A titanium pump loop, designed to circulate aqueous solutions at temperatures and pressures up to 370 deg C and 3000 psia, was constructed. It is to be used to study the chemical stability of uranyl sulfate fuel solutions of interest to the Fluid Fuels Reactor Program. The total loop voluime was minimized so that about 2 liters uf solution was sufficient for loop operation. The equipment includes a sampling system to remove solution samples from the loop while operating at elevated temperature and pressure; a hydroclone to separate and remove any solids and/or heavyphase material formed; and provisions for installation of corrosion test specimens in the main loop stream. All equipment performed satisfactorily at design conditions in tests with water. (auth)

This safety analysis was performed for the Manager of Plant Operations at LLL and fulfills the requirements of DOE Order 5481.1. The analysis was based on field inspections, document review, computer calculations, and extensive input from Waste Management personnel. It was concluded that the quantities of materials handled do not pose undue risks on- or off-site, even in postulated severe accidents. Risks from the various hazards at these facilities vary from low to moderate as specified in DOE Order 5481.1. Recommendations are made for additional management and technical support of waste disposal operations.

A neutral beam injector system which produces 5 MW of 475 keV D/sup 0/ neutrals continuously on target has been designed. The beamline is intended to produce the sloshing ion distribution required in the end plug region of the conceptual MARS tandem mirror commercial reactor. The injector design utilizes the LBL self-extraction negative ion source and Transverse Field Focusing (TFF) accelerator to generate a long, ribbon ion beam. A laser photodetachment neutralizer strips over 90% of the negative ions. Magnetic and neutron shield designs are included to exclude the fringe fields of the end plug and provide low activation by the neutron flux from the target plasma. The use of a TFF accelerator and photodetachment neutralizer produces a total system electrical efficiency of about 63% for this design.

The results of a conceptual design study on incorporating a pyrolysis unit into an existing total energy plant are presented. The objectives of this study were to examine the institutional, technical and economic factors affecting the incorporation of a 25-ton/day pyrolysis unit into the Indian Creek Total Energy Plant. The Indian Creek total energy plant is described. Results of the conceptual design are presented. A survey of the availability of waste materials and a review of health and safety ordinances are included. The technical aspects of the pyrolysis system are discussed, including the results of the review of facilities requirements for the pyrolysis unit, the analysis of necessary system modification, and an estimate of the useful energy contribution by the pyrolysis unit. Results of the life-cycle cost analysis of the pyrolysis unit are presented. The major conclusions are that: there appears to be no institutional or technical barriers to constructing a waste pyrolysis unit at the Indian Creek Total Energy Plant; pyrolysis gas can be consumed in the engines and the boilers by utilizing venturi mixing devices; the engines can consume only 5% of the output of the 25-ton/day pyrolysis unit; Therefore, consumption of pyrolysis gas will be controlled by …

This report describes a sensitivity study using LISTRA1A, a model for use in the development of a long-range, time-dependent plan for licensing nuclear waste repositories. The objectives of the model are: (1) to provide information concerning the impact of various licensing strategies on the ability to dispose of nuclear waste effectively; and (2) to provide long-range budget forecasts for differing strategies of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Department of Energy (DOE). The model is designed to analyze the interaction between NRC regulatory policy and DOE technical programs. A sensitivity study is reported for a single parameter in a hypothetical review process.

A flow cell (with appropriate accessories) was developed for use in short-term testing of the corrosion behavior of materials in approximately 100{sup 0}C, hypersaline geothermal brine. The apparatus was designed to accommodate commercial (Petrolite) corrosion measurement equipment and conducted experiments on-line at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Test Station in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field. The apparatus also permitted direct readings of corrosion potentials, solution redox potential (E{sub h}), brine flow rate, pH, and temperature. Estimates of general corrosion rates were obtained by the linear polarization resistance technique and from measurements of complete potentiodynamic polarization curves. The latter also afforded predictions of pitting susceptibilities of active-passive type materials. Twenty-two alloys (with various heat treatments) were tested and readily grouped according to general corrosion resistances in acidified hypersaline (approximately 4 M chloride) brine. Especially promising in regard to corrosion resistance-vs-cost is the series of low Cr--Mo steels. Prescaling of materials in unacidified (pH approximately 5.7) brine prior to exposure to acidified (pH 2 to 4.5) brine was found to be beneficial in reducing corrosion rates at 100{sup 0}C.

Two methods, the transpiration and direct P/sup 32/ counting methods, were tested for use in measuring the vapor pressure of TBP. With the transpiration technique, measured TBP vapor pressures were sufficiently reproducible, and probably of sufficient accuracy, to warrant improvement of the apparatus and its use in measuring the vapor pressure of TBP over various TBP- diluent-HNO/sub 3/-H//sub 2/O-UO/sub 2/ (NO/sub 3/)sub 2 solutions. With this method the vapor pressure of TBP containing 0.2 wt% H/sub 2/O was determined to be ~0.8 mu while that of TBP saturated with H/sub 2/O, ~6.5 wt% H/sub 2/O, was ~ 0.5l mu . The direct P/sup 32/counting technique was abandoned because of experimental difficulties. (auth)

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare's payments for the costs physicians incur in operating their practices are based on two sets of estimates: total practice expenses and resource estimates for individual services. Total practice expense estimates were derived from American Medical Association (AMA) physician surveys, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) refines with supplemental data submitted by medical specialty societies. Resource estimates for individual services were developed by expert panels and refined by CMS with recommendations from another expert panel. In response to a mandate in the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, GAO evaluated CMS's processes for updating total practice expense and resource estimates and whether CMS will have the data necessary to update the fee schedule at least every 5 years as mandated by law."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Mileage-based user fee initiatives in the United States and abroad show that such fees can lead to more equitable and efficient use of roadways by charging drivers based on their actual road use and by providing pricing incentives to reduce road use. Mileage fees for passenger vehicles, however, continue to face significant public concerns related to privacy as well as cost challenges. Privacy concerns are particularly acute when Global Positioning System (GPS) units are used to track the location of passenger vehicles. Reliable cost estimates for mileage fee systems are not available, but implementing a system to collect fees from 230 million U.S. passenger vehicles is likely to greatly exceed the costs of collecting fuel taxes. Commercial truck user fee systems in Germany and New Zealand have achieved substantial revenues and benefits such as reduced road damage and emissions with fewer privacy concerns, but ensuring compliance in a cost effective manner presents trade-offs. Few commercial truck mileage fee pilots have been conducted in the United States, but efforts in two states suggest such fees pose fewer privacy and cost challenges than passenger vehicle fees."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) consist of an unmanned aircraft; sensor, communications, or weapons, carried on board the aircraft, collectively referred to as payloads; and ground controls. UAS have been used successfully in recent operations, and are in increasingly high demand by U.S. forces. To meet the demand, the Department of Defense (DOD) is increasing its investment in and reliance on UAS, and often deploying them while still in development. GAO has previously found that DOD's approach to developing and fielding UAS risked interoperability problems which could undermine joint operations. GAO was asked to review (1) UAS performance in recent joint operations and (2) the soundness of DOD's approach to evaluating joint UAS operational performance."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA), registered nurses who have completed a master's degree program in nurse anesthesia, provide the majority of anesthesia care veterans receive in VA medical facilities. While the demand for CRNAs is anticipated to increase, many CRNAs employed by VA--VA CRNAs--are nearing retirement eligibility age. Concerns have been raised about the challenges VA may face in maintaining its VA CRNA workforce. GAO (1) identified VA CRNA workforce challenges that VA medical facilities may experience related to VA CRNAs, (2) identified the key mechanisms that VA medical facilities can use to recruit and retain VA CRNAs, and (3) determined the extent to which facilities use the key mechanisms. To identify VA CRNA workforce challenges, GAO analyzed Web-based surveys it sent to VA chief anesthesiologists, VA human resources officers, and VA CRNAs, with survey response rates of 92, 85, and 76 percent, respectively. GAO also identified the key mechanisms VA medical facilities can use to recruit and retain VA CRNAs and the extent that these mechanisms are used."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "What GAO Found"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has previously reported that the lack of control over inventory shipments increases the Department of Defense's (DOD) vulnerability to undetected loss or theft. GAO evaluated the Army's effectiveness in maintaining accountability of inventory shipped to repair contractors. To conduct its review, GAO analyzed shipment data for fiscal year 2004, surveyed repair contractors that were recipients of inventory shipments, and assessed the Army's adherence to internal control procedures. Inventory shipments included both secondary repair items--components, assemblies, and subassemblies, other than major end items, which may be sent to commercial facilities for repair, alteration, or modification--and government-furnished materiel--assemblies, parts, and other items provided in support of this work."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Incorporated under Alaska state law, regional Alaska Native corporations share fundamental characteristics, although they have chosen a variety of governance practices. Like other Alaska corporations, the regional corporations are subject to the state's corporate laws (with limited exceptions) and are run by an elected board of directors. Nevertheless, each regional corporation has chosen its own organization and governance approach in terms of board operations, executive and board compensation, board elections, and shareholder involvement."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The six federal veterans' employment and training programs offer similar employment services, but largely target different groups. Among these programs, the Department of Labor's (Labor) Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program has the greatest potential for overlap with other veterans' programs and Labor's employment programs for the general population. Federal law governing the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program makes all veterans who meet the broad definition of "eligible veteran" eligible for its services, but gives disabled veterans and economically and educationally disadvantaged veterans the highest priority for services. However, Labor's guidance does not provide states--who administer the program using federal funds--criteria for prioritizing services. The law also generally requires that program staff provide participants with intensive services (e.g., individual employment plans), but Labor's data indicate that nationally 28 percent of participants received such services in 2011. In explaining this statistic, Labor officials said one possible explanation was that staff are enrolling people who do not need intensive services. Labor said it plans to develop guidance on prioritizing services, and it also has a six-state pilot to improve monitoring, but neither of these efforts has been completed."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1998, the State Department stockpiled anthrax vaccine and antibiotics at several diplomatic posts near Iraq. In the event of an anthrax attack by Iraq, this stockpile was to be used for post-exposure immunization and treatment. In 1999, the State announced that it was starting a voluntary Anthrax Immunization Program for U.S. government employees, their dependents, and other personnel overseas. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), full pre-exposure protection from anthrax requires six vaccinations given over an 18-month period, followed by an annual booster. Because the supplies of vaccines approved by FDA were insufficient, State decided to suspend plans to expand the program beyond the pilot site until more vaccine was available. GAO found that both the State Department's prepositioning of anthrax vaccine at diplomatic missions and the voluntary anthrax immunization program have been poorly implemented. Specifically, the vaccine was not properly stored or refrigerated, requirements for the voluntary program were not accurately estimated, and surveillance procedures used in the pilot program to monitor reactions to the vaccine were inadequate."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 directed the Treasury to issue advance 2001 tax refunds to individual taxpayers who filed a tax year 2000 return. As a result, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had to identify eligible taxpayers so that checks could be sent to these taxpayers by December 31, 2001. The Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service was to issue the checks on behalf of IRS, with the first checks to be received during the week of July 23, 2001. As of September 30, 2001, 84 million taxpayers were to have received $36 billion in advance tax funds. IRS offset about $2.1 billion from these advance tax refunds to recover delinquent federal taxes. IRS spent $104 million to run the program through September 2001, which included IRS staffing costs as well as the costs associated with contracts, postage, and printing. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration identified two initial problems that affected either the accuracy or timeliness of the advance refund notices. One involved computer programming errors that resulted in 523,000 taxpayers receiving notices indicating that they would receive …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1998, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), authorized the states to retain the federal share of proceeds from the sale or lease of real property that had been purchased with federal-aid funds. It also required the states to use the federal share on other highway projects eligible for funding under the federal-aid highway program. GAO determined (1) the extent to which states are selling, leasing, or disposing of real property purchased with federal-aid funds and (2) how the proceeds generated from the sale or lease of real property are being used, including whether they are being used in accordance with TEA-21. GAO issued a related legal opinion in September 2002."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Government purchase cards have streamlined the process of acquiring goods and services by allowing employees to purchase directly from merchants rather than going through the regular procurement process. The government spent $13.8 billion using purchase cards in fiscal year 2001. However, the government does not know how purchase card spending impacts small businesses and other socioeconomic categories, such as woman-owned small businesses, and small disadvantaged businesses. Because of these uncertainties, the General Services Administration (GSA), which administers the purchase card program, has begun to collect socioeconomic data on merchants doing business with the federal government through purchase cards. This report assesses GSA's efforts and identifies the challenges to collecting and reporting this data."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the financial statements of the U.S. government, we audit the Schedules of Federal Debt Managed by the Bureau of the Public Debt, which includes testing compliance with the debt ceiling. To assist us in this testing and because of the nature of and sensitivity towards actions taken during a debt issuance suspension period, we (1) developed a chronology of significant events, (2) analyzed the financial aspects of Treasury's actions taken during the debt issuance suspension periods and assessed the legal basis of these actions, and (3) analyzed the impact of the policies and procedures used by Treasury to manage the debt during the debt issuance suspension periods."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Information technology (IT) will play a critical role in strengthening our nation's homeland security against potential future attacks. Specifically, IT will help enable the nation to identify potential threats, share information more readily, provide mechanisms to protect our homeland, and develop response capabilities. The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs requested that we identify, for fiscal years 2002 and 2003, IT funding targeted for purposes related to homeland security in those departments and agencies that play a key role in this mission area and, using our prior work, report on the IT management issues facing these organizations. In commenting on a draft of this report, agencies provided technical comments that were incorporated in the report, as appropriate."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "About one-third of terrorist attacks worldwide target transportation systems, and transit systems are the mode most commonly attacked. In light of the history of terrorism against mass transit and the terrorist attacks on September 11, GAO was asked to examine challenges in securing transit systems, steps transit agencies have taken to improve safety and security, and the federal role in transit safety and security. To address these objectives, GAO visited 10 transit agencies and surveyed a representative sample of transit agencies, among other things."

This report focuses on the United States' relationship with Iran and how the Obama Administration is handling prior administration's economic sanctions against Iran. The Obama Administration's policy approach toward Iran has contrasted with the Bush Administration's by attempting to couple the imposition of sanctions to an active and direct U.S. effort to negotiate with Iran on the nuclear issue. That approach was not initially altered because of the Iranian dispute over its June 12, 2009, elections. However, with subsequent negotiations yielding no firm Iranian agreement to compromise, since early 2010 the Administration has focused on achieving the imposition of additional U.N., U.S., and allied country sanctions whose cumulative effect would be to compel it to accept a nuclear bargain.

This research uses several techniques to measure the concentration of catalyst sites and determine their stoichiometry for the catalyzed gasification of carbon. Both alkali and alkaline earth oxides are effective catalysts for accelerating the gasification rate of coal chars, but only a fraction of the catalyst appears to be in a form that is effective for gasification, and the composition of that catalyst is not established. Transient techniques with {sup 13}C labeling, are being used to study the surface processes, to measure the concentration of active sites, and to determine the specific reaction rates. We have used secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) for both high surface area samples of carbon/alkali carbonate mixtures and for model carbon surfaces with deposited alkali atoms. SIMS provides a direct measure of surface composition. The combination of these results can provide knowledge of catalyst dispersion and composition, and thus indicate the way to optimally utilize carbon gasification catalysts.