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The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of illness and injury surveillance activities that provide an early warning system to detect health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

The radioactive startup of two new SRS processing facilities, the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) and the Modular Caustic-Side-Solvent-Extraction Unit (MCU) will add two new waste streams to the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The ARP will remove actinides from the 5.6 M salt solution resulting in a sludge-like product that is roughly half monosodium titanate (MST) insoluble solids and half sludge insoluble solids. The ARP product will be added to the Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) at boiling and dewatered prior to pulling a SRAT receipt sample. The cesium rich MCU stream will be added to the SRAT at boiling after both formic and nitric acid have been added and the SRAT contents concentrated to the appropriate endpoint. A concern was raised by an external hydrogen review panel that the actinide loaded MST could act as a catalyst for hydrogen generation (Mar 15, 2007 report, Recommendation 9). Hydrogen generation, and it's potential to form a flammable mixture in the off-gas, under SRAT and Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) processing conditions has been a concern since the discovery that noble metals catalyze the decomposition of formic acid. Radiolysis of water also generates hydrogen, but the radiolysis rate is orders of magnitude …

This paper reports the interim status in identifying and reviewing photovoltaic (PV) codes and standards (C&S) and related electrical activities for grid-connected, high-penetration PV systems with a focus on U.S. electric utility distribution grid interconnection.

Cloud droplet size distributions hence the key microphysical quantities (e.g., radar reflectivity, droplet concentration, liquid water content, relative dispersion, and mean-volume radius) are determined by different physical mechanisms, including pre-cloud aerosols as CCNs, cloud updraft, and various turbulent entrainment-mixing processes. Therefore, different relationships among these microphysical properties are expected in response to these various mechanisms. The effect of turbulent entrainment-mixing processes is particularly vexing, with different entrainment-mixing processes likely leading to different microphysical relationships. Cloud radar has been widely used to infer the cloud liquid water content (L) from the measurement of radar reflectivity (Z) using a Z-L relationship. Existing Z-L expressions have been often obtained empirically, and differ substantially (Khain et al. 2008). The discrepancy among Z-L relations, which has been hindering the application of cloud radar in measuring cloud properties, likely stems from the different relationships between the relevant microphysical properties caused by different physical processes. This study first analyzes the Z-L relationship theoretically, and identify the key microphysical properties that affect this relationship, and then address the effects of various processes on the Z-L relationship by discerning the characteristics of the relationships between the relative dispersion, droplet concentration, liquid water content, and mean-volume radius calculated from in-situ …

This Final Report covers the work executed by Plug Power from 8/11/03 – 10/31/07 statement of work for Topic 2: advancing the state of the art of fuel cell technology with the development of a new generation of commercially viable, stationary, Back-up/Peak-Shaving fuel cell systems, the GenCore II. The Program cost was $7.2 M with the Department of Energy share being $3.6M and Plug Power’s share being $3.6 M. The Program started in August of 2003 and was scheduled to end in January of 2006. The actual program end date was October of 2007. A no cost extension was grated. The Department of Energy barriers addressed as part of this program are: Technical Barriers for Distributed Generation Systems: o Durability o Power Electronics o Start up time Technical Barriers for Fuel Cell Components: o Stack Material and Manufacturing Cost o Durability o Thermal and water management Background The next generation GenCore backup fuel cell system to be designed, developed and tested by Plug Power under the program is the first, mass-manufacturable design implementation of Plug Power’s GenCore architected platform targeted for battery and small generator replacement applications in the telecommunications, broadband and UPS markets. The next generation GenCore will be …

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The purpose of this report is to provide a concise but comprehensive overview of Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility instrumentation status. The report is divided into the following five sections: (1) new instrumentation in the process of being acquired and deployed, (2) field campaigns, (3) existing instrumentation and progress on improvements or upgrades, (4) proposed future instrumentation, and (5) Small Business Innovation Research instrument development.

Characterizing flow patterns and mixing of fossil fuel-derived CO{sub 2} is important for effectively using atmospheric measurements to constrain emissions inventories. Here we used measurements and a model of atmospheric radiocarbon ({sup 14}C) to investigate the distribution and fluxes of atmospheric fossil fuel CO{sub 2} across the state of California. We sampled {sup 14}C in annual C{sub 3} grasses at 128 sites and used these measurements to test a regional model that simulated anthropogenic and ecosystem CO{sub 2} fluxes, transport in the atmosphere, and the resulting {sup 14}C of annual grasses ({Delta}{sub g}). Average measured {Delta}{sub g} in Los Angeles, San Francisco, the Central Valley, and the North Coast were 27.7 {+-} 20.0, 44.0 {+-} 10.9, 48.7 {+-} 1.9, and 59.9 {+-} 2.5{per_thousand}, respectively, during the 2004-2005 growing season. Model predictions reproduced regional patterns reasonably well, with estimates of 27.6 {+-} 2.4, 39.4 {+-} 3.9, 46.8 {+-} 3.0, and 59.3 {+-} 0.2{per_thousand} for these same regions and corresponding to fossil fuel CO{sub 2} mixing ratios (Cf) of 13.7, 6.1, 4.8, and 0.3 ppm. {Delta}{sub g} spatial heterogeneity in Los Angeles and San Francisco was higher in the measurements than in the predictions, probably from insufficient spatial resolution in the fossil …

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of illness and injury surveillance activities that provide an early warning system to detect health problems among workers. The Illness and Injury Surveillance Program monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

In this research and development project, LLNL will leverage the process for fabrication of the membranes developed by our internally funded effort (LLNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development). LLNL will then employ chemical manipulations to modify charge at the ends of the nanotubes and make the membranes more selective to either positive or negative ions through a combination of size and charge selectivity. LLNL's goal is to demonstrate ion exclusion while preserving high permeabilities and low energy use. Success of this research and development project may warrant further developments in the fabrication of membranes.

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This is volume 2 of a two-volume report on the project. Volume 1 provides general information about industry participation and commercialization plan. This volume provides details of technical work and results.

The conclusions of this report are: (1) intrinsic donor-type defects In{sub Cu}, Ga{sub Cu}, and V{sub Se}, and their complexes with V{sub Cu} cause metastability, but also act to limit V{sub OC}; (2) growth conditions which minimize these defects (Cu-rich/Se-rich) are very different from those currently used; and (3) overcoming V{sub OC} limitation requires to address other issues and trade-offs.

A Catalog of Control Systems Security: Recommendations for Standards Developers (Catalog), aimed at assisting organizations to facilitate the development and implementation of control system cyber security standards, has been developed. This catalog contains requirements that can help protect control systems from cyber attacks and can be applied to the Critical Infrastructures and Key Resources of the United States and other nations. The requirements contained in the catalog are a compilation of practices or various industry bodies used to increase the security of control systems from both physical and cyber attacks. They should be viewed as a collection of recommendations to be considered and judiciously employed, as appropriate, when reviewing and developing cyber security standards for control systems. The recommendations in the Catalog are intended to be broad enough to provide any industry using control systems the flexibility needed to develop sound cyber security standards specific to their individual security requirements.

The objectives of this report are: (1) to apply industrial back Al process in efficient n-wafer cells with a-Si:H front surface passivation; and (2) to evaluate the surface recombination velocity (SRV) of the a-Si:H passivated front surface with different surface preparation procedures.

There have been several test runs of RHIC operations to explore the feasibility of luminosity production at low energies. There is considerable international interest in the possible existence of a QCD phase diagram critical point in the RHIC gold-gold collision energy range of {radical}s{sub NN} = 5-50 GeV[l, 2, 3]. This paper reviews the RF harmonic number constraints for RHIC gold-gold collisions in this energy range, and concludes that optimal simultaneous collisions at both experiments are only feasible when the harmonic number is divisible by 9.

We present scaled demonstrations of backlighter sources, emitting Bremsstrahlung x-rays with photon energies above 75 keV, that we will use to record x-ray Compton radiographic snapshots of cold dense DT fuel in inertial confinement fusion implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In experiments performed at the Titan laser facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we measured the source size and the Bremsstrahlung spectrum as a function of laser intensity and pulse length, from solid targets irradiated at 2e17-5e18 W/cm{sup 2} using 2-40 ps pulses. Using Au planar foils we achieved source sizes down to 5.5 {micro}m, and conversion efficiencies of about 1e-3 J/J into x-ray photons with energies in the 75-100 keV spectral range. We can now use these results to design NIF backlighter targets and shielding, and to predict Compton radiography performance as a function of the NIF implosion yield and associated background.

The objectives of the confirmatory survey activities were to provide independent contractor field data reviews and to generate independent radiological data for use by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in evaluating the adequacy and accuracy of the licensee’s procedures and final status survey (FSS) results.

We investigate the evolution of structures that result when spherical Cd nanoparticles of a few hundred nanometers in diameter react with dissolved molecular sulfur species in solution to form hollow CdS. Over a wide range of temperatures and concentrations, we find that rapid Cd diffusion through the growing CdS shell localizes the reaction front at the outermost CdS/S interface, leading to hollow particles when all the Cd is consumed. When we examine partially reacted particles, we find that this system differs significantly from others in which the nanoscale Kirkendall effect has been used to create hollow particles. In previously reported systems, partial reaction creates a hollow particle with a spherically symmetric metal core connected to the outer shell by filaments. In contrast, here we obtain a lower symmetry structure, in which the unreacted metal core and the coalesced vacancies separate into two distinct spherical caps, minimizing the metal/void interface. This pattern of void coalescence is likely to occur in situations where the metal/vacancy self-diffusivities in the core are greater than the diffusivity of the cations through the shell.

This brochure describes the top ten accompishments of the DOE Wind Energy Program during the past 30 years.

Among the olivine-structured metal phosphate family, LiMnPO{sub 4} exhibits a high discharge potential (4V), which is still compatible with common electrolytes, making it interesting for use in the next generation of Li ion batteries. The extremely low electronic conductivity of this material severely limits its electrochemical performance, however. One strategy to overcome this limitation is to make LiMnPO{sub 4} nanoparticulate to decrease the diffusion distance. Another is to add a carbon or other conductive coating in intimate contact with the nanoparticles of the main phase, as is commonly done with LiFePO{sub 4}. The electrochemical performance of LiFePO{sub 4} is highly dependent on the quality of the carbon coatings on the particles [1-2], among other variables. Combustion synthesis allows the co-synthesis of nanoparticles coated with carbon in one step. Hydrothermal synthesis is used industrially to make LiFePO{sub 4} cathode materials [3] and affords a good deal of control over purity, crystallinity, and particle size. A wide range of olivine-structured materials has been successfully prepared by this technique [4], including LiMnPO{sub 4} in this study. In this paper, we report on the new synthesis of nano-LiMnPO{sub 4} by a combustion method. The purity is dependent upon the conditions used for synthesis, including …

In this study we analyze relative contributions to the cause and mechanism of injection-induced micro-earthquakes (MEQs) at The Geysers geothermal field, California. We estimated the potential for inducing seismicity by coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical analysis of the geothermal steam production and cold water injection to calculate changes in stress (in time and space) and investigated if those changes could induce a rock mechanical failure and associated MEQs. An important aspect of the analysis is the concept of a rock mass that is critically stressed for shear failure. This means that shear stress in the region is near the rock-mass frictional strength, and therefore very small perturbations of the stress field can trigger an MEQ. Our analysis shows that the most important cause for injection-induced MEQs at The Geysers is cooling and associated thermal-elastic shrinkage of the rock around the injected fluid that changes the stress state in such a way that mechanical failure and seismicity can be induced. Specifically, the cooling shrinkage results in unloading and associated loss of shear strength in critically shear-stressed fractures, which are then reactivated. Thus, our analysis shows that cooling-induced shear slip along fractures is the dominant mechanism of injection-induced MEQs at The Geysers.