This report is an initial effort to identify and evaluate safety issues associated with the use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel in automobiles. Several forms of hydrogen have been considered: gas, liquid, slush, and hydrides. The safety issues have been discussed, beginning with properties of hydrogen and the phenomenology of hydrogen combustion. Safety-related operating experiences with hydrogen vehicles have been summarized to identify concerns that must be addressed in future design activities and to support probabilistic risk assessment. Also, applicable codes, standards, and regulations pertaining to hydrogen usage and refueling have been identified and are briefly discussed. This report serves as a safety foundation for any future hydrogen safety work, such as a safety analysis or a probabilistic risk assessment.

This report is an initial effort to identify and evaluate safety issues associated with the use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel in automobiles. Several forms of hydrogen have been considered: gas, liquid, slush, and hydrides. The safety issues have been discussed, beginning with properties of hydrogen and the phenomenology of hydrogen combustion. Safety-related operating experiences with hydrogen vehicles have been summarized to identify concerns that must be addressed in future design activities and to support probabilistic risk assessment. Also, applicable codes, standards, and regulations pertaining to hydrogen usage and refueling have been identified and are briefly discussed. This report serves as a safety foundation for any future hydrogen safety work, such as a safety analysis or a probabilistic risk assessment.

The method of Kaufman and coworkers is used to provide an estimate of isothermal sections of the Al--Li--Mg system. One starts by calculating the lattice stability of the constituents, the binary interaction coefficients and the binary compound parameters. In the computations, thermodynamic data, when available, were coupled with measured phase diagrams to provide thermodynamically self-consistent liquidus and solidus curves for the binary systems. Standard enthalpies of formation and entropies of formation were calculated for the reported compounds. The binary system Li--Mg illustrates the use of such calculations in selecting the most reliable representation of the phase diagram. The calculated binary data were used to compute the phase diagram of Li--Al--Mg, assuming that no ternary compounds exist. 4 tables, 7 figures, 29 references. (GHT)

The dinuclear iron center of the hydroxylase component of soluble methane monooxygenase (MMO) from Methylococcus capsulatus and Methylosinus trichosporiwn has been studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Analysis of the Fe K-edge EXAFS revealed that the first shell coordination of the Fe(HI)Fe(IH) oxidized state of the hydroxylase from M. capsulatus consists of approximately 6 N and 0 atoms at an average distance of 2.04 [Angstrom]. The Fe-Fe distance was determined to be 3.4 [Angstrom]. No evidence for the presence of a short oxo bridge in the iron center of the oxidized hydroxylase was found, suggesting that the active site of MMO is significantly different from the active sites of the dinuclear iron proteins hemery and ribonucleotide reductase. In addition, the results of the first shell fits suggest that there are more oxygen than nitrogen donor ligands.

This report summarizes progress to date in understanding the issue of risk perception and its implications for the suitability of the Hanford Site in eastern Washington as a location for an underground radioactive waste repository. It presents some observations about the causes, consequences and processes of risk perception gained from a review of the professional literature. It also contains an extensive working bibliography of useful reference materials, and a compilation of abstracts from selected articles that are felt to be of particular relevance to the BWIP licensing and institutional support efforts. 293 refs.

This report describes the nature, prevalence, and trends of drug and alcohol abuse among members of the US adult population and among personnel in non-nuclear industries. Analogous data specific to the nuclear utility industry are not available, so these data were gathered in order to provide a basis for regulatory planning. The nature, prevalence, and trend inforamtion was gathered using a computerized literature, telephone discussions with experts, and interviews with employee assistance program representatives from the Seattle area. This report also evaluates the possible impacts that drugs and alcohol might have on nuclear-related job performance, based on currently available nuclear utility job descriptions and on the scientific literature regarding the impairing effects of drugs and alcohol on human performance. Employee assistance programs, which can be used to minimize or eliminate job performance decrements resulting from drug or alcohol abuse, are also discussed.

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The International Conference on the Role of the Polar Regions in Global Change took place on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks on June 11--15, 1990. The goal of the conference was to define and summarize the state of knowledge on the role of the polar regions in global change, and to identify gaps in knowledge. To this purpose experts in a wide variety of relevant disciplines were invited to present papers and hold panel discussions. While there are numerous conferences on global change, this conference dealt specifically with the polar regions which occupy key positions in the global system. These two volumes of conference proceedings include papers on (1) detection and monitoring of change; (2) climate variability and climate forcing; (3) ocean, sea ice, and atmosphere interactions and processes; and (4) effects on biota and biological feedbacks; (5) ice sheet, glacier and permafrost responses and feedbacks, (6) paleoenvironmental studies; and, (7) aerosol and trace gases.