Progress in nuclear safety research and development is reported. Topics covered include: reactivity effects of fuel displacements in a pool-type reactor, release of fission products on out-of-pile melting of reactor fuels, release of fission products on in-pile melting of reactor fuels, fission product transport evaluations, characterization and control of accident-released fission products, nuclear safety pilot plant, preparation of reactor containment hardbook, and radiochemical plant safety studies. (M.C.G.)

We have made a first study of the calorimetric response to 10 GeV/c charged pions in the transition region between barrel and endcap for the scintillator-tile design pursued at Argonne National Laboratory using the simulation program ANLSIM. For (very nearly) projective tower orientations in the barrel, the crack appears deep within a narrow angular range, causing a loss of the response in that region up to 40%. Pointing the towers onto the beam axis 35 cm or more away from the nominal-interaction point leads to a shortened depth of the barrel-endcap crack as seen by particles incident from the interaction region, cutting the maximum loss down by almost one half. The worsening of the resolution follows the same trend. Introduction of a solenoidal coil in front of the calorimeter causes an overall degradation of the response by an amount nearly comparable to the effect of the crack. Electrons of the same incident momentum are more strongly affected by the coil than pions but see only a much narrower region of degradation by the crack. 15 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs.

A constitutive model for a rock equation of state was developed in HEMP and CEL-HEMP computer codes. The model includes the mechanical and thermal properties of soil, such as elasticity, pore closure, compaction, and vaporization. Three test problems were computed using the equation of state: ground motion following the LATIR event, impact vaporization of preheated plates, and surface motion produced from exploding a 3.7-kg(10-lb) charge at a depth of 6.5 m. Agreement between our computations from the model and actual measurements is remarkably close.

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) designs are considered which may have very high gains (approximately 1000) and low power requirements (<100 TW) for input energies of approximately one megajoule. These include targets having very low density shells, ultra thin shells, central ignitors, magnetic insulation, and non-ablative acceleration.

The attainment of low-adiabat compression to high final state density is essential for achieving high gain thermonuclear micro-implosions. Using 1- and 2-dimensional numerical simulations with LASNEX, the target performance which can be expected and the limitations imposed by absorption heating, and transport for targets designed to reach 100 x liquid DT density (20g/cm/sup 3/) are discussed. The requirements imposed by the need for low preheat, adequate implosion symmetry, and the behavior of fluid instabilities are discussed for these recent target designs. Methods for diagnosis of density are discussed.

A combination of literature survey and independent analysis determined three relationships for the prediction of the critical (or minimum recoverable) particle size in a solid bowl centrifuge. The relationships were derived based on three different theories of fluid behavior within the centrifuge; (1) laminar film flow (laminar film model), (2) plug flow (Sharples Model), and parabolic flow (modified Sharples Model). The critical particle size for the centrifuge used in Cs-PTA recovery in the CAW process predicted by the three relationships range from 0.19 to 0.34 ..mu..m (1 ..mu..m = 10/sup -6/m). The laminar film model gives the most conservative estimate of critical particle size (0.34 ..mu..m) and the resulting relationship is recommended for use to predict solid bowl centrifuge performance. Three correction factors are incorporated into the predictive equations to account for the effects of fluid turbulence near the centrifuge feed point, fluid lag and hindered settling. Of these factors, turbulence near the feed point (which is accounted for by using an effective centrifuge length) has the greatest impact, increasing the predicted critical particle size by 15%, while the combination of fluid lag and hindered settling factors increase the recoverable particle size by 4%. The overall effect of the correction …

The cereus group represents sporulating soil bacteriacontaining pathogenic strains which may cause diarrheic or emetic foodpoisoning outbreaks. Multiple locus sequence typing revealed a presencein natural samples of these bacteria of about thirty clonal complexes.Application of genomic methods to this group was however biased due tothe major interest for representatives closely related to B. anthracis.Albeit the most important food-borne pathogens were not yet defined,existing dataindicate that they are scattered all over the phylogenetictree. The preliminary analysis of the sequences of three genomesdiscussed in this paper narrows down the gaps in our knowledge of thecereus group. The strain NVH391-98 is a rare but particularly severefood-borne pathogen. Sequencing revealed that the strain must be arepresentative of a novel bacterial species, for which the name Bacilluscytotoxis is proposed. This strain has a reduced genome size compared toother cereus group strains. Genome analysis revealed absence of sigma Bfactor and the presence of genes encoding diarrheic Nhe toxin, notdetected earlier. The strain B. cereus F837/76 represents a clonalcomplex close to that of B. anthracis. Including F837/76, three such B.cereus strains had been sequenced. Alignment of genomes suggests that B.anthracis is their common ancestor. Since such strains often emerge fromclinical cases, they merit a special attention. The …

The 100-F-31 waste site is a former septic system that supported the inhalation laboratories, also referred to as the 144-F Particle Exposure Laboratory (132-F-2 waste site), which housed animals exposed to particulate material. The 100-F-31 waste site has been remediated to achieve the remedial action objectives specified in the Remaining Sites ROD. The results of verification sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

It is well known that large Nb3Sn Cable-in-Conduit Conductors (CICC) do not always completely utilize current carrying capacity of the strands they are made of. The modern state of theory is not accurate enough to eliminate CICC full scale testing. Measuring properties of large CICC is not a simple task due to variety of parameters that need to be controlled, like temperature, exposure of all the strands to the peak magnetic field, mass flow and particular nonuniform current distribution. The paper presents some measurement issues of CICC testing in a short sample test facility, particularly, conditions for uniform current distribution and effect of twist pitches on the critical current.

The zeroth theorem of the history of science, enunciated byE. P. Fischer, states that a discovery (rule,regularity, insight) namedafter someone (often) did not originate with that person. I present fiveexamples from physics: the Lorentz condition partial muAmu = 0 definingthe Lorentz gauge of the electromagnetic potentials; the Dirac deltafunction, delta(x); the Schumann resonances of the earth-ionospherecavity; the Weizsacker-Williams method of virtual quanta; the BMTequation of spin dynamics. I give illustrated thumbnail sketches of boththe true and reputed discoverers and quote from their "discovery"publications.

In support of technology development to utilize coal for efficient, affordable, and environmentally clean power generation, the Power Systems Development Facility (PSDF) located in Wilsonville, Alabama, routinely demonstrates gasification technologies using various types of coals. The PSDF is an engineering scale demonstration of key features of advanced coal-fired power systems, including a KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) Transport Gasifier, a hot gas particulate control device, advanced syngas cleanup systems, and high-pressure solids handling systems. This report discusses Test Campaign TC16 of the PSDF gasification process. TC16 began on July 14, 2004, lasting until August 24, 2004, for a total of 835 hours of gasification operation. The test campaign consisted of operation using Powder River Basin (PRB) subbituminous coal and high sodium lignite from the North Dakota Freedom mine. The highest gasifier operating temperature mostly varied from 1,760 to 1,850 F with PRB and 1,500 to 1,600 F with lignite. Typically, during PRB operations, the gasifier exit pressure was maintained between 215 and 225 psig using air as the gasification oxidant and between 145 and 190 psig while using oxygen as the oxidant. With lignite, the gasifier operated only in air-blown mode, and the gasifier outlet pressure ranged from 150 …

In scheme of coherent electron cooling (CeC) [1,2], a modulation of electron beam density induced by a copropagation hadron is amplified in high gain FEL. The resulting amplified modulation of electron beam, its shape, form and its lethargy determine number of important properties of the coherent electron cooling. In this talk we present both analytical and numerical (using codes RON [3] and Genesis [4]) evaluations of the corresponding Green functions. We also discuss influence of electron beam parameters on the FEL response.

Bambino is a first generation auxiliary detector for the TIGRESS array and consists of a pair of segmented annular silicon detectors, fabricated by MicronSemiconductor Inc. Bambino provides measures of both the energy and position for outgoing charged particles and main triggers for valid events. The annular Bambino detectors are placed 3.0 cm from the target both upstream and downstream. Each detector has 24 rings in q covering angles between 20.1{sup o} and 49.4{sup o} and between 130.6{sup o} to 159.9{sup o}, with 16 sectors in {phi} for 2{pi} coverage. Two sets of preamplifiers, manufactured by SwanResearch, with the sensitivity of either 5 or 50 mV/MeV are available for experiments. A special scattering chamber to accommodate this detector array was designed and fabricated in FY06 by U. of Rochester. Bambino functioned very well for the first successful TIGRESS experiment on the Coulomb excitation of radioactive {sup 20}Na and {sup 21}Na beams in Jul/Aug 2006. Bambino underwent a major upgrade in FY07 at a cost of about $80 k to increase the position resolution. This is achieved by doubling the number of sector to 32 and will improve the in-flight reaction product {gamma}-ray spectroscopy resolution to about 1% or better for the …

The purpose of this work is to demonstrate whether there is a cost benefit to Pacific Gas and Electric Company in replacing the present iron catalyst/caustic/peroxide system used in the direct contact condenser units with an alternative approach using surface condensers and the Stretford System for hydrogen sulfide abatement.

The initial stages of wet thermal oxidation of Si(100)-(2x1) have been investigated by in-situ ambient pressure x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (APXPS), including chemical-state resolution via Si 2p core-level spectra. Real-time growth rates of silicon dioxide have been monitored at 100 mTorr of water vapor. This pressure is considerably higher than in any prior study using XPS. Substrate temperatures have been varied between 250 and 500 C. Above a temperature of {approx} 400 C, two distinct regimes, a rapid and a quasi-saturated one, are identified and growth rates show a strong temperature dependence which cannot be explained by the conventional Deal-Grove model.

Over the last decade the electron density of plasmas has been measured using X-ray laser interferometers in the 14 to 47 nm wavelength regime. With the same formula used in decades of experiments with optical interferometers, the data analysis assumes the index of refraction is due only to the free electrons, which makes the index less than one. Over the last several years, interferometer experiments in C, Al, Ag, and Sn plasmas have observed plasmas with index of refraction greater than one at 14 or 47 nm and demonstrated unequivocally that the usual formula for calculating the index of refraction is not always valid as the contribution from bound electrons can dominate the free electrons in certain cases. In this paper we search for other materials with strong anomalous dispersion that could be used in X-ray laser interferometer experiments to help understand this phenomena. An average atom code is used to calculate the plasma properties. This paper discusses the calculations of anomalous dispersion in Ne and Na plasmas near 47 nm and Xe plasmas near 14 nm. With the advent of the FLASH X-ray free electron laser in Germany and the LCLS X-FEL coming online at Stanford in 2 years …

Laser-plasma interactions (LPI) have been studied experimentally in high-temperature, high-energy density plasmas. The studies have been performed using the Omega laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), Rochester, NY. Up to 10 TW of power was incident upon reduced-scale hohlraums, distributed in three laser beam cones. The hot hohlraums fill quickly with plasma. Late in the laser pulse, most of the laser energy is deposited at the laser entrance hole, where most of the LPI takes place. Due to the high electron temperature, the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) spectrum extends well beyond {omega}{sub 0}/2, due to the Bohm-Gross shift. This high-temperature, high-energy density regime provides a unique opportunity to study LPI beyond inertial confinement fusion (ICF) conditions.

Geysers Power Plant Units 1-12 conceptual study of two H{sub 2}S abatement systems. The study is to provide a cost benefit and technical analysis of the existing (iron/caustic/peroxide) abatement system compared to retrofitting Units 1-12 with surface condensers and vent gases processing with the Stretford process. The study is based on the understanding that both H{sub 2}S abatement system compared meet the Air Pollution Board's requirements for H{sub 2}S emissions. The summary of this paper is that it is economical to convert from the existing abatement (iron/caustic/peroxide) to the alternative (surface condenser/Stretford) by a substantial amount. There is also a most economical timing sequence to accomplish the conversion to the surface condenser/Stretford abatement. The project if started immediately would be finished and operating by 1984. It is felt that the surface condenser/Stretford abatement system will ultimately meet the Air Pollution Board's requirements and improve the capacity factor of the Geysers power plant Units 1-12.

Tests were performed to evaluate the location of the air-sampling probe in the proposed design for the Waste Treatment Plant’s HV-C2 air exhaust stack. The evaluation criteria come from ANSI/HPS N13.1-1999, “Sampling and Monitoring Releases of Airborne Radioactive Substances from the Stacks and Ducts of Nuclear Facilities.” Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conducted the tests on a 3.67:1 scale model of the stack. Limited confirmatory tests on the actual stack will need to be conducted during cold startup of the High Level Waste Treatment Facility. The tests documented here assessed the capability of the air-monitoring probe to extract a sample representative of the effluent stream in accordance with criteria in ANSI/HPS N13.1. The test parameters covered the expected range of system flowrates with both one and two operating fans. The current stack design calls for the sampling probe to be located about 10 diameters downstream of the junction of the duct from Fan A with the stack. In accordance with the statement of work and the test plan, the test measurements were made at that location and also at one point upstream and another downstream. An adjustment was made for the distance between a typical sampling probe inlet and the centerline …

Cooling intense high-energy hadron beams remains a major challenge for accelerator physics. Synchrotron radiation is too feeble, while efficiency of two other cooling methods falls rapidly either at high bunch intensities (i.e. stochastic cooling of protons) or at high energies (i.e. e-cooling). The possibility of coherent electron cooling, based on high-gain FEL and ERL, was presented at last FEL conference [1]. This scheme promises significant increases in luminosities of modern high-energy hadron and electron-hadron colliders, such as LHC and eRHIC. In this paper we report progress made in the past year on the development of this scheme of coherent electron cooling (CeC), results of analytical and numerical evaluation of the concept as well our prediction for LHC and RHIC. We also present layout for proof-of-principle experiment at RHIC using our R&amp;D ERL which is under construction.

Relativistic kinetic theory may be used to understand hot dense hadronic matter. We address the questions of collective flow and pion production in a 3 D relativistic fluid dynamic model and in the VUU microscopic theory. The GSI/LBL collective flow and pion data point to a stiff equation of state. The effect of the nuclear equation of state on the thermodynamic parameters is discussed. The properties of dense hot hadronic matter are studied in Au + Au collisions from 0.1 to 10 GeV/nucleon. 22 refs., 5 figs.

Nuclear fuels should produce cheaper electricity than coal, considering their high specific energy and low cost. To exploit these properties, the scheme proposed here replaces the expensive reactor/steam-turbine system with an engine in which the expansion of a gas heated by a nuclear explosion raises a mass of liquid, thereby producing stored hydraulic energy. This energy could be converted to electricity by hydroelectric generation with water as the working fluid or by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generation with molten metal. A rough cost analysis suggests the hydroelectric system could reduce the present cost of electricity by two-thirds, and the MHD system by even more. Such cheap power would make feasible large-scale electrolysis to produce hydrogen and other fuels and chemical raw materials.

We have used the SHIVA laser system to accelerate carbon disks to speeds in excess of 100 km/sec. The 3KJ/3 ns pulse, on a 1 mm diameter spot of a single disk produced a conventional shock of about 5 MB. The laser energy can, however, be stored in kinetic motion of this accelerated disk and delivered (reconverted to thermal energy) upon impact with another carbon disk. This collision occurs in a time much shorter than the 3 ns pulse, thus acting as a power amplifier. The shock pressures measured upon impact are estimated to be in the 20 MB range, thus demonstrating the amplification power of this colliding disk technique in creating ultra-high pressures. Theory and computer simulations of this process will be discussed, and compared with the experiment.

An examination of a coherency criteria for high velocity jets is discussed in this paper. An analysis of the classical Pugh, Eichelberger, Rostoker jetting theory is used to develop an equation that defines the maximum coherent jet velocity as a function of the liner material sound speed, the liner beta angle, and the magnitude direction of the liner collapse velocity vector. The liner material sound speed is assumed to be the liner material shock velocity at the time of liner material collapse. This shock velocity is a function of the collapse pressure in the stagnation region and thus varies with time and position along the liner. The analysis indicates that coherent jets at velocities greater than three times the liner shock velocity are possible with some combinations of the beta and collapse vector angles while incoherent jets at velocities equal to two times the liner shock velocity could occur with other combinations. The objectives of this paper are to examine the theory used to calculate jet velocity and to develop a criteria for calculating the maximum coherent jet tip velocity. 13 refs., 6 figs.