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Population and individual radiation dose commitments have been estimated from reported radionuclide releases from commercial power reactors operating during 1992. Fifty-year dose commitments for a 1-year exposure from both liquid and atmospheric releases were calculated for four population groups (infant, child, teenager, and adult) residing between 2 and 80 km from each of 72 reactor sites. This report tabulates the results of these calculations, showing the dose commitments for both water and airborne pathways for each age group and organ. Also included for each of the sites is an estimate of individual doses, which are compared with 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix I, design objectives. The total collective dose commitments (from both liquid and airborne pathways) for each site ranged from a high of 3.7 person-rem to a low of 0.0015 person-rem for the sites with plants in operation and producing power during the year. The arithmetic mean was 0.66 person-rem. The total population dose for all sites was estimated at 47 person-rem for the 130-million people considered at risk. The individual dose commitments estimated for all sites were below the 10 CFR 50, Appendix I, design objectives.

The objective of this study is to obtain data on the rates and the extent of sulfation reactions involving partially sulfided calcium-based sorbents, and oxygen as well as sulfur dioxide, at operating conditions closely simulating those prevailing in the second stage (combustor) of Advanced Two-Stage Pressurized Fluidized-Bed Combustors (PFBC). In these systems the CO{sub 2} partial pressure generally exceeds the equilibrium value for calcium carbonate decomposition. Therefore, calcium sulfate is produced through the reactions between SO{sub 2} and calcium carbonate as well as the reaction between calcium sulfide and oxygen. To achieve this objective, the rates of reaction involving SO{sub 2} and oxygen (gaseous reactant); and calcium sulfide and calcium carbonate (solid reactants), will be determined by conducting tests in a pressurized thermogravimetric analyzer (HPTGA) unit. The effects of sorbent type, sorbent particle size, reactor temperature and pressure; and O{sub 2} as well as SO{sub 2} partial pressures on the sulfation reactions rate will be determined. During this quarter, samples of the selected limestone and dolomite, sulfided in the fluidized-bed reactor during last quarter, were analyzed. The extent of sulfidation in these samples was in the range of 20 to 50%, which represent carbonizer discharge material at different operating conditions. …

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) evaluated the effectiveness of 6-in. and 2-in. submerged orifices, and an overflow weir for fish bypass at a rotary drum fish screening facility. A modular drum screen built by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) was installed at PNNL`s Aquatic Ecology research laboratory in Richland, Washington. Fry, subyearlings, and smolts of spring chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawyacha) were introduced into the test system, and their movement and injury rates were monitored. A total of 33 tests (100 fish per test) that lasted from 24 to 48 hr were completed from 1994 through 1995. Passage rate depended on both fish size and bypass configuration. For fry/fingerling spring chinook salmon, there was no difference in passage rate through the three bypass configurations (2-in. orifice, 6-in. orifice, or overflow weir). Subyearlings moved sooner when the 6-in. orifice was used, with more than 50% exiting through the fish bypass in the first 8 hr. Smolts exited quickly and preferred the 6-in. orifice, with over 90% of the smolts exiting through the bypass in less than 2 hr. Passage was slightly slower when a weir was used, with 90% of the smolts exiting in about 4 hr. When …

An Integrated Process Strategy has been developed to package, condition, transport, and store in an interim storage facility the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) currently residing in the K-Basins at Hanford. Information required to support the development of the condition process and to support the safety analyses must be obtained from characterization testing activities conducted on fuel samples from the Basins. Some of the information obtained in the testing was reported in PNL-10778, K-Basin Spent Nuclear Fuel Characterization Data Report (Abrefah et al. 1995). That report focused on the physical, dimensional, metallographic examinations of the first K-West (KW) Basin SNF element to be examined in the Postirradiation Testing Laboratory (PTL) hot cells; it also described some of the initial SNF conditioning tests. This second of the series of data reports covers the subsequent series of SNF tests on the first fuel element. These tests included optical microscopy analyses, conditioning (drying and oxidation) tests, ignition tests, and hydrogen content tests.

Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) conducted this study for Fluor Daniel Inc. and Westinghouse Hanford Company. The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of solids loading on the hydraulic properties of frit slurries. The effect of solids loading on the hydraulic properties of the fret slurries was evaluated by testing various concentrations of frit slurries in various sized schedule 40 stainless steel piping. The pressure drop in straight and 90-degree long radius elbow sections was measured as a function of flowrate, pipe size, and solids concentration. The results of testing yielded recommendations for predicting the pressure drop as a function of solids concentration, pipe size, and flow-rate. The contribution of a 90-degree long radius elbow to the pressure drop was measured and recommendations given. Observations were also made on solids settling in the lines, wear on the testing equipment, slurry properties, and measuring equipment performance. The equipment and procedures used for pumping the high solids concentration frit slurry were successful in completing the test.

(This is part of the radwaste vitrification program at Hanford.) RWCT was to routinely receive final canister decontamination sand blast frit and rinse water, Decontamination Waste Treatment Tank bottoms, and melter off-gas Submerged Bed Scrubber filter cake. In order to address the design needs of the RWCT system to meet performance levels, the PNL Vitrification Technology (PVTD) program used the Feed Preparation Test System (FPTS) to evaluate its equipment and performance for a simulant of RWCT slurry. (FPTS is an adaptation of the Defense Waste Processing Facility feed preparation system and represents the initially proposed Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant feed preparation system designed by Fluor-Daniel, Inc.) The following were determined: mixing performance, pump priming, pump performance, simulant flow characterization, evaporator and condenser performance, and ammonia dispersion. The RWCT test had two runs, one with and one without tank baffles.

The purpose of the feed preparation subsystem in the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant (HWVP) is to provide, for control of the properties of the slurry that are sent to the melter. The slurry properties are adjusted so that two classes of constraints are satisfied. Processability constraints guarantee that the process conditions required by the melter can be obtained. For example, there are processability constraints associated with electrical conductivity and viscosity. Acceptability constraints guarantee that the processed glass can be safely stored in a repository. An example of an acceptability constraint is the durability of the product glass. The primary control focus for satisfying both processability and acceptability constraints is the composition of the slurry. The primary mechanism for adjusting the composition of the slurry is mixing the waste slurry with frit of known composition. Spent frit from canister decontamination is also recycled by adding it to the melter feed. A number of processes in addition to mixing are used to condition the waste slurry prior to melting, including evaporation and the addition of formic acid. These processes also have an effect on the feed composition.

Bubble-column reactors are used in the chemical processing industry for two-phase and three-phase chemical reactions. Hydrodynamic effects must be considered when attempting to scale these reactors to sizes of industrial interest, and diagnostics are needed to acquire data for the validation of multiphase scaling predictions. This paper discusses the use of differential pressure (DP) and gamma- densitometry tomography (GDT) measurements to ascertain the gas distribution in a two-phase bubble column reactor. Tests were performed on an industrial scale reactor (3-m tall, 0.48-m inside diameter) using a 5-Curie cesium-137 source with a sodium-iodide scintillation detector. GDT results provide information on the time- averaged cross-sectional distribution of gas in the liquid, and DP measurements provide information on the time and volume averaged axial distribution of gas. Close agreement was observed between the two methods of measuring the gas distribution in the bubble column. The results clearly show that, for a fixed volumetric flowrate through the reactor, increasing the system pressure leads to an increase in the gas volume fraction or ``gas holdup`` in the liquid. It is also shown from this work that GDT can provide useful diagnostic information on industrial scale bubble-column reactors.

This paper presents results of investigations on the transformation of iron pyrite to non-slagging species during staged combustion of pulverized coal. Work focuses on the oxidation of iron pyrite to magnetite.

The focus of this research is the development of a prototype field-portable ambient-air monitor for measuring trace levels of volatile organoarsenicals. Lewisite (dichloro[2-chlorovinyl]arsine) is a chemical warfare agent developed during World War I and stockpiled on a large scale by the former Soviet Union. A continuous air monitor for Lewisite at the eight-hour time-weighted-average concentration (3 {mu}g/m{sup 3}) is necessary to protect the safety and health of arms control treaty inspectors. Flow injection is used to integrate an air sampling device based on liquid-phase extraction with a flow-through detector based on potentiometric stripping analysis. We describe a method for the sampling and preconcentration of organoarsenicals from ambient air by using a gas permeation membrane sampler. The sampler is designed to selectively preconcentrate analyte that permeates a silicone rubber membrane into a caustic carrier stream. Instrument design is described for the sampling and detection methodologies.

In 1985, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley discovered a new form of carbon, the fullerene, C{sub 60}, which consists of 60 carbon atoms in a closed cage resembling a soccer ball. In 1990, Kritschmer et al. were able to make macroscopic quantities of fullerenes. This has generated intense activity to study the properties of fullerenes. One area of research involves collisions between fullerenes and atoms, ions or electrons. In this paper we describe experiments involving interactions between fullerenes and highly charged ions in which the center-of-mass energies exceed those used in other work by several orders of magnitude. The high values of projectile velocity and charge state result in excitation and decay processes differing significantly from those seen in studies 3 at lower energies. Our results are discussed in terms of theoretical models analogous to those used in nuclear physics and this provides an interesting demonstration of the unity of physics.

Preliminary results are presented of a study of electron irradiation on the martensitic transformation in a relatively dilute terminal solid solution of Co+5.75 wt% Fe. The experiments demonstrate qualitatively the profound effect that the damage structure produced by electron irradiation can have on these simple martensitic transformations. Further study is being pursued to attempt to quantify the transformation retardation effect.

One of the principal tools of industrial ecology is life-cycle assessment which intends to improve overall economic efficiency and to minimize negative environmental impacts of products, processes, and facilities. This paper describes a general methodology for environmentally responsible assessment of these activities; it discusses some of the underlying considerations for this assessment which are accessible by rigorous quantitative analysis; and an overall economic performance metric is proposed which puts both environmental and economic considerations on a common basis. Finally, some considerations involved in this approach is introduced as a guide to environmentally sound design and management.

An important factor in the credibility of an optimal capacity expansion plan is the accuracy of cost estimates given the uncertainty of future economic conditions. This paper examines the problems associated with estimating investment and operating costs in the Russian nuclear power context over the period 1994 to 2010.

This paper analyses the problems and presents solutions for building a modular robot control system. The approach requires modeling the entire robot system using multi-dimensional passive networks, breaking the system into subnetwork ``modules,`` and then discretizing the subnetworks, or n-ports, in a passivity preserving fashion. The main difficulty is the existence of ``algebraic loops`` in the discretized system. This problem is overcome by the use of scattering theory, whereby the inputs and outputs of the n-ports are mapped into wave variables before being discretized. By first segmenting the n-ports into nonlinear memoryless subnetworks and linear dynamic subnetworks and then discretizing using passivity preserving techniques such as Tustin`s method, a complete modular robot control solution is obtained.

The ability to rapidly command multi-robot behavior is crucial for the acceptance and effective utilization of multiple robot control. To achieve this, a modular- multiple robot control solution is being, pursued using the SMART modular control architecture. This paper investigates the development of a new dual-arm kinematics module (DUAL-KLN) which allows multiple robots, previously controlled as separate stand-alone systems, to be controlled as a coordinated multi-robot system. The DUAL-KIN module maps velocity and force information from a center point of interest on a grasped object to the tool centers of each grasping robot. Three-port network equations are used and mapped into the scattering operator domain in a computationally efficient form. Application examples of the DUAL-KLN module in multi-robot coordinated control are given.

This report is an assessment of chemical and radiological effluents that are expected to be released to the atmosphere from the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant (HWVP). The report is divided into two sections. In the first section, the impacts of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides as NO{sub 2} have been estimated for areas within the Hanford Site boundary. A description of the dispersion model used to-estimate CO and NO{sub 2} average concentrations and Hanford Site meteorological data has been included in this section. In the second section, calculations were performed to estimate the potential radiation doses to a maximally exposed off-site individual. The model used to estimate the horizontal and vertical dispersion of radionuclides is also discussed.

An advanced packaging concept has been developed for optical devices. This concept allows multiple fibers to be coupled to photonic integrated circuits, with no fiber penetration of the package walls. The principles used to accomplish this concept involves a second-order grating to couple light in or out of the photonic circuit, and a binary optic lens which receives this light and focuses it into a single-mode optical fiber. Design, fabrication and electrical/optical measurements of this packaging concept are described.

This is a review of the Kinetic-Statistical Strength (KSS) model described in the report ``Models of Material Strength, Fracture and Failure`` by V. Kuropatenko and V. Bychenkov. The models for metals subjected to high strain rates (explosions) are focussed on. Model implementation appears possible in a hydrocode. Applying the model to the shock response of metals will require a data source for the Weibull parameter {alpha}{sub u}, short of measuing the strength of specimens of various sizes. Model validation will require more detail on the experiments successfully calculated by SPRUT. Evaluation of the KSS model is needed against other existing rate-dependent models for metals such as the Steinberg-Lund or MTS model on other shock experiments.

A study of R{sub b} and R{sub c} is presented in the context of a Two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) with flavor changing scalar currents (FCSC). Implications of the model for the {rho}-parameter and for b {r_arrow} s{gamma} are also considered. The experimental data on R{sub b} places stringent constraints on the model parameters. The configuration of the model needed to account for R{sub b} is found to be irreconcilable with constraints from b {r_arrow} s{gamma} and {rho}. In particular, if R{sub b}{sup exp} > R{sub b}{sup SM} persists then this version of 2HDM will be ruled out or require significant modifications. Noting that aspects of the experimental analysis for R{sub b} and R{sub c} may be of some concern, the authors also disregard R{sub b}{sup exp} and R{sub c}{sup exp} and give predictions for these using constraints from b {r_arrow} s{gamma} and {rho} parameter only. They emphasize the theoretical and experimental advantages of the observable R{sub b+c} {equivalent_to} {Gamma}(Z {r_arrow} b{anti b} or c{anti c})/{Gamma}(Z {r_arrow} hadrons). They also stress the role of R{sub t} {equivalent_to} {Gamma}(Z {r_arrow} hadrons)/{Gamma}(Z {r_arrow} l{sup =}l{sup {minus}}) in testing the Standard Model (SM) despite its dependence on QCD corrections. Noting that in models …

Automotive alternators are designed to supply power for automobile engine ignition systems as well as charge the storage battery. This product is used in a large market where consumers are concerned with acoustic noise and vibration that comes from the unit. as well as overall quality and dependability. Alternators and generators in general are used in industries other than automotive, such as transportation and airline industries and in military applications. Their manufacturers are interested in pursuing state-of-the-art methods to achieve higher quality and reduced costs. Preliminary investigations of non-intrusive diagnostic techniques utilizing the inherent voltage signals of alternators have been performed with promising results. These techniques are based on time and frequency domain analyses of specially conditioned signals taken from several alternators under various test conditions. This paper discusses investigations that show correlations of the alternator output voltage to airborne noise production. In addition these signals provide insight into internal magnetic characteristics that relate to design and/or assembly problems.

In the course of the past few years, the nuclear Boltzmann-Langevin (BL)model has emerged as a promising microscopic model for nuclear dynamics at intermediate energies. The BL model goes beyond the much employed Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) model, and hence it provides a basis for describing dynamics of density fluctuations and addressing processes exhibiting spontaneous symmetry breaking and catastrophic transformations in nuclear collisions, such as induced fission and multifragmentation. In these standard models, the collision term is treated in a Markovian approximation by assuming that two-body collisions are local in both space and time, in accordance with Boltzmann`s original treatment. This simplification is usually justified by the fact that the duration of a two-body collision is short on the time scale characteristic of the macroscopic evolution of the system. As a result, transport properties of the collective motion has then a classical character. However, when the system possesses fast collective modes with characteristic energies that are not small in comparision with the temperature, then the quantum-statistical effects are important and the standard Markovian treatment is inadequate. In this case, it is necessary to improve the one-body transport model by including the memory effect due to the finite duration of two-body collisions. First …

This progress report studies of fluctuation processes in nuclear collisions discusses the following topics: quantal effects on growth of instabilities in nuclear matter; collisional damping of giant resonances in a non-Markovian approach; and medium-modified interaction induced by fluctuations.