This research program began January 6, 1976. Its objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of the floating substrate sheet growth process for the growth of silicon sheet. This process is an approach to the formation of single-crystal silicon by direct epitaxial conversion from a gaseous silane. Incoming feedstock gas impinges upon a silicon substrate which is floating upon a thin pool of liquid tin. Single-crystal silicon grows to the desired thickness by means of vapor phase epitaxy. Nucleation of fresh substrate silicon takes place by rapid growth from the edge of the growing sheet into a region at the surface of the liquid tin which is supersaturated in the silicon. The process lends itself to continuous operation with the growing sheet being continuously withdrawn from the growth zone. (WDM)

The general requirements of a breeding blanket for a mirror reactor are described. The following areas are discussed: (1) facility layout and blanket maintenance, (2) heat transfer and thermal conversion system, (3) materials, (4) tritium containment and removal, and (5) nuclear performance.

Methods used to control the radiological impact of the nuclear fuel cycle are described. This control is exercised through the application of a series of federal laws and regulations that are used as the basis for licensing nuclear facilities. The control is exercised more directly by the use of radwaste treatment equipment at the nuclear facilities to limit the release of radioactive materials. Federal laws and regulations are summarized and their applications in licensing actions are discussed. Radiological doses from materials released from licensed facilities are compared with doses from natural background. A series of cost/benefit engineering surveys are being made to determine the cost and effectiveness of radwaste systems for decreasing the release of radioactive materials from model fuel cycle facilities and to determine the benefits in terms of reduction in dose commitment to individuals and populations in surrounding areas.

The principles of mirror machine confinement are reviewed with emphasis on the physical process of neutral beam injection and plasma end leakage. The characteristics of efficient neutral beam injectors and direct energy convertors for the plasma and leakage are described.

Radiation blistering in solids has been identified as a process leading to damage and erosion of irradiated surfaces. Some of the major parameters governing the blistering process in metals and some metallic alloys are the type of projectile and its energy, total dose, dose rate, target temperature, channeling condition of the projectile, orientation of the irradiated surface plane, and target material and its microstructure. Experimental results and models proposed for blister formation and rupture are reviewed. The blistering phenomenon is important as an erosion process in applications such as fusion reactor technology (plasma-wall interactions) and accelerator technology (erosion of components and targets). A description of methods for the reduction of surface erosion caused by blistering is included.

A review is made of the current status of /sup 235/U fission cross section data from thermal to 20 MeV neutron energies. The accuracy achieved is compared with the 1 percent accuracy required of a reaction-cross-section standard throughout this range. The energy ranges from thermal to 10 keV, 10 keV to 0.8 MeV and 0.8 to 20 MeV are considered separately because of the different experimental techniques required in each. The goal of normalizing all fission cross sections to the thermal value and the current degree of success is discussed.

This report investigates the application of the Solar Total Energy System (STES) to the commercial sector (e.g., office buildings, shopping centers, retail stores, etc.) in the United States. Candidate solar thermal and solar photovoltaic concepts are considered for providing on-site electrical power generation as well as thermal energy for both heating and cooling applications. The solar thermal concepts include the use of solar concentrators (distributed or central receiver) for collection of the thermal energy for conversion to electricity by means of a Rankine cycle or Brayton cycle power conversion system. Recoverable waste heat from the power generation process is utilized to help meet the building thermal energy demand. Evaluation methodology is identified to allow ranking and/or selection of the most cost-effective concept for commercial building applications.

The local environment surrounding Mound Laboratory was monitored for tritium and plutonium-238 released by Mound Laboratory. The results are reported for calendar year 1976. The environmental parameters analyzed included air, water, foodstuffs, and silt. The average concentrations of plutonium-238 and tritium were within the stringent standards for radioactive species adopted by the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. Data concerning nonradioactive species in air and water are also presented and compared to federal, state, and local standards, where applicable. Although there are no specific standards (RCG) for plutonium-238 and tritium in foodstuffs, the concentrations found, if compared to the water standard, are also a small fraction of the RCG. In addition, there is no evidence of other than minimal reentrainment of radioactive species from silt. Mound Laboratory has undertaken a comprehensive program to bring water supplies into compliance with new U.S. EPA drinking water standards which will be effective June 24, 1977. Mound Laboratory has been granted a National Pollutant Discharge Ellimination System permit. Analyses during 1976 indicate compliance with permit conditions. All results indicated that Mound effluent streams have no significant effect on the Great Miami River and certainly do not cause Ohio Stream Standards to be exceeded. These …

''Obfuscatory measurement'' is the practice, deliberate or not, of obscuring the true performance of a system through the use of misleading measures. Many of the traditional and widely used measures of computer system performance are obfuscatory: they measure the wrong things, the right things wrongly, or nothing at all. Several obfuscatory measures are considered; those aspects of the system they are thought to measure are contrasted with those that they actually measure; and alternative measures, which are more meaningful to the user community, are suggested. 3 figures, 1 table.

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A variety of calorimeters have been developed for measuring ions, x-rays, and scattered radiation emanating from laser-pulse-imploded fusion targets. The ion and x-ray calorimeters use metal or glass absorbers to reflect or transmit most of the scattered laser radiation; the versions using metal absorbers also incorporate a differential construction to compensate for the fraction of the scattered laser radiation that is absorbed. The scattered-radiation calorimeters use colored glass to absorb the radiation and a transparent glass shield to remove ions and x rays. Most of the calorimeters use commercial semiconductor thermoelectric modules as the temperature sensors.

From data generated in the laboratory and pilot plant studies a quality rerefined oil can be produced via BERC/ERDA solvent extraction and clay treatment. Some of the important processing variables that determine the quality of the finished product are temperature of solvent extraction, type of clay used, temperature and time of clay treatment, and the atmosphere under which the oil is treated with clay. Yields of 75 percent based on water-distillate-free oil can be expected at the conditions used in pilot plant operations. The oils obtained could be compounded to produce a large number of high quality lubricating products. Unlike an acid-clay process where the acid sludges pose an environmental problem, the BERC/ERDA system produces a marketable sludge.

Tests were performed to determine the effect cleanliness of a surface exposed to tritium gas had on methane formation. These tests performed on 304 stainless steel vessels, cleaned in various ways, showed that the methane formation was reduced by the use of various cleaning procedures.

Solar One has been instrumented with sensors for weather data system temperatures and pressures, house electrical loads, and photovoltaic system data. An automatic data acquisition and handling system has been designed and installed to gather and then transmit data to a central computer. Programs to summarize these data and tabulate them in convenient forms have been prepared. Initial data have been obtained and analyzed to check the sensor system and to give preliminary performance characteristics of the solar system. (WDM)

Interfacing of a Perkin Elmer model 3920 gas chromatograph to the CEC 21-110B mass spectrometer has been completed and the GC/MS system is operational. Detailed descriptions of the heated probe assembly and the rapid mass-scanning module are given. Initial emphasis has been placed on the utilization of GC/MS in conjunction with field ionization (FI). Satisfactory results have been obtained. The FI source for the CEC 21-110B mass spectrometer is routinely operational. Familiarity with its operation has improved ion-abundance reproducibility. For a mixture containing aromatic hydrocarbons, thiophenes, and furans, the average percent standard deviation in the average percent ionizations is 3.55 percent from three spectra. Application of the technique of FI mass spectrometry to quantitative analysis of coal type mixtures has been explored. The consequences of sensitivity data on the analytical results have been considered. Relative weight and mole sensitivities have been determined for 30 aromatic hydrocarbons, 20 thiophenes, and 7 heteroatom (oxygen and nitrogen) containing compounds with respect to ethylbenzene. Excellent analytical data has been obtained from three known mixtures using these sensitivities. Fifty three coal-liquid samples have been processed. Empirical formulas for 5000 ions have been determined from the high-resolution (70 eV) spectra recorded on photographic plates. FI spectra …

The results of an experimental study on the trapping and energy loss mechanisms of intense, relativistic electron rings confined in Astron-like magnetic field geometries are presented. The work is subdivided into four sections: gas trapping; average ring electron energetics; plasma trapping, and hollow-beam cusp-injection into gas and plasma. The mechanisms by which the injected beam coalesces into a current ring in the existing Cornell RECE-Berta facility are considered. To investigate the nature of ring electron energy loss mechanisms following completion of the trapping process, a diagnostic was developed utilizing multi-foil X-ray absorption spectroscopy to analyze the Bremsstrahlung generated by the electrons as they impinge upon a thin tungsten wire target suspended in the circulating current. Finally, a set of preliminary experimental results is presented in which an annular electron beam was passed through a coaxial, non-adiabatic magnetic cusp located at one end of a magnetic mirror well.

This report presents some findings about representation of Mexican Americans in the executive branch of government in the United States.

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, from the week ending September 22 to the week ending October 20, during 1978 and 1979 for turkey eggs set and poults hatched.

Plasma confinement and neutral beam injection heating were investigated on the Oak Ridge Tokamak (ORMAK) plasma with improved plasma parameters due to higher injection power (to 360 kW), discharge current (to 220 kA) and toroidal field (to 26 kG). With increasing injection power up to 360 kW with otherwise constant operational parameters, the central ion temperature increased roughly linearly from 0.7 keV to 1.8 keV. The scaling of ion temperature with injection power and plasma density reasonably agrees with theoretical predictions based on neoclassical ion heat conduction and classical beam energy transport.

This report describes the use of noise analysis to investigate in-core instrument tube vibrations in BWR-4 reactors. Neutron noise signals from in-core fission chambers and acoustic noise signals from externally mounted accelerometers were used in these studies. The results show that neutron noise can be used to detect vibration and, more importantly, impacting of instrument tubes against adjacent fuel channel boxes. Externally mounted accelerometers detect impacting but not rubbing of instrument tubes against fuel channel boxes. Accelerometers can monitor impacting only on the particular instrument tube where the accelerometer is mounted. Surveillance for instrument tube impacts can be accomplished using standard BWR-4 in-core power range neutron flux detectors at all instrument tube locations containing these detectors. Ex-vessel accelerometers can then be used to monitor instrument tubes that lack power range neutron flux detectors. However, noise on axial flux profiles obtained with movable in-core detectors is not a reliable indicator of impacting, because the recorder used to plot the flux profiles does not respond adequately to the noise frequency generated by impacting.

This paper reviews the current state of the art for measuring liquid metal densities. Conventional high precision techniques for use below 2000K as well as new techniques for more extreme temperatures are addressed. Pertinent data, which have appeared since the last critical reviews, for elemental metals are discussed.

The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory seismic net was upgraded by installing two horizontal seismometers at each of the four LLL stations. These seismometers record radial and transverse ground motion from underground nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site and complement the vertical components which were installed several years ago. Each station now monitors three orthogonal components of ground velocity over a broad frequency band.

The Plutonium Inventory Verification Program at Mound Laboratory provides a nondestructive means of assaying bulk plutonium-bearing material. The assay is performed by combining the calorimetrically determined heat output of the sample and the relative abundances of the heat-producing isotopes. This report describes the method used for the nondestructive determination of plutonium-238, -240, -241 and americium-241 relative to plutonium-239 using gamma-ray spectroscopy for 93 percent plutonium-239 material. Comparison of chemical data on aliquots of samples to the nondestructive data shows accuracies of +-7 percent for /sup 238/Pu//sup 239/Pu, +-15 percent for /sup 240/Pu//sup 239/Pu, +- 3 percent for /sup 241/Pu//sup 239/Pu, and +-7 percent for /sup 241/Am//sup 239/Pu.