This progress report from the Savannah River Technology Center contains abstracts from papers from the computational modeling, applied statistics, applied physics, experimental thermal hydraulics, and packaging and transportation groups. Specific topics covered include: engineering modeling and process simulation, criticality methods and analysis, plutonium disposition.

The overall objectives of this project are to quantify the rates of organic carbon export from the southern mid-Atlantic Bight and to quantify the rates at which carbon is exchanged between the inorganic and organic pools within the bottom sediments. The strategy for achieving these goals is to quantify the rates of benthic exchange and burial of bioactive elements including oxidants (such as oxygen, nitrate, sulfate), micronutrient, and carbon system parameters on the continental shelf, slope and rise regions within and adjacent to the south portion of the mid-Atlantic Bight. This information, in conjunction with burial rates provided by others in this program, will be used to determine the locations and rates of export and oxidative loss of organic matter from the shelf. During this past funding period, three expeditions were completed to the study region, successfully conducting 6 in situ benthic flux chamber experiments. The results provide an initial assessment of the magnitude and location of organic matter export from the southern Middle Atlantic Bight shelf and of the importance of this region as a supplier of organic carbon to the North Atlantic Ocean Basin.

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