Monthly newsletter discussing news and activities related to the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, articles about weather and atmospheric phenomena, and other related topics.

In 2000, NETL conducted a review of the adequacy of the resource characterization databases used in its Gas Systems Analysis Model (GSAM). This review indicated that the most striking deficiency in GSAM’s databases was the poor representation of the vast resource believed to exist in low-permeability sandstone accumulations in western U.S. basins. The model’s databases, which are built primarily around the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 1995 National Assessment (for undiscovered resources), reflected an estimate of the original-gas-inplace (OGIP) only in accumulations designated “technically-recoverable” by the USGS –roughly 3% to 4% of the total estimated OGIP of the region. As these vast remaining resources are a prime target of NETL programs, NETL immediately launched an effort to upgrade its resource characterizations. Upon review of existing data, NETL concluded that no existing data were appropriate sources for its modeling needs, and a decision was made to conduct new, detailed log-based, gas-in-place assessments.

This report evaluates the scope and effectiveness of the public participation pr ograms, including Site-Specific Advisory Boards (SSABs), at seven U.S. Departmen t of Energy (DOE) sites: Fernald, Hanford, Los Alamos, Nevada, Oak Ridge, Paduc ah, and Savannah River. The primary purpose of the study is to assist both DOE Field and Headquarters managers in reviewing and understanding lessons learned o ver the past decade concerning public participation programs administered by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM). The evaluation provides a snapsh ot of selected EM public participation programs at a particular point of time. It is based on interviews and site visits conducted between January and June 200 2- a time of change within the program. The study focuses on public participati on programs that incorporate a variety of activities and address a wide range of individual site activities and decisions. It uses the Acceptability Diamond as an evaluative framework to answer questions about stakeholders' experiences wit h, and assessment of, DOE-EM's public participation programs. The Acceptability Diamond, which was developed by researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in previous research, identifies four program dimensions - substanti ve issues, decision-making process, relationships, and accountability - that det …

To assist in deriving biological specifications for design of turbine rehabilitation measures, new ''fish-friendly'' turbines, and spillway designs and operations, scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed and tested an autonomous multi-sensor device called a Sensor Fish that can acquire pressure and tri-axial linear acceleration data during passage through severe hydraulic conditions. The purpose of the Sensor Fish is to characterize physical conditions fish experience during passage through hydro turbines, spill stilling basins, high-discharge outfalls, and other dam passage routes. The Sensor Fish was developed with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Hydropower Turbine System program. Field tests of the Sensor Fish at Rock Island, McNary, The Dalles, Bonneville, and Wanapum dams on the Columbia River and the Prosser Irrigation District on the Yakima River have shown that the device can withstand the severe environments of turbine, spill, and fish bypass passage and provide useful environmental data that can ultimately aid in the design and operation of new and existing turbines, spill, and dam fish bypass facilities.

Research in experimental nuclear physics was done from 1979 to 2002 primarily at intermediate energy facilities that provide pion, proton, and kaon beams. Particularly successful has been the work at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF) on unraveling the neutron and proton contributions to nuclear ground state and transition densities. This work was done on a wide variety of nuclei and with great detail on the carbon, oxygen, and helium isotopes. Some of the investigations involved the use of polarized targets which allowed the extraction of information on the spin-dependent part of the triangle-nucleon interaction. At the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility (IUCF) we studied proton-induced charge exchange reactions with results of importance to astrophysics and the nuclear few-body problem. During the first few years, the analysis of heavy-ion nucleus scattering data that had been taken prior to 1979 was completed. During the last few years we created hypernuclei by use of a kaon beam at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and an electron beam at Jefferson Laboratory (JLab). The data taken at BNL for a study of the non-mesonic weak decay of the A particle in a nucleus are still under analysis by our collaborators. The work at JLab resulted …

The ultimate goal of this project was to demonstrate that metal-reducing bacteria could be used to remove heavy metal and radionuclide contaminants from the surfaces of corroding steel surfaces. Toward this end, fundamental scientific issues regarding (1) factors influencing the adhesion and colonization of DIB on mineral surfaces, (2) the enzymatic activity of cells once they have adhered to mineral surfaces, (3) and (4) methods for recovering bacteria and attendant radionuclides following release from mineral surfaces were addressed. The fate of radionuclides (plutonium) contaminants following reduction by DIRB.

This report provides information required to be reported annually by the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-303-071 (3)(r)(ii)(F) and (3)(s)(ix) on the treatability studies conducted on the Hanford Site in 2002. These studies were conducted as required by WAC 173-303-071, “Excluded Categories of Waste,” sections (3)(r) and (s). Unless otherwise noted, the waste samples were provided by and the treatability studies were performed for the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, P.O. Box 550, Richland, Washington 99352. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identification number for these studies is WA7890008967.

This report presents the results of groundwater and vadose zone monitoring and remediation for fiscal year 2002 on the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site in Washington State. This report is written to meet the requirements in CERCLA, RCRA, the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, and Washington State Administrative Code.

The NCSX (National Compact Stellarator Experiment) has been designed to accommodate a variety of heating systems, including ohmic heating, neutral-beam injection, and radio-frequency. Neutral beams will provide one of the primary heating methods for NCSX. In addition to plasma heating, beams are also expected to provide a means for external control over the level of toroidal plasma rotation velocity and its profile. The plan is to provide 3 MW of 50 keV balanced neutral-beam tangential injection with pulse lengths of 500 msec for initial experiments, and to be upgradeable to pulse lengths of 1.5 sec. Subsequent upgrades will add 3 MW of neutral-beam injection. This Chapter discusses the NCSX neutral-beam injection requirements and design issues, and shows how these are provided by the candidate PBX-M (Princeton Beta Experiment-Modification) neutral-beam injection system. In addition, estimations are given for beam-heating efficiencies, scaling of heating efficiency with machine size an d magnetic field level, parameter studies of the optimum beam-injection tangency radius and toroidal injection location, and loss patterns of beam ions on the vacuum chamber wall to assist placement of wall armor and for minimizing the generation of impurities by the energetic beam ions. Finally, subsequent upgrades could add an additional 6 …

Acrylamide-based hydrophobically modified (HM) polybetaines containing N-butylphenylacrylamide (BPAM) and varying amounts of either sulfobetaine (3-(2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanedimethylammonio)-1-propanesulfonate, AMPDAPS) or carboxybetaine (4-(2-acrylamido-2-methylpropyldimethylammonio) butanoate, AMPDAB) comonomers were synthesized via micellar copolymerization. The terpolymers were characterized via {sup 13}C NMR and UV spectroscopies, classical and dynamic light scattering, and potentiometric titration. The response of aqueous polymer solutions to various external stimuli, including changes in solution pH, electrolyte concentration, and the addition of small molecule surfactants, was investigated using surface tension and rheological measurements. Low charge density terpolymers were found to show greater viscosity enhancement upon the addition of surfactant compared to the high charge density terpolymers. The addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) produced the largest maximum in solution viscosity, while N-dodecyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), N-dodecyl-N,N-dimethylammonio-1-propanesulfonate (SB3-12), and Triton X-100 tended to show reduced viscosity enhancement. In most cases, the high charge density carboxybetaine terpolymer exhibited diminished solution viscosities upon surfactant addition. In our last report, we discussed solution thermodynamic theory that described changes in polymer coil conformation as a function of solution temperature and polymer molecular weight. These polymers contained no ionic charges. In this report, we expand polymer solution theory to account for the electrostatic interactions present in solutions of charged polymers. Polymers with …

The global demilitarization of nuclear and conventional munitions is producing millions of pounds of surplus energetic materials. Historically, energetic materials (high explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics) have been disposed of by open burning/open detonation (OB/OD). The use of OB/OD is becoming unacceptable due to public concerns and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Clearly, there is a great need to develop environmentally sound and cost-effective alternatives to OB/OD. The conversion of surplus picric acid and/or ammonium picrate (Explosive D) to 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) has been subject of extensive process development studies at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). LLNL, under the direction and sponsorship of the U.S. Army Defense Ammunition Center (DAC), is developing a process for the conversion of picric acid to TATB on a pilot scale.

The geometric structure of the alpha-Ga(010)-(1x1) room temperature structure and its (2rt2xrt2) R45 degrees reconstruction below 232 K have been determined using Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) structure analysis. The room temperature structure conforms to the cut-dimer model, forming a two-dimensional metallic structure with only minimal lateral displacements of the atoms. The topmost interlayer distance is 1.53 Angstrom, corresponding to a spacing expansion of 2 percent from the bulk. In the low-temperature structure, the surface atoms shift to dimerize within the top two layers, resulting in a network of mostly covalent bonds, which form both parallel and perpendicular to the surface plane. The bond lengths of some of these dimers are about 10 percent shorter than the bond length found in the alpha-Ga bulk and are thus shorter than any Ga-Ga bonds reported so far.

The object if this project is to demonstrate and bring to commercial readiness a near-infrared thermal imaging control system for high temperature furnaces and combustors. The thermal imaging control system, including hardware, signal processing, and control software, is designed to be rugged, self-calibrating, easy to install, and relatively transparent to the furnace operator.

The spreading of Sn-3Ag-xBi solders on Fe-42Ni has been studied using a drop transfer setup. Initial spreading velocities as fast as {approx}0.5 m/s have been recorded. The results are consistent with a liquid front moving on a metastable, flat, unreacted substrate and can be described by using a modified molecular-kinetic model for which the rate controlling step is the movement of one atom from the liquid to the surface of the solid substrate. Although the phase diagram predicts the formation of two Fe-Sn intermetallics at the solder/substrate interface in samples heated at temperatures lower than 513 C, after spreading at 250 C only a thin FeSn reaction layer could be observed. Two interfacial layers (FeSn and FeSn2) were found after spreading at 450 C.

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Video inspections in the annulus of Hanford double-shell waste storage tank 241-AY-101 in 2001 and earlier showed rust over large areas of the primary and secondary tank walls. These observations led to extensive on-destructive inspections and analyses to determine the extent and severity of the corrosion and correction of several operational deficiencies that contributed to the problem. PNNL has performed an independent review of the accumulated evidence from these efforts to determine whether unacceptable conditions were corrected and the current condition of the tank meets or exceeds technical and operational requirements. The findings of this review are the subject of this report. The conclusion is that AY-101 is fit for service without restriction subject to several recommendations for further inspections and analyses.

Tasks carried out during the first six months of the program are summarized. Development of seal-less cells with increased power density at lower operating temperature (800 C) was started. This required a new cell design and investigation of new cell materials. Conceptual design of the generator and balance of plant (BOP) for a residential system was initiated. Attachment 1 describes the progress in cell development and Attachments 2 and 3 deal with status of the generator and BOP design. Overall progress during the first six months and plans for future work are summarized in Attachment 4.

The Oak Ridge Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12), managed by BWXT, is submitting this Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) Monitoring Plan in conformance with the requirements of Title 40 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 75. The state of Tennessee identified the Y-12 Steam Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as a non-electrical generation unit (EGU) nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) budget source as a result of the NO{sub x} State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Rule 1200-3-27. Following this introduction, the monitoring plan contains the following sections: CEMS details, NO{sub x} emissions, and quality assurance (QA)/quality control (QC). The following information is included in the attachments: fuel and flue gas diagram, system layout, data flow diagrams, Electronic Monitoring Plan printouts, vendor information on coal and natural gas feed systems, and the Certification Test Protocol. The Y-12 Steam Plant consists of four Wickes boilers. Each is rated at a maximum heat input capacity of 296.8 MMBtu/hour or 250,000 lb/hour of 250-psig steam. Although pulverized coal is the principal fuel, each of the units can fire natural gas or a combination of coal and gas. Each unit is equipped with a Joy Manufacturing …