A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Primarily because of concerns that noise from air tours over national parks could impair visitors' experiences and park resources, Congress passed the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 to regulate air tours. The act requires the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Park Service to develop air tour management plans for all parks where air tour operators apply to conduct tours. A plan may establish controls over tours, such as routes, altitudes, time of day restrictions, and/or a maximum number of flights for a given period; or ban all air tours. GAO was asked to (1) determine the status of FAA and the Park Service's implementation of the act; (2) assess how the air tour operators and national parks have been affected by implementation; and (3) identify what issues, if any, need to be addressed to improve implementation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Terrorist attacks on U.S. chemical facilities could damage public health and the economy. While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formerly led federal efforts to ensure chemical facility security, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now the lead federal agency coordinating efforts to protect these facilities from terrorist attacks. GAO reviewed (1) DHS's actions to develop a strategy to protect the chemical industry, (2) DHS's actions to assist in the industry's security efforts and coordinate with EPA, (3) industry security initiatives and challenges, and (4) DHS's authorities and whether additional legislation is needed to ensure chemical plant security. GAO interviewed DHS, EPA, and industry officials, among others."

This letter transmits, for information, the Project Prometheus Space Nuclear Power Plant (SNPP) Pre-Conceptual Design Report completed by the Naval Reactors Prime Contractor Team (NRPCT). This report documents the work pertaining to the Reactor Module, which includes integration of the space nuclear reactor with the reactor radiation shield, energy conversion, and instrumentation and control segments. This document also describes integration of the Reactor Module with the Heat Rejection segment, the Power Conditioning and Distribution subsystem (which comprise the SNPP), and the remainder of the Prometheus spaceship.

Suppose that we are given two probability densities p{sub 0}(E{prime}) and p{sub 1}(E{prime}) for the energy E{prime} of an outgoing particle, p{sub 0}(E{prime}) corresponding to energy E{sub 0} of the incident particle and p{sub 1}(E{prime}) corresponding to incident energy E{sub 1}. If E{sub 0} < E{sub 1}, the problem is how to define p{sub {alpha}}(E{prime}) for intermediate incident energies E{sub {alpha}} = (1 - {alpha})E{sub 0} + {alpha}E{sub 1} with 0 < {alpha} < 1. In this note the author considers three ways to do it. They begin with unit-base interpolation, which is standard in ENDL and is sometimes used in ENDF. They then describe the equiprobable bins used by some Monte Carlo codes. They then close with a discussion of interpolation by corresponding-points, which is commonly used in ENDF.

This report provides information about The Role of State and Local Law Enforcement on Enforcing Immigration Law.

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This report focuses on proposals offered to amend the federal income tax code to subsidize the expenses of families with children enrolled in the K-12 school of their choice. It begins with a discussion of K-12 education reform efforts to provide a context for the proposed tax subsidies. Next, it reviews existing federal tax provisions that could help families pay for the cost of their children’s K-12schooling. The report then analyzes the kind of proposals that have been introduced to expand existing federal tax benefits or to authorize new ones for families incurring K-12 education expenses.

This report provides background information on the broad authority, to conduct research and demonstration projects under several programs authorized by the Social Security Act.

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With the Nation's coal-burning utilities facing the possibility of tighter controls on mercury pollutants, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding projects that could offer power plant operators better ways to reduce these emissions at much lower costs. Sorbent injection technology represents one of the simplest and most mature approaches to controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired boilers. It involves injecting a solid material such as powdered activated carbon into the flue gas. The gas-phase mercury in the flue gas contacts the sorbent and attaches to its surface. The sorbent with the mercury attached is then collected by the existing particle control device along with the other solid material, primarily fly ash. During 2001, ADA Environmental Solutions (ADA-ES) conducted a full-scale demonstration of sorbent-based mercury control technology at the Alabama Power E.C. Gaston Station (Wilsonville, Alabama). This unit burns a low-sulfur bituminous coal and uses a hot-side electrostatic precipitator (ESP) in combination with a Compact Hybrid Particulate Collector (COHPAC{reg_sign}) baghouse to collect fly ash. The majority of the fly ash is collected in the ESP with the residual being collected in the COHPAC{reg_sign} baghouse. Activated carbon was injected between the ESP and COHPAC{reg_sign} units to collect the mercury. Short-term mercury removal …

Energy modeling and analysis often relies on data collected for other purposes such as census counts, atmospheric and air quality observations, economic trends, and other primarily non-energy-related uses. Systematic collection of empirical data solely for regional, national, and global energy modeling has not been established as in the above-mentioned fields. Empirical and modeled data relevant to energy modeling is reported and available at various spatial and temporal scales that might or might not be those needed and used by the energy modeling community. The incorrect representation of spatial and temporal components of these data sets can result in energy models producing misleading conclusions, especially in cases of newly evolving technologies with spatial and temporal operating characteristics different from the dominant fossil and nuclear technologies that powered the energy economy over the last two hundred years. Increased private and government research and development and public interest in alternative technologies that have a benign effect on the climate and the environment have spurred interest in wind, solar, hydrogen, and other alternative energy sources and energy carriers. Many of these technologies require much finer spatial and temporal detail to determine optimal engineering designs, resource availability, and market potential. This paper presents exploratory and …

Savannah River National Laboratory's frit development effort for SB4 is being driven by the most current CBU option for this sludge, referred to as Case 15C Blend 1. Candidate frits have been identified for this option via a paper study approach developed by Peeler and Edwards with the intent of down-selecting to a set of key frits whose operating windows (i.e., WL intervals that meet PCCS MAR criteria) are robust to and/or selectively optimal for this sludge option. The primary frits that appear attractive on paper (i.e., down-selected via the paper study) are now being incorporated into this experimental study. The potential for the formation of a nepheline primary crystalline phase is an important factor in frit development for SB4, due to the high Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} content of this sludge. Based upon earlier work by Li et al., glasses that do not satisfy the constraint: (SiO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} + Na{sub 2}O + Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) > 0.62 where the oxides are expressed as mass fractions in the glass, will precipitate nepheline as their primary crystalline phase, hindering the durability of the glass. Based on the most recent compositional projection from the CBU for SB4 (Case 15C Blend 1), 16 …

To assist with the development of a space-based Rankine cycle power system using liquid potassium as the working fluid, a study has been conducted on possible scaled experiments with simulant fluids. This report will consider several possible working fluids and describe a scaling methodology to achieve thermal-hydraulic similarity between an actual potassium system and scaled representations of the Rankine cycle boiler or condenser. The most practical scaling approach examined is based on the selection of perfluorohexane (FC-72) as the simulant. Using the scaling methodology, a series of possible solutions have been calculated for the FC-72 boiler and condenser. The possible scaled systems will then be compared and preconceptual specifications and drawings given for the most promising design. The preconceptual design concept will also include integrating the scaled boiler and scaled condenser into a single experimental loop. All the preconceptual system specifications appear practical from a fabrication and experimental standpoint, but further work will be needed to arrive at a final experiment design.

This report provides an overview of the law of the sea convention and U.S. policy.

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