The Mirror Fusion Test Facility is a major magnetic fusion energy project at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. An important component of this facility is the vacuum vessel, which forms the vacuum chamber. The vessel is supported on twenty-two pairs of legs that rest on reinforced concrete piers. In performing static and dynamic analyses on the vacuum vessel, we separately investigated the load distribution under gravity loads, pressure loads, electromagnetic loads, and thermal loads. We also performed sophisticated dynamic analyses to predict the structural behavior under a postulated earthquake. The modeling assumptions and analytic procedures are highlighted in this paper.

In the Tandem Mirror Experiment Upgrade (TMX-U), the formation of a thermal barrier and the potential plugging of ion end loss were achieved at central-cell densities up to 2 x 10/sup 12/ cm/sup -3/. The presence of a thermal barrier was confirmed by direct measurement, and ion axial-confinement times in the range 50 to 100 ms were measured. The ECRH in the end cells (a) initiates plasma startup, (b) generates hot, mirror-confined electrons to form thermal barriers, and (c) creates the plugging potential for central-cell ions. The ECRH system consists of four 200 kW, 28 GHz gyrotrons each feeding power to a separate heating location (two in each end plug). Fundamental heating is used at the potential plug, and second harmonic is used in the thermal barrier. Hot-electron plasmas are produced at total end-cell antenna power levels up to 300 kW. Strong single-pass absorption and net hot-electron heating efficiencies exceeding 40% are observed. Hot-electron parameters achieved are: n/sub eh//n/sub et/ up to 0.8, volume-average beta <..beta..> approx. = 0.15, and T/sub x/ (x-ray tail above 40 keV) in the range 75 to 200 keV.

Rotorua, New Zealand, lies inside a volcanic caldera. Natural steam is extensively used for space and water heating, and electric power generation. This report presents results of a preliminary reconnaissance survey of atmospheric H/sub 2/S levels in the area and attempts to relate these levels to health statistics in the region. 5 refs., 8 tabs. (ACR)

The Argonne National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory have recently installed an activated barrier, the Access Denial System (ADS) for the upgrade of safeguards of special nuclear materials. The technology of this system was developed in the late 70's by Sandia National Laboratory-Albuquerque. The installation was the first for the Department of Energy. Subsequently, two additional installations have been completed. The Access Denial System, combined with physical restraints, provide the system delay. The principal advantages of the activated barrier are: (1) it provides an order of magnitude improvement in delay over that of a fixed barrier, (2) it can be added to existing vital areas with a minimum of renovations, (3) existing operations are minimally impacted, and (4) health and safety risks are virtually nonexistent. Hardening of the vital areas using the ADS was accomplished in a cost-effective manner. 3 references, 1 figure, 1 table.

Present estimates of uranium resources and reserves in the US and the non-Communist world are reviewed. The resulting implications are considered for two proposed breeder technologies: the liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) and the fusion hybrid reactor. Using both simple arguments and detailed scenarios from the published literature, conditions are explored under which the LMFBR and fusion hybrid could respectively have the most impact, considering both fuel-supply and economic factors. The conclusions emphasize strong potential advantages of the fusion hybrid, due to its inherently large breeding rate. A discussion is presented of proposed US development strategies for the fusion hybrid, which at present is far behind the LMFBR in its practical application and maturity.

This paper discusses a perspective which we have developed on the problem of demonstrating compliance of high-level waste repositories with system performance standards. Our viewpoint arises from two primary concerns - first, that the US Environmental Protection Agency's proposed environmental standard for high-level waste disposal appears to require demonstrations of compliance which are incompatible with scientific knowledge, and, second, that the federal agencies involved in the licensing process may not appreciate fully the extent of unquantifiable and uresolvable uncertainty in repository performance-assessment models. We propose a general approach to demonstrations of compliance which we feel is compatible with the kinds of technical information that will be available for judging repository performance. Our approach emphasizes the importance of investigation alternative conceptual models and lines of reasoning in evaluating repository performance and the importance of subjective scientific judgment in the desision-making process. 24 references, 1 figure.

Over the years the study of the confinement of high temperature plasma in magnetic mirror systems has presented researchers with many unusual physics problems. Many of these issues are by now understood theoretically and documented experimentally. With the advent of the tandem mirror idea, some new issues have emerged and are now under intensive study. These include: (1) the generation and control of ambipolar confining potentials and their effect on axial confinement and, (2) the combined influence of nonaxisymmetric magnetic fields (used to ensure MHD stability) and electric magnetic particle drifts on radial transport. Physics considerations associated with these two categories of issues will be reviewed, including concepts for the control of radial transport, under study or proposed.

This paper identifies some of the issues which arise in the consideration of the derivation of new limits on exposure to internal emitters. Basic and secondary radiation protection limits are discussed. Terms are defined and applied to the limitation of risk from stochastic effects. Non-stochastic data for specific internal emitters (/sup 131/I and the radium isotopes) are presented. Emphasis is placed on the quantitative aspects of the limit setting problem. 65 references, 2 figures, 12 tables.

The D phi experiment is a recently approved effort at FERMILAB to study proton-antiproton collisions at 2 TeV. A powerful new detector has been designed for this experiment and is described. The D phi detector has been designed to optimize its discovery potential in the mass range where deviations from the Standard Model might be expected to manifest themselves. Rather than discussing the detector's response to particular hypothetical new states (Higgses, squarks, etc.), we focus here on more technical capabilities (leptons, jets, etc.). After a brief physics summary to motivate our technical choices, we consider the detector design subsystem by subsystem. 9 references.