A calculation was made of the time dependent charge state of a heavy projectile traversing a finite-temperature target. The calculation uses an average-atom model to integrate the rate equations.

A general purpose program for drift chamber studies is described. First the capacitance matrix is calculated using a Green's function technique. The matrix is used in a linear-least-squares fit to choose optimal operating voltages. Next the electric field is computed, and given knowledge of gas parameters and magnetic field environment, a family of electron trajectories is determined. These are finally used to make drift distance vs time curves which may be used directly by a track reconstruction program. Results are compared with data obtained from the cylindrical chamber in the Axial Field Magnet experiment at the CERN ISR.

The performance characteristics of single pass and multipass storage laser amplifiers are presented and compared. The effects of the multipass amplifier parameters on the extraction characteristics are examined. For a wide range of conditions the multipass amplifier is found to provide high energy gain and high efficiency simultaneously. This is a significant advantage over the single pass laser amplifier. Finally, three specific storage laser amplifier systems, flashlamp pumped V:MgF/sub 2/, XeF laser pumped Tm:Glass, and photolytically pumped Selenium, are examined. The performance characteristics for each of the three systems are calculated and compared.

The new radiation dose estimates for Hiroshima and Nagasaki are radiobiologically examined for compatability with other human and experimental data. The new doses show certain improvements over the original T65 doses. However, they suggest for chronic granulocytic leukemia, total malignancies, and chromosome aberrations, at neutron doses of 1 rad, RBEs in excess of 100, higher than expected from other findings. This and other indications suggest that either there are unrecognized systematic problems with the various radiobiological data, or the new doses are deficient in neutrons for Hiroshima, by a factor of about five. If in fact there were actually some 5-fold more dose from neutrons at Hiroshima than estimated by the new calculations, the RBEs would agree well with laboratory results, and other inconsistencies would largely disappear. Cancer risks are estimated for neutrons from the new doses and are compared with those estimated from radiobiologically reconciled doses (the new doses adjusted by adding approximately 5-fold more neutrons). The latter appear more reasonable. For low-LET radiation, cancer risk estimates are changed very little by the new dose estimates for Nagasaki.

A computer simulation code at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to predict the performance of a railgun electromagnetic accelerator has been developed and validated. The code, called MAGRAC (MAGnetic Railgun ACcelerator), models the performance of a railgun driven by a magnetic flux compression current generator (MFCG). The MAGRAC code employs a time-step solution of the nonlinear time-varying element railgun circuit to determine rail currents. From the rail currents, the projectile acceleration, velocity, and position are found. The MAGRAC code was validated through a series of eight railgun tests conducted jointly with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The formulation of the MAGRAC railgun model is described and the predicted current waveforms compared with those obtained from full-scale experiments.

As part of a program to survey low levels of radioactivity in the marine environment of the southern hemisphere, we have studied the distribution and uptake of /sup 131/I found in the subtidal kelp Ecklonia radiata, on the west coast of Australia. Concentrations of 5 to 75 fCi/g of /sup 131/I exist in this species over a considerable distance along the coast. We have characterized the principal source of the /sup 131/I and found a general temporal correlation between the amount of radioiodine discharged from sewer outfalls and its concentration in kelp. Transplant experiments have enabled us to estimate uptake and depuration rates, and our results are consistent with laboratory measurements made by others.