This document presents the vision for Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the next five years, and a roadmap for implementing that vision. Brookhaven is a multidisciplinary science-based laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), supported primarily by programs sponsored by the DOE's Office of Science. As the third-largest funding agency for science in the U.S., one of the DOE's goals is ''to advance basic research and the instruments of science that are the foundations for DOE's applied missions, a base for U.S. technology innovation, and a source of remarkable insights into our physical and biological world, and the nature of matter and energy'' (DOE Office of Science Strategic Plan, 2000 http://www.osti.gov/portfolio/science.htm). BNL shapes its vision according to this plan.

This Institutional Plan for FY 2004-2008 is the principal annual planning document submitted to the Department of Energy's Office of Science by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. This plan describes the Laboratory's mission, roles, and technical capabilities in support of Department of Energy priorities, missions, and plans. It also describes the Laboratory strategic plan, key planning assumptions, major research initiatives, and program strategy for fundamental science, energy resources, environmental quality, and national security.

The Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is a single, highly integrated technical program for maintaining the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP uses past nuclear test data along with current and future nonnuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. It includes stockpile surveillance, experimental research, development and engineering programs, and an appropriately scaled production capability to support stockpile requirements. This integrated national program will require the continued use of current facilities and programs along with new experimental facilities and computational enhancements to support these programs. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities and computational resources to support the annual stockpile assessment and certification, to study advanced nuclear-weapons design and manufacturing processes, to analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and to provide the tools to enable Stockpile Life Extension Programs (SLEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This requires a balanced resource, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions. In its first decade, the ASC strategy focused on demonstrating simulation capabilities of unprecedented scale in three spatial dimensions. In its second decade, ASC is focused …

The Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is a single, highly integrated technical program for maintaining the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP uses past nuclear test data along with current and future nonnuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. It includes stockpile surveillance, experimental research, development and engineering programs, and an appropriately scaled production capability to support stockpile requirements. This integrated national program will require the continued use of current facilities and programs along with new experimental facilities and computational enhancements to support these programs. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities and computational resources to support the annual stockpile assessment and certification, to study advanced nuclear-weapons design and manufacturing processes, to analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and to provide the tools to enable Stockpile Life Extension Programs (SLEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This requires a balanced resource, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions. In its first decade, the ASC strategy focused on demonstrating simulation capabilities of unprecedented scale in three spatial dimensions. In its second decade, ASC is focused …

This document provides a mapping of technical issues associated with development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) intermediate heat transport loop and nuclear hydrogen plant support systems to the work that has been accomplished or is currently underway. The technical issues are ranked according to priority and by assumed resolution dates. Due to funding limitations, not all high-priority technical issues are under study at the present time, and more resources will need to be dedicated to tackling such issues in the future. This technical issues map is useful for understanding the relative importance of various technical challenges and will be used as a planning tool for future work package planning.

The proof of concept of SO2 electrolysis for the hybrid sulfur (HyS) process is the second priority research target of the DOE Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative's thermochemical program for FY07. The proof of concept of the liquid-phase option must be demonstrated at the single cell level for an extended run times (>100 hours). The rate of development of HyS will depend on the identification of a promising membrane or an alternative means for controlling sulfur formation. Once successful long-duration operation has been demonstrated, SRNL will develop a multi-cell stack that can be connected to the H2SO4 decomposer being developed by SNL for the S-I ILS for a Hybrid Sulfur Integrated Laboratory-Scale Experiment during FY 2008. During the first quarter of FY07, SRNL continued the component development and membrane development activities with the goal of identifying and characterizing improved electrodes, electrocatalysts, membranes and MEA configurations which could then be tested at larger scale in the SDE test facility. A modified glass cell was fabricated to allow measurements of sulfur dioxide (SO2) transport across membrane samples at elevated temperatures (up to 70 C). This testing also includes evaluating SO2 transport in different sulfuric acid concentrations (30-70 wt%). A new potentiostat/frequency analyzer was installed …

This document provides an understanding of the near and long term computing and I/O resources in the Secure Computing Facility (SCF) and Open Computing Facility (OCF). Requirements for data flows, storage capacities and transfer rates are determined. Recommendations are made for architectures, timeframes for major deliverables, and procurements for the next fiscal year.

This document provides a mapping of technical issues associated with development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) intermediate heat transport loop and nuclear hydrogen plant support systems to the work that has been accomplished or is currently underway in the 2nd quarter of FY07.

This report documents the completion of Item 2 of the three milestone deliverables that comprise Milestone ID 2380: Deploy selected Tri-Lab resource manager at LLNL and develop support model. Specifically: LLNL will integrate and support a commercial resource manager software product at LLNL to be used across the tri-lab HPC facilities.

The integrated system of a Very High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) and a High Temperature Steam Electrolysis (HTSE) process is one of systems being investigated by the U.S. Department of Energy and Idaho National Laboratory. This system will produce hydrogen by utilizing a highly efficient VHTR with an outlet temperature of 900 °C and supplying necessary energy and electricity to the HTSE process for electrolysis of high temperature steam. This report includes a description of five configurations including an indirect parallel cycle, an indirect serial cycle, a direct serial cycle, a steam combined cycle, and a reheat cycle. HYSYS simulations were performed for each of these configurations coupled to a HTSE process. Final results are presented along with parametric studies and process optimization.

This document provides a mapping of technical issues associated with development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) intermediate heat transport loop and nuclear hydrogen plant support systems to the work that has been accomplished or is currently underway. The technical issues are ranked according to priority and by assumed resolution dates. Due to funding limitations, not all high-priority technical issues are under study at the present time, and more resources will need to be dedicated to tackling such issues in the future. This technical issues map is useful for understanding the relative importance of various technical challenges and will be used as a planning tool by the NHI technical leadership for future work package planning. The technical map in its present form will be discontinued in FY08 and will be folded into a larger NHI System Interface and Support Systems project management plan and scope baseline statement in FY08.

After the last successful RHIC Au-Au run in 2004 (Run-4), RHIC experiments now require significantly enhanced luminosity to study very rare events in heavy ion collisions. RHIC has demonstrated its capability to operate routinely above its design average luminosity per store of 2x10{sup 25}cm{sup -2}s{sup -1}. In Run-4 we already achieved 2.5 times the design luminosity in RHIC. This luminosity was achieved with only 40% of the total possible number of bunches filled, and with $'* = 1 m. However, the goal is to reach 4 times the design luminosity, an average of 8x 1 by reducing the P* value and increasing the number of bunches to the accelerator maximum of Figure 1 : Integrated delivered luminosity for the four IRs with 11 1. In addition, the average time at store was expected to the minimum and maximum predictions up to June 18,2007. be increased by a factor of 1.1 to about 60% of calendar time. We present an overview of the changes that increased the instantaneous luminosity, luminosity lifetime and integrated luminosity of RHIC Au-Au operations during Run-7 even though the goal of 60% time at store could not be reached.

The Very High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) coupled to the High Temperature Steam Electrolysis (HTSE) process is one of two reference integrated systems being investigated by the U.S. Department of Energy and Idaho National Laboratory for the production of hydrogen. In this concept a VHTR outlet temperature of 900 °C provides thermal energy and high efficiency electricity for the electrolysis of steam in the HTSE process. In the second reference system the Sulfur Iodine (SI) process is coupled to the VHTR to produce hydrogen thermochemically. This report describes component sizing studies and control system strategies for achieving plant production and operability goals for these two reference systems. The optimal size and design condition for the intermediate heat exchanger, one of the most important components for integration of the VHTR and HTSE plants, was estimated using an analytic model. A partial load schedule and control system was designed for the integrated plant using a quasi-static simulation. Reactor stability for temperature perturbations in the hydrogen plant was investigated using both a simple analytic method and a dynamic simulation. Potential efficiency improvements over the VHTR/HTSE plant were investigated for an alternative design that directly couples a High Temperature Steam Rankin Cycle (HTRC) to …

The purpose of the U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), now within the broader context of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), is to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to transmute the long-lived transuranic isotopes contained in spent nuclear fuel into shorter-lived fission products. Success in this undertaking could potentially dramatically decrease the volume of material requiring disposal with attendant reductions in long-term radio-toxicity and heat load of high-level waste sent to a geologic repository. One important component of the technology development is investigation of irradiation/transmutation effects on actinide-bearing metallic fuel forms containing plutonium, neptunium, americium (and possibly curium) isotopes. Goals of this initiative include addressing the limited irradiation performance data available on metallic fuels with high concentrations of Pu, Np and Am, as are envisioned for use as actinide transmutation fuels. The AFC-1 irradiation experiments of transmutation fuels are expected to provide irradiation performance data on non-fertile and low-fertile fuel forms specifically, irradiation growth and swelling, helium production, fission gas release, fission product and fuel constituent migration, fuel phase equilibria, and fuel-cladding chemical interaction. Contained in this report are the to-date physics evaluations performed on three of the AFC-1 experiments; AFC-1D, AFC-1G and AFC-1H. The AFC-1D irradiation experiment …

This report provides documentation of experimental research activities performed at the Idaho National Laboratory and at Ceramatec, Inc. during FY07 under the DOE Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative, High Temperature Electrolysis Program. The activities discussed in this report include tests on single (button) cells, short planar stacks and tubular cells. The objectives of these small-scale tests are to evaluate advanced electrode, electrolyte, and interconnect materials, alternate modes of operation (e.g., coelectrolysis), and alternate cell geometries over a broad range of operating conditions, with the aim of identifying the most promising material et, cell and stack geometry, and operating conditions for the high-temperature electrolysis application. Cell performance is characterized in erms of initial area-specific resistance and long-term stability in the electrolysis mode. Some of the tests were run in the coelectrolysis mode. Research into coelectrolysis was funded by Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD). Coelectrolysis simultaneously converts steam to hydrogen and carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. This process is complicated by the reverse shift reaction. An equilibrium model was developed to predict outlet compositions of steam, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide resulting from coelectrolysis. Predicted ompositions were compared to measurements obtained with a precision micro-channel gas chromatograph.

This document provides a summary of research and development activities in the System Interface and Support Systems area of the DOE Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative in FY 2007. Project cost and performance data obtained from the PICS system, at least up through July 2007, are presented and analyzed. Brief summaries of accomplishments and references are provided. A mapping of System Interface and Support Systems technical issues versus the work performed is updated and presented. Lastly, near-term research plans are described, and recommendatioins are provided for additional research.

The Very High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) coupled to the High Temperature Steam Electrolysis (HTSE) process is one of two reference integrated systems being investigated by the U.S. Department of Energy and Idaho National Laboratory for the production of hydrogen. In this concept the VHTR outlet temperature of 900 °C provides thermal energy and high efficiency electricity for the electrolysis of steam in the HTSE process. In the second reference system the Sulfur Iodine (SI) process is coupled to the VHTR to produce hydrogen thermochemically. In the HyPEP project we are investigating and characterizing these two reference systems with respect to production, operability, and safety performance criteria. Under production, plant configuration and working fluids are being studied for their effect on efficiency. Under operability, control strategies are being developed with the goal of maintaining equipment within operating limits while meeting changes in demand. Safety studies are to investigate plant response for equipment failures. Specific objectives in FY07 were (1) to develop HyPEP Beta and verification and validation (V&V) plan, (2) to perform steady state system integration, (3) to perform parametric studies with various working fluids and power conversion unit (PCU) configurations, (4) the study of design options such as pressure, …

Standoff detection and characterization of chemical plumes using Frequency Modulated Differential Absorption Lidar (FM-DIAL) is a promising technique for the detection of nuclear proliferation activities. For the last several years Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been developing an FM-DIAL based remote sensing system as part of PNNL's Infrared Sensors project within NA-22's Enabling Technologies portfolio. In FY06 the remote sensing effort became a stand-alone project within the Plutonium Production portfolio with the primary goal of transitioning technology from the laboratory to the user community. Current systems remotely detect trace chemicals in the atmosphere over path lengths of hundreds of meters for monostatic operation (without a retro-reflector target) and up to ten kilometers for bistatic operation (with a retro-reflector target). The FM-DIAL sensor is sensitive and highly selective for chemicals with narrow-band absorption features on the order of 1-2 cm-1; as a result, the FM-DIAL sensors are best suited to simple di-atomic or tri-atomic molecules and other molecules with unusually narrow absorption features. A broadband sensor is currently being developed. It is designed to detect chemicals with spectral features on the order of several 10s of wavenumbers wide. This will expand the applicability of this technology to the detection of …

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (composed of automakers Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler) announced in January 2002 a new cooperative research effort. Known as 'FreedomCAR' (derived from 'Freedom' and 'Cooperative Automotive Research'), it represents DOE's commitment to developing public/private partnerships to fund high-risk, high-payoff research into advanced automotive technologies. Efficient fuel cell technology, which uses hydrogen to power automobiles without air pollution, is a very promising pathway to achieving the ultimate vision. The new partnership replaces and builds upon the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles initiative that ran from 1993 through 2001. The Advanced Power Electronics and Electric Machines (APEEM) subprogram within the FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program provides support and guidance for many cutting-edge automotive technologies now under development. Research is focused on understanding and improving the way the various new components of tomorrow's automobiles will function as a unified system to improve fuel efficiency. In supporting the development of hybrid propulsion systems, the APEEM effort has enabled the development of technologies that will significantly improve advanced vehicle efficiency, costs, and fuel economy. The APEEM subprogram supports the efforts of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership through a three-phase approach …

Project Title: Comparison of Characterization Methods for Anisotropy and Microstructure of TRISO Particle Layers This INERI was created to support a comparative study between the newly developed two modulator generalized ellipsometry microscope (2-MGEM) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the more traditional optical polarimeter (RAPAX) at the Commissariat l' nergie Atomique (CEA). These two systems are used to measure the anisotropy of the pyrocarbon layers in tri-isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel, which is an important parameter related to fuel performance. Although this project was only just started in June 2007, good progress has already been made. A kickoff meeting was held at ORNL on July 30-31, 2007 to present early progress and discuss details of the proposed work plan. This meeting was of great benefit to the participants, offering an opportunity to overcome the language barrier and more thoroughly communicate project relevant information. Each technical lead gave a presentation explaining the analysis techniques used in his task and presented data on early measurements of the German reference fuels. Plans were finalized regarding what work needed to be done and how to proceed with the comparative study. Possibilities for the inclusion of other coated particle samples, in addition to …

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An important goal of the US DOE Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) program is to develop the technology necessary to increase safety margins in future fast reactor systems. Although no decision has been made yet about who will build the next demonstration fast reactor, it seems likely that the construction team will include a combination of international companies, and the safety design philosophy for the reactor will reflect a consensus of the participating countries. A significant amount of experience in the design and safety analysis of Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR) using oxide fuel has been developed in both Japan and France during last few decades. In the US, the traditional approach to reactor safety is based on the principle of defense-in-depth, which is usually expressed in physical terms as multiple barriers to release of radioactive material (e.g. cladding, reactor vessel, containment building), but it is understood that the 'barriers' may consist of active systems or even procedures. As implemented in a reactor design, defense-in-depth is classed in levels of safety. Level 1 includes measures to specify and build a reliable design with significant safety margins that will perform according to the intentions of the designers. Level 2 consists of additional design …

This annual report is a deliverable for fiscal year 2007 (FY07) for Project 2002-077-00, Facilitation of the Estuary/Ocean Subgroup (EOS). The EOS is part of the research, monitoring, and evaluation (RME) effort the Action Agencies (Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) developed in response to responsibilities arising from the Endangered Species Act as a result of operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). The goal of the EOS project is to facilitate activities of the estuary/ocean RME subgroup as it coordinates design and implementation of federal RME in the lower Columbia River and estuary. In FY07, EOS project accomplishments included 1) subgroup meetings; 2) participation in the estuary work group of the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership; 3) project management via the project tracking system, PISCES; 4) quarterly project status reports; and 5) a major revision to the Estuary RME Plan (new version September 2007) based on comments by EOS members and invited reviewers.

This tech base award has close links with the Viral Identification Characterization Initiative (VICI) ER LDRD. The tech base extends developed code to enable a capability for biodefense, biosurveillance, and clinical diagnostics. The code enables the design of signatures to detect and discover viruses, without relying on prior assumptions as to the species of virus present. This approach for primer and signature design contrasts with more traditional PCR approaches, in which a major weakness is the unlikelihood of viral discovery or detection of unanticipated species. There were three crucial areas of the project that were not research and development, so could not be funded under the ER LDRD, but were a reduction to practice of the existing VICI algorithm that were necessary for the success of overall computational project goals. These areas, funded by the 2007 Tech Base award, were: (1) improvement of the code developed under the VICI LDRD by incorporating T{sub m} and free energy predictions using Unafold; (2) porting of code developed on the kpath Sun Solaris cluster to the Yana and Zeus LC machines; and (3) application of that code to perform large numbers of simulations to determine parameter effects.