Vapor-liquid contacting in high gravitational fields offers prospects for significant reductions in the physical size, capital, and operating costs of packed towers. Pressure drops, power requirements, mass transfer coefficients and liquid residence time distributions are reported for a rotating bed separator. The beds studied were rigid, foamed aluminum, with specific surface areas ranging from 650 to 3000 m{sup 2}/m{sup 2}. Gravitational fields were varied from 50 to 300g.

A conceptual heat transfer loop for Cascade, a centrifugal-action solid-breeder reaction chamber, has been investigated and results are presented. The Cascade concept, a double-cone-shaped reaction chamber, rotates along its horizontal axis. Solid Li/sub 2/O or other lithium-ceramic granules are injected tangentially through each end of the chamber. The granules cascade axially from the smaller radii at the ends to the larger radius at the center, where they are ejected into a stationary granule catcher. Heat and tritium are then removed from the granules and the granules are reinjected into the chamber. A 50% dense Li/sub 2/O granule throughput of 2.8 m/sup 3//s is transferred from the reaction chamber to the steam generators via continuous bucket elevators. The granules then fall by gravity through 4 vertical steam generators. The entire transport system is maintained at the same vacuum conditions present inside the reaction chamber.

A drilling-and-casing method (Odex 115 system) utilizing air as a drilling fluid was used successfully to drill through various rock types within the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This paper describes this method and the equipment used to rapidly penetrate bouldery alluvial-colluvial deposits, poorly consolidated bedded and nonwelded tuff, and fractured, densely welded tuff to depths of about 130 meters. A comparison of water-content and water-potential data from drill cuttings with similar measurements on rock cores indicates that drill cuttings were only slightly disturbed for several of the rock types penetrated. Coring, sampling, and handling methods were devised to obtain minimally disturbed drive core from bouldery alluvial-colluvial deposits. Bulk-density values obtained from bulk samples dug from nearby trenches were compared to bulk-density values obtained from drive core to determine the effects of drive coring on the porosity of the core. Rotary coring methods utilizing a triple-tube core barrel and air as the drilling fluid were used to obtain core from welded and nonwelded tuff. Results indicate that the disturbance of the water content of the core was minimal. Water-content distributions in alluvium-colluvium were determined before drilling occurred by drive-core methods. After drilling, water-content distributions were determined by nuclear-logging methods. …

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