The concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and tritium inside of storage domes at TA-54 were measured to assess worker exposure and support the Area G site characterization, including the Radioactive Air Emissions Management (RAEM) program. Samples were collected at 2-3 locations within Domes 48, 49, and 153 on up to six days during the summer of 1994. Samples were collected to evaluate three scenarios: (1) normal working activities with the domes open; (2) after domes were closed overnight; and (3) after domes were closed for three days. Eight-hour integrated samples were collected and analyzed in Radian`s Austin laboratories. Tritium activities from 17.1 to 69,900 pCi/m{sup 3} were measured. About two dozen individual VOCs were identified in each sample, but most of the concentration levels were very low (e.g.; < 1 to 10 ppbv). The highest concentrations measured were bromomethane (56.5 ppbv), 1, 1,1-trichloroethane (75.4 ppbv), propane (958 ppbv), methylene chloride (1,450 ppbv), and toluene (22.8). The measured VOC concentrations were well below the action levels developed by the New Mexico Environment Department and the measured tritium concentrations were well below the DOE`s derived air concentration (DAC). The variability in concentration within a dome during a single sampling episode was …

This research is a renewal of a project to support research in the Deep Microbiology Subprogram of the Subsurface Science Program, by maintaining a culture collection of microorganisms isolated from subsurface environments (SMCC). Approximately 2,400 new subsurface microbial isolates were incorporated into the SMCC during the period August 15, 1993 to March 15, 1994. Colony morphological characteristics were determined for each of the 2,400 newly incorporated strains. Cell morphological characteristics were determined for 1,100 of the new isolates, and 21 selected physiological traits were determined for 2,200 of the new isolates.

The basic objective of this project is to convert waste streams from the food processing industry to usable fuels and chemicals using novel bioreactors. These bioreactors should allow economical utilization of waste (whey, waste sugars, waste starch, bottling wastes, candy wastes, molasses, and cellulosic wastes) by the production of ethanol, acetone/butanol, organic acids (acetic, lactic, and gluconic), yeast diacetyl flavor, and antifungal compounds. Continuous processes incorporating various processing improvements such as simultaneous product separation and immobilized cells are being developed to allow commercial scale utilization of waste stream. The production of ethanol by a continuous reactor-separator is the process closest to commercialization with a 7,500 liter pilot plant presently sited at an Iowa site to convert whey lactose to ethanol. Accomplishments during 1993 include installation and start-up of a 7,500 liter ICRS for ethanol production at an industry site in Iowa; Donation and installation of a 200 liter yeast pilot Plant to the project from Kenyon Enterprises; Modeling and testing of a low energy system for recovery of ethanol from vapor is using a solvent absorption/extractive distillation system; Simultaneous saccharification/fermentation of raw corn grits and starch in a stirred reactor/separator; Testing of the ability of `koji` process to ferment raw …

Heat pipes are a promising candidate for spacecraft radiators. This report describes a program designed to investigate the mass migration phenomenon in heat pipes. The program involved experiments to observe and measure the mass migration rates in both high and low operating temperature heat pipes. The low-temperature experiments were intended to simulate the operation of high-temperature, liquid metal heat pipes. Octadecane was the selected low-temperature working fluid. It is a paraffin and exhibits some of the characteristics of liquid metal working fluids. Sodium was the working fluid used in the high temperature experiment. A one-dimensional compressible flow model was developed for describing the hydrodynamics of rarefied vapor flow in heat pipe condensers. This model was compared with experimental data for the low-temperature octadecane heat pipes and the high-temperature sodium heat pipe. The model was found to satisfactorily predict the temperature profiles and location of freeze-fronts for the low-temperature heat pipes. Mass migration rate predictions using the model were satisfactory for the low-temperature heat pipes as well. However, the mass migration prediction for the high-temperature, sodium heat pipe was not in agreement with experimental data. An analytical model which accounts for property variations in the radial as well as longitudinal directions …

Ambient air monitoring for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was conducted at TA-54 to characterize non-radioactive air emissions to determine if the Laboratory`s waste operations are releasing significant amounts of VOCs to the ambient environment. Samples were collected at four locations along the northern fenceline (dominant downwind side) of Areas G & L and at a background site located in Bandelier National Monument. Eight-hour integrated samples were collected in evacuated canisters during daylight hours on each of eight days during the summer of 1994, for a total of 40 samples. The samples were analyzed by gas chromatography following EPA Method TO-14 for a target list of 68 analytes. In general, about two dozen volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified in each sample, including those collected at the background site, but the concentration levels were very low (e.g.; < 1 to 10 ppbv). The average total non-methane hydrocarbon (TNMHC) concentration ranged from 4.3 to 22.8 ppbv at the Area G and L sites as compared with an average of 4.2 ppbv at the background site. The measured concentrations were compared with action levels developed by the New Mexico Environment Department and were well below the action levels in all cases. Methanol and …

The authors investigated the decomposition of HMX or PBX-9404 as a 25% solution in DMSO by treatment with aqueous base solutions. They investigated investigated two concentrations of NaOH solutions, 40% NaOH and 2N NaOH. {sup 1}H-nmr spectroscopy was chosen to follow the decomposition by {sup 1}H-nmr spectroscopy, watching the disappearance of the -CH{sub 2}-absorbance of HMX at 6.2 ppm. The 40% NaOH solution is initially immiscible with the DMSO solution but becomes miscible as it reacts. The reaction is exothermic with recorded temperatures after mixing reaching 90{degrees}C. The mixture does foam somewhat but this can be controlled by slowing down the stirring speed. The 2N NaOH solution is miscible with the HMX/DMSO solution but upon mixing the HMX is precipitated by the water present in the base solution. The mixing of the solutions is much less exothermic and the decomposition is slower than the 40% NaOH solution so the mixture is heated at 60{degrees}C for 1h to facilitate the decomposition.

Array class libraries have the potential to support development of a broad class of scientific computations. The high level array syntax coupled with machine dependent internal routines simplifies the structure of scientific codes and hides the details of particular machine architectures. Unfortunately, array class libraries generally suffer from recurring performance problems, making their use on high performance computers difficult to justify. In this paper, we discuss these performance issues for array class libraries and propose optimizations within A++/P++ to address them. Deferred evaluation in A++/P++ provides the information required for these optimizations. We present performance results on example finite difference computations which show that these performance problems can be overcome within array class libraries. The optimizations are equally applicable to more general scientific computations, thus establishing array class libraries as a viable program development strategy for scientific codes.

United States industry has a critical need for materials that are lightweight, strong, tough, corrosion resistant and capable of performing at high temperatures; such materials will enable substantial increase in energy efficiency and reduction in emissions of pollutants. Continuous fiber ceramic composites (CFCCs) are an emerging class of materials which have the potential for the desired combination of properties to meet the industrial needs. A $10 billion annual market has been estimated for CFCC products by the year 2010, which equates to over 100,000 industrial sector jobs. The CFCC program began in the spring of 1992 as a three-phase 10-year effort to assess potential applications of CFCC materials, develop the necessary supporting technologies to design, analyze and test CFCC materials, conduct materials and process development guided by the applications assessment input, fabricate test samples and representative components to evaluate CFCC material capabilities under application conditions, and analyze scaleability and manufacturability plus demonstrate pilot-scale production engineering. DOE awarded 10 Phase I cooperative agreements to industry-lead teams plus identified generic supporting technology projects. This document highlights the broad progress and accomplishments on these contracts and support technology projects during Phase I.

This paper uses the Residential Energy Consumption Survey undertaken by the Energy Information Administration in 1990 to estimate the statistical association between household income and participation in electric utility energy conservation programs and the association between participation and the electricity consumption. The results indicate that utility rebates, energy audits, load management programs and other conservation measures tend to be undertaken at greater frequency by high income households than by low income households. Participants in conservation programs tend to occupy relatively new and energy efficient residences and undertake conservation measures other than utility programs, which suggests that utility sponsored programs are substitutes for other conservation investments. Electricity consumption during 1990 is not significantly less for households participating in utility programs than for nonparticipants, which also implies that utility conservation programs are displacing other conservation investments. Apparently, utility programs are not avoiding costs of new construction and instead are transferring wealth, particularly to high income participating households.

This is the second year in the proposed three-year effort to develop high-resolution numerical methods for multi-phase flow in hierarchical porous media. The issues being addressed in this research are: Computational efficiency: Field-scale simulation of enhanced oil recovery, whether for energy production or aquifer remediation, is typically highly under-resolved. This is because rock transport properties vary on many scales, and because current numerical methods have low resolution. Effective media properties: Since porous media are formed through complex geologic processes, they involve significant uncertainty and scale-dependence. Given this uncertainty, knowledge of ensemble averages of flow in porous media can be preferable to knowledge of flow in specific realizations of the reservoir. However, current models of effective properties do not represent the observed behavior very well. Relative permeability models present a good example of this problem. In practice, these models seldom provide realistic representations of hysteresis, interfacial tension effects or three-phase flow; there are no models that represent well all three effects simultaneously.

In order to evaluate the radiation recordkeeping practices at DOE facilities, a questionnaire was sent to DOE and DOE contractor facilities which requested information concerning the record keeping systems. The questionnaire was sent to the DOE/DOE contractor facilities via DOE/HQ and the respective field offices. The questionnaire stipulated that at multiple contractor sites, only those facilities who kept the records should respond to the questionnaire; however, those responding should indicate the facilities for which they maintained records.

The US Department of Energy and the US Department of the Interior agreed to monitor water-level data in 16 observation wells located at Hallam Facility, Hallam, Nebraska. The data collection period began in September 1993 and continued through August 1994. This report contains the interim summary representing six months of data collection. Specific sections include the following: description of the US Geological Survey`s monitoring program at the Hallam Nuclear Facility (Sept. 1993 to Feb. 1994); description of the collection of continuous water-level data; description of the collection of monthly water-level data; table of observation well number, latitude, longitude, and depth; table of monthly ground-water levels data; table of recorder wells, rainfall, and barometric pressure unit values; and table of recorder well, rainfall, and barometric daily values; hydrographs of selected wells.

The Department of Energy is responsible for developing a system for the transportation and storage of spent nuclear fuel generated by utility companies. To carry out this responsibility, the Department of Energy established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (Waste Management Office). The Waste Management office began development of a series of new shipping casks to transport the spent fuel. The purpose of this audit was to review the current development status of the cask designs; compare the original milestone dates to current milestone dates; and review the program funds that have been used to date on the development of these casks. The Office of Inspector General audited the cask development program in 1987. The audit report (DOE/IG-0244), recommended that program management establish minimum criteria that each cask must meet to qualify for further development funding. Our followup audit found that this recommendation had not been adequately implemented. As a result, the Waste Management office will spend an estimated $143 million on the cask development program and receive only two cask designs that were originally scheduled to cost $26 million. Moreover, it is not certain, at this time, whether those two cask designs will eventually receive the Nuclear Regulatory …

This report provides an interim summary of information from a water-level monitoring program. The information was collected by the US Geological Survey (USGS) over a 6-month period. The monitoring program between the US DOE and the USGS was set up to measure water levels in 16 observation wells at the Hallam Nuclear Facility in Hallam, Nebraska. The summary of USGS data includes: (1) a description of the USGS monitoring program; (2) a description of the collection of continuous water-level data; (3) a description of the collection of monthly water-level data; (4) table of observation well number, latitude, longitude, and depth; (5) table of monthly ground-water levels data; (6) table of recorder wells, rainfall, and barometric pressure values; (7) table of recorder well, rainfall, and barometric pressure daily values; and (8) hydrographs of selected wells. 7 figs., 3 tabs.