Alternatives to Reduce Corrosion of Carbon Steel Storage Drums

The major tasks of this research were (a) pollution prevention opportunity assessments on the overpacking operations for failed or corroded drums, (b) research on existing container corrosion data, (c) investigation of the storage environment of the new Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Type II storage modules, (d) identification of waste streams that demonstrate deleterious corrosion affects on drum storage life, and (e) corrosion test cell program development. Twenty-one waste streams from five US Department of Energy (DOE) sites within the DOE Complex were identified to demonstrate a deleterious effect to steel storage drums. The major components of these waste streams include acids, salts, and solvent liquids, sludges, and still bottoms. The solvent-based waste streams typically had the shortest time to failure: 0.5 to 2 years. The results of this research support the position that pollution prevention evaluations at the front end of a project or process will reduce pollution on the back end

Platinum(II) phosphonate complexes derived from endo-8-camphanylphosphonic acid

The reactions of cis-[PtCl₂L₂] [L = PPh₃, PMe₂Ph or L₂ = Ph₂P(CH₂)₂PPh₂ (dppe)] with endo-8-camphanylphosphonic acid (CamPO₃H₂) and Ag₂O in refluxing dichloromethane gave platinum(II) phosphonate complexes [Pt(O₃PCam)L₂]. The X-ray crystal structure of [Pt(O₃PCam)(PPh₃)₂]•₂CHCl₃ shows that the bulky camphanyl group, rather than being directed away from the platinum, is instead directed into a pocket formed by the Pt and the two PPh₃ ligands. This allows the O₃P–CH₂ group to have a preferred staggered conformation. The complexes were studied in detail by NMR spectroscopy, which demonstrates non-fluxional behaviour for the sterically bulky PPh₃ and dppe derivatives, which contain inequivalent phosphine ligands in their ³¹P NMR spectra. These findings are backed up by theoretical calculations on the PPh₃ and PPhMe₂ derivatives, which show, respectively, high and low energy barriers to rotation of the camphanyl group in the PPh₃ and PPhMe₂ complexes. The X-ray crystal structure of CamPO₃H₂ is also reported, and consists of hydrogen-bonded hexameric aggregates, which assemble to form a columnar structure containing hydrophilic phosphonic acid channels surrounded by a sheath of bulky, hydrophobic camphanyl groups

Solar Flares as Cascades of Reconnecting Magnetic Loops

A model for the solar coronal magnetic field is proposed where multiple directed loops evolve in space and time. Loops injected at small scales are anchored by footpoints of opposite polarity moving randomly on a surface. Nearby footpoints of the same polarity aggregate, and loops can reconnect when they collide. This may trigger a cascade of further reconnection, representing a solar flare. Numerical simulations show that a power law distribution of flare energies emerges, associated with a scale free network of loops, indicating self-organized criticality.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

U.S. Department of Energy FreedomCAR & Vehicle Technologies Program Oil Bypass Filter Technology Evaluation Final Report

This Oil Bypass Filter Technology Evaluation final report documents the feasibility of using oil bypass filters on 17 vehicles in the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) fleet during a 3-year test period. Almost 1.3 million test miles were accumulated, with eleven 4-cycle diesel engine buses accumulating 982,548 test miles and six gasoline-engine Chevrolet Tahoes accumulating 303,172 test miles. Two hundred and forty oil samples, taken at each 12,000-mile bus servicing event and at 3,000 miles for the Tahoes, documented the condition of the engine oils for continued service. Twenty-eight variables were normally tested, including the presence of desired additives and undesired wear metals such as iron and chrome, as well as soot, water, glycol, and fuel. Depending on the assumptions employed, the INL found that oil bypass filter systems for diesel engine buses have a positive payback between 72,000 and 144,000 miles. For the Tahoes, the positive payback was between 66,000 and 69,000 miles

Digging for Treasure - Unique Fate and Transport Study

In 1970, scientists at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), now called the National Institute of Standards and Testing (NIST), implemented the most ambitious and comprehensive long-term corrosion behavior test for stainless steels in soil environments. This study had historic significance since the NBS 1957 landmark corrosion textbook compiled by Romanoff did not include stainless steels, and this 1970 research set forth to complete the missing body of knowledge. To conduct the test, NIST scientists buried 6,324 coupons from stainless steel types, specialty alloys, composite configurations, multiple material forms, and treatment conditions at six distinctive soil-type sites throughout the country. Between 1971 and 1980, four sets of coupons were removed from six sites to establish 1-year, 2-year, 4-year, and 8-year corrosion rates data sets for different soil environments. The fifth and last set of coupons (approximately 200 at each site) remains undisturbed after 32-years, providing a virtual buried treasure of material and subsurface scientific data. These buried coupons and the surrounding soils represent an analog to the condition of buried waste and containers. Heretofore, the samples were simply pulled from the soil, measured for mass loss and the corrosion rate determined while the subsurface/fate and transport information was not considered nor gathered. Funded through an Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) proposal, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Bechtel-BWXT Idaho, LLC (BBWI), is chartered to restart this corrosion test and concurrently capture the available subsurface/fate and transport information. Since the work of retrieving the buried metal coupons is still in the planning stage, this paper outlines the interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers and defines the benefits of this research to long-term stewardship, subsurface science, and infrastructure protection programs

Examination of the 1970 National Bureau of Standards Underground Corrosion Test Welded Stainless STeel Coupons from Site D

A 1970 study initiated by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), buried over 6000 corrosion coupons or specimens of stainless steel Types 201, 202, 301, 304, 316, 409, 410, 430, and 434. The coupons were configured as sheet metal plates, coated plates, cross-welded plates, U-bend samples, sandwiched materials, and welded tubes. All coupons were of various heat-treatments and cold worked conditions and were buried at six distinctive soil-type sites throughout the United States. The NBS scientists dug five sets of two trenches at each of the six sites. In each pair of trenches, they buried duplicate sets of stainless steel coupons. The NBS study was designed to retrieve coupons after one year, two years, four years, eight years, and x years in the soil. During the first eight years of the study, four of five planned removals were completed. After the fourth retrieval, the NBS study was abandoned, and the fifth and final set of specimens remained undisturbed for over 33 years. In 2003, an interdisciplinary research team of industrial, university, and national laboratory investigators were funded under the United States Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP; Project Number 86803) to extract part of the remaining set of coupons at one of the test sites, characterize the stainless steel underground corrosion rates, and examine the fate and transport of metal ions into the soil. Extraction of one trench at one of the test sites occurred in April 2004. This report details only the characterization of corrosion found on the 14 welded coupons–two cross welded plates, six U-bends, and six welded tubes–that were retrieved from Site D, located near Wildwood, NJ. The welded coupons included Type 301, 304, 316, and 409 stainless steels. After 33 years in the soil, corrosion on the coupons varied according to alloy. This report discusses the stress corrosion cracking and crevice corrosion cracking of the U-bend coupons; the minimal corrosion found on the cross-bead plates; and the general, pitting, and crevice corrosion found on the welded tubes. In general, the austenitic Type 301, 304 and 316 samples showed little if any corrosion after 33+-years in the soil, whereas the ferritic alloys-Type 409 and 434– showed a spectrum of corrosion

Properties of solar polar coronal plumes constrained by Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer data

We investigate the plasma dynamics (outflow speed and turbulence) inside polar plumes. We compare line profiles (mainly of \ion{O}{6}) observed by the UVCS instrument on SOHO at the minimum of solar cycle 22-23 with model calculations. We consider Maxwellian velocity distributions with different widths in plume and inter-plume regions. Electron densities are assumed to be enhanced in plumes and to approach inter-plume values with increasing height. Different combinations of the outflow and turbulence velocity in the plume regions are considered. We compute line profiles and total intensities of the \ion{H}{1} Ly$\alpha$ and the \ion{O}{6} doublets. The observed profile shapes and intensities are reproduced best by a small solar wind speed at low altitudes in plumes that increases with height to reach ambient inter-plume values above roughly 3-4 R_\sun combined with a similar variation of the width of the velocity distribution of the scattering atoms/ions. We also find that plumes very close to the pole give narrow profiles at heights above 2.5 R_\sun, which are not observed. This suggests a tendency for plumes to be located away from the pole. We find that the inclusion of plumes in the model computations provides an improved correspondence with the observations and confirms previous results showing that published UVCS observations in polar coronal holes can be roughly reproduced without the need for large temperature anisotropy. The latitude distributions of plumes and magnetic flux distributions are studied by analyzing data from different instruments on SOHO and with SOLIS.Comment: 11 figure

Physics of Solar Prominences: II - Magnetic Structure and Dynamics

Observations and models of solar prominences are reviewed. We focus on non-eruptive prominences, and describe recent progress in four areas of prominence research: (1) magnetic structure deduced from observations and models, (2) the dynamics of prominence plasmas (formation and flows), (3) Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) waves in prominences and (4) the formation and large-scale patterns of the filament channels in which prominences are located. Finally, several outstanding issues in prominence research are discussed, along with observations and models required to resolve them.Comment: 75 pages, 31 pictures, review pape

The Flare-energy Distributions Generated by Kink-unstable Ensembles of Zero-net-current Coronal Loops

It has been proposed that the million degree temperature of the corona is due to the combined effect of barely-detectable energy releases, so called nanoflares, that occur throughout the solar atmosphere. Alas, the nanoflare density and brightness implied by this hypothesis means that conclusive verification is beyond present observational abilities. Nevertheless, we investigate the plausibility of the nanoflare hypothesis by constructing a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model that can derive the energy of a nanoflare from the nature of an ideal kink instability. The set of energy-releasing instabilities is captured by an instability threshold for linear kink modes. Each point on the threshold is associated with a unique energy release and so we can predict a distribution of nanoflare energies. When the linear instability threshold is crossed, the instability enters a nonlinear phase as it is driven by current sheet reconnection. As the ensuing flare erupts and declines, the field transitions to a lower energy state, which is modelled by relaxation theory, i.e., helicity is conserved and the ratio of current to field becomes invariant within the loop. We apply the model so that all the loops within an ensemble achieve instability followed by energy-releasing relaxation. The result is a nanoflare energy distribution. Furthermore, we produce different distributions by varying the loop aspect ratio, the nature of the path to instability taken by each loop and also the level of radial expansion that may accompany loop relaxation. The heating rate obtained is just sufficient for coronal heating. In addition, we also show that kink instability cannot be associated with a critical magnetic twist value for every point along the instability threshold

On Solving the Coronal Heating Problem

This article assesses the current state of understanding of coronal heating, outlines the key elements of a comprehensive strategy for solving the problem, and warns of obstacles that must be overcome along the way.Comment: Accepted by Solar Physics; Published by Solar Physic