Certain safety-related core internal structural components of light water reactors, usually fabricated from Type 304 or 316 austenitic stainless steels (SSs), accumulate very high levels of irradiation damage (20--100 displacement per atom or dpa) by the end of life. The data bases and mechanistic understanding of, the degradation of such highly irradiated components, however, are not well established. A key question is the nature of irradiation-assisted intergranular cracking at very high dose, i.e., is it purely mechanical failure or is it stress-commotion cracking? In this work, hot-cell tests and microstructural characterization were performed on Type 304 SS from the hexagonal fuel can of the decommissioned EBR-11 reactor after irradiation to {approximately}50 dpa at {approximately}370 C. Slow-strain-rate tensile tests were conducted at 289 C in air and in water at several levels of electrochemical potential (ECP), and microstructural characteristics were analyzed by scanning and transmission electron microcopies. The material deformed significantly by twinning and exhibited surprisingly high ductility in air, but was susceptible to severe intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) at high ECP. Low levels of dissolved O and ECP were effective in suppressing the susceptibility of the heavily irradiated material to IGSCC, indicating that the stress corrosion process associated with …

This report discusses the effects of age and sex on the retention and excretion of {sup 137}Cs in the body in a cross section of the general population over a four-year period.

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Two different parameters for the quantitative description of beam halo are introduced, both based on moments of the particle distribution. One parameter is a measure of spatial halo formation and has been defined previously by Wangler and Crandall [3], termed the profile parameter. The second parameter relies on kinematic invariants to quantify halo formation in phase space; we call it the halo parameter. The profile parameter can be computed from experimental beam profile data. The halo parameter provides a theoretically more complete description of halo in phase space, but is difficult to obtain experimentally.

Helium-cooled reactor technologies offer significant advantages in accomplishing the waste transmutation process. They are ideally suited for use with thermal, epithermal, or fast neutron energy spectra. They can provide a relatively hard thermal neutron spectrum for transmutation of fissionable materials such as Pu-239 using ceramic-coated transmutation fuel particles, a graphite moderator, and a non-fertile burnable poison. These features (1) allow deep levels of transmutation with minimal or no intermediate reprocessing, (2) enhance passive decay heat removal via heat conduction and radiation, (3) allow operation at relatively high temperatures for a highly efficient generation of electricity, and (4) discharge the transmuted waste in a form that is highly resistant to corrosion for long times. They also offer the possibility for the use of epithermal neutrons that can interact with transmutable materials more effectively because of the large atomic cross sections in this energy domain. A fast spectrum may be useful for deep burnup of certain minor actinides. For this application, helium is essentially transparent to neutrons, does not degrade neutron energies, and offers the hardest possible neutron energy environment. In this paper, we report results from recent work on materials transmutation balances, safety, value to a geological repository, and economic considerations.

In passenger vehicles the ability to absorb energy due to impact and be survivable for the occupant is called the ''crashworthiness'' of the structure. To identify and quantify the energy absorbing mechanisms in candidate automotive composite materials, test methodologies were developed for conducting progressive crush tests on composite plate specimens. The test method development and experimental set-up focused on isolating the damage modes associated with the frond formation that occurs in dynamic testing of composite tubes. Quasi-static progressive crush tests were performed on composite plates manufactured from chopped carbon fiber with an epoxy resin system using compression molding techniques. The carbon fiber was Toray T700 and the epoxy resin was YLA RS-35. The effect of various material and test parameters on energy absorption was evaluated by varying the following parameters during testing: fiber volume fraction, fiber length, fiber tow size, specimen width, profile radius, and profile constraint condition. It was demonstrated during testing that the use of a roller constraint directed the crushing process and the load deflection curves were similar to progressive crushing of tubes. Of all the parameters evaluated, the fiber length appeared to be the most critical material parameter, with shorter fibers having a higher specific energy …

Improvements to the DUST-MS computer code have been made that permit simulation of distributed container failure rates. The new models permit instant failure of all containers within a computational volume, uniform failure of these containers over time, or a normal distribution in container failures. Incorporation of a distributed failure model requires wasteform releases to be calculated using a convolution integral. In addition, the models permit a unique time of emplacement for each modeled container and allow a fraction of the containers to fail at emplacement. Implementation of these models, verification testing, and an example problem comparing releases from a wasteform with a two-species decay chain as a function of failure distribution are presented in the paper.

Successful application of metal matrix composites often requires strength and lifetime predictions that account for the deformation of each constituent. However, the deformation of individual phases in composites usually differs significantly from their respective monolithic behaviors. For instance, generally little is known about the in-situ deformation of the metal matrix and fiber/matrix interface region, other than that it likely differs from the bulk material response. This article describes an approach to quantifying the in-situ deformation parameters using neutron diffraction measurements of matrix failure around a fiber fracture in a model composite consisting of an Al matrix and a single Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} fiber. We also study the shear sliding resistance as it evolves through fiber fracture upon loading and unloading. Matching the stress/strain distributions predicted from micromechanical models to the measured strain distributions determined by neutron diffraction under applied tensile loading results in an estimate of the typically non-linear, stress-strain behavior of the metal matrix.

Lithium is used frequently as a surrogate for cationic radionuclides such as NpO{sub 2}{sup +} in field and laboratory settings. Current plans include the use of Li{sup +} as a reactive tracer in field tracer testing in the saturated alluvium south of Yucca Mountain, NV, site of a potential high-level nuclear waste. Characterization of the alluvial material for grain size, mineralogy, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and surface area yields data that is compared with lithium batch sorption as a first step in inferring radionuclide transport behavior. This research will be used to help assess performance of the potential repository.

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We report on several irradiation studies performed on BTeV preFPIX2 pixel readout chip prototypes exposed to a 200 MeV proton beam at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility. The preFPIX2 pixel readout chip has been implemented in standard 0.25 micron CMOS technology following radiation tolerant design rules. The tests confirmed the radiation tolerance of the chip design to proton total dose of 26 MRad. In addition, non destructive radiation-induced single event upsets have been observed in on-chip static registers and the single bit upset cross section has been measured.

The Department of Energy Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles has shown that, by lowering overall weight, the use of carbon fiber composites could dramatically decrease domestic vehicle fuel consumption. For the automotive industry to benefit from carbon fiber technology, fiber production will need to be substantially increased and fiber price decreased to $7/kg. To achieve this cost objective, alternate precursors to pitch and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) are being investigated as possible carbon fiber feedstocks. Additionally, sufficient fiber to provide 10 to 100 kg for each of the 13 million cars and light trucks produced annually in the U.S. will require an increase of 5 to 50-fold in worldwide carbon fiber production. High-volume, renewable or recycled materials, including lignin, cellulosic fibers, routinely recycled petrochemical fibers, and blends of these components, appear attractive because the cost of these materials is inherently both low and insensitive to changes in petroleum price. Current studies have shown that a number of recycled and renewable polymers can be incorporated into melt-spun fibers attractive as carbon fiber feedstocks. Highly extrudable lignin blends have attractive yields and can be readily carbonized and graphitized. Examination of the physical structure and properties of carbonized and graphitized fibers indicates the …

We present time-resolved synchrotron x-ray diffraction from the swelling clay Na fluorohectorite during controlled hydration and dehydration. A comparison of bulk and surface scattering reveals that the time dependence of basal Bragg peak positions and intensities has two components, which come into play at distinct temperatures. Intercalation of water into the crystal structure commences at a temperature of about 60 C on a time scale on the order of 1 hour. By contrast, percolation of water into the porous medium has a characteristic time constant of 3-4 h. This is the rate limiting process for hydration of the interior of the clay for T > 40 C. We suggest that the temperature-dependent percolation step may account for some of the hysteresis reported in earlier diffraction studies of the hydration of similar systems.

The 2GHz Schottky system was a powerful diagnostic during RHIC 2000 commissioning. A continuous monitor without beam excitation, it provided betatron tune, chromaticity, momentum spread relative emittance, and synchrotron tune. It was particularly useful during transition studies. In addition, a BPM was resonated at 230MHz for Schottky measurements.

Beam-induced radiation effects have been simulated for 20 and 50 GeV muon storage rings designed for a Neutrino Factory. It is shown that by appropriately shielding the superconducting magnets, quench stability, acceptable dynamic heat loads, and low residual dose rates can be achieved. Alternatively, if a specially-designed skew focusing magnet without superconducting coils on the magnet's mid-plane is used, then the energy is deposited preferentially in the warm iron yoke or outer cryostat layers and internal shielding may not be required. In addition to the component irradiation analysis, shielding studies have been performed. Calculations of the external radiation were done for both designs but the internal energy deposition calculations for the 20 GeV Study-2 lattice are still in progress.

The versatile dot matrix printer of the DECwriter II was modified to enable printing of symbol characters., e.g., Greek letters and other symbol for mathematical expressions and units of measurement. This development involved the replacement of the read-only memory (ROM) units with erasable-programmable read-only memory (EPROM) units.

The detection capabilities of the new U-232/Th-228 source are comparable to those of the Na-24 source. The main benefit in using the new source is the ease of operation. Elimination of the neutron activation step required for Na-24 sources saves about 24 hours in planning, scheduling, and executing. With the new U-232/Th-228 source, the monitor can be put in operation in less than 15 minutes. The long half-life of the U-232/Th-228 source also eliminates the need to record calibration and measurement times, as required for decay corrections when using a Na-24 source.

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Much of the theoretical understanding concerning the structure and essential properties of the slow-mode shock has been obtained from extensive hybrid calculations in which a full kinetic description is retained for the ions while the electrons are approximated as a massless adiabatic fluid. Due to the relatively broad spatial and relatively slow temporal scales of the slow shock, one would expect this approximation to be well justified. However, implicit simulations with kinetic electrons have produced significant differences in comparison to standard hybrid results. In this work, we re-examine the importance of electron dynamics to the slow shock using one-dimensional fully kinetic simulations. We employ a simple explicit simulation technique and fully resolve all relevant spatial and temporal electron scales. The resulting shock structure and ion heating are in excellent agreement with hybrid simulations, indicating the total dissipation arising from kinetic electrons is relatively minor. However, the electron heating is somewhat larger than the corresponding hybrid simulation and clear non-Maxwellian features are observed. In the upstream region, back streaming electrons give rise to double peaked distributions while in the downstream region bi-Maxwellian distributions are observed with T{sub e{parallel}} > T{sub e{perpendicular}}.

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A report on the challenges confronting the Fermilab Linac and Booster accelerators is presented. Plans to face those challenges are discussed. Historically, the Linac/Booster system has served only as an injector for the relatively low repetition rate Main Ring synchrotron. With construction of an 8 GeV target station for the 5 Hz MiniBooNE neutrino beam and requirements for rapid multi-batch injection into the Main Injector for the NUMI/MINOS experiment, the demand for 8 GeV protons will increase more than an order of magnitude above recent high levels. To meet this challenge, enhanced ion source performance, better Booster orbit control, a beam loss collimation/localization system, and improved diagnostics are among the items being pursued. Booster beam loss reduction and control are key to the entire near future Fermilab high energy physics program.

Prior laboratory corrosion studies along with experience at the black liquor gasifier in New Bern, North Carolina, clearly demonstrate that serious material problems exist with the gasifier's refractory lining. Mullite-based and alumina-based refractories used at the New Bern facility suffered significant degradation even though they reportedly performed adequately in smaller scale systems. Oak Ridge National Laboratory's involvement in the failure analysis, and the initial exploration of suitable replacement materials, led to the realization that a simple and reliable, complementary method for refractory screening was needed. The development of a laboratory test system and its suitability for simulating the environment of black liquor gasifiers was undertaken. Identification and characterization of corrosion products were used to evaluate the test system as a rapid screening tool for refractory performance and as a predictor of refractory lifetime. Results from the test systems and pl ants were qualitatively similar.

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