A study of diode-pumped solid state lasers for fusion, energy is presented, including performance of a subscale laser oscillator and amplifier, radiation-hardness of the final optic, and a system-level modeling exercise.

This U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Program Review starts with two interesting pieces on industries outlook about market conditions. Dr. Allan Jelacics introductory talk includes the statistics on the impacts of the Industry Coupled Drilling Program (late-1970's) on geothermal power projects in Nevada and Utah (about 140 MWe of power stimulated). Most of the papers in these Proceedings are in a technical report format, with results. Sessions included: Exploration, The Geysers, Reservoir Engineering, Drilling, Energy Conversion (including demonstration of a BiPhase Turbine Separator), Energy Partnerships (including the Lake County effluent pipeline to The Geysers), and Technology Transfer (Biochemical processing of brines, modeling of chemistry, HDR, the OIT low-temperature assessment of collocation of resources with population, and geothermal heat pumps). There were no industry reviews at this meeting.

Fuzzy systems provide a mathematical framework to capture uncertainty. The complete description of real, complex systems or situations often requires far more detail and information than could ever be obtained (or understood). Fuzzy approaches are an alternative technology for both system control and information processing and management. In this paper, we present the design of a fuzzy control system for a melter used in the vitrification of hazardous waste. Design issues, especially those related to melter shutdown and obtaining smooth control surfaces, are addressed. Several extensions to commonly-applied fuzzy techniques, notably adaptive defuzzification and modified rule structures are developed.

The search for the Higgs boson of the minimal Standard Model has been a major focus of experimental high energy physics for some years now. Here, the authors review the current experimental limits and discuss the prospects for finding the Higgs boson at future accelerators, such as LEPII and the LHC. They consider only the Standard Model Higgs boson. Since a null result which definitively excluded a Higgs boson below some mass scale would be extremely important, they emphasize the case where the Higgs boson is much heavier than the relevant collider energy (or where there is no Higgs boson at all). Many of the results given here are a summary of those obtained by the DPF Committee on Long Term Planning.

An article titled "School of Thought" written by Janet Tyson for the Life & Arts section of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. It covers a group of fifth-graders while they visit the at museums in the Fort Worth area.

Experiments have been performed to measure the rate of exchange diffusion in the zeolite clinoptilolite (CL) for elements important to radionuclide isolation at Yucca Mountain, NV. Clinoptilolite is one of the major sorptive minerals in the tuffs at Yucca Mountain, and occurs both as a major component in zeolitized units (Calico Hills), and in fractures in non-zeolitized tuffs (Topopah Spring). Field evidence and numerical modeling suggests that the movement of fluids through the tuff rocks adjacent to the potential repository may occur via episodic flow through fractures. Under conditions of rapid fracture flow the effective sorptive capacity of fracture-lining clinoptilolite may be controlled by exchange diffusion rather than exchange equilibrium.

Laboratory compression tests have been conducted on small block samples of Topopah Spring Tuff to investigate the scale dependence of geomechanical properties. These tests are the first of a series of tests designed to study coupled processes in the near-field environment of a nuclear waste repository. This paper presents new deformation and elastic wave velocity data.

Critical relative humidity for AISI 1020 carbon steel is 75-85% RH at 65 C. Aggressive electrochemical corrosion occurs above 85% RH, while dry oxidation occurs below 75% RH. The reddish-brown product is probably Fe2O3 or its hydrate; the black oxide layer, Fe3O4. The face surfaces had little or no corrosion, while the mill-machined edges were corroded with nonuniform reddish-brown areas.