Nuclear Engineering Commons^™

Evaluating The Total Cost Of An On-Site Solar Energy System, Dennis Costello, Jerry Bradley

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

A methodology for evaluating the total or life-cycle cost of an on-site solar energy system is presented. The costs represent after-tax or effective costs realized by the owner of the energy system. The methodology addresses: (1) capital costs; (2) fuel costs; (3) maintenance and operating costs; (4) property taxes; (5) the tax benefits of depreciation; and (6) the investment tax credit. The model was developed for evaluating solar energy systems located at the point where the energy is demanded. However, the methodology also has applicability to many other types of energy systems.

Industrial Innovations And Management Toward More Efficient Usage Of Electrical Energy, Tom Day

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

This paper deals with some of the industrial accomplishments in alleviating energy supply and demand problems. A survey is presented on how electrical energy in America is generated, resources used and kilowatt usage for the years 1970 to and including 1974. Conservation of electrical energy is the main theme in which three primary areas of innovation and utilization of industrial equipment are discussed; induction, lighting, heating and air conditioning. An awareness of natural gas shortages and the trend toward an "electric economy" are reviewed. The real challenge to energy management is apparent in order to handle the greatest expansion in …

Natural Resource Pricing And Economic Development, Vaman Rao

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

In a competitive equilibrium the price of a natural resource will be increasing at a rate equal to the social time preference rate, but in a monopoly market, the price will be increasing at less than social time preference rate. If the producer countries utilise their monopoly of production and sale of a natural resource for the purpose of developing their economies, the price of the natural resource will be growing at the rate at which the producer countries' economies are growing, whether or not the sales proceeds are used to finance their investment programmes, fully or partly.

An Engineering, Geological And Hydrological Environmental Assessment Of A 250 Mmscfd Dry Ash Lurgi Coal Gasification Facility, Mason H. Somerville, James L. Elder, Stephen R. Moran

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

A preliminary engineering, geological, and hydrological environmental assessment of a proposed 250 MMSCFD dry ash Lurgi coal gasification facility is discussed.

The facility's emission spectrum is examined on the basis of the proposed design and empirical data. This system utilizes approximately 13 million tons of lignite and 17,000 acre feet of water per year and consumes 6500 tons of oxygen per day. The results of the study indicate that the major gaseous effluent is CO₂, that the federal limits on SO₂ effluent may be met, and that the atmospheric degradation criterion will be the most difficult one …

Solar Assisted Power Systems, A. G. Potter

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

Except for hydroelectric power, solar electric generation has not been widely used in the past to assist power system generation because of its relatively high cost. This situation has now started to change with the advent of the energy crisis as exemplified by decreasing natural gas supplies and increasing fossil fuel prices. One possible response to this situation which appears to have a relatively good chance for economic success is the utilization of wind and solar thermal energy for space and water heating loads served by natural gas or electric power. Unfortunately, a large portion of the energy collected in …

Wind Energy Concentrators, John L. Loth

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

This paper presents two alternatives to the shrouded propeller wind energy concentrator. Their operation is based on generating a low pressure area, with high local wind velocity, around the windmill rotor.

The two types of wind energy concentrators considered are: (1) the "obstruction type" concentrator where a vertical cylinder or vertical flat surface is used to produce high local velocities around two counter-rotating vertical axis rotors, and (2) the "vortex type" concentrator where a horizontal vortex is generated by a vertical high lift wing of finite span. The high local wind kinetic energy inside the vortex is harnessed by a …

Energy From Agriculture, E. C. Clausen, D. L. Million, Efton Park, J. L. Gaddy

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

During the past few years, the demand for energy and petrochemicals has grown at a pace so rapid that our reserves of fossil fuels, once considered inexhaustible, are now being quickly depleted. To help lessen this impending problem, alternative sources of energy must be rapidly developed.

Of the many new sources of energy being studied, solar energy, undisputedly, is the most inexhaustible. Energy from the sun, incident upon the earth's surface, exceeds by nearly three orders of magnitude the total energy consumption today. Furthermore, it is not subject to nationalistic boundaries and its use would be compatible with our environmental …

Planned Reduction In Electrical Energy Use In Nashville - Davidson County, Tennessee: A Preliminary Assessment, Barry D. Lichter, William F. Flanagan, Robert S. Goodrich, James K. Sebenius, C. Paul Beach

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

An assessment was carried out of the impacts of the various alternative strategies designed to reduce the rate of electrical energy use in the Nashville-Davidson County area, in the light of a potential crisis in supply. Seven strategies were identified among the major categories of voluntary reduction, price regulation, and mandatory reduction. Thirty-three sub-sectors were identified among residential, commercial and industrial users, and the consequences of imposing the strategies were assessed using a cross-impact matrix. The value of the methodology as an aid to public policy formulation lies in its possible extension to allow direct participation of various affected publics.

Optimum Control Of Heating, Ventilating And Air Conditioning Systems, Terry R. Weaver

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

The control of HVAC systems has traditionally been performed by relatively simple field hardware. The industry appears, however, to be ready for the use of more sophisticated measures. The paper presents several approaches to the conservation of energy in this area with the use of closed-loop computer control and optimization.

Front Matter, University Of Missouri--Rolla

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

No abstract provided.

Opening Remarks, Raymond L. Bisplinghoff

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

You are all extended the very warmest welcome to the University of Missouri-Rolla. This four day conference on energy, the second of its kind, is filled with papers and activities that should find some interest for almost everyone involved in energy activities. All of us on this campus want you to have a rewarding four days and to enjoy yourselves as well. It goes without saying that we stand ready to aid you in every way that is possible. I want to commend the organizers, particularly Dr. Derald Morgan, for his hard and dedicated work in putting the conference together.

An Examination Of Thermal Stress As A Mechanism For Cladding Failure In A Hypothetical Lmrbr Transiet, Douglas Wakerfield Croucher

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

Stainless steel clad uranium dioxide fuel pellets were pulse irradiated in the Annular Core Pulse Reactor to evaluate thermal stress as a contributing mechanism for cladding failure in hypothetical LMFBR transients. The 6.2 mm diameter UO2 fuel pellets, with enrichments up to 25 w/o 235UO2, were helium bonded to 0.381 mm thick Type-316 stainless steel cladding and were irradiated in a helium environment with reactor pulses having initial periods as short as 1.5 milliseconds. In experiments conducted elsewhere with longer initial periods, the primary fuel failure mechanisms observed were differential fuel-cladding thermal expansion, intragranular fission-gas-induced fuel swelling, transient fission gas …

Safeguards Considerations For A Htgr Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Philip G. Johnson

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

Given that the prime objective of safeguards for special nuclear materials (SNM) is nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, it is logical that safeguards priorities should be commensurate with the relative suitabilities of the various SNM forms in existence for application in nuclear explosives. The SNM forms in each reactor fuel cycle, for example, should be screened and ordered according to their relative suitabilities for such misapplication. Significant considerations in assigning protection priorities include the relative suitabilities based on materials characteristics, inherent protection features of the mateerials or the processing of the SNM forms, the quantities of these materials in existence, and …

A Prompt D-D Neutron Calibration Of A Plastic Scintillator Detector, Dal H. Jensen

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

ABSTRACT

A new approach to the measurement of the neutron yield of low intensity (~ 2 x 10 neutrons/pulse) 0-0 neutron generators in a single pulse is described. A cylindrical (20.32 cm radius by 20.32 cm height) scin­tillator of Pilot-Bis optically coupled to a Phillips 57AVP photomulti­plier with a 20 cm diameter photocathode. The light pulse resulting from the neutron burst is fed into a voltage integrator calibrated in neutrons/ count.

The initial calibration of the stable neutron generator used in the scintillator calibration was performed using a silver activation detector (PT-502) designed by LASL. The data obtained for the …

Methods For Calculating Energy Deposition Using Coupled Neutron-Gamma Ray Transport, Lewis Douglas Rigdon

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

In radiation damage problems, it is desirable to know not only the neutron and gamma ray fluxes but also the energy deposition due to those fluxes. Following the recent availability of coupled neutron-gamma ray, multigroup-multitable cross sections and associated fluence-to-KERMA factors, an automated method has been developed for obtaining the energy deposition in a material region due to local neutron and gamma ray fluxes. Cross section sets which combine neutron and photon transport as well as a production matrix for neutron-induced gamma rays are used in the transport calculation. Thus in one discrete ordinates transport calculation, the energy deposition from …

Creating The Electric Energy Economy, L. G. Hauser

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

My remarks will be directed to four points:

First, that energy is the life blood of our economy, and that its use or conservation is far from a simple matter of personal habits of waste or frugality. In other words, the vital role energy plays in the production of goods and services should be distinguished from its use in their consumption.

Second, that our excessive dependence on our two scarcest energy resources -- oil and natural gas -- is the core of the energy problem, both U.S. and worldwide.

Third, that limiting our time horizon to this winter, next summer, …

Centralized Solar Wind Home Heating, Russell Peterson, Duane Cromack

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

In the immediacy of national goals for energy independence, the need emerges to use dialectic methods to diminish the energy consumptive characteristics of the typical home.

At the cutting edge of resourceful progress are the residential developments which embrace alternative and conservative energy techniques. In conjunction with such a planned, low impact community, this paper proposes a cluster-centralized system which utilizes wind energy in combination with solar thermal energy for space and domestic water heating.

A description of the random solar-wind resource embodies a matching problem that in turn reveals the benefits of the combined mode of energy collection. Though …

Energy And Transportation Policy, James S. Sagner

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

Energy shortages of recent years suggest a re-examination of national transportation policy. The lack of a coordinated approach to the solution of urban cogestion inhibits potential short-run responses to gasoline shortfalls. Longer-range policy, particularly in the context of severe financial constraints, must be carefully integrated with demonstrated patterns of urban travel and population and employment densities. Given these considerations, metropolitan areas now planning or constructing rapid rail facilities may be selecting inappropriate responses to the problem of urban access.

The Design And Performance Of A Distributed Flow Water-Cooled Solar Collector, Donald L. Spencer, Theodore F. Smith, Herbert R. Flindt

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

Design of a flat plate collector which reduces the temperature differential between the absorber plate and the fluid is described. The reduced temperature differences are shown to yield increase collector performance. Flow characteristics of the collector are examined. Collector thermal performance is illustrated for typical operating and environmental conditions. A cost analysis is presented to demonstrate that material and assembly costs are substantially lower than for any collector presently on the market.

Status Report On The Callaway Nuclear Power Plant, A. E. Bolan, D. F. Schnell

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

The progress to date of the first nuclear-powered, electric generating plant proposed to be constructed in the state of Missouri is described.

Direct Ac Generation From Solar Cell Arrays, Fernando L. Alvarado, Adel H. Eltimsahy

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

Results of the investigation of the performance of solar cells when directly coupled to a conventional three-phase power network are presented. This approach dissociates the electricity production problem from the electric energy storage problem. Extensive studies of the required power inverter are performed. Preliminary simulation results indicate that ac power outputs of better than 90% of the optimum cell power output can be easily achieved by means of a suitably controlled inverter, thereby justifying the elimination of dc loads or local dc electric energy storage devices. It is also shown that the controlling policy for the inverter must depend on …

Dynamic Simulation For Regional Energy Studies, B. W. Jones, P. M. Moretti, J. H. Mize

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

A series of models has been developed for regional studies of energy supply- demand systems. The models are based on dynamic simulation of components of the system using equations derived from the technical details of the system. The models contain sufficient detail to make in-depth studies and specific recommendations. The final goal is to include all aspects of regional energy systems from native supplies of energy resources to the economic activities of the region.

To develop a comprehensive model, the system has been partitioned into subsystems, so that a detailed model can be made for each subsystem. The detailed model …

How Might Synthetic Fuels From Coal Affect Natural Resources And Environment?, H. J. Plass Jr.

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

Energy self-sufficiency for the U. S. requires substantially increased use of coal. Direct combustion of coal without adequate environmental controls, as would occur if coal were used as a fuel for homes and offices throughout the country, would result in severe air pollution problems„ Synthetic fuels from coal such as methane, low BTU gas, or hydrogen, when utilized by the homes and businesses as gas or as electricity from gas, will contribute a much smaller amount of air pollution. However, to make these synthetic fuels available, it is necessary to mine more coal than would have to be mined for …

Alcohol Assisted Hydrocarbon Fuels: A Comparison Of Exhaust Emissions And Fuel Consumption Using Steady-State And Dynamic Engine Test Facilities, D. J. Bushnell, J. M. Simonsen

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

This paper presents experimental data which exemplifies the differences in emission level testing on internal combustion engines when dynamic engine tests are used instead of steady-state engine tests. A comparison of the two test methods is made using hydrocarbon fuels with varying amounts of methanol. Emissions measured include the nitric oxides, unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. Emission levels and fuel consumption are reported for the various volumetric percentages of methanol in the fuel.

Of special significance are the different trends the emission levels establish when subjected to a dynamic engine test as compared to the results for the steady-state tests. …

Computer Simulation Of Radiation Effects In Fe₃Al By Using Alternating Direction Implicit Numerical Techniques., Dean Lewis Tibbitts

Masters Theses

"An analysis was conducted to see if the alternating direction implicit (a.d.i.) numerical technique could be applied to a many-body dynamical radiation damage model.

The computer program which resulted was named ADI. It was numerically stable for small time steps used in conjunction with low ev knock-ens. It was also able to relax the a toms in the system simultaneously in the implicit direction. However, an existing explicit computer code, which was to be replaced by ADI, proved to be more numerically stable and about 40% faster"-- Abstract, p. ii

A Computer Technique For Calculating The Radiological Consequences Of Pressurized Water Reactor Power Plant Hypothetical Accidents, Charles Francis Gill

Doctoral Dissertations

"A closed form analytical method of calculating the radiological consequences of ten pressurized water reactor (PWR) hypothetical accidents was developed. This methodology was used to develop a computer code, DOSES, to compute the gamma-whole body, beta-skin and iodine inhalation thyroid doses at the site boundary, at the low population zone outer boundary and for control room occupancy for the ten PWR hypothetical accidents. The computer code, DOSES, was developed to operate in the conversational remote terminal mode and to provide a mechanism for producing required information for chapter 15 of PWR nuclear power plant safety analysis reports.

The identification of …

Effect Of Photoneutrons On Transients Of Beryllium Reflected Reactors, Safdar Ahmad Ali

Doctoral Dissertations

"An analytical model is developed to account for the photoneutron sources present in a beryllium reflector. The time-dependent, two- dimensional and three energy-group diffusion equations are written with an additional photoneutron source term. Then an approximate flux composed of two spatial shapes chosen beforehand, each having an unknown time coefficient, is inserted into time-dependent multigroup equations and the weighted residual criterion is applied. This yielded multimode kinetics equations with generalized definitions for conventional matrix parameters: generation time, reactivity, delayed neutron and delayed photoneutron fraction matrices.

Two transients are analyzed for the University of Missouri Research Reactor: simulation of rod drop …

Experimental Study Of Electron Density And Confinement Time In An Electrostatically-Plugged Cusp Device Using A Microwave Interferometer, Robert Louis Hayward

Masters Theses

"The average electron density and electron confinement time in an electrostatically plugged magnetic spindle cusp device are studied using a 20 GHz microwave interferometer. The results are compared with the predictions from approximate theoretical equations. With a magnetic induction in the point cusp of 5000 Gauss, a plasma is produced by injecting a 5 mA, 500 eV electron beam into hydrogen gas at 10^-5 Torr. The measured electron density is 2 x 10^-10 cm^-3 and the measured confinement time is 80 ysec, which agree to within a factor of two with values predicted by theory"--Abstract, page ii.

Energy, Environment And Incremental Decision Making, Jeff V. Conopask, Robert R. Reynolds Jr.

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

During the late 1960's and early 70's a variety of environmental/energy oriented legislation was enacted by the Congress. The most important of these acts, the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), required that environmental impact statements be filed when various private and public activities have a potential for impacting man and his environment. (17) Impact statement requirements go beyond the currently practiced cost/benefit analysis, which is often just a production (direct) impact assessment. Heretofore, indirect or second round economic and social effects of consequence affecting other national goals were seldom counted.

Alternate Energy Removal Modes For Nuclear Power Reactors, Robert L. Carter

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

Attention is focussed upon the unique qualities of high energy fission particles, and upon the fundamental limits to the direct removal of their kinetic energy by electrostatic means and by cyclotron resonance deceleration. Efficiencies of secondary and tertiary product ionization and excitation produced by fission particles are examined. The potential for delivery of power through various non-thermal modes is discussed, and the significant unknowns relating thereto are identified.