During the 1950s, ferrocyanide was used to scavenge radiocesium from aqueous nitrate-containing Hanford wastes. During the production of defense materials and while these wastes were stored in high-level waste tanks at the Hanford Site, some of these wastes were likely mixed with other waste constituents and materials. Recently, Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) was commissioned by Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) to investigate the chemical reactivity of these ferrocyanide-bearing wastes. Because of known or potential thermal reactivity hazards associated with ferrocyanide- and nitrate-bearing wastes, and because of the potential for different materials to act as catalysts or initiators of the reactions about which there is concern, we at PNL have begun investigating the effects of the other potential waste constituents. This report presents the results of a preliminary screening study to identify classes of materials that might be in the Hanford high-level waste tanks and that could accelerate or reduce the starting temperature of the reaction(s) of concern. We plan to use the resulted of this study to determine which materials or class of materials merit additional research.

The objective of this program is to identify the chemical principles governing the deactivation of precipitated iron catalysts during Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and to use these chemical principles in the design of catalysts suitable for slurry reactors. The performance targets are 88% CO+H{sub 2} conversion with less than 1% deactivation/day for 1 month and a methane and ethane selectivity of no more than 7% (based on hydrocarbons and oxygenates only) at a space velocity of at least 2 normal liters per hr per gram iron (NL/hr/gFe) using a synthesis gas with 0.5-1.0 H{sub 2}:CO ratio in a slurry reactor.

This report concerns progress made during the 1990--1991 fiscal year. Information is given an the following projects: (1) A Study of End Effects in Displacement Experiments; (2) Kinetics of In-Situ Combustion; (3) In-Situ Combustion with Metallic Additives; (4) Steam-Foam Studies in the Presence of Residual Oil; (5) Characterization of Surfactants in the Presence of Oil for Steam-Foam Applications; (6) CT Imaging of Steam and Steam Foam Laboratory Experiments; (7) Microvisualization of Foam Flow in Porous Media; (8) Transient Foam Flow in Porous Media with Cat Scanner; (9) Study of Matrix/Fracture Transfer During Steam Injections; (10) Transient Behavior of Gravity Drainage Wells; (11) Multivariate Optimization of Production Systems; (12) Ultrasonic Flowmeter. (VC)

An earlier study at Oak Ridge calculated radiation doses to persons inside reinforced concrete buildings during the exposure at Nagasaki. The DS86'' study conducted at several laboratories in the United States and Japan concentrated on persons inside wood-frame dwellings at both Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The present study is directed toward applying the general technical approach of the DS86. Numerous simplifications were indicated as a result of the earlier research, and the numerical results are represented as transmission factors'' relating radiation outside the dwellings to doses received by individuals within. An advantage of this method is that the transmission factors can be presented in tables that can be reviewed, inspected, and applied in a very tangible and straightforward manner.

The Earth Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) is conducting a reservoir evaluation study of the Ahuachapan geothermal field in El Salvador. This work is being performed in cooperation with the Comision Ejecutiva Hidroelectrica del Rio Lempa (CEL) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) with funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). This appendix to the report describes the work done during the second year of the study (FY89--90). The first year's report included (1) the development of geological and conceptual models of the field, (2) the evaluation of the reservoir's initial thermodynamic and chemical conditions and their changes during exploitation, (3) the evaluation of interference test data and the observed reservoir pressure decline and (4) the development of a natural state model for the field. In these appendices the results of reservoir engineering studies to evaluate different production-injection scenarios for the Ahuachapan geothermal field are discussed. The purpose of the work was to evaluate possible reservoir management options to enhance as well as to maintain the productivity of the field during a 30-year period (1990--2020). The ultimate objective was to determine the feasibility of increasing the electrical power output at Ahuachapan from the current level …

Electric utilities face a variety of uncertainties that complicate their long-term resource planning and acquisition. These uncertainties include future economic and load growths, fuel prices, environmental regulations, economic regulations, performance and construction cost of existing power plants, cost and availability of purchased power, and the costs and performance of new demand and supply resources. As utilities increasingly turn to demand-side management (DSM) programs to provide energy and capacity resources, it becomes more important to analyze the interactions between these programs and the uncertainties facing utilities. This report uses a new planning model (DIAMOND, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory) to explore quantitatively the uncertainty implications of supply-only vs DSM + supply resource portfolios. The analysis focuses on risks to society, with only limited attention to the allocation of risks among customers, shareholders, and others. Four sets of uncertainties are considered in these analyses: economic growth, fuel prices, the costs to build new power plants, and the costs to operate DSM programs. These four types of uncertainties serve as proxies for the many others that face utilities, including delays in completing power plants (proxied by cost of completing plants) and the energy and load reductions caused by DSM programs (proxied by …

Bioremediation technology is being evaluated for use on the Kwajalein Atoll, which is located in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The study was undertaken by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on behalf of the US Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA). During February of 1991, a team from ORNL and The University of Tennessee (UT) visited the USAKA. In addition to making on-site observations regarding microbial abundance and distribution of petroleum contaminants, they brought back to Oak Ridge various soil and water samples for detailed analyses. This report documents the biological studies of these samples and presents observations made during the period from February to April of 1991 by investigators at ORNL, UT, and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

This research strives to assess the impact of changing land use, nitrate deposition and CO{sub 2} fertilization on soil carbon storage. Our motivation is that this reservoir is the most likely candidate for the so-called missing carbon sink. We are working on several aspects of this problem by measuring carbon content, nitrogen content and radiocarbon ratios in paired soil samples from neighboring sites, to determine the impact of land use on soil carbon inventories and turnover times. We are also gathering information on how the C/N ratios in soils vary with climate and changing land use, in an effort to estimate how much carbon has been sequestered as a result of atmospheric fallout of NH{sub 4}OH and HNO{sub 3}. Finally, we are developing a soil greening model that uses CO{sub 2} growth-enhancement results and bomb radiocarbon-based estimates of soil carbon inventory response times.

Management (EM) to evaluate factors that are anticipated to affect waste glass reaction during repository disposal, especially in an unsaturated environment typical of what may be expected for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository site.

This document reports on the work done by the Nuclear Waste Programs of the Chemical Technology Division (CMT), Argonne National Laboratory, in the period April-September 1992. In these programs, studies are underway on the performance of waste glass and spent fuel in projected nuclear repository conditions to provide input to the licensing of the nation's high-level waste repositories.

The results of the environmental surveillance program conducted at Site A/Plot M in the Palos Forest Preserve area for 1994 are presented. The surveillance program is the ongoing remedial action that resulted from the 1976-1978 radiological characterization of the site. That study determined that very low levels of hydrogen-3 (as tritiated water) had migrated from the burial ground and were present in two nearby hand-pumped picnic wells. The current program consists of sample collection and analysis of air, surface and subsurface water, and bottom sediment.

The reaction between tuffaceous groundwater and actinide-doped SRL 165 and PNL 76-68 type glasses in a gamma radiation field has been studied at 90 degrees C for periods up to 278 days. The primary effect of the radiation field was the acidification of the leachate through the production of nitrogen acids. Acidification of the leachate was limited by bicarbonate in the groundwater, for all exposures tested. Nonirradiated experiments were performed to represent the lowest limit of radiation exposure. Both irradiated and nonirradiated experiments were performed with and without a tuff monolith present in the reaction vessel. Neither irradiation nor the presence of tuff had a major effect on the extent of glass reaction as measured by the leachate concentrations of various glass species or analysis of the reacted glass surfaces. This report discusses the results of leaching experiments performed in a gamma radiation field and in the absence of a radiation field.

Two-phase flow patterns and frictional pressure gradients in flow in small, rectangular channels are being studies as part of a larger research program addressing phase-change heat transfer of pure refrigerants and refrigerant mixtures in plate-fin heat exchangers. Small rectangular flow channels were selected as representative of plain fin geometries. The particular channel reported herein has dimensions of 19.05 {times} 3.18 mm. Adiabatic flows of air/water mixtures, with the flow channel horizontal and the channel exit at near-atmospheric conditions, were utilized in the experiments. Analysis and interpretation of the pressure data relative to observed flow pattern transitions led to an objective method for determining the plug/bubble-to-slug flow transition. This method, together with visual observations, supplemented with photographic data, was used to develop a flow pattern man. A comparison of existing flow pattern maps for circular pipes, capillary tubes, and larger rectangular channels led to the conclusion that, while qualitative agreement exists, these maps are not generally applicable on a quantitative basis to the subject small rectangular channel. Two state-of-the-art correlations for frictional pressure gradient were evaluated, with particular emphasis on the practically important ranges of total mass quality and mass flux, from the standpoint of plate-fin heat exchangers designed as evaporators. …

Highlights of the Chemical Technology Division's activities during 1990, including electrochemical technology and advanced batteries and fuel cells, technology for coal-fired magnetohydrodynamics and fluidized-bed combustion, methods for recovery of energy from municipal waste, and techniques for treatment of hazardous organic waste, the reaction of nuclear waste glass and spent fuel under conditions expected for a high-level waste repository.

This report reviews the activities and operations of the Advanced Computing Research Facility (ACRF) from February 1990 through April 1991. The ACRF is operated by the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory. The facility's principal objective is to foster research in parallel computing. Toward this objective, the ACRF operates experimental advanced computers, supports investigations in parallel computing, and sponsors technology transfer efforts to industry and academia.

The COMMIX-M computer code, which describes steady-state and transient single- and multi-component flows in engineering systems, has been implemented to simulate suspension flows in laminar regimes and turbulent and bubbly particulate flows. This report presents a synopsis of the present code's capabilities, with particular emphasis on the recent development of turbulence models, and explains in detail the modifications necessary to simulate particulate flows and bubbly flows. First results of computations of turbulent bubbly and particulate flows are then given and compared with results of computations reported in the literature and with preliminary experimental results obtained at the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Germany).

This report discusses the results of the environmental protection program at Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL) for 1991. To evaluate the effects of ANL operations on the environment, samples of environmental media collected on the site, at the site boundary, and off the ANL site were analyzed and compared to applicable guidelines and standards. A variety of radionuclides was measured in air, surface water, groundwater, soil, grass, and bottom sediment samples.

This report discusses the results of the environmental protection program at Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL) for 1992. To evaluate the effects of ANL operations .on the environment, samples of environmental media collected on the site, at the site boundary, and off the ANL site were analyzed and compared to applicable guidelines and standards. A variety of radionuclides was measured in air, surface water, groundwater, soil, grass, and bottom sediment samples.

This annual report on the ANL environmental protection program provides the DOE, environmental agencies, and the public with information on the levels of radioactive and chemical pollutants in the vicinity of ANL and on the amounts, if any, added to the environment by ANL operations. It also summarizes compliance of ANL operations with applicable environmental laws and regulations and highlights significant accomplishments and problems related to environmental protection. The report follows the guidelines given in DOE Order 5400.1.

This report discusses the results of the environmental protection program at Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL) for 1994. To evaluate the effects of ANL operations on the environment, samples of environmental media collected on the site, at the site boundary, and off the ANL site were analyzed and compared to applicable guidelines and standards. A variety of radionuclides was measured in air, surface water, groundwater, soil, grass, and bottom sediment samples. In addition, chemical constituents in surface water, groundwater, and ANL effluent water were analyzed.

In this dissertation the author reports on his efforts to develop a parallel genetic algorithm and apply it to the solution of set partitioning problem -- a difficult combinatorial optimization problem used by many airlines as a mathematical model for flight crew scheduling. He developed a distributed steady-state genetic algorithm in conjunction with a specialized local search heuristic for solving the set partitioning problem. The genetic algorithm is based on an island model where multiple independent subpopulations each run a steady-state genetic algorithm on their subpopulation and occasionally fit strings migrate between the subpopulations. Tests on forty real-world set partitioning problems were carried out on up to 128 nodes of an IBM SP1 parallel computer. The authors found that performance, as measured by the quality of the solution found and the iteration on which it was found, improved as additional subpopulation found and the iteration on which it was found, improved as additional subpopulations were added to the computation. With larger numbers of subpopulations the genetic algorithm was regularly able to find the optimal solution to problems having up to a few thousand integer variables. In two cases, high-quality integer feasible solutions were found for problems with 36,699 and 43,749 …

Interim report describing progress to develop glassy slag waste forms that support environmental restoration efforts.

Between 1953 and 1970, studies on the long-term effects of external x-ray and {gamma} irradiation on inbred and hybrid mouse stocks were carried out at the Biological and Medical Research Division, Argonne National Laboratory. The results of these studies, plus the mating, litter, and pre-experimental stock records, were routinely coded on IBM cards for statistical analysis and record maintenance.

The DOE is building a new generation 6-7 GeV Synchrotron Radiation Source known as the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory. This facility, to be completed in FY 1996, can provide 70 x-ray sources of unprecedented brightness to meet the research needs of virtually all scientific disciplines and numerous technologies. The technological research capability of the APS in the areas of energy, communications and health will enable a new partnership between the DOE and US industry. Current funding for the APS will complete the current phase of construction so that scientists can begin their applications in FY 1996. Comprehensive utilization of the unique properties of APS beams will enable cutting-edge research not currently possible. It is now appropriate to plan to construct additional radiation sources and beamline standard components to meet the excess demands of the APS users. In this APS Beamline Initiative, 2.5-m-long insertion-device x-ray sources will be built on four straight sections of the APS storage ring, and an additional four bending-magnet sources will also be put in use. The front ends for these eight x-ray sources will be built to contain and safeguard access to these bright x-ray beams. In addition, funds will be provided …