A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Household energy use accounts for nearly one-fourth of all energy consumed in the United States, amounting to more than $200 billion per year spent by consumers. Recent increases in energy prices have heightened consumers' interest in making their households more energy efficient. To this end, the federal government manages two key efforts--EnergyGuide and Energy Star--to inform consumers about the energy consumed by certain household products. EnergyGuide is a mandatory labeling program created under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) and administered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with assistance from the Department of Energy (DOE). It requires manufacturers to label and prominently display information about the energy consumption and annual energy costs of 11 categories of household products. In recent years, manufacturers have used adhesive backed labels adhered to appliances and so-called "hang tags" loosely attached to the interior or exterior of appliances. In its August 2007 revisions to the rule, FTC, among other things, prohibited the use of hang tags on the exterior of appliances, but continues to allow them on the inside. The law requires retailers to provide this information in …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under Medicare, hospitals generally receive fixed payments for inpatient stays based on diagnosis-related groups (DRG), a system that classifies stays by patient diagnoses and procedures. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) annually uses its own data to reclassify DRGs. CMS also makes add-on payments for stays involving new technologies that meet three eligibility criteria. Stakeholders may submit data that are external to CMS as part of a DRG reclassification request or an add-on payment application. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 required GAO to examine whether CMS could improve its use of external data, including using data collected by other government agencies for DRG payments. As discussed with the committees of jurisdiction, GAO examined (1) to what extent CMS has used external data in determining payments for inpatient stays involving new technologies, and (2) to what extent can external data from other government agencies be used by CMS in determining DRG payments for inpatient stays involving new technologies. GAO interviewed officials from CMS and industry stakeholders. GAO interviewed officials from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), …

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This document includes tables of analytical data for Hanford Site environmental surveillance samples collected in 2006.

This work is part of a larger project to develop a modeling capability for magnetron sputter deposition. The process is divided into four steps: plasma transport, target sputter, neutral gas and sputtered atom transport, and film growth, shown schematically in Fig. 1. Each of these is simulated separately in this Part 1 of the project, which is jointly funded between CMLS and Engineering. The Engineering portion is the plasma modeling, in step 1. The plasma modeling was performed using the Object-Oriented Particle-In-Cell code (OOPIC) from UC Berkeley [1]. Figure 2 shows the electron density in the simulated region, using magnetic field strength input from experiments by Bohlmark [2], where a scale of 1% is used. Figures 3 and 4 depict the magnetic field components that were generated using two-dimensional linear interpolation of Bohlmark's experimental data. The goal of the overall modeling tool is to understand, and later predict, relationships between parameters of film deposition we can change (such as gas pressure, gun voltage, and target-substrate distance) and key properties of the results (such as film stress, density, and stoichiometry.) The simulation must use existing codes, either open-source or low-cost, not develop new codes. In part 1 (FY07) we identified and …

The purpose of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Annual Site Environmental Report for 2006 (ASER) is to provide information required by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 231.1A, Environment, Safety, and Health Reporting. Specifically, the ASER presents summary environmental data that: (a) Characterize site environmental management performance; (b) Summarize environmental occurrences and responses reported during the calendar year; (c) Confirm compliance with environmental standards and requirements; and (d) Highlight significant facility programs and efforts. The DOE Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) and Washington TRU Solutions LLC (WTS) maintain and preserve the environmental resources at the WIPP site. DOE Order 231.1A; DOE Order 450.1, Environmental Protection Program; and DOE Order 5400.5, Radiation Protection of the Public and Environment, require that the affected environment at and near DOE facilities be monitored to ensure the safety and health of the public and the environment. This report was prepared in accordance with DOE Order 231.1A. This order requires that DOE facilities submit an ASER to the DOE Headquarters Office of the Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety, and Health. The WIPP Hazardous Waste Facility Permit (HWFP) (No. NM4890139088-TSDF [treatment, storage, and disposal facility]) further requires that the ASER be provided to the New Mexico Environment Department …

The Dominguez Channel Watershed (DCW), located in the southern portion of Los Angeles County (Figure A.1), drains about 345 square miles into the Los Angeles Harbor. The cities and jurisdictions in DCW are shown in Figure A.2. The largest of these include the cities of Los Angeles, Carson, and Torrance. This watershed is unique in that 93% of its land area is highly developed (i.e. urbanized). The watershed boundaries are defined by a complex network of storm drains and flood control channels, rather than being defined by natural topography. Table (1) shows a summary of different land uses in the Dominguez Channel Watershed (MEC, 2004). The Dominguez Watershed has the highest impervious area of all watersheds in the Los Angeles region. The more impervious the surface, the more runoff is generated during a storm. Storm water runoff can carry previously accumulated contaminants and transport them into receiving water systems. Point sources such as industrial wastewater and municipal sewage as well as urban runoff from commercial, residential, and industrial areas are all recognized as contributors to water quality degradation at DWC. Section 303(d) of the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires states to identify and report all waters not meeting …

This cleanup verification package documents completion of remedial action for the 126-F-1, 184-F Powerhouse Ash Pit. This waste site received coal ash from the 100-F Area coal-fired steam plant. Leakage of process effluent from the 116-F-14 , 107-F Retention Basins flowed south into the ash pit, contaminating the northern portion.

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This study focuses on the development of a compositional envelope that describes the retention of various impurities in lanthanide borosilicate (LaBS) glass for vitrification and immobilization of excess, defense-related plutonium. A limited amount of impurity data for the various plutonium sources is available and projections were made through analysis of the available information. These projections were used to define types and concentrations of impurities in the LaBS glass compositions to be fabricated and tested. Sixty surrogate glass compositions were developed through a statistically designed approach to cover the anticipated ranges of concentrations for several impurity species expected in the plutonium feeds. An additional four glass compositions containing actual plutonium oxide were selected based on their targeted concentrations of metals and anions. The glasses were fabricated and characterized in the laboratory and shielded cells facility to determine the degree of retention of the impurity components, the impact of the impurities on the durability of each glass, and the degree of crystallization that occurred, both upon quenching and slow cooling. Overall, the LaBS glass system appears to be very tolerant of most of the impurity types and concentrations projected in the plutonium waste stream. For the surrogate glasses, the measured CuO, Ga{sub …

This Idaho CERCLA Disposal Facility (ICDF) Remedial Action Report has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Section 6.2 of the INEEL CERCLA Disposal Facility Remedial Action Work Plan. The agency prefinal inspection of the ICDF Staging, Storage, Sizing, and Treatment Facility (SSSTF) was completed in June of 2005. Accordingly, this report has been developed to describe the construction activities completed at the ICDF along with a description of any modifications to the design originally approved for the facility. In addition, this report provides a summary of the major documents prepared for the design and construction of the ICDF, a discussion of relevant requirements and remedial action objectives, the total costs associated with the development and operation of the facility to date, and identification of necessary changes to the Agency-approved INEEL CERCLA Disposal Facility Remedial Action Work Plan and the ICDF Complex Operations and Maintenance Plan.

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This report focuses on expenditures for personal health care, since these goods and services constitute most spending on health-related activities.

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This report provides an overview of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).

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