The Analytical Development Section of Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) was requested by the Facilities Disposition Projects (FDP) to determine the holdup of enriched uranium in the 321-M facility as part of an overall deactivation project of the facility. The 321-M facility was used to fabricate enriched uranium fuel assemblies, lithium-aluminum target tubes, neptunium assemblies, and miscellaneous components for the production reactors. The results of the holdup assays are essential for determining compliance with the Waste Acceptance Criteria, Material Control & Accountability, and to meet criticality safety controls. This report covers holdup measurements on two sawbench components that were used for cutting U-Al fuel rods. The benches contained U-Al residue scattered on the bench tops and bagged up in plastic containers. It was very important to obtain an estimate of the HEU content of this residue in order to remove criticality concerns before vacuuming it into a much smaller volume. A portable high purity germanium (HPGe) detection system and a portable sodium iodide (NaI) detection system were used to determine highly enriched uranium (HEU) holdup and to determine holdup Np-237 and Am-241 that were observed in these components. The measured Np-237 and Am-241 contents were especially important in these components …

We address the texture level-of-detail problem for extremely large surfaces such as terrain during real-time, view-dependent rendering. A novel texture hierarchy is introduced based on 4-8 refinement of raster tiles, in which the texture grids in effect rotate 45 degrees for each level of refinement. This hierarchy provides twice as many levels of detail as conventional quad-tree-style refinement schemes such as mipmaps, and thus provides per-pixel view-dependent filtering that is twice as close to the ideal cutoff frequency for an average pixel. Because of this more gradual change in low-pass filtering, and due to the more precise emulation of the ideal cutoff frequency, we find in practice that the transitions between texture levels of detail are not perceptible. This allows rendering systems to avoid the complexity and performance costs of per-pixel blending between texture levels of detail. The 4-8 texturing scheme is integrated into a variant of the Real-time Optimally Adapting Meshes (ROAM) algorithm for view-dependent multiresolution mesh generation. Improvements to ROAM included here are: the diamond data structure as a streamlined replacement for the triangle bintree elements, the use of low-pass-filtered geometry patches in place of individual triangles, integration of 4-8 textures, and a simple out-of-core data access mechanism …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In October 2001, in response to the Taliban regime's protection of al Qaeda terrorists who attacked the United States, coalition forces forcibly removed the regime from Afghanistan. In December 2002, Congress passed the Afghanistan Freedom Support Act authorizing assistance funds to help Afghanistan rebuild a stable, democratic society. The act directed GAO to monitor the implementation of U.S. humanitarian and development assistance. This report analyzes, for fiscal years 2002-2003, (1) U.S. obligations and expenditures in Afghanistan, (2) results of assistance projects, (3) the assistance coordination mechanisms and strategy, and (4) major obstacles that affected the achievement of U.S. goals."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers several permanently authorized programs to help farmers recover financially from a natural disaster, including federal crop insurance, the non-insured assistance program and emergency disaster loans. In recent years, Congress frequently has made supplemental financial assistance available to farmers and ranchers on an ad-hoc basis, most notably in the form of direct crop disaster payments and emergency livestock assistance. Congress provided an estimated $3.1 billion of such assistance in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-7) for 2001 and 2002 crop and livestock losses. Some farm groups would like to see similar assistance provided for 2003 losses, particularly in regions of the Midwest and West that have experienced prolonged drought conditions. To date, no ad-hoc assistance has been made available for 2003 losses.

The Directorate of Public Works Environmental & Natural Resources Division (Fort Stewart /Hunter Army Airfield) contracted with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to monitor particulate matter (PM) concentrations on Fort Stewart, Georgia. The purpose of this investigation was to establish a PM sampling network using monitoring equipment typically used in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ''saturation sampling'', to determine air quality on the installation. In this initial study, the emphasis was on training-generated PM, not receptor PM loading. The majority of PM samples were 24-hr filter-based samples with sampling frequency ranging from every other day, to once every six days synchronized with the EPA 6th day national sampling schedule. Eight measurement sites were established and used to determine spatial variability in PM concentrations and evaluate whether fluctuations in PM appear to result from training activities and forest management practices on the installation. Data collected to date indicate the average installation PM2.5 concentration is lower than that of nearby urban Savannah, Georgia. At three sites near the installation perimeter, analyses to segregate PM concentrations by direction of air flow across the installation boundary indicate that air (below 80 ft) leaving the installation contains less PM2.5 than that entering the installation. …

This report briefly describes the various types of amendments that take place in the Senate. It has sections describing distinctions among amendments, degrees of amendments, forms of amendments, and the scope of amendments.

This report is one of a series that profiles the emergency management and homeland security statutory authorities of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and three territories (American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Each profile identifies the more significant elements of state statutes, generally as codified. This report focuses on American Samoa.

A simple analytic model allows prediction of rate constants and size effect behavior before a hydrocode run if size effect data exists. At infinite radius, it defines not only detonation velocity but also average detonation rate, pressure and energy. This allows the derivation of a generalized radius, which becomes larger as the explosive becomes more non-ideal. The model is applied to near-ideal PBX 9404, in-between ANFO and most non-ideal AN. The power of the pressure declines from 2.3, 1.5 to 0.8 across this set. The power of the burn fraction, F, is 0.8, 0 and 0, so that an F-term is important only for the ideal explosives. The size effect shapes change from concave-down to nearly straight to concave-up. Failure is associated with ideal explosives when the calculated detonation velocity turns in a double-valued way. The effect of the power of the pressure may be simulated by including a pressure cutoff in the detonation rate. The models allows comparison of a wide spectrum of explosives providing that a single detonation rate is feasible.

A variety of electron emission processes have been studied in detail for both atomic and molecular systems, using a highly efficient experimental system comprising two time-of-flight (TOF) rotatable electron energy analyzers and a 3rd generation synchrotron light source. Two examples are used here to illustrate the obtained results. Firstly, electron emissions in the HCL molecule have been mapped over a 14 eV wide photon energy range over the Cl 2p ionization threshold. Particular attention is paid to the dissociative core-excited states, for which the Auger electron emission shows photon energy dependent features. Also, the evolution of resonant Auger to the normal Auger decay distorted by post-collision interaction has been observed and the resonating behavior of the valence photoelectron lines studied. Secondly, an atomic system, neon, in which excitation of doubly excited states and their subsequent decay to various accessible ionic states has been studied. Since these processes only occurs via inter-electron correlations, the many body dynamics of an atom can be probed, revealing relativistic effects, surprising in such a light atom. Angular distribution of the decay of the resonances to the parity unfavored continuum exhibits significant deviation from the LS coupling predictions.

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This paper discusses the successful implementation of simple video technologies at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to perform complex visual inspection, monitoring, and surveillance tasks. The constraints and challenges associated with remote viewing are discussed, and examples of applications are given. Work at SRS involves many radioactive, hazardous, and remote operations and activities, which require monitoring or surveillance. As well, many facilities, including tanks, cells, and pipelines, require inspections but are inaccessible to humans. SRTC supports SRS in these situations by applying simple remote viewing technologies to address these issues and accomplish monitoring and inspection goals.

This report presents the issues considered by the 108th Congress related to the civil works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Corps plans, constructs, and operates water resources facilities primarily for flood control, navigation, and environmental purposes.

This Annual Progress Report describes the work performed and summarizes some of the key observations to date on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s project Assessment of Food Chain Pathway Parameters in Biosphere Models, which was established to assess and evaluate a number of key parameters used in the food-chain models used in performance assessments of radioactive waste disposal facilities. Section 2 of this report describes activities undertaken to collect samples of soils from three regions of the United States, the Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest, and perform analyses to characterize their physical and chemical properties. Section 3 summarizes information gathered regarding agricultural practices and common and unusual crops grown in each of these three areas. Section 4 describes progress in studying radionuclide uptake in several representative crops from the three soil types in controlled laboratory conditions. Section 5 describes a range of international coordination activities undertaken by Project staff in order to support the underlying data needs of the Project. Section 6 provides a very brief summary of the status of the GENII Version 2 computer program, which is a “client” of the types of data being generated by the Project, and for which the Project will be providing training to …

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regulatory Guide 1.145 requires an evaluation of the offsite atmospheric dispersion coefficient, {Chi}/Q, as a part of the acceptance criteria in the accident analysis. In it, it requires in sequence computations of (1) the overall site 95th percentile {Chi}/Q, (2) the maximum of the sixteen sector 99.5th percentile {Chi}/Q, and (3) comparison and selection of the worst of the two values for reporting in the safety analysis report (SAR). In all cases, the site-specific meteorology and sector-specific site boundary distances are employed in the evaluation. There are sixteen 22.5-sectors, the nearest site boundary of which is determined within the 45-arc centered on each of the sixteen compass directions.

We report on atomic layer deposition of an {approx} 2-nm-thick ZnO layer on the inner surface of ultralow-density ({approx} 0.5% of the full density) nanoporous silica aerogel monoliths with an extremely large effective aspect ratio of {approx} 10{sup 5} (defined as the ratio of the monolith thickness to the average pore size). The resultant monoliths are formed by amorphous-SiO{sub 2}/wurtzite-ZnO nanoparticles which are randomly oriented and interconnected into an open-cell network with an apparent density of {approx} 3% and a surface area of {approx} 100 m{sup 2} g{sup -1}. Secondary ion mass spectrometry and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging reveal excellent uniformity and crystallinity of ZnO coating. Oxygen K-edge and Zn L{sub 3}-edge soft x-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy shows broadened O 2p- as well as Zn 4s-, 5s-, and 3d-projected densities of states in the conduction band.

There is a lack of consensus regarding the best method of balancing scientific publishing and national security. The current federal policy, as described in National Security Decision Directive 189, is that fundamental research should remain unrestricted and that in the rare case where it is necessary to restrict such information, classification is the appropriate vehicle to do so. Other mechanisms restrict international information flow, where Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) control export of items and technical information on specific lists. Both EAR and ITAR contain a fundamental research exclusion, but this exclusion is lost if prepublication review of research results for sensitive information occurs.

To determine the neutrino mixing amplitudes and phase accurately, as well as the CP violation parameters, a very long base line super neutrino beam facility is needed. This is possible due to the long distance and wideband nature of the neutrino beam for the observation of several oscillations from one species of the neutrino to the other [1,2]. BNL plans to upgrade the AGS proton beam from the current 0.14 MW to higher than 1.0 MW and beyond for such a neutrino facility which consists of three major subsystems. First is a 1.5 GeV superconducting linac to replace the booster as injector for the AGS, second is the performance upgrade for the AGS itself for the higher intensity and repetition rate, and finally is target and horn system for the neutrino production. The major contribution for the higher power is from the increase of the repetition rate of the AGS form 0.3 Hz to 2.5 Hz, with moderate increase from the intensity [3]. The design consideration to achieve high intensity and low losses for the linac and the AGS will be reviewed. The target horn design for high power operation and easy maintenance will also be presented.

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to improve border security is a technique that has garnered congressional attention. This report examines the strengths and limitations of deploying UAVs along the borders and related issues for Congress. This report is not intended to provide in-depth information regarding technical or military capabilities of UAVs, but to discuss their application at the border.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Brownfields are properties whose use may be hindered by the threat of contamination. Cleaning up and redeveloping these properties can protect human health and the environment and provide economic benefits. Under the Brownfields Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides grants to state and local governments and others for site assessments, job training, revolving loans, and cleanups and to assist state efforts. GAO was asked to (1) obtain stakeholders' views on EPA's contribution to brownfield cleanup and redevelopment, (2) determine the extent to which EPA measures program accomplishments, and (3) obtain views on options to improve or complement EPA's program. Stakeholders GAO surveyed included grant recipients, state program officials, interest groups, and others."

The April-June 2004 quarter was dedicated to the establishment of monitoring systems for all the new research areas. Hydrology and water quality monitoring continues to be conducted on all areas as does weather data pertinent to the research. Studies assessing specific questions pertaining to carbon flux has been established and the invasion of the vegetation by small mammals is being quantified. The approval of two experimental practices associated with this research by the United States Office of Surface Mining was a major accomplishment during this period of time. These experimental practices will eventually allow for tree planting on long steep slopes with loose grading systems and for the use of loose dumped spoil on mountain top removal areas with no grading in the final layer of rooting material for tree establishment.

We present an algorithm for solving Poisson's equation and the heat equation on irregular domains in three dimensions. Our work uses the Cartesian grid embedded boundary algorithm for 2D problems of Johansen and Colella (1998, J. Comput. Phys. 147(2):60-85) and extends work of McCorquodale, Colella and Johansen (2001, J. Comput. Phys. 173(2):60-85). Our method is based on a finite-volume discretization of the operator, on the control volumes formed by intersecting the Cartesian grid cells with the domain, combined with a second-order accurate discretization of the fluxes. The resulting method provides uniformly second-order accurate solutions and gradients and is amenable to geometric multigrid solvers.

Two proof-of-principle large-scale tests were performed to simulate the flow of grout into Hanford single-shell HLW Tanks and into cascade lines which interconnect the HLW tanks. The goal of the testing was to determine whether the HLW tank grout can enter the cascade line and solidify prior to flowing into an adjacent tank. Two tests were performed as part of this task. The tests were conducted using the Phase 2 Structural Grout, SRG2, the structural grout mix that was used during scale-up testing last year.

The River Protection Project - Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant will use cesium ion exchange to remove 137Cs from Low Activity Waste down to 0.3 Ci/m3 in the Immobilized LAW, ILAW product. The project baseline for cesium ion exchange is the elutable SuperLig, R, 644, SL-644, resin registered trademark of IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc., American Fork, UT or the Department of Energy approved equivalent. SL-644 is solely available through IBC Advanced Technologies. To provide an alternative to this sole-source resin supply, the RPP-WTP initiated a three-stage process for selection and qualification of an alternative ion exchange resin for cesium removal in the RPPWTP. It was recommended that resorcinol formaldehyde RF be pursued as a potential alternative to SL-644.

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