Publications

This memorandum is a synopsis of the description and operation of the equipment used and the events accuring during the calibration of gauges on the vacuum station over the range of 0.0001 to 650 torr.

This report summarizes the environmental surveillance activities conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company (REECO) for the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) operated by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Other environmental compliance programs such as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), environmental permits, environmental restoration, and waste management programs are also included. The 1991 SNL, TTR, operations had no discernible impact on the general public or the environment. This report 3-s prepared for the US Department of Energy (DOE) in compliance with DOE Order 5400.1.

Through a program sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Cummins Power Generation, Inc. (CPG) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) have entered into a joint venture to develop and commercialize economically competitive dish-Stirling systems for remote power applications. Sixteen systems, representing three generations of technology, will be developed, fielded, and tested in the Dish-Stirling Joint Venture Program (JVP). The JVP is funded equally by a consortium led by CPG and by the DOE. After completion of the program, CPG`s commercialization effort will continue with limited production expected to start in 1996. In this paper, the program plan and the technology used in the JVP are outlined. ne current status of the key system components, and the initial results of a system optimization study including current cost and performance estimates, are also provided.

Research in recent years has demonstrated the efficient use of solar thermal energy for driving endothermic chemical reforming reactions in which hydrocarbons are reacted to form syngas. Closed-loop reforming/methanation systems can be used for storage and transport of process heat and for short-term storage for peaking power generation. Open-loop reforming and gasification systems can be used for direct fuel production; for production of syngas feedstock for further processing to bulk ammonia, hydrogen, and liquid fuels; and for destruction of hazardous organic materials. To help identify the most promising areas for future development of this technology, we discuss in this paper the market potential of these applications.

FASTCAST is a Sandia National Laboratories program to produce investment cast prototypical hardware faster by integrating experimental and computational technologies into the casting process. FASTCAST uses the finite element method to characterize the metal flow and solidification processes to reduce uncertainty in the mold design. For the casting process to benefit from finite element analysis, analysis results must be available in a very short time frame. By focusing on the bottleneck of finite element model creation, automated mesh generation can drastically reduce the time span between geometry definition (design) and accurate analysis results. The increased availability of analysis results will diminish the need for trial and error approaches to acquiring production worthy mold and gating systems for investment casting. The CUBIT meshing tool kit is being developed to address the need for rapid mesh generation. CUBIT is being designed to effectively automate the generation of quadrilateral and hexahedral elements. It is a solid-modeler based, two- and three-dimensional preprocessor that prepares solid models for finite element analysis. CUBIT contains several meshing algorithms including two- and three-dimensional mapping, two- and three-dimensional paving (patented), and a general two and one-half dimensional sweeper based upon the plastering algorithm. This paper describes progress in the development of the CUBIT meshing toolkit.

The purpose of this NUREG is to provide technical information on the major components of entry control systems: identity verifiers, weapons detectors, explosives detectors, and special nuclear material (SNM) detectors. For each type of device, information is presented on principles of operation, hardware features, recommended installation, testing methods, and operational procedures. Applications to personnel, handcarried packages, bulk items, and vehicles are addressed.

We have investigated the chemistry of Cu(hfac){sub 2}, (hfac)Cu(VTMS), (hfac)Cu(2-butyne), and hfach on a Pt(111) surface. In contrast to what is observed on copper surfaces. Cu(hfac)2 and hfach lead to the formation of distinctly different adsorbed hfac species on Pt(111). This shows the importance of the copper atoms themselves in determining the surface chemistry of copper {beta}-diketonate CVD precursors. The hfac species on Pt(111) are considerably less stable than hfac on copper, suggesting that unimolecular decomposition may lead to impurity incorporation in the interfacial region when copper is deposited onto a more reactive substrate. In situ CVD studies with Cu(I) {beta}-diketonates show that the bimolecular disproportionation reaction leading to copper CVD is favored over unimolecular precursor decomposition at pressures above approximately 10{sup {minus}5} torr.

The fifth experiment of the Integral Effects Test (IET-5) series was conducted to investigate the effects of high pressure melt ejection on direct containment heating. Scale models of the Zion reactor pressure vessel (RPV), cavity, instrument tunnel, and subcompartment structures were constructed in the Surtsey Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. The RPV was modeled with a melt generator that consisted of a steel pressure barrier, a cast MgO crucible, and a thin steel inner liner. The melt generator/crucible had a hemispherical bottom head containing a graphite limiter plate with a 4-cm exit hole to simulate the ablated hole in the RPV bottom head that would be formed by ejection of an instrument guide tube in a severe nuclear power plant accident. The cavity contained 3.48 kg of water, and the basement floor inside the crane wall contained 71 kg of water, which corresponded to condensate levels in the Zion plant. A 43-kg initial charge of iron oxide/aluminium/chromium thermite was used to simulate corium debris on the bottom head of the RPV. Molten them-lite was ejected by 6.0 MPa of steam into the reactor cavity.

The purpose of this NUREG is to present technical information that should be useful for understanding and applying locking systems for physical protection and control. There are major sections on hardware for locks, vaults, safes, and security containers. Other topics include management of lock systems and safety considerations. this document also contains notes on standards and specifications and a glossary.

Creep tests were performed on a representative sample of rock salt from borehole Moss Bluff 2 (MB2), Moss Bluff dome near Houston, Texas. Moss Bluff 2 is located at the site of a compressed gas storage cavern of Tejas Power Corporation. Four triaxial experiments were conducted at two values of principal stress difference and two representative temperatures. The minimum observed creep rates at the end of each test varied between 5.2{times}10{sup {minus}9} 1/s and 2.14{times}10{sup {minus}8} 1/s. Comparisons of the present results with existing data for rock salt from other locations suggest that the steadystate creep characteristics of MB2 salt, depth 3349 ft (1098.8 m), are intermediate to those measured for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve at West Hackberry and Bryan Hound, which included the most creep resistant rock salt ever tested at Sandia National Laboratories. Creep parameters are suggested for first-order sensitivity calculations.

The destruction of the Earth`s protective ozone layer is one of today`s largest environmental concerns. Solvent emissions released during the cleaning of printed wiring boards (PWBs) have been identified as a primary contributor to ozone destruction. No-clean soldering (sometimes referred to as self-cleaning) processes represent an ideal solution since they eliminate the need for cleaning after soldering. Elimination of solvent cleaning operations significantly reduces the emissions of ozone depleting chemicals (ODCs), reduces energy consumption, and reduces product costs. Several no-clean soldering processes have been developed over the past few years. The program`s purpose was to evaluate the no-clean soldering process and to determine if hardware produced by the process is acceptable for military applications. That is, determine if the no-clean process produces hardware that is as reliable as that soldered with the existing rosin-based flux solvent cleaning process.

Sandia National Laboratories performed random vibration and shock tests on a tritium hydride transport vessel that was packaged in an H1616-1 container. The objective of the tests was to determine if the hydride transport vessel remains leaktight under vibration and shock normally incident to transport, which is a requirement that the hydride transport vessel must meet to be shipped in the H1616-1. Helium leak tests before and after the vibration and shock tests showed that the hydride transport vessel remained leaktight under the specified conditions. There were no detrimental effects on the containment vessel of the H1616-1.

One of the most challenging applications facing the computer community is development of effective adaptive human-computer interface. This challenge stems from the complex nature of the human part of this symbiosis. The application of this discipline to the environmental restoration and waste management is further complicated due to the nature of environmental data. The information that is required to manage environmental impacts of human activity is fundamentally complex. This paper will discuss the efforts at Sandia National Laboratories in developing the adaptive conceptual model manager within the constraint of the environmental decision-making. A computer workstation, that hosts the Conceptual Model Manager and the Sandia Environmental Decision Support System will also be discussed.

Choosing the appropriate conceptual model of contaminant transport from a hazardous waste site to the underlying aquifer will assist in designing efficient site investigation and remediation strategies. One method of collecting data to support a conceptual model is by comparing ground water sampling results to soil gas sampling results that are collected through existing monitoring wells. This underutilized data collection technique is quick, easy, and inexpensive. Comparing the soil gas results to ground water results can assist in supporting or refuting a conceptual model selection. In addition, soil gas sampling from existing monitoring wells may provide an early warning detection technique to impending ground water contamination. This approach is being implemented at the Chemical Waste Landfill at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Recirculating Linear Accelerator (RLA) utilizes the Ion Focused Regime (IFR) of beam transport plus a ramped bending field to guide the beam around the curved sections. Several issues of beam transport are considered. Beam transverse perturbations that could result in growth of the ion hose instability are analyzed. It is found that transverse kicks due to bending field errors, energy mismatches and fringe fields are the most important. The scaling of these perturbations with beam and channel parameters is derived. The effect of ramping of the bending field on the preformed plasma channel is then considered. For RLA experimental parameters the effect is found to be very small. For high energies however, in addition to axial heating, it is found that ramping the field causes compression of the plasma channel along the radius of curvature. This compression results in a quasi-equilibrium plasma electron temperature along the field lines which leads to collisionless transport towards the walls. The analysis of compression is done in an approximate way using a single particle picture and the channel expansion is analyzed using an envelope solution which gives a simple expression for the expansion time. This solution is then verified by Buckshot simulations. For a bending field of 2 kG ramped in 2 {mu}-secs and an argon channel (RLA parameters) we estimate that the channel radius doubling time (along field lines) is of the order of 0.5 {mu}-secs. Finally the effect of electron impact ionization due to axially heated electrons by the action of the inductive field is estimated. It is found that in Argon gas the electron avalanche time could be as low as 0.5 {mu}-sec which is smaller than the field ramp time.

Piping penetrations in nuclear power plant steel containments are surrounded by flexible metal bellows. The purpose of the bellows is to maintain the containment pressure boundary integrity while permitting relative movement between the piping and the containment wall. In a severe accident, bellows may be subjected to high temperatures, pressure, and combinations of lateral and axial deflections. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), under sponsorship of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), is performing a series of tests to investigate the performance of containment bellows under severe accident conditions.

Radioactive spent fuel assemblies are a source of hazardous waste that will have to be dealt with in the near future. It is anticipated that the spent fuel assemblies will be transported to disposal sites in spent fuel transportation casks. In order to design a reliable and safe transportation cask, the maximum cladding temperature of the spent fuel rod arrays must be calculated. The maximum rod temperature is a limiting factor in the amount of spent fuel that can be loaded in a transportation cask. The scope of this work is to demonstrate that reasonable and conservative spent fuel rod temperature predictions can be made using commercially available thermal analysis codes. The demonstration is accomplished by a comparison between numerical temperature predictions, with a commercially available thermal analysis code, and experimental temperature data for electrical rod heaters simulating a horizontally oriented spent fuel rod bundle.

Prior work has shown that the piezoelectric response of shock-compressed PVDF film prepared with attention to mechanical and electrical processing exhibits precise, well-defined, reproducible behavior to 10 GPa. Higher pressure response continues to pressures approaching 50 GPa, and appears to provide a basis for a very high pressure stress-rate gauge. Previous work shows that differences in response were sometimes observed. The present report describes studies in progress undertaken to increase the precision of the polarization of the PVDF and to develop optimum sensors and shock gauge package designs. Results obtained on such careful prepared PVDF shock gauges show that differences in electrical charge response less than few percent are observed between 10 and 25 GPa.

Recent progress in the design, synthesis, and activity testing of catalysts for partial oxidation of light alkanes is described. The first testing results for the designed halogenated dodeca-substituted iron-porphyrin catalysts are presented. The results validate the design goals selected and suggest improvements to the current catalyst designs.

Space Nuclear Reactor Systems, especially those used for propulsion, often have expected operation run times much shorter than those for land-based nuclear power plants. This produces substantially different radionuclide inventories to be considered in the safety analyses of space nuclear systems. This presentation describes an analysis utilizing ORIGEN2 and DKPOWER to provide comparisons among representative land-based and space systems. These comparisons enable early, conceptual considerations of safety issues and features in the preliminary design phases of operational systems, test facilities, and operations by identifying differences between the requirements for space systems and the established practice for land-based power systems. Early indications are that separation distance is much more effective as a safety measure for space nuclear systems than for power reactors because greater decay of the radionuclide activity occurs during the time to transport the inventory a given distance. In addition, the inventories of long-lived actinides are very low for space reactor systems.

A variety of approaches for handling effluent from nuclear thermal propulsion system ground tests in an environmentally acceptable manner are discussed. The functional requirements of effluent treatment are defined and concept options are presented within the framework of these requirements. System concepts differ primarily in the choice of fission-product retention and waste handling concepts. The concept options considered range from closed cycle (venting the exhaust to a closed volume or recirculating the hydrogen in a closed loop) to open cycle (real time processing and venting of the effluent). This paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of different methods to handle effluent from nuclear thermal propulsion system ground tests.

This report details the Science Fair Self-Help Development Program, which was initiated in a pilot project at three middle schools in Albuquerque, NM, during school year 1991-1992. The purpose of the program was to provide guidance to schools in developing their own parental and community resources into a sustainable support group whose major function would be to assist the school's science teachers and administration in all aspects of the science fair. The report documents the development of the Self-Help Program and the results of the pilot testing.

This document presents the quality assurance (QA) philosophy and procedures for analyses and report reviews used by the Performance Assessment Department of Sandia National Laboratories, which directly supports the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Analysis procedures described herein will be incorporated into the Performance Assessment Analysis Quality Assurance Procedures (QAP 2-4), and report review procedures will be incorporated into QAP 2-5; both will apply to all Sandia and Sandia contractor activities related to performance assessment (except where the contractor has its own approved QA procedures). This report presents the philosophy behind the OA procedures, provides the standards adopted for performance assessment analysis and report review, discusses the implementation of these standards, and summarizes the software executive package, CAMCON, which aids in implementing the standards.

The choice of technologies for the delivery of very high bandwidth throughout a facility capable of ultimately achieving gigabits per second performance, is a crucial one for any high technology facility. The components of a high bandwidth delivery system include high performance sources and sinks in the form of central facilities (major mainframes, large file storage and specialized peripherals) and powerful, full bandwidth distributed local area networks (LANs). In order to deliver bandwidth among the sources and sinks, a ubiquitous inter-/intra-building cable plant consisting of single mode and multimode fiber as well as twisted pair copper is required. The selection of the ``glue`` to transport and interconnect the LANs with the central facility over the pervasive cable plant is the focus of this paper. A design philosophy for high performance communications systems is proposed. A description of the traditional problems that must be overcome to provide very high bandwidth beyond the narrow confines of a computer center is given. The advantages of ATM switching and SONET physical transport are explored in the structured design presentation. The applicability of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching (interconnection) and Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET) (transport) for high bandwidth delivery is described using the environment and requirements of Sandia National Laboratories as a context to examine the suitability of those technologies. The synergy and utility of ATM and SONET in the campus network are explored. Other methods for distributing high data rates are compared and contrasted to ATM and SONET with respect to cable plant impact, reliability/availability, maintainability, and capacity. Sandia is implementing a standards based foundation utilizing a pervasive single mode fiber cable plant, SONET transport, and ATM switching to meet the goals of gigabit networking.

Aerospace components are often subjected to pyroshock events during flight and deployment, and must be qualified to this frequently severe environment. Laboratory simulation of pyroshock using a mechanically excited resonant fixture, has gained favor at Sandia for testing small (<8 inch cube) weapon components. With this method, each different shock environment required a different resonant fixture that was designed such that it`s response matched the environment. A new test method has been developed which eliminates the need to have a different resonant fixture for each test requirement. This is accomplished by means of a tunable resonant fixture that has a response which is adjustable over a wide frequency range. The adjustment of the fixture`s response is done in a simple and deterministic way. This report covers the first phase of this research, which includes design conception through fabrication and evaluation of hardware capable of testing components with up to a 10 inch {times} 10 inch base. This method will ultimately allow the testing of much larger items, perhaps as large as entire small satellites.