The 2020 Vision project began in 1996 with two participating teachers and four classes. It has since grown to comprise more than a dozen participating teachers and hundreds of students across the country. Much of this growth took place in FY98, thanks to the accomplishment of several major goals: implementation of a mentor program, enhanced teacher training, a mid-year conference for students, recruitment of distant schools, and the development of an interactive Web site. The first part of this report describes these accomplishments, as well as future directions for 2020 Vision. The second part summarized the scenarios students wrote during the 1997-98 school year. it identifies recurrent themes in the students' scenarios and compares/contrasts them with scenarios written in the first two years of the project.

This report summarizes waste shipments to the Nevada Test Site Radioactive Waste Management Sites at Area 3 and Area 5 during fiscal year 1998. In addition this report provides a summary evaluation of each shipping campaign by source (waste generator) which identifies observable incidents, if any, associated with the actual waste shipments.

The report presents calculation results of isotopic composition of irradiated fuel performed for the Quad Cities-1 reactor bundle with UO{sub 2} and MOX fuel. The MCU-REA code was used for calculations. The code is developed in Kurchatov Institute, Russia. The MCU-REA results are compared with the experimental data and HELIOS code results.

The purpose of LDRD #2349, Characterize and Model Final Waste Formulations and Offgas Solids from Thermal Treatment Processes, was to develop a set of tools that would allow the user to, based on the chemical composition of a waste stream to be immobilized, predict the durability (leach behavior) of the final waste form and the phase assemblages present in the final waste form. The objectives of the project were: • investigation, testing and selection of thermochemical code • development of auxiliary thermochemical database • synthesis of materials for leach testing • collection of leach data • using leach data for leach model development • thermochemical modeling The progress toward completion of these objectives and a discussion of work that needs to be completed to arrive at a logical finishing point for this project will be presented.

The Core Capability and Technical Enhancement (CC&TE) Program, a part of the Verification, Validation, and Engineering Assessment Program, was implemented to enhance and augment the technical capabilities of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The purpose for strengthening the technical capabilities of the INEEL is to provide the technical base to serve effectively as the Environmental Management Laboratory for the Office of Environmental Management (EM). An analysis of EM's science and technology needs as well as the technology investments currently being made by EM across the complex was used to formulate a portfolio of research activities designed to address EM's needs without overlapping work being done elsewhere. An additional purpose is to enhance and maintain the technical capabilities and research infrastructure at the INEEL. This is a progress report for fiscal year 1998 for the five CC&TE research investment areas: (a) transport aspects of selective mass transport agents, (b) chemistry of environmental surfaces, (c) materials dynamics, (d) characterization science, and (e) computational simulation of mechanical and chemical systems. In addition to the five purely technical research areas, this report deals with the science and technology foundations element of the CC&TE from the standpoint of program management and complex-wide …

The Core Capability and Technical Enhancement (CCTE) Program, a part of the Verification, Validation, and Engineering Assessment Program, was implemented to enhance and augment the technical capabilities of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The purpose for strengthening the technical capabilities of the INEEL is to provide the technical base to serve effectively as the Environmental Management Laboratory for the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM). An analysis of EM's science and technology needs as well as the technology investments currently being made by EM across the complex was used to formulate a portfolio of research activities designed to address EM's needs without overlapping work being done elsewhere. An additional purpose is to enhance and maintain the technical capabilities and research infrastructure at the INEEL. This is a progress report for fiscal year 1998 for the five CCTE research investment areas: (a) transport aspects of selective mass transport agents, (b) chemistry of environmental surfaces, (c) materials dynamics, (d) characterization science, and (e) computational simulation of mechanical and chemical systems. In addition to the five purely technical research areas, this report deals with the science and technology foundations element of the CCTE from the standpoint of program …

As a way to bootstrap the DISCOM(2) Distance Computing Program the SP2 Pilot Project was launched in March 1998. The Pilot was directed towards creating an environment to allow Sandia users to run their applications on the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative's (ASCI) Blue Pacific computation platform, the unclassified IBM SP2 platform at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The DISCOM(2) Pilot leverages the ASCI PSE (Problem solving Environment) efforts in networking and services to baseline the performance of the current system. Efforts in the following areas of the pilot are documented: applications, services, networking, visualization, and the system model. It details not only the running of two Sandia codes CTH and COYOTE on the Blue Pacific platform, but also the buildong of the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) proxy environment of the RS6000 platforms to support the Sandia users.

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is a Department of Energy federally funded national security laboratory that uses engineering and science to ensure the security of the Nation. SNL provides scientific and engineering solutions to meet national needs in nuclear weapons and related defense systems, energy security, and environmental integrity. SNL works in partnerships with universities and industry to enhance their mission and transfer technology that will address emerging national challenges for both government and industry. For several years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Albuquerque Operations Office (AL) and New Mexico State University (NMSU) have maintained an inter-industry, input-output (I/O) model with capabilities to assess the impacts of developments initiated outside the economy such as federal DOE monies that flow into the state, on an economy. This model will be used to assess economic, personal income and employment impacts of SNL on Central New Mexico and the State of New Mexico. Caution should be exercised when comparing economic impacts between fiscal years prior to this report. The I/O model was rebased for FY 1998. The fringe benefits coefficients have been updated for the FY 1996 and FY 1997 economic impacts analysis. Prior to FY 1993 two different I/O base models were …

Of the several thermal, mechanical and hydrological measurements being used to monitor the rockmass response in the Single Heater Test, electrical resistance tomography (ERT) is being used to monitor the movement of liquid water with a special interest in the movement of condensate out of the system. Images of resistivity change were calculated using data collected before, during and after the heating episode. This report will concentrate on the results obtained after heating ceased; previous reports discuss the results obtained during the heating phase. The changes recovered show a region of increasing resistivity approximately centered around the heater as the rock mass cooled. The size of this region grows with time and the resistivity increases become stronger. The increases in resistivity are caused by both temperature and saturation changes. The Waxman Smits model has been used to calculate rock saturation after accounting for temperature effects. The saturation estimates suggest that during the heating phase, a region of drying forms around the heater. During the cooling phase, the dry region has remained relatively stable. Wetter rock regions which developed below the heater during the heating phase, are slowly becoming smaller in size during the cooling phase. The last set of images …

Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico, conducts the Energy Storage Systems Program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Power Technologies. The goal of this program is to collaborate with industry in developing cost-effective electric energy storage systems for many high-value stationary applications. Sandia National Laboratories is responsible for the engineering analyses, contracted development and testing of energy storage components and systems. This report details the technical achievements realized during fiscal year 1998.

The Kolsky-Hopkinson Bar Dynamic Test Facility in Building PF-4 at TA-55 recently became operational and the first series of plutonium samples from a baseline alloy were successfully tested on December 8, 1997 through the dedicated efforts of a large number of people in groups NMT-9, NMT-11, MST-8, NMT-5, and JCI. The Enhanced Surveillance Program provided the necessary support for this achievement. The Kolsky-Hopkinson bar is an instrument designed to measure the uniaxial compression stress-strain characteristics of special nuclear materials (SNM) in a glovebox environment at intermediate strain rates (typically 500 s{sup {minus}1} to 10,000 s{sup {minus}1}), over a wide temperature range (cryogenic up to near-melting temperatures), and up to strains of about 50% per test. Due to radiation contamination hazards, SNM samples are contained within a specially designed glovebox with only a small portion of the bar system. The uniaxial high-strain-rate deformation behavior of SNM materials is revealed by stress-strain-strain rate curves calculated from strain signals acquired by gauges on the pressure bars. The compressive stress-strain mechanical behavior of a range of weapons-relevant SNM materials (both baseline and stockpile-aged plutonium and enriched uranium), measured over a wide range of strain rates and temperatures, is necessary to support the development of …

The re-baseline of the Expedited Technology Demonstration Project (Revised Mixed Waste Facility Project) is designated as Project Baseline Revision 4.0. The last approved baseline was identified as Project Baseline Revision 3.0 and was issued in October 1996. Project Baseline Revision 4.0 does not depart from the formal DOE guidance followed by, and contained in, Revision 3.0. This revised baseline document describes the MSO and Final Forms testing activities that will occur during FY98, the final year of the ETD Project. The cost estimate for work during FY98 continues to be $2.OM as published in Revision 3.0. However, the funds will be all CENRTC rather than the OPEX/CENTRC split previously anticipated. LLNL has waived overhead charges on ETD Project CENRTC funds since the beginning of project activities. By requesting the $2.OM as all CENTRC a more aggressive approach to staffing and testing can be taken. Due to a cost under- run condition during FY97 procurements were made and work was accomplished, with the knowledge of DOE, in the Feed Preparation and Final Forms areas that were not in the scope of Revision 3.0. Feed preparation activities for FY98 have been expanded to include the drum opening station/enclosure previously deleted.

Dissolution experiments were performed on actual samples of NWCF Run H-4 radioactive calcine in fiscal years 1998 and 1999. Run H-4 is an aluminum/sodium blend calcine. Typical dissolution data indicates that between 90-95 wt% of H-4 calcine can be dissolved using 1gram of calcine per 10 mLs of 5-8M nitric acid at boiling temperature. Two liquid raffinate solutions composed of a WM-188/aluminum nitrate blend and a WM-185/aluminum nitrate blend were converted into calcine at the NWCF. Calcine made from each blend was collected and transferred to RAL for dissolution studies. The WM-188/aluminum nitrate blend calcine was dissolved with resultant solutions used as feed material for separation treatment experimentation. The WM-185/aluminum nitrate blend calcine dissolution testing was performed to determine compositional analyses of the dissolved solution and generate UDS for solid/liquid separation experiments. Analytical fusion techniques were then used to determine compositions of the solid calcine and UDS from dissolution. The results from each of these analyses were used to calculate elemental material balances around the dissolution process, validating the experimental data. This report contains all experimental data from dissolution experiments performed using both calcine blends.

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During fiscal year 1998, the level of success achieved by the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) shall be determined by specific performance measures. These measures take the form of significant deliverables, one of which is the completion of Tank Characterization Reports (TCRs). In order to achieve success regarding the TCR performance deliverable, multiple organizations across TWRS must work together. Therefore, the requirements and expectations needed from each of these TWRS organizations were examined in order to gain an understanding of the performance necessary from each organization to achieve the end deliverable. This memorandum of understanding (MOU) documents the results of this review and establishes the performance criteria by which TWRS will assess its progress and success. These criteria have been determined based upon a TWRS Characterization Project budget of $47.5 million for fiscal year 1998; if this budget is changed or the currently identified work scope is modified, this MOU will need to be revised accordingly. This MOU is subdivided into six sections, where sections three through six each identify individual interfaces between TWRS organizations. The specific performance criteria related to each TWRS organizational interface are then delineated in the section, along with any additional goals or issues pertaining to …

A method for calculating the redistribution of resonance radiation in hot, dense plasmas is developed by extending the Frequency Fluctuation Model (FFM). This paper is devoted to a brief review of lineshape theory in the linear response approximation, and an introduction to the FFM approach to the modeling of lineshapes in plasmas. This discussion begins with a consideration of the spectral lines emitted by complex ions in plasmas. As is well known, the lineshape is determined by the time- dependent coupling of the ion with the plasma environment. This plasma-emitter interaction, leads to Stark broadening of the spectral lines, and traditionally has been considered in the approximation which treats the ef&@ of the electrons on the emitting ion in the impact limit while the ionic perturbation is� taken to be quasi-static. In this approximation, the time dependence of the perturbation has been eliminated, resulting in a spectral line shape that has purely homogeneous and inhomogeneous contributions and that is described by a simple sum of independent electron imp� act broadened static components. In order to clarify the concepts presented, examples of radiative redistribution functions for simple cases are presented. Included is an example of an X-ray laser pumped system which …

This report summarizes the well installation, plugging and abandonment, and redevelopment activities conducted during the federal fiscal year (FY) 1998 at the Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Five new groundwater monitoring wells were installed at the Y-12 Plant under the FY 1998 drilling program. Two of the wells are located in west Bear Creek Valley, one is in the eastern Y-12 Plant area near Lake Reality, and two are located near the Oil Landfarm Waste Management Area, which were installed by Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC (Bechtel Jacobs) as part of a site characterization activity for the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) Disposal Cell. Also, two existing wells were upgraded and nine temporary piezometers were installed to characterize hydrogeologic conditions at the Disposal Cell site. In addition, 40 temporary piezometers were installed in the Boneyard/Bumyard area of Bear Creek Valley by Bechtel Jacobs as part of the accelerated remedial actions conducted by the Environmental Restoration Program. Ten monitoring wells at the Y-12 Plant were decommissioned in FY 1998. Two existing monitoring wells were redeveloped during FY 1998 (of these, GW-732 was redeveloped tsvice). All well installation and development (including redevelopment) was conducted following industry-standard methods and approved procedures from the Environmental Surveillance …

A team of senior managers from across the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), working with the Office of Information Resources Management (IRM), has completed an NRC Strategic Information Technology (IT) Plan. The Plan addresses three major areas: (1) IT Program Management, (2) IT Infrastructure, and (3) Information and Applications Management. Key recommendations call for accelerating the replacement of Agency workstations, implementing a new document management system, applying business process reengineering to selected Agency work processes, and establishing an Information Technology Council to advise the Director of IRM.

The purpose of this revision is to update the Line Item Project, 93-L-GFW-152 Functional Design Criteria (FDC) to reflect changes approved in change control M-24-91-6, Engineering Change Notices (ECNs), and expand the scope to include subsurface investigations along with the borehole drilling. This revision improves the ability and effectiveness of maintaining RCRA and Operational groundwater compliance by combining borehole and well drilling with subsurface data gathering objectives. The total projected number of wells to be installed under this project has decreased from 200 and the scope has been broadened to include additional subsurface investigation activities that usually occur simultaneously with most traditional borehole drilling and monitoring well installations. This includes borehole hydrogeologic characterization activities, and vadose monitoring. These activities are required under RCRA 40 CFR 264 and 265 and WAC 173-303 for site characterization, groundwater and vadose assessment and well placement.

The Waste Information Requirements Document describes the activities of the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Characterization Project that provide characterization information on Hanford Site waste tanks. The characterization information is required to perform operations and meet the commitments of TWRS end users. These commitments are derived from the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, also known as the Tri-Party Agreement; the Recommendation 93-5 Implementation Plan to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB); and other directives as listed in Section 4.0. This Waste Information Requirement Document applies to Fiscal Years 1997 and 1998 activities. Its contents are based on the best information available in August 1997. The format and content are based on the directions of DOE-RL (Sieracki, 1997) and Fluor Daniel Hanford Incorporated (Umek, 1997). Activities, such as the revision of the Tank Characterization Technical Sampling Basis (Brown et al. 1997), the revision of the data quality objectives (DQOs), issue closures, discussions with Ecology, and management decisions may cause subsequent updates to the Waste Information Requirements Document.

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The scope of the Mercury Laser project encompasses the research, development, and engineering required to build a new generation of diode-pumped solid-state lasers for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). The Mercury Laser will be the first integrated demonstration of laser diodes, crystals, and gas cooling within a scalable laser architecture. This report is intended to summarize the progress accomplished during the first three years of the project. Due to the technological challenges associated with production of 900 nm diode-bars, heatsinks, and high optical-quality Yb:S-FAP crystals, the initial focus of the project was primarily centered on the R&D in these three areas. During the third year of the project, the R&D continued in parallel with the development of computer codes, partial activation of the laser, component testing, and code validation where appropriate.

The scope of the Mercury Laser project encompasses the research, development, and engineering required to build a new generation of diode-pumped solid-state lasers for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). The Mercury Laser will be the first integrated demonstration of laser diodes, crystals, and gas cooling within a scalable laser architecture. This report is intended to summarize the progress accomplished during the first three years of the project. Due to the technological challenges associated with production of 900 nm diode-bars, heatsinks, and high optical-quality Yb:S-FAP crystals, the initial focus of the project was primarily centered on the R&D in these three areas. During the third year of the project, the R&D continued in parallel with the development of computer codes, partial activation of the laser, component testing, and code validation where appropriate.

Molten Salt Oxidation (MSO) is a promising alternative to incineration for the treatment of a variety of organic wastes. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has prepared a facility in which an integrated pilot-scale MSO treatment system is being tested and demonstrated. The system consists of a MSO vessel with a dedicated off-gas treatment system, a salt recycle system, feed preparation equipment, and a ceramic final waste forms immobilization system. This integrated system was designed and engineered based on operational experience with an engineering-scale reactor unit and extensive laboratory development on salt recycle and final forms preparation. The MSO/off-gas system has been operational since December 1997. The salt recycle system and the ceramic final forms immobilization became operational in May and August, 1998, respectively. We have tested the MSO facility with various organic feeds, including chlorinated solvents, tributyl phosphate/kerosene, PCB-contaminated waste oils & solvents, booties, plastic pellets, ion exchanged resins, activated carbon, radioactive-spiked organics, and well-characterized low-level liquid mixed wastes. MSO is shown to be a versatile technology for hazardous waste treatment and may be a solution to many waste disposal problems in DOE sites. This report presents the results obtained from operation of the integrated pilot-scale MSO treatment system through …