The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) is a large mirror program experiment for magnetic fusion energy. It will combine and extend the near-classical plasma confinement achieved in 2XIIB with advanced neutral-beam and magnet technologies. The product of ion density and confinement time will be improved more than an order of magnitude, while the superconducting magnet weight will be extrapolated from 15 tons in Baseball II to 375 tons in MFTF. Recent reactor studies show that the MFTF will traverse much of the distance in magnet technology towards the reactor regime.

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) vacuum vessel and cryopumping system have attracted considerable interest within the fusion research community. Their extreme size, coupled with severe performance requirements and unique design features, justifies this interest. The planned expansion of the system to a tandem mirror configuration with thermal barriers further increases the engineering challenges of this complex facility.

Resonant absorption is investigated in expanding plasmas. The momentum deposition associated with the ejection of hot electrons toward low density via wavebreaking readily exceeds that of the incident laser radiation and results in significant modification of the density profile at critical. New scaling of hot electron temperature with laser and plasma parameters is presented.

Three vacuum vessels comprise the vacuum envelope of MFTF-B. The design specifications are given for each. (MOW)

The AERIN computer code is a mathematical expression of the ICRP Lung Model. The code was developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to compute the body organ burdens and absorbed radiation doses resulting from the inhalation of transuranic isotopes and to predict the amount of activity excreted in the urine and feces as a function of time. Over forty cases of internal exposure have been studied using the AERIN code. The code, as modified, has proven to be extremely versatile. The case studies presented demonstrate the excellent correlation that can be obtained between code predictions and observed bioassay data. In one case study a discrepancy was observed between an in vivo count of the whole body and the application of the code using urine and fecal data as input. The discrepancy was resolved by in vivo skull counts that showed the code had predicted the correct skeletal burden.

This report discusses three different subjects. The first is the development of a generalized version of the VMI (variable moment of inertia) model that ties it to the original form of the IBM (interacting boson model) and provides a possibility of fitting vibrational spectra with generalized vibrational formulas. The second is a suggestion for fitting band crossing calculations of the phenomenological type more completely than has hitherto been done into the framework of the VMI method. The third, which is the most important and far reaching, is the description f a complete mathematical method for the microscopic derivation of the IBM from a conventional shell-model Hamiltonian. In addition to elements already foreseen by previous authors, there is proposed a solution for the most important problem outstanding, not only within the framework of the IBM, but also in all previous work on boson expansion. This is the problem of actually selecting, in a general fashion, the most collective excitations. A criterion is introduced that the subspace constructed from these excitations should possess an average energy that is lower than the rest of the shell model space; the actual implementation of this criterion is explained. 8 tables, 62 references.

It is important to recognize the distinction between risk assessment and its components which include risk analysis, perspectives study, and decision analysis. Divergence of opinion within the scientific community as well as the public at large is a characteristic of issues related to nuclear power. The divergent opinions can largely be characterized as either optimistic or pessimistic in nature. Reconciliation of divergent viewpoints presents some difficult challenges. It is doubtful that issues which have an emotional or philosophical basis can be resolved through technical efforts. Public education on the technical issues might prove helpful.

A test of retrievable dry geologic storage of spent fuel assemblies from an operating commercial nuclear reactor is underway at the Nevada Test Site. This generic test is located 420 m below the surface in the Climax granitic stock. Eleven canisters of spent fuel approximately 2.3 years out of reactor core (about 2 kW/canister thermal output) will be emplaced in a storage drift along with 6 electrical simulator canisters and their effects will be compared. Two adjacent drifts will contain electrical heaters, which will be operated to simulate within the test array the thermal field of a large repository. The test objectives, technical concepts and rationale, and details of the test are stated and discussed.