Of the 177 tanks containing nuclear waste at the Hanford site, 68 have not been characterized based on sampling information. It may be possible to characterize 34 of the 68 unsampled tanks by using information from other sources, such as the Tank Characterization Database (TCD) and the Historical Tank Content Estimates (HTCE). This report lists predicted concentrations of 17 analytes along with the associated estimates of uncertainty for the T-200 series tanks (T-201, T-202, T-203, T-204), based on historical data and sample results from tanks other than the T-200 tanks. The main benefits of reduced sampling are reduced cost, reduced time to achieve acceptable characterization, and reduced exposure of sampling personnel. However, in order to characterize a tank on the basis of reducing sampling, the predicted tank averages and the associated uncertainties must be technically credible and useful. The objective of this report is to describe the approach to predict (without a sample) or estimate (from a single sample) the concentrations of the 17 analytes for the T-200 tanks. Sampling of these tanks and laboratory analysis of the samples is currently under way (sampling is scheduled for 03/27/97 through 04/21/97). This report briefly describes the statistical prediction techniques.

The 300 area Treated Effluent Disposal Facility (TEDF) was designed and built to treat the waste water from the 300 area process sewer system. Several treatment technologies are employed to remove the trace quantities of contaminants in the stream, including iron coprecipitation, clarification, filtration, ion exchange, and ultra violet light/hydrogen peroxide oxidation of organics. The chemicals that will be utilized in the treatment process are hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, and ferric chloride. This document annotates the required chemical characteristics of TEDF bulk chemicals as well as the criteria that were used to establish these criteria. The chemical specifications in appendix B are generated from this information.

This closure plan incorporates the requirements and decisions made during a Data Quality Objectives process held in 1996 by the State of Washington Department of Ecology, US Department of Energy Richland Operations Office, and contractors associated with closure of the 324 Building.

The field acceptance test of a 75 HP mixer pump (Hazleton serial number N-20801) installed in Tank 241-AN-107 was conducted from October 1995 thru February 1996. The objectives defined in the acceptance test were successfully met, with two exceptions recorded. The acceptance test encompassed field verification of mixer pump turntable rotation set-up and operation, verification that the pump instrumentation functions within established limits, facilitation of baseline data collection from the mixer pump mounted ultrasonic instrumentation, verification of mixer pump water flush system operation and validation of a procedure for its operation, and several brief test runs (bump) of the mixer pump.

This report consolidates several performance-related reports into a single financial management report. Information in this report includes information previously reported in the following documents: (1) US Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s (NRC`s) annual financial statement, (2) NRC Chairman`s annual report to the President and the Congress, and (3) NRC Chairman`s semiannual report to Congress on management decisions and final actions on Office of Inspector General audit recommendations. This report also contains performance measures. The report is organized into the following subtopics: information about the US NRC, program performance, management accountability, and the audited financial statement for Fiscal Year 1996. 19 figs., 4 tabs.

This document provides guidance for the production of safety analysis reports that must meet both DOE Order 5480.23 and STD 3009, and be in compliance with the DOE regulatory policy that imposes certain NRC requirements.

In order to increase the efficiency of land-based gas turbines, inlet gas temperatures have to be increased, and the amount of air which cools the turbine vanes has to be reduced, to the maximum extent possible. Presently, thermal barrier coatings (TBC`s) are the state of the art in achieving these goals. However, since TBC`s are very thin (typically 100 {mu}m), they have clearly limitations. Since all-ceramic turbine vanes would be a very large and risky development step, Westinghouse is considering to protect the leading edges of turbine vanes with high-performance ceramics. This might be done by either replacing the leading edge with a suitably shaped ceramic part, or by modifying the vanes such that they can accommodate ceramic inserts. Among the most important criteria for the success of ceramics in such applications are (a) thermodynamic compatibility with the turbine vane alloy, (b) sufficient thermal shock resistance to survive the thermal cycling during operation and in particular during emergency shut-down, and a design considering the thermal expansion mismatch of the metallic and ceramic components. This paper presents results of work performed on SiC, SiN, and aluminas.

This report describes the technical progress made on the Advanced Coal Conversion Process (ACCP) Demonstration Project from January 1, 1995 through December 31, 1995. This project demonstrates an advanced, thermal, coal upgrading process, coupled with physical cleaning techniques, that is designed to upgrade high-moisture, low-rank coals to a high-quality, low-sulfur fuel, registered as the SynCoal Process. The coal is processed through three stages (two heating stages followed by an inert cooling stage) of vibrating fluidized bed reactors that remove chemically bound water, carboxyl groups, and volatile sulfur compounds. After thermal upgrading, the coal is put through a deep-bed stratifier cleaning process to separate the pyrite-rich ash from the coal. The SynCoal Process enhances low-rank, western coals, usually with a moisture content of 25 to 55 percent, sulfur content of 0.5 to 1.5 percent, and heating value of 5,5000 to 9,000 British thermal units per pound (Btu/lb), by producing a stable, upgraded, coal product with a moisture content as low as 1 percent, sulfur content as low as 0.3 percent, and heating value up to 12,000 Btu/lb. During this reporting period, the primary focus for the ACCP Demonstration Project team was to expand SynCoal market awareness and acceptability for both the …

This report describes the technical progress made on the Advanced Coal Conversion Process (ACCP) Demonstration Project from July 1, 1995 through September 30, 1995. The ACCP Demonstration Project is a US Department of Energy (DOE) Clean Coal Technology Project. This project demonstrates an advanced, thermal, coal upgrading process, coupled with physical cleaning techniques, that is designed to upgrade high-moisture, low-rank coals to a high-quality, low-sulfur fuel, registered as the SynCoal process. The coal is processed through three stages (two heating stages followed by an inert cooling stage) of vibrating fluidized bed reactors that remove chemically bound water, carboxyl groups, and volatile sulfur compounds. After thermal upgrading, the cola is put through a deep-bed stratifier cleaning process to separate the pyrite-rich ash from the coal.

The Advanced Electro-Optic Surety Devices project was initiated in march 1991 to support design laboratory guidance on electro-optic device packaging and evaluation. Sandia National Laboratory requested AlliedSignal Inc., Kansas City Division (KCD), to prepare for future packaging efforts in electro-optic integrated circuits. Los Alamos National Laboratory requested the evaluation of electro-optic waveguide devices for nuclear surety applications. New packaging techniques involving multiple fiber optic alignment and attachment, binary lens array development, silicon V-groove etching, and flip chip bonding were requested. Hermetic sealing of the electro-optic hybrid and submicron alignment of optical components present new challenges to be resolved. A 10-channel electro-optic modulator and laser amplifier were evaluated for potential surety applications.

Transient modeling and analysis of advanced Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion (PFBC) systems is a research area that is currently under investigation by the US Department of Energy`s Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC). The object of the effort is to identify key operating parameters that affect plant performance and then quantify the basic response of major sub-systems to changes in operating conditions. PC-TRAX{trademark}, a commercially available dynamic software program, was chosen and applied in this modeling and analysis effort. This paper describes the development of a series of TRAX-based transient models of advanced PFBC power plants. These power plants burn coal or other suitable fuel in a PFBC, and the high temperature flue gas supports low-Btu fuel gas or natural gas combustion in a gas turbine topping combustor. When it is utilized, the low-Btu fuel gas is produced in a bubbling bed carbonizer. High temperature, high pressure combustion products exiting the topping combustor are expanded in a modified gas turbine to generate electrical power. Waste heat from the system is used to raise and superheat steam for a reheat steam turbine bottoming cycle that generates additional electrical power. Basic control/instrumentation models were developed and modeled in PC-TRAX and used to investigate …

This document describes the testing performed by ARD Environmental, Inc., and Los Alamos Technical Associates of the LATA/ARD Advanced Sluicing System, in support of ACTR Phase 1 activities. Testing was to measure the impact force and pressures of sluicing streams at three different distances, as measured by the Government supplied load cell. Simulated sluicing of large simulated salt cake and hard pan waste coupons was also performed. Due to operational difficulties experienced with the Government supplied load cell, no meaningful results with respect to sluice stream impact pressure distribution or stream coherence were obtained. Sluice testing using 3000 psi salt cake simulants measured waste retrieval rates of approximately 12 Ml/day (17.6 ft{sup 3}/hr). Rates as high as 314 m{sup 3}/day (463 ft{sup 3}/hr) were measured against the lower strength salt cake simulants.

Experimental effort during the past quarter was restricted to the fixed-bed reactor. Effort during April was devoted to the sulfidation and regeneration of cerium oxide. Sulfidation tests were plagued by over-sulfidation, i.e., the quantity of H{sub 2}S removed from the gas phase exceeded the stoichiometric amount associated with the conversion of CeO{sub 2} to Ce{sub 2}O{sub 2}S. This was initially attributed to the formation of Ce{sub 2}S{sub 3} which was found to be thermodynamically possible in the highly reducing feed gas. However, the addition of steam to the feed gas to prevent Ce{sub 2}S{sub 3} formation did not eliminate the over-sulfidation problem. Later tests indicated that the apparent over-sulfidation was due to reaction between H{sub 2}S and the walls of the reaction vessel. Apparently the alonizing treatment to passivate the reactor walls was either ineffective at the reaction conditions or had deteriorated with use to the point that protection was no longer viable. Limited Ce{sub 2}O{sub 2}S regeneration results, although very qualitative, were quite favorable. In one regeneration test in an O{sub 2}-N{sub 2} atmosphere, no SO{sub 2} or H{sub 2}S were detected by the chromatograph in the regeneration product. Significant amounts of total sulfur were detected, and the test …

This report documents the work performed for the ``Advanced Tomographic Flow Diagnostics for Opaque Multiphase Fluids`` LDRD (Laboratory-Directed Research and Development) project and is presented as the fulfillment of the LDRD reporting requirement. Dispersed multiphase flows, particularly gas-liquid flows, are industrially important to the chemical and applied-energy industries, where bubble-column reactors are employed for chemical synthesis and waste treatment. Due to the large range of length scales (10{sup {minus}6}-10{sup 1}m) inherent in real systems, direct numerical simulation is not possible at present, so computational simulations are forced to use models of subgrid-scale processes, the accuracy of which strongly impacts simulation fidelity. The development and validation of such subgrid-scale models requires data sets at representative conditions. The ideal measurement techniques would provide spatially and temporally resolved full-field measurements of the distributions of all phases, their velocity fields, and additional associated quantities such as pressure and temperature. No technique or set of techniques is known that satisfies this requirement. In this study, efforts are focused on characterizing the spatial distribution of the phases in two-phase gas-liquid flow and in three-phase gas-liquid-solid flow. Due to its industrial importance, the bubble-column geometry is selected for diagnostics development and assessment. Two bubble-column testbeds are utilized: …

The confirmation for the contract modification was received on February 19, 1997. All reports reflect this modification at present. Technical highlights for the reporting period are: first results on steam oxidation behavior of super alloys in steam environment have been achieved; and the tests on TBC evaluation in high thermal gradients could be started. The turbine test rig hardware is progressing well.

This report talks about the Alignment of the High Beta Magnets in the RHIC Interaction Regions

It has been shown that the optimal linear prediction filter relating the solar wind electric field and the geomagnetic activity, as measured by the AL index, is both bi-modal and dependent on the level of activity in the magnetosphere. Further studies truncated the prediction filter to a five parameter model containing two low-pass filtered delta functions of arbitrary amplitude and delay time. The present study elaborates on the nature of the bi-modal response by using the five parameter model to quantify the effects of the level of geomagnetic activity on each of the modes of the filter individually. The authors find that at all levels of activity, the second mode, occurring at approximately one hour, is relatively unchanged. The first mode, however, has a one parameter dependence on the level of activity in the magnetosphere. The amplitude of the first mode is shown to have a significant increase with respect to activity.

A simple analytical model is presented for predicting the transport of a contaminant in both the unsaturated (vadose) and saturated (phreatic) zones following a surficial spill. The model incorporates advection, dispersion, adsorption, and first-order decay in both zones and couples the transport processes at the water table. The governing equation is solved by using the method of Laplace transforms, with numerical inversion of the Laplace space equation for concentration. Because of the complexity of the functional form for the Laplace space solution, a numerical methodology using the real and imaginary parts of a Fourier series was implemented. To reduce conservatism in the model, dilution at the water table was also included. Verification of the model is demonstrated by its ability to reproduce the source history at the surface and to replicate appropriate one-dimensional transport through either the vadose or phreatic zone. Because of its simplicity and lack of detailed input data requirements, the model is recommended for scoping calculations.

We have decomposed the overall system development into smaller component parts to allow us to focus on the expert knowledge required for that component. In addition, the decomposition will facilitate the implementation of the system and its validation and verification. The three component systems will be representative of how each of the experts in geology, geostatistics, and engineering characterizes the reservoir. The concurrent development of these component systems fits into the development of the large and small scale aspects of the system as originally stated in the proposal.

The purpose of the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., and Delta Frangible Ammunition (DFA), was to identify and evaluate composite materials for the development of small arms ammunition. Currently available small arms ammunition utilizes lead as the major component of the projectile. The introduction of lead into the environment by these projectiles when they are expended is a rapidly increasing environmental problem. At certain levels, lead is a toxic metal to the environment and a continual health and safety concern for firearm users as well as those who must conduct lead recovery operations from the environment. DFA is a leading supplier of high-density mixtures, which will be used to replace lead-based ammunition in specific applications. Current non-lead ammunition has several limitations that prevent it from replacing lead-based ammunition in many applications (such as applications that require ballistics, weapon recoil, and weapon function identical to that of lead-based ammunition). The purpose of the CRADA was to perform the research and development to identify cost-effective materials to be used in small arms ammunition that eventually will be used in commercially viable, environmentally conscious, non-lead, frangible and/or non-frangible, ammunition.

This guide provides the basic concepts to aid in an alternative fuel vehicle market development program developing an application for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program funding. The US Department of Energy`s Clean Cities Program is an aggressive, forward-thinking alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) market development program. The stakeholders in any Clean Cities Program subscribe to the common philosophy that, through participation in a team-oriented coalition, steady progress can be made toward achieving the critical mass necessary to propel the AFV market into the next century. An important component in the successful implementation of Clean Cities Program objectives is obtaining and directing funding to the capital-intensive AFV market development outside of the resources currently offered by the Department of Energy. Several state and local funding sources have been used over the past decade, including Petroleum Violation Escrow funds, vehicle registration fees, and state bond programs. However, federal funding is available and can be tapped to implement AFV market development programs across the nation. Historically, opportunities to use federal funding for AFV projects have been limited; however, the one remaining federal program that must be tapped into by Clean Cities Programs is the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program. …

The Northwest region of the United States contains extensive canal systems that transport water for hydropower generation. Nuisance plants, including algae, that grow in these systems reduce their hydraulic capacity through water displacement and increased surface friction. Most control methods are applied in an ad hoc fashion. The goal of this work is to develop cost-effective, environmentally sound, long-term management strategies to prevent and control nuisance algal growth. This paper reports on a multi-year study, performed in collaboration with the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, to investigate algal growth in their canal systems, and to evaluate various control methodologies. Three types of controls, including mechanical, biological and chemical treatment, were selected for testing and evaluation. As part of this study, water quality data were collected and algal communities were sampled from numerous stations throughout the distribution system at regular intervals. This study resulted in a more comprehensive understanding of conditions leading to the development of nuisance algal growth, a better informed selection of treatment plans, and improved evaluation of the effectiveness for the control strategies selected for testing.

Progress is reported on DNA dequencing by arrayed capillary electrophoresis. A number of instruments for separation and detection of DNA fragments was developed.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to human resource management controls in Texas State government. This report analyzes the current status of human resources at a statewide level, determines whether human resource control systems at four state agencies and universities provide reasonable assurance that human resources are effectively contributing to the achievement of the organization's goals, and collects baseline measurements for human resources benchmarking.