Groundwater beneath T-Area, a former laboratory and semiworks operation at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS), is contaminated by chlorinated solvents (cVOCs). Since the contamination was detected in the 1980s, the cVOCs at T-Area have been treated by a combination of soil vapor extraction and groundwater pump and treat. The site received approval to temporarily discontinue the active groundwater treatment and implement a treatability study of enhanced attenuation - an engineering and regulatory strategy that has recently been developed by DOE and the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC 2007). Enhanced attenuation uses active engineering solutions to alter the target site in such a way that the contaminant plume will passively stabilize and shrink and to document that the action will be effective, timely, and sustainable. The paradigm recognizes that attenuation remedies are fundamentally based on a mass balance. Thus, long-term plume dynamics can be altered either by reducing the contaminant loading from the source or by increasing the rate of natural attenuation processes within all, or part of, the plume volume. The combination of technologies that emerged for T-Area included: (1) neat (pure) vegetable oil deployment in the deep vadose zone in the former source area, …

The Biomass Scenario Model (BSM) is a system dynamics model developed by the U.S. Department of Energy as a tool to better understand the interaction of complex policies and their potential effects on the biofuels industry in the United States. However, it does not currently have the capability to account for allocation of biomass resources among the various end uses, which limits its utilization in analysis of policies that target biomass uses outside the biofuels industry. This report provides a more holistic understanding of the dynamics surrounding the allocation of biomass among uses that include traditional use, wood pellet exports, bio-based products and bioproducts, biopower, and biofuels by (1) highlighting the methods used in existing models' treatments of competition for biomass resources; (2) identifying coverage and gaps in industry data regarding the competing end uses; and (3) exploring options for developing models of biomass allocation that could be integrated with the BSM to actively exchange and incorporate relevant information.

In this project, we proposed to develop laser based mid-infrared lasers as a potentially robust and reliable source of ultrafast pulses in the mid-infrared region of the spectrum, and to apply this light source to generating bright, coherent, femtosecond-to-attosecond x-ray beams.

A task was undertaken to determine primarily the permeation behavior of various glove compounds from four manufacturers. As part of the basic characterization task, the opportunity to obtain additional mechanical and thermal properties presented itself. Consequently, a total of fifteen gloves were characterized for permeation, Thermogravimetric Analysis, Puncture Resistance, Tensile Properties and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis. Detailed reports were written for each characterization technique used. This report contains the summary of the results.

The Renewable Energy Atlas (Atlas) of the United States is a compilation of geospatial data focused on renewable energy resources, federal land ownership, and base map reference information. It is designed for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) and other federal land management agencies to evaluate existing and proposed renewable energy projects. Much of the content of the Atlas was compiled at Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) to support recent and current energy-related Environmental Impact Statements and studies, including the following projects: (1) West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) (BLM 2008); (2) Draft PEIS for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States (DOE/BLM 2010); (3) Supplement to the Draft PEIS for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States (DOE/BLM 2011); (4) Upper Great Plains Wind Energy PEIS (WAPA/USFWS 2012, in progress); and (5) Energy Transport Corridors: The Potential Role of Federal Lands in States Identified by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Section 368(b) (in progress). This report explains how to add the Atlas to your computer and install the associated software; describes each of the components of the Atlas; lists the Geographic Information System (GIS) database content and sources; and provides a brief introduction to the …

We propose a unique, all-electron, thermodynamic density functional theory (DFT) code that directly predicts full or partial long-range order in crystalline (defected) solids and their effect on electronic properties via a first-principles mean-field theory, scales linear with number of atoms N per unit-cell [i.e. O(N), due to use of a mathematical-based screening in k-space], and addresses up to 1 million atoms using parallel architectures. Novel O(N) algorithms will be developed to permit this for an all-electron KKR Green's functional density-functional theory code.

A new simulation model helps researchers evaluate real-world impacts of heat pump water heaters in U.S. homes.

Over the past 30 years, wind power has become a mainstream source of electricity generation around the world. However, the future of wind power will depend a great deal on the ability of the industry to continue to achieve cost of energy reductions. In this summary report, developed as part of the International Energy Agency Wind Implementing Agreement Task 26, titled 'The Cost of Wind Energy,' we provide a review of historical costs, evaluate near-term market trends, review the methods used to estimate long-term cost trajectories, and summarize the range of costs projected for onshore wind energy across an array of forward-looking studies and scenarios. We also highlight the influence of high-level market variables on both past and future wind energy costs.

The objectives are: (1) Investigate novel engine control strategies targeted at rapid engine/catalyst warming for the purpose of mitigating tailpipe emissions from plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) exposed to multiple engine cold start events; (2) Optimize integration of engine control strategies with hybrid supervisory control strategies in order to reduce cold start emissions and fuel consumption of PHEVs; and (3) Ensure that development of new vehicle technologies complies with existing emission standards.

NREL leads the effort to change how energy is used worldwide by helping identify and eliminate barriers to energy efficiency and clean energy technology deployment. The laboratory takes a portfolio approach that explores the full range of technology options for developing and implementing innovative energy performance solutions. The Research Support Facility (RSF) data center is a prime example of NREL's capabilities and expertise in energy efficiency. But, more important, its features can be replicated. NREL provides custom technical assistance and training for improved data center performance to help our customers realize cost savings.

This project had goals of advancing the performance capabilities of the numerical general circulation model EULAG and using it to produce a fully operational atmospheric global climate model (AGCM) that can employ either static or dynamic grid stretching for targeted phenomena. The resulting AGCM combined EULAG's advanced dynamics core with the "physics" of the NCAR Community Atmospheric Model (CAM). Effort discussed below shows how we improved model performance and tested both EULAG and the coupled CAM-EULAG in several ways to demonstrate the grid stretching and ability to simulate very well a wide range of scales, that is, multi-scale capability. We leveraged our effort through interaction with an international EULAG community that has collectively developed new features and applications of EULAG, which we exploited for our own work summarized here. Overall, the work contributed to over 40 peer-reviewed publications and over 70 conference/workshop/seminar presentations, many of them invited. 3a. EULAG Advances EULAG is a non-hydrostatic, parallel computational model for all-scale geophysical flows. EULAG's name derives from its two computational options: EULerian (flux form) or semi-LAGrangian (advective form). The model combines nonoscillatory forward-in-time (NFT) numerical algorithms with a robust elliptic Krylov solver. A signature feature of EULAG is that it is formulated …

This report contains the results of Phase I of an SBIR to develop a Pulsed Inductive Output Tube (IOT) with 140 kW at 400 MHz for powering H-proton beams. A number of sources, including single beam and multiple beam klystrons, can provide this power, but the IOT provides higher efficiency. Efficiencies exceeding 70% are routinely achieved. The gain is typically limited to approximately 24 dB; however, the availability of highly efficient, solid state drivers reduces the significance of this limitation, particularly at lower frequencies. This program initially focused on developing a 402 MHz IOT; however, the DOE requirement for this device was terminated during the program. The SBIR effort was refocused on improving the IOT design codes to more accurately simulate the time dependent behavior of the input cavity, electron gun, output cavity, and collector. Significant improvement was achieved in modeling capability and simulation accuracy.

The replacement of the ATR Control Complex's obsolete computer based Reactor Data Acquisition System (RDAS) and its safety-related Lobe Power Calculation and Indication System (LPCIS) software application is vitally important to ensure the ATR remains available to support this national mission. The RDAS supports safe operation of the reactor by providing 'real-time' plant status information (indications and alarms) for use by the reactor operators via the Console Display System (CDS). The RDAS is a computer support system that acquires analog and digital information from various reactor and reactor support systems. The RDAS information is used to display quadrant and lobe powers via a display interface more user friendly than that provided by the recorders and the Control Room upright panels. RDAS provides input to the Nuclear Engineering ATR Surveillance Data System (ASUDAS) for fuel burn-up analysis and the production of cycle data for experiment sponsors and the generation of the Core Safety Assurance Package (CSAP). RDAS also archives and provides for retrieval of historical plant data which may be used for event reconstruction, data analysis, training and safety analysis. The RDAS, LPCIS and ASUDAS need to be replaced with state-of-the-art technology in order to eliminate problems of aged computer systems, …

Diffusion Monte Carlo methods can give highly accurate results for correlated systems, provided that well optimized trial wave functions with accurate nodal surfaces are employed. The Cornell team developed powerful methods for optimizing all the parameters within a multi-determinant Slater-Jastrow form of the wave function. These include the Jastrow parameters within a flexible electron-electron-nucleus form of the Jastrow function, the parameters multiplying the configuration state functions, the orbital parameters and the basis exponents. The method optimizes a linear combination of the energy and the variance of the local energy. The optimal parameters are found iteratively by diagonalizing the Hamiltonian matrix in the space spanned by the wave function and its first-order derivatives, making use of a strong zero-variance principle. It is highly robust, has become the method of choice for correlated wave function optimization and has been adopted by other QMC groups. This optimization method was used on the first-row atoms and homonuclear diatomic molecules, demonstrating that molecular well depths can be obtained with near chemical accuracy quite systematically at the diffusion Monte Carlo level for these systems. In addition the complete ground-state potential energy curve of the C{sub 2} molecule up to the dissociation limit was obtained, and, size …

Starch is a desirable plant product for both food and biofuel. Leaf starch is ideal for use in biofuels because it does not compete with grain starch, which is used for food. Starch is accumulated in plant leaves during the day and broken down at night. If we can manipulate leaf starch breakdown it may be possible to design a plant that provides both grain starch for food and leaf starch for biofuel. The pathway of leaf starch breakdown was not known when this work started. Preliminary evidence had shown that maltose was the primary product of leaf starch breakdown (Weise, Weber & Sharkey, 2004) and that it was metabolized by a disproportionating enzyme called amylomaltase but given the initials DPE2 (Lu & Sharkey, 2004). In this work we showed that only one form of maltose was metabolically active (Weise et al., 2005a) and that maltose was located in two different places when the amylomaltase was knocked out but only inside the chloroplast when the maltose transporter was knocked out (Lu et al., 2006a). This allowed us to estimate the energetics of maltose export and to show that maltose export is more efficient than glucose export (Weise et al., 2005b). …

Bimetallic surfaces with tunable chemical properties have attracted broad attention in recent years due to their ample potential for heterogeneous catalysis applications. The local chemical properties of constituents are strongly altered from their parent metals by 'ligand effect', a term encompassing the influences of charge transfer, orbital rehybridization and lattice strain. In comparison to the aforementioned, the 'ensemble effect' associated with particular arrangements of the active constituents have received much less attention, despite their notable importance towards the determination of reactivity and selectivity of bimetallic catalysts. We performed theoretical studies for understanding the ensemble effects on bimetallic catalysis: (i) simulations for the formation of different ensembles on PdAu and PtAu nanoclusters; (ii) studies of the size, shape, and substrate dependence of their electronic properties; and (iii) simulations for model reactions such as CO oxidation, methanol, ethylene and water dehydrogenation on PdAu and PtAu nanoclusters. In close collaboration with leading experimental groups, our theoretical research elucidated the fundamentals of Au based bimetallic nanocatalysts.

The field of solid state protonics has had a small but dedicated following for the past several decades. The collection of papers compiled in this special issue of Solid State Ionics were presented at the most recent international conference focused specifically on this topic, the 15th International Conference on Solid State Proton Conductors (SSPC-15) held in Santa Barbara, California, United States, August 15-20, 2010. Early recognition of the importance of proton transport in solids led to the establishment of the first meeting in this series in 1981, held in Paris in the form of a Danish-Frenchworkshop. The subsequent thirteen meetingswere all held inWestern Europe,with increasing participation from Asian, Eastern European and North and South American researchers. In recognition of the growing international interest in the field, SSPC-14 was held in Kyoto, Japan. SSPC-15, the first North American meeting in this series, built on the momentum of internationalization achieved in SSPC-14, ensuring that the best and brightest minds continue to contribute to the important problems still facing the understanding and manipulation of proton transport in solids. This occasion warrants an update to the SSPC history, and is given. Overall, the oxide proton conductors were the topic of greatest interest, reflecting the …

During the past decades, considerable theoretical efforts have been devoted to studying the electronic and geometric structures and related properties of surfaces. Such efforts are particularly important for systems like the actinides for which experimental work is relatively difficult to perform due to material problems and toxicity. The actinides are characterized by a gradual filling of the 5f-electron shell with the degree of localization increasing with the atomic number Z along the last series of the periodic table. The open shell of the 5f electrons determines the atomic, molecular, and solid state properties of the actinide elements and their compounds and understanding the quantum mechanics of the 5f electrons is the defining issue in the chemistry and physics of actinide elements. These elements are also characterized by the increasing prominence of relativistic effects and their studies can, in fact, help us understand the role of relativity throughout the periodic table. However, the electronic and geometric structures of the actinides, specifically the trans-uranium actinides and the roles of the 5f electrons in chemical bonding are still not well understood. This is crucial not only for our understanding of the actinides but also for the fact that the actinides constitute 'the missing …

This guide is organized around three sponsorship models: utility-sponsored projects, projects sponsored by special purpose entities - businesses formed for the purpose of producing community solar power, and non-profit sponsored projects. The guide addresses issues common to all project models, as well as issues unique to each model.

The International Code Council (ICC) published the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code{reg_sign} (IECC) in early 2012. The 2012 IECC is based on revisions, additions, and deletions to the 2009 IECC that were considered during the ICC code development process conducted in 2011. Solid vertical lines, arrows, or asterisks printed in the 2012 IECC indicate where revisions, deletions, or relocations of text respectively were made to 2009 IECC. Although these marginal markings indicate where changes have been made to the code, they do not provide any further guidance, leaving the reader to consult and compare the 2009 and 2012 IECC for more detail.

UV curing is a green technology that is largely underutilized because UV radiation sources like Hg Lamps are unreliable and difficult to use. High Power UV LEDs are now efficient enough to replace Hg Lamps, and offer significantly improved performance relative to Hg Lamps. In this study, a modular, scalable high power UV LED curing system was designed and tested, performing well in industrial coating evaluations. In order to achieve mechanical form factors similar to commercial Hg Lamp systems, a new patent pending design was employed enabling high irradiance at long working distances. While high power UV LEDs are currently only available at longer UVA wavelengths, rapid progress on UVC LEDs and the development of new formulations designed specifically for use with UV LED sources will converge to drive more rapid adoption of UV curing technology. An assessment of the environmental impact of replacing Hg Lamp systems with UV LED systems was performed. Since UV curing is used in only a small portion of the industrial printing, painting and coating markets, the ease of use of UV LED systems should increase the use of UV curing technology. Even a small penetration of the significant number of industrial applications still using …

Turbochargers in commercial turbo-diesel engines are multi-material systems where usually the compressor rotor is made of aluminum or titanium based material and the turbine rotor is made of either a nickel based superalloy or titanium, designed to operate under the harsh exhaust gas conditions. The use of cast titanium in the turbine section has been used by Cummins Turbo Technologies since 1997. Having the benefit of a lower mass than the superalloy based turbines; higher turbine speeds in a more compact design can be achieved with titanium. In an effort to improve the cost model, and develop an industrial supply of titanium componentry that is more stable than the traditional aerospace based supply chain, the Contractor has developed component manufacturing schemes that use economical Armstrong titanium and titanium alloy powders and MgR-HDH powders. Those manufacturing schemes can be applied to compressor and turbine rotor components for diesel engine applications with the potential of providing a reliable supply of titanium componentry with a cost and performance advantage over cast titanium.

Space conditioning energy use can be significantly reduced by addressing uncontrolled infiltration and exfiltration through the envelope of a building. A process for improving the air tightness of a building envelope by sealing shell leaks with an aerosol sealing technology is presented. Both retrofit and new construction applications are possible through applying this process either in attics and crawlspaces or during rough-in stage.

This report gives a description of the activities in design, fabrication, construction, and assembling of a pumped sodium loop for the sodium compatibility studies on advanced structural materials. The work is the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) portion of the effort on the work project entitled, 'Sodium Compatibility of Advanced Fast Reactor Materials,' and is a part of Advanced Materials Development within the Reactor Campaign. The objective of this project is to develop information on sodium corrosion compatibility of advanced materials being considered for sodium reactor applications. This report gives the status of the sodium pumped loop at Argonne National Laboratory, the specimen details, and the technical approach to evaluate the sodium compatibility of advanced structural alloys. This report is a deliverable from ANL in FY2010 (M2GAN10SF050302) under the work package G-AN10SF0503 'Sodium Compatibility of Advanced Fast Reactor Materials.' Two reports were issued in 2009 (Natesan and Meimei Li 2009, Natesan et al. 2009) which examined the thermodynamic and kinetic factors involved in the purity of liquid sodium coolant for sodium reactor applications as well as the design specifications for the ANL pumped loop for testing advanced structural materials. Available information was presented on solubility of several metallic and nonmetallic elements …