Research in the biomedical sciences at PNL is described. Activities reported include: inhaled plutonium in dogs; national radiobiology archives; statistical analysis of data from animal studies; genotoxicity of inhaled energy effluents; molecular events during tumor initiation; biochemistry of free radical induced DNA damage; radon hazards in homes; mechanisms of radon injury; genetics of radon induced lung cancer; and in vivo/in vitro radon induced cellular damage.

Automatic control of fine coal cleaning circuits has traditionally been limited by the lack of sensors for on-line ash analysis. Although several nuclear-based analyzers are available, none have seen widespread acceptance. This is largely due to the fact that nuclear sensors are expensive and tend to be influenced by changes in seam type and pyrite content. Recently, researchers at VPI&SU have developed an optical sensor for phosphate analysis. The sensor uses image processing technology to analyze video images of phosphate ore. It is currently being used by Texasgulf for off-line analysis of dry flotation concentrates. The primary advantages of optical sensors over nuclear sensors are that they are significantly cheaper, are not subject to measurement variations due to changes in high atomic number minerals, are inherently safer and require no special radiation permitting. Purpose of this work is to apply the knowledge gained in the development of an optical phosphate analyzer to the development of an on-line ash analyzer for fine coal slurries. During the past quarter, tests were performed on two prototype sample presentation systems for the optical analyzer. Preliminary results indicate that the flow of slurry past the camera lens is too consistent to provide reliable results. A …

A comparison of the neutron and photon dose rates at different locations on the outside surface of the Model AL-RB, Model FL and the AT-400A containers for a given pit load has been done in order to understand the shielding characteristics of these containers. The Model AL-R8 is not certified for transport and is only used for storage of pits, while the Model FL is a certified Type B pit transportation container. The AT-400A is being developed as a type B pit storage and transportation container. The W48, W56 and B83 pits were chosen for this study because of their encompassing features with regard to other pits presently being stored. A detailed description of the geometry and materials of these containers and of the neutron and photon emission spectra from the actinide materials present in the pit have been used in the calculations of the total dose rates. The calculations have been done using the three-dimensional, neutron-photon Monte Carlo code MCNP. The results indicate the need for a containment vessel (CV), as is found in the Model FL and AT-400A containers, in order to assure compliance with 10 CFR 71 regulations. The absence of a CV in the AL-R8 container …

Periodically, water has been observed in emplacement boreholes drilled for underground testing of nuclear weapons at Pahute Mesa, Nevada Test Site, and is often at levels elevated above the predicted local water table. Water which may provide a means to transport residual radionuclides away from weapon tests may originate as fluids introduced during drilling, from naturally perched groundwater draining into the borehole, or from penetration of the local groundwater table. Lithium-bromide (Li-Br) tracer is being used to evaluate both the origin and movement of these borehole waters. The drilling fluid used to drill the final 100 meters of borehole U-19bh was chemically labeled with LiBr tracer. Lack of significant increase in borehole Br inventory over time indicates that standing water in U-9bh is not returned drilling fluid. Possible sources for the standing water are drilling fluid infiltrated above the bottom 100 in or natural water from a perched or shallower-than-expected saturated zone. The minimum detectable Darcy velocity of water passing through U-19bh is 0.3 m/yr. Borehole U-19bk has a water level approximately 50 in above the predicted pre-drilling water level. Initial water samples were collected from U-19bk to characterize the borehole water quality prior to adding the tracer. The major-ion …

This exposure assessment provides a range of possible human health risk at two locations due to groundwater transport from the Faultless underground nuclear test. These locations correspond to the boundary of the land under DOE control (where no wells currently exist) and the closest existing well (Six Mile Well). The range in excess risk is within the EPA goal for excess risk due to environmental contaminants (10{sup {minus}6}) at Six Mile Well. Calculations considering high spatial variability in hydraulic properties and/or high uncertainty in the mean groundwater velocity are also within the EPA goal. At the DOE boundary, the range in excess risk exceeds the EPA goal, regardless of the values of spatial variability and uncertainty. The range in values of excess risk can be reduced with additional field data from the site; however, incorporation of additional data, which would likely be obtained at great expense, is unlikely to result in significant refinement of the results.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies are responsible for nuclear weapons research and development as part of the national defense program. These activities include underground nuclear testing, and a small number of such tests have been conducted at sites distant from the Nevada Test Site (NTS). An NTS site-wide Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is being prepared in 1995 and includes the two offsite test areas in Nevada: the Shoal site and the Central Nevada Test Area. At the time of these tests, evaluations of project safety and predictions of groundwater transport of contaminants were made, and the tests were deemed safe to the public. These early evaluations were not considered sufficient for the EIS, so DOE decided to perform a new exposure assessment for the Shoal site. The basic scenario evaluated for this exposure assessment is transport of tritium from the Shoal underground nuclear test by groundwater to a receptor well where an individual drinks the contaminated water for 70 years, centered around the time of peak tritium concentration. This scenario is entirely hypothetical because, as of 1995, there are no known occurrences of humans drinking water downgradient from the test. Four specific scenarios are analyzed …

This document provides information about the many reports and other materials made available by the US Department of Energy`s Global Change Research Program (GCRP). Section A provides information about the activities, scope, and direction of the GCRP; Sections B,C, D, and E contain information about research that has been sponsered by GCRP; Sections F and G contains information about the numeric data packages and computer model pa kages the have been compiled by the GCRP; Section H describes reports about research dealing with the responses of vegetation to carbon dioxide; and Section I conatins reports from various workshops, symposia, and reviews.

Accurate and reliable computational methods are essential for nuclear criticality safety analyses. The SCALE (Standardized Computer Analyses for Licensing Evaluation) computer code system was originally developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to enable users to easily set up and perform criticality safety analyses, as well as shielding, depletion, and heat transfer analyses. Over the fifteen-year life of SCALE, the mainstay of the system has been the criticality safety analysis sequences that have featured the KENO-IV and KENO-V.A Monte Carlo codes and the XSDRNPM one-dimensional discrete-ordinates code. The criticality safety analysis sequences provide automated material and problem-dependent resonance processing for each criticality calculation. This report details configuration management which is essential because SCALE consists of more than 25 computer codes (referred to as modules) that share libraries of commonly used subroutines. Changes to a single subroutine in some cases affect almost every module in SCALE! Controlled access to program source and executables and accurate documentation of modifications are essential to maintaining SCALE as a reliable code system. The modules and subroutine libraries in SCALE are programmed by a staff of approximately ten Code Managers. The SCALE Software Coordinator maintains the SCALE system and is the only person who modifies the …

We present an integrated science software development environment, code maintenance and support system for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) now being actively used throughout the collaboration. The SDSS is a collaboration between the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Institute for Advanced Study, The Japan Promotion Group, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, The United States Naval Observatory, the University of Chicago, and the University of Washington. The SDSS will produce a five-color imaging survey of 1/4 of the sky about the north galactic cap and image 10{sup 8} Stars, 10{sup 8} galaxies, and 10{sup 5} Quasars. Spectra will be obtained for 10{sup 6} galaxies and 10{sup 5} Quasars as well. The survey will utilize a dedicated 2.5 meter telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. Its imaging camera will hold 54 Charge-Coupled Devices (CADS). The SDSS will take five years to complete, acquiring well over 12 TB of data.

This quality assurance plan identifies the data necessary, and techniques designed to attain the required quality, to meet the specific data quality objectives associated with the DOE Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). This report specifies sampling, waste testing, and analytical methods for transuranic wastes.

AUTOCASK (AUTOmatic Generation of 3-D CASK models) is a microcomputer-based system of computer programs and databases developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for the structural analysis of shipping casks for radioactive material. Model specification is performed on the microcomputer, and the analyses are performed on an engineering workstation or mainframe computer. AUTOCASK is based on 80386/80486 compatible microcomputers. The system is composed of a series of menus, input programs, display programs, a mesh generation program, and archive programs. All data is entered through fill-in-the-blank input screens that contain descriptive data requests.

The Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington supports a broad program of experimental physics research. The current program includes in-house research using the local tandem Van de Graff and superconducting linac accelerators and non-accelerator research in double beta decay and gravitation as well as user-mode research at large accelerator and reactor facilities around the world. This book is divided into the following areas: nuclear astrophysics; neutrino physics; nucleus-nucleus reactions; fundamental symmetries and weak interactions; accelerator mass spectrometry; atomic and molecular clusters; ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions; external users; electronics, computing, and detector infrastructure; Van de Graff, superconducting booster and ion sources; nuclear physics laboratory personnel; degrees granted for 1994--1995; and list of publications from 1994--1995.

Well data, including drillers` logs, wireline logs, and seismic data, from the Crystal and 3 0 other Dundee oil fields in the Michigan basin have been acquired. Digitized logs of 336 wells that currently produce or have produced from the Dundee Formation in the seven-county study area have been purchased from Maness Petroleum Company. The data-gathering phase of the well-log program is now complete. Well-log analysis using TerraSciences TerraStation software has begun. Detailed analyses of wells with modem logs are being made using density/porosity and Pickett crossplots. Water saturations were calculated for several wells in the past month. Production data have been added to the well-file database. We now have the capability of mapping production as well as geology. Well-location basemaps with permit numbers were constructed for all 30 fields. Contour maps were completed for all 30 fields during the last quarter, including maps: on the top of the Dundee Formation, the top of the Dundee porosity zone (which is well below the top of the Dundee and varies in stratigraphic position throughout most fields), Dundee to Traverse isopachs, and initial production values before and after well treatment. At least two simple computer-generated cross sections were constructed for each field.

Two auger samples from tank 241-BY-103 (BY-103) were received by the 222-S Laboratories and underwent safety screening analysis, consisting of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and total alpha activity. Analytical results for the TGA analyses for both samples were less than the safety screening notification limit. Since notification is made if the sample is analyzed at less than 17% water, notification was made on April 20, 1995. Although the sample results were below this limit, no secondary analyses were required or performed. Included in this report are the primary safety screening results obtained from the analyses and copies of all DSC and TGA raw data scans as requested per the TCP. Photographs of the auger samples were taken during extrusion and, although not included in this report, are available. Tank BY-103 is on the ferrocyanide Watch List.

This-assessment examines the consequences and risks that could result from the proposed construction of mitigation wetlands at the New and Old Rifle Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project sites near Rifle, Colorado. Remediation of surface contamination at those sites is now under way. Preexisting wetlands at or near the Old and New Rifle sites have been cleaned up, resulting in the loss of 0.7 and 10.5 wetland acres (ac) (0.28 and 4.2 hectares [ha]) respectively. Another 9.9 ac (4.0 ha) of wetlands are in the area of windblown contamination west of the New Rifle site. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has jurisdiction over the remediated wetlands. Before remedial action began, and before any wetlands were eliminated, the USACE issued a Section 404 Permit that included a mitigation plan for the wetlands to be lost. The mitigation plan calls for 34.2 ac (1 3.8 ha) of wetlands to be constructed at the south end and to the west of the New Rifle site. The mitigation wetlands would be constructed over and in the contaminated alluvial aquifer at the New Rifle site. As a result of the hydrologic characteristics of this aquifer, contaminated ground water would be expected to …

Software configuration items pertaining to the process control systems, of the ventilation systems of the tank farms, are identified and configuration controls are defined.

Ecological resources are resources that have functional value to ecosystems. Frequently, these functions are overlooked in terms of the value they provide to humans. Environmental economics is in search of an appropriate analysis framework for such resources. In such a framework, it is essential to distinguish between two related subsets of information: (1) ecological processes that have intrinsic value to natural ecosystems; and (2) ecological functions that are values by humans. The present study addresses these concerns by identifying a habitat that is being displaced by development, and by measuring the human and ecological values associated with the ecological resources in that habitat. It is also essential to determine which functions are mutually exclusive and which are, in effect, complementary or products of joint production. The authors apply several resource valuation tools, including contingent valuation methodology (CVM), travel cost methodology (TCM), and hedonic damage-pricing (HDP). One way to derive upper-limit values for more difficult-to-value functions is through the use of human analogs, because human-engineered systems are relatively inefficient at supplying the desired services when compared with natural systems. Where data on the relative efficiencies of natural systems and human analogs exist, it is possible to adjust the costs of providing …

Open demonstrations of technologies developed by the Office of Technology Development`s (QTD`s) Mixed Waste Landfill Integrated Demonstration (MWLID) should facilitate regulatory acceptance and speed the transfer and commercialization of these technologies. The purpose of the present project is to identify the environmental restoration needs of hazardous waste and/or mixed waste landfill owners within a 25-mile radius of Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Most municipal landfills that operated prior to the mid-1980s accepted household/commercial hazardous waste and medical waste that included low-level radioactive waste. The locations of hazardous and/or mixed waste landfills within the State of New Mexico were. identified using federal, state, municipal and Native American tribal environmental records. The records reviewed included the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund Program CERCLIS Event/Site listing (which includes tribal records), the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), Solid Waste Bureau mixed waste landfill database, and the City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department landfill database. Tribal envirorunental records are controlled by each tribal government, so each tribal environmental officer and governor was contacted to obtain release of specific site data beyond what is available in the CERCLIS listings.

This report is an update of a report that summarized the current and near-term commercial and disposal of radioactive and mixed waste. This report was capacity for the treatment, storage, dating and written for the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) with the objective of updating and expanding the report entitled ``Review of Private Sector Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Capacity for Radioactive Waste``, (INEL-95/0020, January 1995). The capacity to process radioactively-contaminated protective clothing and/or respirators was added to the list of private sector capabilities to be assessed. Of the 20 companies surveyed in the previous report, 14 responded to the request for additional information, five did not respond, and one asked to be deleted from the survey. One additional company was identified as being capable of performing LLMW treatability studies and six were identified as providers of laundering services for radioactively-contaminated protective clothing and/or respirators.

This report provides a transcript of an interview with Dr. Clarance Lushbaugh by representatives of the DOE Office of Human Radiation Experiments. Dr. Lushbaugh was chosen for this interview because of his research involving experimental use of irradiation with human beings at Los Alamos and at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Science (ORINS). After a brief biographical sketch Dr. Lushbaugh and his assistant Mrs. Ann Swipe defend their use of total body irradiation using the LETBI (Low Exposure Total Body Irradiation) and the LETBI (Medium Energy Total Body Irradiator). Dr. Lushbaugh also discusses his earlier experiments involving use of nitrogen mustards in chemotherapy application, his early interest in the LD50 for man, his early impressions of low-level spray radiation as introduced by Heubline, anedotal information for his duties a pathologist for Los Alamos, and his developing interest in establishing safer radiation limits for human exposure.

Integrated assessment can be used to evaluate and clarify resource management policy options and outcomes for decision makers. The defining characteristics of integrated assessment are (1) focus on providing information and analysis that can be understood and used by decision makers rather than for merely advancing understanding and (2) its multidisciplinary approach, using methods, styles of study, and considerations from a broader variety of technical areas than would typically characterize studies produced from a single disciplinary standpoint. Integrated assessment may combine scientific, social, economic, health, and environmental data and models. Integrated assessment requires bridging the gap between science and policy considerations. Because not everything can be valued using a single metric, such as a dollar value, the integrated assessment process also involves evaluating trade-offs among dissimilar attributes. Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recognized the importance and value of multidisciplinary approaches to solving environmental problems early on and have pioneered the development of tools and methods for integrated assessment over the past three decades. Major examples of ORNL`s experience in the development of its capabilities for integrated assessment are given.

A growing number of nuclear power plants in the United States have adopted routine 12-hr shift schedules. Because of the potential impact that extended work shifts could have on safe and efficient power plant operation, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission funded research on 8-hr and 12-hr shifts at the Human Alertness Research Center (HARC) in Boston, Massachusetts. This report describes the research undertaken: a study of simulated 8-hr and 12-hr work shifts that compares alertness, speed, and accuracy at responding to simulator alarms, and relative cognitive performance, self-rated mood and vigor, and sleep-wake patterns of 8-hr versus 12-hr shift workers.

The US Dapartment of Energy`s (DOE`s) environmental and waste management (EM) sampling and analysis activities require that large numbers of samples be analyzed for materials characterization, environmental surveillance, and site-remediation programs. The present document, DOE Methods for Evaluating Environmental and Waste Management Samples (DOE Methods), is a supplemental resource for analyzing many of these samples.

A test program to collect and analyze size-fractionated stack gas particulate samples for selected inorganic hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) was conducted . Specific goals of the program are (1) the collection of one-gram quantities of size-fractionated stack gas particulate matter for bulk (total) and surface chemical characterization, and (2) the determination of the relationship between particle size, bulk and surface (leachable) composition, and unit load. The information obtained from this program identifies the effects of unit load, particle size, and wet FGD system operation on the relative toxicological effects of exposure to particulate emissions. Field testing was conducted in two phases. The Phase I field program was performed over the period of August 24 through September 20, 1992, at the Tennessee Valley Authority Widows Creek Unit 8 Power Station, located near Stevenson (Jackson County), Alabama, on the Tennessee River. Sampling activities for Phase II were conducted from September 11 through October 14, 1993. Widows Creek Unit 8 is a 575-megawatt plant that uses bituminous coal averaging 3.7% sulfur and 13% ash. Downstream of the boiler, a venture wet scrubbing system is used for control of both sulfur dioxide and particulate emissions. There is no electrostatic precipitator (ESP) in this system. …