Ten closely spaced, shallow (<100 ft) drill cores were obtained from the 1.22-Ma-old Bandelier Tuff at a 4-acre site for proposed construction at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. The goal of the investigation was to identify faults that may have potential for earthquake-induced surface ruptures at the site. Careful mapping of contact surfaces within the Bandelier Tuff was supplemented with results of geochemical analyses to establish unit boundaries with a high degree of accuracy. Analysis shows that the upper contact surface of Unit 3 of the Bandelier Tuff provides no evidence of faults beneath the building site, and that the subsurface structure is consistent with a shallowly dipping (< 2{degree}), unbroken block. Because no significant or cumulative faulting events have disturbed the site in the last 1.22 million years, it is unlikely that surface rupture will occur at the site in future large earthquakes. Uncertainty analysis suggests that this method would detect faults with {ge}2 ft of cumulative stratigraphic separation.

Total hydrocarbon production in the Michigan Basin has surpassed 1 billion barrels (Bbbls) and total unrecovered reserves are estimated at 1--2 BBbls. However, hydrocarbon production in Michigan has fallen from 35 MMbbls/yr in 1979 to about 10 MMbbls/yr in 1996. In an effort to slow this decline, a field demonstration project designed around using a horizontal well to recover bypassed oil was designed and carried out at Crystal Field in Montcalm County, MI. The project had two goals: to test the viability of using horizontal wells to recover bypassed oil from the Dundee Formation, and to characterize additional Dundee reservoirs (29) that are look alikes to the Crystal Field. As much as 85 percent of the oil known to exist in the Dundee Formation in the Michigan Basin remains in the ground as bypassed oil. Early production techniques in the 137 fields were poor, and the Dundee was at risk of being abandoned, leaving millions of barrels of oil behind. Crystal Field in Montcalm County, Michigan is a good example of a worn out field. Crystal Field was once a prolific producer which had been reduced to a handful of wells, the best of which produced only 5 barrels per …

In situ chemical oxidation is a developing class of remediation technologies in which organic contaminants are degraded in place by powerful oxidants. Successful implementation of this technology requires an effective means for dispersing the oxidant to contaminated regions in the subsurface. An oxidant delivery technique has been developed wherein the treatment solution is made by adding an oxidant to extracted groundwater. The oxidant-laden groundwater is then injected and recirculated into a contaminated aquifer through multiple horizontal and/or vertical wells. This technique, referred to as in situ chemical oxidation through recirculation (ISCOR), can be applied to saturated and hydraulically conductive formations and used with relatively stable oxidants such as potassium permanganate (KMnO{sub 4}). A field-scale test of ISCOR was conducted at a site (Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant) where groundwater in a 5-ft thick silty gravel aquifer is contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) at levels that indicate the presence of residual dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). The field test was implemented using a pair of parallel horizontal wells with 200-ft screened sections. For approximately one month, groundwater was extracted from one horizontal well, dosed with crystalline KMnO{sub 4}, and re-injected into the other horizontal well 90 ft away. Post-treatment characterization showed that ISCOR …

This document describes the US Department of Energy`s (DOE) Hanford Site environment and is numbered to correspond to the chapters where such information is presented in Hanford Site NEPA related documents. The document is intended to provide a consistent description of the Hanford Site environment for the many NEPA documents that are being prepared by contractors. The two chapters in this document (Chapters 4 and 6) are numbered this way to correspond to the chapters where such information is presented in environmental impact statements (EISs) and other Site-related NEPA or CERCLA documentation. Chapter 4.0 (Affected Environment) describes the Hanford Site environment, and includes information on climate and meteorology, geology, hydrology, ecology, cultural, archaeological and historical resources, socioeconomics, and noise. Chapter 6.0 (Statutory and Regulatory Requirements) describes applicable federal and state laws and regulations, DOE directives and permits, and environmental standards directly applicable to the NEPA documents on the Hanford Site.

There are concerns about the lifetime of the nation`s stockpile of high explosives (HEs) and their components. The DOE`s Core Surveillance and Enhanced Surveillance programs specifically target degradation of HE, binders, and plastic-bonded explosives (PBXs) for determination of component lifetimes and handling procedures. The principal goal of this project is to identify the decomposition mechanisms of HEs, plasticizers, and plastic polymer binders resulting from exposure to ionizing radiation, heat, and humidity. The primary HEs of concern are 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) and 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetraazocyclooctane (HMX). Hexahydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) is closely related to these two compounds and is also included in the literature review. Both Kel-F 800 and Estane are polymers of interest. A stabilizer, Irganox 1010, and an energetic plasticizer that is a blend of acetaldehyde 2,2-dinitropropyl acetal, are also of interest, but the focus of this report will be on the explosives and polymers. This presents a literature review that provides background on the synthesis, degradation, and techniques to analyze TATB, HMX, RDX, Kel-F 800, Estane, and the PBXs of these compounds. As there are many factors that can influence degradation of materials, the degradation discussion will be divided into sections based on each factor and how it might affect the degradation mechanism. …

The Proceedings of the ten Detonation Symposia have become the major archival source of information of international research in explosive phenomenology, theory, experimental techniques, numerical modeling, and high-rate reaction chemistry. In many cases, they contain the original reference or the only reference to major progress in the field. For some papers, the information is more complete than the complementary article appearing in a formal journal; yet for others, authors elected to publish only an abstract in the Proceedings. For the large majority of papers, the Symposia Proceedings provide the only published reference to a body of work. This report indexes the ten existing Proceedings of the Detonation Symposia by paper titles, topic phrases, authors, and first appearance of acronyms and code names.

The title describes the two tasks summarized in this report. The remainder of the report contains information on meetings held or to be held on the subjects. The US National Committee for Rock Mechanics (USNC/RM) provides for US participation in international activities in rock mechanics, principally through adherence to the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM). It also keeps the US rock mechanics community informed about new programs directed toward major areas of national concern in which rock mechanics problems represent critical or limiting factors, such as energy resources, excavation, underground storage and waste disposal, and reactor siting. The committee also guides or produces advisory studies and reports on problem areas in rock mechanics. A new panel under the auspices of the US National Committee for Rock Mechanics has been appointed to conduct a study on Conceptual Models of Fluid Infiltration in Fractured Media. The study has health and environmental applications related to the underground flow of pollutants through fractured rock in and around mines and waste repositories. Support of the study has been received from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy`s Yucca Mountain Project Office. The new study builds on the success of a recent …

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Determination of the suitability of Yucca Mountain, in southern Nevada, as a geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste requires the use of numerical flow and transport models. Input for these models includes parameters that describe hydrologic properties and the initial and boundary conditions for all rock materials within the unsaturated zone, as well as some of the upper rocks in the saturated zone. There are 30 hydrogeologic units in the unsaturated zone, and each unit is defined by limited ranges where a discrete volume of rock contains similar hydrogeologic properties. These hydrogeologic units can be easily located in space by using three-dimensional lithostratigraphic models based on relationships of the properties with the lithostratigraphy. Physical properties of bulk density, porosity, and particle density; flow properties of saturated hydraulic conductivity and moisture-retention characteristics; and the state variables (variables describing the current state of field conditions) of saturation and water potential were determined for each unit. Units were defined using (1) a data base developed from 4,892 rock samples collected from the coring of 23 shallow and 8 deep boreholes, (2) described lithostratigraphic boundaries and corresponding relations to porosity, (3) recognition of transition zones with pronounced changes in properties over short vertical distances, …

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The Nash Draw Brushy Canyon Pool in Eddy County, New Mexico is a field demonstration in the US Department of Energy Class III Program. Advanced reservoir characterization techniques are being used at the Nash Draw project to develop reservoir management strategies for optimizing oil recovery from this Delaware reservoir. Analysis, interpretation, and integration of recently acquired geological, geophysical, and engineering data revealed that the initial reservoir description was too simplistic to capture the critical features of this complex formation. As a result of the analysis, a proposed pilot area was reconsidered. Comparison of seismic data and engineering data have shown evidence of discontinuities in the area surrounding the proposed injector. Analysis of the 3-D seismic has shown that wells in the proposed pilot are in an area of poor quality amplitude development. The implication is that since amplitude attenuation is a function of porosity, then this is not the best area to be attempting a pilot pressure maintenance project. Because the original pilot area appears to be compartmentalized, the lateral continuity between the pilot wells could be reduced. The 3-D seismic interpretation indicates other areas may be better suited for the initial pilot area. Therefore, the current focus has shifted …