This paper describes the results of the four NRC Inservice Testing (IST) Workshops which were held in early 1997 pertaining to NRC Inspection Procedure P 73756, Inservice Testing of Pumps and Valves. It also presents the status of the ASME code committees` resolution of certain questions forwarded to the ASME by the NRC. These questions relate to code interpretations, inconsistencies in the code, and industry concerns that are most appropriately resolved through the ASME consensus process. The ASME committees reviewed the questions at their December 1997 and March 1998 code meetings. Of particular interest are those questions for which the ASME code committees did not agree with the NRC response. These questions, as well as those which the committees provided some additional insight or input, are presented in this paper.

Simple and reliable x-ray fluence measurements, in addition to time-resolved diagnostics, are needed to understand the physics of hot Z-pinch plasmas. A commercially available laser calorimeter has been modified for measuring soft x-ray fluence from the Z facility at Sandia National Laboratories. The x-ray absorber of this calorimeter is an aluminum disk, attached to a two-dimensional thermopile and surrounded by an isoperibol shroud. The time-integral and the maximum of the thermopile voltage signal are both proportional to the x-ray energy deposited. Data are collected for 90 seconds, and the instrument has, thus far, been used in the 1--25 mJ range. A wider dynamic measuring range for x-ray fluence (energy/area) can be achieved by varying the area of the defining aperture. The calorimeter is calibrated by an electrical substitution method. Calibrations are performed before and after each x-ray experiment on the Z facility. The calibration of the time-integral of the thermopile voltage vs. energy deposited (or the peak of thermopile voltage vs. energy deposited) is linear with zero offset at the 95% confidence level. The irreproducibility of the calibration is <2%, and the imprecision in the measurement of the incident x-ray energy (inferred from signal noise and the calibration) is estimated …

During the 1990's, we focused our Accelerator Physics program on research and development of TeV polarized proton beams using Siberian snakes (a Siberian snake is a device which forces an accelerator ring's depolarizing fields to cancel themselves by rotating each proton's spin by 180{degree} on each turn around the ring): (1) Siberian snake experiments at the IUCF Cooler ring; (2) Design of polarized beam capability for the SSC; (3) Design of polarized beam capability for the Main Injector and Tevatron (funded by Fermilab); and (4) Design of polarized beam capability for HERA (funded by DESY). During FY 1994 to 1997, our Siberian snake experiments at IUCF continued to be unexpectedly successful. Their data have helped us to design polarized proton beam capability for Fermilab's Tevatron and Main Injector and now for DESY'S HERA.

High order nodal transport methods have demonstrated high accuracy and computational efficiency in solving transport problems for systems composed of large homogeneous regions. In addition to these properties, the Arbitrarily High Order Transport Method of the Nodal type (AHOT-N), possesses simple final equations and allows modifying the order of the spatial approximation without modifying the programming of the method. However, AHOT-N requires solving the system with the same order in all nodes and discrete directions. This feature could force the use of more equations and unknowns than needed to obtain a given accuracy with a consequent loss of computational efficiency. In a previous work a slight modification to AHOT-N was presented that allows solving a problem with a different order per node per direction. This was applied in an automatic adaptive order scheme aimed at improving the computational efficiency of AHOT-N and simplifying the error estimation of the obtained solutions. If the problem to be solved does not require a uniform order distribution (UOD), the variable order scheme could reduce significantly the number of equations and unknowns evaluated. In addition, the automatic increasing of the order depending on error estimates avoids the pre-selection of the order distribution per node per …

Due to space limitations, the Chemistry Department Computer Center put some of our software routines on an old disk. This disk subsequently crashed. Since the Center had failed to back-up this space, the routines were lost. The Center acknowledges their error and has agreed to reimburse the grant for the lost time. We are now negotiating the amount of time the lost routines represent. Fortunately, data files, input and output files, models and reports were not affected by this lost. The present assessment is that several fitting codes for creating TEQUEL models and GEOFLUIDS models were lost.Fluid studies, equations of state, enthalpy models, and software improvements are discussed.

This research has shown that epilayers with residual impurity concentrations of 5 x 10{sup 13} cm{sup {minus}3} can be grown by producing the purest Pb available in the world. These epilayers have extremely low minority acceptor concentrations, which is ideal for fabrication of IR absorbing layers. The Pb LPE growth of Ge also has the advantageous property of gettering Cu from the epilayer and the substrate. Epilayers have been grown with intentional Sb doping for IR absorption on lightly doped substrates. This research has proven that properly working Ge BIB detectors can be fabricated from the liquid phase as long as pure enough solvents are available. The detectors have responded at proper wavelengths when reversed biased even though the response did not quite reach minimum wavenumbers. Optimization of the Sb doping concentration should further decrease the photoionization energy of these detectors. Ge BIB detectors have been fabricated that respond to 60 cm{sup {minus}1} with low responsivity. Through reduction of the minority residual impurities, detector performance has reached responsivities of 1 A/W. These detectors have exhibited quantum efficiency and NEP values that rival conventional photoconductors and are expected to provide a much more sensitive tool for new scientific discoveries in a …

The Advanced Industrial Materials (AIM) Program is a part of the Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy (DOE). The mission of AIM is to support development and commercialization of new or improved materials to improve energy efficiency, productivity, product quality, and reduced waste in the major process industries. OIT has embarked on a fundamentally new way of working with industries--the Industries of the Future (IOF) strategy--concentrating on the major process industries that consume about 90% of the energy and generate about 90% of the waste in the industrial sector. These are the aluminum, chemical, forest products, glass, metalcasting, and steel industries. OIT has encouraged and assisted these industries in developing visions of what they will be like 20 or 30 years into the future, defining the drivers, technology needs, and barriers to realization of their visions. These visions provide a framework for development of technology roadmaps and implementation plans, some of which have been completed. The AIM Program supports IOF by conducting research and development on materials to solve problems identified in the roadmaps. This is done by National Laboratory/industry/university teams with the facilities and expertise needed to develop new and improved …

The mission of the Advanced Industrial Materials (AIM) Program is to support development and commercialization of new or improved materials to improve energy efficiency, productivity, product quality, and reduced waste in the major process industries. A fundamentally new way of working with industries--the Industries of the Future (IOF) strategy--concentrates on the major process industries that consume about 90% of the energy and generate about 90% of the waste in the industrial sector. These are the aluminum, chemical, forest products, glass, metalcasting, and steel industries. OIT has encouraged and assisted these industries in developing visions of what they will be like 20 or 30 years into the future, defining the drivers, technology needs, and barriers to realization of their visions. These visions provide a framework for development of technology roadmaps and implementation plans. The AIM Program supports IOF by conducting research and development on materials to solve problems identified in the roadmaps. This is done by National Laboratory/industry/university teams with the facilities and expertise needed to develop new and improved materials. Each project in the AIM Program has active industrial participation and support. Assessments of materials needs and opportunities in the process industries are an on-going effort within the program. These …

There are a variety of environmental stressors in nuclear power plants that can influence the aging rate of components; these include elevated temperatures, high radiation fields, and humid conditions. Exposure to these stressors over long periods of time can cause degradation of components that may go undetected unless the aging mechanisms are identified and monitored. In some cases the degradation may be mitigated by maintenance or replacement. However, some components receive neither and are thus more susceptible to aging degradation, which might lead to failure. One class of components that falls in this category is electric cables. Cables are very often overlooked in aging analyses since they are passive components that require no maintenance. However, they are very important components since they provide power to safety related equipment and transmit signals to and from instruments and controls. This paper will look at the various aging mechanisms and failure modes associated with electric cables. Condition monitoring techniques that may be useful for monitoring degradation of cables will also be discussed.

Results are presented on two studies of the effect of aging on the apparent thermal conductivity of polyurethane foam insulation for refrigerators. Both studies are cooperative projects between the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Appliance Research Consortium. The first study has been ongoing for four years and involves evaluation of second generation blowing agents: HCFC-141b and HCFC-142/22 blend with CFC-11 for comparison. The second study has recently started and involves third generation blowing agents: HFC-134a, HFC-245fa. and cyclopentane with HCFC-141b for comparison. Both studies consist of periodic thermal measurements on panels made with solid steel and/or plastic skins and a core of foam to simulate refrigerator walls, and measurements on thin slices with cut faces to characterize the core foam. Laboratory data are presented on four years of aging of panels containing second generation blowing agents. Preliminary data are presented for the third generation blowing agents. The data on panels are compared with predictions of computer models of foam aging.

Hazardous Waste Management (HWM) facilities are used in the handling and processing of solid and liquid radioactive, hazardous, mixed, and medical wastes generated at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Waste may be treated or stored in one of the HWM facility units prior to shipment off site for treatment or disposal. Planned facilities such as the Decontamination and Waste Treatment Facility (DWTF) and the Building 280 Container Storage Unit are expected to handle similar waste streams. A hazard classification was preformed in each facility safety analysis report (SAR) according to the DOE Standard 1027-92 `Hazard Categorization and Accident Analysis Techniques for Compliance with DOE Order 5480.23, Nuclear Safety Analysis Reports.` The general methodology practiced by HWM to determine alternate airborne release fractions (ARFs) in those SARs was based upon a beyond evaluation basis earthquake accident scenario characterized by the release of the largest amount of respirable, airborne radioactive material. The alternate ARF was calculated using a three-factor formula consisting of the fraction of failed waste containers, fraction of material released from failed waste containers,and the fraction of material entrained to the environment. Recently, in deliberation with DOE-Oakland representatives, HWM decided to modify this methodology. In place of the current detailed …

Official publication of the Clean Cities Network and the Alternative Fuels Data Center featuring alternative fuels activity in every state, the Clean Cities game plan '98, and news from the Automakers.

Isotopes of americium (Am) and curium (Cm) were produced in the past at the Savannah River Site (SRS) for research, medical, and radiological applications. These highly radioactive and valuable isotopes have been stored in an SRS reprocessing facility for a number of years. Vitrification of this solution will allow the material to be more safely stored until it is transported to the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation for use in research and medical applications. To this end, the Am/Cm Melter 2A pilot system, a full-scale non- radioactive pilot plant of the system to be installed at the reprocessing facility, was designed, constructed and tested. The full- scale pilot system has a frit and aqueous feed delivery system, a dual zone bushing melter, and an off-gas treatment system. The main items which were tested included the dual zone bushing melter, the drain tube with dual heating and cooling zones, glass compositions, and the off-gas system which used for the first time a film cooler/lower melter plenum. Most of the process and equipment were proven to function properly, but several problems were found which will need further work. A system description and a discussion of test results will be given.

Isotopes of americium (Am) and curium (Cm) were produced in the past at the Savannah River Site (SRS) for research, medical, and radiological applications. These highly radioactive and valuable isotopes have been stored in an SRS reprocessing facility for a number of years. Vitrification of this solution will allow the material to be more safely stored until it is transported to the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation for use in research and medical applications. A previous paper described operation results from the Am-Cm Melter 2A pilot system, a full-scale non-radioactive pilot facility. This paper presents the results from continued testing in the Pilot Facility and also describes efforts taken to look at alternative vitrification process operations and flowsheets designed to address the problems observed during melter 2A pilot testing.

This report describes the status and accomplishments of work performed under this subcontract by United Solar Systems. United Solar researchers explored several new deposition regimes/conditions to investigate their effect on material/device performance. To facilitate optimum ion bombardment during growth, a large parameter space involving chamber pressure, rf power, and hydrogen dilution were investigated. United Solar carried out a series of experiments using discharge modulation at various pulsed-plasma intervals to study the effect of Si-particle incorporation on solar cell performance. Hydrogen dilution during deposition is found to improve both the initial and stable performance of a-Si and a-SiGe alloy cells. Researchers conducted a series of temperature-ramping experiments on samples prepared with high and low hydrogen dilutions to study the effect of hydrogen effusion on solar cell performance. Using an internal photoemission method, the electrical bandgap of a microcrystalline p layer used in high-efficiency solar cells was measured to be 1.6 eV. New measurement techniques were developed to evaluate the interface and bulk contributions of losses to solar cell performance. Researchers replaced hydrogen with deuterium and found deuterated amorphous silicon alloy solar cells exhibit reduced light-induced degradation. The incorporation of a microcrystalline n layer in a multijunction cell is seen to improve …

Numerical predictions of geothermal reservoir behavior strongly depend on the assumed steam-water relative permeabilities, which are difficult and time-consuming to measure in the laboratory. This paper describes the esti- mation of the parameters of the relative per- meability and capillary pressure functions by automatically matching simulation results to data from a transient boiling experiment performed on a Berea sandstone. A sensitivity analysis reveals the strong dependence of the observed system behavior on effects such as heat transfer from the heater to the core, as well as heat losses through the insulation. Parameters of three conceptual models were estimated by inverse modeling. Each calibra- tion yields consistent effective steam perme- abilities, but the shape of the liquid relative permeability remains ambiguous.

Aqueous radioactive wastes from Savannah River Site (SRS) separations processes are contained in large underground carbon steel tanks. Inspections made during 1997 to evaluate these vessels, and evaluations based on data accrued by inspections performed since the tanks were constructed are the subject of this report.

The authors consider polymers, modeled as self-avoiding walks with interactions on a hexagonal lattice, and examine the applicability of certain Monte Carlo methods for estimating their mean properties at equilibrium. Specifically, the authors use the pivoting algorithm of Madras and Sokal and Metroplis rejection to locate the phase transition, which is known to occur at {beta}{sub crit} {approx} 0.99, and to recalculate the known value of the critical exponent {nu} {approx} 0.58 of the system for {beta} = {beta}{sub crit}. Although the pivoting-Metropolis algorithm works well for short walks (N < 300), for larger N the Metropolis criterion combined with the self-avoidance constraint lead to an unacceptably small acceptance fraction. In addition, the algorithm becomes effectively non-ergodic, getting trapped in valleys whose centers are local energy minima in phase space, leading to convergence towards different values of {nu}. The authors use a variety of tools, e.g. entropy estimation and histograms, to improve the results for large N, but they are only of limited effectiveness. Their estimate of {beta}{sub crit} using smaller values of N is 1.01 {+-} 0.01, and the estimate for {nu} at this value of {beta} is 0.59 {+-} 0.005. They conclude that even a seemingly simple system …

Molten salt oxidation (MSO) is proposed as a {sup 238}Pu waste treatment technology that should be developed for volume reduction and recovery of {sup 238}Pu and as an alternative to the transport and permanent disposal of {sup 238}Pu waste to the WIPP repository. In MSO technology, molten sodium carbonate salt at 800--900 C in a reaction vessel acts as a reaction media for wastes. The waste material is destroyed when injected into the molten salt, creating harmless carbon dioxide and steam and a small amount of ash in the spent salt. The spent salt can be treated using aqueous separation methods to reuse the salt and to recover 99.9% of the precious {sup 238}Pu that was in the waste. Tests of MSO technology have shown that the volume of combustible TRU waste can be reduced by a factor of at least twenty. Using this factor the present inventory of 574 TRU drums of {sup 238}Pu contaminated wastes is reduced to 30 drums. Further {sup 238}Pu waste costs of $22 million are avoided from not having to repackage 312 of the 574 drums to a drum total of more than 4,600 drums. MSO combined with aqueous processing of salts will recover …

The ability to ship Type B liquid packages will be necessary for the nuclear industry to meet the energy production requirements of the next century. There are no packages licensed in the United States for transportation of large quantities of such liquids at present. Packages designed for transporting liquids must address technical challenges and incorporate features which are not common to packages designed for solid contents. These issues and the methods of addressing them are illustrated by the safety analysis performed for utilization of the LR-56 Liquid Package at US DOE facilities.

The objective of this document is to ease the task of adding new system components to the Transient Reactor Analysis Code (TRAC) or altering old ones. Sufficient information is provided to permit replacement or modification of physical models and correlations. Within TRAC, information is passed at two levels. At the upper level, information is passed by system-wide and component-specific data modules at and above the level of component subroutines. At the lower level, information is passed through a combination of module-based data structures and argument lists. This document describes the basic mechanics involved in the flow of information within the code. The discussion of interfaces in the body of this document has been kept to a general level to highlight key considerations. The appendices cover instructions for obtaining a detailed list of variables used to communicate in each subprogram, definitions and locations of key variables, and proposed improvements to intercomponent interfaces that are not available in the first level of code modernization.

Environmental software is often used to determine impacts to the public, workers, and the environment from environmental contamination. It is vital, therefore, that the modeling results, and the software that provides them, be scientifically defensible and capable of withstanding the most rigorous of technical reviews. The control and assurance of quality is a critical factor for the project team that develops environmental software at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This document describes the philosophy, process, and activities that ensure a quality product throughout the life cycle of requirements analysis, design, programming, modification, testing, and implementation of environmental software. Environmental software developed by the project team is designed using an object-oriented approach. This software offers increased benefits, such as ease of maintenance and retention of the development and testing legacy of individual components, over traditional hard wired software. These benefits allow the design and testing of the models and future additions to be faster and less costly. This software is developed using a modular framework concept that allows a variety of models to work within a single construct. This software has two parts: an overall system framework and a set of modules. Each module has up to three components: a user …

The ARIES NDA Robot is an automation device for servicing the material movements for a suite of Non-destructive assay (NDA) instruments. This suite of instruments includes a calorimeter, a gamma isotopic system, a segmented gamma scanner (SGS), and a neutron coincidence counter (NCC). Objects moved by the robot include sample cans, standard cans, and instrument plugs. The robot computer has an RS-232 connection with the NDA Host computer, which coordinates robot movements and instrument measurements. The instruments are expected to perform measurements under the direction of the Host without operator intervention. This user`s manual describes system startup, using the main menu, manual operation, and error recovery.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is a planned geologic repository for permanent disposal of transuranic waste generated by US government defense programs. Located near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico, the facility`s disposal regions are mined from the bedded salt of the Salado Formation at a depth of approximately 652 m. Four shafts service the operational needs of the facility for air intake, exhaust, waste handling and salt handling. These shafts range in diameter from 3.5 to 6.1 m and extend from the ground surface to the repository. During repository closure, following an operational life of approximately 50 years, these shafts will be sealed in accordance with an acceptable design. Under contract to the US Department of Energy (DOE), the Repository Isolation Systems Department (RISD) of Sandia National Laboratories has developed a design for the WIPP shaft sealing system. This design has been reviewed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of the 1996 WIPP Compliance Certification Application (CCA). An effective shaft sealing system for the WIPP will limit liquid and gas flows, and permanently prevent the migration of radiological or other hazardous constituents through the sealed shafts from repository to accessible environment. Because of these performance objectives, …