A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on U.S. government programs intended to help businesses promote their products and services in overseas markets, focusing on: (1) the federal agencies involved in promoting exports of U.S. goods and services and the export promotion activities they perform; (2) these agencies' total resources devoted to export promotion in fiscal year (FY) 1999; and (3) the agencies' overseas resources devoted to export promotion during this period."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) modernization efforts, focusing on the business practice, performance management, and information technology challenges IRS faces."

A novel handheld time-domain array GPR antipersonnel mine detection system using an offset paraboloidal reflector antenna is described. The reflector collimates rays from an ultra-wideband transmitting feed, directing the microwave impulse forward, in front of the antenna structure. As such, much of the ground reflected wave is directed further forward, away from the operator, the reflector, and the receiving antennas, and thereby reducing the major source of clutter. The wave transmitted into the ground that interacts with the target, generating significant backscatter returning toward the receiving antennas. These receiving antennas are configured in a 2 by 2 array to provide spatial focusing in both the along- and cross-track directions. This system has been built and tested at both Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and GeoCenters, Inc. In both cases, custom-built wideband antenna elements generate narrow pulse shapes, which allow for resolving small non-metallic targets buried at shallow depths. The LLNL's Micro-Power Impulse Radar (MIR) operates in the 1.5 to 5 GHz range a very narrow pulse shape. The Geo-Centers wideband TEMR antenna elements have higher power, though lower frequency range (850 to 1700 MHz), and generate less residual ringing in the time signal. Preliminary measured data from both systems indicate that …

This document provides the justification for the change in survey frequency in East Tank Farms occupied contamination areas from weekly to monthly. The Tank Farms Radiological Control Organization has performed radiological surveys of its Contamination Area (CA) Double Shell Tank (DST) farms in 200 East Area on a weekly basis for several years. The task package (DST-W012) controlling these routines designates specific components, at a minimum, that must be surveyed whenever the task is performed. This document documents the evaluation of these survey requirements and provides the recommendation and basis for moving DST tank farms in the 200 East Area from a weekly to monthly contamination survey. The contamination surveys for occupied contamination areas in West Tank Farms (WTF) were changed from a weekly frequency to a monthly frequency in 1997. Review of contamination survey data in WTF indicates a monthly interval remains satisfactory.

This sampling and analysis plan (SAP) identifies characterization objectives pertaining to sample collection, laboratory analytical evaluation, and reporting requirements for vapor samples obtained during the operation of mixer pumps in tank 241-AZ-101. The primary purpose of the mixer pump test (MPT) is to demonstrate that the two 300 horsepower mixer pumps installed in tank 241-AZ-101 can mobilize the settled sludge so that it can be retrieved for treatment and vitrification. Sampling will be performed in accordance with Tank 241-AZ-101 Mixer Pump Test Data Quality Objective (Banning 1999) and Data Quality Objectives for Regulatory Requirements for Hazardous and Radioactive Air Emissions Sampling and Analysis (Mulkey 1999). The sampling will verify if current air emission estimates used in the permit application are correct and provide information for future air permit applications.

We discuss the mathematical basis of sampling diffusive paths in Monte Carlo using Green's functions that are themselves built up stochastically from Green's functions in geometrical subdomains. The method of spheres is a special case. We show that other subdomains can be used as well, and may be more efficient for some applications. We include the basis for construction of such subdomain Green's functions for rectangular domains (in any number of dimensions) and cylindrical domains.

Funeral program for Albert Whiteside, Jr., born December 7, 1922 and died April 4, 2000. The funeral was held April 10, 2000 at Second Baptist Church, officiated by Rev. Robert Jemerson. Funeral arrangements were made through Lewis Funeral Home, and he was buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery near San Antonio, Texas.

Tank 241-SY-101 is a double-shell radioactive waste storage tank containing waste that, before recent transfer and water back-dilution operations, was capable of retaining gas and producing flammable buoyant displacement gas release events (BD GREs). A BD GRE occurs when a portion of the nonconvective layer waste retains enough gas to become buoyant, rises to the waste surface, breaks up, and releases some of the stored gas. Installing the mixer pump in 1993 successfully mitigated gas retention in the settled solids layer in SY-101 and has prevented BD GREs. Gas retention in the floating drust layer and the corresponding accelerated waste level growth made it necessary to begin waste removal and back-dilution with water in December 1999. During these operations, some of the SY-101 mixed slurry layer is removed and transferred into Tank 241-SY-102. There was some concern that adding the SY-101 waste into SY-102 could create a waste configuration in SY-102 capable of BD GREs. This report updates and extends earlier assessments of the potential for BD GRE conditions in SY-102 after waste is transferred from SY-101. We determined that, under the given assumptions, no possibility of BD GREs exists in SY-102 from the SY-101 waste being added during from …

The Diagnostic X (D-X) beamlines will transport the DARHT-II beam from the end of the accelerator to the Diagnostic X firing point providing four lines of sight for x-ray radiography. The design goal for the Diagnostic X beamline is to deliver four x-ray pulses with the DARHT-II dose format and time integrated spot size on each line of sight. The D-X beamline's final focus should be compatible with a range of first conjugates from 1 m-5 m. Furthermore, the D-X beamline operational parameters and the beamline layout should not preclude a possible upgrade to additional lines of sight. The DARHT-II accelerator is designed to deliver beams at a rate of 1 pulse per minute or less. Tuning the D-X beamline with several hundred optical elements would be time consuming. Therefore, minimizing the required number of tuning shots for the D-X beamline is also an important design goal. Many different beamline configurations may be able to accomplish these design objectives, and high beam quality (i.e., high current and low emittance) must be maintained throughout the chosen beamline configuration in order to achieve the DARHT-II x-ray dose format. In general, the longer the distance a beam travels, the harder it is to …

Controlling composition at the nanometer scale is well known to alter material properties in sometimes highly desirable and dramatic ways. In the field of energetic materials component distributions, particle size, and morphology, effect both sensitivity and reactivity performance. To date nanostructured energetic materials are largely unknowns with the exception of nanometer-sized reactive powders now being produced at a number of laboratories. We have invented a new method of making nanostructured energetic materials, specifically explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics, using sol-gel chemistry. The ease of this synthetic approach along with the inexpensive, stable, and benign nature of the metal precursors and solvents permit large-scale syntheses to be carried out. This approach can be accomplished using low cost processing methods. We will describe here, for the first time, this new synthetic route for producing metal-oxide-based pyrotechnics. The procedure employs the use of stable and inexpensive hydrated-metal inorganic salts and environmentally friendly solvents such as water and ethanol. The synthesis is straightforward and involves the dissolution the metal salt in a solvent followed by the addition of an epoxide, which induces gel formation in a timely manner. Experimental evidence suggests that the epoxide acts as an irreversible proton scavenger that induces the hydrated-metal species …

This report contains a summary of the results generated for Task 3.4: Non-destructive Evaluation (a subtask of Task 3: Immobilization Process/Equipment Testing). The aim of this task was to carry out X-ray diffraction (XRD) on selected samples from previous Task 1: Form Development work. These XRD results were to be compared to the results obtained using quantitative scanning electron microscopy.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Alvin, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Simultaneous removal of SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} using a regenerable solid sorbent will constitute an important improvement over the use of separate processes for the removal of these two pollutants from stack gases and possibly eliminate several shortcomings of the individual SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} removal operations. The work done at PETC and the DOE-funded investigation of the investigators on the sulfation and regeneration of alumina-supported cerium oxide sorbents have shown that they can perform well at relatively high temperatures (823-900 K) as regenerable desulfurization sorbents. Survey of the recent literature shows that addition of copper oxide to ceria lowers the sulfation temperature of ceria down to 773 K, sulfated ceria-based sorbents can function as selective SCR catalysts even at elevated temperatures, SO{sub 2} can be directly reduced to sulfur by CO on CuO-ceria catalysts, and ceria-based catalysts may have a potential for selective catalytic reduction of NO{sub x} by methane. These observations indicate a possibility of developing a ceria-based sorbent/catalyst which can remove both SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} from flue gases within a relatively wide temperature window, produce significant amounts of elemental sulfur during regeneration, and use methane for the selective catalytic reduction of NO{sub x}. …

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Newsletter of the Texas Department of Health discussing the news, activities, and events of the organization and other information related to health in Texas.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This report is a fact sheet on a new method for producing metallurgical furnace briquettes for the steel industry written for the NICE3 Program.

This fact sheet contains a description of Nebraska's wind energy resources and the state's green power programs. The fact sheet includes a list of contacts for those interested in obtaining more information.

This fact sheet contains a description of Minnesota's wind energy resources, and the state's green power and net metering programs as well as financial incentives that support the programs. The fact sheet includes a list of contacts for those interested in obtaining more information.

Although many actuators employing electrostatic comb drives have been demonstrated in a laboratory environment, widespread acceptance in mass produced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) may be limited due to issues associated with low drive force, large real estate demands, high operating voltages, and reliability concerns due to stiction. On the other hand, comb drives require very low drive currents, offer predictable response, and are highly compatible with the fabrication technology. The expand the application space and facilitate the widespread deployment of self-actuated MEMS, a new class of advanced actuation systems has been developed that maintains the highly desirable aspects of existing components, while significantly diminishing the issues that could impede large scale acceptance. In this paper, the authors will present low-voltage electrostatic actuators that offer a dramatic increase in force over conventional comb drive designs. In addition, these actuators consume only a small fraction of the chip area previously used, yielding significant gains in power density. To increase the stroke length of these novel electrostatic actuators, the authors have developed highly efficient compliant stroke amplifiers. The coupling of compact, high-force actuators with fully compliant displacement multipliers sets a new paradigm for highly integrated microelectromechanical systems.

A vitrification process was developed and successfully implemented by the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) and at the West Valley Nuclear Services (WVNS) to convert high-level liquid nuclear wastes (HLLW) to a solid borosilicate glass for safe long term geologic disposal. Over the last decade, SRS has successfully completed two additional vitrification projects to safely dispose of mixed low level wastes (MLLW) (radioactive and hazardous) at the SRS and at the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). The SRS, in conjunction with other laboratories, has also demonstrated that vitrification can be used to dispose of a wide variety of MLLW and low-level wastes (LLW) at the SRS, at ORR, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), at Rocky Flats (RF), at the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP), and at the Hanford Waste Vitrification Project (HWVP). The SRS, in conjunction with the Electric Power Research Institute and the National Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina (CNEA), have demonstrated that vitrification can also be used to safely dispose of ion-exchange (IEX) resins and sludges from commercial nuclear reactors. In addition, the SRS has successfully demonstrated that numerous wastes declared hazardous by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can be vitrified, e.g. …

A fracture mechanics approach for elastic-plastic materials has been used to evaluate the effects of light water reactor (LWR) coolant environments on the fatigue lives of carbon and low-alloy steels. The fatigue life of such steel, defined as the number of cycles required to form an engineering-size crack, i.e., 3-mm deep, is considered to be composed of the growth of (a) microstructurally small cracks and (b) mechanically small cracks. The growth of the latter was characterized in terms of {Delta}J and crack growth rate (da/dN) data in air and LWR environments; in water, the growth rates from long crack tests had to be decreased to match the rates from fatigue S-N data. The growth of microstructurally small cracks was expressed by a modified Hobson relationship in air and by a slip dissolution/oxidation model in water. The crack length for transition from a microstructurally small crack to a mechanically small crack was based on studies on small crack growth. The estimated fatigue S-N curves show good agreement with the experimental data for these steels in air and water environments. At low strain amplitudes, the predicted lives in water can be significantly lower than the experimental values.