Seven releases of fission products occurred in EBR-II from January 1974 to March 1975 - - five from mixed-oxide elements and two from sodium-bonded driver-fuel elements. Four releases were from elements that contained a xenon tag, which aided considerably in locating three of the elements; data from the fourth element allowed estimation of changes of tag composition with reactor exposure. Rapid release of fission from two breached mixed-oxide elements caused the reactor to trip because of increased delayed-neutron activity, the first time such behavior has been observed. Identification of a subassembly of Mark-1A driver-fuel elements was complicated by multiple failure of its untagged elements during the diagnosis period. Several of these elements had some exposed fuel in the core, which was the likely cause of increasing delayed-neutron signals from the subassembly.

Costs and benefits of various urban air pollution control policies have been examined in Phase 1 of the Environmental Pollutants and the Urban Economy study being conducted jointly by Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago. The need for sound economic evaluation of air quality regulations is evidenced by the resistance of many industries to pollution control policies based solely on the technical feasibility of achieving public health-related standards. For many firms that emit air pollutants, the cost of not complying with some regulations is significantly less than the cost of compliance. This final report on the Phase 1 research presents highlights of what has been learned, the mechanisms developed for transferring results to users, a bibliography of documents produced during the project, and a collection of correspondence, articles, and evaluation illuminating the use of project work by others.

Parameters and operating conditions (a stability map) were determined for which a specific slip-joint design did not cause self-excited lateral vibration of the two cantilevered, telescoping tubes forming the joint. The joint design featured a localized annular constriction. Flowrate, modal damping, tube engagement length, and eccentric positioning were among the parameters tested. Interestingly, all self-excited vibrations could be avoided by following a simple design rule: place constrictions only at the downstream end of the annular region between the tubes. Also, overall modal damping decreased with increased flowrate, at least initially, for upstream constrictions while the damping increased for downstream constrictions.

The mathematical software effort bridges the gap between the discovery of numerical algorithms and the consumption of numerical software. The spectrum of activities is surprisingly wide, including tasks often associated with numerical analysis, program design and testing, programming practices, language standards, documentation standards, software organization, distribution methods, and even the specification of arithmetic engines. This paper highlights the most important accomplishments in the field over the last twenty years. It also examines current problems and future challenges posed by the rapid advance of technology.

A set of programs, gathered from major Argonne computer users, was run on the current generation of supercomputers: the CRAY X-MP-4, Fujitsu VP-200, and Hitachi S-810/20. The results show that a single processor of a CRAY X-MP-4 is a consistently strong performer over a wide range of problems. The Fujitsu and Hitachi excel on highly vectorized programs and offer an attractive opportunity to sites with IBM-compatible computers.

As multiprocessors become commercially available, a great deal of concern is being focused on the problems involved in writing and debugging software for such machines. Earlier work described the use of monitors implemented by macro processors to attain portable code. This work formulates a general-purpose monitor which simplifies the programming of a wide class of numeric algorithms. We believe that the approach of describing a set of schedulable units of computation advocated by Brown offers a real simplification for the applications programmer. In this paper, we propose a straight-forward programming paradigm for describing schedulable units of computation that allows the description of many algorithms with very little effort.

A generic three-dimensional thermal model was developed for analyzing the thermal behavior of electric-vehicle batteries. The model calculates temperature distribution and excursion of a battery during discharge, change, and open circuit. The model takes into account the effects of heat generation, internal conduction and convection, and external heat dissipation on the temperature distribution in a battery. The three-dimensional feature of the model permits incorporation of various asymmetric boundary conditions; thus the effects of cell orientation and packaging on thermal behavior can be analyzed for a multiple-cell battery pack. Various modes of boundary heat transfer such as radiation, insulation, and natural and forced convections were also included in the model.

In this document we present the characteristics of the electromagnetic radiation from various types of sources on a 6-GeV storage ring. The sources include bending magnets, undulators and wigglers. The characteristics are compared with those of other synchrotron sources when operated at their design specifications. The influence of positron beam size on the brilliance is discussed, along with the power distribution from these sources. The goal of this document is to provide users with enough information on the behavior of radiation from a 6-GeV storage ring so that a dialogue can be established with the accelerator physicists and engineers to achieve an optimal design.

Quarterly report on activities of Argonne National Laboratory's Nuclear Technical Programs, including studies on nuclear fuels and nuclear waste.

Analytical expressions have been developed to estimate the average unavailability of an m-out-of-n (m/n, 1 less than or equal to m less than or equal to n less than or equal to 4) standby safety system of a nuclear power plant. The expressions take into account contributions made by testing, repair, equipment failure, human error, and different testing schemes. A computer code, ICARUS, has been written to incorporate these analytical equations. The code is capable of calculating the average unavailability, optimum test interval, and relative contributions of testing, repair, and random failures for any of three testing schemes. After verification of the methodology and coding in ICARUS, a typical auxiliary feed-water system of a nuclear power plant was analyzed. The results show that the failure modes associated with testing and true demands contribute considerably to the unavailability and that diesel generators are the most critical components contributing to the overall unavailability of the system.

The LIMBO (liquid metal boiling) code for the analysis of two-phase flow phenomena in an LMFBR reactor coolant channel is presented. The code uses a non-equilibrium, annular, two-phase flow model, which allows for slip between the phases. Furthermore, the model is intended to be valid for both quasi-steady boiling and rapid coolant voiding of the channel. The code was developed primarily for the prediction of, and the posttest analysis of, coolant-voiding behavior in the SLSF P-series in-pile safety test experiments. The program was conceived to be simple, efficient, and easy to use. It is particularly suited for parametric studies requiring many computer runs and for the evaluation of the effects of model or correlation changes that require modification of the computer program. The LIMBO code, of course, lacks the sophistication and model detail of the reactor safety codes, such as SAS, and is therefore intended to compliment these safety codes.

A mathematical model for the instability of tube rows subjected to crossflow is examined. The theoretical model, based on the fluid-force data for a pitch-to-diameter ratio of 1.33, provides additional insight into the instability phenomenon. Tests are also conducted for three sets of tube rows. The effects of mass ratio, tube pitch, damping, detuning and finned tubes are investigated. Theoretical results and experimental data are in good agreement.

A procedure is described for randomly generating positive definite quadratic programming test problems. The test problems are constructed in the form of linear least squares problems subject to linear constraints. The probability measure for the problems so generated is invariant under orthogonal transformations. The procedure allows the user to specify the size of the least squares problem (number of unknown parameters, number of observations, and number of constraints); the relative magnitude of the residuals; the condition number of the Hessian matrix of the objective function; and the structure of the feasible region (number of equality constraints and the number of inequalities which will be active at the feasible starting point and at the optimal solution). An example is given illustrating how these problems can be used to evaluate the performance of a software package.

Three liquid-based solar heating systems employing different types of solar collectors were tested side by side near Chicago, Illinois for one year. The three different types of collectors were: (1) a flat plate collector with a black-chrome coated absorber plate and one low-iron glass cover; (2) an evacuated-tube compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) with a concentration ratio of 1.1, oriented with tubes and troughs along a north-south axis; and (3) an evacuated-tube CPC collector with a concentration ratio of 1.3 and one low-iron glass cover, with tubes and troughs oriented along an east-west axis. Results indicate that the flat plate collector system was the most efficient during warm weather, but the CPC systems were more efficient during cold weather, but the CPC systems were more efficient during cold weather, and the CPC systems operated under conditions too adverse for the flat plate collector. The computer simulation model ANSIM was validated by means of the side-by-side tests. The model uses analytical solutions to the storage energy balance. ANSIM is compared with the general simulation TRNSYS.

Quarterly report on the activities of the Argonne National Laboratory Materials Science Division regarding studies on ceramic (refractory) and metallic materials presently being used or intended for use in coal-conversion processes. The program entails research in the fields of nondestructive testing and failure analysis, together with studies of erosive wear, corrosion, and refractory degradation.

Quarterly report discussing fuel cell research and development work at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). This report describes efforts directed toward (1) developing alternative concepts for components for molten carbonate fuel cells and (2) improving our understanding of component behavior.

The TOEPLITZ package is a collection of Fortran subroutines for the numerical solution of systems of linear equations with coefficient matrices of Toeplitz or circulant form. This report provides a description of the algorithms and software in the package and includes program listings.

When calculations of flux are done in less than three dimensions, bucklings are normally used to model leakages (flows) in the dimensions for which the flux is not calculated. If the net leakage for a given energy group is outward (positive), the buckling is positive, and buckling methods work well. However, if the new leakage for a given energy group is inward (negative), the buckling is negative and can lead to numerical instabilities (oscillations in the iterative flux calculation). This report discusses two equivalent non-buckling methods to model inward leakages. One method (the chi/sub g/ method) models these incoming neutrons by additional fission sources. The other method (the sigma/sub s/(1 --> g) method) models them by increased down-scatter sources. The derivation of the two methods is shown, and the flux spectra obtained by their use are compared with those obtained from two-dimensional (RZ) calculations.

This report describes a conjugate gradient preconditioning scheme for solving a certain system of equations which arises in the solution of a three dimensional partial differential equation. The problem involves solving systems of equations where the matrices are large, sparse, and non-symmetric.

A neutronic analysis has been made with respect to the ex-core neutron detector response during the TMI-2 incident. A series of transport theory calculations quantified the impact upon the detector count rate of various core and down-comer conditions. In particular, various combinations of coolant void content and spatial distributions were investigated to yield the resulting transmission of the photo-neutron source to the detector. The impact of a hypothetical distributed source within the down-comer region was also examined in order to simulate the potential effect of the release of neutron producing fission products into the coolant. These results are then offered as potential explanations for the anomalous behavior of the detector during the period of approx. 20 minutes through approx. 3 hours following the reactor scram.

The successful operation of D-T fusion reactors will depend on the development of safe and reliable tritium-containment and fuel-recycle systems. The tritium handling requirements for D-T reactors were analyzed. The reactor facility was then designed from the viewpoint of tritium management. Recovery scenarios after a tritium release were generated to show the relative importance of various scenarios. A fusion-reactor tritium facility was designed which would be appropriate for all types of plants from the Engineering Test Facility (ETF), the International Tokamak Reactor (INTOR), and the Fusion Engineering Device (FED) to the full-scale power plant epitomized by the STARFIRE design.

The general objective of the study is to perform a diversion analysis and an assessment of the available safeguards methods and systems for verifying inventory and flow of nuclear material in accessible and inaccessible areas of liquid-metal fast breeder reactor, LMFBR, systems. The study focuses primarily on the assembly-handling operations, assembly storage facilities, and reactor operations facilities relating to existing and/or near-term planned experimental, demonstration and prototypal reactor plants. The safeguards systems and methods presented are considered to be feasible for development and for implementation within the resource limitation of the IAEA and are considered to be consistent with the objectives, requirements, and constraints of the IAEA as outlined in the IAEA documents INFCIRC/153 and INFCIRC/66-Rev-2.

This report covers the processing and analysis of the fuel-bearing section (M-5138) of an irradiated experimental Light Water Breeder Reactor fuel rod, GRIP-II rod No. 79-453; this section has been designated the Validation Rod. Process steps included precision shearing of the rod into eight comminuted segments, dissolution of the segments, and chemical and radiometric analyses of the resulting solutions. The shearing and dissolution were carried out fully remotely in an existing pilot-scale facility installed in a shielded cell. Data are provided on physical parameters of the rod section and segments, uranium assays and isotopic abundances, and selected fission products. An error analysis of the individual measurements and analyses is included.

The program and 24 abstracts are given. The abstracts are divided into the following categories: structure and elastic properties, transport and electronic properties, magnetism and superconductivity, and phonons. The engineering of novel materials using sophisticated preparation techniques has received considerable attention in recent years. This interest has been mainly stimulated by recent developments in preparation techniques such as Molecular Beam Epitaxy, Thermal Vapor Deposition and Sputtering. These advances in deposition technology allow for the first time the preparation of layered materials with well defined layer thicknesses approaching interatomic spacing and opens up new avenues for the production and stabilization of materials that do not occur in nature. In addition to the extensive experimental work on artificial semiconductor superlattices there has been a parallel, almost independent, development relating to artificial metallic superlattices. Although the experimental sophistication of the field is considerable the development of major related theoretical ideas has not kept pace. In view of the large body of experimental work, a pressing need exists for the development of conceptual ideas relating to the novel physics that is created by artificially adding a new periodicity to the lattice. Because of this the Office of Naval Research is sponsoring the first "Workshop …