The core of a boiling water reactor (BWR) consists of an array of fuel assemblies with cross-shaped control blades located between these assemblies. Each fuel assembly consists of a fuel rod bundle surrounded by a Zircaloy channel box. Each control blade consists of small stainless steel absorber tubes filled with B{sub 4}C powder surrounded by a stainless steel blade sheath. Under severe accident conditions, material interactions between the B{sub 4}C, stainless steel, and Zircaloy would have a significant impact on the melting and subsequent relocation of the control blade and channel box structures. This paper describes a new BWR control blade/channel box model for the SCDAP/RELAP5 severe accident analysis code that includes the effects of these material interactions. The phenomena represented by this model and the modeling techniques are derived from ORNL analyses of the BWR severe fuel damage experiments. Two examples of the operation of this new model within SCDAP/RELAP5 are provided.

This report discusses a new method of calculating the seismic contribution to the Severe Core Melt Frequency (SCMF) of operating the K Production Reactor at the Savannah River Site (SRS) which has been developed. The methodology provides a direct link between the seismic analysis and the internal events PSA and facilitates the seismic analysis if a Level 1 internal events PSA exists for a facility. It improves the accuracy of the SCMF calculations and allows evaluation of the effects of seismic plant equipment and procedure modifications on the SCMF.

The On-Line Aerosol Monitor (OLAM) is a light attenuation device designed and built at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) by EG&G Idaho. Its purpose is to provide an on-line indication of aerosol concentration in the PHEBUS-FP tests. It does this by measuring the attenuation of a light beam across a tube through which an aerosol is flowing. The OLAM does not inherently give an absolute response and must be calibrated. A calibration has been performed at Sandia National Laboratories` (SNL) Sandia Aerosol Research Laboratory (SARL) and the results are described here. Ammonium chloride and sodium chloride calibration aerosols are used for the calibration and the data for the sodium chloride aerosol is well described by a model presented in this report. Detectable instrument response is seen over a range of 0.1 cm{sup 3} of particulate material per m{sup 3} of gas to 10 cm{sup 3} of particulate material per m{sup 3} of gas.

The US Air Force (USAF) has tasked the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), in support of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), to assess energy use at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (AFS). The information obtained from this assessment will be used in identifying energy resource opportunities to reduce overall energy consumption by the station. The primary focus of this report is to assess the current baseline energy consumption at Cape Canaveral AFS. It is A companion report to Volume 1, the Executive Summary, and Volume 3, the Resource Assessment. This assessment requires that information be obtained and characterized for buildings, utilities, energy sources, energy uses, and load profiles to be used to improve the current energy system on the station. The characteristics of electricity, diesel fuel, No. 2 fuel oil, and motor vehicle gasoline (MOGAS) are analyzed for on-base facilities. The assessment examines basic regional information used to determine energy-use intensity (EUI) values for Cape Canaveral AFS facilities by building, fuel type, and energy end use. It also provides a summary of electricity consumption from Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) metered data for 1985--1991. Load profile information obtained from FPL data is presented for …

This progress report discusses field equipment acquisition, fabrication, sample collection and sample analysis of sea bottom sediments. Investigators also discussed the Neuse River Estuary Experiment.

This paper presents three case studies of corrosion of waste drums at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Corrosion was not anticipated by the waste generators, but occurred because of subtle chemical or physical mechanisms. In one case, drums of a cemented transuranic (TRU) sludge experienced general and pitting corrosion. In the second instance, a chemical from a commercial paint stripper migrated from its primary containment drums to chemically attack overpack drums made of mild carbon steel. In the third case, drums of mixed low level waste (MLLW) soil corroded drum packaging even though the waste appeared to be dry when it was placed in the drums. These case studies are jointly discussed as ``lessons learned`` to enhance awareness of subtle mechanisms that can contribute to the corrosion of radioactive waste drums during interim storage.

Optimization is one of the tools available to assist decision makers in balancing multiple objectives and concerns. In a case study of the siting decision for groundwater monitoring wells, we look at the influence of the optimization models on the decisions made by the responsible groundwater specialist. This paper presents a multi-objective integer programming model for determining the location of monitoring wells associated with a groundwater pump-and-treat remediation. After presenting the initial optimization results, we analyze the actual decision and revise the model to incorporate elements of the problem that were later identified as important in the decision-making process. The results of a revised model are compared to the actual siting plans, the recommendations from the initial optimization runs, and the initial monitoring network proposed by the decision maker.

Focus of this project is on developing new approaches for hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to produce organic oxygenates at mild conditions. The strategies to accomplish CO reduction are based on favorable thermodynamics manifested by rhodium macrocycles for producing a series of intermediates implicated in the catalytic hydrogenation of CO. Metalloformyl complexes from reactions of H{sub 2} and CO, and CO reductive coupling to form metallo {alpha}-diketone species provide alternate routes to organic oxygenates that utilize these species as intermediates. Thermodynamic and kinetic-mechanistic studies are used in guiding the design of new metallospecies to improve the thermodynamic and kinetic factors for individual steps in the overall process. Electronic and steric effects associated with the ligand arrays along with the influences of the reaction medium provide the chemical tools for tuning these factors. Non-macrocyclic ligand complexes that emulate the favorable thermodynamic features associated with rhodium macrocycles, but that also manifest improved reaction kinetics are promising candidates for future development.

A goal of the CE IGCC Repowering project is to demonstrate a hot gas clean-up system (HGCU), for the removal of sulfur from the product gas stream exiting the gasifier island. Combustion Engineering, Inc. (ABB CE) intends to use a HGCU developed by General Electric Environmental Services (GEESI). The original design of this system called for the installation of the HGCU, with a conventional cold gas clean-up system included as a full-load operational back-up. Each of these systems removes sulfur compounds and converts them into an acid off-gas. This report deals with the investigation of equipment to treat this off-gas, recovering these sulfur compounds as elemental sulfur, sulfuric acid or some other form. ABB CE contracted ABB Lummus Crest Inc. (ABB LCI) to perform an engineering evaluation to compare several such process options. This study concluded that the installation of a sulfuric acid plant represented the best option from both a technical and economic point of view. Based on this evaluation, ABB CE specified that a sulfuric acid plant be installed to remove sulfur from off-gas exiling the gas clean-up system. ABB LCI prepared a request for quotation (RFQ) for the construction of a sulfuric acid production plant. Monsanto Enviro-Chem …

CE is participating in a $270 million coal gasification combined cycle repowering project that will provide a nominal 60 MW of electricity to City, Water, light and Power (CWL and P) in Springfield, Illinois. The IGCC system will consist of CE`s air-blown entrained flow two-stage gasifier; an advanced hot gas cleanup system; a combustion turbine adapted to use low-Btu gas: and all necessary coal handling equipment. The project is currently in the second budget period of five. The major activities during this budgeted period are: Establishment of an approved for design (AFD) engineering package; development of a detailed cost estimate; resolution of project business issues; CWL and P renewal and replacement activities; and application for environmental air permits. The Project Management Plan was updated. The conceptual design of the plant was completed and a cost and schedule baseline for the project was established previously in Budget Period One. This information was used to establish AFD Process Flow Diagrams, Piping and Instrument Diagrams, Equipment Data Sheets, material take offs, site modification plans and other information necessary to develop a plus or minus 20% cost estimate. Environmental permitting activities are continuing. At the end of 1992 the major activities remaining for Budget …

The IGCC Control System is used to provide operator interface and controls for manual and auto operation of the IGCC Repowering Project Located at Springfield, Illinois. A Distributed Control System (DCS) is provided for analog (process control) loop functions and to provide the operator interface. A Data Acquisition System (DAS) is provided for gathering performance data and optimization. Programmable Logic Controllers will be provided for the following digital control systems: (a) GSSS (Gasifier Supervisory Safety System) including pulverized coal handling and char handling; (b) Coal Pulverization System; (c) HRSG (Heat Recovery Steam Generation); (d) Hot Gas Cleanup System; (e) Steam Turbine; and (f) Combined Cycle Operation. In general all systems are provided for auto/manual cascade operation; upstream equipment is interlocked to be proven in service operation and/or valve position before downstream equipment may operate.

The Implicit Continuous-fluid Eulerian (ICE) method is a finite-volume scheme that is stable for any value of the Courant number based on the sound speed. In the incompressible limit, the ICE method becomes essentially identical to the Marker and Cell (MAC) method, so the two schemes are closely related. In this article, the classical ICE method is extended to multiple interpenetrating phases, and employed with a single control volume (nonstaggered) mesh framework. The incompressible limit is preserved, so that problems involving equations of state, or those exhibiting constant material densities, can be addressed with the same computer code. The scheme reduces properly to a single-fluid method, enabling benchmarking using well-known test cases. Thus, the numerical issues focus only on those aspects unique to problems having multiple density, velocity and temperature fields. The discussion begins with a derivation of the exact, ensemble-averaged equations. Examples of the most basic closures axe given, and the well-posedness of the equations is demonstrated. The numerical method is described in operator notation, and the discretization is sketched. The flow patterns in a bubble column are computed as an incompressible flow example. For a compressible flow example, the expansion and compression of a bubble formed by high-explosive …

Organisms that synthesize cellulose can be found amongst the bacteria, protistans, fungi, and animals, but it is in plants that the importance of cellulose in function (as the major structural constituent of plant cell walls) and economic use (as wood and fiber) can be best appreciated. The structure of cellulose and its biosynthesis have been the subjects of intense investigation. One of the most important insights gained from these studies is that the synthesis of cellulose by living organisms involves much more than simply the polymerization of glucose into a (1{r_arrow}4)-{beta}-linked polymer. The number of glucoses in a polymer (the degree of polymerization), the crystalline form assumed by the glucan chains when they crystallize to form a microfibril, and the dimensions and orientation of the microfibrils are all subject to cellular control. Instead of cellulose biosynthesis, a more appropriate term might be cellulose biogenesis, to emphasize the involvement of cellular structures and mechanisms in controlling polymerization and directing crystallization and deposition. Dictyostelium discoideum is uniquely suitable for the study of cellulose biogenesis because of its amenability to experimental study and manipulation and the extent of our knowledge of its basic cellular mechanisms (as will be evident from the rest of …

The Ceramic Manufacturability Center (CMC) is a new facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) established as a direct response to current US industry needs. It was created as part of a highly integrated program jointly funded by the US Department of Energy Defense Programs, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Energy Research divisions. The CMC is staffed by personnel from ORNL and the Y-12 Plant, both managed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. (Energy Systems). Its mission is to improve the technology needed to manufacture high-precision ceramic components inexpensively and reliably. This mission can be accomplished by strengthening the US machine tool industry and by joining with ceramic material suppliers and end users to provide a path to commercialization of these ceramic components.

The main objectives of this project were to develop new treatment strategies that would improve the efficiency of oil production, and stimulation procedures. Treatment strategies were developed to treat injection well matrix heterogeneities, production well matrix or saturation heterogeneities, and fractured wells. The treatment strategies investigated included a particulate system, and a foamed gel for injection well profile modification, a foam/acid injection strategy for improving acidization of carbonates, an acid reactive gel for controlling acid leak-off into fractures, and a water reactive gel for water shut-off at production wells. The research performed focused on discovering the principles governing the performance of the treatment strategies to provide a fundamental basis for further development of these techniques. Other goals of this project were to demonstrate the use of Neutron Imaging for real time imaging of fluid flow through heterogeneous porous media and develop a kinetic model to simulate the effect of diagenetic processes on reservoir porosity and permeability.

High-level radioactive waste may be immobilized in borosilicate glass at the West Valley Demonstration Project, West Valley, New York, the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), Aiken, South Carolina, and the Hanford Waste Vitrification Project (HWVP), Richland, Washington. The vitrified waste form will be stored in stainless steel canisters before its eventual transfer to a geologic repository for long-term disposal. Waste Acceptance Product Specifications (WAPS) (DOE 1993), Section 1.1.2 requires that the waste form producers must report the measured chemical composition of the vitrified waste in their production records before disposal. Chemical analysis of glass waste forms is receiving increased attention due to qualification requirements of vitrified waste forms. The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has been supporting the glass producers` analytical laboratories by a continuing program of multilaboratory analytical testing using interlaboratory ``round robin`` methods. At the PNL Materials Characterization Center Analytical Round Robin 4 workshop ``Analysis of Nuclear Waste Glass and Related Materials,`` January 16--17, 1990, Pleasanton, California, the meeting attendees decided that simulated nuclear waste analytical reference glasses were needed for use as analytical standards. Use of common standard analytical reference materials would allow the glass producers` analytical laboratories to calibrate procedures and instrumentation, to control laboratory performance and …

Laser-induced damage in optical coatings is generally associated with micrometer-scale defects. A simple geometric model for nodule-shaped defects is commonly used to describe defects in optical coatings. No systematic study has been done, however, to prove the applicability of that model to standard optical coating deposition. Some defects are known not to have a classic nodule geometry. The present study uses atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy to characterize the topography of coating defects in a HfO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} multilayer mirror system. Focused ion-beam cross-sectioning is then used to study the underlying defect structure. This work develops a model for defect shape such that the overall geometry of a coating defect, particularly seed size and depth, can be inferred from non-destructive evaluation measurements such as AFM. The relative mechanical stabilities of nodular defects can be deduced based on the nodule`s geometry. Auger analysis showed that the seed material that causes nodular defects in HfO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} multilayers is a hafnia oxide. Such characterization capabilities are needed for understanding the enhanced susceptibility of particular defects to laser damage and for developing improved techniques for depositing low-defect density coatings.

Candidate heat exchanger materials tested in the Low Mass Flow Train at the Coal-Fired Flow Facility (CFFF) at Tullahoma, TN, were analyzed to evaluate their corrosion performances. Tube specimens obtained at each foot of the 14-ft-long U-bend tubes were analyzed for corrosion-scale morphologies, scale thicknesses, and internal penetration depths. Results developed on 1,500- and 2,000-h exposed specimens were correlated with exposure temperature. In addition, deposit materials collected at several locations in the CFFF were analyzed in detail to characterize the chemical and physical properties of the deposits and their influence on corrosion performance of tube materials.

The purpose of this report is to characterize, as far as possible, the solid waste generated by the 325 Radiochemistry Building since its construction in 1953. Solid waste as defined in this document is any containerized or self-contained material that has been declared waste. This characterization is of particular interest in the planning of transuranic (TRU) waste retrieval operations including the Waste Receiving and Processing (WRAP) Facility. Westinghouse Hanford Company (Westinghouse Hanford) and Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) activities at Building 325 have generated approximately 4.4% and 2.4%, respectively, of the total volume of TRU waste currently stored at the Hanford Site.

Nitrate complexes of Pu(IV) are studied in solutions containing nitrate up to 13 molar (M). Three major nitrato complexes are observed and identified using absorption spectroscopy, {sup 15}N nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) as Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}{sup 2+}, Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 4}, and Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 6}{sup 2{minus}}. The possibility that Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 1}{sup 3+}, Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}{sup 1+} and Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 5}{sup 1{minus}} are major species in solution is not consistent with these results and an upper limit of 0.10 can be set on the fraction for each of these three nitrate complexes in nitrate containing solutions. Fraction of the three major species in nitric acid over the 1--13 M range were calculated from absorption spectra data. The fraction of Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 6}{sup 2{minus}} as a function of nitric acid concentration is in good agreement with the literature, whereas the fraction of Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}{sup 2+} and Pu(NO{sub 3}){sub 4} species differ from previous studies. We have modeled the chemical equilibria up to moderate ionic strength ( < 6 molal) using the specific ion interaction theory (SM. Comparison of our experimental observations to literature stability constants that assume the presence of mononitrate species is poor. …

This report discusses the problems of a large positive sodium void reactivity effect in liquid metal reactors which have received increased attention following the accident at Chernobyl, a light water reactor with a positive coolant void coefficient. While the probability of voiding sodium is small, a large positive sodium void reactivity effect is, in many minds, unacceptable. Analyses were performed on models of an advanced liquid metal reactors to determine the effects fuel type have on the sodium void reactivity effect. Three fuel types were considered; metal, oxide, and nitride. Calculations were performed using three-dimensional, multigroup diffusion theory. Two programs were developed to aid the analyses. One calculated the capture-to-fission ratio and the other calculated reaction rates of selected materials. A one-group equation was derived to determine a theoretical basis for the sodium void reactivity effect. An option was presented for a shortened core having a near-zero sodium-void worth. The effect on the sodium void reactivity effect of using actinides as fuel is also considered.

Characterization of mixed (radioactive and hazardous) wastes requires that all hazardous (e.g., heavy metals, volatile organic compounds-VOCs-and non-VOCs) and non-conforming materials (e.g. free liquids and pressurized containers) be identified, and that the identity and strengths of intrinsic radioactive sources be determined accurately. Comprehensive and accurate nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and nondestructive assay (NDA) methods can be used in this identification and determination process. With accurate quantitative data, wastes would be properly characterized and then discarded in the safest and most cost-effective manner without any need to open the waste container.

Nitrided gate oxides have been fabricated by furnace oxidation in N{sub 2}O with and without prior oxidation in O{sub 2}. SIMS nitrogen profiles show a sharp peak at the Si-insulator interface for both processes. Improved breakdown characteristics and reduced oxide damage after irradiation and charge injection are obtained.

In this talk, I presented some examples of data from the CDF collaboration on J/{psi}, {chi}, {psi}{prime} and {Gamma} production. Such data are used to test models of production dynamics and for the understanding of rates for b quark production. I am not a member of the CDF experiment and showed their data with permission as an interested and impressed spectator. Data from D0 may be found in the talk of D. Denisov. As a complement to this data from the highest energy accelerator experiment, operating at {radical}{bar s}= 1.8 TeV, I also showed data from Fermilab experiment E760 on masses, widths, states and branching ratios in the Charmonium system, obtained by studying resonant formation of c{bar c} states in p{bar p} annihilation at {radical}{bar s} = m(c{bar c}).