This report characterizes the ammonia industry operations, reviews current knowledge of ammonia release and subsequent impacts, summarizes the status of release prevention and control methods and identify research and development needs for safety and environmental control. Appendices include: accidental spills and human exposure; adiabatic mixing of liquid nitrogen and air; fire and explosion hazards; and environmental impact rating tables. (PSB)

The interactions of aerial components such as water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen with the binary 50 mol % mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate have been studied in the temperature range 300 to 600/sup 0/C using electrochemical methods. In addition, the behavior of nitrite ions in this melt was investigated electrochemically. By judicious choice of techniques, in situ electroanalysis was possible and the necessary relevant data to accomplish this is presented, as well as insight into the corresponding electrochemical mechanisms associated with the electroactive species. The influence of each atmospheric component was examined separately. At temperatures above 300/sup 0/C, nitrite ions are found to accumulate due to thermal decomposition of the nitrate. Water is highly soluble in the salt mixture, but no hydrolytic reactions were observed. Two methods of in situ analysis for water are described. Pure carbon dioxide is found to attack the melt at all temperatures above 250/sup 0/C producing carbonate. (LEW)

Neutron total cross sections of /sup 58/Ni were measured at 25 keV intervals from 0.9 to 4.5 MeV with 50 to 100 keV resolutions. Attention was given to self-shielding corrections to the observed total cross sections. Differential elastic- and inelastic-scattering cross sections were measured at 50 keV intervals from 1.35 to 4.0 MeV with 50 to 100 keV resolutions. Inelastic excitation of levels at 1.458 +- 0.009, 2.462 +- 0.010, 2.791 +- 0.015, 2.927 +- 0.012 and 3.059 +- 0.025 MeV was observed. The experimental results were interpreted in terms of optical-statistical and coupled-channels models. A spherical optical-statistical model was found generally descriptive of an energy-average of the experimental results. However, detailed considerations suggested significant contributions from direct-vibrational interactions, particularly associated with the excitation of the first 2+ level.

This report presents the results of a project sponsored by the Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC). The purpose of the study was to perform an economic and market assessment of advanced flue gas desulfurization (FGD) processes for application to coal-fired electric utility plants. The time period considered in the study is 1981 through 1990, and costs are reported in 1980 dollars. The task was divided into the following four subtasks: (1) determine the factors affecting FGD cost evaluations; (2) select FGD processes to be cost-analyzed; (3) define the future electric utility FGD system market; and (4) perform cost analyses for the selected FGD processes. The study was initiated in September 1979, and separate reports were prepared for the first two subtasks. The results of the latter two subtasks appear only in this final reprot, since the end-date of those subtasks coincided with the end-date of the overall task. The Subtask 1 report, Criteria and Methods for Performing FGD Cost Evaluations, was completed in October 1980. A slightly modified and condensed version of that report appears as appendix B to this report. The Subtask 2 report, FGD Candidate Process Selection, was completed in January 1981, and the principal outputs of that …

After the introduction of a law prohibiting the start-up of any new nuclear power plant until the utility had shown that the waste produced by the plant could be taken care of in an absolutely safe way, the Swedish nuclear utilities in December 1976 embarked on the Nuclear Fuel Safety Project, which in November 1977 presented a first report, Handling of Spent Nuclear Fuel and Final Storage of Vitrified Waste (KBS-I), and in November 1978 a second report, Handling and Final Storage of Unreprocessed Spent Nuclear Fuel (KBS II). These summary reports were supported by 120 technical reports prepared by 450 experts. The project engaged 70 private and governmental institutions at a total cost of US $15 million. The KBS-I and KBS-II reports are summarized in this document, as are also continued waste research efforts carried out by KBS, SKBF, PRAV, ASEA and other Swedish organizations. The KBS reports describe all steps (except reprocessing) in handling chain from removal from a reactor of spent fuel elements until their radioactive waste products are finally disposed of, in canisters, in an underground granite depository. The KBS concept relies on engineered multibarrier systems in combination with final storage in thoroughly investigated stable geologic …

Safety-based functional requirements and design criteria for a self-actuated shutdown system (SASS) are derived in accordance with LOA-2 success criteria and reliability goals. The design basis transients have been defined and evaluated for the CDS Phase II design, which is a 2550 MWt mixed oxide heterogeneous core reactor. A partial set of reactor responses for selected transients is provided as a function of SASS characteristics such as reactivity worth, trip points, and insertion times.

The objective of the BX In Situ Oil Shale Project is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using superheated steam as a heat-carrying medium to retort in situ the oil shale in the Green River Formation leached zone and provide a mechanism for the recovery of this shale oil with a minimum impact on the environment. Utilizing primarily the natural porosity in the leached zone, approximately one trillion Btus of heat will be injected into a site over a two-year period to heat to retorting temperature a shale zone approximately 550 feet thick and covering about one acre. The field project is located at Equity's BX In Situ site in Rio Blanco County in northwestern Colorado. Environmental activities conducted from March 1, 1980 through February 28, 1981 were a continuation of operational monitoring initiated the previous year that included meteorology, water quality and aquatic ecology monitoring.

Eighteen heat-up tests were run on nine standard and experimental dual component monolithic refractory concrete linings. These tests were run with a five foot diameter by 14-ft high Pressure Vessel/Test Furnace designed to accommodate a 12-inch thick by 5-ft high refractory lining, heat the hot face to 2000/sup 0/F and expose the lining to air or steam pressures up to 150 psig. Results obtained from standard type linings in the test facility indicated that lining degradation duplicated that observed in field installations. The lining performance was significantly improved due to information gained from a systematic study of the cracking that occurred in the linings; the analysis of the lining strains, shell stresses and acoustic emission results; and the stress analyses performed on the standard and experimental lining designs with the finite element analysis computer programs, REFSAM and RESGAP.

This report presents the results of a project sponsored by the Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC). The purpose of the study was to perform an economic and market assessment of advanced flue gas desulfurization (FGD) processes for application to coal-fired electric utility plants. The time period considered in the study is 1981 through 1990, and costs are reported in 1980 dollars. The task was divided into the following four subtasks: (1) determine the factors affecting FGD cost evaluations; (2) select FGD processes to be cost-analyzed; (3) define the future electric utility FGD system market; and (4) perform cost analyses for the selected FGD processes. The study was initiated in September 1979, and separate reports were prepared for the first two subtasks. The results of the latter two subtasks appear only in this final report, since the end-date of those subtasks coincided with the end-date of the overall task. The Subtask 1 report, Criteria and Methods for Performing FGD Cost Evaluation, was completed in October 1980. A slightly modified and condensed version of that report appears as Appendix B to this report. The Subtask 2 report, FGD Candidate Process Selection, was completed in January 1981, and the principal outputs of that …

The analytical results for the last fiscal year effort in potassium/argon dating in support of US Department of Energy programs are summarized. Nearly 100 new dates have been generated. Recalibration of the argon extraction tables resulted in refinement of values for tracer ratios and depletion constants for our two extraction lines. Tracer ratios are ({sup 36}Ar/{sup 38}Ar){sub T} = 0.0308 and 0.0000449; ({sup 40}Ar/{sup 38}Ar){sub T} = 0.0501 and 0.0014 for extraction tables 1 and 2, respectively. Tracer depletion constants are -0.0002250 and -0.0005501 for tables 1 and 2, respectively. Initial values for the argon tracer pipettes are 3.2522 x 10{sup -11} moles and 3.9329 x 10{sup -11} moles for tables 1 and 2, respectively.

The work on energy extraction experiments concerns the efficiency with which the in-place heat and fluids can be produced. The work on noncondensable gas reservoir engineering covers both the completed and continuing work in these two interrelated research areas: radon emanation from the rock matrix of geothermal reservoirs, and radon and ammonia variations with time and space over geothermal reservoirs. Cooperative research programs with Italy and Mexico are described. The bench-scale experiments and well test analysis section covers both experimental and theoretical studies. The small core model continues to be used for the study of temperature effects on absolute permeability. The unconsolidated sand study was completed at the beginning of this contract period. The Appendices describe some of the Stanford Geothermal program activities that results in interactions with the geothermal community. These occur in the form of SGP Technical Reports, presentations at technical meetings and publications in the open literature.

EEDB deals with the development of cost data for nuclear and comparison electric power plants. Its objective is to provide periodic updates of technical and cost (capital, fuel and operating and maintenance) information for use in evaluating and monitoring US civilian nuclear power programs. It contains six nuclear power plant technical models and five comparison coal-fired fossil power plant technical models. (DLC)

A variance-to-mean noise technique, modified to eliminate systematic errors from drifting of reactor power, has been used to infer integral values of effective beta for uranium and plutonium fueled fast reactor modk-ups. The measurement technique, including corrections for a finite detector-electrometer time response, is described together with preliminary beta measurement results.

Volume IV of the report on the 1000 hour programme consists of three appendices giving details of the enginmering/construction aspects of the plant and reports from Stal-Laval Turbin A.B. Appendix N has been entered individually. (LTN)

This task includes theoretical evaluation of fuel/fission product release behavior from failed LMFBR fuel elements as well as an on-going experimental investigation of the mechanism of oxide fuel dispersal into flowing liquid sodium. The primary objectives of this work are to develop a fuel source term that can be used in predictive models for primary heat transfer system contamination and to understand the separate influences of important system variables (such as flow rate, oxygen impurity level) on this source term. The present report is written in two parts: the first, in condensed form, is an updated evaluation of fuel (U,Pu) and fission product release data, and the second describes the current status of supporting experimental work at General Electric's Vallecitos Laboratory.

This report concerns the prediction of the maximum dissolution rate for nuclear waste stored in the ground. That information is essential in judging the safety of a nuclear waste repository. With a limited groundwater flow, the maximum dissolution rate coincides with the maximum solubility. After considering the formation and composition of deep granite bedrock groundwater, the report discusses the maximum solubility in such groundwater of canister materials, matrix materials and waste elements. The parameters considered are pH, Eh and complex formation. The use of potential-pH (Pourbaix) diagrams is stressed; several appendixes are included to help in analyzing such diagrams. It is repeatedly found that desirable basic information on solution chemistry is lacking, and an international cooperative research effort is recommended. The report particularly stresses the lack of reliable data about complex formation and hydrolysis of the actinides. The Swedish Nuclear Fuel Safety (KBS) study has been used as a reference model. Notwithstanding the lack of reliable chemical data, particularly for the actinides and some fission products, a number of essential conclusions can be drawn about the waste handling model chosen by KBS. (1) Copper seems to be highly resistant to groundwater corrosion. (2) Lead and titanium are also resistant to …

Flow-Induced Vibration for Light Water Reactors (FIV for LWRs) is a four-year program designed to improve the FIV performance of light water reactors through the development of design criteria, analytical models for predicting behavior of components, general scaling laws to improve the accuracy of reduced-scale tests, and the identification of high FIV risk areas. The program is managed by the General Electric Nuclear Power Systems Engineering Department and has three major contributors: General Electric Nuclear Power Systems Engineering Department (NPSED), General Electric Corporate Research and Development (CR and D) and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The program commenced December 1, 1976. This progress report summarizes the accomplishments achieved during the period from October 1980 to December 1980.

The PHYSICS module of COROPT calculates the power and flux distributions, power fractions, required fissile enrichment, and fuel mass balances. Sufficiently accurate data are clearly necessary for the results of the thermal hydraulic and fuel pin and assembly performance analysis to be acceptable. The smooth flux and power distribution model developed for the homogeneous core COROPT application has been shown to be accurate for homogeneous cores in the range of interest. However, this model and simple modifications of it have proven to not provide the accuracy desired for heterogeneous cores such as the LDP design. With the objective of providing a fast running approximate solution for the flux and power distributions and the other physics parametes, a new technique has been evaluated using the LDP core layout for test calculations.

Appendix 2 consists mostly of base line ecology of the proposed site in St. Clair County, southwestern Illinois including air quality, geology, stratigraphy, soils, climates, etc. Socio-economic factors are also considered. The environmental impact is considered. (LTN)

Separate abstracts were prepared for the papers presented in the area of: combustion, experiments and analysis.

A diagnostic beam dump, able to withstand 72,000 pulses (10 kA, 50 MeV/pulse) per shift was designed and analyzed. The analysis shows that the conceptual beam dump design consisting of 80 vitreous carbon plate-foam elements is able to withstand the thermal and mechanical stresses generated. X-rays produced by bremsstrahlung are absorbed by a three element copper plate-foam x-ray absorber. Cooling between bursts of electron pulses is provided by pressurized helium.

Over the past few years the interest in polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bits has grown proportionately with their successful use in drilling oil and gas wells in the North Sea and the United States. This keen interest led to a research program at Sandia to develop PDC drill bits suitable for the severe drilling conditions encountered in geothermal fields. Recently, three different PDC drill bits were tested using either air or mud drilling fluids: one in the laboratory with hot air, one in the Geysers field with air, and one in the Geysers field with mud. All three tests were unsuccessful due to failure of the braze joint used to attach the PDC drill blanks to the tungsten carbide studs. A post-mortem failure analysis of the defective cutters identified three major failure mechanisms: peripheral nonbonding caused by braze oxidation during the brazing step, nonbonding between PDC drill blanks and the braze due to contamination prior to brazing, and hot shortness. No evidence was found to suggest that the braze failures in the Geysers field tests were caused by frictional heating. In addition, inspection of the PDC/stud cutter assemblies using ultrasonic techniques was found to be ineffective for detecting the …

This bibliography is a compilation of unclassified publications of work done at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 1980. Papers published in 1980 are included regardless of when they were actually written. Publications received too late for inclusion in earlier compilations have also been listed. Declassification of previously classified reports is considered to constitute publication. All classified issuances are omitted-even those papers, themselves unclassified, which were published only as part of a classified document. If a paper was pubished more than once, all places of publication are included. The bibliography includes Los Alamos National Laboratory reports, papers released as non-laboratory reports, journal articles, books, chapters of books, conference papers published either separately or as part of conference proceedings issued as books or reports, papers published in congressional hearings, theses, and US patents. Publications by Los Alamos authors that are not records of Laboratory-sponsored work are included when the Library becomes aware of them.

The Licensing Plan is based on licensing a HTGR-SC/C lead plant in the near term. The plan also provides reference safety material and a basis (requirements, criteria, etc.) for licensing commercial follow-on plants. The plan is structured in two parts: program management and project management, and covers three sequences of licensing activities: pre-application, construction permit application, and operating licensing application. Major activities and a schedule of events are outlined in these three phases indicating the approach, the objective and the documentation involved. The Licensing Plan will be further developed in detail in FY 1982 as part of a Project Decision Package.