Restoration of the Fernald Environmental Management Project is now moving from the environmental investigation stage to real, tangible remediation progress. Using a variety of programmatic innovations, DOE and FERMCO continue to strengthen an effective partnership that supports a mutually-developed mission of safe, least-cost, earliest final remediation of the Fernald Site while complying with all applicable DOE Orders, regulatory requirements and commitments and addressing the concerns of the many stakeholders who have an interest in how remediation at Fernald progresses. The progress that is occurring at Fernald is testimony to a productive DOE/FERMCO partnership that will continue to be an essential part of the difficult environmental restoration task at this site.

The Conceptual Decontamination and Decommissioning Plan (D&D) was developed as a concept for progressing from the final actions of the Disposal Phase, through the Decontamination and Decommissioning Phase, and into the initiation of the Long-Term Monitoring Phase. This plan was written in a manner that coincides with many of the requirements specified in DOE Order 5820.2A. Radioactive Waste Management; ASTM El 167 87, Standard Guide for Radiation Protection Program for Decommissioning Operations; and other documents listed in Attachment 3 of the D&D Plan. However, this conceptual plan does not meet all of the requirements necessary for a Decontamination and Decommissioning plan necessary for submission to the U.S. Congress in accordance with the Land Withdrawal Act (P.L. 102-579). A complete D&D plan that will meet the requirements of all of these documents and of the Land Withdrawal Act will be prepared and submitted to Congress by October 1997.

Of the materials reviewed, commercially pure titanium, Ti Gr 2, is the most susceptible to crevice corrosion. Ti Gr 7, 12, and 16 are likely to be resistant to crevice corrosion under the current expected Yucca Mountain repository conditions. Although Grade 7 has the greatest resistance to crevice corrosion it is also the most expensive. Although the possibility of sustained loads cracking exists, it has not yet been observed in a Ti alloys. For hydride precipitation to occur 100{degrees}C, the hydrogen concentration would need to be relatively high, much higher than the maximum amount of hydrogen allowed during the manufacture of ({alpha} Ti alloys (0.0 15 wt%). A large amount of (SCC) stress corrosion cracking data accumulated at SNL and BNL for the WIPP program and by the Canadian Waste Management Program on titanium grades 2 and 12 indicates that there is no SCC at naturally occurring potentials in various brines. Hydride-induced cracking of titanium is a possibility and therefore, further investigation of this phenomenon under credible repository conditions is warranted. One disadvantage of titanium and its alloys is that their strengths decrease rather rapidly with temperature. This is due to the strong temperature dependence of interstitial solute strengthening mechanisms. …

This procedure checks that the shipment of the gauge to Hanford did not cause a failure. This procedure provides acceptance testing for Enraf Series 854 level gauges used to monitor levels in Hanford Waste Storage Tanks. The test will verify that the gauge functions according to the manufacturer`s instructions and specifications and is properly setup prior to being delivered to the tank farm area. Enraf-Nonius Series 854 level gauges are certified by Factory Mutual (FM) for National Fire Protectional Association (NFPA 70) hazardous Class 1, Division 1, Groups B, C, and D Locations. Its measuring principle is based on the detection of variations in the weight of a displacer suspended in the process fluid. The displacer is connected to a wire wounded on a precision measuring drum. A level change causes a change in the weight of the displacer which will be detected by the force transducer. Electronics within the gauge cause a servo motor to adjust the position of the displacer and compute the tank level based on the new position of the displacer drum. The gauge displays the level in decimal inches. An analog output signal transmits the level data for remote data processing.

Historically waste management within the Department of Energy complex has evolved around the operating principle of packaging waste generated and storing until a later date. In many cases wastes were delivered to onsite waste management organizations with little or no traceability to origin of generation. Sites then stored their waste for later disposition offsite or onsite burial. While the wastes were stored, sites incurred additional labor costs for maintaining, inspecting and repackaging containers and capital costs for storage warehouses. Increased costs, combined with the inherent safety hazards associated with storage of hazardous material make these practices less attractive. This paper will describe the methods used at the Department of Energy`s Fernald site by the Waste Programs Management Division to integrate with other site divisions to plan in situ waste characterization prior to removal. This information was utilized to evaluate and select disposal options and then to package and ship removed wastes without storage.

The collision of large nuclei at relativisitic energies is the only known mechanism for creating and studying the properties (equation-of-state, EOS) of extremely dense nuclear matter. At sufficiently high matter densities, one of the most exciting possibilities is the formation of a Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). However, it is an extremely difficult task to determine the ultimate density achieved during these collisions due to the fleeting nature of the high density state (the lifetime of these states is typically a few times 10-24 ns). We must rely on detailed comparisons between experimental measurements and complex Monte Carlo simulations of the colliding nuclei in order to extract meaningful estimates of the nuclear matter EOS. Our approach has been to study the behavior of the spectator matter (those protons and neutrons which do not directly interact during the collision) to determine the dynamics of the high density state which must necessarily influence the spectator matter as it decays. This report summarizes some of the key results of our study.

The IPM Safety Management Plan establishes the approach to be utilized for integrating the responsibilities for safety documentation and review with the design, construction and start-up activities. The plan defines the requirements for the safety analysis documentation and the independent safety review to ensure that the design for the facility operation will not present undue risk to the health and safety of the employees, visitors, or members of the public and provides adequate protection of the environment.

This interface control document (ICD) between Analytical Services and Solid Waste Disposal (SWD) establishes a baseline description of the support needed and the wastes that will require management as part of the interface between the two divisions. It is important that each division has a clear understanding of the other division`s expectations regarding levels and type of support needed. This ICD deals with the waste sampling support needed by SWD and the waste generated by the specified analytical laboratories. The baseline description of wastes includes waste volumes, characteristics and shipping schedules, which will be used to plan the proper support requirements. The laboratories included in this document are 222-S Laboratory Facility, the Waste Sampling and Characterization Facility (WSCF) and the Chemical Engineering Laboratory. These three facilities provide support to the entire site and are not associated with one major program/facility. The laboratories associated with major facilities or programs such as Engineering/Environmental Development Laboratory at K Basins Operation are not within the scope of this document.

This reports the results of the load test of the 306E Building roof deck and support structures.

This progress report covers the following tasks: Computational geochemistry (Indiana University Laboratory); and geologic assessment of the Piceance Basin. Computational geochemistry covers; three- dimensional basin simulator; stress solver; two-dimensional basin simulator; organic reactions and multi-phase flow; grid optimization; database calibration and data input; and Piceance Basin initial simulation. Sub-tasks under geologic assessment of the Piceance Basin include: structural analysis; reservoir characterization; stratigraphic interpretation; seismic interpretation; and remote sensing interpretation.

A three-dimensional arbitrary Lagrange-Eulerian (ALE) code is being developed for use as a general purpose tool for metal forming analyses. The focus of the effort is on the processes of forging, extrusion, casting and rolling. The ALE approach was chosen as an efficient way to deal with the large deformations and complicated flows associated with these processes. A prototype version of the software package, ALE3D, exists and is being applied to the enumerated processes. The development of the code is being driven by the dual constraints of portability and extensibility. A general purpose simulation tool must be capable of mining on a variety of platforms from single processor workstations to massively parallel platforms. It might also be configured to easily accommodate new physical models and parameters. The focus of this paper will be on computer science issues, with parallelization being the dominant issue. Long term goals will be described, as well as current status.

This work plan outlines the tasks necessary, and defines the organizational responsibilities for preparing a Design Requirements Document (DRD) for project W-236A, Multi-Function Waste Tank Facility (MWTF). A DRD is a Systems Engineering document which bounds, at a high level, the requirements of a discrete system element of the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Program. This system element is usually assigned to a specific project, in this case the MWTF. The DRD is the document that connects the TWRS program requirements with the highest level projects requirements and provides the project`s link to the overall TWRS mission. The MWTF DRD effort is somewhat unique in that the project is already in detailed design, whereas a DRO is normally prepared prior to preliminary design. The MWTF design effort was initiated with a Functional Design Criteria (FDC) and a Supplemental Design Requirements Document (SDRD) bounding the high level requirements. Another unique aspect of this effort is that some of the TWRS program requirements are still in development. Because of these unique aspects of the MWTF DRD development, the MWTF will be developed from existing TWRS Program requirements and project specific requirements contained in the FDC and SDRD. The following list describes the …

In an effort to improve public involvement in the site restoration decision making process, the DOE has established site specific advisory boards, of which the Fernald Citizens Task Force is one. The Fernald Task Force is focused on making recommendations in four areas: (1) What should be the future use of the site? (2) Determinations of cleanup levels (how clean is clean?) (3) Where should the wastes be disposed of? (4) What should be the cleanup priorities? Because these questions are being asked very early in the decision-making process, the answers are necessarily qualified, and are based on a combination of preliminary data, assumptions, and professional judgment. The requirement to make progress in the absence of accurate data has necessitated FERMCO and the Task Force to employ an approach similar to sensitivity analysis, in which a range of possible data values are evaluated and the relative importance of the various factors is assessed. Because of its charter to provide recommendations of future site use, the Task Force has developed a sitewide perspective, compared to the more common operable unit specific focus of public participation under CERCLA. The relationship between FERMCO and the Task Force is evolving toward one of partnership …

Extensive experiments have been done to characterize laser-heated hohlraum targets for indirect drive inertial fusion. Scattered light and fast electrons from laser-plasma instabilities have been found not to be significant for short wavelength light. Scaling of radiation temperature with laser power has been studied at several Laboratories and can be represented by a simple power balance scaling for experiments using short wavelength light. Measurements of x-ray production and energy loss in hohlraum walls have been made to study details of the power balance model.

The Fernald site is rapidly transitioning from a Remedial Investigation/ Feasibility Study (RI/FS) site to one where design and construction of the remedies dominates. Fernald is one of the first sites in the Department of Energy (DOE) complex to accomplish this task and real physical progress is being made in moving the five operable units through the CERCLA process. Two of the required Records of Decision (ROD) are in hand and all five operable units will have received their RODs (IROD for OU3) by the end of 1995. Pre-design investigations, design work or construction are now in progress on the operable units. The lessons learned from the work done to date include implementing innovations in the RI and FS process as well as effective use of Removal Actions to begin the actual site remediation. Also, forging close working relationships with the Federal and State Regulators, citizens action groups and the Fernald Citizens Task Force has helped move the program forward. The Fernald successes have been achieved by close coordination and cooperation among all groups working on the projects and by application of innovative technologies within the decision making process.

We have measured the three dimensional distribution of DNA fragments within an electrophoretic band. The measurements were made using a confocal microscope and a photon counting photomultiplier detector. A DNA sequencing standard was loaded into glass microchannel plates containing polyacrylamide gel. The measurements were made by scanning the plates in three dimensions using a mechanical stage under computer control, while electrophoresis was taking place. We found that the distribution of DNA was the same for all the bands measured in the sequencing ladder with an approximate Gaussian distribution along all three axes. These measurements are important to understand what physical forces shape electrophoretic bands confined by a channel and also to aid in the design of high throughput DNA sequencers.