For direct drive ICF, nonuniformities in laser illumination can seed ripples at the ablation front in a process called imprint. Such nonuniformities will grow during the capsule implosion and can penetrate the capsule shell impede ignition, or degrade burn. We have simulated imprint for a number of experiments on tile Nova laser. Results are in generally good agreement with experimental data. We leave also simulated imprint upon National Ignition Facility (NIF) direct drive ignition capsules. Imprint modulation amplitude comparable to the intrinsic surface finish of {approximately}40 nm is predicted for a laser bandwidth of 0.5 THz. Ablation front modulations experience growth factors up to several thousand, carrying modulation well into the nonlinear regime. Saturation modeling predicts that the shell should remain intact at the time of peak velocity, but penetration at earlier times appears more marginal.

The world has stood witness to the development of a number of highly sophisticated and flexible, high power laser facilities (energies up to 50 kJ and powers up to 50 TW), driven largely by the world-wide effort in inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The charter of diagnosing implosions with detailed, quantitative measurements has driven the ICF laser facilities to be exceedingly versatile and well equipped with diagnostics. Interestingly, there is considerable overlap in the physics of ICF and astrophysics. Both typically involve compressible radiative hydrodynamics, radiation transport, complex opacities, and equations of state of dense matter. Surprisingly, however, there has been little communication between these two communities to date. With the recent declassification of ICF in the USA, and the approval to commence with construction of the next generation ``superlasers``, the 2 MJ National Ignition Facility in the US, and its equivalent, the LMJ laser in France, the situation is ripe for change. . Given the physics similarities that exist between ICF and astrophysics, one strongly suspects that there should exist regions of overlap where supporting research on the large lasers could be beneficial to the astrophysics community. As a catalyst for discussions to this end, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory sponsored …

The workshop was devoted to discussion of the status and future directions of work on plasma-based neutron sources. The workshop presentations demonstrated significant progress in development of the concepts of these sources and in broadening the required data base. Two main groups of neutron source designs were presented at the workshop: tokamak-based and mirror-based. Designs of the tokamak- based devices use the extensive data base generated during decades of tokamak research. Their plasma physics performance can be predicted with a high degree of confidence. On the other hand, they are relatively large and expensive, and best suited for Volumetric Neutron Sources (VNSes) or other large scale test facilities. They also have the advantage of being on the direct path to a power- producing reactor as presently conceived, although alternatives to the tokamak are presently receiving serious consideration for a reactor. The data base for the mirror-based group of plasma sources is less developed, but they are generally more flexible and, with appropriate selection of parameters, have the potential to be developed as compact Accelerated Test Facilities (ATFs) as well as full-scale VNSes. Also discussed at the workshop were some newly proposed but potentially promising concepts, like those based on the …

Glass has become a preferred waste form worldwide for radioactive wastes: however, there are limitations. Halogen-containing wastes can not be converted to glass because halogens form poor-quality waste glasses. Furthermore, halides in glass melters often form second phases that create operating problems. A new waste vitrification process, the Glass Material Oxidation and dissolution System (GMODS), removes these limitations by converting halogen-containing wastes into borosilicate glass and a secondary, clean, sodium-halide stream.

Angular spread in the far-field radiation pattern of a cleaved dielectric waveguide is determined from the modal structure at the surface of the waveguide using the Smythe vector integral formulation. Essential features: First, a mode exists in the fiber that has no wavelength cutoff--the so-called HE{sub 11} mode. This mode arises when non-azimuthal angular dependence of the incoming radiation is present. Second, the energy flow from this hybrid mode fills the fiber face and is not annularly shaped as opposed to the symmetric TE and TM modes. Third, the HE{sub 11} mode is not polarization dependent in contrast to the TE and TM modes. Fourth, for small differences in the refractive indices between the core and cladding regions, only the HE{sub 11} mode will be supported until the next modes appear around 3.33{lambda}. At this point, three new modes can propagate and the model structure of the radiation becomes more complicated. Fifth, the far-field radiation pattern will have negligibly small angular dependence in the phases of the vector fields when only the lowest mode is present; the amplitude has an overall angular dependent form factor. Furthermore, when other modes are present (above 3.33{lambda}), the phase of the vector fields will …

This paper presents the comparison of the COMOPS benchmark performance in MPI and shared memory on three different shared memory platforms: the DEC AlphaServer 8400/300, the SGI Power Challenge, and the HP-Convex Exemplar SPP1600. The paper also qualitatively analyzes the obtained performance data based on an understanding of the corresponding architecture and the MPI implementations. Some conclusions are made for the inter-processor communication performance on these three shared memory platforms.

A common dilemma among builders of large scientific data stores is whether to use a lightweight object persistence manager or a genuine object-oriented database. There are often good reasons to consider each of these strategies; a few are described in this paper. Too often, however, electing to use a lightweight approach has meant programming to an interface that is entirely different than that expected by commercial object-oriented databases. With the emergence of object database standards, it is possible to provide an interface to persistence managers that does not needlessly inhibit coexistence with (and, perhaps, eventual migration to) object-oriented databases. This paper describes an implementation of a substantial subset of the ODMG-93[1]C++ specification that allows clients to use many of today`s lightweight object persistence managers through an interface that conforms to the ODMG standard. We also describe a minimal interface that persistence software should support in order to provide persistence services for ODMG implementations.

The ability to accurately and rapidly measure nuclear material within drums and examine their contents without having to unpack the drums saves time, reduces characterization costs and minimizes radiation exposure. Over the past two years, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has developed and fielded a suite of mobile nondestructive assay and examination systems for use primarily on its own transuranic (TRU) waste but that also have application to low level, mixed and hazardous wastes. It has become obvious that systems like these are generally useful and have applications at other Department of Energy (DOE) production and environmental technology sites. Mobile capabilities present a potential cost savings where waste drums have to be transported to a fixed NDA facility. In other cases they fill a void where there is no fixed facility available because construction costs are prohibitive (as in the case of small quantity sites) or the available facilities may not meet current or evolving safety standards. Rather than bringing waste to a facility to be characterized, one can bring the characterization capability to the waste. The three systems described are: (1) mobile radiography system; (2) mobile segmented/tomographic gamma scanner; and (3) mobile passive/active neutron assay system.

Research was performed to develop an importance sampling procedure for a radiation source. The procedure was developed for the MCNP radiation transport code, but the approach itself is general and can be adapted to other Monte Carlo codes. The procedure, as adapted to MCNP, relies entirely on existing MCNP capabilities. It has been tested for very complex descriptions of a general source, in the context of the design of spent-reactor-fuel storage casks. Dramatic improvements in calculation efficiency have been observed in some test cases. In addition, the procedure has been found to provide an acceleration to acceptable convergence, as well as the benefit of quickly identifying user specified variance-reduction in the transport that effects unstable convergence.

A preliminary error budget for the third harmonic converter for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser driver has been developed using a root-sum-square-accumulation of error sources. Such a budget sets an upper bound on the allowable magnitude of the various effects that reduce conversion efficiency. Development efforts on crystal mounting technology and crystal quality studies are discussed.

Experiments and calculations indicate that the threshold pressure in spatial filters for distortion of a transmitted pulse scales approximately as I{sup O.2} and (F{number_sign}){sup 2} over the intensity range from 10{sup 14} to 2xlO{sup 15} W/CM{sup 2} . We also demonstrated an interferometric diagnostic that will be used to measure the scaling relationships governing pinhole closure in spatial filters.

This paper highlights the progress made toward removing the U.S. Department of Energy`s (DOE) approximately 2, 100 metric tons of metallic spent nuclear fuel from two outdated K Basins on the banks of the Columbia River and placing it in safe, economic interim dry storage beginning in December 1997. A new way of doing business at the Hanford Site and within DOE is being used to achieve the fast-track schedule, , cost savings, and public cooperation needed for success. In February 1994, the Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Project was formed to solve serious safety and environmental problems associated with corroding metallic spent fuel stored in 1950`s vintage, leak-prone, water- filled concrete basins located within 365 meters (400 yards) of the last remaining unspoiled section of the Columbia River. Working together, the integrated project team focused on quickly getting the fuel out of the basins and into safe, dry storage. The team involved the public, government, regulators, and other stakeholders and forged a common understanding. The DOE transferred authority to the field to shorten approval times, and Site contractors reengineered processes to improve efficiency. Within nine months of creating the project, a plan was recommended to the DOE. It was approved …

Several years ago, it was proposed that a dense nonneutral plasma could be produced in a Penning trap. Nonneutral plasmas have excellent confinement. Thus, such a dense plasma might produce simultaneously high density and good confinement (as needed for fusion). Recently, this theoretical conjecture has been demonstrated in a small (3 mm radius) electron experiment (PFX). Densities up to 35 times the Brillouin density (limiting number density in a static trap) have been inferred from the observed strong (100:1) spherical focussing. Electrons are injected at low energy from a single pole of the sphere. A surprising observation is the self-organization of the system into a spherical state, which occurs precisely when the trap parameters are adjusted to produce a spherical well. This organization is observed by a bootstrapping which produces a hysteresis. Additional observations which confirm the dense spherical focus are energy-scattered electrons and deflections of an electron probe beam by the space charge of the central focus.

The laser architecture of the NIF beamlines requires small-area beam dumps to safely absorb back reflections from the output and leakage through the PEPC switch. The problems presented by these beam dumps are that fluences they must absorb are very large, beyond the damage threshold of any material, and ablation of beam dump materials potentially contaminates adjacent optical components. Full scale tests have demonstrated that a stainless steel beam dump will survive fluence levels and energies as high as 820 j/CM{sup 2} and 2.5 kJ, respectively. Small scale tests with tungsten, tantalum, and stainless steel have demonstrated erosion rates less than about 0.5 {mu}m/shot, with stainless steel having the smallest rate. They also suggest that increased angles of incidence ({ge}60{degree}) will greatly reduce the material ablated directly back along the beam path.

Numerous computer programs are available to help accelerator physicists and engineers model and design accelerator cavities and other microwave components. This article discusses the problems these programs solve and the principles upon which these programs are based. Some examples of how these programs are used in the design of accelerator cavities are also given.

EUVE, ROSAT, and ASCA observations of the boundary layer emission of nonmagnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs) are reviewed. EUVE spectra reveal that the effective temperature of the soft component of high-M nonmagnetic CVs is kT {approx}10-20 eV and that its luminosity is {approx} 0.1-0.5 times the accretion disk luminosity. Although the EUV spectra are very complex and belie simple interpretation, the physical conditions of the boundary layer gas are constrained by emission lines of highly ionized Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe. ROSAT and ASCA spectra of the hard component of nonmagnetic CVs are satisfactorily but only phenomenologically described by multi-temperature thermal plasmas, and the constraints imposed on the physical conditions of this gas are limited by the relatively weak and blended fines. It is argued that significant progress in our understanding of the X-ray spectra of nonmagnetic CVs will come with future observations with XMM, AXAF, and Astro-E.

At the end of calender year 1992, the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP) had approximately 12,500 drums of mixed low-level waste in storage and the Fernald Environmental Restoration Management Corporation (FERMCO) had just begun to develop an aggressive project based program to treat and dispose of this mixed waste. By 1996 the FERMCO mixed waste management program had reduced the aforementioned 12,500 drums of waste once in inventory to approximately 5800 drums. Projects are currently in progress to completely eliminate the FEMP inventory of mixed waste. As a result of these initiatives and aggressive project management, the FEMP has become a model for mixed waste handling, treatment and disposal for DOE facilities. Mixed waste management has traditionally been viewed as a singular and complex environmental problem. FERMCO has adopted the viewpoint that treatment and disposal of mixed waste is an engineering project, to be executed in a disciplined fashion with timely and economic results. This approach allows the larger mixed waste management problem to be divided into manageable fractions and managed by project. Each project is managed by problem solving experts, project managers, in lieu of environmental experts. In the project approach, environmental regulations become project requirements for individual resolution, …