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The Piceance Basin in Colorado contains an estimated 600 trillion cu ft of natural gas in place. Both the Rulison and Rio Blanco events have been detonated to determine the feasibility of nuclear fracturing to stimulate natural gas production in this basin. A demonstration program to test the relative effectiveness of massive hydraulic fracturing (MHF) to achieve natural gas production stimulation from the same gas reservoir is presented. Details are included on MHF design parameters, including surface and subsurface equipment, pumping requirements, evaluation of fracturing results, and all associated test programs; site characteristics and preparation; proposal for gas utilization program; environmental surveillance and comparative analysis of environmental aspects of MHF and nuclear stimulation; gas delivery estimates; project administration; and costs and scheduling.

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The occurrence of mistral winds in the Mediterranean shows a correlation with blocking activity over the eastern Atlantic. Apparently for this reason periods with a ''midwinter dip'' in the zonal available potential energy of the northern hemisphere are favored by mistral occurrence. There also is a tendency for a 22- to 26-day cycle to appear in pressure gradients at the 500- and 100-mb surfaces along the southern coast of France. Such pressure gradients, if they exceed a certain magnitude, are indicative of mistral episodes.

Three laser research programs are proposed: (1) to find new laser systems in the wavelength region between 2000 and 4500 A; (2) to attempt scaling lasers to high output power; and (3) to focus research on metal vapor laser systems which have promise of high efficiency. Twenty-eight new laser transitions from Cu II spanning the wavelength region from 2486 to 7988 A have been observed. A list of papers and conferences are given that summarize the metal vapor laser research. (TFD)

The absorption process of particulate matter at an air-water interface was studied by means of a Monte Carlo Simulation. This absorption process does not appear to be significantly different from similar processes over stationary boundaries. Especially an increased flux toward the boundary as the result of more effective particle removal due to wave action could not be observed. The particular nature of the tracer prevents this from happening.

This report summarizes the work carried out at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the University of Colorado during the period November 1, 1975 to November 1, 1976. The low energy nuclear physics section is dominated by light-ion reaction studies which span a wide range. These include both two-neutron and two-proton transfer reactions, charge exchange and inelastic scattering, as well as single nucleon transfer reactions. The nuclei studied vary widely in their mass and characteristics. These reaction studies have been aided by the multi-use scattering chamber which now allows the energy-loss-spectrometer beam preparation system (beam swinger) to shift from charged particle studies to neutron time-of-flight studies with a minimum loss of time. The intermediate energy section reflects the increase in activity accompanying the arrival of LAMPF data and the initiation of (p,d) studies at the Indiana separated-sector cyclotron. The nucleon removal results provided by the ..pi.. beam at EPICS previous to completion of the spectrometer have shown that nuclear effects dominate this process, so that the widely used free interaction picture is inadequate. The section entitled ''Other Activities'' reveals continuing activities in new applications of nuclear techniques to problems in medicine and biology. Reactions important to astrophysics continue to be investigated …

Extrusion and rolling processes exhibiting large amounts of plastic flow are analyzed using a finite element technique that is based on a modified creeping viscous flow approximation. The technique, called the initial stress-rate method, iteratively corrects creeping viscous flow solutions to generate results that include elastic response. The momentum equations have been coupled with the energy equation to provide the capability to predict thermomechanical response during forming operations.

Substantial progress has been made towards implementing all of the prescribed studies and satisfying the stated objectives since the Oil Shale Rehabilitation Project was actively initiated in June 1976. Concurrent with implementation, research objectives were substantively defined and supplemented without distracting or departing from the original purpose. Current studies are designed to fill voids in the present status of knowledge regarding lands disturbed by an impending oil shale industry in Colorado. The efforts of all contributing investigators have therefore been integrated and directed toward the goal of developing methodologies requisite for restoring diverse and complex ecosystems which will require only a minimal amount of maintenance or input of scarce resources. An intensive study site southeast of the Oil Shale Tract C-a has been obtained through a Cooperative Agreement with the Bureau of Land Management. Following this agreement, most subprojects were initiated at the intensive site. Additional programs will be implemented as spent shale becomes available this summer. Studies conducted principally in the laboratory and greenhouse, such as the microbiological and plant genetic studies, have achieved significant results.

Fly ash derived from coal combustion contains predominantly spherical particles which consist of an insoluble aluminosilicate glass containing several mineral impurities. An outer layer, 50 to 300 A thick, is rich in many potentially toxic trace elements in the form of simple and complex sulfates. This layer, which is soluble in water, contains essentially all of the particulate sulfur present in fly ash in the form of sulfate. The actual mechanism(s) of formation of particulate sulfate salts are ill-defined but probably involve adsorption of condensation of gaseous sulfur species onto fly ash surfaces within the power plant stack system.

This report summarizes the work carried out at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the University of Colorado during the period November 1, 1977 to November 1, 1978, under Contract EY-76-C-02-0535.A002 between the University of Colorado and the United States Department of Energy. The research activities of the Laboratory spanned a broad range of interests over the past year. Numerous topics in charged-particle spectroscopy and reaction studies, neutron time-of-flight measurements, and gamma-ray investigations performed at the cyclotron laboratory are covered in this report. In addition, several items in intermediate energy nuclear physics as studied at Los Alamos and Indiana University by members of the Laboratory are reported. The efforts in nuclear theory include studies in nuclear reaction mechanisms and pion scattering as related to the experimental program. Information is also included on apparatus and facility development, cyclotron operation, outside users, publications, and reports. Separate abstracts were written for thirty items in this report having significant amounts of data. (RWR)

Electric power generation by conventional Rankine cycle heat engines with heat supplied by line-focus solar collectors was investigated. The objectives of the study were: (1) determine which of four types of line-focus solar collectors coupled with turbine-generators of conventional design has the potential to produce low-cost electric power with thermal energy in 100 to 300/sup 0/C range; (2) develop performance and cost relationships for organic Rankine cycle engines for power generation capacities from 3 MW/sub e/ to 300 MW/sub e/; (3) develop conceptual storage units for organic fluid systems. Evaluation procedures and study results and conclusion are presented and discussed in detail. (WHK)

Two types of evacuated tube solar collectors have been operated in space heating, cooling and domestic hot water heating systems in Colorado State University Solar House I. An experimental collector from Corning Glass Works supplied heat to the system from January 1977 through February 1978, and an experimental collector from Philips Research Laboratory, Aachen, which is currently in use, has been operating since August 1978. A flat absorber plate inside a single-walled glass tube is used in the Corning design, whereas heat is conducted through a single glass wall to an external heat exchanger plate in the Philips collector. In comparison with conventional flat-plate collectors, both types show reduced heat losses and improved efficiency. For space heating and hot water supply in winter, the solar delivery efficiency of the Corning collector ranged from 49% to 60% of the incident solar energy. The portion of the space heating and domestic hot water load carried by solar energy through fall and winter ranged from 50% to 74%, with a four-month contribution of 61% of the total requirements. Data on the Philips collector are currently being analyzed.