Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This paper explores two potential applications of Virtual Reality (VR) to international nuclear safeguards: training and information organization and navigation. The applications are represented by two existing prototype systems, one for training nuclear weapons dismantlement and one utilizing a VR model to facilitate intuitive access to related sets of information.

The baseline requirements for the design and fabrication of the MCO include the application of the technical requirements of the ASME Code, Section III, Subsection NB for containment and Section III, Subsection NG for criticality control. ASME Code administrative requirements, which have not historically been applied at the Hanford site and which have not been required by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for licensed spent fuel casks/canisters, were not invoked for the MCO. As a result of recommendations made from an ASME Code consultant in response to DNFSB staff concerns regarding ASME Code application, the SNF Project will be making the following modifications: issue an ASME Code Design Specification and Design Report, certified by a Registered Professional Engineer; Require the MCO fabricator to hold ASME Section III or Section VIII, Division 2 accreditation; and Use ASME Authorized Inspectors for MCO fabrication. Incorporation of these modifications will ensure that the MCO is designed and fabricated in accordance with the ASME Code. Code Stamping has not been a requirement at the Hanford site, nor for NRC licensed spent fuel casks/canisters, but will be considered if determined to be economically justified.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

We have collected borehole to surface electromagnetic induction field data for a shallow steam injection that is underway at Mobil Oil� s Lost Hills-3 field in San Joaquin Valley. Earlier work had been done at the same site by Wilt et al. (1996). This site is an interesting test for techniques under development for environmental engineering, because it can be viewed as an excellent analog of a shallow environmental remediation using steam injection. Surface magnetic field data (vertical and radial fields, magnitude and phase) were collected using 18 receiver stations along two profiles which ran radially from the EM transmitter well from 5 m to 120 m. The data at each surface station were collected while the EM transmitter was raised slowly from a depth of 120 m to a final depth of 20 m. As part of this experiment, a calibration of the EM transmitter was also performed. Magnetic field data from Lost Hills were successfully collected, including both vertical and horizontal (surface radial) magnitude and phase data along a northerly profile and along a westerly profile. We have observed that the radial receiver data appear to be better behaved than the vertical receiver data, suggesting that these data …

Ensemble concert performed at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

Processes to fabricate dense, dry released microstructures with electrical connections on the opposite side of the wafer are described. A 10 x 10 array of silicon and polysilicon cantilevers with high packing density (5 tips/mm²) and high uniformity (<10 µm length variation across the wafer) are demonstrated. The cantilever release process uses a deep SF₆/C₄F₈, plasma etch followed by a HBr plasma etch to accurately release cantilevers. A process for fabricating electrical contacts through the backside of the wafer is also described. Electrodeposited resist, conformal CVD metal deposition and deep SF₆/C₄F₈ plasma etching are used to make 30 µm/side square vias each of which has a resistance of 50 m(omega).

Foam evokes many different images: waves breaking at the seashore, the head on a pint of Guinness, an elegant dessert, shaving, the comfortable cushion on which you may be seated... From the mundane to the high tech, foams, emulsions, and cellular solids encompass a broad range of materials and applications. Soap suds, mayonnaise, and foamed polymers provide practical motivation and only hint at the variety of materials at issue. Typical of mukiphase materiaIs, the rheoIogy or mechanical behavior of foams is more complicated than that of the constituent phases alone, which may be gas, liquid, or solid. For example, a soap froth exhibits a static shear modulus-a hallmark of an elastic solid-even though it is composed primarily of two Newtonian fluids (water and air), which have no shear modulus. This apparent paradox is easily resolved. Soap froth contains a small amount of surfactant that stabilizes the delicate network of thin liq- uid films against rupture. The soap-film network deforms in response to a macroscopic strain; this increases interracial area and the corresponding sur- face energy, and provides the strain energy of classical elasticity theory [1]. This physical mechanism is easily imagined but very challenging to quantify for a realistic three-dimensional …

Weekly newspaper from Harper, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The paper presents an investigation of the impacts of deregulation on the reliability, in terms of capacity adequacy, of a large multi-arm power pool. The study was conducted using a vwsirm of a Monte Carlo simulation-based bulk power system rdiability model called NA.RI'. The study examined expected ohanges in opmating policies and other changes expected under deregulation and Gorwludes that reliabtity is Uke\ y to be signific~tly degraded at least until the transmission network can be strengthen.

This document summarizes a strategic study addressing the development of a comprehensive modeling and simulation capability for magnetic fusion experiments with particular emphasis on devices that are alternatives to the mainline tokamak device. A code development project in this area supports two defined strategic thrust areas in the Magnetic Fusion Energy Program: (1) comprehensive simulation and modeling of magnetic fusion experiments and (2) development, operation, and modeling of magnetic fusion alternate- concept experiment

Exponential-13,6 (EXP-13,6) potential pammeters for 750 gases composed of 48 elements were determined and assembled in a database, referred to as the JCZS database, for use with the Jacobs Cowperthwaite Zwisler equation of state (JCZ3-EOS)~l) The EXP- 13,6 force constants were obtained by using literature values of Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential functions, by using corresponding states (CS) theory, by matching pure liquid shock Hugoniot data, and by using molecular volume to determine the approach radii with the well depth estimated from high-pressure isen- tropes. The JCZS database was used to accurately predict detonation velocity, pressure, and temperature for 50 dif- 3 Accurate predictions were also ferent explosives with initial densities ranging from 0.25 glcm3 to 1.97 g/cm . obtained for pure liquid shock Hugoniots, static properties of nitrogen, and gas detonations at high initial pressures.

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The SNF project was directed to increase the MCO pressure rating by the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (RL) unless the action was shown to be cost prohibitive. This guidance was driven by RL's assessment that there was a need to improve margin and reduce risks associated with assumptions supporting the bounding pressure calculation for the MCO Sealing Strategy. Although more recent pressure analyses show a bounding MCO pressure of 50 psig, RL still considers it prudent to retain the pressure margin the 450 psig rating provides. This rating creates a real, clearly definable margin and significantly reduces the risk that the safety basis will be challenged.

The SNF Project will change the Multi-Canister Overpack (MCO) design pressure rating in the mechanical closure configuration to 150 psig to permit substitution of 304L/304 stainless steel for the higher cost XM-19 in the MCO collar. The 450 psig pressure rating for the final welded MCO will remain unchanged.

The factors to be considered in establishing inservice inspection and maintenance requirements for the Multi-Canister Overpack (MCO) include evaluating the likelihood of degradation to the MCO pressure boundary due to erosion and corrosion, reviewing commercial practice for NRC licensed spent nuclear fuel storage systems, and examining the individual MCO components for maintenance needs. Reviews of the potential for MCO erosion and corrosion conclude that neither will pose a threat to the MCO pressure boundary. Consistent with commercial practice for spent fuel storage systems, the MCO closure weld will be helium leak tested prior to placement in interim storage. Beyond the CSB facility related monitoring plans (radiological monitoring, emissions monitoring, vault cooling data, etc.), no inservice inspection or maintenance of the MCO is required during interim storage.

The rationale for locating a filter assembly inside each Multi-Canister Overpack (MCO) rather than include the filter in the Cold Vacuum Drying (CVD) process piping system was to eliminate the potential for contamination to the operators, processing equipment, and the MCO. The internal HEPA filters provide essential protection to facility workers from alpha contamination, both external skin contamination and potential internal depositions. Filters installed in the CVD process piping cannot mitigate potential contamination when breaking the process piping connections. Experience with K-Basin material has shown that even an extremely small release can result in personnel contamination and costly schedule disruptions to perform equipment and facility decontamination. Incorporating the filter function internal to the MCO rather than external is consistent with ALARA requirements of 10 CFR 835. Based on the above, the SNF Project position is to retain the internal HEPA filters in the MCO design.

The Multi-Canister Overpack (MCO) rupture disk precludes the MCO from pressurization above the design limit during transport from the K Basins to the Cold Vacuum Drying (CVD) Facility and prior to connection of the CVD process piping. Removal of the rupture disk from the MCO design would: (a) result in unacceptable dose consequences in the event a thermal runaway accident occurred; (b) increase residual risk; and (c) remove a degree of specificity from the dose calculations. The potential cost savings of removing the rupture disk from the MCO design is offset by the cost of design modifications, changes to hazard analyses and safety analyses, and changes to existing documentation. Retaining the rupture disk mitigates the consequences of MCO overpressurization, and considering the overall economic impacts to the SNF Project, is the most cost effective approach.

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The Multi-Canister Overpack (MCO) shield plug closure assembly will be hydrostatically tested at the fabricator's shop to the 150 psig design test requirement in accordance with the ASME Code. Additionally, the MCO shell and collar will be hydrostatically tested at the fabricator's shop to the 450 psig design test requirement. Commercial practice has not required a pressure test of the closure weld after spent fuel is loaded in the containers. Based on this precedent and Code Case N-595-I, the MCO closure weld will not be pressure tested in the field.

The Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) position regarding the Multi-Canister Overpack (MCO) sealing configuration is to initially rely on an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Section III Subsection NB code compliant mechanical closure/sealing system to quickly and safely establish and maintain full confinement of radioactive materials prior to and during MCO fuel drying activities. Previous studies have shown the mechanical seal to be the preferred closure method, based on dose, cost, and schedule considerations. The cost and schedule impacts of redesigning the mechanical closure to a welded shield plug do not support changing the closure system. The SNF Project has determined that the combined mechanical/welded closure system meets or exceeds the regulatory requirements to provide redundant seals while accommodating key safety and schedule limitations that are unique to K Basins fuel removal effort.