This paper describes an invention of a pressure measuring instrument which uses laser radiation to sense the pressure in an enclosed environment by means of measuring the change in refractive index of a gas - which is pressure dependent.

Electrorefining has been used in processes for recovering uranium and plutonium metals from spent nuclear fuel. The electrorefining is performed in an electrochemical cell in which the chopped fuel elements from the reactor forms the anode, the electrolyte, preferably, is the fused eutectic salt of the LiCl-KCl which contain UCl{sub 3} and PuCl{sub 3}. Purified metal collected at the cathode collects at the bottom of the cell. This invention provides a method for removing lithium oxide from the electrolyte salt, with the end formation of a solid lithium-aluminium alloy.

This report discusses the design of a solid electrolytic capacitor having a solid electrolyte comprised of manganese dioxide dispersed in an aromatic polyamide capable of to forming polyimide linkages. This solid electrolyte being disposed between a first electrode made of valve metal covered by an anodic oxide film and a second electrode opposite the first electrode. The electrolyte autogenously produces water, oxygen, and hydroxyl groups which act as healing substances and is not itself produced pyrolytically. Reduction of the manganese dioxide and the water molecules released by formation of imide linkages result in substantially improved self-healing of anodic dielectric layer defects.

This invention relates to a process for making filaments of metal compounds and more particularly to a process for making silver metal filaments. The United States Government has rights to this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC05-8421400 with Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. awarded by the US Department of Energy.

A method for preparing an acid catalyst with a long shelf-life is described. Crystalline iron oxides are doped with lattice compatible metals which are heated with halogen compounds at elevated temperatures.

This paper describes an off-gas system for the removal of radioactive particulates from a melter for the vitrification of radioactive wastes to form glass waste forms. A diagram is provided.

A drill rig for drilling in potentially hazardous areas includes a drill having conventional features such as a frame, a gear motor, gear box, and a drive. A hollow rotating shaft projects through the drive and frame. An auger, connected to the shaft is provided with a multiplicity of holes. An inert gas is supplied to the hollow shaft and directed from the rotating shaft to the holes in the auger. The inert gas flows down the hollow shaft, and then down the hollow auger, and out through the holes in the bottom of the auger into the potentially hazardous area.

A very large (10's of meters) aperture space telescope including two separate spacecraft--an optical primary functioning as a magnifying glass and an optical secondary functioning as an eyepiece. The spacecraft are spaced up to several kilometers apart with the eyepiece directly behind the magnifying glass ''aiming'' at an intended target with their relative orientation determining the optical axis of the telescope and hence the targets being observed. The magnifying glass includes a very large-aperture, very-thin-membrane, diffractive lens, e.g., a Fresnel lens, which intercepts incoming light over its full aperture and focuses it towards the eyepiece. The eyepiece has a much smaller, meter-scale aperture and is designed to move along the focal surface of the magnifying glass, gathering up the incoming light and converting it to high quality images. The positions of the two space craft are controlled both to maintain a good optical focus and to point at desired targets.

This paper describes a process for the separation of catalysts used in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The separation is accomplished by extraction in which the organic compounds in the wax are dissolved and carried away from the insoluble inorganic catalyst particles that are primarily inorganic. The purified catalyst can be upgraded by various methods.

The present invention relates generally to an integrated fuel cell power plant, and more specifically to a combination of cycles wherein a first fuel cell cycle tops an indirect-fired gas turbine cycle and a second fuel cell cycle bottoms the gas turbine cycle so that the cycles are thermally integrated in a tandem operating arrangement. The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to the employer-employee relationship between the United States Department of Energy and the inventors.

A free electron laser amplifier provides a scalloping annular electron beam that interacts with the axial electric field of a T{sub 0n} mode. A waveguide defines an axial centerline and . A solenoid arranged about the waveguide produces an axial constant magnetic field within the waveguide. An electron beam source outputs a annular electron beam that interacts with the axial magnetic field to have an equilibrium radius and a ripple radius component having a variable radius with a ripple period along the axial centerline. An rf source outputs an axial electric field that propagates within the waveguide coaxial with the electron beam and has a radial mode that interacts at the electron beam at the equilibrium radius component of the electron beam.