The Savannah River Site (SRS) High Level Nuclear Waste will be vitrified in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) for long term storage and disposal. This is a nuclear criticality safety evaluation for the Late Wash Facility (LWF), the Salt Processing Cell (SPC) and the Chemical Processing Cell (CPC). of the DWPF. Waste salt solution is processed in the Tank Farm In-Tank Precipitation (ITP) process and is then further washed in the DWPF Late Wash Facility (LWF) before it is fed to the DWPF Salt Processing Cell. In the Salt Processing Cell the precipitate slurry is processed in the Precipitate Reactor (PR) and the resultant Precipitate Hydrolysis Aqueous (PHA) produce is combined with the sludge feed and frit in the DWPF Chemical Process Cell to produce a melter feed. The waste is finally immobilized in the Melt Cell. Material in the Tank Farm and the ITP and Extended Sludge processes have been shown to be safe against a nuclear criticality by others. The precipitate slurry feed from ITP and the first six batches of sludge feed are safe against a nuclear criticality and this evaluation demonstrates that the processes in the LWF, the SPC and the CPC do not alter …

The Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) procedures define the rules concerning packages of solid Low Level Waste (LLW) that are sent to the E-area vaults (EAV). The WACs tabulate the quantities of 22 radionuclides that require manifesting in waste packages destined for each type of vault. These quantities are called the Package Administrative Criteria (PAC). If a waste package exceeds the PAC for any radionuclide in a given vault, then specific permission is needed to send to that vault. To avoid reporting insignificant quantities of the 22 listed radionuclides, the WAC defines the Minimum Reportable Quantity (MRQ) of each radionuclide as 1/1000th of the PAC. If a waste package contains less than the MRQ of a particular radionuclide, then the package`s manifest will list that radionuclide as zero. At least one radionuclide has to be reported, even if all are below the MRQ. The WAC requires that the waste no be ``hazardous`` as defined by SCDHEC/EPA regulations and also lists several miscellaneous physical/chemical requirements for the packages. This report evaluates the solid wastes generated within the F/H Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) for potential impacts on waste certification.

The Mass Balance Program (MBA) is an adjunct to the Materials Accounting database system, Version 3.4. MBA was written to equip the personnel performing K-Basin encapsulation tasks with a conservative estimate of accumulated sludge during the processing of canisters into and out of the chute. The K Basins Materials Balance programs had some minor improvements made to it to feedback the chute processing status to the operator better. This ATP describes how the code was to be tested to verify its correctness.

Waste Receiving and Processing Facility Module 2A (WRAP 2A) is the proposed second module of the WRAP facility. This facility will provide the required treatment for contact Handled (CH) Low Level (LL) Mixed Waste (MW) to allow its permanent disposal. Solidification of a portion of this waste using a cement based grout has been selected in order to reduce the toxicity and mobility of the waste in the disposal site. Mixing of the waste with the cement paste and material handling constraints/requirements associated with the mixed material is, therefore, a key process in the overall treatment strategy. This test plan addresses Phase 3, Full Scale Testing. The objectives of these tests are to determine if there are scale-up issues associated with the mixing results obtained in Phase 1 and 2 mixing tests, verify the workability of mixtures resulting from previous formulation development efforts (Waste Immobilization Development [WID]), and provide a baseline for WRAP 2A mixing equipment design. To this end, the following objectives are of particular interest: determine geometric influence of mixing blade at full scale (i.e., size, type, and location: height/offset); determine if similar results in terms of mixing effectiveness and product quality are achievable at this scale; determine …

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A joint project was initiated between Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) and Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) to address critical issues associated with the Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) stored at the Hanford Site. Recently, particular attention has been given to remediation of the SNF stored in the K Basins. A waste management plan (WMP) acceptable to both parties is required prior to the movement of selected material to the PNL facilities for examination. N Reactor and Single Pass Reactor (SPR) fuel has been stored for an extended period of time in the N Reactor, PUREX, K-East, and K-West Basins. Characterization plans call for transport of fuel material form the K Basins to the 327 Building Postirradiation Testing Laboratory (PTL) in the 300 Area for examination. However, PNL received a directive stating that no examination work will be started in PNL hot cell laboratories without an approved disposal route for all waste generated related to the activity. Thus, as part of the Characterization Program Management Plan for Hanford Spent Nuclear Fuel, a waste management plan which will ensure that wastes generated as a result of characterization activities conducted at PNL will be accepted by WHC for disposition is required. This document contains the …

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This series is an occasional publication of essays on the topics of nuclear, chemical, biological, and missile proliferation. Essays contained in this document include: Key issues on NPT renewal and extension, Africa and nuclear nonproliferation, Kenya`s views on the NPT, Prospects for establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the middle east, effects of a special nuclear weapon materials cut-off convention, and The UK view of NPT renewal.

This reference discusses the development of software designed to collect data from the K Basins Materials Accountability and Materials Balance programs. Problems with the software were encountered and worked out. Encompassed in this report are descriptors of the results of the test and signoff sheets associated with the testing.

The K Basins Materials Accounting (MAC) and Material Balance (MBA) database system were set up to run under one common applications program. This Acceptance Test Plan (ATP) describes how the code was to be tested to verify its correctness. The scope of the tests is minimal, since both MAC and MBA have already been tested in detail as stand-alone programs.

The SY Farm currently has a temporary Data Acquisition & Control System (DACS) housed in a mobile trailer. The system is currently referred to as DACS-1. It was designed and configured to support engineers and scientists conducting the special performance evaluation and testing program for the safety mitigation test equipment located in waste tank 241-SY-101 (101-SY). It is currently being maintained and utilized by engineering personnel to monitor and control the 101-SY mitigation pump activities. Based upon the results of the mitigation testing program, some of the temporary test mitigation equipment (such as mixing pump) will be replaced with longer-term ``operational`` mitigation equipment. This is resulting in new requirements for the Data Acquisition and Control System which will be full-filled by a newer control facility referred to as the DACS-2. A teaming between Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has been established for the SY farm mitigation program in order to develop and implement the ``next generation`` of the data acquisition and control system for the mitigation pump operations. The new system will be configured for use by the tank farm operational personnel. It will support the routine operations necessary for safety mitigation and the future …

Ten basic contracting strategies were developed after a review of past strategies that had been used at the Hanford Site, other US Department of Energy (DOE) sites, other US government agencies, and in the private sector. As applicable to the Low-Level Waste Vitrification Plant (LLWVP) Project, each strategy was described and depicted in a schedule format to assess compatibility with the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, al so known as the Tri-Party Agreement (Ecology et al. 1994) milestones, key decision points, and other project requirements. The-pro and con aspects of each strategy also were tabulated. Using this information as a basis, the LLWVP Project team members, along with representatives of Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Engineering, TWRS Programs, and Procurement Materials Management, formed a Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) evaluation team to select the best strategy. Kepner-Tregoe decision analysis techniques were used in facilitated meetings to arrive at the best balanced choice.

The K Basins Materials Accounting (MAC) programs had some major improvements made to it to organize the main-tables by Location, Canister, and Material. This ATP describes how the code was to be tested to verify its correctness.

The K Basins Materials Accounting (MAC) programs had some improvements made to it to to change slightly the access authorized users had to the modification of critical data. This ATP describes how the code was to be tested to verify its correctness.

The K Basins Materials Accounting (MAC) and Material Balance (MBA) database system were converted from Paradox 3.5 to Paradox 4.0. The ATP describes how the code was to be tested to verify its corrections.

The K Basins Materials Accounting (MAC) and Material Balance (MBA) database system had some minor code cleanup performed to its code. This ATP describes how the code was to be tested to verify its correctness.

At the conclusion of the SSC half cell magnet string testing program in February, 1993, the preliminary data analysis revealed that several substantive technical questions remained unresolved. These questions were: (1) could the high voltages to ground (>2 kV) measured during fault (quench) conditions be substantially reduced, (2) could the number of magnetic elements that became resistive (quenched) be controlled and 3) did the cryostats of the magnetic elements provide adequate insulation and isolation to meet designed refrigeration loads. To address these and other existing questions, a prototypical fall cell of collider magnets (ten dipoles and two quadrupoles) was assembled and tested. At the conclusion of this testing there were definitive answers to most of the questions with numerical substantiation, the notable exception being the beat leak question. These answers and other results and issues are presented in this paper.

A 13 Tesia R&D dipole magnet is currently being constructed using Nb{sub 3}Sn superconducting cable. The four-layer ``cosine-theta`` magnet uses a wide cable ({approximately}15 mm) that will undergo a 650 C reaction after each layer is wound. About 75 bronze spacers at the magnet ``ends`` separate the winding blocks in such a way that the stored strain energy in the cable is minimized and the integrated field harmonics are reduced. Wax prototypes of the designed spacers were made on a 5-axis milling machine. This method of rapid prototyping required no tooling and enabled us to produce a large number of different end spacers that can be physically inspected and repeatedly modified before final prototypes are made. Spacers were originally machined from wax billets which were later cast in bronze.

A compact quadrupole magnet has been designed for the final-focus of the 3GeV {times} 9GeV PEP II B-factory collider being built at SLAC. The magnet system must fit within the particle detector, has no iron, and consists of four nested separately controlled magnets: a two-layer 11.95 T/m quadrupole; a horizontal dipole; a vertical dipole; and a 1.5T solenoid. The 1.1 m long magnet must produce a highly uniform quadrupole field in the 120 mm ID beam pipe. The cryostat is 140 mm ID. (warm), 314 mm OD, and approximately 1.5 m long. The very compact cryogenic suspension system using Ti alloy plates is designed to withstand large forces due to interaction between the field of the detector solenoid and the four nested magnets. Cryogenic services and magnet leads are provided through a single flexible transfer line approximately 4m long.

Equipment was installed to detect fast conductor motion and quench propagation in a 1 meter long superconducting dipole magnet (1) The fast-motion antenna, centered within the bore of the magnet, used three long dipole coils, mounted end-to-end to span the magnet length. Coil signals were nulled against a neighbor to produce low-ripple signals that were sensitive to local flux changes. A low-microphonic signal was used as an event trigger. (2) Nulling improvements were made for the magnet`s coil-imbalance signals for improved cross-correlation information. (3) A quench-propagation antenna was installed to observe current redistribution during quench propagation. It consisted of quadrupole/sextupole coil sets distributed at three axial locations within the bore of the magnet. Signals were interpreted in terms of the radius, angle, orientation, and rate of change of an equivalent dipole. The magnet was cooled to 1.8K to maximize the number of events. Twenty-four fast-motion events occurred before the first quench. The signals were correlated with the magnet-coil imbalance signals. The quench-propagation antenna was installed for all subsequent quenches. Ramp-rate triggered quenches produced adequate signals for analysis, but pole-turn quenches yielded such small signals that angular localization of a quench was not precise.

A novel fiber-optic measurement system for superconducting accelerator magnets is described. The principal component is an extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer to determine localized strain and stress in coil windings. The system can be used either as a sensitive relative strain measurement system or as an absolute strain detector. Combined, one can monitor the mechanical behaviour of the magnet system over time during construction, long time storage and operation. The sensing mechanism is described, together with various tests in laboratory environments. The test results of a multichannel test matrix to be incorporated first in the dummy coils and then in the final version of a 13T Nb{sub 3}Sn accelerator dipole magnet are presented. Finally, the possible use of this system as a quench localization system is proposed.

We consider the conservation properties of a staggered-grid Lagrange formulation of the hydrodynamics equations (SGH). Hydrodynamics algorithms are often formulated in a relatively ad hoc manner in which independent discretizations are proposed for mass, momentum, energy, and so forth. We show that, once discretizations for mass and momentum are stated, the remaining discretizations are very nearly uniquely determined, so there is very little latitude for variation. As has been known for some time, the kinetic energy discretization must follow directly from the momentum equation; and the internal energy must follow directly from the energy currents affecting the kinetic energy. A fundamental requirement (termed isentropicity) for numerical hydrodynamics algorithms is the ability to remain on an isentrope in the absence of heating or viscous forces and in the limit of small timesteps. We show that the requirements of energy conservation and isentropicity lead to the replacement of the usual volume calculation with a conservation integral. They further forbid the use of higher order functional representations for either velocity or stress within zones or control volumes, forcing the use of a constant stress element and a constant velocity control volume. This, in turn, causes the point and zone coordinates to formally disappear …

Much of the ongoing debate on the use of nuclear power plants in U.S.A. centers on the safe disposal of the radioactive waste. Congress, aware of the importance of the waste issue, passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, requiring the federal government to develop a geologic repository for the permanent disposal of high level radioactive wastes from civilian nuclear power plants. The Department of Energy (DOE) established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in 1983 to identify potential sites. When OCRWM had selected three potential sites to study, Congress enacted the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987, which directed the DOE to characterize only one of those sites, Yucca Mountain, in southern Nevada. For a site to be acceptable, theses studies must demonstrate that the site could comply with regulations and guidelines established by the federal agencies that will be responsible for licensing, regulating, and managing the waste facility. Advocates and critics disagree on the significance and interpretation of critical geological features which bear on the safety and suitability of Yucca Mountain as a site for the construction of a high-level radioactive waste repository. Recent volcanism in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain is readily recognized …

A simplified design study of a 16T Nb{sub 3}Sn twin bore accelerator dipole magnet is presented. The philosophy behind the study is to design a high field magnet with a coil structure optimized for a reasonable Lorentz-load and easy of construction. The coils are of the rectangular window-frame type with modular flat pancake windings, thus eliminating the need for complex coil return ends. The magnetic and structural design Is presented and a comparison is made with existing coil layouts for high field magnets.