Diffusion-bonded NiAl-Al[sub 2]O[sub 3] and Ni[sub 3]Al-Al[sub 2]O[sub 3] couples were thermally fatigued at 900 C for 1500 and 3500 cycles. The fiber-matrix interface weakened after 3500 cycles for the Saphikon fibers, while the Altex, PRD-166, and FP fibers showed little, if any, degradation. Diffusion bonding of fibers to Nb matrix is being studied. Coating the fibers slightly increases the tensile strength and has a rule-of-mixtures effect on elastic modulus. Push-out tests on Sumitomo and FP fibers in Ni aluminide matrices were repeated. Al[sub 2]O[sub 3] was evaporated directly from pure oxide rod onto acoustically levitated Si carbide particles, using a down-firing, rod-fed electron beam hearth; superior coatings were subsequently produced using concurrent irradiation with 200-eV argon ion-assist beam. The assist beam produced adherent films with reduced tensile stresses. In diffusion bonding in B-doped Ni[sub 3]Al matrices subjected to compressive bonding at 40 MPa at 1100 C for 1 hr, the diffusion barriers failed to prevent catastrophic particle- matrix reaction, probably because of inadequate film quality. AlN coatings are currently being experimented with, produced by both reactive evaporation and by N[sup +]-ion enhanced deposition. A 3-kW rod-fed electron-beam-heated evaporation source has been brought into operation.

Diffusion-bonded NiAl-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Ni{sub 3}Al-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} couples were thermally fatigued at 900 C for 1500 and 3500 cycles. The fiber-matrix interface weakened after 3500 cycles for the Saphikon fibers, while the Altex, PRD-166, and FP fibers showed little, if any, degradation. Diffusion bonding of fibers to Nb matrix is being studied. Coating the fibers slightly increases the tensile strength and has a rule-of-mixtures effect on elastic modulus. Push-out tests on Sumitomo and FP fibers in Ni aluminide matrices were repeated. Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} was evaporated directly from pure oxide rod onto acoustically levitated Si carbide particles, using a down-firing, rod-fed electron beam hearth; superior coatings were subsequently produced using concurrent irradiation with 200-eV argon ion-assist beam. The assist beam produced adherent films with reduced tensile stresses. In diffusion bonding in B-doped Ni{sub 3}Al matrices subjected to compressive bonding at 40 MPa at 1100 C for 1 hr, the diffusion barriers failed to prevent catastrophic particle- matrix reaction, probably because of inadequate film quality. AlN coatings are currently being experimented with, produced by both reactive evaporation and by N{sup +}-ion enhanced deposition. A 3-kW rod-fed electron-beam-heated evaporation source has been brought into operation.

This was the fifth quarter of the contract. During this quarter we (1) got approval for the NEPA requirements related to the field work, (2) placed the subcontract for the field data acquisition, (3) completed the field work, and (4) began processing the seismic data. As already reported, the field data acquisition was at Acomo`s Powder River Basin site in southeast Wyoming. This is a low permeability fractured site, with both gas and oil present. The reservoir is highly compartmentalized, due to the low permeability, with the fractures providing the only practical drainage paths for production. The two formations of interest are: The Niobrara: a fractured shale and limey shale to chalk, which is a reservoir rock, but also its own source rock. The Frontier: a tight sandstone lying directly below the Niobrara, brought into contact with it by an unconformity. The fractures are thought to lie in a roughly northwest-southeast trend, along the strike of a flexure, which forms one of the boundaries of the basin.

As part of the integrated verification experiment (IVE), we deployed a network of hf ionospheric sounders to detect the effects of acoustic waves generated by surface ground motion following underground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site. The network sampled up to four geographic locations in the ionosphere from almost directly overhead of the surface ground zero out to a horizontal range of 60 km. We present sample results for four of the IVEs: Misty Echo, Texarkana, Mineral Quarry, and Bexar.

As part of the integrated verification experiment (IVE), we deployed a network of hf ionospheric sounders to detect the effects of acoustic waves generated by surface ground motion following underground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site. The network sampled up to four geographic locations in the ionosphere from almost directly overhead of the surface ground zero out to a horizontal range of 60 km. We present sample results for four of the IVEs: Misty Echo, Texarkana, Mineral Quarry, and Bexar.

During the last quarter, work has focused on developing a numerical model to. approximate the flow characteristics of the Gladys McCall reservoir. Various reservoir models have been used in the study to simulate the well transient pressure and pressure derivative behavior during the reservoir production period. The pressure behavior of the 1983 Reservoir Limits Test (RLT) was closely matched by an elongated linear reservoir model with the well located off-center. The matching procedure appears to provide reasonable estimates of the probable configuration of Gladys McCall reservoir.geometry. Double-slope pressure behavior (on a semilog plot) develops after the. early radial flow period, indicating the existence of a no-flow boundary near the well. At later times, linear flow character (square-root-time straight line) becomes clear when two closer boundaries are both felt at the well.

During the last quarter, work has focused on developing a numerical model to. approximate the flow characteristics of the Gladys McCall reservoir. Various reservoir models have been used in the study to simulate the well transient pressure and pressure derivative behavior during the reservoir production period. The pressure behavior of the 1983 Reservoir Limits Test (RLT) was closely matched by an elongated linear reservoir model with the well located off-center. The matching procedure appears to provide reasonable estimates of the probable configuration of Gladys McCall reservoir.geometry. Double-slope pressure behavior (on a semilog plot) develops after the. early radial flow period, indicating the existence of a no-flow boundary near the well. At later times, linear flow character (square-root-time straight line) becomes clear when two closer boundaries are both felt at the well.

In this paper the authors compare and contrast three powerful methods for experimentally measuring bond energies in polyatomic molecules. The methods are: radical kinetics; gas phase acidity cycles; and photoionization mass spectroscopy. The knowledge of the values of bond energies are a basic piece of information to a chemist. Chemical reactions involve the making and breaking of chemical bonds. It has been shown that comparable bonds in polyatomic molecules, compared to the same bonds in radicals, can be significantly different. These bond energies can be measured in terms of bond dissociation energies.

Coupon immersion tests were performed on ASTM A537 Class 1 carbon steel in simulated DWPF recycle solutions at 90 [+-] 2[degrees]C, as part of the continuing effort to investigate the formation of shock-sensitive deposits. Coupons were partially immersed for four months in solutions of the same composition used previously at SRTC and at the DuPont Engineering Test Center (a salt solution containing 0.5 M hydroxide and 0.043 M nitrite). Shock-sensitive deposits were not seen on the coupons from this test. There was considerable general corrosion above the water line due to condensate and distilled water contact of the steel. New immersion tests are being planned for completion by September, 1993. The new test solution will reflect the recycle stream chemistry changes brought about by planned ammonia scrubbing in the DWPF.

Coupon immersion tests were performed on ASTM A537 Class 1 carbon steel in simulated DWPF recycle solutions at 90 {+-} 2{degrees}C, as part of the continuing effort to investigate the formation of shock-sensitive deposits. Coupons were partially immersed for four months in solutions of the same composition used previously at SRTC and at the DuPont Engineering Test Center (a salt solution containing 0.5 M hydroxide and 0.043 M nitrite). Shock-sensitive deposits were not seen on the coupons from this test. There was considerable general corrosion above the water line due to condensate and distilled water contact of the steel. New immersion tests are being planned for completion by September, 1993. The new test solution will reflect the recycle stream chemistry changes brought about by planned ammonia scrubbing in the DWPF.

The Pennsylvania State University is conducting a superclean coal-water slurry (SCCWS) program for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with the objective of determining the capability of effectively firing SCCWS in an industrial boiler designed for heavy fuel oil. Penn State has entered into a cooperative agreement with DOE to determine if SCCWS (a fuel containing coal with 3.0 wt.% ash and 0.9 wt.% sulfur) can effectively be burned in a heavy fuel oil-designed industrial boiler 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 four phases: (1) design, permitting, and test planning, (2) construction and start up, (3) demonstration and evaluation (1,000-hour demonstration), and (4) program expansion (additional 1,000 hours of testing). The boiler testing wig 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 …

The Pennsylvania State University is conducting a superclean coal-water slurry (SCCWS) program for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with the objective of determining the capability of effectively firing SCCWS in an industrial boiler designed for heavy fuel oil. Penn State has entered into a cooperative agreement with DOE to determine if SCCWS (a fuel containing coal with 3.0 wt.% ash and 0.9 wt.% sulfur) can effectively be burned in a heavy fuel oil-designed industrial boiler 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 four phases: (1) design, permitting, and test planning, (2) construction and start up, (3) demonstration and evaluation (1,000-hour demonstration), and (4) program expansion (additional 1,000 hours of testing). The boiler testing wig 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 …

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a legislator who serves as an independent contractor for an independent school district holds a “position of profit under this State” (RQ-513)

Newsletter focusing on pecan disease and pest control in Texas, including prevention, identification, treatment, and educational opportunities.

With recent theoretical and empirical research in basic and applied psychology, human factors, and engineering, it is now sufficient to define an integrated approach to the deign of advanced displays for present and future nuclear power plants. Traditionally, the conventional displays have shown operators the individual variables on gauges, meters, strip charts, etc. This design approach requires the operators to mentally integrate the separately displayed variables and determine the implications for the plant state. This traditional approach has been known as the single-sensor-single-indicator display design and it places an intolerable amount of mental workload on operators during transients and abnormal conditions. This report discusses a new alternative approach which is the use of direct perception interfaces. Direct perception a interfaces display the underlying physical and system constraints of the situation in a directly perceptual way, such that the viewer need not reason about what is seen to identify system states, but can identify the state of the system perceptually. It is expected that displays which show the dynamics of fundamental physical laws should better support operator decisions and diagnoses of plant states. The purpose of this research project is to develop a suite of direct perception displays for PWR nuclear …

The United States produced just over 1 billion short tons of coal in 1992, 0.4 percent more than in 1991. Most of the 4-million-short-ton increase in coal production occurred west of the Mississippi River, where a record level of 408 million short tons of coal was produced. The amount of coal received by domestic consumers in 1992 totaled 887 million short tons. This was 7 million short tons more than in 1991, primarily due to increased coal demand from electric utilities. The average price of delivered coal to each sector declined by about 2 percent. Coal consumption in 1992 was 893 million short tons, only 1 percent higher than in 1991, due primarily to a 1-percent increase in consumption at electric utility plants. Consumer coal stocks at the end of 1992 were 163 million short tons, a decrease of 3 percent from the level at the end of 1991, and the lowest year-end level since 1989. US coal exports fell 6 percent from the 1991 level to 103 million short tons in 1992. Less coal was exported to markets in Europe, Asia, and South America, but coal exports to Canada increased 4 million short tons.

The fatigue and fracture properties of U6Nb were measured to provide the materials property data needed for structural designs in material processed by solution quenching and aging 200 C/2h. Limited testing was also performed on as-quenched U6Nb. The authors have extended the database on fatigue properties in U6Nb to include both crack initiation data and crack propagation data. The static load carrying capabilities have been characterized through fracture toughness and tensile property measurements. Using a rotating beam fatigue machine, a fatigue strength of 248 MPa was measured at 10{sup 8} cycles for smooth bars at zero mean load. As is typical of nonferrous alloys, U6Nb does not exhibit a fatigue endurance limit. Reductions in fatigue strength for notched bars and for mean loads of 276 MPa and 483 MPa (70 ksi) were also determined. The predominant sites for fatigue crack initiation were identified as niobium carbide and uranium oxide inclusion clusters and the distribution of these inclusions are presented. Fatigue crack propagation rates were measured in the near-threshold regime using compact tension specimens. The fatigue threshold for crack growth rates below 10{sup {minus}7} mm/cycle were measured at both R = 0.1, for which a fatigue threshold of 3.2 MPa{radical}m was …

A new test method was developed which showed the installed In- Tank Precipitation Filter Unit {number_sign}3 provided at least 40, 000 x decontamination of the precipitated potassium tetraphenylborate (KTPB) during the cold chemical runs.This filter is expected to meet the needed 40,000 x hot cesium decontamination requirements, assuming that the cesium precipitate, CsTPB, behaves the same as KTPB. The new method permits cold chemicals field testing of installed filters to quantify particulate decontamination and verify filter integrity before going hot. The method involves a 1000 x concentration of fine particulate KTPB in the filtrate to allow direct analysis by counting for naturally radioactive isotope K-40 using the underground SRTC gamma spectroscopy facility. The particulate concentration was accomplished by ultra filtration at Rhone-Poulenc, NJ, using a small cross-flow bench facility, followed by collection of all suspended solids on a small filter disc for K analysis.

Existing ITP filtrate hold tanks may provide sufficient capacity and residence time to strip dissolved benzene from the incoming filtrate using nitrogen sparging in the bottom of the old tanks. This is based on equilibrium supported by late Wash test data using aged washed slurry. Theoretical considerations indicate that benzene stripping will be more difficult from the ITP unwashed high salt filtrates due to reduced mass transfer. Therefore experimental sparging data is needed to quantify the theoretical effects.Foaming limits which dictate allowable sparging rate will also have to be established. Sparging in the hold tanks will require installation of sintered metal spargers, and possibly stirrers and foam monitoring/disengagement equipment. The most critical sparging needs are at the start of the precipitation/concentration cycle, when the filtrate flux rate is the highest,and at the end of wash cycle where Henry`s equilibrium constant falls off,requiring more gas to sparge the dissolved benzene. With adequate recycle (for proper distribution) or sparging in the old tanks, the 30 inch column could be used for the complete ITP process. A courser packing would reduce back pressure while enabling benzene stripping. The Late Wash Tests indicate adequate benzene stripping even at reduced gas flow. This will require …

A new reagent, BO-IMI, has been developed that achieves, single step, phosphate specific fluorescence labeling under aqueous conditions. Both 3 in. and 5 in. mononucleotides, including representative DNA adducts can be labeled. Included in this technique is a convenient procedure for postlabeling sample cleanup, leading to a practical detection of the products by capillary electrophoresis with laser fluorescencedetection. We consider that this new method will have a significant impact on the measurement of DNA adducts in human samples. This work was largely accomplished in the second half of our project. In the first half, we set up a new way to isolate DNA nucleotides from blood, worked with an initial, less specific technique for labeling DNA adducts, compared ionizing radiation vs oxidative damage to fluorescein labeled deoxyadenylic acid, and set up a capillary electrophoresis laser fluorescence detection system.

A new reagent, BO-IMI, has been developed that achieves, single step, phosphate specific fluorescence labeling under aqueous conditions. Both 3 in. and 5 in. mononucleotides, including representative DNA adducts can be labeled. Included in this technique is a convenient procedure for postlabeling sample cleanup, leading to a practical detection of the products by capillary electrophoresis with laser fluorescencedetection. We consider that this new method will have a significant impact on the measurement of DNA adducts in human samples. This work was largely accomplished in the second half of our project. In the first half, we set up a new way to isolate DNA nucleotides from blood, worked with an initial, less specific technique for labeling DNA adducts, compared ionizing radiation vs oxidative damage to fluorescein labeled deoxyadenylic acid, and set up a capillary electrophoresis laser fluorescence detection system.

We report improvement of the polarization diagnostics and their use in the development of the Optically Pumped Polarized Ion Source (OPPIS).

We report improvement of the polarization diagnostics and their use in the development of the Optically Pumped Polarized Ion Source (OPPIS).

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