Annual report of the Advisory Council for Technical-Vocational Education in Texas describing goals, activities, and accomplishments during fiscal year 1983

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

The geologic and hydrologic factors considered in the Province evaluation include distribution of potential host rocks, tectonic conditions and data on ground-water hydrology. Potential host media considered include argillaceous rocks, tuff, basaltic rocks, granitic rocks, evaporites, and the unsaturated zone. The tectonic factors considered are Quaternary faults, late Cenozoic volcanics, seismic activity, heat flow, and late Cenozoic rates of vertical uplift. Hydrologic conditions considered include length of flow path from potential host rocks to discharge areas, interbasin and geothermal flow systems and thick unsaturated sections as potential host media. The Basin and Range Province was divided into 12 subprovinces; each subprovince is evaluated separately and prospective areas for further study are identified. About one-half of the Province appears to have combinations of potential host rocks, tectonic conditions, and ground-water hydrology that merit consideration for further study. The prospective areas for further study in each subprovince are summarized in a brief list of the potentially favorable factors and the issues of concern. Data compiled for the entire Province do not permit a complete evaluation of the favorability for high-level waste isolation. The evaluations here are intended to identify broad regions that contain potential geohydrologic environments containing multiple natural barriers to radionuclide …

This document describes chemical mechanisms that may affect trace-level radionuclide migration through acidic sandy clay soils in a humid environment, and summarizes the extensive chemical and radiochemical analyses of the groundwater directly below the SRP Low-Level Waste (LLW) Burial Ground (643-G). Anomalies were identified in the chemistry of individual wells which appear to be related to small amounts of fission product activity that have reached the water table. The chemical properties which were statistically related to trace level transport of Cs-137 and Sr-90 were iron, potassium, sodium and calcium. Concentrations on the order of 100 ppM appear sufficient to affect nuclide migration. Several complexation mechanisms for plutonium migration were investigated.

The National Waste Terminal Storage Program is a national search for suitable sites to isolate commercial spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste. The Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigation (NNWSI) managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Nevada Operations Office, was initiated to study the suitability of a portion of Yucca Mountain on the DOE`s Nevada Test Site (NTS) as a location for such a repository. EG and G was contracted to provide information concerning the ecosystems encountered on the site. A comprehensive literature survey was conducted to evaluate the status and completeness of the existing biological information for the previously undisturbed area. Site specific studies were begun in 1981 when preliminary field surveys confirmed the presence of the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizi) within the project area FY82 studies were designed to determine the overall distribution and abundance of the tortoise within the area likely to be impacted by NNWSI activities. The Yucca Mountain area of the Nevada Test Site is situated close to the northern range limit of the desert tortoise. Prior to the 1982 surveys, the desert tortoise was reported from only nine locations on NTS. A known population had been under study in Rock Valley about …

In recent years, members of the Maryland Theory Group have made significant contributions to the national fusion theory programs, and, in many cases, these theoretical developments helped to interpret experimental results and to design new experimental programs. In the following, the authors summarize the technical progress in five major areas: (1) RF interaction with plasmas including wave propagation and RF heating, (2) spheromak formation, equilibrium, and stability; (3) stability of nonaxisymmetric systems (EBT, mirrors, etc.); (4) stability theory of toroidal plasmas (tokamak, RFP, etc); and (5) nonlinear theory.

Results from a long-term (9 year) field study of the distribution of radionuclides around an underground nuclear explosion cavity at the Nevada Test Site are reviewed. The goals of this Radionuclide Migration project are to examine the rates of migration underground in various media and to determine the potential for movement, both on and off the Nevada Test Site, of radioactivity from such explosions, with particular interest in possible contamination of water supplies. Initial studies were undertaken near the site of the low-yield test Cambric, which was detonated 73 m beneath the water table in tuffaceous alluvium. Solid samples were obtained from just below ground surface to 50 m below the detonation point, and water was sampled from five different regions in the vicinity of the explosion. Ten years after the test, most of the radioactivity was found to be retained in the fused debris in the cavity region and no activity above background was found 50 m below. Only tritium and {sup 90}Sr were presented in water in the cavity at levels greater than recommended concentration guides for water in uncontrolled areas. A satellite well is being used to remove water 91 m from the detonation point. During seven …

During 1982, Congress considered legislation to provide for the development of repositories for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. The result of this legislative effort was the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), PL 97-425, signed into law January 7, 1983. An important part of the NWPA was the establishment of special funds in the US Treasury for Waste Disposal and Interim Storage to be financed by user fees to pay for all costs of the program. An initial fee of 1.0 mill per kilowatt-hour was specified. The Secretary was asked to annually review the amount of the fees established... to evaluate whether collection of the fee will provide sufficient revenues to offset the costs... In the event of a prospective fee cost mismatch, the Secretary was asked to propose an adjustment to the fee to insure full cost recovery. A series of studies were sponsored by DOE in 1982 to estimate program costs, to calculate the necessary fees to assure cost recovery, and to address uncertainties that could affect future program costs and consequent fee schedules. A brief summary of the 1982 cost estimates is presented. Sources of key cost uncertainties are discussed and …

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Joying a minute together at the Mee Mew Year's event are Mr. & Mrs. Jack Dahlgren , right...."

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Waiting for the New Year are, from left, Doc and Judy Jordan and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Naifah."

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Congratulating the hosts Marlene and Herb Mee on their fun party is Vee Price, right."

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Cary and Lynn Sully and Geraldine and Dave Raupe wish each other a Happy New Year."

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "On hand for the New Year's Eve party given by Herb and Marlene Mee are Bill and Wanda Swisher."

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

An experimentally oriented program has been initiated to support the NRC analysis and licensing activities related to high-level nuclear waste repositories. The program will allow the NRC to independently confirm key geochemical values used in the site performance assessments submitted by the DOE candidate repository site projects. Key radionuclide retardation factor values, particularly radionuclide solubility and sorption values under site specific geochemical conditions, are being confirmed. The initial efforts are being directed toward basalt rock/groundwater systems relevant to the BWIP candidate site in the Pasco Basin. Future work will consider tuff (NNWSI candidate site in Yucca Mountain) and salt (unspecified ONWI bedded or domal salt sites) rock/groundwater systems. Initial experimental results with technetium have confirmed the BWIP values for basalt/groundwater systems under oxic redox conditions: high solubility and no sorption. Under reducing redox conditions, however, the experimental work did not confirm the proposed technetium values recommended by BWIP. In the presence of hydrazine to establish reducing conditions, an apparent solubility limit for technetium of about 5E-7 mol/L was encountered; BWIP recommended calculated values of 1E-12 or greater than or equal to 1E-14 mol/L. Experimental evidence concerning sorption of reduced technetium species is incomplete at this time. Equilibrium speciation and saturation …

Experiments have been conducted as part of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations Project to determine the changes in water chemistry due to reaction of the Topopah Spring tuff with natural groundwater at temperatures up to 150{sup 0}C. The reaction extent has been investigated as a function of rock-to-water ratio, temperature, reaction time, physical state of the samples, and geographic location of the samples within the tuff unit. Results of these experiments will be used to provide information on the water chemistry to be expected if a high-level waste repository were to be constructed in the Topopah Spring tuff. 6 references, 5 figures, 1 table.

Nuclear waste emplacement in devitrified volcanic tuff at Yucca Mountain will raise the temperature of surrounding rock for a geologically significant period of time. This study evaluates the susceptibility of an underlying 50-ft-thick vitrophyre to thermal alteration by examining alteration that occured in the rock as it cooled after deposition. A 10{sup 0}C temperature rise should have no mineralogical effects on the vitrophyre, but an increase of 60{sup 0} or more is likely to result in alteration. Expected mineralogic changes in the vitrophyre caused by this amount of thermal loading include crystallization of zeolites and smectite. Alteration will be concentrated of zeolites and smectite. Alteration will be concentrated in a thin interval near the top of the vitrophyre and along fractures. Adsorbed water and water in preexisting hydrous minerals and in glass may contribute to hydrothermal alteration of underlying vitrophyre. Bulk porosity change would be slight and local porosity increase would probably be restricted to the upper part of the vitrophyre. Although some fracture filling could occur, such a minor sealing effect would be balanced by development of secondary porosity. Zeolites and smectite, newly-crystallized along fluid flow paths below the waste repository, could provide an enhanced sorptive barrier to radionuclide …

In this paper, a status report on the current estimated costs and impacts of transporting high-level nuclear wastes to candidate disposal sites is given. Impacts in this analysis are measured in terms of risk to public health and safety. Since it is difficult to project the status of the nuclear industry to the time of repository operation - 20 to 50 years in the future - particular emphasis in the paper is placed on the evaluation of uncertainties. The first part of this paper briefly describes the characteristics of the waste that must be transported to a high-level waste disposal site. This discussion is followed by a section describing the characteristics of the waste transport system. Subsequent sections describe the costs and risk assessments of waste transport. Finally, in a concluding section, the effect of the uncertainties in the definition of the waste disposal system on cost and risk levels is evaluated. This last section also provides some perspectives on the magnitude of the cost and risk levels relative to other comparable costs and risks generally encountered. 13 references, 2 figures, 16 tables.

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Dick Darnell looks over the World War ll-era plain he's restoring."