The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate several different cleaning procedures on welds with very low heat inputs. The study evaluated the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant's chemical cleaning, another type of chemical cleaning, ion cleaning, and diamond-machined cleaning. The results showed that the diamond-machining process provides better weld joint surfaces and sound welds with minimum oxide inclusion and porosity.

Annular air spaces surrounding an emplaced nuclear waste canister in deep geologic storage will have significant effects on the long-term performance of the waste form. Addressed specifically in this analysis is the influence of a gap on the thermal response of the waste package. Three dimensional numerical modeling predicts temperature effects for a series of parameter variations, including the influence of gap size, surface emissivities, initial thermal power generation of the canister, and the presence/absence of a sleeve. Particular emphasis is placed on determining the effects these variables have on the canister surface temperature. We have identified critical gap sizes at which the peak transient temperature occurs when gap widths are varied for a range of power levels. It is also shown that high emissivities for the heat exchanging surfaces are desirable, while that of the canister surface has the greatest influence. Gap effects are more pronounced, and therefore more effort should be devoted to optimal design, in situations where the absolute temperature of the near field medium is high. This occurs for higher power level emplacements and in geomedia with low thermal conductivities. Finally, loosely inserting a sleeve in the borehole effectively creates two gaps and drastically raises the …

As originally developed, solar load ratio correlations for performance analysis of passive heating systems were intended for use only with a constant thermostat setpoint. The thermostat setpoint used in the method may be adjusted to account for the effect of heating from internal sources, but setback or shutdown strategies that are frequantly employed in both residential and commercial buildings were not allowed. A procedure for approximating the effect of various control strategies through use of an equivalent constant thermostat setpoint, T/sub ec/, has recently been developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The value of T/sub ec/ depends on the level and duration of thermostat settings used during the diurnal cycle and on the characteristic time constant is a function of the diurnal heat capacity of the building and its loss characteristics. The method described in this paper has been applied to a variety of passive solar buildings in two distinct climatic regions and was found to yield good accuracy when compared with detailed thermal network calculations.

The objectives of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Laser Fusion Program are to understand and develop the science and technology required to utilize inertial confinement fusion (ICF) for both military and commercial applications. The results of recent experiments are described. We point out the progress in our laser studies, where we continue to develop and test the concepts, components, and materials for present and future laser systems. While there are many potential commercial applications of ICF, we limit our discussions to electric power production.

A subkilovolt spectrometer has been produced to permit high-energy-resolution, time-dependent x-ray intensity measurements. The diffracting element is a curved mica (d = 9.95A) crystal. To preclude higher order (n > 1) diffractions, a carbon x-ray mirror that reflects only photons with energies less than approx. 1.1 keV is utilized ahead of the diffracting element. The nominal energy range of interest is 800 to 900 eV. The diffracted photons are detected by a gold-surface photoelectric diode designed to have a very good frequency response, and whose current is recorded on an oscilloscope. A thin, aluminium light barrier is placed between the diffracting crystal and the photoelectric diode detector to keep any uv generated on or scattered by the crystal from illuminating the detector. High spectral energy resolution is provided by many photocathodes between 8- and 50-eV wide placed serially along the diffracted x-ray beam at the detector position. The spectrometer was calibrated for energy and energy dispersion using the Ni L..cap alpha../sub 1/ /sub 2/ lines produced in the LLNL IONAC accelerator and in third order using a molybdenum target x-ray tube. For the latter calibration the carbon mirror was replaced by one surfaced with rhodium to raise the cut-off energy …

The Soudan 1 experiment has obtained additional evidence for underground muons associated with the x-ray pulsar Cygnus X-3. We report the preliminary analysis of data recorded during the October 1985 radio outburst of Cygnus X-3, which show a significant excess of muons for a narrow range of Cygnus X-3 phases.

Improved nuclear analysis, including the treatment of resonance and spatial self-shielding, coupled with an optimization procedure, has resulted in an improved performance estimate for the molten salt blanket. Net U-233 breeding ratio ranges between 0.58 and 0.63, and blanket energy multiplication ranges between 1.8 and 1.9.

A modified Voitenko compressor generated a Mach-130 air shock in an outlet pipe open to the atmosphere. Fiber optics transmitted luminosity associated with propagation of the air shock to an external display board, which was scanned with a high-speed streaking camera. We describe the computerized microdensitometer scanning technique for converting the film records to pseudo-3D, isodensity, and density profiles. The isodensity contours can be displayed using different colors to facilitate analysis. This technique can achieve resolutions of 1 ns and 2 ..mu..m. We give examples of the pseudo-3D, isodensity, and density profile plots for the experiment. The microdensitometer output was digitized for input to data display programs run on a CDC 7600. These results were used to provide submicrosecond accuracy for shock propagation over a 5 m of the outlet pipes. In addition, we obtained information about gas flow behind the shock front. Other current or possible applications for the technique are measurement of: target implosion in laser fusion, flash x-ray data in hydrodynamic and ballistic experiments, temperature profiles for high energy (> 10/sup 5/ K) gas dynamics, and dynamic events in weapons testing.

A safety analysis was performed to determine if normal operations and/or potential accidents at the 804 and 845 Firing Facilities at Site 300 could present undue hazards to the general public, peronnel at Site 300, or have an adverse effect on the environment. The normal operation and credible accident that might have an effect on these facilities or have off-site consequence were considered. It was determined by this analysis that all but one of the hazards were either low or of the type or magnitude routinely encountered and/or accepted by the public. The exception was explosives. Since this hazard has the potential for causing significant on-site and minimum off-site consequences, Bunkers 804 and 845 have been classified as moderate hazard facilties per DOE Order 5481.1A. This safety analysis concluded that the operation at these facilities will present no undue risk to the health and safety of LLNL employees or the public.

A safety analysis was performed to determine if normal operations and/or potential accidents at the 850 Firing Facility at Site 300 could present undue hazards to the general public, personnel at Site 300, or have an adverse effect on the environment. The normal operations and credible accidents that might have an effect on these facilities or have off-site consequences were considered. It was determined by this analysis that all but one of the hazards were either low or of the type or magnitude routinely encountered and/or accepted by the public. The exception was explosives, which was classified as a moderate hazard per the requirements given in DOE Order 5481.1A. This safety analysis concluded that the operation at this facility will present no undue risk to the health and safety of LLNL employees or the public.

A safety analysis was performed to determine if normal operations and/or potential accidents at the 851 Firing Facility at Site 300 could present undue hazards to the general public, personnel at Site 300, or have an adverse effect on the environment. The normal operations and credible accidents that might have an effect on these facilities or have off-site consequences were considered. It was determined by this analysis that all but two of the hazards were either low or of the type or magnitude routinely encountered and/or accepted by the public. The exceptions were the linear accelerator and explosives, which were classified as moderate hazards per the requirements given in DOE Order 5481.1A. This safety analysis concluded that the operation at this facility will present no undue risk to the health and safety of LLNL employees or the public.

The program to study the effect of accidentally released carbon fibers on electrical power equipment consisted of determining the vulnerability of system outage rates to carbon fiber contamination, and performing tests to quantitize the contamination required to cause flashover of external insulation. Part One of this final report describes an assessment of the vulnerability of power systems to accidentally released fibers from a composite burn. The assessment describes the effect of carbon fibers on individual component failure rates and discusses the effect the change in component failure rates has on the power system reliability. Part Two describes in detail testing performed to determine the vulnerability of external insulation to carbon fiber contamination. Testing consisted of airborne contamination tests on distribution insulators, limited tests on suspension insulators which are commonly used for transmission class voltages, and various tests to quantify the influence of fiber length, voltage stress, etc. on flashover characteristics. The data obtained and analysis performed during this project show that the change of system reliability due to an accidental release from burned carbon fiber composite is negligible.

A three-dimensional thermal analysis has been performed using finite difference techniques to determine the near-field response of a baseline spent fuel repository in a deep geologic salt medium. A baseline design incorporates previous thermal modeling experience and OWI recommendations for areal thermal loading in specifying the waste form properties, package details, and emplacement configuration. The base case in this thermal analysis considers one 10-year old PWR spent fuel assembly emplaced to yield a 36 kw/acre (8.9 w/m/sup 2/) loading. A unit cell model in an infinite array is used to simplify the problem and provide upper-bound temperatures. Boundary conditions are imposed which allow simulations to 1000 years. Variations studied include a comparison of ventilated and unventilated storage room conditions, emplacement packages with and without air gaps surrounding the canister, and room cool-down scenarios with ventilation following an unventilated state for retrieval purposes. At this low power level ventilating the emplacement room has an immediate cooling influence on the canister and effectively maintains the emplacement room floor near the temperature of the ventilating air. The annular gap separating the canister and sleeve causes the peak temperature of the canister surface to rise by 10/sup 0/F (5.6/sup 0/C) over that from a …

We are disIgning a minimum-size Tokamak ignition/Burn Reactor (TIBER II). This design incorporates physics requirements, neutron wall loading and fluence parameters that will make it compatible with a nuclear testing mission. Reactor relevant physics will be tested by using current drive and steady-state operation. Although the design accommodates several current drive options, including neutral beams, the base case uses a combination of lower hybrid and electron-cyclotron radio frequency power. Minimum neutron shielding, compact structures, high magnet-current densities, and remotely maintainable vacuum seals, all contribute to the compact size.