Technical report that discusses the dynamics of the 1993 Real Estate market effected by the slow economic growth.

Monthly report providing tabular statistical information about motor vehicle accidents in Texas during 1992, with data broken out by various criteria including number of persons, locations, types of accidents, time of day, and other factors.

Monthly report providing tabular statistical information about motor vehicle accidents in rural areas of Texas during 1992, with data broken out by various criteria including number of persons, locations, types of accidents, time of day, and other factors.

Biennial report of the Texas Council on Offenders with Mental Impairments describing goals, activities, and accomplishments.

Report to the Texas Legislature from the Health and Human Services discussing the primary issues for restructuring, costs, and programs.

Annual report of the Texas Racing Commission describing goals, activities, and accomplishments during calendar year 1992.

Biennial report of the Texas Council on Vocational Education describing goals, activities, and accomplishments during fiscal years 1991 and 1992.

The Long-Range State Plan for Texans with Disabilities presents information from citizens across the state regarding problems and solutions affecting persons with disabilities.

This report is the result of field work performed at the former White Point Nike Missile Site, San Pedro, California. The Hazardous Waste Remedial Actions Program tasked the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Pollutant Assessments Group in Grand Junction, Colo., with this project. The objective was to determine whether or not radioisotopes possibly associated with past Department of Defense (DOD) operations were present and within accepted background levels. The radiation survey was accomplished by performing three independent radiation surveys, both outdoors and indoors, and random soil sampling. Initially, the site was land surveyed to develop a grid block system. A background radiation investigation was performed out in the San Pedro area.

Interfacial particles (third-bodies), resulting from wear or external contamination, can alter and even dominate the frictional behavior of solid-solid sliding in the absence of effective particle removal processes (e.g., lubricant flow). A unique friction microprobe, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was used to conduct fine- scale friction studies using 1.0 mm diameter stainless steel spheres sliding on several sizes of loose layers of fine aluminum oxide powders on both aluminum and alumina surfaces. Conventional, pin-on-disk experiments were conducted to compare behavior with the friction microprobe results. The behavior of the relatively thick particle layers was found to be independent of the nature of underlying substrate, substantiating previous work by other investigators. The time-dependent behavior of friction, for a spherical macrocontact starting from rest, could generally be represented by a series of five rather distinct phases involving static compression, slider breakaway, transition to steady state, and dynamic layer instability. A friction model for the steady state condition, which incorporates lamellar powder layer behavior, is described.

This report is divided into the following tasks: design, refurbish, operate potassium formate ( backend'') system; design, construct, operate the calcium formate production POC ( Frontend'') unit; and Western seed (K carbonate, sulfate) studies. 5 figs.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the package testing capabilities at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL). In the past all of the package testing that was performed at PNL was done on prototype or mocked up radioactive material packaging. Presently, we are developing the capability to perform testing on non-radioactive material packaging. The testing on the non-radioactive material packaging will be done to satisfy the new performance oriented packaging requirements (DOT Docket HM-181, 1991). This paper describes the equipment used to perform the performance oriented packaging tests and also describes some testing capability for testing radioactive material packaging.

This report summarizes studies conducted during the past quarter on the partial oxidation of methane on the following catalysts: vanadium phosphate, unsupported and supported on silica, and on the silica (SiO[sub 2]) support. It was found that the unsupported vanadium phosphate catalyst exhibits some selectivity towards formaldehyde at relatively low methane conversions (up to 5% conversion). The selectivity decreases even further on the silica supported VPO catalyst without a significant increase in conversion. In the case of silica, the reaction temperature decreases, and the formaldehyde selectivity is higher than in the case of the VPO catalyst.

Confirmatory analyses were performed to examine the adequacy of the 105-K Reactor Tank Bottom Supports. The supports were reviewed for updated loads from a separate confirmatory calculation for the reactor tank and bottom tubesheet. The lower supports were found to be adequate for the current loading even with conservatisms applied to allow for analysis of the nonlinear friction/gapped support design.

This report covers EPA proficiency samples, USGS proficiency samples, and Los Alamos samples (approx. 20 mineral, water samples from LANL).

Under subcontract from CONSOL Inc. (US DOE Contract No. DE-AC22-89PC89883), the University of Pittsburgh studied the use of ultraviolet resonance Raman (UVRR) spectroscopy for the characterization of coal liquefaction resids. This study suggests that with further development the UVRR spectroscopy method may prove useful for the examination of the aromatic and unsaturated species in distillation resid materials derived from direct coal liquefaction. The technique, which was previously used for the examination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in biomedical materials, petroleum, and polymer systems, was applied to the tetrahydrofuran (THF)-soluble portion of six 850[degrees]F[sup +] distillation resids. The results of this study indicate that the UVRR method may, with additional development, become a useful tool for the analysis of the PAHs in coal-derived materials.

This concludes the sixth quarter that Kansas State University has been under contract to the US Department of Energy and the Kansas Electric Utility Research Program to demonstrate electric vehicle technology. The G-Van continues to perform within acceptable limits, although the batteries and the charger have caused some problems. Dave Harris, Chloride, has been working with K-State to correct these problems. It may very well be that the limited mileage (less than 25 miles) can be increased by extending the charge cycle (overcharging) the batteries. Soleq Corp. has failed to deliver contracted vehicles. A dual shaft electric propulsion minivan, built by Eaton Corp. in 1987, will be shipped here. On the infrastructure side, EHV Corp. is developing curbside and home charging stations.

Realistic kinetic toroidal eigenmode calculations have been carried out to support a proper assessment of the influence of long-wavelength microturbulence on transport in tokamak plasmas. In order to efficiently evaluate large-scale kinetic behavior extending over many rational surfaces, significant improvements have been made to a toroidal finite element code used to analyze the fully two-dimensional (r,[theta]) mode structures of trapped-ion and toroidal ion temperature gradient (ITG) instabilities. It is found that even at very long wavelengths, these eigenmodes exhibit a strong ballooning character with the associated radial structure relatively insensitive to ion Landau damping at the rational surfaces. In contrast to the long-accepted picture that the radial extent of trapped-ion instabilities is characterized by the ion-gyroradius-scale associated with strong localization between adjacent rational surfaces, present results demonstrate that under realistic conditions, the actual scale is governed by the large-scale variations in the equilibrium gradients. Applications to recent measurements of fluctuation properties in TFTR L-mode plasmas indicate that the theoretical trends appear consistent with spectral characteristics as well as rough heuristic estimates of the transport level. Benchmarking calculations in support of the development of a three-dimensional toroidal gyrokinetic code indicate reasonable agreement with respect to both the properties of the eigenfunctions …

Determining the feasibility of using aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) for a particular heating or cooling application is an interdisciplinary effort, requiring (at a minimum) expertise in engineering and hydrology. The feasibility study should proceed in two distinct stages. The first stage, which is limited in scope and detail, is intended to show if an ATES system is technically and economically suited to the application. Focus of this preliminary investigation is on revealing the existence of factors that might weigh heavily against the use of ATES methods, and, in the absence of such factors, on choosing a suitable scale for the ATES plant and well field. The results of the preliminary investigation are used to determine if more detailed investigation--including field studies--are justified, and to facilitate comparing the advantages of ATES to those of other means of providing heating or cooling. The second stage of the feasibility study focuses on detailed aquifer characterization, refinement of engineering design and cost estimates, and economic and environmental risk analysis. The results of this investigation, if favorable, will be used to justify the expense of constructing the ATES system.

This report summarizes the activities and results of the Polycrystalline Thin Film Project during FY 1992. The purpose of the DOE/NREL PV (photovoltaic) Program is to facilitate the development of PV that can be used on a large enough scale to produce a significant amount of energy in the US and worldwide. The PV technologies under the Polycrystalline Thin Film project are among the most exciting next-generation'' options for achieving this goal. Over the last 15 years, cell-level progress has been steady, with laboratory cell efficiencies reaching levels of 15 to 16%. This progress, combined with potentially inexpensive manufacturing methods, has attracted significant commercial interest from US and international companies. The NREL/DOE program is designed to support the efforts of US companies through cost-shared subcontracts (called government/industry partnerships'') that we manage and fund and through collaborative technology development work among industry, universities, and our laboratory.

This report has been prepared by Pacific Northwest Laboratory at the request of the International Energy Agency (IEA). The US Department of Energy represents the United States in the IEA for Annex IV, the IEA task for research and development in aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES). Installation and operation of an ATES system is necessarily intrusive to ground-water resources. Therefore, governmental authorities usually require an environmental risk assessment to be performed before permission to construct an ATES system is granted. Writing an accurate statement of risk presupposes a knowledge of aquifer and ground-water characteristics and that an engineering feasibility study has taken place. Effective and logical presentation of the results of the risk assessment can expedite the grant of approval. Introductory remarks should address questions regarding why the ATES project has been proposed, what it is expected to accomplish, and what the expected benefits are. Next, the system configuration, including the aquifer, ATES plant, and well field, should be described in terms of size and location, design components, and thermal and hydraulic capacity. The final element of system design, the predicted annual operating cycle, needs to be described in sufficient detail to allow the reviewer to appreciate the net hydraulic, …

This report discusses project management, research and development, design, and safety at the Advanced Neutron Source facility.

Clean Coal Technology (CCT) implies the use of coal in an environmentally acceptable manner. Coal combustion results in the emission of oxides of nitrogen (NO[sub x]), which are precursors of both acid rain and ozone formation. The primary objective of this CCT project is to evaluate the use of Gas Reburning and Low NO[sub x] Burners (GR-LNB) for SO[sub x] emission control from a wall fired boiler. It is anticipated that, if the demonstration is successful, the GR-LNB technology could become commercialized during the 1990's and will be capable of (1) achieving significant reduction in the emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide (another acid rain precursor) from existing facilities to minimize environmental impacts such as transboundary and interstate pollution and/or (2) providing for future energy needs in an environmentally acceptable manner. Low NO[sub x] burners are designed to delay the mixing of the coal fuel with combustion air to minimize the NO[sub x] formation. Typically, one may obtain up to 50% reduction in NO[sub x] emissions through the use of LNB. For LNB applications, the technology is developed and a number of LNB designs are commercially available. With GR, about 80--85 percent of the coal fuel is fired in …

In earlier reports we have describe d our efforts to understand the mechanism of deuterium incorporation during the thermolysis of 1,2-diphenylethane and 2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-3,4-diphenylhexane under D[sub 2] gas in a glass vessel. We have reported that in both of these cases, there is substantial deuterium incorporation. A summary of our conclusions follows: Conclusions previously reported for the 1,2-diphenylethane (DPE) system. 1. Benzyl radicals produced in the thermolysis react mainly with DPE to extract a hydrogen atom and produce undeuterated toluene. 2. The 1,2-diphenylethyl radicals produced are mainly responsible for the reaction with D[sub 2] to give D atoms. 3. D atoms then react with aromatic rings to form adduct radicals which are, at least in part, reconverted to D-substituted aromatics in termination steps. 4.2-Phenylethyl radicals react in a less discriminating manner, 1/3 to 1/2 of the events probably involving direct reaction with D[sub 2]. 5. A reasonable match to major product distribution can be accomplished using a model consisting of the set of ten reactions.