Spring 1997 Los Alamos National Laboratory • A U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory The Actinide Research 55 Quarterly TA o f t h e N u c l e a r M a t e r i a l s T e c h n o l o g y D i v i s i o n

In This Issue NMT Division Completes First Three-Year Review Cycle

1 On March 17–19, NMT Division 1997, NMT Division Completes First held its third Science Three-Year Review and Technology Cycle Assessment (also called “the Division 3 Review”) in the J. Tomorrow's Pen Is Robert Oppenheimer Mightier than Study Center and in Yesterday's Sword the TA-55 Access Center. With the 4 completion of this Study Addresses year’s Science and Chloride Tolerance Technology Assess- Limits for the Safe ment on “Stockpile Processing Stewardship and of Radioactive Salts Space Mission,” NMT rn97090-156 has covered all of its Committee members (left to right) Dr. Gregory Choppin, Dr. Ned 6 programmatic efforts Wogman, and Dr. Stephen Carpenter with NMT Division Director Computer-Based and other diverse Bruce Matthews. Waste Management scientific and techni- System Reaps cal activities. During Benefits each of the three reviews, the division also falling under the main review theme. On highlighted topical infrastructure and facility the third day of the review, the committee 8 operations. moved to TA-55 and had further, separate LANL Evaluates An eleven-member (see page 11) Division discussions with the Nuclear Materials and Commercial Mobile Review Committee convened the evening of Stockpile Management (NMSM) Program Nondestructive the 16th for a logistical session, and for the Director Paul Cunningham, several DOE Assay Systems next day and a half the committee listened to representatives, and a few NMT technical presentations ranging from a state-of-the- staff members. In addition to the full 10 division message to overviews of NMT’s committee, the close-out session was Publications, major programs. On the facility operations attended by Laboratory Deputy Director Pete Presentations, and side, they heard presentations on the Miller, who represented the Director’s Office; Reports Operations Center Upgrade Project, the Al Sattelberger and Allen Hartford, both Capabilities Maintenance and Improvement from the Science and Technology Base 12 Project, and media tours during the review Program Office; NMSM Program Director NewsMakers year. Poster presentations the afternoon of Paul Cunningham; NMT Division Director the second day featured NMT’s science and Bruce Matthews; Deputy Dana Christensen; technology activities and accomplishments and other NMT members. continued on next page

Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory 1 The Actinide Research Quarterly

There are four Although the final written report will not review criteria be sent to Laboratory Director Sig Hecker and agreed upon by the University of California (UC) Science and the UC Science Technology Panel for several weeks, the and Technology Division Review Committee made a number of Panel of the UC positive comments on the progress of NMT in President’s all review criteria (see sidebar) at the close-out Council on the session. The committee also praised the Management of Division Review effort made by the division National Labora- technical staff and the supporting staff as well tories and the as the management team. rn97090-142 Laboratory. The Because of the classified nature of this same criteria year’s review, the preparation of the review have been used documents and presentations and poster for the past papers at the Study Center required careful three years: planning and execution. In the end, the review sessions were well attended by over 100 • Quality of registered participants. With the successful science and completion of this year’s review, NMT engineering, Division has achieved important milestones toward meeting all of its programmatic, • Relevance to scientific and technical, and facility operational national needs goals. rn97090-159 and agency missions,

• Performance in the construction and operation of major research facilities, and

• Programmatic performance and planning.

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2 Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory Spring 1997 Guest Editorial Tomorrow's Pen is Mightier than Yesterday's Sword by Dana C. Christensen

It is very easy to get caught up in the our ability to design and deploy the nuclear “Today, the “hubbub” of daily activities, concentrating on deterrent. This concept likewise applies to display of specific projects, their scopes, schedules, and TA-55. Our stature in professional and politi- our nation’s budgets. In doing so, we may lose track of the cal communities will be known only through strength can greater goal of reducing the global nuclear peer recognition from elsewhere in the coun- danger. It is important to pause and consider try and the world. Therefore, we must help be achieved this Laboratory’s evolving role and evaluate ourselves by becoming more visible at profes- only through its importance in achieving the greater goal. sional meetings, more involved in profes- successful The nation’s work, and thus our work, with sional societies, and more frequently demonstration plutonium falls into three clear challenges, published in professional journals. and deploy- with no one being more important than the It is interesting that demonstrated military ment of tech- other: 1) legacy cleanup, 2) nonproliferation strength was the successful vehicle for achiev- and arms control, and 3) national security, ing significant arms reductions in the START I nology and including both military and energy security. and II treaties. Future arms reductions will be through In meeting these challenges we can do much achieved only through a continued demon- recognition to reduce the global nuclear danger. stration of strength, but this strength will not by our (scien- The question, thus, becomes how to posi- be demonstrable through the periodic testing tific) peers tion the whole of TA-55 to meet these impor- of nuclear weapons. Today, the display of our throughout tant challenges. A successful approach, nation’s strength can be achieved only demonstrated on projects such as ARIES, through successful demonstration and de- the world.” Operations Center Upgrade, and 40-mm ployment of technology and through recogni- Launcher Activation, was to establish inte- tion by our peers throughout the world. This grated teams with others who have a wide means that investment in both applied and variety of skills. This will continue to be an fundamental technology is the necessary pre- approach used into the future. But perhaps cursor to continuing down the path to peace. our most critical challenge involves assuring Taking the time to prepare publications and to Dana C. the health of core competencies within our present results in various public forums is be- Christensen, own operations. We are already seeing a coming an essential aspect of performing our Deputy Director movement away from fundamental and ap- work. Each individual can have a significant of NMT Division, plied R&D toward an emphasis on “produc- impact on our ability to attract sufficient and John Berg tion” and are discussing this threat with our funds in the future. Indeed, this continued at the recent program offices and sponsors. As we config- sponsor investment, followed by our commit- Division Review. ure our programs in the future, assuring that ment to communicate core science and technology are properly sup- that strength, will al- ported will become essential. In order to suc- low the United States ceed in achieving a balanced set of activities, to influence the rest we must be able to show that all activities of the world in the point toward the goal of reducing the global long-term manage- nuclear danger. We will likely also need to ment of all plutonium identify how fundamental R&D is essential inventories, and will in achieving program successes. therefore allow us to At the recent NMT Division Review, achieve the goal of Steve Younger, Program Director for Nuclear reducing the global Weapons Technology, discussed how, without nuclear danger. nuclear testing, peer review of journal articles is essential in maintaining and communicating

Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory 3 The Actinide Research Quarterly

Study Addresses Chloride Tolerance Limits for the Safe Processing of Radioactive Salts

Researchers on The processing of actinide salts in nitric has been hypothesized to be autocatalytic, this project are acid process streams at Savannah River Site rendering comparisons between studies with D. G. Kolman, plays an important role in high-level radioac- differing test periods and V:A ratios difficult. D. K. Ford, and tive waste reduction and in the long-term In fact, these parameters are not presented in T. O. Nelson, storage of radioactive material throughout the many of the studies. Moreover, almost none NMT-6; and D. Department of Energy (DOE) complex. Con- of these studies utilized modern electrochemi- P. Butt, MST-6. tainer materials such as pipes and holding cal methods that allow an assessment of the vessels for nitric acid process streams are susceptibility of materials to corrosion given typically composed of American Iron and a change in environmental conditions. Steel Institute 304 stainless steel (304 SS), a The differences between the various stud- commonly used austenitic SS. However, the ies are exacerbated by the fact that nitrates are corrosion resistance of 304 SS exposed to ni- powerful passivating agents, and chlorides tric acid/halide environments has been ques- are powerful depassivating agents. Their tioned. Preventing corrosion failure of the 304 strongly opposite effects may be altered by SS system is critical to avoid worker and envi- changing variables such as alloy composition ronmental contamination and to mitigate ad- and microstructure, solution composition, verse economic impact. Aware of these and test procedures. The objective of this potential problems, SRS consulted with the study, therefore, was to document the general Materials Corrosion and Environmental corrosion behavior of stainless steel using Effects Laboratory at Los Alamos National modern electrochemical techniques including Laboratory, requesting an examination of potentiodynamic scans and open-circuit-po- the chloride tolerance limits for the nitric tential measurements, especially between 0.01 acid process stream. and 1 M nitric acid where little work has been In general, the corrosion behavior of 304 performed. In particular, the effects of nitric SS has been very well documented. The recent acid concentration (0.041 M to 12 M), chloride literature alone is replete with studies of gen- concentration (0.01 to 3 M), temperature eral and localized corrosion of 304 SS exposed (room temperature to boiling), and time of to nitric acid solutions and to sodium chloride exposure on the corrosion behavior of 304 SS (NaCl) solutions, individually. However, little were of interest. A second objective of this work incorporating the corrosion of 304 SS work was to confirm the autocatalytic nature exposed to solutions containing both nitric of general corrosion in nitric acid/chloride acid and NaCl has been published. The major- environments as has been proposed by others. ity of these tests have only examined weight Additionally, this study sought to compare loss or surface state (via ) without the behaviors of 304 L SS (a low-carbon ver- monitoring the electrochemical behavior of sion of 304 SS often used for applications the system. The motivation for our study where the material is welded) and sensitized arises from the fact that in published studies: 304 SS (which mimics welded 304 SS) to that 1) different alloy compositions have been of 304 SS over a wide range of conditions in used, 2) various cations have been incorpo- order to discern any effects of material com-

rated (e.g., NaNO3 vs. nitric acid, NaCl vs. position and microstructure (see Figure 1).

FeCl3), 3) different testing periods have been The corrosion behavior of 304 SS was ex- used, and 4) different solution volume-to- amined as a function of nitric acid and chlo- surface-area (V:A) ratios have been used. ride concentrations, using sodium chloride as All of the preceding variables have been a surrogate for actinide salts. Depending on shown to affect corrosion behavior. Therefore, solution composition, three different material unification of data from the literature into a responses were observed. The first behavior comprehensive understanding of corrosion type was continuous passivity following im- susceptibility is nearly impossible. This is es- mersion. A material is defined to be passive pecially true in light of the fact that corrosion when a tenacious oxide forms on the material,

4 Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory Spring 1997

imparting excellent corrosion resistance. This state is observed during corrosion testing when the corrosion rate (measured as current density) is independent of the driving force for corrosion (the applied voltage). For example, the good corrosion resistance of stainless steel, aluminum, and titanium under normal atmospheric conditions is a result of pas- sive film formation. The second type of behavior observed was formation of a passive film followed by localized corrosion (pitting). This type of behavior is unacceptable for service because through-wall failures can occur in a very short time. The third type of behavior was active/passive corro- sion. In this type of behavior, 304 SS was found to dissolve actively at a relatively high rate following immersion. The corrosion rate was subse- quently observed to increase at an exponential rate with time as a result - of the autocatalytic reduction of nitrate (NO3 ) Corrosion (or penetra- tion) rates as high as 80 inches per year were shown to be possible.* The period of active dissolution was followed by passive film forma- tion, which resulted in much reduced corrosion rates (as much as 100,000 times). Spontaneous passivation was shown to arise solely from changes in solution chemistry as opposed to changes of the surface itself. The period of active corrosion was found to increase strongly with the V:A ratio. Therefore, it is conceivable that for certain solutions and V:A ratios, the total material loss preceding passivation may be acceptable. However, using the most conservative approach, the safe operating regime is best defined by solutions that promote con- tinuous passivity. Thus, for a given nitric acid concentration, the condi- tions for safe operation are defined as chloride concentrations that promote continuous passivity of 304 SS. Other pertinent variables were examined also. For instance, the effects of material composition and microstructure on the corrosion behavior of 304 SS were detailed. The corrosion behavior of 304 L SS and sensitized 304 SS were compared to 304 SS. No consistent differ- ences between 304 SS, 304 L SS, and sensitized 304 SS were apparent in solutions yielding active dissolution, passive dissolution, or pitting. The effect of temperature was also determined. In summary, it was found that increasing solution temperature increased the corrosion rate as well as the susceptibility to both pitting and active dissolution. Figure 1: These optical micrographs The results of this study indicated that the corrosion of 304 SS show crystallographic or faceted exposed to nitric acid/chloride environments is complex. The corrosion pitting of 304 SS following a one-week behavior was found to be dependent on nitric acid concentration, immersion in 4.1 M nitric acid plus 1 M chloride concentration, temperature, V:A ratio and time. The study sodium chloride. Microscopy was one yielded a more complete understanding of the mechanisms of corrosion of a variety of approaches within the of 304 SS exposed to nitric acid/chloride environments as well as overall research program to evaluate determining chloride tolerance limits for the safe processing of actinide the influence of environmental and salts in a nitric acid process stream. material effects on the corrosion behavior of stainless steel exposed to simulated waste-processing *Corrosion rates are always reported as penetration distances (i.e., the environments. thickness of material lost from a surface). So if a sample surface is exposed for 1 year and the sample is 1" thick before exposure and 0.9" thick following exposure, the the corrosion rate is 0.1" per year (or in corrosion terms 100 mils per year).

Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory 5 The Actinide Research Quarterly

Computer-Based Waste Management System Reaps Benefits

A new computer-based transuranic (TRU) information by the waste originator to the Waste Management System is being imple- materials management and waste manage- mented at the Plutonium Facility at Los ment groups. Full implementation is antici- Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). It is a pated in April 1997. distributed computer processing system stored The Plutonium Facility is the largest gen- in a Sybase database and accessed by a graphi- erator of TRU waste at LANL, producing ap- cal user interface written in Omnis7, a client/ proximately 500 new containers of waste per server development tool. The system resides year. The facility is anticipating an expanded on the local area network at the Plutonium mission and upgrades that will increase the Facility and is accessible by authorized TRU waste production rate. The plutonium pro- waste originators, Nondestructive Assay cessing area in the facility has 530 waste origi- (NDA) Laboratory personnel, radiation protec- nators and about 100 processes operating in tion technicians, quality assurance personnel, over 300 glove boxes. The TRU waste gener- and waste management personnel for data in- ated at the Plutonium Facility consists of solid put and verification. The tracking system has (debris) waste and immobilized liquid (ce- changed the TRU paper trail into a computer mented) waste. The waste is primarily con- trail, saving time and eliminating errors and taminated with plutonium isotopes and is inconsistencies in the process. destined for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Figure 2: Dennis The tracking system data are stored in the Wulff (right) Sybase database, which resides on a Sun points out fea- Workstation. The client/server computing tures of the breaks programs into two parts: one part on computerized the local workstation—the client—that re- Waste Manage- quests data and the rest on one or more server ment System machines that supply the data. This program to Chester A. can be run using Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Smith, Jr. Input Windows NT, and Macintosh operating sys- from users such tems. The implementation of the system re- as these helped quired that upgrades to networking design a system capabilities be made throughout the Pluto- that provides nium Facility so that originators would have accurate tracking the ability to log on to the system in their own of transuranic processing rooms and input the waste item waste through- information. out the Los The Nuclear Materials Technology Divi- Two of the major hurdles in the imple- Alamos Pluto- sion as the landlord of the Plutonium Facility mentation of this system were the quality as- nium Facility. has recognized for many years that cradle-to- surance requirements for signatures and an grave tracking of TRU waste could be done auditable trail of changes made to the data. most expeditiously by a computer network- These problems were resolved by requiring based, real-time data generation and tracking users to log onto the system and by setting up system. Towards this goal, the system was a table of authorities identifying who could conceived in 1991 and then launched in 1993 change records, and tables to track changes. with a week-long meeting of users and pro- For debris waste, the process starts when gramming personnel to determine the system the waste originator logs on to the system and requirements. Phased implementation of the characterizes the waste. The waste item is then system inside the Plutonium Facility began in assigned a unique identifier. The new waste August of 1995 with the submittal of waste item is visually inspected and approved on- line by personnel of the waste management group. At the time of approval rigorous

6 Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory Spring 1997

checks are in place to ensure that all informa- allow measurements to be done by an out-of- tion is complete. Once approved, the item is calibration instrument. The system checks the eligible for assay. The waste originator requests measurements against facility and WIPP limits Contributors to an assay on-line, and the item then appears on and prevents containers from being released if this project are the list of items ready for assay in the NDA they exceed those limits. Kathryn Smith, Laboratory. The NDA personnel measure the The TRU-waste data package can be Andrew item and enter the results of the assay into the viewed on-line at any time during the process- Montoya, system. The system compares the assay to the ing. All approvals are listed so that viewers Ronald discard limits for the item and displays the two may determine the stage in processing for a Wieneke, values. If the item meets the discard limit, it given container. Using the computer system, Dennis Wulff, then becomes available for packaging into a personnel complete all paperwork in the data Chester A. waste container. package at this point. The data package forms Smith, Jr., and As each item arrives in the waste manage- are created on the network only, and no paper Kathleen ment room, waste management personnel use will be transferred outside of the radiation- Gruetzmacher, the system to locate the appropriate container controlled area. Each approver logs on to the all of NMT-7. and place the item in the container. Weight and system and issues his/her approval. assay values are entered into the computer sys- Approvers are notified electronically when the tem to verify that the addition of this item will data package is ready for each level of review not exceed weight limits or limits on special and approval. nuclear materials. Personnel then don respira- When all approvals have been given, the tors for the actual packing. One person sits at data package coordinator prints the data pack- the computer terminal while the others do the age that will accompany the container when it packing. When packing is complete, the final leaves the facility. To assure control of the measured gross weight of the container is en- printed data package, the coordinator is the tered. The calculated weight of the container only person authorized to print the package. has been created by the computer and is dis- Numerous benefits have already been played for comparison. The packed container realized using the tracking system. The most is then physically closed and final calculations obvious benefits are that transcription and are performed. calculational errors have been eliminated and The closed and sealed container undergoes that there are no longer mistakes where deci- a confirmation assay by the NDA Laboratory. sions are made based on numerical compari- The computer does all calculations previously sons. The need for a data clerk to enter the done by NDA Laboratory personnel to confirm final data into a separate database has been that there is no significant difference between eliminated. There is no longer a need to trans- the container assay and the sum of the assays fer hard copies of the data packages from a of all items in the container. The process for controlled radiological area to an uncontrolled cemented waste differs somewhat from debris area. waste. In particular, liquid processing calcula- Personnel who participated in the phased tions previously done by hand are now done testing of the system and provided feedback to by the system, and no confirmation assay is the programmer became partners in the devel- done. opment and improvement of the system (see The closed and sealed container must be Figure 2). Their involvement resulted in a swiped and surveyed by WIPP-certified radia- vastly improved product that enhanced the tion protection technicians. The system pre- system and in many cases caused personnel sents the technicians with allowable instrument to rethink the way they had been performing numbers and automatically alerts them when work. Personnel who use the system fre- an instrument is out of calibration. It will not quently say that this part of their job has be- come a lot easier and less time-consuming.

Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory 7 The Actinide Research Quarterly

LANL Evaluates Commercial Mobile Nondestructive Assay Systems

Before it can be disposed of, nuclear waste Because the NDA capability at various must be accurately characterized to identify radioactive waste-generator and waste-storage and quantify its radioactive content. Once it is sites is limited, a number of NDA equipment characterized, appropriate measures can be suppliers have installed their equipment in mo- taken to reduce the radioactive bile trailers that could travel around to such hazard it poses to the public. sites. To date, no commercial mobile assay sys- One of the most cost-effective tems have participated in the PDP tests because approaches for characterizing DOE/CAO is still in the early stages of deter- radioactive waste is through mining how such systems should participate the use of nondestructive assay and because it currently lacks a site to test mo- (NDA) instrumentation, which bile NDA trailers. The manufacturers of these provides quantitative determi- trailers (who have made substantial invest- nations on the isotopes of inter- ments of resources) must quickly demonstrate est using the characteristic their capabilities, validate their equipment, radiation they emit. Such radia- and urge DOE/CAO to allow mobile NDA tion includes but is not limited trailers to participate in the program. to gamma rays, neutrons, and The LANL Plutonium Facility is uniquely heat. Validating the perfor- qualified to test this equipment. We have a mance of waste assay methods broad spectrum of plutonium standards that such as NDA is critical to estab- are traceable to the National Institute of Stan- lishing the credibility of the as- dards. This includes over fifty 239Pu standards C3-1 say results that will be used in in a wide range of geometries, ranging from 0.2 choosing storage and disposal mg to 480 g. The TA-55 site also has locations methods. where manufacturers of mobile NDA systems The DOE Carlsbad Area can power their trailers and take advantage of Office (DOE/CAO) is respon- realistic test conditions. Having manufacturers sible for qualifying waste char- come here also eliminates the need to transport acterization equipment radioactive samples for their use. associated with the WIPP re- Two mobile systems, one from Canberra pository. Qualified equipment Industries, Inc. (Figure 2), and one from Paja- is then allowed to characterize rito Scientific Corporation (Figures 3 and 4), waste destined for WIPP. Tests were installed at the LANL Plutonium Facility outlined in this article are part in August and November of 1996, respectively. of the efforts to qualify such The Canberra trailer has two passive NDA equipment. Under the Perfor- systems. One is a segmented gamma scanner mance Demonstration Program waste assay system, and the other is a neutron (PDP), part of the overall quali- coincidence counter, waste drum assay system fication program, both radioac- with add-a-source correction (a neutron interro- tive standards and 55-gallon gation technique that corrects for the effects of drums of various matrices to the waste matrix on neutrons). Both the scanner C3-2 hold the standards have been and counter were pioneered at LANL by the provided to each site in the Nonproliferation and International Security Figure 2: Two DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex. Nondestruc- Division (NIS). The Pajarito Scientific Corpora- commercial mobile tive assay systems are then tested semiannu- tion trailer has both an active differential die- assay systems are ally to determine if they meet the quality away technique and a passive multiplicity being evaluated at assurance objectives for precision and bias counter (both developed by NIS). The die-away LANL. These two NDA instruments under the program. technique actively interrogates items using are in the Canberra Industries trailer.

8 Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory Spring 1997

Figure 3: An imaging passive/ active neutron thermal neutrons. For both trailers, plutonium mentation do counter in the isotope compositions are determined from not match Pajarito Scientific measurements using the MGA (multigroup the matrix of Corp. trailer. analysis) code pioneered by Lawrence the waste Livermore National Laboratory. being gener- Los Alamos provides peer review of the ated. By performance of the systems for plutonium, bringing in acts as a beta-test site to evaluate the waste independent assay software, and provides data for potential instruments, “pre-certification” for future installations— such as the Contributors which would minimize the measurements re- Canberra to this project quired to qualify the systems for use at other and Pajarito sites. After instruments are calibrated by the trailer instru- include: manufacturers, assays determine bias, preci- ments, and M. Schanfein, C. Bonner, sion, and minimum detectable activity. A measuring a B2476-9-rollA performance demonstration test has been con- wide range R. Maez, ducted to measure the systems against the of actual fa- J. Martinez, DOE/CAO quality assurance objectives. cility waste, LANL can make consistency M. Padilla, Finally, the performance is evaluated for rep- checks between the trailer instruments and D. Vigil, NMT-4; resentative waste types at TA-55 (salts, metal, those of the Plutonium Facility’s NDA Labora- and L. Tichnor, combustibles, leaded rubber, and HEPA fil- tory. TSA-1. ters). Although analysis of test results is still in A third benefit is increasingly experienced progress, data from these tests have pointed and knowledgeable Los Alamos out areas requiring modifications by the technicians, considered a key ele- manufacturers. This effort has clearly demon- ment in the Laboratory’s ability strated how essential it is to use plutonium, to provide cost-effective and rather than other radioactive sources, for high-quality research. With the testing. trailer manufacturers’ request to The LANL Plutonium Facility benefits provide beta-testing of the from these tests on a number of levels. First, software interface, the they help fulfill the mission of the DOE De- LANL Plutonium Facil- fense Programs Office’s designated “User Fa- ity chose to have cility/Technology Development Center” at Canberra and Pajarito TA-55 for the testing of NDA assay instrumen- train LANL techni- tation. The LANL NDA laboratory equipment cians to operate the in the Plutonium Facility is currently in build- equipment (see Figure ing areas with high gamma and neutron back- 4). Technicians thus ground levels. With the new focus on became intimately in- measurements of low-level waste, the facility volved, and the pro- B2476-13-rollA is interested in quantifying any benefits from cess resulted in a fair assay systems located outside of the pluto- and practical evaluation performed by those Figure 4: Keith nium facility’s high background radiation lev- who normally operate this equipment on a Lash operates the els. The trailers will help with this assessment. routine basis. Finally, the current effort has Pajarito Scientific Second, one of the most difficult aspects demonstrated the Plutonium Facility’s Corp. console. of NDA measurements is the measurement capability to provide a test site for mobile uncertainties associated with waste. This is assay systems. particularly true when calibration and mea- surement control standards for NDA instru-

Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory 9 The Actinide Research Quarterly

Publications, Presentations, and Reports (January 1997–March 1997)

Journal Publications S. D. McKee and M. Seitz (DOE/EM66), “Research and Development for Stabilization of Nuclear D. G. Kolman, D. K. Ford, D. P. Butt, and T. O. Materials for the DOE Complex,” Fourth Annual Nelson, “Corrosion of 304 Stainless Steel Exposed International Policy Forum: Management and to Nitric Acid-Chloride Environments,” to be Disposition of Nuclear Weapons Materials, published in Corrosion Science, 1997 (see article in Lansdowne, VA, Feb. 11-14, 1977. this issue). Reports J. C. Martz and J. M. Haschke, “A Mechanism for Combustive Heating and Explosive Dispersal of T. W. Latimer, “Milliwatt Generator Project, April Plutonium,” submitted to Journal of Alloys and 1988–September 1996,” Los Alamos National Compounds, March 1997. Laboratory report LA-13258-PR, March 1997.

J. M. Haschke and J. C. Martz, “Oxidation Kinetics Division Review Poster Papers of Plutonium in Air from 500 to 3500 °C: Applica- tion to Source Terms for Dispersal,” submitted to The following posters were presented at the NMT Journal of Alloys and Compounds, March 1997. Science and Technology Assessment, Los Alamos, NM, March 17–19, 1997: S. J. Spach and J. Morgan, D. G. Kolman and D. P. Butt, “Corrosion Behavior “Pit Surveillance Reporting Techniques”; T. H. of a SiC/Al2O3/Al Composite Material Exposed to Allen, C. L. Radosevich, M. Ramos, and J. A. Chloride Environments,” submitted to Journal of the Telford, “Full-Scale Test Facility and Supporting Electrochemical Society, January 1997. R&D Efforts”; D. C. Huerta and K. M. Axler, “Solid- State Bonding Technology in Pit Manufacture”; Conference Presentations P. D. Kleinschmidt, A. R. Berry, D. J. Lujan, and R. A. Salazar, “Pit Atmospheres: Laser Sampling D. G. Kolman, D. K. Ford, D. P. Butt, and T. O. and Radiolytic Effects”; J. M. Haschke and Nelson, “Corrosion of 304 Stainless Steel Exposed to T. H. Allen, “Plutonium Corrosion Reactions: Nitric Acid-Chloride Environments,” Proceedings of Fundamental R&D Studies“; J. M. Haschke, CORROSION ‘97, National Association of Corrosion J. M. Williams, R. E. Pruner, II, D. J. Lujan, and Engineers, Houston, TX, March 1997. P. C. Lopez, “Fluid : Implementation and Supporting R&D”; M. R. J. J. Park and D. L. Jacobson (Arizona State Univer- Miller, “Plutonium Manufacturing Development”; sity), “Steady State Creep Rates of Tungsten-4 W/O R. L. Page, J. J. Park, R. J. Martinez, and R. A. Rhenium-0.32 W/O Hafnium Carbide,” 1997 TMS Pereyra, “Metallographic Analysis and Other Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Orlando, FL, Evaluation Techniques for Surveillance of Pits”; February 9–13, 1997. S. D. Soderquist, K. M. Vigil, and T. H. Abeyta, “Gravity Casting of Plutonium Alloy Shapes in J. Foropoulos, Jr., “A Simple and Efficient Destruc- Ambient Temperature Molds”; J. P. Baiardo, tion Process for Volatile Halocarbons,” The Thir- C. Heiple, and P. V. Wright, “Acoustic Resonance teenth Winter Fluorine Conference, St. Petersburg Spectroscopy of Pits”; D. M. Jarboe, J. P. Baiardo, Beach, FL, January 19–24, 1997. D. M. Chavez, and L. E. Cox, J. D. LeMay (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), L. D. Schulte, G. L. Silver, J. Espinoza, E. M. Foltyn, G. L. Powell (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), G. H. Rinehart, L. R. Avens, and G. D. Jarvinen, W. Moddeman, J. Birkbeck, and K. Coleman “Development Program to Recycle and Purify (Pantex Plant), “Interagency Collaboration for Plutonium-238 Fuel from Scrap,” Proceedings of the Development of Staging Safety Diagnostics: 1997 Space Technology & Applications International Characterization of Residues on Pit Exteriors”; Forum (STAIF-97), Albuquerque, NM, January 26– B. Cort, A. C. Lawson, J. A. Roberts, R. J. Martinez, 30, 1997. F. A. Vigil, P. W. Watson, R. I. Sheldon, E. M. Foltyn, T. G. Zocco, R. B. Von Dreele, and J. G. D. Jarvinen and B. F. Smith, “Water-Soluble Richardson (Argonne National Laboratory), Chelating for Removal of Actinides from “Neutron Diffraction Studies of Actinide Metals Waste Waters,” Efficient Separations and Processing and Alloys”; P. K. Benicewicz, D. A. Cremers, and Crosscutting Program Technical Exchange Meeting, J. S. Morris, “Development of a System for Endo- Gaithersburg, MD, January 28–30, 1997. scopic Imaging and Spectroscopy of Pit Interiors”;

10 Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory Spring 1997

238 E. D. McCormick, “ PuO2 Oxide Powder Fuel The NMT Division Review Committee is composed of the Processing Operations”; R. W. Mathews, L. R. following 11 members including one ex officio member: Rodriguez, and T. G. George, “Packaging for Shipment of 62-W General-Purpose Heat Sources for the Cassini Mission”; M. A. H. Reimus, T. G. Dr. Ned A. Wogman, Chair George, M. W. Moyer (Oak Ridge National Labora- Associate Director, National Security and Defense tory), C. M. Lynch, M. D. Padilla, and P. F. Moniz, Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories “Ultrasonic Inspection of General-Purpose Heat Source Girth Welds”; M. S. Blau, “Levitation Zone Dr. Richard A. Bartsch Refining of Plutonium Metal”; M. A. Williamson, F. Venneri, and N. Li, “Accelerator-Driven Trans- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry mutation of Waste: Chemistry and Separations”; Texas Tech University J. Y. Huang and D. R. Spearing, “Zircon as a Host for Plutonium Disposition”; D. K. Dr. Rohinton K. Bhada Veirs, C. R. Heiple (Consultant), G. M. Rosenblatt Director, Waste-Management Education (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and J. P. Baiardo, “Measuring Gas Composition and Pressure and Research Consortium within Sealed Containers Using Acousitc Resonance Associate Dean of Engineering Spectroscopy”; J. M. Berg, R. B. Vaughn, M. R. New Mexico State University Cisneros, D. K. Veirs, and C. A. Smith, “Spectro- scopic Determination of Plutonium (IV) Complex- Dr. B. Stephen Carpenter ation by Nitrate, Chloride, and Fluoride in High- Ionic Strength Aqeous Solutions”; W. C. Ward, Director, Office of International Affairs H. E. Martinez, C. L. Abeyta, A. N. Morgan, and National Institute of Standards and Technology T. O. Nelson, “Determination of Plutonium and Americium Contamination on Highly Enriched Dr. Gregory R. Choppin Uranium Surfaces Using Alpha Spectroscopy”; Department of Chemistry D. E. Wedman, J. L. Lugo, T. O. Nelson, V. L. Trujillo, K. R. Weisbrod, and H. E. Martinez, “In Situ Florida State University Electrolytic Decontamination of Gloveboxes”; L. A. Worl, D. D. Padilla, S. J. Buelow, L. A. Le, and J. H. Dr. Darryl D. DesMarteau Roberts, “Hydrothermal Oxidation for the Treat- Department of Chemistry ment of Combustibles”; and L. D. Schulte, S. D. Clemson University McKee, and R. R. Salazar, “Large-Scale Demonstra- tion of Actinide Decontamination from Concen- trated Hydrochloric Acid Waste Streams.” Dr. Todd LaPorte (ex officio) Department of Political Science University of California, Berkeley

Dr. A. D. (Tony) Rollett Department of Materials Science and Engineering Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Anthony W. Thompson Plutonium Futures Materials Science Department University of California, Berkeley The Science Dr. Robert Uhrig Nuclear Engineering Department Santa Fe, NM, on August 25–27, 1997. Confer- The University of Tennessee ence information is available by visiting the World Wide Web at http://www.lanl.gov/PuConf97, Dr. Susan Wood sending e-mail to [email protected], or calling Vice-President and Director 505-667-8663. Savannah River Technology Center Westinghouse Savannah River Company

Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory 11 The Actinide Research Quarterly

NewsMakers The Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) proposals season is upon us. There are basically three components, Competency Development (CD), Program Development LDRD News (PD), and Individual Projects (IP), in the LDRD program. The due dates for proposals for these are staggered in order to allow maximum preparation time for individual researchers and sponsoring organizations. The CD proposals were due March 21, and the approximate due dates for PD and IP proposals are mid-June and mid-May, respectively.

For fiscal year 1998, the CD component was significantly enhanced, and it represents now almost 50% of the program budget. The CD proposals are generally large in scope, funded at levels up to about $1M annually, and supported multidivisionally. Each Laboratory technical division is allowed to submit a maximum of three “thrust” proposals that it views as most strategic and innovative for the Laboratory’s core competency development.

This year NMT Division evaluated a total of six CD thrust proposals and submitted the three top-ranked proposals for further screening reviews by the appropriate program offices and the core competency teams. The three NMT Division-endorsed proposals are as follows: (These proposals have multiple investigators. The names in parenthesis after each proposal are the proposals' spokespersons.) 1. A New Paradigm in Separations: Molecular Recognition Membranes (Gordon Jarvinen) 2. Plutonium Aging: Investigation of Changes in Weapons Alloys as a Function of Time (Joseph Martz) 3. Direct Numerical Simulation of Microstructural Evolution in Metals (Janine Fales and Bryan Lally). Announcement of thrust proposal winners will be made on May 16, 1997.

Ph.D. Degrees NMT’s abundant talents—Two individuals became the latest from TA-55 to receive their Ph.D. degrees. Steve Yarbro received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering; his dissertation was titled “Modeling Interfacial Area Transport in Multi-Fluid Systems.” Joel Williams received his Ph.D., also in chemical engineering. Williams’ dissertation was on “Prediction of Heat of Melting and Heat Capacity of Inorganic Liquids by the Method of Group Contributions.” These individuals are part of the Distance Learning Program, which is a cooperative arrangement between the Laboratory and the Department of Chemical Engineering at New Mexico State University. Congratulations to both of you!

ARQ Kudo The Actinide Research Quarterly has been recognized by the Kachina (NM) Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication with an "Award of Excellence" in the publications category. Designer Susan Carlson and writer-editor Ann Mauzy were named in the award.

Los Alamos The Actinide Research Quarterly is published NATIONAL LABORATORY quarterly to highlight recent achievements and ongoing Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 programs of the Nuclear Materials Technology Division. 55 We welcome your suggestions and contributions. TA LALP-97-5 Director of NMT: Bruce Matthews Nuclear Materials Technology Division Deputy Director: Dana C. Christensen Mail Stop E500 Chief Scientist: Kyu C. Kim Los Alamos National Laboratory Writer/Editor: Ann Mauzy Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 Design and Production: Susan L. Carlson 505/667-2556 FAX 505/667-7966

We would like to hear from our readers. If you have any comments, suggestions, or contributions, you may contact us by phone, by mail, or on e-mail ([email protected]). ARQ is now on the Web also. See this issue as well as back issues on-line (http://www.lanl.gov/Internal/organizations/divisions/NMT/nmtdo/AQarchive/AQindex/ AQindex.html).

Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, is operated by the University of California for the U. S.Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36. All company names, logos, and products mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Reference to any specific company or product is not to be construed as an endorsement of said company or product by the Regents of the University of California, the United States Government, the U.S. Department of Energy, nor any of their employees. Los Alamos National Laboratory strongly supports academic freedom and a researcher's right to publish; however, the Laboratory as an institution does not endorse the viewpoint of a publication or guarantee its technical correctness.

12 Nuclear Materials Technology Division/Los Alamos National Laboratory