The Hazards Mitigation Center at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) updated the seismic hazard and design parameters at the Pantex Plant. The probabilistic seismic hazard (PSH) estimates were first updated using the latest available data and knowledge from LLNL (1993, 1998), Frankel et al. (1996), and other relevant recent studies from several consulting companies. Special attention was given to account for the local seismicity and for the system of potentially active faults associated with the Amarillo-Wichita uplift. Aleatory (random) uncertainty was estimated from the available data and the epistemic (knowledge) uncertainty was taken from results of similar studies. Special attention was given to soil amplification factors for the site. Horizontal Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) and 5% damped uniform hazard spectra were calculated for six return periods (100 yr., 500 yr., 1000 yr., 2000 yr., 10,000 yr., and 100,000 yr.). The design parameters were calculated following DOE standards (DOE-STD-1022 to 1024). Response spectra for design or evaluation of Performance Category 1 through 4 structures, systems, and components are presented.

This report is concerned with the selection of routes in a network along which to transport hazardous substances, taking into consideration several key factors pertaining to the cost of transport and the risk of population exposure in the event of an accident. Furthermore, the fact that travel time and the risk measures are not constant over time is explicitly recognized in the routing decisions. Existing approaches typically assume static conditions, possibly resulting in inefficient route selection and unnecessary risk exposure. The report described the application of recent advances in network analysis methodologies to the problem of routing hazardous substances. Several specific problem formulations are presented, reflecting different degrees of risk aversion on the part of the decision-maker, as well as different possible operational scenarios. All procedures explicitly consider travel times and travel costs (including risk measures) to be stochastic time-varying quantities. The procedures include both exact algorithms, which may require extensive computational effort in some situations, as well as more efficient heuristics that may not guarantee a Pareto-optimal solution. All procedures are systematically illustrated for an example application using the Texas highway network, for both normal and incident condition scenarios. The application illustrates the trade-offs between the information obtained in …

The American Geological Institute (AGI) has completed Phase II of a project to establish a National Geoscience Data Repository System (NGDRS). The project`s primary objectives are to preserve geoscience data in jeopardy of being destroyed and to make that data available to those who have a need to use it in future investigations. These data are available for donation to the public as a result of the downsizing that has occurred in the major petroleum and mining companies in the United States for the past decade. In recent years, these companies have consolidated domestic operations, sold many of their domestic properties and relinquished many of their leases. The scientific data associated with those properties are no longer considered to be useful assets and are consequently in danger of being lost forever. The national repository project will make many of these data available to the geoscience community for the first time. To address this opportunity, AGI sought support from the Department of Energy (DOE) in 1994 to initiate the NGDRS Phase I feasibility study to determine the types and quantity of data that companies would be willing to donate. The petroleum and mining companies surveyed indicated that they were willing to …

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Parabolic-trough solar water heating is a well-proven renewable energy technology with considerable potential for application at Federal facilities. For the US, parabolic-trough water-heating systems are most cost effective in the Southwest where direct solar radiation is high. Jails, hospitals, barracks, and other facilities that consistently use large volumes of hot water are particularly good candidates, as are facilities with central plants for district heating. As with any renewable energy or energy efficiency technology requiring significant initial capital investment, the primary condition that will make a parabolic-trough system economically viable is if it is replacing expensive conventional water heating. In combination with absorption cooling systems, parabolic-trough collectors can also be used for air-conditioning. Industrial Solar Technology (IST) of Golden, Colorado, is the sole current manufacturer of parabolic-trough solar water heating systems. IST has an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) of the US Department of Energy (DOE) to finance and install parabolic-trough solar water heating on an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) basis for any Federal facility that requests it and for which it proves viable. For an ESPC project, the facility does not pay for design, capital equipment, or installation. Instead, it pays only …

This study collected and analyzed data on urban wood waste resources in 30 randomly selected metropolitan areas in the United States. Three major categories wood wastes disposed with, or recovered from, the municipal solid waste stream; industrial wood wastes such as wood scraps and sawdust from pallet recycling, woodworking shops, and lumberyards; and wood in construction/demolition and land clearing debris.

Progress is reported on research projects related to the following: Electronic resource library; Environment, safety, and health; Communication, education, training, and community involvement; Nuclear and other materials; and Reporting, evaluation, monitoring, and administration. Technical studies investigate remedial action of high explosives-contaminated lands, radioactive waste management, nondestructive assay methods, and plutonium processing, handling, and storage.

The Inventory of Power Plants in the United States provides annual statistics on generating units operated by electric utilities in the US (the 50 States and the District of Columbia). Statistics presented in this report reflect the status of generating units as of January 1, 1998. The publication also provides a 10-year outlook for generating unit additions and generating unit changes. This report is prepared annually by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Data summarized in this report are useful to a wide audience. This is a report of electric utility data; in cases where summary data or nonconfidential data of nonutilities are presented, it is specifically noted as nonutility data. 19 figs., 36 tabs.

This background report is a companion to the document entitled ''Durability-Based Design Criteria for an Automotive Structural Composite: Part 1. Design Rules'' (ORNL-6930). The rules and the supporting material characterization and modeling efforts described here are the result of a U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Automotive Materials project entitled ''Durability of Lightweight Composite Structures.'' The overall goal of the project is to develop experimentally based, durability-driven design guidelines for automotive structural composites. The project is closely coordinated with the Automotive Composites Consortium (ACC). The initial reference material addressed by the rules and this background report was chosen and supplied by ACC. The material is a structural reaction injection-molded isocyanurate (urethane), reinforced with continuous-strand, swirl-mat, E-glass fibers. This report consists of 16 position papers, each summarizing the observations and results of a key area of investigation carried out to provide the basis for the durability-based design guide. The durability issues addressed include the effects of cyclic and sustained loadings, temperature, automotive fluids, vibrations, and low-energy impacts (e.g., tool drops and roadway kickups) on deformation, strength, and stiffness. The position papers cover these durability issues. Topics include (1) tensile, compressive, shear, and flexural properties; (2) creep and creep rupture; (3) cyclic fatigue; …

Existing climate data sources can be used in two general types of analysis for the detection of urban heat islands. Historical analyses use long-term data records-preferentially from several locations in and around an urban area-to trace the gradual influence of urban development on its climate. Primary sources of such data include the cooperative network, first-order National Weather Service stations, and military weather stations. Analyses of short-term data use information from a dense urban weather station network to discern the location, extent, and magnitude of urban heat islands. Such analyses may use the aforementioned national networks or regional networks such as agricultural, air quality monitoring, or utility networks. We demonstrate the use of existing data sources with a historical analysis of temperature trends in Los Angeles, California, and an analysis of short-term data of the urban temperature profile for Phoenix, Arizona. The Los Angeles climate was examined with eleven long-term data records from the cooperative network. Statistically significant trends of rising temperature were detected at Los Angeles Civic Center and other stations over some parts of the year, although timing of the increase varied from station to station. Observed increases in temperatures maybe due to long-term climate changes, microclimate influences, or …

This report presents a nondestructive inspection assessment of eddy current and electrochemical analysis to separate inconel alloys from stainless steel alloys as well as an evaluation of cleaning techniques to remove a thermal oxide layer on aircraft exhaust components. The results of this assessment are presented in terms of how effective each technique classifies a known exhaust material. Results indicate that either inspection technique can separate inconel and stainless steel alloys. Based on the experiments conducted, the electrochemical spot test is the optimum for use by airframe and powerplant mechanics. A spot test procedure is proposed for incorporation into the Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular 65-9A Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic - General Handbook. 3 refs., 70 figs., 7 tabs.

The Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site is designed to help satisfy the data needs of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Science Team. The primary purpose of this site scientific mission plan is to provide guidance for the development of plans for site operations. It also provides information on current plans to the ARM functional teams (Management Team, Data and Science Integration Team, Operations Team, and Instrument Team) and serves to disseminate the plans more generally within the ARM Program and among the members of the Science Team. This document includes a description of the operational status of the site and the primary site activities envisioned, together with information concerning approved and proposed intensive observation periods (IOPs). The primary users of this document are the Site operator, the Site Scientist Team (SST), the Science Team through the ARM Program science director, the ARM Program Experiment Center, and the aforementioned ARM Program functional teams. This plan is a living document that is updated and reissued every six months as the observational facilities are developed, tested, and augmented and as priorities are adjusted in response to developments in scientific planning and understanding.

The Oil and Gas Field Code Master List 1997 is the sixteenth annual listing of all identified oil and gas fields in the US. It is updated with field information collected through October 1997. The purpose of this publication is to provide unique, standardized codes for identification of domestic fields. Use of these field codes fosters consistency of field identification by government and industry. As a result of their widespread adoption they have in effect become a national standard. The use of field names and codes listed in this publication is required on survey forms and other reports regarding field-specific data collected by EIA. There are 58,366 field records in this year`s FCML, 437 more than last year. The FCML includes: field records for each State and county in which a field resides; field records for each offshore area block in the Gulf of Mexico in which a field resides; field records for each alias field name (definition of alias is listed); fields crossing State boundaries that may be assigned different names by the respective State naming authorities. This report also contains an Invalid Field Record List of 4 records that have been removed from the FCML since last year`s …

Petroleum imports account for the largest share of the US trade deficit. Over one-third of the 1996 merchandise trade deficit is attributed to imported oil. The good news is that substantial domestic oil resources, both existing and yet-to-be-discovered, can be recovered using advanced petroleum technologies. The Energy Information Agency estimates that advanced technologies can yield 10 billion additional barrels, equal to $240 billion in import offsets. The US Department of Energy`s National Petroleum Technology Office works with industry to develop advanced petroleum technologies and to transfer successful technologies to domestic oil producers. This publication shows the locations of these important technology development efforts and lists DOE`s partners in this critical venture. The National Petroleum Technology Office has 369 active technology development projects grouped into six product lines: Advanced Diagnostics and Imaging Systems; Advanced Drilling, Completion, and Stimulation; Reservoir Life Extension and Management; Emerging Processing Technology Applications; Effective Environmental Protection; and Crosscutting Program Areas.

The US Army and a private energy service company are developing a comprehensive energy efficiency project to upgrade the family housing at Fort Polk, Louisiana. The project includes converting the space conditioning systems of more than 4,000 housing units to geothermal (or ground-source) heat pumps (GHPs). This interim report describes the methodology of the evaluation associated with this project, including the field monitoring that has been conducted at the base.

This report is about the market for airline travel in northern New Mexico. Interest in developing a northern New Mexico regional airport has periodically surfaced for a number of years. The New Mexico State Legislature passed a memorial during the 1998 Second Session calling for the conduct of a study to determine the feasibility of building a new regional airport in NNM. This report is a study of the passenger market feasibility of such an airport. In addition to commercial passenger market feasibility, there are other feasibility issues dealing with siting, environmental impact, noise, economic impact, intermodal transportation integration, region-wide transportation services, airport engineering requirements, and others. These other feasibility issues are not analyzed in any depth in this report although none were discovered to be show-stoppers as a by-product of the authors doing research on the passenger market itself. Preceding the need for a detailed study of these other issues is the determination of the basic market need for an airport with regular commercial airline service in the first place. This report is restricted to an in-depth look at the market for commercial passenger air service in NNM. 20 figs., 8 tabs.

This volume contains abstracts of the papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on Precipitation: Predictability of Rainfall at the various scales, held at the Mauna Lani Bay and Bungalows, Hawaii, June 29 - July 1, 1998. The main goal of the conference was to bring together meteorologists, hydrologists, mathematicians, physicists, statisticians, and all others who are interested in fundamental principles governing the physical processes of precipitation. The results of the previous conferences have been published in issues of the Journal of Geophysical Research and Journal of Applied Meteorology. A similar format is planned for papers of this conference.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing a proposal to construct, operate 2nd monitor, and eventually close a repository at Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nevada, for the geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). As part of this effort, DOE has prepared a viability assessment and an assessment of potential consequences that may exist if the repository is not constructed. The assessment of potential consequences if the repository is not constructed assumes that all SNF and HLW would be left at the generator sites. These include 72 commercial generator sites (three commercial facility pairs--Salem and Hope Creek, Fitzpatrick and Nine Mile Point, and Dresden and Morris--would share common storage due to their close proximity to each other) and five DOE sites across the country. DOE analyzed the environmental consequences of the effects of the continued storage of these materials at these sites in a report titled Continued Storage Analysis Report (CSAR; Reference 1 ) . The CSAR analysis includes a discussion of the degradation of these materials when exposed to the environment. This document describes the environmental parameters that influence the degradation analyzed in the CSAR. These include temperature, relative humidity, precipitation chemistry …

The Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site was designed to help satisfy the data needs of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Science Team. This Site Scientific Mission Plan defines the scientific priorities for site activities during the six months beginning on July 1, 1998, and looks forward in lesser detail to subsequent six-month periods. The primary purpose of this document is to provide scientific guidance for the development of plans for site operations. It also provides information on current plans to the ARM functional teams (Management Team, Data and Science Integration Team [DSIT], Operations Team, and Instrument Team [IT]) and serves to disseminate the plans more generally within the ARM Program and among the members of the Science Team. This document includes a description of the operational status of the site and the primary site activities envisioned, together with information concerning approved and proposed intensive observation periods (IOPs). The primary users of this document are the site operator, the site program manager, the Site Scientist Team (SST), the Science Team through the ARM Program science director, the ARM program Experiment Center, and the aforementioned ARM Program functional teams. This plan is a living document that …

The parallel growth in coal demand and environmental concern has spurred interest in technologies that burn coal with greater efficiency and with lower emissions. Clean Coal Technologies (CCTs) will ensure that continued use of the world`s most abundant energy resource is compatible with a cleaner, healthier environment. Increasing interest in CCTs opens the door for American small businesses to provide services and equipment for the clean and efficient use of coal. Key players in most coal-related projects are typically large equipment manufacturers, power project developers, utilities, governments, and multinational corporations. At the same time, the complexity and scale of many of these projects creates niche markets for small American businesses with high-value products and services. From information technology, control systems, and specialized components to management practices, financial services, and personnel training methods, small US companies boast some of the highest value products and services in the world. As a result, American companies are in a prime position to take advantage of global niche markets for CCTs. This guide is designed to provide US small businesses with an overview of potential international market opportunities related to CCTs and to provide initial guidance on how to cost-effectively enter that growing global market.

The US Department of Energy established a geopressured-geothermal energy program in the mid 1970`s as one response to America`s need to develop alternate energy resources in view of the increasing dependence on imported fossil fuel energy. This program continued for 17 years and approximately two hundred million dollars were expended for various types of research and well testing to thoroughly investigate this alternative energy source. This volume describes the following studies: Geopressured-geothermal hybrid cycle power plant: design, testing, and operation summary; Feasibility of hydraulic energy recovery from geopressured-geothermal resources: economic analysis of the Pelton turbine; Brine production as an exploration tool for water drive gas reservoirs; Study of supercritical Rankine cycles; Application of the geopressured-geothermal resource to pyrolytic conversion or decomposition/detoxification processes; Conclusions on wet air oxidation, pyrolytic conversion, decomposition/detoxification process; Co-location of medium to heavy oil reservoirs with geopressured-geothermal resources and the feasibility of oil recovery using geopressured-geothermal fluids; Economic analysis; Application of geopressured-geothermal resources to direct uses; Industrial consortium for the utilization of the geopressured-geothermal resource; Power generation; Industrial desalination, gas use and sales, pollutant removal, thermal EOR, sulfur frasching, oil and natural gas pipelining, coal desulfurization and preparation, lumber and concrete products kilning; Agriculture and aquaculture applications; …

This report documents an independent evaluation of an energy retrofit of 4,003 family housing units at Fort Polk, Louisiana, under an energy savings performance contract (ESPC). Replacement of the heating, cooling, and water heating systems in these housing units with geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) anchored the retrofit; low-flow shower heads and compact fluorescent lighting were also installed, as well as attic insulation where needed. Statistically valid findings indicate that the project will save 25.8 million kWh, or 32.5% of the pre-retrofit whole-community electrical consumption, and 100% of the whole-community natural gas previously used for space conditioning and water heating (260,000 therms) in a typical meteorological year. At the end-use level, the GHPs were found to save about 42% of the pre-retrofit electrical consumption for heating, cooling, and water heating in housing units that were all-electric in the pre-retrofit period. This report also demonstrates an improved method of predicting energy savings. Using an engineering model calibrated to pre-retrofit energy use data collected in the field, the method predicted actual energy savings on one of the electric feeders at Fort Polk with a very high degree of accuracy. The accuracy of this model was in turn dependent on data-calibrated models of the …

In the Continued Storage Analysis Report (CSAR) (Reference 1), DOE decided to analyze the environmental consequences of continuing to store the commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at 72 commercial nuclear power sites and DOE-owned spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste at five Department of Energy sites by region rather than by individual site. This analysis assumes that three commercial facilities pairs--Salem and Hope Creek, Fitzpatrick and Nine-Mile Point, and Dresden and Moms--share common storage due to their proximity to each other. The five regions selected for this analysis are shown on Figure 1. Regions 1, 2, and 3 are the same as those used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in their regulatory oversight of commercial power reactors. NRC Region 4 was subdivided into two regions to more appropriately define the two different climates that exist in NRC Region 4. A single hypothetical site in each region was assumed to store all the SNF and HLW in that region. Such a site does not exist and has no geographic location but is a mathematical construct for analytical purposes. To ensure that the calculated results for the regional analyses reflect appropriate inventory, facility and material degradation, and radionuclide transport, the waste inventories, …

Summaries are presented for the DOE contracts related to supported research for thermal recovery of petroleum, geoscience technology, and field demonstrations in high-priority reservoir classes. Data included for each project are: title, contract number, principal investigator, research organization, beginning date, expected completion date, amount of award, objectives of the research, and summary of technical progress.