The Prioritization of Environment, Safety, and Health Activities

Federal facilities, including the national laboratories, must bring existing operations into compliance with environment, safety, and health (ES H) regulations while restoring sites of past operations to conform with today's more rigorous standards. The need for ES H resources is increasing while overall budgets are decreasing, and the resulting staffing and financial constraints often make it impossible to carry out all necessary activities simultaneously. This stimulated interest in formal methods to prioritize ES H activities. We describe the development of an approach called MAPP (Multi-Attribute Prioritization Process), which features expert judgment, user values, and intensive user participation in the system design process. We present results of its application to the prioritization of 41 ES H activities having a total cost of over $25 million. We conclude that the insights gained from user participation in the design process and the formal prioritization results are probably of comparable value. 19 refs., 3 figs., 9 tabs

Deep exclusive π+\pi^+ electroproduction off the proton at CLAS

The exclusive electroproduction of $\pi^+$ above the resonance region was studied using the $\rm{CEBAF}$ Large Acceptance Spectrometer ($\rm{CLAS}$) at Jefferson Laboratory by scattering a 6 GeV continuous electron beam off a hydrogen target. The large acceptance and good resolution of $\rm{CLAS}$, together with the high luminosity, allowed us to measure the cross section for the $\gamma^* p \to n \pi^+$ process in 140 ($Q^2$, $x_B$, $t$) bins: $0.16<x_B<0.58$, 1.6 GeV$^2<$$Q^2$$<4.5$ GeV$^2$ and 0.1 GeV$^2<$$-t$$<5.3$ GeV$^2$. For most bins, the statistical accuracy is on the order of a few percent. Differential cross sections are compared to two theoretical models, based either on hadronic (Regge phenomenology) or on partonic (handbag diagram) degrees of freedom. Both can describe the gross features of the data reasonably well, but differ strongly in their ingredients. If the handbag approach can be validated in this kinematical region, our data contain the interesting potential to experimentally access transversity Generalized Parton Distributions.Comment: 18pages, 21figures,2table

The present and future of QCD

This White Paper presents an overview of the current status and future perspective of QCD research, based on the community inputs and scientific conclusions from the 2022 Hot and Cold QCD Town Meeting. We present the progress made in the last decade toward a deep understanding of both the fundamental structure of the sub-atomic matter of nucleon and nucleus in cold QCD, and the hot QCD matter in heavy ion collisions. We identify key questions of QCD research and plausible paths to obtaining answers to those questions in the near future, hence defining priorities of our research over the coming decades

Environmental sampling

Environmental Sampling (ES) is a technology option that can have application in transparency in nuclear nonproliferation. The basic process is to take a sample from the environment, e.g., soil, water, vegetation, or dust and debris from a surface, and through very careful sample preparation and analysis, determine the types, elemental concentration, and isotopic composition of actinides in the sample. The sample is prepared and the analysis performed in a clean chemistry laboratory (CCL). This ES capability is part of the IAEA Strengthened Safeguards System. Such a Laboratory is planned to be built by JAERI at Tokai and will give Japan an intrinsic ES capability. This paper presents options for the use of ES as a transparency measure for nuclear nonproliferation

Remote monitoring using technologies from the Internet and World Wide Web

Recent developments in Internet technologies are changing and enhancing how one processes and exchanges information. These developments include software and hardware in support of multimedia applications on the World Wide Web. In this paper the authors describe these technologies as they have applied them to remote monitoring and show how they will allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to efficiently review and analyze remote monitoring data for verification of material movements. The authors have developed demonstration software that illustrates several safeguards data systems using the resources of the Internet and Web to access and review data. This Web demo allows the user to directly observe sensor data, to analyze simulated safeguards data, and to view simulated on-line inventory data. Future activities include addressing the technical and security issues associated with using the Web to interface with existing and planned monitoring systems at nuclear facilities. Some of these issues are authentication, encryption, transmission of large quantities of data, and data compression

Verification of classified fissile material using unclassified attributes

This paper reports on the most recent efforts of US technical experts to explore verification by IAEA of unclassified attributes of classified excess fissile material. Two propositions are discussed: (1) that multiple unclassified attributes could be declared by the host nation and then verified (and reverified) by the IAEA in order to provide confidence in that declaration of a classified (or unclassified) inventory while protecting classified or sensitive information; and (2) that attributes could be measured, remeasured, or monitored to provide continuity of knowledge in a nonintrusive and unclassified manner. They believe attributes should relate to characteristics of excess weapons materials and should be verifiable and authenticatable with methods usable by IAEA inspectors. Further, attributes (along with the methods to measure them) must not reveal any classified information. The approach that the authors have taken is as follows: (1) assume certain attributes of classified excess material, (2) identify passive signatures, (3) determine range of applicable measurement physics, (4) develop a set of criteria to assess and select measurement technologies, (5) select existing instrumentation for proof-of-principle measurements and demonstration, and (6) develop and design information barriers to protect classified information. While the attribute verification concepts and measurements discussed in this paper appear promising, neither the attribute verification approach nor the measurement technologies have been fully developed, tested, and evaluated