Award Data

Workers performng deactivation and decommission activities in DOE facilities wear badges to measure exposure to beryllium. Currently, these badges are comprised of an air pump that draws in air to trap particulates on a filter cassette, which is then analyzed for beryllium. An ability to measure lower amounts of beryllium would be desirable because: (1) lower amounts of air could be sampled on ...

The current generation of hybrid particle detectors at the International Linear Collider (ILC) falls well short of meeting the mass and resolution requirements: mass less than 0.1 radiation length/layer, resolution speed in the range of

The long-term monitoring of groundwater contamination plumes, needed to determine the fate of contaminants generated from past weapons-production activities, is expensive and labor intensive. Becauses of the high costs, monitoring programs collect less data than required to fully understand the fate and transport mechanisms of the contaminants. One source of the high costs is the expense associa ...

A number of simulataneous trends (ever-increasing network speeds and throughput, escalating sophistication of attacks, regulatory initiatives, and integration of networks within and without the enterprise) can cause both bottlenecks and quality-of-service degradation within the firewalls of computing systems used by the DOE and large corporations. This project will develop an advanced, scalable, ...

Manning Applied Technology proposes development of the MP-100 handheld FT-infrared photoacoustic chemical agent detector, following a highly successful Phase I effort. Chemical attacks and accidents can be mitigated partially by cost-effective sensors. High priority programs will benefit from a sensor compliant to Joint Warning & Reporting Network (JWARN) standards. The device is ideally suited to ...

The widespread uses of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), which use rechargeable batteries as the power source, could significantly reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Lithium-ion batteries have great potential for such applications but need improvement in low temperature performance. Therefore, this project will develop technology to improve this low temperature per ...

As a fuel, methanol could provide high efficiency, low emissions, and convenient refueling. Methanol fuel cells, based on MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) technology, have the potential to realize better heat and mass transport because of their extremely small size. In order to build an effective MEMS fuel cell, it is necessary to optimize the electro-kinetic performance of the catalyst l ...

The use of ultrasupercritical boilers represents an emerging technology that offers increased efficiency to the coal-fired power generation industry. However, the alloys used for ultrasupercritical boilers do not have sufficient oxidation and corrosion resistance. This project will develop a new coating process for the alloy structures. The process will produce a thick, composite suface layer t ...

The U.S. could significantly reduce oil consumption by decreasing the weight of its automobile fleet, especially by using lightweight carbon composite materials. However, lightweight materials in automobile structures have been problematic for two reasons: (1) the high cost of carbon fiber materials themselves, and (2) the high processing costs of these materials. Although programs exist to red ...

The escape of methane into the atmosphere has been identified as a major component for global warming. Compared to carbon dioxide, methane is capable of absorbing 21 times more heat. Therefore, the methane generated at sites such as coal mines, farms, and landfills must be sequestered and stored to prevent further complications of global warming. To ameliorate these methane issues, a High Solid ...