Seismic monitoring of the northern section of the Imperial Valley region in southern California has been underway since 1973. A description of the 22-station network and a list of preliminary data on earthquakes recorded by the network from April 1977 through June 1977 are presented. (JGB)

A test bed for experimental evaluation of a fixed solar collector which combines an evacuated glass tube solar receiver with a flat plate/black chrome plated copper absorber and an asymmetric veetrough concentrator was designed and constructed. Earlier predictions of thermal performance were compared with test data acquired for a bare vacuum tube receiver; and receiver tubes with Alzak aluminum, aluminized FEP Teflon film laminated sheet metal and second surface ordinary mirror reflectors. Test results and system economics as well as objectives of an ongoing program to obtain long-term performance data are discussed.

The potential for future widespread use of photovoltaic systems for the generation of electric power was the motivation for the establishment, in January 1975, of the Photovoltaic Conversion Program by ERDA's Division of Solar Energy. The Program's activities are planned to develop and to promote the use of photovoltaic systems to such an extent that the private sector will produce and utilize cost-competitive photovoltaic systems. As part of the ERDA Program, the Low-Cost Silicon Solar Array Project (LSSA) was established in January 1975. The activities and progress of the LSSA Project during the months of October, November, and December 1976 are described. The Project objective is to develop the national capability to produce low-cost, long-life photovoltaic arrays at a rate greater than 500 megawatts per year and a price of less than $500 per kilowatt peak by 1986. The array performance goals include an efficiency greater than 10% and an operating lifetime in excess of 20 years. The approach is to reduce the cost of solar cell arrays by improving solar array manufacturing technology and by increasing solar array production capacity and quantity. Forty-seven contracts have been awarded to date, to industrial firms and university and independent laboratories for experimental …

The Bevatron/Bevalac is operated, maintained, and continually improved as a national research facility for studies in nuclear science and in biology and medicine. Recent modifications have brought the 21-year-old synchrotron to the threshold of tremendously exciting new studies as the world's most powerful heavy-ion accelerator. In its Bevalac configuration, the machine capitalizes on the coupling of the SuperHILAC to the Bevatron via a 175-meter beam line. The SuperHILAC acts as an injector to provide the Bevatron with high-intensity beams of ions as heavy as argon. At the same time, the SuperHILAC is capable of delivering heavy-ion beams to its own group of experimenters through a computer-linked, time-share system of operation. Research efforts using the Bevalac have included a broad spectrum of nuclear science and cosmic-ray-simulation experiments, as well as intensive studies in biology and medicine aimed principally at diagnostic techniques and preclinical therapy studies for some forms of cancer.