The feasibility of geothermal energy use at naval installations in Norfolk, VA, Jacksonville, FL, and Charleston, SC was assessed. Geophysical and geological studies of the above areas were performed. Engineering and economic factors, affecting potential energy use, were evaluated. The Norfolk and Jacksonville facilities are identified as candidates for geothermal systems. System costs are predicted. Economic benefits of the proposed geothermal systems are forecast, using the net present value method of predicting future income.

Reentry analyses consisting of ablation response, thermal response and thermal stress response have been conducted on the Light Weight Radioisotope Heater Unit for Galileo/VEEGA reentry conditions. Sequential ablation analyses of the LWRHU aeroshell, the fuel clad, and the fuel pellet have been conducted in reentry regimes where the aeroshell has been deemed to fail. The failure criterion for ablation is assumed to be recession corresponding to 50% of the wall thickness (the design criterion recommended in the DOE Overall Safety Manual). Although the analyses have been carried far beyond this limit (as presented and discussed herein), JHU/APL endorses the position that failure may occur at the time that this recession is achieved or at lower altitudes within the heat pulse considering the uncertainties in the aerodynamic, thermodynamic, and thermo-structural analyses and modeling. These uncertainties result mainly because of the high energies involved in the VEEGA reentries compared to orbital decay reentries. Risk evaluations should consider the fact that for shallow flight paths the unit may disassemble at high-altitude as a result of ablation or may remain intact until it impacts with a clad that had been molten. 80 refs., 46 figs., 16 tabs.

The objectives, methodologies, data, and analytical results of the Chalk Point Cooling Tower Program are reviewed. The overview intergrates the concepts and activities of the various program elements to provide a coherent view of the program in its entirety. Samples of the various data acquired are included together with very brief summaries of the conclusions. The report is extensively referenced to provide specific directions to the more extensive treatments of the program, data tabulations, and tape libraries available in the complete library of Chalk Point reports. The Chalk Point data is a resource for the study of cooling tower salt deposition processes and impacts in general. The methods used, while developed to facilitate the assessment of salt drift impact at Chalk Point, also have applicability to cooling tower impact analysis at other sites.