Flat plate chord tests are one experimental method used to investigate how fluid/structure interaction (FSI) effects modify the impulsive loading in nuclear reactor pressure suppression pools. This analytical study examines the applicability of using a flexible flat plate in an otherwise rigid shell to model dynamic pool wall response in a flexible shell pressure suppression torus. Bubble pressures varying by a factor of seven are used as input to two-dimensional finite-element models. Boundary response to various plate and shell thicknesses are compared on the basis of equivalent natural frequency. Results indicate the qualitative flat plate response compares well with the flexible shell but absolute pressures vary significantly and nonconservatively.

An automated system for the performance of ion-exchange chromatography with corrosive solvents has been built. It is LSI-II microcomputer controlled and is capable of selecting six sample/solvents and collecting six separate fractions. Preliminary results on the separation of plutonium from 8M HNO/sub 3/ solutions indicate that the system can achieve chemical yields, analytical accuracy, and precision fully comparable to manual column operation at a considerable savings of operator time.

The reaction of laser excited Ba*(/sup 3/D) states with nitric oxide is presented. BaO product is not detected, although the channel is thermodynamically open, and instead chemiluminescence is observed. Experiments which suggest that radiative recombination, Ba + NO ..-->.. BaNO* ..-->.. BaNO, is the observed reaction channel will also be presented.

Large pools for storing spent fuel elements from nuclear reactors are being proposed to augment the present storage capacity of pools located at nuclear power plants and fuel reprocessing plants. These pools will be part of either independent spent fuel storage installations or large reprocessing plants. Because of the large size of the pools, seismic loads are of significant interest, and in particular the adequacy of current design methods for calculating seismic loads was of special concern. An evaluation of design methods representative of current practice was carried out, and the results are summarized. The evaluation was based on a comparison of total structural loads obtained by these methods with those obtained using the LUSH code. The LUSH code offered a combination of latest technologies in structural analysis involving soil-structure interaction.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the corrosion behavior of a high strength steel (ASTM A416-74 grade 270), typical of those used as tensioning tendons in prestressed concrete pressure vessels, in several corrosive environments and to demonstrate the protection afforded by coating the steel with either of two commercial petroleum-base greases or Portland Cement grout. In addition, the few reported incidents of prestressing steel failures in concrete pressure vessels used for containment of nuclear reactors are reviewed. The susceptibility of the steel to stress corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement and its general corrosion rate were determined in several salt solutions. Wires coated with the greases and grout were soaked for long periods in the same solutions and changes in their mechanical properties were subsequently determined. All three coatings appeared to give essentially complete protection but small flaws in the grease coatings were detrimental; flaws or cracks less than 1 mm wide in the grout were without effect.

The cryocondensation pumping system for the TFTR neutral beam injectors is described. Topics include hardware design, differential pumping and beam loss, operational modes, and response to massive vacuum breaks.

A rapid and reliable method for analyzing technetium-99 in a wide variety of environmental samples, including waters, soils, stream sediments, and vegetations, has been developed. The procedure entails oxidizing the technitium to the heptavalent state and dissolving it in 6 N sulfuric acid. From that medium the technetium is quantitatively and selectively extracted into tributyl phosphate. A portion of the extract is then added to a scintillation cocktail, and technetium-99 activity is measured by liquid scintillation counting. Since a relatively large sample can be handled, the method can detest as little as 0.016 pCI /sup 99/Tc/ml water, 0.1 pCi /sup 99/Tc/g soil or sediment, and 0.2 pCi /sup 99/Tc/g vegetation. The procedure has also been adapted to analyzing urine samples, in which technetium activity as low as 0.12 pCi/ml can be detected.

An assessment is provided on the viability of dual topological unitarization as a practical scheme for organizing and interpreting hadronic phenomena at current machine energies. Previous detailed reviews are complemented, with emphasis on phenomenological aspects and more recent developments. Diffraction scattering, a test of P--f identity hypothesis, the flavor model, the P--f identity versus the Veneziano two-jet picture, and an illustration of the new phenomenology are included. 24 references. (JFP)

None

On the basis of time-integrated emittance measurements, several different types of field emitter diodes were characterized at 1 to 3 kA, 1 MeV. These measurements were part of the design effort for the injector system of a linear induction accelerator, to be used as a flash x-ray source at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The experimental parameters were the cathode type, the anode mesh texture, the diode spacing and voltage, and the level of collimation of the emerging beam. Experimental results are presented that show that over a wide range, the emittance was proportional to the level of collimation. For any one diode, with the spacing left fixed, the emittance was found to be essentially independent of the diode voltage and current. Differential focusing of different energy beam components affects most strongly the peripheral components of the beam, and strong collimation was found to minimize the effects of momentum spread on the emittance. The lowest emittances (30 to 40 mr-cm at 400 A) were obtained with a foil-type cathode in a ball-over-plane configuration, using an etched tungsten mesh anode, and collimating the beam to one quarter of the total current.

The instruments tested included a 9-inch sphere Portable Neutron Rem Counter Model PNR-4 manufactured by Eberline Instrument Corporation, Santa Fe, N.M.; an Andersson-Braum type Remmeter; and Hankins-type albedo neutron dosimeters composed of cadmium-enclosed TLDs. The standard neutron source at the NBS reactor was used. The observed and calculated response curves are presented and discussed. (WHK)

Sections of the 40-kV, 40-A, TMX source are shown. This module is comprised of the arc chamber and accelerator sections. The source accelerator section uses a single rectangular insulator to perform three functions: providing voltage standoff, forming the supporting structure, and acting as the vacuum wall. Both machinable glass ceramic (Corning Macor/sup TM/) and F.R.P. (Nema G-10) have been used for this insulater. In either case, the insulator is joined to the titanium base plate and extractor electrode by thermal-setting-epoxy adhesive. The parts are self jigging; the bonding is done at 120 to 130 /sup 0/C under a load of .34 MPa (50 psi).

The LLL developed electronic pressure meter (EPMT) is a portable static-pressure calibration instrument for use with the LLL telemetry transducer system at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). It is significantly more accurate and rugged than the bourdon-tube pressure gauge it replaces, and can be incorporated into a field-use, semi-automatic, pressure calibration system. The process by which a transducer is selected for EPMT use from the inventory of field-service-certified transducers and subjected to an extensive preconditioning and calibration procedure is described. By combining this unusual calibration procedure with a unique, statistically based data-reduction routine, the total uncertainty of the measuring process at each calibration point can be determined with high accuracy.

At the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, about 10% of the sampling effort in the environmental monitoring program represents replicate sample collection. Replication of field samples was initiated as part of the quality assurance program for environmental monitoring to determine the reproducibility of environmental measurements. In the laboratory these replicates are processed along with routine samples. As all components of variance are included in analysis of such field samples, comparison of the analytical data from replicate analyses provides a basis for estimating the overall reproducibility of the measurements. The replication study indicates that the reproducibility of environmental radioactivity monitoring data is subject to considerably more variability than is indicated by the accompanying counting errors. The data are also compared with analyses of duplicate aliquots from a well mixed sample or with duplicate aliquots of samples with known radionuclide content. These comparisons show that most of the variability is associated with the collection and preparation of the sample rather than with the analytical procedures.

A series of laser fusion microimplosion experiments have been performed with the LLL two beam laser system JANUS. The JANUS laser is capable of focusing up to 400 gigawatts of 1.06 ..mu..m laser power (32J in 80 psec) on microscopic laser fusion targets, producing intensities in excess of 10/sup 17/ w/cm/sup 2/. In these experiments the targets were Deuterium--Tritium (DT) gas filled, thin walled (.5 to 1.0 ..mu..m) SiO/sub 2/ microshells with diameters of 40 to 100 ..mu..m. Targets with these dimensions, properties and laser powers operate in what has become known as the exploding pusher mode. A summary of the salient points of each design limit is illustrated.

A filter fluorescer experiment has been installed and operated on the Argus laser system of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. X-ray spectra have been measured between 20 and 116 keV from laser produced plasmas. Three spectral cuts were made in this region (20 to 29, 47 to 61 and 80 to 116 keV) with an additional channel providing a measure of the high energy response (> 116 keV) of the third channel. We have measured x-ray spectra from laser shots of 600 to 900 J in 1 ns with intensities of 3 x 10/sup 14/ to 3 x 10/sup 15/ W/cm/sup 2/ incident on Au disks.

Using a pair of lasers near 6000 A, the J = 6 ground state is excited to a J = 6 intermediate level and then to a J = 5 upper state. Non-resonant fluorescences from both excited states are separately detected. Results of a set of model calculations are tabulated. Level 3 average populations are always very small, since the system decays rapidly into inaccessible metastable states. This means that chemistry experiments are difficult. The differences between parallel and perpendicular polarization are modest. The fluorescence dips converge to a value near 50%. The level 3 populations do not approach a common value. This means that the most reliable experimental measurement does not determine the level populations. The most striking changes appear in the last two, most exact, models. The difference between the models is that one includes, for the first time, the linear frequency chirp produced by the fanlike spread of the focussed laser beams. This seemingly innocuous change halves the population left in the ground state. It appears that analogues of adiabatic passage and adiabatic rapid passage respectively are being observed.

Most detailed fusion target design is done by numerical simulation using large computers. Although numerical simulation is briefly discussed, this lecture deals primarily with the way in which basic physical arguments, driver technology considerations and economical power production requirements are used to guide and augment the simulations. Physics topics discussed include target energetics, preheat, stability and symmetry. A specific design example is discussed.

By exposing samples to various irradiance levels from a calibrated thermal radiation source, the ignition responses of blackened alpha-cellulose and cotton cloth with and without fire-retardant additives were compared. Samples treated with retardant compounds which showed the most promise were then isothermally pyrolyzed in air for comparisons between the pyrolysis rates. Alpha-cellulose samples containing a mixture of boric acid, borax, and ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate could not be ignited by irradiances up to 4.0 cal cm/sup -2/ s-1 (16.7 W/cm/sup 2/). At higher irradiances the specimens ignited, but flaming lasted only until the flammable gases were depleted. Cotton cloth containing a polymeric retardant with the designation THPC + MM was found to be ignition-resistant to all irradiances below 7.0 cal cm/sup -2/ s/sup -1/ (29.3 W/cm/sup 2/). Comparison of the pyrolysis rates of the retardant-treated alpha-cellulose and the retardant-treated cotton showed that the retardant mechanism is qualitatively the same. Similar ignition-response measurements were also made with specimens exposed to ionizing radiation. It was observed that gamma radiation results in ignition retardance of cellulose, while irradiation by neutrons does not.

Since DNC was first introduced, four contractors for ERDA have become actively involved with its utilization. These contractors are Rockwell International, which operates the Rocky Flats plant at Golden, Colorado; Union Carbide Corporation operating the Y-12 plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Sandia Laboratories, operating a plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Bendix Corporation with a plant in Kansas City, Missouri. DNC activities at the four sites are elucidated by slides. At the present time, these four plants have a total of 17 machine tools operating under DNC control with over 50,000 of DNC operating time. Present planning calls for the addition of about this many more machines by the end of FY 1978.

Leach rates for /sup 237/Np and /sup 239/Pu are investigated with a single-pass leaching system. The factorial experimental design uses several combinations of solution composition and flow rate, and two temperatures, 25 and 75/sup 0/C. The 25/sup 0/C results are compared with those from a modified IAEA procedure. At 25/sup 0/C, leach rates decrease with time. Agreement between results from the single-pass and modified IAEA methods is fair with WIPP brine leachant, good with NaHCO/sub 3/, and good with distilled H/sub 2/O. Leach rates are approximately independent of flow rates at room temperature, but increase with flow rates at high temperature. Rates for /sup 237/Np increase with temperature, but those for /sup 239/Pu either decrease or do not change with temperature. 7 figures.

This paper discusses some of the material considerations for inertially confined fusion reactors. A comparison of the material considerations for inertially confined reactors is made with those of magnetically confined reactors. The lithium fall reactor concept is used as an example of the freedom from constraints intrinsic to inertially-confined fusion reactors.

A brief parametric survey of the x-ray characteristics of a gold micro-disk irradiated at 3 x 10/sup 14/ watt/cm/sup 2/ by a 1 nsec Nd-glass laser pulse has been provided as an example of a laser generated bright x-ray source. It was shown that a simple phenomenological model of the laser generated x-ray source as a microscopic equilibrium plasma radiating as a blackbody for a finite time determined by its hydrodynamic disassembly and radiation losses, serves to provide an adequate approximation to the x-ray characteristics of such sources. The current state of x-ray microscopy within the LLL laser fusion program was briefly reviewed. Kirpatrick--Baez grazing incidence reflection x-ray microscopes are being used to provide 3 to 5 ..mu..m resolution, broadband images (..delta..E/E approx. 0.3) over a spectral range from .6 keV to 3.5 keV. Zone Plate Coded Imaging is used to provide 5 to 10 ..mu..m resolution, broadband (..delta..E/E approx. 0.5) images over a spectral range from 3 keV to 50 keV. Efficient x-ray lensing elements with anticipated submicron resolution are being developed for narrowband (..delta..E/E approx. 10/sup -2/) imaging applications over a spectral range .1 keV to 8 keV. The x-ray lens design is that of a transmission blazed …

Objective of this program is to provide facilities (Federal repositories) in various deep geologic formations at several locations in USA for the safe disposal of commercial radioactive waste from power reactors. The four types of containerized waste are described. The steps for developing the repositories are outlined. (DLC)