Results of Tritium Tracking and Groundwater Monitoring at the Hanford Site 200 ARea State-Approved Land Disposal Site--Fiscal Year 2002

Tritium activities decreased in all three SALDS proximal wells during FY 2002, compared with FY 2001. Activities in well 699-48-77A first decreased to less than 3,000 pCi/L in January 2002, but rose to 150,000 in July, probably as a result of tritium discharges to SALDS that resumed in February 2002. Well 699-48-77C, where tritium analysis produced a maximum value of 750,000 pCi/L in January 2002, reflects the result of the delayed penetration of effluent deeper into the aquifer from tritium discharges. SALDS proximal well 699-48-77D produced a maximum result of 240,000 pCi/L in July 2002. Timing between detections of tritium and other constituents in well 699-48-77C suggest a delay of approximately three years from detection in wells 699-48-77A and 699-48-77D. Historically maxima for tritium (790 and 860 pCi/L in successive sample periods) suggest that tritium from SALDS may be reaching the northern edge of the 200 West Area, south of the facility

Borehole Summary Report for Core Hole C4998 – Waste Treatment Plant Seismic Boreholes Project

Seismic borehole C4998 was cored through the upper portion of the Columbia River Basalt Group and Ellensburg Formation to provide detailed lithologic information and intact rock samples that represent the geology at the Waste Treatment Plant. This report describes the drilling of borehole C4998 and documents the geologic data collected during the drilling of the cored portion of the borehole

Groundwater Monitoring Plan for the Hanford Site 216-B-3 Pond RCRA Facility

The 216-B-3 Pond was a series of ponds for disposal of liquid effluent from past Hanford production facilities. In 1990, groundwater monitoring at B Pond was elevated from "detection" to assessment status because total organic halides and total organic carbon were found to exceed critical means in two wells. Groundwater quality assessment, which ended in 1996, failed to find any specific hazardous waste contaminant that could have accounted for the isolated occurrences of elevated total organic halides and total organic carbon. Hence, the facility was subsequently returned to detection-level monitoring in 1998. Exhaustive groundwater analyses during the assessment period indicated that only two contaminants, tritium and nitrate, could be positively attributed to the B Pond System, with two others (arsenic and I-129) possibly originating from B Pond. Chemical and radiological analyses of soil at the main pond and 216-B-3-3 ditch has not revealed significant contamination. Based on the observed, minor contamination in groundwater and in the soil column, three parameters were selected for site-specific, semiannual monitoring; gross alpha, gross beta, and specific conductance. Total organic halides and total organic carbon are included as constituents because of regulatory requirements. Nitrate, tritium, arsenic, and iodine-129 will be monitored under the aegis of Hanford site-wide monitoring. Although the B Pond System is not scheduled to advance from RCRA interim status to final status until the year 2003, a contingency plan for an improved monitoring strategy, which will partially emulate final status requirements, will be contemplated before the official change to final status. This modification will allow a more sensible and effective screening of groundwater for the facility

Post-Closure RCRA Groundwater Monitoring Plan for the 216-S-10 Pond and Ditch

The purpose of this plan is to provide a post-closure groundwater monitoring program for the 216-S-10 Pond and Ditch (S-10) treatment, storage, and/or disposal (TSD) unit. The plan incorporates the sum of knowledge about the potential for groundwater contamination to originate from the S-10, including groundwater monitoring results, hydrogeology, and operational history. The S-10 has not received liquid waste since October 1991. The closure of S-10 has been coordinated with the 200-CS-1 source operable unit in accordance with the Tri-Party Agreement interim milestones M-20-39 and M-15-39C. The S-10 is closely situated among other waste sites of very similar operational histories. The proximity of the S-10 to the other facilities (216-S-17 pond, 216-S-11 Pond, 216-S-5,6 cribs, 216-S-16 ditch and pond, and 216-U-9 ditch) indicate that at least some observed groundwater contamination beneath and downgradient of S-10 could have originated from waste sites other than S-10. Hence, it may not be feasible to strictly discriminate between the contributions of each waste site to groundwater contamination beneath the S-10. A post-closure groundwater monitoring network is proposed that will include the drilling of three new wells to replace wells that have gone dry. When completed, the revised network will meet the intent for groundwater monitoring network under WAC 173-303-645, and enable an improved understanding of groundwater contamination at the S-10. Site-specific sampling constituents are based on the dangerous waste constituents of concern relating to RCRA TSD unit operations (TSD unit constituents) identified in the Part A Permit Application. Thus, a constituent is selected for monitoring if it is: A dangerous waste constituent identified in the Part A Permit Application, or A mobile decomposition product (i.e., nitrate from nitrite) of a Part A constituent, or A reliable indicator of the site-specific contaminants (i.e., specific conductance). Using these criteria, the following constituent list and sampling schedule is proposed: Constituent; Sampling Frequency Site-Specific Parameters; Hexavalent chromium (a); Semiannual Chloride; Semiannual Fluoride; Semiannual Nitrate; Semiannual Nitrite; Semiannual Specific conductance (field)(a); Semiannual Ancillary Parameters; Anions; Annual Alkalinity Annual Metals, (in addition to chromium); Annual pH (field) Semiannual Temperature (field); Semiannual Turbidity (field) Semiannual (a). These constituents will be subject to statistical tests after background is established. It will be necessary to install new monitoring wells and accumulate background data on the groundwater from those wells before statistical comparisons can be made. Until then, the constituents listed above will be evaluated by tracking and trending concentrations in all wells and comparing these results with the corresponding DWS or Hanford Site background concentration for each constituent. If a comparison value (background or DWS) for a constituent is exceeded, DOE will notify Ecology per WAC 173-303-645 (9) (g) requirements (within seven days or a time agreed to between DOE and Ecology)

Borehole Summary Report for Waste Treatment Plant Seismic Borehole C4993

A core hole (C4998) and three boreholes (C4993, C4996, and C4997) were drilled to acquire stratigraphic and downhole seismic data to model potential seismic impacts and to refine design specifications and seismic criteria for the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) under construction on the Hanford Site. Borehole C4993 was completed through the Saddle Mountains Basalt, the upper portion of the Wanapum Basalt, and associated sedimentary interbeds, to provide a continuous record of the rock penetrated by all four holes and to provide access to the subsurface for geophysical measure¬ment. Presented and compiled in this report are field-generated records for the deep mud rotary borehole C4993 at the WTP site. Material for C4993 includes borehole logs, lithologic summary, and record of rock chip samples collected during drilling through the months of August through early October. The borehole summary report also includes documentation of the mud rotary drilling, borehole logging, and sample collection

Geology of the Waste Treatment Plant Seismic Boreholes

In 2006, DOE-ORP initiated the Seismic Boreholes Project (SBP) to emplace boreholes at the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) site in order to obtain direct Vs measurements and other physical property measurements in Columbia River basalt and interbedded sediments of the Ellensburg Formation. The goal was to reduce the uncertainty in the response spectra and seismic design basis, and potentially recover design margin for the WTP. The characterization effort within the deep boreholes included 1) downhole measurements of the velocity properties of the suprabasalt, basalt, and sedimentary interbed sequences, 2) downhole measurements of the density of the subsurface basalt and sediments, and 3) confirmation of the geometry of the contact between the various basalt and interbedded sediments through examination of retrieved core from the corehole and data collected through geophysical logging of each borehole. This report describes the results of the geologic studies from three mud-rotary boreholes and one cored borehole at the WTP. All four boreholes penetrated the entire Saddle Mountains Basalt and the upper part of the Wanapum Basalt where thick sedimentary interbeds occur between the lava flows. The basalt flows penetrated in Saddle Mountains Basalt included the Umatilla Member, Esquatzel Member, Pomona Member and the Elephant Mountain Member. The underlying Priest Rapids Member of the Wanapum Basalt was also penetrated. The Ellensburg Formation sediments consist of the Mabton Interbed, the Cold Creek Interbed, the Selah Interbed and the Rattlesnake Ridge Interbed; the Byron Interbed occurs between two flows of the Priest Rapids Member. The Mabton Interbed marks the contact between the Wanapum and Saddle Mountains Basalts. The thicknesses of the basalts and interbedded sediments were within expected limits. However, a small reverse fault was found in the Pomona Member flow top. This fault has three periods of movement and less than 15 feet of repeated section. Most of the movement on the fault appears to have occurred before the youngest lava flow, the 10.5 million year old Elephant Mountain Member was emplaced above the Pomona Member

The neuroscience of suicidal behaviors: what can we expect from endophenotype strategies?

Vulnerability to suicidal behavior (SB) is likely mediated by an underlying genetic predisposition interacting with environmental and probable epigenetic factors throughout the lifespan to modify the function of neuronal circuits, thus rendering an individual more likely to engage in a suicidal act. Improving our understanding of the neuroscience underlying SBs, both attempts and completions, at all developmental stages is crucial for more effective preventive treatments and for better identification of vulnerable individuals. Recent studies have characterized SB using an endophenotype strategy, which aims to identify quantitative measures that reflect genetically influenced stable changes in brain function. In addition to aiding in the functional characterization of susceptibility genes, endophenotypic research strategies may have a wider impact in determining vulnerability to SB, as well as the translation of human findings to animal models, and vice versa. Endophenotypes associated with vulnerability to SB include impulsive/aggressive personality traits and disadvantageous decision making. Deficits in realistic risk evaluation represent key processes in vulnerability to SB. Serotonin dysfunction, indicated by neuroendocrine responses and neuroimaging, is also strongly implicated as a potential endophenotype and is linked with impulsive aggression and disadvantageous decision making. Specific endophenotypes may represent heritable markers for the identification of vulnerable patients and may be relevant targets for successful suicide prevention and treatments

Sodium ion interactions with aqueous glucose: Insights from quantum mechanics, molecular dynamics, and experiment

In the last several decades, significant efforts have been conducted to understand the fundamental reactivity of glucose derived from plant biomass in various chemical environments for conversion to renewable fuels and chemicals. For reactions of glucose in water, it is known that inorganic salts naturally present in biomass alter the product distribution in various deconstruction processes. However, the molecular-level interactions of alkali metal ions and glucose are unknown. These interactions are of physiological interest as well, for example, as they relate to cation-glucose cotransport. Here, we employ quantum mechanics (QM) to understand the interaction of a prevalent alkali metal, sodium, with glucose from a structural and thermodynamic perspective. The effect on B-glucose is subtle: a sodium ion perturbs bond lengths and atomic partial charges less than rotating a hydroxymethyl group. In contrast, the presence of a sodium ion significantly perturbs the partial charges of α-glucose anomeric and ring oxygens. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provide dynamic sampling in explicit water, and both the QM and the MD results show that sodium ions associate at many positions with respect to glucose with reasonably equivalent propensity. This promiscuous binding nature of Na + suggests that computational studies of glucose reactions in the presence of inorganic salts need to ensure thorough sampling of the cation positions, in addition to sampling glucose rotamers. The effect of NaCl on the relative populations of the anomers is experimentally quantified with light polarimetry. These results support the computational findings that Na + interacts similarly with a- and B-glucose

Neglected Tropical Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of Their Prevalence, Distribution, and Disease Burden

The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are the most common conditions affecting the poorest 500 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and together produce a burden of disease that may be equivalent to up to one-half of SSA's malaria disease burden and more than double that caused by tuberculosis. Approximately 85% of the NTD disease burden results from helminth infections. Hookworm infection occurs in almost half of SSA's poorest people, including 40–50 million school-aged children and 7 million pregnant women in whom it is a leading cause of anemia. Schistosomiasis is the second most prevalent NTD after hookworm (192 million cases), accounting for 93% of the world's number of cases and possibly associated with increased horizontal transmission of HIV/AIDS. Lymphatic filariasis (46–51 million cases) and onchocerciasis (37 million cases) are also widespread in SSA, each disease representing a significant cause of disability and reduction in the region's agricultural productivity. There is a dearth of information on Africa's non-helminth NTDs. The protozoan infections, human African trypanosomiasis and visceral leishmaniasis, affect almost 100,000 people, primarily in areas of conflict in SSA where they cause high mortality, and where trachoma is the most prevalent bacterial NTD (30 million cases). However, there are little or no data on some very important protozoan infections, e.g., amebiasis and toxoplasmosis; bacterial infections, e.g., typhoid fever and non-typhoidal salmonellosis, the tick-borne bacterial zoonoses, and non-tuberculosis mycobaterial infections; and arboviral infections. Thus, the overall burden of Africa's NTDs may be severely underestimated. A full assessment is an important step for disease control priorities, particularly in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the greatest number of NTDs may occur