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Title II of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) established that a government agency will provide perpetual care for closed uranium and thorium ore-processing sites that were operating under an NRC source material license in 1978 or were licensed thereafter. Commercial owners (licensees) operating under an NRC or agreement state specific license when UMTRCA was passed are responsible for conducting reclamation of any byproduct material remaining from uranium-ore processing operations in accordance with an NRC or agreement state approved reclamation plan. Reclamation includes both surface and groundwater remedies. Upon completion of reclamation and approval by NRC, the site is required to be transferred to either the host state or the DOE for long-term surveillance and maintenance. Since UMTRCA's enactment, six Title II sites have been transferred to DOE; an additional 24 Title II sites are anticipated to be transferred before 2050. DoE's role mandated under UMTRCA Title II as the long-term care custodian is to perform 'monitoring, maintenance, and emergency measures necessary to protect the public health and safety.' UMTRCA requires that the licensee pay a long-term surveillance charge 'sufficient to cover the annual costs of site surveillance.' However, at some sites such as the Bluewater, New Mexico, Disposal Site, this mandate has required additional effort and expense by DOE, beyond the originally anticipated and intended scope within UMTRCA, but within the authority of DOE under UMTRCA. In 1997, the Bluewater site became the second UMTRCA Title II site to be transferred to DOE. The site was the location of a uranium mill operated from 1953 until 1982. The specific licensee began site reclamation in 1991, and by 1995 all tailings and contaminated materials were encapsulated in two tailings disposal cells and other disposal areas. In addition to surface contamination, milling activities impacted groundwater in the two upper aquifers. In 1989, the specific licensee attempted active groundwater remediation; however, no significant reduction in contaminant concentrations was observed. As a result, the specific licensee applied to NRC for alternate concentration limits (ACLs) in 1990, which were approved in 1996 as being protective, after additional corrective actions were performed. Since transfer of the Bluewater site to DOE, unforeseen challenges have occurred, requiring additional actions. The first challenge is the occurrence of surface depressions located on the northern section of the main tailings disposal cell. The depressions were first observed during DoE's initial inspection in 1998; however, evidence of these can be observed on satellite images taken prior to transfer. Since being first observed, the depressions have continued to grow both in depth and areal extent. Due to the design of the main tailings disposal cell, the depressions impede storm water from being effectively shed off the 101- hectare (250-acre) top slope of the main tailings disposal cell. Instead, storm water accumulates in the depressions, forming a large ephemeral pond that has stored up to 16.3 x 10{sup 6} liters (4.3 million gallons) of stormwater. The ponding poses a potential risk to the integrity of the main tailings disposal cell in the case of a large storm event, with the potential to cause the pond to overtop and erode the cover material and underlying waste. DOE has taken a number of short-term actions to monitor, measure, and reduce the ponding and is currently working with the US Army Corps of Engineers to design and construct a repair. Additional challenges are associated with groundwater at the Bluewater site. Nine wells were present on the 1335-hectare (3300-acre) site upon transfer. Groundwater compliance was called into question after the State of New Mexico reduced its uranium groundwater standard from 5.0 to 0.03 milligrams per liter in 2004, and when an ACL for uranium was exceeded in a site monitoring well in 2010. Acquiring historical groundwater data and subsequent evaluations as well as additional DOE groundwater monitoring led to installing 10 new monitoring wells and performing additional site hydrogeology recharacterization. DOE continues to evaluate groundwater conditions at the site and works with the NRC to determine regulatory requirements and a path forward. As a result of lessons learned at the Bluewater site and other Title II sites, improved processes have been implemented at a programmatic level to increase due diligence before site transfer and prevent similar issues from occurring at other UMTRCA Title II sites under long-term management. DoE's due diligence process is documented in the Process for Transition of UMTRCA Title II Disposal Sites to DOE for Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance and is designed to ensure that DOE has no technical or compliance concerns with regulatory decisions that might compromise protectiveness following site transfer to DOE. Implementation of the due diligence process has increased DoE's role prior to site transfer and has been effective in identifying potential issues. Actions by NRC and specific licensees, in response to enhanced due diligence efforts by DOE, are expected to minimize, if not totally prevent, the need for unanticipated actions by DOE pertaining to the surface and groundwater remedies after site transfer. (authors)
Numerical schemes are employed to investigate heat transfer in the turbulent flow of He II. FEM is used to solve a set of equations governing the heat transfer and hydrodynamics of He II in the turbulent regime. Numerical results are compared with available experimental data and interpreted in terms of conventional heat transfer parameters such as the Prandtl number, the Peclet number, and the Nusselt number. Within the prescribed Reynolds number domain, the Gorter-Mellink thermal counterflow mechanism becomes less significant, and He II acts like an ordinary fluid. The convection heat transfer characteristics of He II in the highly turbulent regime can be successfully described by using the conventional turbulence and heat transfer theories.
Ascribed to their higher capacity and lower cost compared to conventional LiCoO 2 , the Ni-rich layered LiNi 0.6 Mn 0.2 Co 0.2 O 2 (NMC622) is now considered as one promising cathode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, it still suffers from some evident performance degradation, especially under high cutoff voltages (i.e., >4.3 V versus Li/Li + ). The performance degradation typically is exhibited as capacity fading and voltage drop, mainly originating from an instable interface between the NMC622 and electrolyte as well as the evolution of the NMC structure. To improve the interfacial and structural stability of NMC cathodes, herein we deposited an ultrathin layer of Al 2 O 3 coatings (<5 nm) conformally over NMC622 composite electrodes directly using atomic layer deposition (ALD). It was found that, under different upper cutoff voltages (4.3, 4.5, and 4.7 V), the ALD Al 2 O 3 coatings enable enhanced performance of NMC622 cathodes with better cyclability and higher capacity. Particularly, the beneficial effects of the ALD Al 2 O 3 coatings are more remarkable at higher upper cutoff voltages (4.5 and 4.7 V). Furthermore, the ALD coatings can significantly improve the rate capability of NMC622. To this end, we utilized a suite of characterization tools and performed a series of electrochemical tests to clarify the effects of the ALD Al 2 O 3 coatings. This study revealed that the beneficial effects of the Al 2 O 3 ALD coatings are multiple: (i) serving as an artificial layer of solid electrolyte interphase to mitigate undesirable interfacial reactions; (ii) acting as a physical barrier to inhibit metal dissolution of NMC; and (iii) forming a reinforced networked overcoating to boost the mechanical integrity of NMC cathodes. This study is favorable for designing high-performance NMC cathodes.
Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were conducted in the Arc-Heated Combustion Tunnel (ACT-II) on a high-enthalpy Mach 4.5 nozzle flow. The primary motivation for the current work is to establish the feasibility of PIV as a high-quality flow diagnostic technique in hypersonic arc-heated flows and produce a high-resolution hypersonic nozzle flow characterization, including nozzle free jet shear layer velocity profiles. Due to the uncertain nature of the gas composition in the flowfield of interest, PIV measurements of a supersonic wedge flow were used to couple the flow velocities to the oblique shock relations. This enabled a PIV-derived total temperature calculation that does not require a priori assumptions of the exact gas composition. A PIV expansion module was developed for this study, and proper seed sizing and material were selected for the present flow. An analysis of the seed particle response from the PIV measurements provided an initial validation of the seed performance while revealing potential issues with consistent seed sizing. These measurements and derived conditions represent a means of acquiring high-resolution velocimetry and temperature datasets that consider uncertainties in the experimental generation of hypersonic high-enthalpy flows.
We present the first high-significance spectroscopic stacked kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) measurements of circumgalactic gas profiles for both Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) and Emission Line Galaxy (ELG) tracers, combining DESI Data Release 2 with ACT Data Release 6. Using reconstructed line-of-sight velocities from the DESI galaxies and high-resolution ACT temperature maps, we detect the kSZ signal at high significance, reaching signal-to-noise ratios of up to $\sim$9 for BGS and $\sim$7.5 for ELGs in optimal stellar-mass selections. Together with the LRG measurements presented in Paper I, these constitute the most significant kSZ detections from any spectroscopic survey to date. We perform the analysis in both real and harmonic space, obtaining consistent results. By splitting both tracers into stellar-mass bins, we study the scaling of the kSZ amplitude with galaxy properties. Combining the kSZ measurements with ACT Data Release 6 (DR6) CMB lensing maps enables a joint calibration of the galaxy-halo connection and the gas fractions of host halos. For the BGS galaxies, we observe low gas fractions around the virial radius relative to standard expectations, likely attributable to active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity. We find some evidence for higher-mass halos retaining a larger fraction of their baryons, consistent with more efficient feedback in lower-mass systems. For the ELG sample, dominated by blue, star-forming galaxies, we provide the first detection of the gas distribution in ELG host halos. The ELGs appear to exhibit relatively high gas fractions, which points to the possibility of weaker feedback (due to e.g. low AGN and supernova feedback activity) at their mass scale. Finally, we present generalized Navarro-Frenk-White (GNFW) fits to the harmonic-space measurements, providing a compact parametrization of gas profiles for forward modeling in large-scale structure analyses.
We report two-electron reduction of the amidate-supported U(III) mono(arene) complex U(TDA) 3 (2) with KC 8 yields the anionic bis(arene) complex [K[2.2.2]cryptand][U(TDA) 2 ] (3) (TDA = N-(2,6-di-isopropylphenyl)pivalamido). EPR spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and calculations using DFT as well as multireference CASSCF methods all provide strong evidence that the electronic structure of 3 is best represented as a 5f 4 U(II) metal center bound to a monoreduced arene ligand. Reactivity studies show 3 reacts as a U(I) synthon by behaving as a two-electron reductant toward I 2 to form the dinuclear U(III)–U(III) triiodide species [K[2.2.2]cryptand][(UI(TDA) 2 ) 2 (μ-I)] (6) and as a three-electron reductant toward cycloheptatriene (CHT) to form the U(IV) complex [K[2.2.2]cryptand][U(η 7 -C 7 H 7 )(TDA) 2 (THF)] (7). The reaction of 3 with cyclooctatetraene (COT) generates a mixture of the U(III) anion [K[2.2.2]cryptand][U(TDA) 4 ] (1-crypt) and U(COT) 2 , while the addition of COT to complex 2 instead yields the dinuclear U(IV)–U(IV) inverse sandwich complex [U(TDA) 3 ] 2 (μ-η 8 :η 3 -C 8 H 8 ) (8). Two-electron reduction of the homoleptic Th(IV) amidate complex Th(TDA) 4 (4) with KC 8 gives the mono(arene) complex [K[2.2.2]cryptand][Th(TDA) 3 (THF)] (5). The C–C bond lengths and torsion angles in the bound arene of 5 suggest a direduced arene bound to a Th(IV) metal center; this conclusion is supported by DFT calculations.
Sustainable energy production is critical for meeting growing worldwide energy demands. Due to its stability and reduction potential, photosystem I (PSI) is attractive as the photosensitizer in biophotovoltaic devices. Herein, we characterize aqueous and organic solvent soluble synthetic bipyridine-based cobalt complexes as redox mediators for PSI-based biophotovoltaics applications. Cobalt-based complexes are not destructive to protein and have appropriate midpoint potentials for electron donation to PSI. We report on PSI stability in organic solvents commonly used in biophotovoltaics. We also show the effects of a mixed organic solvent phase on PSI reduction kinetics, slowing reduction rates approximately 8–38 fold as compared to fully aqueous systems, with implications for dye regeneration rates in PSI-based biophotovoltaics. Further, we show evidence of direct electron transfer from cobalt complexes to PSI. Finally, we report on photocurrent generation from Co mediator-PSI biophotovoltaic devices. Taken together, we discuss the development of novel Co complexes and our ability to fine-tune their characteristics via functional groups and counteranion choice to drive interaction with a biological electron acceptor on multiple levels from redox midpoints, spectral overlap, and solvent requirements, among others. This work suggests that fine-tuning of redox active species for interaction with a biological partner is possible for the creation and improvement of low cost, carbon-neutral energy production in the future.
The Small Expendable-Tether Deployment System (SEDS) is a light-weight deployer capable of deploying instrumented packages and other tethered payloads up to a distance of 20 km. The system is simple and inexpensive because it does not retrieve the tethered payloads. The deployer is attached to the second stage of a Delta II which acts as a stabilized platform for the deployment of tethered payloads. SEDS is particularly suitable for complementing the Tethered Satellite missions by providing a flexible system for experimenting with the tether-in-space technology. SEDS can also provide a convenient way for testing instruments and/or procedures which require the use of long tethers.
Nickel photocatalysis has recently become vital to organic synthesis, but how the Ni (II) X 2 L pre-catalyst (X = Cl, Br; L = bidentate ligand) becomes activated to Ni (I) XL has remained puzzling and is typically addressed on a case-by-case basis. Here, we reveal a general mechanism where light induces photolysis of the Ni (II) -X bond, either via direct excitation or triplet energy transfer. Photolysis produces Ni (I) XL and a halogen radical, X*. Subsequent hydrogen atom abstraction, often from the solvent, produces a C(sp 3 ) radical, R*, that recombines with Ni (I) to form organonickel(II) complexes, Ni (II) XRL. Rather than acting as a loss pathway, Ni (II) XRL behaves as a light-activated reservoir of Ni (I) via photolysis of the Ni (II) -C bond. These results explain the role of the solvent in protecting the catalyst from off-cycle dimerization, demonstrate that two photons are often required to drive the reaction, and show how tuning the ligand can control the concentration of active Ni (I) species.
Forces acting on small dust particles orbiting near earth and in interplanetary space and existence or nonexistence of terrestrial dust belt
Herein it is well known that catalytic centers containing the zinc(II) ion can act as both Lewis and Bronsted-Lowry acids. In addition to coordination number, the Zn coordination geometry can also strongly impact the acidity of the active site, no matter what measure of acidity is considered. Herein, we report the first pentacoordinate, zinc-ammonia complex containing a pyridine based tetraazamacrocycle, [(pyclen)Zn(NH 3 )](PF 6 ) 2 , that has applications in Lewis acid catalysis. From this structure, we obtain binding energies and acidities for a series of related pyclen and cross-bridged cyclen type tetraazamacrocycles comprising the pentacoordinate N 4 Zn(II)–OH 2 entity, collectively referred to as [(R-cyclen)Zn–OH 2 ] 2+ . Results from gas- and aqueous-phase density functional theory (M05-2X) and ab initio (MP2) calculations reported herein demonstrate that molecular geometry has a substantial influence on both the Zn–OH x binding strengths and the deprotonation energy of coordinated H 2 O, but not necessarily in a predicable way. While generally more constrained N–Zn–N coordination leads to greater Zn–OH 2 binding energies (Lewis acidities), the corresponding Lewis acidities of the complexes don’t always correlate with the Zn–OH 2 bond lengths nor the (Bronsted) acidity of the coordinated H 2 O. Additionally, the order of the Lewis acid strength of the [(R-cyclen)Zn(II)] complexes changes as the basic –OH 2 ligand is replaced with its –OH counterpart.
Hot, ionized gas leaves an imprint on the cosmic microwave background via the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (tSZ) effect. The cross-correlation of gravitational lensing (which traces the projected mass) with the tSZ effect (which traces the projected gas pressure) is a powerful probe of the thermal state of ionized baryons throughout the Universe and is sensitive to effects such as baryonic feedback. In a companion paper (Gatti et al. Phys. Rev. D 105, 123525 (2022)), we present tomographic measurements and validation tests of the cross-correlation between Galaxy shear measurements from the first three years of observations of the Dark Energy Survey and tSZ measurements from a combination of Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Planck observations. In this work, we use the same measurements to constrain models for the pressure profiles of halos across a wide range of halo mass and redshift. We find evidence for reduced pressure in low-mass halos, consistent with predictions for the effects of feedback from active Galactic nuclei. We infer the hydrostatic mass bias (B ≡ M 500c /M SZ from our measurements, finding B = 1.8 ± 0.1 when adopting the Planck-preferred cosmological parameters. We additionally find that our measurements are consistent with a nonzero redshift evolution of B, with the correct sign and sufficient magnitude to explain the mass bias necessary to reconcile cluster count measurements with the Planck-preferred cosmology. Our analysis introduces a model for the impact of intrinsic alignments (IAs) of galaxy shapes on the shear-tSZ correlation. We show that IA can have a significant impact on these correlations at current noise levels.
We assessed renal blood flow and pressor responses to graded angiotensin II doses in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats ingesting a diet containing 1.6% sodium basally and after acute and chronic angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition with captopril. In the basal state the pressor response to angiotensin II was enhanced (P<0.0005) and the renal vascular response was blunted (P<0.005) in SHR compared with WKY rats. After acute captopril administration the pressor response was enhanced in both strains, and the difference between them was maintained, while the renal vascular response was enhanced in both, but more in SHR, so that the renal vascular response in the SHR became larger than in WKY (P<0.0001). Chronic captopril treatment blunted both pressor and renal responses in WKY rats, but only the pressor response in SHR. The renal vessels of SHR seem to be different from those of WKY rats in reaction to exogenous angiotensin II, and in response to both acute administration of captopril (probably acting through blockade of angiotensin II production) and chronic administration of captopril (probably acting mainly through accumulation of kinin or production of prostaglandins).
Iron porphyrin-based molecular catalysts can electrocatalyze CO 2 reduction to CO at nearly 100% selectivity in water. Nevertheless, the associated active sites and reaction mechanisms remain debatable, impeding the establishment of design guidelines for effective catalysts. This study reports coupling in operando experiments and theoretical calculations for immobilized 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl) porphyrin Fe(III) chloride (FeF 20 TPP) for electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction in an aqueous phase. In operando UV–vis and X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectra indicated the persisting presence of Fe(II) species during the cathodic reaction, acting as catalytic sites that accommodate CO as Fe(II)–CO adducts. Consistently, the density functional calculations pointed out that the ligand-reduced state with oxidized Fe, namely, [Fe(II)F 20 (TPP • )] - , prevails in the catalytic cycle prior to the rate-controlling step. This work provides the conclusive representation related to the working states of Fe-based molecular catalysts under reaction conditions.
The present work addresses the need for an efficient, versatile, accurate and open-source numerical tool to be used during the design stage of wave energy converters (WECs). The device considered here is the heaving point-absorber developed and tested by Sandia National Laboratories. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, as implemented in DualSPHysics, is proposed since its meshless approach presents some important advantages when simulating floating devices. The dynamics of the power take-off system are also modelled by coupling DualSPHysics with the multi-physics library Project Chrono. A satisfactory matching between experimental and numerical results is obtained for: (i) the heave response of the device when forced via its actuator; (ii) the vertical forces acting on the fixed device under regular waves and; (iii) the heave response of the WEC under the action of both regular waves and the actuator force. This proves the ability of the numerical approach proposed to simulate accurately the fluid–structure interaction along with the WEC’s closed-loop control system. In addition, radiation models built from the experimental and WAMIT results are compared with DualSPHysics by plotting the intrinsic impedance in the frequency domain, showing that the SPH method can be also employed for system identification.
Rhenium (Re) is an extremely rare element, with a crustal abundance of approximately 0.4 parts per billion (ppb) and a sea water concentration of 8.3 parts per trillion (ppt). However, Re concentrations in anoxic marine sediments range from 2 to 184 ppb, which is attributed to reduction of the highly soluble perrhenate ion (Re(VII)O 4 - ) to insoluble Re(IV) species. Anoxic sediments typically contain Fe(II) and sulfide species, which could potentially reduce Re(VII) to Re(IV). In this study, we examined the interactions of KReO 4 with magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ), siderite (FeCO 3 ), vivianite (Fe 3 (PO 4 ) 2 •8H 2 O), green rust (mixed Fe(II)/Fe(III) layered double hydroxide), mackinawite (FeS), and chemically reduced nontronite (NAu-1) using X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy to determine the valence state and speciation of Re. Uptake of Re by green rust was rapid, with ~50% associated with the solids within 2 days. In contrast, there was <10% uptake by the other Fe(II) phases over 48 days. Reduction of Re(VII) to Re(IV) was only observed in the presence of green rust, producing clusters of bidentate-coordinated Re(IV)O 6 octahedra.. These results suggest that except for green rust, the potential for other Fe(II)-bearing minerals to act as reductants for ReO 4 - in sedimentary environments requires further investigation.
An investigation shows that the extended Wannier-Slater theorem with its position-dependent effective mass m cannot be considered a viable description of a semiconductor with compositional changes. The correct description of the behavior of the electron or hole flow in semiconductors in which the chemical composition changes gradually from position to position is more difficult. It is necessary to find a model Hamiltonian. This model Hamiltonian is to some extent arbitry, but it must be representative of a homogeneous sample. The difference between the true and the model Hamiltonian should be small in the sense that this difference may be considered a perturbation. However, a Hamiltonian with the required specifications can always be found provided that the compositional inhomogeneities do not change drastically over the distances of interest.