This assessment of artificial intelligence (AI) has been prepared for the US Army's Depot System Command (DESCOM) by Pacific Northwest Laboratory. The report describes several of the more promising AI technologies, focusing primarily on knowledge-based systems because they have been more successful in commercial applications than any other AI technique. The report also identifies potential Depot applications in the areas of procedural support, scheduling and planning, automated inspection, training, diagnostics, and robotic systems. One of the principal objectives of the report is to help decision makers within DESCOM to evaluate AI as a possible tool for solving individual depot problems. The report identifies a number of factors that should be considered in such evaluations. 22 refs.

Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) participated in the Winter 1991 Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) field experiment conducted in the vicinity of the Rocky Flats Plant between Boulder and Denver, Colorado. This report contains a summary of operations and data associated with free-release-ball oon-borne atmospheric soundings made by PNL between January 29 and February 8, 1991. Given here are descriptions of the site and instrumentation, a brief summary of the soundings, and a description of the data post processing. The appendices contain a detailed summary of all soundings and ASCOT plots of completed soundings.

The Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-494), Section 400EE, states that the Secretary of Energy ...shall study methanol plants, including the costs and practicability of such plants that are (A) capable of utilizing current domestic supplies of unutilized natural gas; (B) relocatable; or (C) suitable for natural gas to methanol conversion by natural gas distribution companies...'' The purpose of this report is to characterize unutilized gas within the lower 48 states and to perform an economic analysis of methanol plants required by the act. The approach with regard to unutilized lower 48 gas is to (1) compare the costs of converting such gas to methanol against the expected price of gasoline over the next 20 years, and (2) compare the economics of converting such gas to methanol against the economics of using the gas as a pipeline-transported fuel. This study concludes that remote gas and low-Btu gas generally cannot be converted to methanol at costs near the expected competitive value of gasoline because of the poor economies of scale of small methanol plants.

Radiation doses that may have resulted from operations at the Hanford Site are being estimated in the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (HEDR) Project. One of the project subtasks, atmospheric transport, is responsible for estimating the transport, diffusion and deposition of radionuclides released to the atmosphere. This report discusses modeling transport and diffusion in the atmospheric pathway. It is divided into three major sections. The first section of the report presents the atmospheric modeling approach selected following discussion with the Technical Steering Panel that directs the HEDR Project. In addition, the section discusses the selection of the MESOI/MESORAD suite of atmospheric dispersion models that form the basis for initial calculations and future model development. The second section of the report describes alternative modeling approaches that were considered. Emphasis is placed on the family of plume and puff models that are based on Gaussian solution to the diffusion equations. The final portion of the section describes the performance of various models. The third section of the report discusses factors that bear on the selection of an atmospheric transport modeling approach for HEDR. These factors, which include the physical setting of the Hanford Site and the available meteorological data, serve as constraints on …

This report summarizes the information used in modeling atmospheric transport and diffusion for Phase I of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (HEDR) Project. It also lists the results of the atmospheric transport calculations that were provided for use in dose estimation. The report does not contain a description of the atmospheric model or an analysis of the results of the atmospheric calculations. 9 refs., 3 figs., 14 tabs.

This is the final report on the project Atomic Processes in High Temperature Plasmas', which has been completed in June 30, 1991. The original contract started in 1978. The dielectronic recombination (DR) rate coefficients were calculated for ions with the number of electrons N = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, and 12. The result was then used to construct a new and improved rate formula. Other important resonant processes, which are closely related to DR, were also studied to interpret experiments and to test the DR theory. The plasma field and the density effects on the rate coefficients was found to be important, and a consistent correction procedure is being developed. The available data on the DR rates and their accuracy do not yet fully meet the requirement for plasma modeling; there are serious gaps in the available data, and the currently adopted theoretical procedure needs improvements. Critical assessment of the current status of the DR problem is presented, and possible future work needed is summarized.

This report assesses the proposals and prospects for automated checks, ranging from the point-of-sale “instant” check now used by the State of Virginia, to the establishment of a computerized national felons file, to live scanning of fingerprints, or the issuance of ‘smart’ cards to identify firearm purchasers. It considers the benefits, costs, and risks of automated checks. The report examines the relationship between automated record checks and waiting periods, the wide variability in State criminal record systems, and the challenges of improving the automation and quality of record systems.

This Note describes the results of using Automatic Network Analyzers in measuring SLAC 5045 klystron cavities. Two different analyzers were compared; the HP8753 and HP8510. Both analyzers have frequency synthesizer accuracy and stability to perform the measurement without the need for a frequency counter. The klystron has six cavities which can be put into three categories; input, gain and output. The input and output cavities require an external Q measurement (Qe) to determine coupling ({beta}) and center frequency (f{sub o}). The gain cavities require a resonant frequency measurement only.

In a study sponsored by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Pacific Northwest Laboratory has developed and applied a methodology for deriving plant-specific risk-based inspection guidance for the auxiliary feedwater (AFW) system at pressurized water reactors that have not undergone probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). This methodology uses existing PRA results and plant operating experience information. Existing PRA-based inspection guidance information recently developed for the NRC for various plants was used to identify generic component failure modes. This information was then combined with plant-specific and industry-wide component information and failure data to identify failure modes and failure mechanisms for the AFW system at the selected plants. Byron and Braidwood were selected for the fourth study in this program. The produce of this effort is a prioritized listing of AFW failures which have occurred at the plants and at other PWRs. This listing is intended for use by NRC inspectors in the preparation of inspection plans addressing AFW risk-important components at the Byron/Braidwood plants. 23 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.

A collective Thomson scattering (CTS) diagnostic system for localized measurement of energetic ions is being developed for TFTR. This system will use a 200KW, 56GHz gyrotron and a sensitive heterodyne receiver. In addition, a key element of this system will be beam and viewing dumps which are needed to minimize detection of stray gyrotron and ECE background radiation by the receiver system. It is the purpose of this study to determine the size and location of these dumps inside TFTR taking into account beam refraction and launch and receiver antenna optics scanning. The beam dump must cover all the area in the vacuum chamber where the beam is expected to impinge, and the viewing dump must cover all the areas within the direct line of sight of the receiver antenna. The beam launch system and the receiver antenna are to be placed nearly symmetrically above and below the midplane of the tokamak vacuum vessel, respectively. The beam dump is to be placed at the bottom inside of the vacuum vessel to absorb the gyrotron beam which will be launched from a top port. The viewing dump is expected to be placed symmetrically at the top inside of the vacuum vessel, …

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

The ultimate objective of this research is to uncover new catalytic processes for the liquefaction of coal and for upgrading coal-derived fuels by removing undesirable organosulfur, organonitrogen and organooxygen constituents. Basic to both the liquefaction of coal and the purification of coal liquids is the transfer of hydrogen from such sources as dihydrogen, metal hydrides or partially reduced aromatic hydrocarbons to the extensive aromatic rings in coal itself or to aromatic sulfides, amines or ethers. Accordingly, this study is exploring how such crucial hydrogen-transfer processes might be catalyzed by soluble, low-valent transition metal complexes and/or Lewis acids under moderate conditions of temperature and pressure. By learning the mechanism whereby H{sub 2}, metal hydrides or partially hydrogenated aromatics do transfer hydrogen to model aromatic compounds, with the aid of homogeneous, bimetallic catalysts, we hope to identify new methods for producing superior fuels from coal.

The ultimate objective of this research is to uncover new catalytic processes for the liquefaction of coal and for upgrading coal-derived fuels by removing undesirable organosulfur, organonitrogen and organooxygen constituents. Basic to both the liquefaction of coal and the purification of coal liquids is the transfer of hydrogen from such sources as dihydrogen, metal hydrides or partially reduced aromatic hydrocarbons to the extensive aromatic rings in coal itself or to aromatic sulfides, amines or ethers. Accordingly, this study is exploring how such crucial hydrogen-transfer processes might be catalyzed by soluble, low-valent transition metal complexes and/or Lewis acids under moderate conditions of temperature and pressure. By learning the mechanism whereby H{sub 2}, metal hydrides or partially hydrogenated aromatics do transfer hydrogen to model aromatic compounds, with the aid of homogeneous, bimetallic catalysts, we hope to identify new methods for producing superior fuels from coal.

A new linear MHD stability code, NOVA-W, has been developed in order to study feedback stabilization of the axisymmetric mode in deformable tokamak plasmas. The NOVA-W code is a modification of the non-variational MHD stability code NOVA that includes the effects of resistive passive conductors and active feedback circuits. The vacuum calculation has been reformulated in terms of the perturbed poloidal flux to allow the inclusion of perturbed toroidal currents outside the plasma. The boundary condition at the plasma-vacuum interface relates the instability displacement to the perturbed poloidal flux. This allows a solution of the linear MHD stability equations with the feedback effects included. The passive stability predictions of the code have been tested both against a simplified analytic model and against a different numerical calculation for a realistic tokamak configuration. The comparisons demonstrate the accuracy of the NOVA-W results. Active feedback calculations are performed for the CIT tokamak design demonstrating the effect of varying the position of the flux loops that provide the measurements of vertical displacement. The results compare well with those computed earlier using a less efficient nonlinear code. 37 refs., 13 figs.

Pacific Northwest Laboratory operates a Barrel Assayer to measure the radionuclide content of 208-liter waste drums. This mobile apparatus is designed to provide quantitative information on each radioisotope in a drum and to recognize and locate hot spots within the drum. A lead-collimated intrinsic-germanium detector mounted on a moveable platform vertically scans a rotating drum for gamma-ray activity while 62 stationary {sup 10}BF{sub 3} tubes measure neutrons emitted by transuranic isotopes within the waste. Several approaches have been used to document the controls under which the Barrel Assayer has been operated from February 1989 through December 1990. Resin-filled 208-1 calibration barrels containing known quantities of {sup 60}Co, {sup 137}Cs, and {sup 134}Cs were measured by the Barrel Assayer and found to be well within 25% of the known values. A thorium nitrate standard that served as the secondary, or field, standard verified that the detector has been within calibration during the period from February 1989 through December 1990. In previous testing, 23 waste drums were assayed at several commercial nuclear power plants. Subsequently, aliquots from the top, middle, and bottom of the barrels were analyzed. The ratio of grab-sample concentration to direct-assay concentration averaged {minus}1.6 for one plant and +1.3 …

The possible head degradation of the SRPR pumps may be attributable to two independent phenomena, one due to the inception of cavitation and the other due to the two-phase flow phenomena. The head degradation due to the appearance of cavitation on the pump blade is hardly likely in the conventional pressurized water reactor (PWR) since the coolant circulating line is highly pressurized so that the cavitation is difficult to occur even at LOCA (loss of coolant accident) conditions. On the other hand, the suction pressure of SRPR pump is order-of-magnitude smaller than that of PWR so that the cavitation phenomena, may prevail, should LOCA occur, depending on the extent of LOCA condition. In this study, therefore, both cavitation phenomena and two-phase flow phenomena were investigated for the SRPR pump by using various analytical tools and the numerical results are presented herein.

Significant accomplishments in fabricating ceramic components for advanced heat engine programs have provided evidence that the operation of ceramic parts in high-temperature engine environments is feasible. However, these programs have also demonstrated that additional research is needed in materials and processing development, design methodology, and database and life prediction before industry will have a sufficient technology base from which to produce reliable cost-effective ceramic engine components commercially. An assessment of needs was completed, and a five year project plan was developed with extensive input from private industry. The project approach includes determining the mechanisms controlling reliability, improving processes for fabricating existing ceramics, developing new materials with increased reliability, and testing these materials in simulated engine environments to confirm reliability. Although this is a generic materials project, the focus is on the structural ceramics for advanced gas turbine and diesel engines, ceramic bearings and attachments, and ceramic coatings for thermal barrier and wear applications in these engines. To facilitate the rapid transfer of this technology to US industry, the major portion of the work is being done in the ceramic industry, with technological support from government laboratories, other industrial laboratories, and universities. This project is managed by ORNL for the Office …

By means of the unsteady-flow theory and a bilinear mathematical model, a theoretical study was conducted of the chaotic dynamics associated with the fluid-elastic instability of loosely supported tubes. Calculations were performed for the RMS of tube displacement, bifurcation diagram, phase portrait, power spectral density, and Poincare map. Analytical results show the existence of chaotic, quasi-periodic, and periodic regions when flow velocity exceeds a threshold value.

By means of the unsteady-flow theory and a bilinear mathematical model, a theoretical study was conducted of the chaotic dynamics associated with the fluidelastic instability of loosely supported tubes. Calculations were performed for the RMS of tube displacement, bifurcation diagram, phase portrait, power spectral density, and Poincare map. Analytical results show the existence of chaotic, quasiperiodic, and periodic regions when flow velocity exceeds a threshold value. 38 refs., 15 figs., 2 tabs.

Report attempting to "answer the basic questions concerning how state government can equitably fund the services which the people of Texas demand" (p. xxi).

The need for environmentally responsible electricity generation is a worldwide concern. Because coal is available throughout the world at a reasonable cost, current research is focusing on technologies that use coal with minimal environmental effects. The United States government is supporting research on clean coal technologies (CCTs) to be used for new capacity additions and for retrofits to existing capacity. To promote the worldwide adoption of US CCTs, the US Department of Energy, the US Agency for International Development, and the US Trade and Development Program sponsored a two-week seminar titled Clean Coal Technologies -- An International Seminar. Nineteen participants from seven countries were invited to this seminar, which was held at Argonne National Laboratory in June 1991. During the seminar, 11 US CCT vendors made presentations on their state-of-the-art and commercially available technologies. The presentations included technical, environmental, operational, and economic characteristics of CCTs. Information on financing and evaluating CCTs also was presented, and participants visited two CCT operating sites. The closing evaluation indicated that the seminar was a worthwhile experience for all participants and that it should be repeated. The participants said CCT could play a role in their existing and future electric capacity, but they agreed that …

The need for environmentally responsible electricity generation is a worldwide concern. Because coal is available throughout the world at a reasonable cost, current research is focusing on technologies that use coal with minimal environmental effects. The United States government is supporting research on clean coal technologies (CCTs) to be used for new capacity additions and for retrofits to existing capacity. To promote the worldwide adoption of US CCTs, the US Department of Energy, the US Agency for International Development, and the US Trade and Development Program sponsored a two-week seminar titled Clean Coal Technologies -- An International Seminar. Nineteen participants from seven countries were invited to this seminar, which was held at Argonne National Laboratory in June 1991. During the seminar, 11 US CCT vendors made presentations on their state-of-the-art and commercially available technologies. The presentations included technical, environmental, operational, and economic characteristics of CCTs. Information on financing and evaluating CCTs also was presented, and participants visited two CCT operating sites. The closing evaluation indicated that the seminar was a worthwhile experience for all participants and that it should be repeated. The participants said CCT could play a role in their existing and future electric capacity, but they agreed that …

Recent years have witnessed a growing recognition of the link between emissions of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) and changes in the global climate. Of all anthropogenic activities, energy production and use generate the single largest portion of these greenhouse gases. Although developing countries currently account for a small share of global carbon emissions, their contribution is increasing rapidly. Due to the rapid expansion of energy demand in these nations, the developing world's share in global modern energy use rose from 16 to 27 percent between 1970 and 1990. If the growth rates observed over the past 20 years persist, energy demand in developing nations will surpass that in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) early in the 21st century. The study seeks to examine the forces that galvanize the growth of energy use and carbon emissions, to assess the likely future levels of energy and Co{sub 2} in selected developing nations and to identify opportunities for restraining this growth. The purpose of this report is to provide the quantitative information needed to develop effective policy options, not to identify the options themselves. These individual studies were conducted for China, India, Indonesia and South Korea in …

Recent years have witnessed a growing recognition of the link between emissions of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) and changes in the global climate. of all anthropogenic activities, energy production and use generate the single largest portion of these greenhouse gases. Although developing countries currently account for a small share of global carbon emissions, their contribution is increasing rapidly. Due to the rapid expansion of energy demand in these nations, the developing world's share in global modern energy use rose from 16 to 27 percent between 1970 and 1990. If the growth rates observed over the past 20 years persist, energy demand in developing nations will surpass that in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) early in the 21st century. The study seeks to examine the forces that galvanize the growth of energy use and carbon emissions, to assess the likely future levels of energy and CO{sub 2} in selected developing nations and to identify opportunities for restraining this growth. The purpose of this report is to provide the quantitative information needed to develop effective policy options, not to identify the options themselves. A combined study was carried out for the countries of the Gulf Cooperation …