A method for determining the pressure versus internal energy coordinates of the liquid-vapor saturation curve is applied to the study of UO/sub 2/. The experimental details and results of an initial series of tests are described. A comparison of the measurement results to models of the UO/sub 2/ equation of state illustrates the role of the heat capacity in describing the P--E characteristics of the state surface. A discussion of the available heat capacity information suggests that additional modeling and measurements of the heat capacity may be needed to give a complete temperature and energy dependent state surface description. Because of these modeling uncertainties, a method of thermodynamically describing the P(V, E) state surface entirely through the use of dynamic vapor measurements is given. Such a model satisfies transient thermomechanical analysis requirements. Next the effect of the state surface on one type of core disruptive reactor analysis is examined. And finally, the property determinations and models for UO/sub 2/ are reviewed with requirements for future work being outlined.

The sensitivity to mixing height values of the consequence model used in the Reactor Safety Study has been investigated. Increasing mixing height values by a factor of 2 or decreasing by factors of 2, 5, or 10 had negligible effects on early-fatality predictions. Plume penetration of a low-lying inversion layer substantially decreases early-fatality predictions. Therefore, consequence model predictions are insensitive to mixing height values and conservative with respect to plume penetration of inversion layers, a process not currently included in the model.

When an electrostatic tandem accelerator is used primarily for heavy ion acceleration, numerous communication channels with the high voltage terminal are desirable. The ANL FN tandem operates at a tank pressure of 100 psi SF/sub 6/ at terminal voltages up to 9.5 MeV. A low powered He-Ne laser with 15 percent modulation has been successfully tested in the terminal under normal operating conditions. Such a system allows the transmission of information without the use of light guides. Multistranded light guides did not withstand voltage gradients as low as 0.4 MV/m. Single core light guides with a diameter of 0.5 mm have been successfully operated at voltage gradients in excess of 1.7 MV/m. In addition to the laser a microprocessor has also been tested in the tandem terminal. With suitable protection, an 8080 microprocessor and a programmable ROM operated successfully for several weeks under normal operating conditions.

A 3.4-meter direct-reading spectrograph is being used with an inductively coupled plasma source for the simultaneous determination of Ag, Bi, Cd, Cu, Nb, Ni, Pb, Sn, and W in water samples. We have attached a small digital computer to the system in order to obtain intensity data on each element once a second. After the intensities during a run on a sample have stabilized, the computer records the intensity data and outputs the average concentration for each element. To approach the published detection limits, a peristaltic pump must be used to force the water sample into the usual cross-flow nebulizer. We have studied several different nebulizer designs with the goal of improving efficiency and hence sensitivity. One design, the fritted-disk nebulizer, has an efficiency over 60 percent, as compared with the 5 percent efficiency of the original nebulizer.

Two field experiments were conducted with the surface electrical potential measurement system. The first was an MHF experiment with G.P.E. (Gas Producing Enterprises) on March 15 south of Vernal, Utah. This fracture was a joint ERDA-industry funded experiment. Approximately 640,000 gallons of fluid and 1.1 million pounds of proppant were injected into multilayered gas pay zones from a depth of 6500 feet to 8000 feet. This analysis of the data has produced several new and different concepts related to fracture design and growth. The second experiment conducted was the CONOCO hydrofracture that was performed as a part of their tertiary oil recovery experiment in the Big Muddy Field east of Casper, Wyoming. It was a small fracture (300 bbl) initiated at a depth of approximately 3500 feet. Eighteen pairs of potential probes were placed at 20/sup 0/ intervals around the fracture well at spacings of 1000 feet and 2000 feet. In addition, the relative potential was measured on six wells adjacent (<1000 feet) to the fracture well. These wells contained the CONOCO pressure gages to monitor formation pressure during the fracture and subsequent recovery operations. Potential measurements were made at twenty second intervals on alternate current probes: one a downhole …

Soil and vegetation have routinely been collected on the Hanford Site and surrounding environs as one method of monitoring radionuclide concentrations potentially attributable to Hanford operations. With the exception of a few locations, the data indicate that Hanford operations have made no significant contribution to existing radionuclide concentrations in soil and vegetation. Most of the activity seen in the samples can be attributed to natural causes or worldwide atmospheric fallout. The few locations apparently impacted by Hanford operations were: east of the California Nuclear burial site, which showed elevated levels of /sup 60/Co in soil and vegetation; northeast of the 1301-N trench, which showed elevated levels of /sup 54/Mn, /sup 60/Co, and /sup 134/Cs in soil and /sup 60/Co in vegetation; Columbia River island at river mile 340 (near North Richland), which showed elevated levels of /sup 60/Co; and east of 200 West Area, which showed elevated levels of Pu in soil.

New 1.029 GeV p-/sup 4/He data from an Argonne-UCLA-Minnesota collaboration are in excellent agreement with existing multiple diffraction theory predictions. The theoretical calculation includes spin and isospin dependence of the ..delta.. intermediate state process that fills the first diffraction minimum. The recently normalized Saclay data and the older Brookhaven data disagree with our calculation and the new data.

Pearlite was transformed directionally by passing a zone of austenite through high purity Fe--C alloy bars of eutectoid composition. Using a small embedded thermocouple, the temperature gradient at both the austenitizing edge and the pearlite transformation edge of the austenitic zone was recorded. A sharp change in gradient occurred due to the change in thermal conductivity between the phases at each interface. The point of change in gradient enabled the temperature of both interfaces to be determined as a function of velocity. It was found that the undercooling of the pearlite transformation interface below the eutectoid temperature was quadratically dependent on the velocity of transformation. No superheating at the austenitizing interface was observed. Interlamellar spacing measurements of pearlite showed an inverse quadratic dependence of spacing on velocity. These two results are compared with theory. Volume diffusion of carbon through austenite adequately describes the kinetics of the decomposition of austenite to pearlite although extrapolated carbon diffusivities from high temperature austenite data are a factor of 2 to 4 too small. The interlamellar spacing of pearlite and the pearlite transformation interface temperature as a function of velocity are compared to other constant velocity transformation studies as well as isothermal investigations. Results of …

The high-temperature diametral expansion and rupture behavior of Zircaloy-4 fuel-cladding tubes have been investigated in vacuum and steam environments under transient-heating conditions that are of interest in hypothetical loss-of-coolant accident situations in light-water reactors. The effects of internal pressure, heating rate, axial constraint, and localized temperature nonuniformities in the cladding on the maximum circumferential strain have been determined for burst temperatures between approximately 650 and 1350/sup 0/C.

The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory is a large, multidisciplined research laboratory, operated by the University of California for the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. An interactive graphic system was developed to integrate design, drafting, testing, analysis, and manufacturing to achieve efficient and effective laboratory-wide services. To accomplish this, the graphic system is hardware independent, and has an associative data base structured on two- and three-dimensional, bounded geometry. The data base allows for levels of attributes that can be attached or deleted and interrogated. This graphic system is described, with emphasis on the efficiencies of graphics and the effect of the associative data base on the ''design--build--test'' cycle. The capability of attaching attributes is explored as the means of bridging the CAD/CAM gap.

In an effort to develop a plasma source capable of producing a dense, quiescent, uniform plasma for extracting tens of amperes of hydrogen ions, experimental and theoretical studies on a duoPIGatron ion source have been pursued. A study of plasma generation in the duoPIGatron was begun and a discharge model was subsequently developed to explain observed source behavior. The discharge model is based on two plasmas, a cathode plasma and a PIG plasma separated by a double layer of ions and electrons, and is similar to the existing model for a duoplasmatron. This discharge model is reviewed and the importance of the double layer on plasma generation in the duoPIGatron is discussed. Source electrode modifications suggested by the model resulted in a low noise level of about +- 5% and a low-density nonuniformity of about +- 10% over a 10-cm diameter at a high hydrogen plasma density of roughly 2 x 10/sup 12/ cm/sup -3/.

A glass direct contact heat exchange column was operated in the laboratory. The column was operated at atmospheric pressure using hot water and normal hexane. Column internals testing included an empty column, sieve trays, disk-and-doughnut trays, and two types of packing. Operation was very smooth in all cases and the minimum temperature approaches varied from less than 1/sup 0/C for packing to 13/sup 0/C for the empty column. High heat transfer rates were obtained in all cases, however, columns should be sized on the basis of liquid and vapor traffic. The solubilities of hydrocarbons were determined for normal hexane, pentane and butane in water and sodium chloride and calcium chloride brines at various temperatures. The values seem to be internally consistent and salt content was found to depress hydrocarbon solubility. Laboratory stripping tests showed that gas stripping can be used to remove hydrocarbon from reject hot water from the direct contact heat exchange column. Although the gas volumes required are small, stripping gas requirements cannot be accurately predicted without testing. A computer program was used to study the effect of operating variables on the thermodynamic cycle efficiencies. Optimum efficiencies for the moderate brine conditions studied were obtained with isopentane as …

Techniques were developed to produce excellent high performance glass capillary columns for gas chromatographic analyses of a wide range of complex mixtures of organic compounds, including those containing a wide array of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) derived from a coal liquefaction process. Work was begun to assess the potential mutogenicity and/or carcinogenicity of the various isolated PAH fractions utilizing a unique host mediated bioassay system. Preliminary results indicate that further efforts will be required to determine dose response parameters of cultured mouse leukemia cells, as well as suitable vehicles for the satisfactory introduction of certain PAH fractions into this particular bioassay system.

In order to bring the Fermilab proton-proton colliding-beam facility into operation at the earliest possible time, close coordination between the various aspects of the construction is essential. A possible scenario for how the installation might proceed is presented, and some important consequences for planning in the immediate future are discussed. Some important conclusions which can be drawn from the scenario are presented.

This quarterly report is the fourth in a series intended to provide information on research and engineering activities being performed to improve the processing of irradiated reactor fuels, the production of plutonium, and the management of resultant chemical wastes. The work reported here was performed during the period January through March 1977.

This report describes the creepdown phenomenon in Zircaloy fuel cladding and the methods by which it will be measured and analyzed. Instrumentation for monitoring radial deformation in the cladding is described in detail--in terms of theory, design, and stability. The programs that control the microcomputer are listed, both to document the level of sophistication of the instrumentation and to indicate the flexibility of the test equipment.

A set of coupled rate equations for densities and energies in a tandem mirror machine have been incorporated into a fast-running code. The code is suitable for parameter-searching and studying time-dependent processes. The code has been used to study buildup of thermalized alphas in a tandem mirror reactor, and cyclic schemes for limiting the alpha population. The principal findings are: Q/sub av/ is drastically reduced as alphas build up from a steady-state in which alphas were artificially eliminated; running in a pulsed mode to clean out alphas improves the time-averaged Q significantly, but not enough; elimination of 80% of the alphas by nonadiabatic loss and running in pulsed mode allows a reasonable time-averaged Q.

This manual provides rough guidelines to aid a programer in installing ADBMS at a computer installation. ADBMS is a set of subroutines which together form a nucleus of a CODASYL-based data base management system. The use of this system is explained in detail in ''ADBMS Users Guide'' by E.W. Berss, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Feb. 1977.

Progress is reported on studies on the geochemistry and fate of trace amounts of Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn in surface waters and sediments of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. The path of suspended sediments in Chesapeake Bay and San Francisco Bay were compared.

The mathematical basis for an ultraprecise digital differential analyzer circuit for use as a parabolic interpolator on numerically controlled machines has been established, and scaling and other error-reduction techniques have been developed. An exact computer model is included, along with typical results showing tracking to within an accuracy of one part per million.

Methods are described for monitoring work areas for the presence of primary amines and chemicals readily transformable to primary amines that are potentially carcinogenic. Chemical spot tests for surface monitoring are described and their capabilities and limitations are discussed for monitoring work areas, equipment, and respirators after use in hazardous environments. Methods for work area and personnel decontamination are also described. A list of cancer-suspect amines is included. (CH)

During the past 25 years, a rather rapid evolution has taken place in the design and use of prestressed concrete reactor vessels (PCRVs). Initially the concrete vessel served as a one-to-one replacement for its steel counterpart. This was followed by the development of the integral design which led eventually to the more recent multicavity vessel concept. Although this evolution has seen problems in construction and operation, a state-of-the-art review which was recently conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory indicated that the PCRV has proven to be a satisfactory and inherently safe type of vessel for containment of gas-cooled reactors from a purely functional standpoint. However, functionalism is not the only consideration in a demanding and highly competitive industry. A summary is presented of the important considerations in the design and analysis of multicavity PCRVs together with overall conclusions concerning the state of the art of these vessels.

CALOR is a Monte Carlo program package, written in FORTRAN IV, that is designed to assist experimentalists in evaluating and analyzing different types of calorimeter systems that are used in many high-energy physics experiments to determine the energy and direction of incident hadrons, leptons, and photons. This code package is intended to be used with the code package HETC, which supplies needed information on the transport of hadrons and on the spatial location of the electromagnetic source energy. Input and output for a sample problem are presented. 3 figures, 1 table.

Improvements to flat plate solar collectors for heating and cooling of buildings are being investigated through two parallel studies. The first study, which deals with the free convective heat loss from V-corrugated absorber plate to a plane glass cover, has shown that, for the same average spacing, the free convective heat loss is greater for a V-corrugated absorber plate than for a plane absorber plate. However, provided the average spacing is large enough, the amount of increase is slight. The second study, which deals with the free convective heat loss in a honeycomb solar collector in which the honeycomb consists of a set of horizontal partitions, or slits, has shown that provided the solar collector is tilted to near vertical, such a honeycomb gives better free convective loss suppression than does a square-celled honeycomb having the same amount of material.