The Yucca Mountain Project was established to evaluate the potential for storing high-level radioactive wastes in geologic formations. Hydrologists recommended that drilling or coring in support of characterization tests be performed dry. Dry drilling, or air coring, presents a concern about health protection for the drilling personnel. The rock generally has a high silica content, and natural zeolites are abundant. Some zeolites are fibrous, leading to concerns that inhalation may result in asbestos-like lung diseases. An industrial hygiene study (IH) was conducted as part of an air coring technical feasibility test. The IH study found the potential for exposures to airborne silica and nuisance dusts to be within regulatory requirements and determined the commercial dust control equipment monitored to be effective when used in conjunction with a good area ventilation system and sound IH practices. Fibrous zeolites were not detected. Recommendations for the Yucca Mountain studies are (1) dust collection and control equipment equivalent or superior to that monitored must be used for any dry drilling activity and must be used with good general dilution ventilation and local exhaust ventilation provided on major emission sources; (2) good industrial hygiene work practices must be implemented, including monitoring any area where zeolitic …

In accordance with the requirements of Section 113(b)(3) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), as amended, the US Department of Energy has prepared this report on the progress of site characterization activities at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the period April 1 through September 30, 1990. This report is the third of a series of reports that are issued at intervals of approximately six months during site characterization. The report covers a number of new initiatives to improve the effectiveness of the site characterization program and covers continued efforts related to preparatory activities, study plans, and performance assessment. 85 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.

A semianalytical solution for transient two-phase water, air, and heat flow in a uniform porous medium surrounding a constant-strength linear heat source has been developed, using a similarity variable {eta}=r/{radical}t (r is radial distance, t is time). Although the similarity transformation requires a simplified radial geometry, all the physical mechanisms involved in two-phase fluid and heat flow may be taken into account in a rigorous way. The solution includes nonlinear thermophysical fluid and material properties, such as relative permeability and capillary pressure variations with saturation, and density and viscosity variations with temperature and pressure. The resulting governing equations form a set of coupled nonlinear ODEs, necessitating numerical integration. The solution has been applied to a partially saturated porous medium initially at a temperature well below the saturation temperature, which is the setting for the potential nuclear waste repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The resulting heat and fluid flows provide a stringent test of many of the capabilities of numerical simulation models, making the similarity solution a useful tool for model verification. Comparisons to date have shown excellent agreement between the TOUGH2 simulator and the similarity solution for a variety of conditions. 13 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

The potential release of gaseous {sup 14}CO{sub 2} from small perforations in spent fuel containers has been evaluated as a function of temperature, hole size, effective porosity of corrosion products within the hole, and time, based on the waste package design parameters and environmental conditions described in the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Report (SCP). The SCP does not specify initial fill gas (argon) pressure and temperature. It is shown that, if significant {sup 14}C oxidation takes place during the initial, inert-gas phase, an incentive exists to initially underpressurize the containers. This will avoid large, spiked releases of gaseous {sup 14}CO{sub 2} and will result in delayed, smaller, and more uniform release rates over time. Therefore larger size perforations could be tolerated while meeting the applicable regulations. 16 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.

Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) and its amendments establishing the national policy for safely storing, transporting and disposing of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in a geologic repository. This legislation created the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) within the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop an integrated system for the safe and efficient disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The NWPA, as amended, directs DOE to study in detail the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada as the only candidate site for the Nation`s geologic repository. This Information Services Directory is intended to facilitate dissemination of information. The Directory is produced by the Education and Information Division of OCRWM`s Office of External Relations and will be updated periodically. This is the third such update since its issuance in August 1986. It is a reference document that lists the sources of program information available to states, Indian tribes, and the public.

The Yucca Mountain Project/Spent Fuel program at Argonne National Laboratory is designed to determine radionuclide release rates by exposing high-level waste to repository-relevant groundwater. To gain experience for the tests with spent fuel, a scoping experiment was conducted at room temperature to determine the uranium release rate from an unirradiated UO{sub 2} powder mixture (14.3 wt % enrichment in {sup 235}U) to J-13 water under saturated conditions. Another goal set for the experiment was to develop a method for utilizing isotope dilution techniques to determine whether the dissolution rate of UO{sub 2} matrix is in accordance with an existing kinetic model. Results of these analyses revealed unequal uranium dissolution rates from the enriched and depleted portions of the powder mixture because of undisclosed differences between them. Although the presence of this inhomogeneity has precluded the application of the kinetic model, it also provided an opportunity to elaborate on the utilization of isotope dilution data in recognizing and quantifying such conditions. Detailed listings of uranium release and solution chemistry data are presented. Other problems commonly associated with spent fuel, such as the effectiveness of filtering media, the existence of uranium concentration peaks during early stages of the leach tests, the need …

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is performing analyses to address an objection by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to plans in the Consultation Draft of the Site Characterization Plan for direct excavation of the Calico Hills nonwelded (CHn) unit within the repository exploration block at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The excavation was planned as part of site characterization activities for the potential high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. This characterization activities for the potential high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. This characterization activity has been deferred, pending the results of a risk/benefit analysis of alternative methods for obtaining needed characterization data from CHn unit. The benefits from characterizing the CHn unit are generally related to obtaining information leading to improved confidence in predictions of site performance. The risks are generally associated with potential adverse impacts to site performance that result from excavation or other intrusion into the CHn unit. The purpose of the risk/benefit analysis is to produce a recommendation to the Director, Regulatory and Site Evaluation Division. DOE/Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project Office for a strategy for characterizing the CHn unit. The recommendation will describe characterization activities that are expected to provide the needed information while limiting …

Fractures in the rock mass surrounding a repository and its shafts, access drifts, emplacement rooms and holes, and exploratory or in-situ testing holes, may provide preferential flowpaths for the flow of groundwater or air, potentially containing radionuclides. Such cracks may have to be sealed. The likelihood that extensive or at least local grouting will be required as part of repository sealing has been noted in numerous publications addressing high level waste repository closing. The objective of this work is to determine the effectiveness of fracture sealing (grouting) in welded tuff. Experimental work includes measurement of intact and fracture permeability under various normal stresses and injection pressures. Grout is injected into the fractures. The effectiveness of grouting is evaluated in terms of grout penetration and permeability reduction, compared prior to and after grouting. Analysis of the results include the effect of normal stress, injection pressure, fracture roughness, grout rheology, grout bonding, and the radial extent of grout penetration. Laboratory experiments have been performed on seventeen tuff cylinders with three types of fractures: (1) tension induced cracks, (2) natural fractures, and (3) sawcuts. Prior to grouting, the hydraulic conductivity of the intact rock and of the fractures is measured under a range …

This report examines the degradation modes of four Ni-Cr-Mo alloys under conditions relevant to the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project (YMP). The materials considered are Alloys C-276, C-4, C-22, and 625 because they have desirable characteristics for the conceptual design (CD) of the high-level radioactive-waste containers presented in the YMP Site Characterization Plan (SCP). The types of degradation covered in this report are general corrosion; localized corrosion, including pitting and crevice corrosion; stress corrosion cracking in chloride environments; hydrogen embrittlement (HE); and undesirable phase transformations due to a lack of phase stability. Topics not specifically addressed are welding concerns and microbiological corrosion. The four Ni-Cr-Mo alloys have excellent corrosion resistance in chloride environments such as seawater as well as in more aggressive environments. They have significantly better corrosion resistance than the six materials considered for the CD waste container in the YMP SCP. (Those six materials are Types 304L and 3161L stainless steels, Alloy 825, unalloyed copper, Cu(70)-Ni(30), and 7% aluminum bronze.) In seawater, the Ni-Cr-Mo alloys have negligible general corrosion rates and show little evidence of localized corrosion. The four base materials of these alloys are expected to have nearly indistinguishable corrosion resistance in the YMP environments. The strength …

This note describes the low-energy-transfer-line designed for the APS. The low energy transfer line constitutes two transport lines. One of these lines runs from linac to the positron accumulator ring, also called ``PAR``, and is 23.7138 m long. The second part of the low energy transport line runs from the ``PAR`` to the injector synchrtoron and is about 30.919 m long. The above length includes two quadrupoles, a bend magnet and a septum magnet in the injector synchrotron.

Three separate tasks are included in the first year of the project. Two involve assembling data sets useful for testing radiation models in global climate modeling (GCM) codes, and the third is concerned with the development of advance instrumentation for performing accurate spectral radiation measurements. Task 1: Three existing data sets have been merged for two locations, one in the wet northeastern US and a second in the dry western US. The data sets are meteorological data from the WBAN network, upper air data from the NCDC, and high quality solar radiation measurements from Albany, New York and Golden, Colorado. These represent test data sets for those modelers developing radiation codes for the GCM models. Task 2: Existing data are not quite adequate from a modeler`s perspective without downwelling infrared data and surface albedo, or reflectance, data. Before the deployment of the first CART site in ARM the authors are establishing this more complete set of radiation measurements at the Albany site to be operational only until CART is operational. The authors will have the site running by April 1991, which will provide about one year`s data from this location. They will coordinate their measurements with satellite overpasses, and, to …

Since 1989, the U.S. Department of Energy has sponsored the Energy Efficient Industrialized Housing research program (EEIH) to improve the energy efficiency of industrialized housing. Two research centers share responsibility for this program: The Center for Housing Innovation at the University of Oregon and the Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the University of Central Florida. Additional funding is provided through the participation of private industry, state governments and utilities. The program is guided by a steering committee comprised of industry and government representatives. This report summarizes Fiscal Year (FY) 1990 activities and progress, and proposed activities for FY 1991 in Task 2.1 Design for Energy Efficiency. This task establishes a vision of energy conservation opportunities in critical regions, market segments, climate zones and manufacturing strategies significant to industrialized housing in the 21st Century. In early FY 1990, four problem statements were developed to define future housing demand scenarios inclusive of issues of energy efficiency, housing design and manufacturing. Literature surveys were completed to assess seven areas of influence for industrialized housing and energy conservation in the future. Fifty-five future trends were identified in computing and design process; manufacturing process; construction materials, components and systems; energy and environment; …

This report discusses the waste minimization activities for the Pinellas Plant. The Pinellas Plant deals with low-level radioactive wastes, solvents, scrap metals and various other hazardous materials. This program has realized cost savings through recycling and reuse of materials.

The core flow approximation for liquid metal (LM), magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) duct flow is a method that ignores the contributions of viscous forces in the fluid. For a fully developed, steady state flow situation, this approximation leaves the magnetic forces to be balanced only by the pressure gradient and results in a greatly simplified momentum equation. The velocity field predicted by the core flow equations is obtained much more easily than that described by the full solution, which usually requires a numerical approach. For this reason it is desirable to use the core flow method for flow situations in which viscosity has little effect. Developed here is an analytic core flow solution for a square duct in an obliquely incident magnetic field which omits any special treatment of boundary layers. This solution is compared to the full solution method developed in the code MH2D and a parametric comparison is performed. This general analytic approach can be expanded to consider rectangular ducts or walls of different thickness and electrical conductivity. The latter, however, will greatly complicate the equations presented here.

The basic requirements and operating features of the collider cryogenic system have already been described in other publications. The general arrangement of the refrigeration plant and its subsystems is presented, and the issue of how to provide redundancy in the cryogenic system is addressed, and some of the basic features of the refrigeration plants are described. The collider cryogenic system design is not final yet, and this report only reflects the direction and current status of the cryogenic system design.

The Northwest Power Planning Council has established a goal of doubling the size of salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin. The achievement of this important goal is largely dependent upon expanding the production of hatchery fish. Pure oxygen has been commonly used to increase the carrying capacity of private sector salmonid hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest. The use of supplemental oxygen to increase hatchery production is significantly less expensive than the construction of new hatcheries and might save up to $500 million in construction costs.

This report provides an archival reference to the scientific information and other pertinent documents and materials associated with the Salton Sea Scientific Drilling Project (SSDP). This archiving process ensures that valuable technical data and information obtained during the life of the project can be retrieved, organized and maintained as a historical record for future reference. This paper describes the background of the project and the process used for archiving the materials. [DJE-2005]

To inject beams from the positron accumulator ring (PAR) into the synchrotron, a pulsed kicker magnet is used. The specifications of this kicker magnet and the power supply unit are listed and discussed in this report.

The ring magnet of the injector synchrotron consists of 68 dipole magnets. These magnets are connected in series and are energized from two feed points 180{degrees} apart by two identical 12-phase power supplies. The current in the magnet will be raised linearly to about 1 kA level, and after a small flat top (1 ms to 10 ms typical to provide sufficient time for the bridge to go to inversion mode) the current will be reduced to the injection level of 60 A. The repetition time for the current waveform is 500 ms. In this paper the theory of operation for the power supply along with its design characteristics will be given.

It is important to understand the effects of introducing foils into the path of charged particle beams. In the APS linac system, the intention is to insert thin foils before and after the positron generating target to protect the accelerating structures immediately before and after the target. Electron beams that pass through a dense material lose energy in collisions with the atomic electrons. The scattering path of electrons is much less straight than that of heavier particles (mu, pi meson, K meson, proton, etc.). After a short distance electrons tend to diffuse into the material, rather than proceeding in a rectilinear path.

Three septum magnets will be operated at a repetition-rate of 2 Hz. Two of the septum magnets are identical and operate at the same values; these are the synchrotron extraction and the storage ring injection magnets. They are transformer septum magnets, with a primary inductance of 23 {mu}H and resistance of 6.3 m{Omega}, and must be pulsed at a 2 Hz rate to extract beam from the synchrotron and inject beam into the storage ring at 7.7 GeV. The third septum magnet is used to inject electrons into the synchrotron at 650 MeV or positrons at 450 MeV. It is also a transformer septum magnet, with a primary inductance of 21 {mu}H and resistance of 6.7 m{Omega}, and must be pulsed at a 2 Hz rate. A design study was performed of the power supply proposed in the APS Title I design. This supply produces a pulse that is approximately a half-sine-wave with a base width of approximately 1/3 ms; its peakcurrent is adjustable from 470 A to 4.7 kA and is repeatable within {plus_minus}0.05%. The septum steel is reset by a half-sine pulse of reverse polarity a few milliseconds after the forward current pulse. No beam is present during …

The purpose of this report is to review technical specifications for emergency diesel generators in the context of new information developed in the Nuclear Plant Aging Research Program and the application of current NRC regulatory concepts and knowledge. Aging and reliability relationships related to the standard technical specifications are reviewed and supported by data and published information to ensure that conservative and beneficial specifications are identified. Where technical specifications could adversely influence aging and reliability, the technical issues and reasonable alternatives are identified for consideration. This report documents and spans the technical progress from the published and approved regulatory documents to the current knowledge basis. This ensures that the technical bases for the technical specifications discussed are documented and relatively complete subject information is contained in one document. The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has participated in the Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program directed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, Division of Engineering. The NPAR study of emergency diesel generator aging was performed in two phases. In Phase I, plant operating experience, ~ata, expert opinion and statistical methods were used to produce a new data base related to aging, reliability, and operational readiness of nuclear …

This engineering note describes the testing of the argoll spill duct bellows. It includes a detailed explanation of the procedures, along with a summary of the results of the testing done on 2/18/91 and 2/19/91 by Gary Trotter. The original bellows were purchased from Expansion Joint Systems (see Appendix 2). The general conclusion from the testing was that the leaks that were found were small enough so that they would not show up at the design pressure of 0.1 psig. Therefore, the leaks were acceptable, and the conclusion was that the bellows were fit for use.

The argon storage dewar at the D0 Assembly Hall was filled with approximately 3100 gallons of high purity liquid argon for the first time on December 3,1990. The oxygen analyzer and high voltage test cell both indicated an oxygen impurity level between 0.4 and 0.5 ppm which is acceptable. The condenser and insulated piping sizing appears to be correct for a fill rate of a couple of hours. Insulation is required around the inlet to this piping in order to reduce the amount of filling time significantly. The graph of the level indication vs. volume of the dewar should be changed to reflect the apparent 5.2-5.4 in. offset. Another data point may be required to narrow this number down further. A majority of the time spent to fill the vessel was associated with the testing of the liquid-this time will shorten as we gain experience. Subsequent deliveries should be ordered to initiate as early in the morning as possible, this appears to be nearly an all day effort. The argon checked prior to delivery by us indicated that it was acceptable. The analysis of the argon purity that Linde provides us is merely a check that the liquid meets our …