Acoustic emission monitoring augments other nondestructive testing methods and is sometimes applicable when other tests cannot be applied. This is, in part, due to the high sensitivity of acoustic emission monitoring. Acoustic emission monitoring is only sensitive to active flaw-growth, however, and will not detect a flaw in equilibrium. This paper describes the application of acoustic emission monitoring to nuclear reactor fuel pin end closure welds and other weldments of the reactor piping.

Sodium fluoride (NaF) traps in the PGDP purge cascade presently use NaF pellets to remove residual UF{sub 6} from the gas stream. These pellets are procured from ORGDP which converts sodium bifluoride pellets to NaF by thermal decomposition. Discussions of the possibility of no longer producing pellets at ORGDP, due to oven corrosion problems, led to a pilot plant test at PGDP. This test was designed to examine the feasibility of producing the NaF pellets at PGDP in the event that an alternative source of supply became necessary. Satisfactory pellets were produced without difficulty; however, it was determined that the conversion process could not be readily carried out in the existing NaF traps. Construction of a separate facility with provisions to handle the large quantities of hydrogen fluoride (HF) released during the process would be required to produce pellets at the rate needed. 1 fig., 2 tabs.

The results of Task I, mission analysis and performance specifications, for the Near-Term Hybrid Vehicle (NTHV) development program are presented. The items researched included trip characteristics, market potential, life-cycle cost and performance specifications of NTHV's. (LCL)

Energy conservation education must reach millions of Americans in order to see any real and immediate decrease in energy consumption. Since our society gets much of its information from the media, this seems like a most effective vehicle for disseminating energy conservation information to the American Public. Radio is listened to by the vast majority of Americans each day of their lives. Radio as a communications medium is an extremely cost effective method of mass communication and education, and is perceived as a personal medium which has great potential to affect a change in the daily energy consumption habits of the public. Call-in radio programs centering around energy conservation are an effective method of presenting informative, energy education programming that provide instantaneous access for listener/consumer participation. The linking of available telephone and radio technology (via call-in radio shows) allows people all over the US, including remote rural areas, access to the latest energy conservation information and renewable energy technolgy.

This report summarizes our study of the price elasticity of demand for home appliances, including refrigerators, clothes washers, and dishwashers. In the context of increasingly stringent appliance standards, we are interested in what kind of impact the increased manufacturing costs caused by higher efficiency requirements will have on appliance sales. We begin with a review of existing economics literature describing the impact of economic variables on the sale of durable goods.We then describe the market for home appliances and changes in this market over the past 20 years, performing regression analysis on the shipments of home appliances and relevant economic variables including changes to operating cost and household income. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the demand for home appliances is price inelastic.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has developed several different strategies and technologies for the on-site detection of explosives. These on-site detection techniques include a colorimetric test, thin layer chromatography (TLC) kit and portable gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC/MS). The screening of suspicious containers on-site and the search for trace explosive residue in a post-blast forensic investigation are of great importance. For these reasons, LLNL's Forensic Science Center has developed a variety of fieldable detection technologies to screen for a wide range of explosives in various matrices and scenarios. Ideally, what is needed is a fast, accurate, easy-to-use, pocket-size and inexpensive field screening test for explosives.

The vacuum system of the X-Ray Vacuum Transport System (XVTS) for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray Transport, Optics and Diagnostics (XTOD) system has been analyzed and configured by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's New Technologies Engineering Division (NTED) as requested by the SLAC/LCLS program. The preliminary system layout, detailed analyses and suggested selection of the vacuum components for the XTOD tunnel section are presented in the preliminary design report [1]. This document briefly reviews the preliminary design and provides engineering specifications for the system, which can be used as 'design to' specifications for the final design. Also included are the requirements of plans for procurement, mechanical integration, schedule and the cost estimates.

The signal in an NMR experiment is highly sensitive to fluctuations of the environment of the sample. If, for example, the static magnetic field B{sub 0}, the amplitude and phase of radio frequency (rf) pulses, or the resonant frequency of the detection circuit are not perfectly stable and reproducible, the magnetic moment of the spins is altered and becomes a noisy quantity itself. This kind of noise not only depends on the presence of a signal, it is in fact proportional to it. Since all the spins at a particular location in a sample experience the same environment at any given time, this noise primarily affects the reproducibility of an experiment, which is mainly of importance in the indirect dimensions of a multidimensional experiment, when intense lines are suppressed with a phase cycle, or for difference spectroscopy techniques. Equivalently, experiments which are known to be problematic with regard to their reproducibility, like flow experiments or experiments with a mobile target, tend to be affected stronger by multiplicative noise. In this article it is demonstrated how multiplicative noise can be identified and characterized using very simple, repetitive experiments. An error estimation approach is developed to give an intuitive, yet quantitative understanding …

Among the possible terrorist activities that might threaten national security is the release of an airborne pathogen such as anthrax. Because the potential damage to human health could be severe, experts consider 1 minute to be an operationally useful time limit for identifying the pathogen and taking action. Many commercial systems can identify airborne pathogenic microbes, but they take days or, at best, hours to produce results. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other U.S. government agencies are interested in finding a faster approach. To answer this national need, a Livermore team, led by scientist Eric Gard, has developed the bioaerosol mass spectrometry (BAMS) system--the only instrument that can detect and identify spores at low concentrations in less than 1 minute. BAMS can successfully distinguish between two related but different spore species. It can also sort out a single spore from thousands of other particles--biological and nonbiological--with no false positives. The BAMS team won a 2005 R&D 100 Award for developing the system. Livermore's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program funded the biomedical aspects of the BAMS project, and the Department of Defense's Technical Support Working Group and Defense Advanced Research Project Agency funded the biodefense efforts. Developing …

Designing molecules in which the vectorial motions of charges can be controlled has been of significant research interest in the recent past. Covalent linear arrays of chromophores or other molecular assemblies such as liquid crystals, zeolites, polymers, peptides, and amphiphiles have all been used as components for this purpose. Significant amount of this effort also involved the use of dendrimers as the molecular architecture. The structural feature in which multiple functionalities are present in the periphery that decreases gradually as one moves towards the core renders dendrimers obvious candidates for light harvesting antenna. Most of the efforts reported in the literature are directed towards energy funneling from a chromophore in the periphery to another chromophore at the core of the dendrimer. There are relatively few reports that utilize the dendritic architecture for photoinduced charge separation, an important step in designing materials for photovoltaics. These reports focus mostly on conjugated molecular backbones. Since non-conjugated dendrimer backbones provide the possibility of independently tuning the electronic characteristics of the chromophore and the charge transfer unit and therefore carry out a systematic structure-property relationship study, we have designed and synthesized dendrimers.

We report on an ab initio calculation of the {sup 4}He total photo-absorption cross section using two- and three-nucleon interactions based upon chiral effective field theory. The microscopic treatment of the continuum problem is achieved using the Lorentz integral transform method, applied within the no-core shell model approach.

The focus of the review was to evaluate the LLNS Contractor Assurance System (CAS) system description document and implementation plan. The team reviewed the description document and the near and long term strategy improvement plans for the defined enhancements to the LLNS CAS. Review emphasis was placed on the CAS functional elements of Assessments, Issues Management, and Performance Measures, as well as the related CAS attributes of Requirements, Policies and Procedures, Risk Methodology, and Continuous Improvement. The approach taken by the team was to review the pertinent LLNL CAS documents, interview key CAS Process Owners, and interview selected line managers. The reviews were conducted in such a manner to achieve an understanding of the overall objective of the CAS and the processes within; and the soundness of the improvement plans for each of the elements/related attributes. The team then identified suggested recommendations for consideration as the overall implementation process for improvements move forward. The team appreciates the work that went into the development of the CAS Implementation Plan. It provided a meaningful starting place for this AIM team as it included sufficient information to quickly gain an understanding of the current LANS CAS processes and improvement initiatives. The team found …

Pressure-induced electronic spin-pairing transitions of iron and associated effects on the physical properties have been reported to occur in the lower-mantle ferropericlase, silicate perosvkite, and perhaps in post silicate perovskite at high pressures and room temperature. These recent results are motivating geophysicists and geodynamicists to reevaluate the implications of spin transitions on the seismic heterogeneity, composition, as well as the stability of the thermal upwellings of the Earth's lower mantle. Here we have measured the spin states of iron in ferropericlase and its crystal structure up to 95 GPa and 2000 K using a newly constructed X-ray emission spectroscopy and diffraction with the laser-heated diamond cell. Our results show that an isosymmetric spin crossover occurs over a pressure-temperature range extending from the upper part to the lower part of the lower mantle, and low-spin ferropericlase likely exists in the lowermost mantle. Although continuous changes in physical and chemical properties are expected to occur across the spin crossover, the spin crossover results in peculiar behavior in the thermal compression and sound velocities. Therefore, knowledge of the fraction of the spin states in the lower-mantle phases is thus essential to correctly evaluate the composition, geophysics, and dynamics of the Earth's lower mantle.

This feasibility study investigates additional improvements/extensions to the LLNL Renewables Website. Currently, the Renewables Website focuses on wind energy in California. Future enhancements will include other renewable energy sources. The extensions described below are focused along two separate yet related avenues: (1) Forecasting wildfire risk in the regions of California where new development may occur, as a part of the 'Million Solar Roofs' program. (2) Gaining a better understanding of the ecological components and potential of biofuels from forests in California. These two avenues are further described in the report. Following is a technical description of the Center for Fire Research and Outreach computing and web service capabilities.

Designing molecules in which the vectorial motions of charges can be controlled has been of significant research interest in the recent past. Covalent linear arrays of chromophores or other molecular assemblies such as liquid crystals, zeolites, polymers, peptides, and amphiphiles have all been used as components for this purpose. Significant amount of this effort also involved the use of dendrimers as the molecular architecture. The structural feature in which multiple functionalities are present in the periphery that decreases gradually as one moves towards the core renders dendrimers obvious candidates for light harvesting antenna. Most of the efforts reported in the literature are directed towards energy funneling from a chromophore in the periphery to another chromophore at the core of the dendrimer. There are relatively few reports that utilize the dendritic architecture for photoinduced charge separation, an important step in designing materials for photovoltaics. These reports focus mostly on conjugated molecular backbones. Since non-conjugated dendrimer backbones provide the possibility of independently tuning the electronic characteristics of the chromophore and the charge transfer unit and therefore carry out a systematic structure-property relationship study, we have designed and synthesized dendrimers

Back in the early 1980's the X-ray laser program required a new level of understanding and measurements of the atomic physics of highly charged ions. The electron-beam ion trap (EBIT) was developed and built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as part of the effort to understand and measure the cross sections and wavelengths of highly charged ions. In this paper we will discuss some of the early history of EBIT and how it was used to help in the development of X-ray lasers. EBIT's capability was unique and we will show some of the experimental results obtained over the years that were done related to X-ray lasers. As X-ray lasers have now become a table-top tool we will show some new areas of research that involve understanding the index of refraction in partially ionized plasmas and suggest new areas where EBIT may be able to contribute.

The purpose of this joint ORNL/Westinghouse Program is to develop a design concept for a tokamak reactor blanket system which satisfies engineering requirements for a utility environment. While previous blanket studies have focused primarily on performance issues (thermal, neutronic, and structural), this study has emphasized consideration of reliability, fabricability, and lifetime.

In this technical note, mass-spring-dashpot, also referred to as equivalent lumped parameter, models are employed to model the soil-foundation interaction of two typical floor segments from the 7-GeV APS experiment hall. Equivalent lumped parameter models have the advantage of being easy to apply and of readily allowing for parameter studies. Analysis requires knowledge of certain properties of the soil including density, shear wave velocity, and Poisson's ratio, as well as knowledge of the degree of homogeneity of the underlying soil stratum. These data for the APS site were determined by a geotechnical investigation. A soil profile and pertinent data, obtained from crosshole seismic testing, are given. Natural frequencies and damping are calculated for the vertical, sliding, rocking, and coupled rocking/sliding modes of vibration. Subsequently, various corrections to account for modeling deficiencies'' are considered and their influences evaluated. The equivalent lumped parameter models were developed for machine foundations which, compared with the APS foundation, are smaller in plan dimension. Therefore, the applicability of these models in the analysis of the dynamic characteristics of the APS foundation must be established. The modeling is evaluated by applying the equivalent lumped parameter models in the analysis of large foundations for which test data exists. …

The potential for generation of toxic gases from lead-acid batteries has long been recognized. Prior to the current interest in electric vehicles, there were no studies specificaly oriented to toxic gas release from traction batteries, however. As the Department of Energy Demonstration Project (in the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program) progresses, available data from past studies and parallel health effects programs must be digested into guidance to the drivers and maintenance personnel, tailored to their contact with electric vehicles. The basic aspects of lead-acid battery operation, vehicle use, and health effects of stibine and arsine to provide electric vehicle users with the information behind the judgment that vehicle operation and testing may proceed are presented. Specifically, it is concluded that stibine generation or arsine generation at rapid enough rates to induce acute toxic response is not at all likely. Procedures to guard against low-level exposure until more definitive data on ambient concentrations of the gases are collected are presented for both charging the batteries and driving the vehicles. A research plan to collect additional quantitative data from electric traction batteries is presented.

This report presents current data on production, consumption, stocks, imports, exports, and prices of the principal energy commodities in the United States. Also included are data on international production of crude oil, consumption of petroleum products, petroleum stocks, and production of electricity from nuclear-powered facilities.

The results are presented of work performed on the Advanced Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactor Materials Evaluation and Development Program. The objectives of this program are to evaluate candidate alloys for Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) Nuclear Process Heat (NPH) and Direct Cycle Helium Turbine (DCHT) applications, in terms of the effect of simulated reactor primary coolant (helium containing small amounts of various other gases), high temperatures, and long time exposures, on the mechanical properties and structural and surface stability of selected candidate alloys. A second objective is to select and recommend materials for future test facilities and more extensive qualification programs. Work covered in this report includes the activities associated with the status of the simulated reactor helium supply system, testing equipment, and gas chemistry analysis instrumentation and equipment. The status of the data management system is presented. In addition, the progress in the screening test program is described.

The laser system in the Laser Demonstration Facility is mounted on an array of 108 support columns. This milestone report describes the design, analyses, testing, fabrication, installation, and performance characteristics of these supports.

In order to transport high current, single bunch beams to the SLC positron source for spring 1986 testing, it will be necessary to augment the strength of available focusing in sectors 11 through 19. We have decided to replace the sector doublet type QB quadrupoles with stronger type QE magnets. In conjunction with new Vax controlled power supplies, this sector 11 through 19 doublet lattice can be run at optimal settings for beam energies of several GeV up to the full SLC energy of 32 GeV by sector 19. Installation of the temporary stronger focusing is planned for summer 1985; full SLC FODO array focusing is scheduled for the following summer. This note presents the intermediate solution for sectors 11 through 19. In addition, the sector 10 quadrupole strengths required for matching beams into the doublet array are given. 1 figure, 4 tables.

Work on the AFR spent fuel storage program is focused on developing design and licensing information for the model facility. To date, the design effort is proceeding on schedule. A subcontract for soils and structural design of the fuel transfers canal is ready for DOE review. Proposals for high-density rack design to bring the model facility up to a nominal 1750 MTU capacity have been received and are being reviewed internally. This subcontract should be available for DOE review in early February. A security subcontract has been awarded to International Energy Associates Limited and the preliminary design effort is underway. Licensing activities are progressing satisfactorily. Review of the governing local, state, and federal regulations has been completed. Format and schedule for the safety analysis report and the environmental report have been established.