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DOE OSTI2015

Global Carbon Project: the Global Carbon Budget 2015 (V.1.0., issued Nov. 2015 and V.1.1, issued Dec. 2015)

Accurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and a methodology to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties, based on the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics, and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates as well as consistency within and among components, alongside methodology and data limitations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Monticello Mill Tailings Site Operable Unit III Annual Groundwater Report May 2014 Through April 2015, October 2015

This report provides the annual analysis of water quality restoration progress, cumulative through April 2015, for Operable Unit (OU) III, surface water and groundwater, of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management Monticello Mill Tailings Site (MMTS). The MMTS is a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act National Priorities List site located in and near the city of Monticello, San Juan County, Utah. MMTS comprises the 110-acre site of a former uranium- and vanadium-ore-processing mill (mill site) and 1,700 acres of surrounding private and municipal property. Milling operations generated 2.5 million cubic yards of waste (tailings) from 1942 to 1960. The tailings were impounded at four locations on the mill site. Inorganic constituents in the tailings drained from the impoundments to contaminate local surface water (Montezuma Creek) and groundwater in the underlying alluvial aquifer. Mill tailings dispersed by wind and water also contaminated properties surrounding and downstream of the mill site. Remedial actions to remove and isolate radiologically contaminated soil, sediment, and debris from the former mill site (OU I) and surrounding properties (OU II) were completed in 1999 with the encapsulation of the wastes in an engineered repository located on DOE property 1 mile south of the former mill site. Contamination of groundwater and surface water remains within OU III at levels that exceed water quality protection standards. Uranium is the primary contaminant of concern. LM implemented monitored natural attenuation with institutional controls as the OU III remedy in 2004. Because groundwater restoration proceeded more slowly than expected and did not meet performance criteria established in the OU III Record of Decision (June 2004), LM implemented a contingency action in 2009 by an Explanation of Significant Difference to include a pump-and-treat system using a single extraction well and treatment by zero-valent iron (ex-situ treatment system). The contingency action was optimized in 2015 with the installation of 8 extraction wells and 16 monitoring wells in a focused area of the aquifer (area of attainment). Contaminated water is treated by solar evaporation at an existing onsite LM facility. Environmental monitoring at OU III consists of twice-yearly (April and October) collection and analysis of hydrologic and water-quality data from an established network of observation wells, seeps, and surface water locations. The scope of monitoring was expanded in 2009 for the ex situ treatment system and in 2015 for the remedy optimization system. Operation and monitoring of the ex situ treatment system was discontinued in 2014 with the start-up of the remedy optimization system. No data anomalies for OU III water quality trending or restoration progress are identified for the May 2014 through April 2015 reporting period. Although some regions of the aquifer demonstrate decreasing concentration trends, such trending is not evident for the bulk of the aquifer and a prolonged restoration period is indicated. The groundwater contingency remedy optimization system captures significant contaminant mass (primarily uranium) from the area of attainment; however, because that system only became operational in 2015, a long-term forecast of restoration progress is premature.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

The 2015 Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC 2015)

The Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC) is organized by the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF), a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting the practice and philosophy of open source software development and open science within the biological research community. Since its inception in 2000, BOSC has provided bioinformatics developers with a forum for communicating the results of their latest efforts to the wider research community. BOSC offers a focused environment for developers and users to interact and share ideas about standards; software development practices; practical techniques for solving bioinformatics problems; and approaches that promote open science and sharing of data, results, and software. BOSC is run as a two-day special interest group (SIG) before the annual Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference. BOSC 2015 took place in Dublin, Ireland, and was attended by over 125 people, about half of whom were first-time attendees. Session topics included “Data Science;” “Standards and Interoperability;” “Open Science and Reproducibility;” “Translational Bioinformatics;” “Visualization;” and “Bioinformatics Open Source Project Updates”. In addition to two keynote talks and dozens of shorter talks chosen from submitted abstracts, BOSC 2015 included a panel, titled “Open Source, Open Door: Increasing Diversity in the Bioinformatics Open Source Community,” that provided an opportunity for open discussion about ways to increase the diversity of participants in BOSC in particular, and in open source bioinformatics in general. The complete program of BOSC 2015 is available online at http://www.open-bio.org/wiki/BOSC_2015_Schedule.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Common Cause Analysis Report for 2011 Fueled Vessel Drain, 2015 Defueled Vessel Drain, and 2015 EFIS Switch Misalignment

This causal analysis was initiated by ATR Management and committed to in INR 5238 for the August 24, 2015 primary coolant system (PCS) leak. This analysis sought common causal factors between the August 24, 2015 PCS leak, the July 23, 2015 emergency firewater injection system (EFIS) switch mispositioning, and the 2011 ATR fueled vessel level loss. This common cause analysis was conducted at the level of effort of an apparent cause.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2015

MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF FLARING ACTIVITY IN BL Lac OBJECT S5 0716+714 DURING THE 2015 OUTBURST

We present a detailed investigation of the flaring activity observed from a BL Lac object, S5 0716+714 , during its brightest ever optical state in the second half of 2015 January. Observed almost simultaneously in the optical, X-rays, and γ-rays, a significant change in the degree of optical polarization (PD) and a swing in the position angle (PA) of polarization were recorded. A TeV (VHE) detection was also reported by the MAGIC consortium during this flaring episode. Two prominent sub-flares, peaking about five days apart, were seen in almost all of the energy bands. The multi-wavelength light curves, spectral energy distribution, and polarization are modeled using the time-dependent code developed by Zhang et al. This model assumes a straight jet threaded by large-scale helical magnetic fields taking into account the light travel time effects, incorporating synchrotron flux and polarization in 3D geometry. The rapid variation in PD and rotation in PA are most likely due to reconnections happening in the emission region in the jet, as suggested by the change in the ratio of toroidal to poloidal components of the magnetic field during the quiescent and flaring states.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Inflationary features and shifts in cosmological parameters from Planck 2015 data

We explore the relationship between features in the Planck 2015 temperature and polarization data, shifts in the cosmological parameters, and features from inflation. Residuals in the temperature data at low multipole &ell;, which are responsible for the high H 0 ≈ 70 km s –1 Mpc –1 and low σ 8 $Ω^{1/2}_{m}$ values from &ell; < 1000 in power-law ΛCDM models, are better fit to inflationary features with a 1.9σ preference for running of the running of the tilt or a stronger 99% CL local significance preference for a sharp drop in power around k = 0.004 Mpc –1 in generalized slow roll and a lower H 0 ≈ 67km s –1 Mpc –1 . The same in-phase acoustic residuals at &ell; >1000 that drive the global H 0 constraints and appear as a lensing anomaly also favor running parameters which allow even lower H 0 , but not once lensing reconstruction is considered. Polarization spectra are intrinsically highly sensitive to these parameter shifts, and even more so in the Planck 2015 TE data due to an outlier at &ell; ≈ 165,which disfavors the best fit H 0 ΛCDM solution by more than 2σ, and high H 0 value at almost 3σ. Current polarization data also slightly enhance the significance of a sharp suppression of large-scale power but leave room for large improvements in the future with cosmic variance limited E-mode measurements.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Homeostatic maintenance of nonstructural carbohydrates during the 2015-2016 El Niño drought across a tropical forest precipitation gradient

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) are essential for maintenance of plant metabolism, and may be sensitive to both short- and long-term climatic variation. The NSC variation in NSCs in moist tropical forests has only rarely been studied, however, so regulation of NSCs in these systems is poorly understood. We measured foliar and branch NSC content in 23 tree species at three sites located across a large precipitation gradient in Panama during the 2015-2016 El Niño to examine how short- and long-term climatic variation impacts carbohydrate dynamics. Across all sites, leaf NSCs increased over diurnal time-periods. There was no significant difference in total NSCs over as the progression of the drought progressed (leaf p=0.32, branch p=0.30), nor across the rainfall gradient (leaf p=0.91, branch p=0.96). The Foliar soluble sugars decreased while starch increased :starch ratio did decrease over the duration of the dry period, suggesting greater partitioning of NSCs to storage than metabolism or transport as drought progressed. There was large variation across species at all sites, but total foliar NSCs were positively correlated with leaf mass per area, while branch sugars were positively related to leaf temperature and negatively correlated with daily photosynthesis and wood density. The NSC homeostasis across a wide range of conditions suggests that NSCs are an allocation priority in moist tropical forests.

Dickman, Lee T.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Performance of the ATLAS trigger system in 2015

During 2015 the ATLAS experiment recorded 3.8fb –1 of proton–proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV. The ATLAS trigger system is a crucial component of the experiment, responsible for selecting events of interest at a recording rate of approximately 1 kHz from up to 40 MHz of collisions. This paper presents a short overview of the changes to the trigger and data acquisition systems during the first long shutdown of the LHC and shows the performance of the trigger system and its components based on the 2015 proton–proton collision data.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Post-Closure Report for Closed Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Corrective Action Units, Nevada National Security Site, Nevada: For Fiscal Year 2015 (October 2014–September 2015), Revision 0

This report serves as the combined annual report for post-closure activities for the following closed corrective action units (CAUs); CAU 90, Area 2 Bitcutter Containment; CAU 91, Area 3 U-3fi Injection Well; CAU 92, Area 6 Decon Pond Facility; CAU 110, Area 3 WMD U-3ax/bl Crater; CAU 111, Area 5 WMD Retired Mixed Waste Pits; and CAU 112, Area 23 Hazardous Waste Trenches. This report covers fiscal year 2015 (October 2014 through September 2015). The post-closure requirements for these sites are described in Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Permit Number NEV HW0101 and are summarized in each CAU-specific section in Section 1.0 of this report. The results of the inspections, a summary of maintenance activities, and an evaluation of monitoring data are presented in this report.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

FERMI- LAT GAMMA-RAY DETECTIONS OF CLASSICAL NOVAE V1369 CENTAURI 2013 AND V5668 SAGITTARII 2015

We report the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) detections of high-energy (>100 MeV) γ -ray emission from two recent optically bright classical novae, V1369 Centauri 2013 and V5668 Sagittarii 2015. At early times, Fermi target-of-opportunity observations prompted by their optical discoveries provided enhanced LAT exposure that enabled the detections of γ -ray onsets beginning ∼2 days after their first optical peaks. Significant γ -ray emission was found extending to 39–55 days after their initial LAT detections, with systematically fainter and longer-duration emission compared to previous γ -ray-detected classical novae. These novae were distinguished by multiple bright optical peaks that encompassed the time spans of the observed γ -rays. The γ -ray light curves and spectra of the two novae are presented along with representative hadronic and leptonic models, and comparisons with other novae detected by the LAT are discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

CONSTRAINTS ON NON-FLAT COSMOLOGIES WITH MASSIVE NEUTRINOS AFTER PLANCK 2015

We investigate two dark energy cosmological models (i.e., the ΛCDM and ϕ CDM models) with massive neutrinos assuming two different neutrino mass hierarchies in both the spatially flat and non-flat scenarios, where in the ϕ CDM model the scalar field possesses an inverse power-law potential, V ( ϕ ) ∝ ϕ {sup −} {sup α} ( α > 0). Cosmic microwave background data from Planck 2015, baryon acoustic oscillation data from 6dFGS, SDSS-MGS, BOSS-LOWZ and BOSS CMASS-DR11, the joint light-curve analysis compilation of SNe Ia apparent magnitude observations, and the Hubble Space Telescope H {sub 0} prior, are jointly employed to constrain the model parameters. We first determine constraints assuming three species of degenerate massive neutrinos. In the spatially flat (non-flat) ΛCDM model, the sum of neutrino masses is bounded as Σ m {sub ν} < 0.165(0.299) eV at 95% confidence level (CL). Correspondingly, in the flat (non-flat) ϕ CDM model, we find Σ m {sub ν} < 0.164(0.301) eV at 95% CL. The inclusion of spatial curvature as a free parameter results in a significant broadening of confidence regions for Σ m {sub ν} and other parameters. In the scenario where the total neutrino mass is dominated by the heaviest neutrino mass eigenstate, we obtain similar conclusions to those obtained in the degenerate neutrino mass scenario. In addition, the results show that the bounds on Σ m {sub ν} based on two different neutrino mass hierarchies have insignificant differences in the spatially flat case for both the ΛCDM and ϕ CDM models; however, the corresponding differences are larger in the non-flat case.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Planck 2015 Constraints on the Non-flat XCDM Inflation Model

We examine the Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data by using a physically consistent energy density inhomogeneity power spectrum generated by quantum-mechanical fluctuations during an early epoch of inflation in the non-flat XCDM model. Here dark energy is parameterized using a fluid with a negative equation of state parameter but with the speed of fluid acoustic inhomogeneities set to the speed of light. We find that the Planck 2015 data in conjunction with baryon acoustic oscillation distance measurements are reasonably well fit by a closed-XCDM model in which spatial curvature contributes a percent of the current cosmological energy density budget. In this model, the measured non-relativistic matter density parameter and Hubble constant are in good agreement with values determined using most other data. Depending on cosmological parameter values, the closed-XCDM model has reduced power, relative to the tilted, spatially flat ΛCDM case, and can partially alleviate the low multipole CMB temperature anisotropy deficit and can help partially reconcile the CMB anisotropy and weak lensing σ 8 constraints, at the expense of somewhat worsening the fit to higher multipole CMB temperature anisotropy data. Furthemore, the closed-XCDM inflation model does not seem to improve the agreement much, if at all, compared to the closed ΛCDM inflation case, even though it has one additional free parameter.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program 2015 Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Report: June 8-12, 2015, Arlington, Virginia

The fiscal year 2015 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting (AMR), in conjunction with DOE's Vehicle Technologies Office AMR, was held from June 8-12, 2015, in Arlington, Virginia. This report is a summary of comments by AMR peer reviewers about the hydrogen and fuel cell projects funded by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2015

Data Validation Package May and June 2015 Groundwater and Surface Water Sampling at the Bluewater, New Mexico, Disposal Site, August 2015

Groundwater samples were collected from monitoring wells at the Bluewater, New Mexico, Disposal Site to monitor groundwater contaminants as specified in the 1997 Long-Term Surveillance Plan for the DOE Bluewater (UMTRCA Title II) Disposal Site Near Grants, New Mexico (LTSP). Sampling and analyses were conducted as specified in the Sampling and Analysis Plan for U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Sites (LMS/PRO/S04351, continually updated). Duplicate samples were collected from locations 14(SG) and 21(M). Sampling originally scheduled for the week of May 11, 2015 was interrupted by heavy rainfall and later completed in June.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Data Validation Package August 2015 Groundwater Sampling at the Grand Junction, Colorado, Disposal Site October 2015

Sampling Period: August 4, 2015. The 1998 Interim Long-Term Surveillance Plan for the Cheney Disposal Site Near Grand Junction, Colorado, requires annual monitoring to assess the performance of the disposal cell. Monitoring wells 0731, 0732, and 0733 were sampled as specified in the plan. Sampling and analyses were conducted in accordance with Sampling and Analysis Plan for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Sites (LMS/PRO/S04351, continually updated). The water level was measured at each sampled well. The water level in well 0733, located in the disposal cell, is lower than water levels in adjacent wells 0731 and 0732, indicating a hydraulic gradient toward the disposal cell. Results from this sampling event were generally consistent with results from the past as shown in the attached concentration-versus-time graphs. There have been no large changes in contaminant concentration observed over the last several years with the following exception. The uranium concentration in well 0733 has been trending upward since 2003. High uranium concentrations are expected in this well because it is located in the disposal cell. The selenium concentrations observed in wells 0731 and 0732 are elevated when compared to the disposal cell 0733. Wells 0731 and 0732 are completed at the alluvium/Mancos contact; here, elevated selenium concentrations are expected due to contributions from the Mancos shale.

2015 Sampling Grand Junction, CO↗
DOE OSTI2019

Study of the rare decays of B s 0 and B 0 mesons into muon pairs using data collected during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector

A study of the decays B s 0 → μ + μ – and B 0 → μ + μ – has been performed using 26.3 fb –1 of 13 TeV LHC proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016. Since the detector resolution in μ + μ – invariant mass is comparable to the B s 0 -B 0 mass difference, a single fit determines the signal yields for both decay modes. This results in a measurement of the branching fraction B(B s 0 → μ + μ – ) = (3.2 +1.1 –1.0 ) × 10 –9 and an upper limit B(B 0 → μ + μ – ) < 4.3×10 –10 at 95% confidence level. The result is combined with the Run 1 ATLAS result, yielding B(B s 0 → μ + μ – ) = (2.8 +0.8 –0.7 ) × 10 –9 and B(B 0 → μ + μ – ) < 2.1 × 10 –10 at 95% confidence level. The combined result is consistent with the Standard Model prediction within 2.4 standard deviations in the B(B 0 → μ + μ – ) – B(B 0 s → μ + μ – ) plane.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Foreword to special issue: Papers from the 57th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, November 16–20, 2015, Savannah, Georgia, USA

The 57th annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) was held November 16–20, 2015 in Savannah, Georgia. The meeting brings together researchers (undergraduate students through retirees) from all areas of plasma physics. 1887 abstracts were included in the program, approximately 200 more than the previous year. The presentations included five invited review talks, 97 invited talks, three invited postdeadline talks, and four tutorials. Furthermore, there were approximately 1780 contributed presentations, with about 40% oral and 60% poster. Three mini-conferences were held concurrently.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗