Metal cutting techniques that can be used to segment the reactor pressure vessel of the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) have been evaluated by Nuclear Energy Services. Twelve cutting technologies are described in terms of their ability to perform the required task, their performance characteristics, environmental and radiological impacts, and cost and schedule considerations. Specific recommendations regarding which technology should ultimately be used by ANL are included. The selection of a cutting method was the responsibility of the decommissioning staff at ANL, who included a relative weighting of the parameters described in this document in their evaluation process.

In a long-term program that began in 1984, limestone and marble briquettes have been exposed to both anthropogenic acid deposition and natural weathering at four field sites in the eastern United States.

The aqueous biphasic extraction (ABE) process for soil decontamination involves the selective partitioning of solutes and fine particulates between two immiscible aqueous phases. The biphase system is generated by the appropriate combination of a water-soluble polymer (e.g., polyethylene glycol) with an inorganic salt (e.g., sodium carbonate). Selective partitioning results in 99 to 99.5% of the soil being recovered in the cleaned-soil fraction, while only 0.5 to 1% is recovered in the contaminant concentrate. The ABE process is best suited to the recovery of ultrafine, refractory material from the silt and clay fractions of soils. During continuous countercurrent extraction tests with soil samples from the Fernald Environmental Management Project site (Fernald, OH), particulate thorium was extracted and concentrated between 6- and 16-fold, while the uranium concentration was reduced from about 500 mg/kg to about 77 mg/kg. Carbonate leaching alone was able to reduce the uranium concentration only to 146 mg/kg. Preliminary estimates for treatment costs are approximately $160 per ton of dry soil. A detailed flowsheet of the ABE process is provided.

Quarterly report of the Argonne National Laboratory Chemical Engineering Division regarding activities related to properties and handling of radioactive materials, operation of nuclear reactors, and other relevant research. This report discusses fuel cycle studies including advanced solvent extraction techniques focused on the development of centrifugal contactors for use in Purex processes, dispersion of reagents as a result of explosions, and identification of organic solutions suitable for the separation of actinides from fission products.

Revision of supplemental paper on proposed Ada standard, organized as a series of questions and answers.

Supplemental paper organized as a series of questions and answers, outlining the reasoning by which the proposed standard for Ada came to acquire certain features and exclude others.

Quarterly report of the Argonne National Laboratory Materials Science Division, including studies on ceramic (refractory) and metallic materials for use in coal-conversion processes as well as studies of erosive wear, nondestructive testing, corrosion, refractory degradation, and failure analysis.

Quarterly report of the Argonne National Laboratory Chemical Engineering Division regarding activities related to properties and handling of radioactive materials, operation of nuclear reactors, and other relevant research.

This proceedings covers instruments and process control involved in the conversion of fossil fuels into synthetic fuels, spurred in part by response to the energy crisis of the 1970s and attending inflation.

Report of activities at Argonne involving the Atmospheric Fluidized-Bed Cogeneration Air Heater Experiment.

This proceedings contains the summaries and contents of a number of papers presented at the 1982 NEANDC/NEACRP specialists meeting on fast-neutron capture cross sections. The table of contents has been summarized to provide a sketch of the topical matter.

Quarterly report on the activities of the Argonne National Laboratory Materials Science Division regarding studies on ceramic (refractory) and metallic materials presently being used or intended for use in coal conversion processes. The program entails nondestructive testing, failure analysis, and studies of erosive wear, corrosion and refractory degradation.

Quarterly report on the activities of the Argonne National Laboratory Materials Science Division regarding studies of erosive wear, nondestructive testing, corrosion, chemical degradation, and failure analysis.

Progress report on the activities of the Argonne National Laboratory Materials Science Division regarding studies done on refractory concretes and metallic materials being used or intended for use in coal-conversion processes, erosive wear, nondestructive testing, corrosion, chemical degradation, and failure analysis.

Infrared scanning has potential use in detecting erosive wear (thickness change) of the refractory surface of large-diameter steel pipes internally lined with refractory concrete, which are typical of those used in coal-conversion processes. An analytical study was conducted to determine the viability of this method. Heat-transfer models were developed to predict surface-temperature distributions on the outer metal surface for various erosive-wear conditions on the inner surface, assuming uniform inner-surface temperature. Variables investigated included thermal conductivity of the refractory concrete, thermal contact resistance between the steel shell and the refractory, outer-surface convective coefficient, outer-surface radiative properties, and refractory-lining thickness and composition. The study used two- and three-dimensional heat-transfer models and various well-defined rectangular cavities on the inner surface. Temperature resolution, and thus calculation of cavity sizes from surface-temperature profiles, is better when the convective coefficient is small and the interfacial contact resistance is uniformly low. The presence of dual refractory-concrete liners using a layer of insulating concrete between the hot-face lining and the steel shell, together with thick steel (t > 25 mm), tends to smear temperature patterns and reduce the temperature gradient so that calculation of cavity shapes becomes impractical.

This report discusses the development of ultrasonic testing, acoustic microscopy, dye-enhanced radiography, holographic interferometry, and infrared scanning techniques for flaw detection in silicon carbide (SiC) heat-exchanger tubing. Both preservice and in-service testing requirements are discussed. An ultrasonic boreside probe and an acoustic microscope stage have been designed for continuous monitoring of SiC tubing. Preliminary results with these acoustic systems are presented. In addition, a novel technique for detecting small surface flaws using holographic interferometry is discussed. Fracture mechanics analysis suggests that detection of flaws on the order of 100 um is necessary to assure good reliability of ceramic heat exchangers. The acoustic and holographic techniques have been shown to be capable of detecting flaws of this size. However, the sensitivity of ultrasonic flaw detection in SiC is affected by the microstructure of the component. The practical considerations involved in the use of these techniques are discussed.

Although the Dirac theory of the hydrogen atom was proposed more than half a century ago, extension of the theory and its practical applications to complex atomic spectra took decades to mature. Development of quantum electrodynamics (QED) in its modern form, advances in high precision experimental techniques, and invention of high-speed computers have made atomic spectroscopy one of the most accurate branches of physics today, both in theory and experiment. In addition to a long-standing need to identify line-spectra coming from far and near parts of the universe, necessities such as to test QED further and to provide reliable data for ions in tokamak plasmas require an understanding of the theory of relativistic atomic structure beyond the framework of the original Dirac theory. Twenty articles from the proceedings of the workshop are presented. Contributed papers are grouped into theoretical and experimental subjects and presented after the papers for the second (atomic structure calculations) and third (experiment) sessions of the Workshop. Alphabetical listing of the authors is presented in Appendix 1, program of the Workshop in Appendix 2, and the list of the participants in Appendix 3.

Report describing the helium atmosphere system in the Argonne National Laboratory's Facility 350. The atmosphere's ability to remove moisture, oxygen, and other impurities, how the atmosphere is purified, and experimental data regarding the use of activated carbon to absorb oxygen from helium are discussed.

Report issued by the Argonne National Laboratory discussing the progress and work completed between February and April, 1949. Descriptions of the studies conducted and progress made are presented. This report includes tables, illustrations, and photographs.

Report issued by the Argonne National Laboratory discussing the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR) power plant. Designs of the final EBWR power plant are presented. This report includes tables, illustrations, and photographs.

A number of situations where it has been claimed that moderate radiation doses cause leukemia or other cancers are carefully reviewed. We look at cases in the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. Usually it can be demonstrated that there is an alternative, more probable, explanation for the effect seen. In several cases the authors of the papers have fallen into statistical traps. The most frequent is a posteriori selection of cohort boundaries in both space and time: a trap illustrated dramatically by Feynman. The next most common trap is to arbitrarily select one out of many ways of looking at the data, against which we were warned by Tippett. Several cohorts are compared with respect to the number of persons at risk, average dose, and the number of cancers expected. Of these, only the cohort of A-bomb survivors in Japan and the recently unclassified data on the very large occupational doses for early Soviet nuclear workers at Chelyabinsk provide evidence of clearly visible excess cancers.

We report on experiments run on a set of shared-memory multiprocessors. Our goal was to demonstrate that one could conveniently utilize a set of shared-memory multiprocessors cooperatively working on typical state-space searches. We utilized a technology for writing portable code for multiprocessors, coded three depth-first state-space searches, and ran them on a set of multiprocessors. The final problem used substantial resources (over 65 hours on a single processor) and was successfully distributed over four distinct shared memory multiprocessors (2 Sequents and 2 Encores), reducing the time to perform the computation to slightly over 2 hours.

The domain and surface structures of metallic sodium tungsten bronzes, NaxWO₃, 0.4 < x < 1, were studied using optical microscopy, supplemented by chemical methods, photoelectron spectroscopy, electron microscopy, etc. The birefringent, multidomain structure of the bronze is exhibited by a sodium-deficient, epitaxial surface film and hence is not, as reported elsewhere, a bulk property. The film can be synthesized by anodic electrolysis in alkaline solution and can exist only epitaxially with the substrate. It is chemically inert, translucent, and often laminated to a multilayered film. The film domain is hypersensitive to lateral stress and to thermal change, and appears to be modulated by minute structural changes of the substrate. This epitaxial modulation of the film is strikingly large at the phase transitions of the substrate induced by slightly different tiltings of the oxygen octahedra. The domain-wall movement is often slow enough to be visible, and that by thermal effect is occasionally accompanied by an audible, high-pitched, snapping sound.

Annual report of the Argonne National Laboratory Radiological and Environmental Research Division regarding activities related to molecular physics and chemistry. This report discusses areas in the physics and chemistry of atoms and molecules related to their interactions with photons, electrons, and other external agents such as energetic ions.