Tetraphenylborate (TPB) is used to precipitate radioactive 137Cs from high-level nuclear waste water at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) operated by the US DOE at the Savannah River Plant (SRP). The process is part of the procedure for the glassification of high-level nuclear waste in preparation for its long-term geological disposal. The decontaminated waste water contains millimolar quantities of TPB that will be processed into salt concretions. The transporation and use of large amounts of TPB can potentially result in the release of TPB into soil or aquatic environments. Previous study has shown that TPB degrades in soils to initially form diphenylborinic acid (DPBA) and biphenyl. DPBA appears to degrade further into other unidentified compounds which subsequently degrade into inorganic boron. The factors which promote the abiotic degradation of TPB need to be investigated since this chemical is used in the processing of radioactive wastes. TPB and its intermediate product, DPBA, have been reported to be toxic to microorganisms and plants, dependent on soil or water environments for their survival and growth.

This report describes the progress and the plan of activities in the Feasibility Study of Health Effect in populations residing near the Pinellas Plant. The period covered by the work progress is September 1, 1992 through April 30, 1993 and the period covered by the plan of the project activities is May 1 through August 31, 1993.

This report contains discussions on the following topics: Experimental program at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider: FNAL E-740; Experimental program at the superconducting super collider: Solenoidal detector collaboration; Computation development program at Iowa State University: Batch after twilight running and parallel processing; Experimental program at the University of Hawaii: Deep underwater muon and neutrino detector; Global analysis of parton distributions; high energy direct photon production; photon fragmentation functions; single transverse-spin asymmetry; associated production of Higgs Boson at collider energies; Cronin effect in photoproduction and deeply inelastic scattering; and heavy meson production.

An attempt was made to pursue [sup 129]Xe NMR as a pore measurement technique. Samples studied were synthetic imogolite (tubular aluminosilicate with gibbsite structure), sodium Y-zeolite, and an aerogel and a xerogel. Gases used were normal Xe, [sup 13]CO[sub 2], and [sup 15]N[sub 2]. Although a completely general NMR technique for measuring pore size distributions may not be possible, information about molecular motion and interactions can be obtained, because NMR is sensitive to short range interactions (1 nm or less) and to molecular dynamics in the range 10[sup [minus]2] to 10[sup [minus]6]s.

An attempt was made to pursue {sup 129}Xe NMR as a pore measurement technique. Samples studied were synthetic imogolite (tubular aluminosilicate with gibbsite structure), sodium Y-zeolite, and an aerogel and a xerogel. Gases used were normal Xe, {sup 13}CO{sub 2}, and {sup 15}N{sub 2}. Although a completely general NMR technique for measuring pore size distributions may not be possible, information about molecular motion and interactions can be obtained, because NMR is sensitive to short range interactions (1 nm or less) and to molecular dynamics in the range 10{sup {minus}2} to 10{sup {minus}6}s.

Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.