[en] OAK- B135 Engineering for fatigue is an essential concern in piping systems. Addressing this concern, the ASME Section III and ANSI B31.1 Codes provide stress indices and stress intensification factors (SIFs) to be used in the design and evaluation of Class 1, 2 and 3 systems. In recent research cosponsored by EPRI and the U.S. DOE, new test data have been developed for comparison with the ASME stress indices and SIFs. This report presents the results of fatigue tests on eccentric reducers, taking into account the directionality of the loading. As detailed in the report, the results can help to improve the evaluation of reducers and can help to reduce unnecessary conservatism in piping system design

[en] The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has identified irradiation induced degradation of light water reactor (LWR) internals as a key issue that should be addressed to ensure long term reliability of the LWR fleet. This paper provides an overview of EPRI programs to address irradiation induced degradation of boiling water reactor (BWR) and pressurized water reactor (PWR) internals. The goal of EPRI research is to address irradiated materials data gaps that have been identified. Some of the projects are being done in close collaboration with other U.S. and international organizations. The work includes: -) Screening and evaluation of IASCC (irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking) crack growth data by an expert panel followed by development of appropriate crack growth disposition curves for BWR and PWR internals; -) Development of data on crack initiation, crack growth rate, mechanical properties and void swelling on irradiated materials (including welds and heat affected zones) extracted from retired BWR and PWR reactors; -) In-reactor crack growth studies in the Halden reactor in BWR and PWR environments; -) IASCC initiation and crack growth studies on commercial and high purity alloys irradiated in the BOR 60 reactor; -) Assessment of the effect of environment on fracture resistance of irradiated materials; -) Void swelling measurements in the mixed spectrum GONDOLE reactor under irradiation conditions (temperature, spectrum and flux) similar to a PWR reactor. Establish an incubation dose or an increased upper limit for no significant swelling; Investigate the possibility of a temperature threshold

[en] The objective of this paper was on overview of EPRI's programs on thermal annealing. Goals, key elements, and benefits were discussed

[en] Cross sections for excitation of the 3914-A (0, 0) band of the B²summation/sub u/⁺→X²summation/sub g/⁺ transition of N₂⁺ by proton impact on N₂ have been determined in the impact range from 100 eV to 6 keV. Cross sections for excitation of the B²summation/sub u/⁺ (v'=0) state are inferred from these measurements. The cross sections decrease by 2 orders of magnitude in a near-monotonic fashion in this energy range. Comparisons are made with total electron capture

[en] The conductivity and capacitance of ferroelectric PZT thin films are found to depend on the ambient humidity. When high-strength (saturating) electric fields are applied to these films under relatively humid conditions, they became highly conductive, and they remain so even after the fields were removed. These findings have implications for the fabrication, testing, and applications of ferroelectric thin films

[en] X-ray computed tomography (XCT) is an important non-destructive evaluation technique for revealing the spatial distribution of ballistically-induced damage in ceramics. The level of detection and resolution of damage depends on the size of the sample and the parameters of the XCT approach (e.g., focal spot size, magnification, etc.). Previous and ongoing work in this area includes assessment of ballistically induced damage in both individual ceramic targets and ceramic armor panels. Ballistic damage in an encapsulated ceramic armor panel with a metal backing has been scanned and extensively evaluated using XCT 2-D and 3-D analysis. The purpose of using XCT evaluation in this study was to better characterize and understand all of the detectable damage. This information can be used to correlate damage features and types with the physical processes of damage initiation and growth. XCT scans and analyses of damage in the panel will be shown and discussed. This will include virtual 3-D solid visualizations and some quantitative analysis of damage features.

[en] This paper presents an investigation into the suitability of imaging based sensors to measure particle shape and the effects of shape size on measurement consistency, testing the often used assumption that imaging based particle size analysers are insensitive to changes in particle shape. The imaging system employed is introduced and the definitions of shape used here are explained. A number of varying shaped 'particles', in the form of static test images, are observed with the imaging system and the effect of varying shape size on the resulting measurements is investigated. In general the results suggest that reliable shape measurement is possible but that the effects of image quantisation do lead to variations in measured quantities under real-world conditions

[en] Six children with neuroblastoma and one with ganglioneuroma received [¹²⁵I] metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) before major surgery. Uptake of [¹²⁵I]MIBG in the excised tissues was measured by scintillation counting, and the material was submitted for histopathology. The ranges of uptake of [¹²⁵I]MIBG, expressed as percent of the injected dose per gram of tissue, were as follows: for neuroblastoma 0.0013-0.071, for ganglioneuroma 0.0017-0.0028, and for non-neoplastic control tissues 0.0002-0.011. The quantitative uptake of [¹²⁵I]MIBG by neuroblastoma varied between different patients and between different parts of individual tumors. The more undifferentiated tumors took up more [¹²⁵I]MIBG and may be more likely to respond to targeted radiotherapy with MIBG

[en] The density of nuclear waste solution is used as a process control parameter in the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant pretreatment process and is crucial to tank utilization evaluations. The supernatants, however, have many different dissolved sodium salts, including nitrate, nitrite, carbonate, sulfate, phosphate, hydroxide, and aluminate. The large concentrations and diversity of salts in the waste has made the predictions of solution densities difficult historically. The purpose of this study is to determine if a new model of multi-component electrolyte solution densities, recently published in the literature, is effective at predicting the density of nuclear waste supernatants. A statistically designed set of solution densities containing the most prevalent electrolytes in Hanford tank waste was used for model validation. The densities of the simulants were calculated by the model and compared to the experimentally determined densities. The average model error was just 0.1%. These results indicate that the model can be used to accurately predict the density of nuclear waste processed at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. (authors)

[en] This paper presents a new solution to the on-line continuous measurement of particle size and particle velocity within a dilute gas/solid pneumatic pipeline, using low-cost optoelectronic components and imaging hardware. A low-cost, single CCD colour digital camera is used with high power light emitting diodes (LEDs) of different wavelengths, which are driven with very narrow pulses during each camera frame. These resulting frames consist of multiple images of the same particle at different instances in time, by correlating these images it is possible to calculate the size and velocity for each individual particle to high accuracy as the blur due to the finite exposure time can be calculated and removed. As multiple images are taken of the same particle it is possible to extrapolate other information, including acceleration, rotation and direction of movement. The results from this research are very promising and the technique may provide a satisfactory solution to the long standing industrial measurement problem. This system is specifically developed for the measurement of particle sizes in the range of 10μm to 1,000μm, but the technique can be applied equally well to particles outside these limits