While on vacation, the traveler participated as a co-chairman of a panel of instrumentation and controls specialists visiting nuclear establishments in Europe. The purpose of the visit was to assess the status of instrumentation and controls technology for nuclear power in Europe. A list of the sites visited and the personnel contacted is included in this trip report. The visit was sponsored by Loyola College working under contract to the National Science Foundation. All costs were paid by Loyola College, for whom the traveler was a consultant. This was an outside activity approved by DOE. The traveler was surprised by the high level of automaton present in the German Konvoi nuclear power plants built by Siemens AG KWU. The claim was that this was done to improve the safety of the plant by keeping the operator out of the loop'' for the first 30 minutes of some transients or accidents. The traveler was also surprised by the high level of man-machine interface R D in the USSR.

We have conducted as extensive series of laser damage measurements on highly reflective (HR) dielectric coatings which have yielded 1064-nm thresholds as high as 40 J/cm{sup 2} for 8- to 10-ns pulses at pulse-repetition frequencies (PRF) of 10 Hz. Moreover, by laser conditioning these coatings with subthreshold pulses, the thresholds of some coatings were raised to levels exceeding 70 J/cm{sup 2}. These are the highest threshold dielectric HR coatings that we have tested in this regime. The coatings were originally developed to produce HR-overcoated metal mirrors for free-electron-laser (FEL) applications at high PRF. Our tests included coatings deposited on both dielectric substrates and molybdenum (Mo) substrates. In each category we also examined coatings with a pre-coat of Mo between the substrate and the HR stack. The improved dielectric HR stacks effectively shielded the Mo from the laser irradiation so that the thresholds of virtually all Mo samples exceeded levels of the best dielectric-enhanced and dielectric-HR-coated metal mirrors we have tested to date. In addition to the low PRF measurements, we also conducted 1064-nm damage tests at 6-kHz PRF using 65-ns pulses from the Kilroy damage test facility. The coatings survived thermal loading of fluences ranging from 2 to 10 J/cm{sup …

The purpose of this report is to provide energy decision makers with accurate and timely information that may be used in forming various perspectives on electric issues. The power plants considered include coal, petroleum, natural gas, hydroelectric, and nuclear power plants. Data are presented for power generation, fuel consumption, fuel receipts and cost, sales of electricity, and unusual occurrences at power plants. Data are compared at the national, Census division, and state levels. 4 figs., 52 tabs. (CK)

Multilayer HfO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} high reflectors (HR) and polarizers show a permanent increase in their 1064-nm damage thresholds following laser conditioning at subthreshold fluences. Threshold increases of 2--3x are typical. In an effort to better understand the conditioning effect we have made laser conditioning and electronic property measurements on single layers of these two materials. The laser damage threshold of 1-{mu}m thick e-beam deposited SiO{sub 2} was increased by laser conditioning for wavelengths ranging from 355 to 1046 nm. The damage threshold of HfO{sub 2} single layers was not influenced by sub-threshold illumination. As-deposited thin films of a-SiO{sub 2} are known to contain paramagnetic electronic defects. We have used electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to study the concentrations and types of defects present in single layer and multilayer films of HfO{sub 2} and SiO{sub 2}. E{prime} and oxygen hole centers with concentrations on the order of 10{sup 17}/cm{sup 3} have been measured in the SiO{sub 2} layers. A previously unreported defect has been observed for HfO{sub 2}. The concentration of defects was studied both before and after laser conditioning and damage with 1064-nm photons. These electronic structure measurements are discussed in relation to an electronic defect model for laser conditioning of …

The traveler attended the 1st International Conference on Biological Dosimetry in Madrid, Spain. This conference was organized to provide information to a general audience of biologists, physicists, radiotherapists, industrial hygiene personnel and individuals from related fields on the current ability of cytogenetic analysis to provide estimates of radiation dose in cases of occupational or environmental exposure. There is a growing interest in Spain in biological dosimetry because of the increased use of radiation sources for medical and occupational uses, and with this the anticipated and actual increase in numbers of overexposure. The traveler delivered the introductory lecture on Biological Dosimetry: Mechanistic Concepts'' that was intended to provide a framework by which the more applied lectures could be interpreted in a mechanistic way. A second component of the trip was to provide advice with regard to several recent cases of overexposure that had been or were being assessed by the Radiopathology and Radiotherapy Department of the Hospital General Gregorio Maranon'' in Madrid. The traveler had provided information on several of these, and had analyzed cells from some exposed or purportedly exposed individuals. The members of the biological dosimetry group were referred to individuals at REACTS at Oak Ridge Associated Universities for …

Multilayer dielectric optical coatings produced by high temperature plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (PCVD) have been previously shown to have very high surface and bulk damage thresholds (above 40J/cm{sup 2}). Because these experimental coatings are deposited on tubular substrates, conventional wavelength scanning cannot accurately measure the coating peak reflectance and bandwidth. Measurement of the variation of transmittance with incidence angle at fixed wavelength permits analysis of the coating spectral response. The results indicate that the PCVD coatings behave as nearly ideal'' rugate filters. Their optical performance agrees well with that predicted for a rugate by Southwell's coupled-wave theory and by the characteristic-matrix model. These 1000-layer-pair filters have maximum reflectances exceeding 99.9%, peak reflectance wavelengths within 0.5% of the design wavelength, and FWHM bandwidths narrower than 10 nm. Minor perturbations to the ideal rugate sinusoidal profile do not appreciably affect the coating optical performance. Comparison with calculations suggest that the only significant deviation of the PCVD structure from that of an ideal rugate is a small (0.7%) drift in the index period. Excellent optical performance and high damage resistance makes PCVD rugate coatings potentially useful for several high power laser applications. 13 refs., 7 figs.

Research on Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) has progressed rapidly in the past several years. As a consequence, LLNL is developing plans to upgrade the current 120 kJ solid state (Nd{sup +3}-phosphate glass) Nova laser to a 1.5 to 2 megajoule system with the goal of achieving fusion ignition. The design of the planned Nova Upgrade is briefly discussed. Because of recent improvements in the damage resistance of optical materials it is now technically and economically feasible to build a megajoule-class solid state laser. Specifically, the damage threshold of Nd{sup +3}-doped phosphate laser glass, multilayer dielectric coatings, and non-linear optical crystals (e.g., KDP) have been dramatically improved. These materials now meet the fluence requirements for a 1.5--2 MJ Nd{sup 3+}-glass laser operating at 1054 and 351 nm and at a pulse length of 3 ns. The recent improvements in damage thresholds are reviewed; threshold data at both 1064 and 355 nm and the measured pulse length scaling are presented. 20 refs., 9 figs., 2 tabs.

The travelers, representing the ORNL Energy Division, Efficiency and Renewables Research Section, conducted an in-depth evaluation of the CUMACS/EMCS installed at the 26th Support Group, USAREUR. This endeavor included an evaluation of the overall performance of this system including operations maintenance and end-user impact. System energy efficiency in terms of projected and actual energy and cost savings were analyzed. Conclusions and preliminary recommendations based on this evaluation were also formulated.

A new commercially available perfluorinated organic polymer has been used to prepare a combined quarterwave AR and protective coating for KDP and other optical materials. Coatings are applied from solution at room temperature by spin or dip, they are fully dense and have a refractive index of 1.29. The laser damage threshold at 1064 nm and 355 nm is the highest that we have ever measured for an AR coating material. 5 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs.