The 50-megawatt Baca geothermal demonstration powerplant project, located in northern New Mexico, was the Department of Energy's (DOE's) initial effort to demonstrate geothermal powerplant technology. The project, started in 1978, was believed to have a high probability of success, and its cost was to be shared equally with the industry participants. GAO's review showed that the project was terminated in January 1982 because sufficient geothermal steam to operate the powerplant could not be obtained. The early termination resulted in DOE paying a disproportionate share - $45 million, or 64% - of the $70 million spent on the project because it had paid the majority of the powerplant-related costs at that time. However, a portion of these costs may be recovered through the sale of powerplant equipment. DOE indicated that it learned lessons from this experience and will act to prevent these problems from occurring on other projects.

This letter report was prepared in accordance with the scope of work for the preconceptual seismic evaluation of the (..cap alpha.. + T) Tandem Mirror Fusion Machine concrete vault. The scope of the work was developed with the assistance of the Bechtel site representative Dr. Sunil Ghose. The report contains comments and preconceptual recommendations on wall upgrading for an 150-ton crane installation, concrete vault seismic capability for (..cap alpha.. + T) conditions, and recommendations for future work.

This report documents the subsystem technology assessment. For the purpose of this report, five subsystems were defined for a space reactor electric system, and the report is organized around these subsystems: reactor; shielding; primary heat transport; power conversion and processing; and heat rejection. The purpose of the assessment was to determine the current technology status and the technology potentials for different types of the five subsystems. The cost and schedule needed to develop these potentials were estimated, and sets of development-compatible subsystems were identified.

This report presents the results of preliminary space reactor electric system integration studies performed by Rockwell International's Energy Systems Group (ESG). The preliminary studies investigated a broad range of reactor electric system concepts for powers of 25 and 100 KWe. The purpose of the studies was to provide timely system information of suitable accuracy to support ongoing mission planning activities. The preliminary system studies were performed by assembling the five different subsystems that are used in a system: the reactor, the shielding, the primary heat transport, the power conversion-processing, and the heat rejection subsystems. The subsystem data in this report were largely based on Rockwell's recently prepared Subsystem Technology Assessment Report. Nine generic types of reactor subsystems were used in these system studies. Several levels of technology were used for each type of reactor subsystem. Seven generic types of power conversion-processing subsystems were used, and several levels of technology were again used for each type. In addition, various types and levels of technology were used for the shielding, primary heat transport, and heat rejection subsystems. A total of 60 systems were studied.

The two computer programs presented in this paper are both fundamentally general in that they could be applied to other magnet systems. In addition to MFTF-B analyses, these programs will be used on current and future GDC superconducting magnet projects. Future extended capabilities will include transient heating and flow conditions for THERMOSIPHON and multiple magnet quench features for MAGPRS.

Advanced RTG concepts utilizing improved thermoelectric materials and converter concepts are under study at Fairchild for DOE. The design described here is based on DOE's newly developed radioisotope heat source, and on an improved silicon-germanium material and a multicouple converter module under development at Syncal. Fairchild's assignment was to combine the above into an attractive power system for use in space, and to assess the specific power and other attributes of that design. The resultant design is highly modular, consisting of standard RTG slices, each producing 24 watts at the desired output voltage of 28 volt. Thus, the design could be adapted to various space missions over a wide range of power levels, with little or no redesign. Each RTG slice consists of a 250-watt heat source module, eight multicouple thermoelectric modules, and standard sections of insulator, housing, radiator fins, and electrical circuit. The design makes it possible to check each thermoelectric module for electrical performance, thermal contact, leaktightness, and performance stability, after the generator is fully assembled; and to replace any deficient modules without disassembling the generator or perturbing the others. The RTG end sections provide the spring-loaded supports required to hold the free-standing heat source stack together during …

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The final transformer of the FFS includes the soft bend magnet and two symmetric quadrupole triplets. It ends at the IP. It is a telescopic transformer (meaning that its transfer matrix is diagonal) with a magnification of -1/5 in both planes. In the current design, L*, the distance between the downstream end of Q1 and the IP, is equal to 7.25 feet (2.21 m) and space is provided upstream of Q6 to accommodate a 27 foot long soft bend magnet. Satisfaction of the foregoing conditions leads to field gradients of about 19.8 kg/cm in Q1 and Q3 and 18.1 kg/cm in Q2. It now appears that it would be very difficult to attain such gradients. For practical superconducting quad designs, meaning iron-free, 5 cm bore, two-layer windings and 4.2/sup 0/K, experts have estimated that gradients of at least 14 kg/cm would be reasonable. This raises the question, can the final transformer in the FFS be modified to accommodate gradients of 14 kg/cm or less and if so at what price in performance.

Separate abstracts were prepared for individual papers. (MHR)