World interest in coal-based synthetic fuels technology is like a roller coaster ride. Interest soars when energy prices are high or world oil supplies are threatened. When energy is inexpensive and oil is plentiful, interest plummets. However, some people remain undaunted by the ups and downs of the synfuels industry. They cling tenaciously to the idea that coal-based synthetic fuels are the world`s energy future. They are the select group attending the SynOps `92 symposium in Bismarck, North Dakota. SynOps `92 participants represent an extraordinary combination of visionaries and practical thinkers. They believe the ``coal refinery`` concept will eventually provide the most efficient and productive use of our coal resources. They know that coal is a valuable resource which can be used to produce a huge variety of valuable nonfuel products. They also recognize that until technology can make alternative fuels economically feasible, the world will continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels--especially coal, the world`s most abundant energy resource. Individual papers have been entered.

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This special edition of 'Frontiers' commemorates Argonne National Laboratory's 50th anniversary of service to science and society. America's first national laboratory, Argonne has been in the forefront of U.S. scientific and technological research from its beginning. Past accomplishments, current research, and future plans are highlighted.

This corrective action plan provides the closure implementation methods for the Area 3 Landfill Complex, Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 424, located at the Tonopah Test Range. The Area 3 Landfill Complex consists of 8 landfill sites, each designated as a separate corrective action site.

Some lectures on theoretical physics are presented, mostly in the field of elementary particles and field theory, delivered during the summer of 1958 by visitors at the Argonne National Laboratory. The lectures are essentially summaries or reviews of published material. Lectures included are on collision theory for composite particles, quantum theory of fields, inquiries into field theory, classical relativistic theory of elementary particles, and bound states of many-particle systems. (W. D. M.)

Ground-water data collected from wells and test holes at and in the vicinity of the Nevada Test Site have been compiled in a recently released report. These data were collected by the US Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, in support of the US Department of Energy, Environmental Restoration and Hydrologic Resources Management Programs. Depth-to-water measurements were made at 53 sites at the Nevada Test Site from October 1, 1991, to September 30, 1992, and at 60 sites in the vicinity of the Nevada Test Site from 1952 to September 30, 1992. For water year 1992, depth to water ranged from 288 to 2,213 feet below land surface at the Nevada Test Site and from 22 to 1,460 feet below land surface at sites in the vicinity of the Nevada Test Site. Total ground-water withdrawal data compiled for 12 wells at the Nevada Test Site during calendar year 1992 was more than 400 million gallons. Tritium concentrations in water samples collected from five test holes at the Nevada Test Site in water year 1992 did not exceed the US Environmental Protection Agency drinking, water limit.

This report contains a collection of viewgraphs and short papers on target fabrication for inertial confinement purposes.

This project, funded by New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA), investigated the potential for an oil-fired combined heat and power system (micro-CHP system) for potential use in residences that use oil to heat their homes. Obviously, this requires the power source to be one that uses heating oil (diesel). The work consisted of an experimental study using a diesel engine and an analytical study that examined potential energy savings and benefits of micro-CHP systems for 'typical' locations in New York State. A search for a small diesel engine disclosed that no such engines were manufactured in the U.S. A single cylinder engine manufactured in Germany driving an electric generator was purchased for the experimental work. The engine was tested using on-road diesel fuel (15 ppm sulfur), and biodiesel blends. One of the main objectives was to demonstrate the possibility of operation in the so-called HCCI (Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition) mode. The HCCI mode of operation of engines is being explored as a way to reduce the emission of smoke, and NOx significantly without exhaust treatment. This is being done primarily in the context of engines used in transportation applications. However, it is felt that in a micro-CHP …

This report describes the development and application of a dispatch optimization algorithm for integrated energy systems (IES) comprised of on-site cogeneration of heat and electricity, energy storage devices, and demand response opportunities. This work is intended to aid commercial and industrial sites in making use of modern computing power and optimization algorithms to make informed, near-optimal decisions under significant uncertainty and complex objective functions. The optimization algorithm uses a finite set of randomly generated future scenarios to approximate the true, stochastic future; constraints are included that prevent solutions to this approximate problem from deviating from solutions to the actual problem. The algorithm is then expressed as a mixed integer linear program, to which a powerful commercial solver is applied. A case study of United States Postal Service Processing and Distribution Centers (P&DC) in four cities and under three different electricity tariff structures is conducted to (1) determine the added value of optimal control to a cogeneration system over current, heuristic control strategies; (2) determine the value of limited electric load curtailment opportunities, with and without cogeneration; and (3) determine the trade-off between least-cost and least-carbon operations of a cogeneration system. Key results for the P&DC sites studied include (1) in …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The most recent recession, which started in December 2007, is generally believed to be the worst economic downturn the country has experienced since the Great Depression. In response to this recession, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), which provided state and local governments with about $282 billion in fiscal assistance. The Recovery Act requires GAO to evaluate how national economic downturns have affected states since 1974. In this report, GAO (1) analyzes how state and local government budgets are affected during national recessions and (2) identifies strategies to provide fiscal assistance to state and local governments and indicators policymakers could use to time and target such assistance. This report is being released in conjunction with a companion report on Medicaid and economic downturns to respond to a related statutory requirement in the Recovery Act. GAO analyzed economic data and states' general fund budget data; reviewed past federal fiscal assistance and related evaluations; and interviewed analysts at key associations and think tanks. GAO shared relevant findings with policy research organizations and associations representing state and local officials, who generally agreed with …

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The Navy is currently procuring one Virginia (SSN-774) class attack nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) per year. Each submarine currently costs about $2.4 billion. The FY2006-FY2011 Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) submitted in February 2005 proposes maintaining the one-per-year procurement rate through FY2011 rather than increasing it two per year in FY2009, as previously planned. A 30-year Navy force-level projection submitted in March 2005 shows the SSN force declining from more than 50 boats today to 37 to 41 boats by FY2035. Submarine supporters are concerned that the Navy and DOD are not placing adequate emphasis on attack submarines in Navy force-structure planning and ship-procurement plans.

The following report details the results under the DOE SECA program for the period July 2006 through December 2006. Developments pertain to the development of a 3 to 5 kW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell power system for a range of fuels and applications. This report details technical results of the work performed under the following tasks for the SOFC Power System: Task 1 SOFC System Development; Task 2 Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stack Developments; Task 3 Reformer Developments; Task 4 Development of Balance of Plant Components; Task 5 Project Management; and Task 6 System Modeling & Cell Evaluation for High Efficiency Coal-Based Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Gas Turbine Hybrid System.

This Quarterly Report on coal liquefaction research includes discussion in the areas of (1) Iron Based Catalysts for Coal Liquefaction; (2) Exploratory Research on Coal Conversion; (3) Novel Coal Liquefaction Concepts; (4) Novel Catalysts for Coal Liquefaction. (VC)

This report is a compilation of abstracts from papers which were discussed at a workshop on plant membrane biology. Topics include: plasma membrane ATP-ases; plant-environment interactions, membrane receptors; signal transduction; ion channel physiology; biophysics and molecular biology; vaculor H+ pumps; sugar carriers; membrane transport; and cellular structure and function.

Transcript of the first public hearing held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States held March 31, 2003 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City.This purpose of this hearing was to engage those whose lives were changed by the events of September 11 in a public dialogue about the Commission's goals. It includes opening remarks by the commissioners and city officials, in addition to testimony from survivors, representatives of the victims, and professionals from different fields about the attackers, intelligence, and counter-terrorism policy.

The conference addressed the energy and environmental challenges facing large metropolitan areas. The topics included a comparison of the environmental status of cities twenty years ago with the challenges facing today`s large cities, sustainable economic development, improving the energy and environmental infrastructure, and the changing urban transportation sector. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

This report is the proceedings of the National Conference on Environmental Externalities. A environmental externality is the environmental impact of a process or a plant that society must endure. It is a social cost and is paid, but not by the company who produced it or the company`s customers who endure it. The main purpose of this report is to gather the many designs and ideas of how and why to internalize the externalities into the pricing systems of the public utility commissions, especially that of the electric utilities. Economic and sociological aspects of the internalization of these externalities are given in these proceedings. Individual papers are processed separately for databases. (MB)

The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) project is well into the experimental phase of its deuterium-tritium (D-T) program, with the objective to derive the maximum amount of experimental data on the behavior of tokamak plasmas containing a significant population of energetic alpha particles. Since the initial D-T experiments in December 1993, the operational performance of the TFTR, as well as the required tritium-handling and machine maintenance procedures in an activated environment, have improved markedly, so that D-T operation has now become essentially routine, while fully conforming with all of the safety and environmental requirements. During the D-T phase, the machine and auxiliary-systems parameters have also been increased, most notably the toroidal field (to 5.6 T) and the neutral-beam power (to 40 MW). The radio-frequency power in the ion-cyclotron-range of frequencies (ICRF) has been increased to 11 MW.