Abstracts of 134 papers which were presented at the Actinides-1981 conference are presented. Approximately half of these papers deal with electronic structure of the actinides. Others deal with solid state chemistry, nuclear physic, thermodynamic properties, solution chemistry, and applied chemistry.

A description and assessment is provided for four second generation compressed air energy storage (CAES) concepts; adiabatic CAES, hybrid CAES, CAES with coal gasification (CG), and CAES with pressurized fluidized bed combustion (PFBC). These are based on information provided in conceptual design studies performed by Acres American, Inc., United Engineers and Constructors, and United Technologies Research Center. The assessment covers consideration of the technological readiness, relative economic benefits and operational viability of each concept. It was concluded that the adiabatic CAES concept appears to be the most attractive candidate for utility application in the near future. It is operationally viable, economically attractive compared with competing concepts, and will require relatively little additional development before commercialization. It was estimated that a utility could start the design of a commercial plant in 2 to 3 years if research regarding TES system design is undertaken in a timely manner. The hybrid CAES should also be considered as a candidate for early application. It is similarly viable and close to readiness; however, it is less economically attractive.

The objective of the Advanced Reactor Design Study (ARDS) is to identify and evaluate nonbackfittable concepts for improving uranium utilization in light water reactors (LWRs). The results of this study provide a basis for selecting and demonstrating specific nonbackfittable concepts that have good potential for implementation. Lead responsibility for managing the study was assigned to the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL). Nonbackfittable concepts for improving uranium utilization in LWRs on the once-through fuel cycle were selected separately for PWRs and BWRs due to basic differences in the way specific concepts apply to those plants. Nonbackfittable concepts are those that are too costly to incorporate in existing plants, and thus, could only be economically incorporated in new reactor designs or plants in very early stages of construction. Essential results of the Advanced Reactor Design Study are summarized.

The Association for Energy Systems, Operations, and Programming (AESOP) was created to provide Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE-contractor management personnel with a means for acquiring and exchanging information concerning effective management of ADP resources and personnel as well as a variety of computer applications. AESOP serves as a forum for the data processing management of more than 50 DOE offices and private corporations under contract to DOE. AESOP Operations Managers Conferences are held approximately every 18 months. Conference topics include personnel problems, training situations, reorganization plans, and work scheduling. Security and other issues affecting ADP procedures and personnel are also often addressed. Papers published in this volume of the proceedings have been summarized from speeches and discussions held at the AESOP XXII Conference in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Indoor air quality has attracted increasing attention during the past few yars. Pollutants generated from combustion, building materials, and human activities may reach significant levels in the indoor environment to produce adverse health effects. This report deals with the classes of pollutants and their sources, and the significance of reported levels, possible health effects, and control strategies in relation to tightly sealed and passive solar construction techniques. In tightly sealed homes, residential air-to-air heat exchangers, whose design and performance are discussed, offer one method of improving air quality at reasonable cost. It is recommended that further research be implemented to identify hazardous concentrations of pollutants and set standards to minimize health impacts in the search for new energy innovations.

Highlights of research progress accomplished in the Life Sciences Division during the year ending December 1980 are summarized. Reports from the following groups are included: Toxicology, Biophysics, Genetics; Environmental Pathology, Organic Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences. Individual abstracts have been prepared for 46 items for inclusion in the Energy Data Base. (RJC)

The strong compression TFTR discharge has been segmented into regions where linear dynamics can approximate the plasma's interaction with the OH and EF power supply systems. The dynamic equations for these regions are utilized within the linear optimal control theory framework to provide active feedback gains to control the plasma position and current. Methods are developed to analyze and quantitatively evaluate the quality of control in a nonlinear, more realistic simulation. Tests are made of optimal control theory's assumptions and requirements, and the feasibility of this method for TFTR is assessed.

This report describes the identification of radionuclides in the uranium, actinium, and thorium series by analysis of gamma spectra in the energy range of 40 to 1400 keV. Energies and absolute efficiencies for each gamma line were measured by means of a high-resolution germanium detector and compared with those in the literature. A gamma spectroscopy method, which utilizes an on-line computer for deconvolution of spectra, search and identification of each line, and estimation of activity for each radionuclide, was used to analyze soil and uranium tailings, and ore.

This report uses risk analyses to analyze the safety of transporting spent nuclear fuel for commercial rail shipping systems. The rail systems analyzed are those expected to be used in the United States when the total electricity-generating capacity by nuclear reactors is 100 GW in the late 1980s. Risk as used in this report is the product of the probability of a release of material to the environment and the consequences resulting from the release. The analysis includes risks in terms of expected fatalities from release of radioactive materials due to transportation accidents involving PWR spent fuel shipped in rail casks. The expected total risk from such shipments is 1.3 x 10/sup -4/ fatalities per year. Risk spectrums are developed for shipments of spent fuel that are 180 days and 4 years out-of-reactor. The risk from transporting spent fuel by train is much less (by 2 to 4 orders of magnitude) than the risk to society from other man-caused events such as dam failure.

Calculations and analyses indicate that no improvement can be achieved in uranium utilization for the once-through LWR fuel cycle over use of slightly enriched uranium by employing thorium distributed with uranium. The study included thorium additions: (1) slight amounts, (2) larger amounts, in either intimately mixed or in duplex pellets, (3) in spectrally shifted or not spectrally shifted reactors, and (4) in three- or five-year reactivity limited exposures. While thorium-uranium combinations improves the initial conversion ratio, the reactivity lifetime was not extended enough to override the additional uranium required. The effective fission cross-section of the bred /sup 233/U relative to /sup 239/Pu's in typical LWR neutron spectra is not large enough for /sup 233/U to make as great a contribution to end-of-life reactivity as /sup 239/Pu in a slightly enriched uranium fuel element. /sup 233/U's reactivity contribution relative to /sup 239/Pu's is lower in fuel configurations such as slightly enriched uranium LWR fuel loads. On the other hand, /sup 233/U's reactivity contribution appears more positive for reactors that involve lower average concentrations of thermal neutron absorbers. If /sup 238/U-thorium fuels reprocessed, the recovered /sup 233/U would increase uranium utilization, but may not reduce fuel cycle costs. The thorium-salted fuels exhibit …

A program to use renewable energy resources and possibly develop decentralization of energy systems for agriculture is discussed. The purpose of the research presented is to establish the objective of the program and identify guidelines for program development. The program's objective is determined by: (1) an analysis of the technologies that could be utilized to transform renewable farm resources to energy by the year 2000, (2) the quantity of renewable farm resources that are available, and (3) current energy-use patterns. Individual research, development, and demonstration projects are fit into a national program of energy-integrated farm systems on the basis of: (1) market need, (2) conversion potential, (3) technological opportunities, and (4) acceptability. Quantification of these factors for the purpose of establishing program guidelines is conducted using the following four precepts: (1) market need is identified by current use of energy for agricultural production; (2) conversion potential is determined by the availability of renewable resources; and (3) technological opportunities are determined by the state-of-the-art methods, techniques, and processes that can convert renewable resources into farm energy. Each of these factors is analyzed in Chapters 2 to 4. Chapter 5 draws on the analysis of these factors to establish the objective of …

Ninety-three project summaries are presented which discuss the following aspects of active solar heating and cooling: Rankine solar cooling systems; absorption solar cooling systems; desiccant solar cooling systems; solar heat pump systems; solar hot water systems; special projects (such as the National Solar Data Network, hybrid solar thermal/photovoltaic applications, and heat transfer and water migration in soils); administrative/management support; and solar collector, storage, controls, analysis, and materials technology. (LEW)

This annual report briefly describes the technical progress within each segment of the WCPE from October 1979 through September 1980. It includes the progress accomplished directly by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and by subcontractors funded directly by DOE or through PNL. To expedite the management of the activities to produce the required information, the WCPE has been divided into three program areas: Wind Energy Prospecting, Support for Design and Operations, and Site Evaluation. Accomplishments in each of these program areas provide a highlight of WCPE activities in FY 1980.

An apparatus and procedure for the study of radionuclide transport in intact rock cores are presented in this report. This equipment more closely simulates natural conditions of radionuclide transport than do crushed rock columns. The apparatus and the procedure from rock core preparation through data analysis are described. The retardation factors measured are the ratio of the transport rate of a non-retarded radionuclide, such as /sup 3/H, to the transport rate of a retarded radionuclide. Sample results from a study of the transport of /sup 95m/Tc and /sup 85/Sr in brine through a sandstone core are included.

A site-binding, electrical, double-layer adsorption model has been applied to adsorption of Cs for both a montmorillonite clay and powdered SiO/sub 2/. Agreement between experimental and predicted results indicates that C/sub s//sup +/ is adsorbed by a simple cation-exchange mechanism. Further application of a combination equilibrium thermodynamic model and site-binding, electrical, double-layer adsorption model has been made to predict the behavior of U(VI) in solutions contacting either the montmorillonite clay or powdered SiO/sub 2/. Experimentally determined U solution concentrations have been used to select what is felt to be the best available thermodynamic data for U under oxidizing conditions. Given the existing information about the probable U solution species, it was possible to determine that UO/sub 2//sup +2/ is most likely adsorbed by cation-exchange at pH 5. At higher values (pH 7 and 9), it was shown that UO/sub 2/(OH)/sub 2//sup 0/ is probably the most strongly adsorbed U solution species. It was also found that high NaCl solution concentrations at higher pH values lowered U concentrations (either because of enhanced sorption or lowered solubility); however, the mechanism responsible for this behavior has not been determined.

As part of the assessment of the potential radiological consequences of the proposed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), this report evaluates the post-closure radiation dose commitments associated with a possible breach event which involves dissolution of the repository by groundwaters and subsequent transport of the nuclear waste through an aquifer to a well assumed to exist at a point 3 miles downstream from the repository. The concentrations of uranium and plutonium isotopes at the well are based on the nuclear waste inventory presently proposed for WIPP and basic assumptions concerning the transport of waste as well as treatment to reduce the salinity of the water. The concentrations of U-233, Pu-239, and Pu-240, all radionuclides originally emplaced as waste in the repository, would exceed current EPA drinking water limits. The concentrations of U-234, U-235, and U-236, all decay products of plutonium isotopes originally emplaced as waste, would be well below current EPA drinking water limits. The 50-year dose commitments from one year of drinking treated water contaminated with U-233 or Pu-239 and Pu-240 were found to be comparable to a one-year dose from natural background. The 50-year dose commitments from one year of drinking milk would be no more than about …

A cursory analysis of the stress history of wind turbine blades indicates that a single stress level at each wind speed does not adequately describe the blade stress history. A statistical description is required. Blade stress data collected from the DOE/ALCOA Low Cost experimental turbines indicate that the Rayleigh probability density function adequately describes the distribution of vibratory stresses at each wind speed. The Rayleigh probability density function allows the distribution of vibratory stresses to be described by the RMS of the stress vs. time signal. With the RMS stress level described for all wind speeds, the complete stress history of the turbine blades is known. Miner's linear cumulative damage rule is used as a basis for summing the fatigue damage over all operating conditions. An analytical expression is derived to predict blade fatigue life.

The assumption that the grand unified theory (GUT) emerges as an effective theory describing bound states of N = 8 supergravity preons should determine the GUT particle spectrum and constrain their couplings. Analysis of the spectrum has led to some possibly encouraging indications. At the least, the particle content in scalars, vectors and fermions needed to reproduce SU(5) phenomenology can be found among the states of the EGMZ multiplet.

The study of compressed air energy storage (CAES) in porous rock reservoirs is carried out within the Reservoir Stability Studies Program at Pacific Northwest Laboratory. The goal of the study is to establish criteria for long-term stability of aquifer CAES reservoirs. These criteria are intended to be guidelines and check lists that utilities and architect-engineering firms may use to evaluate reservoir stability at candidate CAES sites. These criteria will be quantitative where possible, qualitative where necessary, and will provide a focal point for CAES relevant geotechnical knowledge, whether developed within this study or available from petroleum, mining or other geotechnical practices using rock materials. The Reservoir Stability Studies Program had four major activities: a state-of-the-art survey to establish preliminary stability criteria and identify areas requiring research and development; numerical modeling; laboratory testing to provide data for use in numerical models and to investigate fundamental rock mechanics, thermal, fluid, and geochemical response of aquifer materials; and field studies to verify the feasibility of air injection and recovery under CAES conditions in an aquifer, to validate and refine the stability criteria, and to evaluate the accuracy and adequacy of the numerical and experimental methodologies developed in previous work. Three phases of study, …

The purpose of this study is to identify and examine potential public health and safety issues and the potential environmental impacts from recovery of natural gas from Devonian age shale. This document will serve as background data and information for planners within the government to assist in development of our new energy technologies in a timely and environmentally sound manner. This report describes the resource and the DOE eastern gas shales project in Section 2. Section 3 describes the new and developing recovery technologies associated with Devonian shale. An assessment of the environment, health and safety impacts associated with a typical fields is presented in Section 4. The typical field for this assessment occupies ten square miles and is developed on a 40-acre spacing (that is, there is a well in each 40-acre grid). This field thus has a total of 160 wells. Finally, Section 5 presents the conclusions and recommendations. A reference list is provided to give a greater plant. Based on the estimated plant cost and the various cases of operating income, an economic analysis was performed employing a profitability index criterion of discounted cash flow to determine an interest rate of return on the plant investment.

This report characterizes the ammonia industry operations, reviews current knowledge of ammonia release and subsequent impacts, summarizes the status of release prevention and control methods and identify research and development needs for safety and environmental control. Appendices include: accidental spills and human exposure; adiabatic mixing of liquid nitrogen and air; fire and explosion hazards; and environmental impact rating tables. (PSB)

Evaluation of the quality of agricultural waste water is the first step in assessing the sitability of agricultural waste water for geothermal power plant cooling. In this study samples of agricultural waste water from the New and Alamo rivers located in the Imperial Valley of California are analyzed. Determinations of standard water quality parameters, solids content, and inorganic compositions of the solids are made. The results are compared with data on samples of irrigation water and steam condensate also obtained from sites in the Imperial Valley. The data are evaluated in relation to cooling tower operation, waste generation, and waste disposal.

A diagnostic beam dump, able to withstand 72,000 pulses (10 kA, 50 MeV/pulse) per shift was designed and analyzed. The analysis shows that the conceptual beam dump design consisting of 80 vitreous carbon plate-foam elements is able to withstand the thermal and mechanical stresses generated. X-rays produced by bremsstrahlung are absorbed by a three element copper plate-foam x-ray absorber. Cooling between bursts of electron pulses is provided by pressurized helium.

The stability of high-..beta.. vertically asymmetric tokamak equilibria to rigid displacements is investigated analytically. It is found that vertical stability at large beta poloidal is mainly determined by a coupling between the shape of the plasma surface and the Shafranov shift of the magnetic axis. To the lowest order, symmetric components of the plasma surface shape are found to be the critical destabilizing elements. Asymmetric components have little effect. The inclusion of higher order terms in the high ..beta.. tokamak expansion leads to further destabilization. Qualitative agreement between these analytic results and numerical stability calculations using the PEST code is demonstrated.