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Methods being studied are as follows: the thermodynamic method based on water potential and thermocouple psychrometers; the tracer method using atmospheric tritium; the annual water balance based on the annual heat balance; the field lysimeter using thermocouple psychrometers; the influence of soil breathing as a result of changes in barometric pressure; and the influence of soil stratification. Progress to date has involved the installation of thermocouple psychrometers from the surface to the water table 310 feet below. These instruments are in the process of equilibration. Isothermal methods of analyzing water potential must be extended to include nonisothermal conditions which are dominant at the Hanford Reservation. Tracer techniques using tritium analyses of soil samples have successfully demonstrated that archaic water exists in virgin soil at the Hanford Reservation from a depth of approximately 7 meters to the water table, indicating that percolation has been limited to lesser depths. The annual heat balance indicates that quantities of water many times greater than the annual average precipitation of 16 centimeters can be evaporated from the soils at the Hanford Reservation during a normal summer. This indicates that the critical precipitation (P/sub c/) value may be greater than 30 to 50 centimeters of water. …

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Efficiency evaluation of in-service motors is a challenge to industry. Without a dynamometer or torque cell attached, determining the output power is difficult. The purpose of this CRADA was to develop an on-line motor monitoring device that will determine the condition and performance of a motor without removing the motor from operation.

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The accuracies which can be achieved in analog recording systems are for the most part tape limited. While reasonable variations in tape speed do not directly affect the accuracy, such variaticns result in improper tape tensioning, which in turn results in poor head-to-tape contact. The quality of the tape transport mechanism should be such that the error introduced by improper head- totape contact is less than tape errors. Some additional equipment is necessary in setting up a tape recorder for a given experiment. The amplitude of the input pulse spectrura to the recorder should be adjusted for optimum value and, if possible, the counting rate should be adjusted to obtain good tape utilization. An oscilloscope is probably adequate to satisfy both conditions. (auth)

Six Product Removal (PR) Cans and Containers are located within the Plutonium Finishing Plant. Each can is expected to contain a maximum of 3 g of residual radioactive material, consisting mainly of plutonium isotopes. The PR Can Containers were previously authorized by HNF-SD-TP-SEP-064, Rev. 0 (Boettger 1997), for the interarea transport of up to 3 g of plutonium. The purpose of this safety evaluation for packaging is to allow the transport of six PR Cans with their Containers from the Plutonium Finishing Plant to the 233 S Evaporator Facility. This safety evaluation for packaging is authorized for use until April 29, 1999, or until the shipment is made, whichever happens first.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and American automotive manufacturers General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler began a five-year, cost-shared partnership in 1993. Currently, hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) research and development is conducted by DOE through its FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies (FCVT) program. The mission of the FCVT program is to develop more energy efficient and environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies. Program activities include research, development, demonstration, testing, technology validation, and technology transfer. These activities are aimed at developing technologies that can be domestically produced in a clean and cost-competitive manner. Under the FCVT program, support is provided through a three-phase approach [1] which is intended to: • Identify overall propulsion and vehicle-related needs by analyzing programmatic goals and reviewing industry’s recommendations and requirements, then develop the appropriate technical targets for systems, subsystems, and component research and development activities; • Develop and validate individual subsystems and components, including electric motors, emission control devices, battery systems, power electronics, accessories, and devices to reduce parasitic losses; and • Determine how well the components and subassemblies work together in a vehicle environment or as a complete propulsion system and whether the efficiency and performance targets at the vehicle level have been achieved. The research …

We investigate the atomic structure of the fivefold surface of an icosahedral Al-Cu-Fe alloy, using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) imaging and a special dynamical low energy-electron diffraction (LEED) method. STM indicates that the step heights adopt (primarily) two values in the ratio of tau, but the spatial distribution of these two values does not follow a Fibonacci sequence, thus breaking the ideal bulk-like quasicrystalline layer stacking order perpendicular to the surface. The appearance of screw dislocations in the STM images is another indication of imperfect quasicrystallinity. On the other hand, the LEED analysis, which was successfully applied to Al-Pd-Mn in a previous study, is equally successful for Al-Cu-Fe. Similar structural features are found for both materials, in particular for interlayer relaxations and surface terminations. Although there is no structural periodicity, there are clear atomic planes in the bulk of the quasicrystal, some of which can be grouped in recurring patterns. The surface tends to form between these grouped layers in both alloys. For Al-Cu-Fe, the step heights measured by STM are consistent with the thicknesses of the grouped layers favored in LEED. These results suggest that the fivefold Al-Cu-Fe surface exhibits a quasicrystalline layering structure, but with stacking defects.

Three tests have been run in the ETR in high temperature, high pressure, recirculating water. In one test, previously unirradiated fuel elements were used and in the other two the fuel was irradiated to 2400 MWD/T at HAPO prior to insertion in the ETR. Failure was initiated by shearing off a projection on the surface of one rod of a fuel element, thus opening a 25-mil hole through the cladding. The projection was sheared off by a hydraulically operated chisel controlled from outside the reactor. The first test was operated seven hours after the defect was opened with no failure. Failure is defined as having occurred when sufficient uranium oxide has formed to split open the cladding and release large amounts of fission products into the loop water. The second test was operated for fourteen hours after the defect was opened with again no failure. The third test was operated for only 33 minutes after the defect cap was sheared off before fission product activity in the loop water caused the test to be terminated.

The capabilities of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's Calibration and Standards Facility are delineated. The facility's ability to provide radiation fields and measurements for a variety of radiation safety applications and the available radiation measurement equipment are described. The need for national laboratory calibration labs to maintain traceability to a national standard are discussed as well as the areas where improved standards and standardization techniques are needed.

In this paper, highlights from recent engineering research and development, in particular, results from fluidized bed calcination studies of SYNROC slurry are summarized. A schematic diagram of the envisioned SYNROC process (at this stage of development) is also presented. It shows the use of a fluidized bed calciner to prepare SYNROC powder that is then fed to a storage hopper. Bellows-type canisters are filled, evacuated, sealed and preheated. The preheated canisters are loaded into a hot isotactic pressing unit where they are densified, then removed and cooled and finally loaded into a waste storage container. After sealing, this container is decontaminated and transferred to the interim storage facility and then, ultimately, to an underground repository.

The Dante soft x-ray spectrometer installed on the Omega laser facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester is a twelve-channel filter-edge defined x-ray power diagnostic. It is used to measure the absolute flux from direct drive, indirect drive (hohlraums) and other plasma sources. Calibration efforts using two beam lines, U3C (50eV-1keV) and X8A (1keV-6keV) at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) have been implemented to insure the accuracy of these measurements. We have calibrated vacuum x-ray diodes, mirrors and filters.

The 100-F-50 waste site, part of the 100-FR-2 Operable Unit, is a steel stormwater runoff culvert that runs between two railroad grades in the south-central portion of the 100-F Area. The culvert exiting the west side of the railroad grade is mostly encased in concrete and surrounded by a concrete stormwater collection depression partially filled with soil and vegetation. The drain pipe exiting the east side of the railroad grade embankment is partially filled with soil and rocks. The 100-F-50 stormwater diversion culvert confirmatory sampling results support a reclassification of this site to no action. The current site conditions achieve the remedial action objectives and corresponding remedial action goals established in the Remaining Sites ROD. The results of confirmatory sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

The Higgs boson search has shifted from LEP2 to the Tevatron and will subsequently move to the LHC. Due to the different initial states, the Higgs production and decay channels relevant for Higgs boson searches were different at LEP2 to what they are at hadron colliders. They suggest new benchmark scenarios for the MSSM Higgs boson search at hadron colliders that exemplify the phenomenology of different parts of the MSSM parameter space. Besides the m{sub h}{sup max} scenario and the no-mixing scenario used in the LEP2 Higgs boson searches, they propose two new scenarios. In one the main production channel at the LHC, gg {yields} h, is suppressed. In the other, important Higgs decay channels at the Tevatron and at the LCH, h {yields} b{bar b} and h {yields} {tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup -}, are suppressed. All scenarios evade the LEP2 constraints for nearly the whole M{sub A}-tan {beta}-plane.

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The effect in ambient air the tensile and fatigue behavior of an Fe{sub 3}Al, Cr type intermetallic alloy is examined as a function of test temperature. Hydrogen due to moisture in the air is found to be a major cause of embrittlement. Rates and mechanisms of observed embrittlement appear to be temperature dependent. In addition, the alloy was found to have no notch sensitivity.

The use of motor current signature analysis (CSA) has been established as a useful method for periodic monitoring of electrically driven equipment. CSA is, moreover, especially well suited as the basis for a dedicated continuous monitoring system in an industrial setting. This paper presents just such an application that has been developed and installed in the US government uranium enrichment plant at Portsmouth, Ohio. The system, which is designed to detect specific axial-flow compressor problems in 1700-hp gaseous diffusion compressors, is described in detail along with an explanation of detected fault conditions and the required signal manipulations. Amplitude demodulation and subsequent digital processing of motor signals sensed from area control room ammeter loops are used to accomplish the desired monitoring task. Using modified off-the-shelf multiplexing equipment, a 386-type personal computer, and special digital signal processing hardware, the system is presently configured to monitor ten compressors but is expandable to monitor more than 100. Within its first few days of operation in September 1992, the system detected a compressor problem that, when corrected, resulted in a cost avoidance of about $150,000, which more than paid for the hardware and software development costs. Finally, plans to expand system coverage in the coming …

The potential for fuel cell systems to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions over conventional power systems has generated significant interest in fuel cell technologies. While fuel cells are being investigated for use in many applications such as stationary power generation and small portable devices, transportation applications present some unique challenges for fuel cell technology. Due to their lower operating temperature and non-brittle materials, most transportation work is focusing on fuel cells using proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology. Since PEM fuel cells are fueled by hydrogen, major obstacles to their widespread use are the lack of an available hydrogen fueling infrastructure and hydrogen's relatively low energy storage density, which leads to a much lower driving range than conventional vehicles. One potential solution to the hydrogen infrastructure and storage density issues is to convert a conventional fuel such as gasoline into hydrogen onboard the vehicle using a fuel processor. Figure 2 shows that gasoline stores roughly 7 times more energy per volume than pressurized hydrogen gas at 700 bar and 4 times more than liquid hydrogen. If integrated properly, the fuel processor/fuel cell system would also be more efficient than traditional engines and would give a fuel economy benefit while hydrogen …

Immunomagnetic separation (IMS) has proved highly efficient for recovering microorganisms from heterogeneous samples. Current investigation targeted the separation of viable cells of the sulfate-reducing bacterium, Desulfovibrio vulgaris. Streptavidin-coupled paramagnetic beads and biotin labeled antibodies raised against surface antigens of this microorganism were used to capture D. vulgaris cells in both bioreactor grown laboratory samples and from extremely low-biomass environmental soil and subsurface drilling samples. Initial studies on detection, recovery efficiency and viability for IMS were performed with laboratory grown D. vulgaris cells using various cell densities. Efficiency of cell isolation and recovery (i.e., release of the microbial cells from the beads following separation) was followed by microscopic imaging and acridine orange direct counts (AODC). Excellent recovery efficiency encouraged the use of IMS to capture Desulfovibrio spp. cells from low-biomass environmental samples. The environmental samples were obtained from a radionuclide-contaminated site in Germany and the chromium (VI)-contaminated Hanford site, an ongoing bioremediation project of the U.S. Department of Energy. Field deployable IMS technology may greatly facilitate environmental sampling and bioremediation process monitoring and enable transcriptomics and proteomics/metabolomics-based studies directly on cells collected from the field.

This report describes the groundwater monitoring and corrective-action program at the M-Area Hazardous Waste Management Facility (HWMF) and the Metallurgical Laboratory (Met Lab) HWMF at the Savannah River Site (SRS) during 1998.

We develop a state-space Bayesian framework to combine time-lapse geophysical data with other types of information for quantitative estimation of biogeochemical parameters during bioremediation. We consider characteristics of end-products of biogeochemical transformations as state vectors, which evolve under constraints of local environments through evolution equations, and consider time-lapse geophysical data as available observations, which could be linked to the state vectors through petrophysical models. We estimate the state vectors and their associated unknown parameters over time using Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling methods. To demonstrate the use of the state-space approach, we apply it to complex resistivity data collected during laboratory column biostimulation experiments that were poised to precipitate iron and zinc sulfides during sulfate reduction. We develop a petrophysical model based on sphere-shaped cells to link the sulfide precipitate properties to the time-lapse geophysical attributes and estimate volume fraction of the sulfide precipitates, fraction of the dispersed, sulfide-encrusted cells, mean radius of the aggregated clusters, and permeability over the course of the experiments. Results of the case study suggest that the developed state-space approach permits the use of geophysical datasets for providing quantitative estimates of end-product characteristics and hydrological feedbacks associated with biogeochemical transformations. Although tested here on laboratory …

A method using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has been developed for quantifying attomoles of beryllium (Be) in biological samples. This method provides the sensitivity to trace Be in biological samples at very low doses with the purpose of identifying the molecular targets involved in chronic beryllium disease. Proof of the method was tested by administering 0.001, 0.05, 0.5 and 5.0 {micro}g {sup 9}Be and {sup 10}Be by intraperitoneal injection to male mice and removing spleen, liver, femurs, blood, lung, and kidneys after 24 h exposure. These samples were prepared for AMS analysis by tissue digestion in nitric acid, followed by further organic oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and ammonium persulfate and lastly, precipitation of Be with ammonium hydroxide, and conversion to beryllium oxide at 800 C. The {sup 10}Be/{sup 9}Be ratio of the extracted beryllium oxide was measured by AMS and Be in the original sample was calculated. Results indicate that Be levels were dose-dependent in all tissues and the highest levels were measured in the spleen and liver. The measured {sup 10}Be/{sup 9}Be ratios spanned 4 orders of magnitude, from 10{sup -10} to 10{sup -14}, with a detection limit of 3.0 x 10{sup -14}, which is equivalent to 0.8 attomoles …