaced by chemically-active amendments that precipitate or adsorb contaminants in water that flows through the concrete interstices. PAAC combines the relatively high structural strength, ample void space, and water permeability of pervious concrete with the contaminant sequestration ability of chemically-active amendments to produce a new material with superior durability and ability to control contaminant mobility. The high surface area provided by the concrete interstices in PAAC …
Date: June 29, 2012
Creator: Knox, A.; Paller, M. & Dixon, K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Energy Efficiency Improvements to Wundar Hall, a Historic Building on the Concordia Campus, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (open access)

Energy Efficiency Improvements to Wundar Hall, a Historic Building on the Concordia Campus, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Forest County Potawatomi Community (“FCPC” or “Community”) implemented energy efficiency improvements to revitalize Wundar Hall, a 34,000 square foot (“SF”) building that was formerly used as a dormitory and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, into an office building. Wundar Hall is the first of many architecturally and historically significant buildings that the Community hopes to renovate at the former Concordia College campus, property on the near west side of Milwaukee that was taken into trust for the Community by the United States on July 10, 1990 (collectively, the “Concordia Trust Property”). As part of this project, which was conducted with assistance from the Department of Energy’s Tribal Energy Program (“TEP”), the Community updated and/or replaced the building envelope, mechanical systems, the plumbing system, the electrical infrastructure, and building control systems. The project is expected to reduce the building’s natural gas consumption by 58% and the electricity consumption by 55%. In addition, the project was designed to act as a catalyst to further renovation of the Concordia Trust Property and the neighborhood. The City of Milwaukee has identified redevelopment of the Concordia Trust Property as a “Catalytic Project” for revitalizing the near west side. The Tribe …
Date: November 29, 2012
Creator: Karman, Nathan
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Initial Assessment of Alternate Metals in Chalcogels (open access)

Initial Assessment of Alternate Metals in Chalcogels

This report provides an up-to-date account of the non-Pt based chemistries available in the literature for making non-oxide, chalcogen-based aerogels, called chalcogels. In each case, a combination of multiple precursors is required to make the chalcogels and, in most cases, the precursors are not commercially available and must be prepared in the laboratory. References for the preparation details of these precursors have been provided for each. An account of the chalcogels made at PNNL is also given in this report along with iodine sorption efficiencies for three very diverse chalcogel chemistries. A brief account of consolidation options is provided.
Date: June 29, 2012
Creator: Riley, Brian J.; Lepry, William C.; Chun, Jaehun & Strachan, Denis M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ultrascale Visualization Climate Data Analysis Tools (UV-CDAT): Semi-Annual Progress Report (open access)

Ultrascale Visualization Climate Data Analysis Tools (UV-CDAT): Semi-Annual Progress Report

This report summarizes work carried out by the Ultrascale Visualization Climate Data Analysis Tools (UV-CDAT) Team for the period of July 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011. It discusses highlights, overall progress, period goals, and collaborations and lists papers and presentations. The UV-CDAT team is positioned to address the following high-level visualization requirements: (1) Alternative parallel streaming statistics and analysis pipelines - Data parallelism, Task parallelism, Visualization parallelism; (2) Optimized parallel input/output (I/O); (3) Remote interactive execution; (4) Advanced intercomparison visualization; (5) Data provenance processing and capture; and (6) Interfaces for scientists - Workflow data analysis and visualization construction tools, Visualization interfaces.
Date: February 29, 2012
Creator: Williams, D N
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Solution-Procesed Small-Molecule OLED Luminaire for Interior Illumination (open access)

Solution-Procesed Small-Molecule OLED Luminaire for Interior Illumination

Prototype lighting panels and luminaires were fabricated using DuPont Displays’ solution-processed small-molecule OLED technology. These lighting panels were based on a spatially-patterned, 3-color design, similar in concept to an OLED display panel, with materials chosen to maximize device efficacy. The majority of the processing steps take place in air (rather than high vacuum). Optimization of device architecture, processing and construction was undertaken, with a final prototype design of 50 cm{sup 2} being fabricated and tested. Performance of these panels reached 35 lm/W at illuminant-A. A unique feature of this technology is the ability to color tune the emission, and color temperatures ranging from 2700 to > 6,500K were attained in the final build. Significant attention was paid to low-cost fabrication techniques.
Date: February 29, 2012
Creator: Parker, Ian
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Integrated Multiscale Modeling of Molecular Computing Devices (open access)

Integrated Multiscale Modeling of Molecular Computing Devices

The main bottleneck in modeling transport in molecular devices is to develop the correct formulation of the problem and efficient algorithms for analyzing the electronic structure and dynamics using, for example, the time-dependent density functional theory. We have divided this task into several steps. The first step is to developing the right mathematical formulation and numerical algorithms for analyzing the electronic structure using density functional theory. The second step is to study time-dependent density functional theory, particularly the far-field boundary conditions. The third step is to study electronic transport in molecular devices. We are now at the end of the first step. Under DOE support, we have made subtantial progress in developing linear scaling and sub-linear scaling algorithms for electronic structure analysis. Although there has been a huge amount of effort in the past on developing linear scaling algorithms, most of the algorithms developed suffer from the lack of robustness and controllable accuracy. We have made the following progress: (1) We have analyzed thoroughly the localization properties of the wave-functions. We have developed a clear understanding of the physical as well as mathematical origin of the decay properties. One important conclusion is that even for metals, one can choose wavefunctions …
Date: March 29, 2012
Creator: E, Weinan
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Mass Distribution and Assembly of the Milky Way from the Properties of the Magellanic Clouds (open access)

The Mass Distribution and Assembly of the Milky Way from the Properties of the Magellanic Clouds

We present a new measurement of the mass of the Milky Way (MW) based on observed properties of its largest satellite galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds (MCs), and an assumed prior of a {Lambda}CDM universe. The large, high-resolution Bolshoi cosmological simulation of this universe provides a means to statistically sample the dynamical properties of bright satellite galaxies in a large population of dark matter halos. The observed properties of the MCs, including their circular velocity, distance from the center of the MW, and velocity within the MW halo, are used to evaluate the likelihood that a given halo would have each or all of these properties; the posterior probability distribution function (PDF) for any property of the MW system can thus be constructed. This method provides a constraint on the MW virial mass, 1.2{sup +0.7} - {sub 0.4}(stat.){sup +0.3} - {sub 0.3}(sys.) x 10{sup 12} M {circle_dot} (68% confidence), which is consistent with recent determinations that involve very different assumptions. In addition, we calculate the posterior PDF for the density profile of the MW and its satellite accretion history. Although typical satellites of 10{sup 12} M {circle_dot} halos are accreted over a wide range of epochs over the last 10 Gyr, …
Date: February 29, 2012
Creator: Busha, Michael T.; Marshall, Philip J.; Wechsler, Risa H.; Klypin, Anatoly & Primack, Joel
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
ANALYSIS OF HARRELL MONOSODIUM TITANATE LOT #46000524120 (open access)

ANALYSIS OF HARRELL MONOSODIUM TITANATE LOT #46000524120

Monosodium titanate (MST) for use in the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) must be qualified and verified in advance. A single qualification sample for each batch of material is sent to SRNL for analysis, as well as a statistical sampling of verification samples. The Harrell Industries Lot No.46000524120 qualification and the 14 verification samples met each of the selected specification requirements that were tested and, consequently, the material is acceptable for use in the ARP process.
Date: August 29, 2012
Creator: Taylor-Pashow, K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Distinguishing Pu Metal From Pu Oxide Using Fast Neutron Counting (open access)

Distinguishing Pu Metal From Pu Oxide Using Fast Neutron Counting

We describe a method for simultaneously determining the {alpha}-ratio and k{sub eff} for fissile materials using fast neutrons. Our method is a generalization of the Hage-Cifarrelli method for determining k{sub eff} for fissile assemblies which utilizes the shape of the fast neutron spectrum. In this talk we illustrate the method using Monte Carlo simulations of the fast neutrons generated in PuO{sub 2} to calculate the fast neutron spectrum and Feynman correlations.
Date: May 29, 2012
Creator: Verbeke, J M; Chapline, G F; Nakae, L; Wurtz, R & Sheets, S
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of the Cosmic-Ray Induced (open access)

Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of the Cosmic-Ray Induced

We report on measurements of the cosmic-ray induced {gamma}-ray emission of Earth's atmosphere by the Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The LAT has observed the Earth during its commissioning phase and with a dedicated Earth-limb following observation in September 2008. These measurements yielded {approx} 6.4 x 10{sup 6} photons with energies &gt; 100 MeV and {approx} 250 hours total livetime for the highest quality data selection. This allows the study of the spatial and spectral distributions of these photons with unprecedented detail. The spectrum of the emission - often referred to as Earth albedo gamma-ray emission - has a power-law shape up to 500 GeV with spectral index {Lambda} = 2.79 {+-} 0.06.
Date: February 29, 2012
Creator: Abdo, A. A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Demonstration Assessment of LED Roadway Lighting: NE Cully Boulevard Portland, OR (open access)

Demonstration Assessment of LED Roadway Lighting: NE Cully Boulevard Portland, OR

A new roadway lighting demonstration project was initiated in late 2010, which was planned in conjunction with other upgrades to NE Cully Boulevard, a residential collector road in the northeast area of Portland, OR. With the NE Cully Boulevard project, the Portland Bureau of Transportation hoped to demonstrate different light source technologies and different luminaires side-by-side. This report documents the initial performance of six different newly installed luminaires, including three LED products, one induction product, one ceramic metal halide product, and one high-pressure sodium (HPS) product that represented the baseline solution. It includes reported, calculated, and measured performance; evaluates the economic feasibility of each of the alternative luminaires; and documents user feedback collected from a group of local Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) members that toured the site. This report does not contain any long-term performance evaluations or laboratory measurements of luminaire performance. Although not all of the installed products performed equally, the alternative luminaires generally offered higher efficacy, more appropriate luminous intensity distributions, and favorable color quality when compared to the baseline HPS luminaire. However, some products did not provide sufficient illumination to all areas—vehicular drive lanes, bicycle lanes, and sidewalks—or would likely fail to meet design criteria over the …
Date: June 29, 2012
Creator: Royer, Michael P.; Poplawski, Michael E. & Tuenge, Jason R.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Energy Conservation Tests of a Coupled Kinetic-kinetic Plasma-neutral Transport Code (open access)

Energy Conservation Tests of a Coupled Kinetic-kinetic Plasma-neutral Transport Code

A Monte Carlo neutral transport routine, based on DEGAS2, has been coupled to the guiding center ion-electron-neutral neoclassical PIC code XGC0 to provide a realistic treatment of neutral atoms and molecules in the tokamak edge plasma. The DEGAS2 routine allows detailed atomic physics and plasma-material interaction processes to be incorporated into these simulations. The spatial pro le of the neutral particle source used in the DEGAS2 routine is determined from the uxes of XGC0 ions to the material surfaces. The kinetic-kinetic plasma-neutral transport capability is demonstrated with example pedestal fueling simulations.
Date: August 29, 2012
Creator: D.P. Stotler, C.S. Chang, S.H. Ku, J. Lang and G. Park
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mid-Atlantic Wind - Overcoming the Challenges (open access)

Mid-Atlantic Wind - Overcoming the Challenges

This study, supported by the US Department of Energy, Wind Powering America Program, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Chesapeake Bay Foundation, analyzed barriers to wind energy development in the Mid-Atlantic region along with options for overcoming or mitigating them. The Mid-Atlantic States including Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, have excellent wind energy potential and growing demand for electricity, but only two utility-scale projects have been installed to date. Reasons for this apathetic development of wind resources were analyzed and quantified for four markets. Specific applications are: 1) Appalachian mountain ridgeline sites, 2) on coastal plains and peninsulas, 3) at shallow water sites in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, and 4) at deeper water sites off the Atlantic coast. Each market has distinctly different opportunities and barriers. The primary barriers to wind development described in this report can be grouped into four categories; state policy and regulatory issues, wind resource technical uncertainty, economic viability, and public interest in environmental issues. The properties of these typologies are not mutually independent and do interact. The report concluded that there are no insurmountable barriers to land-based wind energy projects and they could be economically viable today. Likewise potential sites …
Date: June 29, 2012
Creator: Ancona, Daniel F., III; George, Kathryn E.; Sparling, Lynn; Buckheit, Bruce C.; LoBue, Daniel & Bowers, and Richard P.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
ADVANCED OXIDATION: OXALATE DECOMPOSITION TESTING WITH OZONE (open access)

ADVANCED OXIDATION: OXALATE DECOMPOSITION TESTING WITH OZONE

At the Savannah River Site (SRS), oxalic acid is currently considered the preferred agent for chemically cleaning the large underground Liquid Radioactive Waste Tanks. It is applied only in the final stages of emptying a tank when generally less than 5,000 kg of waste solids remain, and slurrying based removal methods are no-longer effective. The use of oxalic acid is preferred because of its combined dissolution and chelating properties, as well as the fact that corrosion to the carbon steel tank walls can be controlled. Although oxalic acid is the preferred agent, there are significant potential downstream impacts. Impacts include: (1) Degraded evaporator operation; (2) Resultant oxalate precipitates taking away critically needed operating volume; and (3) Eventual creation of significant volumes of additional feed to salt processing. As an alternative to dealing with the downstream impacts, oxalate decomposition using variations of ozone based Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) were investigated. In general AOPs use ozone or peroxide and a catalyst to create hydroxyl radicals. Hydroxyl radicals have among the highest oxidation potentials, and are commonly used to decompose organics. Although oxalate is considered among the most difficult organic to decompose, the ability of hydroxyl radicals to decompose oxalate is considered to …
Date: February 29, 2012
Creator: Ketusky, E. & Subramanian, K.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Verification survey report of the south waste tank farm training/test tower and hazardous waste storage lockers at the West Valley demonstration project, West Valley, New York (open access)

Verification survey report of the south waste tank farm training/test tower and hazardous waste storage lockers at the West Valley demonstration project, West Valley, New York

A team from ORAU&#x27;s Independent Environmental Assessment and Verification Program performed verification survey activities on the South Test Tower and four Hazardous Waste Storage Lockers. Scan data collected by ORAU determined that both the alpha and alpha-plus-beta activity was representative of radiological background conditions. The count rate distribution showed no outliers that would be indicative of alpha or alpha-plus-beta count rates in excess of background. It is the opinion of ORAU that independent verification data collected support the site?s conclusions that the South Tower and Lockers sufficiently meet the site criteria for release to recycle and reuse.
Date: August 29, 2012
Creator: Weaver, Phyllis C.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Control of New Kinetic Barriers & Design of Nanorods (open access)

Control of New Kinetic Barriers & Design of Nanorods

The accomplishments of this project include three elements. The first element directly relates to the focus of this project. Specifically, we have determined the three-dimensional Ehrlich-Schwoebel barriers, with and without surfactants, and two manuscripts in preparation; references refer to the list of journal publications. Further, we have discovered a characteristic length scale - the dimension of atomic islands bounded by multiple-layer surface steps. This discovery has made it possible to understand scientifically why nanorods synthesis is possible at all, will enable science-based design of nanorods, and may impact energy technology through nanomaterials design and synthesis. The second element relates to an exploration - synthesis of nanowires. This exploration is made possible through additional support of a Small Grant Exploratory Research from NSF. Through a combination of atomistic simulations, theories, and experiments, the PI and colleagues have made two contributions to the field. Specifically, they have revealed the physical reason why periodic twins develop during growth of SiC nanowires. Further, they have discovered that SiC nanowire films have an order-of-magnitude higher friction that their macroscopic counterpart, something that has never been reported before. The third elements relates to knowledge dissemination. The PI has co-edited (with Helena van Swygenhoven of PSI) an …
Date: May 29, 2012
Creator: Huang, Hanchen
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
CHEMICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SLUDGE SOLIDS AT THE F AND H AREA TANK FARMS (open access)

CHEMICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SLUDGE SOLIDS AT THE F AND H AREA TANK FARMS

The primary source of waste solids received into the F Area Tank Farm (FTF) was from PUREX processing performed to recover uranium and plutonium from irradiated depleted uranium targets. In contrast, two primary sources of waste solids were received into the H Area Tank Farm (HTF): a) waste from PUREX processing; and b) waste from H-modified (HM) processing performed to recover uranium and neptunium from burned enriched uranium fuel. Due to the differences between the irradiated depleted uranium targets and the burned enriched uranium fuel, the average compositions of the F and H Area wastes are markedly different from one another. Both F and H Area wastes contain significant amounts of iron and aluminum compounds. However, because the iron content of PUREX waste is higher than that of HM waste, and the aluminum content of PUREX waste is lower than that of HM waste, the iron to aluminum ratios of typical FTF waste solids are appreciably higher than those of typical HTF waste solids. Other constituents present at significantly higher concentrations in the typical FTF waste solids include uranium, nickel, ruthenium, zinc, silver, cobalt and copper. In contrast, constituents present at significantly higher concentrations in the typical HTF waste solids …
Date: August 29, 2012
Creator: Reboul, S.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Towards Detecting Motifs in Time Series Data of Wind Energy (open access)

Towards Detecting Motifs in Time Series Data of Wind Energy

None
Date: June 29, 2012
Creator: Tian, X; Fan, Y J & Kamath, C
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Technological advances in the Radiological Contingency Plan for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory Mission (open access)

Technological advances in the Radiological Contingency Plan for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory Mission

None
Date: October 29, 2012
Creator: Scott, R E; Phillips, J M; Homann, S G; Baskett, R L & Carins-Gallimore, D
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Calibrating Curved Crystals Used for Plasma Spectroscopy (open access)

Calibrating Curved Crystals Used for Plasma Spectroscopy

The throughput and resolving power of an X-ray spectrometer that uses a curved crystal as the diffraction element is determined primarily by the crystal X-ray reflectivity properties. This poster presents a measurement technique for these crystal parameters using a simple diode source to produce a narrow spectral band. The results from measurements on concave elliptical polyethylene terephthalate (PET) crystals and convex potassium acid phthalate (KAP) crystals show large variations in the key parameters compared to those from the flat crystal.
Date: October 29, 2012
Creator: Haugh, M. J., Jacoby, K. D., Ross, P. W., Rochau, G. Wu, M., Regan, S. P., Barrios, M. A.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library