A workshop was convened to assist DOE's Technology Assessment Division in evaluating the need to prepare additional environmental- and social-impact assessments of different energy-conservation measures. Attendees participated in a decision-making exercise designed to rank 19 different energy-conservation measures according to their overall potential for achieving important national goals and their ease of implementation. The participants felt that the most-important ranking criteria dealt with questions concerning feasibility (economic, political/institutional, social, and technical) and economic efficiency. Other criteria, such as environmental quality and occupational health and safety received lower weights; possibly because of the widespread belief that most of the conservation measures presented would be environmentally beneficial. In the participants' view, the most-promising and feasible conservation measures include new-building-performance standards, retrofit of existing housing stock, new-appliance-performance standards and increased use of smaller cars. In contrast, conservation options which ranked rather low, such as diesel engines, coal-fired aluminum remelt furnaces, and cupola furnace modifications were expected to have some harmful environmental and health impacts. Most of these impacts are expected to be highly localized and of lesser national concern. Disagreement exists as to the efficacy of funding those projects deemed highly desirable and feasible versus those which are expected to have the greater …

An engineering study was made to formulate a conceptual design for a multielement arc-type electrical switch system for switching 50,000-amp, 100-nsec or less pulses from a 50,000-v source at up to 1000 ppS. The switch is to have a lifetime of at least 5 x 10/sup 8/ pulse MTBF, litter time less than 10 nsec, closure time of less than 20 nsec, and 10 nh or less inductance. An offset midplane triggered spark gap (TSG) with ultraviolet (uv) preionization and forced air was selected as the most suitable switch for this application. Many but not all of the requirements of a full scale switch system were demonstrated in a 2-TSG subsystem. The requirements of current, pulse duration, frequency, lifetime, jitter, and inductance were equal to or better than needed; however, the TSG's were not operated above 36,000 v, mainly because of voltage limitations in the trigger switch. The TSG's were rated at only 35,000 v and were not holding off enough voltage in relation to their total gap spacing due to E-field distortions. Because the voltag-to-gap ratio was lower than optimum, the closure time was excessive to about 33 nsec, or 13 nsec in excess of the specification value.

An existing manually operated LLL system for obtaining data on injectability of geothermal effluents has been automated. Membrane filters and core samples are exposed to geothermal brine at representative injection pressure and formation confining pressure to study the potential effects of scaling and suspended solids deposition on the performance of injection wells. An electronic controller provides for operation under conditions of either constant differential pressure or constant flow. A data logger is used to obtain continuous records of all major system parameters. The new system is being used to assess the injectability of effluents produced by Magma Power Company's reaction clarifier-filter preinjection treatment facility operated in conjunction with the Geothermal Loop Experimental Facility at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, Southern California.

A serious problem in the development of geothermal energy is the availability of durable and economical materials of construction for handling hot brine and steam. Hot brine and other aerated geothermal fluids are highly corrosive and they attack most conventional materials of construction. Brookhaven National Laboratory has been investigating the use of concrete polymer materials as alternate materials of construction for geothermal processes. To date, successful field tests have been demonstrated at the Geysers, US Bureau of Mines Corrosion Facility, and at the East Mesa Geothermal Facility. This is a survey of field and laboratory evaluations of concrete polymer materials which have been shown to be durable and economical as alternate materials of construction.

A simple mathematical model of a plutonium nitrate evaporator/concentrator is described and computer code calculations are tested against results from a more complex model. The computer code is capable of computing transient responses of the system to arbitrary stimuli input by the user in an interactive mode. The model is described in detail including mass and energy conservation equations as well as boundary conditions and other system constraints. A closed form solution which is valid under restricted conditions is also described. The results show agreement within a few percent between the simple and complex model calculations.

The results of the cost analysis of energy conservation design options for laundry products are presented. The analysis was conducted using two approaches. The first, is directed toward the development of industrial engineering cost estimates of each energy conservation option. This approach results in the estimation of manufacturers costs. The second approach is directed toward determining the market price differential of energy conservation features. The results of this approach are shown. The market cost represents the cost to the consumer. It is the final cost, and therefore includes distribution costs as well as manufacturing costs.

Each year the Engineering Research Division of the Electronics Engineering Department has issued an internal report listing of all formal publications produced by the division during the calendar year. The report for 1978 is being issued in two sections (the second section has been expanded from the former format due to a change in collection of information implemented during the calendar year 1978). The first section (covering January 1978 through June 1978) lists the titles, report numbers, authors, dates, an author index, and, when applicable, conferences or journals to which the paper was submitted. The second section (covering July 1978 through December 1978) provides, in addition to the above information, abstracts for each paper, and an appendix with keywords. Future publication reports will include abstracts and a keyword appendix for all reports. It is expected that the new format will make the publication report a more useful document.

For free boundary conditions a shear layer with linear velocity profile supports irrotational disturbances, one mode being unstable when its wavelength lambda > 2.619 times the thickness h of the shear layer. For long wavelengths the dispersion relation of the mode approaches Kelvin-Helmholtz form.

Among radionuclides of importance in atomic energy, /sup 3/H has relatively low toxicity. The main health and environmental worry is the possibility that significant biological effects may follow from protracted exposure to low concentrations in water. To examine this possible hazard and measure toxicity at low tritium concentrations, chronic exposure studies were done on mice and monkeys. During vulnerable developmental periods animals were exposed to /sup 3/HOH, and mice were exposed also to /sup 60/Co gamma irradiation and energy-related chemical agents. The biological endpoint measured was the irreversible loss of female germ cells. Effects from tritium were observed at surprisingly low concentrations where /sup 3/H was found more damaging than previously thought. Comparisons between tritium and gamma radiation showed the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) to be greater than 1 and to reach approximately 3 at very low exposures. For perspective, other comparisons were made: between radiation and chemical agents, which revealed parallels in action on germ cells, and between pre- and postnatal exposure, which warn of possible special hazard to the fetus from both classes of energy-related byproducts.