A breeding ratio of at least 1.2 was a design goal for CRBRP. The value for the initial core (using plutonium with 11% /sup 240/Pu) calculated with ENDF/B-IV data is 1.27. Engineering mock-up studies for CRBRP were made in ZPPR-11. Analysis of ZPPR-11 using ENDF/B-IV data showed consistent underprediction of K/sub eff/ by about 1.5% and overpredictions of the /sup 238/U capture to /sup 239/Pu fission ratio (C8/F9) between 5% and 8%. These results are typical for all LMFBR critical assemblies at ANL. The following approach was used to determine the breeding ratio: sensitivity analysis of a range of fast reactor benchmarks and a fit to the experimental data by data adjustment; tests of the adjusted data against experiments in ZPPR-11; calculations for CRBRP with ENDF/B-IV data and the adjusted data to predict the breeding ratio bias; and estimates of k/sub eff/ and breeding ratio uncertainties using data sensitivities for CRBRP.

This paper discusses the use of a free-electron laser amplifier as a means of converting the kinetic energy of an electron beam into coherent radiation. In particular, the use of an induction linear accelerator is discussed. The motion of the elections in the tapered and untapered wiggler magnets is discussed as well as the beam emittance, and the radiation fields involved. (LSP)

This paper describes a fast rise, low-impedance pulse generator that has been developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The design specifications of this generator are: 50-kV operating voltage, 1-ohm output impedance, subnanosecond rise time, and a 2 to 10 nanosecond pulse length. High repetition rate is not required. The design chosen is a parallel-plate, folded Blumlein generator. A tack switch is utilized for its simple construction and high performance. The primary diagnostic is a capacitive voltage divider with a B probe used to measure the current waveform.

The TMX-U data system is a general-purpose system for acquiring, analyzing, and output of TMX-U data, and can also apply to any pulsed controlled thermonuclear experiment. In its present implementation, it routinely acquires 3 Mbytes of data per shot at an average rate of one shot every 8 minutes. For increased throughput, the system uses 5 CPUs accessing shared disk memory with a capacity of about 500 Mbytes. All acquisition, analysis, and output of data is handled by a collection of standard program modules (processors), which can be linked together to form chained calculations. Processing for various shots may be allowed to overlap, with higher priority results being available quickly, while lower priority results being allowed to lag behind and catch up in natural lulls in the experiment. Selection of tasks (processor invokations) is done independently by each of the 5 CPUs in the system, and each task can run in any suitable CPU.

Mathematical models and numerical methods for a two-dimensional porous body simulation of steady state and transient thermal-hydraulics conditions in LMFBR subassemblies resulting in the TWIST computer code are presented. Comparison of calculated results to steady state and transient out-of-pile sodium experiments show good agreement for cross-assembly temperature distributions for a wide range of heat transfer and flow conditions.

The current situation concerning supernova simulations and the theory of neutron star structure are studied with respect to what they tell about the equation of state. A new mechanism that could help power supernovae is suggested.

Sensitivity analysis of practical problems can be performed systematically and very efficiently by using adjoint functions. In areas of interest to nuclear reactors, this efficiency has been amply demonstrated on several widely used codes for neutronics and/or thermal hydraulic calculations. Applications of the adjoint method of sensitivity analysis to models involving phase transitions, where non-differentiability occurs, do not seem to have been reported to date. The purpose of this paper is to report results from a successful adjoint sensitivity analysis of a space- and time-dependent system where phase transition occurs due to boiling. The specific model chosen for this analysis is a simplified but representative model of a BWR pump-trip-type accident. This model is of particular importance to BWR safety, since pump failure is one of the most limiting hypothetical accidents in BWR's. This model simulates an exponential flow decay of initially subcooled FREON-114 flowing through a heated channel and undergoing boiling transition.

We have designed, built, and characterized uv preilluminated gas switches for a trigger circuit and a low inductance discharge circuit. These switches have been incorporated into a 54 x 76 x 150 cm pulser module to produce a 1 Ma output current rising at 5 x 10/sup 12/ amps/sec with 1 ns jitter. Twenty such modules will be used on the Nova Inertial Confinement Fusion Laser System for plasma retropulse shutters.

An inductively-coupled-plasma source mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) has been used to measure the isotopic composition of U, Pb, Os, and B standards. Particular emphasis has been placed on uranium because of its nuclear and environmental interest and because of the availability of a well-characterized set of standards with a wide range of isotopic compositions. The precision and accuracy obtainable in isotope ratio measurements by ICP-MS depend on many factors including background, interferences, dead time, mass fractionation (bias), abundance sensitivity, and counting statistics. Which, if any, of these factors controls accuracy and precision depends on the type of sample being analyzed and the characteristics of the mass spectrometer. These issues are discussed in detail.