Within the context of the Fissile Materials Disposition Program of the U.S. Department of Energy we analyzed rod removal transient experiments performed at the Kurchatov Institute in a full-scale mockup of VVER reactors, The transients were started (via water inlet) in slightly (few cents) supercritical configurations with all the control rods withdrawn. After a few minutes, control rods banks or individual control rods were f and t inserted and later withdrawn (returning to the initial state). Available experimental data include the relative time profiles of nine incore and excore detectors. Because of the mild nature of the transients (very low power and no more than 2 $ reactivities) we decided to use a quasistatic approach. The time-dependent flux is factorized into two terms: a function of phase space, given by the solution of the static equation with parametric excitation; and a function of time, given by the solution of the point kinetic equations with time-dependent kinetics para meters. Due to the nature of the experiment, cold conditions, control rods withdrawn and critical state with water level, the power distributions, measured and calculated, are quite unusual, with the inner part of the core heavily shielded. Measured power levels at the center …

Pretreatment of low-solids (LS) potato process effluent was tested for potential to increase surfactin yield. Pretreatments included heat, removal of starch particulates, and acid hydrolysis. Elimination of contaminating vegetative cells was necessary for surfactin production. After autoclaving, 0.40 g/L of surfactin was produced from the effluent in 72 h, versus 0.24 g/L in the purified potato starch control. However, surfactin yields per carbon consumed were 76% lower from process effluent. Removal of starch particulates had little effect on the culture. Acid hydrolysis decreased growth and surfactant production, except 0.5 wt% acid, which increased the yield by 25% over untreated effluent.

Antiprotons for the Collider will be bunched in the Accumulator using a RF system (ARF4) that operates at a frequency that is four times the revolution frequency of the Accumulator. Four bunches can be extracted from the Accumulator in a single transfer. Since the TEVATRON will operate with 36 antiproton bunches, nine extractions from the Accumulator will be needed. During Run 1, the momentum distribution of the Accumulator core was shaped by the core cooling systems and was approximately gaussian. After an antiproton bunch was extracted from the core, the momentum spread of the beam was increased because of RF displacement. The beam would then be recooled which would delay shot setup (or the phase space density of subsequent extractions would be diluted). Since the number of extractions per shot for Run II is increasing by 50% (from 6 to 9), the extra time due to re-cooling (or the alternative of momentum phase space dilution) might not be acceptable. This note will outline a scheme that will shape the momentum distribution into a rectangle and will extract the beam from the edges of the distribution so that RF displacement is minimized.

A software system, GRAVE (Geometry Rendering and Visual Editor), has been developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to perform interactive visualization and development of models used as input to the TORT three-dimensional discrete ordinates radiation transport code. Three-dimensional and two-dimensional visualization displays are included. Display capabilities include image rotation, zoom, translation, wire-frame and translucent display, geometry cuts and slices, and display of individual component bodies and material zones. The geometry can be interactively edited and saved in TORT input file format. This system is an advancement over the current, non-interactive, two-dimensional display software. GRAVE is programmed in the Java programming language and can be implemented on a variety of computer platforms. Three- dimensional visualization is enabled through the Visualization Toolkit (VTK), a free-ware C++ software library developed for geometric and data visual display. Future plans include an extension of the system to read inputs using binary zone maps and combinatorial geometry models containing curved surfaces, such as those used for Monte Carlo code inputs. Also GRAVE will be extended to geometry visualization/editing for the DORT two-dimensional transport code and will be integrated into a single GUI-based system for all of the ORNL discrete ordinates transport codes.

Production of bacterial cellulose by Acetobacter xylinum ATCC 10821 and 23770 in static cultures was tested from unamended food process effluents. Effluents included low- and high-solids potato effluents (LS and HS), cheese whey permeate (CW), and sugar beet raffinate (CSB). Strain 23770 produced 10% less cellulose from glucose than did 10821, and diverted more glucose to gluconate. Unamended HS, CW, and CSB were unsuitable for cellulose production by either strain, while LS was unsuitable for production by 10821. However, 23770 produced 17% more cellulose from LS than from glucose, indicating unamended LS could serve as a feedstock for bacterial cellulose.

Two programming models for parallelizing the Angular Domain Decomposition (ADD) of the discrete ordinates (S{sub n}) approximation of the neutron transport equation are examined. These are the shared memory model based on the POSIX threads (Pthreads) standard, and the message passing model based on the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard. These standard libraries are available on most multiprocessor platforms thus making the resulting parallel codes widely portable. The question is: on a fixed platform, and for a particular code solving a given test problem, which of the two programming models delivers better parallel performance? Such comparison is possible on Symmetric Multi-Processors (SMP) architectures in which several CPUs physically share a common memory, and in addition are capable of emulating message passing functionality. Implementation of the two-dimensional,(S{sub n}), Arbitrarily High Order Transport (AHOT) code for solving neutron transport problems using these two parallelization models is described. Measured parallel performance of each model on the COMPAQ AlphaServer 8400 and the SGI Origin 2000 platforms is described, and comparison of the observed speedup for the two programming models is reported. For the case presented in this paper it appears that the MPI implementation scales better than the Pthreads implementation on both platforms.

As part of Fissile Materials Disposition Program (FMDP) physics support was given to the design of a MOX lead test assembly (LTA) for use in Russian VVER nuclear reactors. This paper discusses some of the pertinent findings and assessments for two distinct LTA designs for weapons-grade (WG) Pu dispositioning in Russian VVER-1000 nuclear reactors. The two assessed MOX LTA designs are the graded-zone full MOX LTA and the Island LTA (2 central zones of MOX pins surrounded by UO{sub 2} pins). The process of optimizing the graded Pu-content by zone in the fuel assembly is discussed. Eigenvalue and power peaking comparisons are made as a function of fuel burnup. Zero-power reactivity effects were calculated for the different LTA options. For the ORNL results, the n,{gamma}-transport lattice physics code HELIOS-1.4 was used with nuclear data libraries (based on ENDF/B-VI) in 89 and 190 neutron energy groups. Some comparisons are made between the ORNL HELIOS results and corresponding Russian LTA calculations by the RRC-KI (Kurchatov Institute) using the code TVS-M. Also in this paper, pertinent results are discussed from a study of void reactivity effects for LEU, RG MOX and WG MOX fuels in PWR and VVER-1000 nuclear reactors. These void reactivity …

Calculations of computational benchmark problems for the disposition of weapons-grade plutonium fuel in VVER-1000 reactors have been performed under the Joint US/Russian Fissile Material Disposition Program. The benchmarks cover pin cell, single fuel assembly, and multi-assembly structures with several different fuel types, moderator densities, and boron content for operational and off-normal conditions. Fuel depletion is performed to a burnup of 60 MWd/kgHM. The results of the analysis of the benchmarks with US and Russian code systems have been compared and indicated good agreement among the different methods and data.