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In-Vessel Retention (IVR) of molten core debris by means of external reactor vessel flooding is a cornerstone of severe accident management for Westinghouse's AP600 (advanced passive light water reactor) design. The case for its effectiveness (made in previous work by the PI) has been thoroughly documented, reviewed as part of the licensing certification, and accepted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A successful IVR would terminate a severe accident, passively, with the core in a stable, coolable configuration (within the lower head), thus avoiding the largely uncertain accident evolution with the molten debris on the containment floor. This passive plant design has been upgraded by Westinghouse to the AP1000, a 1000 MWe plant very similar to the AP600. The severe accident management approach is very similar too, including In-Vessel Retention as the cornerstone feature, and initial evaluations indicated that this would be feasible at the higher power as well. A similar strategy is adopted in Korea for the APR1400 plant. The overall goal of this project is to provide experimental data and develop the necessary basic understanding so as to allow the robust extension of the AP600 In-Vessel Retention strategy for severe accident management to higher power reactors, and in …

The Pennsylvania State University, under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory will establish, promote, and manage a national industry-driven Stripper Well Consortium (SWC) that will be focused on improving the production performance of domestic petroleum and/or natural gas stripper wells. The consortium creates a partnership with the U.S. petroleum and natural gas industries and trade associations, state funding agencies, academia, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This report serves as the fourteenth quarterly technical progress report for the SWC. Key activities for this reporting period include: (1) organizing the SWC spring meeting in Golden Colorado, (2) planning of the upcoming SWC fall technology transfer meetings, and (3) recruit the SWC base membership.

The Department of Energy is sponsoring an initiative to facilitate efficient, effective and responsible use of Monitored Natural Attenuation and Enhanced Passive Remediation for chlorinated solvents. This Office of Environmental Management ''Alternative Project,'' focuses on providing scientific and policy support for MNA/EPR. A broadly representative working group of scientists supports the project along with partnerships with regulatory organizations such as the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council and the Environmental Protection Agency. The initial product of the technical working group was a summary report that articulated the conceptual approach and central scientific tenants of the project, and that identified a prioritized listing of technical targets for field research. This report documented the process in which scientific ground rules were developed, lines of inquiry were identified and then critically evaluated, promising applied research topics were highlighted in the various lines of inquiry, and these were discussed and prioritized. The summary report will serve as a resource to guide management and decision making throughout the period of the subject MNA/EPR Alternative Project. To support and more fully document the information presented in the summary report, we are publishing a series of supplemental documents that present the full texts from the technical analyses within the …

A cooling structure (16) for use inside a ceramic cylindrical tube (11) of a metal vapor laser (10) to cool the plasma in the tube (11), the cooling structure (16) comprising a plurality of circular metal members (17,31) and mounting members (18, 34) that position the metal members (17,31) coaxially in the tube (11) to form an annular lasing volume, with the metal members (17, 31) being axially spaced from each other along the length of the tube (11) to prevent the metal members from shorting out the current flow through the plasma in the tube (11) and to provide spaces through which the heat from localized hot spots in the plasma may radiate to the other side of the tube (11).

To compensate for beam-beam interaction in Tevatron, an ''electron lens'' is considered to be an effective instrument. When a bunch of electrons with energy in the range (10-16) kV is overlapping with a bunch of antiprotons, the resulting focusing force for antiprotons can be adjusted by changing the electron beam current and by profiling its radial distribution. There exist several scenarios of how the system must function. According to one of them, an electron gun that supplies electrons must be fed by voltage pulses that follow with the frequency of antiproton bunches circulating in the Tevatron, which is about 2.5 MHz. To provide focusing tailored for each individual antiproton bunch, a modulator of the gun (pulser) must allow pulse-to-pulse voltage change. This report will cover main approaches to a design of a pulser for use with the gun of the Tevatron Electron Lens.

The Office of Space and Defense Power Systems of the Department of Energy (DOE) provides Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) for applications where conventional power systems are not feasible. For example, radioisotope thermoelectric generators were supplied by the DOE to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for deep space missions including the Cassini Mission launched in October of 1997 to study the planet Saturn. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been involved in developing materials and technology and producing components for the DOE for more than three decades. For the Cassini Mission, for example, ORNL was involved in the production of carbon-bonded carbon fiber (CBCF) insulator sets, iridium alloy blanks and foil, and clad vent sets (CVS). This report has been divided into three sections to reflect program guidance from the Office of Space and Defense Power Systems for fiscal year (FY) 2003. The first section deals primarily with maintenance of the capability to produce flight quality (FQ) CBCF insulator sets, iridium alloy blanks and foil, and CVS. In all three cases, production maintenance is assured by the manufacture of limited quantities of FQ components. The second section deals with several technology activities to improve the manufacturing processes, characterize materials, …

Titanium Grade 7 (UNS R52400) is a titanium-based alloy with 0.12-0.25% Pd. The addition of the small amount of palladium is to ennoble the corrosion potential of Ti, thus improving the corrosion resistance of titanium in reducing environments. In most aqueous environments, Ti and Ti alloys demonstrate excellent corrosion resistance due to the protective oxide film that forms spontaneously and remains stable on the surface. However, Ti and Ti alloys are susceptible to corrosion in fluoride-containing environments due to the formation of complexes such as TiF{sub 6}{sup 2-} and TiF{sub 6}{sup 3-}, which are stable and soluble in electrolyte solutions. Without the presence of fluoride, only slight effects from [Cl{sup -}], pH and temperature have been reported [1]. It has been reported that the kinetics of passive corrosion of titanium in neutral solutions and controlled by the migration of the defects in the oxide across the surface film [2]. Thus, the increase in thickness and improvement in film properties, by thermal oxidation, would lead to a significant decrease in the susceptibility to film breakdown and in the passive corrosion rate. This report summarizes recent experiment results in studies of the environmental influence on the corrosion behavior of Titanium Grade 7 …

We present a concise review of the theoretical status of the rare semileptonic {bar B} {yields} X{sub s}{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -} decays in the standard model. Particular attention is thereby devoted to the recent theoretical progress concerning, on the one hand the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD calculation and, on the other hand the analysis of phenomenological important subleading electroweak effects.

OAK-B135 Carbon monoxide dehydrogenase from Moorella thermoacetica catalyzes the reversible oxidation of CO to CO2 at a nickel-iron-sulfur active-site called the C-cluster. Mutants of a proposed proton transfer pathway and of a cysteine residue recently found to form a persulfide bond with the C-cluster were characterized. Four semi-conserved histidine residues were individually mutated to alanine. His116 and His122 were essential to catalysis, while His113 and His119 attenuated catalysis but were not essential. Significant activity was ''rescued'' by a double mutant where His116 was replaced by Ala and His was also introduced at position 115. Activity was also rescued in double mutants where His122 was replaced by Ala and His was simultaneously introduced at either position 121 or 123. Activity was also ''rescued'' by replacing His with Cys at position 116. Mutation of conserved Lys587 near the C-cluster attenuated activity but did not eliminate it. Activity was virtually abolished in a double mutant where Lys587 and His113 were both changed to Ala. Mutations of conserved Asn284 also attenuated activity. These effects suggest the presence of a network of amino acid residues responsible for proton transfer rather than a single linear pathway. The Ser mutant of the persulfide-forming Cys316 was essentially inactive …

The rotation of a plasma is one of the most fundamental global modes of plasma behavior. It is the zeroth order plasma response to a transverse electric field. In its simplest kinetic form, the so-called E x B drift (here, E is the electric field vector and B is the magnetic field vector), both the ions and the electrons will undergo a drift in the same direction. This motion is considered a universal mode of a plasma since the mechanism of the E x B drift is, to zero-order, independent of both the mass and the charge of the particles.

MARS is a Monte Carlo code for simulation of three-dimensional hadronic and electromagnetic cascades, muon and low-energy neutron transport in shielding and in accelerator and detector components in the energy range from a fraction of an eV up to 100 TeV. This report uses MARS to both transport the 120 GeV primary proton beam from the NuMI extraction Lambertsons through the NuMI Pre-target Hall and calculate the radiological effect of beam losses at various locations and for a variety of conditions. These results are used to: anticipate where beam losses will be significant; determine the level of activation of components; and calculate ground water activation and confirm adequacy of shielding. The results are presented in tables and figures along with drawings of the magnets as they were modeled in MARS. Details of the model elements are found in Appendix A. Further details of beam loss case studies are included in Appendix B.

This paper provides experimental results on the dependence of the output signal from small-area silicon photodetectors, such as MRS (Metal-Resistive layer-Semiconductor) photodiodes, on the fiber alignment.

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 43 report, AAPM TG-43, provides an analytical model and a dosimetry protocol for brachytherapy dose calculations, as well as documentation and results for some sealed sources. The radionuclide {sup 198}Au (T{sub 1/2} = 2.70 days, E{gamma} = 412 keV) has been used in the form of seeds for brachytherapy treatments including brain, eye, and prostate tumors. However, the TG-43 report has no data for {sup 198}Au seeds, and none have previously been obtained. For that reason, and because of the conversion of most treatment planning systems to TG-43 based methods, both Monte Carlo calculations (MCNP 4C) and thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) are used in this work to determine these data. The geometric variation in dose is measured using an array of TLDs in a solid water phantom, and the seed activity is determined using both a well ion chamber and a High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe). The results for air kerma strength, S{sub k}, per unit apparent activity, are 2.06 (MCNP) and 2.09 (measured) U mCi{sup -1}. The former is identical to what was published in 1991 in the AAPM Task Group 32 report. The dose rate constant results, {Lambda}, are 1.12 …

ELM effects in the DIII-D pedestal and boundary plasmas were measured with multiple fast diagnostics in matched, lower single null, ELMing H-mode discharges with the ion Bx{gradient}B drift toward and away from the divertor. Data show a strong dependence of the delay in inner vs. outer divertor ELM D{sub alpha} emission on drift direction, and a weaker drift dependence of the inner vs. outer delay of the total radiated power, in addition to the strong density dependence seen in previous work [1]. Time dependent modeling of the boundary plasma during an ELM was done with the UEDGE code including a six-species fluid carbon model and the effect of B-field induced particle drifts [2]. The ELM perturbation was modeled as an instantaneous, outer midplane peaked, increase of diffusion coefficients from the top of the pedestal to the outer SOL. The simulations show delays in the ELM perturbation at the inner vs. outer divertor targets that are similar to the measured delays.

Measurements and modeling of the 2D poloidal D{sub {alpha}} intensity distribution in DIII-D low density L-mode and medium density ELMy H-mode plasmas indicate that the core plasma is predominately fueled near the divertor x-point region. The neutral hydrogen and ion carbon emission were measured in the divertor and inner main chamber scrape-off layer (SOL) using a plasma imaging technique, covering 85% of the poloidal cross-section. Typically, the peak emission in the inner main SOL at the tokamak midplane was three orders of magnitude lower than in the divertor. For discharges with the ion Bx{del}B drift direction toward the lower divertor the UEDGE/DEGAS codes predict strong core plasma fueling from the significantly higher density and lower temperature plasma calculated in the inner divertor leg. The concomitant carbon ion flow reversal in the inner divertor leg enhances the leakage of carbon from the divertor into the main SOL, and hence into the core.

The central role of the organic component in biologically controlled mineralization is widely recognized. These proteins are characterized by a high proportion of acidic amino acid residues, especially aspartate, Asp. At the same time, biomineralization takes place in the presence of a number of naturally-occurring, inorganic impurities, particularly Mg and Sr. In an attempt to decipher the controls on calcite growth imposed by both classes of modifiers, we have used in situ AFM to investigate the dependence of growth morphology and step kinetics on calcite in the presence of Sr{sup 2+}, as well as a wide suite of Aspartic acid-bearing polypeptides. In each case, we observe a distinct and step-specific modification. Most importantly, we find that the step speed exhibits a characteristic dependence on impurity concentration not predicted by existing crystal growth models. While all of the impurities clearly induce appearance of a 'dead zone,' neither the width of that dead zone nor the dependence of step speed on activity or impurity content can be explained by invoking the Gibbs-Thomson effect, which is the basis for the Cabrera-Vermilyea model of impurity poisoning. Common kink-blocking models also fail to explain the observed dependencies. Here we propose a kinetic model of inhibition …

The Yang-Mills theory lies at the heart of our understanding of elementary particle interactions. For the strong nuclear forces, we must understand this theory in the strong coupling regime. The primary technique for this is the lattice. While basically an ultraviolet regulator, the lattice avoids the use of a perturbative expansion. I discuss some of the historical circumstances that drove us to this approach, which has had immense success, convincingly demonstrating quark confinement and obtaining crucial properties of the strong interactions from first principles.

The present invention provides an edge cladding for a slab laser, the edge cladding comprising a cooling channel system therein.

A long-reach tool was developed to remove discrete objects from the silos at the Fernald Environmental Management Project in Ohio. If they are not removed, these objects can potentially cause problems during the retrieval and transfer of waste from the silos. Most of the objects are on top of the Bentogrout cap inside the silos at or near the primary opening into the tank and will therefore require only vertical lifting. The objects are located about 20 ft from the top of the silo. Although most of the objects can be retrieved from 20 ft, the long-reach tool was designed to for a reach up to 40 ft in case objects roll towards the walls of the tank or need to be removed during heel retrieval operations. This report provides a detailed description of the tool that was developed, tested, and demonstrated at the Tanks Technology Cold Test Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Scaffolding was erected over two experimental cells to simulate the 40-ft maximum working depth anticipated in the silos at Fernald. Plastic bottles and plastic sheeting simulated the debris that could be encountered during waste retrieval operations.