A report dedicated to the 1985 EPRI/IIE Geothermal Conference and Workshop

Monthly newsletter of the Alamo Area Council of Governments describing news and events of relevance to the agencies.

Over the past several years, Fermilab has been operating with a single turn proton abort system in both the superconducting Tevatron and the conventional Main Ring. The abort kicker power supply for this system discharges a lumped capacitance into the inductive magnet load, causing the beam to enter the abort channel. The characteristics of this current waveform are defined by the requirements of the machine operation. The standard fixed target running mode calls for 12 booster batches of beam which leaves a rotating gap in the beams of approx.1.8 ..mu..s. The current waveform is required to rise to 90% of I/sub max/ in this time to avoid beam loss from partially deflected beam. Aperture limitations in both the accelerator and the abort channel demand that the current in the magnets stays above this 90% I/sub max/ for the 21 ..mu..s needed to ensure all the beam has left the machine. The 25 mm displacement needed to cleanly enter the abort channel at 1 TeV corresponds to a maximum current in each of the 4 modules of approx.20 kA. Similar constraints are needed for the Main Ring and Tevatron antiproton abort systems. A unique feature of this design is the high …

Newsletter issued by the Advisory Council for Technical-Vocational Education in Texas discussing news, events, and other relevant information related to technical and vocational education for adults in Texas.

Mainstream projects which have adult fish passage facilities are inspected by project operators, fishway attendants, and state and federal fishery agencies. The overall movement of upstream migrants in 1984 appeared to be satisfactory with few delays. Special efforts were made by fishery agencies and Corps personnel to check on potential problems which appeared to exist at The Dalles and John Day Dams this year. However, adult passage facilities were operating ''in criteria'' and fish may have been delayed by temperature or other factors. Inspections were generally made once a month. Some projects were operating at less than full criteria as seen during inspections by fishery agencies this year. It appears that during periods of low tailwater, certain projects have difficulty maintaining proper head at main fishway entrances. Some main entrance gates bottom-out and water depth over these weirs are not up to desired criteria. Also it was noted that auxiliary water pumps were not being run at a rate to achieve the desired amount of water for attracting fish to the fish ladders and maintaining proper head at main fishway entrances.

Quarterly report discussing fuel cell research and development work at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). This report describes studies directed toward seeking alternative cathode materials to NiO for molten carbonate fuel cells.

This report discusses the 1985 African famine situation, especially regarding U.S. emergency assistance at a time of U.S. domestic budgetary restraints, the adequacy of U.S. measures for monitoring and anticipating food emergencies, and the scale and nature of U.S. agricultural development programs intended to prevent future famines.

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the principal degradation products produced by Pu(IV) loading in 30% tributyl phosphate/dodecane (TBP-DD) solutions and to determine the formation rates of these species as a function of temperature. Experiments were also conducted to evaluate HNO/sub 3/ hydrolysis of TBP as a function of temperature and to compare the effects resulting from plutonium solvent loading with effects due to loading with uranium and zirconium. The results indicate that four factors are of particular significance: (1) dibutyl phosphate (DBP) is the principal plutonium-complexing species formed at temperatures of 50/sup 0/C or lower, while significant concentrations of monobutyl phosphate (MBP) are also formed at higher temperatures; (2) the TBP degradation rate due to alpha radiolysis or chemical hydrolysis is strongly dependent on temperature; (3) plutonium promotes TBP hydrolysis by two mechanisms, alpha radiolysis and metal-ion-induced hydrolysis, and, of these, metal-ion-induced hydrolysis can be the major effect; and (4) small amounts of an unidentified plutonium-complexing species are formed in experiments using plutonium of high specific activity (about 4 x 10/sup 8/ counts per minute per milligram (c/min dot mg)). This species cannot be removed from 30% TBP-DD by Na/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ washing or other solvent …

Intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) of sensitized Type 304 stainless steel (SS) has been a recurrent problem in the high-temperature water environment of boiling-water-reactors (BWRs) over the past two decades. The synergistic effects of environmental and material variables on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of Type 304 SS were investigated at 289/sup 0/C by means of constant-extension-rate-tensile (CERT) tests at a strain rate of 1 x 10/sup -6//s. Correlations among environmental variables (dissolved oxygen and impurity concentrations, viz., H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/, steady-state open-circuit electro-chemical potential) and the SCC susceptibility parameters have been determined. The extensive results over a wide range of open-circuit corrosion potential conditions were analyzed by a model which accounts for the effects of environmental variables, microstructure (e.g., degree of sensitization) and strain rate. The results are consistent with a slip-dissolution mechanism for SCC. Furthermore, representation of the dependence of corrosion potential and average crack growth rate on the dissolved oxygen concentration of the water by a simple mathematical function, in conjunction with the theoretical model, enables predictions of both strain rate and environmental effects on the SCC susceptibility of sensitized Type 304 SS. 12 refs., 7 figs.

Periodic newsletter discussing information related to legislation, state finance, and other topics related to Texas government. This issue focuses on a new set of economic policies for Texas in the wake of rapidly changing conditions.

Analytic solutions of del x B = ..cap alpha..B are presented for reversed field pinch (RFP) configurations in a straight cylinder with ..cap alpha.. = ..cap alpha..(r) where r is the radial coordinate. The function ..cap alpha..(r) is a smooth function of r vanishing at the wall (r = a). Closed form parametric formulas for a family of F-THETA curves are obtained from the analytic, cylindrically symmetric, force-free fields. These formulas can be used to fit experimental F-THETA curves and hence facilitate comparison between the various existing RFP experiments. The advantage of these formulas lies in the fact that they are expressed in terms of easily obtainable Bessel functions of the first kind, eliminating the need of mumerical integration. Results of the least-square fits of two typical ZT-40M shots are presented.

The bremsstrahlung emission from the PLT tokamak during lower-hybrid current drive has been measured as a function of angle between the magnetic field and the emission direction. The emission is peaked strongly in the forward direction, indicating a strong anisotropy of the electron-velocity distribution. The data demonstrate the existence of a nearly flat tail of the velocity distribution, which extends out to approximately 500 keV and which is interpreted as the plateau created by Landau damping of the lower-hybrid waves.

The purpose of the Aquatic Species Program is to improve the productivity, conversion to fuels, and cost efficiency of aquatic plant culture technologies. The emphasis of the program is on developing a mass culture technology for cultivating oil-yielding microalgae in the American southwest. A technical and economic analysis indicated that such a concept would be feasible if (1) lipid yields from microalgae are improved, (2) there is sufficient saline water for large-scale development, and (3) microalgal lipids can be economically converted to conventional fuels. It was determined that fuels from microalgal lipids presented better options than converting the microalgal biomass to either alcohols or methane. All lipids can potentially be catalytically converted to gasoline, or the fatty acids can be converted to substitute diesel fuels. The Southwest has the necessary low, flat, underutilized lands, and carbon dioxide is available from either natural deposits or flue gas from industrial plants. The amount of saline water available will probably determine how much fuel can be produced from aquatic species, and this question should be answered during 1985. The largest constraint of this technology is the economical production of an oil-rich microalgal feedstock. The agenda for the review was divided into four sections: …

The Artificial Intelligence Task Team was organized to review the status of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, identify guidelines for AI work, and to identify work required to allow the nuclear industry to realize maximum benefit from this technology. The state of the nuclear industry was analyzed to determine where the application of AI technology could be of greatest benefit. Guidelines and criteria were established to focus on those particular problem areas where AI could provide the highest possible payoff to the industry. Information was collected from government, academic, and private organizations. Very little AI work is now being done to specifically support the nuclear industry. The AI Task Team determined that the establishment of a Strategic Automation Initiative (SAI) and the expansion of the DOE Technology Transfer program would ensure that AI technology could be used to develop software for the nuclear industry that would have substantial financial payoff to the industry. The SAI includes both long and short term phases. The short-term phase includes projects which would demonstrate that AI can be applied to the nuclear industry safely, and with substantial financial benefit. The long term phase includes projects which would develop AI technologies with specific applicability to the …

When response spectrum methods are used in the seismic analysis of piping systems the response due to inertial action, the dynamic response, and the response due to the time varying differential motions of the support points (the pseudo-static response) must be determined. In this study the adequacy and the degree of conservatism associated with the uniform response spectrum method, the center of mass response spectrum method and fourteen variants of the independent response spectrum method to compute the dynamic response and five different methods to compute the pseudo-static response were evaluated. For this purpose a sample of six piping systems, two of which were subjected to thirty-three earthquakes, were studied. For each system and seismic excitation a multiple independent support excitation time history analysis was developed and used to provide a best estimate of true response and to form the basis for comparison. A combination procedure to calculate the total responses is considered as well. Results are presented and compared to the corresponding responses evaluated using the current uniform response spectrum method and the center of mass response spectra approach. Based on the results, recommendations concerning the use of the methods were developed.

The use of dynamic conversion systems to convert the heat generated in a 7500 W(t) 90 Sr radioisotopic heat source to electricity is examined. The systems studies were Stirling; Brayton Cycle; three organic Rankines (ORCs) (Barber-Nichols/ORMAT, Sundstrand, and TRW); and an organic Rankine plus thermoelectrics. The systems were ranked for a North Warning System mission using a Los Alamos Multiattribute Decision Theory code. Three different heat source designs were used: case I with a beginning of life (BOL) source temperature of 640 C, case II with a BOL source temperature of 745/sup 0/C, and case III with a BOL source temperature of 945/sup 0/C. The Stirling engine system was the top-ranked system of cases I and II, closely followed by the ORC systems in case I and ORC plus thermoelectrics in case II. The Brayton cycle system was top-ranked for case III, with the Stirling engine system a close second. The use of /sup 238/Pu in heat source sizes of 7500 W(t) was examined and found to be questionable because of cost and material availability and because of additional requirements for analysis of safeguards and critical mass.

This paper describes assumptions and procedures used to perform thermal damage analysis caused by post loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) hydrogen deflagration at Three Mile Island Unit 2 Reactor. Examination of available photographic evidence yields data on the extent and range of thermal and burn damage. Thermal damage to susceptible material in accessible regions of the reactor building was distributed in non-uniform patterns. No clear explanation for non-uniformity was found in examined evidence, e.g., burned materials were adjacent to materials that appear similar but were not burned. Because these items were in proximity to vertical openings that extend the height of the reactor building, we assume the unburned materials preferentially absorbed water vapor during periods of high, local steam concentration. A control pendant from the polar crane located in the top of the reactor building sustained asymmetric burn damage of decreasing degree from top to bottom. Evidence suggests the polar-crane pendant side that experienced heaviest damage was exposed to intense radiant energy from a transient fire plume in the reactor containment volume. Simple hydrogen-fire-exposure tests and heat transfer calculations approximate the degree of damage found on inspected materials from the containment building and support for an estimated 8% pre-fire hydrogen.

Purpose of this study is to explore the status of R and D in Japan and the ability of US researchers to keep abreast of Japanese technical advances. US researchers familiar with R and D activities in Japan were interviewed in ten fields that are relevant to the more efficient use of energy: amorphous metals, biotechnology, ceramics, combustion, electrochemical energy storage, heat engines, heat transfer, high-temperature sensors, thermal and chemical energy storage, and tribology. The researchers were questioned about their perceptions of the strengths of R and D in Japan, comparative aspects of US work, and the quality of available information sources describing R and D in Japan. Of the ten related fields, the researchers expressed a strong perception that significant R and D is under way in amorphous metals, biotechnology, and ceramics, and that the US competitive position in these technologies will be significantly challenged. Researchers also identified alternative emphases in Japanese R and D programs in these areas that provide Japan with stronger technical capabilities. For example, in biotechnology, researchers noted the significant Japanese emphasis on industrial-scale bioprocess engineering, which contrasts with a more meager effort in the US. In tribology, researchers also noted the strength of the …

Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) provided technical assistance to the Office of Operational Safety (OOS) in developing their Assurance Program for Remedial Action (APRA). The APRA Bibliography Management System (BMS), a microcomputer-operated system designed to file, locate and retrieve project-specific bibliographic data, was developed to manage the documentation associated with APRA. The BMS uses APRABASE, a PNL-developed computer program written in dBASE II language, which is designed to operate using the commercially available dBASE II database software. This document describes the APRABASE computer program, its associated subprograms, and the dBASE II APRA file. A User's Manual is also provided in the document. Although the BMS was designed to manage APRA-associated documents, it could be easily adapted for use in handling bibliographic data associated with any project.

In this presentation the basic principles outlined in the first talk ''Gas Cell Neutralizers'' will be applied to a problem of particular interest viz., the design of a ''gasdynamic free-jet'' neutralizer for the Los Alamos ATSU project. What will be presented here does not in any way represent the final gas neutralizer design for ATSU. Rather, the material presented herein should be viewed as simply a preliminary design intended to identify and gain insight into the more subtle issues that must be considered in designing this type of gas neutralizer.

As soon as two SLC beams make it to the intersection region, both transverse offsets, spot sizes and shapes can be extracted from the pattern of angular deflections produced by the electromagnetic interaction of the two beams, as one is scanned across the other. These deflections, measured in two high resolution Beam Position Monitors (BPM) mounted symmetrically on both sides of the intersection point, will produce detectable signals allowing spot sizes to be tuned, even with the very low luminosities expected at turn on. They will also furnish a good signal to monitor beam centering and will therefore become an important part of the FFS feedback system. This note summarizes the formulae which will allow us to correlate BPM offset readings with the properties of the two beams, and describes the range and limitations of the technique in the case of SLC.

Beam disruption during the collision of intense relativistic bunches has been studied by R. Hollebeek. In the case of oppositely charged bunches, focussing effects occur causing a decrease in the effective bunch cross section, and thereby an increase of luminosity by an enhancement factor H. The term disruption derives from the fact that the beam emittance changes markedly during the collision. 1 ref., 1 fig., 1 tab.

Annual statistical report suggesting benchmarks for school budgeting based on financial, personnel, and taxing information submitted by local school districts to state agencies.

We review the different ways in which black holes might form and discuss their various astrophysical and cosmological consequences. We then consider the various constraints on the form of the dark matter and conclude that black holes could have a significant cosmological density only if they are of primordial origin or remnants of a population of pregalactic stars. This leads us to discuss the other cosmological effects of primordial black holes and pregalactic stars. 239 refs., 7 figs., 5 tabs.