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

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "State Rep. Helen Cole, R-Moore, introduces regional winners from the Oklahoma City Times Spelling Bee to state legislators."

Disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a conventionally mined geologic formation is the nearest-term option for permanently isolating radionuclides from the biosphere. Because irradiated uranium dioxide (UO/sub 2/) fuel pellets retain 95 to 99% of the radionuclides generated during normal light water reactor operation, they may represent a significant barrier to radionuclide release. This document presents a technical assessment of published literature representing the current level of understanding of spent fuel characteristics and conditions that may degrade pellet integrity during a geologic disposal sequence. A significant deterioration mechanism is spent UO/sub 2/ oxidation with possible consequences identified as fission gas release, rod diameter increases, cladding breach extension, and release of solid fuel particles containing radionuclides. Areas requiring further study to support development of a comprehensive spent fuel performance prediction model are highlighted. A program and preliminary schedule to obtain the information needed to develop model correlations are also presented.

The vegetation of the central Aleutian Islands, Alaska is maritime tundra (Amundsen, 1977). While maritime tundra is not characterized by the presence of permafrost, the soil temperatures remain low (5 to 7/sup 0/C) year-round (Williams, 1980). The low soil temperature, a high level of soil moisture, and a low level of incident solar radiation are thought to delay the development of the vegetation. Natural revegetation of natural or man made open areas is relatively slow. Disturbed areas from World War II military activity are not completely revegetated after almost 40 years. Because of the windy and wet climate of the region, exposed soil is unstable and subject to extensive freeze-thaw action and erosion. Insults to the vegetation, both marine and aeolian, are common. Successful reproduction by seed is uncommon among species of this flora. The primary means of reproduction appears to be by vegetative propagules which are usually fragments of the shoot and rhizome. While the transport of the fragments by wind and water aids in the dispersal of the propagules, the same action often removes these fragments from open areas. This later activity further delays the revegetation of open and disturbed areas. Elymus mollis Trin. is the most successful …

The reaction of uranium hexafluoride with water has been studied by using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Several different methods for accomplishing this task have been carried out. In addition, interpretatins of the results have been made. These interpretations have been based on literature values for the reactants and for compounds analogous to possible products. It was shown that classical matrix-isolation techniques proved to be unsatisfactory for studying this reaction. Other methods were developed in order to obtain results. They were: (1) the codeposition of pure UF/sub 6/ and H/sub 2/O on a cold window at 16/sup 0/K, (2) the codeposition of argon matrix to sample ratios of 10:1 to 2:1 of UF/sub 6/ and H/sub 2/O at 16/sup 0/K, and (3) the annealing of the samples produced by (1) and (2) while they were being scanned with FT-IR. 78 refs., 86 figs., 7 tabs.

Transportation of nuclear wastes from defense programs is expected to significantly increase in the 1980s and 1990s as permanent waste disposal facilities come into operation. This report uses models of the defense waste transportation system to quantify potential transportation requirements for treated and untreated contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) wastes and high-level defense wastes (HLDW). Alternative waste management strategies in repository siting, waste retrieval and treatment, treatment facility siting, waste packaging and transportation system configurations were examined to determine their effect on transportation cost and hardware requirements. All cost estimates used 1980 costs. No adjustments were made for future changes in these costs relative to inflation. All costs are reported in 1980 dollars. If a single repository is used for defense wastes, transportation costs for CH-TRU waste currently in surface storage and similar wastes expected to be generated by the year 2000 were estimated to be 109 million dollars. Recovery and transport of the larger buried volumes of CH-TRU waste will increase CH-TRU waste transportation costs by a factor of 70. Emphasis of truck transportation and siting of multiple repositories would reduce CH-TRU transportation costs. Transportation of HLDW to repositories for 25 years beginning in 1997 is estimated to cost $229 M …

Measuring tension of wires in drift chambers and multiwire proportional chambers after construction is an important process because sometimes wires get loose after soldering, crimping or glueing. One needs to sort out wires which have tensions below a required minimum value to prevent electrostatic instabilities. There have been several methods reported on this subject in which the wires were excited either with sinusoidal current under magnetic field or with sinusoidal voltage electrostatically coupled to the wire, searching for a resonating frequency with which the wires vibrate mechanically. Then the vibration is detected either visually, optically or with magnetic pick-up directly touching the wires. Any of these is only applicable to the usual multiwire chamber which has open access to the wire plane. They also need fairly large excitation currents to induce a detectable vibration to the wires. Here we report a very simple method that can be used for any type of wire chamber or proportional tube system for measuring wire tension. Only a very small current is required for the wire excitation to obtain a large enough signal because it detects the induced emf voltage across a wire. A sine-wave oscillator and a digital voltmeter are sufficient devices aside …

The analysis of the pion-beta decay experiment is complete, with an improvement in accuracy of a factor of two over previous work. Preparations for the search for bound states in anti pp at CERN using the LEAR facility are well advanced. The proposal to use the Crystal Box at LAMPF for a new pi-zero-to-three-gamma experiment has been approved. Work on the neutrino experiment proposal (No. 638) at LAMPF has continued. We expect to make some contributions to the proposal for LAMPF II in the coming months.

A review is given of neutron scattering studies of displacive incommensurate structures, and of the instabilities of crystalline solids that lead to their formation.

Three topics are discussed. (1) the nature of long wavelength excitations in Hg/sub 3/-delta AsF/sub 6/, where gapless excitations in addition to the conventional acoustic modes are observed. (2) Thiourea, in which new commensurate phases can be induced by an external electric field. (3) Discommensurations in 2HTaSe/sub 2/, where recent electron diffraction and high resolution x-ray data combine with neutron results to establish a quite complex and subtle behavior. 9 figures.

Doppler shifted and unshifted Balmer-alpha radiation has been observed in the absolute sense for energetic H/sup +/, H/sub 2//sup +/ and H/sub 3//sup +/ ions incident on molecular hydrogen by the method of decay inside the target within the energy range of 20 keV to 150 keV. Most of the measurements were based on single-collision conditions, but a simple thick-target experiment has been tried for the case of dissociative excitation of the target molecules by H atoms.

This report deals specifically with the cost of three types of radon barrier systems, earthen covers, asphalt emulsion covers, and multilayer covers, which could meet standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency to stabilize uranium mill tailings located primarily in the western US. In addition, the report includes a sensitivity analysis of various factors which significantly effect the overall cost of the three systems. These analyses were based on a generic disposal site. Four different 3m thick earthen covers were tested and cost an average of $27/m/sup 2/. The least expensive earthen cover cost was about $21/m/sup 2/. The asphalt cover system (6 to 7 cm of asphalt topped with 0.6m of overburden) cost about $28/m/sup 2/. The four multilayer covers averaged $57/m/sup 2/, but materials handling problems encountered during the test inflated this cost above what was anticipated and significant cost reductions should be possible. The least expensive multilayer cover cost $43/m/sup 2/. Based on the results of the Grand Junction field test we estimated the cost of covering the tailings from three high priority sites, Durango, Shiprock, and Salt Lake City (Vitro). The cost of a 3m earthen cover ranged from $18 to 33/m/sup 2/ for the seven …

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Sculptor Charles Pratt adjusts his goggles during a demonstration of his art Saturday at the Oklahoma Art Center."

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "This is Pratt's finished work."

This is a conceptual design report for the installation of a refuse-fired boiler to produce steam. The refuse, mostly paper waste, would come from two adjacent facilities, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The new steam plant, to be located at SNLL, would produce close to 100% of the steam requirements at SNLL. Unfortunately it does not have an attractive payback.

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

Weekly newspaper from Lawton, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The synthetic natural gas (SNG) production process (methanation, CO-shift, and hydrogen removal) in an indirect coal-liquefaction plant was simulated using the Advanced System for Process Engineering (ASPEN). The simulation of the methanation unit agreed to within 12% of Fluor's design for converting carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. A parametric study examined the effect of four important operating parameters on product composition, process thermal efficiency, and outlet temperature from the second methanation reactor. The molar split of gas feed to the CO-shift unit before methanation was varied from 0.2 to 0.6; variations of molar recycle ratio (0.01 - 0.67), molar steam-to-feed ratio (0.04 - 0.19), and feed temperature (478 - 533 K, 400-500/sup 0/F) to the first methanation reactor were also studied. A 50%-lower split improved thermal efficiency by 6%, but the mole % hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the product SNG required to meet pipeline-quality standards and temperature constraints were not met. Increasing the steam-to-feed ratio from 0.04 to 0.19 improved product quality but decreased thermal efficiency by 8%. By decreasing the feed temperature from 533 to 477 K (500 to 400/sup 0/F), product specifications and temperature constraints were met with no effect on thermal efficiency. However, it may be …

A workshop on neutrino physics was held at Los Alamos from June 8 to 12, 1981. The material presented has been provided in part by the organizers, in part by the chairmen of the working sessions. Closing date for contributions was October 1981.

Calculations of simulated postdisassembly expansions with SIMMER-II are compared to experimental data. The main features of the fluid motion are reproduced accurately. Good agreement is achieved for the important parameters of kinetic energy and impulse imparted to the vessel head. The most important calculated results are shown to be relatively insensitive to numerical modeling variations and uncertainties in many physical parameters. The geometric configuration of the upper internal structures is shown to affect significantly the vessel head impact energy and impulse.

Epitaxial metal-film sandwiches (EMFS) containing Pd or Cr, have been prepared between single-crystal Ag or Au. The modified Pd/Cr show major changes in physical properties. Pd has a stretched lattice parameter in Au-Pd-Au, which combines with a tetragonal distortion to cause exchange enhancements up to 28,000 and spin-fluctuation temperatures of 1 to 10 K. In Au-Cr-Au, Cr takes up the fcc structure, leading to superconductivity due to a high N(E/sub F/). These results are contrasted to data for Ag-Pd-Ag and Ag-Cr-Ag EMFS.

Initial state interactions are shown to violate standard factorization for massive lepton pair production and hadron-induced hard-scattering inclusive reactions order-by-order in QCD perturbation theory. Initial and final state interactions lead to a number of new physical phenomena including K/sub 1/ fluctuations, color correlations, anomalous nuclear number dependence of inclusive cross sections, and induced hadron production in the central rapidity region.

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

The National Waste Terminal Storage program is responsible for identifying and constructing a geologic repository for spent reactor fuel, high-level waste, and transuranic waste. Extensive research and development work is in progress in the areas of site selection, waste treatment and waste form development, model development and validation, and long-term repository performance assessment. Many potential technologies are under investigation, but specific technologies cannot be identified until a repository site is selected. It is too early in the program to assess the adequacy of environmental control technologies for deep geologic disposal.