The invention consists of an improved method for the preparation of single phase, fine grained ceramic materials from precursor powder mixtures where at least one of the components of the mixture is an alkali earth carbonate. The process consists of heating the precursor powders in a partial vacuum under flowing oxygen and under conditions where the partial pressure of CO{sub 2} evolved during the calcination is kept to a very low level relative to the oxygen. The process has been found particularly suitable for the preparation of high temperature copper oxide superconducting materials such as YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub x} ``123`` and YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 4}O{sub 8} ``124``.

This document reports the progress made during the first six months of the current three-year DOE grant on Artificially Structured Magnetic Materials.'' However, because some of the results of our previous three-year DOE grant on Artificially Structured Superconductors'' continue to emerge, both topics are addressed in this Progress Report. This report describes progress with DOE funding during the current calendar year; description of the research to be conducted during the remaining six months of the current grant year; a description of the status of the graduate students working on this research; lists of the invited talks, seminars and colloquia, of other recognition of our research, and of the publications crediting DOE sponsorship; and a summary of current and pending federal support. Since the research proposed to be conducted during the next 2 1/2 years is described in detail in our DOE proposal, it is only briefly reviewed here.

Based on results of testing eight solids removal technologies and one pretreatment option, it is recommended that a centrifugal ultrafilter and polymeric ultrafilter undergo further testing as possible alternatives to the Norton Ceramic filters. Deep bed filtration should be considered as a third alternative, if a backwashable cartridge filter is shown to be inefficient in separate testing.

Based on results of testing eight solids removal technologies and one pretreatment option, it is recommended that a centrifugal ultrafilter and polymeric ultrafilter undergo further testing as possible alternatives to the Norton Ceramic filters. Deep bed filtration should be considered as a third alternative, if a backwashable cartridge filter is shown to be inefficient in separate testing.

The purpose of this study was to identify the general principles governing the choice of hybrid separation systems over straight membrane or straight nonmembrane systems and to do so by examining practical applications (process design and economics). Our focus was to examine the energy consumption characteristics and overall cost factors of the membrane and nonmembrane technologies that cause hybrid systems to be preferred over nonhybrid systems. We evaluated four cases studies, chosen on the basis of likelihood of commercial viability of a hybrid system and magnitude of energy savings: (1) propane/propylene separation; (2) removal of nitrogen from natural gas; (3) concentration of Kraft black liquor; and (4)solvent deasphalting. For propane/propylene splitting, the membrane proved to be superior to distillation in both thermodynamic efficiency and processing cost (PC) when the product was 95% pure propylene. However, to produce higher purity products, the membrane alone could not perform the separation, and a membrane/distillation hybrid was required. In these cases, there is an optimum amount of separation to be accomplished by the membrane (expressed as the fraction of the total availability change of the membrane/distillation hybrid that takes place in the membrane and defined as {phi}{sub m}, the thermodynamic extent of separation). Qualitative …

Schlieren imaging techniques were used to study the density depressions created by the ATA electron beam 37 cm after the entrance foil. Typical channel depressions were 5--10% of ambient density per pulse. Under IFR guiding channel depths as deep as 30% were seen on single pulse operation. Pulse 5 of the 5 pulse burst has passed through a channel reduced to 30% of ambient density. To lowest order, one would expect channel density depressions to scale as ({Delta}n/n) {proportional to} ({number sign} of pulses * I{sub beam}/channel area). Channel depth observations scaled roughly with beam current, {number sign} of pulses, and inversely with channel area. Pressure scaling was anomalous in that {Delta}n appeared to be less sensitive to pressure than the linear dependence expected. This would require that the energy deposition (stopping power) is independent of pressure and is a surprising result which can only be explained with collective effects. Scaling of channel expansion rates with pressure suggest classical diffusion (D {proportional to} 1/n) for times up to 200 mS. During these early times, the diffusion constant was, however, 3--5 times larger than the classical value. At later times, large scale turbulence was observed and the effective diffusion constant increased …

Tritium was released to the atmosphere from the Savannah River Plant during an incident on September 2 and 3, 1984 between 10 PM and 3 AM. During this five hour period, 43,800 Ci of tritium, principally in the form of the oxide (HTO), was released. An additional 14,000, Ci was released during subsequent cleanup operations between September 3 and 7. The total amount released from the incident was 57,800 Ci. The HTO cloud initially moved northward and passed near the towns of New Ellenton and Aiken, SC. Two hours after the release began, the wind shifted and carried the cloud toward Columbia, SC. The cloud moved northeast during the daytime on September 3 over the east-central portion of North Carolina. Environmental sampling teams were dispatched by SRL, SRP, and SCDHEC (South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control). SRL collected air and vegetation samples and SRP collected vegetation, water, milk and bioassay samples. SCDHEC collected vegetation, milk, and water samples. The highest activity of HTO measured in vegetation was 501 pCi/mL onsite, 2522 pCi/mL at the plant boundary, and 9859 pCi/mL offsite. These concentrations were approximately 100 times larger than normal values. 13 refs., 7 figs., 10 tabs.

This report contains highlights on activities conducted at Y-12 Development Division for the period ending January 1, 1990. Ozone treatment removes trace amounts of organics and chloride ions from recycled acid. Heating significantly reduces this reaction time for removing these impurities. A new heater design was reinstalled on the recycle system, reducing the ozonation time from 70 to 100 hours to 30 to 40 hours. This reduction in ozonation time resulted in increased acid recovery and reduced acid wastes that had to be discarded. Shallow land burial in Bear Creek Burial Ground (BCBG) of depleted uranium and uranium alloy chips has been discontinued, and these materials will now be processed at the Uranium Chip Oxidation Facility (UCOF). A series of chip burns was made to reduce the overall flameout frequency to 1% to comply with UCOF safety documentation. This testing phase reduced the flameout frequency to 2 per 2,959 burns (<0.1%), which is a 92% decrease of flameouts over last quarter. This work successfully demonstrated that all of the uranium and uranium alloy chips (except sawfines) can be safely oxidized at UCOF with a flameout frequency of 1% or less. 2 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

This report is a complete user's manual for KDYNA, the Earth Sciences version of DYNA2D. Because most features of DYNA2D have been retained in KDYNA much of this manual is identical to the DYNA2D user's manual.

The frequency of stress corrosion cracking in the near weld regions of the SRS reactor tank walls is apparently lower than the cracking frequency near the pipe-to-pipe welds in the primary cooling water system. The difference in cracking tendency can be attributed to differences in the welding processes, fabrication schedules, near weld residual stresses, exposure conditions and other system variables. This memorandum discusses the technical issues that may account the differences in cracking tendencies based on a review of the fabrication and operating histories of the reactor systems and the accepted understanding of factors that control stress corrosion cracking in austenitic stainless steels.

The frequency of stress corrosion cracking in the near weld regions of the SRS reactor tank walls is apparently lower than the cracking frequency near the pipe-to-pipe welds in the primary cooling water system. The difference in cracking tendency can be attributed to differences in the welding processes, fabrication schedules, near weld residual stresses, exposure conditions and other system variables. This memorandum discusses the technical issues that may account the differences in cracking tendencies based on a review of the fabrication and operating histories of the reactor systems and the accepted understanding of factors that control stress corrosion cracking in austenitic stainless steels.

The Pennsylvania State University is conducting a superclean coal-water slurry (SCCWS) program with the objective of demonstrating the capability of effectively firing SCCWS in industrial boilers designed for oil. Penn State has entered into a cooperative agreement with DOE to determine if SCCWS (a fuel containing coal with less than 3.0% ash and 0.9% sulfur) can effectively be burned in oil-designed industrial boilers without adverse impact on boiler rating, maintainability, reliability and availability. The project will provide information on the design of new systems specifically configured to fire these clean coal-based fuels. The project consists of three phases: (1) design, permitting, and test planning, (2) construction and start up, and (3) demonstration and evaluation. The boiler testing will determine if the SCCWS combustion characteristics, heat release rate, fouling and slagging behavior, corrosion and erosion limits, and fuel transport, storage, and handling characteristics can be accommodated in an oil-designed boiler system. In addition, the proof-of-concept demonstration will generate data to determine how the properties of SCCWS and its parent coal affect boiler performance. Economic factors associated with retrofitting and operating boilers will be identified to assess the viability of future oil-to-coal retrofits. Progress is reported. 7 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.

This invention is comprised of a transmission cable for carrying high current pulses in which an even numbered plurality of electrical conductors surrounds a central ground conductor. Each electrical conductor is connected so that it at any instant in time it will carry current of opposite polarity to the polarity carried by adjacent conductors. This arrangement cancels practically all of the external fields generated by current in the conductors.

The use of a 1-kg solid-lithium x-ray and debris shield around each fusion fuel pellet prevents vaporization of, and destructive shock waves in, the Cascade blanket granules thereby increasing their lifetime. The shield vaporizes as it absorbs energy and the vapor flows into the blanket several centimeters. The shield also increases tritium breeding and enhances vacuum pumping of high Z materials that are vaporized in the fuel pellet. Using heavy ion beams allows illumination of the fuel pellets with the restricted geometry present in Cascade. We used a 5 MJ driver with 18 beams (one 3 {times} 3 array from each end).

Evidence from subsurface mapping and seismic reflection surveys at Savannah River Site (SRS) suggests the presence of a fault which displaces Cretaceous through Tertiary (90--35 million years ago) sediments. This feature has been described and named the Pen Branch fault (PBF) in a recent Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) paper (DP-MS-88-219). Because the fault is located near operating nuclear facilities, public perception and federal regulations require a thorough investigation of the fault to determine whether any seismic hazard exists. A phased program with various elements has been established to investigate the PBF to address the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulatory guidelines represented in 10 CFR 100 Appendix A. The objective of the PBF program is to fully characterize the nature of the PBF (ESS-SRL-89-395). This report briefly presents current understanding of the Pen Branch fault based on shallow drilling activities completed the fall of 1989 (PBF well series) and subsequent core analyses (SRL-ESS-90-145). The results are preliminary and ongoing: however, investigations indicate that the fault is not capable. In conjunction with the shallow drilling, other activities are planned or in progress. 7 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.

This report is a needs assessment and project schedule for the Health Physics Analysis Laboratory (HPAL) upgrade project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). After reviewing current and projected HPAL operations, two custom-developed laboratory information management systems (LIMS) for similar facilities were reviewed; four commercially available LIMS products were also evaluated. This project is motivated by new regulations for radiation protection and training and by increased emphasis on quality assurance (QA). HPAL data are used to: protect the health of radiation workers; document contamination levels for transportation of radioactive materials and for release of materials to the public for uncontrolled use; and verify compliance with environmental emission regulations. Phase 1 of the HPAL upgrade project concentrates on four types of counting instruments which support in excess of 90% of the sample workload at the existing central laboratories. Phase 2 is a refinement phase and also integrates summary-level databases on the central Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) VAX. Phase 3 incorporates additional instrument types and integrates satellite laboratories into the HPAL LIMS. Phase 1 will be a multi-year, multimillion dollar project. The temptation to approach the upgrade of the HPAL program in a piece meal fashion should be avoided. This is …

Letter opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

Kapton HN properties and the properties of the slip additive calcium phosphate dibasic (CaHPO{sub 4}) were investigated. Impurity analyses were performed on the compound by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and ion chromatography (IC). Other analyses on the slip additive included: processing solution -- dissolution analysis, high-explosive compatibility studies, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), and particle size distribution. Testing and analyses were also performed on Kapton HN film and other polyimide films that could serve as possible replacements for Kapton HN. The polyimide films that were tested are: Upilex-R, Upilex-S, Upilex-SGA, and Apical. The analyses performed were: infrared (IR), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), SEM/EDS, high-potential breakdown testing, (PVD) physical vapor deposition adhesion tests, and peel tests. Upilex-S flyer cables were also fabricated and successfully test fired. In addition to these raw material tests, production cables were chemically treated and destructively (high potential) tested. A long-term aging environment for production cables was also selected, and aging tests were begun. 9 figs., 7 tabs.

This report presents the status at the end of 1989 and the outlook for commercial nuclear capacity and generation for all countries in the world with free market economies (FME). The report provides documentation of the US nuclear capacity and generation projections through 2030. The long-term projections of US nuclear capacity and generation are provided to the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) for use in estimating nuclear waste fund revenues and to aid in planning the disposal of nuclear waste. These projections also support the Energy Information Administration's annual report, Domestic Uranium Mining and Milling Industry: Viability Assessment, and are provided to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The foreign nuclear capacity projections are used by the DOE uranium enrichment program in assessing potential markets for future enrichment contracts. The two major sections of this report discuss US and foreign commercial nuclear power. The US section (Chapters 2 and 3) deals with (1) the status of nuclear power as of the end of 1989; (2) projections of nuclear capacity and generation at 5-year intervals from 1990 through 2030; and (3) a discussion of institutional and technical issues that affect nuclear power. The …

This report presents data on international oil production, consumption, imports, exports, and stocks. The report has three sections. Section 1 contains time series on world oil production, and on oil consumption and stocks in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This section contains annual data beginning in 1973, and monthly data for the most recent two years. Section 2 presents an oil supply/consumption balance for the market economies (i.e. non-communist countries). This balance is presented in quarterly intervals for the most recent two years. Section 3 presents data on oil imports by OECD countries. This section contains annual data beginning in 1982, and quarterly data for the most recent two years. 25 tabs.

Data presented in the PSM describe the supply and disposition of petroleum products in the United States and major US geographic regions. The data series describe production, imports and exports, inter-Petroleum Administration for Defense (PAD) District movements, and inventories by the primary suppliers of petroleum products in the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia). The reporting universe includes those petroleum sectors in Primary Supply. Included are: petroleum refiners, motor gasoline blenders, operators of natural gas processing plants and fractionators, inter-PAD transporters, importers, and major inventory holders of petroleum products and crude oil. When aggregated, the data reported by these sectors approximately represent the consumption of petroleum products in the United States.