Extensive theoretical treatment is given to damping as the process of energy dissipation during mechanical vibration. The challenge in the classroom is to adequately convey this concept and extend it by teaching students practical applications in engineering analysis and design. Students are motivated by real-world problems; applying these types of problems with strong instructional classroom content significantly enhances the learning environment. This paper proposes the adaptation of an actual research project to a simple, yet innovative, mechanical vibrations laboratory. The adapted project involves an ongoing effort at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to investigate damping factors of various alloys used in military tank munitions. The kinetic-energy penetrators used in these tank rounds are cylindrical in shape and are a major class of weapons designed to defeat heavy armor. Unwanted transverse oscillations of these penetrators degrade the accuracy of the rounds and may lead to glancing blows off the target. 5 refs., 3 figs.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been designated hazardous chemicals by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Although PCBs and PCB-containing oils have not been in use since 1977, they persist in the environment. They are known to be absorbed by various aquatic organisms, birds, and mammals. The nature of these affinities is not known. In this study, the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) compared the adsorption phenomenon of PCBs on commercial resins, whole bacterial cells, cell and tissue component, and various biomolecules. Adsorption and desorption of PCBs to biomolecules and resins in both aqueous and nonaqueous conditions were examined. 9 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.

Waste characterization is the process whereby physical properties and chemical composition of waste are determined. Waste characterization is an important element of a waste certification program in that it provides information which is necessary to certify that waste meets the acceptance criteria for storage, treatment, or disposal. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 5820.2A and WIPP-DOE-069 list and describe the germane waste form, package, and container criteria for the storage of both solid low-level waste (SLLW) and transuranic (TRU) waste, including chemical composition and compatibility, hazardous material content, fissile material content, equivalent alpha activity, thermal heat output, and absence of free liquids, explosives, and compressed gases. At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the responsibility for waste characterization begins with the individual(s) who generate the waste. The generator must be able to document the type and estimate the quantity of various materials which have been placed into the waste container. Analyses of process flow sheets and a statistically valid sampling program can provide much of the required information as well as a documented level of confidence in the acquired data. A program is being instituted in which the major generator facilities perform radionuclide assay of small packets of waste prior to …

Archimedes is a prototype mechanical assembly system which generates and executes robot assembly programs from a CAD model input. The system addresses the unrealized potential for flexibility in robotic mechanical assembly applications by automating the programming task. Input is a solid model of the finished assembly. Parts relationships and geometric constraints are deduced from the solid model. A rule-based planner generates a generic'' assembly plan that satisfies the geometric constraints, as well as other constraints embodied in the rules. A retargetable plan compiler converts the generic plan into code specific to an application environment. Execution of the compiled plan in a workcell containing an Adept Two robot, a vision system, and other parts handling equipment will be shown on videotape.

Report documenting statistics related to fish stocking in Texas bays.

Two species of turtles that occupy different ecological niches were compared for their usefulness as monitors of contamination in freshwater ecosystems. Trachemvs scrinta (Agassiz) (yellow-bellied slider) and Chelvdra sernentina (Linnaeus) (common snapping turtle) were selected for comparison based on species abundance and differences in food habits and sediment contact. A review of the literature on contaminants in turtles and results of preliminary surveys conducted at the field sites, which are included in this study, were used to direct and focus this research project. White Oak Lake, a settling basin for low-level radioactive and nonradioactive contaminants, and Bearden Creek Embayment, an uncontaminated reference site upriver, were used as study sites in the investigation of turtles as indicators of chemical contamination. Turtles were analyzed for concentrations of strontium-go, cesium-137, cobalt 60, and mercury in specific target tissues, and for single-stranded DNA breaks, a non-specific indicator of possible exposure to genotoxic agents in the environment. Significantly higher concentrations of {sup 90}Sr, {sup 137}Cs, {sup 60}Co, and mercury were detected in turtles from White Oak Lake than in turtles from the reference site. In addition, turtles from White Oak Lake contained a significantly greater amount of DNA damage than those from the reference site. …

In this paper I report on the influence of steam and carbon dioxide on the detonability of hydrogen-air mixtures. Data were obtained on the detonation cell width in a heated detonation tube that is 0.43 m in diameter and 13.1 m long. The detonation cell widths were correlated using a characteristic length calculated from a chemical kinetic model. The addition of either diluent to a hydrogen-air mixture increased the cell width for all equivalence ratios. For equal diluent concentrations, however, carbon dioxide not only yielded larger increases in the cell width than steam, but its efficacy relative to steam was predicted to increase with increasing concentration. The range of detonable hydrogen concentrations in a hydrogen-air mixture initially at 1 atm pressure was found to be between 11.6 percent and 74.9 percent for mixtures at 20{degree}C and 9.4 percent and 76.9 percent for mixtures at 100{degree}C. The detonation limit was between 38.8 percent and 40.5 percent steam for a stoichiometric hydrogen-air-steam mixture initially at 100{degree}C and 1 atm. 10 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.

Reports dealing with current topics in waste management and environmental restoration were presented at this conference in six sessions. Session 1 covered the Hot Topics'' including regulations and risk assessment. Session 2 dealt with waste reduction and minimization; session 3 dealt with waste treatment and disposal. Session 4 covered site characterization and analysis. Environmental restoration and associated technologies wee discussed in session 5 and 6. Individual papers have been cataloged separately.

The Twenty-Eighth Hanford Symposium on Health and the Environment was held in Richland, Washington, October 16--19, 1989. The symposium was sponsored by the US Department of Energy and the Pacific Northwest Laboratory, operated by Battelle Memorial Institute. The symposium was organized to review and evaluate some of the monitoring and assessment programs that have been conducted or are currently in place. Potential health and environmental effects of energy-related and other industrial activities have been monitored and assessed at various government and private facilities for over three decades. Most monitoring is required under government regulations; some monitoring is implemented because facility operators consider it prudent practice. As a result of these activities, there is now a substantial radiological, physical, and chemical data base for various environmental components, both in the United States and abroad. Symposium participants, both platform and poster presenters, were asked to consider, among other topics, the following: Has the expenditure of millions of dollars for radiological monitoring and assessment activities been worth the effort How do we decide when enough monitoring is enough Can we adequately assess the impacts of nonradiological components -- both inorganic and organic -- of wastes Are current regulatory requirements too restrictive or too …

The Environmental Regulatory Update Table provides information on regulatory initiatives of interest to DOE operations and contractor staff with environmental management responsibilities. The table is updated each month with information from the Federal Register and other sources, including direct contact with regulatory agencies. Each table entry provides a chronological record of the rulemaking process for that initiative with an abstract and a projection of further action.

This report documents the results of the Environmental Monitoring Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and presents summary information about environmental compliance efforts for 1989. To enable evaluation of the effect of LLNL operations on the local environment, measurements were made at both the Livermore site and nearby Site 300 of direct radiation and a variety of radionuclides and chemical pollutants in ambient air, soil, sewage effluent, surface water, groundwater, vegetation, and foodstuff. Evaluations were made of LLNL's compliance with all applicable guides, standards, and limits for radiological and nonradiological emissions to the environment. The monitoring data demonstrate that LLNL was in compliance with environmental laws and regulations concerning emission and discharge of materials to the environment. In addition, the monitoring data demonstrate that the environmental impacts of LLNL are minimal and pose no threat to the public or the environment. 98 refs., 40 figs., 77 tabs.

This Environmental Assessment has been developed by the Department of Energy in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the proposed decommissioning of contaminated areas at the Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio. The discussions in Section 1.0 provide general background information on the proposed action. Section 2.0 describes the existing radiological and non-radiological condition of the Battelle Columbus Laboratories. Section 3.0 identifies the alternatives considered for the proposed action and describes in detail the proposed decommissioning project. Section 4.0 evaluates the potential risks the project poses to human health and the environment. Section 5.0 presents the Department of Energy's proposed action. As a result of nuclear research and development activities conducted over a period of approximately 43 years performed for the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and under commercial contracts, the 15 buildings became contaminated with varying amounts of radioactive material. The Department of Energy no longer has a need to utilize the facilities and is contractually obligate to remove that contamination such that they can be used by their owners without radiological restrictions. This Environmental Assessment for the Battelle Columbus Laboratories Decommissioning Project is consistent with the direction from the Secretary of …

This report contains papers on the following topics: physics at RHIC; flavor flow from quark-gluon plasma; space-time quark-gluon cascade; jets in relativistic heavy ion collisions; parton distributions in hard nuclear collisions; experimental working groups, two-arm electron/photon spectrometer collaboration; total and elastic pp cross sections; a 4{pi} tracking TPC magnetic spectrometer; hadron spectroscopy; efficiency and background simulations for J/{psi} detection in the RHIC dimuon experiment; the collision regions beam crossing geometries; Monte Carlo simulations of interactions and detectors; proton-nucleus interactions; the physics of strong electromagnetic fields in collisions of relativistic heavy ions; a real time expert system for experimental high energy/nuclear physics; the development of silicon multiplicity detectors; a pad readout detector for CRID/tracking; RHIC TPC R D progress and goals; development of analog memories for RHIC detector front-end electronic systems; calorimeter/absorber optimization for a RHIC dimuon experiment; construction of a highly segmented high resolution TOF system; progress report on a fast, particle-identifying trigger based on ring-imaging and highly integrated electronics for a TPC detector.

We have developed a computerized waveform data acquisition and analysis system that uses the graphic user interface of the Macintosh computer. The system provides the means fro acquiring single-shot waveforms from a variety of recorders and digital oscilloscopes on an IEEE-488 instrument bus. The computer interrogates each address on the bus to determine the identity and configuration of any combination of CAMAC crates and oscilloscopes connected to the IEEE-488 bus. Graphic representations of each instrument and/or CAMAC module are displayed on the computer screen. A unique method is used to configure the software to represent graphically the signal path and content. The operator may draw connections through intermediate modules and enter calibrations for signal sources to give a complete data base of transfer functions and signal paths. The data base is used to generate graphs of the waveforms reduced to the desired engineering units. This system is designed to reduce the operator workload and specialized knowledge by providing guidance for the use of a particular instrument. Once acquired, the data may be manipulated by means of several signal-processing functions, such as smoothing, filtering, fitting, and Fourier analysis. Waveforms may be combined into complex data sets for complete Fourier analysis. The …

This conference report contains discussions and papers from a symposium hosted at Texas Christian University, in Fort Worth, Texas, examining the ecological health of the Upper Trinity River, and the impacts of various human activity, such as agriculture, urbanization, and waste management. The papers cover the effect of water quality on urban rivers, long-term water quality trends in the Trinity River, solutions that may improve water quality in the river, as well as biological, agricultural and waste-water issues.

Many of the problem contaminants found in soils and groundwaters are non-ionic and relatively insoluble. Under appropriate conditions, many of these compounds are degradable by bacteria provided nutrients, electron acceptors and the compounds themselves are biologically available. However, non-ionic organic compounds (NOCs) bind tenaciously to soil particles potentially limiting their bioavailability. While the individual processes of sorption and biodegradation have received much attention in recent years, little is known about the interactions of these processes. The primary objective of our DOE-funded research project has been to elucidate the influences of sorption and desorption processes on the bioavailability of NOCs. Conflicting reports in the literature suggest that sorption may increase, decrease, or have no effect on bioavailability although the majority of published work has studied proteins, fatty acids, and other normal bacterial growth substrates as sorbates. Some of this variability arises because sorbed solutes interact with sorbents via different mechanisms including cation and anion exchange, adsorption, complexation with surface-associated metals and partitioning. Also, bacterial activities may be altered upon attachment of the cells to the sorbent surface. Clearly, resolution of this problem requires detailed knowledge of a system with multiple components. We are, therefore, approaching this problem on a fundamental level. …

This paper describes the initial performance of a novel detector that measures the positions of intense synchrotron-radiation beams with high precision. Two detectors of this kind are used for the precision energy spectrometers of the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC). The detectors accurately determine the distance between pairs of intense synchrotron beams of typically 1 MeV photons, which are emitted by the primary electron and positron beams of the SLC. The detectors intercept the synchrotron beams with arrays of fine wires. The ejection of Compton-recoil electrons leaves positive charges on the wires, enabling a determination of beam positions. 6 refs., 6 figs.

This report documents the results of the Environmental Monitoring Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and presents summary information about environmental compliance for 1990. To evaluate the effect of LLNL operations on the local environment, measurements of direct radiation and a variety of radionuclides and chemical compounds in ambient air, soil, sewage effluent surface water, groundwater, vegetation, and foodstuff were made at both the Livermore site and at Site 300 nearly. LLNL's compliance with all applicable guides, standards, and limits for radiological and nonradiological emissions to the environment was evaluated. Aside from an August 13 observation of silver concentrations slightly above guidelines for discharges to the sanitary sewer, all the monitoring data demonstrated LLNL compliance with environmental laws and regulations governing emission and discharge of materials to the environment. In addition, the monitoring data demonstrated that the environmental impacts of LLNL are minimal and pose no threat to the public to or to the environment. 114 refs., 46 figs., 79 tabs.

This progress report is a summary and update of the research performed under DOE grant FG-02086-ER60405 from September 1, 1989 to August 31, 1990. Part I deals with mechanisms of photoemission from organic particulates, theoretical studied of the photoemission of electrons into atmospheres containing scavenger molecules, and theoretical studies of the possible existence of excitonic ions. Part II deals with the mechanisms of electrolytic reactions which occur at solid anthracene/aqueous electrolyte interfaces. Part III describes our most recent results on the physico-chemical interactions of mutagenic and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) derivatives with nucleic acids. 3 refs., 14 figs., 2 tabs.

This overview of research conducted at ORNL in 1991 presents information on the subjects of biology, physics, and the environment. Specific topics include gene mutations in kidney disease, technology assessments in thermonuclear fusion, submarine hunting technology, ozone-safe refrigerants, optical data storage via surface enhanced raman spectroscopy, and waste mitigating microbes. (GHH)

The Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) is conducting research on the biodehalogenation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) under anoxic conditions. Reductive dechlorination of PCB's has been observed in treatments inoculated with Hudson River sediments. Differences in gas chromatograms between time 0 and 4-month incubations indicate pattern shifts of the PCB homologs that constitute Aroclor 1242 from highly chlorinated to lesser chlorinated congeners. Changes in distribution patterns of PCB homologs were also evident. PCB homologs containing 4, 5, 6, and 7 chlorine atoms were shown to decrease over the incubation period, whereas PCB homologs containing 2 and 3 chlorines increased in concentration. 10 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.

PCB transformers changes form the fire safety engineers friend to the environmental engineers worst nightmare, when it became apparent that PCB filled devices are a source of highly toxic chemicals when they are burned improperly. This concern, combined with new regulations, is prompting engineers worldwide to actively plan and design PCB replacements. The two most commonly used PCB mitigation methods are retrofill and retrofit. This report will address retrofill only and is directed toward environmental concerns, facility interfaces, outage requirements, and application questions. This information is offered to help engineers make informed decisions regarding the best way to replace PCB transformers. This overview also addresses whether PCB retrofill is a viable fact'' or is it fiction'' without merit. 3 figs.

Numerous instances of human exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p- dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) have been documented. Following the development of sufficiently specific and sensitive analytical methods during the past few years, many reports have appeared on PCDD and PCDF levels in human blood and adipose tissues. Studies have examined the PCDD and PCDF levels resulting from accidental and occupational exposures of various groups, including chemical plant workers, forestry and tannery workers, and Niet Nam veterans who had handled Agent Orange. The general background levels in the US, Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, and Sweden were also determined. The results of these studies indicate that a background level of PCDDs and PCDFs is present in the overall population. In some cases, individuals exposed to specific PCDDs or PCDFs exhibit higher levels than the general population. Isomer distribution patterns are relatively consistent and indicative of sources and metabolism. This paper reviews the available data on human PCDD and PCDF levels in exposed and general populations. 15 refs., 4 figs.

Operations and waste disposal activities at the Y-12 Plant, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP), located on the US Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in eastern Tennessee, have introduced airborne, liquid, and solid wastes into the surrounding environment. Some of these wastes may affect off-site areas by entering local streams that ultimately drain into the Clinch River. Previously reported concentrations of radionuclides, metals, and organic compounds in water, sediment, and biota of the Clinch River and Watts Bar Reservoir suggest the presence of contaminants of possible concern to the protection of human health and the environment. A preliminary screening was conducted of contaminants in the off-site surface water environments downstream of the DOE ORR. This screening analysis represents part of a scoping phase of the Clinch River Resource Conservation and Recovery Facilities Investigation (CRRFI). The purpose of this preliminary screening analysis is to use existing data on off-site contaminant concentrations to identify and prioritize potential contaminants of concern for further evaluation and investigation. The primary objective of this screening analysis is to ensure that CRRFI sampling and analysis efforts focus on those contaminants that may possibly contribute to human …