In this Project Status Report for 7/9/89--10/8/89, results of a comparative study of coal sample deterioration in several container types were presented. In April 1990, one year after the initial analyses, the set of analyses was repeated on the most important container types. The new results are included in Table 2. During the current reporting period a total of 42 data printouts were distributed. In addition, 7 special data requests were fulfilled by either search/sort and printout or creation of a data disk, resulting in distribution of limited information on 2083 samples. Several preliminary requests for Sample Bank and Data Base information and price quotations have also been handled.

Major improvements in the structural and electrical perfection of single crystals of III-V compound semiconductors have been achieved by using new vertical Bridgman-type and vertical gradient freeze techniques. A general review of experimental set-ups used for growth of large diameter crystals of GaP, InP and GaAs is presented. Crystal properties and characteristic features are discussed to illustrate advantages and disadvantages of the vertical Bridgman-type growth techniques. 22 refs., 5 figs.

The general objective is to improve the knowledge about the transferring processes leading from airborne radon/radon daughters to embedded Po-210 in hard surfaces in the indoor environment. The specific goal of the research is to identify situations in which the surface activity of Po-210 can be used as a long-term indicator of lung cancer risk from past or future radon exposures.

The objective of this project is to evaluate and demonstrate a cost effective emission control technology for acid rain precursors, oxides of nitrogen (NO{sub x}) and sulfur (SO{sub x}), on two coal fired utility boilers in Illinois. The units selected are representative of pre-NSPS design practices: tangential and cyclone fired. Work on a third unit, wall fired, is on hold'' because of funding limitations. The specific objectives are to demonstrate reductions of 60 percent in NO{sub x} and 50 percent in SO{sub x} emissions, by a combination of two developed technologies, gas reburning (GR) and sorbent injection (SI). With GR, about 80{endash}85 percent of the coal fuel is fired in the primary combustion zone. The balance of the fuel is added downstream as natural gas to create a slightly fuel rich environment in which NO{sub x} is converted to N{sub 2}. The combustion process is completed by overfire air addition. SO{sub x} emissions are reduced by injecting dry sorbents (usually calcium based) into the upper furnace. The sorbents trap SO{sub x} as solid sulfates that are collected in the particulate control device.

The Kesterson Reservoir was planned as a regulating facility to control drainage water discharges into the San Joaquin-Scaramento River Delta from the San Luis Drain'' which was to dispose of salt-ladin agricultural water. Anticipated environmental impacts of the Kesterson operations focused almost exclusively on problems related to seepage and water-logging of nearby lands. Reuse of drainage water for wetlands focused on excessive salinity. Drainage water entered the reservoir in 1978. By 1983 elevated levels of selenium were found with selenium poisoning causing deformed embryos of water birds, adult bird mortality and their poor reproductive success. An estimated 9000 kg of selenium was delivered to Kesterson between 1981 to 1986. This paper details the chronology of the Kesterson crisis and environmental remediation. 20 refs., 1 fig. (BJN)

The Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) is a new, world class facility for research using hot, thermal, cold, and ultra-cold neutrons. At the heart of the facility is a 350-MW{sub th}, heavy water cooled and moderated reactor. The reactor is housed in a central reactor building, with supporting equipment located in an adjoining reactor support building. An array of cold neutron guides fans out into a large guide hall, housing about 30 neutron research stations. Office, laboratory, and shop facilities are included to provide a complete users facility. The ANS is scheduled to begin operation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory at the end of the decade. This Plant Design Requirements document defines the plant-level requirements for the design, construction, and operation of the ANS. This document also defines and provides input to the individual System Design Description (SDD) documents. Together, this Plant Design Requirements document and the set of SDD documents will define and control the baseline configuration of the ANS.

Surfaces have several unique properties that remain unexplained on the atomic level. These include (1) the unique chemical activity of rough surfaces, (2) the breaking of chemical bonds in narrow temperature ranges; and (3) the role of co-adsorption and strongly adsorbed monolayers during catalysis and tribological change (friction, lubrication). The dynamic surface restructuring model and surface structure induced variations in local density of states that have been suggested to rationalize the surface behavior await experimental confirmation. 24 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.

Annual report of activities of the Argonne National Laboratory Physics Division, including research at ATLAS, medium-energy nuclear physics and weak interactions, theoretical nuclear physics, and atomic and molecular physics.

Development of the liquid carbon dioxide process for the cleaning of coal was performed in batch, variable volume (semi-continuous), and continuous tests. Continuous operation at feed rates up to 4.5 kg/hr (10-lb/hr) was achieved with the Continuous System. Coals tested included Upper Freeport, Pittsburgh, Illinois No. 6, and Middle Kittanning seams. Results showed that the ash and pyrite rejections agreed closely with washability data for each coal at the particle size tested (-200 mesh). A 0.91 metric ton (1-ton) per hour Proof-of-Concept Plant was conceptually designed. A 181 metric ton (200 ton) per hour and a 45 metric ton (50 ton) per hour plant were sized sufficiently to estimate costs for economic analyses. The processing costs for the 181 metric ton (200 ton) per hour and 45 metric ton (50 ton) per hour were estimated to be $18.96 per metric ton ($17.20 per ton) and $11.47 per metric ton ($10.40 per ton), respectively for these size plants. The costs for the 45 metric ton per hour plant are lower because it is assumed to be a fines recovery plant which does not require a grinding circuit of complex waste handling system.

The Electronics Group in the Physics Department at Fermilab has designed and has had produced 20 prototypes of a full custom four channel time to voltage converter using the ES2 direct write 2 {mu}m CMOS process. The actual implementation of the design was performed under contract by ASIC designs Inc. of Naperville, Illinois. Each channel has two hit capability and one level of input buffering: that is, up to four voltages representing time internals can be stored from each input for later ADC conversion. The chip produces an edited list of hits and presents the appropriate analog value on its output for each digital value on its hit address lines. The next hit address and analog voltage in the event is presented in response to an external strobe. One current sum proportional to the number of inputs hit for each input buffer is also provided. The chip has been designed to be used on a fastbus TDC card developed here, but it is our belief that it could be adapted to many TDC applications. 2 refs., 8 figs.

Inspection of valves on stored uranium hexafluoride (UF{sub 6}) cylinders was initiated at the three diffusion plant sites in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio as the result of the discovery of valve defects and evidence of valve leaks at the Oak Ridge K-25 plant. The coordinated inspection culminated in the identification of additional factors related to long-term safe storage of UF{sub 6}, and plans for correction of such deficiencies are presently being developed and implemented. These corrective actions supplement existing programs aimed at assurance of safe storage as summarized in the report.

This OTA report analyzes the problem of locating and arranging services for people with dementia, presents a framework for an effective system to connect them to appropriate services, and discusses congressional policy options for establishing such a system. One of the main policy issues is whether the system should serve people with dementia exclusively or serve people with other diseases and conditions as well.

This report evaluates past RPA efforts, reviews the process used by the Forest Service in preparing the 1989 RPA Assessment and the Draft 1990 RPA Program, and identities options for improving RPA’s contribution to long-range planning and to policy and budget deliberations. The second OTA report on Forest Service planning will review national forest planning, and will examine the relationship between national planning under RPA and forest planning under NFMA.

This paper discusses briefly (1) the purposes of research directed toward support of the defense science and technology base and (2) criteria for judging government-supported, military oriented research portfolios. It will not cover, except tangentially, research into science and technology directed to civilian uses or the more advanced development phase of military weapons and systems.

OTA prepared this report with the assistance of a panel of advisors and reviewers selected for their expertise and diverse points of view on the issues covered by the assessment. These authorities were drawn from academia, industry, and professional societies, as well as Federal, State, and local agencies. They included members of the scientific, law enforcement, forensic, and legal communities. OTA gratefully acknowledges the contribution of each of these individuals; as with all OTA reports, responsibility for the content is OTA’s alone.

The objective of the semiannual progress report is to summarize the technical results obtained during the latest reporting period. The information presented herein will include evaluated test data, design evaluations, the results of analyses and the significance of results. The program objective is to demonstrate the technology readiness of a TFE suitable for use as the basic element in a thermionic reactor with electric power output in the 0.5 to 5.0 MW(e) range, and a full-power life of 7 years. The TFE Verification Program builds directly on the technology and data base developed in the 1960s and early 1970s in an AEC/NASA program, and in the SP-100 program conducted in 1983, 1984 and 1985. In the SP-100 program, the attractive features of thermionic power conversion technology were recognized but concern was expressed over the lack of fast reactor irradiation data. The TFE Verification Program addresses this concern. 6 refs., 67 figs., 37 tabs.

Numerical simulation of firing systems requires both the appropriate circuit analysis framework and the special element models required by the application. We have modified the SPICE circuit analysis code (version 2G.6), developed originally at the Electronic Research Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley, to allow it to be used on MSDOS-based, personal computers and to give it two additional circuit elements needed by firing systems--fuses and saturating inductances. An interactive editor and a batch driver have been written to ease the use of the SPICE program by system designers, and the interactive graphical post processor, NUTMEG, supplied by U. C. Berkeley with SPICE version 3B1, has been interfaced to the output from the modified SPICE. Documentation and installation aids have been provided to make the total software system accessible to PC users. Sample problems show that the resulting code is in agreement with the FIRESET code on which the fuse model was based (with some modifications to the dynamics of scaling fuse parameters). In order to allow for more complex simulations of firing systems, studies have been made of additional special circuit elements--switches and ferrite cored inductances. A simple switch model has been investigated which promises to give at …

Newsletter of the Texas Air Control Board including information about the Board as well as news, events, and other relevant information related to air quality in Texas.

The overall objective of this project is to sue molecular genetics to develop strains of bacteria with enhanced ability to remove sulfur from coal and to obtain data that will allow the performance and economics of a coal biodesulfurization process to be predicted. The work planned for the current quarter (May 1990 to July 1990) includes the following activities: (1) Construct a cloning vector that can be used in Rhodococcus rhodochrous IGTS8 from the small cryptic plasmid found in Rhodococcus rhodochrous ATCC 190607; (2) Develop techniques for the genetic analysis of IGTS8; (3) Continue biochemical experiments, particularly those that may allow the identification of desulfurization-related enzymes; (4) Continue experiments with coal to determine the kinetics of organic sulfur removal.

Under USDOE sponsorship, a project team consisting of the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT), Peabody Holding Company, Inc., and Bechtel Group is developing a process for the mild gasification of coal in a 100-pound/hour capacity isothermal process research unit (PRU) at IGT in Chicago. The IGT process is capable of converting bituminous coals to value-added co-products that can open new markets for the US coal industry. The conceptual IGT mild gasification process incorporates an integrated fluidized-/entrained-bed reactor supplying heat indirectly by a combination of char and gas recycle. The use of mild operating conditions (1000{degree} to 1300{degree}F), low pressures (<50 psig), and continuous operation in closed reactors, combined with the sale of value-added co-products, offer an environmentally sound and economical approach to advanced coal utilization. The PRU consists of an 8-inch-ID {times} 8-foot-long fluidized-bed reactor closely coupled to a 4-inch-ID {times} 13-foot-long entrained-bed reactor. The PRU test results have demonstrated process performance, including the effect of coal type and temperature on mild gasification co-product yields and their properties. The fates of the heteroatoms have also been analyzed. 9 refs., 16 figs., 41 tabs.

The Insolation Data Manual presents monthly averaged data which describes the availability of solar radiation at 248 National Weather Service (NWS) stations, principally in the United States. Monthly and annual average daily insolation and temperature values have been computed from a base of 24--25 years of data, generally from 1952--1975, and listed for each location. Insolation values represent monthly average daily totals of global radiation on a horizontal surface and are depicted using the three units of measurement: kJ/m{sup 2} per day, Btu/ft{sup 2} per day and langleys per day. Average daily maximum, minimum and monthly temperatures are provided for most locations in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. Heating and cooling degree-days were computed relative to a base of 18.3 C (65 F). For each station, global {bar K}{sub T} (cloudiness index) values were calculated on a monthly and annual basis. Global {bar K}{sub T} is an index of cloudiness and indicates fractional transmittance of horizontal radiation, from the top of the atmosphere to the earth's surface. The second section of this volume presents long-term monthly and annual averages of direct normal solar radiation for 235 NWS stations, including a discussion of the basic derivation process. This effort is in response …

The subject of {gamma}{prime} precipitation in a Ni-12.5 at. % Si alloy has been studied by modern diffraction and scattering techniques in the small-angle and large angle regimes, and by transmission electron microscopy. Special attention is placed upon the mechanism and kinetic evolution of {gamma}{prime} precipitates as a function of ageing conditions. Methods are shown for the determination of interdiffusion coefficient, the interfacial energy and the coherent solubility. The strain effect, due to lattice mismatch, on the spatial correlation and preferred alignment of precipitates is addressed. Scaling law for the particle growth has been tested against the current theories. Results obtained from the three mutually beneficial techniques are shown to be consistent, thereby allowing an integral view of the phase separation process in this system. 29 refs., 19 figs., 3 tabs.

The United States has long been accused of being energy inefficient based on a comparison of energy intensities among the industrialized countries. Energy intensity is commonly measured by computing the ratio of energy use per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is not a true measure of efficiency, however, because it does not account for differences in the standard of living, differences in population densities, or other factors. After corrections are made to account for these factors, the United States often appears to be as efficient or more efficient than many of the other industrialized countries. In this analysis the industrialized economies considered are the Group of Seven (G7): the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Italy, West Germany, and the United Kingdom. In summary, since 1970 the United States has improved the efficiency of energy use as much or more than have the other G-7 countries. Frequently, the United States is more efficient in its use of energy than are other G-7 countries. Many of the differences in energy use result from the fact that the United States has the comparative advantage of abundant indigenous energy supplies which have been used to develop large energy intensive but not necessarily …

This report discusses the monthly progress of the Power Burst Facility/Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (PBF/BNLT) program for cancer treatment. Highlights of the PBF/BNCT Program during July 1990 include progress within the areas of: Gross boron analysis in tissue, blood, and urine; noninvasive boron quantitative determination; analytical radiation transport and interaction modeling for BNCT; large animal model studies; neutron source and facility preparation; administration and common support and PBF operations.