The initial Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) groundwater quality assessment report for Waste Management Area S-SX (PNNL-11810) was issued in January 1998. The report stated a plan for conducting continued assessment would be developed after addressing Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) comments on initial findings in PNNL-11810. Comments from Ecology were received by US Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) on September 24, 1998. Shortly thereafter, Ecology and DOE began dispute resolution and related negotiations about tank farm vadose issues. This led to proposed new Tri-Party Agreement milestones covering a RCRA Facility Investigation-Corrective Measures Study (RFI/CMS) of the four single-shell tank farm waste management areas that were in assessment status (Waste Management Areas B-BX-BY, S-SX, T and TX-TY). The RCRA Facility Investigation includes both subsurface (vadose zone and groundwater) and surface (waste handling facilities and grounds) characterization. Many of the Ecology comments on PNNL-11810 are more appropriate for, and in many cases are superseded by, the RFI/CMS at Waste Management Area S-SX. The proposed Tri-Party Agreement milestone changes that specify the scope and schedule for the RFI/CMS work plans (Tri-Party Agreement change number M-45-98-0) were issued for public comment in February 1999. The Tri-Party Agreement narrative indicates …

A high-speed data link that would provide dramatically faster communication from downhole instruments to the surface and back again has the potential to revolutionize deep drilling for geothermal resources through Diagnostics-While-Drilling (DWD). Many aspects of the drilling process would significantly improve if downhole and surface data were acquired and processed in real-time at the surface, and used to guide the drilling operation. Such a closed-loop, driller-in-the-loop DWD system, would complete the loop between information and control, and greatly improve the performance of drilling systems. The main focus of this program is to demonstrate the value of real-time data for improving drilling. While high-rate transfer of down-hole data to the surface has been accomplished before, insufficient emphasis has been placed on utilization of the data to tune the drilling process to demonstrate the true merit of the concept. Consequently, there has been a lack of incentive on the part of industry to develop a simple, low-cost, effective high-speed data link. Demonstration of the benefits of DWD based on a high-speed data link will convince the drilling industry and stimulate the flow of private resources into the development of an economical high-speed data link for geothermal drilling applications. Such a downhole communication …

We present a unique modeling capability to understand the global distribution of trace gases and aerosols throughout both the troposphere and stratosphere. It includes the ability to simulate tropospheric chemistry that occurs both in the gas phase as well as on the surfaces of solid particles. We have used this capability to analyze observations from particular flight campaigns as well as averaged observed data. Results show the model to accurately simulate the complex chemistry occurring near the tropopause and throughout the troposphere and stratosphere.

Commercialization of aerogels has been slow due to several factors including cost and manufacturability issues. The technology itself is well enough developed as a result of work over the past decade by an international-community of researchers. Several extensive substantial markets appear to exist for aerogels as thermal and sound insulators, if production costs can keep prices in line with competing established materials. The authors discuss here the elements which they have identified as key cost drivers, and they give a prognosis for the evolution of the technology leading to reduced cost aerogel production.

This report provides background information for a series of reports documenting accident scenario simulations for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) blanket heat removal systems. The simulations were performed in support of the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report for the APT. This report gives a brief description of the FLOWTRAN-TF code which was used for detailed blanket bin modeling.

To address a concern about a potential maldistribution of coolant flow through an APT blanket module under low flow near RHR conditions, a scoping study of downflow mixed convection in parallel channels was conducted. Buoyancy will adversely effect the flow distribution in module bins with downflow and non-uniform power distributions. This study consists of two parts: a simple analytical model of flow in a two channel network, and a lumped eleven channel FLOWTRAN-TF model of a front lateral Row-1 blanket module bin. Results from both models indicate that the concern about coolant flow in a vertical model being diverted away from high power regions by buoyancy is warranted. The FLOWTRAN-TF model predicted upflow (i.e., a flow reversal) through several of the high power channels, under some low flow conditions. The transition from the regime with downflow in all channels to a regime with upflow in some channels was abrupt.

Typically, heat conduction alone is insufficient for cooling components under decay heat conditions. However, due to various design features associated with the blanket modules heat conduction alone can transfer all of the deposited energy when under flooded cavity conditions.

This report is one of a series of reports that document normal operation and accident simulations for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) blanket heat removal system. These simulations were performed for the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report.

This report is one of a series of reports that document normal operation and accident simulations for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) blanket heat removal (HR) system. These simulations were performed for the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report.

The APT blanket system has about 57 MW of thermal energy deposited within the blanket region under normal operating conditions from the release of neutrons and the interaction of the High energy particles with the blanket materials. This corresponds to about 48 percent of total thermal energy deposited in the APT target/blanket system. The deposited thermal energy under normal operation conditions is an important input parameter used in the thermal-hydraulic design and accident analysis.

This report is one of a series of reports that document normal operation and accident simulations for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) blanket heat removal system. These simulations were performed for the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report. This report documents the results of simulations of a Loss-of-Flow Accident (LOFA) where power is lost to all of the pumps that circulate water in the blanket region, the accelerator beam is shut off and neither the residual heat removal nor cavity flood systems operate.

This report is one of a series of reports documenting accident scenario simulations for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) blanket heat removal systems. The simulations were performed in support of the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) for the APT.

This report is one of a series of reports that document normal operation and accident simulations for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) blanket heat removal system. These simulations were performed for the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report.

This report is one of a series of reports that document normal operation and accident simulations for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) blanket heat removal system. These simulations were performed for the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report.

The model results are used to determine if beam power shutdown is necessary (or not) as a result of the LOHGA accident to maintain the blanket system well below any of the thermal-hydraulic constraints imposed on the design. The results also provide boundary conditions to the detailed bin model to study the detailed temperature response of the hot blanket module structure. The results for these two cases are documented in the report.

This report documents the approaches taken in establishing a 1-dimensional integrated blanket system model using the TRAC code, developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory.

This report provides background information for a series of reports documenting accident scenario simulations for the Accelerator Production of Tritium blanket heat removal systems.

Since its beginning, the Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (ARAC), an emergency radiological dose assessment service of the US Government, has been called on to do consequence assessments for releases into the atmosphere of radionuclides and a variety of other substances. Some of the more noteworthy emergency responses have been for the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power reactor accidents, and more recently, for a cloud of gases from a rail-car spill into the Sacramento river of the herbicide metam sodium, smoke from hundreds of burning oil wells in Kuwait, and ash clouds from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. The spatial scales of these responses range from local, to regional, to global, and the response periods from hours, to weeks, to months. Because of the variety of requirements of each unique assessment, ARAC has developed and maintains a flexible system of people, computer software and hardware.

This report is one of a series of reports that document LBLOCA analyses for the Accelerator Production of Tritium primary blanket Heat Removal system. This report documents the analysis results of a LBLOCA where the accelerator beam is shut off without primary pump trips and neither the RHR nor the cavity flood systems operation.

The 618-11 (Wye or 318-11) burial ground received transuranic (TRTJ) and mixed fission solid waste from March 9, 1962, through October 2, 1962. It was then closed for 11 months so additional burial facilities could be added. The burial ground was reopened on September 16, 1963, and continued operating until it was closed permanently on December 31, 1967. The burial ground received wastes from all of the 300 Area radioactive material handling facilities. The purpose of this document is to characterize the 618-11 solid waste burial ground by describing the site, burial practices, the disposed wastes, and the waste generating facilities. This document provides information showing that kilogram quantities of plutonium were disposed to the drum storage units and caissons, making them transuranic (TRU). Also, kilogram quantities of plutonium and other TRU wastes were disposed to the three trenches, which were previously thought to contain non-TRU wastes. The site burial facilities (trenches, caissons, and drum storage units) should be classified as TRU and the site plutonium inventory maintained at five kilograms. Other fissile wastes were also disposed to the site. Additionally, thousands of curies of mixed fission products were also disposed to the trenches, caissons, and drum storage units. Most …

This Sampling and Analysis (S and A) Plan was developed for the NORM Characterization Program, and describes the information to be gained through the program, how the required information is to be collected, and the anticipated form and content of the final data. The S and A Plan provides detailed procedures describing the work to be performed, how and why the work will be performed, and who will be responsible for conducting the various aspects of the work. The S and A Plan has been prepared with input from all parties involved with the program. Where appropriate, portions of the procedures described in the S and A Plan will be field tested by personnel of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) and the Grand Junction Project Office (GJPO), as well as representatives of the cosponsor organizations prior to their use in the field.

A methodology has been established to predict the effect of atmospheric corrosion on the reliability of plastic encapsulated microelectronic (PEM) devices. New experimental techniques were developed to directly characterize the Al/Au wirebond interface where corrosion primarily occurs. A deterministic empirical model describing wirebond degradation as a function of environmental conditions was generated. To demonstrate how this model can be used to determine corrosion effects on device reliability, a numerical simulation was performed on a three-lead voltage reference device. Surface reaction rate constants, environmental variables and the defect characteristics of the encapsulant were treated as distributed parameters. A Sandia-developed analytical framework (CRAX{trademark}) was used to include uncertainty in the analysis and directly calculate reliability.

Coffinite (USiO{sub 4}) has been found in numerous sedimentary and hydrothermal environments including those considered as natural analogues of nuclear waste repositories. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM) studies have been conducted on a uraninite sample from a U-deposit in Canada. It is observed that the uraninite (UO{sub 2+x}) is replaced by coffinite (U[SiO{sub 4}].nH{sub 2}O) and the replacing coffinite coexists with quartz. The TEM study shows {alpha}-recoil damage, lattice distortion, and low-angle boundaries among neighboring uraninite domains. Coffinitization seems more closely associated with {alpha}-recoil-damaged uraninite areas. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) spectrum indicates that the ratio of U(+6)U(+4) in the uraninite is about 2/3, while the coffinite is dominated by U(+4). A thermodynamic calculation indicates that coffinitization can take place most likely at temperatures below 130 C if dissolved silica concentrations are limited by amorphous silica mineral phase. In a sufficiently high silica concentration environment, coffinite can form under the oxygen fugacity of 10{sup -65}-10{sup -55} atm. The equilibrium model, however, is not able to explain the coexistence of coffinite with quartz. A kinetic model that takes account of Ostwald processes is thus proposed. The kinetic model indicates that the presence of U(+6) in uraninite and the …

Parallel microscopic experimentation (the combinatorial approach often used in solid-state science) was applied to characterize atmospheric copper corrosion behavior. Specifically, this technique permitted relative sulfidation rates to be determined for copper containing different levels of point defects and impurities (In, Al, O, and D). Corrosion studies are inherently difficult because of complex interactions between material interfaces and the environment. The combinatorial approach was demonstrated using micron-scale Cu lines that were exposed to a humid air environment containing sub-ppm levels of H{sub 2}S. The relative rate of Cu{sub 2}S growth was determined by measuring the change in resistance of the line. The data suggest that vacancy trapping by In and Al impurities slow the sulfidation rate. Increased sulfidation rates were found for samples containing excess point defects or deuterium. Furthermore, the sulfidation rate of 14 {micro}m wide Cu lines was increased above that for planar films.