This is the final report of a five-month, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The authors performed a preliminary design study to explore the plausibility of using pulse-tube refrigeration to cool instruments in a hot down-hole environment for the oil and gas industry or geothermal industry. They prepared and distributed a report showing that this appears to be a viable technology.

The proposed "catalytic membrane sensor" (CMS) was developed to generate a device which would selectively identify a specific reagent in a complex mixture of gases. This was to be accomplished by modifying an existing Hz sensor with a series of thin films. Through selectively sieving the desired component from a complex mixture and identifying it by decomposing it into Hz (and other by-products), a Hz sensor could then be used to detect the presence of the select component. The proposed "sandwich-type" modifications involved the deposition of a catalyst layered between two size selective sol-gel layers on a Pd/Ni resistive Hz sensor. The role of the catalyst was to convert organic materials to Hz and organic by-products. The role of the membraneo was to impart both chemical specificity by molecukir sieving of the analyte and converted product streams, as well as controlling access to the underlying Pd/Ni sensor. Ultimately, an array of these CMS elements encompassing different catalysts and membranes were to be developed which would enable improved selectivity and specificity from a compiex mixture of organic gases via pattern recognition methodologies. We have successfully generated a CMS device by a series of spin-coat deposited methods; however, it was determined that …

A review of spectroscopic imaging issues, applications, and technology is presented. Compton cameras based on solid state semiconductor detectors stands out as the best system for the nondestructive assay of special nuclear materials. A camera for this application has been designed based on an efficient specific purpose Monte Carlo code developed for this project. Preliminary experiments have been performed which demonstrate the validity of the Compton camera concept and the accuracy of the code. Based on these results, a portable prototype system is in development. Proposed future work is addressed.

This report describes information pertaining to environmental issues, toxicity, environmental transport, and fate of alkanolamines and glycols associated with natural gas sweetening and dehydration operations. Waste management associated with the operations is also discussed.

This report represents the Final Technical Progress Report for Phase II of the overall program for a cooperative research agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy - MORGANTOWN Energy Technology Center (DOE-METC) and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC). Under the agreement, SIUC will develop and demonstrate technologies for the handling, transport, and placement in abandoned underground coal mines of dry flue gas desulfurization by-products, such as fly ash, scrubber sludge, fluidized bed combustion by-products, and will assess the environmental impact of such underground placement. The overall program is divided into three (3) phases. Phase II of the program is primarily concerned with developing and testing the hardware for the actual underground placement demonstrations. Two technologies have been identified and hardware procured for full-scale demonstrations: (1) hydraulic placement, where coal combustion by-products (CCBs) will be placed underground as a past-like mixture containing about 70 to 75 percent solids; and (2) pneumatic placement, where CCBs will be placed underground as a relatively dry material using compressed air. 42 refs., 36 figs., 36 tabs.

Monthly travel magazine discussing locations and events in Texas to encourage travel within the state.

The authors present a detection process capable of directly imaging the transverse amplitude, phase, and if desired, Doppler shift of coherent electromagnetic fields. Based on coherent detection principles governing conventional heterodyned RADAR/LIDAR systems, Fourier Transform Heterodyne (FTH) incorporates transverse spatial encoding of the local oscillator for image capture. Appropriate selection of spatial encoding functions, or basis set, allows image retrieval by way of classic Fourier manipulations. Of practical interest: (1) imaging is accomplished on a single element detector requiring no additional scanning or moving components, and (2) a wide variety of appropriate spatial encoding functions exist that may be adaptively configured in real-time for applications requiring optimal detection. In this paper, they introduce the underlying principles governing FTH imaging, followed by demonstration of concept via a simple experimental setup based on a HeNe laser and a 69 element spatial phase modulator.

Alpha particle physics experiments were done on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) during its deuterium-tritium (DT) run from 1993-1997. These experiments utilized several new alpha particle diagnostics and hundreds of DT discharges to characterize the alpha particle confinement and wave-particle interactions. In general, the results from the alpha particle diagnostics agreed with the classical single-particle confinement model in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) quiescent discharges. Also, the observed alpha particle interactions with sawteeth, toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAE), and ion cyclotron resonant frequency (ICRF) waves were roughly consistent with theoretical modeling. This paper reviews what was learned and identifies what remains to be understood.

Surface and underground mining operations generate seismic ground motions which are created by chemical explosions and ground failures. It may come as a surprise to some that the ground failures (coal bumps, first caves, pillar collapses, rockbursts, etc.) can send signals whose magnitudes are as strong or stronger than those from any mining blast. A verification system that includes seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic and radionuclide sensors is being completed as part of the CTBT. The largest mine blasts and ground failures will be detected by this system and must be identified as distinct from signals generated by small nuclear explosions. Seismologists will analyze the seismic records and presumably should be able to separate them into earthquake-like and non earthquake-like categories, using a variety of so-called seismic discriminants. Non-earthquake essentially means explosion- or implosion-like. Such signals can be generated not only by mine blasts but also by a variety of ground failures. Because it is known that single-fired chemical explosions and nuclear explosion signals of the same yield give very similar seismic records, the non-earthquake signals will be of concern to the Treaty verification community. The magnitude of the mine-related events is in the range of seismicity created by smaller nuclear explosions …

This volume of the LLE Review, covering the period October--December 1998, includes two articles addressing issues applicable to direct-drive ICF on the National Ignition Facility (NIF): laser-plasma interactions and laser-irradiation uniformity. Additional highlights of the research presented in this issue are: (1) P.B. Radha and S. Skupsky present a novel charged-particle diagnostic that performs simultaneous {rho}R measurements of the fuel, shell, and ablator regions of a compressed ICF target, consisting of an inner DT fuel region, a plastic (CH) shell, and an ablator (CD), by measuring the knock-on deuteron spectrum. (2) F. Dahmani, S. Burns, J. Lambropoulos, S. Papernov, and A. Schmid report results from stress-inhibited laser-driven crack propagation and stress-delayed damage-initiation experiments in fused silica at 351 nm. Research is underway presently to determine the ramifications of these findings for large-aperture systems, such as OMEGA. (3) V. Goncharov presents an analytic theory of the ablative Richtmyer-Meshkov instability, which shows that the main stabilizing mechanism of the ablation-front perturbations is the dynamic overpressure of the blowoff plasma with respect to the target material. The perturbation evolution during the shock transit time is studied to determine the initial conditions for the Rayleigh-Taylor phase of the instability and to analyze the level …

Magazine discussing natural resources, parks, hunting and fishing, and other information related to the outdoors in Texas.

The characteristics of fractures in unit 2 of the Tshirege Member of the Bandelier Tuff were documented in Pit 39, a newly excavated 13.7 m deep disposal pit at Material Disposal Area G on Mesita del Buey. The average spacing between fractures is about 1.0 to 1.3 m, the average fracture aperture is about 3 to 5 mm, and the average fracture dip is about 76o to 77o. Fracture spacing and dip in Pit 39 are generally consistent with that reported from other fracture studies on the Pajarito Plateau, although the fracture apertures in Pit 39 are less than reported elsewhere. Measured fracture orientations are strongly affected by biases imparted by the orientations of the pit walls, which, combined with a small data set, make identification of potential preferred orientations dlfflcult. The most prominent fracture orientations observed in Pit 39, about E-W and N20E, are often not well represented elsewhere on the Pajarito Plateau. Fracture fills contain smectite to about 3 m depth, and calcite and opal may occur at all depths, principally associated with roots or root fossils (rhizoliths). Roots of pifion pine extend in fractures to the bottom of the pit along the north side, perhaps indicating a …

We describe a general strategy we have found effective for parallelizing solid mechanics simula- tions. Such simulations often have several computationally intensive parts, including finite element integration, detection of material contacts, and particle interaction if smoothed particle hydrody- namics is used to model highly deforming materials. The need to balance all of these computations simultaneously is a difficult challenge that has kept many commercial and government codes from being used effectively on parallel supercomputers with hundreds or thousands of processors. Our strategy is to load-balance each of the significant computations independently with whatever bal- ancing technique is most appropriate. The chief benefit is that each computation can be scalably paraIlelized. The drawback is the data exchange between processors and extra coding that must be written to maintain multiple decompositions in a single code. We discuss these trade-offs and give performance results showing this strategy has led to a parallel implementation of a widely-used solid mechanics code that can now be run efficiently on thousands of processors of the Pentium-based Sandia/Intel TFLOPS machine. We illustrate with several examples the kinds of high-resolution, million-element models that can now be simulated routinely. We also look to the future and dis- cuss what possibilities …

The geological structure of the Tshirege Member of the Bandelier Tuff at Mesita del Buey, Technical Area 54, was examined using precise surveying of the contact between tuff units Iv and 2 for 3.5 km along the north wall of Pajarito Canyon and 0.6 km along the north wall of a tributary to Caiiada del Buey. Estimated structure contours on this contact indicate typical strikes of N40E to N70E along this part of Mesita del Buey, although the apparent stfike of the tuff is E-W at the western part of the survey. Typical dips are 1.OO to 2.0o to the east or southeast, with an estimated maximum dip of 3.2o near the west end of Material Disposal AreaG. Thirty seven faults with vertical displacements of 5 to 65 cm were observedin outcrops along the Pajarito Canyon traverse, and, due to the incomplete exposure of the contact between unit lV and unit 2, many more faults of this magnitude undoubtedly exist. The faults have a wide range in strike and have either down-to-the-west or down-to-the-east components of offset, although about 65% of the observed displacement is down-to-the-west or northwest. The general absence of larger-scale offsets or inflections along the contact between …

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The notion of perspective when supported in knowledge representation can allow the representation of multiple and varying points of view, some of which may even be inconsistent with one another. In an object-based knowledge representation methodology created and used by the authors, a perspective is defined by consolidating a number of objects and a number of those objects` associated attributes and methods into a view. This view can help partition a knowledge domain into separate portions. A separate portion represents an individual`s view of the knowledge domain. Representation of multiple and varying perspectives may add to the existing knowledge as well as reveal paths to additional knowledge. A simple example is presented where perspectives are used to represent game playing strategies and levels of expertise in those strategies. Players` perspectives are adapted and changed to provide additional knowledge and insight into further game playing strategies. Results show improvement in the playing of the games. Additionally, a more complex problem for applying these techniques is introduced.

The Siberian Chemical Combine (SKhK) is the largest multifunction nuclear production facility in the Russian nuclear complex. Until recently, it produced and processed special nuclear material for the Russian Defense Ministry. SKhK and its US partners in the Department of Energy (DOE) US/Russian Materials Protection, Control, and Accountability (MPC and A) Program are nearing completion of the initial MPC and A upgrades at the six SKhK plant sites that were begun three years ago. Comprehensive enhancements to the physical protection and access control systems are progressing on a site-wide basis while a comprehensive MC and A system is being implemented at the Radiochemical Plant site. SKhK now produces thermal and electrical power, enriches uranium for commercial reactor fuel, reprocesses irradiated fuel, converts high-enriched uranium metal into high-enriched oxide for blending into reactor-grade, low-enriched uranium, and manufactures civilian products. The authors review the progress to date and outline plans for continuing the work in 1999.

This report synthesizes the results of volcanism studies conducted by scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and collaborating institutions on behalf of the Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Project. An assessment of the risk of future volcanic activity is one of many site characterization studies that must be completed to evaluate the Yucca Mountain site for potential long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste. The presence of several basaltic volcanic centers in the Yucca Mountain region of Pliocene and Quaternary age indicates that there is a finite risk of a future volcanic event occurring during the 10,000-year isolation period of a potential repository. Chapter 1 introduces the volcanism issue for the Yucca Mountain site and provides the reader with an overview of the organization, content, and significant conclusions of this report. The risk of future basaltic volcanism is the primary topic of concern including both events that intersect a potential repository and events that occur near or within the waste isolation system of a repository. Future volcanic events cannot be predicted with certainty but instead are estimated using formal methods of probabilistic volcanic hazard assessment (PVHA). Chapter 2 describes the volcanic history of the Yucca Mountain region (YMR) and emphasizes …

This report details research progress and results obtained during the ten period from June 1, 1988 through May 31, 1998. In compliance with grant requirements the Principal Investigator, Professor Stephen R. Cotanch, has conducted a research program addressing theoretical investigations of reactions involving hyperons and photons. The Principal Investigator has devoted to this program 50% of his time during the academic year and 100% of this time in the summer. Highlights of significant research results are briefly summarized in this report which respectively correspond to the three sub-programs of this project.

Column and batch experiments were conducted in fiscal year 1998 at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to evaluate the effect of varying concentrations of NaOH on the sorptive, physical, and hydraulic properties of two media, a quartz sand and a composite subsurface sediment from the 200-East Area of the Hanford Site. The NaOH solutions were used as a simplified effluent from a low-activity glass waste form. These experiments were conducted over a limited (O-to 10-month) contact time, with respect to the 10,000-to 100,000-year scenarios described in the Immobilized Low-Activity Waste- Performance Assessment (ILAW-PA). Wheq these two solids were put in contact with the NaOH solutions, dissolution was evident by a substantial increase in dissolved Si concentrations in the leachates. Incremental increases in NaOH con- centrations, resulted in corresponding increases in Si concentrations. A number of physical and hydraulic properties also changed as the NaOH concentrations were changed. It was observed that quartz sand was less reactive than the composite sediment. Further, moisture- retention measurements were made on the quartz sand and composite sedimen$ which showed that the NaOH-treated solids retained more water than the non-NaOH-treated solids. Because the other chemical, physical, and hydraulic measurements did not change dramatically after the high-NaOH …

This Western Research Institute (WRI) project was part of a WRI Energy Resource Utilization Program to stimulate pilot-scale improved technologies projects to add value to coal resources in the Rocky Mountain region. The intent of this program is to assess the application potential of emerging technologies to western resources. The focus of this project is on a coal resource near the Wyoming/Colorado border, in Colorado. Energy Fuels Corporation/Kerr Coal Company operates a coal mine in Jackson County, Colorado. The coal produces 10,500 Btu/lb and has very low sulfur and ash contents. Kerr Coal Company is seeking advanced technology for alternate uses for this coal. This project was to have included a significant cost-share from the Kerr Coal Company ownership for a market survey of potential products and technical alternatives to be studied in the Rocky Mountain Region. The Energy Fuels Corporation/Kerr Coal Company and WRI originally proposed this work on a cost reimbursable basis. The total cost of the project was priced at $117,035. The Kerr Coal Company had scheduled at least $60,000.00 to be spent on market research for the project that never developed because of product market changes for the company. WRI and Kerr explored potential markets and …

The research on theoretical atomic collisions that was funded at The Pennsylvania State University`s Wilkes-Barre Campus by DOE from 1986 to 1998 was carried out by Winger from 1986 to 1989 and by Winter and Alston from 1989 to 1998. The fundamental processes of electron transfer, ionization, and excitation in ion-ion, ion-atom, and, more recently, ion-molecule collisions were addressed. These collision processes were treated in the context of simple one-electron, quasi-one-electron, or two-electron systems in order to provide unambiguous results and reveal more clearly the collisional mechanisms. Winter`s work generally focused on the intermediate projectile-energy range corresponding to proton energies from about ten to a few hundred keV. In this velocity-matching energy range, the electron-transfer cross section reaches a peak, and many states, including electron-transfer and ionization states, contribute to the overall electron-cloud distribution and transition probabilities; a large number of states are coupled, and therefore perturbative approaches are generally inappropriate. These coupled-state calculations were sometimes also extended to higher energies to join with perturbative results. Alston concentrated on intermediate-energy asymmetric collision systems, for which coupling with the projectile is weaker, but many target states are included, and on high energies (MeV energies). Thus, while perturbation theory for electron transfer …

The Inventory of Power Plants in the United States provides annual statistics on generating units operated by electric utilities in the US (the 50 States and the District of Columbia). Statistics presented in this report reflect the status of generating units as of January 1, 1998. The publication also provides a 10-year outlook for generating unit additions and generating unit changes. This report is prepared annually by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Data summarized in this report are useful to a wide audience. This is a report of electric utility data; in cases where summary data or nonconfidential data of nonutilities are presented, it is specifically noted as nonutility data. 19 figs., 36 tabs.

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has decided to adopt a Power Subscription Strategy for entering into new power sales contracts with its Pacific Northwest customers. The Strategy equitably distributes the electric power generated by the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) within the framework of existing law. The Power Subscription Strategy addresses the availability of power; describes power products; lays out strategies for pricing, including risk management; and discusses contract elements. In proceeding with this Subscription Strategy, BPA is guided by and committed to the Fish and Wildlife funding Principles for the BPA announced by the Vice President of the US in September 1998. This Record of Decision (ROD) addresses the issues raised by commenters who responded to BPA`s Power Subscription Strategy Proposal during and after the comment period that began with the release of the Proposal on September 18, 1998. The ROD is organized in approximately the same way as the Proposal and the Power Subscription Strategy that BPA developed based on the comments received. Abbreviations of party names used in citations appear in the section just preceding this introduction; a list of all the commenters follows the text of the ROD.