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The TORUS collaboration derives its name from the research it focuses on, namely the Theory of Reactions for Unstable iSotopes. It is a Topical Collaboration in Nuclear Theory, and funded by the Nuclear Theory Division of the Office of Nuclear Physics in the Office of Science of the Department of Energy. The funding supports one postdoctoral researcher for the years 1 through 3. The collaboration brings together as Principal Investigators a large fraction of the nuclear reaction theorists currently active within the USA. The mission of the TORUS Topical Collaboration is to develop new methods that will advance nuclear reaction theory for unstable isotopes by using three-body techniques to improve direct-reaction calculations, and, by using a new partial-fusion theory, to integrate descriptions of direct and compound-nucleus reactions. This multi-institution collaborative effort is directly relevant to three areas of interest: the properties of nuclei far from stability; microscopic studies of nuclear input parameters for astrophysics, and microscopic nuclear reaction theory.

The TORUS collaboration derives its name from the research it focuses on, namely the Theory of Reactions for Unstable iSotopes. It is a Topical Collaboration in Nuclear Theory, and funded by the Nuclear Theory Division of the Office of Nuclear Physics in the Office of Science of the Department of Energy. The funding started on June 1, 2010, it will have been running for nine months by the date of submission of this Annual Continuation and Progress Report on March 1, 2011. The extent of funding was reduced from the original application, and now supports one postdoctoral researcher for the years 1 through 3. The collaboration brings together as Principal Investigators a large fraction of the nuclear reaction theorists currently active within the USA. The mission of the TORUS Topical Collaboration is to develop new methods that will advance nuclear reaction theory for unstable isotopes by using three-body techniques to improve direct-reaction calculations, and, by using a new partial-fusion theory, to integrate descriptions of direct and compound-nucleus reactions. This multi-institution collaborative effort is directly relevant to three areas of interest: the properties of nuclei far from stability; microscopic studies of nuclear input parameters for astrophysics, and microscopic nuclear reaction theory.

The stability of the SiC layer in the presence of free nitrogen will be dependent upon the operating temperatures and resulting nitrogen pressures whether it is at High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) temperatures of 1000-1400 C (coolant design dependent) or LWR temperatures that range from 500-700 C. Although nitrogen released in fissioning will form fission product nitrides, there will remain an overpressure of nitrogen of some magnitude. The nitrogen can be speculated to transport through the inner pyrolytic carbon layer and contact the SiC layer. The SiC layer may be envisioned to fail due to resulting nitridation at the elevated temperatures. However, it is believed that these issues are particularly avoided in the LWR application. Lower temperatures will result in significantly lower nitrogen pressures. Lower temperatures will also substantially reduce nitrogen diffusion rates through the layers and nitriding kinetics. Kinetics calculations were performed using an expression for nitriding silicon. In order to further address these concerns, experiments were run with surrogate fuel particles under simulated operating conditions to determine the resulting phase formation at 700 and 1400 C.

The goals of this project are to investigate (1) the kinetics and stabilities of engineered cytochrome P450 (P450) small alkane hydroxylases and their evolutionary intermediates, (2) the structural basis for catalytic proficiency on small alkanes of these engineered P450s, and (3) the changes in redox control resulting from protein engineering. To reach these goals, we have established new methods for determining the kinetics and stabilities of multicomponent P450s such as CYP153A6. Using these, we were able to determine that CYP153A6 is proficient for hydroxylation of alkanes as small as ethane, an activity that has never been observed previously in any natural P450. To elucidate the structures of the engineered P450s, we obtained x-ray diffraction data for two variants in the P450PMO (propane monooxygenase) lineage and a preliminary structure for the most evolved variant. This structure shows changes in the substrate binding regions of the enzyme and a reduction in active site volume that are consistent with the observed changes in substrate specificity from fatty acids in the native enzyme to small alkanes in P450PMO. We also constructed semi-rational designed libraries mutating only residues in the enzyme active site that in one round of mutagenesis and screening produced variants that achieved …

Production of corn-based ethanol (either by wet milling or by dry milling) yields the following coproducts: distillers grains with solubles (DGS), corn gluten meal (CGM), corn gluten feed (CGF), and corn oil. Of these coproducts, all except corn oil can replace conventional animal feeds, such as corn, soybean meal, and urea. Displacement ratios of corn-ethanol coproducts including DGS, CGM, and CGF were last updated in 1998 at a workshop at Argonne National Laboratory on the basis of input from a group of experts on animal feeds, including Prof. Klopfenstein (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), Prof. Berger (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Mr. Madson (Rapheal Katzen International Associates, Inc.), and Prof. Trenkle (Iowa State University) (Wang 1999). Table 1 presents current dry milling coproduct displacement ratios being used in the GREET model. The current effort focuses on updating displacement ratios of dry milling corn-ethanol coproducts used in the animal feed industry. Because of the increased availability and use of these coproducts as animal feeds, more information is available on how these coproducts replace conventional animal feeds. To glean this information, it is also important to understand how industry selects feed. Because of the wide variety of available feeds, animal nutritionists use commercial software …

Knight & Carver was contracted by Sandia National Laboratories to develop a Sweep Twist Adaptive Rotor (STAR) blade that reduced operating loads, thereby allowing a larger, more productive rotor. The blade design used outer blade sweep to create twist coupling without angled fiber. Knight & Carver successfully designed, fabricated, tested and evaluated STAR prototype blades. Through laboratory and field tests, Knight & Carver showed the STAR blade met the engineering design criteria and economic goals for the program. A STAR prototype was successfully tested in Tehachapi during 2008 and a large data set was collected to support engineering and commercial development of the technology. This report documents the methodology used to develop the STAR blade design and reviews the approach used for laboratory and field testing. The effort demonstrated that STAR technology can provide significantly greater energy capture without higher operating loads on the turbine.

Clean Cities is a government-industry partnership sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Program, which is part of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Working with its network of about 100 local coalitions and more than 6,500 stakeholders across the country, Clean Cities delivers on its mission to reduce petroleum consumption in on-road transportation. In its work to reduce petroleum use, Clean Cities focuses on a portfolio of technologies that includes electric drive, propane, natural gas, renewable natural gas/biomethane, ethanol/E85, biodiesel/B20 and higher-level blends, fuel economy, and idle reduction. Over the past 17 years, Clean Cities coalitions have displaced more than 2.4 billion gallons of petroleum; they are on track to displace 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline per year by 2020. This Clean Cities Strategic Plan lays out an aggressive five-year agenda to help DOE Clean Cities and its network of coalitions and stakeholders accelerate the deployment of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles, while also expanding the supporting infrastructure to reduce petroleum use. Today, Clean Cities has a far larger opportunity to make an impact than at any time in its history because of its unprecedented $300 million allocation for community-based deployment projects from …

Historical unreinforced masonry buildings often include features such as load bearing unreinforced masonry vaults and their supporting framework of piers, fill, buttresses, and walls. The masonry vaults of such buildings are among the most vulnerable structural components and certainly among the most challenging to analyze. The versatility of finite element (FE) analyses in incorporating various constitutive laws, as well as practically all geometric configurations, has resulted in the widespread use of the FE method for the analysis of complex unreinforced masonry structures over the last three decades. However, an FE model is only as accurate as its input parameters, and there are two fundamental challenges while defining FE model input parameters: (1) material properties and (2) support conditions. The difficulties in defining these two aspects of the FE model arise from the lack of knowledge in the common engineering understanding of masonry behavior. As a result, engineers are unable to define these FE model input parameters with certainty, and, inevitably, uncertainties are introduced to the FE model.

ORISE conducted onsite verification activities of the Building 330 project footprint during the period of June 6 through June 7, 2011. The verification activities included technical reviews of project documents, visual inspections, radiation surface scans, and sampling and analysis. The draft verification report was issued in July 2011 with findings and recommendations. The contractor performed additional evaluations and remediation.

The overall project goal is to reduce the cost of home and neighborhood photovoltaic storage systems by reducing the single largest cost component – the energy storage cells. Solar power is accepted as an environmentally advantaged renewable power source. Its deployment in small communities and integrated into the grid, requires a safe, reliable and low cost energy storage system. The incumbent technology of lead acid cells is large, toxic to produce and dispose of, and offer limited life even with significant maintenance. The ideal PV storage battery would have the safety and low cost of lead acid but the performance of lithium ion chemistry. Present lithium ion batteries have the desired performance but cost and safety remain the two key implementation barriers. The purpose of this project is to develop new lithium ion cells that can meet PVES cost and safety requirements using A123Systems phosphate-based cathode chemistries in commercial PHEV cell formats. The cost target is a cell design for a home or neighborhood scale at <$25/kWh. This DOE program is the continuation and expansion of an initial MPSC (Michigan Public Service Commission) program towards this goal. This program further pushes the initial limits of some aspects of the original …

This best practices guide is the twelfth in a series of guides for builders produced by PNNL for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America program. This guide book is a resource to help builders design and construct homes that are among the most energy-efficient available, while addressing issues such as building durability, indoor air quality, and occupant health, safety, and comfort. With the measures described in this guide, builders in the cold and very cold climates can build homes that have whole-house energy savings of 40% over the Building America benchmark with no added overall costs for consumers. The best practices described in this document are based on the results of research and demonstration projects conducted by Building America’s research teams. Building America brings together the nation’s leading building scientists with over 300 production builders to develop, test, and apply innovative, energy-efficient construction practices. Building America builders have found they can build homes that meet these aggressive energy-efficiency goals at no net increased costs to the homeowners. Currently, Building America homes achieve energy savings of 40% greater than the Building America benchmark home (a home built to mid-1990s building practices roughly equivalent to the 1993 Model Energy Code). The …

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We believe the mathematical research community is facing a great challenge to re-evaluate the role of proof in light of recent developments. On one hand, the growing power of current computer systems, of modern mathematical computing packages, and of the growing capacity to data-mine on the Internet, has provided marvelous resources to the research mathematician. On the other hand, the enormous complexity of many modern capstone results such as the Poincare conjecture, Fermat's last theorem, and the classification of finite simple groups has raised questions as to how we can better ensure the integrity of modern mathematics. Yet as the need and prospects for inductive mathematics blossom, the requirement to ensure the role of proof is properly founded remains undiminished.

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) continues to deliver the most powerful resources in the U.S. for open science. At 2.33 petaflops peak performance, the Cray XT Jaguar delivered more than 1.4 billion core hours in calendar year (CY) 2011 to researchers around the world for computational simulations relevant to national and energy security; advancing the frontiers of knowledge in physical sciences and areas of biological, medical, environmental, and computer sciences; and providing world-class research facilities for the nation's science enterprise. Users reported more than 670 publications this year arising from their use of OLCF resources. Of these we report the 300 in this review that are consistent with guidance provided. Scientific achievements by OLCF users cut across all range scales from atomic to molecular to large-scale structures. At the atomic scale, researchers discovered that the anomalously long half-life of Carbon-14 can be explained by calculating, for the first time, the very complex three-body interactions between all the neutrons and protons in the nucleus. At the molecular scale, researchers combined experimental results from LBL's light source and simulations on Jaguar to discover how DNA replication continues past a damaged site so a mutation can be repaired later. Other …

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This report details the chemical and radionuclide contaminant results for the characterization of the 2012 Fourth Quarter sampling of Tank 50 for the Saltstone Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC).Information from this characterization will be used by Waste Solidification Engineering (WSE) to support the transfer of low-level aqueous waste from Tank 50 to the Salt Feed Tank in the Saltstone Facility in Z-Area, where the waste will be immobilized. This information is also used to update the Tank 50 Waste Characterization System. The following conclusions are drawn from the analytical results provided in this report: The concentration of the reported chemical and radioactive contaminants were less than their respective WAC Limits and Targets, unless noted in this section; Norpar 13 and Isopar L have higher detection limits compared with the Saltstone WAC. The data provided in this report is based upon the concentrations in the sub-sample, and due to the limited solubility in aqueous solution, may not represent the concentrations of the analytes in Tank 50; Diisooctyl adipate (or diisooctyl hexanedioate) and 5-methyl-3-hexanol, plasticizers, were measured at 1.30E+00 mg/L and 3.00E+00 mg/L, respectively, in one of two replicate measurements conducted on an at-depth sample. The organic analysis of the at-depth sample was …

The Waste Acceptance Product Specifications (WAPS) 1.2 require that ''The Producer shall report the inventory of radionuclides (in Curies) that have half-lives longer than 10 years and that are, or will be, present in concentrations greater than 0.05 percent of the total inventory for each waste type indexed to the years 2015 and 3115''. As part of the strategy to comply with WAPS 1.2, the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) will report for each waste type, all radionuclides (with half-lives greater than 10 years) that have concentrations greater than 0.01 percent of the total inventory from time of production through the 1100 year period from 2015 through 3115. The initial listing of radionuclides to be included is based on the design-basis glass as identified in the Waste Form Compliance Plan (WCP) and Waste Form Qualification Report (WQR). However, it is required that this list be expanded if other radionuclides with half-lives greater than 10 years are identified that may meet the greater than 0.01% criterion for Curie content. Specification 1.6 of the WAPS, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safeguards Reporting for High Level Waste (HLW), requires that the ratio by weights of the following uranium and plutonium isotopes be reported: …

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The primary objectives of this proposal was to define the subset of proteins required for the ionizing radiation (IR) resistance of Deinococcus radiodurans R1, characterize the activities of those proteins, and apply what was learned to problems of interest to the Department of Energy.

Development of a new technology for commercial application can be significantly accelerated by leveraging related technologies used in other markets. Synergies across multiple application domains attract research and development (R and D) talent - widening the innovation pipeline - and increases the market demand in common components and subsystems to provide performance improvements and cost reductions. For these reasons, driver development plans for inertial fusion energy (IFE) should consider the non-fusion technology base that can be lveraged for application to IFE. At this time, two laser driver technologies are being proposed for IFE: solid-state lasers (SSLs) and KrF gas (excimer) lasers. This document provides a brief survey of organizations actively engaged in these technologies. This is intended to facilitate comparison of the opportunities for leveraging the larger technical community for IFE laser driver development. They have included tables that summarize the commercial organizations selling solid-state and KrF lasers, and a brief summary of organizations actively engaged in R and D on these technologies.

Sodium cooled Fast Reactors (SFR) have been under consideration for production of electricity, fissile material production, and for destruction of transuranics for decades. The neutron economy of a SFR can be operated in one of two ways. One possibility is to operate the reactor in a transuranic burner mode which has been the focus of active R&D in the last 15 years. However, prior to that the focus was on breeding transuranics. This later mode of managing the neutron economy relies on ensuring the maximum fuel utilization possible in such a way as to maximize the amount of plutonium produced per unit of fission energy in the reactor core. The goal of maximizing plutonium production in this study is as fissile feed stock for the production of MOX fuel to be used in Light Water Reactors (LWR). Throughout the l970’s, this fuel cycle scenario was the focus of much research by the Atomic Energy Commission in the event that uranium supplies would be scarce. To date, there has been sufficient uranium to supply the once through nuclear fuel cycle. However, interest in a synergistic relationship Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors (LMFBR) and a consumer LWR fleet persists, prompting this study. …