Some conclusions from this report are: (1) A UO{sub 2}/Al dispersion target can be successfully dissolved in alkaline peroxide solutions; (2) after destruction of the peroxide recovery of the {sup 99}Mo would be nearly identical to existing processes using basic dissolution; (3) a low-enriched UO{sub 2}/Al dispersion targets could potentially be used for the production of {sup 99}Mo; and (4) punched cores from a UO{sub 2}/Al dispersion target will be irradiated to low-level burnup and effects of this LEU target on the recovery of {sup 99}Mo will be investigated. A commercial partner will be sought for full scale demonstrations.

Several authors have presented models for neutrino production from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) that allow for the possibility of AGN neutrinos outnumbering the atmospheric neutrino flux for energies in excess of 30 TeV. The authors present preliminary results from a search for high energy neutrinos from AGN using the underground Soudan 2 Detector.

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'This project fits well within the overall objectives established by the Environmental Management and Science Program to promote long-term basic research that will provide the tools for more effective and lower cost remediation efforts at DOE sites where hazardous and radioactive wastes or contamination zones are present. In order to develop the necessary remediation technology it has been recognized that a fundamental understanding of the various chemical and physical factors associated with waste treatment and contaminant transport must be established. Some of the specific topics include waste pretreatment, volume reduction, immobilization, separation methods, the interactions of actinides and heavy metals with surfaces in the presence of organic residues and co-contaminants, contaminant transport in the environment, and long-term storage site assessment. This project has direct and potential application in all these areas. The interaction and partitioning of contaminant metals and radionuclides between solution and solid- surface phases is a fundamental issue for waste treatment and predicting contaminant transport in the environment. Many factors are involved in the functional relationships describing chemical reactivity and physical distribution of chemical species. These include modification of chemical behavior by the suite of chemical co-contaminants in a system. Organic complexing agents are common components of waste …

A spectral and temperature investigation of fast-grown KDP crystals under high fluence, 355 nm laser irradiation is discussed. Pump-and-probe Raman spectroscopy indicate transient changes of the vibrational spectrum. Photothermal deflection experiments provide information on the temporal behavior of the temperature change. The presence of emission in the visible and NIR spectral regions is attributed to the presence of impurities and/or defects in the crystal.

The objective of this study is to study waterflood problems of the type found in Morrow sandstone. The major tasks undertaken are reservoir characterization and the development of a reservoir database; volumetric analysis to evaluate production performance; reservoir modeling; identification of operational problems; identification of unrecovered mobile oil and estimation of recovery factors; and identification of the most efficient and economical recovery process.

'Vitrification has been selected as a final waste form technology in the US for long-term storage of high-level radioactive wastes (HLW). However, a foreseeable problem during vitrification in some waste feed streams lies in the presence of elements (e.g., transition metals) in the HLW that may cause instabilities in the final glass product. The formation of spinel compounds, such as Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} and FeCrO{sub 4}, results in glass phase separation and reduces vitrifier lifetime, and durability of the final waste form. A superconducting open gradient magnetic separation (OGMS) system maybe suitable for the removal of the deleterious transition elements (e.g. Fe, Co, and Ni) and other elements (lanthanides) from vitrification feed streams due to their ferromagnetic or paramagnetic nature. The OGMS systems are designed to deflect and collect paramagnetic minerals as they interact with a magnetic field gradient. This system has the potential to reduce the volume of HLW for vitrification and ensure a stable product. In order to design efficient OGMS and High gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) processes, a fundamental understanding of the physical and chemical properties of the waste feed streams is required. Using HLW simulant and radioactive fly ash and sludge samples from the Savannah River …

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This project attempts to demonstrate the effectiveness of exploiting thin-layered, low-energy deposits at the distal margin of a prograding turbidite complex through the use of hydraulically fractured horizontal or high-angle wells. The combination of a horizontal or high-angle well and hydraulic fracturing will allow greater pay exposure than can be achieved with conventional vertical wells while maintaining vertical communication between thin interbedded layers and the wellbore. A high-angle well will be drilled in the fan-margin portion of a slope-basin clastic reservoir and will be completed with multiple hydraulic-fracture treatments. Geologic modeling, reservoir characterization, and fine-grid reservoir simulation will be used to select the well location and orientation. Design parameters for the hydraulic-fracture treatments will be determined, in part, by fracturing an existing test well. Fracture azimuth will be predicted by passive seismic monitoring of a fracture-stimulation treatment in the test well using logging tools in an offset well.

This is a multiyear experimental research program focused on improving relevant material properties of high-T{sub c} superconductors and on development of fabrication methods that can be transferred to industry for production of commercial conductors. The development of teaming relationships through agreements with industrial partners is a key element of this program. Recent work on strain tolerance of Bi-2223 tapes, AC downlink construction, fundamental studies of flux pinning, and application of coils from powder-in-tube tapes to particle detectors is discussed.

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'Carbon tetrachloride (CCl{sub 4}) has been used extensively within the Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons facilities. Rocky Flats was formerly the largest volume user of CCl{sub 4} in the US, with 5,000 gallons used there in 1977 alone. At the Hanford site, several hundred thousand gallons of CCl{sub 4} were discharged between 1955 and 1973 into underground cribs for storage. Levels of CCl{sub 4} in groundwater at highly contaminated sites at the Hanford. facility have exceeded the drinking water standard of 5 ppb by several orders of magnitude. High levels of CCl{sub 4} at these facilities represent a potential health hazard for workers conducting cleanup operations and for surrounding communities. The level of CCl{sub 4} cleanup required at these sites and associated costs are driven by current human health risk estimates which assume that CCl{sub 4} is a genotoxic carcinogen. The overall purpose of these studies is to improve the scientific basis for assessing the health risk associated with human exposure to CCl{sub 4}. Specifically, the authors will determine the toxicokinetics of inhaled and ingested CCl{sub 4} in F344/Crl rats, B6C3F1 mice, and Syrian hamsters. They will also evaluate species differences in the metabolism of CCl{sub 4} by rats, …

This map displays interpreted structural and stratigraphic relations among the Paleozoic and older rocks of the Nevada Test Site region beneath the Miocene volcanic rocks and younger alluvium in the Yucca Flat and northern Frenchman Flat basins. These interpretations are based on a comprehensive examination and review of data for more than 77 drillholes that penetrated part of the pre-Tertiary basement beneath these post-middle Miocene structural basins. Biostratigraphic data from conodont fossils were newly obtained for 31 of these holes, and a thorough review of all prior microfossil paleontologic data is incorporated in the analysis. Subsurface relationships are interpreted in light of a revised regional geologic framework synthesized from detailed geologic mapping in the ranges surrounding Yucca Flat, from comprehensive stratigraphic studies in the region, and from additional detailed field studies on and around the Nevada Test Site. All available data indicate the subsurface geology of Yucca Flat is considerably more complicated than previous interpretations have suggested. The western part of the basin, in particular, is underlain by relics of the eastward-vergent Belted Range thrust system that are folded back toward the west and thrust by local, west-vergent contractional structures of the CP thrust system. Field evidence from the ranges …

'A new concept for a chemical sensor that demonstrates three modes of selectivity (electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and selective partitioning) is being developed. The spectroelectrochemical sensor consists of an optically transparent electrode (OTE) coated with a selective film. Sensing is based on the change in optical signal of light passing through the OTE that accompanies an electrochemical reaction of the analyte at the electrode surface. Thus, for an analyte to be detected, it must partition into the selective coating, be electrolyzed at the potential applied to the electrode, and either the analyte or its electrolysis product must absorb light at the wavelength chosen. Selectivity for the analyte relative to other solution components is obtained by choice of coating material, electrolysis potential, and wavelength for optical monitoring. The purpose of this new sensor is to significantly broaden the applicability of sensors to real samples by improving selectivity. This high level of selectivity is to be achieved without any fragile biocomponent. The concept is to be demonstrated with a sensor for ferrocyanide.'

'The overall goal of the research program is to develop a better understanding of the physical and chemical factors and processes influencing fate and transport of immiscible and dissolved-phase dense solvents in groundwater in fractured, highly weathered clays and shales. These widespread materials are much different, physically and chemically, from granular soils or fractured low porosity rocks, which are the media used for most previous investigations of solvent behavior. The investigations are needed to provide a basic scientific framework for assessment of solvent transport and remediation in fractured clay-rich deposits. Specific experimental objectives include: (1) Determine the nature and distribution of porosity in these materials, and its influence on pressure-saturation behavior for immiscible solvents. This includes determining values for entry pressure, residual saturation, fracture aperture and matrix pore size distribution, as well as assessment of methodologies for measuring/characterizing these parameters. (2) Determine the influence of dissolution, sorption and diffusion into the matrix on long term disappearance of residual solvents in the fractured materials. (3) Assessment of the potential for natural attenuation of common solvents, especially TCE, in these deposits. This includes investigating the natural geochemistry and microbiology of the deposits, and assessing biologically-mediated degradation of solvents in the laboratory and …

The pressure dependence of the laminar burn rate of gun propellants plays a role in the design and behavior of high-performance guns. We have begun a program to investigate the effects of processing variables on the laminar burn rates, using our high-pressure strand burner to measure these rates at pressures exceeding 700 MPa. We have burned JA2 and M43 propellant samples, provided by Dr. Arpad Juhasz, ARL, from propellant lots previously used in round-robin tests. Our results at room temperature are in accord with other measurements. In addition, we present results measured for propellant that has been preheated to 50 C before burning. We used our thermochemical equilibrium code, CHEETAH, to help interpret the simultaneous pressure and temperature measurements taken during the testing, and show examples of its use. It has been modified to provide performance measures and equations of state for the products that are familiar to the gun-propellant community users of BLAKE.

'Phytoremediation, the use of plants for environmental cleanup of pollutants, including toxic metals, holds the potential to allow the economic restoration of heavy metal and radionuclide contaminated sites. A number of terrestrial plants are known to naturally accumulate high levels of metals in their shoots (1--2% dry weight), and these plants have been termed metal-hyperaccumulators. Clearly, the genetic traits that determine metal-hyperaccumulation offers the potential for the development of practical phytoremediation processes. The long-term objective is to rationally design and generate plants ideally suited for phytoremediation using this unique genetic material. Initially, the strategy will focus on isolating and characterizing the key genetic information needed for expression of the metal-hyperaccumulation phenotype. Recently, histidine has been shown to play a major role in Ni hyperaccumulation. Based on this information the authors propose to investigate, at the molecular level, the role of histidine biosynthesis in Ni hyperaccumuIation in Thlaspi goesingense, a Ni hyperaccumulator species.'

This work will examine three major areas in which CO{sub 2} flooding can be improved: fluid and matrix interactions, conformance control/sweep efficiency, and reservoir simulation for improved oil recovery. The first full quarter of this project has been completed. We began examining synergistic affects of mixed surfactant versus single surfactant systems to enhance the properties of foams used for improving oil recovery in CO{sub 2} floods. The purpose is to reduce the concentration of surfactants or finding less expensive surfactants. Also, we are examining the effect of oil saturation on the development of foam in CO{sub 2}-surfactant solution systems. CO{sub 2} flooding of low permeability, vugular, and fracture reservoirs are another major thrust of this project. Work conducted this quarter involved simulating gravity stable floods using large core samples; results showed excellent recovery in a low permeability vugular core.

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This paper discusses a search for nuclei containing two strange quarks performed at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The goals and approach of experiment E885 are reviewed. Preliminary missing mass spectra for a subset of the data are presented, showing sensitivity for {Xi} hypernuclei and H particle searches. Existence of an angular correlation between pions in the sequential decay of {Lambda}{Lambda} hypernuclei is suggested on theoretical grounds.