We present a preliminary measurement of R{sub b}, the ratio of {Gamma}(Z{degree} - b{bar b}) relative to {Gamma}(Z{degree} {yields} hadrons) using the silicon CCD-pixel vertex detector of the SLD at the SLAC Linear Collider (SLC). An impact parameter method and a displaced vertex method are applied to all charged tracks, to efficiently tag Z{degree} - b{bar b} events. From the impact (displaced vertex) approach we find R{sub b} = 0.214 {plus_minus} 0.010 {plus_minus} 0.025 (R{sub b} = 0.204 {plus_minus} 0.010 {plus_minus} 0.030), consistent with the standard model value.

Lithologic variation, regional depositional trends, and the lack of written guidelines have resulted in inconsistencies in the recognition of stratigraphic contacts in drill holes at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Stratigraphic identification, based on mineralogy of discrete samples, can be augmented by geophysical logs and downhole movies to more accurately and consistently locate contacts between units. Criteria are established for locating the base of the Pahute Mesa ash-flow tuff, the top of the Ammonia Tanks ash-flow tuff, the top of the Ammonia Tanks bedded tuff, and the top and the base of the Rainier Mesa Tuff.

The concept of a disturbed zone surrounding the mined openings of a potential geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste was introduced by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as a region to be excluded for determining groundwater travel time to the accessible environment, but to be included for determining the impact of underground construction and radioactive decay heat on groundwater movement and radionuclide transport for total system performance analysis. This paper explores both the regulatory and technical necessity for characterizing and modeling a larger region -- the altered zone -- within which the temperature is increased significantly by heat from the high-level waste. Particular attention is given to addressing the effects of heterogeneity on groundwater flux and travel time, showing how these effects might be modeled simply on a macroscopic scale, and outlining its parameters. The effect of uncertainty in the parameter values on the performance of a potential repository can then be easily handled by probabilistic analysis.

Fracture-mechanics crack growth tests were conducted on 25.4-mm-thick compact tension specimens of Types 304L and 316L Stainless steel and Incoloy 825 at 93{degrees}C and 1 atmosphere of pressure in simulated J-13 well water, which is representative of the groundwater at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada that is proposed for a high-level nuclear waste repository. Crack growth rates were measured under various load conditions: load ratios of 0.2--1.0, frequencies of 2 {times} 10{sup {minus}4}{minus}1 Hz, rise times of 1--5000 s, and peak stress intensities of 25--40 MPa{center_dot}m{sup {1/2}}. The measured crack growthrates are bounded by the predicted rates from the current ASME Section 11 correlation for fatigue crack growth rates of austenitic stainless steel in air. Environmentally accelerated crack growth was not evident in any of the three materials under the test conditions investigated.

We report the results of preliminary studies of a 2 to 4 nm SASE FEL, using a photoinjector to produce the electron beam, and the SLAC linac to accelerate it to an energy up to 10 GeV. Longitudinal bunch compression is used to increases ten fold the peak current to 2.5 kA, while reducing the bunch length to the subpicosecond range. The saturated output power is in the multi-gigawatt range, producing about 10{sup 14} coherent photons within a bandwidth of about 0.2% rms, in a pulse of several millijoules. At 120Hz repetition rate the average power is about 1 W. The system is optimized for x-ray microscopy in the water window around 2 to 4 nm, and will permit imaging a biological sample in a single subpicosecond pulse.

An attempt is made at illustrating the many contributions to rock mechanics from US defense programs, over the past 30-plus years. Large advances have been achieved in the technology-base area covering instrumentation, material properties, physical modeling, constitutive relations and numerical simulations. In the applications field, much progress has been made in understanding and being able to predict rock mass behavior related to underground explosions, cratering, projectile penetration, and defense nuclear waste storage. All these activities stand on their own merit as benefits to national security. But their impact is even broader, because they have found widespread applications in the non-defense sector; to name a few: the prediction of the response of underground structures to major earthquakes, the physics of the earth`s interior at great depths, instrumentation for monitoring mine blasting, thermo-mechanical instrumentation useful for civilian nuclear waste repositories, dynamic properties of earthquake faults, and transient large-strain numerical modeling of geological processes, such as diapirism. There is not pretense that this summary is exhaustive. It is meant to highlight success stories representative of DOE and DOD geotechnical activities, and to point to remaining challenges.

In August 1988, two years after the Chernobyle accident, the United States and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to sponsor a Joint coordinating Committee on Civilian Nuclear Reactor Safety, (JCCCNRS). The Soviet Union agreed to provide some information on late effects of radiation exposures and to attempt to add some new insights into low dose and low dose rate radiation consequences. At that time, it had just been revealed that significant radiation exposures had occurred in the South Ural Mountains, associated with the early years of operation of the MAYAK nuclear complex. The need to be able to better predict the long term consequences of overexposures, such as occurred with the Chernobyl accident, was a major factor in organizing this workshop. We decided to invite a small number of experts from the Soviet Union, who had direct knowledge of the situation. A small group of American experts was invited to help in a discussion of the state of knowledge of continual low level exposure. The experts and expertise included: Aspects of bask theoretical radiobiological models, studies on experimental animals exposed to chronic or fractionated external or internal radiation, studies on populations exposed to chronic intake and continual exposures, workers …

Various commercial software packages and customized programs provide the ability to analyze and visualize the geology of Yucca Mountain. Starting with sparse, irregularly spaced data a series of gridded models has been developed representing the thermal/mechanical units within the mountain. Using computer aided design (CAD) software and scientific visualization software, the units can be manipulated, analyzed, and graphically displayed. The outputs are typically gridded terrain models, along with files of three-dimensional coordinates, distances, and other dimensional values. Contour maps, profiles, and shaded surfaces are the output for visualization.

Previous laboratory investigations of tuff have shown that porosity has a dominant, general effect on mechanical properties. As a result, it is very important for the interpretation of mechanical property data that porosity is measured on each sample tested. Porosity alone, however, does not address all of the issues important to mechanical behavior. Variability in size and distribution of pore space produces significantly different mechanical properties. A nondestructive technique for characterizing the internal structure of the sample prior to testing is being developed and the results are being analyzed. The information obtained from this technique can help in both qualitative and quantitative interpretation of test results.

In an attempt to achieve completeness and consistency, the performance-assessment analyses developed by the Yucca Mountain Project are tied to scenarios described in event trees. Development of scenarios requires describing the constituent features, events, and processes in detail. Several features and processes occurring at the waste packages and the rock immediately surrounding the packages (i.e., the near field) have been identified: the effects of radiation on fluids in the near-field rock, the path-dependency of rock-water interactions, and the partitioning of contaminant transport between colloids and solutes. This paper discusses some questions regarding these processes that the near-field performance-assessment modelers will need to have answered to specify those portions of scenarios dealing with the near field.

Yucca Mountain, the potential site of a repository for high-level radioactive waste, is situated in a region of natural and man-made seismicity. Underground openings excavated at this site must be designed for worker safety in the seismic environment anticipated for the preclosure period. This includes accesses developed for site characterization regardless of the ultimate outcome of the repository siting process. Experience with both civil and mining structures has shown that underground openings are much more resistant to seismic effects than surface structures, and that even severe dynamic strains can usually be accommodated with proper design. This paper discusses the design and performance of lined openings in the seismic environment of the potential site. The types and ranges of possible ground motions (seismic loads) are briefly discussed. Relevant historical records of underground opening performance during seismic loading are reviewed. Simple analytical methods of predicting liner performance under combined in situ, thermal, and seismic loading are presented, and results of calculations are discussed in the context of realistic performance requirements for concrete-lined openings for the preclosure period. Design features that will enhance liner stability and mitigate the impact of the potential seismic load are reviewed. The paper is limited to preclosure performance …

An essential part of the license application for a geologic repository will be the demonstration of compliance with the standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. The performance assessments that produce the demonstration must rely on models of various levels of detail. The most detailed of these models are needed for understanding thoroughly the complex physical and chemical processes affecting the behavior of the system. For studying the behavior of major components of the system, less detailed models are often useful. For predicting the behavior of the total system, models of a third kind may be needed. These models must cover all the important processes that contribute to the behavior of the system, because they must estimate the behavior under all significant conditions for 10,000 years. In addition, however, computer codes that embody these models must calculate very rapidly because of the EPA standard`s requirement for probabilistic estimates, which will be produced by sampling thousands of times from probability distributions of parameters. For this reason, the total-system models must be less complex than the detailed-process and subsystem models. The total-system performance is evaluated through modeling of the following components: Radionuclide release from the engineered-barrier system. Fluid flow in the geologic …

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a site characterization plan (SCP) to collect detailed information on geology, geohydrology, geochemistry, geoengineering, hydrology, climate, and meteorology (collectively referred to as ``geologic information``) of the Yucca Mountain site. This information will be used to determine if a mined geologic disposal system (MGDS) capable of isolating high-level radioactive waste without adverse effects to public health and safety over 10,000 years, as required by regulations 40 CFR Part 191 and 10 CFR Part 60, could be constructed at the Yucca Mountain site. Forecasts of future climates conditions for the Yucca Mountain area will be based on both empirical and numerical techniques. The empirical modeling is based on the assumption that future climate change will follow past patterns. In this approach, paleclimate records will be analyzed to estimate the nature, timing, and probability of occurrence of certain climate states such as glacials and interglacials over the next 10,000 years. For a given state, key climate parameters such as precipitation and temperature will be assumed to be the same as determined from the paleoclimate data. The numerical approach, which is the primary focus of this paper, involves the numerical solution of basic equations associated with …

A specially designed and fabricated one-dimensional compression cell is being used to extract water from nonwelded and densely welded tuffs having degrees of saturation greater than 16 and 37 percent respectively. Chemical analyses of pore water obtained at increasing pressures are used to evaluate possible changes in chemistry caused by compression. The extracted pore water varies form a calcium chloride type to a sodium bicarbonate type. The mean concentration of dissolved ions generally decreases during compression. The relative abundance of the major cations varies little with increasing pressure. Possible causes of the pore-water-chemistry changes include: (1) dilution of pore water by low ionic strength adsorbed water from zeolites and clays; (2) dissolution reactions caused by the increase in dissolved carbon dioxide concentrations that may result from pressurization; (3) membrane filtration by zeolites and clays; and (4) ion exchange with the zeolites and clays.

A fundamental concern in the design of the potential repository at Yucca Mountain. Nevada is the response of the host rock to the emplacement of heat-generating waste. The thermal perturbation of the rock mass has implications regarding the structural, hydrologic. and geochemical performance of the potential repository. The phenomenological coupling of many of these performance aspects makes repository thermal modeling a difficult task. For many of the more complex, coupled models, it is often necessary to reduce the geometry of the potential repository to a smeared heat-source approximation. Such simplifications have impacts on induced thermal profiles that in turn may influence other predicted responses through one- or two-way thermal couplings. The effect of waste employment layout on host-rock thermal was chosen as the primary emphasis of this study. Using a consistent set of modeling and input assumptions, far-field thermal response predictions made for discrete-source as well as plate source approximations of the repository geometry. Input values used in the simulations are consistent with a design-basis a real power density (APD) of 80 kW/acre as would be achieved assuming a 2010 emplacement start date, a levelized receipt schedule, and a limitation on available area as published in previous design studies. It …

A formalism for extracting coupled betatron parameters from multiturn, shock excited, beam position monitor data is described. The most important results are nonperturbative in that they do not rely on the underlying ideal lattice model. Except for damping, which is assumed to be exponential and small enough to be removed empirically, the description is symplectic. As well as simplifying the description, this leads to self-consistency checks that are applied to the data. The most important of these is a {open_quotes}magic ratio{close_quotes} of Fourier coefficients that is required to be a lattice invariant, the same at every beam position monitor. All formulas are applied to both real and simulated data. The real data was acquired June, 1992 at LEP as part of decoupling studies, using the LEP beam orbit measurement system. Simulated data, obtained by numerical tracking (TEAPOT) in the same (except for unknown errors) lattice, agrees well with real data when subjected to identical analysis. For both datasets, deviations between extracted and design parameters and deviations from self-consistency can be accounted for by noise and signal processing limitations. This investigation demonstrates that the LEP beam position system yields reliable local coupling measurements. It can be conservatively assumed that systems of …

As part of the Exploratory Studies Facility Alternatives Study (ESF-AS) the uncertain outcomes from site characterization were quantified using a probabilistic tree known as ``Nature`s Tree.`` Nature`s Tree distinguished the true characteristics of the Yucca Mountain site from the perceived characteristics deduced from testing. Bayesian probabilistic calculations converted probabilities in Nature`s Tree to the probabilistic estimates required for the comparative analysis of Exploratory Studies Facility-repository options. Experts on characterization testing explicitly addressed several site characterization issues that are considered implicitly in many site characterization programs.

As part of the performance-assessment task for the potential repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Sandia National Laboratories is developing a set of programs called the Total-System Analyzer (TSA). The TSA is one of the tools being used in the current effort to provide a systematic preliminary estimate the total-system performance of the Yucca Mountain site. The purposes of this paper are twofold: (1) to describe capabilities that have been added to the TSA in the last year; and (2) to present a comparison of two conceptual models of unsaturated-zone flow and transport, in terms of the performance measure specified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 40 CFR Part 191. The conceptual-model comparison is intended to demonstrate the new TSA capabilities and at the same time shed some light on the performance implications of fracture flow at Yucca Mountain. Unsaturated fracture flow is not yet well understood, and it is of great importance in determining the performance of Yucca Mountain.

Samples of devitrified welded tuff near and away from the site of a heater test in Rainier Mesa were examined with regard to whole-rock radioelement abundances, microscopic distribution of U, and oxygen isotope ratios. Wholerock U averages between 4 and 5 ppM, and U is concentrated at higher levels secondary opaque minerals as well as in accessory grains. U in primary and secondary sites is most commonly associated with Mn phases, which average {approximately}30 ppM U in more uraniferous occurrences. This average is consistent and apparently unaffected by proximity to the heater. The Mn phases differ compositionally from Mn minerals in other NTS tuffs, usually containing abundant Fe, Ti, and sometimes Ce, and are often poorly crystalline. Oxygen isotope ratios show some depletion in {delta}{sup 18}O in tuff samples very close to the heater; this depletion is consistent with isotopic exchange between the tuff and interstitial water, but it may also reflect original heterogeneity in isotopic ratios of the tuff unrelated to the heater test. Seismic properties of several tuff samples were measured. Significant differences correlating with distance from the heater occur in P- and S-wave amplitudes; these may be due to loss of bound water. Seismic velocities are nearly …

A set of detailed geostatistical simulations of porosity has been produced for a layered stratigraphic sequence of welded and nonwelded volcanic tuffs at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The simulations are produced using a composite. model of spatial continuity and they are highly conditioned to abundant drill hole (core) information. A set of derivative simulations of saturated hydraulic conductivity has been produced, in the absence of conditioning data, using a cross-variable relationship developed from similar data elsewhere. The detailed simulations reproduce both the major stratigraphic units and finer scale layering indicated by the drill hole data. These simulations have been scaled up several order of magnitude to represent block-scale effective hydrologic properties suitable for use in numerical modeling of groundwater flow and transport. The upscaling process involves the reformulation of a previously reported method that iteratively adapts an initial arbitrary grid to ``homogenize`` the detailed hydraulic properties contained within the adjusted cell limits and to minimize the size of cell in highly heterogeneous regions. Although the computation of the block-effective property involves simple numerical averaging, the blocks over which these averages are computed are relatively homogeneous, which reduces the numerical difficulties involved in averaging non-additive properties, such as permeability. The entire process …

A numerical approach for modeling unsaturated flow is developed for heterogeneous simulations of fractured tuff generated using a geostatistical method. Cross correlations of hydrologic properties and upscaling of moisture retention curves is discussed. The approach is demonstrated for a study of infiltration at Yucca Mountain.

A site at Yucca Mountain Nevada is currently being studied to assess its suitability as a potential host site for the nation`s first commercial high level waste repository. The DOE has proposed a new methodology for determining design-basis ground motions that uses both deterministic and probabilistic methods. The role of the deterministic approach is primary. It provides the level of detail needed by design engineers in the characterization of ground motions. The probabilistic approach provides a logical structured procedure for integrating the range of possible earthquakes that contribute to the ground motion hazard at the site. In addition, probabilistic methods will be used as needed to provide input for the assessment of long-term repository performance. This paper discusses the local tectonic environment, potential seismic sources and their associated displacements and ground motions. It also discusses the approach to assessing the design basis earthquake for the surface and underground facilities, as well as selected examples of the use of this type of information in design activities.

This paper presents a method of estimating the rock mass properties for the welded and nonwelded tuffs based on currently available information on intact rock and joint characteristics at the Yucca Mountain site. Variability of the expected ground conditions at the potential repository horizon (the TSw2 thermomechanical unit) and in the Calico Hills nonwelded tuffs is accommodated by defining five rock mass quality categories in each unit based upon assumed and observed distributions of the data.

For problems where media properties are measured at one scale and applied at another, scaling laws or models must be used in order to define effective properties at the scale of interest. The accuracy of such models will play a critical role in predicting flow and transport through the Yucca Mountain Test Site given the sensitivity of these calculations to the input property fields. Therefore, a research programhas been established to gain a fundamental understanding of how properties scale with the aim of developing and testing models that describe scaling behavior in a quantitative-manner. Scaling of constitutive rock properties is investigated through physical experimentation involving the collection of suites of gas permeability data measured over a range of discrete scales. Also, various physical characteristics of property heterogeneity and the means by which the heterogeneity is measured and described are systematically investigated to evaluate their influence on scaling behavior. This paper summarizes the approach that isbeing taken toward this goal and presents the results of a scoping study that was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed research.