If offsite power is interrupted, the availability of onsite alternating current power supplies is a major factor in assuring acceptable safety at commercial light-water-cooled nuclear power plants. To control the risk of severe care damage during station blackout accidents at a given plant, the reliability of the emergency diesel generators (EDGS) to start and load-run upon demand must be maintained at a sufficiently high level. The minimum EDG reliability, which we denote by RT, is targeted at either 0.95 or 0.975 per nuclear unit consistent with the reliability level that the plant operator assumed in the coping analysis for station blackout. In 1992 the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) considered an amendment that would require licensees to test and monitor EDG reliability against performance-based criteria that indicate possible degradation from the EDG target reliability levels. They originally proposed the following set of fixed sample-size triggers for use in monitoring EDG reliability. The purpose of this report is to compare the performance of the proposed triggers with corresponding alternative sequential variable sample-size triggers which potentially permit earlier detection of EDG reliability degradation without significantly increasing the false alarm rate. The comparison is to be done in a simulated use environment by …

The water-filled K-Basins in the Hanford 100 Area have been used to store N-Reactor spent nuclear fuel (SNF) since the 1970s. Because some leaks in the basin have been detected and some of the fuel is breached due to handling damage and corrosion, efforts are underway to remove the fuel elements from wet storage. An Integrated Process Strategy (IPS) has been developed to package, dry, transport, and store these metallic uranium fuel elements in an interim storage facility on the Hanford Site (WHC 1995). Information required to support the development of the drying processes, and the required safety analyses, is being obtained from characterization tests conducted on fuel elements removed from the K-Basins. A series of whole element drying tests (reported in separate documents, see Section 7.0) have been conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on several intact and damaged fuel elements recovered from both the K-East and K-West Basins. This report documents the results of a test ''dry-run'' conducted prior to the eighth and last of those tests, which was conducted on an N-Reactor outer fuel element removed from K-West canister 6513U. The system used for the dry-run test was the Whole Element Furnace Testing System, described in …

This description of work (DOW) details the field activities associated with the test pit excavation and soil sampling at the 216- U-10 Pond (U-10 Pond) in the 200 West Area and will serve as a field guide for those performing the work. It will be used in conjunction with the 200-UP-2 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) Facility Investigation/Corrective Measures Study (DOE-RL 1993a, [LFI]) and Site Characterization Manual (WHC 1988a). Test pits will be constructed to characterize the vertical extent of contaminants in sediments within and beneath the former U-10 pond.

A correlated k-distribution model for the atmospheric transmission of major molecular species has been used to calculate the tropospheric radiative forcing for the ground state, v{sub 3} band of SF{sub 6} and CH{sub 4}. A mid latitude summer, clear sky approximation, temperature-pressure distribution was used in the radiative transfer calculations. For the SF{sub 6} calculations a value of 0.26 W/m{sup 2} was obtained for the v{sub 3} band forcing using a new value of the measured integrated band absorption for SF{sub 6}. The abundance used was 1 ppbv of SF{sub 6}. Hot band contributions to the forcing are estimated to be on the order of three times the value of the v{sub 3} value giving a total radiative forcing of about 0.73 W/m{sup 2}. For the CH{sub 4} calculation a value of 1.71 W/m{sup 2} was obtained and this number agrees with previously published CH{sub 4} radiative forcing values to with four percent. The radiative forcing calculation for SF{sub 6} issued to estimate the global warming potential (GWP) of SF{sub 6} using an approximate model developed to provide reasonably 000 accurate GWPS. The results give GWPs for SF{sub 6} of the order of 12000--25000 (CO{sub 2} = 1). We estimate …

In 1991 a group of scientists from the Angara 5 pulsed power facility at the Kurchatov Institute in Troitsk, Russia had determined the thermal emission from an implosion of xenon gas onto an annular, molybdenum doped foam liner to be 30 TW/cm{sup 2}. This represents an extremely efficient conversion of energy into a high fluence radiation field. In order to verify this claim and better understand the process of producing radiation by means of a Z-pinch plasma device, a series of experiments were proposed through a collaboration from Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Due to previous experience with x-ray spectroscopic measurements in the XUV region, the team from Lawrence Livermore Lab took on the task of designing, constructing, and fielding the necessary diagnostic equipment to spatially and temporally resolve plasma temperatures throughout the implosion of the high Z foam target.

A series of tornadoes struck the east Tennessee area on Sunday afternoon, February 21, 1993 around Knoxville, Lenoir City, and Oak Ridge causing millions of dollars worth of damage to both homes and businesses in the area, killing one, injuring a number of persons, and leaving a large area without power for many hours or even days due to damage to the local TVA transmission line network. One tornado touched down in the Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation near the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, continued through the Union Valley business district located just east of the plant, through the adjacent University of Tennessee Arboretum and then continued into the communities of Claxton and Powell. The path length of the tornado was approximately 13 miles. Damage to the Y-12 Plant was minimal, but the Union Valley business district was seriously damaged, including the Fusion Energy Design Center (FEDC) which houses a number of DOE related projects. The preliminary cost estimate of the damage to DOE facilities (both at Y-12 and at the FEDC) was around $520,000. This paper describes the local meteorological data, the tornado that struck near the Y-12 plant, the resulting damage both to the DOE facilities and …

This report describes the development work and demonstration of a technique for separation of selenium suitable for determination of Se-79 by liquid scintillation counting. The technique has been demonstrated on actual DWPF (Defense Waste Processing Facility) sludge samples which contain very large loads of Sr-90 activity. The separation required a decontamination of selenium from Sr by a factor of over 10{sup 6}, from Co and Cs by factor of 10{sup 4}, and from Tc-99 by a factor of 100, while still maintaining a selenium recovery of about 50%. Using this technique the author has determined Se-79 in five actual DWPF samples with a precision of about 70% relative standard deviation. This separation has not been demonstrated on actual DWPF samples which have the largest Cs-137 loads. He does not anticipate that these untested samples will present a difficult problem.

The observation that the structure of this material is sensitive to levels of doping sufficient to produce superconductivity ({Tc} {approximately}40 K) suggests an important role for structure in determining its electronic properties. Here we discuss unusual features of phase separation and studies of cooling rate dependence of the superconducting {Tc} relevant to this proposition.

High Level Waste (HLW) generated during Separations processing in the F- and H-Canyons is transferred to the 241-F/H Tank Farms for storage in 61 underground, carbon steel tanks. The waste is an aqueous solution containing dissolved sodium salts and insoluble metal oxides/hydroxides. As the waste is collected in a receipt tank, the insoluble solids settle to form the sludge phase. The supernatant solution is decanted to an evaporator to reduce the volume. The evaporator concentrate is transferred to another waste tank and is cooled, causing the sodium salts to precipitate from solution and form the saltcake phase. Eventually, the soluble and insoluble components will be separately prepared for processing within the DWPF for final disposal. As a result of routine and non-routine activities that are part of managing these highly radioactive wastes, secondary solid waste is generated. Low level waste (LLW) such as protective clothing, plastic sheeting, plastic huts, etc. are connected for disposal in B-25, B-12 and other waste containers. The wastes are transferred to the E-Area Vaults (EAV) for disposal, and must comply with the Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) for disposal of LLW. Compliance with the WAC includes manifesting the quantities of certain radioisotopes and declaring that the …

The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA) [Public Law (PL) 95-604, 42 United States Code (USC) 7901], hereinafter referred to as the ``Act,`` authorizes the US Department of Energy (DOE) to stabilize and control surface tailings and ground water contamination. To fulfill this mission, the DOE has established two projects under the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project Office. The Ground Water Project was established in April 1991 as a major project and a separate project plan will be prepared for that portion of the mission. This project plan covers the UMTRA Surface Project, a major system acquisition (MSA).

A system of Probably Approximately Correct (PAC) learners, where each learner had produced a hypothesis by employing empirical risk minimization methods, is considered. When no access to additional examples is available, our objective is to make the system at least as efficient -- in terms of normalized precision or confidence -- as best of the learners. Two separate cases are studied. In the first case, the training samples used by the individual learners are known; a method that approaches (in a weak convergence sense) the optimal Bayesian fuser is proposed. In the second: Case, the training samples are not known; majority and location-based fusers are shown to achieve the objective.

Tests were performed at EG&G Mound Applied Technologies to investigate the effect of using the tangential shock wave from detonating Extex explosive to cause shock conduction of a Kapton dielectric. Two voltages (600 and 4000) were switched from a 600 pF capacitor. Timing between four shock switches and four pin switches was found and compared during a single detonation event. Electrical conduction was observed between shock switches and the current paths were found.

This report covers the activities of the Geotechnical Board and its two national committees, the US National Committee for Rock Mechanics (USNC/RM) and the US National Committee on Tunneling Technology (USNC/TT), for the period from March 1, 1991 to June 30, 1992. The report covers a 16-month period, through June of this year, to bring the reporting period in line with the National Research Council`s (NRC) fiscal year. Subsequent reports will cover the 12-month period July 1--June 30, unless individual contracts require otherwise. A description of the Geotechnical Board and its committees within the context of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, as well as lists of current members of the board and national committees can be found in Attachment A.

If offsite power is interrupted, the availability of onsite alternating current power supplies is a major factor in assuring acceptable safety at commercial light-water-cooled nuclear power plants. To control the risk of severe care damage during station blackout accidents at a given plant, the reliability of the emergency diesel generators (EDGS) to start and load-run upon demand must be maintained at a sufficiently high level. The minimum EDG reliability, which we denote by RT, is targeted at either 0.95 or 0.975 per nuclear unit consistent with the reliability level that the plant operator assumed in the coping analysis for station blackout. In 1992 the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) considered an amendment that would require licensees to test and monitor EDG reliability against performance-based criteria that indicate possible degradation from the EDG target reliability levels. They originally proposed the following set of fixed sample-size triggers for use in monitoring EDG reliability. The purpose of this report is to compare the performance of the proposed triggers with corresponding alternative sequential variable sample-size triggers which potentially permit earlier detection of EDG reliability degradation without significantly increasing the false alarm rate. The comparison is to be done in a simulated use environment by …

The high heat content solids contained in Tank 241-C-106 are to be removed and transferred to Tank 241-AY-102 by sluicing operations, to be authorized under project W320. While sluicing operations are underway, the state of these tanks will be transformed from unagitated to agitated. This means that the partition fraction which describes the aerosol content of the head space will increase from IE-10 to IE-8 (see WHC-SD-WM-CN062, Rev. 2 for discussion of partition fractions). The head spare will become much more loaded with suspended material. Furthermore, the nature of this suspended material can change significantly: sluicing could bring up radioactive solids which normally would lay under many meters of liquid supernate. It is assumed that the headspace and filter aerosols in Tank 241-AY-102 are a 90/10 liquid/solid split. It is further assumed that the sluicing line, the headspace in Tank 241-C-106, and the filters on Tank 241-C-106 contain aerosols which are a 67/33 liquid/solid split. The bases of these assumptions are discussed in Section 3.0. These waste compositions (referred to as mitigated compositions) were used in Attachments 1 through 4 to calculate survey meter exposure rates per liter of inventory in the various system components. Three accident scenarios are evaluated: …

This report summarizes major developments in the last ten years which have greatly expanded the space nuclear reactor power systems technology base. In the SP-100 program, after a competition between liquid-metal, gas-cooled, thermionic, and heat pipe reactors integrated with various combinations of thermoelectric thermionic, Brayton, Rankine, and Stirling energy conversion systems, three concepts:were selected for further evaluation. In 1985, the high-temperature (1,350 K), lithium-cooled reactor with thermoelectric conversion was selected for full scale development. Since then, significant progress has been achieved including the demonstration of a 7-y-life uranium nitride fuel pin. Progress on the lithium-cooled reactor with thermoelectrics has progressed from a concept, through a generic flight system design, to the design, development, and testing of specific components. Meanwhile, the USSR in 1987--88 orbited a new generation of nuclear power systems beyond the, thermoelectric plants on the RORSAT satellites. The US has continued to advance its own thermionic fuel element development, concentrating on a multicell fuel element configuration. Experimental work has demonstrated a single cell operating time of about 1 1/2-y. Technology advances have also been made in the Stirling engine; an advanced engine that operates at 1,050 K is ready for testing. Additional concepts have been studied and experiments …

This document describes the calculations of the peak pressures due to hydrogen deflagrations in the glovebox used for thermal stabilization (glovebox HC-21A) in PFP. Two calculations were performed. The first considered the burning of hydrogen released from a 7 inch Pu can in the Inert Atmosphere Confinement (IAC) section of the glovebox. The peak pressure increase was 12400 Pa (1.8 psi). The second calculation considered burning of the hydrogen from 25 g of plutonium hydride in the airlock leading to the main portion of the glovebox. Since the glovebox door exposes most of the airlock when open, the deflagration was assumed to pressurize the entire glovebox. The peak pressure increase was 3860 Pa (0.56 psi).

This report presents research objectives, discusses activities, and presents technical progress for the period April 1, 1993 through June 31, 1993 on Contract No. DE-FC21-86LC11084 with the Department of Energy, Laramie Project Office. The scope of the research program and the continuation is to study interacting hydrologic, geotechnical, and chemical factors affecting the behavior and disposal of combusted processed oil shale. The research combines bench-scale testing with large scale research sufficient to describe commercial scale embankment behavior. The large scale approach was accomplished by establishing five lysimeters, each 7.3 {times} 3.0 {times} 3.0 m deep, filled with processed oil shale that has been retorted and combusted by the Lurgi-Ruhrgas (Lurgi) process. Approximately 400 tons of Lurgi processed oil shale waste was provided by Rio Blanco Oil Shale Co., Inc. (RBOSC) through a separate cooperative agreement with the University of Wyoming (UW) to carry out this study. Three of the lysimeters were established at the RBOSC Tract C-a in the Piceance Basin of Colorado. Two lysimeters were established in the Environmental Simulation Laboratory (ESL) at UW. The ESL was specifically designed and constructed so that a large range of climatic conditions could be physically applied to the processed oil shale which …

The utility of the arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) code format is evaluated in the context of use in simulating metal forming processes. Emphasis is on large deformation processes such as casting, forging and extrusion. The basic point at issue is whether the continual remapping capability inherent in the ALE approach can provide advantages relative to the more standard approach of using a Lagrangian mesh but allowing for isolated remeshing as required. A particular ALE implementation, ALE3D, is used as the basis for the discussion. Pros and cons for this approach are presented along with illustrations of its application to actual forming problems.

Vanadium tubing obtained from Century Tubes, a custom tubing manufacturer, was studied to determine as-received quality and fabricability. Applications for this tubing involve crimping and sealing operations at Pantex Plant requiring very high levels of leak-tightness (leak rates less than 10{sup {minus}8} atm-cc He/sec). The as-received material had poor OD and ID surface finish and cleanliness that needed to be improved before use in component fabrication. Savannah River Technical Center (SRTC) personnel developed a cleaning procedure to make this tubing acceptable for crimping and sealing operations. After suitably cleaning the tubing, we tested several tube sealing techniques and all showed some degree of success. Pantex Plant personnel are now implementing a tube sealing process very similar to one of the techniques studied, a mechanical crimp followed by seal welding.

There is interest in eliminating the use of chlorinated solvents such as methyl chloroform at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant for environmental reasons. Solvent 140 has been offered as an acceptable replacement. Methyl chloroform has frequently been used for the final cleaning of materials just prior to welding. Electron beam welds were made in an aluminum alloy to compare the potential contamination effect of Solvent 140 to that of methyl chloroform. Tests indicated that the Solvent 140 did not have an adverse effect on pumpdown time of electron beam welding equipment during normal handling. Solvent 140 resulted in significantly less weld porosity than; methyl chloroform in this test.

This Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) has been prepared to demonstrate that the Electrical/Instrumentation systems for the B-Plant Process Condensate Treatment Facility (BCE) function as required by project criteria. Tests will be run to: Verify the operation of the solenoid valve and associated limit switches installed for the BCE portion of W-007H; Operate the solenoid valve and verify the proper operation of the associated limit switches based on the position of the solenoid valve;and, Demonstrate the integrity of the Sample Failure Alarm Relay XFA-211BA-BCE-1, and Power Failure ALarm Relay JFA-211BA-BCE-1 located inside the Flow Proportional Sampler in Building 211 BA.

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The preliminary design of a ferrite tuner has been completed, with the goal of providing enough information to obtain budgetary estimates of cost from vendors. The design is based on three tuners connected in parallel to the 26 MHz POP cavity to achieve greater than 260 kHz of tuning.