A laboratory-scale beryllium electrorefining cell has been placed in operation and metallic beryllium with a purity greater than 99.95% has been produced. Methods of uranium chip disposal have been evaluated by performing bench- and pilot-scale testing and by surveying present chip disposal methods. A design criteria has been completed for a new production uranium chip disposal facility. Two types of cementation immobilization processes are being developed to treat several Rocky Flats wastes which do not currently meet repository acceptance criteria. The nitrate salts, as now shipped, are an extremely fine powder, composed chiefly of sodium and potassium nitrate. Nitrates are an oxidizer, and their behavior in a possible fire would be of concern. Accident caused fires involving a cargo of boxed nitrate salts were modeled and the burning characteristics noted. In addition, gypsum cement was tested as an immobilization matrix to reduce dispersibility. A program is in process to construct a facility to remotely size reduce gloveboxes and miscellaneous equipment contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive nuclides. The Title II engineering package is completed and the construction of the facility has been initiated. Modification and additions to the 82 kg/h Fluidized Bed Incinerator were made in preparation for turning the …

A tunnel burner for burning wood chips has been installed and tested at a school building in Durham, NC. The test revealed many problems which did not exist while testing a prototype in laboratories. Controls were found to work reliably. A business plan was developed and is appended. (LEW)

We have used the SHIVA laser system to accelerate carbon disks to speeds in excess of 100 km/sec. The 3KJ/3 ns pulse, on a 1 mm diameter spot of a single disk produced a conventional shock of about 5 MB. The laser energy can, however, be stored in kinetic motion of this accelerated disk and delivered (reconverted to thermal energy) upon impact with another carbon disk. This collision occurs in a time much shorter than the 3 ns pulse, thus acting as a power amplifier. The shock pressures measured upon impact are estimated to be in the 20 MB range, thus demonstrating the amplification power of this colliding disk technique in creating ultra-high pressures. Theory and computer simulations of this process will be discussed, and compared with the experiment.

Coupled electron-photon transport calculations have been carried out to simulate the photon generation when a 5- or 50-MeV electron beam strikes a solid or gas target. Results indicate that a 5-MeV beam striking targets of tungsten wire, air, or air doped with Kr or Xe generates a photon spectrum sharply peaked in the forward direction and with approximately 1/E spectral intensity. At right angles to the beam the photon intensity is predominantly due to characteristic K x-rays. A 50-MeV beam striking the same targets generates substantially higher photon yield in the forward direction, but the yield normal to the beam is similar to that due to the 5-MeV beam. However, positron-electron annihilation radiation constitutes a significant part of the photon radiation normal to the beam, and is more intense than characteristic K x-rays when the target is more than about one-third of the electron range.

The objective of this work is to quantify the changes which occur in the magnetoresistivity of coppers (having various purities and pretreatments, and at magnetic fields up to 12 T during the course of sequential fusion neutron irradiations at about 4/sup 0/K and anneals to room temperature. In conjunction with work in progress by Coltman and Klabunde of ORNL, the results should lead to engineering design data for the stabilizers of superconducting magnets in fusion reactors. These magnets are expected to be irradiated during reactor operation and warmed to room temperature periodically during maintenance.

A new integrated power and breeding blanket is described. The blanket incorporates features that make it suitable for synthetic fuel production. It is matched to the thermal and electrical requirements of the General atomic water-splitting process for producing hydrogen. The fusion reaction is the Tandem Mirror Reactor (TMR) using Mirror Advanced Reactor Study (MARS) physics. The canister blanket is a high temperature, pressure balanced, cross-flow heat exchanger contained within a low activity, independently cooled, moderate temperature, first wall structural envelope. The canister uses Li/sub 2/O as the moderator/breeder and helium as the coolant. In situ tritium control, combined with slip stream processing and self-healing permeation barriers, assures a hydrogen product essentially free of tritium. The blanket is particularly adapted to synfuels production but is equally useful for electricity production or co-generation.

The two-year Mirror Advanced Reactor Study (MARS) has resulted in the conceptual design of a commercial, electricity-producing fusion reactor based on tandem mirror confinement. The physics basis for the MARS reactor was developed through work in two highly coupled areas of plasma engineering: magnetics and plasma performance.

In this note, we consider how close we can come to the linac along the SLC arc during linac operation. In this case, radiation will come from beam striking a beam line component in the linac transport system. Radiation actually penetrating the shielding wall between the linac and the arc isn't considered since it will be orders of magnitude smaller than radiation which enters the arc through one of two openings in the shielding: (1) the opening through which the SLC beam transport components pass; and (2) a personnel accessway some fifty seven feet downbeam of the first opening. We make the assumption that with a little judicious placing of shielding small angle radiation can be eliminated, leaving only large angle radiation (e.g., 90/sup 0/) to enter the SLC arcs. The source then is essentially opposite either of the two openings. Because the personnel opening is further downbeam, it dominates the shielding requirements.