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A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that focuses on high-technology development initiatives in several regions of the United States.

An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "explores the dual relationship between medical technology and the Medicare program: Medicare policies affect the adoption and use of medical technologies, and the patterns and levels of use of medical technologies significantly affect Medicare costs" (p. iii).

The Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility (RLWTF) at Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) in Idaho provides improved treatment for low-level aqueous waste compared to conventional systems. A unique, patented evaporated system is used in the RLWTF. SHADE (shielded hot air drum evaporator, US Patent No. 4,305,780) is a low-cost disposable unit constructed from standard components and is self-shielded. The results of testing and recent operations indicate that evaporation rates of 2 to 6 gph (8 to 23 L/h) can be achieved with a single unit housed in a standard 30-gal (114-L) drum container. The operating experience has confirmed the design evaporation rate of 60,000 gal (227,000 L) per year, using six SHADE's.

A set of macro libraries has been developed that allows programmers to write portable FORTRAN code for multiprocessors. This document presents, in tutorial form, the macros used to implement three common synchronization patterns: self-scheduling DO-loops, barrier synchronization, and the askfor monitor.

A set of macro libraries has been developed that allows programmers to write portable Pascal code for multiprocessors. This document presents, in tutorial form, the macros used to implement three common synchronization patterns: self-scheduling FOR-loops, barrier synchronization, and the askfor monitor.

Computer model simulation is required to evaluate the performance of proposed or future high-level radioactive waste geological repositories. However, the accuracy of a model in predicting the real situation depends on how well the values of the transport properties are prescribed as input parameters. Knowledge of transport parameters is therefore essential. We have modeled ANL's Experiment Analog Program which was designed to simulate long-term radwaste migration process by groundwater flowing through a high-level radioactive waste repository. Using this model and experimental measurements, we have evaluated neptunium (actinide) deposition velocity and analyzed the complex phenomena of simultaneous deposition, erosion, and re-entrainment of bentonite when groundwater is flowing through a narrow crack in a basalt rock. The present modeling demonstrates that we can obtain the values of transport parameters, as added information without any additional cost, from the available measurements of laboratory analog experiments.

This report summarizes the work that has been performed to date at Argonne National Laboratory on the development of the TRUEX process, a solvent extraction process employing a bifunctional organophosphorous reagent in a PUREX process solverc (tributyl phosphate-normal paraffinic hydrocarbons). The purpose of this extraction process is to separate and concentrate transuranic (TRU) elements from nuclear waste.

In this report it is shown that a burner placed in a combustible fluid can have a stabilizing effect on a plane flame. A mathematical model is derived in which the flame is modeled as a surface of discontinuity in the flow field. Jump conditions for the fluid variables, as well as an expression for the flame speed, are obtained from an asymptotic analysis of the detailed structure of the flame. The model is applied to investigate the linear stability of a plane flame. Stable behavior is shown to exist for certain regimes of the parameters: Lewis number, burner strength, heat release and inflow velocity.

In this report we give a detailed presentation of how monitors can be implemented on the HEP using a simple macro processor. We then develop the thesis that a small body of general-purpose monitors can be defined to handle most standard synchronization patterns. We include the macro packages required to implement some of the more common synchronization patterns, including the fairly complex logic discussed in a previous paper. Code produced using these macro packages is portable from one multiprocessing environment to another. Indeed, by recoding the set of basic macros (about 100 lines of code for the Denelcor HEP), most programs that we are new writing could be moved to any similar multiprocessing system.

Final comparisons are made between measured and calculated radiation doses around the holes in which the spent fuel was emplaced in the Spent Fuel Test - Climax. Neutron doses were found to be negligible compared with gamma doses. Good agreement was found between the doses predicted by Monte Carlo calculations and those measured by short-exposure thermoluminescence dosimetry. Poor agreement was found between the calculational results and doses measured by exposure of LiF optical-absorption-type dosimeters for long periods, probably because of an inability to accurately correct for fade resulting from elevated temperature exposure over several months. The maximum dose to the rock occurred at the walls of the emplacement holes, and amounted to 1.6 MGy (1.6 x 10{sup 8} rad) in granite for the emplacement period of nearly 3 years. It is recommended that dose evaluations for future high-level nuclear waste storage facilities also be performed by combining calculations and dosimetry. Passive dosimetry techniques, if used, should involve short exposures, so that laboratory calibrations can be performed with duplicate time, temperature, dose rate, and dose parameters. An attractive alternative would be to use active ionization chambers, inserted only periodically. These could be calibrated under appropriate temperature and pressure conditions, and could …

This is a summary of the chemical composition of the sludge on a tank-by-tank basis and the projected chemical composition of the first four feed batches to the DWPF.

This report describes a series of hydrothermal experiments using crushed tuff from the Topopah Spring Member and natural ground water from well J-13. The purpose of these experiments is to define the changes in water chemistry that would result from temperature changes caused by emplacing high-level nuclear waste in a repository in the Topopah Spring tuff. Experiments were conducted at 120{sup 0}C in Teflon-lined reaction vessels at four separate rock-to-water ratios and for reaction times up to 72 days. The composition of evaporite deposits contained in the pores of the surface-outcrop rock material used in these experiments is determined from solution compositions resulting from treatment of the rock before the start of the experiments. Results from the experiments at 120{sup 0}C are compared with previous experimental results from hydrothermal reaction of the Topopah Spring tuff with J-13 water at 90 and 150{sup 0}C. The main conclusion that can be drawn from this work is that changes in the water chemistry due to heating of the rock-water system can be expected to be very minor. There is no significant source of anions (F{sup -}, Cl{sup -}, NO{sub 3}{sup -}, or SO{sub 4}{sup 2-}) in the rock; solution anion compositions after reaction …

Four basic physical processes, thermal, hydrological, mechanical and chemical, are likely to occur in 11 different types of coupling during the service life of an underground nuclear waste repository. A great number of coupled processes with various degrees of importance for geological repositories were identified and arranged into these 11 types. A qualitative description of these processes and a tentative evaluation of their significance and the degree of uncertainty in prediction is given. Suggestions for methods of investigation generally include, besides theoretical work, laboratory and large scale field testing. Great efforts of a multidisciplinary nature are needed to elucidate details of several coupled processes under different temperature conditions in different geological formations. It was suggested that by limiting the maximum temperature to 100{sup 0}C in the backfill and in the host rock during the whole service life of the repository the uncertainties in prediction of long-term repository behavior might be considerably reduced.

Existing thermodynamic data for aqueous and solid species of americium have been reviewed and collected in a form that can be used with the EQ3/6 database. Data that are important in solubility calculations for americium at a proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository were emphasized. Conflicting data exist for americium complexes with carbonates. Essentially no data are available for americium solids or complexes at temperatures greater than 25{sup 0}C. 17 references, 4 figures.

The kinetics of Pu(IV) polymer formation has been examined with the intent of developing a simple mathematical equation that would predict the appearance of polymer. The fundamental polymerization rate has been found to be dependent on [Pu(IV)]{sup 1} {sup 2} and [HNO{sub 3}]{sup -6}. The activation energy for polymer formation is real temperature dependent, varying from 66.9 kJ/mol (16 kcal/mol) at 25{sup 0}C to 150.5 kJ/mol (36 kcal/mol) at 105{sup 0}C. These relationships have guided the developement of an empirical model that gives time to form 2% polymer in hours, t = [Pu/sub T/]/sup a/[HNO{sub 3}]/sup b/ Ae/sup c/T/, where a = -1.6, b = 4.6, c = 12.300 K, and A = 7.66 x 10{sup -16} h M{sup -3}; [Pu/sub T/] is the total plutonium concentration, mol/L; and [HNO{sub 3}] is the makeup nitric acid concentration, mol/L. 11 references, 26 figures, 1 table.

Compilation of monthly reports from departments in the city of San Antonio, Texas providing statistics, project updates, and other information about services and activities.

This is a useful overview of the Department of Energy's outlook on geothermal energy development in the U.S. as of late 1983. For example, Exhibit 4 shows how electric utility planners' estimates of likely amounts of geothermal power on line for 1990 and 2000 first increased and then declined over time as they were surveyed in 1977 through 1983 (date are from the EPRI Survey). Additions to direct heat uses in 1979 through 1981 are in Exhibit 7. A Table (not numbered) at the back of the report "Historical Development of Geothermal Power ..." shows world installed geothermal capacity by nation at decadal intervals from 1950 to 1980, and the first year of power production for each country. (DJE 2005)

This report describes a procedure for the nondestructive evaluation of military roads and streets, performed with the Road Rater 2008 (an electrohydraulic vibrator which measures the load-deflection response of pavements). "[It] also describes the testing equipment, testing techniques, data reduction procedures, and computational methodology used in developing the evaluation procedures. Detailed examples are presented in the Appendices to guide the users through the evaluation procedures for both flexible (AC) and rigid (PCC) highway pavements. An operator's guide describing the day-to-day maintenance and operation of the NODET is presented in Appendix C" (abstract, para. 2).

We have previously reported on the incorporation of a circular boundary condition into the program POISSON for two-dimensional problems (Incorporation of a Circular Boundary Condition into the Program POISSON, S. Caspi, M. Helm, and L.J. Laslett, LBID-887, SSC MAG Note-S, February 13, 1984). The least square method has now been generalized to accept any suitable set of orthogonal functions which can describe the vector potential function outside a circular boundary so located that no external sources are present. We have proceeded to incorporate the boundary condition into cartesian problems which involve no symmetry, and into axis-symmetry cylindrical problems that may have left-right symmetry, antisymmetry or no symmetry.

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The Phase I study of the geothermal potential of Ascension Island concluded that the possibility of a geothermal resource existing under the island was excellent. This conclusion was based on the presence of young volcanic rocks (a heat source close to the surface), an ample supply of water from the sea, and high permeability of many of the rocks which make up the island. The assumption was made that the resource would be similar to geothermal systems in the Azores or Japan, and a conceptual design of a power plant to utilize the resource was prepared upon which cost estimates and an economic analysis were subsequently performed. The results of the economic analysis were very favorable, and the Air Force decided to proceed into Phase II of the project. Under Phase II, an exploration program was designed and carried out. The purpose of the program was to ascertain whether or not a geothermal resource existed beneath Ascension island and, to the extent possible, to evaluate the quality of that resource. The exploration involved a detailed aeromagnetic survey of the island, reconnaissance and detailed electrical resistivity surveys, and drilling of holes for the measurement of temperatures. These methods have confirmed the …

This technical report on the Phase II geothermal exploration of Ascension Island documents the data collected during thermal gradient drilling and the subsequent thermal and fluid chemical investigations. It also documents the completion of the Phase II exploration strategy which was proposed at the end of the Phase I--Preliminary Examination of Ascension Island. The thermal gradient drilling resulted in seven holes which range from 206 to 1750 ft (53-533 m) deep, with a cumulative footage of 6563 ft (2000 m). The drilling procedure and the problems encountered during the drilling have been explained in detail to provide information valuable for any subsequent drilling program on the island. In addition, the subsurface geology encountered in the holes has been documented and, where possible, correlated with other holes or the geology mapped on the surface of the island. Temperatures measured in the holes reach a maximum of 130 F (54.4 C) at 1285 ft (391.7 m) in hole GH-6. When the temperatures of all holes are plotted against elevation, the holes can be classed into three distinct groups, those which have no thermal manifestations, those with definite geothermal affinities, and one hole which is intermediate between the other two. From consideration of …