A loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) in a boiling-water-reactor (BWR) power plant has never occurred. However, because this type of accident could be particularly severe, it is used as a principal theoretical basis for design. A series of consistent, versatile, and accurate air-water tests that simulate LOCA conditions has been completed on a /sup 1///sub 5/-scale Mark I BWR pressure-suppression system. Results from these tests are used to quantify the vertical-loading function and to study the associated fluid dynamics phenomena. Detailed histories of vertical loads on the wetwell are shown. In particular, variation of hydrodynamic-generated vertical loads with changes in drywell-pressurization rate, downcomer submergence, and the vent-line loss coefficient are established. Initial drywell overpressure, which partially preclears the downcomers of water, substantially reduces the peak vertical loads. Scaling relationships, developed from dimensional analysis and verified by bench-top experiments, allow the /sup 1///sub 5/-scale results to be applied to a full-scale BWR power plant. This analysis leads to dimensionless groupings that are invariant. These groupings show that, if water is used as the working fluid, the magnitude of the forces in a scaled facility is reduced by the cube of the scale factor and occurs in a time reduced by the square root …

A theory of exploding pusher laser pusher targets is compared to results of LASNEX calculations and to Livermore experiments. A scaling relationship is described which predicts the optimum target/pulse combinations as a function of the laser power.

Consideration is given to the stability of negative ion beams which are neutralized through ionization of a background gas. Two types of instabilities are examined. First, beam-plasma instabilities are analyzed with the dispersion relation showing that they are unimportant if the beam velocity is less than the electron thermal velocity. Second, results of a computer simulation on the flow of a cylindrical beam and the resulting background plasma show that when the background neutral gas density is less than or approximately equal to a critical density as instability occurs. This critical density is the density that would be needed to space-charge neutralize the beam if the positive ions were not retarded by the beam. An approximate dispersion relation indicates that the nature of the instability is a transverse positive-ion acoustic wave which couples to the beam.

A number of mechanical and electrical measurements were made on joints in typical conductors for the proposed mirror fusion test facility (MFTF) and high field test facility (HFTF). For such measurements, a commercially available cold-pressure-welding machine was used. For joints in the MFTF conductor, which has a large proportion of superconductor, joint strength approached conductor strength. For the HFTF conductor, where the Cu-to-superconductor ratio is 4.33/1, the joint is stronger than the conductor. Electrically, the joints were not superconducting.. While the resistance is higher than might be achieved by other forms of joining, we feel that the cold-weld joint has the advantages of simplicity, speed, reliability, and reproducibility. This makes the method attractive for MFTF, where resistance losses will be small compared with the total 4 K refrigeration requirements.

The following topics are discussed: route of administration; carrier effects and complexed or ionic tracers; membrane permeability, extracellular and intracellular concentrations; enzyme and hormonal stimulation or depression and the metabolic state; neoplasia and transport; and carrier for radiopharmaceutical binding to membrane or protein sites. Some radioisotopes considered are /sup 99m/Tc, /sup 65/Zn, /sup 62/Zn, /sup 14/C and /sup 111/In. (HLW)

The distribution of geothermal resources in relation to the location of population centers in the U.S. is considered. Capital aspects of district heating systems are discussed. Estimates are given of distribution network capital investment as a function of population in service area. Swedish and Icelandic cost experience is taken into consideration. The need for more specific assessment of the potential for direct use of geothermal energy is cited. (JGB)

Several contemporary proton-recoil detectors are described and compared. These detectors have been used for neutron-spectrum measurements over various portions of the 10-keV-to-20-MeV energy range. Several factors which limit the accuracy of the results are compared quantitatively. General suggestions are given for setting and using standard cross sections and for future developments using the n,p scattering reaction.

A computer-assisted chemical modeling study of equilibria in flowing brine systems has been undertaken. Equilibria between liquid and volatile components of two-phase fluids have profound effects on such important phenomena as corrosion, scale formation, environmental quality, and the economics of energy extraction. The principal reactions considered are those involving volatiles naturally present in the fluid, including NH/sub 3/, H/sub 2/S and CO/sub 2/. A computer code is described which performs stepwise equilibrium computations at 1/sup 0/C intervals for a unit mass of fluid, between reservoir and reinjection temperatures. The data base used is the quality-temperature function for the brine, the chemical composition, and equilibrium constants for the solubility reactions of gases and dissociation of their aqueous species. Chemical changes that take place during cooling and expansion are illustrated by distribution diagrams. Although the computations were developed for application to the high-saline resource, they are not fluid or system-specific, and should be of general usefulness where a chemical composition and temperature history can be specified.

Concepts of the range of investigation of a borehole gravimeter are reviewed. It is shown that the maximum sensitivity to a mass point at a horizontal distance R from a borehole occurs at a vertical distance Z = R/..sqrt..2. Thus, the angle of maximum sensitivity is about 55/sup 0/ from the vertical. It is also shown that the absolute value of the gravitational effect decreases with increasing R. There are two maxima of the vertical gradient of gravity (at Z = 0 and at Z = ..sqrt../sup 3///sub 2/ R). The minimum distance required between gravimeter stations to obtain a usable measurement can be determined. The slab radius R for which the gravitational effect of a horizontal slab is equal to 45%, 90%, etc., of that of an infinite horizontal slab is a function of the measurement spacing. The closer the measurement spacing, the more information obtained.

Work performed since the last Workshop meeting is summarized. The studies have been divided into the following sections: (1) response of albedo neutron dosimeters to low energy neutrons; (2) discussion of dose-equivalent conversion factors; (3) modification of the A-B remmeter; (4) the effect of distance from the body on the response of albedo neutron dosimeters; (5) comparison of albedo neutron dosimeter techniques; and (6) modified NAD badge for additional beta shielding and albedo neutron dosimetry.

The interest in the properties of very dense hydrogen is prompted by its abundance in Saturn and Jupiter and its importance in laser fusion studies. Furthermore, it has been proposed that the metallic form of hydrogen may be a superconductor at relatively high temperatures and/or exist in a metastable phase at ambient pressure. For ten years or more, laboratories have been developing the techniques to study hydrogen in the megabar region (1 megabar = 100 GPa). Three major approaches to study dense hydrogen experimentally have been used, static presses, shockwave compression, and magnetic compression. Static tchniques have crossed the megabar threshold in stiff materials but have not yet been convincingly successful in very compressible hydrogen. Single and double shockwave techniques have improved the precision of the pressure, volume, temperature Equation of State (EOS) of molecular hydrogen (deuterium) up to near 1 Mbar. Multiple shockwave and magnetic techniques have compressed hydrogen to several megabars and densities in the range of the metallic phase. The net result is that hydrogen becomes conducting at a pressure between 2 and 4 megabars. Hence, the possibility of making a significant amount of hydrogen into a metal in a static press remains a formidable challenge. The …

The signal/background ratio for the decay of the W into hadronic jets, it is affirmed, should be improved by a factor of about 15 if a prompt lepton is required. For definiteness the hadronic decays of the W/sup +/ in an SU(2) x U(1) model with six quarks is considered. (JFP)

The principal aim of the National Waste Terminal Storage (NWTS) program is to develop repositories in several different rock formations in various parts of the country. Rocks such as salt, shale, limestone, and granite may qualify as host media for the disposition of radioactive wastes in the proper environments. In general, the only requirement for any rock formation or storage area is that it be able to contain any emplaced wastes for so long as it takes for the radioactive materials to decay to innocuous levels. This requirement, though, is a formidable one because some of the wastes will remain active for periods of hundreds of thousands of years and because the physical and chemical properties of rocks that govern circulating ground water and, hence, the containment may be difficult to determine and define. Rock salt has long been regarded as the most favored geologic medium for the containment of radioactive wastes in the United States. This stems largely from the plastic behavior of salt, which promotes self-healing and otherwise makes it impermeable to circulating ground water. Other important advantages of salt include its wide distribution, ease of mining, and favorable heat dissipation characteristics. In addition to the salt domes …

SHIVA, the 10-kilojule Neodymium-glass laser for the High Energy Laser Facility at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has been built, exceeded minimum energy predictions, and is currently being applied to laser fusion experiments. The twenty, 20-cm aperture arms contain a total of about 1500 optical components for beam propagation, and another 1000 elements are used for control systems and diagnostics. In order to focus the energy on targets smaller than 1 mm in diameter, it has been necessary to maintain very high optical quality throughout the system. The manufacturing and testing technologies involved in meeting this challenge have been noteworthy and have encompassed glass manufacturing, optical finishing, and coating, for elements as diverse as Faraday rotators, laser rods and disks and aspheric lenses.