Project Gnome was the first nuclear experiment conducted under the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), predecessor to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Plowshare Program. Gnome was part of a joint government-industry experiment focused on developing nuclear devices exclusively for peaceful purposes. The intent of the Gnome experiment was to evaluate the effects of a nuclear detonation in a salt medium. Historically, Project Gnome consisted of a single detonation of a nuclear device on December 10, 1961. Since the Gnome detonation, the AEC/DOE has conducted surface restoration, site reconnaissance, and decontamination and decommissioning activities at the site. In addition, annual groundwater sampling is performed under a long-term hydrological monitoring program begun in 1980. Coach, an experiment to be located near the Gnome project, was initially scheduled for 1963. Although construction and rehabilitation were completed for Coach, the experiment was canceled and never executed. Known collectively as Project Gnome-Coach, the site is situated within the Salado Formation approximately 25 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in Eddy County, and is comprised of nearly 680 acres, of which 60 acres are disturbed from the combined AEC/DOE operations. The scope of this work plan is to document the environmental objectives and the proposed …

This is the twenty-eighth in a series of semiannual technical progress reports on fusion materials. This report combines the full spectrum of research and development activities on both metallic and non-metallic materials with primary emphasis on the effects of the neutronic and chemical environment on the properties and performance of materials for in-vessel components. This effort forms one element of the materials program being conducted in support of the Fusion Energy Sciences Program of the U.S. Department of Energy. The other major element of the program is concerned with the interactions between reactor materials and the plasma and is reported separately.