The objective of this production test is to evaluate the behavior during irradiation of nominally 1.739 inch OD., 1.074 inch ID., Zircaloy-2 jacketed single tube fuel elements with brazed end closures at operating conditions somewhat more severe than those expected for N Reactor fuel element outer tubes. Enriched single tube elements with brazed end closures and modified fuel element supports are authorized for irradiation in the KEG loops to an exposure no higher than 4000 MWD/T. A typical loading and set of operating conditions are given; these may be modified, however, by obtaining appropriate approvals.

This document is designed to present as complete a review of the hazards associated with the operation of the N Reactor as is feasible at this time. Where completeness is not possible the problems are indicated and probable paths of solution are suggested. Background material is provided to put the hazards in context. Supplements to this report will be issued when the additional data and information required for completeness are obtained. This review is organized into two parts. The first part issued as Volume I is in the nature of an expanded summary. The second part of the review will be issued in a succeeding volume or volumes and will consist of results of evaluations obtained following the publishing of this volume plus more detailed supporting information.

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Tantalum experiences severe intergranular attack (IGA) when in contact with molten plutonium. This IGA of tantalum has produced part failures in crucibles used during Trident and molten salt extraction (MSE) runs and in two stirring rods used in MSE runs. These parts were used at temperatures ranging from 750{degrees}C to 900{degrees}C for a minimum time of 12 hours to a maximum time of 20 hours. 5 refs., 22 figs.

The use of self-supported fuel elements in ribless Zircaloy-2 tubes at C-Reactor requires some inlet nozzle modification to allow charging of the larger overall diameter fuel pieces. A new nozzle assembly has been developed (by Equipment Development Operation -- IPD) which will allow use of the new fuel pieces and at the same time increase the reliability of the header-to-tube piping and reduce pumping power losses. Flow test data were requested for the new assembly and the results of these tests are presented herein. This report also presents a comparison of the header to tube energy losses for the various reactor inlet nozzle assemblies which are currently used on the Hanford production reactors.

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Two coextruded, Zr-2 clad, natural uranium, seven rod cluster fuel elements were irradiated to a calculated exposure of 1250 MWD/T in the KER Facility and discharged 1-16-59. The fuel elements were NPR candidate fuel and examination was requested to determine the behavior of coextruded, Zr-2 clad, natural uranium irradiated at core temperatures of approximtely 425{degree}C. The elements were transferred to the Radiometallurgy Laboratory 2-25-59. The elements demonstrated excellent in reactor performance with no significant changes in either the fuel or the hardware. Detailed examination of the central rod and two peripheral rods from one of the clusters showed no microcracks in the uranium. Moderate growth was observed in the fuel at the unrestricted rod ends.

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The objective of this Supplement described in this report to Pt-IP-250-A is to d enriched tube-and-tube elements will develop pitting corrosion on the Zircaloy-2 jackets when irradiated in pH 10 water. The measurement of dimensional changes in the fuel elements and the observation of the effect of irradiation on the uranium and bond area are also objectives of the test, but secondary in importance to identifying a pitting corrosion problem in NPR quality water, if one exists.

This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, physics and instrumentation, reactor technology, chemistry, separation processes, biology, financial activities, employee relations, laboratories auxiliaries, radiation protection, operation research, inventions, visits, and personnel status are discussed. This report is for September 1956.

We report on the raw disk i/o performance of a set of Compaq StorageWorks RAID arrays connected to our cluster of Compaq ES40 computers via Fibre Channel. The best cumulative peak sustained data rate is l17MB/s per node for reads and 77MB/s per node for writes. This value occurs for a configuration in which a node has two Fibre Channel interfaces to a switch, which in turn has two connections to each of two Compaq StorageWorks RAID arrays. Each RAID array has two HSG80 RAID controllers controlling (together) two 5+p RAID chains. A 10% more space efficient arrangement using a single 1l+p RAID chain in place of the two 5+P chains is 25% slower for reads and 40% slower for writes.

Battery testing procedures are important for understanding battery performance, including degradation over the life of the battery. Standards are important to provide clear rules and uniformity to an industry. The work described in this report addresses the need for standard battery testing procedures that reflect real-world applications of energy storage systems to provide regulation services to grid operators. This work was motivated by the need to develop Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) testing procedures, or V2G drive cycles. Likewise, the stationary energy storage community is equally interested in standardized testing protocols that reflect real-world grid applications for providing regulation services. As the first of several steps toward standardizing battery testing cycles, this work focused on a statistical analysis of frequency regulation signals from the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnect with the goal to identify patterns in the regulation signal that would be representative of the entire signal as a typical regulation data set. Results from an extensive time-series analysis are discussed, and the results are explained from both the statistical and the battery-testing perspectives. The results then are interpreted in the context of defining a small set of V2G drive cycles for standardization, offering some recommendations for the next steps toward standardizing testing protocols.

This University of Massachusetts, Amherst project, "Fast Pyrolysis Oil Stabilization: An Integrated Catalytic and Membrane Approach for Improved Bio-oils" started on 1st February 2009 and finished on August 31st 2011. The project consisted following tasks: Task 1.0: Char Removal by Membrane Separation Technology The presence of char particles in the bio-oil causes problems in storage and end-use. Currently there is no well-established technology to remove char particles less than 10 micron in size. This study focused on the application of a liquid-phase microfiltration process to remove char particles from bio-oil down to slightly sub-micron levels. Tubular ceramic membranes of nominal pore sizes 0.5 and 0.8 µm were employed to carry out the microfiltration, which was conducted in the cross-flow mode at temperatures ranging from 38 to 45 C and at three different trans-membrane pressures varying from 1 to 3 bars. The results demonstrated the removal of the major quantity of char particles with a significant reduction in overall ash content of the bio-oil. The results clearly showed that the cake formation mechanism of fouling is predominant in this process. Task 2.0 Acid Removal by Membrane Separation Technology The feasibility of removing small organic acids from the aqueous fraction of fast …

In September 2005, periodic sampling of groundwater was initiated by the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) in the vicinity of a grain storage facility formerly operated by the CCC/USDA at Centralia, Kansas. The sampling at Centralia is being performed on behalf of the CCC/USDA by Argonne National Laboratory, in accord with a monitoring program approved by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). The objective is to monitor levels of carbon tetrachloride contamination identified in the groundwater at Centralia (Argonne 2003, 2004, 2005a). Under the KDHE-approved monitoring plan (Argonne 2005b), the groundwater was sampled twice yearly from September 2005 until September 2007 for analyses for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as measurement of selected geochemical parameters to aid in the evaluation of possible natural contaminant degradation (reductive dechlorination) processes in the subsurface environment. The results from the two-year sampling program demonstrated the presence of carbon tetrachloride contamination at levels exceeding the KDHE Tier 2 risk-based screening level (RBSL) of 5 {micro}g/L for this compound in a localized groundwater plume that has shown little movement. The relative concentrations of chloroform, the primary degradation product of carbon tetrachloride, suggested that some degree of reductive dechlorination …

Progress is reported in six areas of research: air quality, water quality, ecosystem quality, subsidence and seismicity, socioeconomic effects, and integrated assessment. A major goal of the air quality element is to evaluate the rate of emission of H/sub 2/S, CO/sub 2/, H/sub 2/, N/sub 2/, CH/sub 4/, and C/sub 2/H/sub 6/ from the operation of the geothermal loop experimental facility at Niland. Concentrations of H/sub 2/S were found to vary between 1500 to 4900 ppM by volume at the Niland facility. To distinguish between geothermal fluids and other waters, extensive sampling networks were established. A major accomplishment was the installation of a high-resolution subsidence-detection network in the Salton Sea geothermal field area, centered on the test facility at Niland. A major effort went into establishing a background of data needed for subsequent impact assessments related to socioeconomic issues raised by geothermal developments. Underway are a set of geothermal energy scenarios that include power development schedules, technology characterizations, and considerations of power-plant-siting criteria. A Gaussian air-pollution model was modified for use in preliminary air-quality assessments. A crop-growth model was developed to evaluate impacts of gases released from geothermal operations on various agricultural crops. Work is also reported on the legal …

Our proposal focuses on cloud-radiation processes in a general 3D cloud situation, with particular emphasis on cloud optical depth and effective particle size. We also focus on zenith radiance measurements, both active and passive. The proposal has three main parts. Part One exploits the “solar-background” mode of ARM lidars to allow them to retrieve cloud optical depth not just for thin clouds but for all clouds. This also enables the study of aerosol cloud interactions with a single instrument. Part Two exploits the large number of new wavelengths offered by ARM’s zenith-pointing ShortWave Spectrometer (SWS), especially during CLASIC, to develop better retrievals not only of cloud optical depth but also of cloud particle size. We also propose to take advantage of the SWS’ 1 Hz sampling to study the “twilight zone” around clouds where strong aerosol-cloud interactions are taking place. Part Three involves continuing our cloud optical depth and cloud fraction retrieval research with ARM’s 2NFOV instrument by, first, analyzing its data from the AMF-COPS/CLOWD deployment, and second, making our algorithms part of ARM’s operational data processing.

This report provides a summary of the work updating the photovoltaic model inside GridLAB-D. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory Solar Advisor Model (SAM) was utilized as a basis for algorithms and validation of the new implementation. Subsequent testing revealed that the two implementations are nearly identical in both solar impacts and power output levels. This synergized model aides the system-level impact studies of GridLAB-D, but also allows more specific details of a particular site to be explored via the SAM software.

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The scope and cost of the Defense Waste Processing Facility have been significantly reduced by adding in-tank sludge processing to the process flowsheet. A demonstration of in-tank processing was recently completed and the achievement of the major goals described in a previous memo. This memo describes the effect of in-tank sludge processing on the radionuclides in the waste. This memo will also identify those areas that will require further work both before and during the next scheduled in-tank sludge processing batch.

This is a progress report of the production reactors on the Hanford Reservation for the month of September 1951. This report takes each division (e.g., manufacturing, medical, accounting, occupational safety, security, reactor operations, etc.) of the site and summarizes its accomplishments and employee relations for that month.

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The criteria contained in this report have been established to provide the technical bases for the design modifications involved in the K-Reactor tube replacement. The ultimate intent of these criteria is to provide the basic technical data and concepts to assure: technical feasibility and operability of the reactor system as modified; operation of the reactor and its services to minimize nuclear and radiation hazards; and appropriate lifetime of the reactor and its service facilities as modified. The criteria are appropriately broad and may not contain all the data necessary to accomplish detail design. The information contained herein shall serve as a basis for evaluation and approval of all portions of the modification relating to the process as indicated in the above three points.

The $3000 of funding provided by this grant supported a well-attended (150 people) symposium at the annual Radiation Research Society meeting in Denver, Colorado, on October 19, 2005. The symposium was entitled, ''Chemistry and Biology of Radical-mediated Deoxyribose Oxidation in DNA'', and it focused on the chemistry of damage to deoxyribose caused by radiation and other oxidants, and the role of this chemistry in the biological consequences and responses of cells to chemical and physical insults. The talks highlighted the emerging evidence for a major role for deoxyribose oxidation in the toxic effects of ionizing radiation.

Insight into plasma microturbulence and transport is being sought using linear simulations of drift waves on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), following a study of drift wave modes on the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak. Microturbulence is likely generated by instabilities of drift waves, which cause transport of heat and particles. Understanding this transport is important because the containment of heat and particles is required for the achievement of practical nuclear fusion. Microtearing modes may cause high heat transport through high electron thermal conductivity. It is hoped that microtearing will be stable along with good electron transport in the proposed low collisionality International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Stability of the microtearing mode is investigated for conditions at mid-radius in a high density NSTX high performance (H-mode) plasma, which is compared to the proposed ITER plasmas. The microtearing mode is driven by the electron temperature gradient, and believed to be mediated by ion collisions and magnetic shear. Calculations are based on input files produced by TRXPL following TRANSP (a time-dependent transport analysis code) analysis. The variability of unstable mode growth rates is examined as a function of ion and electron collisionalities using the parallel gyrokinetic computational code GS2. Results show the microtearing …