Results are presented of work performed on the Advanced Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactor Materials Evaluation and Development Program. The objectives of this program are to evaluate candidate alloys for Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) Nuclear Process Heat (NPH) and Direct Cycle Helium Turbine (DCHT) applications, in terms of the effect of simulated reactor primary coolant (helium containing small amounts of various other gases), high temperatures, and long time exposures, on the mechanical properties and structural and surface stability of selected candidate alloys. A second objective is to select and recommend materials for future test facilities and more extensive qualification programs. Included are the activities associated with the status of the simulated reactor helium supply system, testing equipment and gas chemistry analysis instrumentation and equipment. The progress in the screening test program is described, including screening creep results and metallographic analysis for materials thermally exposed or tested at 750, 850, and 950/sup 0/C.

A method and apparatus are described for determining the absorption spectra, and other properties, of aerosol particles. A heating beam source provides a beam of electromagnetic energy which is scanned through the region of the spectrum which is of interest. Particles exposed to the heating beam which have absorption bands within the band width of the heating beam absorb energy from the beam. The particles are also illuminated by light of a wave length such that the light is scattered by the particles. The absorption spectra of the particles can thus be determined from an analysis of the scattered light since the absorption of energy by the particles will affect the way the light is scattered. Preferably the heating beam is modulated to simplify the analysis of the scattered light. In one embodiment the heating beam is intensity modulated so that the scattered light will also be intensity modulated when the particles absorb energy. In another embodiment the heating beam passes through an interferometer and the scattered light reflects the Fourier Transform of the absorption spectra.

The intent of the computer code GAMIDEN is to help identify isotopes by their gamma-ray emissions and thus to assist in the nondestructive assay of unknown materials. From both radioactive decays and neutron captures, GAMIDEN searches GAMTOT78, a file of gamma-ray spectra, for matches with observed photon energies. This report describes the search procedure, outlines the use of the code, and gives an example. The code is designed to operate on the CRAY 1 computer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). It is written in standard Fortran (ANSI) for the most part but contains some LRLTRAN instructions to make use of the Livermore time-sharing system (LTSS). The code uses about 545,000 words of memory. Typical problems run in about 45 s. The source program and the data file are available on request.

Cracking in ASTM A106-B and A106-C feedwater piping was detected near the inlet to the steam generators in a number of pressurized water reactor plants. We received sections with cracks from nine of the plants with the objective of identifying the cracking mechanism and assessing various factors that might contribute to this cracking. Variations were observed in piping surface irregularities, corrosion-product, pit, and crack morphology, surface elmental and crystal structure analyses, and steel microstructures and mechanical properties. However, with but two exceptions, namely, arrest bands and major surface irregularities, we were unable to relate the extent of cracking to any of these factors. Tensile and fracture toughness (J/sub Ic/ and tearing modulus) properties were measured over a range of temperatures and strain rates. No unusual properties or microstructures were observed that could be related to the cracking problem. All crack surfaces contained thick oxide deposits and showed evidence of cyclic events in the form of arrest bands. Transmission electron microscopy revealed fatigue striations on replicas of cleaned crack surfaces from one plant and possibly from three others. Calculations based on the observed striation spacings gave a value of ..delta..sigma = 150 MPa (22 ksi) for one of the major cracks. …

Pressure vs composition (P-C) isotherms for the UH system for temperatuers of 700 to 1065/sup 0/C and pressures to 137.89 MPa are shown. The sample was contained in a vessel concentric and located within a secondary vessel. Plateau pressure at 1065/sup 0/C is 700 atm. The single-phase region on the hydrogen-rich side starts at a H/U ratio of 2.35. Physical property measurements showed a thermal conductivity, k, value of 0.003 cal/cm sec K, R/sub c/ = 50. Experimentally determined plateau pressures are compared with values obtained by other workers. The UH system retains broad, two-phase plateaus at temperatures to 1065/sup 0/C. The critical temperature must be above 1065/sup 0/C. 13 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

The Advanced Test Accelerator (ATA) is a linear induction electron accelerator whose design parameters are 50 MeV, 10 kA and 70 ns pulse duration. The key physics issues affecting performance of the accelerator involve beam dynamics during transport through the accelerator structure. In this report, we present experimental results describing the initial operating phases of ATA. These results illustrate the complexity of the beam transport phenomena but also indicate the means to stabilize beam dynamics. Improvements in beam transport, which result from deploying various stabilization techniques, are also presented.

One possible near term application of a muon-producing magnetic-mirror scheme would be to build a high-flux neutron source for radiation damage studies. The careful arrangement of triton orbits will result in many of the ..pi../sup -/s being produced near the axis of the magnetic mirror. The pions quickly decay into muons, which are transported into a small (few-cm-diameter) reactor chamber producing approximately 1-MW/m/sup 2/ neutron flux on the chamber walls, using a laboratory accelerator and magnetic mirror. The costs of construction and operation of the triton injection accelerator probably introduces most of the uncertainty in the viability of this scheme. If a 10-..mu..A, 600 MeV neutral triton accelerator could be built for less than $100 million and operated cheaply enough, one might well bring muon-catalyzed fusion into practical use.

This investigation has been stimulated by the question, to what extent beam disruption of two penetrating SLC bunches will modify the initial angular distribution of the incident beam, and whether the tails of the outgoing beam will be significantly enhanced and will lead to increased losses in the vicinity of the detector. We try to answer this question in three steps. 6 refs., 4 figs., 4 tabs.

Recent work on s-process nucleosynthesis has focused attention on the investigation of capture cross sections for nuclei in the mass region near the N = 50 closed neutron shell. Of special astrophysical interest are (i) the analysis of the s-process branching through /sup 85/Kr as a monitor of stellar neutron density and temperature and (ii) the investigation of the possible chronometric pair /sup 87/Rb-/sup 87/Sr as an independent measure of the age of the galaxy. For both problems the capture cross sections of the two pure s-process nuclei /sup 86/Sr and /sup 87/Sr have to be known to an accuracy of 5% or better. The current investigation of the neutron capture cross sections for /sup 86/Sr and /sup 87/Sr was undertaken to extend recent measurements by Walter and Beer to energies below 3.5 keV, where strong resonances are known to exist, and to explore the discrepancy in the results of the Maxwellian averaged capture cross section of /sup 87/Sr at kT = 30 keV as reported by previous investigators. 9 refs., 1 fig.

This first quarterly report documents technical progress during the period 31 December 1983 through 30 March 1984. The technical effort is 17 months in duration and is divided into two major technical tasks: Task VII, Hardware Fabrication and PDU Modifications, and Task VIII, Performance Testing. The design of test hardware and process development unit modifications had been previously completed as part of Task VI of the current contract. Task VII involves the fabrication of test hardware and modification of an existing 1-ton/h hydroliquefaction PDU at Rockwell's facilities for use as a hydrogasifier test facility. During this report period, fabrication of the test hardware and modifications to the PDU were initiated. Test hardware fabrication is now approximately 80% complete and should be completed by the end of May 1984. PDU modifications are progressing well and should be completed by the end of June 1984. The completed test hardware fabrication and PDU modifications will allow the conduct of short duration (1 to 2 h) hydrogasification tests along with preburner assembly performance evaluation tests in order to fulfill the test program objectives. Separate supplies of hydrogen, oxygen, methane, carbon monoxide, and water (for steam generation) are provided for this purpose. The modified facility …

In 1980 US electric utilities reported purchasng 594 million tons of coal, 408.5 million barrels of oil and 3568.7 billion ft/sup 3/ of gas. As compared with 1979 purchases, coal rose 6.7%, oil decreased 20.9%, and gas increased for the fourth year in a row. This volume presents tabulated and graphic data on the cost and quality of fossil fuel receipts to US electric utilities plants with a combined capacity of 25 MW or greater. Information is included on fuel origin and destination, fuel types, and sulfur content, plant types, capacity, and flue gas desulfurization method used, and fuel costs. (LCL)

Demonstrations of improved fuel management and burnup are being performed in the Fort Calhoun reactor. More efficient fuel management will be achieved through the implementation of a low leakage concept called SAVFUEL (Shimmed And Very Flexible Uranium Element Loading), which is expected to reduce uranium requirements by 2 to 4%. The burnup will be increased sufficiently to reduce uranium requirements by 5 to 15%. Four fuel assemblies scheduled to demonstrate the SAVFUEL duty cycle and loaded into the core in December 1978 were inspected visually prior to their second exposure cycle. In addition, seventeen fuel assemblies were inspected after their fourth exposure cycle having achieved assembly average burnup up to 36 GWD/T. One assembly has been reinserted into Cycle 6 for a fifth exposure cycle. The preliminary results of all visual fuel inspections which appear to show excellent fuel rod performance are presented in this report. This report also contains the results of a licensing activity which was performed to allow insertion of a highly burned assembly into the reactor for a fifth irradiation cycle.

The numerical algorithms used to solve the physics equation in codes which model laser fusion are examined, it is found that a large number of subroutines require the solution of tridiagonal linear systems of equations. One dimensional radiation transport, thermal and suprathermal electron transport, ion thermal conduction, charged particle and neutron transport, all require the solution of tridiagonal systems of equations. The standard algorithm that has been used in the past on CDC 7600's will not vectorize and so cannot take advantage of the large speed increases possible on the Cray-1 through vectorization. There is however, an alternate algorithm for solving tridiagonal systems, called cyclic reduction, which allows for vectorization, and which is optimal for the Cray-1. Software based on this algorithm is now being used in LASNEX to solve tridiagonal linear systems in the subroutines mentioned above. The new algorithm runs as much as five times faster than the standard algorithm on the Cray-1. The ICCG method is being used to solve the diffusion equation with a nine-point coupling scheme on the CDC 7600. In going from the CDC 7600 to the Cray-1, a large part of the algorithm consists of solving tridiagonal linear systems on each L line …

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Texas Highway Commission may temporarily close a portion of the Interstate 35E frontage road in Dallas for the purpose of allowing an intercity "grand prix" race.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Duty of district clerk to file and docket improperly tendered documents

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a county may abandon a neighborhood road without replacing it

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Mark White, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a license may fill a prescription for a hearing aid from a physician without further testing of an individual's hearing acuity.

The Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) is conducting research on the development of microalgae biomass systems for the production of liquid fuels. Particularly appealing at this time, is the idea of using indigenous resources of the Southwest for large-scale production of microalgae.

This report concerns recent measurements of the x, y and z vibrational motion of the quadrupole focusing magnets mounted between 40' girder assemblies in Sector 5. The amplitudes of their vibration were of particular concern, and these were measured in the presence of several different disturbances.

This report provides a series of assessments regarding China's strategy and objectives for computer development. It examines the specific role played by acquisition of foreign computers and related know-how by PRC.

Weekly report of the Texas Crop and Livestock Reporting Service on turkey poult numbers in Texas and compared with other states. It includes compiled statistics across six consecutive weeks during two years for turkey eggs set and poults hatched.

Weekly report of the Texas Crop and Livestock Reporting Service on broiler chick numbers in Texas and compared with other states. It includes compiled statistics across six consecutive weeks, from the week ending May 17 to the week ending June 21, during 1985 and 1986 for broiler eggs set, chicks hatched, and chicks placed.

Reservoir designs consist of two primary features including the stem(s) and the body segment. The stem is either an integral part of the reservoir or is joined at some point in the fabrication sequence. The current interest is in high strength stems for advanced reservoir designs. The processing necessary to achieve these strength levels may result in heavily cold worked microstructures which may not interface well with the stem requirements. For instance, cold worked 316 plate stock has shown decreased hydrogen compatibility when contrasted to the annealed version in laboratory tests. More recently, Precision Forge produced a 100 ksi yield strength, 304L stem forging with a heavily deformed microstructure which also may show decreased compatibility in hydrogen. The proposed forging contract will evaluate the influence of forging parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 304L and 316 stem forgings. A summary of the data available on 304L stem forgings is shown graphically. The yield strength values are shown for each set of forging parameters. Tensile tests and microstructural examination will be conducted to complete the information for 304L and create a similar graph for 316 stem forgings.