The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which produces at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals. The objective is to have these products produced by technologies capable of using synthesis gas derived from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstocks. The objective of Phase I is to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site and to develop a Research, Development, and Testing Plan (RD and T) for implementation in Phase II. The objective of Phase II is to implement the RD and T as outlined in the Phase I RD and T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology that produces high-value products, particularly those that are critical to our domestic fuel and power requirements. The project will resolve critical knowledge and technology gaps on the integration of gasification and downstream processing to coproduce some combination of power, fuels, and chemicals from coal and/or other carbonaceous feedstocks. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing plan …

Public participation in Office of Environmental Management (EM) activities throughout the DOE complex is a critical component of the overall success of remediation and waste management efforts. The challenges facing EM and its stakeholders over the next decade or more are daunting (Nuclear Waste News 1996). Achieving a mission composed of such challenges will require innovation, dedication, and a significant degree of good will among all stakeholders. EM's efforts to date, including obtaining and using inputs offered by EM stakeholders, have been notable. Public participation specialists have accepted and met challenges and have consistently tried to improve their performance. They have reported their experiences both formally and informally (e.g., at professional conferences and EM Public Participation Network Workshops, other internal meetings of DOE and contractor public participation specialists, and one-on-one consultations) in order to advance the state of their practice. Our research, and our field research in particular (including our interactions with many representatives of numerous stakeholder groups at nine DOE sites with diverse EM problems), have shown that it, is possible to develop coherent results even in a problem domain as complex as that of EM. We conclude that performance-based evaluations of public participation appear possible, and we have …

Diesel engines have potential for use in a large number of future vehicles in the US. However, to achieve this potential, proponents of diesel engine technologies must solve diesel's pollution problems, including objectionable levels of emissions of particulates and oxides of nitrogen. To meet emissions reduction goals, diesel fuel quality improvements could enable diesel engines with advanced aftertreatment systems to achieve the necessary emissions performance. The diesel fuel would most likely have to be reformulated to be as clean as low sulfur gasoline. This report examines the small- and large-market extremes for introduction of ultra-clean diesel fuel in the US and concludes that petroleum refinery and distribution systems could produce adequate low sulfur blendstocks to satisfy small markets for low sulfur (30 parts per million) light duty diesel fuel, and deliver that fuel to retail consumers with only modest changes. Initially, there could be poor economic returns on under-utilized infrastructure investments. Subsequent growth in the diesel fuel market could be inconsistent with U.S. refinery configurations and economics. As diesel fuel volumes grow, the manufacturing cost may increase, depending upon how hydrodesulfurization technologies develop, whether significantly greater volumes of the diesel pool have to be desulfurized, to what degree other properties …

As part of the Hanford River Protection Project (RPP), the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) has conducted tests on the pretreatment and vitrification of a radioactive waste sample from Hanford Tank 241-AZ-102. The original, AZ-102 sample which was received at SRTC was characterized and filtered to remove entrained solids.1 The sample was then passed sequentially through ion exchange columns containing SuperLig{reg_sign} 644 and 639 resins for the removal of cesium and technetium ions (Tc removed as pertechnetate, TcO{sub 4}{sup {minus}}), respectively.2 The cesium and technetium absorbed to the resins was then eluted to give separate eluate solutions containing relatively high concentrations of Cs{sup +} and TcO{sub 4}{sup {minus}}. According to the current plant design, the decontaminated Tank 241-AZ-102 sample and the eluate solutions will be subjected to separate evaporation and vitrification processes to give low- and high-activity waste glasses, respectively. This report describes evaporation testing of the Tc eluate solution derived from ion exchange processing of the Tank 241-AZ-102 sample with SuperLig 639 resin.

Ion exchange tests have been completed at the Savannah River Technology Center for British Nuclear Fuels Limited, Inc. as part of the Hanford River Protection Project. Radioactive cesium and technetium (pertechnetate form only) were removed by ion exchange from a sample of Envelope C salt solution from Hanford Tank 241-AN-102 (sample volume: approximately 17 L at 4.8 M Na plus). The original sample was diluted and subjected to strontium/transuranics (Sr/TRU) precipitation and filtration processes before ion exchange processing was performed. Batch contact and column tests for the ion exchange removal of cesium and technetium were then completed on the Sr/TRU-decontaminated product. Previous ion exchange tests were conducted on a smaller portion (0.5 L) of the Tank 241-AN-102 supernate sample, which had been similarly pretreated, and the results were reported in a separate document.

The pretreatment process for the Hanford River Protection Project Waste Treatment Plant is to provide decontaminated Low-Activity Waste and concentrated elute streams for vitrification into low- and high-activity waste glass, respectively. The pretreatment includes sludge washing, filtration, precipitation, and ion exchange processes to remove entrained solids, strontium, transuranics, cesium, and technetium.

The purpose of this System Design Description (SDD) is to specify the system and component functions and requirements for the Can Loading System and provide a complete description of the system (design features, boundaries, and interfaces), principles of operation (including upsets and recovery), and the system maintenance approach. The Plutonium Immobilization Project (PIP) will immobilize up to 13 metric tons (MT) of U.S. surplus weapons usable plutonium materials.

Inelastic and nonelastic neutron interactions with {sup 11}B have been studied for incident neutron energies between 2 and 22 MeV. Neutrons from the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator (ORELA) impinged a sample of natural boron. Gamma rays resulting from neutron interactions were detected using a well-calibrated intrinsic-Ge detection system. Data reduction included compensation for Doppler broadening of the observed peaks and corrections due to incident neutron attenuation, effects due to multiple scattering of neutrons, and sample attenuation of the outgoing gamma rays. Cross sections for gamma rays having energies (in keV) of 2124, 4445, 4741, 5020, 6434, 6743+6793 (combined), and 7286 following inelastic scattering, of 478 keV from the {sup 11}B(n,n{alpha}{gamma}){sup 7}Li reaction, and of 718 keV from the {sup 11}B(n,2n{gamma}){sup 10}B reaction as functions of incident neutron energy are presented in tabular form.

Revision 1 of this document presented a method of calculating the CFF explosive firing zones that was based upon the peak average pressure on the various elements of the firing chamber as explosive weights and locations are changed. That document was reviewed internally at LLNL and reviewed by the design contractor of the facility. The contractor's responses generally confirmed the validity of the peak average pressure method, but noted that the shearing stresses at haunches may exceed the design values when explosive charges are moved towards comers. The concept of a dynamic load factor is introduced in the dynamic analysis section of Reference 5. A method is shown there whereby the response of the major elements of construction can be calculated from the knowledge of the peak average blast pressure averaged over the surface considered. the length of the pulse, and the natural period of vibration of the element. Quazi Hossain also suggested this method of analysis in Reference 2. The major elements of the Firing Chamber are the four walls, floor, roof slab, camera room overlay structure, inclined plate, bullnose, and the two doors. Except for the bullnose, their response has been calculated for a number of explosive weights …

The Yucca Mountain Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) analysis addressed the potential for transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from 77 origins for 34 types of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste, 49,914 legal weight truck shipments, and 10,911 rail shipments. The analysis evaluated transportation over 59,250 unique shipment links for travel outside Nevada (shipment segments in urban, suburban or rural zones by state), and 22,611 links in Nevada. In addition, the analysis modeled the behavior of 41 isotopes, 1091 source terms, and used 8850 food transfer factors (distinct factors by isotope for each state). The analysis also used mode-specific accident rates for legal weight truck, rail, and heavy haul truck by state, and barge by waterway. This complex mix of data and information required an innovative approach to assess the transportation impacts. The approach employed a Microsoft{reg_sign} Access database tool that incorporated data from many sources, including unit risk factors calculated using the RADTRAN IV transportation risk assessment computer program. Using Microsoft{reg_sign} Access, the analysts organized data (such as state-specific accident and fatality rates) into tables and developed queries to obtain the overall transportation impacts. Queries are instructions to the database describing how to use data contained …

The Product Composition Control System (PCCS) is used to determine the acceptability of each batch of Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) melter feed in the Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME). This control system imposes several constraints on the composition of the contents of the SME to define acceptability. These constraints relate process or product properties to composition via prediction models. A SME batch is deemed acceptable if its sample composition measurements lead to acceptable property predictions after accounting for modeling, measurement and analytic uncertainties. The baseline document guiding the use of these data and models is ''SME Acceptability Determination for DWPF Process Control (U)'' by Brown and Postles [1996]. A minimum of three PCCS constraints support the prediction of the glass durability from a given SME batch. The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) is reviewing all of the PCCS constraints associated with durability. The purpose of this review is to revisit these constraints in light of the additional knowledge gained since the beginning of radioactive operations at DWPF and to identify any supplemental studies needed to amplify this knowledge so that redundant or overly conservative constraints can be eliminated or replaced by more appropriate constraints.

The objective of the study was to compare water temperatures in the Lower Snake River for current (impounded) and unimpounded conditions using a mathematical model of the river system. A long-term analysis was performed using the MASS1 one-dimensional (1D) hydrodynamic and water quality model. The analysis used historical flows and meteorological conditions for a 35-year period spanning between 1960 and 1995. Frequency analysis was performed on the model results to calculate river temperatures at various percent of time exceeded levels. Results were are also analyzed to compute the time when, during the year, water temperatures rose above or fell below various temperature levels. The long-term analysis showed that the primary difference between the current and unimpounded river scenarios is that the reservoirs decrease the water temperature variability. The reservoirs also create a thermal inertia effect which tends to keep water cooler later into the spring and warmer later into the fall compared to the unimpounded river condition. Given the uncertainties in the simulation model, inflow temperatures, and meteorological conditions the results show only relatively small differences between current and unimpounded absolute river temperatures.

In this report, we summarize our plan for using NIF for measuring solid-state deformation physics at very high pressures, P >> 1 Mbar. There are several key uncertainties, the strength and phase being two of them. The deformation mechanisms at high pressure and high strain rate are also uncertain. The state, as well as strength, of a material that has first been melted, then dynamically refrozen by high-pressure compression is very uncertain. There is no single facility that can address all of these issues at all parameter regimes of interest. Rather, a coordinated plan involving multiple laboratories and universities and multiple facilities will ultimately be needed. We present here our first thoughts for the NIF component of this effort. In Sec. I, we motivate the physics of this regime, and point out the uncertainties, then describe in Sec. II the development work that we have done over the last 5 years in this area. In Sec. III, we describe several NIF designs we have developed to probe solid-state deformation physics at very high pressures.

This publication contains abstracts of current reports published by the Energy Division, one of 15 research divisions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The division's work has four principal thrusts: (1) research and development (R&D) to improve the efficiency of building energy use and delivery technologies; (2) environmental, technological, regional, and policy analysis and assessments related to energy production and use; (3) research on improving the efficiency of transportation systems; and (4) applied R&D for emergency planning capabilities. More information on the division is available from our World Wide Web home page (http://www.ornl.gov/divisions/energy/energy.html) or can be obtained by contacting the division (Kim Grubb, Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Bldg. 4500N, MS 6187, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6187, USA; telephone 865-576-8176). These reports are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the public as noted on page ii of this publication. Please specify the report number in any inquiry. Questions on individual reports may be directed to the author address indicated at the end of each report brief.