The first measurements of the angular and energy spectrum of RA electrons and the first experiments on D/sub 2/ gas are reported.

Three appendices are presented to a report (Vol. I) on a methodology for assessng the feasibility of direct load control in the environment of a non-generating electric utility. The first appendix deals with load control simulations for two urban and two rural service areas with winter or summer peak-demand seasons. The second appendix contains abstracts and data on significant water heater or central air conditioning load control tests and research programs. The final appendix discusses the operation and applicability of load control devices designed for installation at the customer's location. (LCL)

Several alternatives are available for achieving load management, including direct or voluntary control of customer loads, customer or utility energy storage systems for diurnal load shifting, and expanded interconnection and operation of electric power systems. All of these alternatives are available to the fully integrated (generating, transmitting and distributing) electric utility and the analysis of their effects encompasses the power supply and delivery system. However, the costs and benefits of the alternatives to the fully integrated electric utility are perhaps not so obvious. Therefore, by considering a non-generating utility, this analysis focuses upon the distribution system and wholesale power supply interaction as a step toward an analysis including the power supply and delivery system. This report develops an analysis procedure and discusses some of the relevant factors to be consdered in the application of direct load control for a non-generating utility system. The analysis concentrates on the distribution system only to determine the effect of rates and payback as a result of direct load control. Thus, the study is responsive to the specific needs of the non-generating utility. This analysis of direct load control encompasses the determination of those loads amenable to control, the selection of a suitable one-way communications …

The Fast Mixed Spectrum Reactor is a highly promising concept for a fast reactor with improved features of proliferation resistance, and excellent utilization of uranium resources. In technology, it can be considered to be a branch of fast breeder development, though its operation and implications are different from those of FBR'S in important respects. Successful development programs are required in several areas to bring FMSR to reality, but the payoff from a successful program can be high.

In a fast reactor, nuclear properties limit the number of materials that can be considered for use as neutron absorbers. On a worldwide basis the leading candidates are boron carbide, europium sesquioxide, and europium hexaboride. The performance of these materials is discussed with regard to current and future requirements.

The feasibility of developing the power potential of the Illinois River at the Lake Frances Dam for utilization by the city of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, was studied. It was found that the average annual power production potential of this site is 3.8 MWh; the cost saving produced by the proposed hydropower project will not support any remedial rehabilitation costs of the entire dam structure; development and operation of this hydropower project would save nonrenewal types of energy; if the capital cost can be fixed at present day prices, the development will become economically feasible when electric costs increase by 43%; and there will be no significant adverse environmental impact resulting from either the construction or operation of the hydropower facilities. It was concluded that the hydropower facilities should be constructed, owned and operated by the city of Siloam Springs, provided the dam safety can be assured and sources of funding can be made available so that the annual costs will not exceed the annual savings. (LCL)

A general description of the FFTF is presented concerning the construction progress; status of startup and selected startup test results; and planned experiment program during and subsequent to the startup testing program. The FFTF is a 400 MWt, sodium cooled test reactor plant consisting of a fast-neutron reactor fueled by mixed plutonium oxide-uranium oxide fuel elements, three independent heat transport loops, extensive instrumentation, fuel handling equipment, and auxiliary systems which support the main reactor and cooling systems. The FFTF contains no steam generators, electrical generating equipment, or breeding blankets. Heat generated in the reactor is released to the ambient atmosphere by twelve large sodium-to-air heat exchangers.

A field study is reported, showing that for a carbonate-leach-process mill tailings pile in the Grants, New Mexico region much of the residual radioactive constituents in the tailings is found associated with particles 7 ..mu..m in diameter and smaller. As the tailings material dries, particle attachment and aggregation occurs with the result that radioactive constituents become associated more with larger particles. Soil samples taken at surface and subsurface on radial lines extending from the tailings pile for 5 miles showed the distribution of radium-226 and other radionuclides in the soil. The radeium-226 deposited on the soil was distributed in such a manner that about 1.6 Ci of randon-222 per day enters the atmosphere from this secondary source. The suspension and transport of particles were studied using an array of sampling towers and wind speed and velocity instrumentation that signaled designated samplers at upwind and downwind locations to operate when wind direction and speed criteria were satisfied. Flux of particles in various size ranges was determined as a function of wind speed. The radionuclide content of airborne particles as a function of particle size was measured for some samplers. A significant fraction of airborne radioactive material is associated with respirable particles. …

The report identifies problems inhibiting large scale multiparty cogeneration development and suggests means to reconcile the parties' differing interests. The analytical approach adopted for structuring ownership arrangements for a cogeneration project, once engineering studies confirm that the requisite technical advantages exist, is to attempt to resolve three specific issues: (1) identification of the potential participants (industrial customers, the electric utility serving the area, equipment vendors and erectors, design and engineering firms, fuel suppliers and transporters, passive investors, governmental interests, insurance carriers, and others); (2) selection of one or more of the three principal roles which each participant may play: (a) purchaser of project output, (b) provider of other commitments to support financing of the project, and (c) investor in the project; and (3) as to those participants taking an ownership role in the project, deciding whether one participant will act as sole owner or, if joint ownership is selected, deciding which of two structural formats they prefer: (a) an undivided interest approach in which each participant is responsible for and bears the full burden of providing its proportionate share of funding for the project; or (b) a project-entity approach in which each participant owns an interest in a newly organized …

In 1977 parts of an abandoned industrial waste line (IWL) that carried laboratory or process chemical and radiochemical wastes were removed from Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory property and from the townsite of Los Alamos in north-central New Mexico. Most of the IWL was removed between 1964 and 1967. Some IWL segments in the townsite, which at that time were buried under newly paved roads, were left for removal during future construction projects involving these roads to minimize traffic problems and road damage, and because they posed no public health hazard. In 1977, prior to impending major road construction in several areas, 400 m (1300 ft) of IWL and two IWL manhole structures were removed from Laboratory and Los Alamos County property. Associated soil contamination was removed to levels considered to be as low as practicable. Contaminated or potentially contaminated material was removed to an approved radioactive waste disposal site on Department of Energy property. Full details of the methods, findings, and as-left conditions are documented in this report.

The vibrational modes and frequency characteristics of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) steam generator tube bundle assembly with and without lateral support in a fluid environment are analyzed. The idealized half-model was constructed using the SAP-IV finite element code. Free vibration analyses were performed for an in-air case and a submerged in-water case, each with different constraint conditions at steam generator tube bundle assembly support plates 10 and 11. These constraint conditions included having both support plates free, having both support plates fixed, and having support plate 11 free while support plate 10 was fixed. It was found that as the support plate constraints were removed, the frequency range for each case increased significantly.

An automated uncertainty analysis option has been added to the FRAPCON Computer Code. The option allows the user to obtain estimates of the uncertainty in computer output variables of the code as a function of known uncertainties in input variables. The method of uncertainty analysis used is the Response Surface Method (RSM). Results of the uncertainty analysis option include estimates of the mean and variance of the output variables plus fractional contributions to that variance due to each of the input variables. An example application of the method to FRAPCON standard problem number one is presented.

Progress in various tasks of the LWR Fuel Performance Improvement Program is summarized. These tasks include the testing and demonstration program, out-of-reactor experiments, in-reactor experiments, in-reactor demonstrations, and fuel performance evaluations.

A subcode (FVAPRS) is described which calculates fuel vapor pressure. This subcode was developed as part of the fuel rod behavior modeling task performed at EG and G Idaho, Inc. The fuel vapor pressure subcode (FVAPRS), is presented and a discussion of literature data, steady state and transient fuel vapor pressure equations and estimates of the standard error of estimate to be expected with the FVAPRS subcode are included.

A decentralized nuclear energy system is proposed comprising mass-produced pressurized water reactors in the size range 10 to 300 MW (thermal), to be used for the production of process heat, space heat, and electricity in applications where petroleum and natural gas are presently used. Special attention is given to maximizing the refueling interval with no interim batch shuffling in order to minimize fuel transport, reactor downtime, and opportunity for fissile diversion. These objectives demand a substantial fissile enrichment (7 to 15%). The preferred fissile fuel is U-233, which offers an order of magnitude savings in ore requirements (compared with U-235 fuel), and whose higher conversion ratio in thermal reactors serves to extend the period of useful reactivity and relieve demand on the fissile breeding plants (compared with Pu-239 fuel). Application of the neutral-beam-driven tokamak fusion-neutron source to a U-233 breeding pilot plant is examined. This scheme can be extended in part to a decentralized fusion energy system, wherein remotely located large fusion reactors supply excess tritium to a distributed system of relatively small nonbreeding D-T reactors.

The technical status report fulfills the contractual requirements of Contract EM-78-C-02-4867. The report covers the period from 31 January 1979 through 30 April 1979 and is a summary of DDA activities for the effort performed on the procurement of eleven (11) Allison GT 404-4 gas turbine engines and five (5) HT740CT and siz (6) V730CT Allison automatic transmissions and the required associated software. (TFD)

In February 1978, a dissolver-centrifuge system was added to the cold reprocessing pilot plant at General Atomic Company, which completed the installation of an HTGR fuel head-end reprocessing pilot plant. This report describes the engineering-scale equipment in the pilot plant and summarizes the design features derived from development work performed in the last few years. The dissolver operating cycles for both thorium containing BISO and uranium containinng WAR fissile fuels are included. A continuous vertical centrifuge is used to clarify the resultant dissolver product solution. Process instrumentation and controls for the system reflect design philosophy suitable for remote operation.

This report summarizes work completed by Golder Associates under Task 2 - Site Suitability specifically for modeling of fluid flow and mass transport in sedimentary basins containing thick shale or salt. It also describes ongoing and future work on the above topic. The purpose of the study is to develop a general model for a nuclear waste repository situated in a deep sedimentary basin environment. The model will be used in conjunction with Golder's fluid flow and mass transport codes to study specific aspects of nuclide transport by groundwater flow.

This report supplements the treatment of waste management issues provided in the Generic Environmental Statement on the use of recycle plutonium in mixed oxide fuel in light water cooled reactors (GESMO, NUREG-0002). Three recycle and three no-recycle options are described in this document. Management of the radioactive wastes that would result from implementation of either type of fuel cycle alternative is discussed. For five of the six options, wastes would be placed in deep geologic salt repositories for which thermal criteria are considered. Radiation doses to the workers at the repositories and to the general population are discussed. The report also covers the waste management schedule, the land and salt commitments, and the economic costs for the management of wastes generated.

None

The following are presented: the history of geothermal energy in Alaska; a history of Alaska land ownership; legal and institutional barriers; and economics. Development, the socio-economic and physical data concerning geothermal energy are documented by regions. The six regions presented are those of the present Alaska State Planning Activities and those of the Federal Land Use Commission. Site data summaries of the one hundred and four separate geothermal spring locations are presented by these regions. (MHR)

The various factors affecting geothermal resource development are summarized for Alaska including: resource data base, geological description, reservoir characteristics, environmental character, base and development status, institutional factors, economics, population and market, and development potential. (MHR)

An overview of geothermal energy and its current and potential uses in Wyoming is presented. Chapters on each region are concluded with a summary of thermal springs in the region. The uniqueness of Yellowstone is discussed from both an institutional point of view and a natural one. The institutional situation at the federal and state level is discussed as it applies to geothermal development in Wyoming. (MHR)

The action assessed is the guaranty of a loan by DOE to finance geothermal exploration, development, and testing by Mapco Geothermal, Inc. and Republic Geothermal, Inc. in the Westmorland area of Imperial County, California. Initial drilling and flow testing of up to three production wells will occur in the exploratory phase. Exploration is proposed for either or both of two portions of the leasehold area. If exploration confirms the presence of a viable resource in the Sweetwater area, the preferred site based on limited temperature data, then up to 19 new production wells and three new injection wells may be drilled and tested there in preparation for the construction of a 55-MW double-flash electric power plant. If, however, the Sweetwater resource proves infeasible, further exploration and possible full-field development may occur instead at the Dearborn-Kalin-Landers area. At this site, up to 19 new production wells and three new injection wells may be drilled and tested, with six existing wells also used for injection. This environmental assessment chiefly addresses effects of the drilling and testing program. In summary, this paper discusses the proposed action, describes the existing environment and discusses the potential environmental impacts. 75 refs. (LSP)