Monthly report providing tabular statistical information about motor vehicle accidents in Texas during 1993, 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 1993, with data broken out by various criteria including number of persons, locations, types of accidents, time of day, and other factors.

Report for the finances of the Texas Human Rights Foundation regarding pending and declined grants for which the foundation has applied.

The John F. Baldwin Ship Channel is a 28-mile-long portion of the San Francisco Bay to Stockton Ship Channel, the primary shipping lane through San Francisco Bay and Delta. The San Francisco District of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for construction of the John F. Baldwin Ship Channel, which is authorized to be deepened to a project depth of {minus}45 ft relative to mean lower low water (MLLW). Approximately 8.5 million cubic yards (mcy) of sediment will be removed from the channel to reach this project depth. The USACE requested Battelle/Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL) to conduct testing for ocean disposal under the guidelines in Evaluation of Dredged Material Proposed for Ocean Disposal-Testing Manual (EPA/USACE 1991). This testing manual contains a tiered evaluation approach developed specifically for ocean disposal of dredged material at a selected site. In this study, John F. Baldwin Ship Channel sediments were evaluated under the Tier III (biological) testing guidance, which is considered to be highly stringent and protective of the environment. The Tier III guidance for ocean disposal testing requires tests of water column effects, (following dredged material disposal), deposited sediment toxicity, and bioaccumulation of contaminants from deposited sediment (dredged material).

This document presents the current bases for roof fall prediction at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and a preliminary prediction of the date of a roof fall in SPDV Test Room 2. The ability to correctly assess the stability of the excavations at the WIPP is necessary to protect the safety of site workers, the environment, and the integrity of in situ experiments that use transuranic mixed waste. Roof fall is the extreme case of instability. Although roof falls have been allowed to occur unused, barricaded rooms so that the pre-collapse behavior of this room could be studied. This document presents a discussion of some deformation mechanisms that can be expected around excavations in bedded salt at the WIPP. The geomechanical instrument data and fracture maps from the Site and Preliminary Design Validation (SPDV) room area have been analyzed to determine the deformation history of the rooms and to identify precursors to the SPDV Room 1 roof fall. The deformation history of the excavations as recorded by the instruments was then correlated with these proposed deformation mechanisms, providing a basis for prediction of roof falls in other locations. Finally, the means used at the WIPP to identify and monitor …

A large number of high level waste (HLW) storage tanks at various facilities contain liquid with nonuniformity density. Exploratory studies show that the dynamic response of a tank containing two liquids is quite different from that of an identical tank containing only one liquid. To design and evaluate the HLW storage tanks it is necessary to understand the sloshing response of tanks that contain liquid with nonuniform density. The system considered is a circular cylindrical tank containing a liquid whose density increases with the liquid depth. The density distribution along the depth can be of any arbitrary continuous function. In the analysis, the liquid field is divided into n layers. The thicknesses of the liquid layers can be different, but the density of each liquid layer is considered to be uniform and its value is assigned to be the value of the original liquid density at the mid-height of that layer. The problem is solved by the transfer matrix technique. The effect of the nonuniform liquid density on the sloshing response is illustrated in a numerical example in which the linear and cosine distributions of the liquid density are assumed. The response functions examined include the sloshing frequencies, surface wave …

This program uses ab-initio and multiple scattering to study surface dynamical processes; high-resolution electron-energy loss spectroscopy is used in particular. Off-specular excitation cross sections are much larger if electron energies are in the LEED range (50--300 eV). The analyses have been extended to surfaces of ordered alloys. Phonon eigenvectors and eigenfrequencies were used as inputs to electron-energy-loss multiple scattering cross section calculations. Work on low-energy electron and positron holography is mentioned.

In support of tank waste safety programs, visualization tests were performed in the 1/12-scale tank facility, using a low-viscosity simulant. The primary objective of the tests was to obtain video records of the transient jet-sludge interaction. The intent is that these videos will provide useful qualitative data for comparison with model predictions. Two tests were initially planned: mixing interface visualization (MIV) and buoyant particle release (BPR). Completion of the buoyant particle release test was set aside in order to complete additional MIV tests. Rheological measurements were made on simulant samples before testing, and the simulant was found to exhibit thixotropic behavior. Shear vane measurements were also made on an in-situ analog of the 1/12-scale tank simulant. Simulant shear strength has been observed to be time dependent. The primary objective of obtaining video records of jet-sludge interaction was satisfied, and the records yielded jet location information which may be of use in completing model comparisons. The modeling effort is not part of this task, but this report also discusses test specific instrumentation, visualization techniques, and shear vane instrumentation which would enable improved characterization of jet-sludge interaction and simulant characteristics.

Efforts are under way to employ active and passive vapor extraction to remove carbon tetrachloride from the soil in the 200 West Area an the Hanford Site as part of the 200 West Area Carbon Tetrachloride Expedited Response Action. In the active approach, a vacuum is applied to a well, which causes soil gas surrounding the well to be drawn up to the surface. The contaminated air is cleaned by passage through a granular activated carbon bed. There are questions concerning the radius of influence associated with application of the vacuum system and related uncertainties about the soil-gas diffusion rates with and without the vacuum system present. To address these questions, a series of tracer gas diffusion sampling tests is proposed in which an inert, nontoxic tracer gas, sulfur hexafluoride (SF{sub 6}), will be injected into a well, and the rates of SF{sub 6} diffusion through the surrounding soil horizon will be measured by sampling in nearby wells. Tracer gas tests will be conducted at sites very near the active vacuum extraction system and also at sites beyond the radius of influence of the active vacuum system. In the passive vapor extraction approach, barometric pressure fluctuations cause soil gas to …

At the U.S. Department of Energy`s Hanford Site near Richland, Washington, a unique facility, the Field Lysimeter Test Facility (FLTF) is used to measure drainage from and water storage in soil covers. Drainage has ranged from near zero amounts to more than 50% of the applied water, with the amount depending on vegetative cover and soil type. Drainage occurred from lysimeters with coarse soils and gravel covers, but did not occur from capillary barrier-type lysimeters (1.5 m silt loam soil over coarse sands and gravels) except under the most extreme condition tested. For capillary barriers that were irrigated and kept vegetation-free (bare surface), no drainage occurred in 5 of the past 6 years. However, this past year (1992--1993) a record snowfall of 1,425 mm occurred and water storage in the irrigated, bare-surfaced capillary barriers exceeded 500 mm resulting in drainage of more than 30 mm from these barriers. In contrast, capillary barriers, covered with native vegetation (i.e., shrubs and grasses) did not drain under any climatic condition (with or without irrigation). In FY 1994, the FLTF treatments will be increased from 11 to 17 with the addition of materials that will simulate portions of a prototype barrier planned for construction …

The Department of Energy`s (DOE) Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management directed the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Pollutant Assessments Group in the conduct of radiological surveys on properties in Monticello, Utah, associated with the Mendaciously millsite National Priority List site. During these surveys, various radioactive materials were detected that were unrelated to the Monticello millsite. The existence and descriptions of these materials were recorded in survey reports and are condensed in this report. The radioactive materials detected are either naturally occurring radioactive material, such as rock and mineral collections, uranium ore, and radioactive coal or manmade radioactive material consisting of tailings from other millsites, mining equipment, radium dials, mill building scraps, building materials, such as brick and cinderblock, and other miscellaneous sources. Awareness of the miscellaneous and naturally occurring material is essential to allow DOE to forecast the additional costs and schedule changes associated with remediation activities. Also, material that may pose a health hazard to the public should be revealed to other regulatory agencies for consideration.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA), DOE/EA-0854, for an interim action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The proposed action would be conducted at Pit 9, Operable Unit 7--10, located at the Subsurface Disposal Area (SDA) of the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The proposed action consists of construction of retrieval and processing buildings, excavation and retrieval of wastes from Pit 9, selective physical separation and chemical extraction, and stabilization of wastes either through thermal processing or by forming a stabilized concentrate. The proposed action would involve limited waste treatment process testing and full-scale waste treatment processing for cleaning up pre-1970 Transuranic (TRU) wastes in Pit 9. The purpose of this interim action is to expedite the overall cleanup at the RWMC and to reduce the risks associated with potential migration of Pit 9 wastes to the Snake River Plain Aquifer.

Surface ground motion was recorded for many of the Integrated Verification Experiments using standard 10-, 25- and 100-g accelerometers, force-balanced accelerometers and, for some events, using golf balls and 0.39-cm steel balls as surface inertial gauges (SIGs). This report contains the semi-processed acceleration, velocity, and displacement data for the accelerometers fielded and the individual observations for the SIG experiments. Most acceleration, velocity, and displacement records have had calibrations applied and have been deramped, offset corrected, and deglitched but are otherwise unfiltered or processed from their original records. Digital data for all of these records are stored at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

This vibration data was generated from measurements made on 8/12/92. The contents are self explanatory. They are baseline measurements and no exceptionally large vibration amplitude or response was observed. These measurements represent baseline measurements, i.e., measurements with no driving forces active, made on the utility building, a service building for the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

This Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) informational report reviews in detail the occupational injury and illness experience of metallic mineral mining in the United States for 1991. Data reported by operators of mining establishments concerning work injuries are summarized by work location, accident classification, part of body injured, nature of injury, occupation, and principal type of mineral. Related information on employment, worktime, and operating activity also is presented. Data reported by independent contractors performing certain work at mining locations are depicted separately in this report. For ease of comparison with other metal and nonmetallic mineral mining industries and with coal mining, summary reference tabulations are included at the end of both the operator and the contractor sections of this report.

Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. (Energy Systems), manages and operates the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, under a cost-plus-award-fee contract administered by the Department of Energy`s (DOE) Oak Ridge Operations Office (Operations Office). Energy Systems` environmental restoration program is responsible for eliminating or reducing the risk posed by inactive and surplus sites and facilities that have been contaminated with radioactive, hazardous, or mixed wastes. The remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) is being conducted as part of Energy Systems` environmental restoration program. The objective of the audit was to determine if the proposed interim source control action identified in the ``Proposed Plan for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Waste Area Grouping 6 Interim Remedial Action`` had been adequately justified. The audit disclosed that the proposed source control interim remedial action, three flexible membrane caps estimated to cost $140 million for waste area grouping 6, was not adequately justified. We recommended that DOE justify the proposed action before agreeing to proceed. The Manager, Oak Ridge Operations Office, generally concurred with the audit recommendations.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) combustion with energy recovery, commonly called waste-to-energy (WTE), was adopted by many US communities during the 1980s to manage their growing quantities of MSW. Although less than one percent of all US MSW was burned to retrieve its heat energy in 1970, WTE grew to account for 16 percent of MSW in 1990, and many experts forecasted that WTE would be used to manage as much as half of all garbage by the turn of the century. However, the growth of WTE has been reduced in recent years by project cancellations. This study takes an in-depth look at the socioeconomic factors that have played a role in the decisions of communities that have considered WTE as a component of their solid waste management strategies. More specifically, a three-pronged approach is adopted to investigate (1) the relationships between a municipality`s decision to consider and accept/reject WTE and key socioeconomic parameters, (2) the potential impacts of recent changes in financial markets on the viability of WTE, and (3) the WTE decision-making process and the socioeconomic parameters that are most important in the municipality`s decision. The first two objectives are met by the collection and analysis of aggregate data …

Severe accidents in light water reactors are characterized by an occurrence of multiphase flow with complicated phase changes, chemical reaction and various bifurcation phenomena. Because of the inherent difficulties associated with full-scale testing, scaled down and simulation experiments are essential part of the severe accident analyses. However, one of the most significant shortcomings in the area is the lack of well-established and reliable scaling method and scaling criteria. In view of this, the stepwise integral scaling method is developed for severe accident analyses. This new scaling method is quite different from the conventional approach. However, its focus on dominant transport mechanisms and use of the integral response of the system make this method relatively simple to apply to very complicated multi-phase flow problems. In order to demonstrate its applicability and usefulness, three case studies have been made. The phenomena considered are (1) corium dispersion in DCH, (2) corium spreading in BWR MARK-I containment, and (3) incore boil-off and heating process. The results of these studies clearly indicate the effectiveness of their stepwise integral scaling method. Such a simple and systematic scaling method has not been previously available to severe accident analyses.

This past year has been devoted to the development of analytic and numerical kinetic theory for the edge physics problem in Tokamaks. For the charged particles the general formal problem involves the solution of the system of coupled drift-kinetic equations. Near a diverter the set of equations must be supplemented by Bolttzmann equations for the uncharged species, and the situation is complicated by wall chemistry and sheaths. The full problem is clearly beyond the ability of the current best in available analytic and numerical methods. Thus we have begun by considering simplified model kinetic theory models in order to explore phenomena and develop analytic and numerical techniques. The first effort was to use the kinetic equation of discharge theory, which while not quantitative, provides the easiest problem. Next we have completely solved a kinetic theory problem using the Lorentz gas approximation for the collision term. This has provided analytic and computational tools for use in dealing with the kinetic equation including energy diffusion. In order to deal most simply with energy diffusion we have developed a simple model collision terms C{sub j} which conserves number, and for self collisions also conserves energy and momentum. It lends itself to rapid accurate …

The primary objective of this study was to identify, characterize, and map the wetlands in the Bear Creek watershed. A preliminary wetland categorization system based on the Cowardin classification system (Cowardin et al. 1979) with additional site-specific topographic, vegetation, and disturbance characteristic modifiers was developed to characterize the type of wetlands that exist in the Bear Creek watershed. An additional objective was to detect possible relationships among site soils, hydrology, and the occurrence of wetlands in the watershed through a comparison of existing data with the field survey. Research needs are discussed in the context of wetland functions and values and regulatory requirements for wetland impact assessment and compensatory mitigation.

Relatively simple models are presented to simulate close-in atmospheric dispersion, explosive releases, and particle deposition. Close-in generally refers to distances less than 50 m downwind from the source. These models assume simple gas dispersion (no chemical reactions, neutral buoyancy) and that particles behave as a gas expect they can be removed from the plume by a simple, deposition-velocity mechanism. These models have been combined into a QuickBASIC program (INEXPLC.BAS) and its PC executable form (INEXPLC.EXE). These programs, along with sample input and output files, are available from the author.

The Plasma Facing Components (PFC) Facilities Review Panel was chartered by the US Department of Energy, Office of Fusion Energy, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) and Technology Division, to outline the program plan and identify the supporting test facilities that lead to reliable, long-lived plasma facing components for ITER. This report summarizes the panel`s findings and identifies the necessary and sufficient set of test facilities required for ITER PFC development.

The Japanese, through a combination of public policy, private market conditions, a geographic necessity, practice integrated municipal solid waste (MSW) management. The approach of MSW management in Japan is as follows: The basic concept of refuse treatment consists of recycling discharged refuse into usable resources, reusing such resources as much as possible, and then treating or disposing of the usable portion into a sanitary condition. Considering the difficulty of procuring land or seaside areas for such purpose as a refuse disposal site, it will be necessary to minimize the volume of refuse collected for treatment or disposal.

The following tasks were reported on: Spacecraft integration and liaison, engineering support, safety, qualified unicouple fabrication, ETG fabrication/assembly/test, ground support equipment, RTG shipping and launch support, designs/reviews/mission applications, project management/quality assurance/contract changes.