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Small-column ion exchange (SCIX) units installed in high-level waste tanks to remove Cs-137 from highly alkaline salt solutions are among the waste treatment plans in the DOE-complex. Spherical Resorcinol-Formaldehyde (sRF) is the ion exchange resin selected for use in the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). It is also the primary ion exchange material under consideration for SCIX at the Hanford site. The elution step of the multi-step ion exchange process is typically done with 0.5 M nitric acid. An acid eluant is a potential hazard in the event of a spill, leak, etc. because the high-level waste tanks are made of carbon steel. Corrosion and associated structural damage may ensue. A study has been conducted to explore non-acid elution as an alternative. Batch contact sorption equilibrium screening tests have been conducted with 36 potential non-acid eluants. The sorption tests involve equilibrating each cesium-containing eluant solution with the sRF resin for 48 hours at 25 C in a shaker oven. In the sorption tests, an eluant is deemed to have a high cesium elution potential if it minimizes cesium sorption onto the sRF resin. The top candidates (based on lowest cesium sorption distribution coefficients) include ammonium carbonate, ammonium carbonate/ammonium …

The objective of this DOE SAI project is to demonstrate the feasibility of electrodeposited and solution-doped transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) such as zinc oxide with resistivity in the mid-10{sup -4} {Omega}-cm range. The target application is an 'on-top' TCO which can be deposited on semiconductors in thin-film and future solar cells including amorphous silicon, copper indium gallium selenide and emerging solar cells. There is no solution-prepared on-top TCO currently used in commercial solar cells. This project, if successful, will fill this gap. Our technical objectives include electrodeposited TCOs with (1) resistivity in the mid-10{sup -4} {Omega}-cm range, (2) post-deposition annealing below 300 C and (3) no-vacuum processing or low-vacuum processing. All the three research objectives listed above have been accomplished in the 14-month period from July 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010. The most noticeable accomplishments of this project are (1) identification of a terawatt-scale dopant for zinc oxide, i.e. yttrium, whose known reserve is enough for 60 peak terawatts of thin-film solar cells; (2) demonstration of a record-low resistivity, 6.3 x 10{sup -5} {Omega}-cm, in solution-deposited zinc oxide with an abundant dopant; and (3) the record-low resistivity was accomplished with a maximum process temperature of 300 C and without …

To gain insight into how genomic information is translated into cellular and developmental programs, the Drosophila model organism Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (modENCODE) project is comprehensively mapping transcripts, histone modifications, chromosomal proteins, transcription factors, replication proteins and intermediates, and nucleosome properties across a developmental time course and in multiple cell lines. We have generated more than 700 data sets and discovered protein-coding, noncoding, RNA regulatory, replication, and chromatin elements, more than tripling the annotated portion of the Drosophila genome. Correlated activity patterns of these elements reveal a functional regulatory network, which predicts putative new functions for genes, reveals stage- and tissue-specific regulators, and enables gene-expression prediction. Our results provide a foundation for directed experimental and computational studies in Drosophila and related species and also a model for systematic data integration toward comprehensive genomic and functional annotation. Several years after the complete genetic sequencing of many species, it is still unclear how to translate genomic information into a functional map of cellular and developmental programs. The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) (1) and model organism ENCODE (modENCODE) (2) projects use diverse genomic assays to comprehensively annotate the Homo sapiens (human), Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly), and Caenorhabditis elegans (worm) genomes, through systematic …

This project presents a model for addressing several objectives envisioned by the metal casting industries through the integration of research and educational components. It provides an innovative approach to introduce technologies for real time characterization of sand molds, lost foam patterns and monitoring of the mold filling process. The technology developed will enable better control over the casting process. It is expected to reduce scrap and variance in the casting quality. A strong educational component is integrated into the research plan to utilize increased awareness of the industry professional, the potential benefits of the developed technology, and the potential benefits of cross cutting technologies.

We successfully demonstrated a novel process intensification concept enabled by the development of microchannel reactors, for energy efficient catalytic hydrogenation reactions at moderate temperature, and pressure, and low solvent levels. We designed, fabricated, evaluated, and optimized a laboratory-scale microchannel reactor system for hydrogenation of onitroanisole and a proprietary BMS molecule. In the second phase of the program, as a prelude to full-scale commercialization, we designed and developed a fully-automated skid-mounted multichannel microreactor pilot plant system for multiphase reactions. The system is capable of processing 1 – 10 kg/h of liquid substrate, and an industrially relevant immiscible liquid-liquid was successfully demonstrated on the system. Our microreactor-based pilot plant is one-of-akind. We anticipate that this process intensification concept, if successfully demonstrated, will provide a paradigm-changing basis for replacing existing energy inefficient, cost ineffective, environmentally detrimental slurry semi-batch reactor-based manufacturing practiced in the pharmaceutical and fine chemicals industries.

The current trend in the steel industry is a gradual decline in conventional steelmaking from taconite pellets in blast furnaces, and an increasing number of alternative processes using metallic scrap iron, pig iron and metallized iron ore products. Currently, iron ores from Minnesota and Michigan are pelletized and shipped to the lower Great Lakes ports as blast furnace feed. The existing transportation system and infrastructure is geared to handling these bulk materials. In order to expand the opportunities for the existing iron ore mines beyond their blast furnace customer base, a new material is needed to satisfy the needs of the emerging steel industry while utilizing the existing infrastructure and materials handling. A recent commercial installation employing Kobe Steel’s ITmk3 process, was installed in Northeastern Minnesota. The basic process uses a moving hearth furnace to directly reduce iron oxides to metallic iron from a mixture of iron ore, coals and additives. The resulting products can be shipped using the existing infrastructure for use in various steelmaking processes. The technology reportedly saves energy by 30% over the current integrated steelmaking process and reduces emissions by more than 40%. A similar large-scale pilot plant campaign is also currently in progress using JFE …

This study examines the characteristics of cement plants and their ability to shed or shift load to participate in demand response (DR). Relevant factors investigated include the various equipment and processes used to make cement, the operational limitations cement plants are subject to, and the quantities and sources of energy used in the cement-making process. Opportunities for energy efficiency improvements are also reviewed. The results suggest that cement plants are good candidates for DR participation. The cement industry consumes over 400 trillion Btu of energy annually in the United States, and consumes over 150 MW of electricity in California alone. The chemical reactions required to make cement occur only in the cement kiln, and intermediate products are routinely stored between processing stages without negative effects. Cement plants also operate continuously for months at a time between shutdowns, allowing flexibility in operational scheduling. In addition, several examples of cement plants altering their electricity consumption based on utility incentives are discussed. Further study is needed to determine the practical potential for automated demand response (Auto-DR) and to investigate the magnitude and shape of achievable sheds and shifts.

To investigate {gamma}-H2AX (phosphorylated histone H2AX) and 53BP1 (tumour protein 53 binding protein No. 1) foci formation and removal in proliferating and non-proliferating human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC) after exposure to sparsely and densely ionizing radiation under different cell culture conditions. HMEC cells were grown either as monolayers (2D) or in extracellular matrix to allow the formation of acinar structures in vitro (3D). Foci numbers were quantified by image analysis at various time points after exposure. Our results reveal that in non-proliferating cells under 2D and 3D cell culture conditions, iron-ion induced {gamma}-H2AX foci were still present at 72 h after exposure, although 53BP1 foci returned to control levels at 48 h. In contrast in proliferating HMEC, both {gamma}-H2AX and 53BP1 foci decreased to control levels during the 24-48 h time interval after irradiation under 2D conditions. Foci numbers decreased faster after {gamma}-ray irradiation and returned to control levels by 12 h regardless of marker, cell proliferation status, and cell culture condition. Conclusions: The disappearance of radiation induced {gamma}-H2AX and 53BP1 foci in HMEC have different dynamics that depend on radiation quality and proliferation status. Notably, the general patterns do not depend on the cell culture condition (2D versus 3D). …

We present a new spatial discretization of the discrete-ordinates transport equation in two-dimensional Cartesian (X-Y) geometry for arbitrary polygonal meshes. The discretization is a discontinuous finite element method (DFEM) that utilizes piecewise bi-linear (PWBL) basis functions, which are formally introduced in this paper. We also present a series of numerical results on quadrilateral and polygonal grids and compare these results to a variety of other spatial discretizations that have been shown to be successful on these grid types. Finally, we note that the properties of the PWBL basis functions are such that the leading-order piecewise bi-linear discontinuous finite element (PWBLD) solution will satisfy a reasonably accurate diffusion discretization in the thick diffusion limit, making the PWBLD method a viable candidate for many different classes of transport problems.

A literature review and evaluation has been conducted on cradle-to-gate life-cycle inventory studies of lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride, sodium-sulfur, and lithium-ion battery technologies. Data were sought that represent the production of battery constituent materials and battery manufacture and assembly. Life-cycle production data for many battery materials are available and usable, though some need updating. For the remaining battery materials, lifecycle data either are nonexistent or, in some cases, in need of updating. Although battery manufacturing processes have occasionally been well described, detailed quantitative information on energy and material flows is missing. For all but the lithium-ion batteries, enough constituent material production energy data are available to approximate material production energies for the batteries, though improved input data for some materials are needed. Due to the potential benefit of battery recycling and a scarcity of associated data, there is a critical need for life-cycle data on battery material recycling. Either on a per kilogram or per watt-hour capacity basis, lead-acid batteries have the lowest production energy, carbon dioxide emissions, and criteria pollutant emissions. Some process-related emissions are also reviewed in this report.

Lincoln Composites operates a facility for designing, testing, and manufacturing composite pressure vessels. Lincoln Composites also has a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project to develop composite tanks for high-pressure hydrogen storage. The initial stage of this project involves testing the permeation of high-pressure hydrogen through polymer liners. The company recently moved and is constructing a dedicated research/testing laboratory at their new location. In the meantime, permeation tests are being performed in a corner of a large manufacturing facility. The safety review team visited the Lincoln Composites site on May 25, 2010. The project team presented an overview of the company and project and took the safety review team on a tour of the facility. The safety review team saw the entire process of winding a carbon fiber/resin tank on a liner, installing the boss and valves, and curing and painting the tank. The review team also saw the new laboratory that is being built for the DOE project and the temporary arrangement for the hydrogen permeation tests.

In this report, we present results from analysis of Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulation data with the goal of determining internal structure of a 3N-dimensional phase space of an N-electron molecule. We are interested in mining the simulation data for patterns that might be indicative of the bond rearrangement as molecules change electronic states. We examined simulation output that tracks the positions of two coupled electrons in the singlet and triplet states of an H2 molecule. The electrons trace out a trajectory, which was analyzed with a number of statistical techniques. This project was intended to address the following scientific questions: (1) Do high-dimensional phase spaces characterizing electronic structure of molecules tend to cluster in any natural way? Do we see a change in clustering patterns as we explore different electronic states of the same molecule? (2) Since it is hard to understand the high-dimensional space of trajectories, can we project these trajectories to a lower dimensional subspace to gain a better understanding of patterns? (3) Do trajectories inherently lie in a lower-dimensional manifold? Can we recover that manifold? After extensive statistical analysis, we are now in a better position to respond to these questions. (1) We definitely see clustering …

This report presents the nonintrusive characterization measurement results for the 618-10 Burial Ground and provides a general assessment of the estimated dose, isotopic concentrations, and bounding transuranic radionuclide inventories for the 618-10 vertical pipe units and trenches, based on interpretation of data from a system of in situ radiological multi-detector probes.

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A post-demolition modeling analysis is conducted that compares during-demolition atmospheric concentration monitoring results with modeling results based on the actual meteorological conditions during the demolition activities. The 224-U and 224-UA Buildings that were located in the U-Plant UO3 complex in the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site were demolished during the summer of 2010. These facilities converted uranyl nitrate hexahydrate (UNH), a product of Hanford’s Plutonium-Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant, into uranium trioxide (UO3). This report is an addendum to a pre-demolition emission analysis and air dispersion modeling effort that was conducted for proposed demolition activities for these structures.

High-level nuclear waste produced from fuel reprocessing operations at the Savannah River Site (SRS) requires pretreatment to remove {sup 134,137}Cs, {sup 90}Sr, and alpha-emitting radionuclides (i.e., actinides) prior to disposal onsite as low level waste. An inorganic sorbent, monosodium titanate (MST), is currently used to remove {sup 90}Sr and alpha-emitting radionuclides, while a caustic-side solvent extraction process is used for removing {sup 134,137}Cs. A new peroxotitanate material, modified MST, or mMST, has recently been developed and has shown increased removal kinetics and capacity for {sup 90}Sr and alpha-emitting radionuclides compared to the current baseline material, MST. This paper describes recent results focused on further characterization of this material.

The purpose of this compliance study was to estimate dam passage survival of subyearling Chinook salmon smolts at The Dalles Dam during summer 2010. Under the 2008 Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) Biological Opinion (BiOp), dam passage survival should be greater than or equal to 0.93 and estimated with a standard error (SE) less than or equal 0.015. The study also estimated smolt passage survival from the forebay 2 km upstream of the dam to the tailrace 2 km below the dam The forebay-to-tailrace survival estimate satisfies the “BRZ-to-BRZ” survival estimate called for in the Fish Accords. , as well as the forebay residence time, tailrace egress time, and spill passage efficiency, as required in the Columbia Basin Fish Accords. The estimate of dam survival for subyearling Chinook salmon at The Dalles in 2010 was 0.9404 with an associated standard error of 0.0091.

In magnetic thin films, a magnetic vortex is a state in which the magnetization vector curls around the center of a confined structure. A vortex state in a thin film disk, for example, is a topological object characterized by the vortex polarity and the winding number. In ferromagnetic (FM) disks, these parameters govern many fundamental properties of the vortex such as its gyroscopic rotation, polarity reversal, core motion, and vortex pair excitation. However, in antiferromagnetic (AFM) disks, though there has been indirect evidence of the vortex state through observations of the induced FM-ordered spins in the AFM disk, they have never been observed directly in experiment. By fabricating single crystalline NiO/Fe/Ag(001) and CoO/Fe/Ag(001) disks and using X-ray Magnetic Linear Dichroism (XMLD), we show direct observation of the vortex state in an AFM disk of AFM/FM bilayer system. We observe that there are two types of AFM vortices, one of which has no analog in FM structures. Finally, we show that a frozen AFM vortex can bias a FM vortex at low temperature.

China has set an ambitious goal of reducing its energy use per unit of GDP by 20% between 2006 and 2010. Since the industrial sector consumes about two-thirds of China's primary energy, many of the country's efforts are focused on improving the energy efficiency of this sector. Industrial energy audits have become an important part of China's efforts to improve its energy intensity. In China, industrial energy audits have been employed to help enterprises indentify energy-efficiency improvement opportunities for achieving the energy-saving targets. These audits also serve as a mean to collect critical energy-consuming information necessary for governments at different levels to supervise enterprises energy use and evaluate their energy performance. To better understand how energy audits are carried out in China as well as their impacts on achieving China's energy-saving target, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) conducted an in-depth study that combines a review of China's national policies and guidelines on energy auditing and a series of discussions with a variety of Chinese institutions involved in energy audits. This report consists of four parts. First, it provides a historical overview of energy auditing in China over the past decades, describing how and why energy audits have …

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been conducting research for the United States Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy, Biomass Program to investigate the feasibility of producing mixed alcohols from biomass-derived synthesis gas (syngas). This research has involved the screening of potential catalysts, and optimization of the more promising ones, using laboratory scale reactors. During 2009, the main goal of the testing program focused on optimizing selected supported catalysts containing rhodium (Rh) and manganese (Mn). Optimization involved examining different total concentrations and atomic ratios of Rh and Mn as well as that of the more promising promoters (Ir and Li) identified in the earlier screening studies. Evaluation of catalyst performance focused on attaining improvements with respect to the space-time-yield and converted carbon selectivity to C2+ oxygenates, with additional consideration given to the fraction of the oxygenates that were C2+ alcohols.

Quarkonia can be a very useful tool for understanding the medium in which they are produced and pass through. However, their usefulness as a tool depends on how well certain aspects of their behavior in cold matter are understood.

We discuss the calculation of open heavy flavor cross sections at RHIC and describe how the semileptonic decays of charm and bottom quarks can be separated.

In this study we develop and apply new methods of data analysis for high resolution wind power and system load time series, to improve our understanding of how to characterize highly variable wind power output and the correlations between wind power and load. These methods are applied to wind and load data from the ERCOT region, and wind power output from the PJM and NYISO areas. We use a wavelet transform to apply mathematically well-defined operations of smoothing and differencing to the time series data. This approach produces a set of time series of the changes in wind power and load (or ?deltas?), over a range of times scales from a few seconds to approximately one hour. A number of statistical measures of these time series are calculated. We present sample distributions, and devise a method for fitting the empirical distribution shape in the tails. We also evaluate the degree of serial correlation, and linear correlation between wind and load. Our examination of the data shows clearly that the deltas do not follow a Gaussian shape; the distribution is exponential near the center and appears to follow a power law for larger fluctuations. Gaussian distributions are frequently used in modeling …