Article regarding news from Langston University and announcing the inclusion of Zella Patterson in the list of personalities of the South.

Abstract: "Present methods of determining pond volume are time-consuming and laborious. This paper describes a simple, rapid method for determining water volume in ponds by measuring the change in chloride concentration caused by the addition of a known weight of salt. Mean volume estimates derived by this method were not significantly different (F-test; 0.01 level) from those obtained by multiplying surface area by mean depth or measuring the flow rate through fill pipes."

The effects of 0.10 M Cu/sup 2 +/, Hg/sup 2 +/, Zn/sup 2 +/, La/sup 3 +/, Ce/sup 3 +/, Al/sup 3 +/, Th/sup 4 +/,Zr/sup 4 +/, Cr/sup 3 +/, and Fe/sup 3 +/ on PuO/sub 2/ dissolution in 8.0M HNO/sub 3/--0.1M HF were investigated. Except for Cr/sup 3 +/ and Fe/sup 3 +/, the amount of Pu dissolved in 1 hour can be predicted by either log C(Pu) = -0.32 log K/sub F/ - 1.53 (K/sub F/ = first stability constant for the impurity metal fluoride complex) or log C(Pu) = -0.5 Z/sup 2//d-1.11 (Z = ionic charge of impurity cation, d = sum of impurity cation and fluoride ionic radii in angstroms) (DLC)

When an electrostatic tandem accelerator is used primarily for heavy ion acceleration, numerous communication channels with the high voltage terminal are desirable. The ANL FN tandem operates at a tank pressure of 100 psi SF/sub 6/ at terminal voltages up to 9.5 MeV. A low powered He-Ne laser with 15 percent modulation has been successfully tested in the terminal under normal operating conditions. Such a system allows the transmission of information without the use of light guides. Multistranded light guides did not withstand voltage gradients as low as 0.4 MV/m. Single core light guides with a diameter of 0.5 mm have been successfully operated at voltage gradients in excess of 1.7 MV/m. In addition to the laser a microprocessor has also been tested in the tandem terminal. With suitable protection, an 8080 microprocessor and a programmable ROM operated successfully for several weeks under normal operating conditions.

Conservation of water at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) has been accomplished by recirculating evaporative cooling waters. Because of high silica concentration (80 mg/l) in Los Alamos groundwater, the concentration of recirculating water must be carefully controlled to prevent scaling. The most troublesome scale at Los Alamos has been identified as colloidal silica bound in a crystalline matrix of calcium carbonate. Several approaches to controlling this scale are: (1) chemical treatment using a chelate, sequestrant, or threshold approach, (2) softening, or (3) pH control. Silica alone will form deposits when supersaturated. In LASL systems, where silica concentrations are 200 to 240 mg/l, no problems have been observed. However, there is evidence that deposits are forming at slightly higher concentrations. These amorphous silica deposits are not as hard and tenacious as the calcium carbonate--silica scale. Complete external treatment, which combines silica removal and water softening, may be an economically competitive process for scale control. The advantages of slightly reducing the quantity of makeup water and drastically reducing the amount of blowdown water have environmental and conservation implications that may encourage the selection of complete treatment.

A V-10 wt % Ti alloy was irradiated with 2.7 MeV /sup 51/V/sup +/ at 650/sup 0/C to doses of 2 to 60 dpa. No void swelling was observed at any dose. The irradiation resulted in an enhancement of a precipitation process similar to that observed in unirradiated materials. The precipitates in irradiated specimens were found to have the NaCl-type cubic crystal structure with a lattice parameter of TiO. The orientation relationship between the matrix and the precipitates was the same as that observed under thermal equilibrium conditions in unirradiated materials.

The high-temperature diametral expansion and rupture behavior of Zircaloy-4 fuel-cladding tubes have been investigated in vacuum and steam environments under transient-heating conditions that are of interest in hypothetical loss-of-coolant accident situations in light-water reactors. The effects of internal pressure, heating rate, axial constraint, and localized temperature nonuniformities in the cladding on the maximum circumferential strain have been determined for burst temperatures between approximately 650 and 1350/sup 0/C.

Three-dimensional radiography with thermal neutrons is described. The laminagraphic method is shown to provide a spatial resolution better than 1 mm for complex objects as thick as 50 mm.

The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory is a large, multidisciplined research laboratory, operated by the University of California for the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. An interactive graphic system was developed to integrate design, drafting, testing, analysis, and manufacturing to achieve efficient and effective laboratory-wide services. To accomplish this, the graphic system is hardware independent, and has an associative data base structured on two- and three-dimensional, bounded geometry. The data base allows for levels of attributes that can be attached or deleted and interrogated. This graphic system is described, with emphasis on the efficiencies of graphics and the effect of the associative data base on the ''design--build--test'' cycle. The capability of attaching attributes is explored as the means of bridging the CAD/CAM gap.

A summary is given of the atomic physics concerned with plasma cooling by impurities and the limiting effect that impurities may have on heating of plasmas by neutral injection. A general description is given of the tokamak concept and the present and next generation experiments are described. The time and spatial behavior of O and Mo multicharged ions in present hydrogen plasmas is presented. This is followed by a discussion of the power loss from a plasma containing one percent Fe. Finally, the limitation of plasma heating by energetic H or D injection is summarized. (MOW)

This paper summarizes results of the Los Alamos theta-pinch program in three areas of investigation. (1) In the Staged Theta Pinch results are reported on the effects of magnetic field amplitude and time history of plasma formation. (2) In the Implosion Heating Experiment density, internal-magnetic-field and neutron measurements yield a consistent picture of the implosion which agrees with kinetic computations and with a simple dynamic model of the ions and magnetic piston. (3) In the Scyllac Feedback-Sector Experiment the l = 1, 0 equilibrium plasma parameters have been adjusted to accommodate the feedback stabilization system. With a uniform toroidal discharge tube the m = 1 instability is feedback-stabilized in the vertical direction, and confinement in the toroidal direction is extended by feedback control. We also report results with a helical discharge tube.

Current design of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor (CRBR) calls for the at-power flux monitors to be located outside the reactor vessel some 330 cm from the center of the core. This design uses these same detectors for the monitoring of refueling operations and the subsequent approach to power. Although adequate for at-power operation, these monitors could prove marginal in the shutdown mode (so called low level flux monitors). A series of experiments are to be performed on the CRBR engineering mockup (ZPPR-5) to test the ex-vessel monitors. The matrix design limits the distance from the core center to the detector position to approximately 200 cm. Hence, the full 330 cm from the core center to the LLFM can not be mocked up in the ZPPR-5 assembly. An attempt was made to design a spectral modifier which would result in the same source and absorber detector response as found in the CRBR design. This was accomplished using the source and adjoint fluxes obtained from a one-dimensional ANISN calculation. The results of examinations of several materials are presented.

A summary is given of theoretical results concerning line-shape in the presence of non-stationary perturbations, and of the polarization of radiation emitted by a nucleus influenced by time-dependent fields.

Methods are described for monitoring work areas for the presence of primary amines and chemicals readily transformable to primary amines that are potentially carcinogenic. Chemical spot tests for surface monitoring are described and their capabilities and limitations are discussed for monitoring work areas, equipment, and respirators after use in hazardous environments. Methods for work area and personnel decontamination are also described. A list of cancer-suspect amines is included. (CH)

Data are presented that describe the variability of 15 products of a reference heat of type 304 stainless steel tested in the laboratory reannealed condition: chemistry hardness, grain size, yield strength at room temperature, tensile curves at 593/sup 0/C (1100/sup 0/F), and creep-rupture curves to 1000 h at 593/sup 0/C (1100/sup 0/F). The standard deviation, representing the variation in the yield strength of the 15 products about the average, is near+-l.7 MPa at room temperature and +-6.3 MPa at 593/sup 0/C (1100/sup 0/F). The 1000-h rupture strength varies by 2.5 percent (approximately +-6.2 MPa) from the average and the stress to produce a minimum creep rate of 0.01 percent/h by 3.0 percent (approximately +-5.0 MPa). Variation of strength in the primary creep range is also examined. It is observed that the 25-mm plate is fairly representative of the product average. Reasons for variability are examined: carbon content, nitrogen content, grain size, temperature control, and extensometer performance. 7 tables, 5 figures.

During the past 25 years, a rather rapid evolution has taken place in the design and use of prestressed concrete reactor vessels (PCRVs). Initially the concrete vessel served as a one-to-one replacement for its steel counterpart. This was followed by the development of the integral design which led eventually to the more recent multicavity vessel concept. Although this evolution has seen problems in construction and operation, a state-of-the-art review which was recently conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory indicated that the PCRV has proven to be a satisfactory and inherently safe type of vessel for containment of gas-cooled reactors from a purely functional standpoint. However, functionalism is not the only consideration in a demanding and highly competitive industry. A summary is presented of the important considerations in the design and analysis of multicavity PCRVs together with overall conclusions concerning the state of the art of these vessels.

The drilling of wells comprises a large fraction of the costs of geothermal energy-extraction plants, and billions of dollars for wells will be needed before geothermal energy is nationally significant. Technical and cost studies were made of the application of the Subterrene concept, i.e., excavating and penetrating rocks or soils by melting, to deep wells such as may be used for dry-hot-rock or geopressure geothermal energy extraction systems. Technically, it was found that Subterrene requirements are compatible with those of current rotary drilling practices. Certain features of the rock-melting concept such as the glass lining on the borehole wall, and nonrotation, provide opportunities for the development of better well production techniques in hot wells. A typical optimum-cost well would be rotary-drilled in the upper regions and then rock-melted to total depth. Indicated cost-savings are significant: a 33 percent or 4.5 million dollars reduction from rotary drilled well costs are estimated for a 10 km depth well with bottom hole temperatures of 673 K. Even for normal geothermal gradient conditions, the savings for the 10 km depth is estimated as 23 percent or 2 million dollars.

An effective quality assurance program for the chemical analysis of nuclear fuel is essential to assure that the fuel will meet the strict chemical specifications required for optimum reactor performance. Such a program has been in operation since 1972 for the fuels manufactured for the Fast Flux Test Facility. This program, through the use of common quality control and calibration standards, has consistently provided high levels of agreement among laboratories in all areas of analysis. The paper presented gives a summary of the chemical specifications for the fuel and source material, an outline of the requirements for laboratory qualifications and the preparation of calibration and quality control materials, general administration details of the plan, and examples where the program has been useful in solving laboratory problems.

Queueing network models of computing systems are becoming increasingly popular because of their robustness and ease of solution. The impact of resource request patterning upon these models is presently not well understood. This paper proves the counter-intuitive fact that the effect of both holding time and routing patterning upon the performance measures for the important class of local balance models is nil. A study of a larger class of models, over a parameter space typical of models of computing systems, reveals that the impact of patterning of resource requests upon performance measures is negligible. This conclusion has important consequences for understanding the robustness of queueing network models of computing systems and for the level of detail necessary for accurate workload characterization. The practical consequences of this result to performance analysis of computing systems are considered. 4 figures, 5 tables.

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Uniaxial creep-rupture data have been obtained for Type 304 stainless steel in the solution-annealed condition and after exposure to a flowing sodium environment at temperatures of 700, 650, and 600/sup 0/C.The specimens were exposed to sodium for time periods between 120 and 5012 h to produce carbon penetration depths of approximately 0.010, 0.020, and 0.038 cm in the steel. Results showed that, as the depth of carbon penetration and the average carbon concentration in the steel increase, the rupture life increases and the minimum creep rate decreases. Creep correlations that relate rupture life, minimum creep rate, and time-to-tertiary creep were developed for the steel in both the solution-annealed and sodium-exposed conditions. Isochronous stress-creep strain curves and results on the calculations of the stress levels for 1 percent creep strain and long-term rupture life are also presented. 11 fig.

A technique was developed to measure velocities of thin plastic plates as a continuum with a streak camera at 20 mm/..mu.. s and 8.4X magnification. The plastic plates are bonded to an exploding foil with a transparent cylindrical barrel located over the exploding foil/plastic plate laminate on the side of the plastic plate. When the foil is exploded, a plastic plate is torn from the laminate and accelerated through the barrel. The velocity, acceleration, and displacement of 76-..mu.. m thick plastic plates moving through a 1 mm diameter barrel 1.5 mm long is recorded on the streak camera. Velocities to 4 mm/..mu.. s have been recorded. The actual streak record of the flying plates is recorded when the slit of the streak camera is parallel to the axis of the barrel cylinder. The barrel is backlighted with an exploding wire synchronized to function with the event under test. This method provides a shadowgraph record of the flying plate. The streak camera records the advancement of the plate through the barrel which is analogous to the plate velocity. The instantaneous velocity at that particular point is determined by V = W/sub s//(m tan THETA), where V = velocity in mm/..mu.. s, …

A well known property of phase controlled rectifiers with pulsed inductive loads is the ability to advance firing angles from full rectification (positive voltage) to full inversion (negative voltage). Though these properties have been effectively used in the Main Ring power supplies, they have not been extensively utilized for beam line magnet power supplies. Modifications to permit advancing phase angle sufficiently to permit inversion were made on TransRex 500 kW power supplies and Ling 55 kW power supplies. The objective of these modifications was to rapidly reduce the current in magnet loads to zero upon command. The modifications required and the performance of the power supplies are discussed.

Radiation protection/shielding design of a nuclear facility requires a coordinated effort of many engineering disciplines to meet the requirements imposed by regulations. The system approach to Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant (CRBRP) radiation protection is described, and the program developed to implement this approach is defined. In addition, the principal shielding design problems for LMFBR nuclear reactor systems are discussed in relation to LWR nuclear reactor system shielding designs. The methodology used to analyze these problems in the U.S. LMFBR program, the resultant design solutions, and the experimental verification of these designs and/or methods are discussed.