This report summarizes the seismic deployment of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Geotech GS-13 short-period seismometers at the Newberry Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) Demonstration site located in Central Oregon. This Department of Energy (DOE) demonstration project is managed by AltaRock Energy Inc. AltaRock Energy had previously deployed Geospace GS-11D geophones at the Newberry EGS Demonstration site, however the quality of the seismic data was somewhat low. The purpose of the LLNL deployment was to install more sensitive sensors which would record higher quality seismic data for use in future seismic studies, such as ambient noise correlation, matched field processing earthquake detection studies, and general EGS microearthquake studies. For the LLNL deployment, seven three-component seismic stations were installed around the proposed AltaRock Energy stimulation well. The LLNL seismic sensors were connected to AltaRock Energy Gueralp CMG-DM24 digitizers, which are powered by AltaRock Energy solar panels and batteries. The deployment took four days in two phases. In phase I, the sites were identified, a cavity approximately 3 feet deep was dug and a flat concrete pad oriented to true North was made for each site. In phase II, we installed three single component GS-13 seismometers at each site, quality controlled the data …

The Washoe Tribe Wiskem Project (Project) was a Congressionally Directed Project identified for funding in the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. The Project focused on installing up to four small vertical wind turbines at designated locations on Tribal lands to offset energy costs for the Tribe. The Washoe Tribe will use and analyze data collected from the wind turbines to better understand the wind resource.

This report summarizes the progress in the Deep Burn project at Idaho National Laboratory during the first half of fiscal year 2012 (FY2012). The current focus of this work is on Fully-Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM) fuel containing low-enriched uranium (LEU) uranium nitride (UN) fuel kernels. UO2 fuel kernels have not been ruled out, and will be examined as later work in FY2012. Reactor physics calculations confirmed that the FCM fuel containing 500 mm diameter kernels of UN fuel has positive MTC with a conventional fuel pellet radius of 4.1 mm. The methodology was put into place and validated against MCNP to perform whole-core calculations using DONJON, which can interpolate cross sections from a library generated using DRAGON. Comparisons to MCNP were performed on the whole core to confirm the accuracy of the DRAGON/DONJON schemes. A thermal fluid coupling scheme was also developed and implemented with DONJON. This is currently able to iterate between diffusion calculations and thermal fluid calculations in order to update fuel temperatures and cross sections in whole-core calculations. Now that the DRAGON/DONJON calculation capability is in place and has been validated against MCNP results, and a thermal-hydraulic capability has been implemented in the DONJON methodology, the work will …

This project investigated solar variability, power conversion and electric power grid response aspects of high penetration solar PV. These are the primary determining factors for acceptable penetration levels. Therefore, the study not only focused on the power system interactions, but also on the design of advanced power conditioners to explore more efficient design options and to look into advanced control impacts to the higher penetration PV deployment systems. Through extensive laboratory and field testing, the team gathered the essential information to better understand grid characteristics, PV systems configuration and power conditioning systems.

This fact sheet provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Program. Today, the United States spends about $400 billion each year on imported oil. To realize a secure energy future, America must break its dependence on imported oil and its volatile costs. The transportation sector accounts for about 70% of U.S. oil demand and holds tremendous opportunity to increase America's energy security by reducing oil consumption. That's why the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducts research and development (R and D) on vehicle technologies which can stem America's dependence on oil, strengthen the economy, and protect the environment. Hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles can significantly improve fuel economy, displacing petroleum. Researchers are making batteries more affordable and recyclable, while enhancing battery range, performance, and life. This research supports President Obama's goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. The program is also working with businesses to develop domestic battery and electric-drive component plants to improve America's economic competitiveness globally. The program facilitates deployment of alternative fuels (ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, electricity, propane, and natural gas) and fuel infrastructures by partnering with state and local governments, universities, and industry. Reducing vehicle weight directly improves …

This report summarizes an analysis, conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in May 2010, of the economic characteristics of a particular utility-scale wind configuration project that has been referred to as the 'Big Wind' project.

An interactive, multidisciplinary, public workshop, organized by a group of experts in biochemistry, biophysics, chemical and biomolecular engineering, chemistry, microbial metabolism, and protein structure and function, was held on January 6-7, 2011 in Washington, DC. Fundamental insights into the biological energy capture, storage, and transformation processes provided by speakers was featured in this workshop�which included topics such as microbes living in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents or caustic soda lakes (extremophiles)� provided a fascinating basis for discussing the exploration and development of new energy systems. Breakout sessions and extended discussions among the multidisciplinary groups of participants in the workshop fostered information sharing and possible collaborations on future bioinspired research. Printed and web-based materials that summarize the committee�s assessment of what transpired at the workshop were prepared to advance further understanding of fundamental chemical properties of biological systems within and between the disciplines. In addition, webbased materials (including two animated videos) were developed to make the workshop content more accessible to a broad audience of students and researchers working across disciplinary boundaries. Key workshop discussion topics included: Exploring and identifying novel organisms; Identifying patterns and conserved biological structures in nature; Exploring and identifying fundamental properties and mechanisms of known biological …

We have discovered a possible "natural fueling" mechanism in tokamak fusion reactors using large scale gyrokinetic turbulence simulation. In the presence of a heat flux dominated tokamak plasma, cold ions naturally pinch radially inward. If cold DT fuel is introduced near the edge using shallow pellet injection, the cold fuel will pinch inward, at the expense of hot helium ash going radially outward. By adjusting the cold DT fuel concentration, the core DT density profiles can be maintained. We have also shown that cold source ions from edge recycling of cold neutrals are pinched radially inward. This mechanism may be important for fully understanding the edge pedestal buildup after an ELM crash. Work includes benchmarking the gyrokinetic turbulence codes in the electromagnetic regime. This includes cyclone base case parameters with an increasing plasma beta. The code comparisons include GEM, GYRO and GENE. There is good linear agreement between the codes using the Cyclone base case, but including electromagnetics and scanning the plasma beta. All the codes have difficulty achieving nonlinear saturation as the kinetic ballooning limit is approached. GEM does not saturate well when beta gets above about 1/2 of the ideal ballooning limit. We find that the lack of …

It has recently been shown that in single field slow-roll inflation the total volume cannot grow by a factor larger than e{sup S{sub dS}/2} without becoming infinite. The bound is saturated exactly at the phase transition to eternal inflation where the probability to produce infinite volume becomes non zero. We show that the bound holds sharply also in any space-time dimensions, when arbitrary higher-dimensional operators are included and in the multi-field inflationary case. The relation with the entropy of de Sitter and the universality of the bound strengthen the case for a deeper holographic interpretation. As a spin-off we provide the formalism to compute the probability distribution of the volume after inflation for generic multi-field models, which might help to address questions about the population of vacua of the landscape during slow-roll inflation.

The exact treatment of nuclei starting from the constituent nucleons and the fundamental interactions among them has been a long-standing goal in nuclear physics. In addition to the complex nature of nuclear forces, one faces the quantum-mechanical many-nucleon problem governed by an interplay between bound and continuum states. In recent years, significant progress has been made in ab initio nuclear structure and reaction calculations based on input from QCD employing Hamiltonians constructed within chiral effective field theory. In this contribution, we present one of such promising techniques capable of describing simultaneously both bound and scattering states in light nuclei. By combining the resonating-group method (RGM) with the ab initio no-core shell model (NCSM), we complement a microscopic cluster approach with the use of realistic interactions and a microscopic and consistent description of the clusters. We discuss applications to light nuclei scattering, radiative capture and fusion reactions.

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Throughout history, as new chemical threats arose, strategies for the defense against chemical attacks have also evolved. As a part of an Early Career Laboratory Directed Research and Development project, a systems analysis of past, present, and future chemical terrorism scenarios was performed to understand how the chemical threats and attack strategies change over time. For the analysis, the difficulty in executing chemical attack was evaluated within a framework of three major scenario elements. First, historical examples of chemical terrorism were examined to determine how the use of chemical threats, versus other weapons, contributed to the successful execution of the attack. Using the same framework, the future of chemical terrorism was assessed with respect to the impact of globalization and new technologies. Finally, the efficacy of the current defenses against contemporary chemical terrorism was considered briefly. The results of this analysis justify the need for continued diligence in chemical defense.

Since the completion of the sequencing of the human genome, the JGI has rapidly expanded its scientific goals in several DOE mission-relevant areas. At the JGI-HAGSC, we have kept pace with this rapid expansion of projects with our focus on assessing, assembling, improving and finishing eukaryotic whole genome shotgun (WGS) projects for which the shotgun sequence is generated at the Production Genomic Facility (JGI-PGF). We follow this by combining the draft WGS with genomic resources generated at JGI-HAGSC or in collaborator laboratories (including BAC end sequences, genetic maps and FLcDNA sequences) to produce an improved draft sequence. For eukaryotic genomes important to the DOE mission, we then add further information from directed experiments to produce reference genomic sequences that are publicly available for any scientific researcher. Also, we have continued our program for producing BAC-based finished sequence, both for adding information to JGI genome projects and for small BAC-based sequencing projects proposed through any of the JGI sequencing programs. We have now built our computational expertise in WGS assembly and analysis and have moved eukaryotic genome assembly from the JGI-PGF to JGI-HAGSC. We have concentrated our assembly development work on large plant genomes and complex fungal and algal genomes.

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This is the final report for a university research project which advanced development of a new technology for identifying chemical reduction of hexavalent chromium contamination in groundwater systems. Reduction renders mobile and toxic hexavalent chromium immobile and less toxic. The new method uses stable isotope ratio measurements, which are made using multicollector ICP-mass spectrometry. The main objectives of this project were completed during the project period and two peer-reviewed articles were published to disseminate the information gained.

To characterize the extent of contamination under the 324 Building, a pit was excavated on the north side of the building in 2010 by Washington Closure Hanford LLC (WCH). Horizontal closed-end steel access pipes were installed under the foundation of the building from this pit and were used for measuring temperatures and exposure rates under the B-Cell. The deployed sensors measured elevated temperatures of up to 61 C (142 F) and exposure rates of up to 8,900 R/hr. WCH suspended deactivation of the facility because it recognized that building safety systems and additional characterization data might be needed for remediation of the contaminated material. The characterization work included additional field sampling, laboratory measurements, and numerical flow and transport modeling. Laboratory measurements of sediment physical, hydraulic, and geochemical properties were performed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and others. Geochemical modeling and subsurface flow and transport modeling also were performed by PNNL to evaluate the possible extent of contamination in the unsaturated sand and gravel sediments underlying the building. Historical records suggest that the concentrated 137Cs- and 90Sr-bearing liquid wastes that were spilled in B-Cell were likely from a glass-waste repository testing program associated with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). …

A research team is assessing the impacts of an innovative mercury treatment system in Tims Branch, a small southeastern stream. The treatment system, installed in 2007, reduces and removes inorganic mercury from water using tin(II) (stannous) chloride addition followed by air stripping. The system results in discharge of inorganic tin to the ecosystem. This screening study is based on historical information combined with measurements of contaminant concentrations in water, fish, sediment, biofilms and invertebrates. Initial mercury data indicate that first few years of mercury treatment resulted in a significant decrease in mercury concentration in an upper trophic level fish, redfin pickerel, at all sampling locations in the impacted reach. For example, the whole body mercury concentration in redfin pickerel collected from the most impacted pond decreased approximately 72% between 2006 (pre-treatment) and 2010 (post-treatment). Over this same period, mercury concentrations in the fillet of redfin pickerel in this pond were estimated to have decreased from approximately 1.45 {micro}g/g (wet weight basis) to 0.45 {micro}g/g - a decrease from 4.8x to 1.5x the current EPA guideline concentration for mercury in fillet (0.3 {micro}g/g). Thermodynamic modeling, scanning electron microscopy, and other sampling data for tin suggest that particulate tin (IV) oxides are …

X-ray FELs demand that the positions of undulator components be stable to less than 1 {mu}m per day. Simultaneously, the undulator length increases significantly in order to saturate at x-ray wavelengths. To minimize the impact of the outside environment, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) undulator is placed underground, but reliable data about ground motion inside such a tunnel was not available in the required stability range during the planning phase. Therefore, a new position monitor system had been developed and installed with the LCLS undulator. This system is capable of measuring x, y, roll, pitch and yaw of each of the 33 undulator quadrupoles with respect to stretched wires. Instrument resolution is about 10 nm and instrument drift is negligible. Position data of individual quadrupoles can be correlated along the entire 132-m long undulator. The system has been under continuous operation since 2009. This report describes long term experiences with the running system and the observed positional stability of the undulator quadrupoles.

This report summarizes progress made during Phase I and Phase II of the project: "Pre-Combustion Carbon Capture by a Nanoporous, Superhydrophobic Membrane Contactor Process," under contract DE-FE-0000646. The objective of this project is to develop a practical and cost effective technology for CO{sub 2} separation and capture for pre-combustion coal-based gasification plants using a membrane contactor/solvent absorption process. The goals of this technology development project are to separate and capture at least 90% of the CO{sub 2} from Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants with less than 10% increase in the cost of energy services. Unlike conventional gas separation membranes, the membrane contactor is a novel gas separation process based on the gas/liquid membrane concept. The membrane contactor is an advanced mass transfer device that operates with liquid on one side of the membrane and gas on the other. The membrane contactor can operate with pressures that are almost the same on both sides of the membrane, whereas the gas separation membranes use the differential pressure across the membrane as driving force for separation. The driving force for separation for the membrane contactor process is the chemical potential difference of CO{sub 2} in the gas phase and in the …

An update is given on the work of the PV Quality Assurance Task Force; Group 3: studying the effects of humidity, temperature, and voltage bias.

The primary objectives of this project are to (1) demonstrate the performance and fabrication of a technically and economically viable pre-combustion-based CO{sub 2} capture system based on the high temperature stability and permeance of PBI membranes, (2) optimize a plan for integration of PBI capture system into an IGCC plant and (3) develop a commercialization plan that addresses technical issues and business issues to outline a clear path for technology transfer of the PBI membrane technology. This report describes research conducted from April 1, 2007 to March 30, 2012 and focused on achieving the above objectives. PBI-based hollow fibers have been fabricated at kilometer lengths and bundled as modules at a bench-scale level for the separation of CO{sub 2} from H{sub 2} at high temperatures and pressures. Long term stability of these fibers has been demonstrated with a relatively high H{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} selectivity (35 to 50) and H{sub 2} permeance (80 GPU) at temperatures exceeding 225°C. Membrane performance simulations and systems analysis of an IGCC system incorporating a PBI hollow fiber membrane modules have demonstrated that the cost of electricity for CO{sub 2} capture (<10%) using such a high temperature separator. When the cost of transporting, storing, and monitoring …

Strong synchrotron oscillations were observed during and after the 2.5-MHz rf adiabatic capture of a debunched booster batch in the Main Injector. Analysis shows two possible sources for the synchrotron oscillations. One is the frequency drift of the 2.5-MHz rf after the turning off of the 53-MHz rf voltage, thus resulting in an energy mismatch with the debunched beam. The second source is the energy mismatch of the injected booster beam with the frequency of the 53-MHz rf. We have been able to rule out the first possibility.

Every mission launched by NASA to the outer planets has produced unexpected results. The Voyager I and II, Galileo, and Cassini missions produced images and collected scientific data that totally revolutionized our understanding of the solar system and the formation of the planetary systems. These missions were enabled by the use of nuclear power. Because of the distances from the Sun, electrical power was produced using the radioactive decay of a plutonium isotope. Radioisotopic Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) used in the past and currently used Multi-Mission RTGs (MMRTGs) provide power for space missions. Unfortunately, RTGs rely on thermocouples to convert heat to electricity and are inherently inefficient ({approx} 3-7% thermal to electric efficiency). A Radioisotope Thermal Photovoltaic (RTPV) power source has the potential to reduce the specific mass of the onboard power supply by increasing the efficiency of thermal to electric conversion. In an RTPV, a radioisotope heats an emitter, which emits light to a photovoltaic (PV) cell, which converts the light into electricity. Developing an emitter tuned to the desired wavelength of the photovoltaic is a key part in increasing overall performance. Researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) have built a Thermal Photovoltaic (TPV) system, that utilizes a …

Over the course of a Summer 2011 internship with the MEMS department of Sandia National Laboratories, work was completed on two major projects. The first and main project of the summer involved taking surface photovoltage measurements for silicon samples, and using these measurements to determine surface recombination velocities and minority carrier diffusion lengths of the materials. The SPV method was used to fill gaps in the knowledge of material parameters that had not been determined successfully by other characterization methods. The second project involved creating a 2D finite element model of a surface acoustic wave device. A basic form of the model with the expected impedance response curve was completed, and the model is ready to be further developed for analysis of MEMS photonic resonator devices.