A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A new test method was developed which showed the installed In- Tank Precipitation Filter Unit {number_sign}3 provided at least 40, 000 x decontamination of the precipitated potassium tetraphenylborate (KTPB) during the cold chemical runs.This filter is expected to meet the needed 40,000 x hot cesium decontamination requirements, assuming that the cesium precipitate, CsTPB, behaves the same as KTPB. The new method permits cold chemicals field testing of installed filters to quantify particulate decontamination and verify filter integrity before going hot. The method involves a 1000 x concentration of fine particulate KTPB in the filtrate to allow direct analysis by counting for naturally radioactive isotope K-40 using the underground SRTC gamma spectroscopy facility. The particulate concentration was accomplished by ultra filtration at Rhone-Poulenc, NJ, using a small cross-flow bench facility, followed by collection of all suspended solids on a small filter disc for K analysis.

Existing ITP filtrate hold tanks may provide sufficient capacity and residence time to strip dissolved benzene from the incoming filtrate using nitrogen sparging in the bottom of the old tanks. This is based on equilibrium supported by late Wash test data using aged washed slurry. Theoretical considerations indicate that benzene stripping will be more difficult from the ITP unwashed high salt filtrates due to reduced mass transfer. Therefore experimental sparging data is needed to quantify the theoretical effects.Foaming limits which dictate allowable sparging rate will also have to be established. Sparging in the hold tanks will require installation of sintered metal spargers, and possibly stirrers and foam monitoring/disengagement equipment. The most critical sparging needs are at the start of the precipitation/concentration cycle, when the filtrate flux rate is the highest,and at the end of wash cycle where Henry`s equilibrium constant falls off,requiring more gas to sparge the dissolved benzene. With adequate recycle (for proper distribution) or sparging in the old tanks, the 30 inch column could be used for the complete ITP process. A courser packing would reduce back pressure while enabling benzene stripping. The Late Wash Tests indicate adequate benzene stripping even at reduced gas flow. This will require …

We report improvement of the polarization diagnostics and their use in the development of the Optically Pumped Polarized Ion Source (OPPIS).

A new reagent, BO-IMI, has been developed that achieves, single step, phosphate specific fluorescence labeling under aqueous conditions. Both 3 in. and 5 in. mononucleotides, including representative DNA adducts can be labeled. Included in this technique is a convenient procedure for postlabeling sample cleanup, leading to a practical detection of the products by capillary electrophoresis with laser fluorescencedetection. We consider that this new method will have a significant impact on the measurement of DNA adducts in human samples. This work was largely accomplished in the second half of our project. In the first half, we set up a new way to isolate DNA nucleotides from blood, worked with an initial, less specific technique for labeling DNA adducts, compared ionizing radiation vs oxidative damage to fluorescein labeled deoxyadenylic acid, and set up a capillary electrophoresis laser fluorescence detection system.

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The fatigue and fracture properties of U6Nb were measured to provide the materials property data needed for structural designs in material processed by solution quenching and aging 200 C/2h. Limited testing was also performed on as-quenched U6Nb. The authors have extended the database on fatigue properties in U6Nb to include both crack initiation data and crack propagation data. The static load carrying capabilities have been characterized through fracture toughness and tensile property measurements. Using a rotating beam fatigue machine, a fatigue strength of 248 MPa was measured at 10{sup 8} cycles for smooth bars at zero mean load. As is typical of nonferrous alloys, U6Nb does not exhibit a fatigue endurance limit. Reductions in fatigue strength for notched bars and for mean loads of 276 MPa and 483 MPa (70 ksi) were also determined. The predominant sites for fatigue crack initiation were identified as niobium carbide and uranium oxide inclusion clusters and the distribution of these inclusions are presented. Fatigue crack propagation rates were measured in the near-threshold regime using compact tension specimens. The fatigue threshold for crack growth rates below 10{sup {minus}7} mm/cycle were measured at both R = 0.1, for which a fatigue threshold of 3.2 MPa{radical}m was …

The United States produced just over 1 billion short tons of coal in 1992, 0.4 percent more than in 1991. Most of the 4-million-short-ton increase in coal production occurred west of the Mississippi River, where a record level of 408 million short tons of coal was produced. The amount of coal received by domestic consumers in 1992 totaled 887 million short tons. This was 7 million short tons more than in 1991, primarily due to increased coal demand from electric utilities. The average price of delivered coal to each sector declined by about 2 percent. Coal consumption in 1992 was 893 million short tons, only 1 percent higher than in 1991, due primarily to a 1-percent increase in consumption at electric utility plants. Consumer coal stocks at the end of 1992 were 163 million short tons, a decrease of 3 percent from the level at the end of 1991, and the lowest year-end level since 1989. US coal exports fell 6 percent from the 1991 level to 103 million short tons in 1992. Less coal was exported to markets in Europe, Asia, and South America, but coal exports to Canada increased 4 million short tons.

With recent theoretical and empirical research in basic and applied psychology, human factors, and engineering, it is now sufficient to define an integrated approach to the deign of advanced displays for present and future nuclear power plants. Traditionally, the conventional displays have shown operators the individual variables on gauges, meters, strip charts, etc. This design approach requires the operators to mentally integrate the separately displayed variables and determine the implications for the plant state. This traditional approach has been known as the single-sensor-single-indicator display design and it places an intolerable amount of mental workload on operators during transients and abnormal conditions. This report discusses a new alternative approach which is the use of direct perception interfaces. Direct perception a interfaces display the underlying physical and system constraints of the situation in a directly perceptual way, such that the viewer need not reason about what is seen to identify system states, but can identify the state of the system perceptually. It is expected that displays which show the dynamics of fundamental physical laws should better support operator decisions and diagnoses of plant states. The purpose of this research project is to develop a suite of direct perception displays for PWR nuclear …

A new reagent, BO-IMI, has been developed that achieves, single step, phosphate specific fluorescence labeling under aqueous conditions. Both 3 in. and 5 in. mononucleotides, including representative DNA adducts can be labeled. Included in this technique is a convenient procedure for postlabeling sample cleanup, leading to a practical detection of the products by capillary electrophoresis with laser fluorescencedetection. We consider that this new method will have a significant impact on the measurement of DNA adducts in human samples. This work was largely accomplished in the second half of our project. In the first half, we set up a new way to isolate DNA nucleotides from blood, worked with an initial, less specific technique for labeling DNA adducts, compared ionizing radiation vs oxidative damage to fluorescein labeled deoxyadenylic acid, and set up a capillary electrophoresis laser fluorescence detection system.

We report improvement of the polarization diagnostics and their use in the development of the Optically Pumped Polarized Ion Source (OPPIS).