Pursuant to Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL-E) has completed an evaluation of buildings located within the East Area to determine whether any of these buildings meet the eligibility criteria for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Several buildings within the East Area are scheduled for demolition during fiscal years 1999-2000 (Buildings 4, 5, and 6 and possibly Buildings 26, 27, and 28).

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF-B) is a large magnetic fusion energy experiment in the tandem mirror configuration. The requirement that each pair of Yin-Yang magnets, one pair at each end of the experiment, not undergo excessive lateral motion during seismic events was found to require excessively thick (> 12.7 mm) walled tubing in the support-struts, which accelerated the flow of heat inward to the 4 K magnet case from the nearby 300 K wall of the rector vessel, when any of the Cr-Ni austenite stainless steels, such as Type 304 with a 300 K yield-strength (sigma y) of 307 mpa (min.) was considered. Since the cold end of the lateral restraining strut was to be at or near 4 K, the additional constraints of good austenite stability and resistance to brittle fracture at 4 K existed. After consideration of these constraints against available information on Cr-Ni and Cr-Mn-Ni-N/sub 2/ austenitic stainless steels, grade XM-19 (Fe-22 Cr-12 Ni-5 Mn-.04 C-.02 N/sub 2/ was chosen. The mechanical properties of these welds were studied. (MOW)

On January 7, 1983, President Reagan signed into law the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), 42 U.S.C. {section} 10101 et seq. As part of the Act, the Congress of the United States authorized construction of a permanent deep geologic repository in an effort to solve the nation's problem with disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Congress also directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the need for and feasibility of constructing a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility. Also in late April of 1985, the State of Tennessee was informed that three potential sites for the MRS had been selected in Tennessee. The locations included the site of the abandoned Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project, a site on DOE's Oak Ridge Reservation, and the site of the abandoned Hartsville nuclear power plant. This report covers the legal aspects of the potential project completed during the period September 1, 1985--November 30, 1985.

This progress report documents the major accomplishments on the two remaining SEAS tasks for the period of July 10 to August 8, 1980. The tasks are SEAS scenario runs, and SEAS management, documentation, maintenance and support. The scenario run work in this month period consisted of the completion of the TASE 6 scenario on the reference system, development of an ARMS baseline scenario and a run of the NEP2 scenario. The SEAS management, documentation, maintenance and support task continued at about a five person level during this period. A list of all the SEAS change requests that have been completed under this contract (since the procedures begin in March 1980) is contained in Table 1. Approximately forty additional change requests have been proposed. Some of these have been approved by the change control board and are in progress. Work has continued on several documents and some have been published. In addition to the ARMS design briefing on August 8, MITRE participated in two other design briefings during this month report period. These are the July 14 briefing on the guidance document and the July 23 briefing on the TECNET/MOBIL 1 Comparison and on the Graphics Preprocessor Design.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) developed and tested a portable, high-quality seismic recording system for monitoring underground nuclear explosions. The configurable seismic monitoring system (CSMS) was designed to satisfy the designated seismic station (DSS) requirements for instrumentation to be deployed in a vault as set forth in the protocol of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT). As a proof-of-concept test under treaty monitoring conditions, two configurations of this system were built, and each was deployed at a different seismic station to record the Nevada Test Site (NTS) event Bexar. Both configurations successfully recorded this event, demonstrating the flexibility and the operation of the basis design. 3 refs., 8 figs.

Sixteen waste drums, containing six categories of plutonium-contaminated waste, were monitored for venting and gas generation for six months. The venting devices tested appeared adequate to relieve pressure and prevent hydrogen accumulation. Most of the gas generation, primarily H2 and CO2, was due to radiolytic decomposition of the hydrogenous wastes. Comparison of the gas yields with those obtained previously in laboratory tests showed very reasonable agreement with few exceptions.

Savannah River Site supernatant liquid waste samples are periodically taken and analyzed for corrosive and inhibiting species concentrations as part of the waste tank chemistry control program. These samples are taken at or near the surface of the waste. This is the preferred location for sampling since the liquid phase at this location is the most corrosive liquid phase in the tank as a result of the highest nitrate to nitrite ratio and the lowest hydroxide concentration. This report discusses the sampling of high-level radioactive wastes at the Savannah River Site.

The universal drift instability and other drift instabilities driven by density and temperature gradients in a toroidal system are investigated in both linear and nonlinear regimes via particle simulation. Runs in toroidal and cylindrical geometry show dramatic differences in plasma behavior, primarily due to the toroidicity-induced coupling of rational surfaces through the poloidal mode number m. In the toroidal system studied, the eigenmodes are seen to possess (i) an elongated, nearly global radial extent (ii) a higher growth rate than in the corresponding cylindrical system, (iii) an eigenfrequency nearly constant with radius, (iv) a global temperature relaxation and enhancement of thermal heat conduction. Most importantly, the measured Xi shows an increase with radius and an absolute value on the order of that observed in experiment. On the basis of our observations, we argue that the increase in Xi with radius observed in experiment is caused by the global nature of heat convection in the presence of toroidicity-induced mode coupling.

Tests have been made to study the effects of lowering process water pH from pH 7.7 to the range pH 6.2--7.3; of reducing the amount of sodium dichromate inhibitor added to the water; and of eliminating the filtration step in the water treatment process. The results on the pH testing showed that reducing the pH of the cooling water would reduce aluminum corrosion rates. The plant specification has been changed to lower process water pH from 7.7 to 7.3 and plant scale testing of pH 7.0 water is in progress. Reducing the dichromate concentration in the water from 2 to 0.2 ppm had no deleterious effects on the aluminium pile components but might cause pitting of the carbon steel pile effluent lines. The use of unfiltered water is technically feasible from the stand-points of corrosion and film formation but probably would cause a sizable increase in the radioactivity of the pile effluent water. 6 figs., 5 tabs.

The 2736Z building structure is evaluated for high-hazard loads. The 2736Z building is analyzed herein for normal and seismic loads and is found to successfully meet the guidelines of UCRL-15910 along with the related codes requirements.

This report itemizes the irradiations performed by Testing and Irradiation Services for Battelle-Northwest. It lists the material being irradiated, awaiting disposition and material shipped during the report period.

Savannah River Site supernatant liquid waste samples are periodically taken and analyzed for corrosive and inhibiting species concentrations as part of the waste tank chemistry control program. These samples are taken at or near the surface of the waste. This is the preferred location for sampling since the liquid phase at this location is the most corrosive liquid phase in the tank as a result of the highest nitrate to nitrite ratio and the lowest hydroxide concentration. This report discusses the sampling of high-level radioactive wastes at the Savannah River Site.

On January 7, 1983, President Reagan signed into law the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), 42 U.S.C. {section} 10101 et seq. As part of the Act, the Congress of the United States authorized construction of a permanent deep geologic repository in an effort to solve the nation`s problem with disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Congress also directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the need for and feasibility of constructing a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility. Also in late April of 1985, the State of Tennessee was informed that three potential sites for the MRS had been selected in Tennessee. The locations included the site of the abandoned Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project, a site on DOE`s Oak Ridge Reservation, and the site of the abandoned Hartsville nuclear power plant. This report covers the legal aspects of the potential project completed during the period September 1, 1985--November 30, 1985.

This Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP)describes how the Thermionic Space Nuclear Power System Design and Technology Demonstration Project addresses the Quality Assurance requirements delineated in DOE Order 5700.6C and the Thermionic Program Management Plan 214PMP000001. The Quality Assurance Program is based on the following fundamental principles, which Rocketdyne endorses and the QA Project Manager and Program Manager shall enforce: Quality Achievement is a continuing responsibility of line organization at all levels; the Quality Assurance organization through the effective overview of work, gives additional assurance that specified requirements are met; risk is the fundamental consideration in determining to what extent the Quality Assurance Plan should be applied to items and processes; action is based on facts and analysis, customer driven quality, strong quality leadership and continuous improvement.

This interim report details the irradiation testing of co-product fuel-target assemblies in KER loops 3 and 4 which was authorized by PT-IP-645-D. The purpose was to demonstrate and characterize the simultaneous generation of plutonium and tritium during the irradiation of simulated N-Reactor co-product assemblies. Thirteen assemblies, each consisting of a 1.25% enriched outer fuel or driver tube and an inner, coaxial, lithium bearing target rod, were loaded in KER-3 and irradiated to approximately to approximately 1300 MWD/T tube average at N-Reactor conditions. One of the important aspects of the test was the fuel swelling performance in the large, tubular, enriched driver elements. This report describes the fuel swelling behavior of the driver elements.

This report discusses the irradiation testing of thick-walled single-tube, 1.6% enriched test elements (KSE-5`s) in KER loops 1 and 2 to evaluate swelling behavior of uranium at high temperatures. Test charge K-2-21 consisted of four KSE-5`s containing uranium with 400 ppm iron and 800 ppm aluminum. The object of the test irradiation was to establish the swelling performance of the fuel containing the iron-aluminum additions using the N-fuel composition as a reference fuel. This latter fuel has shown good high temperature performance in the British high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, but has not previously been evaluated at ``high`` specific powers in a high-temperature pressurized-water reactor environment.

This paper gives a cost breakdown of all the water facilities in the 100-F area for the month of January, 1948. Also given is the cost of chlorine for addition to the process water system along with where it is added and in what amounts. Lastly, the average figure for the hardness for the Columbia River water at Hanford.

The program is designed to use the Richland reactors to increase the national production of Pu-238 in as efficient and economical a manner as practicable while giving attention to any short-term market requirements for Pu-238.

This document details activities of the Fuels Preparation Department during the month of August 1959. (FI)

Production Test IP-544-A authorized the irradiation testing of coextruded Zr-2 jacketed, single tube, thick walled, 1.6 percent enriched tubular elements (KSE-5`s) in KER loops 1 and 2 to evaluate swelling behavior at high uranium temperatures. This PT was intended to permit the evaluation of uranium swelling at N-reactor environmental conditions but at considerably higher uranium temperatures than those occurring in N-reactor fuel. Evaluation of the fuel performances at the authorized maximum fuel temperatures in the 550--600 C temperature range is essential in the design and analysis of single tube fuel elements for use in N-reactor. The test was subsequently supplemented to authorize the irradiation of uranium fuel containing up to 3000 ppm alloying agents for the evaluation of swelling behavior at the high uranium temperatures. This report describes the swelling behavior of a charge of 8 KSE-5 fuel elements irradiated in KER loop 1 to appproximately 2500 MWD/T as Test K-1-22. KER Test K-1-22 is similar (except for exposure level) to KER Test K-2-21 in which a charge of 8 KSE-5 fuel elements were irradiated to 1500 MWD/T. In both tests the charges consisted of 4 KSE-5`s containing uranium with low iron and silicon additions (N-reactor fuel composition) and 4 …

This engineering study is a feasibility study of KE Basin water treatment to an acceptable level and dispositioning the treated water to Columbia River, ground through ETF or to air through evaporation.

A series of laser welds were performed using a high-power diode-pumped continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser welder. In a previous study, the experimental results of those welds were examined, and the effects that changes in incident power and various welding parameters had on weld geometry were investigated. In this report, the fusion zones of the laser welds are compared with those predicted from a laser keyhole weld simulation model for stainless steels (304L and 21-6-9), vanadium, and tantalum. The calculated keyhole depths for the vanadium and 304L stainless steel samples fit the experimental data to within acceptable error, demonstrating the predictive power of numerical simulation for welds in these two materials. Calculations for the tantalum and 21-6-9 stainless steel were a poorer match to the experimental values. Accuracy in materials properties proved extremely important in predicting weld behavior, as minor changes in certain properties had a significant effect on calculated keyhole depth. For each of the materials tested, the correlation between simulated and experimental keyhole depths deviated as the laser power was increased. Using the model as a simulation tool, we conclude that the optical absorptivity of the material is the most influential factor in determining the keyhole depth. Future work will …

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Herbivores can gain indirect access to recalcitrant carbon present in plant cell walls through symbiotic associations with lignocellulolytic microbes. A paradigmatic example is the leaf-cutter ant (Tribe: Attini), which uses fresh leaves to cultivate a fungus for food in specialized gardens. Using a combination of sugar composition analyses, metagenomics, and whole-genome sequencing, we reveal that the fungus garden microbiome of leaf-cutter ants is composed of a diverse community of bacteria with high plant biomass-degrading capacity. Comparison of this microbiome?s predicted carbohydrate-degrading enzyme profile with other metagenomes shows closest similarity to the bovine rumen, indicating evolutionary convergence of plant biomass degrading potential between two important herbivorous animals. Genomic and physiological characterization of two dominant bacteria in the fungus garden microbiome provides evidence of their capacity to degrade cellulose. Given the recent interest in cellulosic biofuels, understanding how large-scale and rapid plant biomass degradation occurs in a highly evolved insect herbivore is of particular relevance for bioenergy.