To minimize the radiological risk from the operation of a waste management system for the safe disposal of high-level waste, performance characteristics of the solidified waste form must be specified. The minimum waste form characteristics that must be specified are the radionuclide volatilization fraction, airborne particulate dispersion fraction, and the aqueous dissolution characteristics. The results indicate that the pre-emplacement environs are more limiting in establishing the waste form performance criteria than the post-emplacement environs. The actual values of expected risk are sensitive to modeling assumptions and data base uncertainties. The transportation step appears to be the most limiting in determining the required performance characteristics.

Phillips' objectives related to financing a geothermal development are: (1) to make a reasonable profit, (2) to keep risks in line with potential benefits, and (3) to operate in a free and open market. Each of these objectives is discussed briefly. (MHR)

Temporally resolved x-ray spectra in the range of 1 to 20 keV have been obtained from gold disk targets irradiated by 1.06 ..mu..m laser pulses from the Argus facility. The x-ray streak camera used for the measurement has been calibrated for streak speed and dynamic range by using an air-gap Fabry-Perot etalon, and the instrument response has been calibrated using a multi-range monoenergetic x-ray source. The experimental results indicate that we are able to observe the ''hot'' x-ray temperature evolve in time and that the experimentally observed values can be qualitatively predicted by LASNEX code computations when the inhibited transport model is used.

Two successful shock tube experiments were recently performed at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The experiments simulated the high enthalpy flow conditions that might arise in the nuclear blast encounter of a tunnel-based missile. The experiments, using a modified Voitenko high explosive generator, produced megabar pressure conditions at the inlet of the 2 cm-diameter air-filled shock tubes. Computer calculations have been done to model the 10/sup 5/-fold increase in air pressure in the Voitenko generator. These calculations are necessary to describe the source for the experiments and to permit better interpretation of the experimental data. A detailed understanding of the phenomenology of the compressor is also essential for optimization of future experiments, especially those involving scaling up to larger size shock tubes. An arbitrary Lagrange-Eulerian computer code was selected to calculate the late-time high explosive driven motion of a steel plate into the bell shaped compressor section. It was found that ordinary Lagrangian and Eulerian codes had difficulty in properly treating the steel-air interfaces, whereas an arbitrary Lagrange-Eulerian code was capable of modeling the complex flow of air past the steel interfaces in the compressor region. Using an improved equation of state for air, excellent agreement has been obtained in the …

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