The long-range goal of the US Heavy Ion Fusion (HIF) program is to develop heavy ion accelerators capable of igniting inertial fusion targets to generate fusion energy for electrical power production. Accelerators for heavy ion fusion consist of several subsystems: ion sources, injectors, matching sections, combiners, induction acceleration sections with electric and magnetic focusing, beam compression and bending sections, and a final-focus system to focus the beams onto the target. We are currently assembling or performing experiments to address the physics of all these subsystems. This paper will discuss some of these experiments.

Options for plutonium disposition require PuO₂ that can be used as feed material for mixed oxide (MOX) reactor fuel pellets, or glass and ceramic immobilization forms (cf. Federal Register Doc. 97-1355, Vol. 62, No. 13, January 2 1,1997). As part of a DOE-sponsored demonstration known as the Advanced Recovery and Integrated Extraction System (ARIES), conversion of plutonium to oxide by the Hydride/Oxidation (HYDOX) process will be used, along with other supporting technologies, to recover plutonium from the cores or *#34;pits" of nuclear weapons that have been determined to be surplus to national defense needs. This demonstration will be performed jointly by the Los Alamos and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories at the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility. The pyrochemical methods employed by HYDOX offer a simple and reliable process to recover plutonium in oxide form from various sources. This process will: Separate plutonium from other nuclear and non-nuclear materials, Convert massive metallic shapes into fine oxide particles, Produce oxide directly acceptable for MOX fuel fabrication, and Produce no solid or liquid waste. The paper describes the reactor module and operational sequences, provides up-to-date experimental results, identifies rate-controlling factors, and discusses their impact on the reactor design.

The performance of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) system that is fueled directly by hydrogen has been evaluated for transportation vehicles. The performance was simulated using a systems analysis code and a vehicle analysis code. The results indicate that, at the design point for a 50-kW PEFC system, the system efficiency is above 50%. The efficiency improves at partial load and approaches 60% at 40% load, as the fuel cell operating point moves to lower current densities on the voltage-current characteristic curve. At much lower loads, the system efficiency drops because of the deterioration in the performance of the compressor, expander, and, eventually, the fuel cell. The results also indicate that the PEFC system can start rapidly from ambient temperatures. Depending on the specific weight of the fuel cell (1.6 kg/kW in this case), the system takes up to 180s to reach its design operating conditions. The PEFC system has been evaluated for three mid-size vehicles: the 1995 Chrysler Sedan, the near-term Ford AIV (Aluminum Intensive Vehicle) Sable, and the future P2000 vehicle. The results show that the PEFC system can meet the demands of the Federal Urban Driving Schedule and the Highway driving cycles, for both warm and …

Recently both the Alcator C-Mod and DIII-D tokamaks observed significant recombination of major ion species in the divertor region during detachment. For sufficiently low temperatures the mixture of neutral atoms and ions can be optically thick to line radiation. The optical depth of the recombined region to Ly{alpha} radiation can be very large and opacity effects and radiation trapping can dramatically change the heat flux to the divertor walls. This paper presents an analysis of the effect of line radiation on volume recombination using CRETIN, a multi-dimensional, non-local thermodynamic equilibrium simulation code that includes the atomic kinetics and radiative transport processes necessary to model this complex environment.

This project addressed the sequence selectivities of DNA binding by intercalating agents. Methods analogous to chemical DNA sequencing were developed to quantitatively investigate sequence selectivities of DNA binding of several DNA intercalators including benzo(a)pyrene diol epoxides, ethidium, copper-phenanthroline complexes, and the anticancer drug actinomycin D. Computer programs were developed to extract sequence selectivities from large data sets. A photoaffinity analog approach was validated for determining the sequence selectivities of ethidium and actinomycin D. Several `non-traditional` binding sites were identified for each ligand examined. Actinomycin D was shown to bind single stranded DNA, as well as double stranded DNA, with high affinity and sequence selectivity. All of the compounds studied were intercalators, but they differ significantly in side chain complexity.

Abandoning superconductors for magnetic fusion reactors and instead using resistive magnet designs based on cheap copper or aluminum conductor material operating at "room temperature" (300 K) can reduce the capital cost per unit fusion power and simplify plant operations. By increasing unit size well beyond that of present magnetic fusion energy conceptual designs using superconducting electromagnets, the recirculating power fraction needed to operate resistive electromagnets can be made as close to zero as needed for economy without requiring superconductors. Other advantages of larger fusion plant size, such as very long inductively driven pulses, may also help reduce the cost per unit fusion power.

This work is intended to contribute to the foundations for formalizing industrial ecology analyses of energy systems (systems for energy generation, transfer. or transformation) and to examine how the tools for performing these analyses can also enhance the field of industrial ecology in other applications. We discuss requirements for studying materials and energy , cycling in industrial processes. with particular emphasis on energy generating systems, through explicit inclusion of entropy concepts in industrial ecology considerations. This perspective is intended to contribute to the theoretical basis for industrial ecology, to the development of tools for comparing the ecological (human and environmental health. and institutional) impacts of energy generating and other industrial processes, and to possible changes in engineering curricula with emphasis on design.

A specialized hyperspectral imager has been developed that preprocesses the spectra from an image before the light reaches the detectors. This "optical computer" does not allow the flexibility of digital post-processing. However, the processing is done in real time and the system can examine = 2 x 10{sup 6} scene pixels/sec. Therefore, outdoors it could search for pollutants, vegetation types, minerals, or man-made objects. On a high- speed production line it could identify defects in sheet products like plastic wrap or film, or on painted or plastic parts. ISIS is a line scan imager. A spectrally dispersed slit image is projected on a Spatial Light Modulator. The SLM is programmed to take the inner product of the spectral intensity vector and a spectral basis vector. The SLM directs the positive and negative parts of the inner product to different linear detector arrays so the signal difference equals the inner product. We envision a system with one telescope and =4 SLMS.

This document provides estimates of the volume of sludge expected from Integrated Process Strategy (IPS) processing of the fuel elements and in the fuel storage canisters in K East Basin. The original estimates were based on visual observations of fuel element condition in the basin and laboratory measurements of canister sludge density. Revision 1 revised the volume estimates of sludge from processing of the fuel elements based on additional data from evaluations of material from the KE Basin fuel subsurface examinations. A nominal Working Estimate and an upper level Working Bound is developed for the canister sludge and the fuel wash sludge components in the KE Basin.

This document provides estimates of the volume of sludge (1) expected from Integrated Process Strategy (IPS) processing of the fuel elements and (2) in the fuel storage canisters in K West Basin. The original estimates were based on visual observations of fuel element condition in the basin and laboratory measurements of KE canister sludge density. Revision 1 revised the volume estimates of sludge based on additional data from evaluations of material from the KW Basin fuel subsurface examinations and KW canister sludge characterization data. A nominal Working Estimate and an upper level Working Bound is developed for the canister sludge and the fuel wash sludge components in the KW Basin.

This study was undertaken in order to improve understanding of several aspects of the NO-carbon reaction. This reaction is of practical importance in combustion systems, but its close examination also provides some fundamental insight into oxidizing gas-carbon reactions. As part of this study, a comprehensive literature review of earlier work on this reaction has been published (Aarna and Suuberg, Fuel, 1997, 76, 475-491). It has been thought for some time that the kinetics of the NO-carbon reaction are unusual, in that they often show a two-regime Arrhenius behavior. It has, however, turned out during this work that NO is not alone in this regard. In this laboratory, we also uncovered evidence of two kinetic regime behavior in CO{sub 2} gasification. In another laboratory, a former colleague has identified the same behavior in N{sub 2}O. The low temperature reaction regime always shows an activation energy which is lower than that in the high temperature regime, leaving little doubt that a shift in mechanism, as opposed to transport limitations, dictates the behavior. The activation energy of the low temperature regime of these reactions is typically less than 100 kJ/mol, and the activation energy of the high temperature regime is generally considerably in …

Increasingly, high performance computing constitutes the use of very large heterogeneous clusters of machines. The use and maintenance of such clusters are subject to complexities of communication between the machines in a time efficient and secure manner. Lilith is a general purpose tool that provides a highly scalable, secure, and easy distribution of user code across a heterogeneous computing platform. By handling the details of code distribution and communication, such a framework allows for the rapid development of tools for the use and management of large distributed systems. Lilith is written in Java, taking advantage of Java`s unique features of loading and distributing code dynamically, its platform independence, its thread support, and its provision of graphical components to facilitate easy to use resultant tools. The authors describe the use of Lilith in a tool developed for the maintenance of the large distributed cluster at their institution and present details of the Lilith architecture and user API for the general user development of scalable tools.

Long-pulse fusion physics experiments can be performed economically via resistive electromagnets designed for thermally steady-state operation. Possible fusion experiments using resistive electromagnets include long-pulse ignition with deuterium-tritium fuel. Long-pulse resistive electromagnets are alternatives to today's delicate and costly superconductors. At any rate, superconducting technology is now evolving independent of fusion, so near-term superconducting experience may not ultimately be useful.

New York City Department of Sanitation has operated natural gas fueled refuse haulers in a pilot study: a major goal of this study was to compare the emissions from these natural gas vehicles with their diesel counterparts. The vehicles were tandem axle trucks with GVW (gross vehicle weight) rating of 69,897 pounds. The primary use of these was for street collection and transporting the refuse to a landfill. West Virginia University Transportable Heavy Duty Emissions Testing Laboratories have been engaged in monitoring the tailpipe emissions from these trucks for seven-years. In the later years of testing the hydrocarbons were speciated for non-methane and methane components. Six of these vehicles employed the older technology (mechanical mixer) Cummins L-10 lean burn natural gas engines. Five trucks were equipped with electronically controlled Detroit Diesel Series 50 lean burn engines, while another five were powered by Caterpillar stoichiometric burn 3306 natural gas engines, The Ca terpillar engines employed an exhaust oxygen sensor feedback and three way catalysts. Since the refuse haulers had automatic Allison transmissions, and since they were employed in stop-and-go city service, initial emissions measurements were made using the Central Business Cycle (SAE Jl376) for buses at 42,000 pound test weight. Some …

The focus of this study is to develop a sensor fused process modeling and control methodology to model, assess, and then enhance the performance of a hexapod machine for precision product realization. Deterministic modeling technique was used to derive models for machine performance assessment and enhancement. Sensor fusion methodology was adopted to identify the parameters of the derived models. Empirical models and computational algorithms were also derived and implemented to model, assess, and then enhance the machine performance. The developed sensor fusion algorithms can be implemented on a PC-based open architecture controller to receive information from various sensors, assess the status of the process, determine the proper action, and deliver the command to actuators for task execution. This will enhance a hexapod machine`s capability to produce workpieces within the imposed dimensional tolerances.

Recently Lee and Preston have proposed to use magnetic implosions as a new method for measuring material strength in a regime of large strains and high strain rates inaccessible to previously established techniques. By its shockless nature, this method avoids the intrinsic difficulties associated with an earlier approach using high explosives. The authors illustrate how the stress-strain relation for an imploding liner can be obtained by measuring the velocity and temperature history of its inner surface. They discuss the physical requirements that lead us to a composite liner design applicable to different test materials, and also compare the code-simulated prediction with the measured data for the high strain-rate experiments conducted recently at LANL. Finally, they present a novel diagnostic scheme that will enable us to remove the background in the pyrometric measurement through data reduction.

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Simple transport-based scaling laws are derived to show that a density and time regime intermediate between conventional magnetic confinement and conventional inertial confinement offers attractive reductions in system size and energy when compared to magnetic confinement and attractive reductions in heating power and intensity when compared to inertial confinement. This intermediate parameter space appears to be readily accessible by existing and near term pulsed power technologies. Hence, the technology of the Megagauss conference opens up an attractive path to controlled thermonuclear fusion.

Biodegradation of natural and anthropogenic chelating agents directly and indirectly affects the speciation, and, hence, the mobility of actinides in subsurface environments. We combined mathematical modeling with laboratory experimentation to investigate the effects of aerobic and anaerobic chelate biodegradation on actinide [Np(IV/V), Pu(IV)] speciation. Under aerobic conditions, nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) biodegradation rates were strongly influenced by the actinide concentration. Actinide-chelate complexation reduced the relative abundance of available growth substrate in solution and actinide species present or released during chelate degradation were toxic to the organisms. Aerobic bio-utilization of the chelates as electron-donor substrates directly affected actinide speciation by releasing the radionuclides from complexed form into solution, where their fate was controlled by inorganic ligands in the system. Actinide speciation was also indirectly affected by pH changes caused by organic biodegradation. The two concurrent processes of organic biodegradation and actinide aqueous chemistry were accurately linked and described using CCBATCH, a computer model developed at Northwestern University to investigate the dynamics of coupled biological and chemical reactions in mixed waste subsurface environments. CCBATCH was then used to simulate the fate of Np during anaerobic citrate biodegradation. The modeling studies suggested that, under some conditions, chelate degradation can increase Np(IV) solubility due to …

The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) tritium retention experience is reviewed and the data related to models of plasma surface interactions. Over 3.5 years of TFTR deuterium-tritium operations, approximately 51% of the tritium injected into TFTR was retained in the torus. Most of this was subsequently recovered by glow discharges and air ventilation. Co-deposition rates for representative conditions in tritium operation were modeled with the BBQ code. The calculations indicate that known erosion mechanisms and subsequent co-deposition are sufficient to account for the order of magnitude of retention.

The REBUS-3 burnup code, used in the ANL RERTR Program, is a very general code that uses diffusion theory (DIF3D) to obtain the fluxes required for reactor burnup analyses. Diffusion theory works well for most reactors. However, to include the effects of exact geometry and strong absorbers that are difficult to model using diffusion theory, a Monte Carlo method is required. MCNP, a general-purpose, generalized-geometry, time-dependent, Monte Carlo transport code, is the most widely used Monte Carlo code. This paper presents a linking of the MCNP code and the REBUS burnup code to perform these difficult burnup analyses. The linked code will permit the use of the full capabilities of REBUS which include non-equilibrium and equilibrium burnup analyses. Results of burnup analyses using this new linked code are also presented.

The November 1998 of Turning Point highlights the US Industrial Electric Motor Systems Market Opportunities Assessment Report--the first of its kind in 20 years. Sponsored by DOE's Motor Challenge Program, the comprehensive assessment describes motor-system use in the industrial sector. This issue also introduces the latest version of MotorMaster+ motor management software-- MotorMaster+ 3.0, and includes a case study on a fan system optimization project that yielded significant energy and cost savings for a Louisiana-Pacific plant.

A new set of mirrors for the SANDIA I OX microstepper has been fabricated. The optics have been tested by optical profilometry, atomic force microscopy, EUV reflectometry and EUV scattering. These measurements allow one to predict the performance of the camera. Mo/Si multilayer coatings with the required thickness profile were produced by DC magnetron sputtering using shadow masks in front of the rotating substrates. The failure errors of the new mirrors (0.6 nm) are considerably smaller than those obtained previously, while mid-spatial frequency roughness still needs improvement. This roughness reduces mostly the throughput of the system; i. e. most of the scattered light occurs outside the field of the camera and there is only a small reduction of contrast or resolution.

The WWR-SM research reactor in Uzbekistan has operated at 10 MW since 1979, using Russian-supplied IRT-3M fuel assemblies containing 90% enriched uranium. Burnup tests of three full-sized IRT-3M FA with 36% enrichment were successfully completed to a burn up of about {approximately}50% in 1987-1989. In August 1998, four IRT-3M FA with 36% enriched uranium were loaded into the core to initiate conversion of the entire core to 36% enriched fuel. This paper presents the results of equilibrium fuel cycle comparisons of the reactor using HEU (90%) and HEU (36%) IRT-3M fuel and compares results with the performance of IRT-4M FA containing LEU (19.75%). The results show that an LEU (19.75%) density of 3.8 g/cm{sup 3} is required to match the cycle length of the HEU (90%) core and an LEU density 3.9 g/cm{sup 3} is needed to match the cycle length of the HEU (36%) core.