From Abstract: This report provides background and procedural information for the use of a general-purpose Stirling-engine analysis code developed at Argonne National Laboratory and available through the National Energy Software Center. Different engine configurations are easily specified, or the user may make use of provided data for existing engines, both kinematic and free piston. The code models heat transfer and fluid mechanics throughout the engine and accounts for system energy flows and losses. Good agreement is shown between code predictions and experimental measurements. The present analysis method was chosen for fast execution and useful information on energy flows in the system. A description is provided of the code structure that is intended to accept different analysis modules that can provide improved system modeling or optimization capability.

The U-Al-Si system was investigated in the composition range from U to U-80 at.% Al to U-75 at.% Si. More than 260 binary and ternary alloys were arc melted and studied by metallographic and x-ray powder diffraction techniques, in the as-cast condition and after thermal treatment at temperatures ranging from 700 to 1040 C. One or possibly two ternary compounds of undetermined crystal structure exist at or near U2AlSi2 The binary silicides U3Si, U3Si2, and USi can dissolve only small amounts of Al in solid solution, but the higher silicides U3Si5, USi2-x, and USi/sub 3/ dissolve increasingly larger amounts of Al. Of the three binary aluminides, UAl2 can dissolve more than 12 at.% Si in solid solution. UAl3 forms a continuous solid solution with USi3, and UAl4 is not present in alloys containing more than 3 at.% Si.

Quarterly report discussing fuel cell research and development work at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). This report describes efforts directed toward (1) improving understanding of component behavior in molten carbonate fuel cells and (2) developing alternative concepts for components. The principal focus has been on the development of sintered y-LiAIO2 electrolyte supports, stable NiO cathodes, and hydrogen diffusion barriers. Cell tests were performed to assess diffusion barriers and to study cathode voltage relaxation following current interruption.

This physics assessment is based on roughly 300 control rod worth measurements in ZPPR from 1972 to 1981. All ZPPR assemblies simulated mixed-oxide LMFBRs, representing sizes of 350, 700, and 900 MWe. Control rod worth measurements included single rods, various combinations of rods, and tantalum and europium rods. Additional measurements studied variations in B4C enrichment, rod interaction effects, variations in rod geometry, neutron streaming in sodium-filled channels, and axial worth profiles. Analyses were done with design-equivalent methods, using ENDF/B Version IV data. Some computations for the sensitivities to approximations in the methods have been included. Comparisons of these analyses with the experiments have allowed the status of control rod physics in the US to be clearly defined.

JAKEF is a compiler that accepts as data a single or double precision FORTRAN subroutine program defining an objective function F(x) or a vector function f(x) and produces as output a single or double precision FORTRAN program defining the gradient of F(x) or the Jacobian of f(x).

Report discussing safeguards for liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBFRs) and their fuel handling systems.

Aging of simulated nuclear waste glass by contact with a controlled-temperature, humid atmosphere results in the formation of a double hydration layer penetrating the glass, as well as the formation of minerals on the glass surface. The hydration process can be described by Arrhenius behavior between 120 and 240 C. Results suggest that simulated aging reactions are necessary for demonstrating that nuclear waste forms can meet projected Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations.

A programming methodology based on schema transformations is presented. Such an approach is a logical outcome of recent developments in program manipulating systems. Concurrent development of algorithms and their proofs of correctness is a significant feature of the proposed methodology. As the development process begins with an abstract schema, it is often possible to derive several related end algorithms in a single development process. This has implications in both the economics of software development and the understanding and teaching of algorithms. The initial schematic specification (a skeleton algorithm schema), the intermediate and final algorithm schemata are all expressed in Darlington's first-order recursion equation language exploiting set-theoretic constructs. A set of transformation rules together with a set of reduction rules for set expressions is then used to successively transform the schematic specification into different algorithm schemata. Most of the transformations are applications of a small number of common rewriting rules.

Annual report of the Argonne National Laboratory Radiological and Environmental Research Division regarding activities related to ecology and funding issues during the year.

In many nonlinear problems it is necessary to estimate the Jacobian matrix of a nonlinear mapping F. In large scale problems the Jacobian of F is usually sparse, and then estimation by differences is attractive because the number of differences can be small compared to the dimension of the problem. For example, if the Jacobian matrix is banded then the number of differences needed to estimate the Jacobian matrix is, at most, the width of the band. In this paper we describe a set of subroutines whose purpose is to estimate the Jacobian matrix of a mapping F with the least possible number of function evaluations.

Quarterly report discussing fuel cell research and development work at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). This report describes efforts directed toward (1) developing alternative concepts for components of molten carbonate fuel cells and (2) improving understanding of component behavior.

The formulation needed for the conductance of heat by means of explicit integration is presented. The implementation of these expressions into a transient structural code, which is also based on explicit temporal integration, is described. Comparisons of theoretical results with code predictions are given both for one-dimensional and two-dimensional problems. The coupled thermal and structural solution of a concrete crucible, when subjected to a sudden temperature increase, shows the history of cracking. The extent of cracking is compared with experimental data.

This report constitutes a formulation of a new concept for improving thermal-system performance by utilizing the combined mechanisms of enhanced heat transfer, transport, and thermal energy storage associated with a phase-change slurry as the working fluid. In addition, pertinent literature is surveyed and a quantitative scoping assessment of enhancement potential confirms concept merit. It has been determined that additional research and development is required in order to adequately understand the enhancement mechanisms to the degree that enhanced performance thermal systems using slurries can be designed. The concepts presented are identified as being new, rewarding research activities.

This report summarizes research during 1981 in the Division of Biological and Medical Research, Argonne National Laboratory. Studies in Low Level Radiation include comparison of lifetime effects in mice of low level neutron and gamma irradiation, delineation of the responses of dogs to continuous low level gamma irradiation, elucidation of mechanisms of radiation damage and repair in mammalian cells, and study of the genetic effects of high LET radiations.

The Physics Division's program in nuclear physics covers a broad span of activities within that discipline. The object of this research is to understand the properties of atomic nuclei, their structure, the mechanisms of nuclear reactions, and manifestations of fundamental symmetries in nuclei. Work is carried out under a variety of subprograms: theory, heavy-ion physics, medium-energy physics and nuclear research. These categories do not represent a sharp separation between people--individual scientists often work in several different areas. This flexibility allows scientific problems to be addressed with a variety of techniques, and it avoids limiting individual scientists' activities to a particular subdiscipline.

An automated accountability system for special nuclear materials (SNM) is under development at Argonne National Laboratory-West. Phase I of the development effort has established the following basic features of the system: a unique file organization allows rapid updating or retrieval of the status of various SNM, based on "batch numbers," storage location, serial number, or other attributes. Access to the program is controlled by an interactive user interface that can be easily understood by operators who have had no prior background in electronic data processing. Extensive use of structured programming techniques make the software package easy to understand and to modify for specific applications. All routines are written in FORTRAN.

Quarterly report of the Argonne National Laboratory Chemical Engineering Division regarding activities related to properties and handling of radioactive materials, operation of nuclear reactors, and other relevant research.

Quarterly report of the Argonne National Laboratory Chemical Engineering Division regarding activities related to properties and handling of radioactive materials, operation of nuclear reactors, and other relevant research.

Rising interest in the nuclear physics community in a GeV C.W. electron accelerator reflects the growing importance of high-resolution short-range nuclear physics to future advances in the field. In this report major current problems are reviewed and the details of prospective measurements which could be made with a GeV C.W. electron facility are discussed, together with their impact on an understanding of nuclear forces and the structure of nuclear matter. The microtron accelerator has been chosen as the technology to generate the electron beams required for the research discussed because of the advantages of superior beam quality, low capital and operating cost and capability of furnishing beams of several energies and intensities simultaneously. A complete technical description of the conceptual design for a 2 GeV double-sided C.W. electron microtron is presented. The accelerator can furnish three beams with independently controlled energy and intensity. The maximum current per beam is 100 mircoamps. Although the precise objective for maximum beam energy is still a subject of debate, the design developed in this study provides the base technology for microtron accelerators at higher energies (2 to 6 GeV) using multi-sided geometries.

The design, development, and use of the software package called LINPACK, a collection of subroutines to solve various systems of simultaneous linear algebraic equations are described. The package has been designed to be machine-independent and fully portable and to run efficiently in many operating environments.

This report proposes six extensions to ANS PL/I, which is being revised by the American National Standards Committee X3J1. The new features include environmental enquiry functions, generalization of restricted expressions (compile-time expressions), liberalization of the contexts of restricted expressions, a named-literal declaration type, explicit precision specification for constants, and a pragmatic statement for expressing conditions that an implementation must satisfy for acceptable compilation. Used together, these features will give numerical analysts access to properties of an implementation's floating-point arithmetic in exactly the ways required to ease the burden of tailoring a program's precision specifications to new environments. In many cases it will be possible to write PL/I programs that are completely self-adapting to their host environment. Effective definition of the environmental enquiry functions will require the incorporation of an explicitly parameterized model of floating-point arithmetic. If such a model is integrated into the Standard, numerical analysts will be able to state and prove theorems about their programs' error bounds by appealing directly to the Standard.

Highlights of the Chemical Engineering (CEN) Division's activities during 1981 are presented. In this period, CEN conducted research and development in the following areas: rechargeable lithium-alloy/iron sulfide batteries for electric vehicles and other applications, aqueous batteries--improved lead-acid, nickel/zinc, and nickel/iron--for electric vehicles, as well as advanced lead-acid batteries for electric.-utility load leveling, energy-efficient industrial electrochemical processes, molten carbonate fuel cells for use by electric utilities, coal technology, mainly fluidized-bed combustion of coal in the presence of an SO2 sorbent of limestone, heat- and seed-recovery technology for open-cycle magnetohydrodynamic systems.

An analysis of the transient swelling rate of oxide fuel, based on fission-gas bubble conditions calculated with the FRAS3 code, has been developed and implemented in the code. The need for this capability arises in the coupling of the FRAS3 fission-gas analysis code to the FPIN fuel-pin mechanics code. An efficient means of closely coupling the calculations of swelling strains and stresses between the modules is required. The present analysis provides parameters that allow the FPIN calculation to proceed through a fairly large time step, using estimated swelling rates, to calculate the stresses. These stress values can then be applied in the FRAS3 detailed calculation to refine the swelling calculation, and to provide new values for the parameters to estimate the swelling in the next time step. The swelling rates were calculated for two representative transients and used to estimate swelling over a short time period for various stress levels.

This proceedings contains the summaries and contents of a number of papers presented at the 1982 NEANDC/NEACRP specialists meeting on fast-neutron capture cross sections. The table of contents has been summarized to provide a sketch of the topical matter.