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The conceptual design of a solar process steam system began with studies and evaluations of various alternative design configurations. From these evaluations a final candidate design configuration was selected which is to be used for further detailed analysis and engineering. An evaluation of various types of distributed collector systems is presented. Cost-effectiveness of various distributed collectors was determined on the basis of total relative cost (including foundation and installation) of the collector per square foot of collector surface for the same thermal output at noon. The considerations used to select the optimum site also are given. System optimization studies are presented, including a discussion of whether a storage facility should be provided. It was found that none is required. Three alternate system configurations are described, optimized, and compared and a final concept is selected in which water is partially boiled in the slat type collectors and steam is separated in a steam drum. A cost-effectiveness criterion based on the unit cost of net annual thermal energy generated was used in the optimization studies and is discussed. The impact of the system on the environment is assessed and a preliminary safety analysis is presented. (LEW)

Gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements have been made on mixed uranium and plutonium oxides in sealed containers to determine the uranium and plutonium enrichment and isotopics. Experimental results obtained using two different methods were in good agreement with the known contents. The first method is applicable to thick samples of freshly reprocessed mixed oxide and determines isotopic abundances from measured absolute gamma-ray intensities. Measurement times depend on plutonium enrichment, but for mixed oxide enriched to 12% in plutonium, the fissionable content can be determined to better than 0.5% in 2 h. The second approach utilizes intensity ratios of selected pairs of gamma-rays to determine plutonium enrichment and uranium and plutonium isotopes. This method requires at least 12 h to determine the plutonium enrichment to an accuracy of 0.5%. However, it cannot be applied until the /sup 238/U daughter activities in the mixed oxide reach equilibrium, which requires at least 5 months after separation. Preliminary conclusions drawn from these two noninvasive and nondestructive measurement techniques, and recommendations for future experiments are discussed.

Energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis can be used for quantitative on-line monitoring of the product concentrations in single- or dual-element process streams in a reprocessing plant. The 122-keV gamma ray from /sup 57/Co is used to excite the K x-rays of uranium and/or plutonium in nitric acid solution streams. A collimated HPGe detector is used to measure the excited x-ray intensities. Net solution radioactivity may be measured by eclipsing the exciting radiation, or by measuring it simultaneously with a second detector. The technique is nondestructive and noninvasive, and is easily adapted directly to pipes containing the solution of interest. The dynamic range of the technique extends from below 1 to 500 g/l. Measurement times depend on concentration, but better than 1% counting statistics can be obtained in 100 s for 400 g/l concentrations, and in 1000 s for as little as 10 g/l. Calibration accuracies of 0.3% or better over the entire dynamic range can be achieved easily using carefully prepared standards. Computer-based analysis equipment allows concentration changes in flowing streams to be dynamically monitored. Changes in acid normality of the stream will affect the concentration determined, hence it must also be determined by measuring the intensity of a transmitted /sup …

Results are presented for the 1/5-scale Mark I boiling water reactor pressure suppression experiment. The objective of this study is to calculate the hydrodynamic vertical load function (HVLF) and the maximum download and maximum upload ratios for the 90/sup 0/ sector to 7.5/sup 0/ section (i.e., the 3D to 2D ratios) together with their associated error bounds. Special graphs are presented of the pressure data that are useful in diagnostic studies of the HVLF. These graphs are three dimensional plots which depict the spatially dependent pressure as a function of time. These plots are qualitative but present an overview, not available by other means, which permits grasp of the subtle complex pattern of transient spatial changes in pressure excited by the dynamics in the pool. Sufficient text is included to describe the general feature of each plot.

The intent of this study is to determine the extent of delays experienced in planning and constructing transmission lines in the continental United States. The reasons for the delays are identified for each line studied and their effect on the total electrical system is sought. Data was collected for 136 different lines either recently built or currently under study. Statistics were developed for each line in several categories and comparisons of lines delayed were made by company, area served and generation capacity. From the study presented here it was found that: right-of-way acquisition procedures including condemnation and easement negotiation practices delay more projects than local, state and federal regulatory requirements combined; load growth reductions particularly in the east have reduced the impact of regulatory delays; the south, southeast and southwestern areas of the country experience fewer delays in constructing transmission lines than the more populated states, and the cost for corridor delays was responded to for only 17 of the 142 projects surveyed. By far the most costly delay is the expense of condemning land for transmission right-of-way.

Detailed estimates shown for the respective states are based largely on existing contracts and grants which are assumed to continue in 1980. Some DOE programs cannot be identified at the contractor level, and some elements of programs cannot be identified by states. These are listed in an Undesignated category. FY 1979 estimates are given; it is felt that Congressional actions on the FY 1980 budgets may affect the estimates shown.

The Linear Free Electron Laser is numerically analyzed in the one dimensional limit by following an average (resonant) particle. Several different wiggler schemes are presented, and electron beam current density requirements are discussed. A variable phase angle buncher is also proposed.

Flat plate chord tests are one experimental method used to investigate how fluid/structure interaction (FSI) effects modify the impulsive loading in nuclear reactor pressure suppression pools. This analytical study examines the applicability of using a flexible flat plate in an otherwise rigid shell to model dynamic pool wall response in a flexible shell pressure suppression torus. Bubble pressures varying by a factor of seven are used as input to two-dimensional finite-element models. Boundary response to various plate and shell thicknesses are compared on the basis of equivalent natural frequency. Results indicate the qualitative flat plate response compares well with the flexible shell but absolute pressures vary significantly and nonconservatively.

A regional-scale data base, consisting of wind and temperature data for June and July of 1977, was developed for the greater San Francisco Bay Area and eastward to the Central Valley. Continuous meteorological measurements were made in the area of a windy pass (Patterson Pass) 3 km east of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. This area was chosen because of its complex terrain and importance as a downwind topographic feature affecting the dispersal of possible accidental atmospheric releases from the Laboratory and as an area of high wind-energy potential. The results of this study provided the following: (1) a data base, including over 50 stations for use in numerical wind-field regional-scale-model validation; (2) characterization of summer sea breese oscillations of approx. 6 and 12 days (this analysis is useful in calculating wind-power persistence and in understanding summer sea-breeze mechanisms in the Bay Area); and (3) successful application of an optical space-averaging wind sensor over a 1-km path across a pass to provide long-path averaged data more suitable for regional, numerical wind-field models with kilometre-size grid elements.

The TMX Supermodel is an attempt to synthesize all presently known experimental observations and theoretical scaling laws concerning particle and energy losses into a comprehensive zero-dimensional description of plasma confinement in the center cell and plugs of TMX. A list of important loss processes and physical effects included in the present state of evolution of the supermodel is given.

The results of analyses of the airborne gamma radiation and total magnetic field survey flown for the region identified as the Bozeman National Topographic Map NL12-8 are presented in Volume I and II of this report. The airborne data gathered are reduced by ground computer facilities to yield profile plots of the basic uranium, thorium, and potassium equivalent gamma radiation intensities, ratios of these intensities, aircraft altitude above the earth's surface, total gamma ray and earth's magnetic field intensity, correlated as a function of geologic units. The distribution of data within each geologic unit, for all surveyed map lines and tie lines, has been calculated and is included. Two sets of profiled data for each line are included with one set displaying the above-cited data. The second set includes only flight line magnetic field, temperature, pressure, altitude data plus magnetic field data as measured at a base station. A general description of the area, including descriptions of the various geologic units and the corresponding airborne data, is included also.

On the basis of time-integrated emittance measurements, several different types of field emitter diodes were characterized at 1 to 3 kA, 1 MeV. These measurements were part of the design effort for the injector system of a linear induction accelerator, to be used as a flash x-ray source at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The experimental parameters were the cathode type, the anode mesh texture, the diode spacing and voltage, and the level of collimation of the emerging beam. Experimental results are presented that show that over a wide range, the emittance was proportional to the level of collimation. For any one diode, with the spacing left fixed, the emittance was found to be essentially independent of the diode voltage and current. Differential focusing of different energy beam components affects most strongly the peripheral components of the beam, and strong collimation was found to minimize the effects of momentum spread on the emittance. The lowest emittances (30 to 40 mr-cm at 400 A) were obtained with a foil-type cathode in a ball-over-plane configuration, using an etched tungsten mesh anode, and collimating the beam to one quarter of the total current.

Using a pair of lasers near 6000 A, the J = 6 ground state is excited to a J = 6 intermediate level and then to a J = 5 upper state. Non-resonant fluorescences from both excited states are separately detected. Results of a set of model calculations are tabulated. Level 3 average populations are always very small, since the system decays rapidly into inaccessible metastable states. This means that chemistry experiments are difficult. The differences between parallel and perpendicular polarization are modest. The fluorescence dips converge to a value near 50%. The level 3 populations do not approach a common value. This means that the most reliable experimental measurement does not determine the level populations. The most striking changes appear in the last two, most exact, models. The difference between the models is that one includes, for the first time, the linear frequency chirp produced by the fanlike spread of the focussed laser beams. This seemingly innocuous change halves the population left in the ground state. It appears that analogues of adiabatic passage and adiabatic rapid passage respectively are being observed.

In an effort to upgrade outdated instrumentation and to take advantage of current and imminent technologies the Nuclear Chemistry Division at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is about to undertake a major upgrade of their low level radiation counting and analysis facilities. It is expected that such a project will make a more coordinated data acquisition and data processing system, reduce manual data handling operations and speed up data processing throughput. Before taking on a systems design it is appropriate to establish a definition of the requirements of the facilities. This report examines why such a project is necessary in the context of the current and projected operations, needs, problems, risks and costs. The authors also address a functional specification as a prelude to a system design and the design constraints implicit in the systems implementation. Technical, operational and economic assessments establish necessary boundary conditions for this discussion. This report also establishes the environment in which the requirements definition may be considered valid. The validity of these analyses is contingent on known and projected technical, scientific and political conditions.

Efforts of this task indicate that powerplant productivity is a complex issue that has to take into account economic factors, equipment limitations, and system-loading characteristics as well as external constraints such as regulatory requirements. Among the specific findings are: (1) utilities in Illinois use the industry-wide measures of performance such as capacity factor, availability factor, forced outage rates etc.; equivalent availability as a measure is not in common practice; (2) several unit performance statistics are collected on a routine basis such as the daily unit status, component outage data, monthly production figures etc.; (3) identifying major causes of lost productivity appears to be a relatively simple task, but finding economically and technically acceptable corrective actions are generally more difficult; (4) selection of improvement projects, as well as evaluating their future impacts, is mostly based on operating experience and engineering judgement, with no use of formal analytical/statistical models; (5) there generally is a group in every utility - typically called the power production department - with routine responsibilities for upkeep of unit productivity; and (6) recently the Commonwealth Edison Co. has developed a procedure for utilizing the Edison Electric Institute outage data base for analyzing productivity-related questions at nuclear plants; this …

This report disucsses the development of on-line state and parameter estimators used to analyze the structural response of buildings. The estimator/identifier is an extended Kalman filter (EKF), which has been applied with great success in other technological areas. It is shown that the EKF can perform quite well on simulated noisy structural response data.

A brief parametric survey of the x-ray characteristics of a gold micro-disk irradiated at 3 x 10/sup 14/ watt/cm/sup 2/ by a 1 nsec Nd-glass laser pulse has been provided as an example of a laser generated bright x-ray source. It was shown that a simple phenomenological model of the laser generated x-ray source as a microscopic equilibrium plasma radiating as a blackbody for a finite time determined by its hydrodynamic disassembly and radiation losses, serves to provide an adequate approximation to the x-ray characteristics of such sources. The current state of x-ray microscopy within the LLL laser fusion program was briefly reviewed. Kirpatrick--Baez grazing incidence reflection x-ray microscopes are being used to provide 3 to 5 ..mu..m resolution, broadband images (..delta..E/E approx. 0.3) over a spectral range from .6 keV to 3.5 keV. Zone Plate Coded Imaging is used to provide 5 to 10 ..mu..m resolution, broadband (..delta..E/E approx. 0.5) images over a spectral range from 3 keV to 50 keV. Efficient x-ray lensing elements with anticipated submicron resolution are being developed for narrowband (..delta..E/E approx. 10/sup -2/) imaging applications over a spectral range .1 keV to 8 keV. The x-ray lens design is that of a transmission blazed …

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A summary of total cumulative fuel consumption differences by fuel type through 1990 for four improvement scenarios is presented for Commonwealth Edison Company (CE) and for Illinois Power Company (IP). In all scenarios, liquid-fuel consumption is reduced. Generation is shifted to the coal and/or nuclear units for which improved availability has been assumed. For a 2% improvement in both planned (POR) and forced outage rates (FOR), a total of more than 16 million barrels of No. 6 oil will have been saved by 1990 by the two companies. This is the result of improving 10,894 MW on the CE system and 2234 MW on the IP system. For the two utilities combined, gross savings (in 1978 dollars) range from $83 million for a 1% POR improvement to $346 million for 2% improvements in both POR and FOR. In terms of their effect on ratepayers, these savings would be even greater since gross receipt taxes and other charges would be applied to a smaller-generation cost base under the improvement scenarios. Caution must be exercised however, since results do not take into consideration the costs of achieving the improved performance. The proportion of net benefits that would be passed on to ratepayers …

A single electrostatic wave in a magnetoplasma causes stochastic ion motion in several physically different situations. Various magnetic fields (uniform, tokamak, and mirror) and various propagation angles with respect to the field have been studied. A brief review of this work shows that all situations can be understood using the concept of overlapping resonances. Analytical calculations of the wave amplitude necessary for stochasticity have been carried out in some cases and compared with computer and laboratory experiments. In the case of an axisymmetric mirror field the calculations predict stochastic motion of ions with energy below a threshold that depends weakly on the wave amplitude and on the scale lengths of the magnetic field. Studies with an azimuthally asymmetric field show that the asymmetry causes substantial changes in the motion of some ions.

The kinetics of precipitation reactions in geothermal brines can be studied accurately only if the brine samples are collected and examined under anaerobic conditions and with minimum cooling. Apparatus and techniques were developed that achieve this for brine temperatures below 100/sup 0/C. The concentration of suspended solids is measured gravimetrically after filtration, and the concentration of dissolved silica is measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Data from Woolsey No. 1 well of the Salton Sea Geothermal Field illustrate typical results of the procedures.

Several methods for cleaning uranium samples prior to carbon analysis, using a Leco Carbon Analyzer, were evaluated. Use of Oakite Aluminum NST Cleaner followed by water and acetone rinse was found to be the best overall technique.

To successfully develop the geothermal resources of the Imperial Valley, adequate supplies of cooling water must be obtained. The primary sources of water include waste waters from agricultural lands, condensate from flashed-steam facilities, and irrigation water. The major advantages and disadvantages of these supplies are examined and then the consequences of adopting six sets of water policies to support three scenarios of geothermal energy production are assessed. The assessment includes analyses of potential constraints to development as a result of restrictive water policies. It also includes predictions of changes in the Salton Sea's elevation and salinity caused by the consumption of agricultural drain water for cooling.