Vacuum insulators composed of alternating layers of metal and dielectric, known as high-gradient insulators (HGIs), have been shown to withstand higher electric fields than conventional insulators. Primary or secondary electrons (emitted from the insulator surface) can be deflected by magnetic fields from external sources, the high-current electron beam, the conduction current in the transmission line, or the displacement current in the insulator. These electrons are deflected either toward or away from the insulator surface and this affects the performance of the vacuum insulator. This paper shows the effects of displacement current from short voltage pulses on the performance of high gradient insulators. Generally, vacuum insulator failure is due to surface flashover, initiated by electrons emitted from a triple junction. These electrons strike the insulator surface thus producing secondary electrons, and can lead to a subsequent electron cascade along the surface. The displacement current in the insulator can deflect electrons either toward or away from the insulator surface, and affects the performance of the vacuum insulator when the insulator is subjected to a fast high-voltage pulse. Vacuum insulators composed of alternating layers of metal and dielectric, known as high-gradient insulators (HGIs), have been shown to withstand higher electric fields than conventional …

None

Substantial progress has been made toward understanding the fundamental physiology and genetics of wood decay fungi, microbes that are capable of degrading all major components of plant cell walls. Efficient utilization of lignocellulosic biomass has been hampered in part by limitations in our understanding of enzymatic mechanisms of plant cell wall degradation. This is particularly true of woody substrates where accessibility and high lignin content substantially complicate enzymatic 'deconstruction'. The interdisciplinary research has illuminated enzymatic mechanisms essential for the conversion of lignocellulosics to simple carbohydrates and other small molecular weight products. Progress was in large part dependent on substantial collaborations with the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Creek and Los Alamos, as well as the Catholic University, Santiago, Chile, the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin and the Forest Products Laboratory. Early accomplishments focused on the development of experimental tools (2, 7, 22, 24-26, 32) and characterization of individual genes and enzymes (1, 3-5, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17, 18, 23, 27, 33). In 2004, the genome of the most intensively studied lignin-degrading fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, was published (21). This milestone lead to …

High pressure deflagration rate measurements of a unique ammonium perchlorate (AP) based propellant are required to design the base burn motor for a Raytheon weapon system. The results of these deflagration rate measurements will be key in assessing safety and performance of the system. In particular, the system may experience transient pressures on the order of 100's of MPa (10's kPSI). Previous studies on similar AP based materials demonstrate that low pressure (e.g. P < 10 MPa or 1500 PSI) burn rates can be quite different than the elevated pressure deflagration rate measurements (see References and HPP results discussed herein), hence elevated pressure measurements are necessary in order understand the deflagration behavior under relevant conditions. Previous work on explosives have shown that at 100's of MPa some explosives will transition from a laminar burn mechanism to a convective burn mechanism in a process termed deconsolidative burning. The resulting burn rates that are orders-of-magnitude faster than the laminar burn rates. Materials that transition to the deconsolidative-convective burn mechanism at elevated pressures have been shown to be considerably more violent in confined heating experiments (i.e. cook-off scenarios). The mechanisms of propellant and explosive deflagration are extremely complex and include both chemical, and …

In interstellar and interplanetary space, the size distribution and composition of dust grains play an important role. For example, dust grains determine optical and ultraviolet extinction levels in astronomical observations, dominate the cooling rate of our Galaxy, and sets the thermal balance and radiative cooling rates in molecular clouds, which are the birth place of stars. Dust grains are also a source of damage and failure to space hardware and thus present a hazard to space flight. To model the size distribution and composition of dust grains, and their effect in the above scenarios, it is vital to understand the mechanism of dust-shock interaction. We demonstrate a new experiment which employs a laser to subject dust grains to pressure spikes similar to those of colliding astrophysical dust, and which accelerates the grains to astrophysical velocities. The new method generates much larger data sets than earlier methods; we show how large quantities (thousands) of grains are accelerated at once, rather than accelerating individual grains, as is the case of earlier methods using electric fields.

This report summarizes many of the projects, and lists all of the publications and persons trained with support from the grant.

This report documents the preparation of three actual Hanford tank waste samples for shipment to the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). Two of the samples were dissolved saltcakes from tank 241-AN-103 (hereafter AN-103) and tank 241-SX-105 (hereafter SX-105); one sample was a supernate composite from tanks 241-AZ-101 and 241-AZ-102 (hereafter AZ-101/102). The preparation of the samples was executed following the test plans LAB-PLAN-10-00006, Test Plan for the Preparation of Samples from Hanford Tanks 241-SX-105, 241-AN-103, 241-AN-107, and LAB-PLN-l0-00014, Test Plan for the Preparation of a Composite Sample from Hanford Tanks 241-AZ-101 and 241-AZ-102 for Steam Reformer Testing at the Savannah River National Laboratory. All procedural steps were recorded in laboratory notebook HNF-N-274 3. Sample breakdown diagrams for AN-103 and SX-105 are presented in Appendix A. The tank samples were prepared in support of a series of treatability studies of the Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) process using a Bench-Scale Reformer (BSR) at SRNL. Tests with simulants have shown that the FBSR mineralized waste form is comparable to low-activity waste glass with respect to environmental durability (WSRC-STI-2008-00268, Mineralization of Radioactive Wastes by Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR): Comparisons to Vitreous Waste Forms and Pertinent Durability Testing). However, a rigorous assessment requires …

The reentrant cone approach to Fast Ignition, an advanced Inertial Confinement Fusion scheme, remains one of the most attractive because of the potential to efficiently collect and guide the laser light into the cone tip and direct energetic electrons into the high density core of the fuel. However, in the presence of a preformed plasma, the laser energy is largely absorbed before it can reach the cone tip. Full scale fast ignition laser systems are envisioned to have prepulses ranging between 100 mJ to 1 J. A few of the imperative issues facing fast ignition, then, are the conversion efficiency with which the laser light is converted to hot electrons, the subsequent transport characteristics of those electrons, and requirements for maximum allowable prepulse this may put on the laser system. This dissertation examines the laser-to-fast electron conversion efficiency scaling with prepulse for cone-guided fast ignition. Work in developing an extreme ultraviolet imager diagnostic for the temperature measurements of electron-heated targets, as well as the validation of the use of a thin wire for simultaneous determination of electron number density and electron temperature will be discussed.

A material subjected to radiation damage will usually experience changes in its physical properties. Measuring these changes in the physical properties provides a basis to study radiation damage in a material which is important for a variety of real world applications from reactor materials to semiconducting devices. When investigating radiation damage, the relative sensitivity of any given property can vary considerably based on the concentration and type of damage present as well as external parameters such as the temperature and starting material composition. By measuring multiple physical properties, these differing sensitivities can be leveraged to provide greater insight into the different aspects of radiation damage accumulation, thereby providing a broader understanding of the mechanisms involved. In this report, self-damage from {alpha}-particle decay in Pu is investigated by measuring two different properties: magnetic susceptibility and resistivity. The results suggest that while the first annealing stage obeys second order chemical kinetics, the primary mechanism is not the recombination of vacancy-interstitial close pairs.

The electrical and friction properties of omega-(trans-4-stilbene)alkylthiol self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au(111) were investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and near edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS). The sample surface was uniformly covered with a molecular film consisting of very small grains. Well-ordered and flat monolayer islands were formed after the sample was heated in nitrogen at 120 oC for 1 h. While lattice resolved AFM images revealed a crystalline phase in the islands, the area between islands showed no order. The islands exhibit substantial reduction (50percent) in friction, supporting the existence of good ordering. NEXAFS measurements revealed an average upright molecular orientation in the film, both before and after heating, with a narrower tilt-angle distribution for the heated fim. Conductance-AFM measurements revealed a two orders of magnitude higher conductivity on the ordered islands than on the disordered phase. We propose that the conductance enhancement is a result of a better pi-pi stacking between the trans-stilbene molecular units as a result of improved ordering in islands.

The development of efficient and safe methods for hydrogen storage is a major hurdle that must be overcome to enable the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy carrier. The objectives of this project in the DOE Center of Excellence in Chemical Hydride Storage were both to develop new methods for on-demand, low temperature hydrogen release from chemical hydrides and to design high-conversion off-board methods for chemical hydride regeneration. Because of their reactive protic (N-H) and hydridic (B-H) hydrogens and high hydrogen contents, amineboranes such as ammonia borane, NH3BH3 (AB), 19.6-wt% H2, and ammonia triborane NH3B3H7 (AT), 17.7-wt% H2, were initially identified by the Center as promising, high-capacity chemical hydrogen storage materials with the potential to store and deliver molecular hydrogen through dehydrogenation and hydrolysis reactions. In collaboration with other Center partners, the Penn project focused both on new methods to induce amineborane H2-release and on new strategies for the regeneration the amineborane spent-fuel materials. The Penn approach to improving amineborane H2-release focused on the use of ionic liquids, base additives and metal catalysts to activate AB dehydrogenation and these studies successfully demonstrated that in ionic liquids the AB induction period that had been observed in the solid-state was eliminated …

None

The Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment (NDCX-II) is an 11 M$ induction accelerator project currently in construction at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for warm dense matter (WDM) experiments investigating the interaction of ion beams with matter at elevated temperature and pressure. The machine consists of a lithium injector, induction accelerator cells, diagnostic cells, a neutralized drift compression line, a final focus solenoid, and a target chamber. The induction cells and some of the pulsed power systems have been reused from the decommissioned Advanced Test Accelerator at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory after refurbishment and modification. The machine relies on a sequence of acceleration waveforms to longitudinally compress the initial ion pulse from 600 ns to less than 1 ns in {approx} 12 m. Radial confinement of the beam is achieved with 2.5 T pulsed solenoids. In the initial hardware configuration, 50 nC of Li{sup +} will be accelerated to 1.25 MeV and allowed to drift-compress to a peak current of {approx}40 A. The project started in the summer of 2009. Construction of the accelerator will be completed in the fall of 2011 and will provide a worldwide unique opportunity for ion-driven warm dense matter experiments as well as research related to novel …

The reaction of Cp'2CeH (Cp' = 1,2,4-(Me3C)3C5H2 ) with MeOSiMe3 gives Cp'2CeOMe and HSiMe3 and the reaction of the metallacycle, Cp'[(Me3C)2C5H2C(Me) 2CH2]Ce, with MeOSiMe3 yields Cp'2CeOCH2SiMe3, formed from hypothetical Cp'2CeCH2OSiMe3 by a [1, 2] shift also known as a silyl-Wittig rearrangement. Although both cerium products are alkoxides, they are formed by different pathways. DFT calculations on the reaction of the model metallocene, Cp2CeH, and MeOSiMe3 show that the lowest energy pathway is a H for OMe exchange at Ce that occurs by way of a sigma-bond metathesis transition state as SiMe3 exchanges partners. The formation of Cp2CeOCH2SiMe3 occurs by way of a low activation barrier [1, 2]shift of the SiMe3 group in Cp2CeCH2OSiMe3. Calculations on a model metallacycle, Cp[C5H4C(Me)2CH2]Ce, show that the metallacycle favors CH bond activation over sigma-bond metathesis involving the transfer of the SiMe3 group in good agreement with experiment. The sigma-bond metathesis involving the transfer of SiMe3 and the [1, 2]shift of SiMe3 reactions have in common a pentacoordinate silicon at the transition states. A molecular orbital analysis illustrates the connection between these two Si-O bond cleavage reactions and traces the reason why they occur for a silyl but not for an alkyl group to the difference …

None

This report summarizes work carried out by the ESG-CET during the period October 1, 2009 through March 31, 2009. It includes discussion of highlights, overall progress, period goals, collaborations, papers, and presentations. To learn more about our project, and to find previous reports, please visit the Earth System Grid Center for Enabling Technologies (ESG-CET) website. This report will be forwarded to the DOE SciDAC program management, the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) program management, national and international collaborators and stakeholders (e.g., the Community Climate System Model (CCSM), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (AR5), the Climate Science Computational End Station (CCES), the SciDAC II: A Scalable and Extensible Earth System Model for Climate Change Science, the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP), and other wide-ranging climate model evaluation activities).