The results are presented of a comprehensive systems study which assessed the engineering and economic feasibilities of the production of methanol from biomass utilizing existing technology. The three major components of the biomass to methanol system assessed are the availability of biomass feedstocks, the thermochemical conversion of biomass to methanol fuels, and the distribution and markets for methanol fuels. The results of this study show that methanol fuel can be produced from biomass using commercially available technology in the near term, and could be produced economically in significant quantities in the mid-to-late 1980's when advanced technology is available.

The FFTF reactor is described. Procedures and equipment used to protect personnel from potential hazards of oxygen deficient environments are described.

This review briefly describes the laser system, spatial filter, computer control system, and the 46 cm disk amplifier. (MOW)

The BBC CQK 200-4 Tube was tested by Aydin at LLL, to confirm that it would switch 90 kV after conducting 88 amperes for 30 seconds. The CQK 200-4 is a recent modification of the CQK 200-3, an Rf transmitter tube designed for continuous loading, to increase the anode hold-off voltage to 150 kV. During the design life of the tube it will be subjected to 10/sup 5/ to 10/sup 6/ cyclic thermal loads. Two concerns are that (1) during the 30 second high current load, the screen grid may have excessive dissipation causing a loss of control of the tube, and (2) the cyclic temperature-induced stresses in the anode may cause fatigue failures that will reduce the tube's useful life. The first concern was addressed by performing full scale tests at the LLL test facility.

Detailed information is presented on the following: feasibility of biomass feedstocks for methanol production, biomass availability and costs, potential demand for methanol from biomass, comparison of potential methanol demand and supply, and market penetration assessment. (MHR)

Lockheed Ocean Systems with IMODCO prepared these preliminary designs for OTEC Stationkeeping Subsystems (SKSS) under contract to NOAA in support of the Department of Energy OTEC program. The results of Tasks III, V, and VI are presented in this design report. The report consists of five sections: introduction, preliminary designs for the multiple anchor leg (MAL) and tension anchor leg (TAL), costs and schedule, and conclusions. Extensive appendixes provide detailed descriptions of design methodology and include backup calculations and data to support the results presented. The objective of this effort is to complete the preliminary designs for the barge-MAL and Spar-TAL SKSS. A set of drawings is provided for each which show arrangements, configuration, component details, engineering description, and deployment plan. Loads analysis, performance assessment, and sensitivity to requirements are presented, together with the methodology employed to analyze the systems and to derive the results presented. Life cycle costs and schedule are prepared and compared on a common basis. Finally, recommendations for the Commercial Plant SKSS are presented for both platform types.

A coordinated research program in inverse problems was concluded. The program evolved from formulation to analytical solution to implemented computer algorithms. There were two main lines of research in this program: a velocity inversion method, with application to seismic exploration, and a physical optics inverse scattering method for reflector mapping, with application to nondestructive evaluation. In each case, computer algorithms based on the theoretical results were tested on real or testbed data from the area of the cited application. Research goals of both a theoretical and practical nature were achieved. 34 figures.

This Phase II Study of small solar power systems (SSPS) has been structured to determine conditions under which SSPS can be cost-effective sources of electric power in the US in the period 1985 to 2015. An extensive data base, which provides a discrete identification of all utility and industrial electric generating units up to and including 10 MW/sub e/ in rated capacity, has been prepared. This data base defines the market for which comparative evaluations are made of SSPS and alternative fossil-fueled power plants. The market penetration of SSPS is determined and the effect of economic incentives on accelerating the penetration is evaluated. The solar electric power system is evaluated as either a complete replacement for existing conventional electric power systems or as a repowering installation for boilers supplying steam to turbine-driven generators. The cost data used in the market penetration analysis are for a central receiver-type of small solar theral power system. While the market penetration discussed herein is for this type of SSPS, the sensitivity data in the report can be used to determine the market penetration of other types of solar thermal power systems (e.g., point focus distributed receiver) with different system costs.

Financial data from the analysis of investment strategies of US oil companies and the depth of their present and future investments in nonpetroleum energy sources are tabulated in these appendices. The nonpetroleum energy sources included in the study are: coal, oil shale, geothermal, and solar.

The Supervisory Control and Diagnostics System (SCDS) for the Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) is a multiprocessor minicomputer system designed so that for most single-point failures, the hardware may be quickly reconfigured to provide continued operation of the experiment. The system is made up of nine Perkin-Elmer computers - a mixture of 8/32's and 7/32's. Each computer has ports on a shared memory system consisting of two independent shared memory modules. Each processor can signal other processors through hardware external to the shared memory. The system communicates with the Local Control and Instrumentation System, which consists of approximately 65 microprocessors. Each of the six system processors has facilities for communicating with a group of microprocessors; the groups consist of from four to 24 microprocessors. There are hardware switches so that if an SCDS processor communicating with a group of microprocessors fails, another SCDS processor takes over the communication.

The Plasma Streaming System (PSS) is an essential portion of the Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF), scheduled for completion in October 1981. The PSS will develop a plasma density of at least 2 x 10/sup 12/ particles/cm/sup 3/ at the MFTF magnet centerline by injecting particles along the field lines. The plasma will have a midplane plasma radius as large as 40 cm with variable plasma particle energy and beam geometry. Minimum amounts of impurities will be injected, with emphasis on minimizing high Z materials. Each of the 60 PSS units will consist of a gun magnet assembly (GMA) and a power supply. Each GMA consists of a plasma streaming gun, a pulse magnet that provides variable beam shaping, and a fast reaction pulse gas valve.

A comprehensive engineering system study was conducted to assess various thermochemical processes suitable for converting biomass to methanol. A summary of the conversion process study results is presented here, delineating the technical and economic feasibilities of producing methanol fuel from biomass utilizing the currently available technologies. (MHR)

The power supply system for MFTF will consist of twenty-four sets of accel, arc, and filament power supplies. The system will be fed from a common source and split into sets of two for the accel supplies and sets of four for the arc and filament supplies. This paper describes the simulation of this system and the EMTP code that was used. Interactions between power supplies during turn on that are due to common system impedances are studied, and a description of Transient Analysis of Control Systems (TACS) control is presented. The system harmonic content found by EMTP is discussed. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of an accel crowbar simulation.

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility, scheduled for completion in October 1981, will contain a complex, state-of-the-art array of electrical and electronics equipment valued at over 60 M$. Three injector systems will be employed to initiate and sustain the MFTF deuterium plasma. A plasma streaming system and a startup neutron beam system will be used to establish a target plasma. A sustaining neutral beam system will be used to fuel and sustain the MFTF plasma for 0.5 s. Additional power supply systems required on MFTF include two magnet power supplies with quench protection circuitry for powering the superconducting YIN/YANG magnet pair and eight 10 KHz power supplies for powering the Ti gettering system. Due to the complexity, physical size, and multiple systems of MFTF, a distributed, hierarchial, computer control and instrumentation system will be used. Color graphic, touch-panel, control consoles will provide the man-machine interface. The MFTF will have the capability of conducting an experiment every five minutes.

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL) is currently the largest mirror fusion research project in the world. Its Control and Diagnostics System is handled by a distributed computer network consisting of nine Interdata minicomputer systems and about 65 microprocessors. One of the design requirements is tolerance of single-point failure. If one of the computer systems becomes inoperative, the experiment can still be carried out, although the system responsiveness to operator command may be degraded. In a normal experiment cycle, the researcher can examine the result of the previous experiment, change any control parameter, fire a shot, collect four million bytes of diagnostics data, perform intershot analysis, and have the result presented - all within five minutes. The software approach adopted for the Supervisory Control and Diagnostics System features chief programmer teams and structured programming. Pascal is the standard programming language in this project.

The history and major accomplishments of the Effective Mass Spectrometer (EMS) are described. In the eight years since the EMS turned on, 21 experiments have been completed by groups from nine institutions in 32 months of operation. Over 400 million triggers have been recorded on magnetic tape, resulting in 29 journal publications to date. A list of experimental proposals for the EMS and a sampling of results are presented. 12 figures, 4 tables.

The main emphasis of the magnetic fusion energy research program today lies in the development of two types of confinement schemes: magnetic mirrors and tokamaks. Experimental programs for both of these confinement schemes have shown steady progress toward achieving fusion power breakeven. The scaling of the current machines to a reactor operating regime and newly developed methods for plasma heating will very likely produce power breakeven within the next decade. Predictions are that the efficiency in a fusion power plant should exceed 32%.

The design and implementation of the SCDS is a relatively complex problem involving a nine-computer network coupled with a unique color graphics control console system, 50 local control minicomputers, and the usual array of drives, printers, magnetic tapes, etc. Four million bytes of data are to be collected on each MFTF cycle with a repetition rate of five minutes per shot, and the associated data processing and storing load is a major concern. Crude paper studies were made initially to try to size the various components of the system and various configurations were proposed and analyzed prior to the solicitation for the computer system. However, once the hardware was purchased and a preliminary software design was completed, it became essential and feasible to do an analysis of the system to considerably greater depth in order to identify bottlenecks and other system problems and to verify those parts of the design that met the MFTF requirements.

Large diameter (0.535 inch) mixed oxide fuel pellets for Fast Breeder Reactor application were successfully fabricated by the cold-press-and-sinter technique. Enriched UO/sub 2/, PuO/sub 2/-UO/sub 2/, and PuO/sub 2/-ThO/sub 2/ compositions were fabricated into nominally 90% theoretical density pellets for the UO/sub 2/ and PuO/sub 2/-UO/sub 2/ compositions, and 88% and 93% T.D. for the PuO/sub 2/-ThO/sub 2/ compositions. Some processing adjustments were required to achieve satisfactory pellet quality and density. Furnace heating rate was reduced from 200 to 50/sup 0/C/h for the organic binder burnout cycle for the large, 0.535-inch diameter pellets to eliminate pellet cracking during sintering. Additional preslugging steps and die wall lubrication during pressing were used to eliminate pressing cracks in the PuO/sub 2/-ThO/sub 2/ pellets.

The purpose of this report is to analyze the investment strategies of US oil companies and the depth of their present and future investments in nonpetroleum energy sources. For purposes of this study, the nonpetroleum energy sources to be discussed are coal, uranium/nuclear, synthetics from coal, oil shale, geothermal, and solar. To gather necessary subjective data, the authors interviewed the managements of more than forty companies, the majority of which are directly involved in the production of various forms of energy. Others are substantial energy users. Interviews were also held with various federal and state regulatory agencies, with federal legislative groups, and with representatives of industry associations. These interviews were not intended to be a survey; their purpose was rather to explore the perceptions of petroleum company managements concerning nonpetroleum energy sources and the reasons for their company's participation, or lack of participation, in the development of these resources. Quantitative data came from reports prepared by federal investigative and regulatory agencies, from testimony given before investigative and regulatory bodies, from public company reports (annual reports, quarterly reports, 10-K's, 8-K's, registration statements, press releases, etc.), from industry, research and investment organizations, from universities, and from a variety of publications.

In the design of large experimental control systems, a major concern is ensuring that operators are quickly alerted to emergency or other exceptional conditions and that they are provided with sufficient information to respond adequately. This paper describes how the MFTF exception handling system satisfies these requirements. Conceptually exceptions are divided into one of two classes. Those which affect command status by producing an abort or suspend condition and those which fall into a softer notification category of report only or operator acknowledgement requirement. Additionally, an operator may choose to accept an exception condition as operational, or turn off monitoring for sensors determined to be malfunctioning. Control panels and displays used in operator response to exceptions are described.

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF) currently under construction at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory includes a Sustaining Neutral Beam Power Supply System (SNBPSS) consisting of 24 power-supply sets. The System will operate in long pulses (initially .5 seconds and eventually 30 seconds) at high power (200 MW), which will necessitate a large source of ac power. To meet this requirement, a new 230-kV substation is also being built at LLL. The constraints of cost, equipment protection, short operating lifetime (10 years), and reliability dictated a unique substation design. Its unusual features include provisions for fast fault detection and tripping, a capability for limiting ground fault current, low impedance, and economical design.

The initial goal of the Data Acquisition System (DAS) is to control 11 instruments chosen as the startup diagnostic set and to collect, process, and display the data that these instruments produce. These instruments are described in a paper by Stan Thomas, et. al. entitled ''MFTF Plasma Diagnostics System.'' The DAS must be modular and flexible enough to allow upgrades in the quantity of data taken by an instrument, and also to allow new instruments to be added to the system. This is particularly necessary to support a research project where needs and requirements may change rapidly as a result of experimental findings. Typically, the startup configuration of the diagnostic instruments will contain only a fraction of the planned detectors, and produce approximately one half the data that the expanded version is designed to generate. Expansion of the system will occur in fiscal year 1982.

This report contains the text and slides used for the review talk on tandem mirror theory presented at the meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics, A.P.S., Boston, MA, November 12-16, 1979. Topics covered include classical confinement, equilibria, MHD- and micro-stability, radial transport, and thermal barriers.