Contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 1988-89 (H.R. 1748, Section 3133), is a requirement for the President to conduct a study on the nuclear weapons complex for the purpose of determining the overall size and productive capacity necessary to meet national security objectives. Based on the study, the President is directed to formulate a plan to modernize the nuclear weapons complex including actions necessary to ensure operation of facilities in a safe and environmentally acceptable manner; a schedule for implementation of the plan; and the estimated costs of implementation of the plan. The Act calls for submission of a Report to the appropriate committees of the Congress including recommendations resulting from the Study and a description of the Plan. The report is to be submitted by February 15, 1988. In contrast to the Bill, the Committee report on H.R. 1748, Section 3133, calls for both a Study and a Plan to be submitted one year later than the aforementioned report, and puts much greater stress on recommendations concerning the capability of the weapons complex to be operated in a safe and environmentally acceptable manner. Thus, the Report will be submitted by President Reagan and the Study and …

In an inertial fusion laboratory high gain facility, experiments will be carried out with up to 1000 MJ of thermonuclear yield. The experiment area of such a facility will include many systems and structures that will have to operate successfully in the difficult environment created by the sudden large energy release. This paper estimates many of the nuclear effects that will occur, discusses the implied design issues and suggests possible solutions so that a useful experimental facility can be built. 4 figs.

Failure of TIE array loop assembly solder joints within Stochastic Cooling Tanks during system operation resulted in the loop base plate dropping into the beam region. This caused a non-operational condition to exist within the system. In order to understand the failure mechanism, several loop assemblies were submitted to Midwest Materials and Engineering Consultants for complete metallurgical evaluation and failure analysis. Because of the similarity between the loop assembly material construction and the TIE resistor assemblies, several resistor assemblies were also evaluated.

This report reviews the role of ion-cyclotron frequency instability in magnetic mirrors. The modes discussed here are loss-cone or anisotropy driven. The discussion includes quasilinear theory, explosive instabilities of 3-wave interaction and non-linear Landau damping, and saturation due to non-linear orbits. (JDH)

CR39 proton sensitive track detectors were greeted by the radiation protection community at the end of the last decade as a major breakthrough for personnel neutron dosimetry. A number of laboratories eagerly began research on application of CR39 to their dosimetry needs. However, in the last two or three years the enthusiasm has subsided, and many health physicists have stopped working with the material. The number of participants using CR39 in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Personnel Intercomparison Studies dropped from six in 1985 to three in 1986. On a national level, the Federal Republic of Germany with researchers active in CR39 research recently adopted an albedo system as their national standard. In contrast, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) is supporting development of a CR39 based combination dosimeter to meet Department wide dosimetry needs. The English National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) now features the use of CR39 in the NRPB PADC(CR39). There has obviously been a range of experiences with CR39 in the dosimetry community. Why has this been the case, and what is the proper role for CR39 in personnel neutron dosimetry. 12 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

A new experimental facility is being assembled at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for studying microwave propagation and absorption in high density plasmas. A unique feature of the facility is the free electron laser (FEL) used to generate high peak power microwaves at 250 GHz, at a repetition rate so as to produce up to 2 MW of average power for up to 30 s. Called the Microwave Tokamak Experiment (MTX), the facility will be used for studies of plasma heating, current drive, and confinement.

Aqueous suspensions of charged polymer latex particles exhibit several forms of ordered structure, the particular form depending on the size, number density and charge of the latex particles, and on the ionic strength of the aqueous medium. At low ionic strength, the inter-particle potential may become sufficiently long-ranged to generate crystalline order, which usually shows bcc symmetry at low density and becomes fcc above about 3% volume fraction of latex in the system. As the ionic strength increases, the crystalline structure melts, and ordered liquid structures develop. This paper reviews some of the recent small-angle neutron scattering experiments on polymer latex suspensions, in the light of new theoretical methods which permit in situ analysis of the particle size and charge. The discussion also encompasses new experimental methods for studying latex structures under dynamic shear conditions.

This report describes optical character reader system advantages and applications. Comparisons are made to bar code readers. (JDH)

The predictable nature of transition radiation (TR) emissions has been demonstrated under a wide variety of experimental conditions. The reliable character of TR allows the design of specific practical applications that use emissions from the optical to the x-ray spectral regions. Applications often can be enhanced by the spatial coherence of TR, and some have become highly developed. New applications may be developed through the use of other related radiation mechanisms. 20 refs., 3 figs.

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Albedo systems are the mainstay at many facilities and continue to be refined. Advanced electrochemical etching techniques for CR-39 now yield a dose equivalent response that is nearly constant from 0.1 to 4.0 MeV. Recent studies include use of converters to enhance CR-39 response at both low and high energies. Methods have been suggested for use of CR-39, either alone or in conjunction with albedo and other detectors to provide spectral information as a step to more accurate dosimetry. Limitations in the use of CR-39 primarily center on the lack of consistent, high-quality, dosimetry-grade material, significant angular dependence, and poor dose equivalent response at both low and high energies. Work continues on silicon diodes, with some new designs. The most attractive new dosimetry technique is the bubble-damage or superheated drop detector. Metal-on-silicon (MOS) microelectronics present exciting possibilities for the future. 25 refs., 6 figs.

Software has been developed for use with the Fermilab Advanced Computer Program (ACP) multiprocessor system. The software was designed to make a system of a hundred independent node processors as easy to use as a single, powerful CPU. Subroutines have been developed by which a user's host program can send data to and get results from the program running in each of his ACP node processors. Utility programs make it easy to compile and link host and node programs, to debug a node program on an ACP development system, and to submit a debugged program to an ACP production system.

Fusion magnet technology has made spectacular advances in the past decade; to wit, the Mirror Fusion Test Facility and the Large Coil Project. However, further advances are still required for advanced economical fusion reactors. Higher fields to 14 T and radiation-hardened superconductors and insulators will be necessary. Coupled with high rates of nuclear heating and pulsed losses, the next-generation magnets will need still higher current density, better stability and quench protection. Cable-in-conduit conductors coupled with polyimide insulations and better steels seem to be the appropriate path. Neutron fluences up to 10/sup 19/ neutrons/cm/sup 2/ in niobium tin are achievable. In the future, other amorphous superconductors could raise these limits further to extend reactor life or decrease the neutron shielding and corresponding reactor size.

TIBER II, the Tokamak Ignition/Burn Experimental Reactor II, is a design concept developed as the US candidate for an International Engineering Test Reactor (ETR). An important objective of this design is to minimize cost by minimizing major radius while providing a wall loading greater than 1.0 MW/m2 and a total fluence greater than 3.0 MWY/m2 needed for blanket module testing. The shielding required for the superconducting TF coils is an important element in setting TIBER II's 3.0m major radius. 6 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.

Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is an attractive engine power source for interplanetary manned spacecraft, especially for near-term missions requiring minimum flight duration, because ICF has inherent high power-to-mass ratios and high specific impulses. We have developed a new vehicle concept called VISTA that uses ICF and is capable of round-trip manned missions to Mars in 100 days using A.D. 2020 technology. We describe VISTA's engine operation, discuss associated plasma issues, and describe the advantages of DT fuel for near-term applications. Although ICF is potentially superior to non-fusion technologies for near-term interplanetary transport, the performance capabilities of VISTA cannot be meaningfully compared with those of magnetic-fusion systems because of the lack of a comparable study of the magnetic-fusion systems. We urge that such a study be conducted.

The experimental observations of the 3p/sup 6/ 3d/sup 9/ /sup 2/D - 3p/sup 5/ 3d/sup 10/ /sup 2/p transitions of the Co-like ions and 3p/sup 6/ 3d/sup 8/ /sup 3/F/sub 4/ - 3p/sup 5/ 3d/sup 9/ /sup 3/F/sub 3/ of the Fe-like ions have recently been extended to highly charged ions of heavy elements up to uranium (Z = 92). A comparison between the observed energies and calculated values from the Dirac-Fock model indicated persistent discrepancies of 3 to 4 eV for all ions. Systematic multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculations for these transitions have been carried out with emphases on the effects of electron correlation. The previously found discrepancies theory and experiment have mostly removed after the inclusion of the electron-electron correlation effects in the theoretical calculations. 13 refs.