Metallic films are grown with a sponge-like morphology in the as-deposited condition using planar magnetron sputtering. The morphology of the deposit is characterized by metallic continuity in three dimensions with continuous porosity on the sub-micron scale. The stabilization of the metallic sponge is directly correlated with a limited range for the sputter deposition parameters of working gas pressure and substrate temperature. This sponge-like morphology augments the features as generally understood in the classic zone models of growth for physical vapor deposits. Nickel coatings are deposited with working gas pressures up to 4 Pa and for substrate temperatures up to 1100 K. The morphology of the deposits is examined in plan and in cross-section with scanning electron microscopy. The parametric range of gas pressure and substrate temperature (relative to absolute melt point) for the deposition processing under which the metallic sponges are produced appear universal for many metals, as for example, including gold, silver, and aluminum.

In filled PDMS based composites, such as M97XX stress cushions, significant mechanical reinforcement of the polymer component is obtained from hydrogen bonding between the silica filler surface hydroxyls and the siloxane polymer backbone. It is expected that these interactions are influenced by the amount and structure of interfacial water. We have chosen to investigate in detail the effect of chemisorbed and physisorbed water on the interfacial structure and dynamics in silica-filled PDMS-based composites. Toward this end, we have combined classical molecular dynamics simulations and experimental studies employing nanoindentation, temperature programmed desorption (TPD), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analyses. Our TPD results suggest that moisture desorption and adsorption in M9787 can be approximated by the interaction of its silica constituents (Cab-0-Sil-M-7D and Hi-Sil-233) with moisture. Our experimental data also reveal that, in general, as heat-treated silica particles are exposed to moisture, chemisorbed states, then physisorbed states are gradually filled up in that order. Molecular modeling results suggest that the polymer-silica contact distance and the mobility of interfacial polymer chains significantly decreased as the hydration level at the interface was reduced. The reduced mobility of the PDMS chains in the interfacial domain reduced the bulk motional properties of …

Various operations are authorized in Hanford single- and double-shell tanks that disturb all or a large fraction of the waste. These globally waste-disturbing activities have the potential to release a large fraction of the retained flammable gas and to affect future gas generation, retention, and release behavior. This report presents analyses of the expected flammable gas release mechanisms and the potential release rates and volumes resulting from these activities. The background of the flammable gas safety issue at Hanford is summarized, as is the current understanding of gas generation, retention, and release phenomena. Considerations for gas monitoring and assessment of the potential for changes in tank classification and steady-state flammability are given.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been actively and continuously engaged in Russian geologic disposal activities since 1995. The first joint US-Russian meeting on Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium was held in January 1995 at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The meeting resulted in the appointment of Dr. L. J. Jardine from LLNL and Dr. T. A. Gupalo from the All-Russian Research and Design Institute of Production Engineering (VNIPIPT) as the US-Russian Federation (RF) joint co-chairs for geologic disposal of plutonium-containing materials, respectively. The initial joint studies focused on the geologic disposal of plutonium-containing materials and immobilized plutonium waste forms. These studies started in 1995, and continue in 2002. The first joint work of LLNL and VNIPIPT was documented in the October 1996 Paris P8 Nuclear Experts Meeting [1]. In summary, LLNL has been actively and continuously involved in various ways since 1995 in developing and participating in the current Russian geologic disposal program activities near the Mayak and MCC K-26 sites. Figure 1 illustrates how these various LLNL activities have been integrated, coordinated, and focused on developing geologic disposal in Russia. The various LLNL contracts are shown in the figure with the specific LLNL contract number. Reference 13 provides …

This paper addresses the applicability of the linear sorption model to the complex wastes of the Hanford Site.

High-level nuclear waste is being vitrified, i.e., converted to a durable glass that can be stored in a safe repository for hundreds of thousands of years. Waste vitrification is accomplished in reactors called melters to which the waste is charged together with glass-forming additives. The mixture is electrically heated to a temperature as high as 1150?C (or even higher in advanced melters) to create a melt that becomes glass on cooling. This process is slow and expensive. Moreover, the melters that are currently in use or are going to be used in the U.S. are sensitive to clogging and thus cannot process melt in which solid particles are suspended. These particles settle and gradually accumulate on the melter bottom. Such particles, most often small crystals of spinel (a mineral containing iron, nickel, chromium, and other minor oxides), inevitably occur in the melt when the content of the waste in the glass (called waste loading) increases above a certain limit. To avoid the presence of solid particles in the melter, the waste loading is kept rather low, in average 15% lower than in glass formulated for more robust melters.

Enhanced field emission (EFE) presents the main impediment to higher acceleration gradients in superconducting niobium (Nb) radiofrequency cavities for particle accelerators. The strength, number and sources of EFE sites strongly depend on surface preparation and handling. The main objective of this thesis project is to systematically investigate the sources of EFE from Nb, to evaluate the best available surface preparation techniques with respect to resulting field emission, and to establish an optimized process to minimize or eliminate EFE. To achieve these goals, a scanning field emission microscope (SFEM) was designed and built as an extension to an existing commercial scanning electron microscope (SEM). In the SFEM chamber of ultra high vacuum, a sample is moved laterally in a raster pattern under a high voltage anode tip for EFE detection and localization. The sample is then transferred under vacuum to the SEM chamber equipped with an energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometer for individual emitting site characterization. Compared to other systems built for similar purposes, this apparatus has low cost and maintenance, high operational flexibility, considerably bigger scan area, as well as reliable performance. EFE sources from planar Nb have been studied after various surface preparation, including chemical etching and electropolishing, combined with ultrasonic …

This report covers the three main projects that collectively comprised the Advanced Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry Program. Chapter 1 describes the direct interrogation of individual particles by laser desorption within the ion trap mass spectrometer analyzer. The goals were (1) to develop an ''intelligent trigger'' capable of distinguishing particles of biological origin from those of nonbiological origin in the background and interferent particles and (2) to explore the capability for individual particle identification. Direct interrogation of particles by laser ablation and ion trap mass spectrometry was shown to have good promise for discriminating between particles of biological origin and those of nonbiological origin, although detailed protocols and operating conditions were not worked out. A library of more than 20,000 spectra of various types of biological particles has been assembled. Methods based on multivariate analysis and on neural networks were used to discriminate between particles of biological origin and those of nonbiological origin. It was possible to discriminate between at least some species of bacteria if mass spectra of several hundred similar particles were obtained. Chapter 2 addresses the development of a new ion trap mass analyzer geometry that offers the potential for a significant increase in ion storage capacity for …

Emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field.

Under CO atmosphere, between 80 and 120 C, a glyme solution of PtCl{sub 4} forms a carbonyl compound that promotes hydration of internal as well as terminal alkynes to give aldehyde-free ketones. The catalytic process depends strongly on the electronic and steric nature of the substrates. Part of the carbonyl functions of the catalyst can be replaced by phosphine ligands. Chiral DIOP reacts with the PtCl{sub 4}-CO compound to give a catalyst that promotes partial kinetic resolution of a racemic alkyne. Replacement of part of the CO by polystyrene-bound diphenylphosphine enables to attach the catalyst to the polymeric support. Upon entrapment of the platinum compound in a silica sol-gel matrix, it reacts as a partially recyclable catalyst. A reformulated mechanism for the PdCl{sub 4}-CO catalyzed hydration is suggested on the basis of the present study.

Hot Gas Filtration (HGF) is defined as the dry scrubbing of gaseous process effluent above 250 degrees. The potential applications for this technology can be found in Atmospheric Pollution Control (APC) and In-Line Equipment Protection (ILETP). In recent years novel rigid refractory filter media have emerged with several advantages over conventional fabric bag filters and other particulate arrestment systems e.g. electrostatic precipitators. A study has been made of the effect of a wide range of operational conditions, including gas volume and velocity, temperature, particle size distribution, and organic/moisture content, in real process situations on filter elements performance and life expectancy.

With the Nation's coal-burning utilities facing the possibility of tighter controls on mercury pollutants, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding projects that could offer power plant operators better ways to reduce these emissions at much lower costs. Mercury is known to have toxic effects on the nervous system of humans and wildlife. Although it exists only in trace amounts in coal, mercury is released when coal burns and can accumulate on land and in water. In water, bacteria transform the metal into methylmercury, the most hazardous form of the metal. Methylmercury can collect in fish and marine mammals in concentrations hundreds of thousands times higher than the levels in surrounding waters. One of the goals of DOE is to develop technologies by 2005 that will be capable of cutting mercury emissions 50 to 70 percent at well under one-half of today's costs. ADA Environmental Solutions (ADA-ES) is managing a project to test mercury control technologies at full scale at four different power plants from 2000-2003. The ADA-ES project is focused on those power plants that are not equipped with wet flue gas desulfurization systems. ADA-ES has developed a portable system that will be tested at four different utility power …

In order to integrate a failsafe system and to improve the cleaning intensity a new cleaning method was recently developed, the CPP (coupled pressure pulse) cleaning (Heidenreich et al. 2001). For the CPP method the cleaning system is directly coupled with the filter candles. One feature of this new technique is that the cleaning gas pressure exceeds the system pressure only by 0.05 to 0.1 MPa, whereas in case of conventional jet pulse systems two times the system pressure (at least 0.6 MPa) is standard. The key advantage of the coupled pressure pulse cleaning is that a safety filter for each filter candle can be integrated in the clean gas side of the filter. Thus, a candle failure is not longer a serious problem. The integrated safety filter enables the operation of the filter system also in case a filter candle breaks. This increases the availability of the filter and prevents an unscheduled costly shut-down of the system. In this paper the design of the ceramic filter wit h the failsafe system and the CPP cleaning will be described. The new developed safety filter elements, their pressure drop and their filtration and clogging behavior will be shown. Tests of single …

A novel implementation for GAInAsSb/AlGaAsSb/GaSb TPV cells with an internal back-surface reflector (BSR) formed by wafer bonding to GaAs is demonstrated. The SiO{sub x}/Ti/Au internal BSR enhances optical absorption within the device, while the dielectric layer provides electrical isolation. This configuration has the potential to improve TPV device performance; is compatible with monolithic series-interconnection of TPV cells for building voltage; and can mitigate the requirements of filters used for front-surface spectral control. At a short-circuit density of 0.4 A/cm{sup 2}, the open-circuit voltage of a single TPV cell is 0.2 V, compared to 0.37 and 1.8 V for 2- and 10-junction series-interconnected TPV cells, respectively.

Wood cockroaches are an important prey of the red-cockaded woodpecker, Picoides borealis, an endangered species inhabiting pine forests in the southern United States. These woodpeckers forage on the boles of live pine trees, but their prey consists of a high proportion of wood cockroaches, Parcoblatta spp., that are more commonly associated with dead plant material. Cockroach population density samples were conducted on live pine trees, dead snags and coarse woody debris on the ground. The studies showed that snags and logs are also important habitats of wood cockroaches in pine forests.

The goal of this research is to improve the performance of moving bed granular filters for gas cleaning at high temperatures and pressures. A second goal of the research is to optimize the performances of both solids and gas filtering processes through appropriate use of granular bed materials, particle sizes, feed rates etc. in a factorial study. These goals are directed toward applications of advanced coal-fired power cycles under development by the U.S. Department of Energy including pressurized fluidized bed combustion and integrated gasification/combined cycles based on gas turbines and fuel cells. Only results for particulate gas cleaning are reported here.

Metal filter elements as the fail safety filter are fabricated by the methods using cold isostatic pressure (compress method) and binder (binder method) to form the filter element and tested in a experimental and bench units. The fail safety filter on the filtration system is mounted additionally in order to intercept the particle leak when the main filter element is broken. So it should have two contrary functions of a high permeability and being plugged easily. The filter element having high porosity and high plugging property was fabricated by the bind method. It has the porosity more than 50%, showed very small pressure drop less than 10mmH2O at the face velocity of 0.15m/s, and plugged within 5 minutes with the inhibition of the particle leak larger than 4 {micro}m. The test result of corrosion tendency in IGCC gas stream at 500 C shows SUS310L material is very reasonable among SUS310, SUS316, Inconel 600, and Hastelloy X.

The budget was requested to support speaker expenses to attend and speak in the day long symposium at the ACS meeting. The purpose of the symposium was to encourage analytical chemists to contribute to national security.

This report presents the results of analyses of the hypothetical performance of the various configurations of selected natural and engineered elements of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository. These analyses were conducted upon the recommendation of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) regarding an alternative approach to investigate the identified natural and engineered barriers and associated processes with respect to the postclosure performance of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. The analyses were conducted per Technical Work Plan (TWP) TWP-MGR-PA-000011 REV 00, Section 3.2.4, Task 2, which states that the task involves ''Identification of barriers that are important to repository performance:'' by means of ''one-on'' analyses to gain a better understanding of repository performance relative to previously identified barriers.'' The ''One-on Analysis'' was performed per Administrative Procedure AP-SIII.9Q. The NWTRB previously reviewed similar analyses conducted by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) (EPRI 2002 [158069]). The approach of the investigation was to simulate the hypothetical performance of the repository after an arbitrarily chosen successive addition of each of the selected natural and engineered barrier components and associated processes that provide for the overall safety of the repository. Because the repository system will behave as an integrated system, the combined interaction of …

Coal is a main source of primary energy for power generation and it will remain indispensable in the future. In order to increase the efficiency and to meet environmental challenges new advanced coal-fired power systems were developed starting in the beginning of the 1990s. One of these efficient and clean technologies is the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) process.

Beginning in the summer of 2000, California experienced energy supply problems, sharp increases in electricity and natural gas prices, and isolated blackouts. In response, California's state government implemented an unprecedented energy conservation effort to mitigate projected electricity supply shortages during the summer of 2001. Ultimately, significant electricity demand and consumption reductions were achieved. This paper considers the response of commercial and institutional organizations to the California energy situation and offers a description of three factors that shaped these responses: (1) concern about energy problems; (2) operational conditions; and (3) institutional capacity for action. A matrix of possible combinations of concern, conditions, and capacity offers a heuristic for use in exploring how to best tailor and target policy interventions to the circumstances of particular subgroups of organizations.

The Humid Air Turbine (HAT) Cycle Technology Development Program focused on obtaining HAT cycle combustor technology that will be the foundation of future products. The work carried out under the auspices of the HAT Program built on the extensive low emissions stationary gas turbine work performed in the past by Pratt & Whitney (P&W). This Program is an integral part of technology base development within the Advanced Turbine Systems Program at the Department of Energy (DOE) and its experiments stretched over 5 years. The goal of the project was to fill in technological data gaps in the development of the HAT cycle and identify a combustor configuration that would efficiently burn high moisture, high-pressure gaseous fuels with low emissions. The major emphasis will be on the development of kinetic data, computer modeling, and evaluations of combustor configurations. The Program commenced during the 4th Quarter of 1996 and closed in the 4th Quarter of 2001. It teamed the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) with P&W, the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), and a subcontractor on-site at UTRC, kraftWork Systems Inc. The execution of the program started with bench-top experiments that were conducted at UTRC for extending kinetic mechanisms to HAT cycle …

Lead-Bismuth Eutectic and Tungsten are under consideration as target materials with high-energy protons for generating neutrons to drive actinide and fission product transmuters. A detailed characterization has been performed to study the performance of these target materials as a function of the main variables and the design selections. The characterization includes the neutron yield, the spatial energy deposition, the neutron spectrum, the beam window performance, and the target buffer impact on the target performance. The characterization has also considered high-energy deuteron particles to study the impact on the target neutronic performance. The obtained results quantify the performance of the Lead-Bismuth Eutectic and Tungsten target materials as a function of the target variables and design selections.

Accurate measurement of temperature is essential for the safe and efficient operation and control of a wide range of industrial processes. Appropriate techniques and instrumentation are needed depending on the temperature measurement requirements in different industrial processes and working environments. Harsh environments are common in many industrial applications. These harsh environments may involve extreme physical conditions, such as high-temperature, high-pressure, corrosive agents, toxicity, strong electromagnetic interference, and high-energy radiation exposure. Due to these severe environmental conditions, conventional temperature sensors are often difficult to apply. This situation has opened a new but challenging opportunity for the sensor society to provide robust, high-performance, and cost-effective temperature sensors capable of operating in those harsh environments. The focus of this research program has been to develop a temperature measurement system for temperature measurements in the primary and secondary stages of slagging gasifiers. For this application the temperature measurement system must be able to withstand the extremely harsh environment posed by the high temperatures and corrosive agents present in these systems. Real-time, accurate and reliable monitoring of temperature for the coal gasification process is important to realize the full economic potential of these gasification systems. Long life and stability of operation in the high temperature …