The main objective of the Depleted UO{sub 2} Kernels Production Task at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was to conduct two small-scale production campaigns to produce 2 kg of UO{sub 2} kernels with diameters of 500 {+-} 20 {micro}m and 3.5 kg of UO{sub 2} kernels with diameters of 350 {+-} 10 {micro}m for the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative Program. The final acceptance requirements for the UO{sub 2} kernels are provided in the first section of this report. The kernels were prepared for use by the ORNL Metals and Ceramics Division in a development study to perfect the triisotropic (TRISO) coating process. It was important that the kernels be strong and near theoretical density, with excellent sphericity, minimal surface roughness, and no cracking. This report gives a detailed description of the production efforts and results as well as an in-depth description of the internal gelation process and its chemistry. It describes the laboratory-scale gel-forming apparatus, optimum broth formulation and operating conditions, preparation of the acid-deficient uranyl nitrate stock solution, the system used to provide uniform broth droplet formation and control, and the process of calcining and sintering UO{sub 3} {center_dot} 2H{sub 2}O microspheres to form dense …

This Annual Progress Report describes the work performed and summarizes some of the key observations to date on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s project Assessment of Food Chain Pathway Parameters in Biosphere Models, which was established to assess and evaluate a number of key parameters used in the food-chain models used in performance assessments of radioactive waste disposal facilities. Section 2 of this report describes activities undertaken to collect samples of soils from three regions of the United States, the Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest, and perform analyses to characterize their physical and chemical properties. Section 3 summarizes information gathered regarding agricultural practices and common and unusual crops grown in each of these three areas. Section 4 describes progress in studying radionuclide uptake in several representative crops from the three soil types in controlled laboratory conditions. Section 5 describes a range of international coordination activities undertaken by Project staff in order to support the underlying data needs of the Project. Section 6 provides a very brief summary of the status of the GENII Version 2 computer program, which is a “client” of the types of data being generated by the Project, and for which the Project will be providing training to …

Two proof-of-principle large-scale tests were performed to simulate the flow of grout into Hanford single-shell HLW Tanks and into cascade lines which interconnect the HLW tanks. The goal of the testing was to determine whether the HLW tank grout can enter the cascade line and solidify prior to flowing into an adjacent tank. Two tests were performed as part of this task. The tests were conducted using the Phase 2 Structural Grout, SRG2, the structural grout mix that was used during scale-up testing last year.

The River Protection Project - Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant will use cesium ion exchange to remove 137Cs from Low Activity Waste down to 0.3 Ci/m3 in the Immobilized LAW, ILAW product. The project baseline for cesium ion exchange is the elutable SuperLig, R, 644, SL-644, resin registered trademark of IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc., American Fork, UT or the Department of Energy approved equivalent. SL-644 is solely available through IBC Advanced Technologies. To provide an alternative to this sole-source resin supply, the RPP-WTP initiated a three-stage process for selection and qualification of an alternative ion exchange resin for cesium removal in the RPPWTP. It was recommended that resorcinol formaldehyde RF be pursued as a potential alternative to SL-644.

In 2001, an upgraded silicon detector system was installed in the CDF II experiment on the Tevatron at Fermilab. The complete system consists of three silicon micro-strip detectors: SVX II with five layers for precision tracking, Layer 00 with one beampipe-mounted layer for vertexing, and two Intermediate Silicon Layers located between SVX II and the main CDF II tracking chamber. Currently all detectors in the system are operating at or near design levels. The performance of the combined silicon system is excellent in the context of CDF tracking algorithms,and the first useful physics results from the innermost Layer 00 detector have been recently documented. Operational and monitoring efforts have also been strengthened to maintain silicon efficiency through the end of Run 2 at the Tevatron.

The interaction of SO{sub 2} with oxygen-sputtered Au(111) surfaces ({theta}{sub oxygen} {le} 0.35 ML) was studied by monitoring the oxygen and sulfur coverages as a function of SO{sub 2} exposure. Two reaction regimes were observed: oxygen depletion followed by sulfur deposition. An enhanced, transient sulfur deposition rate is observed at the oxygen depletion point. This effect is specifically pronounced if the Au surface is continuously exposed to SO{sub 2}. The enhanced reactivity towards S deposition seems to be linked to the presence of highly reactive, under-coordinated Au atoms. Adsorbed oxygen appears to stabilize, but also to block these sites. In absence of the stabilization effect of adsorbed oxygen, i.e. at the oxygen depletion point, the enhanced reactivity decays on a timescale of a few minutes. These observations shed a new light on the catalytic reactivity of highly dispersed gold nanoparticles.

The Alvarez lens (US Patent No. 3,305,294 [1]) is a compact aberration corrector. The original design emphasized in the patent consists of a pair of adjacent optical elements that provide a variable focus. A lens system with a variable effective focal length is nothing new. Such systems are widely used in cameras, for example. It is the compactness and simplicity of operation that is the key advantage of the Alvarez lens. All of the complexity is folded into the design and fabrication of the optical elements. As mentioned in the Alvarez patent [1] and elaborated upon in Palusinski et al. [2], if one is willing to fold even more complexity into the optical elements, it is possible to correct higher-order aberrations as well. There is no theoretical limit to the number or degree of wavefront distortions that can be corrected. The only limitation is that there must be a fixed relative magnitude of the aberrations. Independent correction of each component of the higher-order aberrations can not be performed without additional elements and degrees of freedom [3]. Under some circumstances, coupling may be observed between different aberrations. This can be mitigated with the appropriate choice of design parameters. New methods are …

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLNL) designed and constructed an innovative containerized wetlands (bioreactor) system that began operation in November 2000 to biologically degrade perchlorate and nitrate under relatively low-flow conditions at a remote location at Site 300 known as Building 854. Since initial start-up, the system has processed over 3,463,000 liters of ground water and treated over 38 grams of perchlorate and 148 kilograms of nitrate. Site 300 is operated by the University of California as a high-explosives and materials testing facility supporting nuclear weapons research. The 11-square mile site located in northern California was added to the NPL in 1990 primarily due to the presence of elevated concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ground water. At the urging of the regulatory agencies, perchlorate was looked for and detected in the ground water in 1999. VOCs, nitrate and perchlorate were released into the soil and ground water in the Building 854 area as the result of accidental leaks during stability testing of weapons or from waste discharge practices that are no longer permitted at Site 300. Design of the wetland bioreactors was based on earlier studies showing that indigenous chlorate-respiring bacteria could effectively …

This report characterizes commercially available wireless technologies that are already being used in building applications or that are suitable for use in commercial buildings. The discussion provides an overview of fundamental concepts of radial broadcasting systems, as well as mesh networks, and will highlight the opportunities and challenges in their integration into existing wired control networks. This report describes two demonstration projects of wireless sensors and their integration into existing control networks and discusses their cost per sensor, their ease of installation, and their reliability. It also describes the load control strategies implemented as a consequence of having the additional data provided by the wireless sensors and provides estimates of the resulting energy and cost savings. The report concludes with presentation of some general future prospects for wireless technologies in buildings applications.

To determine the neutrino mixing amplitudes and phase accurately, as well as the CP violation parameters, a very long base line super neutrino beam facility is needed. This is possible due to the long distance and wideband nature of the neutrino beam for the observation of several oscillations from one species of the neutrino to the other [1,2]. BNL plans to upgrade the AGS proton beam from the current 0.14 MW to higher than 1.0 MW and beyond for such a neutrino facility which consists of three major subsystems. First is a 1.5 GeV superconducting linac to replace the booster as injector for the AGS, second is the performance upgrade for the AGS itself for the higher intensity and repetition rate, and finally is target and horn system for the neutrino production. The major contribution for the higher power is from the increase of the repetition rate of the AGS form 0.3 Hz to 2.5 Hz, with moderate increase from the intensity [3]. The design consideration to achieve high intensity and low losses for the linac and the AGS will be reviewed. The target horn design for high power operation and easy maintenance will also be presented.

A mission of foremost importance to the Department of Energy and our contractors is to provide our stakeholders with a complete understanding of the consequences of our operations, both past and present. To do this, an extensive annual multimillion-dollar monitoring and surveillance program collects and analyzes tens of thousands of samples from air, surface and groundwater, soil, mud, plants, and animals. The results are published in a detailed Annual Site Environmental Report available to all. We also publish a separate Data Volume for those who wish to see the raw data. Though these documents present all the facts and figures, they are long, technical, and not always easy to read. Thus, I team with a local high school each year and ask students to write an Annual Site Environmental Report Summary specifically for the public. These documents are perhaps the most important reports the Department of Energy produces. Why? First, they lay out the environmental monitoring programs and the consequences of Department of Energy operations in great detail to our legislatures, stakeholders, and the public; second, they represent the efforts of many dedicated environmental scientists who carry out these extensive programs and work hard to protect and enhance the environment; …

This report documents progress made on the subject project during the period of March 1, 2004 through August 31, 2004. The TERESA Study is designed to investigate the role played by specific emissions sources and components in the induction of adverse health effects by examining the relative toxicity of coal combustion and mobile source (gasoline and/or diesel engine) emissions and their oxidative products. The study involves on-site sampling, dilution, and aging of coal combustion emissions at three coal-fired power plants, as well as mobile source emissions, followed by animal exposures incorporating a number of toxicological endpoints. The DOE-EPRI Cooperative Agreement (henceforth referred to as ''the Agreement'') for which this technical progress report has been prepared covers the analysis and interpretation of the field data collected at the first power plant (henceforth referred to as Plant 0, and located in the Upper Midwest), followed by the performance and analysis of similar field experiments at two additional coal-fired power plants (Plants 1 and 2) utilizing different coal types and with different plant configurations. Significant progress was made on the Project during this reporting period, with field work being initiated at Plant 0. Initial testing of the stack sampling system and reaction apparatus …

A major challenge to achieving widespread use of software component technology in scientific computing is an effective migration strategy for existing, or legacy, source code. This paper describes initial work and challenges in automating the identification and generation of components using the ROSE compiler infrastructure and the Babel language interoperability tool. Babel enables calling interfaces expressed in the Scientific Interface Definition Language (SIDL) to be implemented in, and called from, an arbitrary combination of supported languages. ROSE is used to build specialized source-to-source translators that (1) extract a SIDL interface specification from information implicit in existing C++ source code and (2) transform Babel's output to include dispatches to the legacy code.