Livermore, California 94551 California Livermore, 808,L-664 P.O. Box Livermore NationalLaboratoryLawrence Review Technology Science and January February 1996 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory GroundwaterGroundwater CleanupCleanup withwith HydrostratigraphicHydrostratigraphic AnalysisAnalysis Printed onrecycled paper. Permit No.154 Livermore, CA Livermore, U. S.Postage Nonprofit Org. Nonprofit PAID Also in this issue: Micropower Impulse Radar January Digital Mammography January/February 1996 About the Cover February 1996 S&TR Staff Lawrence Livermore National Returning groundwater to its natural state Laboratory Lawrence SCIENTIFIC EDITOR is high on priority lists at Lawrence Livermore Livermore National Laboratory. Our feature article this Becky Failor National month describes how groundwater cleanup at Groundwater Laboratory PUBLICATION EDITOR the Laboratory is progressing faster than Cleanup with anticipated, thanks to new developments in Hydrostratigraphic Sue Stull hydrostratigraphic analysis. This multidisciplinary Analysis “smart pump-and-treat” approach maximizes WRITERS extraction as it links data on physical properties Arnie Heller, Robert D. Kirvel, of sediments, groundwater, and contaminants. Dale Sprouse, and Katie Walter 2 The Laboratory in the News This all translates into fewer wells, less time, and lower cost. We will be sharing our ART DIRECTOR comprehensive cleanup know-how with other 4 Patents and Awards environmental restoration projects. Kathryn Tinsley DESIGNERS 5 Commentary on Environmental Restoration George Kitrinos and Kathryn Tinsley Also in this issue: Micropower Impulse Radar Micropower Impulse Radar Cover photos: James Stoots GRAPHIC ARTIST Features Treva Carey 6 Groundwater Cleanup Using Hydrostratigraphic Analysis COMPOSITOR Effective site cleanup of underground contaminants is achieved ahead of Louisa Cardoza schedule by using hydrostratigraphic analysis. PROOFREADER 16 Micropower Impulse Radar Catherine M. Williams Invented and developed at LLNL, this inexpensive and highly sensitive radar system produces and samples extremely short pulses of energy. This What Do You Think? S&TR is produced by the Technical novel technology is finding dozens of new uses in Laboratory programs We want to know what you think of our Information Department as a service and in sensor devices for homes, automobiles, factories, and hospitals. publication. Please use the enclosed survey for the Director’s Office. form to give us your feedback. Research Highlights 30 Probing with Synchrotron-Radiation-Based Spectroscopies 32 Operating a Tokamak from Across the Country Electronic Access 36 Abstracts S&TR is available on the Internet at http://www.llnl.gov/str/str.html. As references Printed in the United States of America become available on the Internet, they will be interactively linked to the footnote references Available from at the end of each article. If you desire more National Technical Information Service detailed information about an article, click on any U.S. Department of Commerce reference that is in color at the end of the article, 5285 Port Royal Road and you will connect automatically with the Springfield, Virginia 22161 reference. UCRL-52000-96-1/2 Distribution Category UC-700 January/February 1996 About the Review This publication is a continuation of Energy and Technology Review. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, operated by the University of California for the United States Department of Energy, was established in 1952 to do research on nuclear weapons and magnetic fusion energy. Science and Technology Review (formerly Energy and Technology Review) is Page 16 published ten times a year to communicate, to a broad audience, the Laboratory’s scientific and technological accomplishments, particularly in the Laboratory’s core mission areas—global security, energy and the • • environment, and bioscience and biotechnology. The publication’s goal is to help readers understand Page 6 these accomplishments and appreciate their value to the individual citizen, the nation, and the world. Prepared by LLNL under contract Please address any correspondence (including name and address changes) to S&TR, Mail Stop L-664, No. W-7405-Eng-48 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551, or telephone (510) 422-8961. Our electronic mail address is [email protected]. 2 The Laboratory in the News The Laboratory in the News 3 Collaboration for advanced tissue welding system yearly price tag for direct and indirect costs of carpal tunnel True 3-D motion computer imaging developed with state-of-the-art cryogenic amplifiers. Searching for the axion Livermore and Conversion Energy Enterprises (CEE) of syndrome—estimated at $10 to $15 billion. Livermore computer scientists have developed the next step is very similar to tuning one’s car radio very slowly, looking Spring Valley, New York, have embarked on a cooperative Contacts: Robert Van Vorhis (510) 423-1693 ([email protected]) or in computer imaging—true 3-D motion imaging. The system, for a weak station. venture aimed at developing a prototype automatic medical Steve Burastero (510) 424-4506 ([email protected]). dubbed “CyberSight,” can digitally capture and display moving The experiment is a collaboration of Livermore, system for laser welding of tissue. LLNL will lend its expertise 3-D subjects to a degree of realism never before achieved. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Florida, in lasers, computers, optics, and microtool development. Mammoth Mountain mystery unraveling CyberSight works by first capturing a subject on video using a UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Tissue welding would be faster than traditional methods, Working with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), stereo camera system. Instead of placing markers on the subject as University of Chicago, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, could be used in areas difficult to reach, would make better Laboratory scientists have been helping unravel the mystery of reference points (as is done in current motion-capturing systems), and Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of joints, speed healing, and decrease risk of complications. the death of trees in California’s Mammoth Mountain area and line patterns are projected onto the subject. The pattern data is Sciences in Moscow. Approved for construction in January Current methods for binding tissue together are stitching and the near-asphyxiation of a Forest Service Ranger in 1990. picked up by the cameras and fed to a computer, which transforms 1993, the $1.4-million experiment took more than two years to stapling. While functional, both can allow puckering around In the August 24, 1995, issue of Nature magazine, members the data into complete surface reconstructions, in motion and assemble. Researchers began taking data in November 1995. the wound and seepage of fluids. For some difficult-to-get-at of the USGS group and Lab scientist John Southon wrote that high resolution, to exact measurements. Contact: Karl Van Bibber (510) 434-8949 ([email protected]). locations, stitching or stapling is just not possible. they believe seismic activity deep inside the mountain is causing The Laboratory is seeking opportunities to commercialize the Contacts: Dennis Matthews (510) 422-5360 ([email protected]) emissions of magmatic carbon dioxide (CO2) similar to those CyberSight technology and to expand it into different applications Allenby, Dimolitsas join LLNL management team or Luiz Da Silva (510) 423-9867 ([email protected]). observed in other volcanic areas like Mt. Etna and Mt. Vesuvius. through licensing or joint development. Possible uses for Braden Allenby has joined the Laboratory in a two-year Southon, a member of Livermore’s Center for Mass CyberSight range from greater cinematic realism to improved term appointment to lead LLNL’s new strategic initiative of Blood-gas monitoring system under development Spectrometry, said his principal role in the investigation has control of industrial robots. CyberSight has potential applications long-range unified energy and environmental programs. The Laboratory and Novametrix Medical Systems Inc. of been to provide the expertise of LLNL’s radiocarbon group to in the medical area, for example, to analyze the movement of Allenby is a leading researcher on industrial ecology, the Wallingford, Connecticut, are seeking to develop a quick, easy, confirm the conclusions reached by the primary USGS researchers. patients with cerebral palsy or to assist surgeons in the effects of science of balancing ecosystems with industrial systems. noninvasive way to monitor blood for substances such as oxygen, Lab scientists, for example, aided the USGS team by plastic surgery. In security applications, CyberSight might Director Bruce Tarter said that Allenby will help the carbon dioxide, anesthesia, or alcohol. distinguishing emissions of magmatic CO2 from those resulting provide a reliable facial recognition system. Defense applications Laboratory create a “strategic, integrating framework for long- Important for monitoring the condition of patients, from naturally occurring biological activity. Recently Laura might involve 3-D modeling of material deformation under stress range program and resource development” for the Laboratory’s measurements of such gases in the bloodstream are used Hainsworth, a post-doctoral fellow in the group, has been using or determining proper fit for military equipment, such as gas masks. energy and environmental