The Geothermal Exploration and Resource and Reservoir Assessment (GERRA) Research and Development (R and D) Program of the Department of Energy was analyzed to evaluate its cost effectiveness and relevance to the needs of the geothermal exploration industry. This analysis was conducted in three phases. The first phase involved a review of the state-of-the-art and an identification of major R and D needs, followed by a quantitative assessment of the benefits expected from the achievement of some realistic targets for reducing the proportion of unsuccessful (non-productive) wells drilled in the course of exploration for a reservoir. In the second phase, questionnaires concerning the utility, effectiveness and need for improvement of certain commonly used exploration techniques were mailed to a set of 72 individuals active in geothermal exploration. The third phase consisted of in-person interviews with well recognized experts in geothermal exploration. The results of the quantitative analysis suggest that a benefit/cost ratio exceeding ten can be realized for the R and D expenditure by achieving a relatively modest target of improving the current weighted average exploratory drilling success ratio by 3 percentage points (i.e., from 0.24 to 0.27). The responses to the mailed questionnaires indicated that the emphasis of R …

Application of venture analysis would, at a minimum, need to address issues involving careful definition of the product/service being considered; market needs that the product will satisfy; investment/manufacturing costs; minimum selling price needed to achieve desired ROI or other financial measure; market potential at relevant prices; potential for competitors to obsolete the product before investment is recovered; assessment of companies' resources and capabilities to supply the product. There is clearly no single method for performing every venture analysis, because the economic and structural environment associated with each industry varies widely. These and other factors produce differences in cost structure, marketing organizations, and nature of products which dictate that an appropriate method of venture analysis must be tailored to each industry. The initial chapter of the report presents some brief remarks concerning the important concepts that all venture analyses must consider and then describes in detail the method used for the venture analyzed in this report. The case study addresses IEUS for commercialization. The type of IEUS investigated supplies electricity and thermal energy; the thermal energy distributed in the form of high-temperature water, i.e., water from at least 90/sup 0/C upwards to 200/sup 0/C. (MCW)

This electron microscope study was undertaken to determine whether high resolution reconstructed images could be obtained from statistically noisy micrographs by the super-position of several small areas of images of well-ordered crystals of biological macromolecules. Methods of rotational and translational alignment which use Fourier space data were demonstrated to be superior to methods which use Real space image data. After alignment, the addition of the diffraction patterns of four small areas did not produce higher resolution because of unexpected image distortion effects. A method was developed to determine the location of the distortion origin and the coefficients of spiral distortion and pincushion/barrel distortion in order to make future correction of distortions in electron microscope images of large area crystals.

Seven chapters are included. Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the Alfven wave and describe its linear properties in a homogeneous medium. Chapters 3 and 4 cover the effects of inhomogeneities on these linear properties. Particular emphasis is placed on the appearance of a continuum spectrum and the associated absorption of the Alfven wave which arise due to the inhomogeneity. The explanation of the physical origin of absorption is given using kinetic theory. Chapter 5 is devoted to the associated plasma instabilities. Nonlinear effects discussed in Chapter 6 include quasilinear diffusion, decay, a solitary wave, and a modulational instability. The principles of Alfven wave heating, a design example and present-day experimental results are described in Chapter 7.

After a survey of the state of the art for bottom cables, some possible configurations are considered for candidate OTEC sites. General considerations on laying and embedding are discussed, and solutions are considered. Optimization of cable dimensions and the problem of flexible joints are covered. The state of the art of cable installation and repair is reviewed and discussed with reference to the representative OTEC sites. Costs for shore terminal stations are evaluated. (LEW)

This report reviews the rationale for selection of the two-step recrystallization process that is being developed, presents the results of the latest first-step recrystallization experiments, and outlines the calculations appropriate to the design of second-step thermal process experiments. Results of a computer run for first-step recrystallization are also presented. The report concludes with an updating of the results obtained from the thermal and pulsed electron beam annealing of shallow implanted GaAs.

The following report is the independent product of the Accident Investigation Committee which was commissioned by the Department of Energy following the accident on September 21, 1978, at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve site at West Hackberry, Louisiana. This Committee is charged with the task of determining the nature, extent, and causes of that accident, which resulted in loss of life, injury and property damage, and the need for corrective action. A nonburning oil spill went into nearby Black Lake, but was contained by the deployment of a series of oil spill containment booms and a prevailing wind from the northeast that kept the oil spill in a restricted area near shore. Because of the rapid and effective containment and cleanup of the oil spill by the Rapid Response Team, it appears very likely at this time that Black Lake will not sustain any permanent environmental damage. Cavern 6 initially contained approximately 7,000,000 barrels of oil at a pressure of 650 psig measured at the well head. As of September 29, 1978, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Office - New Orleans (SPRO) estimated that oil expulsion from Cavern 6 was 67,510 barrels. Of this, 34,620 barrels of oil are accounted for, including …

The appendices for a case-study application of venture analysis for an integrated energy utility for commercialization are presented. The following are included and discussed: utility interviews; net social benefits - quantitative calculations; the financial analysis model; market penetration decision model; international district heating systems; political and regulatory environment; institutional impacts.

The torsion of a thin-walled cylinder is studied using the low temperature or visco-plastic limit of Hart's state variable theory for the inelastic behavior of metals. For values of the shear stress lower than the hardness of the material, reversible elongation is found to accompany the recoverable twist. For shear stress exceeding the hardness, there are, in addition, a permanent twist and elongation. These predictions agree qualitatively with existing experiments. Detailed quantitative results, for several loading histories, are obtained for Nickel.

This paper describes a program for developing analytical techniques to evaluate the response of nuclear material shipping containers to severe accidents. Both lumped-mass and finite element techniques are employed to predict shipping container and shipping container-carrier response to impact. The general impact problem is computationally expensive because of its nonlinear, three-dimensional nature. This expense is minimized by using approximate models to parametrically identify critical cases before more exact analyses are performed. The computer codes developed for solving the problem are being experimentally substantiated with test data from full-scale and scale-model container drop tests. 6 figures, 1 table.

The characteristics of future electric cars were projected by means of parametric models of weight, cost, and performance. They included urban ranges as much as two to four times those of recent electric cars: up to 150 km for improved lead-acid batteries, 250 km for nickel-zinc batteries, and 450 km for lithium-sulfur batteries. From data tapes of major travel surveys in Los Angeles and Washington, these ranges were found to be sufficient for most needs of all three major groups of drivers: secondary and primary drivers at multi-driper households, and drivers at one-driver households. Even with the longest design ranges, however, the electric cars would be incapable of occasional long trips now made by conventional cars, and only at the shortest design ranges would they be competitive in cost. Through modeling of supply and demand for over 200 U.S. utilities it was projected that, by the year 2000, almost 60% of US cars could be electrified, only 17% of the recharging power would come from petroleum. Modeling of air pollutant emissions for 24 large urban regions showed that electrification of all cars would reduce regional hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions by roughly half, but increase sulfur oxide emissions some 20%. …

A number of problems in physics can be reduced to the study of a measure-preserving mapping of a plane onto itself. One example is a Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom, i.e., two coupled nonlinear oscillators. These are among the simplest deterministic system that can have chaotic solutions. According to a theorem of Kolmogorov, Arnol'd, and Moser, these systems may also have more ordered orbits lying on curves that divide the plane. The existence of each of these orbit types depends sensitively on both the parameters of the problem, and on the initial conditions. The problem addressed in this paper is that of finding when given KAM orbits exist. The guiding hypothesis is that the disappearance of a KAM surface is associated with a sudden change from stability to instability of nearby periodic orbits. The relation between KAM surfaces and periodic orbits have been explored extensively here by the numerical computation of a particular mapping.

The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has completed construction of the Rotating Target Neutron Source-II (RTNS-II) Facility. These sources, built and operated for the Office of Fusion Energy of the Department of Energy, will be operated by LLL as a national facility for the study of materials damage processes induced by 14-MeV neutrons. Design strength of the sources is 4 x 10/sup 13/ n/s with a maximum flux of 1 X 10/sup 13/ n/cm/sup 2/s. The 400 keV, 150 mA D/sup +/ accelerators and 5000 rpm titanium--tritide target assemblies were built using experience gained with LLL's RTNS-I neutron source. The RTNS-I source, producing 6 x 10/sup 12/ n/s, is currently the most intense 14-MeV source available. RTNS-I has been used for fusion reactor materials studies for the past six years. The experimental program for the new sources will be oriented toward fundamental measurements of high energy neutron-induced effects. The data produced will be used to develop models of damage processes to help guide materials selection for future fusion reactors.

Among the weak decays considered are those of the tau particle, resonances in the upsilon region, D resonances, and heavy quarks. In the analysis the standard pattern of the electron and electron neutrino and the muon and muon neutrino is used. 29 references. (JFP)

Theoretical research on nuclear reaction kinetics and excitations is summarized. A list of publications is included. (JFP)

The influencce of dissolved carbon dioxide on the thermodynamic performance of geothermal steam systems is analyzed. The system is divided into its main component: the flash tank, the turbine, the condenser and the gas extraction system, and the effect of non condensables is studied for each. The effect of the noncondensable gas on the output of the whole system is deduced from its effect on the individual components. The analysis of actual systems is preceded by an analysis of an ideal system. The optimum condenser pressure for actual systems is obtained for different gas extraction system efficiencies. Economic considerations, however, are only qualitatively addressed.

The relativistic random phase approximation was used to study discrete outer and inner shell transitions of the neon isoelectronic sequence, and to calculate photoionization cross sections of elements of the magnesium and zinc isoelectronic sequences. Model potentials were constructed for the copper and zinc isoelectronic sequences. Molecular processes were investigated, and the possibility of an enhanced radiative recombination rate for molecular ions was demonstrated. Detailed calculations of molecular resonance states were completed for H/sub 2/ and the experimental data on ion velocity distributions produced in the photionization of H/sub 2/ were interpreted. Charge transfer processes involving multiply-charged ions at thermal energies were examined, and a preliminary selection made of those systems for which charge transfer is probably rapid. The mechanisms for the radiative destruction of the lithium excimer were explored; it appears that destruction results preferentially by an accidental predissociation. In order to interpret recent experiments on multiphoton absorption by molecular sodium and the photoionization of Na/sub 2//sup +/, calculations were carried out of the oscillator strengths of transitions in Na/sub 2/. A list of publications is included.

A lumped circuit model for the isolated dc SQUID is developed. A set of coupled non-linear differential equations is derived for the output voltage and circulating current as functions of time. A computer algorithm is developed to compute the time-averaged SQUID I-V characteristics and noise spectral densities.

Statistically designed experiments were carried out in a Union Process S-1 Batch Attritor involving a soft coal, Lower Freeport, and a hard coal, Montana Rosebud, in No. 6 and No. 2 fuel oil and water slurries. Energy requirements were determined from strain gauge measurements of the torque in the attritor impeller shaft and size distribution measurements in a Model TA Coulter Counter. It was found that the energy requirements for attrition milling depended strongly on the product size, the type of coal and the viscosity of oil. The data was fitted to a Charles type energy size reduction equation to allow the prediction of energy requirements for various operating conditions. Best estimates of the energy per ton of coal required to grind in No. 2 fuel oil slurries containing between 30 and 50% solids to a product with 10 ..mu..m median size is 26 and 106 Kwh/t for Lower Freeport and Montana Rosebud, while a product with a 1 ..mu..m mass median can be produced with energy input of 1500 and 6082 Kwh/t for the soft and hard coal, respectively. An appendix was abstracted separately.

The chemical reduction of UO/sub 2/ and Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ by atomic hydrogen was studied. Results of the UO/sub 2//H investigation indicates that reduction of UO/sub 2/ by atomic hydrogen proceeds by the production of water vapor and hypostoichiometric urania. Water vapor and aluminum metal are formed in the Al/sub 2/O/sub 3//H system. The relative ease which UO/sub 2/ is reduced by atomic hydrogen compared with Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ is due to two factors. The first is related to the thermochemistry of the reactions. The second factor which favors efficient reduction of UO/sub 2/ but not of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ is the oxygen diffusivity. (LK)

Derivation of the governing equation, including temperature effects, is given where the permeability-viscosity ratio is assumed to be an arbitrary function of r{sup 2}t. This function is represented by a Fermi-Dirac function, whose parameters are determined based upon physical considerations. The solution for the pressure change is analytic except for the final step, where a numerical integration is called for. The results and implications of the calculations are discussed. Summary and concluding remarks are presented.

Projections indicate that MJ/MW laser systems, operating with efficiencies in escess of 1 percent, are required to drive laser fusion power reactors. Moreover, a premium in pellet performance is anticipated as the wavelength of the driver laser system is decreased. Short wavelength laser systems based on atomic selenium (lambda = 0.49..mu..), terbium molcular vapors (0.55..mu..), thulium doped dielectric solids (0.46..mu..), and on pulse compressions of KrF excimer laser radiaton (0.27..mu..) have been proposed and studied for this purpose. The technological scalability and efficiency of each of these systems is examined in this paper. All of these systems are projected to meet minimum systems requirements. Amont them, the pulse-compressed KrF system is projected to have the highest potential efficiency (6%) and the widest range of systems design options.

This document establishes requirements for performance of terrestrial solar cell modules intented for use in various test applications typically characterized as Intermediate Load Centers. During the 1979--1980 time period, such applications are expected to be in the 20 kilowatt to 500 kilowatt size range. In general, modules satisfying these requirements will have the following design features and characteristics: (1) 15.0 Vdc nominal operating voltage; (2) ability to be series connected to operating voltages of 500 Vdc; (3) nominal length of 1.2 m; (4) width from 0.2 m to 1.2 m in 20-mm increments; (5) output power rated at the Standard Operating Conditions; and (6) flat plate configuration (non-concentrating). In addition to module design and performance requirements, a series of characterization and qualification tests necessary to certify the module design for production, and the necessary performance tests for acceptance of modules are also specified.

Inverse bremsstrahlung is one of the important mechanisms for transferring energy from laser light to matter. The computer code LASNEX currently uses a simple physical model for this process for which there can be substantial corrections. The purpose of this investigation is to provide a model for the bremsstrahlung process that will be applicable over the whole range of interest for use in LASNEX. The derivation of the bremsstrahlung cross section and various approximate forms useful in the numerical calculations, and derivation of the expression for the energy absorption rate for a general distribution function and special forms for various approximations to the cross section are presented. The alternative methods of derivation of the energy absorption rate are discussed. Numerical results are presented along with comparison among the different expressions, and the validity of the assumptions and methods to relax the approximations are discussed.