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The expansion of ballistic gun range facilities at LLL has introduced state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques to glovebox-enclosed ballistic guns systems. These enclosed ballistic ranges are designed for the study of one- dimensional shock phenomena in extremely toxic material such as plutonium. The extension of state-of-the-art phtographic and interferometric diagnostic systems to glovebox-enclosed gun systems introduces new design boundaries and performance criteria on optical and mechanical components. A technique for experimentally evaluating design proposals is illustrated, and several specific examples (such as, target alignment, collateral shrapnel damage, and soft recovery) are discussed. (auth)

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Modifications are described to upgrade the neutral-beam power supply for the TMX from 40 kV, 10 ms to 40 kV, 25 ms. The redesign of the accel and suppressor power supplies to achieve separation of the high-voltage and control sections, operation of the arc pulse lines in series, operation of the arc pulse lines in a noisy environment with SCR trigger and crowbar, and modifications to the electrolytic storage banks are discussed.

To optimize the neutral-beam current incident on the fusion plasma and limit the heat load on exposed surfaces of the Mirror Fusion Test Facility magnet coils, impingement of the neutral beams on the magnet structure must be minimized. Also, placement of the neutral-beam injectors must comply with specifications for neutral-current heating of the plasma and should allow maximum flexibility to accommodate alternative beam aiming patterns without significant hardware replacement or experiment down-time. Injector placements and aimings are analyzed by means of the Structural Analysis Movie Post Processor (SAMPP), a general-purpose graphics code for the display of three-dimensional finite-element models. SAMPP is used to visually assemble, disassemble, or cut away sections of the complex three-dimensional apparatus, which is represented by an assemblage of 8-node solid finite elements. The resulting picture is used to detect and quantify interactions between the structure and the neutral-particle beams.

Uniformity of condensed layers of DT fuel in cryogenic ICF targets is a crucial parameter in their design. Measurements by classical interferometry lacks resolution to determine DT layer uniformity for targets with thick glass shells and/or thick ablative polymer coatings. We have developed holographic interferometry as an alternative tool for layer uniformity determination. This method is sensitive only to the fuel layer itself. We describe the technique and interference pattern analysis, and present preliminary results.

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF-B) is a large magnetic fusion energy experiment in the tandem mirror configuration. The requirement that each pair of Yin-Yang magnets, one pair at each end of the experiment, not undergo excessive lateral motion during seismic events was found to require excessively thick (> 12.7 mm) walled tubing in the support-struts, which accelerated the flow of heat inward to the 4 K magnet case from the nearby 300 K wall of the rector vessel, when any of the Cr-Ni austenite stainless steels, such as Type 304 with a 300 K yield-strength (sigma y) of 307 mpa (min.) was considered. Since the cold end of the lateral restraining strut was to be at or near 4 K, the additional constraints of good austenite stability and resistance to brittle fracture at 4 K existed. After consideration of these constraints against available information on Cr-Ni and Cr-Mn-Ni-N/sub 2/ austenitic stainless steels, grade XM-19 (Fe-22 Cr-12 Ni-5 Mn-.04 C-.02 N/sub 2/ was chosen. The mechanical properties of these welds were studied. (MOW)

Hopkinson split-bar tests were performed on Type 21-6-9 austenitic stainless steel from ambient temperature to 1023 K. These high-strain-rate tests (10/sup 2/ to 10/sup 4/ s/sup -1/) were compared with lower-strain-rate tests (10/sup -4/ s/sup -1/). The results indicate that over this temperature range, the strain-rate sensitivity of 21-6-9 is not strongly dependent on the strain rate. This suggests that the mechanism(s) of plastic flow at the higher rates is similar to that at the lower rates. This contention was corroborated by transmission electron microscopy.

A conceptual design of an experiment chamber for a high gain ICF facility (1000 MJ) is being developed. Performance goals have been established. Several design approaches are being evaluated through computer simulation, engineering analysis, and experimental testing of candidate first wall components. 10 refs., 3 figs.

So far the only experimental evidence for CP violation is the 1964 discovery of K{sub L}{yields}2{pi} where the two mass eigenstates produced by neutral meson mixing both decay into the same CP eigenstate. This result is described by two parameters {epsilon} and {epsilon}{prime}. Today {epsilon} {approx} its 1964 value, {epsilon}{prime} data are still inconclusive and there is no new evidence for CP violation. One might expect to observe similar phenomena in other systems and also direct CP violation as charge asymmetries between decays of charge conjugate hadrons H{sup {+-}} {yields} f{sup {+-}}. Why is it so hard to find CP violation? How can B Physics help? Does CP lead beyond the standard model? The author presents a pedestrian symmetry approach which exhibits the difficulties and future possibilities of these two types of CP-violation experiments, neutral meson mixing and direct charge asymmetry: what may work, what doesn`t work and why.

Sisal is a general-purpose functional language that hides the complexity of parallel processing, expedites parallel program development, and guarantees determinacy. Parallelism and management of concurrent tasks are realized automatically by the compiler and runtime system. Spatial domain decomposition is a widely-used method that focuses computational resources on the most active, or important, areas of a domain. Many complex programming issues are introduced in paralleling this method including: dynamic spatial refinement, dynamic grid partitioning and fusion, task distribution, data distribution, and load balancing. In this paper, we describe a spatial domain decomposition algorithm programmed in Sisal. We explain the compilation process, and present the execution performance of the resultant code on two different multiprocessor systems: a multiprocessor vector supercomputer, and cache-coherent scalar multiprocessor.

At the present time, it is at least arguable that large-scale cosmic bombardment has been a major driver of the evolution of the terrestrialbiosphere. The fundamental motivation of the present paper is the (high) likelihood that the advent and rise of the human species hasn`t coincided with the cessation of soft and hard collisions in the Asteroid Belt or in the Oort Cloud, and that we will either stop the cosmic bombardment or it will eventually stop us. In the foregoing, briefly reviewed the prospects for active planetary defenses against cosmic bombardment in the very near-term, employing only technologies which exist now and could be brought-to-bear in a defensive system on a one-decade time-scale. We sketch various means and mechanisms from a physicist`s viewpoint by which such defensive systems might detect threat objects, launch interdiction machinery toward them and operate such machinery in their vicinity to alternately deflect, disperse or vaporize objects in the 0.1-10 km-diameter range, the ones whose size and population constitute the greatest threats to our biosphere. We conclude that active defenses of all types are readily feasible against 0.1 kmdiameter incoming cosmic bomblets and that even complete vaporization-class defenses are feasible against 1 km-diameter class objects …

With the advent of ever more powerful computing and finite element analysis (FEA) capabilities, the bone and joint geometry detail available from either commercial surface definitions or from medical CT scans is inadequate. For dynamic FEA modeling of joints, precise articular contours are necessary to get appropriate contact definition. In this project, a fresh cadaver extremity was suspended in parafin in a lucite cylinder and then scanned with an industrial CT system to generate a high resolution data set for use in biomechanics modeling.

A program using a positron beam to probe defects in bulk materials has been developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) provides non-destructive analysis of average defect size and concentration. A 3 MeV positron beam is supplied by Sodium-22 at the terminal of a Pelletron accelerator. The high-energy beam allows large (greater than or equal to 1 cm²) engineering samples to be measured in air or even sealed in an independent environment. A description of the beam-PALS system will be presented along with a summary of recent measuremen

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is the home of the world's highest current beam of keV positrons. The potential for establishing a national center for materials analysis using positron annihilation techniques around this capability is being actively pursued. The high LLNL beam current will enable investigations in several new areas. We are developing a positron microprobe that will produce a pulsed, focused positron beam for 3-dimensional scans of defect size and concentration with submicron resolution. Below we summarize the important design features of this microprobe. Several experimental end stations will be available that can utilize the high current beam with a time distribution determined by the electron linac pulse structure, quasi-continuous, or bunched at 20 MHz, and can operate in an electrostatic or (and) magnetostatic environment. Some of the planned early experiments are: two-dimensional angular correlation of annihilation radiation of thin films and buried interfaces, positron diffraction holography, positron induced desorption, and positron induced Auger spectra.

There has recently been a growing awareness that natural processes are degrading contaminants of concern, and that the contribution these natural processes make to achieving cleanup goals needs to be formally considered during site-specific cleanup. Historical case data from a large number of releases has been used to evaluate the expectation for natural attenuation to contribute to the cleanup of petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents. The use of historical case data has several advantages, among them: 1) sites can reduce characterization costs by sharing information on key hydrogeologic parameters controlling contaminant fate and transport, and 2) standard reference frameworks can be developed that individual sites can use as a basis of comparison regarding plume behavior. Definition of cleanup times must take into account basic constraints imposed by natural laws governing the transport and natural degradation process of petroleum hydrocarbons. The actual time to reach groundwater cleanup goals is determined by these laws and the limitations on residual subsurface contamination attenuation rates, through either active or natural biological processes. These limitations will practically constrain the time to achieve low concentration cleanup goals. Recognition is needed that sites will need to be transitioned to remediation by natural processes at some point following …

Demonstrating compliance with the applicable regulations for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) requires an assessment of the long-term performance of the disposal system. Scenario development is one starting point of this assessment, and generates inquiry about the present state and future evolution of the disposal system. Scenario development consists of four tasks: (1) identifying and classifying features, events and processes (FEPs), (2) screening FEPs according to well-defined criteria, (3) forming scenarios (combinations of FEPs) in the context of regulatory performance criteria and (4) specifying of scenarios for consequence analysis. The development and screening of a comprehensive FEP list provides assurance that the identification of significant processes and events is complete, that potential interactions between FEPs are not overlooked, and that responses to possible questions are available and well documented. Two basic scenarios have been identified for the WIPP: undisturbed performance (UP) and disturbed performance (DP). The UP scenario is used to evaluate compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Individual Dose (40 CFR Section 191-15) and Groundwater Protection (40 CFR Section 191-24) standards and accounts for all natural-, waste- and repository-induced FEPs that survive the screening process. The DP scenario is required for assessment calculations for the EPA's cumulative …

Judgments of adverse environmental impact from cooling water intake structures need to be preceded by an appreciation of what is normal. In its repo~ Return to the River, the Independent Scientd5c Group (now called the Independent Scientfilc Advisory Board) --the scientific peer review arm of the Northwest Power Planning Council-- advanced the notion of a "normative river ecosystem" as a new conceptual foundation for salrnonid recovery in the Columbia River basin. With this perspective, the sum of the best scientific understanding of how organisms and aquatic ecosystems function should be the norm or standard of measure for how we judge the effects of human activities on aquatic systems. ,For the best likelihood of recovery, key aspects of altered systems should be brought back toward nonnative (although not necessarily fully back to the historical or pristine state); new alterations should be judged for adversity by how much they move key attributes away from normative or what might be considered normal. In this presentation, I ask what "normative" is for the setting of cooling water intake structures and how this concept could help resolve long-standing disputes between groups interested in avoiding darnage to all organisms that might be entrained or impinged and …

Analytical expressions used to optimize AR coatings for single junction solar cells are extended for use in monolithic, series interconnected multi-junction solar cell AR coating design. The result is an analytical expression which relates the solar cell performance (through J{sub sc}) directly to the AR coating design through the device reflectance. It is also illustrated how AR coating design be used to provide an additional degree of freedom for current matching multi-junction devices.

The fast ignition (FI) concept is a variant of inertial fusion in which the compression and ignition steps are separated. Calculations suggest this would allow a substantial improvement in target gain, and could form the basis of a very attractive power plant. Transporting the energy to ignite a target involves the physics of light-driven relativistic plasmas; a subject which is not well understood. A concept exploration effort to understand the energy transport physics, and also to clarify the merits of a FI IFE power plant could justify a proof-of-principle program on the National Ignition Facility.

Tritium ({sup 3}H) is a radioisotope that is extensively utilized in biological and environmental research. For biological research, {sup 3}H is generally quantified by liquid scintillation counting requiring gram-sized samples and counting times of several hours. For environmental research, {sup 3}H is usually quantified by {sup 3}He in-growth which requires gram-sized samples and in-growth times of several months. In contrast, provisional studies at LLNL's Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry have demonstrated that Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) can be used to quantify {sup 3}H in milligram-sized biological samples with a 100 to 1000-fold improvement in detection limits when compared to scintillation counting. This increased sensitivity is expected to have great impact in the biological and environmental research community. However in order to make the {sup 3}H AMS technique more broadly accessible, smaller, simpler, and less expensive AMS instrumentation must be developed. To meet this need, a compact, relatively low cost prototype {sup 3}H AMS system has been designed and built based on a LLNL ion source/sample changer and an AccSys Technology, Inc. Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) linac. With the prototype system, {sup 3}/{sup 1}H ratios ranging from 1 x 10{sup -10} to 1 x 10{sup -13} have to be measured from …