Each paper in the volume has been separately abstracted and indexed. (DG)

A method of digital image processing is described which can be used to improve the quality of radiographic images. An image is modeled as the sum of background information, details of interest, and noise. The background is then modified in order to enhance the details. 5 figures.

Some recently discovered regularities in the spectra of heavy elements which are also applicable to the analysis of the spectra of lighter atoms are described. It is pointed out that stepwise resonant multiphoton methods are irreplaceable tools in the study of high lying states in a complex atomic system. Systematic applications of these methods has permitted regularities to be observed which also hold for the lighter elements. It is noted that greatly increased understanding of the excited state structure of heavy atoms is not possible. 8 references. (JFP)

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An X-Ray Calibration and Standards Laboratory has been established at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory to provide x-ray calibrations of various types of x-ray diagnostic equipment presently being utilized. This Laboratory is the outgrowth of many years of involvement in the development of x-ray generation and calibration equipment. X-ray calibrations in a steady state mode are available from 100 eV to 100 keV. Pulsed response and linearity studies as well as radiation damage studies can also be performed. A crystal fabrication, characterization and calibration facility is an integral part of the Laboratory. A general discussion of various equipment and capabilities within the Laboratory is presented.

Tests were conducted in samples of polystyrene to study the effects of detonation delay on explosively induced fracturing. Two explosive charges in separate emplacement holes were fired at several choices of delay. The effect of free surfaces was minimized to make the experiments a study of blast-induced fracturing in a confined mode, i.e., deeply buried. All fractures formed on radial planes with respect to the emplacement holes. Simultaneous firing connected emplacement holes and produced fractures strongly oriented in the plane of the holes. Delayed firings in the second hole tended to suppress fracturing in the general direction of the first shot hole but to enhance fracturing away from the first hole. The effect was most dramatic in the ''medium'' delay firings; i.e., where the delay time was comparable to the dilatational wave transit time between holes. Using total surface area of cracks as a measure of damage, it was found that no choice of delay, including zero delay, could enhance the per-hole damage above that produced by an isolated shot. For medium delays, in fact, the total damage was measurably reduced.

A tissue-equivalent human-torso phantom has been constructed for calibration of the counting systems used for in-vivo measurement of transuranic nuclides. The phantom contains a human male rib cage, removable model organs, and includes tissue-equivalent chest plates that can be placed over the torso to simulate people with a wide range of statures. The organs included are lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, spleen, and tracheo-bronchial lymph nodes. Polyurethane with different concentrations of calcium carbonate was used to simulate the linear photon-attenuation properties of various human tissues--lean muscle, adipose-muscle mixtures, and cartilage. Foamed polyurethane with calcium carbonate simulates lung tissue. Transuranic isotopes can be incorporated uniformly in the phantom's lungs and other polyurethane-based organs by dissolution of the nitrate form in acetone with lanthanum nitrate carrier. Organs have now been labelled with highly pure /sup 238/Pu, /sup 239/Pu, and /sup 241/Am for calibration measurements. This phantom is the first of three that will be used in a U.S. Department of Energy program of intercomparisons involving more than ten laboratories. The results of the intercomparison will allow participating laboratories to prepare sets of transmission curves that can be used to predict the performance of their counting systems for a wide range of subject builds …

We are investigating a retropulse shutter to protect fusion lasers from target reflected light. It is required to project a plasma of 10/sup 21//cm/sup 3/ across a vacuum spatial filter pinhole with a velocity of at least 2 cm/..mu..s. The plasma is produced from a foil which is resistively heated to sublimation, superheated, and magnetically driven across the optical beam path. This paper describes these plasma production processes. A technique has been developed to couple the drive circuit to the foil to enhance the plasma velocity. A nozzle controls the solid angle into which the plasma is projected. Using diagnostics of circuit monitors, witness plates, Faraday cups, streak camera, and probe lasers, we determine the space-time evolution of the plasma. Using a self consistent numerical model, we analyze the plasma behavior. With these methods, we correlate and contrast data and numerical results for two specific cases in which the foil sublimes at or well before the current maximum.

The purpose of the ESCAR (Experimental Superconducting Accelerator Ring) project, now under way at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, is to gather data and experience in the design and operation of a relatively small synchrotron employing superconducting magnets. Such data are essential to ensure that the design of future large accelerators may proceed in a knowledgeable and responsible manner. One of the many engineering problems associated with a superconducting magnet is the design of the coil suspension system. The coil, maintained at the temperature of liquid helium, must be held rigidly by a structure that does not conduct too much heat into the liquid helium system. The suspension system used on the ESCAR magnets is described. Topics covered include the coil support system requirements, ESCAR magnet support system, and operating experience.

The strain degradation of critical current density has been analytically and experimentally investigated for multifilamentary superconducting composites produced in a bronze core geometry. Analytic results were obtained from a computer program (MAXIMSUPER) which predicts the stresses and strains in composites as a result of thermal and axial loading. Tensile test data for Nb/sub 3/Sn are described. It is believed that the strain dependence of the critical current found in Nb/sub 3/Sn is due to strain enhanced martensitic transformation.

Computer modeling of wave propagation in porous rock has several important applications. Among them are prediction of fragmentation and permeability changes to be caused by chemical explosions used for in situ resource recovery, and the understanding of nuclear explosion effects such as seismic wave generation, containment, and site hardness. Of interest in all these applications are the distance from the source to which inelastic effects persist and the amount of porosity change within the inelastic region. In order to study phenomena related to these applications, the Cam Clay family of models developed at Cambridge University was used to develop a similar model that is applicable to wave propagation in porous rock. That model was incorporated into a finite-difference wave propagation computer code SOC. 10 figures, 1 table. (RWR)

The work described in this paper is part of a leaching study being conducted for the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory's Waste Isolation Safety Assessment Program. Simulated high-level reactor waste glass was leached with three solutions, one of which was a saturated-salt brine. Because chemical separation of Np and Pu using organic extraction or anionic exchange is not effective for the brine samples, a procedure has been developed to first separate neptunium and plutonium from high concentrations of brine before proceeding with an extraction of neptunium from plutonium. Samples were equilibrated with tracers, Np and Pu were co-precipitated with La(OH)/sub 3/, and interfering ions were removed by washing the hydroxide precipitate with water. Pu and Np were separated by reducing Pu to Pu/sup 3 +/ and extracting the Np/sup 4 +/ into thenoyltrifluoroacetone; control of oxidation states and contaminant concentration is critical.

Placing an upper bound on reservoir compaction requires placing a lower bound on the reservoir effective compaction modulus. Porosity-depth data can be used to find that lower-bound modulus in a young sedimentary basin. Well-log and sample porosity data from a geothermal field in the Imperial Valley, CA, give a lower-bound modulus of 7.7 x 10{sup 3} psi. This modulus is used with pressure drops calculated for a reservoir to determine an upper bound on reservoir compaction. The effects of partial reinjection and aquifer leakage on upper-bound subsidence estimated from the compaction are illustrated for a hypothetical reservoir and well array.

Although the overall aim of radiobiology is to understand the biological effects of radiation, it also has the implied practical purpose of developing rational measures for the control of radiation exposure in man. The emphasis in this presentation is to show that the enormous effort expended over the years to develop quantitative dose-effect relationships in biochemical and cellular systems, animals, and human beings now seems to be paying off. The pieces appear to be falling into place, and a framework is evolving to utilize these data. Specifically, quantitative risk assessments will be discussed in terms of the cellular, animal, and human data on which they are based; their use in the development of radiation protection standards; and their present and potential impact and meaning in relation to the quantity dose equivalent and its special unit, the rem.

Four features of the thermal control plans for the Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) magnet are described. First, the proposed cooldown and warmup schedules for MFTF and the procedure for regenerating external cooling surfaces is outlined. Then the design of an external quench resistor, based on an estimate of the superconductor's maximum temperature, is discussed. A computer model of liquid helium circulation used to aid in choosing pipe for the LHe lines is explained.

Practical systems for beam direct conversion are required to recover the energy from ion beams at high efficiency and at very high beam power densities in the environment of a high-power, neutral-injection system. Such an experiment is now in progress using a 120-kV beam with a maximum total current of 20 A. After neutralization, the H/sup +/ component to be recovered will have a power of approximately 1 MW. A system testing these concepts has been designed and tested at 15 kV, 2 kW in preparation for the full-power tests. The engineering problems involved in the full-power tests affect electron suppression, gas pumping, voltage holding, diagnostics, and measurement conditions. Planning for future experiments at higher power includes the use of cryopumping and electron suppression by a magnetic field rather than by an electrostatic field. Beam direct conversion for large fusion experiments and reactors will save millions of dollars in the cost of power supplies and electricity and will dispose of the charged beam under conditions that may not be possible by other techniques.

A heavy ion beam traversing a gas-filled reactor is stripped of its electrons along its path. The propagation of the stripping beam with possible associated instabilities has been investigated.

Determination of the parameters Z/sub eff/, electrical conductivity, plasma density, and the plasma temperature is essential in the study of heavy ion beam transport in gas. The calculation of these parameters require input from atomic physics. This note is an attempt to make these needs known to atomic physicists.

The requirements for a heavy-ion demonstration experiment to achieve useful electric power generation through inertial confinement fusion are discussed. (MOW)

The integration of two concepts important to fusion power reactors is discussed. The first concept is the vacuum building which improves upon the current fusion reactor designs. The second concept, the use of the cassette blanket within the vacuum building environment, introduces four major improvements in blanket design: cassette blanket module, zoning concept, rectangular blanket concept, and internal tritium recovery. (MHR)

The new Tandem Mirror Experiment (TMX) facility at LLL requires that neutral beams operate for pulse lengths between 25 and 100 ms. The inevitable increase in cost over the present 12-ms pulse length capability dictated that a more economical alternative to the pulse forming networks and the transformer-type arc filament power supplies currently in use be found. A study of the various alternatives and design requirements revealed that battery banks are the most economical alternative. The thermionic arc filaments have relatively simple power-supply requirements in terms of control and regulation. The battery arc filament power supply controls and electromechanical hardware heat the filaments to provide the electrons which produce the plasma. Component testing revealed problems that must be addressed in the finished production design. The battery arc power supply poses a difficult set of requirements for current control. The TMX requires current control accuracy of +-1.0 percent and rise/fall times of 50 ..mu..s. These requirements are met with a novel thyristor switching circuit. The features of the four-section battery bank design, capable of a total of 4000 A at 58 V dc, are detailed. Control hardware compatible with the current generation of pulse-forming network hardware has been developed. The cost …

The LASNEX computer code was developed to study the many interrelated physical processes important in the effort to achieve laser initiated fusion. It has been used to calculate the results of numerous laser plasma experiments and to design targets and determine desirable laser pulse characteristics for future experiments. Some processes, such as hydrodynamics, are well formulated in fundamental equations and can be solved with high accuracy by sophisticated numerical methods. Other processes, such as laser absorption and electron transport, are less well understood and do not, in general, warrant the use of highly accurate techniques. Numerical models were chosen that adequately represent each physical process, keeping in mind its inherent uncertainties, the importance of the process to the overall calculation, and its effect on the determination of experimental observables.

The major attractions of the pulsed drift-tubes are that they are non-resonant structures and that they appear suitable for accelerating a very high current bunch at low energies. The mechanical tolerances of the non-resonant structure are very loose and the cost per meter should be low; the cost of the transport system is expected to be the major cost. The pulse power modulators used to drive the drift-tubes are inexpensive compared to r.f. sources with equivalent peak-power. The longitudinal emittance of the beam emerging from the structure could be extremely low.

This paper discusses an analysis of the heat transfer phenomena in the bench-scale experiments being carried out in the Stanford Geothermal Program. The basis of this analysis was a series of simplified mathematical models of heat and mass transport in fine-grained porous media. The analysis determined that the thermal capacity of the coreholder system caused heat losses from the core which were not steady at early and medium times. This phenomenon had not been recognized previously. This was in spite of the fact that various authors previously had attempted to match the experimental behavior under discussion with their sophisticated computer models. These computer models did not account for the transient nature of the heat losses from the core. 8 refs., 3 figs.