Final report to the strategic environmental research and development program on near-net shape casting of uranium-6% niobium alloys

Fabrication methods traditionally used in the fabrication of depleted uranium parts within the Department of Energy (DOE) are extremely wasteful, with only 3% of the starting material actually appearing as finished product. The current effort, funded by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque (SNLA), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), was conceived as a means to drastically reduce this inefficiency and the accompanying waste by demonstrating the technology to cast simple parts close to their final shape in molds made from a variety of materials. As a part of this coordinated study, LLNL was given, and has achieved, two primary objectives: (1) to demonstrate the feasibility of using refractory metal for reusable molds in the production of castings of uranium-6 wt% niobium alloy (U-6Nb); and (2) to demonstrate the utility of detailed simulations of thermal and fluid flow characteristics in the understanding and improvement of the near-net shape casting process. In both cases, our efforts were focused on a flat plate castings, which serve as simple prototypical parts. This report summarizes the results of LLNL work in each area

Use of Lubricants in the NIF

There are two principal concerns that govern the use of lubricants in NIF: (1) Airborne molecular contaminants (AMCs)--AMCs are known to seriously degrade the performance of sol-gel coated optics. AMCs are produced by the slow outgassing of residues (non-volatile residues or ''NVRs'') of high molecular weight compounds left on surfaces. Lubricants, particularly hydrocarbon lubricants, are a primary source of such NVRs. (2) Particulates--Particulates that accumulate on optical surfaces can cause permanent physical damage when exposed to high energy density laser light. Lubricant residues exposed to high energy density light will pyrolyze or decompose and produce carbon particulates. The NIF Approved Materials Database lists several lubricants that have been tested for use in NIF environments. Many of these lubricants were tested according to MELs 99-006 (oven outgassing test) or 99-007 (vacuum outgassing test). In these tests, the change in percent transmission of light through a sol-gel coated optic placed next to the sample under evaluation is used as the diagnostic. Samples that cause less than 0.1% change in optical transmission are deemed suitable for use inside beam enclosures. This testing, however, addresses only the concern associated with AMCs. To assess the issue of particle generation, a flashlamp or ''aerosol'' test is used. In this test a sample with residues is subjected to intense light from the main amplifier flashlamps. The number density of particles per unit volume is measure after each flash. A measurement of an average of fewer than 1000 particles >0.5{micro}m in diameter produced per square foot of exposed surface per flash for each of the last ten flashes in a series of 60 flashes of light is deemed to be acceptable for polymers. A measurement of an average of fewer than 100 particles >0.5{micro}m in diameter produced per square foot of exposed surface per flash for each of the last ten flashes in a series of 60 flashes of light is deemed to be acceptable for metals

Clean Assembly Practices to Prevent Contamination and Damage to Optics

A key lesson learned from the earliest optics installed in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) was that the traditional approach for maintaining cleanliness, such as the use of cleanrooms and associated garments and protocols, is inadequate. Assembly activities often negate the benefits provided by cleanrooms, and in fact generate contamination with high damage potential. As a result, NIF introduced ''clean assembly protocols'' and related practices to supplement the traditional clean room protocols. These new protocols included ''clean-as-you-go'' activities and regular bright light inspections. Introduction of these new protocols has greatly reduced the particle contamination found on more recently installed optics. In this paper we will describe the contamination mechanisms we have observed and the details of the clean assembly protocols we have successfully introduced to mitigate them

Solution of the two identical ion Penning trap final state

We have derived a closed form analytic expression for the asymptotic motion of a pair of identical ions in a high precision Penning trap. The analytic solution includes the effects of special relativity and the Coulomb interaction between the ions. The existence and physical relevance of such a final state is supported by a confluence of theoretical, experimental and numerical evidence.Comment: 5 pages and 2 figure

Radiation Induced Stress Relaxation in Silicone and Polyurethane Elastomers

Many different materials are used in the National Ignition Facility, NIF, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, LLNL. Some of these are exposed to significant doses of ionizing radiation. Two elastomers are of special interest because they are used in sealing applications with long expected lifetimes. These are LPU4, a polyurethane formulated at LLNL, and Dow Corning DC93-500, a silicone RTV elastomer. In 2004 a program to determine the impact of ionizing radiation on the stress relaxation and compression set characteristics of these two elastomers was undertaken. Since the materials are used in continuous compression and must reliably seal, the primary test utilized was a stress relaxation test. This test provides insight into the ability of a seal to remain functional in a static seal. The test determines how much residual force remains after a certain period of time under compression. The temperature and absorbed radiation dose can dramatically impact this property. In this study the only independent environmental variable studied is the effect of radiation at ambient temperatures. Two levels of radiation exposure were studied, 1 MRad, and 10 MRad. One of the independent test parameters is the compression deflection during storage and in this test the value used was 25%. The need for a compression retention mechanism ruled out radiation exposure in the compressed direction since the high atomic number materials for that device would block the radiation. Therefore, an annular ring was chosen for the specimen shape. The procedures are, as closely as possible, based on ASTM D 6147-97. Since the data is readily obtained at the end of the stress relaxation test, the samples were also evaluated for compression set. Compression set is the essentially permanent deformation incurred in a seal after the seal is compressed for some period of time and then unloaded. Though this is indicative of potential sealing reliability, it is not as direct an indicator of seal performance as is stress relaxation. Compression set does not yield any useable, quantified information but is an indicator of viscoelastic deformation with time. The needed thickness measurements were obtained both from the unloading curves and direct measurement in general accordance with ASTM D395-03. The radiation source for this testing was the Co60 gamma source located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This source has an exposure vessel approximately 29.2cm (11.5-inch) tall with an inside diameter of 7.44cm (2.93-inch). Because of the geometry limits, cylindrical symmetry and limited volume, a standard stress relaxation test such as ASTM D 6147-97 could not be utilized and a modified test was developed. An additional constraint imposed by the vertical asymmetry of the radiation dose in the exposure chamber was a limited height with reasonably uniform radiation exposure. The specific dimensions and radiation characteristics of the test cell are in Appendix A

A Pionic Hadron Explains the Muon Magnetic Moment Anomaly

A significant discrepancy exists between experiment and calculations of the muon's magnetic moment. We find that standard formulas for the hadronic vacuum polarization term have overlooked pionic states known to exist. Coulomb binding alone guarantees $\pi^+ \pi^-$ states that quantum mechanically mix with the $\rho$ meson. A simple 2-state mixing model explains the magnetic moment discrepancy for a mixing angle of order $\alpha \sim 10^{-2}$. The relevant physical state is predicted to give a tiny observable bump in the ratio R(s) of $e^+ e^-$ annihilation at a low energy not previously searched. The burden of proof is reversed for claims that conventional physics cannot explain the muon's anomalous moment.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, revised version, accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Low energy kaon photoproduction from nuclei

We study $K^+$-meson production in $\gamma{A}$ interaction at energies below the reaction threshold in free space. The Thomas-Fermi and spectral function approaches are used for the calculations of the production process. It is found that the measurement of the differential spectra may allow to reconstruct the production mechanism and to investigate the dispersion relations entering the production vertex. It is shown that the contribution from secondary pion induced reactions to the total kaon photoproduction is negligible for $E_\gamma{<}$1.2 GeV so that strangeness production at low energies is sensitive to the nuclear spectral function.Comment: 20 pages, espcrc1, including 12 figures, to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Exchange current contributions in null-plane quantum models of elastic electron deuteron scattering

We investigate exchange current contributions to elastic electron-deuteron scattering using exactly Poincar\'e invariant quantum mechanics with a null-plane kinematic symmetry. Our model exchange current is motivated by one-pion-exchange physics. Exact current conservation and current covariance are satisfied by using this current to compute a linearly independent set of current matrix elements. The remaining current matrix elements are generated from the independent matrix elements using the covariance and current conservation constraints. The presence of the exchange current increases the sensitivity to the choice of independent current matrix elements. Two choices of independent matrix elements that have distinct motivations lead to a good description of all of the elastic scattering observables for momentum transfers below 8 (GeV)$^2$.Comment: 49 Pages, 24 figure

Relativistic Transport Approach for Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions from SIS to SPS Energies

We formulate a covariant transport approach for high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions where the real part of the nucleon selfenergies is fitted to nuclear matter properties which are evaluated on the basis of a NJL-type Lagrangian for the quark degrees of freedom. The parameters of the quark-model Lagrangian are fixed by the Gell-Mann, Oakes and Renner relation, the pion- nucleon $\Sigma$-term, the nucleon energy as well as the nuclear binding energy at saturation density $\rho_0$. We find the resulting scalar and vector selfenergies for nucleons to be well in line with either Dirac-Brueckner computations for $\rho \leq 2 \rho_0$ or those from the phenomenological optical potential when accounting for a swelling of the nucleon at finite nuclear matter density. The meson-baryon interaction density is modelled to describe a decrease of the meson mass with baryon density. The imaginary part of the hadron selfenergies is determined by a string fragmentation model which accounts for the in-medium mass of hadrons in line with the 'chiral' dynamics employed. The applicability of the transport approach is demonstrated in comparison with experimental data from SIS to SPS energies. The enhancement of the K$^+/\pi^+$ ratio in A + A collisions compared to p + A reactions at AGS energies is reproduced within the 'chiral' dynamics. Furthermore, detailed predictions for the stopping in Pb + Pb collisions at 153 GeV/A are presented.Comment: 1 compressed uuencoded postscript file with 23 figures included, 45 page