Two bulkheads, one composed of high performance concrete and the other of highly compacted sand-bentonite material, have been constructed in a tunnel in unfractured granite rock at the Underground Research Laboratory. The Tunnel Sealing Experiment will characterize the performance of the two bulkheads under applied hydraulic pressures. The chamber between the two bulkheads will be pressurized to approximately 4 MPa, a value representative of the ambient pore pressures in the rock at a depth of 420 m. Instrumentation in the experiment monitors the seepage through and around each bulkhead as well as the changes tot he pure water pressure, and hence changes to the flow directions,in the intact rock. Stresses and displacements in each bulkhead are also monitored. The objective of the experiment is to demonstrate technologies for contrustion of bentonite and concrete bulkheads and to quantify the performance of each bulkhead.

The purpose of this analysis is to determine the structural response of the 21 pressurized water reactor (PWR) uncanistered fuel (UCF) waste package (WP) to a tipover design basis event (DBE) dynamic load; the results will be reported in terms of stress magnitudes. Finite-element solution was performed by making use of the commercially available ANSYS finite-element code. A finite-element model of the waste package was developed and analyzed for a tipover DBE dynamic load. The results of this analysis were provided in tables and were also plotted in terms of the maximum stress contours to determine their locations.

Using concentrated natural sunlight at the NREL High Flux Solar Furnace, we have exposed several materials to acceleration factors of up to 400 times the normal outdoor UV exposure dose. This accelerated rate allows the exposure of materials such that a year of outdoor exposure can be simulated in about 5 hours. We have studied the solarization of cerium containing glass, the degradation of ethylene vinyl acetate laminated between borosilicate glass, and the yellowing of standard polystyrene test coupons. The first two candidates are of interest to the photovoltaics (PV) program, and the last candidate material is a widely used dosimeter for ultra violet (UV) exposure in accelerated weathering chambers

A new demonstration biomass gasifier in Burlington, Vermont, is a major advance toward biopower systems of the 21st century. The purpose of the project is to verify design and operating characteristics of this gasification technology at an intermediate size. The Vermont gasifier is rated at 200 tons of biomass per day. The demonstration will allow further scale-up to a first-of-its-kind commercial gasifier to be demonstrated in the future at an industrial or utility scale.

Because toxic solvents and other hazardous materials are commonly used in analytical methods, characterization procedures result in significant and costly amount of waste. We are developing alternative analytical methods in the radiological and organic areas to reduce the volume or form of the hazardous waste produced during sample analysis. For the radiological area, we have examined high-pressure, closed-vessel microwave digestion as a way to minimize waste from sample preparation operations. Heated solutions of strong mineral acids can be avoided for sample digestion by using the microwave approach. Because reactivity increases with pressure, we examined the use of less hazardous solvents to leach selected contaminants from soil for subsequent analysis. We demonstrated the feasibility of this approach by extracting plutonium from a NET reference material using citric and tartaric acids with microwave digestion. Analytical results were comparable to traditional digestion methods, while hazardous waste was reduced by a factor often. We also evaluated the suitability of other natural acids, determined the extraction performance on a wider variety of soil types, and examined the extraction efficiency of other contaminants. For the organic area, we examined ways to minimize the wastes associated with the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in environmental samples. Conventional …

This report summarizes the Department of Energy Voluntary Protection Program (DOE-VPP) Review Team`s findings from the five-day onsite evaluation of the Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project (WSSRAP), conducted November 17--21, 1997. The site was evaluated against the program requirements contained in ``US Department of Energy Voluntary Protection Program, Part 1: Program Elements`` to determine its success in implementing the five tenets of DOE-VPP. DOE-VPP consists of three programs, with names and functions similar to those in OSHA`s VPP. These programs are STAR, MERIT, and DEMONSTRATION. The STAR program is the core of DOE-VPP. The program is aimed at truly outstanding protectors of employee safety and health. The MERIT program is a steppingstone for contractors and subcontractors that have good safety and health programs but need time and DOE guidance to achieve STAR status. The DEMONSTRATION program is rarely used; it allows DOE to recognize achievements in unusual situations about which DOE needs to learn more before determining approval requirements for the STAR status.

The first Working Group Meeting on Heavy Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag was held at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 28, 1998. The purpose of the meeting was to review the proposed Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP) and provide an update on the Group"s progress. In addition, the technical details of each organization"s activities were presented and discussed. Presentations were given by representatives from the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Transportation Technology Office of Heavy Vehicle Technology (OHVT), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), SNL, University of Southern California (USC), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and NASA Ames Research Center. These presenters are part of a DOE appointed Technical Team assigned to developing the MYPP. The goal of the MYPP is to develop and demonstrate the ability to simulate and analyze aerodynamic flow around heavy truck vehicles using existing and advanced computational tools (A Multi-Year Program Plan for the Aerodynamic Design of Heavy Vehicles, R. McCallen, D. McBride, W. Rutledge, F. Browand, A. Leonard, .I. Ross, UCRL-PROP- 127753 Dr. Rev 2, May 1998). This report contains the technical presentations (viewgraphs) delivered at the Meeting, briefly summarizes the comments and conclusions from the Meeting participants, and outlines the future …

The mission for the Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management is to safely manage and dispose of the nation's spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste in a geologic repository. A potential site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is being studied by the DOE. Nuclear waste is to be contained in packages which will be emplaced in the repository for thousands of years. After these manmade packages eventually degrade, the repository should continue to isolate nuclear waste from the environment. The repository is to comply with the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act and its amendments. Also, the health and safety of the workers will not be compromised during the construction and operation of the repository. To investigate important technical issues inherent with the construction, operation, closure, and performance of the repository, a series of in situ experiments have been planned for the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) located inside Yucca Mountain. The ESF Thermal Test is an integral part of the Site Characterization Plan developed in 1988 following the Congressional mandate to evaluate only Yucca Mountain as a potential repository. The planning documented in the Site Characterization Program has evolved to include the construction of the ESF …

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