The ETA is a high current (10,000 Amp) linear induction accelerator that produces short (30 ns) pulses of electrons at 5 MeV twice per second or in bursts of 5 pulses separated by as little as one millisecond. At this time the machine has operated at 65% of its design current and 90% of the design voltage. This report contains a description of the accelerator and its diagnostics; the results of the initial year of operation; a comparison of design codes with experiments on beam transport; and a discussion of some of the special problems and their status.

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The blanket is linked to the H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ vaporization units and SO/sub 3/ decomposition reactor with either sodium or helium. The engineering and safety problems associated with these choices are discussed. This H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ step uses about 90% of the TMR heat and is best close-coupled to the nuclear island. The rest of the process we propose to be driven by steam and does not require close-coupling. The sodium loop coupling seems to be preferable at this time. We can operate with a blanket around 1200 K and the SO/sub 3/ decomposer around 1050 K. This configuration offers double-barrier protection between Li-Na and the SO/sub 3/ process gases. Heat pipes offer an attractive alternate to provide an additional barrier, added modularity for increased reliability, and tritium concentration and isolation operations with very little thermal penalty.

This report covers the work accomplished during the eight month period from October 1, 1977 through June 1, 1978. During this period, Peach Bottom Unit 3 was operational for the first six months and was shutdown for a refueling outage for the last two months. During the refueling outage, removal, recalibration, refurbishment, and reinstallation of all the AE instrumentation was performed. The coupling efficiency and the sensitivity of the sensors did not vary significantly with time. 5600 AE events were accepted showing several localized areas of concern. Five main steam safety relief valves suspected of leakage based on AE data were replaced. A leak in the recirculation system of the plant was clearly indicated and located by the AE system. Correlation between AE results and the results from alternate inservice inspection techniques has been initiated.

A materials selection test program was conducted to characterize optimum interior surface coatings for an advanced size reduction facility. The equipment to be processed by this facility consists of stainless steel apparatus (e.g., glove boxes, piping, and tanks) used for the chemical recovery of plutonium. Test results showed that a primary requirement for a satisfactory coating is ease of decontamination. A closely related concern is the resistance of paint films to nitric acid - plutonium environments. A vinyl copolymer base paint was the only coating, of eight paints tested, with properties that permitted satisfactory decontamination of plutonium and also performed equal to or better than the other paints in the chemical resistance, radiation stability, and impact tests.

Recovery of methane from Gulf Coast geopressured-geothermal reservoirs does not appear to be profitable without a rise in natural gas prices to offset high production costs. If injection into the production reservoir becomes necessary to maintain productivity and to minimize subsidence, the injection pumping costs approach and even exceed the value of the recoverable methane. An option aimed at reducing the injection pump operating costs is to maintain a higher than normal pressure at the production wellhead to reduce the injection-pumping work load. This option, however, is considerably less attractive if that portion of methane still dissolved at elevated pressure cannot be recovered. Therefore, there is a strong incentive to devise methods for extracting methane at high pressures and temperatures. Liquid extraction with a very low water-soluble organic is a technically feasible method and looks promising as an applicable process. A candidate solvent is hexadecane, a paraffinic hydrocarbon with the necessary phase-equilibrium thermodynamic properties to satisfy the technical requirements for such an operation, without any obvious economic barriers. Gas stripping is another technically feasible method, but the economics do not look favorable because of gas dissolution losses. Freon refrigerants were considered because of their ease of product-stripping gas separation and …

Fourteen papers are included. A separate abstract was prepared for each one. (MHR)

On January 24, 1980, at 11:00 a.m., an earthquake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, shook the Livermore Valley. There were three very pronounced shocks, the first at 5.5 followed by two, one at 5.2 and the other at 4.8, on the Richter scale. The Shiva spaceframe was shaken out of alignment. Shiva consists of two frames, a laser frame and a target frame. Components on each frame stayed within alignment with respect to each other, but the target frame moved with respect to the laser frame. Shearing of the seismic anchor bolts on the target frame was responsible for this misalignment. This was the third in a series of earthquakes for Shiva, the first occurring on June 20, 1977 at a magnitude of 4.7 on the Richter scale and an epicenter 2 miles away. The second quake was on August 6, 1979, with a magnitude of 5.9 and the epicenter 60 miles away. There was no damage or misalignment due to these first two earthquakes. The third however, severely tested the Shiva system and will be the subject of this report. Accelerometers were not in operation on the system so we do not know what the acceleration forces were. …

This paper discusses the formation, maintenance, and microstability of thermal barriers, which have been introduced as a means for improving tandem mirror reactor performance at reduced technological demands. It also describes calculations of tandem mirror central-cell ..beta.. limits due to MHD ballooning modes.

Documentation outlining characteristics of field data samples taken in the Tascotal survey area portion of the detailed geochemical survey for Trans-Pecos, Texas.

Data gathered at stream sediment sites in the Tascotal survey area portion of the detailed geochemical survey for Trans-Pecos, Texas, including applicable water chemistry measurements (e.g., pH, conductivity, alkalinity) and elemental analyses.

Data gathered at well water sites in the Tascotal detailed geochemical survey for Trans-Pecos, Texas, including applicable water chemistry measurements (e.g., pH, conductivity, alkalinity), physical measurements (e.g., temperature, well description, scintillometer readings), and elemental analyses.