Conventional disposable glass-fiber high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are used throughout the Department of Energy complex in various process systems. Alternative filter media is being addressed that would have a long life on the HLW tanks.

The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. In this segment of work, our goal was to review methods for estimating tree survival, growth, yield and value of forests growing on surface mined land in the eastern coalfields of the USA, and to determine the extent to which carbon sequestration is influenced by these factors. Public Law 95-87, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA), mandates that mined land be reclaimed in a fashion that renders the land at least as productive after mining as it was before mining. In the central Appalachian region, where prime farmland and economic development opportunities for mined land are scarce, the most practical land use choices are hayland/pasture, wildlife habitat, or forest land. Since 1977, the majority of mined land has been reclaimed as hayland/pasture or wildlife habitat, which is less expensive to reclaim than forest land, since there are no tree planting costs. As a result, there are now hundreds of thousands of hectares of grasslands and scrublands in various …

We have developed summary tables (sorted by heating- and cooling-degree-days) to estimate the potential of Heat-Island Reduction (HIR) strategies (i.e., solar-reflective roofs, shade trees, reflective pavements, and urban vegetation) to reduce cooling-energy use in buildings. The tables provide estimates of savings for both direct effect (reducing heat gain through the building shell) and indirect effect (reducing the ambient air temperature). In this analysis, we considered three building types that offer the most savings potential : residences, offices, and retail stores. Each building type was characterized in detail by Pre-1980 (old) or 1980+ (new) construction vintage and with natural gas or electricity as heating fuel. We defined prototypical-building characteristics for each building type and simulated the effects of HIR strategies on building cooling and heating energy use and peak power demand using the DOE-2.1E model and weather data for about 240 locations in the U.S. A statistical analysis of previously completed simulations for five cities was used to estimate the indirect savings. Our simulations included the effect of (1) solar-reflective roofing material on building [direct effect], (2) placement of deciduous shade trees near south and west walls of building [direct effect], and (3) ambient cooling achieved by urban reforestation and reflective …

This report summarizes the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory internal assessment of Laboratory operational and administrative performance in key support functions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003. The report provides documentation of ongoing performance-based management and oversight processes required by the Department of Energy (DOE) to monitor, measure, and evaluate Berkeley Lab work.

We consider supersymmetric models where the scale of supersymmetry breaking lies between 5 x 10{sup 6} GeV and 5 x 10{sup 8} GeV. In this class of theories, which includes models of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, the lightest supersymmetric particle is the gravitino. The next to lightest supersymmetric particle is typically a long lived charged slepton with a lifetime between a microsecond and a second, depending on its mass. Collisions of high energy neutrinos with nucleons in the earth can result in the production of a pair of these sleptons. Their very high boost means they typically decay outside the earth. We investigate the production of these particles by the diffuse flux of high energy neutrinos, and the potential for their observation in large ice or water Cerenkov detectors. The relatively small cross-section for the production of supersymmetric particles is partially compensated for by the very long range of heavy particles. The signal in the detector consists of two parallel charged tracks emerging from the earth about 100 meters apart, with very little background. A detailed calculation using the Waxman-Bahcall limit on the neutrino flux and realistic spectra shows that km{sup 3} experiments could see as many as 4 events …

HB-Line's mission included dissolution of uranium-aluminum scrap left over from a U3O8 scrap recovery program begun in 1972 with material returned from Rocky Flats and Oak Ridge. This material has been stored in desicooler containers, and is commonly referred to as the Desicoolers. The Scrap Recovery process includes the dissolution of scrap material and transfer of the resulting solution to H-Canyon for further disposition. During the first charge of this material into the HB-Line dissolvers, the solution heated to boiling without external heat being added. Yellow-colored fumes, which dissipated rapidly, were noted in the glovebox by operators, and a small amount of liquid was noted in the glovebox by operations after dissolver cooldown. This technical report documents analysis of the data from the event with respect to potential Safety Basis violation and the Integrated Safety Management System process. Based on the analysis presented, the safety basis has shown its ability to protect the worker, the facility and the public.

Arcing is a well-known, unwanted discharge regime observed on the surface of sputtering targets. The discharge voltage breaks down to less than 50 V while the current jumps to elevated levels. Arcing is unwanted because it prevents uniform deposition and creates particulates. The issue of arcing has been dealt with by target surface conditioning and by using modern power supplies that have arc suppression incorporated. With increasing quality requirements in terms of uniformity of coatings, and absence of particulates, especially for electrochromic and other advanced coatings applications, the issue of arcing warrants a closer examination with the goal to find other, physics-based, and hopefully better approaches of arcing prevention. From a physics point of view, the onset of arcing is nothing else than the transition of the discharge to a cathodic arc mode, which is characterized by the ignition of non-stationary arc spots. Arc spots operate by a sequence of microexplosions, enabling explosive electron emission, as opposed to secondary electron emission. Arc spots and their fragments have a size distribution in the micrometer and sub-micrometer range, and a characteristic time distribution that has components shorter than microseconds. Understanding the ignition conditions of arc spots are of central physical interest. Spot …

The boreal summer intraseasonal variability (BSISV) associated with the 30-50 day mode is represented by the co-existence of three components, poleward propagation of convection over the Indian and tropical west Pacific longitudes and eastward propagation along the equator. The hypothesis that the three components influence each other has been investigated using observed OLR, NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, and solutions from an idealized linear model. The null hypothesis is that the three components are mutually independent. Cyclostationary EOF (CsEOF) analysis is applied on filtered OLR to extract the life-cycle of the BSISV. The dominant mode of CsEOF is significantly tied to observed rainfall over the Indian subcontinent. The components of the heating patterns from CsEOF analysis serve as prescribed forcings for the linear model. This allows us to ascertain which heat sources and sinks are instrumental in driving the large-scale monsoon circulation during the BSISV life-cycle. We identify three new findings: (1) the circulation anomalies that develop as a Rossby wave response to suppressed convection over the equatorial Indian Ocean associated with the previous break phase of the BSISV precondition the ocean-atmosphere system in the western Indian Ocean and trigger the next active phase of the BSISV, (2) the development of convection over …

Combustion Specialists, Inc. has just completed a project designed to develop the capability to monitor and control the formation of deposits on the outside of boiler tubes inside an operating kraft recovery furnace. This project, which was carried out in the period from April 1, 2001 to January 31, 2003, was funded by the Department of Energy's Inventions and Innovations program. The primary objectives of the project included the development and demonstration of the ability to produce clear images of deposits throughout the convective sections of operating recovery boilers using newly developed infrared imaging technology, to demonstrate the automated detection and quantification of these deposits using custom designed image processing software developed as part of the project, and to demonstrate the feasibility of all technical elements required for a commercial ''smart'' sootblowing control system based on direct feedback from automated imaging of deposits in real-time. All of the individual tasks have been completed and all objectives have been substantially achieved. Imaging of deposits throughout the convective sections of several recovery boilers has been demonstrated, a design for a combined sootblower/deposit inspection probe has been developed and a detailed heat transfer analysis carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of this design, …

Incomplete or sparse information on types of data such as geologic or formation characteristics introduces a high level of risk for oil exploration and development projects. ''Expert'' systems developed and used in several disciplines and industries have demonstrated beneficial results. A state-of-the-art exploration ''expert'' tool, relying on a computerized database and computer maps generated by neural networks, is being developed through the use of ''fuzzy'' logic, a relatively new mathematical treatment of imprecise or non-explicit parameters and values. Oil prospecting risk can be reduced with the use of a properly developed and validated ''Fuzzy Expert Exploration (FEE) Tool.'' This FEE Tool can be beneficial in many regions of the U.S. by enabling risk reduction in oil and gas prospecting as well as decreased prospecting and development costs. In the 1998-1999 oil industry environment, many smaller exploration companies lacked the resources of a pool of expert exploration personnel. Downsizing, low oil prices, and scarcity of exploration funds have also affected larger companies, and will, with time, affect the end users of oil industry products in the U.S. as reserves are depleted. The pool of experts is much reduced today. The FEE Tool will benefit a diverse group in the U.S., leading …

Incomplete or sparse information on types of data such as geologic or formation characteristics introduces a high level of risk for oil exploration and development projects. ''Expert'' systems developed and used in several disciplines and industries have demonstrated beneficial results. A state-of-the-art exploration ''expert'' tool, relying on a computerized database and computer maps generated by neural networks, is being developed through the use of ''fuzzy'' logic, a relatively new mathematical treatment of imprecise or non-explicit parameters and values. Oil prospecting risk can be reduced with the use of a properly developed and validated ''Fuzzy Expert Exploration (FEE) Tool.'' This FEE Tool can be beneficial in many regions of the U.S. by enabling risk reduction in oil and gas prospecting as well as decreased prospecting and development costs. In the 1998-1999 oil industry environment, many smaller exploration companies lacked the resources of a pool of expert exploration personnel. Downsizing, low oil prices, and scarcity of exploration funds have also affected larger companies, and will, with time, affect the end users of oil industry products in the U.S. as reserves are depleted. The FEE Tool will benefit a diverse group in the U.S., leading to a more efficient use of scarce funds, …

Both the apolipoprotein A5 and C3 genes have repeatedly been shown to play an important role in determining plasma triglyceride concentrations in humans and mice. In mice, transgenic and knockout experiments indicate that plasma triglyceride levels are negatively and positively correlated with APOA5 and APOC3 expression, respectively. In humans, common polymorphisms in both genes have also been associated with plasma triglyceride concentrations. The evolutionary relationship among these two apolipoprotein genes and their close proximity on human chromosome 11q23 have largely precluded the determination of their relative contribution to altered Both the apolipoprotein A5 and C3 genes have repeatedly been shown to play an important role in determining plasma triglyceride concentrations in humans and mice. In mice, transgenic and knockout experiments indicate that plasma triglyceride levels are negatively and positively correlated with APOA5 and APOC3 expression, respectively. In humans, common polymorphisms in both genes have also been associated with plasma triglyceride concentrations. The evolutionary relationship among these two apolipoprotein genes and their close proximity on human chromosome 11q23 have largely precluded the determination of their relative contribution to altered triglycerides. To overcome these confounding factors and address their relationship, we generated independent lines of mice that either over-expressed (''double transgenic'') or …

Working within the context of the Southern States Biobased Alliance (SSBA) and with officials in each state, the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) is identifying bioenergy-related policies and programs within each state to determine their impact on the development, deployment or use of bioenergy. In addition, SSEB will determine which policies have impacted industry's efforts to develop, deploy or use biobased technologies or products. As a result, SSEB will work with the Southern States Biobased Alliance to determine how policy changes might address any negative impacts or enhance positive impacts.

Working within the context of the Southern States Biobased Alliance (SSBA) and with officials in each state, the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) is identifying bioenergy-related policies and programs within each state to determine their impact on the development, deployment or use of bioenergy. In addition, SSEB will determine which policies have impacted industry's efforts to develop, deploy or use biobased technologies or products. As a result, SSEB will work with the Southern States Biobased Alliance to determine how policy changes might address any negative impacts or enhance positive impacts.

The 1999 U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) award to Texaco Energy Systems Inc. (presently Texaco Energy Systems LLC, a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco) was made to provide a Preliminary Engineering Design of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP). Since the award presentation, work has been undertaken to achieve an economical concept design that makes strides toward the DOE Vision 21 goal. The objective of the EECP is to convert coal and/or petroleum coke to electric power plus transportation fuels, chemicals and useful utilities such as steam. The use of petroleum coke was added as a fuel to reduce the cost of feedstock and also to increase the probability of commercial implementation of the EECP concept. This objective has been pursued in a three phase effort through the partnership of the DOE with prime contractor Texaco Energy Systems LLC and subcontractors General Electric (GE), Praxair, and Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR). ChevronTexaco is providing gasification technology and Rentech's Fischer-Tropsch technology that has been developed for non-natural gas feed sources. GE is providing gas turbine technology for the combustion of low energy content gas. Praxair is providing air separation technology, and KBR is providing engineering to integrate the facility. The objective of …

We simulate quenched QCD with the overlap Dirac operator. We work with the Wilson gauge action at {beta} = 6 on an 18{sup 3} x 64 lattice. We calculate quark propagators for a single source point and quark mass ranging from am{sub 4} = 0.03 to 0.75. We present here preliminary results based on the propagators for 60 gauge field configurations.

While commodity computing and graphics hardware has increased in capacity and dropped in cost, it is still quite difficult to make effective use of such systems for general-purpose parallel visualization and graphics. We describe the results of a recent project that provides a software infrastructure suitable for general-purpose use by parallel visualization and graphics applications. Our work combines and extends two technologies: Chromium, a stream-oriented framework that implements the OpenGL programming interface; and OpenRM Scene Graph, a pipelined-parallel scene graph interface for graphics data management. Using this combination, we implement a sort-first, distributed memory, parallel volume rendering application. We describe the performance characteristics in terms of bandwidth requirements and highlight key algorithmic considerations needed to implement the sort-first system. We characterize system performance using a distributed memory parallel volume rendering application, a nd present performance gains realized by using scene specific knowledge to accelerate rendering through reduced network bandwidth. The contribution of this work is an exploration of general-purpose, sort-first architecture performance characteristics as applied to distributed memory, commodity hardware, along with a description of the algorithmic support needed to realize parallel, sort-first implementations.

In this CRADA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) assisted nLine Corporation of Austin, TX in the development of prototype semiconductor wafer inspection tools based on the direct-to-digital holographic (DDH) techniques invented at ORNL. Key components of this work included, development of the first prototype named the Visible Alpha Tool (VAT) that uses visible spectrum illumination of 532 nm, assist in design of second prototype tool named the DUV Alpha Tool (DAT) using deep UV (266 nm) illumination, and continuing support of nLine in the development of higher throughput commercial tools.

In the United States, there has been substantial recent growth in wind energy generating capacity, with growth averaging 24 percent annually during the past five years. About 1,700 MW of wind energy capacity was installed in 2001, while another 410 MW became operational in 2002. This year (2003) shows promise of significant growth with more than 1,500 MW planned. With this growth, an increasing number of states are experiencing investment in wind energy projects. Wind installations currently exist in about half of all U.S. states. This paper explores the key factors at play in the states that have achieved a substantial amount of wind energy investment. Some of the factors that are examined include policy drivers, such as renewable portfolio standards (RPS), federal and state financial incentives, and integrated resource planning; as well as market drivers, such as consumer demand for green power, natural gas price volatility, and wholesale market rules.

The current status of Run II at the Tevatron is covered. Upgrades of both the CDF and D0 detectors are presented, along with many illustrations of the performance and potential for significant physics measurements.

QCDOC is a massively parallel supercomputer whose processing nodes are based on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This ASIC was custom-designed so that crucial lattice QCD kernels achieve an overall sustained performance of 50% on machines with several 10,000 nodes. This strong scalability, together with low power consumption and a price/performance ratio of $1 per sustained MFlops, enable QCDOC to attack the most demanding lattice QCD problems. The first ASICs became available in June of 2003, and the testing performed so far has shown all systems functioning according to specification. We review the hardware and software status of QCDOC and present performance figures obtained in real hardware as well as in simulation.

Schemes for encrypted key exchange are designed to provide two entities communicating over a public network, and sharing a (short) password only, with a session key to be used to achieve data integrity and/or message confidentiality. An example of a very efficient and ''elegant'' scheme for encrypted key exchange considered for standardization by the IEEE P1363 Standard working group is AuthA. This scheme was conjectured secure when the symmetric-encryption primitive is instantiated via either a cipher that closely behaves like an ''ideal cipher,'' or a mask generation function that is the product of the message with a hash of the password. While the security of this scheme in the former case has been recently proven, the latter case was still an open problem. For the first time we prove in this paper that this scheme is secure under the assumptions that the hash function closely behaves like a random oracle and that the computational Diffie-Hellman problem is difficult. Furthermore, since Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks have become a common threat we enhance AuthA with a mechanism to protect against them.

Groundwater flow and transport predictions are a major component of remedial action evaluations for contaminated groundwater at the Savannah River Site. Because all groundwater modeling results are subject to uncertainty from various causes; quantification of the level of uncertainty in the modeling predictions is beneficial to project decision makers. Complex site-specific models present formidable challenges for implementing an uncertainty analysis.

We present two new measurements of the top-quark mass. Using the same methodology applied in Run I, the CDF experiment uses 72 pb{sup -1} of Run II data to measure M{sub top} = 171.2 {+-} 13.4{sub stat} {+-} 99{sub syst} GeV/c{sup 2}. On the other hand, the D0 experiment, using 125 pb{sup -1} from Run I, and applying a new method that extracts information from data through a direct calculation of a probability for each event, obtains M{sub top} = 180.1 {+-} 3.6{sub stat} {+-} 4.0{sub syst} GeV/c{sup 2}.