In order to treat the mixed radioactive and hazardous waste stored in 177 underground tanks, the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) program is developing a `demonstration` site for treatment and immobilization of these wastes by a private contractor. Project W-519 is providing the infrastructure support to this site by developing the designs and emplacing required pipelines, roads, electrical, etc. In support of the TWRS Phase 1 Infrastructure Project (W-519) Characterization, Numatec Hanford Corporation (NHC) contracted with Waste Management Federal Services, Inc., Northwest Operations (WMNW) to investigate a number of locations in and just outside the 200 East Area eastern fenceline boundary. These areas consisted of known or suspected waste lines or waste sites that could potentially impact the construction and emplacement of the proposed facility improvements, including waterlines and roads. These sites were all located subsurface and sugaring would be required to obtain sample material from the desired depth. The soils would then be sampled and submitted to the laboratory for analysis of radioactivity.

Atomic hydrogen is a very important constituent for processes ranging from cleaning oxide from GaAs and annealing amorphous silicon to the deposition of diamond. Because the usual techniques for measuring atomic fraction are either expensive and cumbersome to use, or unsuitable for application to highly dissociated hydrogen, a specially designed sensor was developed. Sensor design is based on a diffusion tube with noncatalytic walls, having one end open to the atom source and a catalytic closure at the other end. The sensor is simple and inexpensive to fabricate, and determining atom density is straightforward. Sensor design also inhibits thermal runaway, which occurs when atom density is high enough to impart enough recombination energy to the non-catalytic surface to substantially raise its temperature. While recombination coefficients for such surfaces are very low near room temperature, they increase nearly exponentially with temperature unless actively cooled. With the use of a straightforward calibration scheme to determine the variation in species fraction along the diffusion tube, the atomic fraction at the tube opening is determined. Design strategy, implementation considerations, and calibration method are presented. In addition, data obtained from an atomic hydrogen source are compared to relevant published data.

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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.

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The specific objectives of this research are to quantify relationships between surface spectral properties and infiltration capacity explore the interaction between surface hydrology and basin morphology, specifically drainage network morphology, and develop a comprehensive process-response model for drainage basin evolution. This research examines the response of the drainage network and drainage basin water discharge to changes in the dominant processes that control infiltration and runoff, namely macropore network development. Infiltration, the primary regulator of runoff, is analyzed with respect to surface spectral characteristics and drainage basin water discharge. Changes in basin discharge measured on a storm event basis in the field are supplemented with simulated discharge events using a distributed hydrologic model. The hydrologic model is evaluated and parameterized by means of a detailed sensitivity analysis. The response of drainage basin water discharge to charges in infiltration properties of minesoils, and the inferred runoff process, and drainage network morphology is examined. The threshold discharge, or stream power, for sediment entrainment and the implications for changes in sediment discharge through time is also discussed. Ritter and Gardner conclude with a process-response model for drainage basin evolution, with implications for natural drainage basin response to climate change. Finally, basic rainfall-runoff relationships developed …

The central goal of DOE`s Ocean Margin Program (OMP) is to determine whether continental shelves are quantitatively significant in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and isolating it via burial in sediments or exporting it to the open ocean (Program Announcement, 1991). A major component of the OMP will be to measure carbon flux on the shelf and across the shelf to the slope and open ocean. We are developing a video and optical instrument package (LAPS: Large Aggregate Profiling System) and the analytical techniques to precisely measure a wide spectrum of the large aggregate population of particles in the shelf/slope environment. This particle population, encompassing the ``marine snow`` size particles (diameters > 0.5 mm), is thought to be the major pathway of material flux in the ocean (McCave, 1975; Asper, 1987; Walsh and Gardner, 1992). Our goal is to use aggregate abundance and size spectrum data along with the CTD, beam attenuation and fluorescence data collected with our instrument package to collect data rapidly, repeatedly and accurately such that it is both linkable to carbon flux and usable in biophysical models. Additionally, measurements of particle flux will be made with sediment traps deployed on the continental slope in conjunction …

The central goal of DOE`s Ocean Margin Program (OMP) has been to determine whether continental shelves are quantitatively significant in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and isolating it via burial in sediments or exporting it to the open ocean. The overall objective of this work within OMP was to develop an instrument package to measure the large aggregate population of particles in the shelf/slope environment at a rate sufficient to integrate the observed particle distributions into the coupled physical and biogeochemical models necessary to understand the shelf and slope as a system. Pursuant to this the authors have developed a video and optical instrument package (LAPS: Large Aggregate Profiling System) and assembled the computer and software methods to routinely measure a wide spectrum of the large aggregate population of particles in the shelf/slope environment. This particle population, encompassing the `marine snow` size particles (dia. > 0.5 mm), is thought to be the major pathway of material flux in the ocean. The instrument package collects aggregate abundance and size spectrum data using two video camera/strobe subsystems with a third subsystem collecting CTD, beam attenuation and fluorescence data. Additionally, measurements of particle flux were made with sediment traps deployed on the …

This report describes the existing and proposed methodologies for performing measurements of contamination prior to releasing material for uncontrolled use at the Hanford Site. The technical basis for the proposed methodology, a modification to the existing contamination survey protocol, is also described. The modified methodology, which includes a large-area swipe followed by a statistical survey, can be used to survey material that is unlikely to be contaminated for release to controlled and uncontrolled areas. The material evaluation procedure that is used to determine the likelihood of contamination is also described.

This report consists of the groundwater screening evaluation required by Section S.8 of the State Waste Discharge Permit for the 200 Area TEDF. Chapter 1.0 describes the purpose of the groundwater monitoring plan. The information in Chapter 2.0 establishes a water quality baseline for the facility and is the groundwater screening evaluation. The following information is included in Chapter 2.0: Facility description;Well locations, construction, and development data; Geologic and hydrologic description of the site and affected area; Ambient groundwater quality and current use; Water balance information; Hydrologic parameters; Potentiometric map, hydraulic gradients, and flow velocities; Results of infiltration and hydraulic tests; Groundwater and soils chemistry sampling and analysis data; Statistical evaluation of groundwater background data; and Projected effects of facility operation on groundwater flow and water quality. Chapter 3.0 defines, based on the information in Chapter 2.0, how effects of the TEDF on the environment will be evaluated and how compliance with groundwater quality standards will be documented in accordance with the terms and conditions of the permit. Chapter 3.0 contains the following information: Media to be monitored; Wells proposed as the point of compliance in the uppermost aquifer; Basis for monitoring well network and evidence of monitoring adequacy; Contingency …

A potentially attractive flue gas desulfurization method called Limestone Emission Control (LEC) is currently being investigated by Prudich at Ohio University. In this process, beds of 1/8 inch limestone gravel particles absorb sulfur dioxide from flue gas. This forms sulfite and sulfate salts which coat limestone, blinding the surface and limiting utilization to 20%. Favorable economics can be generating when the unreacted portion of the limestone is recovered by mechanical grinding. This project is a wet method for grinding and recovering the spent limestone from the LEC process, utilizing an impeller fluidizer, a new type of slurry processor. It consists of a cylindrical vessel with an impeller at one end. The impeller generates sufficient pressure head to serve as a slurry pump. It combines the operation of wet grinding, washing, and transporting the spent and recovered limestone as an aqueous slurry. The objectives of the first two years were to operate fluidizer in a batch mode to carry grinding experiments, and to determine the removal of the sulfur coatings from the limestone when operating the fluidizer in a continuous mode. The main thrusts of the third year were to complete the grinding data and coordinate the data with reactivity determinations …

The Midnite Mine is an inactive open-pit uranium mine located on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. Drill samples from two large waste rock dumps on the site, known as South Spoils and Hillside Dump, were collected with a Becker hammer drill and evaluated to determine potential of the rock to generate acid mine drainage (AMD). Waste rock at this mine contains both pyrite and uranium, and AMD effects are more complicated on this site than most in that uranium is soluble in both acidic and neutral aqueous solutions. Although AMD protocols identified 26% of the South Spoils samples as potentially acid, under 7% of the spoil samples were actually producing acid. Considerable calcite exists in the South Spoils, and weathering feldspars further contribute to acid neutralization. The Hillside Dump has low concentrations of pyrite and calcite that acid-base accounting protocols would predict to be non-acidic. Accumulation of sulfate in rocks with concentrations of less than 0.3% S causes some of those normally non-acid producing rocks to produce acid in the Hillside Dump.

Recent analyses of charm quark production mechanisms from Fermilab fixed-target experiments are summarized. Measurements of single inclusive differential cross sections for hadroproduced and photoproduced D mesons are compared to next-to-leading order QCD calculations. New data from hadroproduction and previous photoproduction measurements of charm meson pair correlations are compared to NLO calculations and also to parton shower Monte Carlo models. Nonperturbative effects, such as intrinsic k{sub t} and fragmentation, are seen to play an important role in most of these comparisons. Results on charm production asymmetries in both hadroproduction and photoproduction are summarized.

The Seventh Annual Human Genome Conference: Beyond the Identification of Transcribed Sequences (BITS) was held November 16-19, 1997 at the Asilomar Conference Center in Monterey, California. The format for the meeting was a combination of oral presentations, group discussions and poster sessions. The original workshop was held to discuss methodologies for the identification of transcribed sequences in mammalian genomes. Over the years, the focus of the workshops has gradually shifted towards functional analysis, with the most dramatic change in emphasis at this meeting, as reflected in the modest change in the workshop title. Topics presented and discussed included: (1) large scale expression and mutational analysis in yeast, C. elegans, Drosophila and zebrafish, (2) comparative mapping of zebrafish, chicken and Fugu; (3) functional analysis in mouse using promoter traps, mutational analysis of biochemical pathways, and Cre/lox constructs; (4) construction of 5 foot end and complete cDNA libraries; (5) expression analysis in mammalian organisms by array screening and differential display; (6) genome organization as determined by detailed transcriptional mapping and genomic sequence analysis; (7) analysis of genomic sequence, including gene and regulatory sequence predictions, annotation of genomic sequence, development of expression databases and verification of sequence analysis predictions; and (8) structural/functional relationships …

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This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos national Laboratory (LANL). The overall goal of the project was to evaluate the performance of Los Alamos technology in selected geothermal fields, to adapt the technology to the existing industry infrastructure where necessary, and to facilitate its application through demonstration and communication. The primary specific objective was to identify, collaborate, and partner with geothermal energy- producing companies in an evaluation of the application of Los Alamos microseismic mapping technology for locating fracture permeability in producing geothermal fields.

Ten closely spaced, shallow (<100 ft) drill cores were obtained from the 1.22-Ma-old Bandelier Tuff at a 4-acre site for proposed construction at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. The goal of the investigation was to identify faults that may have potential for earthquake-induced surface ruptures at the site. Careful mapping of contact surfaces within the Bandelier Tuff was supplemented with results of geochemical analyses to establish unit boundaries with a high degree of accuracy. Analysis shows that the upper contact surface of Unit 3 of the Bandelier Tuff provides no evidence of faults beneath the building site, and that the subsurface structure is consistent with a shallowly dipping (< 2{degree}), unbroken block. Because no significant or cumulative faulting events have disturbed the site in the last 1.22 million years, it is unlikely that surface rupture will occur at the site in future large earthquakes. Uncertainty analysis suggests that this method would detect faults with {ge}2 ft of cumulative stratigraphic separation.

We report numerical computations of the PAC perturbation factor G{sub 2}(t) for spin 5/2 nuclei subject to a static EFG symmetric about the z-axis and an additional axially-symmetric EFG hose symmetry axis fluctuates randomly among the x,y,z directions. For sufficiently large fluctuation rates, the numerical results are described by the expression for the static interaction alone with the addition of relaxation terms. Results of applying this model to {sup 111}Cd TDPAC measurements on tetragonal ZrO{sub 2} are described briefly. The model allows one to evaluate the probability that oxygen vacancies are trapped, the energy of association of vacancy-metal pairs, and the vacancy activation energy of motion. 4 refs., 3 figs.

NUSTART is a computer program for the IBM PC/At. It is designed for use with the nuclear reaction cross-section code STAPLUS, which is a STAPRE-based CRAY computer code that is being developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The NUSTART code was developed to handle large sets of discrete nuclear levels and the multipole transitions among these levels; it operates in three modes. The Data File Error Analysis mode analyzes an existing STAPLUS input file containing the levels and their multipole transition branches for a number of physics and/or typographical errors. The Interactive Data File Generation mode allows the user to create input files of discrete levels and their branching fractions in the format required by STAPLUS, even though the user enters the information in the (different) format used by many people in the nuclear structure field. In the Branching Fractions Calculations mode, the discrete nuclear level set is read, and the multipole transitions among the levels are computed under one of two possible assumptions: (1) the levels have no collective character, or (2) the levels are all rotational band heads. Only E1, M1, and E2 transitions are considered, and the respective strength functions may be constants or, in the case …

In this report the authors document results of high-precision geologic mapping in the vicinity of TA-55 that has been done to identify parts of the southern portion of the Rendija Canyon Fault, or any other faults, with the potential for seismic surface rupture. To assess the potential for surface rupture at TA-55, an area of approximately 3 square miles that includes the Los Alamos County Landfill and Twomile, Mortandad, and Sandia Canyons has been mapped in detail. Map units are mostly cooling or flow units within the Tshirege Member (1.2 Ma) of the Bandelier Tuff. Stratigraphic markers that are useful for determining offsets in the map area include a distinct welding break at or near the cooling Unit 2-Unit 3 contact, and the Unit 3-Unit 4 contact. At the County Landfill the contact between the Tshirege Member of the Bandelier Tuff and overlying Quaternary alluvium has also been mapped. The mapping indicates that there is no faulting in the near-surface directly below TA-55, and that the closest fault is about 1500 feet west of the Plutonium Facility. Faulting is more abundant on the western edge of the map area, west of TA-48 in uppermost Mortandad Canyon, upper Sandia Canyon, and …

The near-field, explosive dispersal of a liquid into air has been explored using a combination of analytical and numerical models. The near-field flow regime is transient, existing only as long as the explosive forces produced by the detonation of the burster charge dominate or are approximately equal in magnitude to the aerodynamic drag forces on the liquid. The near-field model provides reasonable initial conditions for the far-field model, which is described in a separate report. The near-field model consists of the CTH hydrodynamics code and a film instability model. In particular, the CTH hydrodynamics code is used to provide initial temperature, pressure, and velocity fields, and bulk material distribution for the far-field model. The film instability model is a linear stability model for a radially expanding fluid film, and is used to provide a lower bound on the breakup time and an upper and lower bound on the initial average drop diameter for the liquid following breakup. Predictions of the liquid breakup time and the initial arithmetic average drop diameter from the model compare favorably with the sparse experimental data. 26 refs., 20 figs., 8 tabs.

This project was initiated to fill a need in the glass industry for a non-contact temperature sensor for glass melts. At present, the glass forming industry (e.g., bottle manufacture) consumes significant amounts of energy. Careful control of temperature at the point the bottle is molded is necessary to prevent the bottle from being rejected as out-of-specification. In general, the entire glass melting and conditioning process is designed to minimize this rejection rate, maximize throughput and thus control energy and production costs. This program focuses on the design, development and testing of an advanced optically based pyrometer for glass melts. The pyrometer operates simultaneously at four wavelengths; through analytical treatment of the signals, internal temperature profiles within the glass melt can be resolved. A novel multiplexer alloys optical signals from a large number of fiber-optic sensors to be collected and resolved by a single detector at a location remote from the process. This results in a significant cost savings on a per measurement point basis. The development program is divided into two phases. Phase 1 involves the construction of a breadboard version on the instrument and its testing on a pilot-scale furnace. In Phase 2, a prototype analyzer will be constructed …

This report summarizes a preliminary design study to explore the plausibility of using pulse tube refrigeration to cool instruments in a hot down-hole environment. The original motivation was to maintain Dave Reagor`s high-temperature superconducting electronics at 75 K, but the study has evolved to include three target design criteria: cooling at 30 C in a 300 C environment, cooling at 75 K in a 50 C environment, cooling at both 75 K and 30 C in a 250 C environment. These specific temperatures were chosen arbitrarily, as representative of what is possible. The primary goals are low cost, reliability, and small package diameter. Pulse-tube refrigeration is a rapidly growing sub-field of cryogenic refrigeration. The pulse tube refrigerator has recently become the simplest, cheapest, most rugged and reliable low-power cryocooler. The authors expect this technology will be applicable downhole because of the ratio of hot to cold temperatures (in absolute units, such as Kelvin) of interest in deep drilling is comparable to the ratios routinely achieved with cryogenic pulse-tube refrigerators.