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Several experimental routes can be used to develop a better understanding of the polymeric constitution (polyanionic and/or polyhedral distribution) of borate, germanate, and silicate glasses. Spectral, chemical, physical-chemical, and mechanical property information can be determined directly for the glass compositions of interest. Generally, only physical-chemical information is readily accessible for the corresponding high temperature liquids. It will be shown that information on each state of matter has its own particular merits. Most of the evidence thus far published suggests an excellent agreement between polyhedral distributions in an oxide glass and its corresponding high temperature liquid state. There is no well known oxide glass forming system for which such a state of affairs does not exist. In spite of this, occasional efforts are put forth which ignore some of what is known for oxide liquids, glasses, and crystals. Such attempts therefore invariably imply, if only indirectly, that significant changes occur in the polyhedral distributions close to the glass transition temperature region. Specific examples to be discussed will include efforts that avoid well known coordination change equilibria such as BO/sub 3/ reversible BO/sub 4/ and GeO/sub 4/ reversible GeO/sub 6/.

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A thermodynamic and economic performance analysis code, SOLSTEP, was developed to facilitate the evaluation of solar thermal power plant designs. The code conducts a time step simulation of the plant thermodynamic performance using actual recorded meteorological and insolation data. Each analysis case provides capacity factor and levelized energy cost results for several plant configurations using various combinations of collector field size and storage capacity. The code has been used to analyze a variety of solar thermal generic concepts involving several collector types and energy conversion and storage subsystems.

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The in-situ thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of a granite rock mass at the Stripa mine, Sweden, have been extracted from the first 70 days of temperature data for the 5 kW full-scale heater experiment by means of least-squares fit to a finite-line source solution. Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity have been determined to be 3.69 W/(m-/sup 0/C) and 1.84 x 10/sup -6/ m/sup 2//s, respectively, at an average rock temperature of 23/sup 0/C (the average value of the actual temperature data used). These values are only slightly higher than the corresponding laboratory values, i.e., there is no significant size effect in the thermal properties of this rock mass. Since the size and shape of the heater canister used are similar to those considered for nuclear waste canisters and a substantial volume of rock is heated, the thermal properties obtained in this study are representative of in-situ rock mass properties under actual nuclear repository operating conditions.

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Lithium requirements for battery and controlled thermonuclear fusion reactor uses in the next few decades may exceed the current availability of the mineral and brine reserves. It is thus prudent to search for new reserves and resources to satisfy these and other lithium applications in the future. It has been reported that the lithium content of Smackover oilfield waters ranges in order of 100--500 mg/l, and thus could represent a substantial reserve. A method is proposed to extract lithium from this source. Experimental evidence in the literature indicates that a specific chelating agent of the diketone type, dipivaloylmethane, has a specific selectivity toward lithium in the presence of other metal ions in aqueous solutions. Based in part on this unique property of dipivaloylmethane, a conceptual design of a full size plant is performed to extract lithium from the Smackover brine. The study includes alternate flow sheet development, design information on the major units of the process, energy requirement and an economic analysis of a 10/sup 6/ kg Li/yr production facility. The economics of three different process concepts depends on the amount of water evaporated from the initial oilfield feed waters to concentrate the brine. Results as a function of production …

Fresnel zone plate patterns, free of spherical abberation, with diameters of up to 0.63 mm and linewidths as small as 1000 A were fabricated on polyimide-membrane x-ray masks using scanning electron beam lithography Distortion of the electron beam scan raster was reduced to < 2500 A over a 2 mm x 2 mm field by applying deflection corrections, while viewing the distortion using a moire method. C/sub k/ x-ray lithography was used to replicate the zone plate pattern in thick PMMA over a 100 A thick plating base on a glass substrate. Zones plates in 1.3 ..mu..m thick gold were fabricated by plating, and made free-standing by removal of the plating base and the supporting glass substrate. Zone plates were tested as imaging elements with visible light and soft x-rays.

This paper discusses decontamination methods for LWRs. Emphasis is on the chemical cleaning of primary systems and contaminated equipment and components. The equipment is composed primarily of stainless steel, Inconel, Zircaloy, and a few other materials. Variables affecting efficiency are discussed. 10 figures. (DLC)

Substantial differences have been found between measured and computed heat losses from a large in-ground thermal storage tank used for annual cycle heat storage. One suspected source of error in the computation was the neglect of the latent heat effects in the moist soil and efforts have been made to examine these. One of these effects, that was due to freezing and thawing of the soil moisture is discussed, and the results of some simulations of the effect in a numerical model are presented.

The spermatogonial cell renewal system can maintain function and a steady level of cell population for relatively long periods of continuous low-level irradiation indicating that there does not appear to be a serious accumulation, over many generations, of damage affecting proliferation. Provided the dose-rate is quite low, there is an effective selective removal of damaged cells with almost complete repair of cellular nonlethal damage. At dose-rates greater than 2 rad/day, spermatogonia are very sensitive to radiation death, and the main reason for the low tolerance to continuous stress could, in part, be the limited extent of compensatory mechanisms regulating spermatogonial cell production. However, there is some capacity to change the patterns of cellular proliferation while still remaining under homeostatic control, and this capacity appears to reside in the relatively radioresistant A/sub s/ stem-cell population. Little is known about the extent to which the spermatogonial cell population can repair nonlethal cellular radiation damage accumulated under continuous stress affecting the regenerative capacity of the tissue. After acute exposure, a minimum number of surviving type A/sub s/ stem-cells are required to repopulate the functional seminiferous epithelium, regeneration proceeds along an ordered cell stage sequence, and is dependent on the time required for all …

Theoretical aspects of the measurements of production of low transverse momentum secondaries in high-energy hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions are discussed. Applications of the quark model to those processes are discussed in some detail. 58 references.

High power pulse copper vapor laser systems consist of a master oscillator and numerous power amplifiers. Large systems used in laser isotope separation experiments require several automatic control systems. The rapid development of compact mini computers over the past several years has enabled the implementation of sophisticated computer controlled copper vapor laser systems. Present systems provide automatic time synchronization and input power stabilization. Future systems will incorporate semi-automatic start-up capabilities.

The gamma-ray component of the reactor radiation field can produce effects which impact strongly upon reactor design, shielding, and safety. Radiation effects arising from the gamma-ray component are induced by interaction of the absolute gamma-ray energy spectrum in the reactor environment. Hence, the most fundamental quantity underlying effects produced by the reactor gamma-ray field is the absolute gamma-ray energy continuum. To this end, the current status of Compton recoil gamma-ray spectrometry in Light Water Reactors (LWR) and Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) environments is described. Particular emphasis is given to continuous gamma spectometry experiments in a LWR pressure vessel mockup at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Poolside Critical Assembly (PCA). Gamma spectrometry plans for FBR environments are outlined with special attention placed on start-up experiments in the Fast Test Reactor (FTR). Improvements in Compton recoil gamma-ray spectroscopy are presented.

The emphasis of much of the current and planned research on the toxicity of alpha-emitting radionuclides is directed toward the complexities of actual and potential conditions of occupational environmental exposures of human beings. These, as well as the more limited studies on mechanisms of biological transport and effects, should increase our ability to predict health risks more accurately and to deal more confidently with human exposures, if and when they occur.

Associated with commercial nuclear power production in the United States is the generation of potentially hazardous radioactive wastes. The Department of Energy (DOE), through the National Waste Terminal Storage (NWTS) Program, is seeking to develop nuclear waste isolation systems in geologic formations that will preclude contact with the biosphere of waste radionuclides in concentrations which are sufficient to cause deleterious impact on humans or their environments. Comprehensive analyses of specific isolation systems are needed to assess the expectations of meeting that objective. The Waste Isolation Safety Assessment Program (WISAP) has been established at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (operated by Battelle Memorial Institute) for developing the capability of making those analyses. Among the analyses required for isolation system evaluation is the detailed assessment of the post-closure performance of nuclear waste repositories in geologic formations. This assessment is essential, since it is concerned with aspects of the nuclear power program which previously have not been addressed. Specifically, the nature of the isolation systems (e.g., involving breach scenarios and transport through the geosphere), and the time-scales necessary for isolation, dictate the development, demonstration and application of novel assessment capabilities. The assessment methodology needs to be thorough, flexible, objective, and scientifically defensible. Further, the …

The importance of experiments detecting more than one particle is pointed out. The production of nuclei far from stability in peripheral collisions and the expectations for the explosive disassembly of dense nuclear matter (nuclear fireball) and some evidence for it are related. Pion interferometry concerns the measurement of correlations in the momentum and energy of two identical pions; the subject is discussed in relation to incoherent production, coherent production, partially coherent production, final-state interactions, impact parameter average, and outlook. Much of the paper deals with an assessment of the possibility of determining the form of the hadronic spectrum in the high-mass region through nuclear collisions at ultrarelativistic energies. The subject is developed under the following topics: perspective, the initial fireball, isoergic equilibrium expansion of the fireball, quasi-dynamical expansion, quark matter, and the mass degree of freedom. The quasi-dynamical model obtained indicates that certain parameters, such as the ..pi../N and K/N ratios at high kinetic energy, will survive the collision; therefore, a determination of the asymptotic form of the hadron spectrum probably can be made by studying nuclear collisions at very high energies (10 GeV/nucleon in the center of mass). 16 figures. (RWR)