Newsletter of the Texas Industrial Commission discussing activities of the Commission as well as other news, events, and announcements related to industrial development in the state.

Magazine discussing natural resources, parks, hunting and fishing, and other information related to the outdoors in Texas.

Monthly newsletter of the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1, discussing the field of underground water. Topics include profiles of water conservation research, annual pre-plant soil moisture survey data, annual Winter Water Level measurement data, and information about the latest water conservation tips.

Newsletter issued by the Advisory Council for Technical-Vocational Education in Texas discussing news, events, and other relevant information related to technical and vocational education for adults in Texas.

The main sodium piping with a diameter of 16'' or 28 '' is being installed at the FFTF construction site starting in December 1974. The supplier and authority demarcations are: Combustion Engineering supplies the reactor vessel, guard vessel and adjoining pipes and uses the machine welding equipment ''Dimetrics''; for the piping system of the primary and secondary loops the pipes manufactured by Rollmet at HUICO, Pasco, were delivered and prefabricated there, as far as compatible with the installation. ''Astroarc'' welding machines are used by Bechtel for the piping prefabrication in the weld laboratory as well as on site at the construction site. Technical welding problems occurring during the course of the installation at the construction site and several during this time are described. At present 6 weld seams in the reactor and 14 weld seams in the secondary loop are accepted. The requirement exists to carry out as many welds as possible automatically, in order to produce sodium pipe welds of high technical quality and which are reproducible. The welding equipment is described.

This memo is an expansion of an informal memo prepared for the Table on Relativistic Kinematics first appearing in the 1974 edition of the ''Review of Particle Properties,'' Particle Data Group, Phys. Lett. 50B, April 1974. The formulas that appeared in the table on pages 20 to 23 are demonstrated. New formulas are presented as well. Finally, an updated table is given.

The kinetics of the one-equivalent reduction of plutonium(IV) with a large excess of hydroxylamine in nitric acid solution was studied. The form of the experimental rate law implies that a multi-step reaction mechanism is involved. Using the equilibrium-steady-state approximation, a rate law with the above form can be derived from a mechanism in which the reduction reaction rapidly approaches equilibrium with the reverse reaction. As this equilibrium is neared, the rate-controlling step becomes the dimerization of the NH/sub 2/O radical intermediate to form H/sub 2/N/sub 2/O/sub 2/ which then decomposes to nitrogen gas and water. Measurements of initial reaction rates give results which are consistent with this mechanism. The values for k' and K/sub d/ (dissociation constant for PuNO/sub 3//sup 3 +/) at 30/sup 0/C are 0.029 +- 0.008M/sup 5/ sec/sup -1/ and 0.33 +- 0.15M, respectively. The apparent activation energy for the reaction is 31 +- 1 kcal/mole.

In April 1974, the United States Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC) authorized General Atomic Company, General Electric Company and Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory to assess the available technology for producing process heat utilizing very high temperature nuclear reactors. General Electric and Westinghouse produced concepts for the entire nuclear system, including the balance of plant. The General Atomic assessment included only the nuclear reactor portion of the nuclear plant. United Engineers and Constructors Inc. (UE and C) was requested by the USAEC in November 1974 to prepare an economic comparison of the three conceptual plants. The comparison is divided into three tasks: (1) Develop a balance of plant conceptual design to be combined with the General Atomic concept as a basis for comparison, and estimate the cost of the General Atomic/UE and C concept in July 1974 dollars; (2) Normalize the overall plant costs for the General Atomic/UE and C, General Electric and Westinghouse concepts, compare the costs, and identify significant differences between the concepts; and (3) Estimate the operation and maintenance costs for the General Atomic/UE and C plant and compare with the other concepts. The results of these task studies are discussed.

Separate abstracts were prepared for 15 papers. In addition, twenty-three injection tables are presented for toxicity animals and test animals. The injection tables include the calculated average dose in rads to the skeleton at death for 13 actinides. (HLW)

This study was made as a specific contribution to an overall report by the United States in the area of industrial utilization of geothermal resources. This is part of an overall study in non-electrical uses of geothermal resources for a sub-committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This study was restricted to the geopressured zone along the Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast. Also, it was limited to utilizing the thermal energy of this ''geoenergy'' resource for process use in the Pulp and Paper Industry and Cane Sugar Industry. For the selected industries and resource area, this report sets forth energy requirements; identifies specific plant and sites; includes diagrams of main processes used; describes process and equipment modifications required; describes energy recovery systems; sets forth waste disposal schemes and problems; and establishes the economics involved. The scope of work included considerable data collection, analysis and documentation. Detailed technical work was done concerning existing processes and modifications to effectively utilize geothermal energy. A brief survey was made of other industries to determine which of these has a high potential for utilizing geothermal energy.

During 1974, approximately 1.31 x 10/sup 13/ liters of gaseous effluents were monitored for radioactivity by the stack sampling program. A summary of the measured radioactivity was as follows: alpha (assumed source--Pu)--1.62 x 10/sup -3/ Ci and beta--0.201 Ci.

Results obtained by using a fast Poisson solver to accelerate the rate of convergence of the iterative scheme are described. A fast iterative method for transonic flow calculations is formulated first, and then application is made to the transonic potential flow equation in a mapped domain. It is concluded that the use of a fast elliptic solver in combination with relaxation is an effective way to accelerate the convergence of transonic flow calculations, particularly when a marching scheme can be used to treat the supersonic zone in the relaxation process. 3 figures (RWR)

Report examining the differences between three different economic forecasting techniques, with the conclusion that "it appears that it makes very little difference which forecasting technique is utilized" (p. 3).

Report on agricultural research with a focus on cattle feeding, breeding, herbicides, and irrigation.

During the heat treatment step of High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) fuel beads, the /sup 233/U-loaded fuel beads are exposed to temperatures as high as 1700/sup 0/C. Since /sup 233/U fuel beads unavoidably contain a small percentage of /sup 232/U, decay products of /sup 232/U might be released during the heat treatment step. To avoid shielding requirements, experiments were conducted using /sup 232/Th-loaded fuel beads rather than /sup 232/U-loaded fuel beads. Decay products of /sup 232/U and /sup 232/Th are the same after /sup 228/Th. Experimental data were obtained by monitoring the 583 and 2614 keV gamma emissions of /sup 208/Tl. Computer simulations of the decay process and experimental data were used to infer what relative amount of the daughter products was removed. The carbonization step (300 to 500/sup 0/C) has an effect on the loss of daughter products in the conversion step. Using uncarbonized fuel beads, approximately 50 percent of /sup 220/Rn was removed at 300/sup 0/C and approximately 20 percent of /sup 220/Rn was removed at 200/sup 0/C. At most, 5 percent of /sup 220/Rn was removed from uncarbonized beads at 25/sup 0/C. Marginal /sup 220/Rn loss was detected at 100/sup 0/C using pre-carbonized beads. At 1400/sup 0/C, …

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The use of solvents is being looked at very critically as a result of environmental improvement requirements being established by state and federal agencies.

This report presents information about Federal energy organization for handling the energy issues with in nation's interest.

This report presents developments related to four types of Information systems available to the members of congress.

This report describes the seniority system in congress.

This report provides the summary of the energy reorganization act of 1974. It also discusses the statement by the president and executive order activating the energy resource council.