As Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory moves forward with the design of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program, issues relating to the detection and measurement of laser-induced damage on large optics must be addressed. Currently, microscopy is used to evaluate surface quality and measure damage thresholds on small witness samples. In order to evaluate large areas, an automated system was constructed which can scan optics with dimensions as large as 1 meter and weighing as much as 400 pounds. The use of microscopy as the main test diagnostic has been replaced with an optical scatter detection system. Now large areas can be rastered, and maps can be generated, reflecting inherent and laser-induced scatter in multilayer optical coatings and bulk materials. The integrated scattered light from a test piece is measured in transmission using a HeNe laser as the probe source. When the probe beam is overlapped on a pulsed, high power, ND:YAG laser beam, damage related scatter may be measured. This technique has been used for: (1) mapping of inherent scatter in an optic, (2) on-the-fly damage detection during a high fluence raster scan of an optic, and (3) single site damage evaluation for the …

This Conversion and Blending Facility (CBF) will have two missions: (1) convert HEU materials into pure HEU oxide and (2) blend the pure HEU oxide with depleted and natural uranium oxide to produce an LWR grade LEU product. The primary emphasis of this blending operation will be to destroy the weapons capability of large, surplus stockpiles of HEU. The blended LEU product can only be made weapons capable again by the uranium enrichment process. To the extent practical, the chemical and isotopic concentrations of blended LEU product will be held within the specifications required for LWR fuel. Such blended LEU product will be offered to the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) to be sold as feed material to the commercial nuclear industry. Otherwise, blended LEU will be produced as a waste suitable for storage or disposal.

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and EG&G Energy Measurements are developing a new solid-state power system for two proposed accelerators. One of the accelerators is a circular arrangement of induction cells called a recirculator. It is designed to accelerate heavy ions for an inertial fusion study that proposes to substitute heavy-ion beams for laser beams as the driver for fusion targets. The other accelerator is a linear induction accelerator for electron beams called the Advanced Radiographic Machine (ARM). Both accelerators require their induction cells to be pulsed at a very high repetition frequency (prf) for a short burst containing 5 to 15 pulses. The recirculator has a pulse schedule that varies in pulse width from 1 {mu}s to 400 ns and in prf from 50 to 150 kHz. The ARM accelerator has a pulse schedule that varies in pulse width from 1 {mu}s to 200 ns and in prf from 150 kHz to 1 MHz. The need for complex pulse agility in these accelerators led the authors to examine solid-state switching components that have an on/off capability. The intrinsic speed of solid-state switching satisfies the high prf requirements, while the on/off switching action of some semiconductor devices enables …

This Conversion and Blending Facility (CBF) will have two missions: (1) convert HEU materials to pure HEU uranyl nitrate (UNH) and (2) blend pure HEU UNH with depleted and natural UNH to produce HEU UNH crystals. The primary emphasis of this blending operation will be to destroy the weapons capability of large, surplus stockpiles of HEU. The blended LEU product can only be made weapons capable again by the uranium enrichment process. To the extent practical, the chemical and isotopic concentrations of blended LEU product will be held within the specifications required for LWR fuel. Such blended LEU product will be offered to the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) to be sold as feed material to the commercial nuclear industry. Otherwise, blended LEU Will be produced as a waste suitable for storage or disposal.

This report describes the Conversion and Blending Facility (CBF) which will have two missions: (1) convert surplus HEU materials to pure HEU UF{sub 6} and a (2) blend the pure HEU UF{sub 6} with diluent UF{sub 6} to produce LWR grade LEU-UF{sub 6}. The primary emphasis of this blending be to destroy the weapons capability of large, surplus stockpiles of HEU. The blended LEU product can only be made weapons capable again by the uranium enrichment process. The chemical and isotopic concentrations of the blended LEU product will be held within the specifications required for LWR fuel. The blended LEU product will be offered to the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) to be sold as feed material to the commercial nuclear industry.

The mission of this Conversion and Blending Facility (CBF) will be to blend surplus HEU metal and alloy with depleted uranium metal to produce an LEU product. The primary emphasis of this blending operation will be to destroy the weapons capability of large, surplus stockpiles of HEU. The blended LEU product can only be made weapons capable again by the uranium enrichment process. The blended LEU will be produced as a waste suitable for storage or disposal.

Experiments designed to measure kinetic rate constants of ignition of pulverized coals showed clearly that, for single particles or dilute suspensions, particle-to-particle variations due to reactivity and/or thermophysical properties are important. There exists ample evidence that the most important factor in interpreting these data is the existence of a variation in chemical reactivity in the sample. It is surprising, therefore, to note that all previous studies presumed that a single (average) activation energy is adequate to describe the ignition process. The equations formulated using this presumption are then correlated to the experimental measurements to infer the kinetic rate constants of ignition. The major objectives are to develop a model of heterogeneous ignition which allows for a distribution of activation energies, and to implement this model to interpret previously published data. It is the authors hypothesis that variations in chemical reactivity account for the experimental trends observed. Another objective of this project is to examine the effects of variations in thermodynamic and physical properties (e.g. specific heat, particle diameter, density) on data interpretation from previous ignition experiments. An attached paper submitted for review to ``Combustion and Flame`` summarizes the Distributed Activation Energy Model of Ignition, which accounts for particle-to-particle variations in …

The impact of fugitive radioactive emissions from the disposal site, Area G, was evaluated in support of site characterization for the Performance Assessment and for the Radioactive Air Emissions Management (RAEM) program. Fugitive emissions of tritiated water and contaminated windblown dust were considered. Data from an extensive field measurement program were used to estimate annual emissions of tritiated water. Fugitive dust models were used to calculate estimates of the annual emissions of windblown dust. These estimates were combined with data on contamination levels in surface soils to develop annual emission rates for specific radionuclides: tritium, uranium-238, cesium-137, plutonium-238, plutonium-239,240, and strontium-90. The CAP-88 atmospheric transport model was used to predict areas potentially affected by long-term dust deposition and atmospheric concentrations. The annual emission rate of tritiated water was estimated from the field data to be 14.0 Ci/yr. The emission rate of soil-borne radionuclides from open areas and from soils handling operations totaled less than 1x10{sup -4} Ci/yr. The CAP-88 results were used to develop effective dose equivalents (EDEs) for receptor locations downwind of Area G. All EDEs were several orders of magnitude below the national standard of 10 mrem/yr. Fugitive air emissions from Area G were found not to pose …

A series of experiments in which the stirrer speed was varied during a methanol synthesis run with BASF S3-86 catalyst showed that mass transfer limitations were present at 750 psig reactor pressure and at space velocities of 5000 and 10000 sl/kg(cat.)-hr.. There was no effect of stirrer speed on reaction rate at 2500 psig reactor pressure and 16500 sl/kg(cat.)-hr. space velocity. However, this was probably due to a close approach to equilibrium rather than to the lack of a mass transfer effect. The most plausible explanation for the presence of a mass transfer influence is the position of the gas feed dip tube relative to the agitator impeller. A second set of stirrer speed experiments using the same catalyst showed that feeding into the reactor headspace produced much lower reaction rates, compared with gas feed through a dip tube. The headspace feed also showed a strong dependence on stirrer speed, consistent with the dip tube feed results. In a ``blank` run at 375{degree}C with decahydronaphthalene, about 110 mL of the initial charge of 150 mL remained in the reactor after 73 hours of operation at 375{degree}C and 850 psig of hydrogen. The rate of hydrocarbon evolution was low throughout the …

A set of stirrer speed experiments using the Cu/ZnO methanol synthesis catalyst showed that introducing the gas feed into the reactor through an extended dip tube eliminated the dependency of catalyst performance on stirrer speed. The methanol productivity data from the reactor gas feed configuration tests conducted in December, 1994 and January, 1995, were correlated with stirrer speed. The influence on mass transfer on catalyst performance was clearly illustrated for each gas feed location. The ``high pressure, high temperature` zinc chromite methanol synthesis catalyst showed surprising activity at temperatures as low as 300{degree}C during the first successful stirred autoclave run with this catalyst. No C{sub 2{sup {plus}}} alcohols were detected, but significant levels of C{sub 2}-C{sub 4} olefins and dimethyl ether (DME) were produced. The presence of olefins suggests that higher alcohols might have formed and subsequently dehydrated. The slurry liquid, decahydronaphthalene, showed no evidence of decomposition during 15 days of continuous operation. 2 figs., 1 tab.

The Mixed Waste Focus Area (MWFA) has chartered the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) to design and fabricate a Transportable Vitrification System (TVS) to demonstrate treatment of Low-Level Mixed Waste (LLMW). This system will be used to demonstrate the feasibility of vitrification on several LLMW streams. The first stream to be demonstrated will be the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) K-25 B&C Pond sludge. Before the demonstrations in the TVS can take place, a surrogate sludge vitrification demonstration had to be performed in the EV-16 melter located at the DOE Industrial Center for Vitrification Research (Center) at the Environmental Systems Engineering Department at Clemson University. During the demonstration at the Center, a 50 wt% B&C sludge glass composition was tested to determine any processing problems. A total of 1510 pounds (686 kg) of glass were produced from 9328 pounds (4240 kg) of surrogate feed. The resulting glass product was homogeneous and very durable.

This is a summary of the chemical composition of the sludge on a tank-by-tank basis and the projected chemical composition of the first four feed batches to the DWPF.

The current focus in large scale scientific computing is upon parallel supercomputers. While still relatively unproven, these machines are being slated for production-oriented, general purpose supercomputing applications. The promise, of course, is to use massively parallel computers to venture further into scientific realisms by performing computations with anywhere from 10{sup 6} to 10{sup 9} grid points thereby, in principle, obtaining a deeper understanding of physical processes. In approaching this brave new world of computing with finite element applications, many technical issues become apparent. This paper attempts to reveal some of the applications-oriented issues which are facing code developers and ultimately the users of engineering and scientific applications on parallel supercomputers, but which seem to be remaining unanswered by vendors, researchers and centralized computing facilities. At risk is the fundamental way in which analysis is performed in a production sense, and the insight into physical problems which results. while at first this treatise may seem to advocate traditional register-to-register vector supercomputers, the goal of this paper is simply an attempt to point out what is missing from the massively parallel computing picture not only for production finite element applications, but also for grand challenge problems. the limiting issues for the use …

The Department of Energy must demonstrate the effectiveness of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) as a permanent repository for the disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste. Performance assessments of the WIPP require that estimates of the transportability and outcome of the radionuclides (actinides) be determined from disposal rooms that may become either partially or completely filled with brine. Federal regulations limit the amount of radioactivity that may be unintentionally released to the accessible environment by any mechanism during the post closure phase up to 10,000 years. Thermodynamic models have been developed to predict the concentrations of actinides in the WIPP disposal rooms under various situations and chemical conditions. These models are based on empirical and theoretical projections of the chemistry that might be present in and around the disposal room zone for both near and long-term periods. The actinides that are known to be present in the TRU wastes (and are included in the model) are Th, U, Np, Pu, and Am. Knowledge of the chemistry that might occur in the disposal rooms when the waste comes in contact with brine is important in understanding the range of oxidation states that might be present under different conditions. There is a …

In this paper some of the results of a recent computer search [CoLy99] for optimal three- and four-dimensional lattice rules of specified trigonometric degree are discussed. The theory is presented in a general frame emphasizing the special nature of lattice rules among the rules of specified trigonometric degree.

The authors present the Sequential Access Model (SAM), which is the data handling system for D0, one of two primary High Energy Experiments at Fermilab. During the next several years, the D0 experiment will store a total of about 1 PByte of data, including raw detector data and data processed at various levels. The design of SAM is not specific to the D0 experiment and carries few assumptions about the underlying mass storage level; its ideas are applicable to any sequential data access. By definition, in the sequential access mode a user application needs to process a stream of data, by accessing each data unit exactly once, the order of data units in the stream being irrelevant. The units of data are laid out sequentially in files. The adopted model allows for significant optimizations of system performance, decrease of user file latency and increase of overall throughput. In particular, caching is done with the knowledge of all the files needed in the near future, defined as all the files of the already running or submitted jobs. The bulk of the data is stored in files on tape in the mass storage system (MSS) called Enstore[2] and also developed at Fermilab. …

In 1999, soil gas samples for helium-3 measurements were collected at two locations on the Hanford Site. Eight soil gas sampling points ranging in depth from 1.5 to 9.8 m (4.9 to 32 ft) below ground surface (bgs) in two clusters were installed adjacent to well 699-41-1, south of the Hanford Townsite. Fifteen soil gas sampling points, ranging in depth from 2.1 to 3.2 m (7 to 10.4 ft) bgs, were installed to the north and east of the 100 KE Reactor. Gas phase soil moisture samples were collected using silica gel traps from all eight sampling locations adjacent to well 699-41-1 and eight locations at the 100 K Area. No detectable tritium (<240 pCi/L) was found in the soil moisture samples from either the Hanford Townsite or 100 K Area sampling points. This suggests that tritiated moisture from groundwater is not migrating upward to the sampling points and there are no large vadose zone sources of tritium at either location. Helium-3 analyses of the soil gas samples showed significant enrichments relative to ambient air helium-3 concentrations with a depth dependence consistent with a groundwater source from decay of tritium. Helium-3/helium-4 ratios (normalized to the abundances in ambient air) at …

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Single-shot spectrum measurements of the radiation emitted by an electron bunch provide a novel way to characterize the bunch shape. Shot noise fluctuations in the longitudinal beam density result in radiation with a spectrum that consists of spikes with width inversely proportional to the bunch length. The variance of the Fourier transform of the spectrum is proportional to the convolution function of the beam current averaged over many bunches. After the convolution function is found, the phase retrieval technique can be applied to recover the bunch shape. This technique has been used to analyze the shape of the 4-ps-long bunches at the Low-Energy Undulator Test Line at the Advanced Photon Source.

A new testing strategy is proposed to assess the durability and reliability of non- oxide continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic composites for high temperature structural applications. The strategy is based on determining the reliability (probability of failure) of these materials when subjected to random loading schedules consisting of load and temperature spikes that are superimposed on otherwise constant stress and temperature histories. The frequency and magnitude of the load and temperature spikes would be representative of the number and characteristics of the transients that are associated with a particular industrial application and that are expected to occur over the life of the component. The effect of overstressing on the stress- ruptttre behavior of a CG-NicalonTM fiber-reinforced SiC composite was investigated and results arc presented from tests conducted in ambient air at 950"C.

The author shows how to construct a second order achromatic (T{sub ij6} = 0, i, j {element_of} {l_brace}1,2{r_brace}) beamline with a total phase advance of 450{degree} (360{degree} + 90{degree}). The goal is to construct a 90{degree} cell which is achromatic to second order. One possible way to do this is to construct a 360{degree} sector followed by a 90{degree} cell; put dipoles and sextupoles in the 360{degree} sector; and throw the aberrations into the 90{degree} cell such that the final transformation is achromatic. The author expresses the aberrations in the 360{degree} sector in terms of the 90{degree} cell and determine whether any combination of sextupoles gives the correct cancellation.

The superhistory method is incorporated, in different implementations, into two versions of MONK. In this paper the authors intercompare the efficiencies of these implementations via the Figure Of Merit (FOM), and compare the efficiencies of each with that of conventional Monte Carlo (MC). Finally, they suggest preferred versions of MC for eigenvalue calculations. Here, FOM {approx} 1/N{sigma}{sup 2}, where N is the number of histories, and {sigma} is the variance of a quantity of interest. In the criticality-safety version MONK, fission is simulated as suggested in Ref. 1 (Method-1). Every absorption site is a potential fission site, with weight W = {sigma}{sub f}/kx{sigma}{sub a}, where {sigma}{sub f} and {sigma}{sub a} are fission and absorption cross sections, and k is an estimate of the eigenvalue. If W < 1, W is taken as pf, the fission probability. A Method-1 fission produces, on average, {nu} offspring at each site. The reactor-physics MONK uses the standard MC fission treatment (Method-0), i.e. {nu}xW is the average number of neutrons born in a fission, and pf = 1. For consistency, they take absorption sites as potential fission sites in both methods. For v = 1 and a single generation per supergeneration, conventional and superhistory methods …

A single-pass, high-gain free-electron laser (FEL) x-ray amplifier was simulated using the 3D, polychromatic simulation code MEDUSA. The seed for the system is a table-top, soft x-ray laser. The simulated fundamental and nonlinear harmonic x-ray output wavelengths are discussed.

A review of neutron diffraction experiments on the magnetic order in the RNi{sub 2}B{sub 2}C and RNiBC (R-rare earth) systems is given. The RNi{sub 2}B{sub 2}C materials exhibit a wide variety of commensurate and incommensurate magnetic structures for different rare earths, along with superconductivity that is coupled to the magnetism. Simple commensurate antiferromagnetic structures are observed for R = Pr (T{sub N} = 4.0 K), Nd (T{sub N} = 4.8 K), Ho (T{sub N} = 8.5 K) and Dy (T{sub N} = 4.8 K). In addition, HoNi{sub 2}B{sub 2}C exhibits a c-axis spiral and an a-axis modulated incommensurate structure above 5 K, while both structures collapse in favor of the commensurate structure at low T. A transversely polarized spin density wave (SDW) type incommensurate structure is observed for Er (T{sub N} = 6.8 K) and Tm (T{sub N} = 1.5 K), while a longitudinally polarized SDW structure is observed for Tb (T{sub N} = 15 K). No magnetic ordering of any type is detected for Y, Ce and Yb. HoNiBC is an antiferromagnet (T{sub N} = 9.8 K), ErNiBC is a ferromagnetic (T{sub C} = 4.6 K), while TbNiBC and DyNiBC exhibit both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ordering at 17 K …