Individual Department of Energy offices make R and D program assignments to competing multiprogram laboratories that are concentrated consistently more or less than the assignments of other offices over their full range, from largest assignment to smallest. Defense-related offices ignore as R and D performers the laboratories they do not dominate, by extends even greater than would be predicted from giving the three weapons laboratories their largest assignments. Certain DOE offices cluster their lab assignments together; others tend to avoid one another. To frame new legislation with net benefits for this internal market, Congress must appreciate the role of interlab competition.

The objective of this project is to evaluate and demonstrate a cost effective emission control technology for acid rain precursors, oxides of nitrogen (NO{sub x}) and sulfur (SO{sub x}), on two coal fired utility boilers in Illinois. The units selected are representative of pre-NSPS design practices: tangential and cyclone fired. Work on a third unit, wall fired, has been stopped because of funding limitations. The specific objectives are to demonstrate reductions of 60 percent in NO{sub x} and 50 percent in SO{sub x} emissions, by a combination of two developed technologies, gas reburning (GR) and sorbent injection (SI). With GR, about 80--85 percent of the coal fuel is fired in the primary combustion zone. The balance of the fuel is added downstream as natural gas to create a slightly fuel rich environment in which NO{sub x} is converted to N{sub 2}. The combustion process is completed by overfire air addition. SO{sub x} emissions are reduced by injecting dry sorbents (usually calcium based) into the upper furnace. The sorbents trap SO{sub x} as solid sulfates that are collected in the particulate control device. This project is conducted in three phases at each site: (1) Design and Permitting, (2) Construction and Startup, …

The primary objective of this Clean Coal Technology project is to evaluate the use of Gas Reburning and Low NO{sub x} Burners (GR-LNB) for NO{sub x} emission control from a wall fired boiler. This project is being conducted in three phases at the host site, a 172 MW{sub e} wall fired boiler of Public Service Company of Colorado, Cherokee Unit 3 in Denver, Colorado: Phase I, design and permitting has been completed on June 30, 1992; Phase II, construction and start-up has been completed on September 1991; and Phase III, operation, data collection, reporting and disposition. Phase III activities during this reporting period involved the following: compilation, analysis and assembly of the final report and initiation of restoration activities; restoration of the gas reburning system involving removal of the flue gas recirculation system (permanent Second Generation Gas Reburning); and participants meeting and reburning workshop. Long term testing of the equipment demonstrated an average NO{sub x} reduction of 65% using 18% gas heat input. After removing the flue gas recirculation system, (Second Generation GR), an average NO{sub x} of 64% was achieved using 13% gas heat input. The project goal of 70% reduction was achieved, but no on an average basis …

The primary objective of this investigation is to obtain experimental data that can be applied to assess the technical feasibility and the environmental impacts of oceanic containment strategies to limit atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide from coal and other fossil fuel combustion systems. These strategies exploit the very large storage capacity of the deep ocean. In most systems proposed to date, CO{sub 2} extracted from a combustor is liquefied and transported to the deep ocean via a submerged conduit and discharged, usually as a jet. Hydrodynamic instability induces break-up of the jet into droplets which will be buoyant at depths above 3,000m. Dissolution of the rising droplets may be inhibited by a solid hydrate film that forms on the surface of the droplets. The complex mechanisms of liquid CO{sub 2} jet break-up, droplet dispersion and coalescence, and dissolution in the deep ocean environment are not well understood. The present investigation seeks to address several of the major technical uncertainties by conducting two categories of laboratory tests which will: (1) characterize size spectra and velocities of the dispersed CO{sub 2} phase in the near-field of the atomized jet; and (2) estimate rates of mass transfer from single rising droplets of liquid …

This interim submittal is an updated 1996 overview of the Master Plan based on the 1995 LLNL Site Development Plan, illustrating the future land use considerations, and the locations of proposed facilities as documented through the line item development process and keyed to the summary table. The following components in addition to the line-item proposals remain key elements in the implementation strategy of the Master Plan: personnel migration, revitalization, space reduction, classified core contraction, utility systems, and environmental restoration.

The Spent Nuclear Fuel Path Forward Project (SNF Project) has been established to develop engineered methods for the expedited removal of the irradiated uranium fuel from the K East (KE) and K West (KW) Basins. As specified by the SNF Project, the SNF will be removed from the K Basins, conditioned for dry storage and placed in a long term interim storage facility located in the 200 East Area. The SNF primarily consists of Zircaloy-2 clad uranium fuel discharged from the N-Reactor. A small portion of the SNF is Single Pass Reactor (SPR) Fuel, which is aluminum clad uranium fuel. The SNF will be loaded into Multi-Canister Overpacks (MCOs) at the K Basins, transferred to the Cold Vacuum Drying (CVD) facility for initial fuel conditioning, and transported to the Canister Storage Building (CSB) for staging, final fuel conditioning, and dry storage. The MCO is a transportation, conditioning, and storage vessel. The MCO consists of a 24 inch pipe with a welded bottom closure and a top closure that is field welded after the MCO is loaded with SNF. The MCO is handled and transported in the vertical orientation during all operations. Except for operations within the CSB, the MCO is …

Project will develop a prototype for a digital and hard-copy atlas of petroleum fields and reservoirs in the northern Mid-continent region. A limited number of reservoirs in Kansas are to be included in the prototype project, but the goal is to expand beyond the prototype atlas to include significant reservoirs representing the major plays in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, the Williston basin portion of Montana, the Denver-Julesburg basin of eastern Colorado and southeastern Colorado. Primary products of the prototype atlas will be on-line accessible digital data bases covering two selected petroleum plays in Kansas. `Pages` and data schema for the first field studies of the atlas have been developed and are accessible through the World-Wide-Web. The atlas structure includes access to geologic, geophysical and production information at levels from the regional, to the field to the individual well. Several approaches have been developed that provide efficient and flexible screening and search procedures. The prototype of the digital atlas is accessible through the Kansas Geological Survey Petroleum Research Section (PRS) HomePage (The Universal Resource Locator [URL] is http://www.kgs. ukans.edu/PRS/PRS.html). The DPA HomePage is available directly at http://www.kg.ukans.edu/DPA/dpaHome.html. Technology transfer is underway through the use of monthly electronic updates and …

In December 1992, the US Department of Energy (DOE) directed that the Plutonium-Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant be shut down and deactivated because it was no longer needed to support the nation`s production of weapons-grade plutonium. The PUREX/UO{sub 2} Deactivation Project will establish a safe and environmentally secure configuration for the facility and preserve that configuration for 10 years. The 10-year span is used to predict future maintenance requirements and represents the estimated time needed to define, authorize, and initiate the follow-on decontamination and decommissioning activities. Accomplishing the deactivation project involves many activities. Removing major hazards, such as excess chemicals, spent fuel, and residual plutonium are major goals of the project. The scope of the PUREX Transition Project is described within.

Narcisse is a graphics package developed by our French colleagues at Centre d`Etudes de Limeil Valenton of the Commissariat d`Energie Atomique. Narcisse is quite comprehensive; it can do two-, three-, and four-dimensional plots (the latter meaning that the surface is colored according to the values of an arbitrary function). One can open and send plots to a Narcisse window on a distant machine. Narcisse has a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) which, once a graph has appeared, allows the user to change its characteristics interactively. This enables one to find the best appearance for a particular plot without having to graph it repeatedly from the user program. Previously created files in various formats can also be imported directly into the Narcisse GUI and manipulated from there. Narcisse runs independently, as a graphics server. The user program communicates with Narcisse via Unix sockets. This communication is quite low level and very complex. The appearance of a plot is controlled by nearly 150 parameters for determining such things as the color palette, type of shading, axis scales, curve and surface labels, titles, angle and distance of view (for three- and four-dimensional graphs), hidden line removal, etc. Most end users do not wish …

This safety assessment (SA) addresses each of the required elements associated with the installation, operation, and removal of a rotary-mode core sampling (RMCS) device in flammable-gas single-shell tanks (SSTs). The RMCS operations are needed in order to retrieve waste samples from SSTs with hard layers of waste for which push-mode sampling is not adequate for sampling. In this SA, potential hazards associated with the proposed action were identified and evaluated systematically. Several potential accident cases that could result in radiological or toxicological gas releases were identified and analyzed and their consequences assessed. Administrative controls, procedures and design changes required to eliminate or reduce the potential of hazards were identified. The accidents were analyzed under nine categories, four of which were burn scenarios. In SSTS, burn accidents result in unacceptable consequences because of a potential dome collapse. The accidents in which an aboveground burn propagates into the dome space were shown to be in the ``beyond extremely unlikely`` frequency category. Given the unknown nature of the gas-release behavior in the SSTS, a number of design changes and administrative controls were implemented to achieve these low frequencies. Likewise, drill string fires and dome space fires were shown to be very low frequency …

A Distributive Process Control system was purchased by Project B-534, 242-A Evaporator/Crystallizer Upgrades. This control system, called the Monitor and Control system (MCS), was installed in the 242-A evaporator located in the 200 East Area. The purpose of the MCS is to monitor and control the Evaporator and monitor a number of alarms and other signals from various Tank Farm facilities. Applications software for the MCS was developed by the Waste Treatment Systems Engineering (WTSE) group of Westinghouse. The standard displays and alarm scheme provide for control and monitoring, but do not directly indicate the signal location or depict the overall process. To do this, WTSE developed a second alarm scheme.

Solar is developing the technologies for a highly efficient, recuperated, Advanced Turbine System (ATS) that is aimed at the dispersed power generation market. With ultra-low-emissions in mind the primary fuel selected for this engine system is natural gas. Although this gas fired ATS (GFATS) will primarily employ natural gas the use of other fuels particular those derived from coal and renewable resources cannot be overlooked. The enabling technologies necessary to direct fire coal in gas turbines were developed during the 1980`s. This Solar development co-sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) resulted in the testing of a full size coal-water-slurry fired combustion system. In parallel with this program the DOE funded the development of integrated gasification combined cycle systems (IGCC). This report describes the limitations of the Solar ATs (recuperated engine) and how these lead to a recommended series of modifications that will allow the use of these alternate fuels. Three approaches have been considered: direct-fired combustion using either a slagging combustor, or a pressurized fluidized bed (PFBC), externally or indirectly fired approaches using pulverized fuel, and external gasification of the fuel with subsequent direct combustion of the secondary fuel. Each of these approaches requires substantial hardware and system …

Currently, Tanks Farms Transition Projects require personnel to perform a whole body survey with portable survey instrumentation prior to entering an automated counting system capable of performing a whole body survey. This practice is redundant since automated whole body survey devices are, in most cases, more sensitive and are less likely to be used incorrectly than portable instrumentation. Additionally, Article 221.2 of the Hanford Site Radiological Control Manual (HSRCM-1) states ``Monitoring for contamination should be performed using frisking equipment that under laboratory conditions can detect total contamination of at least the values specified in Table 2-2.`` Based on this criteria implementing the use of an automated whole body survey device would save significant time, money and reduce the current crowding and potential loss of contamination control that now occurs during peak times at step off pads. This document describes implementation process for applying PCM-1B instruments to perform personnel release surveys.

The topics discussed in this report are as follows: wave propagation in tokamaks; pellet ablation research; lattice Boltzmann research; and divertor research. A brief summary is given for each topic.

A recent source term analysis has shown a discrepancy between ORIGEN2 transuranic isotopic production estimates and those produced with the WIMS-E lattice physics code. Excellent agreement between relevant experimental measurements and WIMS-E was shown, thus exposing an error in the cross section library used by ORIGEN2.

Microwave sintering studies with boron carbide (B{sub 4}C) are being evaluated to compare properties of unidirectionally pressed and sintered microwaved pellets with gelcasting of B{sub 4}C. The particle blend is a 50/50 blend of 1-{micro}m and 0.1-{micro}m using 5 wt% carbon (Thermax{reg_sign}) addition. The large, dual-frequency microwave furnace was used to determine that scaleup of a large number of parts can be processed simultaneously using a microwave furnace. Microwave heat treatment of commercial silicon carbide (SiC) resulted in minimal densification, which is thought to result from the exclusion of liquid-phase eutectic, producing sintering aids.