Progress is reported in research designed to develop an economically competitive process for producing acetic acid from biomass for the purpose of sparing petroleum for other uses, to evaluate marine algae as a potential source of biomass, and to document the feasibility of running fermentations in fixed packed bed fermenters. It was demonstrated that marine algae can be fermented to acetic acid. Initial rates of up to 168 meq/1 day were observed. These rates are substantially in excess of the 47 meq/1 day used in the economic projections. Also, when using marine algae as a substrate, acid levels were generated equivalent to the highest reported with other substrates. It was also demonstrated that a 4-foot fixed packet bed fermenter may be operated with marine algae as a substrate at 20 percent solids or 200 meq/1.

Work covered includes an updated listing of the alloys selected for the screening tests, plus complete test specimen matrices for the screening program. The present design and construction status of the simulated reactor helium loops and testing and analysis facilities and equipment are discussed. Also covered are the loading matrices for the screening creep tests.

The ATD code is a multi-purpose code which reduces data files produced by a digitizer. It contains all of the features for the basic unpacking, scaling, and plotting of digitized data files. More advanced capabilities are also available. Digital filtering, spectral analysis, and statistical analysis, among others, allow the engineer the capability to analyze and display time history data. In contrast to codes such as DYMEC, the data files are typically of high frequency and short duration, representing time spans on the order of seconds and frequency content in the tens of thousands of hertz. 1 figure.

The report identifies barriers to shortening nuclear power plant construction schedules and recommends research efforts which should minimize or eliminate the identified barriers. The identified barriers include (1) Design and Construction Interfacing Problems; (2) Problems Relating to the Selection and Use of Permanent Materials and Construction Methods; (3) Construction Coordination and Communication Problems; and (4) Problems Associated with Manpower Availability and Productivity.

A simplified radiochemical method has been developed for quantitatively analyzing radon gas in underground uranium mines. In this method, a measured volume of air is drawn by a pump through a drying tube and a cartridge containing dioxygenyl hexafluoroantimonate reagent. Radon is captured as a nonvolatile product. After radioactive equilibrium has been established between radon and its short-lived daughters (approximately 4 hours), the gamma-emission of the cartridge is measured with a scintillation counter. The amount of radon is then calculated from the gamma-emission rate. The effect of cartridge geometry, reagent load, and air flow rate upon collection efficiency and counting efficiency is reported.

Ultrafication (UF) membranes have demonstrated 90 to 98% rejection of gross alpha in laboratory tests. In the treatment of laundry wastes, rejection of activity ranged from 98 to 99.9% gross alpha. The pilot UF system was installed and started up. Flux decline curves and volume reduction performance were determined. Volume reductions of 210 : 1 were achieved at flux rates of 1.1 gal/min (system is rated at 2 to 3 gal/min, 90% recovery) at activity rejection of 99.94% gross alpha. Adsorbent studies demonstrated capacities in excess of 10/sup 9/ dis/min/g for uranium-233 and in excess of 10/sup 8/ dis/min/g for plutonium-238. Construction and start-up of the Engineering Test Facility has been completed.

This report is about the Disenfranchisement of convicted felons

The requirements and effects of operating Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) experiments with neutral-beam pulse durations in the range from 0.5 s to steady state are reexamined. Two questions are examined: (1) what is the maximum neutral-beam duration into the MFTF if the latter is built as described in the conceptual design document, and (2) what is required (and at what cost) to permit neutral-beam injection periods of 30 s in the MFTF. In both cases, it is assumed that the required neutral-beam modules are available. One finds that the maximum practical pulse length consistent with the present conceptual design is 1.6 s. Increasing the pulse length to 30 s will require water-cooled beam dumps, protection against hot spots on the beam dumps, and modest expansion of the beam-control and data-acquisition systems. The estimated cost of the beam dumps and cooling system is $10 million. It is concluded that the present two-stage MFTF program plan is sound. This plan calls for establishing fundamental plasma scaling laws with 0.5-s operation and exploring nearly steady-state phenomena later with 30-s operation.

This report deals with the major issues in electric utility rate reform together with a discussion of current procedures.

The Nevada Operations Office of the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) has contracted with Petroleum Technology Corporation (PTC) to perform a gas stimulation program by chemical explosive fracturing (CEF) in the Canyon sands of the Val Verde - Kerr Basin of Sutton County, Texas. This lenticular tight sand deposit, underlying much of southwestern Texas, contains large volumes of natural gas. To date this formation has yielded only marginal amounts of gas because of its low porosity and permeability. The semi-arid environment of the Aldwell/Sawyer field is characterized by dry arroyos and xeric vegetation. Population is sparse and sheep ranching is the primary occupation. Because of the existence of previously drilled oil and gas wells, road and pipeline construction will be minimal. Impacts from this two well project are expected to be minimal and be confined to temporary surface disruption and increased erosion at the well site.

This report is focused on the recognization of the executive branch of the government.

A comprehensive mathematical model description of anaerobic digestion of animal residues was developed, taking into account material and energy balances, kinetics, and economics of the process. The model has the flexibility to be applicable to residues from any size or type of animal husbandry operation. A computer program was written for this model and includes a routine for optimization to minimum unit gas cost, with the optimization variables being digester temperature, retention time, and influent volatile solids concentration. The computer program was used to determine the optimum base-line process conditions and economics for fuel gas production via anaerobic digestion of residues from a 10,000 head environmental beef feedlot. This feedlot at the conditions for minimum unit gas cost will produce 300 MCF/day of methane at a cost of $5.17/MCF (CH/sub 4/), with a total capital requirement of $1,165,000, a total capital investment of $694,000, and an annual average net operating cost of $370,000. The major contributions to this unit gas cost are due to labor (37 percent), raw manure (11 percent), power for gas compression (10 percent), and digester cost (13 percent). A conceptual design of an anaerobic digestion process for the baseline conditions is presented. A sensitivity analysis of …

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Powder X-ray diffraction techniques were extensively applied in a pyrotechnic materials development project involving the TiH/sub x/-KClO/sub 4/ system. They were utilized in the evaluation of locally synthesized TiH/sub x/ materials to assist in evolving the best method for preparing such hydride materials. Once that method was fixed, X-ray diffraction made a contribution toward material specification for the project in that it afforded baseline data for TiH/sub x/ and KClO/sub 4/ starting materials, and especially in the determination and detailed characterization of the phases present in their various blends. Such methods concurrently afforded routine support for other project teams investigating container and bridgewire corrosion phenomena, material and device handling and storage factors, alternative milling and blending effects, particle size classification consequences, reaction product identification, etc. A 12-kW rotating anode X-ray generator was used to good advantage in the effort. It yielded adequate diffraction photographic exposures from tiny specimens in a few minutes time, and thus, made practicable some investigations which otherwise would not have been possible. Aside from the immediately practical support provided for the project a reference pattern was obtained for the nonstoichiometric fluorite-structured ..gamma..-TiH/sub 2/-y phase which proved superior to any found in the literature. Also a quality …

The equipment and procedures to be used to demonstrate the bypass flow characteristics of the Radiator Bypass Valve, P/N 720990, in the Kilowatt Isotope Power System are described. (LCL)

The purpose of this test was to demonstrate that the alternator stator has satisfactorily completed sufficient testing to safisfy the requirements set forth within the Kilowatt Isotope Power System (KIPS) Component Test Specification for the GDS Alternator Stator (TS 2538). The results of the acceptance tests conducted on the alternator stator, S/N 003, are presented, and show that the stator did meet specified requirements.

This report is an analysis of legalized gambling in the United States as it was at the time of the reports' creation.

A brief review of fusion research during the last 20 years is given. Some highlights of theoretical plasma physics are presented. The role that computational plasma physics is playing in analyzing and understanding the experiments of today is discussed. The magnetic mirror program is reviewed. (MOW)

Various electron and ion current, electric field, and magnetic field probes were developed and tested during the course of the investigation. A three dimensional probe drive system was constructed in order to investigate two and three dimensional phenomena occurring in the microwave plasma interaction. In most of the experiments reported here, a 1 GHz, 40 kilowatt, pulsed rf source (Applied Microwave), was used. The antenna was a 20/sup 0/ horn. A dipole fed parabolic antenna system capable of producing a focussed microwave beam at 2.3 GHz was developed and bench tested. This system will be used in future investigations at higher power levels (E/sub 0//sup 2//8..pi..nkappaT > 1).

The microcomputer revolution in electronics is spreading so rapidly that it is difficult to educate enough people in the technology both quickly and thoroughly. LLL's MST-80B was developed as a way to speed learning in in-house training courses, and it is now being widely used outside LLL. The MST-80B trainer is a complete, self-contained microcomputer system housed in a standard briefcase. The trainer uses the Intel 8080A 8-bit microprocessor (CPU), and has its own solid-state memory and a built-in keyboard and display for input/output. The trainer is furnished with a permanent ''monitor'' program (in read-only memory) that allows users to easily enter, debug, modify, and run programs of their own. 8 figures.

Design and calibration of a 15 channel multi-channel analyzer for analysis of energetic neutral particles escaping a hot plasma are discussed. Features of the analyzer include a frequency response from DC to 50 kHz, spatial resolution, mass resolution, and data acquisition and processing for 15 points on the energy distribution that are simultaneously recorded. Another feature of the system is the ability to radially scan the plasma. An rf ion source is used to provide ions and neutrals used for calibration of a reference single channel analyzer. This analyzer is, in turn, used to calibrate the multi-channel analyzer over the energy range 500 eV to 40 keV. A brief description of the data processing system is included. (RME)

The neutral beam current required to sustain the MX plasma is calculated for the plasma modeled by (a) a flat-top radial density profile and (b) a diffuse radial profile. Estimates of the plasma length are obtained from Fokker-Planck calculations and a three-dimensional guiding-center equilibrium code. Beam trapping efficiency is calculated from a model taking into account the spatial dimensions of the beam and plasma. The sensitivity to variations of magnetic field and plasma beta is calculated for the plasma parameters n tau, beam current, and axial scale length.

This paper introduces a new method for estimating a dose-response relationship from spatially averaged time series of air pollution and health data. Because time is perceived as a nuisance parameter to be eliminated, least-squares regression and traditional time series methodology (e.g., spectral analysis, Box-Jenkins methods) are rejected in favor of a nonparametric estimation procedure based on observing health effects in times of nearly equal pollution. The method requires estimating the ratio of two density functions and avoids problems of aggregation, linearity, and normality. The procedure seems most useful, at present, as a data analytic and data display device rather than as an inferential tool.

Stainless steel alloys that are chemically complex, such as A-286 or JBK-75, are designed to improve such high-temperature properties as strength. This is accomplished by precipitating secondary phases during aging. Such multicomponent systems, however, can also produce undesirable phases that are detrimental to forgeability and final mechanical properties. Cast segregation and numerous nonmetallic inclusions can have a degrading influence on the toughness and ductility of the alloy. Several different heats of A-286 and JBK-75 were studied, and titanium carbide and/or molybdenum carbide ((Ti, Mo)C) plus titanium carbide and/or titanium carbonitride Ti(C,N)-type phases were qualitatively identified as the major nonmetallic constituent in these alloys. The common procedure for rating the microcleanliness of steels does not classify such carbide or carbonitride phases and thus does not provide an appropriate means of controlling in-process inspection. The results of this study are discussed in terms of alternative methods for evaluating the microcleanliness of superalloys.