Male germ cells respond dramatically to a variety of insults and are important reproductive dosimeters. Semen analyses are very useful in studies on the effects of drugs, chemicals, and environmental hazards on testicular function, male fertility and heritable germinal mutations. Sperm were analyzed by flow cytometry and slit-scan flow analysis for injury following the exposure of testes to mutagens. The utility of flow cytometry in genotoxin screening and monitoring of occupational exposure was evaluated. The technique proved valuable in separation of X- and Y-chromosome bearing sperm and the potential applicability of this technique in artificial insemination and a solution, of accurately assessing the DNA content of sperm were evaluated-with reference to determination of X- and Y-chromosome bearing sperm.

A blanket module concept for the central cell of a tandem mirror reactor is described which takes advantage of the excellent heat transfer and low pressure drop characteristics of tube banks in cross-flow. The blanket employs solid Li/sub 2/O as the tritium breeding material and helium as the coolant. The lithium oxide is contained in tubes arranged within the submodules as a two-pass, cross-flow heat exchanger. Primarily, the heat transfer and thermal-hydraulic aspects of the blanket design study are described in this paper. In particular, the analytical model used for selection of the best tube-bank design parameters is discussed in some detail.

This project was undertaken: (1) to establish manufacturing capability for a high-current, cryostable Nb/sub 3/Sn conductor for the mirror fusion program; (2) to evaluate the conductor design with regard to manufacturability, windability, and cryostability; and (3) to provide a facility for testing insert coils of up to 1 m outer diameter at approximately 12 T.

Fiber optic technology, motivated by communications and defense applications, has advanced significantly the past ten years. In particular, advances have been made in visible radiation transmission efficiency with concurrent reductions in fiber size, weight, and cost. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) coupled these advances in fiber optic technology with analytical fluorescence analysis to establish a new technology - remote fiber fluorimetry (RFF). Laser-based RFF offers the potential to measure and monitor from one central and remote laboratory, on-line, and in near real time, trace (ppM) to substantial (g/L) concentrations of selected chemical species in typical process, product, and waste streams. The fluorimeter consists of a fluorescence or Raman spectrometer; unique coupling optics that separates input excitation (laser) radiation from return (fluorescence) radiation; a fiber optic cable; and an optrode - a terminal that interfaces the fiber to the measurement point, which is designed to respond quantitatively to a particular chemical species. At LLNL, research is underway into optrodes that measure pressure, temperature, and pH and those that detect and quantify various actinides, sulfates, inorganic chloride, hydrogen sulfide, aldehydes, and alcohols.

This paper explores the impact of an HOL on the development of the distributed computer control system for Nova laser fusion facility. As the world's most powerful glass laser, Nova will generate 150 trillion watt pulses of infrared light focused onto fusion targets a few millimeters in diameter. It will perform experiments designed to explore the feasibility of fusion as an energy source of the future. Nova will utilize fifty microcomputers and four VAX-11/780's in a distributed process control computer system architecture.

Understanding of the behavior of oxide fuel and blanket pins during slow transients with ramps between 0.1 and 10%/s is of importance because of the higher likelihood of such operational transient events. Compared to faster transients for which a fair amount of knowledge exists through testing in TREAT, there is also some concern of whether the oxide pins are particularly vulnerable to slower transients. For these reasons, a cooperative program between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Japanese Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) was launched to conduct operational transient testing (OTT) on oxide pins in EBR-II. A total of eleven tests is included in this OTT program. The status of the five extended-overpower-transient tests on preirradiated EBR-II pins is the subject of this paper.

The past decade has witnessed a proliferation of new glass-forming compositions including oxides, halides, oxyhalides, and chalcogenides. Many of these glasses are applicable to lasers and have greatly expanded the range of optical properties and spectroscopic parameters available to the laser designer. Our knowledge and understanding of many properties of interest for laser action - transparency, linear and nonlinear refractive indices, and damage threshold of the host glass and the absorption spectrum, radiative and nonradiative transition probabilities, fluorescence wavelength, stimulated emission cross section, and spectroscopic inhomogeneities of the lasing ion Nd/sup 3 +/ - are reviewed.

Success of the thermal shield system was demonstrated by the results of acceptance tests performed with the magnet and all its ancillary equipment. During these tests the thermal shield system was: (1) thermally cycled several times from 300/sup 0/K to 77/sup 0/K; (2) pressure cycled several times from 0 to 5 atmospheres; (3) operated for more than 500 hours at 77/sup 0/K and in a vacuum environment of less than 10/sup -5/ torr; (4) operated in a magnetic field up to 6.0 Telsa; (5) exposed to a rapidly collapsing magnetic field of more than 250 gauss per second; (6) drained of all LN/sub 2/ in a few minutes, without any weld failures. The successful (and relatively problem free) operation of the magnet system validates the choice of the welding processes used, as well as their execution in both shop and field environments.

Many-body formulations of the equations of state are restated as a set of Saha-like equations. It is shown that the resulting equations are unique and convergent. These equations are similar to the usual Saha equations to the order of the Debye-Hueckel theory. Higher order corrections, however, require a more general formulation. It is demonstrated that the positive free energy resulting from the interaction of unscreened particles in high orbits depletes the occupation of these states, without the introduction of shifted energy levels.