In response to Section 7(b) of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-240), this report summarizes the progress of states and low-level radioactive waste compacts in 1987 in establishing new low-level waste disposal facilities. It also reports the volume of low-level waste received for disposal in 1987 by commercially operated low-level waste disposal facilities.

The recovery of petrochemical and geothermal resources requires extensive drilling of wells to increasingly greater depths. Real-time collection and telemetry of data about the drilling process while it occurs thousands of feet below the surface is an effective way of improving the efficiency of drilling operations. Unfortunately, due to hostile down-hole environments, telemetry of this data is an extremely difficult problem. Currently, commercial systems transmit data to the surface by producing pressure pulses within the portion of the drilling mud enclosed in the hollow steel drill string. Transmission rates are between two and four data bits per second. Any system capable of raising data rates without increasing the complexity of the drilling process will have significant economic impact. One alternative system is based upon acoustical carrier waves generated within the drill string itself. If developed, this method would accommodate data rates up to 100 bits per second. Unfortunately, the drill string is a periodic structure of pipe and threaded tool joints, the transmission characteristics are very complex and exhibit a banded and dispersive structure. Over the past forty years, attempts to field systems based upon this transmission method have resulted in little success. This paper examines this acoustical transmission problem …

Analyses have been made for different structural alloys proposed for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Candidate alloys include austenitic steels stabilized with nickel (NiSS) or manganese (MnSS). The radioactivity, the decay heat, and the waste disposal rating of each alloy have been calculated for the inboard shield of the ITER design option utilizing water cooled solid breeder blanket. The results show, for the 55 cm inboard shield and after 3 MW.yr/m2 fluence, that the long term activation problems, e.g., radioactive waste, of the MnSS are much less than that of the NiSS. All the MnSS alloys considered are qualified as Class C or better low level waste. Most of the NiSS alloys are not qualified for near surface burial. However, the short term decay heat generation rate for the MnSS is much higher than that of the NiSS. 6 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.

The Advanced Light Source is a national user facility for the production of high brightness and partially coherent X-ray and ultraviolet synchrotron radiation, which is now under construction at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. The facility is based on a low emittance electron storage ring, photon beamlines and user support facilities. The lattice optics is optimized for undulator operation and can accommodate up to 11 insertion devices in the straight sections and up to 48 ports in the bending magnets. The nominal electron energy is 1.5 GeV, the horizontal emittance 10/sup -8/ m rad, the circulating current 400 mA in the multibunch mode of operation. The parameters are chosen to cover the photon spectrum from about 5 eV to 1 keV with undulators and up to 10 keV with wigglers. The choice of energy is dictated by the need to cover the above photon energy range with an undulator gap not smaller than 1.4 cm. The facility is now in its second year of construction and is planned to be completed in late 1992 at a total cost of $98.7 million. 4 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.

A wildlife impact assessment and mitigation plan has been developed for the US Army Corps of Engineers Albeni Falls Project in northern Idaho. The Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP) was used to evaluate pre- and post-construction habitat conditions at the Albeni Falls Project. There were 6617 acres of wetlands converted to open water due to development and operation of the project. Eight evaluation species were selected with impacts expressed in numbers of Habitat Units (HU's). For a given species, one HU is equivalent to one acre of prime habitat. The Albeni Falls Project resulted in estimated losses of 5985 mallard HU's, 4699 Canada goose HU's, 3379 redhead HU's, 4508 breeding bald eagle HU's, 4365 wintering bald eagle HU's, 2286 black-capped chickadee HU's, 1680 white-tailed deer HU's, and 1756 muskrat HU's. The yellow warbler gained 71 HU's. Therefore, total target species estimated impacts were 28,587 HU's. Impacts on peregrine falcons were not quantified in terms of HU's. Projects have been proposed by an interagency team of biologists to mitigate the impacts of Albeni Falls on wildlife. The HEP was used to estimate benefits of proposed mitigation projects to target species. Through a series of proposed protection and enhancement actions, the mitigation plan …

Small bore superconducting dipole magnets, such as those for the SSC, often have problems in the ends. These problems can often be alleviated by spreading out the end windings so that the conductor sees less deformation. This paper presents a new procedure for designing dipole magnet ends which can be applied to magnets with either cylindrical or conical bulged ends to have integrated field multipoles which meet the constraints imposed by the SSC lattice. The method described here permits one to couple existing multiparameter optimization routines (i.e., MINUIT with suitable independent parameter constraints) with a computer code DIPEND, which describes the multiples, so that one can meet any reasonable objective (i.e., minimizing integrated sextupole and decapole). This paper will describe how the computer method was used to analyze the bulged conical ends for an SSC dipole. 6 refs, 6 figs, 2 tabs.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

In preparation for the Aladdin experiments, I will give an analytic treatment of a third-integral resonance. By starting from the equations for an actual ring, we can then connect the analytic parameters with the real ring.

This report updates our previous work that provided analytical approximations to cross sections for both photoelectric absorption of photons by atoms and incoherent scattering of photons by atoms. This representation is convenient for use in programmable calculators and in computer programs to evaluate these cross sections numerically. The results apply to atoms of atomic numbers between 1 and 100 and for photon energiesgreater than or equal to10 eV. The photoelectric cross sections are again approximated by four-term polynomials in reciprocal powers of the photon energy. There are now more fitting intervals, however, than were used previously. The incoherent-scattering cross sections are based on the Klein-Nishina relation, but use simpler approximate equations for efficient computer evaluation. We describe the averaging scheme for applying these atomic results to any composite material. The fitting coefficients are included in tables, and the cross sections are shown graphically. 100 graphs, 1 tab.

Ceramic superconductors operating near liquid nitrogen temperature may experience higher heating rates without losing stability, compared conventional superconductors. This will permit cable design with less stabilizer, reducing fabrication costs for large fusion magnets. Magnet performance is studied for different operating current densities in the superconductor, and cost benefits to commercial tokamak reactors are estimated. It appears that 10 kA /center dot/ cm/sup /minus/2/ (at 77 K and /approximately/10 T) is a target current density which must be achieved in order for the ceramic superconductors to compete with conventional materials. At current densities around 50 kA /center dot/ cm/sup /minus/2/ most potential benefits have already been gained, as magnet structural steel begins to dominate the cost at this point. For a steady state reactor reductions of /approximately/7% are forecast for the overall capital cost of the power plant in the best case. An additional /approximately/3% cost saving is possible for pulsed tokamaks. 9 refs., 4 figs., 8 tabs.

The advent of UHV medium voltage electron microscopes has brought the microanalyst to a regime of operating conditions in which electron beam induced damage can now be introduced to metallic specimens of medium to high atomic number. We report upon calculations of electron beam induced atomic sputtering which will have bearing upon the next generation of medium voltage analytical electron microscopes. The cross-section calculations reported herein have been completed for all solid elements of the periodic table for incident electron energies up to 1.5 MeV. All computer codes needed to duplicate these computations are available through the EMMPDL. 12 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

Augmented Fish Health Monitoring Contract DE-AI79-87BP35585 was implemented on July 20, 1987. First year highlights included remodeling of the Olympia (WA) Fish Health Center to provide laboratory space for histopathological support services to participating state agencies, acquisition of gas monitoring equipment for hatchery water systems, expanded disease detection work for bacterial kidney disease and erythrocytic inclusion body syndrome in fish stocks at 13 Columbia River Basin National Fish Hatcheries and advancements in computerized case history data storage and analysis. This report summarizes the health status of fish reared at Service facilities in the Columbia River basin, briefly describes work being done to meet contract requirements for fish disease surveillance at those hatcheries and provides a summary of case history data for calendar years 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987. 1 ref.

A community health survey was conducted during the first five months of 1987 in Kalapana, Hawaii. Some 676 residents were interviewed during the study, which represents some 82% of all households in the community. The goal was to obtain base-line data on the health status of all community residents and ambient air quality, in order to evaluate any changes in health status of residents after geothermal development in the area.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Bastrop, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The primary objective of this study was to determine the effects of different contact gases and experimental conditions on product yields from fluid-bed wood pyrolysis. The yield of condensible hydrocarbons was of particular interest. The contact gases employed included carbon dioxide (CO/sub 2/), methane (CH/sub 4/), and hydrogen (H/sub 2/). Reaction temperatures ranged from 650/degree/C to 800/degree/C, and gas contact time was between 1 and 2 s. Tests with CO/sub 2/ contact gas used a secondary vessel of catalyst for cracking of condensibles generated in the primary gasifier. Results of earlier studies at PNL showed the effectiveness of various catalysts for destruction of condensible hydrocarbons. Analyses of results on the effects of contact gas, reaction temperature, gas contact time, and wood feed rate are presented in this report, along with a description of experimental equipment and methods. Data were obtained from single tests at each set of experimental conditions. Conditions were not repeated to determine the amount of experimental error. Material balance closures were generally quite good for the experimental tests, within 10%. 9 refs., 15 figs., 16 tabs.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Burleson, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Biomass gasification and pyrolysis have the potential to make a significant impact on energy supplies in the United States and have demonstrated their commercial potential in many projects around the country. The environmental aspects of biomass gasification need to be defined to assure that the technology makes its maximum impact on energy supplies. One area that needs further development is characterization and treatment of the tar byproduct from gasifiers and pyrolyzers. This paper examines the effect of the type of gasifier/pyrolyzer and the processing conditions on the yield and properties of tars and condensates. End use limitations for tars are discussed. Wet scrubbing is the most common method of tar removal from gases. The scrub liquor will require treatment to remove organics before it can be disposed. Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) is developing a catalytic tar destruction process that will treat the hot, raw gas from the gasifier and convert the tars to gas. The process increases the gas yield and cold gas efficiency of the gasification process, produces a clean gas that can be used for many applications, and produces a clean condensate that can be disposed with minimal treatment. 10 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

After 15 months of service, a Hanford Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF) /sup 137/Cs gamma source capsule was removed for examination from a commercial irradiator at Radiation Sterilizers Incorporated (RSI), Westerville, Ohio. The examination was conducted by Pacific Northwest Laboratory and was the first study of a /sup 137/Cs source capsule after use in a commercial dry operation/wet storage (dry/wet) irradiator. The capsule was cycled 3327 times during the 15-month period with steady-state temperature differences ranging from 70 to 82/degree/C during the air-to-water cycle. The capsule was examined to determine the amount of corrosion that had occurred during this period and to determine if any degradation of the container was evident as the result of thermal cycling. Metallographic examinations were performed on sections that were removed from the inner capsule wall and bottom end cap and the outer capsule bottom end cap weld. The three regions of the inner capsule that were examined for corrosion were the salt/void interface, midwall, and bottom (including the end cap weld). The amount of corrosion measured (0.0002 to 0.0007 in.) is comparable to the corrosion produced (about 0.001 in.) during the melt-cast filling of a capsule. No observable effects of irradiator operation were …

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Monthly newspaper from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that includes news and information about the Churches of Christ along with advertising.

The report was prepared in response to a request from the Administrator of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Administration (VA) Coordination (CIRRPC) to provide guidelines to the VA with respect to the questions ``...for what levels of radiation exposure, if any, the radioepidemiological tables can be used credibly in the rule-making we are conducting pursuant to Public Law 98-542`` and ``...whether CIRRPC`s views in this regard vary with the type of cancer involved and whether use of the NIH tables for certain cancers may be more justifiable than for other cancers.`` The report prepared by the Science Subpanel on Radioepidemiological Tables and approved by the CIRRPC Science Panel answers these questions by listing those cancers both considered to be radiogenic in the NIH Report and to be applicable to veterans and by providing, for these cancers, radiation doses that allow the VA to exclude from further consideration those claims having ``no reasonable possibility`` (a VA stated criteria) of merit. The report provides important scientific information which can be used as part of the evidence for evaluating, along with other evidence, claims not eliminated by the screening procedure.

Photograph of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, Colorado.

This report presents an analytical method for determining wellbore heat transmission during liquid or gas flow along the tubing. The mathematical model describes the heat transfer between the flowing fluid in the wellbore and in the surrounding formation as one whole physical system. The transient heat transfer equations in the two regions with coupling at the sandface are solved simultaneously. Non-homogeneous formations are treated which consist of several layers with different physical properties and arbitrary initial temperature distributions in the vertical direction. Closed form analytical solutions are obtained in real space and in Laplace space, which can be used to calculate the temperature distribution along the wellbore and in the formation, and to evaluate heat transfer rate and cumulative heat exchange between wellbore and formation. A more accurate formula is given for the widely-used transient heat conduction function f(t{sub D}) of thermal resistance. 14 refs., 12 figs., 1 tab.