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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

In order to better review licensing submittals for a High-Level Waste Repository, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has expanded and improved its capability to conduct performance assessments. This report documents an initial demonstration of this capability. The demonstration made use of the limited data from Yucca Mountain, Nevada to investigate a small set of scenario classes. Models of release and transport of radionuclides from a repository via the groundwater and direct release pathways provided preliminary estimates of releases to the accessible environment for a 10,000 year simulation time. Latin hypercube sampling of input parameters was used to express results as distributions and to investigate model sensitivities. This methodology demonstration should not be interpreted as an estimate of performance of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. By expanding and developing the NRC staff capability to conduct such analyses, NRC would be better able to conduct an independent technical review of the US Department of Energy (DOE) licensing submittals for a high-level waste (HLW) repository. These activities were divided initially into Phase 1 and Phase 2 activities. Additional phases may follow as part of a program of iterative performance assessment at the NRC. The NRC staff conducted Phase 1 activities …

Social impacts of a nuclear waste repository are described. Various case studies are cited such as Rocky Flats Plant, the Feed Materials Production Center, and Love Canal. The social impacts of toxic contamination, mitigating environmental stigma and loss of trust are also discussed.

Cortest Columbus Technologies, Inc. (CC Technologies) investigated the long-term performance of container materials used for high-level waste package as part of the information needed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to assess the Department of Energy`s application to construct to geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste. At the direction of the NRC, the program focused on the Tuff Repository. This report summarizes the results of Stress-Corrosion-Cracking (SCC) studies performed in Tasks 3, 5, and 7 of the program. Two test techniques were used; U-bend exposures and Slow-Strain-Rate (SSR) tests. The testing was performed on two copper-base alloys (Alloy CDA 102 and Alloy CDA 175) and two Fe-Cr-Ni alloys (Alloy 304L and Alloy 825) in simulated J-13 groundwater and other simulated solutions for the Tuff Repository. These solutions were designed to simulate the effects of concentration and irradiation on the groundwater composition. All SCC testing on the Fe-Cr-Ni Alloys was performed on solution-annealed specimens and thus issues such as the effect of sensitization on SCC were not addressed.

The potential health and environmental risk-related impacts of actinide burning for high-level waste disposal were evaluated. Actinide burning, also called waste partitioning-transmutation, is an advanced method for radioactive waste management based on the idea of destroying the most toxic components in the waste. It consists of two steps: (1) selective removal of the most toxic radionuclides from high-level/spent fuel waste and (2) conversion of those radionuclides into less toxic radioactive materials and/or stable elements. Risk, as used in this report, is defined as the probability of a failure times its consequence. Actinide burning has two potential health and environmental impacts on waste management. Risks and the magnitude of high-consequence repository failure scenarios are decreased by inventory reduction of the long-term radioactivity in the repository. (What does not exist cannot create risk or uncertainty.) Risk may also be reduced by the changes in the waste characteristics, resulting from selection of waste forms after processing, that are superior to spent fuel and which lower the potential of transport of radionuclides from waste form to accessible environment. There are no negative health or environmental impacts to the repository from actinide burning; however, there may be such impacts elsewhere in the fuel cycle.

This report contains a description of technical progress made on the Advanced Coal Conversion Process Demonstration Project (ACCP). This project will demonstrate an advanced thermal coal drying process coupled with physical cleaning techniques to upgrade high-moisture, low-rank coals to produce a high-quality, low-sulfur fuel. The coal will be processed through two vibrating fluidized bed reactors that will remove chemically bound water, carboxyl groups, and volatile sulfur compounds. After drying, the coal will be put through a deep-bed stratifier cleaning process effect separation of the pyrite rich ash. The process will enhance low-rank western coals, usually with a moisture content of 25--55%, sulfur content of 0.5--1.5%, and heating value of 5500--9000 Btu/lb by producing a stable, upgraded coal product with a moisture content as low as 1%, sulfur content as low as 0.3%, and heating value up to 12,0 00 Btu/lb. The 45 ton/hr unit will be located adjacent to a unit train loadout facility at Western Energy Company`s Rosebud coal mine near the town of Colstrip in southeastern Montana. The demonstration plant is sized at about one-tenth the projected throughput of a multiple processing train commercia; facility. The demonstration drying and cooling equipment is currently commercial size.

RCRA Sect. 3004(j) prohibits storage of wastes that have been prohibited from land disposal, unless that storage is for the purpose of accumulating sufficient quantities of hazardous wastes to facilitate proper recovery, treatment, or disposal. This requirement was incorporated as part of the Land Disposal Restriction (LDR) regulations. Under the LDR storage prohibition, facilities may only store restricted wastes in containers and tanks. As stated in the Third LDR rule, storage of prohibited waste is only allowed in non-land based storage units since land-based storage is a form of disposal. The EPA has recognized that generators and storers of radioactive mixed waste (RMW) may find it impossible to comply with storage prohibition in cases where no available treatment capacity exists. Additionally, under the current regulatory interpretation, there is no provision that would allow for storage of wastes for which treatment capacity and capability are not available, even where capacity is legitimately being developed. Under the LDR program, restricted wastes that are disposed of, or placed into storage before an LDR effective date, are not subject to the LDR requirements. However, if such wastes are removed from a storage or disposal site after the effective date, such wastes would be subject …

Research is needed to understand the role of particulates in the migration of radionuclides away from the sites of nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site. The process of testing itself may produce a reservoir of particles to serve as vectors for the transport of long-lived radionuclides in groundwater. Exploratory experiments indicate the presence of numerous particulates in the vicinity of the Cambric test but a much lower loading in a nearby well that has been pumped continuously for 15 years. Recent groundwater colloid research is briefly reviewed to identify sampling and characterization methods that may be applicable at the Nevada Test Site.

A recent concern arose over the treatment of uncertainty associated with the K-Reactor axial power monitors (APMs). There are nine axial power monitor rods located at various positions in the K-Reactor core. By comparing the output of one sensor near the top of the rod to the output of another sensor near the bottom of the rod, the relative ratio of the neutron flux from the top to the bottom of the core can be determined. This ratio is called the roof-top-ratio (RTR) and is the output of a top sensor (Sensor 2) divided by the output of a bottom sensor (Sensor 6). The RTR is important to the safety analyses because when the RTR is maintained within certain ranges, the severity of reactivity transients is limited. There are uncertainties associated with the equipment`s ability to measure the true roof top ratio. It was determined recently that sufficient uncertainty was not accounted for either in reactor operation or in the safety analyses. The concern about uncertainty was addressed for three separate issues. One issue dear with the linear response of the sensors for power ranges planned for K-Reactor operation. The second issue dear with overall uncertainty in the RTR channel. …

The Buildings Energy Program at PNL conducts research and development (R&D) for DOE`s Office of Building Technologies (OBT). The OBT`s mission is to lead a national program supporting private and federal sector efforts to improve the energy efficiency of the nation`s buildings and to increase the use of renewable energy sources. Under an arrangement with DOE, Battelle staff also conduct research and development projects for other federal agencies and private clients. This annual report contains an account of the buildings-related research projects conducted at PNL during fiscal year (FY) 1991. A major focus of PNL`s energy projects is to improve the energy efficiency of commercial and residential buildings. Researchers who are developing solutions to energy-use problems view a building as an energy-using system. From this perspective, a desirable solution is not only one that is cost-effective and responsive to the needs of the occupants, but also one that optimizes the interaction among the energy components and systems that compose the whole.

A computer code is described which can simulate non-isothermal multi-phase multicomponent flow in porous media. It is applicable to natural-state studies of geothermal systems and groundwater flow. The equations of heat and mass transfer for multiphase flow in porous and permeable media are solved sing the finite element method. The permeability and porosity of the medium are allowed to depend on pressure and temperature. The code also has provisions for movable air and water phases and noncoupled tracers; that is, tracer solutions that do not affect the heat and mass transfer solutions. The tracers can be passive or reactive. The code can simulate two-dimensional, two-dimensional radial, or three-dimensional geometries. A summary of the equations in the model and the numerical solution procedure are provided in this report. A user`s guide and sample problems are also included. The FEHMN (Finite Element Heat and Mass Nuclear) code, described in this report, is a version of FEHM (Finite Element Heat and Mass, Zyvoloski et al., 1988) developed for the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project (YMP). The main use of FEHMN will be to assist in the understanding of flow fields in the saturated zone below the potential Yucca Mountain repository.

The risk analysis described in this document was performed for the US Department of Energy`s (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) over a 2-year time period ending in June 1988. The objective of Pacific Northwest Laboratory`s (PNL) task was to demonstrate an integrated, though preliminary, modeling approach for estimating the postclosure risk associated with a geologic repository for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste. The modeling study used published characterization data for the proposed candidate site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, along with existing models and computer codes available at that time. Some of the site data and conceptual models reported in the Site Characterization Plan published in December 1988, however, were not yet available at the time that PNL conducted the modeling studies.

This paper presents the results of a numerical and experimental study in which finite element and discrete element techniques were used to analyze a layered polycarbonate plate model subjected to uniaxial compression. Also, the two analysis techniques were used to compute the response of an eight meter diameter drift in jointed-rock. The drift was subjected to in-situ and far-field induced thermal stresses. The finite element analyses used a continuum rock model to represent the jointed-rock. A comparison of the analyses showed that the finite element continuum joint model consistently predicted less joint slippage than did the discrete element analyses, although far-field displacements compared well.

This document contains the requirements for developing a safety assessment document for an onsite package containing radioactive material. It also provides format and content guidance to establish uniformity in the safety assessment documentation and to ensure completeness of the information provided.

This appendix contains preliminary structural assessments for tunnel sections 6(T/21), 5(21/21), 3(21/21), 2(21/21), 1(21/21), 2(21/24), 1(21/24), 3(23/23), 5(21/21)S, 4(22/22), and 5(2/8). The tunnel sections are subjected to vertical and horizontal loads estimated as 115 lbs/ft{sup 2} for each 1 ft of soil covering the structure and a horizontal load equivalent to 0.3 of the estimated cover load. Determination of shear, axial and bending stresses and associated deformations are included. Young`s modulus, cross sectional area, depth of section, thickness of web, weight per unit length, moment of inertia, sectional modulus, radius of gyration, neutral axis, extreme fiber, and element length are the reported properties for the roof, floor, sides, soil, soilend, subsoil, subsoilend elements.

The objective of this project is to pursue the development of highly dispersed and inexpensive catalysts for improved coal solubilization and upgrading of coal liquids. A novel study of the synthesis of liquefaction catalysts of manometer size will be carried out. It is based on the molecular design of reverse micelles (microemulsions). These surfactant-stabilized, metal-bearing microdrops offer unique opportunities for synthesizing very small particles by providing a cage-like effect that limits particle nucleation, growth and agglomeration. The emphasis will be on iron- and molybdenum-based catalysts, but the techniques to be developed should also be generally applicable. The size of these very small and monodispersed particles will be accurately determined both separately and after in situ and ex situ coal impregnation. The as-prepared nanoparticles as well as the catalyst-impregnated coal or char matrix will be characterized using the following techniques: dynamic light scattering, x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning and/or transmission electron microscopy, and selective chemisorption. Catalytic activity tests will be conducted under standardized conditions in both hydrogenation and hydrodesulfurization reactions. The effect of particle size of these unsupported catalysts on the product yield and distribution during liquefaction of a bituminous and a subbituminous coal will thus be quantitatively determined.

Monthly reports documenting San Antonio municipal board activities and city permitting for April 1992.

A technical and engineering evaluation has been completed for a dry UF{sub 6} production system to convert the product of an initial two-line U-AVLIS plant. The objective of the study has been to develop a better understanding of process design requirements, capital and operating costs, and demonstration requirements for this alternate process. This report summarizes the results of the study and presents various comparisons between the baseline and alternate processes, building on the information contained in UF{sub 6} Product Alternatives Review Committee -- Final Report. It also provides additional information on flowsheet variations for the dry route which may warrant further consideration. The information developed by this study and conceptual design information for the baseline process will be combined with information to be developed by the U-AVLIS program and by industrial participants over the next twelve months to permit a further comparison of the baseline and alternate processes in terms of cost, risk, and compatibility with U-AVLIS deployment schedules and strategies. This comparative information will be used to make a final process flowsheet selection for the initial U-AVLIS plant by March 1993. The process studied is the alternate UF{sub 6} production flowsheet. Process steps are (1) electron-beam distillation to reduce …

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Laboratory and small-scale field experiments have shown that sunlight in conjunction with a simple catalyst can be used to detoxify water contaminated with a variety of hazardous chemicals. This study builds on previous analyses and recent field test data to predict the cost and performance of a representative commercial water detoxification system. Three different solar operating configurations are explored for the treatment of 100,000 gal/day of groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene. Current costs for solar water detoxification systems are projected to be comparable to those for conventional treatment technologies such as carbon adsorption and electric lamp-powered, ultraviolet light/hydrogen peroxide systems.

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