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Statistical Considerations in Designing Tests of Mine Detection Systems: 1 - Measures Related to the Probability of Detection
No full textOne of the primary metrics used to gauge the performance of mine detection systems is PD, the probability of detecting an actual mine that is encountered by the sensor. In this report statistical issues and techniques that are relevant to the estimation of PD are discussed. Appropriate methods are presented for summarizing the performance of a single detection system, for comparing different systems, and for determining the sample size (number of target mines) required for a desired degree of precision. References are provided to pertinent sources within the extensive literature on statistical estimation and experimental design. A companion report addresses the estimation of detection system false alarm rates
Removal of Sarin Aerosol and Vapor by Water Sprays
No full textFalling water drops can collect particles and soluble or reactive vapor from the gas through which they fall. Rain is known to remove particles and vapors by the process of rainout. Water sprays can be used to remove radioactive aerosol from the atmosphere of a nuclear reactor containment building. There is a potential for water sprays to be used as a mitigation technique to remove chemical or bio- logical agents from the air. This paper is a quick-look at water spray removal. It is not definitive but rather provides a reasonable basic model for particle and gas removal and presents an example calcu- lation of sarin removal from a BART station. This work ~ a starting point and the results indicate that further modeling and exploration of additional mechanisms for particle and vapor removal may prove beneficial
Using the DOE Knowledge Base for Special Event Analysis
No full textThe DOE Knowledge Base is a library of detailed information whose purpose is to support the United States National Data Center (USNDC) in its mission to monitor compliance with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). One of the important tasks which the USNDC must accomplish is to periodically perform detailed analysis of events of high interest, so-called "Special Events", to provide the national authority with information needed to make policy decisions. In this paper we investigate some possible uses of the Knowledge Base for Special Event Analysis (SEA), and make recommendations for improving Knowledge Base support for SEA. To analyze an event in detail, there are two basic types of data which must be used sensor-derived data (wave- forms, arrivals, events, etc.) and regiohalized contextual data (known sources, geological characteristics, etc.). Cur- rently there is no single package which can provide full access to both types of data, so for our study we use a separate package for each MatSeis, the Sandia Labs-developed MATLAB-based seismic analysis package, for wave- form data analysis, and ArcView, an ESRI product, for contextual data analysis. Both packages are well-suited to pro- totyping because they provide a rich set of currently available functionality and yet are also flexible and easily extensible, . Using these tools and Phase I Knowledge Base data sets, we show how the Knowledge Base can improve both the speed and the quality of SEA. Empirically-derived interpolated correction information can be accessed to improve both location estimates and associated error estimates. This information can in turn be used to identi~ any known nearby sources (e.g. mines, volcanos), which may then trigger specialized processing of the sensor data. Based on the location estimate, preferred magnitude formulas and discriminants can be retrieved, and any known blockages can be identified to prevent miscalculations. Relevant historic events can be identilled either by spatial proximity searches or through waveform correlation processing. The locations and waveforms of these events can then be made available for side-by-side comparison and processing. If synthetic modeling is thought to be warranted, a wide variety of rele- vant contextu~l information (e.g. crustal thickness and layering, seismic velocities, attenuation factors) can be retrieved and sent to the appropriate applications. Once formedj the synthetics can then be brought in for side-by-side comparison and fhrther processing. Based on our study, we make two general recommendations. First, proper inter-process communication between sensor data analysis software and contextual data analysis sofisvare should be developed. Second, some of the Knowl- edge Base data sets should be prioritized or winnowed to streamline comparison with observed quantities
300 Degree C GaN/AlGaN Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor
No full textA GaN/AIGaN heterojunction bipolar transistor has been fabricated using C12/Ar dry etching for mesa formation. As the hole concentration increases due to more efficient ionization of the Mg acceptors at elevated temperatures (> 250oC), the device shows improved gain. Future efforts which are briefly summarized. should focus on methods for reducing base resistance
A Water Balance Study of Four Landfill Cover Designs at Material Disposal Area B in Los Alamos, New Mexico
No full textThe goal of disposing of low-level radioactive and hazardous waste in shallow landfills is to reduce risk to human health and the environment by isolating contaminants until they no longer pose an unacceptable hazard. In order to achieve this, the Department of Energy Environmental Restoration Program is comparing the performance of several different surface covers at Material Disposal Area (MDA) B in Los Alamos. Two conventional landfill were compared with an improved cover designed to minimize plant and animal intrusion and to minimize water infiltration into the underlying wastes. The conventional covers varied in depth and both conventional and improved designs had different combinations of vegetation (grass verses shrub) and gravel mulch (no mulch verses mulch). These treatments were applied to each of 12 plots and water balance parameters were measured from March1987 through June 1995. Adding a gravel mulch significantly influenced the plant covered field plots receiving no gravel mulch averaged 21.2% shrub cover, while plots with gravel had a 20% larger percent cover of shrubs. However, the influence of gravel mulch on the grass cover was even larger than the influence on shrub cover, average grass cover on the plots with no gravel was 16.3%, compared with a 42% increase in grass cover due to gravel mulch. These cover relationships are important to reduce runoff on the landfill cover, as shown by a regression model that predicts that as ground cover is increased from 30 to 90%,annual runoff is reduced from 8.8 to 0.98 cm-a nine-fold increase. We also found that decreasing the slope of the landfill cover from 6 to 2% reduced runoff from the landfill cover by 2.7-fold. To minimize the risk of hazardous waste from landfills to humans, runoff and seepage need to be minimized and evapotranspiration maximized on the landfill cover. This has to be accomplished for dry and wet years at MDA B. Seepage consisted of 1.9% and 6.2% of the precipitation in the average and once in ten year events, respectively, whereas corresponding values for runoff were 13% and 16%; these changes were accompanied by corresponding decreases in evapotranspiration, which accounted for 86% and only 78% of the precipitation occurring on the average and once in ten year even~ respectively
A new paradigm to establish the safety basis for nuclear explosives operations
No full textThe U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) has recognized that safety assurance requires a balance of institutional and engineering approaches as part of an ongoing safety process. This recognition formed the basis for a new approach to nuclear explosive safety with a focus on the inherent value of the examination process, as opposed to an absolute justification of the nuclear explosive operation against some preddined acceptance criteria. This new approach to safety is reflected in recent DOE Orders and Standards in that there is no requirement that quantitative risk assessment or risk quantification be used in meeting requirements. Furthermore, there is no requirement to compare hazard and accident analysis results against numerical acceptance criteria. This paper discusses the evolution of the DOE nuclear explosive safety orders and compares those with facility safety requirements. The DOE nuclear explosive safety process is examined, and an example application is discussed with emphasis on identification of safety measures and controls
Validation of Electrical-Impedance Tomography for Measurements of Material Distribution in Two-Phase Flows
No full textA series of studies is presented in which an electrical-impedance tomography (EXT) system is validated for two-phase flow measurements. The EIT system, developed at Sandia National Laboratories, is described along with the computer algorithm used for reconstructing phase volume fraction profiles. The algorithm is first tested using numerical data and experimental phantom measurements, with good results. The EIT system is then applied to solid-liquid and gas-liquid flows, and results are compared to an established gamma-densitometry tomography (GDT) system. In the solid-liquid flows, the average solid volume fractions measured by EIT are in good agreement with nominal values; in the gas-liquid flows, average gas volume fractions and radial gas volume fraction profiles from GDT and EIT are also in good agreement
JCZS: An Intermolecular Potential Database for Performing Accurate Detonation and Expansion Calculations
No full textExponential-13,6 (EXP-13,6) potential pammeters for 750 gases composed of 48 elements were determined and assembled in a database, referred to as the JCZS database, for use with the Jacobs Cowperthwaite Zwisler equation of state (JCZ3-EOS)~l) The EXP- 13,6 force constants were obtained by using literature values of Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential functions, by using corresponding states (CS) theory, by matching pure liquid shock Hugoniot data, and by using molecular volume to determine the approach radii with the well depth estimated from high-pressure isen- tropes. The JCZS database was used to accurately predict detonation velocity, pressure, and temperature for 50 dif- 3 Accurate predictions were also ferent explosives with initial densities ranging from 0.25 glcm3 to 1.97 g/cm . obtained for pure liquid shock Hugoniots, static properties of nitrogen, and gas detonations at high initial pressures
The Tunnel Sealing Experiment: An In Situ Demonstration of Technologies for Vault Sealing
No full textTwo bulkheads, one composed of high performance concrete and the other of highly compacted sand-bentonite material, have been constructed in a tunnel in unfractured granite rock at the Underground Research Laboratory. The Tunnel Sealing Experiment will characterize the performance of the two bulkheads under applied hydraulic pressures. The chamber between the two bulkheads will be pressurized to approximately 4 MPa, a value representative of the ambient pore pressures in the rock at a depth of 420 m. Instrumentation in the experiment monitors the seepage through and around each bulkhead as well as the changes tot he pure water pressure, and hence changes to the flow directions,in the intact rock. Stresses and displacements in each bulkhead are also monitored. The objective of the experiment is to demonstrate technologies for contrustion of bentonite and concrete bulkheads and to quantify the performance of each bulkhead
CMC Participation in the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) Workshop: Defense, Technology and Cooperative Security in South Asia
No full textAs an ongoing part of the collaborative efforts between the Cooperative Monitoring Center (CMC) at Sandia National Laboratories, the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), staff from the CMC served as faculty in conducting a workshop in Shanghai, China. Sponsor of the workshop was the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The workshop included participants from throughout South Asia and China. The CMC presented four sessions related to the role of monitoring technologies in promoting regional security and building confidence among nations. Participation in these workshops supports U.S. efforts to further regional cooperation and promote arms control, nonproliferation and other cooperative securily measures and supplements efforts funded by DOE and ACDA over the past four years. The RCSS Shanghai meeting permitted a continued CMC involvement in regionally conducted training for anew generation of leaders in government, the military, and academia throughout South Asia and China. Nuclear issues are clearly a dominant South Asian concern since the nuclear tests of May 1998. However, there remains a strong interest in identifying opportunities for increased trade and reduced tensions in other areas. The RCSS and other regional organizations are enthusiastic about continued CMC involvement in future regional courses