The World Solar Summit and proposed World Solar Program 1996-2005 address energy problems through increased use of renewable energy technologies. The World Solar Commission will host the World Solar Summit in Harare, Zimbabwe, on September 16 and 17, 1996, and it will direct the World Solar Program 1996-2005. At the Summit, the Commission is expected to adopt a World Plan ofAction and a number of Strategic Projects. The proposed World Plan of Action includes a selection of high-priority renewable energy projects at the national or regional level to be implemented between 1996 and 2005.

The carbonate fuel cell promises highly efficient, cost-effective, environmentally superior power generation from pipeline natural gas, coal gas, biogas, and other gaseous and liquid fuels. ERC has been engaged in the development of this unique technology since the late 1970s, primarily focusing on the development of the Direct Fuel Cell (DFC) technology [1-6] pioneered by ERC. The DFC design incorporates the unique internal reforming feature which allows utilization of a hydrocarbon fuel directly in the fuel cell without requiring any external reforming reactor and associated heat exchange equipment. This approach provides upgrading of waste heat to chemical energy; thereby, it contributing to higher overall efficiency for conversion of fuel energy to electricity with low levels of environmental emissions. Among the internal reforming options, ERC has selected the Indirect Internal Reforming (IIR) - Direct Internal Reforming (DIR) combination as its baseline design. ERC plans to offer commercial DFC power plants in various sizes, initially focusing on the MW-scale units. The plan is to offer standardized, packaged MW-scale DFC power plants operating on natural gas or other hydrocarbon-containing fuels for commercial sale by the end of the decade. These power plants, which can be shop-fabricated and sited near the user, are ideally …

Fuel Cell Engineering Corporation (FCE) is in the fourth year of a DOE Cooperative Agreement Program (private-sector cost-shared) aimed at the demonstration of ERC's direct carbonate fuel cell (DFC) technology at full scale. FCE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Research Corporation (ERC), which has been pursuing the development of the DFC for commercialization near the end of this decade. The DFC produces power directly from hydrocarbon fuels electrochemically, without the need for external reforming or intermediate mechanical conversion steps. As a result, the DFC has the potential to achieve very high efficiency with very low levels of environmental emissions. Modular DFC power plants, which can be shop-fabricated and sited near the user, are ideally suited for distributed generation, cogeneration, industrial, and defense applications. This project is an integral part of the ERC effort to commercialize the technology to serve these applications. Potential users of the commercial DFC power plant under development at ERC will require that the technology be demonstrated at or near the full scale of the commercial products. The objective of the Santa Clara Demonstration Project (SCDP) is to provide the first such demonstration of the technology. The approach ERC has taken in the commercialization of …

The rapid development and integration of the Internet into the mainstream of professional life provides the fuel cell industry with the opportunity to share new ideas with unprecedented capabilities. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC) has undertaken the task to maintain a Fuel Cell Forum on the Internet. Here, members can exchange ideas and information pertaining to fuel cell technologies. The purpose of this forum is to promote a better understanding of fuel cell concepts, terminology, processes, and issues relating to commercialization of fuel cell power technology. The Forum was developed by METC to provide those interested with fuel cell conference information for its current concept of exchanging ideas and information pertaining to fuel cells. Last August, the Forum expanded to an on-line and world-wide network. There are 250 members, and membership is growing at a rate of several new subscribers per week. The forum currently provides updated conference information and interactive information exchange. Forum membership is encouraged from utilities, industry, universities, and government. Because of the public nature of the internet, business sensitive, confidential, or proprietary information should not be placed on this system. The Forum is unmoderated; therefore, the views and opinions of …

The corrosion behavior of a borosilicate glass containing 20 mass 5 Na{sub 2}O was assessed using static dissolution tests. This glass (LD6-5412) is representative of high Na glasses that may be used to stabilize Hanford low-level radioactive waste. The normalized mass loss (NL) decreases as NL(Na) {approximately} NL(B) > NL(Si) in 20 and 40 C for tests conducted at glass surface area to leachant volume (S/V) ratio of 10 m{sup {minus}1}, and decreases as NL(Na) > NL(B) {approximately} NL(Si) in 90 C tests conducted at 10 m{sup {minus}1} and in all tests conducted at higher S/V. The difference in the corrosion behavior is probably caused by the influence of dissolved glass components in the leachates. The NL(Na) is greater than the NL(B) or NL(Si) in all the tests conducted. Results from long-term tests at 2,000 m{sup {minus}1} show that the preferential release of Na persists for longer than one year at all temperatures and indicate that Na is released from this glass by an ion exchange process.

There are important differences between the safety principles for nuclear weapons and for nuclear reactors. For example, a principal concern for nuclear weapons is to prevent electrical energy from reaching the nuclear package during accidents produced by crashes, fires, and other hazards, whereas the foremost concern for nuclear reactors is to maintain coolant around the core in the event of certain system failures. Not surprisingly, new methods have had to be developed to assess the risk from nuclear weapons. These include fault tree transformations that accommodate time dependencies, thermal and structural analysis techniques that are fast and unconditionally stable, and parameter sampling methods that incorporate intelligent searching. This paper provides an overview of the new methods for nuclear weapons and compares them with existing methods for nuclear reactors. It also presents a new intelligent searching process for identifying potential nuclear detonation vulnerabilities. The new searching technique runs very rapidly on a workstation and shows promise for providing an accurate assessment of potential vulnerabilities with far fewer physical response calculations than would be required using a standard Monte Carlo sampling procedure.

Typically, katabatic flows have been studied in their least complicated or idealized state. Further, these flows are generally regarded as having simple forcing and non-turbulent structure due to the strong atmospheric stability they are bedded within. Somewhat analogously, mountain waves and their effects have been mostly studied in their idealized state, i.e. for constant upstream flow and stability. Even in the numerous cases where these two atmospheric phenomena have been studied in their realistic state, seldom has their mutual interaction been considered. One exception that includes numerical modeling is Gross (1990). The express purpose of this work is to examine how each of these phenomena interact with each other in an evolving nocturnal atmosphere. This work is motivated by observations from the Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) Program which clearly indicate non-idealized behavior in katabatic flows. Although numerous idealized simulations were also completed, discussion here focuses on the most realistic simulations of the case night 3--4 September 1993. This night was dominated by clear skies and light near surface winds. A high pressure system to the southwest of Colorado caused northwesterly flow at {approximately} 7 m s{sup {minus}1} upstream of the Rockies with a Froude number of 0.45 overnight. …

Currently, states and low-level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal site operators have no method of independently verifying the radionuclide content of packaged LLW that arrive at disposal sites for disposal. At this time, disposal sites rely on LLW generator shipping manifests and accompanying records to insure that LLW received meets the waste acceptance criteria. An independent verification system would provide a method of checking generator LLW characterization methods and help ensure that LLW disposed of at disposal facilities meets requirements. The Mobile Low-Level Waste Verification System (MLLWVS) provides the equipment, software, and methods to enable the independent verification of LLW shipping records to insure that disposal site waste acceptance criteria are being met. The MLLWVS system was developed under a cost share subcontract between WMG, Inc., and Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies through the Department of Energy`s National Low-Level Waste Management Program at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL).

Idealized analytical investigations of katabatic slope flows have usually sought to simplify the analysis by either assuming a particular force balance amenable to analytical solution or using integral (or bulk) models. In each case, steady state conditions are evaluated, with occasional exception. Historically, the modeling of idealized katabatic flows has focused analysis of model time where steady state conditions have been achieved. To investigate the true dynamics of evolving undisturbed katabatic flow, the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) is used. As described in Pielke et al (1992) RAMS is a prognostic numerical model that contains the three-dimensional primitive equations in terrain-following, non- hydrostatic, compressible form. In addition to standard variables, RAMS was configured to output the various components of the governing equations with high temporal resolution. Each of the simulations used idealized 2000m high mountain topography of a given slope (1{degree}, 2.5{degrees},5{degrees}, or 10{degrees}) on either side of the peak. In the 3-d simulations this mountain becomes an infinite north-south ridge (cyclic boundary conditions in the N-S direction). Vertical grid spacing was set to 20m for the first 500m {delta}z increases to a maximum of 400 m over 72 grid points to 10.5 km. Horizontal grid spacing was 500 m …

The finite element code FEHMN, developed by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), is a three-dimensional finite element heat and mass transport simulator that can handle complex stratigraphy and nonlinear processes such as vadose zone flow, heat flow and solute transport. Scientists at LANL have been developing hydrologic flow and transport models of the Yucca Mountain site using FEHMN. Previous FEHMN simulations have used an equivalent Kd model to model solute transport. In this thesis, FEHMN is modified making it possible to simulate the transport of a species with a rigorous chemical model. Including the rigorous chemical equations into FEHMN simulations should provide for more representative transport models for highly reactive chemical species. A fully kinetic formulation is chosen for the FEHMN reactive transport model. Several methods are available to computationally implement a fully kinetic formulation. Different numerical algorithms are investigated in order to optimize computational efficiency and memory requirements of the reactive transport model. The best algorithm of those investigated is then incorporated into FEHMN. The algorithm chosen requires for the user to place strongly coupled species into groups which are then solved for simultaneously using FEHMN. The complete reactive transport model is verified over a wide variety …

The primary objective of this work is to use {sup 129}Xe NMR to characterize the microporous structure of coals. Another objective is to use this technique to describe the effect of controlled opening of the micropores in a microporous carbon by oxygen chemisorption/desorption. The primary goal of the NMR work is to measure the micropore sizes in coal; more broadly, it is to better tailor the {sup 129}Xe NMR method for use with coal, and to investigate other ways it may be used to describe pore structure in coal, with emphasis on determining whether micropores in coal are connected or isolated. During this quarter, we have: (i) investigated particle size effect on the chemical shift of xenon adsorbed in a set of size-graded vitrinites; (ii) tracked the progress of xenon adsorption via xenon NMR, including particle size effect on the adsorption process; (iii) completed a preliminary test for chemical shift anisotropy in coal; and (iv) examined a microporous carbon by {sup 129}Xe NMR after two cycles of oxygen chemisorption/desorption.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing for disposal operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in 1998. WIPP is a deep geological repository designed for the safe and efficient disposal of transuranic (TRU) wastes. The Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) for WIPP were initially developed by a DOE steering committee in 1980. Revision 5 reflects the latest negotiations and permit requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the State of New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The regulatory requirements are combined with the requirements derived from the WIPP safety analysis performed for disposal operations and the original criteria established for safe waste handling operations. The WIPP WAC provides a comprehensive overview of the requirements and basis for developing waste acceptance criteria to meet today`s rules and regulations for transportation and disposal of TRU wastes. The authors believe that it is a comprehensive criteria and a guidance manual for generator/storage sites who must characterize and certify TRU waste for disposal at WIPP. It also provides valuable insight to future projects that may develop their own waste acceptance criteria. The WIPP WAC presents the requirements from the following sources: 1) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) …

In January 1994, the US Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE EM) formally introduced its new approach to managing DOE`s environmental research and technology development activities. The goal of the new approach is to conduct research and development in critical areas of interest to DOE, utilizing the best talent in the Department and in the national science community. To facilitate this solutions-oriented approach, the Office of Science and Technology (EM-50, formerly the Office of Technology Development) formed five Focus AReas to stimulate the required basic research, development, and demonstration efforts to seek new, innovative cleanup methods. In February 1995, EM-50 selected the DOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC) to lead implementation of one of these Focus Areas: the Decontamination and Decommissioning (D & D) Focus Area.

The Cassini spacecraft is a deep space probe whose mission is to explore the planet Saturn and its moons. Since the spacecraft`s electrical requirements will be supplied by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), the spacecraft designers and mission planners must assure that potential accidents involving the spacecraft do not pose significant human risk. The Cassini risk analysis team is seeking to perform a quantitative uncertainty analysis as a part of the overall mission risk assessment program. This paper describes the uncertainty analysis methodology to be used for the Cassini mission and compares it to the methods that were originally developed for evaluation of commercial nuclear power reactors.

In November 1988, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued Generic Letter 88-20 requesting that all licensees perform an individual Plant Examination (IPE) to identify any plant-specific vulnerability to severe accidents and report the results to the Commission. This paper provides perspectives gained from reviewing 75 Individual Plant Examination (IPE) submittals covering 108 nuclear power plant units. Variability both within and among reactor types is examined to provide perspectives regarding plant-specific design and operational features, and modeling assumptions that play a significant role in the estimates of core damage frequencies in the IPEs.

Linear alkylbenzenes (phenylalkanes) represent an important class of molecular compounds used widely in today`s society as building blocks for detergent manufacture. Evidence is presented to support the proposition in that phenylalkanes in some Australian crude oils and sediments are of geochemical origin rather than resulting from contamination from byproducts of the petrochemical synthesis of surfactants. Evidence presented shows: (1) an unexposed sediment core was found to contain phenylalkanes; (2) the molecular weight range of phenylalkanes in sediments and crude oils is usually wider than that found in surfactants, extending in some cases beyond C{sub 35}; and (3) phenylalkanes were found in the neutral lipid extract of extant {ital Thermoplasma} bacteria. {ital Thermoplasma acidophilum} is an obligate acidiphilic (pH 2) and thermophilic (60{degrees}C), cell wall-less archaeobacterium originally isolated from self-heating coal refuse piles enriched in pyritic materials.

This report presents the results of laboratory tests conducted on soil core samples obtained prior to an instantaneous profile test conducted west of the Mixed Waste Landfill in Technical Area III. The instantaneous profile test was conducted to measure in situ hydrologic parameters controlling unsaturated flow and contaminant transport in the near - surface vadose zone. Soil core samples from the instantaneous profile test plot were tested in the Sandia National Laboratory`s Environmental Restoration Project Hydrology Laboratory to measure saturated hydraulic conductivity and the relationships between moisture content and soil water tension. Data from laboratory tests and the instantaneous profile field test were then modeled using the computer code RETC to quantify moisture content, soil water tension, and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity relationships. Results content, soil verified that a combination of laboratory and field data yielded a more complete definition of hydrologic properties than either laboratory or field data alone. Results also indicated that at native moisture contents, the potential for significant unsaturated aqueous flow is limited, while at saturated or near - saturated conditions, preferential flow may occur.

The overall mission of the Institute of Energy Conversion is the development of thin film photovoltaic cells, modules, and related manufacturing technology and the education of students and professionals in photovoltaic technology. The objectives of this four-year NREL subcontract are to advance the state of the art and the acceptance of thin film PV modules in the areas of improved technology for thin film deposition, device fabrication, and material and device characterization and modeling, relating to solar cells based on CuInSe{sub 2} and its alloys, on a-Si and its alloys, and on CdTe. In the area of CuInSe{sub 2} and its alloys, EEC researchers have produced CuIn{sub 1-x}GaxSe{sub 2} films by selenization of elemental and alloyed films with H{sub 2}Se and Se vapor and by a wide variety of process variations employing co-evaporation of the elements. Careful design, execution and analysis of these experiments has led to an improved understanding of the reaction chemistry involved, including estimations of the reaction rate constants. Investigation of device fabrication has also included studies of the processing of the Mo, US and ZnO deposition parameters and their influence on device properties. An indication of the success of these procedures was the fabrication of a …

This paper describes an evolutionary development process that will lead to spent fuel measurements that directly measure fissile reactivity. First, the Fork measurement system has been used to verify the burnup of pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent-fuel assemblies at U.S. nuclear utilities. Fork measurements have demonstrated the utility of the passive Fork system to verify reactor records with a single 100-second measurement on each assembly. Second, an Advanced Fork system incorporating collimated gamma-ray spectroscopy has been designed to permit advanced calibration techniques that are independent of reactor burnup records and to allow rapid axial scanning of spent fuel assemblies. Third, an Active Fork system incorporating a neutron source to interrogate spent fuel is proposed to provide the capability to measure fissile reactivity, when compared to measurements on fresh fuel assemblies of the same design. The Advanced and Active Fork systems have wide applicability to spent fuel verification for PWR, boiling water reactor (BWR), and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) spent fuel.

As part of project for characterizing Yucca Mt. as a potential site for high-level nuclear waste respository, we used UFA {trademark} technology (centifuge-induced flow) to directly measure selenite retardation coefficients and hydraulic conductivity under unsaturated conditions on two tuff samples from Yucca Mt. Retardation factor for the selenite species was 2.5 in both Yucca Mt. vitric tuff at 62.6% saturation and zeolitic nonwelded tuff from G-tunnel at 52.8% saturation. For these column experiments, we prepared a solution, using J-13 well water from NTS, with a Se conc. of 1.31 mg/L(ppM). The retardation factor of 2.5 measured for both tuffs translates into a sorption distribution coefficient K{sub d} of 0.9 mL/g for the vitric tuff and 0.8 mL/g for the zeolitic tuff. For batch sorption experiments, using the same zeolitic tuff as for the column experiments and solutions of J-13 well water with a Se conc. of 1.1 mg/L(ppM), the average K{sub d} was determined to be 0.1{+-}0.2 mL/g. Given the small K{sub d} values for Se sorption, general agreement between batch and column measurements (obtained under unsaturated conditions) was observed. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities during the experiments were 2.5x10{sup -8} cm/s for the Yucca Mt. vitric tuff and 1.2x10{sup -8} cm/s …

This paper describes a groundwater modeling study of waste disposal concepts using grouted waste forms. The focus of the study is on the effects of clay caps and concrete vaults on contaminant migration. The authors modeled three waste disposal scenarios: (1) Grouted waste was solidified in an earthen trench and covered with soil, there was no vault and no cap; (2) grouted waste was solidified in an earthen trench, the entire waste disposal facility was then closed under a clay cap; (3) grouted waste was solidified in a concrete vault and protected by the same closure as in 2. Because of the huge contrast in hydraulic conductivities and highly non-linear multi-phase flow characteristics, these waste disposal concepts presented a difficult problem for numerical simulation. Advanced fluid flow and contaminant transport codes were used to solve the problem. Among the codes tested, ECLIPSE out-performed other codes in speed, accuracy (smaller material balance errors) and capability in handling sophisticated scenarios. The authors used nitrate as a tracer for the simulation. Nitrate does not absorb in the solid phase and does not decay. As a result, predicted release rate based on nitrate is conservative. They also assumed that the facility is intact for …

The Explosive Components Facility (ECF) is a major, low-hazard, non-nuclear, research and development facility of the Sandia National Laboratories/Albuquerque (SNL). Sandia Corporation, a subsidiary of Lockheed-Martin, operates this designated User Facility for the Department of Energy (DOE). The ECF consolidates many SNL energetic-materials activities and provides a unique combination of explosive-technologies, neutronic-components, batteries, and weapons-evaluation capabilities. This paper describes the project objectives, the basic building features, programmatic capabilities, and the processes used to beneficially occupy and assess readiness to operate.

Task 1 on charge determinations has been completed with additional measurements taken at the TVA Widows Creek plant. The probe which was designed and constructed for the field charge measurements proved to be effective in determining the average charge of pulverized coal particles. The charge measurements conducted at EKP`s Spurlock Station power plant and TVA`s Widows Creek plant have both yielded results which are in the same order of magnitude as those determined in controlled laboratory experiments. Under Task 3, coal separation determinations, separation tests performed on-site, combined with the charge measurements, showed that the charge generated by coal pulverization was sufficient for electrostatic separation of coal from mineral matter. These tests were conducted using a separation probe with different electric field strengths, i.e., different voltages were used across the two copper plates to generate the electric field. The results under four conditions were consistent and similar in terms of separation.

The MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System (MACCS), publicly distributed since 1987, was developed to estimate the potential impacts to the surrounding public of severe accidents at nuclear power plants. The principal phenomena considered in MACCS are atmospheric transport and deposition under time-variant meteorology, short-term and long-term mitigative actions and exposure pathways, deterministic and stochastic health effects, and economic costs of mitigative actions. At this time, no other publicly available code in the US offers all these capabilities. MACCS2 represents a major enhancement of the capabilities of its predecessor MACCS. MACCS2 was developed as a general-purpose analytical tool applicable to diverse reactor and nonreactor Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. The MACCS2 package includes three primary enhancements: (1) a more flexible emergency response model, (2) an expanded library of radionuclides, and (3) a semidynamic food-chain model. The new code features allow detailed evaluations of risks to workers at nearby facilities on large DOE reservations and allow the user to assess the potential impacts of over 700 radionuclides that cannot be considered with MACCS.