Nuclear power can provide a significant contribution to electricity generation and meet other needs of the world and the US during the next century provided that certain directions are taken to achieve its public acceptance. These directions include formulation of projections of population, energy consumption, and energy resources over a responsible period of time. These projections will allow assessment of cumulative effects on the environment and on fixed resources. Use of fossil energy resources in a century of growing demand for energy must be considered in the context of long-term environmental damage and resource depletion. Although some question the validity of these consequences, they can be mitigated by use of advanced fast reactor technology. It must be demonstrated that nuclear power technology is safe, resistant to material diversion for weapon use, and economical. An unbiased examination of all the issues related to energy use, especially of electricity, is an essential direction to take.

Bridge pins were used in the hanger assemblies for some multi-span steel bridges built prior to the 1980's, and are sometimes considered fracture critical elements of a bridge. During a test on a bridge conducted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), ultrasonic field inspection results indicated that at least two pins contained cracks. Several pins were removed and selected for further examination. This provided an excellent opportunity to learn more about these pins and the application of x-ray systems at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), as well as to learn more about the application of different detectors recently obtained by LLNL. Digital radiographs and computed tomography (CT) were used to characterize the bridge pins, using a LINAC x-ray source with a 9-MV bremsstrahlung spectrum. We will describe the performance of two different digital radiographic detectors. One is a detector system frequently used at LLNL consisting of a scintillator glass optically coupled to a CCD camera. The other detector is a new amorphous silicon detector recently acquired by LLNL.

The following study presents the technical basis for combining the functions of the current Process Waste Treatment Complex--Building 3544 (PWTC-3544) with current operations at the Process Waste Treatment Complex--Building 3608 (PWTC-3608) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Two of the current granular-activated carbon (GAC) columns at PWTC-3608 would be converted to zeolite columns, and PWTC-3608 would be operated such that the process waste stream would flow through the zeolite columns for removal of 137Cs and 90Sr after the process waste stream passes through a clarifier at PWTC-3608. This would modify the current operation: pumping process waste from the clarifier at PWTC-308 to PWTC-3544 for the removal of radiological constituents using ion exchange. PWTC-3544 could then be taken out of operation, which is projected to generate significant cost savings.

Unlike most research and development laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is responsible for delivering production-ready designs. Unlike most industry, LLNL is responsible for R and D that must significantly increase the nation's security. This rare combination of production engineering expertise and national R and D agenda identifies LLNL as one of the few organizations today that conducts cutting-edge engineering on grand-scale problems, while facing enormous technical risk and undergoing diligent scrutiny of its budget, schedule, and performance. On the grand scale, cutting-edge technologies are emerging from our recent ventures into ''Xtreme Engineering{trademark}.'' Basically, we must integrate and extend technologies concurrently and then push them to their extreme, such as building very large structures but aligning them with extreme precision. As we extend these technologies, we push the boundaries of engineering capabilities at both poles: microscale and ultrascale. Today, in the ultrascale realm, we are building NIF, the world's largest laser, which demands one of the world's most complex operating systems with 9000 motors integrated through over 500 computers to control 60,000 points for every laser shot. On the other pole, we have fabricated the world's smallest surgical tools and the smallest instruments for detecting biological and chemical agents used …

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) has been developed in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) (1996) that was agreed to by the US Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV); the State of Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP); and the US Department of Defense. The CAIP is a document that provides or references all of the specific information for investigation activities associated with Corrective Action Units (CAUs) or Corrective Action Sites (CASs). According to the FFACO, CASs are sites potentially requiring corrective action(s) and may include solid waste management units or individual disposal or release sites. A CAU consists of one or more CASs grouped together based on geography, technical similarity, or agency responsibility for the purpose of determining corrective actions. This CAIP contains the environmental sample collection objectives and criteria for conducting site investigation activities at CAU 232, Area 25 Sewage Lagoons. Corrective Action Unit 232 consists of CAS 25-03-01, Sewage Lagoon, located in Area 25 of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The NTS is approximately 65 miles (mi) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada (Figure 1-1) (DOE/NV, 1996a). The Area 25 Sewage Lagoons (Figure 1-2) (IT, 1999b) are located approximately 0.3 mi south …

The objective of this project is to fabricate and demonstrate an internal reflection sensor (IRS) prototype for the cone penetrometer. The IRS is a sensor that responds in real-time to almost any subsurface liquid contaminants. The IRS utilizes the variations of refractive index of different liquid contaminants as a sensing scheme. All the project objectives have been successfully met during the period of the program. A prototype IRS that can be easily integrated into a cone penetrometer was designed and fabricated in the first phase of the program. A controlled field evaluation of the IRS was also conducted during the first phase and results showed that the IRS was capable of locating NAPLs in soil. In the second phase of the program, the IRS was evaluated in the field and pushed into the ground using an actual cone penetrometer system. The IRS was evaluated at known contamination sites at the Savannah River Site and a commercial site in Jacksonville, Florida. Results of the field deployment of the IRS indicated that the sensor was able to sense the location of contaminants such as tetrachloroethylene in the subsurface.

As reported previously [1], Jefferson Lab is building a free-electron laser capable of generating a continuous wave kilowatt laser beam. The driver-accelerator consists of a superconducting, energy-recovery accelerator. The initial stage of the program was to produce over 100 W of average power with no recirculation. In order to provide maximum gain the initial wavelength was chosen to be 5 mu-m and the initial beam energy was chosen to be 38.5 MeV. On June 17, 1998, the laser produced 155 Watts cw power at the laser output with a 98% reflective output coupler. On July 28th, 311 Watts cw power was obtained using a 90% reflective output coupler. A summary of the commissioning activities to date as well as some novel lasing results will be summarized in this paper. Present work is concentrated on optimizing lasing at 5 mu-m, obtaining lasing at 3 mu-m, and commissioning the recirculation transport in preparation for kilowatt lasing this fall.

This report presents a summary of the Information Technology and Environmental Decision Making Workshop that was held at Harvard University, October 1-3, 1998. Over sixty participants from across the US took part in discussions that focused on the current practice of using information technology to support environmental decision making and on future considerations of information technology development, information policies, and data quality issues in this area. Current practice is focusing on geographic information systems and visualization tools, Internet applications, and data warehousing. In addition, numerous organizations are developing environmental enterprise systems to integrate environmental information resources. Plaguing these efforts are issues of data quality (and public trust), system design, and organizational change. In the future, much effort needs to focus on building community-based environmental decision-making systems and processes, which will be a challenge given that exactly what needs to be developed is largely unknown and that environmental decision making in this arena has been characterized by a high level of conflict. Experimentation and evaluation are needed to contribute to efficient and effective learning about how best to use information technology to improve environmental decision making.

The approximate validity of the constituent counting rules to few GeV photoreactions has been known for many years. It is now generally accepted that perturbative QCD, which leads to these rules, cannot be applicable in this low energy and momentum transfer regime. Cross section and polarization measurements now underway show promise to lead to the underlying physics. Initial experiments on deuteron photodisintegration and pion electroproduction are now in progress, and are expected to be followed by several other measurements.

Export of commodities, encouraged by both the private sector and the Federal Government, helps to improve our position in the global economy and is in the national interest of the US. However, exports of commodities or technologies, without regard to whether they may significantly contribute to the military potential of individual countries or combination of countries or enhance the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, may adversely affect the national security of the US. The Federal Government, therefore, implements several laws, Executive Orders, and regulations to control the export of certain commodities and technologies. These commodities and technologies require a license for export. Some of the controlled items are designated as ''dual-use,'' that is, commodities and technologies that have both civilian and military application. Some dual-use commodities are designated as ''nuclear dual-use''--items controlled for nuclear nonproliferation purposes. Another group of controlled commodities is designated as munitions, which are goods and technologies that have solely military uses. The Department of Energy (Energy) conducts reviews of export license applications for nuclear dual-use items and certain munitions. On August 26, 1998, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs requested that the Inspectors General from the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State, …

A novel approach for the fabrication and assembly of a solid oxide fuel cell system is described which enables effective scaling of the fuel delivery, mainfold, and fuel cell stack components for applications in miniature and microscale energy conversion. Electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells are developed using sputter deposition techniques. A thin film anode is formed by codeposition of nickel and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). This approach provides a mixed conducting interfacial layer between the nickel electrode and electrolyte layer. Similarly, a thin film cathode is formed by co-deposition of silver and yttria-stabilized zirconia. Additionally, sputter deposition of yttria-stabilized zirconia thin film electrolyte enables high quality, continuous films to be formed having thickness on the order of 1-2 {micro}m. This will effectively lower the temperature of operation for the fuel cell stack significantly below the traditional ranges at which solid oxide electrolyte systems are operated (600--1000 C), thereby rendering this fuel cell system suitable for miniaturization. Scaling towards miniaturization is accomplished by utilizing novel micromaching approaches which allow manifold channels and fuel delivery system to be formed within the substrate which the thin film fuel cell stack is fabricated on, thereby circumventing the need for bulky manifold components which …

This quarterly report describes technical activities performed under Contract No. DE-AC21-94MC31160. The analyses of hot gas stream cleanup (HGCU) ashes and descriptions of filter performance studied under Task 1 of this contract are designed to address problems with filter operation that are apparently linked to characteristics of the collected ash. This report includes summaries of analyses performed on particulate samples from Sierra Pacific Power Company's Pinon Pine Power Project. This report also reviews the status of the HGCU data bank of ash and char characteristics, and plans for enhancing the data bank with interactive querying of measured particulate properties. Task 1 plans for the remainder of the project include completion and delivery of the HGCU data bank. Task 2 of this project concerns the testing and failure analyses of new and used filter elements and filter materials. Task 2 work during the past quarter included preliminary testing of two materials. One material tested was the soft candle filter manufactured by CGC and supplied by ABB. The other material was N610/mullite manufactured by Albany International (AIT).

We consider some large systems of differential equations that have been introduced as model many-body problems. These systems have solutions that oscillate on a wide range of time scales. We apply the formalism of optimal prediction to these systems, using conditional expectations of the equations of motion to construct effective equations for the most slowly-varying quantities. We verify the accuracy of the effective equations in examples, comparing solutions of the original and new systems, and we show that the new equations give accurate answers for slow variables with relatively little computational effort.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.

Photograph of the Bryan Municpal Building in Bryan, Texas.