Srnl All-Pathways Application

The Environmental Analysis and Performance Modeling group of Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) performs performance assessments of the Savannah River Site (SRS) low-level waste facilities to meet the requirements of DOE Order 435.1. One of the performance objectives in the DOE Order is that the radiological dose to representative members of the public shall not exceed 25 mrem in a year total effective dose equivalent from all exposure pathways, excluding radon. Analysis to meet this performance objective is generally referred to as all-pathways analysis. SRNL performs detailed transient groundwater transport analysis for the waste disposal units, which has been used as input for the groundwater part of all-pathways analysis. The desire to better integrate all-pathways analysis with the groundwater transport analysis lead to the development of a software application named the SRNL All-Pathways Application. Another requirement of DOE Order 435.1 is to assess the impact of nuclear waste disposal on water resources, which SRS has interpreted for groundwater protection as meeting the EPA regulations for radionuclides in drinking water. EPA specifies four separate criteria as part of their implementation guidance for radionuclides, which are specified as maximum contaminant levels (MCL). (1) Beta/gamma emitters have a combined dose limit of 4 mrem/year. (2) Alpha emitters have a combined concentration limit of 15 pCi/L (called gross alpha), excluding uranium and radon, but including radium-226. (3) Combined radium-226 and radium-228 have a concentration limit of 5 pCi/L. (4) Isotopes of uranium have a combined concentration limit of 30 {micro}g/L. The All-Pathways Application was designed to be an easy-to-use software application that utilizes transient concentration results from groundwater transport analysis to (1) calculate the groundwater part of all-pathways dose and to (2) evaluate the four EPA criteria for groundwater protection

Dependence of Ice-Core Relative Trace-Element Concentration on Acidification

To assess the role of methodological differences on measured trace-element concentrations in ice cores, we developed an experiment to test the effects of acidification strength and time on dust dissolution using snow samples collected in West Antarctica and Alaska. We leached Antarctic samples for 3 months at room temperature using nitric acid at concentrations of 0.1, 1.0 and 10.0% (v/v). At selected intervals (20 min, 24 hours, 5 days, 14 days, 28 days, 56 days, 91 days) we analyzed 23 trace elements using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Concentrations of lithogenic elements scaled with acid strength and increased by 100–1380% in 3 months. Incongruent elemental dissolution caused significant variability in calculated crustal enrichment factors through time (factor of 1.3 (Pb) to 8.0 (Cs)). Using snow samples collected in Alaska and acidified at 1% (v/v) for 383 days, we found that the increase in lithogenic element concentration with time depends strongly on initial concentration, and varies by element (e.g. Fe linear regression slope =1.66; r = 0.98). Our results demonstrate that relative trace-element concentrations measured in ice cores depend on the acidification method used

Aproximación a una propuesta de política pública para la incorporación de calefones solares en la provincia de Santa Fe

El presente trabajo analiza la posibilidad de desarrollo de una política pública destinada a fortalecer fuertemente el desarrollo de un mercado para los calefones solares en el ámbito de la Provincia de Santa Fe. Se analizan las características e impactos económicos y sociales de la implementación de medidas de este tipo y se plantean una serie de pasos posibles para su implementación.This work analyzes the possibility of a public politics destined to strengthen the development of a market for the solar boilers in the Province of Santa Fe. There are analyzed the characteristics and the economic and social impacts of measures of this type and there appear a series of possible steps for the implementation.Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES

Appraisal of literature reviews on end-of-life care for minority ethnic groups in the UK and a critical comparison with policy recommendations from the UK end-of-life care strategy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evidence of low end-of-life (EoL) care service use by minority ethnic groups in the UK has given rise to a body of research and a number of reviews of the literature. This article aims to review and evaluate literature reviews on minority ethnic groups and EoL care in the UK and assess their suitability as an evidence base for policy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Systematic review. Searches were carried out in thirteen electronic databases, eight journals, reference lists, and grey literature. Reviews were included if they concerned minority ethnic groups and EoL care in the UK. Reviews were graded for quality and key themes identified.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirteen reviews (2001-2009) met inclusion criteria. Seven took a systematic approach, of which four scored highly for methodological quality (a mean score of six, median seven). The majority of systematic reviews were therefore of a reasonable methodological quality. Most reviews were restricted by ethnic group, aspect of EoL care, or were broader reviews which reported relevant findings. Six key themes were identified.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A number of reviews were systematic and scored highly for methodological quality. These reviews provide a good reflection of the primary evidence and could be used to inform policy. The complexity and inter-relatedness of factors leading to low service use was recognised and reflected in reviews' recommendations for service improvement. Recommendations made in the UK End-of-Life Care Strategy were limited in comparison, and the Strategy's evidence base concerning minority ethnic groups was found to be narrow. Future policy should be embedded strongly in the evidence base to reflect the current literature and minimise bias.</p

3-D Hydrodynamic Modeling in a Geospatial Framework

3-D hydrodynamic models are used by the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to simulate the transport of thermal and radionuclide discharges in coastal estuary systems. Development of such models requires accurate bathymetry, coastline, and boundary condition data in conjunction with the ability to rapidly discretize model domains and interpolate the required geospatial data onto the domain. To facilitate rapid and accurate hydrodynamic model development, SRNL has developed a pre- and post-processor application in a geospatial framework to automate the creation of models using existing data. This automated capability allows development of very detailed models to maximize exploitation of available surface water radionuclide sample data and thermal imagery

Cfd Modeling Analysis of Mechanical Draft Cooling Tower

Industrial processes use mechanical draft cooling towers (MDCT's) to dissipate waste heat by transferring heat from water to air via evaporative cooling, which causes air humidification. The Savannah River Site (SRS) has a MDCT consisting of four independent compartments called cells. Each cell has its own fan to help maximize heat transfer between ambient air and circulated water. The primary objective of the work is to conduct a parametric study for cooling tower performance under different fan speeds and ambient air conditions. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to achieve the objective. The model uses three-dimensional steady-state momentum, continuity equations, air-vapor species balance equation, and two-equation turbulence as the basic governing equations. It was assumed that vapor phase is always transported by the continuous air phase with no slip velocity. In this case, water droplet component was considered as discrete phase for the interfacial heat and mass transfer via Lagrangian approach. Thus, the air-vapor mixture model with discrete water droplet phase is used for the analysis. A series of the modeling calculations was performed to investigate the impact of ambient and operating conditions on the thermal performance of the cooling tower when fans were operating and when they were turned off. The model was benchmarked against the literature data and the SRS test results for key parameters such as air temperature and humidity at the tower exit and water temperature for given ambient conditions. Detailed results will be presented here

Performance Analysis of Mechanical Draft Cooling Tower

Industrial processes use mechanical draft cooling towers (MDCT's) to dissipate waste heat by transferring heat from water to air via evaporative cooling, which causes air humidification. The Savannah River Site (SRS) has cross-flow and counter-current MDCT's consisting of four independent compartments called cells. Each cell has its own fan to help maximize heat transfer between ambient air and circulated water. The primary objective of the work is to simulate the cooling tower performance for the counter-current cooling tower and to conduct a parametric study under different fan speeds and ambient air conditions. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and performed the benchmarking analysis against the integral measurement results to accomplish the objective. The model uses three-dimensional steady-state momentum, continuity equations, air-vapor species balance equation, and two-equation turbulence as the basic governing equations. It was assumed that vapor phase is always transported by the continuous air phase with no slip velocity. In this case, water droplet component was considered as discrete phase for the interfacial heat and mass transfer via Lagrangian approach. Thus, the air-vapor mixture model with discrete water droplet phase is used for the analysis. A series of parametric calculations was performed to investigate the impact of wind speeds and ambient conditions on the thermal performance of the cooling tower when fans were operating and when they were turned off. The model was also benchmarked against the literature data and the SRS integral test results for key parameters such as air temperature and humidity at the tower exit and water temperature for given ambient conditions. Detailed results will be published here

Automated Inadvertent Intruder Application

The Environmental Analysis and Performance Modeling group of Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) conducts performance assessments of the Savannah River Site (SRS) low-level waste facilities to meet the requirements of DOE Order 435.1. These performance assessments, which result in limits on the amounts of radiological substances that can be placed in the waste disposal facilities, consider numerous potential exposure pathways that could occur in the future. One set of exposure scenarios, known as inadvertent intruder analysis, considers the impact on hypothetical individuals who are assumed to inadvertently intrude onto the waste disposal site. Inadvertent intruder analysis considers three distinct scenarios for exposure referred to as the agriculture scenario, the resident scenario, and the post-drilling scenario. Each of these scenarios has specific exposure pathways that contribute to the overall dose for the scenario. For the inadvertent intruder analysis, the calculation of dose for the exposure pathways is a relatively straightforward algebraic calculation that utilizes dose conversion factors. Prior to 2004, these calculations were performed using an Excel spreadsheet. However, design checks of the spreadsheet calculations revealed that errors could be introduced inadvertently when copying spreadsheet formulas cell by cell and finding these errors was tedious and time consuming. This weakness led to the specification of functional requirements to create a software application that would automate the calculations for inadvertent intruder analysis using a controlled source of input parameters. This software application, named the Automated Inadvertent Intruder Application, has undergone rigorous testing of the internal calculations and meets software QA requirements. The Automated Inadvertent Intruder Application was intended to replace the previous spreadsheet analyses with an automated application that was verified to produce the same calculations and results. The application was extended to calculate full decay chains for a given parent so that an intruder calculation could be performed without any input from transport calculations, i.e. the intruder analysis was decoupled from groundwater analysis. Once this full decay chain capability was in place, the application was extended to perform a transient calculation of the dose to an intruder over a specified time range, from which the maximum dose in time was determined. Use of the transient calculation to find the maximum dose in time was a significant step forward in automating and simplifying the inadvertent intruder analysis