Results of two failure experiments using LMFBR-type fuel during simulated unprotected transient overpower accidents are reported and analyzed. In both experiments, a single fresh fuel pin in a Mark0IIA loop was subjected to a temperature-limited, step-reactivity irradiation in the TREAT reactor. Total energy was 490 MJ in Test H2 and in Test E4.

An analytical investigation of certain problems in the area of subassembly-to-subassembly failure propagation in LMFBR's is described. Existing analyses of the response of the adjacent subassembly duct to mechanical loads are reviewed and summarized, and major uncertainties are identified. Additional analyses of the response of the adjacent subassembly to certain thermal loads are presented in two parts. In the first part, the effect of an external heat flux on duct melting and thermal stresses is considered. The external heat fluxes required to produce duct melting or excessive thermal stresses are compared with the heat fluxes that might be expected from the molten fuel deposited on the duct wall. In the second part, a thermal-hydraulic study is performed to investigate the effect of the external heat flux on the coolant temperature distribution in the adjacent subassembly. Both normal subassembly geometry and distorted subassembly geometry are considered. A detailed model of the coolant region formed by the heated duct wall and the displaced fuel pins is also analyzed to determine whether there are severe temperature gradients.

Report on studies of advanced batteries, aqueous batteries, advanced fuel cells, coal utilization, methodologies for recovery of energy from municipal waste, solid and liquid desiccants, nuclear technology related to waste management, and physical chemistry of selected materials in environments simulating those of fission, fusion, and other energy systems.

This paper describes an alternative library of elementary functions prepared for use with the standard Fortran compiler under 4.2 BSD UNIX on a VAX 11/780. The library, written in C and based on the book ''Software Manual for the Elementary Functions'' by Cody and Waite, offers improved accuracy over the standard system library, as well as additional capabilities. Listings and output from the ELEFUNT suite of test programs are included in the appendix.

Heat transfer in evacuated-tube solar collectors with heat-pipe absorbers is compared with that for similar collectors with flow-through absorbers. In systems that produce hot water or other heated fluids, the heat-pipe absorber suffers a heat transfer penalty compared with the flow-through absorber, but in many cases the penalty can be minimized by proper design at the heat-pipe condenser and system manifold. The heat transfer penalty decreases with decreasing collector heat loss coefficient, suggesting that evacuated tubes with optical concentration are more appropriate for use with heat pipes than evacuated or non-evacuated flat-plate collectors. When the solar collector is used to drive an absorption chiller, the heat-pipe absorber has better heat transfer characteristics than the flow-through absorbers.

This report documents the design considerations and test results of two heat extraction systems for the ANL Research Salt Gradient Solar Pond (RSGSP). Since operation began in November 1980, the RSGSP has been used to study a wide variety of solar pond phenomena, and the behavior of the RSGSP without heat extraction has been well characterized. Heat extraction equipment was installed in the spring of 1984, with heat extraction experiments conducted the following summer and fall and in the fall of 1985. The experiments simulated the use of the solar pond for grain drying. The effects of both heat extraction methods on the stability of the salt gradient are investigated.

In 1973, Argonne National Laboratory began consolidating and upgrading its plutonium-handling operations with the result that the research fuel-fabrication facility located in Building 350 was shut down and declared surplus. Sixteen of the twenty-three gloveboxes which comprised the system were disassembled and relocated for reuse or placed into controlled storage during 1974 but, due to funding constraints, full-scale decommissioning did not start until 1978. Since that time the fourteen remaining contaminated gloveboxes, including all internal and external equipment as well as the associated ventilation systems, have been assayed for radioactive content, dismantled, size reduced to fit acceptable packaging and sent to a US Department of Energy (DOE) transuranic retrievable-storage site or to a DOE low-level nuclear waste burial ground. The project which was completed in 1983, required 5 years to accomplish, 32 man years of effort, produced some 540 cubic meters (19,000 cubic ft) of radioactive waste of which 60% was TRU, and cost 2.4 million dollars.

The influence of gamma irradiation on the reaction of actinide-doped borosilicate glass (SRL 165) in a saturated tuff environment has been studied in a series of tests lasting up to 56 days. The following conclusions were reached. The reaction of, and subsequent actinide release from, the glass depends on the dynamic interaction between radiolysis effects, which cause the solution pH to become more acidic; glass reaction, which drives the pH more basic; and test component interactions that may extract glass components from solution. The use of large gamma irradiation dose rates to accelerate reactions that may occur in an actual repository radiation field may affect this dynamic balance by unduly influencing the mechanism of the glass-water reaction. Comparisons between the present results and data obtained by reacting similar glasses using MCC-1 and NNWSI rock cup procedures indicate that the irradiation conditions used in the present experiments do not dramatically influence the reaction rate of the glass.

The performance of programs executing on vector computers is significantly improved when the number of accesses to memory can be reduced. Unrolling Fortran DO loops, followed by substitutions and eliminations in the unrolled code, can reduce the number of loads and stores. The unrolling transformation and associated transformations of Fortran DO loops are characterized, and a set of software tools to carry out these transformations is described. The tools use the machinery available in Toolpack and have been integrated into that environment. The results of applying these tools to a collection of linear algebra subroutines are included.

Proper charging is essential to achieve maximum performance and life of lead-acid batteries. Excessive overcharging gives rise to increased battery temperature, gassing rates, electrolyte maintenance, and component corrosion, whereas repeated undercharging causes a gradual decrease in battery capacity, which often becomes irreversible. To develop an optimal charge procedure, the relation between battery available capacity, applied overcharge, and the depth-of-discharge (DOD) level prior to charging needed to be established.

The magnetically confined kinetic-energy storage ring (MCKESR) is a new, fundamental type of energy-storage device. Energy is stored as kinetic energy in mass circulated at high velocity around a circular loop. The constraining force necessary to keep the circulating ring from flying apart is provided by radial, inwardly directed forced exerted along the perimeter of the loop by magnetic fields. The magnets and ring are contained in a tunnel, which may be buried in the ground. Levitational support against gravity is also provided by magnetic fields. Energy insertion or extraction is similar to that for a synchronous motor.

The branching fraction in the decay of the fission product ⁸⁵m-krypton⁸⁵m to the ground state ⁸⁵krypton (10.75 y) was measured relative to the total decay to both ⁸⁵krypton and ⁸⁵Rb. Samples of uranium-235 were highly irradiated in a high-flux reactor and dissolved. ⁸⁵Rb was measured by isotope-dilution mass spectrometry, and the ⁸⁵krypton was counted in GM tubes the counting efficiencies of which were calibrated with a standardized ⁸⁵krypton gas of known disintegration rate. The branching fraction measured with both a low-burnup sample and a high-burnup sample was 0.2160 +/- 0.0019, the largest error arising from the uncertainty in the caibration of the standardized gas.

The fraction of delayed neutrons beta in slow-neutron beams from a uranium-238 pulsed spallation neutron source is 0.0053 for 300 MeV protons. This measurement appears to be the first one of this quantity. The result indicates that, for most classes of measurements, the delayed-neutron background in time-of-flight instruments will be unimportant, and places constraints on the physics description of spallation targets. The measurement was performed at the prototype pulsed spallation neutron source, ZING-P', at Argonne National laboratory.

Nuclear material inventory verification techniques for large split-table type fast critical assemblies are being studied under this program. Emphasis has been given to techniques that minimize fuel handling in order to reduce facility down time and radiation exposure to the inventory team. The techniques studied include autoradiography, reactivity, and spectral index measurements.

Quarterly report of the Argonne National Laboratory Chemical Engineering Division regarding activities related to properties and handling of radioactive materials, operation of nuclear reactors, and other relevant research.

Quarterly report discussing fuel cell research and development work at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). This report describes efforts on development of molten carbonate fuel cells directed toward seeking alternative cathode materials to NiO. Based on an investigation of the thermodynamically stable phases formed under cathode conditions with a number of transition metal oxides, synthesis of prospective alternative cathode materials and doping of these materials to promote electronic conductivity is under way.

Tube vibrations in heat exchangers are being systematically investigated in a series of tests performed with an industrial-size test exchanger. Results from water-flow tests of eleven different tube bundles, in six- and eight-cross-pass configurations on a 90 degree square layout with a pitch-to-diameter ratio of 1.25 are reported. The test cases include full tube bundles, no-tubes-in-window bundles, finned tube bundles, and proposed field and design fixes. The testing focused on identification of the lowest critical flow-rate to initiate fluid-elastic instability (large amplitude tube motion) and the location within the bundle of the tubes which first experience instability. The test results are tabulated to permit comparison with results obtained from previous tests with a 30 degree triangular layout tube bundle. Instability criteria are evaluated preliminarily. Pressure drop data are also generated and reported.

Tests are conducted for tubes conveying fluid for six types of support conditions. The objectives are to understand the dynamic characteristics of such systems for different support conditions and to explore the methods to control tube stability. Transition from one instability mechanism to another is examined, and the feasibility of using feedback control to increase the critical flow velocity is demonstrated.

This report describes how solar system tanks fail to stratify, a new solar system control strategy that allows stratification, a one-dimensional analytical model of thermally stratified tanks, experimental measurement of thermal stratification in tanks, correlation of experimental measurements with empirical constants in the analytical model, and a procedure for designing thermally stratified tanks. Failure to stratify is explained in terms of the critical Richardson number. The key to the new control strategy is to avoid a Richardson number that decreases during solar collection. The analytical model is an approximate solution based on assumptions that (1) the solution is a function of elevation and time, only, (2) plug flow exists, (3) flow rate is constant, (4) the cross-sectional areas of the tank and tank wall are constant, (5) there is a step change of inlet temperature, (6) there is heat transfer between the tank wall and the water, and (7) thermal losses from the tank are negligible. Empirical constants in the theory are determined by adjusting them until the best least-squares fit with experimental data is obtained and correlating the constants with the Fourier and Richardson numbers. The new control strategy allows tanks to stratify and reduces the average collector operating …

Mechanisms that were developed for the Argonne National Laboratory - Northern Illinois University theorem proving system are discussed. By defining special input clauses and demodulators, it is possible to simulate mathematical processes such as canonicalization of polynomials with no special programming. The mechanisms presented resulted from a study of the X³ = X problem in ring theory. The use of the mechanisms allowed this problem to the solved for the first time by the automated theorem proving system.

The effects of curvature on steady states of chemical catalytic reactions are investigated by studying the cases of the catalytic particle being a spherical or cylindrical shell. Existence and stability of solutions are studied. It is shown that the solutions converge to the solutions for the catalytic slab when the curvature goes to 0 in each case.

This report describes a coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian code, ICECO-CEL, for analyzing the response of the primary system during hypothetical core disruptive accidents. The implicit Eulerian method is used to calculate the fluid motion so that large fluid distortion, two-dimensional sliding interface, flow around corners, flow through coolant passageways, and out-flow boundary conditions can be treated. The explicit Lagrangian formulation is employed to compute the response of the containment vessel and other elastic-plastic solids inside the reactor containment. Large displacements, as well as geometrical and material nonlinearities are considered in the analysis. Marker particles are utilized to define the free surface or the material interface and to visualize the fluid motion. The basic equations and numerical techniques used in the Eulerian hydrodynamics and Lagrangian structural dynamics are described. Treatment of the above-core hydrodynamics, sodium spillage, fluid cavitation, free-surface boundary conditions and heat transfer are also presented. Examples are given to illustrate the capabilities of the computer code. Comparisons of the code predictions with available experimental data are also made.

The application of neutron activation analysis to the determination of element release from simulated nuclear waste forms during leaching is described for several different glasses. Potential neutron irradiation effects are discussed, and it is shown, by a series of leach tests on activated and non-activated glass samples, that neutron irradiation has no discernible effect on the release of silicon and cesium during leaching. The radioisotopes best suited for analysis with this method and their associated detection limits are identified, and the method's applicability to waste forms other than glass is discussed.

Report on the COMMIX-PPC computer program, designed to evaluate the thermal performance of power plant condensers. This first volume "describes in detail the basic equations, formulation, solution procedures, and models for auxiliary phenomena" (p. iv).