The branching fraction in the decay of the fission product ⁸⁵m-krypton⁸⁵m to the ground state ⁸⁵krypton (10.75 y) was measured relative to the total decay to both ⁸⁵krypton and ⁸⁵Rb. Samples of uranium-235 were highly irradiated in a high-flux reactor and dissolved. ⁸⁵Rb was measured by isotope-dilution mass spectrometry, and the ⁸⁵krypton was counted in GM tubes the counting efficiencies of which were calibrated with a standardized ⁸⁵krypton gas of known disintegration rate. The branching fraction measured with both a low-burnup sample and a high-burnup sample was 0.2160 +/- 0.0019, the largest error arising from the uncertainty in the caibration of the standardized gas.

A state-of-the-art review is presented on the corrosion and mechanical behavior of materials at elevated temperatures in coal-gasification environments. The gas atmosphere in coal-conversion processes are, in general, complex mixtures which contain sulfur-bearing components (hydrogen sulfide, SO2, and COS) as well as oxidants (carbon dioxide/carbon monoxide and water/hydrogen). The information developed over the last five years clearly shows sulfidation to be the major mode of material degradation in these environments. The corrosion behavior of structural materials in complex gas environments is examined to evaluate the interrelationships between gas chemistry, alloy chemistry, temperature, and pressure. Thermodynamic aspects of high-temperature corrosion processes that pertain to coal conversion are discussed, and kinetic data are used to compare the behavior of different commercial materials of interest. The influence of complex gas environments on the mechanical properties such as tensile, stress-rupture, and impact on selected alloys is presented. The data have been analyzed, wherever possible, to examine the role of environment on the property variation. The results from ongoing programs on char effects on corrosion and on alloy protection via coatings, cladding, and weld overlay are presented. Areas of additional research with particular emphasis on the development of a better understanding of corrosion processes in …

SACO is a fast-running computer code that simulates hypothetical accidents in liquid-metal fast breeder reactors to the point of permanent subcriticality or to the initiation of a prompt-critical excursion. In the tradition of the SAS codes each sub-assembly is modeled by a representative fuel pin with three distinct axial regions to simulate the blanket and core regions. However, analytic and integral models are used wherever possible to cut down the computing time and storage requirements. The physical models and basic equations are described in detail.

COMMIX-SA-1 is a three-dimensional, transient, single-phase, compressible-flow, component computer program for thermohydrodynamic analysis. It was developed for solar applications in general, and for analysis of thermocline storage tanks in particular. The conservation equations (in cylindrical coordinates) for mass, momentum, and energy are solved as an initial-boundary-value problem. The detailed numerical-solution procedure based on a modified ICE (Implicit Continuous-Fluid Eulerian) technique is described. A method for treating the singularity problem arising at the origin of a cylindrical-coordinate system is presented. In addition, the thermal interactions between fluid and structures (tank walls, baffles, etc.) are explicitly accounted for. Finally, the COMMIX-SA-1 code structure is delineated, and an input description and sample problems are presented.

The fraction of delayed neutrons beta in slow-neutron beams from a uranium-238 pulsed spallation neutron source is 0.0053 for 300 MeV protons. This measurement appears to be the first one of this quantity. The result indicates that, for most classes of measurements, the delayed-neutron background in time-of-flight instruments will be unimportant, and places constraints on the physics description of spallation targets. The measurement was performed at the prototype pulsed spallation neutron source, ZING-P', at Argonne National laboratory.

Nuclear material inventory verification techniques for large split-table type fast critical assemblies are being studied under this program. Emphasis has been given to techniques that minimize fuel handling in order to reduce facility down time and radiation exposure to the inventory team. The techniques studied include autoradiography, reactivity, and spectral index measurements.

PART 1: The effectiveness of a neutron well correlation counter (NWCC) and a random driver (RD) for plutonium-containing item assay and loss detection has been studied. The items were 4 in. x 2 in. x 1/4 in. stainless steel-clad metal plates and 6 in. x 3/8 in. stainless steel-clad oxide rods, each in two types of containment. PART 2: A neutron-counting/fuel-weighting system has been developed to provide the capability to assay the ZPR-6 and -9 plutonium fuel canisters rapidly and accurately. This system makes feasible the inline monitoring of fuel transfer from the storage vault to the fuel loading hoods and vice-versa. To exploit fully the system's potential, the equipment is intended to be used in conjunction with an on-line computer having a fuel and fuel-canister data base.

Nondestructive assay (NDA) methods, principally passive gamma measurements and active neutron interrogation, have been studied for their safeguards effectiveness and programmatic impact as tools for making inventories of highly enriched uranium fast critical assembly fuel plates. It was concluded that no NDA method is the sole answer to the safeguards problem, that each of those emphasized here has its place in an integrated safeguards system, and that each has minimum facility impact.

Large-scale efforts are in progress to develop advanced batteries for utility energy storage systems. Realization of the full benefits available from those systems requires development, not only of the batteries themselves, but also the ac/dc power converter, the bulk power interconnecting equipment, and the peripheral electric balance of plant equipment that integrate the battery/converter into a properly controlled and protected energy system. This study addresses these overall system aspects; although tailored to a 20-MW, 100-MWh lithium/sulfide battery system, the technology and concepts are applicable to any battery energy storage system.

This report provides background and procedural information for the use of a general-purpose Stirling-engine analysis code developed at Argonne National Laboratory and available through the National Energy Software Center. Different engine configurations are easily specified, or the user may make use of provided data for existing engines, both kinematic and free piston. The code models heat transfer and fluid mechanics throughout the engine and accounts for system energy flows and losses. Good agreement is shown between code predictions and experimental measurements. The present analysis method was chosen for fast execution and useful information on energy flows in the system. A description is provided of the code structure that is intended to accept different analysis modules that can provide improved system modeling or optimization capability.

This sixth symposium covers process control processes and issues involved in the conversion of fossil fuels into synthetic fuels.

The mathematical development and numerical solution of the finite-difference equations are summarized. The report provides a guide for user application and details the programming structure of DIF3D. Guidelines are included for implementing the DIF3D export package on several large scale computers. Optimized iteration methods for the solution of large-scale fast-reactor finite-difference diffusion theory calculations are presented, along with their theoretical basis. The computational and data management considerations that went into their formulation are discussed. The methods utilized include a variant of the Chebyshev acceleration technique applied to the outer fission source iterations and an optimized block successive over-relaxation method for the within-group iterations. A nodal solution option intended for analysis of LMFBR designs in two- and three-dimensional hexagonal geometries is incorporated in the DIF3D package and is documented in a companion report, ANL-83-1.

A mathematical model for the instability of tube rows subjected to crossflow is examined. The theoretical model, based on the fluid-force data for a pitch-to-diameter ratio of 1.33, provides additional insight into the instability phenomenon. Tests are also conducted for three sets of tube rows. The effects of mass ratio, tube pitch, damping, detuning and finned tubes are investigated. Theoretical results and experimental data are in good agreement.

Nuclear and non-nuclear applications of cineradiography are reviewed, with emphasis on diagnostic instrumentation for in-pile transient-reactor safety testing of nuclear fuel motion. The primary instrument for this purpose has been the fast-neutron hodoscope, which has achieved quantitative monitoring of time, location, mass, and velocity of fuel movement under the difficult conditions associated with transient-reactor experiments. Alternative diagnostic devices that have been developed have not matched the capabilities of the hodoscope. Other applications for the fuel-motion diagnostic apparatus are also evolving, including time-integrated radiography and direct time- and space-resolved fuel-pin power monitoring. Although only two reactors are now actively equipped with high-resolution fuel-motion diagnostic systems, studies and tests have been carried out in and for many other reactors.

A procedure is described for randomly generating positive definite quadratic programming test problems. The test problems are constructed in the form of linear least squares problems subject to linear constraints. The probability measure for the problems so generated is invariant under orthogonal transformations. The procedure allows the user to specify the size of the least squares problem (number of unknown parameters, number of observations, and number of constraints); the relative magnitude of the residuals; the condition number of the Hessian matrix of the objective function; and the structure of the feasible region (number of equality constraints and the number of inequalities which will be active at the feasible starting point and at the optimal solution). An example is given illustrating how these problems can be used to evaluate the performance of a software package.

We describe here a theorem prover constructed from the facilities provided by Logic Machine Architecture (LMA). This program is not part of LMA itself, but illustrates the level of inference-based system which can be constructed from the LMA package of tools. It is a clause-based theorem prover supporting a wide variety of techniques which have proven valuable over the years in a long-running automated deduction research project. In addition, it is designed to present a convenient, interactive interface to its user which includes a number of useful utility commands.

A finite element computer code for the transient analysis of prestressed concrete reactor vessels (PCRVs) for LMFBR containment is described. The method assumes rotational symmetry of the structure. Time integration is by an explicit method. The quasistatic prestressing operation of the PCRV model is performed by a dynamic relaxation technique. The material model accounts for the crushing and tensile cracking in arbitrary direction in concrete and the elastic-plastic behavior of reinforcing steel. The variation of the concrete tensile cracking and compressive crushing limits with strain rate is taken into account. Relative slip is permitted between the concrete and tendons. Several example solutions are presented and compared with experimental results. These sample problems range from simply supported beams to small scale models of PCRV's. It is shown that the analytical methods correlate quite well with experimental results, although in the vicinity of the failure load the response of the models tend to be quite sensitive to input parameters.

Representatives of the Laboratories of the International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources gathered between 28 June and 2 July, 1982 at Argonne National Laboratory for their sixth meeting, ICANS-VI. The meeting was the first opportunity for participants to see Argonne's Intense Pulsed Neutron Source, which went into full operation in August, 1981, and in an important sense celebrated the coming-on-line of this most recent entry into the world's complement of the new generation of neutron sources. The main topics of the meeting were "Targets and Moderators" and "Neutron Scattering Instrumentation", following what has become the customary rotation of subjects. An additional topic, "Nuclear Data and Codes" emerged this time as a separate entity, closely related to the Targets and Moderators subjects. These Proceedings are organized roughly in the order and organization of presentations. In addition, a record of some of the discussions is included following each Status Report, and separate summaries of discussions on various subjects of the topical sessions. The manuscripts have been reproduced essentially as received.

Three liquid-based solar heating systems employing different types of solar collectors were tested side by side near Chicago, Illinois for one year. The three different types of collectors were: (1) a flat plate collector with a black-chrome coated absorber plate and one low-iron glass cover; (2) an evacuated-tube compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) with a concentration ratio of 1.1, oriented with tubes and troughs along a north-south axis; and (3) an evacuated-tube CPC collector with a concentration ratio of 1.3 and one low-iron glass cover, with tubes and troughs oriented along an east-west axis. Results indicate that the flat plate collector system was the most efficient during warm weather, but the CPC systems were more efficient during cold weather, but the CPC systems were more efficient during cold weather, and the CPC systems operated under conditions too adverse for the flat plate collector. The computer simulation model ANSIM was validated by means of the side-by-side tests. The model uses analytical solutions to the storage energy balance. ANSIM is compared with the general simulation TRNSYS.

Highlights of the Chemical Engineering (CEN) Division's activities during 1981 are presented. In this period, CEN conducted research and development in the following areas: rechargeable lithium-alloy/iron sulfide batteries for electric vehicles and other applications, aqueous batteries--improved lead-acid, nickel/zinc, and nickel/iron--for electric vehicles, as well as advanced lead-acid batteries for electric.-utility load leveling, energy-efficient industrial electrochemical processes, molten carbonate fuel cells for use by electric utilities, coal technology, mainly fluidized-bed combustion of coal in the presence of an SO2 sorbent of limestone, heat- and seed-recovery technology for open-cycle magnetohydrodynamic systems.

Annual report of the Argonne National Laboratory Radiological and Environmental Research Division regarding activities related to molecular physics and chemistry. This report discusses the Section's work on the physics and chemistry of atoms, ions, and molecules - especially their interactions with external agents such as photons and electrons.

Annual report of the Argonne National Laboratory Radiological and Environmental Research Division regarding activities related to the Center for Human Radiobiology. This report discusses an inquiry into the mechanisms and dosimetry for induction of malignancies by radium, and studies of individuals exposed to radium and thorium, as well as to other radionuclides,.

Annual report of the Argonne National Laboratory Radiological and Environmental Research Division regarding activities related to ecology. This report discuses programs including a development project for microcosm screening systems, two initiatives in ecological modeling, and a program of field experiments for a national assessment of crop losses due to air pollution.

Annual report of the Argonne National Laboratory Radiological and Environmental Research Division regarding activities related to atmospheric physics. This report discusses research activities on the transport, removal and, to a lesser extent, transformation of pollutants in the lower atmosphere.