Economics and the evaluation of publicly funded energy R and D

There are three major areas in which economics can contribute to the evaluation of federal R and D: assessment of net benefits, ex ante expected as well as ex post realized; tailoring of R and D portfolios to policy goals; and guiding the contractual organization of R and D production. Additionally, evaluation of R and D and scientific activity tend to be distinctly retrospective, principally because of the long lags between the initial production activity and the observability of consequences. Extending the purview of economic evaluation of R and D, they find ample opportunity for evaluation that can inform current R and D management practice. The conduct of R and D is organized through a series of explicit and implicit contracts designed to elicit long-term commitments by some agents while attempting to limit the commitment by others. It is natural to consider the efficiency with which R and D is conducted as a subject for economic inquiry, although in practice such inquiries generally are restricted to accounting exercises. In evaluating the efficiency with which R and D is done, the current ordinary practice is to look at labor rates and equipment and materials prices while considering quantities of those items as the principal instrument variables in an optimization problem (the authors conceptualization, not that of the typical review of an R and D project). The authors recommend the contractual structure and other elements of the incentive structure (pay and promotion) of R and D production as prime focal points for managerially useful economic evaluation. Non-economic motivations for funding public R and D, including energy R and D, are well known. The US will consider spending several billion dollars on an international space station, partly if not largely, to fund the peaceful employment of scientists from the Former Soviet Union. Nonetheless, it will be useful to understand the economics of the R and D programs even if other considerations play important roles in funding

Functional Analysis and Thermal-Hydraulics Program Plan

The purpose of this document is to set forth the Program Plan for the Functional Analysis and Thermal-Hydraulics (FA TH) Program (herein after referred to as the [open quotes]Program[close quotes]) for the 5 year period covering fiscal years 1992 thru 1996. Specifically, the actions planned by the Safety Analysis Group (SAG) of the Reactor Safety Research Section within SRTC will be identified, defined, and a schedule and resource projection presented. This document will be used by the Reactor Safety Research Section management as the baseline definition for the Program's scope, schedule and cost. Annual budget and staffing requests will be submitted based on this approved baseline. Status reporting and progress monitoring will be performed against this approved baseline. This Program plan will be revised as needed to reflect the changes that come about due to Program redirection. The Program's primary mission is to provide further assurance that the Savannah River Site K-Reactor is designed, modified, operated and maintained in a safe, cost-effective manner through application of functional analysis methodology and continued development of thermal hydraulic support capabilities. It is envisioned that the Program will continue throughout the operating life of K-Reactor and have a permanent staff of eight: one lead and seven engineers. The Program has two primary elements; (1) functional analysis, and (2) thermal-hydraulics. Functional analysis is the first element of the formal Systems Engineering Process. Systems Engineering methodology is commonly applied in both commercial and military programs, particularly where the needs of the program involve complex interrelationships between hardware, software, personnel, and support facilities. It has been extensively used in development of military systems, and in the commercial sector in the development of designs for nuclear power reactors

Retention of molten core debris pools in composite sacrificial beds. [LMFBR]

Passive core catchers have been proposed as a means for retaining the core debris following a hypothetical core disruptive accident in a fast reactor. The core debris which may be in the form of a molten pool is passively retained in a sacrificial bed of high melting temperature material placed inside or outside the reactor vessel. Recently, it has been suggested that composite sacrificial beds with a low-melting-temperature zone inside the main high-melting-temperature bed may be more effective in retaining the pool than simple beds. It was argued that the inner zone would quickly melt and dilute the pool so that further growth into the main bed would be slowed. Hence, the main objective of this work has been to examine the composite bed concept to ascertain its efficacy vis-a-vis simple sacrificial beds

Available decontamination and decommissioning capabilities at the Savannah River Technology Center

The Safety Analysis and Engineering Services Group has performed a survey of the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) technical capabilities, skills, and experience in Decontamination and Decommissioning (D D) activities. The goal of this survey is to enhance the integration of the SRTC capabilities with the technical needs of the Environmental Restoration Department D D program and the DOE Office of Technology Development through the Integrated Demonstration Program. This survey has identified technical capabilities, skills, and experience in the following D D areas: Characterization, Decontamination, Dismantlement, Material Disposal, Remote Systems, and support on Safety Technology for D D. This review demonstrates the depth and wealth of technical capability resident in the SRTC in relation to these activities, and the unique qualifications of the SRTC to supply technical support in the area of DOE facility D D. Additional details on specific technologies and applications to D D will be made available on request

MODFLOW 2. 0: A program for predicting moderator flow patterns

Sudden changes in the temperature of flowing liquids can result in transient buoyancy forces which strongly impact the flow hydrodynamics via flow stratification. These effects have been studied for the case of potential flow of stratified liquids to line sinks, but not for moderator flow in SRS reactors. Standard codes, such as TRAC and COMMIX, do not have the capability to capture the stratification effect, due to strong numerical diffusion which smears away the hot/cold fluid interface. A related problem with standard codes is the inability to track plumes injected into the liquid flow, again due to numerical diffusion. The combined effects of buoyant stratification and plume dispersion have been identified as being important in operation the Supplementary Safety System which injects neutron-poison ink into SRS reactors to provide safe shutdown in the event of safety rod failure. The MODFLOW code discussed here provides transient moderator flow pattern information with stratification effects, and tracks the location of ink plumes in the reactor. The code, written in Fortran, is compiled for Macintosh II computers, and includes subroutines for interactive control and graphical output. Removing the graphics capabilities, the code can also be compiled on other computers. With graphics, in addition to the capability to perform safety related computations, MODFLOW also provides an easy tool for becoming familiar with flow distributions in SRS reactors