The contract objective is to complete the design and development actions that upgrade the 40-kW fuel cell power plant to a configuration suitable for on-site demonstration testing. The modifications will improve operating capability, durability and maintenance interval and lead to reduced production costs. Equipment to recover and use the by-product heat of electric generation will be available on the power plant for field verification of on-site heat recovery. The 40-kW power plant will be compatible with the power characteristics required for conventional heat pumps and conventional 60 Hz, 120/208 volts electrically operated equipment. Progress is reported. (WHK)

The US Department of Energy is funding an underground coal gasification (UCG) project in steeply dipping coal beds (SDB), at North Knobs, about 8 miles west of Rawlins, Carbon County, Wyoming. The project is being conducted to determine the technical, economic and environmental viability of such a technology. The development of SDB is an interesting target for UCG since such beds contain coals not normally mineable economically by ordinary techniques. Although the underground gasification of SDB has not been attempted in the US, Soviet experience and theoretical work indicate that the gasification of SDB in place offers all the advantages of underground gasification of horizontal coal seams plus some unique characteristics. The steep angle of dip helps to channel the produced gases up dip to offtake holes and permits the ash and rubble to fall away from the reaction zone helping to mitigate the blocking of the reaction zone in swelling coals. The intersection of SDB with the surface makes the seam accessible for drilling and other preparation. The tests at the North Knobs site will consist of three tests, lasting 20, 80 and 80 days, respectively. A total of 9590 tons of coal is expected to be gasified, with …

Fission-product contamination of the helium coolant of High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGR) is strongly influenced by the end-of-life (EOL) failed-particle fraction. Knowledge of the EOL-failure fraction is the basis for model calculations to predict the total fission product release from the reactor core. After disintegration of irradiation fuel rods, fuel particles are placed in individual holes of a graphite tray. During a 5-h heat treatment at 1000/sup 0/C in a helium atmosphere failed particles leak fission products, especially the volatile cesium, into the graphite. After unloading a ..beta..-autoradiograph of the tray is made. Holes that housed defective particles are identified from black spots on the ..beta..-sensitive film. The EOL-failure fraction is the ratio of defective particles to the total number of particles tested. The technique is called PIAA, PostIrradiation Annealing and Autoradiography. The PIAA technique was applied to particles of a Trisocoated highly-enriched UO/sub 2/ fissile batch irradiated to a burnup of 35% FIMA at an irradiation temperature of 1250/sup 0/C. Visual examination showed all particles to be intact. From 11 to 47% of the particles had failed, as determined by PIAA. Further, postirradiation examination showed that localized corrosion of the silicon carbide coating by fission-product rare-earth chlorides had occurred.

DOE is currently funding a study to determine if recent advances in line focus technology provide this solar concept with an economic potential comparable to the first generation Point Focus central receiver system for generation of electricity. This report was prepared in support of this effort and has the following specific objectives: (1) Determine the High Temperature Line Focus System (HTLFS) performance and cost goals required for the system to be economically competitive with first generation PFS; (2) Identify HTLFS plant physical and operational characteristics; and (3) Determine HTLFS sensitivities to capital equipment cost and subsystem efficiencies. A simplified analytical model was developed to determine the annual electrical energy generating capabilities and the plant capacity factor while accounting for both the daily and annual variation in solar position. The PFS performance data were based on recent DOE studies, while the HTLFS performance was obtained from sources at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories and at the Stanford Research Institute. The performance models were combined with the standard DOE economic model to generate the annual cost of electricity in terms of mills/kWh. Both the PFS and HTLFS were analyzed with this model using identical performance, operational and economic ground rules. The performance and …

The report documents a computer code which has been implemented to position control rods according to a prescribed schedule during the calculation of a reactor history. Control rods may be represented explicitly with or without internal black absorber conditions in selected energy groups, or fractional insertion may be done, or both, in a problem. There is provision for control rod follower, movement of materials through a series of zones in a closed loop, and shutdown rod insertion and subsequent removal to allow the reactor history calculation to be continued. This code is incorporated in the system containing the VENTURE diffusion theory neutronics and the BURNER exposure codes for routine use. The implemented automated procedures cause the prescribed control rod insertion schedule to be applied without the access of additional user input data during the calculation of a reactor operating history.

The thermal performance tests and results on the LARGO Solar Hot Water System under natural environmental conditions are presented. Some objectives of these evaluations are to determine the amount of energy collected, the amount of energy delivered to the household as contributed by solar power supplied to operate the system and auxiliary power to maintain tank temperature at proper level, overall system efficiency and to determine temperature distribution within the tank. The tests and evaluation were performed at the Marshall Space Flight Center solar test facility. The Solar Hot Water system is termed a ''Dump-type'' because of the draining system for freeze protection. The solar collector is a single glazed flat plate. An 82-gallon domestic water heater is provided as the energy storage vessel. Water is circulated through the collector and water heater by a 5.3 GPM capacity pump, and control of the pump motor is achieved by a differential temperature controller.

This initial definition of the power degradation prediction technique outlines a model for predicting SIG/Galileo mean EOM power using component test data and data from a module power degradation demonstration test program. (LCL)

Research and development performed by the Idaho Geothermal Program between April 1 and September 30, 1978 are discussed. Well drilling and facility construction at the Raft River geothermal site are described. Efforts to understand the geothermal reservoir are explained, and attempts to predict the wells' potential are summarized. Investigations into the direct uses of geothermal water, such as for industrial drying, fish farming, and crop irrigation, are reported. The operation of the facility's first electrical generator is described. Construction of the first 5-megawatt power plant is recounted. The design effort for the second pilot power plant is also described. University of Utah work with direct-contact heat exchangers is outlined. Special environmental studies of injection tests, ferruginous hawks, and dental fluorisis are summarized. The regional planning effort for accelerated commercialization is described. Demonstration projects in Oregon, Utah, and South Dakota are noted. A bibliographical appendix lists each internal and external report the Idaho Geothermal Program has published since its beginning in 1973.

Hot spring deposits in the Roosevelt thermal area consist of opaline sinter, and siliceous-sinter-cemented alluvium. Alluvium, granite to granodiorite plutonic rocks, and amphibolite facies gneiss have been altered by acid-sulfate water to alunite and opal at the surface, and to kaolinite, alunite, montmorillonite, and muscovite to a depth of 60 m. Marcasite and pyrite occur below the water table at about 30m. Deeper alteration sampled to a depth of 2.26 km consists of muscovite, chlorite, calcite, K-feldspar, albite, and epidote with pyrite and sparse chalcopyrite. Thermal water is dilute (ionic strength 0.1 to 0.2) sodium chloride brine. Surface water contains 10 times as much calcium and 100 times as much magnesium as the deep water. Sulfate varies from 48 to 200 mg/l. Present-day spring temperature is 25/sup 0/C but in 1950 the spring temperature was 85/sup 0/C. Computed Na-K-Ca temperature is 241/sup 0/C for the present-day spring, 274/sup 0/C for a well and 283/sup 0/C for the 1957 spring. Quartz saturation temperatures are 170/sup 0/C for the present-day spring, 283/sup 0/C for the well, and 213/sup 0/C for the 1957 spring. A plausible model for development of the near-surface alteration consists of hydrothermal fluid which convectively rises along major fractures. …

Getty Oil Company well 52-21 in the Roosevelt Hot Springs thermal area was drilled to 7500 feet in predominantly upper amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks. All lithologies in the drill hole are pervasively but weakly altered: the alteration assemblage is chlorite + sericite + clays with occasional traces of calcite, above 2300 feet, and chlorite + sericite + clays + calcite +- epidote below 2500 feet. A zone of increased alteration intensity from approximately 1800 feet to 2300 feet occurs within and adjacent to a dacite dike which cuts the metamorphic rocks. A second zone of stronger alteration extends from 6000 feet to the bottom of the drill hole. The drill hole which is located approximately 5000 feet south of the center of the silica apron known as the Opal Mound was apparently drilled beyond the influence of acid, high-sulfate brines such as have affected the upper portions of drill holes 72-16, 76-1 and University of Utah 1A and 1B.

A considerable amount of experimental results on beam-beam effects in SPEAR is available. We have analyzed the results which give the functional dependences of some important machine parameters. The data have been taken from machine physics experiments carried out during the period December 1977 to October 1978, and from records of the operation runs. 10 refs., 13 figs., 3 tabs.

This report is a collation of documents and drawings that describe a prototype solar heating and hot water system using air type solar energy collection techniques. The system consists of a modular designed prepackaged solar unit containing solar collctors, a rock storage container, blowers, dampers, ducting, air-to-water heat exchanger, DHW preheat tank, piping and system controls. The system was designed to be installed adjacent to a small single family dwelling. The description, performance specification, subsystem drawings, verification plan/procedure, and hazard analysis of the system are packaged for evaluation of the system with inforation sufficient to assemble a similar system. The prepackage solar unit has been installed at the Mississippi Power and Light Company, Training Facilities, Clinton, Mississippi.

This study provides a first cut analysis for the FRAD program of a range of reference, steady-state, fresh and spent fuel compositions for the development of alternative fuels refabrication technology. Included are the resource requirements and separative work requirements and the material flows for each fuel cycle evaluated. However, since steady-state represents only a portion of the complete fuel cycle, a more in depth evaluation of each alternative fuel cycle will follow this analysis. Each of the fuel types investigated is composed of either plutonium-uranium (Pu-U), denatured uranium-thorium (DU-Th), plutonium-thorium (Pu-Th), highly enriched uranium-thorium (HEU-Th) or low enriched uranium (LEU). Seven ''closed cycles'' were formed by coupling two or more of the above fuel types. The closed cycle concept assumes that all fissile material recovered from spent fuel is either recycled into fresh fuel, or retired to waste when its net reactivity worth is equal to or less than tails equivalence. Additional fissile material required as makeup is introduced to the system from the enrichment cascade only. Each closed system presented in this study simulates the production of 1000 MWe in steady-state operation. The findings of this preliminary study indicated that, at equilibrium, those closed cycles which employ DU-Th or …

Recently two new techniques, pulsed electron beam annealing and pulsed laser annealing, have been developed for processing ion-implanted silicon. These two types of anneals have been compared using ion-channeling, ion back-scattering, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Single crystal samples were implanted with 100 keV As/sup +/ ions to a dose of approx. 1 x 10/sup 16/ ions/cm/sup 2/ and subsequently annealed by either a pulsed Ruby laser or a pulsed electron beam. Our results show in both cases that the near-surface region has melted and regrown epitaxially with nearly all of the implanted As (97 to 99%) incroporated onto lattice sites. The analysis indicates that the samples are essentially defect free and have complete electrical recovery.

A corner turning test capability has been established. While the test is not suited to be the sole criterion for lot qualification, it provides valuable information regarding explosive behavior near failure. Light enhancement and film record analysis techniques are discussed.

Cutting tests performed with both Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ copper-bond and diamond grinding wheels to determine tolerance capabilities in the production of narrow slots by electrochemical grinding. The effects of varying machining parameters were studied. Slot tolerance was +-97.79 ..mu..m with the Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ wheel and +-106.68 ..mu..m with the diamond wheel. The diamond wheel is superior because of its wear resistance.

Thirty-one days after the disclosure of high-field superconductivity in Nb/sub 3/Sn, the bubble chamber group at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory began a program to apply this discovery to high-energy physics. On that day in 1961 a very special relationship was born which, as subsequent events were to show, proved to be one of the most fruitful associations in modern science. Given the well-known high-technology content and innovative approach to problem solving associated with high-energy physics, it is hardly surprising that significant developments in applied superconductivity took place in accelerator laboratories. Particle physics requires a bewildering array of technologically sophisticated equipment: from the instant when particles are injected into the accelerator through the acceleration process, beam extraction, separation, and steering to the instant of collision and analysis of the interaction products, superconducting devices play a most important role. Each step in this process is examined; how the latest advances in superconductivity have been applied is described, as well as why these developments necessarily took place. It is remarkable that, in spite of considerable fiscal restraint, high-energy physics is entering a period of major construction activity. Thus, if history repeats itself, there will soon be a flood of innovations, each intended to …

A conceptual process flowsheet for preparation of U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ by precipitating uranyl formate monohydrate with excess formic acid and calcining it was developed and demonstrated on a laboratory scale. The product U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ has a particle size distribution apropriate for fabrication of U/sub 3/O/sub 8/-Al fuel by powder metallurgy. The U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ particles are crystalline, do not exceed 150 ..mu..m in diameter, and have a narrow particle size distribution with most particles within the range of 44 to 150 ..mu..m. A ten-fold decontamination of uranium from low-level fission products during uranyl formate precipitation was demonstrated. Minimal variations in U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ particle size distribution as a function of various uranyl formate precipitation conditions were observed. Preliminary tests demonstrated that calcination of uranyl formate monohydrate recovered from solution by evaporation to dryness did not produce U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ with the desired particle size distribution. Calcination of uranyl oxalate, uranous oxalate, or uranous formate also did not produce U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ with the appropriate particle size distribution.

This paper is written to give engineers and modelers an idea of the types of data that they may expect to be available in a community that can be used as inputs for their models. As such, it is a broad representation of the reasons why data availability varies from place to place, and provides an idea of the quality of data that can be expected for a given community.

The classic problem of constructing the sharp spin states for n spin-1/2 particles by simultaneously classifying the states by their irreducible transformation properties under both SU(2) and S/sub n/ is solved explicitly by recognizing that these states are a special case of the boson polynomials of U(n). 7 references.

A fixed double Langmuir probe was used to investigate the temporal behavior of the scrape-off plasma in the ISX-A tokamak. During gas puffing, the ion saturation current dropped rapidly to a very low level while the line average density showed a steady increase. This sudden transition was due mainly to a density change of more than a factor of five while the electron temperature remained relatively constant at approximately 10 eV. This behavior was easily observed at points away from the limiter with mild and moderate gas puffing rates, and near the inner edge of the limiter with strong gas puffing. In order to explain the phenomenon, it is suggested that there may be two distinct layers in the scrape-off plasma and that the boundary between the layers moves inward toward the limiter. The existence of the boundary has been confirmed indirectly by sudden shifts of the plasma during feedback control experiments.

An ICES is being considered for a community located in a small New England city. (MCW) It is part of the city's newer development. It is a commercial park of offices, shopping center, bank, hospital, and hotel. The ICES for this community is designed to meet all heating, cooling, steam, and hot water needs. Electricity from the cogeneration unit is to be sold to the local utility, and electricity for the community will be purchased as at present. However, future electrical demand will be reduced, since absorption chillers, which will be powered by heat recovered from the central ICES unit, will partially replace electric air conditioners. In addition, hot-water heating from ICES will, in some cases, lower electrical use. Thus, the ICES involves substitution of energy forms as well as modification of fuel requirements. Examination of the integrated system, in comparison with existing energy systems, includes both indirect economic impacts (employment and fiscal effects on the city) and indirect energy impacts. The indirect economic analysis proceeds from an initial description of conditions that determine employment and fiscal results through specific estimates of employment and then revenues and costs to municipal government and finally to an evaluation of ICES's worth to …

This quantitative assessment of the potential of a combined dry-land Energy Plantation, wood-fired power plant, and algae wastewater treatment system demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of recycling certain by-products and effluents from one subsystem to another. Designed to produce algae up to the limit of the amount of carbon in municipal wastewater, the algae pond provides a positive cash credit, resulting mainly from the wastewater treatment credit, which may be used to reduce the cost of the Photosynthesis Energy Factory (PEF)-generated electricity. The algae pond also produces fertilizer, which reduces the cost of the biomass produced on the Energy Plantation, and some gas. The cost of electricity was as low as 35 mills per kilowatt-hour for a typical municipally-owned PEF consisting of a 65-MWe power plant, a 144-acre algae pond, and a 33,000-acre Energy Plantation. Using only conventional or near-term technology, the most cost-effective algae pond for a PEF is the carbon-limited secondary treatment system. This system does not recycle CO/sub 2/ from the flue gas. Analysis of the Energy Plantation subsystem at 15 sites revealed that plantations of 24,000 to 36,000 acres produce biomass at the lowest cost per ton. The following sites are recommended for more detailed evaluation as potential …

Interpolation of one-dimensional data using piecewise cubic interpolants is considered. Methods are presented for modifying the derivative values in the Hermite representation in order to eliminate the ''bumps'' and ''wiggles'' that frequently plague the more common cubic spline or Akima interpolants. The resulting interpolant is C/sup 1/, but generally not C/sup 2/. The report consists of a reproduction of a poster prepared for a meeting. 27 figures.