Manage the Site Systems Engineering process to provide a traceable, integrated, requirements-driven, and technically defensible baseline., Through the Site Integration Group, Systems Engineering ensures integration of technical activities across all site projects. Systems Engineering`s primary interfaces are with the Project Direction Office and with the projects, as well as with the Planning organization.

The Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Storage and Disposal Project has established the Immobilized High-Level Waste (IBLW) Storage Sub-Project to provide the capability to store Phase I and II BLW products generated by private vendors. A design/construction project, Project W-464, was established under the Sub-Project to provide the Phase I capability. Project W-464 will retrofit the Hanford Site Canister Storage Building (CSB) to accommodate the Phase I I-ILW products. Project W-464 conceptual design is currently being performed to interim store 3.0 m-long BLW stainless steel canisters with a 0.61 in diameter, DOE is considering using a 4.5 in canister of the same diameter to reduce permanent disposal costs. This study was performed to assess the impact of replacing the 3.0 in canister with the 4.5 in canister. The summary cost and schedule impacts are described.

This paper describes a simple 2D beam-rastering system to uniformly spread a 100-mA 6.7-MeV cw proton beam over a 50-cm by 50-cm beam stop. The basic circuit uses a 20-mF capacitor bank, a IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) full-wave inverter, and a 1-mH ferrite dipole magnet to produce a {+-} 500-Gauss peak triangular-waveform deflection field at 500 Hz. A dc input voltage of 200 volts at 2.6 amps (520 watts) produces a 160-ampere peak-to-peak triangular current waveform in the ferrite magnet at 500 Hz. For dual-axis rastering, two ferrite dipoles are used, one at 500 Hz, and the other at 575 Hz, to produce a uniform 2D beam distribution at the beam stop. The paper will discuss the IGBT modulator and ferrite deflector in detail, including current and voltage waveforms, and the ferrite magnet B-dot (dB/dt) signal.

This 22nd annual report of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) describes accomplishments, activities, and plans made during Fiscal Year 1996 (FH 1996)--October 1, 1995, through September 30, 1996. Significant activities that occurred early in FY 1997 are also described, particularly changes in the Commission and organization of the NRC. The mission of the NRC is to ensure that civilian uses of nuclear materials in the US are carried out with adequate protection of public health and safety, the environment, and national security. These uses include the operation of nuclear power plants and fuel cycle plants and medical, industrial, and research applications. Additionally, the NRC contributes to combating the proliferation of nuclear weapons material worldwide. The NRC licenses and regulates commercial nuclear reactor operations and research reactors and other activities involving the possession and use of nuclear materials and wastes. It also protects nuclear materials used in operation and facilities from theft or sabotage. To accomplish its statutorily mandated regulatory mission, the NRC issues rules and standards, inspects facilities and operations, and issues any required enforcement actions.

The Department of Energy held its annual Technical Standards Program Workshop on July 8--10, 1997, at the Loews L`Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC. The workshop focused on aspects of implementation of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 [Public Law (PL) 104-113] and the related revision (still pending) to OMB Circular A119 (OMB A119), Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Standards. It also addressed DOE`s efforts in transitioning to a standards-based operating culture, and, through this transition, to change from a developer of internal technical standards to a customer of external technical standards. The workshop was designed to provide a forum to better understand how the new law is affecting Department activities. Panel topics such as ``Public Law 104-113 and Its Influence on Federal Agency Standards Activities`` and ``Update on Global Standards Issues`` provided insight on both the internal and external effects of the new law. Keynote speaker Richard Meier of Meadowbrook International (and formerly the Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative) addressed the subject of international trade balance statistics. He pointed out that increases in US export figures do not necessarily indicate increases in employment. Rather, increased employment results from product growth. Mr Meier …

At the Southern Methodist University Geothermal Laboratory in Dallas, Texas, the Earth`s surface and internal temperature are studied. With financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy, a data base containing geothermal temperature well information for the United States is being developed. During this calendar quarter, activity with this project has continued involving several different tasks: planning and development of the geothermal system thermal-well data base and temperature-depth data, and development of a World Wide Web home page.

This report address two issues, namely the ``Selection of the most current nuclear data libraries available`` and the ``User`s manual of the updated ACAB code``. A general summary of the major features of ACAB is provides in Section 1 which highlights the new capabilities included in the present version of ACAB. We address the issue of the nuclear data libraries selected as starting point in preparing the libraries to be used directly by ACAB. Section II describes the main features of the selected libraries. In Section IV, the impact of using these libraries in Inertial Fusion Energy, IFE, applications is assessed by comparing activation results obtained using different activation cross-sections data libraries. The points considered are the processing of libraries and libraries adapted to be directly read by ACAB. The ``processing`` efforts made within the frame of this project have been focused on the COLLAPSE code. Important modifications have been made, and in Section IV we provide an overall description of the new version. The content of the data bases employed by the updated ACAB code are described in Section V. The input data file for running ACAB is dealt with in Section VI, and some example problems are discussed …

This paper presents data that supports Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) as a valid bioanalytical tool for tracing long lived radioisotopes in uses as molecular labels or elemental tracers.

The TRUEX process is being evaluated at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) for the separation of the actinides from acidic radioactive wastes stored at the ICPP. These efforts have culminated in a recent demonstration of the TRUEX process with actual tank waste. This demonstration was performed using 24 stages of 2-cm diameter centrifugal contactors installed in a shielded hot cell at the ICPP Remote Analytical Laboratory. An overall removal efficiency of 99.97% was obtained for the actinides. As a result, the activity of the actinides was reduced from 457 nCi/g in the feed to 0.12 nCi/g in the aqueous raffinate, which is well below the U.S. NRC Class A LLW requirement of 10 nCi/g for non-TRU waste. Iron was partially extracted by the TRUEX solvent, resulting in 23% of the Fe exiting in the strip product. Mercury was also extracted by the TRUEX solvent (76%) and stripped from the solvent in the 0.25 M Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3} wash section.

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In this paper the authors present an adaptive projection method for modeling unsteady, low-Mach reacting flow in an unconfined region. The equations they solve are based on a model for low-Mach number combustion that consists of the evolution equations for density, species concentrations, enthalpy, and momentum coupled with a constraint on the divergence of the flow. The algorithm is based on a projection methodology in which they first advance the evolution equations and then solve an elliptic equation to enforce the divergence constraint. The adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) scheme uses a time-varying, hierarchical grid structure composed of uniform rectangular grids of varying resolution. The integration scheme on the grid hierarchy is a recursive procedure in which a coarse grid is advanced, fine grids are advanced multiple steps to reach the same time as the coarse grid, and the coarse and the fine grids are synchronized. The method is valid for multiple grids on each level and multiple levels of refinement. The method is currently implemented for laminar, axisymmetric flames with a reduced kinetics mechanism and a Lewis number of unity. Two methane-air flames, one steady and the other flickering, are presented as numerical examples.

This document is an addendum to the 1996 Gunnison Monitoring Report for the Gunnison, Colorado, Wetlands Mitigation Report, dated July 1997. The purpose of this addendum is to: (1) modify how information on plant height and plant species criteria are presented; and (2) provide more detailed information regarding the evaluation of the bare ground criteria at the Camp Ketle site. The information in this addendum is provided at the request of the Bureau of Land Management to aid in future monitoring and evaluation of the wetland mitigation sites.

The syntheses of silicon-containing compounds and the studies of their rearrangements have been active research areas in the Barton research group. Previously, the addition of disilanes to acetylenes was studied in the group and an intramolecular 2S + 2A mechanism has been proposed. In this thesis, the work is focused on the addition of disilanes to cumulenes. The syntheses of the precursors are discussed and the possible mechanisms for their thermal, photochemical and catalytic rearrangements are proposed. Conjugated organic polymers have been studied in the group since 1985 because of their potential for exhibiting high electroconductivity, photoconductivity, strong non-linear optical response and intense fluorescence. In the second section of this dissertation, the synthesis and property studies of poly(phenylene vinylene) analogues are discussed.

'The interactions of carbon tetrachloride with strongly basic oxides and hydroxides have been studied by several techniques in order to understand the surface reactions and the subsequent bulk reactions that result in the destruction of the chlorinated hydrocarbon. Emphasis has been placed on understanding the surface phases, as well as the bulk phases, that are present during these transformations. As a result of the study with barium oxide, a reaction cycle has been demonstrated that may have practical significance in the removal of chlorinated hydrocarbons.'

As part of the overall Geothermal Energy Research which is aimed at the development of economical geothermal resources production systems, the aim of the Advanced Biochemical Processes for Geothermal Brines (ABPGB) effort is the development of economic and environmentally acceptable methods for disposal of geothermal wastes and conversion of by-products to useful forms. Methods are being developed for dissolution, separation and immobilization of geothermal wastes suitable for disposal, usable in inert construction materials, suitable for reinjection into the reservoir formation, or used for recovery of valuable metals.

The purpose of the proposed research program was the development and demonstration of a new generation of gaseous substrate-based bioreactors for the production of liquid fuels from coal synthesis gas and the removal of NO{sub x} and SO{sub x} species from coal combustion flue gas. This study addressed the further investigation of optimal bacterial strains, growth media and kinetics for the biocatalytic conversion of coal synthesis gas to liquid fuel such as ethanol and the reduction of gaseous flue gas constituents. The primary emphasis was on the development of advanced bioreactor systems coupled with innovative biocatalytic systems that will provide increased productivity under controlled conditions. It was hoped that this would result in bioprocessing options that have both technical and economic feasibility, thus, ensuring early industrial use. Predictive mathematical models were formulated to accommodate hydrodynamics, mass transport, and conversion kinetics, and provide the data base for design and scale-up. The program was separated into four tasks: (1) Optimization of Biocatalytic Kinetics; (2) Development of Well-mixed and Columnar Reactors; (3) Development of Predictive Mathematical Models; and (4) Industrial Demonstration. Research activities addressing both synthesis gas conversion and flue gas removal were conducted in parallel by BRI and ORNL respectively.

This project demonstrates an advanced, thermal, coal upgrading process, coupled with physical cleaning techniques, that is designed to upgrade high moisture, low rank coals to a high quality, low sulfur fuel, registered as the SynCoal{reg_sign} process. The coal is processed through three stages (two heating stages followed by an inert cooling stage) of vibrating fluidized bed reactors that remove chemically bound water, carboxyl groups, and volatile sulfur compounds. After thermal upgrading, the coal is put through a deep bed stratifier cleaning process to separate the pyrite rich ash from the coal. The SynCoal process enhances low rank, western coals, usually with a moisture content of 25 to 55 percent, sulfur content of 0.5 to 1.5 percent, and heating value of 5,500 to 9,000 Btu/lb, by producing a stable, upgraded, coal product with a moisture content as low as 1 percent, sulfur content as low as 0.3 percent, and heating value up to 12,000 Btu/lb. The 45 ton per hour unit is located adjacent to a unit train load out facility at Western Energy Company`s Rosebud coal mine near Colstrip, Montana. The demonstration plant is sized at about one-tenth the projected throughput of a multiple processing train commercial facility. During this …

Over the past thirty years, process control has spread from the chemical industry into the fields of mineral and coal processing. Today, process control computers, combined with improved instrumentation, are capable of effective control in many modem flotation circuits. Unfortunately, the classical methods used in most control strategies have severe limitations when used in froth flotation. For example, the nonlinear nature of the flotation process can cause single-input, single-output lines to battle each other in attempts to achieve a given objective. Other problems experienced in classical control schemes include noisy signals from sensors and the inability to measure certain process variables. For example, factors related to ore type or water chemistry, such as liberation, froth stability, and floatability, cannot be measured by conventional means. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate an advanced control system for fine coal flotation. The demonstration is being carried out at an existing coal preparation plant by a team consisting of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI&SU) as the prime contractor and J.A. Herbst and Associates as a subcontractor. The objectives of this work are: (1) to identify through sampling, analysis, and simulation those variables which can be manipulated to maintain grades, recoveries, …

The Nash Draw Brushy Canyon Pool in Eddy County New Mexico is a field demonstration in the U. S. Department of Energy Class IH Program. Advanced reservoir characterization techniques are being used at the Nash Draw project to develop reservoir management strategies for optimizing oil recovery from this Delaware reservoir. Analysis, interpretation, and integration of recently acquired geological, geophysical, and engineering data revealed that the initial reservoir description was too simplistic to capture the critical features of this complex formation. As a result of the analysis, a proposed pilot area was reconsidered. Comparison of seismic data and engineering data have shown evidence of discontinuities in the area surrounding the proposed injector. Analysis of the 3-D seismic has shown that wells in the proposed pilot are in an area of poor quality amplitude development. The implication is that since amplitude attenuation is a function of porosity, then this is not the best area to be attempting a pilot pressure maintenance project. Because the original pilot area appears to be compartmentalized, the lateral continuity between the pilot wells could be reduced. The 3-D seismic interpretation indicates other areas may be better suited for the initial pilot area. Therefore, the current focus has …

The overall objective of this project is to demonstrate that a development program-based on advanced reservoir management methods- can significantly improve oil recovery. The plan includes developing a control area using standard reservoir management techniques and comparing its performance to an area developed using advanced reservoir management methods. Specific goals are (1) to demonstrate that an advanced development drilling and pressure maintenance program can significantly improve oil recovery compared to existing technology applications and (2) to transfer these advanced methodologies to oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin and elsewhere throughout the U.S. oil and gas industry.

The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory is now providing researchers with extreme-brilliance undulator radiation in the hard x-ray region of the spectrum. All technical facilities and components are operational and have met design specifications. Fourteen research teams, occupying 20 sectors on the APS experiment hall floor, are currently installing beamline instrumentation or actively taking data. An overview is presented for the first operational years of the Advanced Photon Source. Emphasis is on the performance of accelerators and insertion devices, as well as early scientific results and future plans.

The authors report here, for the first time, high frequency testing of a new type of electrochemical double layer capacitor (EDLC), based on carbon aerogels: the Aerocapacitor. Carbon aerogels, are a novel type of carbon foam developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for military applications. The unique properties of carbon aerogels, high surface area (700 m{sup 2}/g), high density (1g/cc), well controlled pore diameter and high material conductivity (25 S/cm) made it an ideal EDLC electrode material. Using carbon aerogel as the electrode material, the authors have developed Aerocapacitors. These new EDLC`s have a frequency response comparable to that of aluminum electrolytic capacitors and are thus ideally suited to power conversion applications.

The primary objective of this research is to conduct advanced reservoir characterization and modeling studies in the Antelope Shale reservoir. Characterization studies will be used to determine the technical feasibility of implementing a CO2 enhanced oil recovery project in the Antelope Shale in Buena Vista Hills Field. The Buena Vista Hills pilot CO2 project will demonstrate the economic viability and widespread applicability of CO2 flooding in fractured siliceous shale reservoirs of the San Joaquin Valley. The research consists of four primary work processes: Reservoir Matrix and Fluid Characterization; Fracture Characterization; Reservoir Modeling and Simulation; and CO2 Pilot Flood and Evaluation. Work done in these areas is subdivided into two phases or budget periods. The first phase of the project will focus on the application of a variety of advanced reservoir characterization techniques to determine the production characteristics of the Antelope Shale reservoir. Reservoir models based on the results of the characterization work will be used to evaluate how the reservoir will respond to secondary recovery and EOR processes. The second phase of the project will include the implementation and evaluation of an advanced enhanced oil recovery (EOR) pilot in the United Anticline (West Dome) of the Buena Vista Hills Field.

'The first year of this effort emphasized independent development and refinement of each of the three major subsystems (imaging/AI, robotics and virtual reality). Two of the three efforts emphasized the critical task of site. virtualization, prior to telepresence-guided D and D. Substantial algorithm refinement and software and hardware development occurred in each area. Relevant publications resulting from this work are cited below.'