This report summarizes the results of an economic evaluation of the MIT process for the manufacture of ethanol from cellulosic residues. Conceptual process designs were developed for two cases, Case A which is based on the experimental data obtained to date, and Case B which hypothesizes the suppression of acid byproducts. Manufacturing costs, including profit, were estimated at $12.20/million Btu for Case A and $9.40/million Btu for Case B. These are equivalent to about $1.05 and $0.80/gal ethanol respectively. These economic estimates may be slightly on the low side since they do not consider feedstock storage nor working capital requirements. Nevertheless, the manufacturing costs for Case A appear to be comparable to those of the manufacture of ethanol from corn. The plant size used for this analysis was 1500 ton/day corn stover. This is considered to be a realistic size. The conceptual plants make about 27 million gal/yr ethanol in Case A and 41 million gal/yr in Case B. The MIT process appears to be one of the more promising programs being developed under contract for DOE. It is recommended that the process research be continued. Three areas of concern were identified which must be investigated before the process can …

Construction progress is listed and photographs of the solar atrium are included. (MHR)

Operations with the Geothermal Loop Experimental Facility are reviewed. Inspection of the separators, scrubbers, pumps, valves, and controls is described. (MHR)

The conclusions we have reached are that rainout of fresh radioactive debris occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that this precipitation was initiated either by the weapon itself or by the ensuing fires or by both, and that self-induced rainout can occur and deposit sufficient amounts of radioactivity on the ground to pose a significant collateral damage hazard.

Data tabulated for chemical composition of geothermal waters are presented for four areas of interest in Nevada: Beowawe steam well and Beowawe Hot Spring, Buffalo Valley Hot Springs, Kyle Hot Springs, and Leach Hot Springs. Material recommendations were prepared for the Nevada geothermal well. A detailed field corrosion test program planned for the Nevada test well is included. A progress report is presented for a laboratory research program on velocity effects in corrosion. (MHR)

The report covers the PC-2, C-beam chordal average density measurement made on the loss-of-fluid test (LOFT) primary coolant system hot leg during the L1-4 nonnuclear loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) test conducted May 3, 1977. The P-2, C-beam, or LOFT advanced densitometer, used was of the pulse height analysis/energy discrimination, or nuclear hardened type to be used for LOFT nuclear tests. The L1-4 test verified the applicability of pulse height analysis/energy discrimination techniques of the nuclear hardened gamma densitometer. Test results show that the reactor coolant fluid chordal average density can be calculated from gamma radiation source signal measured count rate data.

Imaging techniques that can be used to translate seismic and electromagnetic wave signals into visual representation are briefly discussed. The application of these techniques is illustrated on the example of determining the subsurface structure of a proposed power plant. Imaging makes the wave signals intelligible to the non-geologists. R and D work needed in this area are tabulated. (JSR)

Figure-of-merit equations for material selection and detailed design equations have been developed to aid in the design of a linear electrooptic deflector element for use in a 10-ps streak camera. The figure of merit indicates that BaTiO/sub 3/, KTN, and ammonium oxalate (AMO) are suitable materials. Possible deflector designs, including that of a current AMO prototype development program, are discussed. Quadratic (Kerr-effect) operation and materials are discussed along with the possibility for 10.6-..mu..m-wavelength use.

Siltec Corporation's contract with JPL is directed towards the design and development of equipment and processes, to demonstrate continuous growth of crystals by the Czochralski method, suitable for producing single silicon crystals for use in solar cells. Continuous growth is defined as the growth of 100 Kg of single silicon crystal, 10 cm in diameter, from one container. Siltec's approach to meeting this goal is to develop a furnace with continuous liquid replenishment of the growth crucible, accomplished by a meltdown system and a liquid transfer mechanism, with associated automatic feedback controls. The design of the furnace elements has been completed, and all parts are now in the fabrication stage. The electronic control console regulating the growth system and meltdown system, and the liquid transfer mechanism, has been assembled. An experiment was performed with a standard production furnace, to demonstrate controlled flow of molten silicon through a small I.D. tube by pressure differential. Sections of the transfer tube system were evaluated, power requirements to balance heat losses determined, axial temperature profile in the tube, and radial temperature gradients in the heat pack were measured. A mathematical model was made for the electromagnetic throttle valve to control flow of molten silicon …

A revised program plan is presented for developing an electric vehicle incorporating a flywheel regenerative power system with design considerations and goals for safety and for vehicle body construction using lightweight fiber-reinforced composite material. Schedules are included for each of the major steps in the program. (LCL)

Strain-gaged flat plates having one, two, three, and five closely spaced holes were tested under uniaxial and 1:1 biaxial loading conditions. The experimental results of these tests were compared with corresponding calculated values obtained using the computer program TABLES, which was developed at Battelle-Columbus Laboratories. The study was conducted (1) to obtain highly reliable experimental data that can be used in the design of penetrations in vessels having large radii of curvature, (2) to evaluate the capability of the computer program TABLES for accurately predicting the stresses in perforated flat plates, (3) to complete the initial step leading toward the planned development of a method of analysis for clusters of nozzles attached to pressure vessels, and (4) to investigate the stress states in regions of closely space holes. The comparisons of calculated and experimental stresses were in good agreement, and the method of analysis was found to be capable of accurately predicting the complex state of stress in the vicinity of the closely spaced holes.

Simultaneous measurements of enthalpy, specific volume, temperature, and electrical resistivity for lead and uranium were measured. From the measured data, estimates of the bulk modulus and sound velocity in these metals are made. (GHT)

Most of this report is concerned with Study 4, ''Development of Accelerated and Abbreviated Testing Methods for Predicting Performance of Encapsulation Materials Over a 20-Year Lifetime.'' The outputs of the study are to be (1) the specification of a methodology for developing the experimental designs for aging tests, and (2) the development of the experimental designs for aging tests for selected materials and material interfaces. Pursuant to these goals, the aging behavior of polymeric materials has been reviewed to lead to identifying possible failure mechanisms and thus to appropriate choices of characteristics to be measured and stresses to be used in accelerated/abbreviated tests. A similar review has been made for glasses. The results are discussed. Aging data and data analysis methods (models) which have been used in other investigations have been identified and critiqued; these results are presented. Initial results of efforts on developing the methodology are also presented in the discussion. (WDM)

Following stimulation by three nuclear explosives, the field rate of production of ''Reservoir A'', U.S.S.R., increased very significantly. The potential profitability of projects such as Reservoir A and some of the possible causes for the increased rate of production are reviewed.

The Gunn-diode microwave cavity instrument is a self-contained (the vacuum pump is external) microwave spectrometer for the specific detection and monitoring of ammonia gas in air. A solid state microwave source is used together with a high-Q resonant microwave cavity which is both the frequency selecting device for the source and the sample container through which the sampled gases pass. The ammonia absorption transition at 23,870.1 MHz is monitored continuously with this instrument. The monitoring frequency is stable to one part in 10/sup 9/ so that the system only responds to NH/sub 3/ absorption--there are no known interfering gases. The instrument was designed for simple operation and easy calibration. Except for the calibration procedure, the instrument operates automatically from turn-on. A four-digit readout is supplied on the front panel and it reads the concentration of ammonia directly in parts-per-million over a range of from 0.00 to 20 ppM. A 0 to 10 volt output is also available at the rear panel for recording data on an external recorder.

Polymers prepared by autoclave heat treatment of simple hydrocarbons were evaluated as sources of synthetic pitches for use in fabricating composite carbons. Hydrocarbons included: indene, phenanthrene, triphenylbenzene, 1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiyne, and cinnamylideneindene. Autoclave temperatures and pressures were in the ranges of 340 to 515/sup 0/C and 5 to 28 MPa, respectively. The more promising pitch materials were liquids or low-melting solids with coke yields of approximately 50 weight percent. Binary mixtures of organics were able to produce polymers and resulting carbons with properties that were correlated to the composition of the organic blend, thus allowing the controlled modification of properties.

Equipment and procedures used to spot weld tantalum- or stainless-steel-sheathed thermocouples to the inside diameter of Zircaloy tubing to meet the requirements of the Multirod Burst Test (MRBT) Program at ORNL are described. Spot welding and oxide cleaning tools were fabricated to remove the oxide coating on the Zircaloy tubing at local areas and spot weld four thermocouples separated circumferentially by 90/sup 0/ at any axial distribution desired. It was found necessary to apply a nickel coating to stainless-steel-sheathed thermocouples to obtain acceptable welds. The material and shape of the inner electrode and resistance between inner and outer electrodes were found to be critical parameters in obtaining acceptable welds.

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This paper describes three proposed experiments for observing the breakdown of parity in atomic transitions due to the exchange of neutral, parity-violating currents arising from some of the new gauge models (e.g., the Weinberg model) for the weak interaction. The experiments are based on exploiting a suggestion, by Bouchiat and Bouchiat, that modern laser technology be utilized to produce intense, monochromatic, and polarized photon beams with which to excite forbidden atomic transitions of the basic form parallel ns/sup 1///sub 2/ broken bracket ..-->.. parallel n's/sup 1///sub 2/ broken bracket. The asymmetries (of the order of 10/sup -4/) in the de-exitation processes then signal the presence of the parity-violating components due to the neutral currents. In all three experiments suggested here, the use of multiple (uncollimated)atomic beams as targets forms a basic part, and their advantages over a temperature-equilibrium vapor are described. The first experiment uses /sup 55/Cs atomic beams as a target; the second uses /sup 37/Rb in conjunction with a superstrong magnetic field (approximately 80 kG); the third uses /sup 81/Tl and requires frequency doubling of the exciting laser beam. All three experiments appear to be quite feasible, and, given the requisite equipment (much of which is or soon …

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The objective of this research program is to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of producing solar-cell quality sheet silicon by dip-coating one surface of carbonized ceramic substrates with a thin layer of large-grain polycrystalline silicon. Of the various substrate materials dip-coated this reporting period, mullite appears, at this time, to best satisfy the requirements of this research program. Dip-coating experiments continue to demonstrate that layer thickness and grain size are dependent on and can be controlled by pulling rate and melt temperature. Crystalline grains as large as 1 mm wide and 2 cm or more long can consistently be grown in layers 35 to 50 ..mu.. meters thick. (WDM)

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Analytic and Monte Carlo calculations of the Bramblett- Czirr /sup 235/U transmission experiment STANuc!. Sci. Eng. 35, 350-357 (1969)! were performed. The numbcr of fissions from the uncollided flux could be calculated as a function of depth. The results of experiment and Monte Carlo calculations are tabulated and plotted; fission and total cross sections for /sup 235/U are shown. In view of the agreement between the analytic and Monte Carlo calculations, it appeared that the ENDF/B-III cross sections were inadequate to calculate the Czirr-- Bramblett experiment. (3 figures, 2 tables) (RWR)

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