Energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis (XRFA) can be used to measure nondestructively pure and mixed U/Pu concentrations in process streams and hold tank solutions. The 122-keV gamma ray from /sup 57/Co excites the actinide K x rays which are detected by a HPGe detector. A computer- and disk-based analyzer system provides capability for making on-stream analyses, and the noninvasive measurement is easily adapted directly to appropriate sized pipes used in a chemical reprocessing plant. Measurement times depend on concentration and purpose but vary from 100 to 500s for process control of strong to weak solutions. Accountability measurements require better accuracy thus more time; and for solutions containing plutonium, require a measurement of the solution radioactivity made with an automatic shutter that eclipses the two exciting sources. Plutonium isotopic abundances can also be obtained. Concentrations in single or dual element solutions from less than 1 g/l to over 200 g/l are determined to an accuracy of 0.2% after calibration of the system. For mixed solutions the unknown ratio of U to Pu is linearly related to the net U/Pu K x-ray intensities. Concentration values for ratios different than the calibration ratio require only small corrections to the values derived from a calibration …

The Folksam office building in Farsta, near Stockholm, has operated since December 1977 with an energy use for direct space heating of only 60 kWh/m/sup 2/ (19,000 Btu/ft/sup 2/), which is only half the Stockholm average for new buildings. To this 60 kWh/m/sup 2/ must be added the typical electric use of another 60 kWh/m/sup 2/ for lights, equipment, fans, etc. Even though Stockholm has 3580 deg-day (C), new Swedish buildings are so well insulated that their temperature floats upwards during most winter working days. In the Folksam building, this surplus heat from 40 full-occupied hours per week is stored in hollow-core concrete slabs, and then is used to compensate for the heat losses during the remaining 128 unoccupied hours. The energy transport/storage system necessary to keep the indoor temperature comfortable, summer and winter, is called Thermodeck, and is described in detail.

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The success of any Inertial Confinement Fusion system for the production of useful power depends critically on the production of suitable targets. This is true whether the arrangement is that proposed by Nuckolls et al. or some other arrangement. The target must have characteristics such as material composition, structure, and surface finish which are tailored to the laser pulse length, energy, peak and average power and pulse shape. To provide useful power on a continuous basis, it is likely that the repetition rate will be 1.0 to 10 per second. Thus, in a 24 hour running period 864,000 targets may be necessary and one must be placed at the focal point of the laser every tenth of a second. For economic operation it is necessary that the targets be produced at costs of less than $1.00 per target.

Measurements of the dilution of air contaminants between worker breathing zone and area air samplers were made by releasing a test aerosol in a workroom equipped with an aerosol surveillance system. The data were used to evaluate performance, and suggest improvements in design of the workroom's alarming air monitor system. It was found that a breathing zone concentration of 960 times the maximum permissible concentration in air (MPC/sub a/) for a half-hour was required to trigger alarms of the existing monitoring system under some release conditions. Alternative air monitor placement, suggested from dilution measurements, would reduce this average triggering concentration to 354 MPC/sub a/. Deployment of additional air monitors could further reduce the average triggering concentration to 241 MPC/sub a/. The relation between number of monitors and triggering concentration was studied. No significant decrease in average triggering concentration was noted for arrays containing greater than five monitors.

Quantitative estimates of charge exchange (CE) losses during acceleration are very important in the design and operation of heavy ion cyclotrons. Such estimates have been made using a vacuum model computer code which was developed to establish vacuum requirements for the MSU superconducting heavy ion cyclotron. This code uses pressure and cross-section data to calculate the radial loss of beam due to charge exchange. Since CE cross sections and radial pressure profiles are not always well known, certain specific measurements have been made using the LBL 88-Inch Cyclotron to provide experimental data needed to test the code. These include measurements of pressure versus radius under vacuum conditions closely approximating those existing during acceleration of /sup 14/N/sup 4 -/ and /sup 40/Ar/sup 8 -/ beams. Beam intensity versus radius data demonstrating transmission losses for three beams are presented. Comparisons with theoretical predictions are given.

The Field Reversed Mirror Reactor is composed of a horizontal linear chain of cells, each of which requires neutral beam injection. Blanket replacement is achieved by lifting one complete cell module from the reactor and replacing it with a preassembled and tested identical module. Ioffe bar connectors eliminate redundant bus bars. Asymmetric cell design simplifies magnet construction and reduces replacement time. A tapered cylindrical coolant distributor simplifies blanket removal. An evacuated housing surrounds the reactor reducing cell-to-cell sealing problems related to maintenance. Remote couplings are used for coolant and accessories. Hot-cell location and design permits immediate reconditioning or storage of replacement cells.

The nuclear design analysis and performance of the blanket for the Pu/sup 239/ producing standard mirror hybrid is discussed. The blanket is based on present day materials and technology. It is designed for peak power density and burnup in the uranium fuel of 500 W/cc and 3 atom percent. The blanket produces 2.0 Mg/yr of Pu-239 (net) from 400 MW fusion (D-T) and depleted uranium and has an average energy multiplication of 11.

A reactor based on this concept that produces 1000 MWe consists of a solenoidal magnet about 50 to 100 m long. A cylindrical blanket is used for energy recovery and tritium breeding. Thus the reactor itself is simple and of low technology. The end plugs, however, are of high technology, having the high magnetic fields needed to confine the high-pressure plasma and the high injection energy (0.6 to 1.2 MeV) needed to achieve good magnetic confinement. A low technology, compact, economical hybrid fusion-fission reactor results from injection in the central cell as well as the ends, provided a means can be found to stabilize the end plugs against microinstabilities, particularly in small sizes (plug radius divided by ion gyroradius less than or equal to 10). The Q value is 1.8 and the power is 500 MWe, with 1000 kG of /sup 233/U produced per year. If, on the other hand, the tandem is operated in the two-component mode (i.e., cold tritium plasma electrostatically contained into which a 100-200 keV D/sup 0/ beam is injected), then the end plugs can be stabilized by the outward flowing tritium plasma. Finally, we show that D-D burning tandem reactors appear feasible in large sizes …

Manganin stress gages have been fabricated and used successfully to study initiation and detonation of high explosives. These four-terminal, low-impedance gages have been specially designed and encapsulated to minimize the effects of various gage failure mechanisms. Several candidate dielectric encapsulation materials have been tested in the reactive environment, and of these polytetrafluoroethylene has been chosen. Gage stations are formed by thermally bonding the manganin foil between layers of this dielectric. Gages manufactured in this way have been used to provide stress profiles throughout the region of build-up to detonation in PBX-9404 and TATB.

Be/sup 10/ has long been of interest for cosmic ray propagation, because its radioactive decay half-life is well matched to the expected cosmic ray age. Recent beryllium isotope measurements from satellites and balloons have covered an energy range from about 30 to 300 MeV/nucleon/sup 1-3/. At the lowest energies, most of the Be/sup 10/ is absent, indicating a cosmic ray lifetime of order 2 x 10/sup 7/ years and the rather low average density of 0.2 atoms/cc traversed by the cosmic rays. At higher energies, a greater proportion of Be/sup 10/ is observed, indicating a somewhat shorter lifetime. These experiments will be reviewed and then compared with a new experiment covering from 100 to 1000 Mev/nucleon/sup 4/. Although improved experiments will be necessary to realize the full potential of cosmic ray beryllium isotope measurements, these first results are already disclosing interesting and unexpected facts about cosmic ray acceleration and propagation.

An improved annular centrifugal contactor has been developed for solvent extraction reprocessing of spent nuclear reactor fuel. The design is an extension of a contactor developed several years ago at Argonne National Laboratory. Its distinguishing features are high throughput, high stage efficiency and the ability to handle a broad range of aqueous-to-organic phase flow ratios and density ratios. Direct coupling of the mixing and separating rotor to a motorized spindle simplifies the design and makes the contactor particularly suitable for remote maintenance. A unit that is critically safe by geometry is under test and a larger unit is being fabricated. Multi-stage miniature contactors operating on the annular mixing principle are being used for laboratory flow sheet studies. 8 figures.

Experiments have been performed by LLL which indicate a definite density profile steepening. One possible mechanism for this effect is the ponderomotive force. LASNEX has been modified to include the light momentum deposition in the form rho dv/dt = -nabla P - nabla(radical epsilon + radical 1/epsilon) I/2c. Results will be presented from numerical simulations on spherical glass targets at laser intensities from 10/sup 14/ to 10/sup 16/ watts/cm/sup 2/. Emphasis is placed on the nature of the density profile near the critical region as a function of laser intensity and plasma conditions. The existence of this sharp step, whose scale length is of the order of a micrometer may imply a local reduction in the thermal conductivity.

A brief review is given of the quantum statistical theory of strongly coupled many component reacting plasmas. It is shown that three distinct renormalizations of the many component activity series are required to obtain an expansion, which can properly handle strongly coupled reacting plasmas, for all states of ionization when Z > 1. Compensation between bound and scattering state contributions to the partition function is shown to be an important consideration and leads automatically to a convergent internal partition function.

The first targets for the 20 TW SHIVA laser system were designed. They are simple glass micro-balloons, approximately 300 ..mu..m in diameter and 2 ..mu..m thick, filled with D-T gas. Using LASNEX, whose model physics was utilized successfully for ARGUS targets, we optimize for both gain and yield. The target behaves as an exploding pusher. Different simple analytic models for the physics of this mode are presented, and are tested by comparing their scaling predictions, at constant absorbed power, with those demonstrated by LASNEX. Emphasis is placed on successful prediction of the basic quantities of peak ion temperature and compression, rather than neutron yield or n tau.

Hazards analysis indicates that intact microballoons filled with D--T present only a negligible hazard. The ingestion of the microballoon is considered. The hazard associated with broken glass microballoons appears to be greater from the glass standpoint than from the tritium hazard. (MOW)

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Quantities and compositions of non-tritium radioactive waste are estimated for some current conceptual fusion reactor designs, and disposal of large amounts of radioactive waste appears necessary. Although the initial radioactivity of fusion reactor and fission reactor wastes are comparable, the radionuclides in fusion reactor wastes are less hazardous and have shorter half-lives. Areas requiring further research are discussed.

Use of the Livermore x-ray streak camera to temporally record x-ray pinhole images of laser compressed targets is described. Use is made of specially fabricated composite x-ray pinholes which are near diffraction limited for 6 A x-rays, but easily aligned with a He--Ne laser of 6328 A wavelength. With a 6 ..mu..m x-ray pinhole, the overall system can be aligned to 5 ..mu..m accuracy and provides implosion characteristics with space--time resolutions of approximately 6 ..mu..m and 15 psec. Acceptable criteria for pinhole alignment, requisite x-ray flux, and filter characteristics are discussed. Implosion characteristics are presented from our present experiments with 68 ..mu..m diameter glass microshell targets and 0.45 terawatt, 70 psec Nd laser pulses. Final implosion velocities in excess of 3 x 10/sup 7/ cm/sec are evident.

Acoustic emission monitoring was used in hydrostatic experiments on flawed pressure vessels and thermal shock experiments on flawed cylindrical specimens. The results of the experiments are discussed.

Four separate techniques for calibrating energy dispersive x-ray spectrometers are described. They include the use of (1) individual evaporated elemental thin-film standards, (2) nebulized multielement standard solution deposits to determine relative elemental sensitivity factors, (3) a semi-empirical approach to calculate relative elemental sensitivity factors, and (4) thick pure element disks. The first three techniques are applicable for a broad range of elements. The utilization of nebulized multielement standard solution deposits, along with an evaporated single element thin-film standard for absolute system calibration, is the most accurate method of the calibration techniques described.

A model for printed circuit boards which can be used to predict the probability that a router will successfully make a connection is presented. The model reflects certain characteristics of the circuit board that is being routed and the model incrementally changes as the board is routed. Routing procedures typically have certain parameters which influence selection of the set of paths that are explored, and determine the order of exploration. These parameters obviously influence the probability that a particular connection can be made. These parameters may also be used to formulate a model of the behavior of a particular routing procedure.

Results of the first 18 months' operation of Hanford's vacuum evaporator- crystallizer are reported. This process reduces the volume of radioactive waste solutions and simultaneously converts the waste to a less mobile salt cake. The evaporator-crystallizer is operating at better than design production rates and has reduced the volume of radioactive wastes by more than 15 million gallons. A process description, plant performance data, mechanical difficulties, and future operating plans are discussed. Also discussed is a computer model of the evaporator-crystallizer process. (auth)

A composite of experimental eH$sub 2$-D$sub 2$ phase-diagram data at the three-phase line is assembled from the literature. The phase diagram is a smooth cigar shape without a eutectic point, indicating complete miscibility of liquid and solid phases. Additional data are used to estimate the D$sub 2$-T$sub 2$, D$sub 2$-DT, and DT-T$sub 2$ binary phase diagrams. These are assembled into the ternary D$sub 2$-DT-T$sub 2$ phase diagram. A surface representing the chemical equilibrium of the three species is added to the phase diagram. At chemical equilibrium, it is estimated that 50-50 liquid D-T at 19.7 K is in equilibrium with 42 mole percent T vapor and 54 percent T solid. Infrared spectroscopy is suggested as a means of component analysis of liquid and solid mixtures. (auth)