One of the primary objectives of the MFTF-B upgrades is to demonstrate the technology of tritium breeding in a reactor-like configuration. This requires use and processing of tritium, involving an inventory of several hundred grams at the plant. This paper reviews the results of a preliminary assessment of the radiation hazard associated with the handling of tritium. The radiation dose consequences due to tritium release from normal operation and due to postulated accidents on plant personnel and the public were assessed. Maximum credible (probability < 10/sup -3/, but > 10/sup -7//yr) accidental releases were estimated to be 10 gm in the reactor building and 100 gm in the tritium-processing building. Higher probability (> 10/sup -3//yr) accidents or component failures would result in much smaller releases. In the reactor building, the most severe accident would result from the rupture of a plasma exhaust duct from the end cell or the tritium feed pipe to the neutral beam injector, accompanied by a fire. In the tritium processing building, the most severe accident would be the rupture of the Isotope Separation System (ISS) distillation columns and vacuum jackets accompanied by a fire.

The NOVA laser consists of ten beams, capable of concentrating 100 to 150 kJ of energy (in 3 ns) and 100 to 150 TW of power (in 100 ps) on experimental targets by 1985. NOVA will also be capable of frequency converting the fundamental laser wavelength (1.05 ..mu..m) to its second (0.525 ..mu..m) or third (0.35 ..mu..m) harmonic. This additional capability (80 to 120 kJ at 0.525 ..mu..m, 40 to 70 kJ at 0.35 ..mu..m) was approved by the US Department of Energy (DOE) in April 1982. These shorter wavelengths are much more favorable for ICF target physics. Current construction status of the NOVA facility, intended for completion in the autumn of 1984, will be presented.

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF-B) now under construction at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory represents more than an order-of-magnitude step from earlier magnetic-mirror experiments toward a future mirror fusion reactor. In fact, when the device begins operating in 1986, the Lawson criteria of ntau = 10/sup 14/ cm/sup -3/.s will almost be achieved for D-T equivalent operation, thus signifying scientific breakeven. Major steps have been taken to develop MFTF-B technologies for tandem mirrors. Steady-state, high-field, superconducting magnets at reactor-revelant scales are used in the machine. The 30-s beam pulses, ECRH, and ICRH will also introduce steady-state technologies in those systems.

The optimum plasma for the tandem Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF-B) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is very sensitive to heavy contaminates, such as oxygen and metals. Unfortunately the current neutral beam sources generate not only high energy deuterium particles but also high energy oxygen particles. A new MFTF-B separator/neutralizer has been designed to filter out the unwanted oxygen and allow only primary species neutrals to reach the plasma.

Progress is reported on the development of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems that will provide synthetic fuels (e.g., methanol), energy-intensive products such as ammonia (for fertilizers and chemicals), and aluminum. The work also includes assessment and design concepts for hybrid plants, such as geothermal-OTEC (GEOTEC) plants. Another effort that began in the spring of 1982 is a technical advisory role to DOE with respect to their management of the conceptual and preliminary design activity of industry teams that are designing a shelf-mounted offshore OTEC pilot plant that could deliver power to Oahu, Hawaii. In addition, a program is underway to evaluate and test the Pneumatic Wave-Energy Conversion System (PWECS), an ocean-energy device consisting of a turbine that is air-driven as a result of wave action in a chamber. This Quarterly Report summarizes the work on the various tasks as of 31 March 1983.

Studies have been performed during the past year to determine the configuration of a tandem mirror Fusion Power Demonstrator (FPD) machine capable of producing 1750 MW of fusion power. The FPD is seen as the next logical step after the Mirror Fusion Test Facility-B (MFTF-B) toward operation of a power reactor. The design of the FPD machine allows a phased construction: Phase I, a hydrogen or deuterium checkout machine; Phase 2, a DT breakeven machine; Phase 3, development of the Phase 2 machine to provide net power and act as a reactor demonstrator. These phases are essential to the development of remote handling equipment and the design of components that will ultimately be remotely handled. Phasing also permits more modes funding early in the program with some costs committed only after reaching major milestones.

This is the initial issue of the guidebook. Since a guidebook of this type must incorporate information concerning a wide range of subjects, much additional data will eventually be included. The guidebook will document, in summary and easily referenceable form, data, designs, design concepts, design guidelines and background information useful to the FWBS and to the Maintenance System designer. In providing guidelines for the AMR of the FWBS, the guidebook must, of necessity, include guidelines for all aspects of maintenance associated with the FWBS. These include most maintenance operations within the reactor room necessary to gain access, identify faults, and handle equipment related to FWBS maintenance. In addition, the guidelines include those required to define facility requirements for handling and repair of FWBS and related reactor components external to the reactor room. Particular emphasis is given to remote maintenance design and operations.

The Nova assurance management program was developed using the quality assurance (QA) approach first implemented at LLNL in early 1978. The LLNL QA program is described as an introduction to the Nova assurance management program. The Nova system is described pictorially through the Nova configuration, subsystems and major components, interjecting the QA techniques which are being pragmatically used to assure the successful completion of the project.

The summaries in this bulletin cover both secondary and tertiary recovery of petroleum and the following topics under Oil Shales and Tar Sands: reserves and exploration; site geology and hydrology; drilling, fracturing, and mining; oil production, recovery, and refining; properties and composition; direct uses and by-products; health and safety; marketing and economics; waste research and management; environmental aspects; and regulations. These summaries and older citations to information on petroleum, oil shales, and tar sands back to the 1960's are available for on-line searching and retrieval on the Energy Data Base using the DOE/RECON system or commercial on-line retrieval systems. Retrospective searches can be made on any aspect of petroleum, oil shales, or tar sands, or customized profiles can be developed to provide current information for each user's needs.

The theory of optical flashes created by x- and ..gamma..-ray burst heating of stars in binaries is reviewed. Calculations of spectra due to steady-state x-ray reprocessing and estimates of the fundamental time scales for the non-steady case are discussed. The results are applied to the extant optical data from x-ray and ..gamma..-ray bursters. Finally, I review predictions of flashes from ..gamma..-ray bursters detectable by a state of the art all-sky optical monitor.

Bacterial colony counters have not been widely used for track counting. However, they do provide an economical alternative to sophisticated optical analyzers for applications that require reproducible track density measurements for large numbers of samples. Simple measurements of size characteristics can be made when there is little need for high resolutions. Such systems are particularly well suited for neutron and alpha dosimetry work, particularly if electrochemical etching or some other track enhancement method has been used. 5 refs., 3 figs.

Several emerging technologies have been combined in a conceptual design study demonstrating the feasibility of producing ultrahigh magnetic fields from large-bore superconducting solenoid magnets. Several designs have been produced that approach peak fields of 20-T in 2.0-m diameter inner bores. The analytical expressions comprising the main features of CONDUCTOR and ADVMAGNET, the two computer programs used in the design of these advanced magnets, are also discussed. These magnets and design techniques will make a paramount contribution to the national mirror-fusion endeavor and to the newly emerging field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) whole-body scanners.

For a space reactor power system, a comprehensive safety program will be required to assure that no undue risk is present. This report summarizes the nuclear safety review/approval process that will be required for a space reactor system. The documentation requirements are presented along with a summary of the required contents of key documents. Finally, the aerospace safety program conducted for the SNAP-10A reactor system is summarized. The results of this program are presented to show the type of program that can be expected and to provide information that could be usable in future programs.

As part of Rockwell's effort on the SP-100 Program, preliminary assessment has been completed of current nuclear technology as it relates to candidate reactor/shield subsystems for the SP-100 Program. The scope of the assessment was confined to the nuclear package (to the reactor and shield subsystems). The nine generic reactor subsystems presented in Rockwell's Subsystem Technology Assessment Report, ESG-DOE-13398, were addressed for the assessment.

The role of Kirkpatrick-Baez microscopes as the workhorse of the x-ray imaging devices is discussed. This role is being extended with the development of a 22X magnification Kirkpatrick-Baez x-ray microscope with multilayer x-ray mirrors. These mirrors can operate at large angles, high x-ray energies, and have a narrow, well defined x-ray energy bandpass. This will make them useful for numerous experiments. However, where a large solid angle is needed, the Woelter microscope will still be necessary and the technology needed to build them will be useful for many other types of x-ray optics.

The purpose of this report is to document the plasma power balance model currently used by LLNL to calculate steady state operating points for tandem mirror reactors. The code developed from this model, TMRBAR, has been used to predict the performance and define supplementary heating requirements for drivers used in the Mirror Advanced Reactor Study (MARS) and for the Fusion Power Demonstration (FPD) study. The equations solved included particle and energy balance for central cell and end cell species, quasineutrality at several cardinal points in the end cell region, as well as calculations of volumes, densities and average energies based on given constraints of beta profiles and fusion power output. Alpha particle ash is treated self-consistently, but no other impurity species is treated.

Recent end-stopping experiments in TMX-Upgrade show strong plugging of the central cell by lower-density plugs, requiring both electron-cyclotron heating (ECRH) and 47/sup 0/ neutral-beam injection, consistent with the thermal-barrier concept. These experiments have low density (n < 10/sup 12/ cm/sup -3/) due to inefficient ECRH power coupling. Hot-ion and hot-electron buildup are consistent with Fokker-Planck calculations. No ion-cyclotron activity is observed in the plugs; occasional electron-cyclotron activity is observed. With plugging, axial lifetimes (tau/sub parallel/ > 40 ms) are larger than radial (tau/sub perpendicular/ = 5 to 10 ms) due to observed non-ambipolar ion transport. Recent tandem-mirror theoretical activities are also surveyed.

A model for emission of the hard photons of gamma bursts is presented. The model assumes accretion at nearly the Eddington limited rate onto a neutron star without magnetic a field. Initially soft photons are heated as they are compressed between the accreting matter and the star. A large electric field due to relatively small charge separation is required to drag electrons into the star with the nuclei against the flux of photons leaking out through the accreting matter. The photon number is not increased substantially by bremsstrahlung or any other process. Instability in an accretion disc might provide the infalling matter required.

A project to identify and prioritize geoscience-related research needs that would be of significant benefit in the assessment, exploration, and development of US geothermal energy resources is described. The federal research needs as identified by the Panel are summarized. The research needs are organized into specific research needs for four technology areas and a group of generic research needs which relate to all of the technology areas. Arranged in order of overall need for research, these technology areas are: reservoir engineering; resource exploration and reservoir definition; well drilling, completion, and stimulation; and environmental monitoring and control. The generic research needs are: geoscience case studies, scientific drilling, information and technology transfer, and improved research coordination. (MHR)

The diagnostic systems for Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade (TMX-U) have grown from eleven initial systems to more than twenty systems. During operation, diagnostic system modifications are sometimes required to complete experimental objectives. Also, during operations new diagnostic systems are being developed and implemented. To ensure and maintain the quality and integrity of the data signals, a set of plans and systematic actions are being developed. This paper reviews the procedures set in place to maintain the integrity of existing data systems and ensure the performance objectives of new diagnostics being added.

The cryogenic power lead system for the MFTF superconducting magnets has been acceptance tested and operated with the magnets. This system, which includes 5-m-long superconducting buses, 1.5-m-long vapor-cooled transition leads, external warm buses, and a cryostack, can conduct up to 6000 A (dc) and operate adiabatically for long periods. We present both design details and performance data; our MFTF version is an example of a reliable lead system for large superconducting magnets contained in a much larger vacuum vessel.

This report presents cost and schedule estimates of the technology development for reactor and shielding subsystems of a 100-kWe class space reactor electric system. The subsystems technology development (which includes reactor and shield subsystems ground testing) is supported by materials and processes development and component development. For the purpose of the cost estimate, seven generic types of reactor subsystems were used: uranium-zirconium hydride, NaK-cooled thermal reactor; lithium-cooled, refractory-clad fast reactor; Na- or K-cooled fast reactor; in-core thermionic reactor; inert gas-cooled particle fuel reactor; inert gas-cooled metal-clad fast reactor; and heat pipe-cooled fast reactor. Also three levels of technology were included for each of the generic types of reactor subsystem: current, improved, and advanced. The data in this report encompass all these technology levels. The shielding subsystem uses both gamma (heavy-metal) and neutron (hydrogenous material) shields. The shields considered in this report would be used in conjunction with unmanned payloads.

An algorithm to reduce the message traffic in the MFTF-B computer based control system is described. The algorithm filters analog inputs to the control system. Its purpose is to distinguish between changes in the inputs due to noise and changes due to significant variations in the quantity being monitored. Noise is rejected while significant changes are reported to the control system data base, thus keeping the data base updated with a minimum number of messages. The algorithm is memory efficient, requiring only four bytes of storage per analog channel, and computationally simple, requiring only subtraction and comparison. Quantitative analysis of the algorithm is presented for the case of additive Gaussian noise. It is shown that the algorithm is stable and tends toward the mean value of the monitored variable over a wide variety of additive noise distributions.

Progress is reported on a project for the use of the 130/sup 0/F central Texas geothermal resource. The milestones in the construction of the system for cascading the geothermal enenrgy through two enclosed aquaculture ponds, a greenhouse heating system, and a collection catfish reservoir are reported. (MHR)