Procedures were developed for fabricating highperformance radiators and heat exchangers for the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) Program. These components, which contain multitudes of tube-to-tube sheet and tube-to-fin joints, are similar in design to those under consideration for a variety of space vehicle applications. In order to ensure reliability of the tube-to-tube sheet joints, techniques producing welds of extremely high quality were used and back brazing of the welds with a suitable alloy was incorporated. High-temperature brazing was also incorporated to attach high-conductivity fins to Inconel tubes in the radiators. The selection of a suitable brazing alloy for these applications was dependent upon several factors, including corrosion and oxidation resistance, flow point, and mechanical properties. A Ni- Si-B alloy was found to be adequate from all these considerations. Special brazing procedures were developed to obtain satisfactory flowability of this brazing alloy on tube-to-fin joints. The suitability of these fabrication procedures for the very stringent service conditions to which the radiators and heat exchangers were subjected was demonstrated by testing full-size components under operating conditions. (auth)

This statement presented to the Subcommittee on Natural Resources of the US House of Representatives gives a definition of acid rain, presents new data on the regional and temporal nature of the problem, and discusses research needs. (ACR)

The objectives of this program were: (1) to investigate the pertinent properties of a variety of possible sealants for solar collectors and identify the most promising candidates, and (2) to study the effect of breathing in flat-plate, thermal solar collector units. The study involved two types of sealants, Class PS which includes preformed seals or gaskets and Class SC which includes sealing compounds or caulks. It was the intent of the study to obtain data regarding initial properties of candidate elastomers from manufacturers and from the technical literature and to use those sources to provide data pertaining to endurance of these materials under environmental service conditions. Where necessary, these data were augmented by experimental measurements. Environmental stresses evaluated by these measurements included elevated temperatures, moisture, ultraviolet light, ozone and oxygen, and fungus. The second major area of the work involved a study of the effects of materials used and design on the durability of solar collectors. Factors such as design, fabrication, materials of construction, seals and sealing techniques and absorber plate coatings were observed on actual field units removed from service. Such phenomena as leakage, corrosion and formation of deposits on glazing and absorber plate were noted. An evaluation of …

A water source heat pump has been designed that is capable of operating over the range from 40 to 110/sup 0/F entering water temperature and has a heating coefficient of performance greater than six in the upper portion of this range. A computerized heat pump balance program was written to allow the performance of either a water-to-water or a water-to-air heat pump to be predicted in either the heating or cooling mode. A detailed program description, flow charts, and sample outputs are appended. The balance program was used to specify components for a high efficiency water-to-water and a high efficiency water-to-air heat pump. Performance predictions for both units in heating and in cooling are included. The water-to-water and water-to-air performance predictions were compared. The water-to-air approach was clearly superior. A detailed design and layout was done for the three solar-assisted water-to-air heat pump. A horizontal configuration was chosen for marketability reasons. The design was made consistent with high quantity production equipment available in our factories and should result in the lowest possible manufacturing cost. A key question to be answered in this project is whether a reciprocating compressor can operate without damage at the high suction pressures characteristic to the …

The computer program described here analyzes the performance of Fermilab Central Helium Liquefier (CHL) and predicts the values of the plant thermodynamic variables at all process points in the plant. To simulate CHL, this program is modified from the prototype program which was developed by Hitachi Ltd. a couple of years ago. This program takes care of only the steady state simulation and takes account of the change of the turbine efficiency, the pressure drops and the UA values of the heat exchangers. How to use the program is shown.

We have studied actinide burn-up in ICF reactor pellets; i.e., 14 MeV neutron fission of the very long-lived actinides that pose storage problems. A major advantage of pellet fuel region burn-up is safety: only milligrams of highly toxic and active material need to be present in the fusion chamber, whereas blanket burn-up requires the continued presence of tons of actinides in a small volume. The actinide data tables required for Monte Carlo calculations of the burn-up of /sup 241/Am and /sup 243/Am are discussed in connection with a study of the sensitivity to cross section uncertainties. More accurate and complete cross sections are required for realistic quantitative calculations.

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Laser-wakefield accelerators (LWFA) can produce electricfields of order 10-100 GV/m suitable for acceleration of electrons torelativistic energies. The wakefields are excited by a relativisticallyintense laser pulse propagating through a plasma and have a phasevelocity determined by the group velocity of the light pulse. Twoimportant effects that can limit the acceleration distanceand hence thenet energy gain obtained by an electron are diffraction of the drivelaser pulse and particle-wake dephasing. Diffraction of a focusedultra-short laser pulse can be overcome by using preformed plasmachannels. The dephasing limit can be increased by operating at a lowerplasma density, since this results in an increase in the laser groupvelocity. Here we present detailed results on the generation of GeV-classelectron beams using an intense femtosecond laser beamand a 3.3 cm longpreformed discharge-based plasma channel [W.P. Leemans et al., NaturePhysics 2, 696-699 (2006)]. The use of a discharge-based waveguidepermitted operation at an order ofmagnitude lower density and 15 timeslonger distance than in previous experiments that relied on laserpreformed plasma channels. Laser pulses with peak power ranging from10-50 TW were guided over more than 20 Rayleigh ranges and high-qualityelectron beams with energy up to 1 GeV were obtained by channelling a 40TW peak power laser pulse. The dependence of …

The Peano Kernel Theorem is introduced and a frequency domain derivation is given. It is demonstrated that the application of this theorem yields simple and accurate formulas for estimating the error introduced into a signal by filtering it to reduce noise.

Bulk chemical and oxygen, magnesium and silicon isotopic compositions were measured for each of 17 Types A and B refractory inclusions from CV3 chondrites. After bulk chemical compositions were corrected for non-representative sampling in the laboratory, the Mg and Si isotopic compositions of each inclusion were used to calculate its original chemical composition assuming that the heavy-isotope enrichments of these elements are due to Rayleigh fractionation that accompanied their evaporation from CMAS liquids. The resulting pre-evaporation chemical compositions are consistent with those predicted by equilibrium thermodynamic calculations for high-temperature nebular condensates but only if different inclusions condensed from nebular regions that ranged in total pressure from 10{sup -6} to 10{sup -1} bar, regardless of whether they formed in a system of solar composition or in one enriched in OC dust relative to gas by a factor of ten relative to solar composition. This is similar to the range of total pressures predicted by dynamic models of the solar nebula for regions whose temperatures are in the range of silicate condensation temperatures. Alternatively, if departure from equilibrium condensation and/or non-representative sampling of condensates in the nebula occurred, the inferred range of total pressure could be smaller. Simple kinetic modeling of evaporation …

The computational challenge of predicting shock-turbulence interactions stems from the fundamentally different physics at play. Shock waves are microscopically thin regions wherein flow properties change rapidly over a distance roughly equal to the molecular mean free path; hence, they are essentially strong discontinuities in the flow field. Turbulence, on the other hand, is a chaotic phenomenon with broadband spatial and temporal scales of motion. Most shock-capturing methods rely on strong numerical dissipation to artificially smooth the discontinuity, such that it can be resolved on the computational grid. Unfortunately, the artificial dissipation necessary for capturing shocks has a deleterious effect on turbulence. An additional problem is the fact that shock-capturing schemes are typically based on one-dimensional Riemann solutions that are not strictly valid in multiple dimensions. This can lead to anisotropy errors and grid-seeded perturbations. Other complications arising from upwinding, flux limiting, operator splitting etc., can seriously degrade performance and generate significant errors, especially in multiple dimensions. The purpose of this work is to design improved algorithms, capable of capturing both shocks and turbulence, which also scale to tens of thousands of processors. We have evaluated two new hydrodynamic algorithms, in relation to the widely used WENO method, on a suite …

The scope of the Fluor Hanford, Inc. Groundwater and Technical Integration Support (Master Project) is to provide technical and integration support to Fluor Hanford, Inc., including operable unit investigations at 300-FF-5 and other groundwater operable units, strategic integration, technical integration and assessments, remediation decision support, and science and technology. This Quality Assurance Management Plan provides the quality assurance requirements and processes that will be followed by the Fluor Hanford, Inc. Groundwater and Technical Integration Support (Master Project).

Miniature spherical retroreflectors, less than 8 millimeters in diameter, are currently being developed to enhance remote optical detection of nuclear proliferation activities. These retroreflecting spheres resemble small, sand-colored marbles that have the unique optical property of providing a strong reflection directly back to the source (i.e., retroreflecting) when illuminated with a laser. The addition of specific coatings, sensitive to specific chemicals or radioactive decay in the environment, can be applied to the surface of these retroreflectors to provide remote detection of nuclear proliferation activities. The presence of radioactive decay (e.g., alpha, gamma, neutron) or specific chemicals in the environment (e.g., TBP, acids) will change the optical properties of the spheres in a predictable fashion, thus indicating the presence or absence of the target materials. One possible scenario might employ an airborne infrared laser system (e.g., quantum-cascade lasers) to illuminate a section of ground littered with these retroreflective spheres. Depending on the coating and the presence of a specific chemical or radioisotope in the environment, the return signal would be modified in some predictable fashion because of fluorescence, frequency shifting, intensity attenuation/enhancement, or change in polarization. Research conducted in FY 2007 focused on developing novel optical fabrication processes and exploiting the …

Sample preparation is always a critical step in study of micrometer sized astromaterials available for study in the laboratory, whether their subsequent analysis is by electron microscopy or secondary ion mass spectrometry. A focused beam of gallium ions has been used to prepare electron transparent sections from an interplanetary dust particle, as part of an integrated analysis protocol to maximize the mineralogical, elemental, isotopic and spectroscopic information extracted from one individual particle. In addition, focused ion beam techniques have been employed to extract cometary residue preserved on the rims and walls of micro-craters in 1100 series aluminum foils that were wrapped around the sample tray assembly on the Stardust cometary sample collector. Non-ideal surface geometries and inconveniently located regions of interest required creative solutions. These include support pillar construction and relocation of a significant portion of sample to access a region of interest. Serial sectioning, in a manner similar to ultramicrotomy, is a significant development and further demonstrates the unique capabilities of focused ion beam microscopy for sample preparation of astromaterials.

The Nevada Test Site-Directed Research and Development (SDRD) program completed a very successful year of research and development activities in FY 2007. Twenty-nine new projects were selected for funding this year, and eight projects started in FY 2006 were brought to conclusion. The total funds expended by the SDRD program were $5.67 million, for an average per-project cost of $153 thousand. An external audit conducted in September 2007 verified that appropriate accounting practices were applied to the SDRD program. Highlights for the year included: programmatic adoption of 8 SDRD-developed technologies; the filing of 9 invention disclosures for innovation evolving from SDRD projects; participation in the tri-Lab Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) and SDRD Symposium that was broadly attended by Nevada Test Site (NTS), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), LDRD, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) representatives; peer reviews of all FY 2007 projects; and the successful completion of 37 R&D projects, as presented in this report. In response to a company-wide call, authors throughout the NTS complex submitted 182 proposals for FY 2007 SDRD projects. The SDRD program has seen a dramatic increase in the yearly total of submitted proposals--from 69 in FY …

Experiments involving the interaction of a high-power laser beam with metal targets demonstrate that combustion plays an important role. This process depends on reactions within an oxide layer, together with oxygenation and removal of this layer by the wind. We present an analytical model of laser-induced combustion. The model predicts the threshold for initiation of combustion, the growth of the combustion layer with time, and the threshold for self-supported combustion. Solutions are compared with detailed numerical modeling as benchmarked by laboratory experiments.

The objective of this project is to develop novel non-precious metal electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and demonstrate the potential of the catalysts to perform at least as good as conventional Pt catalysts currently in use in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with a cost at least 50 % less than a target of 0.2 g (Pt loading)/peak kW and with durability > 2,000 h operation with less than 10 % power degradation. A novel nitrogen-modified carbon-based catalyst was obtained by modifying carbon black with nitrogen-containing organic precursor in the absence of transition metal precursor. The catalyst shows the onset potential of approximately 0.76 V (NHE) for ORR and the amount of H2O2 of approximately 3% at 0.5 V (NHE). Furthermore, a carbon composite catalyst was achieved through the high-temperature pyrolysis of the precursors of transition metal (Co and Fe) and nitrogen supported on the nitrogen-modified carbon-based catalyst, followed by chemical post-treatment. This catalyst showed an onset potential for ORR as high as 0.87 V (NHE), and generated less than 1 % of H2O2. The PEM fuel cell exhibited a current density of 2.3 A cm-2 at 0.2 V for a catalyst loading of 6.0 mg cm-2. No …

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A review of methods for static-field compression of an electron ring is shown to suggest advantages for a method in which there is no axial acceleration or deceleration of the ring. In the method proposed here the static magnetic field itself is o such a character that the electrons are neither focused nor defocused in the axial direction. The integrity and movement of the ring through the compressor is controlled by a small traveling magnetic well. The feasibility of creating such a traveling well is discussed, and an example is presented of a current distribution capable of producing the static magnetic field of the compressor.

Previously reported stress corrosion cracking (SCC) rates for Alloy 82H gas-tungsten-arc welds tested in 360 C water showed tremendous variability. The excessive data scatter was attributed to the variations in microstructure, mechanical properties and residual stresses that are common in welds. In the current study, however, re-evaluation of the SCC data revealed that the large data scatter was an anomaly due to erroneous crack growth rates inferred from crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) measurements. Apparently, CMOD measurements provided reasonably accurate SCC rates for some specimens, but grossly overestimated rates in others. The overprediction was associated with large unbroken ligaments that often form in welds in the wake of advancing crack fronts. When ligaments were particularly large, they prevented crack mouth deflection, so apparent crack incubation times (i.e. period of time before crack advance commences) based on CMOD measurements were unrealistically long. During the final states of testing, ligaments began to separate allowing the crack mouth to open rather quickly. This behavior was interpreted as a rapid crack advance, but it actually reflects the ligament separation rate, not the SCC rate. Revised crack growth rates obtained in this study exhibit substantially less scatter than that previously reported. The effects of crack …

This document establishes the software design, nomenclature, and conventions for industrial Computed Tomography (CT) used in the Nondestructive Evaluation Section at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It is mainly a users guide to the technical use of the CT computer codes, but also presents a proposed standard for describing CT experiments and reconstructions. Each part of this document specifies different aspects of the CT software organization. A set of tables at the end describes the CT parameters of interest in our project. 4 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

The disks of Nd:doped phosphate glass in the amplifiers of the Nova laser contain platinum particles with sizes ranging from <5 ..mu..m (detection limit) to about 100 ..mu..m. The particle density varies from about 0.01 to 1.0 cm/sup -3/. These particles cause fractures when irradiated at fluences >2.5 J/cm/sup 2/ delivered in 1-ns, 1054-nm pulses. Under repeated irradiation at 5 to 7 J/cm/sup 2/, damage from small (<5 ..mu..m) particles asymptotically approaches a limiting size, but damage surrounding the larger particles grows steadily. The damage threshold fluence, 2.5 J/cm/sup 2/, corresponds to operation of Nova at one-half the desired output for pulse durations longer than 1 nsec. Operation at higher fluences causes accumulation of damage in the output amplifiers and requires replacement of the disks in those amplifiers on an accelerated schedule. 9 refs., 5 figs.

This brief status report provides an introduction to what fuel cells are, why they are important, what uses have been made of them to date, the goals and timetables of current programs, and who the players are in this vital technology. Copies of most of the slides presented and additional diagrams are appended to this paper. Further details can be obtained from the comprehensive texts cited in the bibliography. 11 refs., 44 figs.

We report on a search for neutrino oscillations of the type nu/sub ..mu../ ..-->.. nu/sub e/ in a detector located an effective distance of 96m from the neutrino source in the wide band neutrino beam at the Brookhaven AGS. No excess of electron events was observed. The resulting upper limit on the strength of the mixing between nu/sub ..mu../ and nu/sub e/ in the case of large mass difference ..delta..m/sup 2/ = absolute value m/sub 1//sup 2/ - m/sub 2//sup 2/ between the neutrino mass eigenstates m/sub 1/ and m/sub 2/ is sin/sup 2/2..cap alpha.. less than or equal to 3.4 x 10/sup -3/ at 90% CL. The corresponding upper limit for small mass difference is ..delta..m/sup 2/sin2..cap alpha.. < 0.43 eV/sup 2/. 9 refs.