An accurate Mark I /sup 1///sub 5/-scale, boiling water reactor (BWR), pressure suppression facility was designed and constructed at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL) in 11 months. Twenty-seven air tests using the facility are described. Cost was minimized by utilizing equipment borrowed from other LLL programs. The total value of borrowed equipment exceeded the program's budget of $2,020,000. Substantial flexibility in the facility was used to permit independent variation in the drywell pressure-time history, initial pressure in the drywell and toroidal wetwells, initial toroidal wetwell water level and downcomer length, vent line flow resistance, and vent line flow asymmetry. The two- and three-dimensional sectors of the toroidal wetwell provided significant data.

A valve for damping out flow surges in a vacuum system is described. The surge-damping mechanism consists of a slotted, spring-loaded disk adjacent to the valve's vacuum port (the flow passage to the vacuum roughing pump). Under flow surge conditions, the differential pressure forces the disk into a sealing engagement with the vacuum port, thereby restricting the gas flow path to narrow slots in the disk's periphery. The increased flow damps out the flow surge. When pressure is equalized on both sides of the valve, the spring load moves the disk away from the port to restore full flow conductance through the valve.

The unique characteristics of the energy situation in developing countries imposes a unique set of requirements on analytical techniques used for energy planning. The urgency of the situation requires the rapid development and use of simplified models which make maximum use of available data but which can reflect the international energy context. Those techniques must also be able to deal with central energy/development issues such as energy equity or the energy implication of social equity policies, centralized vs. decentralized development, and urbanization.

Three types of thermonuclear fusion devices currently under development are reviewed for an electric utilities management audience. Overall design features of laser fusion, tokamak, and magnetic mirror type reactors are described and illustrated. Thrusts and trends in current research on these devices that promise to improve performance are briefly reviewed. Twenty photographs and drawings are included. (RME)

A linear-induction-motor drive system to position machine tool slides has been developed on a test bed that utilizes an air-bearing slide, laser interferometer feedback, and a microprocessor-based servo system. Static and dynamic positioning accuracies of +-16 nm (+-0.6 ..mu..in) have been demonstrated.