Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Systems Engineering Model Of The Chemical Separations Process: Quarterly Progress Report 8/16/01- 11/15/01, Yitung Chen, Randy Clarksean, Darrell Pepper

Separations Campaign (TRP)

The AAA program is developing technology for the transmutation of nuclear waste to address many of the long-term disposal issues. An integral part of this program is the proposed chemical separations scheme.

Two activities are proposed in this Phase I task: the development of a systems engineering model and the refinement of the Argonne code AMUSE (Argonne Model for Universal Solvent Extraction). The detailed systems engineering model is the start of an integrated approach to the analysis of the materials separations associated with the AAA Program. A second portion of the project is to streamline and improve an integral part …

Assessment Of Criticality Safety For Cylindrical Containers To Be Used In The Processing Of Spent Fuel, William Culbreth, Daniel R. Lowe, Jason Viggato

Separations Campaign (TRP)

The UREX process separates uranium from transuranic wastes (TRU) and fission products (FP). Nuclear reactors require fissile isotopes that will absorb neutrons and break apart into smaller nuclei while releasing a large amount of energy as well as multiple neutrons. Fissile isotopes in spent fuel include not only ²³⁵U, but also ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴¹Pu, and several isotopes of americium (Am) and curium (Cm).

TRU contains the actinides with atomic numbers greater than that of uranium. This includes Pu, Np, Am, and Cm. When TRU is separated from uranium, the TRU still poses a significant risk of sustaining a …

University Of Nevada, Las Vegas Advanced Accelerator Applications University Participation Program: Quarterly Report, Second Quarter (June To August 2001), Anthony Hechanova

Transmutation Research Program Reports (TRP)

This Quarterly Report is a primary deliverable from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) University Participation Program (UPP) Director to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as described in the UNLV AAA proposal.

The UNLV AAA UPP Director implements the program’s administration using staff from the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies (HRC) to ensure that work conducted under the UNLV AAA UPP meets program objectives. The UNLV AAA UPP consists of three components: Program Administration, Research Infrastructure Augmentation, and Student Research.

Environment-Induced Degradation And Crack-Growth Studies Of Candidate Target Materials: Aaa Task-4 Quarterly (June 1 – August 31, 2001) Report, Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The subject task entitled “Hydrogen-Induced Embrittlement of Candidate Target Materials for Applications in Spallation-Neutron-Target Systems” had commenced during the quarter ending on August 31, 2001. A research account has been established, contracts for both faculty and students have been prepared, and efforts are well underway to embark on the related research activities, as proposed.

As the title of this project implies, the primary objective of this task is to evaluate the effect of hydrogen on environment-assisted cracking of candidate materials for applications in spallationneutron- target (SNT) systems such as accelerator production of tritium (APT) and accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW). …

Nuclear Criticality Analyses Of Separations Processes For The Transmutation Fuel Cycle, William Culbreth, Pang Tao

Separations Campaign (TRP)

To mitigate the waste created by conventional fission reactors, spent nuclear fuel must be mechanically separated from its cladding. For the development of fuel processing technology to support the Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) Program, aqueous and pyrochemical processes will be used to further separate technetium and iodine, uranium and the higher actinides (see Figure 1 for an example of the process layout)1. The higher actinides, including plutonium, americium, curium, and neptunium will be separated from the waste to facilitate their fabrication into new fuel for placement in a transmuter. High-energy neutrons generated by spallation in the transmuter break down these …

Radiation Transport Modeling Of Beam-Target Experiments For The Aaa Project, William Culbreth

Reactor Campaign (TRP)

The AAA program will rely on the use of an accelerator-based transmuter to expose spent nuclear fuel to high-energy neutrons. The neutron flux will be sufficient to activate or fission the long-lived isotopes of Tc, I, Pu, Am, Cm, and Np that present a significant safety hazard in commercial spent fuel. Transmuter fuel will be subcritical and a high-energy proton accelerator is needed to maintain the necessary neutron flux through the use of a neutron spallation target. The maximum neutron energy produced by spallation (~ 600 MeV) is significantly higher than that produced by a commercial light water reactor (~ …

Development Of A Systems Engineering Model Of The Chemical Separations Process, Yitung Chen, Darrell Pepper, Randy Clarksean

Separations Campaign (TRP)

Two activities are proposed: the development of a Systems Engineering model and the refinement of the Argonne code AMUSE (Argonne Model for Universal Solvent Extraction). The detailed systems engineering model will be the start of an integrated approach to the analysis of the materials separations associated with the national AAA program. A second portion of the project will streamline and improve an integral part of the overall systems model, which is the software package AMUSE. AMUSE analyzes the UREX process and other related solvent extraction processes and defines many of the process streams that are integral to the systems engineering …

Development Of A Mechanistic Understanding Of High-Temperature Deformation Of Alloy Ep-823 For Transmutation Applications, Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the elevated temperature tensile properties of Alloy EP- 823, a leading target material for accelerator-driven waste transmutation applications. This alloy has been proven to be an excellent structural material to contain the lead-bismuth-eutectic (LBE) nuclear coolant needed for fast spectrum operations. However, very little data exist in the open literature on the tensile properties of this alloy. The selection of Alloy EP-823 as the test material in the proposed task is based on the recommendation of our collaborator at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The test material will be thermally treated …

Modeling Corrosion In Oxygen Controlled Lbe Systems With Coupling Of Chemical Kinetics And Hydrodynamics, Samir Moujaes, Yitung Chen

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The proposed work will combine chemical kinetics and hydrodynamics in target and test-loop lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) systems to model system corrosion effects. This approach will result in a predicative tool that can be validated with corrosion test data, used to systematically design tests and interpret the results, and provide guidance for optimization in LBE system designs. The task includes of two subtasks. The first subtask is to try to develop the necessary predictive tools to be able to predict the levels of oxygen and corrosion products close to the boundary layer through the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling. …

Hydrogen-Induced Embrittlement Of Candidate Target Materials For Applications In Spallation-Neutron-Target Systems, Brendan O'Toole, Ajit K. Roy

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the effect of hydrogen on cracking of candidate target materials for applications in spallation-neutron-target (SNT) systems such as accelerator production of tritium (APT) and accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW). The test materials will undergo appropriate thermal treatments prior to being hydrogen-charged by potentiostatic cathodic polarization technique in a simulated aqueous environment at different temperatures of interest. The specimens, upon completion of testing, will be metallographically examined. Further, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) will be used to determine the extent and nature of cracking in the specimens tested. The thrust of the proposed …

Water Infiltration Study On Slopes, Tian Huat Low

Student Works (2000-2009)

Study was carried out in the field using infiltrometer and in the laboratory using “sprinkler model”. Studies on infiltration have always been part of hydrology and Irrigation engineering. Infiltration forms the link between surface and subsurface hydrology. Infiltrated water must be quantified and subtracted from the surface runoff in flood prediction studies and surface water management. Numerous researchers have actually incorporated infiltration into the slope stability analysis of the residual soils, e.g., Othman (1990), Affendi et. al.(1992, 1996) and Suhaimi and Abdul Rahman (1997). In most analysis of slope stability, the infiltration rate of the slopes is assumed uniform throughout …

Lifecycle Energy And Air Emission Differences Between Electric And Internal Combustion Vehicles, David L. Mccleese

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Federal Government has encouraged shifting from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) to electric vehicles (EVs) with three objectives, reducing foreign oil dependence, greenhouse gas emissions, and criteria pollutant emissions. This thesis uses Monte Carlo simulation to predict lifecycle emissions and energy consumption differences per kilometer driven from replacing ICEVs with three EV options: lead acid, nickel cadmium (Ni-Cd), and nickel metal hydride (NiMH). All three EV options reduce U.S. foreign oil dependence by shifting to domestic coal. The probabilities that lifecycle energy consumption per km driven improve are lead acid 76%, Ni-Cd 64%, and NiMH 90%. The probabilities …

A Model For Palladium Catalyzed Destruction Of Chlorinated Ethenes In Contaminated Groundwater, Christopher M. Stoppel

Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater contamination by chlorinated ethenes is a widespread environmental problem. Conventional remediation technologies have shortcomings that have prompted further research into the development of novel treatment technologies. A palladium/ alumina catalyst in the presence of dissolved molecular hydrogen (referred to hereafter as a PD/H₂ system) has been demonstrated to rapidly destroy chlorinated ethene contaminated groundwater. First-order kinetics have been used to model chlorinated ethene destruction in a PD/H₂ reactor. However, catalyst deactivation and regeneration are important processes that also need to be modeled in order to better understand their effect on treatment efficiency. This study presents a model …

Quantitative Validation Of A Model Of Chlorinated Ethene Natural Attenuation, Harold C. Young

Theses and Dissertations

Chlorinated ethenes are among the most prevalent groundwater contaminants at hazardous waste sites nationwide. In an attempt to manage the risks posed by these contaminants, while controlling costs, monitored natural attenuation (MNA) is being considered as a remediation strategy at many sites. MNA relies on naturally occurring physical, chemical, and biological processes in the subsurface to reduce the risk posed by the contamination. The implementation of MNA, however, requires a detailed understanding of these processes, and how they impact contamination at a particular site. One way to gain this understanding is through contaminant fate and transport modeling. In this study, …

Determining The Value Of Groundwater Contamination Source Removal: A Methodology, Benjamin C. Recker

Theses and Dissertations

Subsurface contamination by industrial chemicals is one of the most prevalent and costly environmental problems facing the United States government. This contamination problem must be managed to protect human health and the environment. Two basic strategies are used to deal with subsurface contamination: source removal and contaminant containment. While much cost and performance data are available for individual technologies associated with each of these strategies, there have been very few studies that have examined the benefits of implementing source removal technologies in order to reduce contaminant containment (and hopefully total) costs. This study examines the tradeoff between extent of source …

A Site Specific Impact Study: Valley Fill Construction Impacts On Water Chemistry And Benthic Macroinvertebrate Assemblages, Terry Morton Tomasek

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Downstream impacts of contour surface mining and valley fill construction were evaluated utilizing both water chemistry and EPA approved Rapid Bioassessment Protocol III. Wiley Branch was sampled in February of 1999 before mining perturbation. Five downstream stations were established with benthic macroinvertebrates and water samples collected seasonally for a period of sixteen months. Water chemistry parameters, pH, total aluminum, iron, and manganese, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, sulfates, alkalinity, acidity and specific conductivity fluctuated but generally remained within acceptable governmental limits. Initially, benthic macroinvertebrate communities were well balanced within the stream. There was a high abundance of EPT individuals …

Report Of The State Nuclear Safety Advisor Submitted To The Governor And 120th Legislature As Of January 15, 2001, Paula M. Craighead

Maine Collection

Report of the State Nuclear Safety Advisor submitted to the Governor and 120th Legislature As of January 15, 2001

Paula M. Craighead, State Nuclear Safety Advisor, Executive Department, Maine State Planning Office, Augusta, Maine, 2001.

Contents: Introduction and Executive Summary / I. Maine Yankee Decommissioning / II. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) / III. Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) / IV. High Level Radioactive Waste / V. Transport Routes and Safety Response / VI. Shipments / VII. Status of Federal and State Legal and Administrative Proceedings / References and Resources / Glossary

Waste Management In Palm-Oleo Sdn. Bhd, Ramesh Ramasamy

Student Works (2000-2009)

Oleochemical industry in Malaysia has been diversifying significantly due to the availability of raw materials (palm oil) and the high demand for downstream products such as fatty acids, fatty alcohols and glycerine. The growth of oleochemical industries is further enhanced by fluctuations io petroleum price and regular animal diseases, which made tallow-based fats unreliable. Environmental awareness is growing rapidly in Malaysia. There is growing realization of the need to balance industrial and economic development with environmental preservation and protection, as well as, with efficient use of energy sources in order to achieve sustainable development. Extensive waste management studies were focused …

Comparative Performance Of Wastewater Treatment Plants In Three Rubber Glove Manufacturing Plants, Lee Kuan Loh

Student Works (2000-2009)

During the manufacturing of rubber gloves, water is used as wash water at different stages to clean the rubber gloves, thus generating quite a substantial amount of effluent. There are four main sources of effluent. i.e. a) from the glove formers cleaning tank, which collects the acidified water used to clean these formers, b) latex dipping tank, where it collects wash water used to cool the tank during dipping process and the sludge form the tank itself, c) leaching tank, where it collects wash water used to leach out the pollutants from the gloves and lastly d) latex compounding, containing …

Development Of A Low-Cost, Self-Calibrating Stream Gaging Station, Gilberto Urroz, Robert C. Leines, Garryn L. Perret, Jared M. Holland, Brian E. Hunsaker

Reports

Executive Summary: The present report presents a review of the state-of-the-art technologies for the development of a low-cost, self-calibrating stream gaging station. The research was conducted by the Utah Water Research Laboratory with funding provided by the Utah Division of Water Resources through Project RP 110080, March 1998. The report presents a review of the current practices in stream gaging and how technologies such as remote data telemetry through the use of satellite, cellular phone communications, and radio telemetry can be used for the real-time transmission of data. The study also includes the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) for …

Fixed Bed Biosorption Of Cu(Ii) By Immobilized Biomass Of Sargassum Baccularia, Kong Fei Tan

Student Works (2000-2009)

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using the immobilized biomass of Sargassum buccularia. a brown marine macro algae. to remove and recover copper ions in a fixed bed reactor by passive adsorption. This is commonly referred to as biosorpliun. Inactivated biomass of S. baccularia were chemically modified b) immobilizing it onto polyvinyl alcohol (PVA} as a support matrix. Spherical gel beads that were produced in this manner were subjected to mass transfer and equilibrium studies. The biosorption of copper is a bi-phasic process. with an initial fast phase for the first 2 hours followed …

Auditing And Biological Treatment Of Oleochemical Industry Waste, Fauziah Shahul Hamid

Student Works (2000-2009)

The utilization of renewable resources particularly from plant-based industries, such as, in the oleochemical sector makes it possible for further expansion of down-stream process products. However, to remain competitive the pollution generated from this industry should not be taken lightly. Implementation of cleaner technology into the oleochemical process will increase the efficiency of resource utilization of the industry, concurrently reducing quantity of waste generated. Waste audit conducted at Cognis Oleochemical (M) (COM) Sdn. Bhd. indicated that the major process-wastes generated by the facility were glycerol residue (GR) from Cognis Rika (M) Sdn. Bhd. (CRM) and wastewater sludge (WWS) from COM …

Studies On The Pollution Parameters Of Leachate From Ampang Landfill, Syed Fatimah Kamal Batcha

Student Works (2000-2009)

ln the first part of the study, the characteristics of the leachate from Ampang landfill, collected before and after the landfill closure was analysed. In general, the characteristics of the Ampang landfill leachate was found to be typical of other landfill leachates in the Klang Valley. The analysis reveals that the Ampang landfill leachate during its active life had high contents of sodium, potassium, chloride and ferum, with concentrations of 687 ppm, 785 ppm, 2500 ppm and 45 ppm respectively. Generally and as expected, the leachate collected before the landfiII closure was found to be more concentrated and contains more …

Assessing Methodologies For Identification Of Significant Impacts In The Iso 14001 Ems (Environmental Management Systems), Ann Wye-Wye Wang

Student Works (2000-2009)

ISO 14001 is a voluntary environmental management system specification standard in the ISO 14000 series. It contains those elements that must be satisfied by an organisation seeking registration or certification to the standard. Identification of significant environmental impacts is one of the requirements as stated in clause 4.3.1 of MS ISO 14001 EMS - specification with guidance for use, and is an important step in the implementation of ISO 14001 standard. A study on the methodologies for identification of significant environmental impacts in the ISO 14001 EMS (Environmental Management Systems) was carried out. Three methods that have been developed are …

Development Of A Physico-Chemical Wastewater Treatment Strategy For A Chemical Plant, T. Alagarajah K. Thavarajah

Student Works (2000-2009)

A study was carried out to determine the physico-chemical treatment of the wastewater collected from a soap and detergent factory in Selangor, Malaysia. The study was initiated by determining the characteristics of the wastewater. Treatability studies involving coagulation and flocculation were determined by the jar test method. The parameters of interest were coagulant dosage, pH, mixing intensity, mixing time and settling time. The coagulants were restricted to alum and ferric sulfate and coagulant aids utilized were polyvinyl alcohol, sodium alginate and polycthylcninimine. An extended evaluation to determine the effect of double chemical treatment was also carried out with the most …

Municipal Waste Characteristics And Management In Pantai Dalam, Kuala Lumpur, Ratanam Andythaven

Student Works (2000-2009)

The primary purpose of this research was to study comprehensively the municipal waste generation (rate, quantity), waste characterization including (physical, chemical and biological parameters), heavy metal content, waste recovery and recycling, and socio economic aspects of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation and management in Taman Bukit Angkasa, Pantai Dalam, Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding areas. The waste characterization and management was determined with actual field observations coupled with questionnaire survey from a random sample of 250 households (200 flats houses, 25 long houses and 25 squatter residences). The quantification and other parameters (heavy metals, water extractable nutrients, nitrogen, pH, acidity, …

Municipal Wastewater Treatment Using Sequencing Batch Reactor (Sbr) Under Tropical Conditions, Maria Violetta Thomas

Student Works (2000-2009)

In this research project a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) plant was tested for performance in terms of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Suspended Solids (SS), under different temporal conditions. In addition, the removal of biological nutrients, namely ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and phosphorous in the form of phosphate, from the sewage, with anaerobic and aerobic operations using SBR was studied. The performance of the SBR plant was observed under two operating conditions whereby the variable studied was the total cycle time of the SBR process; i.e. 8-hour cycle mode and 6-hour cycle mode. The effluent quality …

Simulation Of Daily And Monthly Stream Discharge From Small Watersheds Using The Swat Model, Crystal A. Spruill, Stephen R. Workman, Joseph L. Taraba

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was evaluated and parameter sensitivities were determined while modeling daily streamflows in a small central Kentucky watershed over a two-year period. Streamflow data from 1996 were used to calibrate the model and streamflow data from 1995 were used for evaluation. The model adequately predicted the trends in daily streamflow during this period although Nash-Sutcliffe R² values were –0.04 and 0.19 for 1995 and 1996, respectively. The model poorly predicted the timing of some peak flow values and recession rates during the last half of 1995. Excluding daily peak flow values from August …

Alternative Principal Components Regression Procedures For Dendrohydrologic Reconstructions, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Thomas C. Piechota, John A. Dracup

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Streamflow reconstruction using tree ring information (dendrohydrology) has traditionally used principal components analysis (PCA) and stepwise regression to form a transfer function. However, PCA has several procedural choices that may result in very different reconstructions. This study assesses the different procedures in PCA-based regression and suggests alternative procedures for selection of variables and principal components. Cross-validation statistics are presented as an alternative for independently testing and identifying the optimal model. The objective is to use these statistics as a measure of the model's performance to find a conceptually acceptable model with a low prediction error and the fewest number of …

Environmental Guidelines For New And Existing Piggeries, A Latto, John Noonan, R. J. Taylor

Bulletins 4000 -

These guidelines apply to the management of Western Australia piggeries in Western Australia, including intensive Growing pigs under intensive conditions where the and extensive operations, straw-based housing and animals spend their entire life cycle indoors, is an combinations of these (otherwise referred to as semi- important part of the Western Australian and intensive housing).