Hydrogen isotopes are separated from other gases by permeation through palladium and palladium-silver alloy diffusers in the Tritium Facilities at the US Department of Energy Savannah River Site (SRS). Diffusers have provided effective service for almost forty years. This paper is an overview of the operational experience with the various diffuser types that have been employed at SRS. Alternative technologies being developed at SRS for purifying hydrogen isotopes are also discussed.

A sinkhole was first observed in May 1992 over the edge of the two-level former salt mine that was converted for oil storage by the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Diagnostic studies that included geophysical, geochemical, drilling, and hydrological methods suggest a direct connection exists between the surface collapse area and the underground mine as shown by correlative measurements of sediment slump rates and brine influx into the mine. The dissolution of salt below the sinkhole that initiated the leak into the mine was likely caused by several confluent geologic processes, and exacerbated by mining-induced stresses that created fractures which served as hydrologic flowpaths. Modeling studies of mine stresses show that years may be required before tensional cracking begins to occur, but once begun can continue to develop, and relieve the stress in that specific regime. The crack regime creates the avenue for incursion of groundwater, very slowly initially, but gradually enlarging as undersaturated groundwater dissolves salt on the sides of the crack. Mitigation measures include increasing the mine pressurization, slowing the dissolution by injecting brine into the sinkhole throat, and freeze grouting to restrict hydrologic flowpaths.

In anticipation of increasingly stringent environmental regulations, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) proposes to construct a 60-kg firing chamber to provide blast-effects containment for, most of its open-air, high-explosive, firing operations. Even though these operations are within current environmental limits, containment of the blast effects and hazardous debris will further drastically reduce emissions to the environment and minimize the generated hazardous waste. The major design consideration of such a chamber is its overall structural dynamic response in terms of long-term containment of all blast effects from repeated internal detonations of high explosives. Another concern is how much other portions of the facility must be hardened to ensure personnel protection in the event of an accidental detonation. To assess these concerns, a 1/4-scale replica model of the planned contained firing chamber was designed, constructed, and tested with scaled explosive charges ranging from 25 to 125% of the operational explosives limit of 60 kg. From 16 detonations of high explosives, 880 resulting strains, blast pressures, and temperatures within the model were measured. Factors of safety for dynamic yield of the firing chamber structure were calculated and compared to the design criterion of totally elastic response. The rectangular, reinforced-concrete chamber model exhibited a …

In anticipation of increasingly stringent environmental regulations, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) proposes to construct a 60-kg firing chamber to provide blast-effects containment for most of its open-air, high-explosive, firing operations. Even though these operations are within current environmental limits, containment of the blast effects and hazardous debris will further drastically reduce emissions to the environment and minimize the generated hazardous waste. The major design consideration of such a chamber is its overall structural dynamic response in terms of long-term containment of all blast effects from repeated internal detonations of high explosives. Another concern is how much other portions of the facility outside the firing chamber must be hardened to ensure personnel protection in the event of an accidental detonation while the chamber door is open. To assess these concerns, a 1/4-scale replica model of the planned contained firing chamber was designed, constructed, and tested with scaled explosive charges ranging from 25 to 125% of the operational explosives limit of 60 kg. From 16 detonations of high explosives, 880 resulting strains, blast pressures, and temperatures within the model were measured to provide information for the final design. Factors of safety for dynamic yield of the firing chamber structure were calculated …

A three-dimensional arbitrary Lagrange-Eulerian (ALE) code is being developed for use as a general purpose tool for metal forming analyses. The focus of the effort is on the processes of forging, extrusion, casting and rolling. The ALE approach was chosen as an efficient way to deal with the large deformations and complicated flows associated with these processes. A prototype version of the software package, ALE3D, exists and is being applied to the enumerated processes. It is a finite element code which treats fluid and elastic-plastic response on an unstructured mesh. The prototype version includes heat transfer and the option of either implicit or explicit time integration of the dynamic equations. The status of the code is described. Several examples of application of the code to typical forming simulations are presented with discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of the ALE approach.