This Analysis/Model Report (AMR) describes enhancements made to the infiltration model documented in Flint et al. (1996) and documents an analysis using the enhanced model to generate spatial and temporal distributions over a model domain encompassing the Yucca Mountain site, Nevada. Net infiltration is the component of infiltrated precipitation, snowmelt, or surface water run-on that has percolated below the zone of evapotranspiration as defined by the depth of the effective root zone, the average depth below the ground surface (at a given location) from which water is removed by evapotranspiration. The estimates of net infiltration are used for defining the upper boundary condition for the site-scale 3-dimensional Unsaturated-Zone Ground Water Flow and Transport (UZ flow and transport) Model (CRWMS M&O 2000a). The UZ flow and transport model is one of several process models abstracted by the Total System Performance Assessment model to evaluate expected performance of the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in terms of radionuclide transport (CRWMS M&O 1998). The net-infiltration model is important for assessing potential repository-system performance because output from this model provides the upper boundary condition for the UZ flow and transport model that is used to generate flow fields for evaluating potential radionuclide transport …

This report describes controlled transport experiments at well-instrumented field tests to be conducted during FY 2000 in support of DOE?s Vadose Zone Transport Field Study (VZTFS). The VZTFS supports the Groundwater/Vadose Zone Integration Project Science and Technology Initiative. The field tests will improve understanding of field-scale transport and lead to the development or identification of efficient and cost-effective characterization methods. These methods will capture the extent of contaminant plumes using existing steel-cased boreholes. Specific objectives are to 1) identify mechanisms controlling transport processes in soils typical of the hydrogeologic conditions of Hanford?s waste disposal sites; 2) reduce uncertainty in conceptual models; 3) develop a detailed and accurate data base of hydraulic and transport parameters for validation of three-dimensional numerical models; and 4) identify and evaluate advanced, cost-effective characterization methods with the potential to assess changing conditions in the vadose zone, particularly as surrogates of currently undetectable high-risk contaminants. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) manages the VZTFS for DOE.

From introduction: This manual is designed to assist sea turtle biologists and other non-physologists in the identification of the food items contained in the gastrointestinal tract of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) sampled from the Hawaiian Islands. The manual contains many of the most common algal species found in crop/stomach samples taken from Hawaiian green turtles.

To better understand the structural characteristics of vegetation in the Los Alamos region, the authors conducted two years of field surveys and associated analyses. This report introduces field methods, lists the summarized field data, and discusses the results of preliminary spatial analyses. During 1998 and 1999, seventy-six terrestrial plant communities were sampled for topographic characteristics, soil surface features, and vegetational conditions. A nested, randomized design was used to select the plot locations and to guide the sampling of the plot. The samples included a variety of fuel types, including surface fuels and ground fuels, shrubby and small tree fuels, and overstory fuels. Species composition data were also collected. The fuels data were summarized by vegetation type and evaluated for the topographic and spatial relationships of major field categories. The results of these analyses indicate that many of the fuels categories depend on topographic factors in a linear and curvilinear fashion. In particular, middle elevations within the Los Alamos region tend to support more surface fuels and ground fuels, whereas large-diameter trees are most dense at higher elevations and are specific to community types at these elevations. Small-diameter trees occur in more dense stands at lower and middle elevations and on …

This is the FY 1999 Progress Report for the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It gives an overview of the LDRD Program, summarizes work done on individual research projects, relates the projects to major Laboratory program sponsors, and provides an index to the principal investigators. Project summaries are grouped by their LDRD component: Competency Development, Program Development, and Individual Projects. Within each component, they are further grouped into nine technical categories: (1) materials science, (2) chemistry, (3) mathematics and computational science, (4) atomic, molecular, optical, and plasma physics, fluids, and particle beams, (5) engineering science, (6) instrumentation and diagnostics, (7) geoscience, space science, and astrophysics, (8) nuclear and particle physics, and (9) bioscience.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Groundwater/Vadose Zone Integration Project Science and Technology initiative was created in FY 1999 to reduce the uncertainty associated with vadose zone transport processes beneath waste sites at DOE's Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. This information is needed not only to evaluate the risks from transport, but also to support the adoption of measures for minimizing impacts to the groundwater and surrounding environment. The principal uncertainties in vadose zone transport are the current distribution of source contaminants and the natural heterogeneity of the soil in which the contaminants reside. Oversimplified conceptual models resulting from these uncertainties and limited use of hydrologic characterization and monitoring technologies have hampered the understanding contaminant migration through Hanford's vadose zone. Essential prerequisites for reducing vadose transport uncertainly include the development of accurate conceptual models and the development or adoption of monitoring techniques capable of delineating the current distributions of source contaminants and characterizing natural site heterogeneity. The Vadose Zone Transport Field Study (VZTFS) was conceived as part of the initiative to address the major uncertainties confronting vadose zone fate and transport predictions at the Hanford Site and to overcome the limitations of previous characterization attempts. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO estimated the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) sugar program's: (1) costs to domestic sweetener users; (2) benefits to domestic sugar and high-fructose corn syrup producers; and (3) net effects on the U.S. economy--the differences between the costs to users and the benefits to producers that result from artificially high sweetener prices."

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Bonneville is responsible for maintaining a network of 24,000 kilometers (km) or 15,000 miles (mi.) of electric transmission lines and 350 substations in a region of diverse vegetation. This vegetation can interfere with electric power flow, pose safety problems for us and the public, and interfere with our ability to maintain these facilities. We need to (1) keep vegetation away from our electric facilities; (2) increase our program efficiency and consistency; (3) review herbicide use (under increased public scrutiny); and (4) maximize the range of tools we can use while minimizing environmental impact (Integrated Vegetation Management). This Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) establishes Planning Steps for managing vegetation for specific projects (to be tiered to this Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)). In addition to No Action (current practice), alternatives are presented for Rights-of-way, Electric Yards, and Non-electric Facilities (landscaping, work yards). Four vegetation control methods are analyzed manual, mechanical, herbicide, and biological. Also evaluated are 23 herbicide active ingredients and 4 herbicide application techniques (spot, localized, broadcast, and aerial). For rights-of-way, we consider three sets of alternatives: alternative management approaches (time-driven or establishing low-growing plant communities); alternative method packages; and, if herbicides are in a methods package, alternative vegetation selections (noxious …

This document is the master work plan for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) for single-shell tank (SST) farms at the Hanford Site. Evidence indicates that releases at four of the seven SST waste management areas have impacted.