The Large Block Tracer Test is a series of experiments to study the migration of radionuclides through fractures in rock at the scale of one meter. The separate effects to be considered are sorption onto minerals within the rock matrix; diffusion of radionuclide species through the rock matrix, diffusion and hydrodynamic dispersion within the fracture; and the effect of heterogeneity in the fluid flow field (also known as macro dispersion or channeling). The rock fractures to be used have natural fractures or artificial fractures with engineered heterogeneity. These tracer experiments will provide data with well-defined geometry and conditions for use in code validation. The experiments also provide an experimental framework to test inverse methods. Results are presented for a series of migration experiments using conservative tracers in artificial fractures with near parallel plane and near wedge-shaped fractures. The results are compared with those predicted with transport code TRACR3D. The fracture is treated as an equivalent porous medium with a ``cubic law`` permeability and a porosity that is proportional to the aperture. The results show good agreement, both between experimental results and those predicted by TRACR3D, but also between the distribution of the dye tracer in the fracture and the elution …

Environmental restoration, or the cleanup of contaminants from past activities, at its core depends on a series of decisions about the nature and extent of contamination, the risk to human health and the environment, and the potential effectiveness of remediation techniques and technologies to reduce the risk to acceptable levels. The effectiveness with which these decisions are made has significant impacts on the cost and duration of the cleanup efforts. The decisions must often be made on the basis of incomplete and uncertain data. Emerging environmental information and data acquisition technologies together with appropriate strategies to support decision making are beginning to change the way environmental restoration occurs in the United States. Past environmental restoration activities too often relied on prescriptive data collection activities to generate the information upon which decisions were to be made. Retrospective studies of such activities have shown that, while often data were gathered for the purpose of reducing the risk in decision making, little true reduction in risk was realized and large amounts of resources were consumed. Recent examination of the failures in the United States to achieve many complete cleanups despite the investment of large sums and time points to the inability to have …

In this manuscript we review briefly the history of Resonant Laser Ablation (RLA), and discuss some current ideas regarding sample preparation, laser parameters, and mechanisms. We also discuss current applications including spectral analysis of trace components, depth profiling of thin films and multilayer structures, and the use of RLA with the Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (ITMS).

This Engineering Task Plan (ETP) describes the design, fabrication, assembly, and testing of the mobile video camera systems. The color video camera systems will be used to observe and record the activities within the vapor space of a tank on a limited exposure basis. The units will be fully mobile and designed for operation in the single-shell flammable gas producing tanks. The objective of this tank is to provide two mobile camera systems for use in flammable gas producing single-shell tanks (SSTs) for the Flammable Gas Tank Safety Program. The camera systems will provide observation, video recording, and monitoring of the activities that occur in the vapor space of applied tanks. The camera systems will be designed to be totally mobile, capable of deployment up to 6.1 meters into a 4 inch (minimum) riser.

Advanced technologies such as the photoinjector, the short-period microwigglers, and harmonic lasing enable free-electron-laser operation in the infrared with a low-energy ({approximately} 10 MeV) electron beam and thus reduce the size and cost of FELs. The next-generation, rf-linac FEL will fit in a small laboratory and produce high-power, picosecond infrared.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) administers the Nuclear Fuel Data Survey, Form RW-859. This form is used to collect data on fuel assemblies irradiated at commercial nuclear reactors operating in the United States, and the current inventories and storage capacities of those reactors. These data are important to the design and operation of the equipment and facilities that DOE will use for the future acceptance, transportation, and disposal of spent fuels. The data collected and presented identifies trends in burnup, enrichment, and spent nuclear fuel discharged form commercial light-water reactor as of December 31, 1993. The document covers not only spent nuclear fuel discharges; but also site capacities and inventories; canisters and nonfuel components; and assembly type characteristics.

Entry into hazardous areas without the proper protective equipment is extremely dangerous and must be prevented whenever possible. Current postings of radiological hazards at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) do not incorporate recent findings concerning effective warning presentation. Warning information should be highly visible, quickly, and easily understood. While continuing to comply with industry standards (e.g., Department of Energy (DOE) guidelines), these findings can be incorporated into existing radiological sign design, making them more effective in terms of usability and compliance. Suggestions are provided for designing more effective postings within stated guidelines.

Prediction of ash behavior in boilers has, for many years, been based on relatively simple relationships involving the composition of inorganic material in fuels. In recent years, advanced analyses for both fuels and deposits have seen increasing use in the solid fuel combustion community. The combination of the standard and advanced analyses, together with a knowledge of boiler design and operating conditions, allow better interpretation of ash behavior in boilers than has previously been possible. This paper discusses several case histories where advanced technologies have been applied to interpret ash behavior in boilers where standard techniques were insufficient. Included in the discussion are: (1) the behavior of blends of fuels; (2) explanations for markedly different behavior between fuels with similar ASTM characteristics; and (3) effects of boiler operating conditions on ash deposit formation.

The objective of the grant is to develop a method of spraying materials on a substrate in a controlled manner to eliminate the waste inherent in present plating processes. The process under consideration is magnetically controlled plasma spraying. The project continues to be on schedule. The field equations have been developed and were reported in the April-June 1994 Progress Report. The equations for the external magnetic field were reported in the July-September 1994 progress report. The field equations have been cast in a format that allows solution using Finite Element (FE) techniques. The development of the computer code that will allow evaluation of the proposed technique and design of an experiment to prove the proposed process is underway.

A new type of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tomography has been developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The method uses the strong radio frequency field gradient within a cylindrical toroid cavity to provide high-resolution NMR spectral information while simultaneously resolving distances on the micron scale. The toroid cavity imaging technique differs from conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in that NMR structural information is not lost during signal processing. The new technique could find a wide range of applications in the characterization of surface layers and in the production of advanced materials. Potential areas of application include in situ monitoring of growth sites during ceramic formation processes, analysis of the oxygen annealing step for wires coated with high-temperature superconducting films, and investigation of the reaction chemistry as a function of distance within the diffusion layer for electrochemical processes.

MACCS was developed at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) under U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) sponsorship to estimate the offsite consequences of potential severe accidents at nuclear power plants (NPPs). MACCS was publicly released in 1990. MACCS was developed to support the NRC`s probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) efforts. PSA techniques can provide a measure of the risk of reactor operation. PSAs are generally divided into three levels. Level one efforts identify potential plant damage states that lead to core damage and the associated probabilities, level two models damage progression and containment strength for establishing fission-product release categories, and level three efforts evaluate potential off-site consequences of radiological releases and the probabilities associated with the consequences. MACCS was designed as a tool for level three PSA analysis. MACCS performs probabilistic health and economic consequence assessments of hypothetical accidental releases of radioactive material from NPPs. MACCS includes models for atmospheric dispersion and transport, wet and dry deposition, the probabilistic treatment of meteorology, environmental transfer, countermeasure strategies, dosimetry, health effects, and economic impacts. The computer systems MACCS is designed to run on are the 386/486 PC, VAX/VMS, E3M RISC S/6000, Sun SPARC, and Cray UNICOS. This paper provides an overview of MACCS, reviews some …

By adapting the disk generator tested by Fowler, Hoeberling, and Marsh, the advanced flux compression (AFC) generator is able to produce a maximum dI/dt that is greater than 3 MA/{mu}s. This current rise characteristic results in an inductive voltage across a 0.5-nH load of {ge} 1.5 kV. This has been achieved with high gain, low loss, and a compact size. The AFC generator has been tested in four shots, and is performing beyond initial goals.

This guidance is designed to provide basic instruction to US DOE and DOE operations contractor personnel on how to characterize CERCLA and EPCRA hazardous substance releases as continuous and how to prepare and deliver continuousreleasee reports to Federal, State, and local authorities. DOE staff should use this guidance as an overview of the continuous release requirements, a quick ready reference guide for specific topics concerning continuous releases and a step-by-step guide for the process of identifying and reporting continuous releases.

This report describes an extensive program of investigations conducted at Arzamas-16 in Russia over the past several decades. The focus of the work is on material interface instability and the mixing of two materials. Part 1 of the report discusses analytical and computational studies of hydrodynamic instabilities and turbulent mixing. The EGAK codes are described and results are illustrated for several types of unstable flow. Semiempirical turbulence transport equations are derived for the mixing of two materials, and their capabilities are illustrated for several examples. Part 2 discusses the experimental studies that have been performed to investigate instabilities and turbulent mixing. Shock-tube and jelly techniques are described in considerable detail. Results are presented for many circumstances and configurations.

Events of the past several years have had a profound impact on the mission of the Department of Energy. Most notably, the end of the Cold War has made it possible for us to reorient our mission from primarily the design, production, and testing of nuclear weapons toward: increasing efficiency and the choice of energy sources, supporting basic and applied research in science and technology, addressing environmental quality issues, improving industrial competitiveness, and a continued contribution to a secure national defense. These changes in direction will have a lasting effect on all of us. In all our efforts we have emphasized the need to earn trust and build partnerships. This booklet tells the story of a part of this change: new uses for our 50 major sites encompassing 2.4 million acres of land and billions of dollars worth of facilities. These new uses will reach beyond beating swords into plowshares and cleaning up our production facilities. They will include ecosystem protection, economic development, and industrial competitiveness. This is our future. None of this will be successful without the meaningful participation of our stakeholders: businesses and entrepreneurs, citizen groups, neighbors of our sites, government officials, and the American public as a …

The key to the leak detection program for many tanks at Hanford is the method used to evaluate the apparent interstitial liquid interface (ILL) within the pore space of the solid waste medium (either crystalline or sludge). Three new approaches were introduced in the summer of 1993 (count rate, derivative, and sigmoid), all of which significantly improved the accuracy and repeatability of interstitial liquid level values from neutron survey data. This paper summarizes the three new methods and details a case study in which, as a direct result of this improved analysis, a tank that had been declared an ``assumed leaker`` was reclassified as ``sound`` for the first time in Hanford`s 50 year history.

This analysis is part of the Energy Information Administration`s (EIA`s) Foreign Energy Supply Assessment Program (FESAP). This one for the Fergana Basin is an EIA first for republics of the former Soviet Union (FSU). This was a trial study of data availability and methodology, resulting in a reservoir-level assessment of ultimate recovery for both oil and gas. Ultimate recovery, as used here, is the sum of cumulative production and remaining Proved plus Probable reserves as of the end of 1987. Reasonable results were obtained when aggregating reservoir-level values to the basin level, and in determining general but important distributions of across-basin reservoir and fluid parameters. Currently, this report represents the most comprehensive assessment publicly available for oil and gas in the Fergana Basin. This full report provides additional descriptions, discussions and analysis illustrations that are beneficial to those considering oil and gas investments in the Fergana Basin. 57 refs., 22 figs., 6 tabs.

In order to simulate the microstructural evolution during hot strip rolling, double-hit compression tests have been carried out on plain carbon steels. Using the softening data obtained by these tests, mathematical models were developed to predict the overall kinetics of static recrystallization under roughing and finishing mill conditions. These models include the effects of deformation temperature, applied strain, strain rate and initial austenite grain size. Predictions based on these models are in reasonable agreement with the present experimental results.

The development of special-purpose airfoils for horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) began in 1984 as a joint effort between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), formerly the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), and Airfoils, Incorporated. Since that time seven airfoil families have been designed for various size rotors using the Eppler Airfoil Design and Analysis Code. A general performance requirement of the new airfoil families is that they exhibit a maximum lift coefficient (c{sub l,max}) which is relatively insensitive to roughness effects. The airfoil families address the needs of stall-regulated, variable-pitch, and variable-rpm wind turbines. For stall-regulated rotors, better peak-power control is achieved through the design of tip airfoils that restrain the maximum lift coefficient. Restrained maximum lift coefficient allows the use of more swept disc area for a given generator size. Also, for stall-regulated rotors, tip airfoils with high thickness are used to accommodate overspeed control devices. For variable-pitch and variable-rpm rotors, tip airfoils having a high maximum lift coefficient lend themselves to lightweight blades with low solidity. Tip airfoils having low thickness result in less drag for blades having full-span pitch control. Annual energy improvements from the NREL airfoil families are projected to be 23% to 35% for stall-regulated …

In order to reduce greenhouse emissions from power plants and respond to regulatory actions arising from the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA), several design options were investigated for improving the energy efficiency of a conventionally designed, domestic refrigerator-freezer. The options, such as improved cabinet insulation and high-efficiency compressor and fans, were incorporated into a prototype refrigerator-freezer cabinet and refrigeration system to produce a unit that is superior from an environmental viewpoint due to its lower energy consumption and the use of refrigerant HFC-134a as a replacement for CFC-12. Baseline energy performance of the original 1993 production refrigerator-freezer, along with cabinet heat load and compressor calorimeter test results, were extensively documented to provide a firm basis for experimentally measured energy savings. A detailed refrigerator system computer model was used to evaluate the energy savings for several design modifications that, collectively, could achieve a targeted energy consumption of 1.00 kWh/d for a 20 ft{sup 3} (570 l) top-mount, automatic-defrost, refrigerator-freezer. The energy consumption goal represents a 50% reduction in the 1993 NAECA standard for units of this size. Following the modeling simulation, laboratory prototypes were fabricated and tested to experimentally verify the analytical results and aid in improving the model in …

The US established the regulatory structure for the management, disposal, and long-term care of uranium mill tailings in 1978 with the passage of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) (Pub. L. 95-604). This legislation has governed the cleanup and disposal of uranium tailings at both inactive and active sites. The passage of the UMTRCA established a federal regulatory program for the cleanup and disposal of uranium mill tailings in the US. This program involves the DOE, the NRC, the EPA, various states and tribal governments, private licensees, and the general public. The DOE has completed surface remediation at 14 sites, with the remaining sites either under construction or in planning. The DOE`s UMTRA Project has been very successful in dealing with public and agency demands, particularly regarding disposal site selection and transportation issues. The active sites are also being cleaned up, but at a slower pace than the inactive sites, with the first site tentatively scheduled for completion in 1996.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and document a proposed position on the performance of independent peer reviews on selected design and analysis components of the Title 1 [Preliminary] and Title 2 [Final] design phases of the Multi-Function Waste Tank Facility [MWTF] project. An independent, third-party peer review is defined as a documented critical review of documents, data, designs, design inputs, tests, calculations, or related materials. The peer review should be conducted by persons independent of those who performed the work, but who are technically qualified to perform the original work. The peer review is used to assess the validity of assumptions and functional requirements, to assess the appropriateness and logic of selected methodologies and design inputs, and to verify calculations, analyses and computer software. The peer review can be conducted at the end of the design activity, at specific stages of the design process, or continuously and concurrently with the design activity. This latter method is often referred to as ``Continuous Peer Review.``

For the past several years, the integration of containment and surveillance (C/S) with nondestructive assay (NDA) sensors for monitoring the movement of nuclear material has focused on the hardware and communications protocols in the transmission network. Little progress has been made in methods to utilize the combined C/S and NDA data for safeguards and to reduce the inspector time spent in nuclear facilities. One of the fundamental problems in the integration of the combined data is that the two methods operate in different dimensions. The C/S video data is spatial in nature; whereas, the NDA sensors provide radiation levels versus time data. The authors have introduced a new method to integrate spatial (digital video) with time (radiation monitoring) information. This technology is based on pattern recognition by neural networks, provides significant capability to analyze complex data, and has the ability to learn and adapt to changing situations. This technique has the potential of significantly reducing the frequency of inspection visits to key facilities without a loss of safeguards effectiveness.

In an effort to improve public involvement in the site restoration decision making process, the DOE has established site specific advisory boards, of which the Fernald Citizens Task Force is one. The Fernald Task Force is focused on making recommendations in four areas: (1) What should be the future use of the site? (2) Determinations of cleanup levels (how clean is clean?) (3) Where should the wastes be disposed of? (4) What should be the cleanup priorities? Because these questions are being asked very early in the decision-making process, the answers are necessarily qualified, and are based on a combination of preliminary data, assumptions, and professional judgment. The requirement to make progress in the absence of accurate data has necessitated FERMCO and the Task Force to employ an approach similar to sensitivity analysis, in which a range of possible data values are evaluated and the relative importance of the various factors is assessed. Because of its charter to provide recommendations of future site use, the Task Force has developed a sitewide perspective, compared to the more common operable unit specific focus of public participation under CERCLA. The relationship between FERMCO and the Task Force is evolving toward one of partnership …