The John Day is the nation's second longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States and the longest containing entirely unsupplemented runs of anadromous fish. Located in eastern Oregon, the basin drains over 8,000 square miles, Oregon's fourth largest drainage basin, and incorporates portions of eleven counties. Originating in the Strawberry Mountains near Prairie City, the John Day River flows 284 miles in a northwesterly direction, entering the Columbia River approximately four miles upstream of the John Day dam. With wild runs of spring Chinook salmon and summer steelhead, westslope cutthroat, and redband and bull trout, the John Day system is truly a basin with national significance. The majority of the John Day basin was ceded to the Federal government in 1855 by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (Tribes). In 1997, the Tribes established an office in the basin to coordinate restoration projects, monitoring, planning and other watershed activities on private and public lands. Once established, the John Day Basin Office (JDBO) formed a partnership with the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District (GSWCD), which contracts the majority of the construction implementation activities for these projects from the JDBO. The GSWCD completes the landowner contact, …

The Metals Processing Laboratory Users Facility (MPLUS) is a Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Industrial Technologies Program, user facility designated to assist researchers in key industries, universities, and federal laboratories in improving energy efficiency, improving environmental aspects, and increasing competitiveness. The goal of MPLUS is to provide access to the specialized technical expertise and equipment needed to solve metals processing issues that limit the development and implementation of emerging metals processing technologies. The scope of work can also extend to other types of materials. MPLUS has four primary user centers: (1) Processing--casting, powder metallurgy, deformation processing (including extrusion, forging, rolling), melting, thermomechanical processing, and high-density infrared processing; (2) Joining--welding, monitoring and control, solidification, brazing, and bonding; (3) Characterization--corrosion, mechanical properties, fracture mechanics, microstructure, nondestructive examination, computer-controlled dilatometry, and emissivity; and (4) Materials/Process Modeling--mathematical design and analyses, high-performance computing, process modeling, solidification/deformation, microstructure evolution, thermodynamic and kinetic, and materials databases A fully integrated approach provides researchers with unique opportunities to address technologically related issues to solve metals processing problems and probe new technologies. Access is also available to 16 additional Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) user facilities ranging from state-of-the-art materials characterization capabilities, and high-performance computing to …

The purpose of this cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) between Sasol North America, Inc., and the oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was to improve the stability of alumina-based industrial catalysts through the combination of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) at ORNL and innovative sample preparation techniques at Sasol. Outstanding progress has been made in task 1, 'Atomistic processes of La stabilization'. STEM investigations provided structural information with single-atom precision, showing the lattice location of La dopant atoms, thus enabling first-principles calculations of binding energies, which were performed in collaboration with Vanderbilt University. The stabilization mechanism turns out to be entirely due to a particularly strong binding energy of the La tom to the {gamma}-alumina surface. The large size of the La atom precludes incorporation of La into the bulk alumina and also strains the surface, thus preventing any clustering of La atoms. Thus highly disperse distribution is achieved and confirmed by STEM images. la also affects relative stability of the exposed surfaces of {gamma}-alumina, making the 100 surface more stable for the doped case, unlike the 110 surface for pure {gamma}-alumina. From the first-principles calculations, they can estimate the increase in transition temperature for the 3% loading of …

We scanned a Booster Nozzle for NASA with our 9 meV LINAC, AmSi panel scanner. Three scans were performed using different filtering schemes and different positions of the nozzle. The results of the scan presented here are taken from the scan which provided the best contrast and lowest noise of the three. Our inspection data shows a number of indications of voids in the outer coating of rubber/carbon. The voids are mostly on the side of the nozzle, but a few small voids are present at the ends of the nozzle. We saw no large voids in the adhesive layer between the Aluminum and the inner layer of carbon. This 3D inspection data did show some variation in the size of the adhesive layer, but none of the indications were larger than 3 pixels in extent (21 mils). We have developed a variety of contour estimation and extraction techniques for inspecting small spaces between layers. These tools might work directly on un-sectioned nozzles since the circular contours will fit with our tools a little better. Consequently, it would be useful to scan a full nozzle to ensure there are no untoward degradations in data quality, and to see if our …

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The University of North Dakota (UND) Chemical Engineering Department in conjunction with the UND Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) have initiated a program to thoroughly examine the combined chemical (reaction and phase change) and physical (erosion) effects experienced by a variety of refractory materials during both normal operation and thermal cycling under slagging coal gasification conditions. The goal of this work is to devise a mechanism of refractory loss under these conditions. The controlled-atmospheric dynamic corrodent application furnace (CADCAF) is being utilized to simulate refractory/slag interactions under dynamic conditions that more realistically simulate the environment in a slagging coal gasifier than any of the static tests used previously by refractory manufacturers and researchers. Shakedown testing of the CADCAF has been completed. Samples of slag and refractory from the Tampa Electric Polk Power Station have been obtained for testing in the CADCAF. The slag has been dried and sieved to the size needed for our flowing slag corrosion tests. Screening tests are in currently in progress. Detailed analysis of corrosion rates from the first tests is in progress.

This report presents the findings from a study of experience with digital instrumentation and controls (I&C) technology in evolutionary nuclear power plants. In particular, this study evaluated regulatory approaches employed by the international nuclear power community for licensing advanced l&C systems and identified lessons learned. The report (1) gives an overview of the modern l&C technologies employed at numerous evolutionary nuclear power plants, (2) identifies performance experience derived from those applications, (3) discusses regulatory processes employed and issues that have arisen, (4) captures lessons learned from performance and regulatory experience, (5) suggests anticipated issues that may arise from international near-term deployment of reactor concepts, and (6) offers conclusions and recommendations for potential activities to support advanced reactor licensing in the United States.

The primary purpose of this report is to assess the spatial variability and uncertainty of bulk thermal conductivity in the host horizon for the repository at Yucca Mountain. More specifically, the lithostratigraphic units studied are located within the Topopah Spring Tuff (Tpt) and consist of the upper lithophysal zone (Tptpul), the middle nonlithophysal zone (Tptpmn), the lower lithophysal zone (Tptpll), and the lower nonlithophysal zone (Tptpln). Design plans indicate that approximately 81 percent of the repository will be excavated in the Tptpll, approximately 12 percent in the Tptpmn, and the remainder in the Tptul and Tptpln (BSC 2004 [DIRS 168370]). This report provides three-dimensional geostatistical estimates of the bulk thermal conductivity for the four stratigraphic layers of the repository horizon. The three-dimensional geostatistical estimates of matrix and lithophysal porosity, dry bulk density, and matrix thermal conductivity are also provided. This report provides input to various models and calculations that simulate heat transport through the rock mass. These models include the ''Drift Degradation Analysis, Multiscale Thermohydrologic Model, Ventilation Model and Analysis Report, Igneous Intrusion Impacts on Waste Packages and Waste Forms, Drift-Scale Coupled Processes (DST and TH Seepage) Models'', and ''Drift Scale THM Model''. These models directly or indirectly provide input …

With the nation's coal-burning utilities facing the possibility of tighter controls on mercury pollutants, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding projects that could offer power plant operators better ways to reduce these emissions at much lower costs. Mercury is known to have toxic effects on the nervous systems of humans and wildlife. Although it exists only in trace amounts in coal, mercury is released when coal burns and can accumulate on land and in water. In water, bacteria transform the metal into methylmercury, the most hazardous form of the metal. Methylmercury can collect in fish and marine mammals in concentrations hundreds of thousands times higher than the levels in surrounding waters. One of the goals of DOE is to develop technologies by 2005 that will be capable of cutting mercury emissions 50 to 70 percent at well under one-half of projected DOE/EPA early cost estimates. ADA Environmental Solutions (ADA-ES) is managing a project to test mercury control technologies at full scale at four different power plants from 2000--2003. The ADA-ES project is focused on those power plants that are not equipped with wet flue gas desulfurization systems. ADA-ES has developed a portable system that will be tested at four …

Scientific data analysis often requires mining large databases or data warehouses to find features in space. One important task is to find regions of interest such as stellar objects in astrophysics or flame fronts in combustion studies. Typically, this task is performed in two steps. The first step (searching) identifies records satisfying certain conditions specified by the user and outputs a set of cells. The second step (region-growing) groups these cells into connected regions. Most common approaches essentially perform a brute-force scan for these arching step. A number of indexing schemes have been proposed to speed up the searching step. Because they usually also slow down the region-growing step, these schemes have not reduced the overall time. In this article, we propose an approach based on compressed bitmap indices. Our approach speeds up not only the searching step, but also the region-growing step. In the literature, the time complexity of the region-growing step is demonstrated to be linear in the number of records in the dataset. In our tests, we show that the response time of our region-growing algorithm is linear in the number of records close to the surface of the regions of interest which is a small subset …

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab or LBNL) is a multi-program national research facility operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy (DOE). As an integral element of DOE's National Laboratory System, Berkeley Lab supports DOE's missions in fundamental science, energy resources, and environmental quality. Berkeley Lab programs advance four distinct goals for DOE and the nation: (1) To perform leading multidisciplinary research in the computing sciences, physical sciences, energy sciences, biosciences, and general sciences in a manner that ensures employee and public safety and protection of the environment. (2) To develop and operate unique national experimental facilities for qualified investigators. (3) To educate and train future generations of scientists and engineers to promote national science and education goals. (4) To transfer knowledge and technological innovations and to foster productive relationships among Berkeley Lab's research programs, universities, and industry in order to promote national economic competitiveness. In FY03, Berkeley Lab was authorized by DOE to establish a funding ceiling for the LDRD program of $15.0 M, which equates to about 3.2% of Berkeley Lab's FY03 projected operating and capital equipment budgets. This funding level was provided to develop new scientific ideas and opportunities and …

The primary goal of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of the chop-leach spent fuel dissolution process, with nitric acid dissolvent, for removing actinides and fission products from Zircaloy cladding to produce a cladding capable of meeting low-level waste (LLW) disposal criteria. Analysis of the cladding shows that actinides are present in the cladding at concentrations 50 to 400 times greater than the acceptable TRU limit in LLW. It appears that the nitric acid used for dissolution (initial concentration 4 M, with 10 M added as the dissolution proceeded) was inadequate for solubilizing the fuel meat. Scanning electron micrographs of the as-sampled cladding surface showed particles of material high in U on the surface of the cut samples, suggesting the fuel meat was not completely dissolved. If the cladding is to meet LLW disposal limits, it is likely that a more robust chemical treatment will be required to more completely digest the fuel meat. Based on the available analytical results, and the interpretation of those results, the following conclusions are drawn. The chop-leach method, as performed initially was inadequate for complete digestion of the fuel meat present in the Dresden-1 fuel samples studied. This failure of the dissolution process …

The project aim was the improvement, evaluation, and application of one dimensional (1D) inversion and development and application of three dimensional (3D) inversion to processing of data collected at waste pits at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The inversion methods were intended mainly for the Very Early Time Electromagnetic (VETEM) system which was designed to improve the state-of-the-art of electromagnetic imaging of the shallow (0 to about 5m) subsurface through electrically conductive soils.

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As part of the program to provide pretreatment development and testing services to support the River Protection Project-Waste Treatment Plant (RPP-WTP) mission to treat Hanford tank waste, a approximate 15 L sample of waste from Tank 241-AW-101 was received at the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC). The waste sample was characterized and diluted to provide feed for pretreatment testing. The characterization data provides a basis for rational development of pretreatment processes, determination of reagent requirements, verification of tank composition, and development of physical design parameters for the pretreatment plant.

A proof-of-technology demonstration for the Hanford River Protection Project (RPP) Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) was performed by the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) at the Savannah River Site (SRS). As part of this demonstration, a sample of as-received Tank AN-107 waste was mixed with surrogate recycle and then evaporated to concentrate the mixture. A second test was conducted in which surrogate recycle was initially concentrated, then mixed with as-received AN-107 waste. Both of these tests were the first studies conducted that investigated the potential impact of secondary-waste recycle streams on the evaporation process using actual radioactive waste feed.

The purpose of this design calculation is to estimate radiation doses received by personnel in the Remediation Facility performing operations to receive, prepare, open, repair, recover, disposition, and correct off-normal and non-standard conditions with casks, canisters, spent nuclear fuel (SNF) assemblies, and waste packages (WP). The specific scope of work contained in this calculation covers both collective doses and individual worker group doses on an annual basis, and includes the contributions due to external and internal radiation. The results of this calculation will be used to support the design of the Remediation Facility and provide occupational dose estimates for the License Application.

Ferrite rods are installed inside the flying-wire cavity of the Recycler Ring and at entrance and exit beam pipes in order to absorb high-frequency electromagnetic waves excited by the beam. However, these rods may also deteriorate the vacuum pressure of the ring. An investigation is made to analyze the necessity of the ferrite rods at the entrance and exit beam pipes.

The purpose of this analysis report is to evaluate and document the inclusion or exclusion of biosphere features, events, and processes (FEPs) with respect to modeling used to support the total system performance assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA). A screening decision, either ''Included'' or ''Excluded'', is given for each FEP along with the corresponding technical basis for the excluded FEPs and the descriptions of how the included FEPs were incorporated in the biosphere model. This information is required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations at 10 CFR 63.114 (d, e, and f) [DIRS 156605]. The FEPs addressed in this report concern characteristics of the reference biosphere, the receptor, and the environmental transport and receptor exposure pathways for the groundwater and volcanic ash exposure scenarios considered in biosphere modeling. This revision provides the summary of the implementation of included FEPs in TSPA-LA, (i.e., how the FEP is included); for excluded FEPs, this analysis provides the technical basis for exclusion from TSPA-LA (i.e., why the FEP is excluded). This report is one of the 10 documents constituting the biosphere model documentation suite. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the biosphere model is presented in Figure 1-1. …

Integrity monitoring and flaw diagnostics of flat beams and tubular structures was investigated in this research task using guided acoustic signals. A piezo-sensor suite was deployed to activate and collect Lamb wave signals that propagate along metallic specimens. The dispersion curves of Lamb waves along plate and tubular structures are generated through numerical analysis. Several advanced techniques were explored to extract representative features from acoustic time series. Among them, the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) is a recently developed technique for the analysis of non-linear and transient signals. A moving window method was introduced to generate the local peak characters from acoustic time series, and a zooming window technique was developed to localize the structural flaws. The time-frequency analysis and pattern recognition techniques were combined for classifying structural defects in brass tubes. Several types of flaws in brass tubes were tested, both in the air and in water. The techniques also proved to be effective under background/process noise. A detailed theoretical analysis of Lamb wave propagation was performed and simulations were carried out using the finite element software system ABAQUS. This analytical study confirmed the behavior of the acoustic signals acquired from the experimental studies. The report presents the background the analysis …

The purpose of this report is to evaluate and document the inclusion or exclusion of the waste form features, events and processes (FEPs) with respect to modeling used to support the Total System Performance Assessment for License Application (TSPA-LA). A screening decision, either Included or Excluded, is given for each FEP along with the technical bases for screening decisions. This information is required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 10 CFR 63.114 (d, e, and f) [DIRS 156605]. The FEPs addressed in this report deal with the issues related to the degradation and potential failure of the waste form and the migration of the waste form colloids. For included FEPs, this analysis summarizes the implementation of the FEP in TSPA-LA, (i.e., how the FEP is included). For excluded FEPs, this analysis provides the technical bases for exclusion from TSPA-LA (i.e., why the FEP is excluded). This revision addresses the TSPA-LA FEP list (DTN: MO0407SEPFEPLA.000 [DIRS 170760]). The primary purpose of this report is to identify and document the analyses and resolution of the features, events, and processes (FEPs) associated with the waste form performance in the repository. Forty FEPs were identified that are associated with the waste form performance. …

This project was initially targeted to the making of coke for blast furnaces by using proprietary technology of Calderon in a phased approach, and Phase I was successfully completed. The project was then re-directed to the making of iron units. In 2000, U.S. Steel teamed up with Calderon for a joint effort which will last 42 months to produce directly reduced iron with the potential of converting it into molten iron or steel consistent with the Roadmap recommendations of 1998 prepared by the Steel Industry in cooperation with the Department of Energy by using iron ore concentrate and coal as raw materials, both materials being appreciably lower in cost than using iron pellets and coke.

The purpose of this design calculation is to estimate radiation doses received by personnel working in the subsurface facility of the repository performing emplacement, maintenance, and retrieval operations under normal conditions. The results of this calculation will be used to support the design of the subsurface facilities and provide occupational dose estimates for the License Application.

Designs and simulation studies for harmonic cascades, consisting of multiple stages of harmonic generation in free electron lasers (FELs), are presented as part of the LUX R&D project to design ultrafast, high photon energy light sources for basic science. Beam energies of 1.1, 2.1, and 3.1 GeV, corresponding to each pass through a recirculating linac, have independent designs for the harmonic cascade. Simulations were performed using the GENESIS FEL code, to obtain predictions for the performance of these cascades over a wide range of photon energies in terms of the peak power and laser profile. The output laser beam consists of photon energies of up to 1 keV, with durations of the order of 200 fs or shorter. The contribution of shot noise to the laser output is minimal, however fluctuations in the laser and electron beam properties can lead to variations in the FEL output. The sensitivity of the cascade to electron beam properties and misalignments is studied, taking advantage of the fact that GENESIS is a fully 3-dimensional code.