The environmental levels of radioactivity and other pollutants found in the vicinity of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) during 1977 are summarized in this report. As an aid in the interpretation of the data, the amounts of radioactivity and other pollutants released in airborne and liquid effluents from Laboratory facilities to the environment are also indicated. The environmental data includes external radiation levels; radioactive air particulates; tritium and iodine concentrations; the amounts and concentrations of radioactivity in and the quality of the stream into which liquid effluents are released; the concentrations of radioactivity in sediments and biota from the stream; the concentrations of radioactivity in and the quality of ground waters underlying the Laboratory; and concentrations of radioactivity in milk samples obtained in the vicinity of the Laboratory.

The fast neutron fission cross section of /sup 233/U was measured absolutely between 0.13 and 8.0 MeV. The absolute cross section values were obtained by low geometry alpha counting and isotopic dilution analysis of various /sup 233/U samples, 2..pi..-detection of the fission fragments with an ionization chamber, and the measurement of the neutron flux with several black neutron detectors. Absolute cross sections were obtained with a 2 to 3% uncertainty over the most important energy range.

This is the ninth in a series of quarterly progress reports on Fuel Cycle Technologies/Thorium Fuel Cycle Technologies/International Spent Fuel Receipt and Storage (AFCT/TFCT/ISFS) program. This program provides information needed by industry to close the back end of the power reactor fuel cycle. Included in the program are activities supporting specific design studies, as well as activities for general fuel cycle technology. Studies were conducted in the following tasks: thorium resource price analyses; investigation of air cleaning processes for removing TBP from off-gas streams; study of iodine chemistry in process solutions; high-level waste treatment; electropolishing to decontaminate metallic waste from alternate and thorium converter fuel cycles; U.S. scale transport, dispersion and removal model comparison; safety criticality experiments; and criticality research in support of thorium fuel cycle technology program. (21 figs., 7 tables) (DLC)

Estimations have been made for the design of air-core kicker magnets with the given specification, under the condition of having and without having an enclosure. It is found that the kicker magnet contained in a cylindrical enclosure of a radius equal to the spacing of the fields winding will require an amount double the electrical power and 40% more in excitation current. However, these quantities decrease rapidly with the increase of the cylinder's radius. It is recommended that a radius of 1.5 times, or more, of the winding's spacing should be used. Two curves are given to show the tendency of the power and current as a function of the enclosure's-radius-to-spacing ratio. The values obtained from the theoretical calculations are found to be in good agreement to those from computer calculations on a similar model. 5 figs., 6 tabs.

An allocation of naphtha feedstock up to 2,186,000 barrels per year to Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BG and E) to operate its synthetic natural gas (SNG) facility is being considered. The allocation would enable BG and E to produce 10,800,000 mcf of SNG during a 180 day period. Operation of the plant at design capacity is expected to result in annual pollution emissions as follows: 626.4 tons of sulfur oxides, 168.5 tons of nitrogen oxides and 21.6 tons of particulate matter. Incremental emissions due to plant operations relative to existing emissions in Baltimore County are less than 1%. All Federal and State air quality standards should be met. Treated effluent is to be discharged into the Patapasco River where the environmental impacts are not expected to be significant. The SNG facility has been designed to be in compliance with all applicable Federal, State and local effluent standards. Water consumption requirements of 335,000 gallons per day are not expected to significantly tax the area's water resources. Sound generated by the SNG facility will be inaudible or imperceptible. All other operational impacts on land use, population, visual quality, roadways, community facilities and services and ecological systems were judged to be minimal. …

The Boolean difference is a mathematical concept which has found significant application in the study of single and multiple ''stuck at'' faults in combinational logic circuits. The concept of vector Boolean difference is extended to the analysis of multiple stuck-at faults in synchronous sequential circuits. A vector Boolean difference technique is utilized to determine the set of input/state pairs that will produce a difference in either output or next-state between the fault-free and faulty circuits. Assuming that the fault-free and faulty circuits start in the same initial state, they must be driven by applying a sequence of input vectors to a state in which either a difference in output or next-state is evidenced. If a difference in output cannot be achieved immediately, a second sequence of input vectors must be applied in order to propagate the state difference to the output. Methods for combining the Boolean difference analysis with techniques for deriving the required input vector sequence are discussed.

The level of participation of small businesses in photovoltaic technology was ascertained and recommendations were made relative to improving the level of participation. Hypothetical examples were developed of small businesses in the various stages of entry into or participating in photovoltaic activities and an analysis was made of the methods which could be used by the Division of Solar Technology (DSI) to encourage and strengthen the participation by small business in the photovoltaic activities of DST. (MHR)

The code SORS was written by General Atomic to calculate the release of fission products from the fuel into the primary coolant during a hypothetical uncontrolled transient temperature excursion. The code assumes that the graphite core remains structurally intact. The release from the fuel particles is calculated using a coarse time step for several sections of the core. For the non-volatile elements, the code calculates a diffusion rate and an evaporation rate in each section of the core. The expression used for the evaporation rate is found to be incompatible with the rest of the assumptions used in the calculation.

The report describes analyses conducted to predict the response of a truck tractor-trailer system with a spent-nuclear-fuel shipping cask in very severe (98 to 135 kilometers per hour) head-on crashes into a rigid concrete structure. The analyses include both mathematical and physical scale modeling of the system. The results of the analyses are compared to the results of instrumented full-scale tests conducted as the last step in the research program described in the report.

Aspects of the problem of neutron slowing down and transport in an infinite medium consisting of a single nuclide that scatters elastically and isotropically and has energy-independent cross sections were investigated. The method of singular eigenfunctions was applied to the Boltzmann Equation governing the Laplace transform (with respect to the lethargy variable) of the neutron flux. A new sufficient condition for the convergence of the coefficients of the expansion of the scattering kernel in Legendre polynomials was rigorously derived for this energy-dependent problem. Formulas were obtained for the lethargy-dependent spatial moments of the scalar flux that are valid for medium to large lethargies. Use was made of the well-known connection between the spatial moments of the Laplace-transformed scalar flux and the moments of the flux in the "eigenvalue space." The calculations were aided by the construction of a closed general expression for these "eigenvalue space" moments. Extensive use was also made of the methods of combinatorial analysis and of computer evaluation of complicated sequences of manipulations. For the case of no absorption it was possible to obtain for materials of any atomic weight explicit corrections to the age-theory formulas for the spatial moments M/sub 2n/(u) of the scalar flux that …

Results of studies of anomalous electron-muon and electron-hadron events produced in electron-positron annihilation are presented. The data for this work were obtained with a lead-glass counter system, which was added to one octant of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center-Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory magnetic detector at the electron-positron storage ring SPEAR. The lead-glass counter system provides good electron identification for part of the magnetic detector. The events under study have two detected charged particles and any number of detected photons. One detected charged particle is identified as an electron in the lead-glass counter system. The other detected charged particle is identified as a muon or hadron in the magnetic detector. Anomalous events are events which are not subject to conventional explanations; examples of conventional explanations are misidentification of particles or the decay of ordinary or strange hadrons. These data confirm previous observations of anomalous lepton production at SPEAR and DESY. The data corrected for charm background are consistent with heavy lepton production and decay. The branching ratio for the heavy lepton to decay into an electron and two neutrinos was measured to be 0.21 +- 0.05. The branching ratio for the heavy lepton to decay into one charged hadron, one neutrino and …

The feasibility of nondestructively detecting small cracks or holes in plasma-sprayed ceramic coatings with an electric arc-discharge system was studied. We inspected ZrO/sub 2/ coatings 0.46 mm (0.018 in.) thick on Incoloy alloy 800 substrates. Cracks were artificially induced in controlled areas of the specimens by straining the substrates in tension. We designed and built a system to scan the specimen's surface at approximately 50 ..mu..m (0.002 in.) clearance with a sharp-pointed metal-tipped probe at high dc potential. The system measures the arc currents occurring at flaws, or plots a map of the scanned area showing points where the arc current exceeds a preset threshold. A theoretical model of the probe-specimen circuit shows constant dc potential to be the best choice for arc-discharge inspection of insulating coatings. Experimental observations and analysis of the data disclosed some potential for flaw description.

A one-dimensional model of the welding arc that considers heat generation by the Joule effect and heat losses by radiation and conduction has been used to study the effects of various gases and gas mixtures currently employed for welding applications. Minor additions of low ionization potential impurities to these gases are shown to significantly perturb the electrical properties of the parent gas causing gross changes in the radial temperature distribution of the arc discharge. Such changes are reflected in the current density distribution and ultimately in the input energy distribution to the weldment. The result is observed as a variation in weld penetration. Recently published experiments and analyses of welding arcs are also evaluated and shown to contain erroneous data and results. Contrary to previous beliefs, the inclusion of a radiation loss term in the basic energy balance equation is important and cannot be considered as negligible in an argon arc at temperatures as low as 10,000/sup 0/K. The one-dimensional analysis of the welding arc as well as the evaluation of these earlier published reports helps to explain the effects of various gases used for welding, improves our understanding of the physics of the welding arc, and provides a stepping …

This study sought to determine the impact of cold-induced mortality and impingement of threadfin shad (Dorsoma petenense) on the food consumption and prey selection of sauger (Stizostedion canadense), and to estimate the ability of sauger to digest meals consumed at low temperatures in winter. Prey selection of sauger was monitored from November 1976 through April 1977. Stomach contents of 536 sauger indicated threadfin provided the entire forage base for sauger through January. Food consumption of sauger was reduced and prey selection shifted to other species after January due to the combined effects of predation, impingement, and natural mortality of cold-stressed threadfin. Threadfin shad of a size available to most sauger were virtually eliminated by February. From February through April some sauger utilized alternate prey species. Laboratory digestion rate studies of sauger indicated digestion of force-fed meals of 4 to 7 g fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) could proceed to 90 percent completion in 54 h at 5 C, 47 hr at 10 C, and 25 hr at 15 C. Conclusions of this study are: (1) that threadfin shad were the most abundant and vulnerable prey species available to and utilized by sauger during the late fall and winter months; (2) extensive …

The Salt Lake City Water Reclamation Plant has added powdered activated carbon to its influent wastewater since January 1977. Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory has gathered and analyzed operational data from the treatment plant in an effort to identify beneficial effects of the carbon. Benefits occurring during anaerobic digestion were of principal interest. Three potential areas of enhanced treatment were investigated: reduced solids in the primary clarifier effluent; increased anaerobic digester gas production; and increased sludge stabilization rate. Review of the data from the Salt Lake City plant indicates that carbon did not significantly affect these aspects of the plant operation. However, the carbon dose rate was generally lower than that used in other carbon addition studies. Therefore, data from Salt Lake City can be interpreted to mean only that carbon does not produce the above benefits at low doses. Potential benefits identified by other investigators using higher carbon dose rates have not been invalidated.

The Automated Array Assembly Task, Phase 2 of the Low Cost Silicon Solar Array (LSSA) Project is a process development task. This contract includes solar cell module process development activities in the areas of Surface Preparation, Plasma Processing, Diffusion, Cell Processing and Module Fabrication. In addition, a High Efficiency Cell Development Activity is included. The overall goal is to advance solar cell module process technology to meet the 1986 goal of a production capacity of 500 megawatts per year at a cost of less than $500 per kilowatt. This contract will focus on the process element developments stated above and will propose an overall module process. During the first quarter of 1978, effort was focused on understanding the texture etch process, improving the phosphorus diffusion process, fabricating large-area square cells, refining module costing and identifying cost problem areas, initiating module piece part fabrication, and establishing current density--thickness relationships for Tandem Junction Cells. A mechanism is proposed that explains the texturing process and accounts for the various methods of accelerating the pyramid formation process. The first large-area square cells have been fabricated for use in test sample module assembly. Cu-Invar clad metal bus bars have been fabricated and two material cost …

Baseline descriptions for the storage, handling, and transportation of reactor spent fuel are provided. The storage modes described include light water reactor (LWR) pools, away-from-reactor basins, dry surface storage, reprocessing-facility interim storage pools, and deep geologic storage. Land and water transportation are also discussed. This work was sponsored by the Department of Energy/Office of Safeguards and Security as part of the Sandia Laboratories Fixed Facility Physical Protection Program. 45 figs, 4 tables.

The success of wind and photovoltaic energy conversion systems for residential, commercial, and industrial applications is highly dependent on the development of a cost-effective battery storage system to provide power during periods of no wind or sunlight. The use of 3 to 9 million electric cars by the year 2000 will result in an oil saving from 35 to 90 million barrels per year. During FY 1977, STOR committed $13.3 million of its funds to these electrochemical programs, and managed an additional $5.6 million for the Division of Transportation Energy Conservation to develop near-term batteries for electric vehicles. This publication consists of summaries of all these programs, including contractors, major subcontracts, names of program managers, funding, and a brief description of the objectives and status of each program.

A bibliography of 198 reports published by contractors of the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research during the period July through December 1977 is presented along with abstracts from the Nuclear Safety Information Center computer file. The bibliography has been sorted into the subject categories used by NRC to organize the research program. Within the subject categories, the reports are arranged first by contractor organization and then chronologically. A brief description of the NRC research program precedes the bibliography.

Progress is reported on studies of the biological effects on mice and rats of exposure to 60-Hz electric fields. Results are reported on the effects of 30-day and 60-day exposures to 100 kV/m, 60-Hz electric fields on hematologic values, blood chemistry, and organ weights. With the possible exception of elevated blood platelet counts following 60-day exposures, there were no pathological changes observed in either mice or rats.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory conducted a series of bond pull-out tests to determine the effect of elevated temperatures (ranging from 24 to 149/sup 0/C (75 to 300/sup 0/F)) on the bond strength between concrete and deformed steel reinforcement. This report summarizes the findings of the study, describes the tests and results, and offers recommendations for incorporating these results into the design of structures that must operate within the prescribed range of elevated temperatures.

Activities are reported in programs to locate, test, and select materials for borehole plugs near nuclear waste repositories. Background information concerning borehole plugging is presented and work to date is summarized. Borehole sealants considered are listed and recommended steps to plug boreholes are given. Planned research is summarized. (JRD)

The application of building codes to solar energy systems for heating and cooling of buildings is discussed, using as typical codes the three model building codes most widely adopted by states and localities. Some potential barriers to solar energy systems are found, federal and state programs to deal with these barriers are discussed, and alternatives are suggested. To remedy this, a federal program is needed to encourage state adoption of standards and acceptance of certification of solar systems for code approval, and to encourage revisions to codes based on model legislation prepared for the federal government by the model codes groups.

Self-broadened and foreign-gas (N/sub 2/ and O/sub 2/) broadened linewidths of ethylene at 300K for a wide range of quantum numbers J and K/sub a/, for all three types of bands, were calculated using the Anderson-Tsao-Curnutte theory of line broadening. C/sub 2/H/sub 4/ has a zero value of the dipole moment in its ground state. Therefore, only the quadrupolar interactions were considered in the linewidth computations. The molecular quadrupole moment tensor of C/sub 2/H/sub 4/ was taken from Mulder and Huiszoon. Air-broadened linewidths of C/sub 2/H/sub 4/ at 200K have also been calculated, so that the temperature dependence can be estimated.