BIOMOVS (BIOspheric MOdel Validation Study) is an international cooperative study initiated in 1985 by the Swedish National Institute of Radiation Protection to test models designed to calculate the environmental transfer and bioaccumulation of radionuclides and other trace substances. The objective of the symposium and workshop was to synthesize results obtained during Phase 1 of BIOMOVS (the first five years of the study) and to suggest new directions that might be pursued during Phase 2 of BIOMOVS. The travelers were an instrumental part of the development of BIOMOVS. This symposium allowed the travelers to present a review of past efforts at model validation and a synthesis of current activities and to refine ideas concerning future development of models and data for assessing the fate, effect, and human risks of environmental contaminants. R. H. Gardner also visited the Free University, Amsterdam, and the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM) in Bilthoven to confer with scientists about current research in theoretical ecology and the use of models for estimating the transport and effect of environmental contaminants and to learn about the European efforts to map critical loads of acid deposition.

Federal land ownership and management are of perennial interest to Congress. This report describes the constitutional authority for federal land ownership. It provides the history of federal land acquisition and disposal, and describes the federal land management agency jurisdictions, based on congressional authorities to reserve or withdraw lands from disposal. The report then describes several efforts to force additional federal land disposal, including recent legislative activity. It concludes with describes the various current land acquisition and disposal authorities of the four major federal land management agencies. The report will be updated to reflect major legislative activity or changes in acquisition or disposal authorities.

A borehole-miner extendible-nozzle sluicing system was designed, constructed, and deployed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to remediate five horizontal underground storage tanks containing sludge and supernate at the ORNL Old Hydrofracture Facility site. The tanks were remediated in fiscal year 1998 to remove {approx}98% of the waste, {approx}3% greater than the target removal of >95% of the waste. The tanks contained up to 18 in. of sludge covered by supernate. The 42,000 gal of low level liquid waste were estimated to contain 30,000 Ci, with 97% of this total located in the sludge. The retrieval was successful. At the completion of the remediation, the State of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation agreed that the tanks were cleaned to the maximum extent practicable using pumping technology. This deployment was the first radioactive demonstration of the borehole-miner extendible-nozzle water-jetting system. The extendible nozzle is based on existing bore hole-miner technology used to fracture and dislodge ore deposits in mines. Typically borehole-miner technology includes both dislodging and retrieval capabilities. Both dislodging, using the extendible-nozzle water-jetting system, and retrieval, using a jet pump located at the base of the mast, are deployed as an integrated system through one borehole or riser. Note that …

The initial Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) groundwater quality assessment report for Waste Management Area S-SX (PNNL-11810) was issued in January 1998. The report stated a plan for conducting continued assessment would be developed after addressing Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) comments on initial findings in PNNL-11810. Comments from Ecology were received by US Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) on September 24, 1998. Shortly thereafter, Ecology and DOE began dispute resolution and related negotiations about tank farm vadose issues. This led to proposed new Tri-Party Agreement milestones covering a RCRA Facility Investigation-Corrective Measures Study (RFI/CMS) of the four single-shell tank farm waste management areas that were in assessment status (Waste Management Areas B-BX-BY, S-SX, T and TX-TY). The RCRA Facility Investigation includes both subsurface (vadose zone and groundwater) and surface (waste handling facilities and grounds) characterization. Many of the Ecology comments on PNNL-11810 are more appropriate for, and in many cases are superseded by, the RFI/CMS at Waste Management Area S-SX. The proposed Tri-Party Agreement milestone changes that specify the scope and schedule for the RFI/CMS work plans (Tri-Party Agreement change number M-45-98-0) were issued for public comment in February 1999. The Tri-Party Agreement narrative indicates …

In this project, we advanced knowledge of Ion Acoustic Decay on several fronts. In this project, we have developed and demonstrated the capability to perform experimental and theoretical studies of the Ion Acoustic Decay Instability. We have at the same time demonstrated an improved capability to do multichannel spectroscopy and Thomson scattering. We made the first observations of the time-resolved second harmonic emission at several angles simultaneously, and the first observations of the emission both parallel and perpendicular to the electric field of the laser light. We used Thomson scattering to make the first observations of the plasma waves driven by acoustic decay in a warm plasma with long density scale lengths. We also advanced both the linear and the nonlinear theory of this instability. We are thus prepared to perform experiments to address this mechanism as needed for applications.

This report documents the search results in identifying manufacturers who can develop viscosity sensors for in situ to waste characterization. Six companies were found that have in-process viscometers.

The Electric Power Monthly is prepared by the Survey Management Division; Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels, Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy. This publication provides monthly statistics at the US, Census division, and State levels for net generation, fossil fuel consumption and stocks, quantity and quality of fossil fuels, cost of fossil fuels, electricity sales, revenue, and average revenue per kilowatthour of electricity sold. Data on net generation, fuel consumption, fuel stocks, quantity and cost of fossil fuels are also displayed for the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) regions.

Reports on the feasibility of replacing existing embedded process piping with new more corrosion resistant piping between cells and between cells and a hot pipe trench of a Hanford Site style canyon facility. Provides concepts for replacement piping installation, and use of robotics to replace the use of the canyon crane as the primary means of performing/supporting facility modifications (eg, cell lining, pipe replacement, equipment reinstallation) and operational maintenenace.

This document presents the water-level monitoring plan for the Hanford Groundwater Monitoring Project, conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Water-level monitoring of the groundwater system beneath the Hanford Site is performed to fulfill the requirements of various state and federal regulations, orders, and agreements. The primary objective of this monitoring is to determine groundwater flow rates and directions. To meet this and other objectives, water-levels are measured annually in monitoring wells completed within the unconfined aquifer system, the upper basalt-confined aquifer system, and in the lower basalt-confined aquifers for surveillance monitoring. At regulated waste units, water levels are taken monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually, depending on the hydrogeologic conditions and regulatory status of a given site. The techniques used to collect water-level data are described in this document, along with the factors that affect the quality of the data and the strategies employed by the project to minimize error in the measurement and interpretation of water levels.