A bubble merger model is presented for the nonlinear evolution of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability driven by a strong blast wave. Single bubble motion is determined by an extension of previous buoyancy-drag models extended to the blast wave driven case, and a simple bubble merger law in the spirit of the Sharp-Wheeler model allows for the generation of larger scales. The blast wave driven case differs in several respects from the classical case of incompressible fluids in a uniform gravitational field. Because of material decompression in the rarefaction behind the blast front, the asymptotic bubble velocity and the merger time depend on time as well as the transverse scale and the drive. For planar blast waves, this precludes the emergence of a self-similar regime independent of the initial conditions. With higher-dimensional blast waves, divergence restores the properties necessary for the establishment of the self-similar state, but its establishment requires a very high initial characteristic mode number and a high Mach number for the incident blast wave.

This report details the information related to budget allocation for FY 2005 The contents include Budget Action, Outlays, Receipts, deficits, and Surpluses, etc.

The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) January 2004 budget report for FY2005 (the Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2005-2014) estimated the FY2005 baseline deficit at $362 billion, not much different from that proposed by the Administration. Selected alternative policies included in the CBO report, estimates for the cost of extending the tax cuts, reforming the AMT, and letting discretionary spending grow at the rate of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, would increase the deficit, particularly in the years beyond FY2009.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On May 15, 2003, and again on July 25, 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, Subcommittees on Homeland Security, of its intention to reprogram a large amount of funds appropriated to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for fiscal year 2003. In an August 2003 letter, Congress requested that we review the key events leading up to the reprogramming and subsequent revisions as they related to the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS). In particular, we were asked to determine (1) whether senior TSA, DHS, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials were informed of the implications of the FAMS funding reductions prior to submission of the reprogramming notices; (2) the programmatic implications of the funding reductions on the FAMS program; (3) whether it was legally necessary to send an impoundment message to the Congress; and whether the Secretary of Homeland Security had delegated to the Under Secretary for Management the authority to transmit reprogramming notifications to the cognizant Appropriations Subcommittees. Finally, Congress asked us to identify, as appropriate, improvements in budget execution for future consideration. As agreed, we briefed …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The structure of the budget process can help ensure that budget decision makers are presented with the information and choices for timely and informed decisionmaking. GAO's long-term budget simulations show that, absent substantive entitlement reform and/or dramatic changes in tax and spending policies, we will face large, escalating, and persistent deficits. A budget process incorporating new metrics and mechanisms that better signal the long-term commitments and promises made by the government will help concentrate decision makers' efforts on long-term sustainability."

This report contains a brief review of the budget sequesters.

Although small wind turbine technology and economics have improved in recent years, the small wind market in the United States continues to be driven in large part by state incentives, such as cash rebates, favorable loan programs, and tax credits. This paper examines the state-by-state economic attractiveness of small residential wind systems. Economic attractiveness is evaluated primarily using the break-even turnkey cost (BTC) of a residential wind system as the figure of merit. The BTC is defined here as the aggregate installed cost of a small wind system that could be supported such that the system owner would break even (and receive a specified return on investment) over the life of the turbine, taking into account current available incentives, the wind resource, and the retail electricity rate offset by on-site generation. Based on the analysis presented in this paper, we conclude that: (1) the economics of residential, grid-connected small wind systems is highly variable by state and wind resource class, (2) significant cost reductions will be necessary to stimulate widespread market acceptance absent significant changes in the level of policy support, and (3) a number of policies could help stimulate the market, but state cash incentives currently have the most …

Traditionally building simulation models are used at the design phase of a building project. These models are used to optimize various design alternatives, reduce energy consumption and cost. Building performance assessment for the operational phase of a buildings life cycle is sporadic, typically working from historical metered data and focusing on bulk energy assessment. Building Management Systems (BMS) do not explicitly incorporate feedback to the design phase or account for any changes, which have been made to building layout or fabric during construction. This paper discusses a proposal to develop an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) compliant data visualization tool Building Performance Indicator (BuildingPI) for performance metric and performance effectiveness ratio evaluation.

Faculty and students from five universities--the University of Kentucky, University of Pittsburgh, University of Utah, West Virginia University, and Auburn University--are collaborating in a research program to develop C1 chemistry processes to produce ultra-clean liquid transportation fuels and hydrogen, the zero-emissions transportation fuel of the future. The feedstocks contain one carbon atom per molecular unit. They include synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced by coal gasification or reforming of natural gas, methane, methanol, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. An important objective is to develop C1 technology for the production of liquid transportation fuel and hydrogen from domestically plentiful resources such as coal, coalbed methane, and natural gas. An Industrial Advisory Board with representatives from Chevron-Texaco, Eastman Chemical, Conoco-Phillips, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army National Automotive Center (Tank & Automotive Command--TACOM), and Tier Associates provides guidance on the practicality of the research. The current report presents results obtained in this research program during the six months of the subject contract from October 1, 2002 through March 31, 2003. The results are presented in thirteen detailed reports on research projects headed by various faculty members at each of the five CFFS Universities. Additionally, an …

The new heavy ion synchrotron facility proposed by GSI will have two superconducting magnet rings in the same tunnel, with rigidities of 300 T-m and 100 T-m. Fast ramp times are needed, which can cause significant problems for the magnets, particularly in the areas of ac loss and magnetic field distortion. The development of the low loss Rutherford cable that can be used is described, together with a novel insulation scheme designed to promote efficient cooling. Measurements of contact resistance in the cable are presented and the results of these measurements are used to predict the ac losses, in the magnets during fast ramp operation. For the high energy ring, a lm model dipole magnet was built, based on the RHIC dipole design. This magnet was tested under boiling liquid helium in a vertical cryostat. The quench current showed very little dependence on ramp rate. The ac losses, measured by an electrical method, were fitted to straight line plots of loss/cycle versus ramp rate, thereby separating the eddy current and hysteresis components. These results were compared with calculated values, using parameters which had previously been measured on short samples of cable. Reasonably good agreement between theory and experiment was found, …

Natural convection heat and mass transfer under post-closure conditions has been calculated for Yucca Mountain drifts using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT. Calculations have been performed for 300, 1000, 3000, and 10,000 years after repository closure. Effective dispersion coefficients that can be used to calculate mass transfer in the drift have been evaluated as a function of time and boundary temperature tilt.

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 the state of California.

California's recently enacted Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS, Senate Bill 1078) requires the state's investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to increase the renewable portion of their energy mix, with a goal of 20% renewable energy generation by 2017. Renewable generation projects will compete with each other to supply the IOUs, with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) establishing a process to select the''least-cost, best-fit'' projects. The California Energy Commission (CEC), in support of the CPUC, organized a team to study integration costs in the context of RPS implementation. The analysis team, collectively referred to as the Methods Group, consists of researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory and staff members from the California Independent System Operator, Dynamic Design Engineering, and the California Wind Energy Collaborative. This RPS Integration Study is motivated by the RPS's ''least-cost, best-fit'' bid selection criterion, which requires that indirect costs be considered in addition to the energy bid price when selecting eligible renewable projects. This paper summarizes the key results from the Phase I report. Specific issues examined in the report include capacity credit, regulation impacts and costs, and preliminary load-following impacts via the supplemental energy market in California. We also discuss the status …

The term "soft money" generally refers to unregulated funds for election related activities that are not subject to the Federal Election Campaign Act's (FECA) source restrictions, contribution limits, and disclosure requirements. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which amended FECA and became effective on November 6, 2002, restricts the raising and spending of soft money. This report contains information on a summary of campaign financing, recent developments, background and analysis, definitions of Hard and Soft money in federal elections, political party soft money, soft money spent on issue advocacy, corporate and labor union soft money, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, and additional related materials.

This is one report in the series of reports that discuss the campaign finance practices and related issues. Concerns over financing federal elections have become a seemingly perennial aspect of our political system, centered on the enduring issues of high campaign costs and reliance on interest groups for needed campaign funds. The report talks about the today’s paramount issues such as perceived loopholes in current law and the longstanding issues: overall costs, funding sources, and competition.

Point defects are induced in high quality optical-grade fused silica by high fluence (>30 J/cm{sup 2}) 355nm laser pulses. The microscopic depth distribution of laser irradiation induced defects has been nondestructively determined using Cathodoluminescence (CL) microanalysis. CL emissions have been observed at 1.9eV, 2.2eV, 2.7eV and 4.4eV. In addition following CO{sup 2} laser treatment for damage mitigation an emission at 3.2eV is also observed. The CL emissions have been identified with the NBOHC (non-bridging oxygen hole center), the STE (self-trapped exciton), an ODC (oxygen-deficient center) and an aluminum impurity centre. The spatially resolved CL data is consistent with damage initiation at the exit surface. The concentration of 355 nm laser induced defects is greatest at the surface and monotonically decays to pre-irradiation levels at {approx}10 {micro}m depth below the surface. With CO{sup 2} processing to mitigate damage, the defect concentration and spatial distribution is reduced to a maximum depth of {approx}6{micro}m. CL microanalysis provides a sensitive and nondestructive method of assessing the magnitude and submicron distribution of irradiation induced damage in technologically important materials.

The construction of the sampling system was completed during the past quarter. The sampling system has been built on a 3 feet x 4 feet x 2 inch breadboard table. The laser system, all the associated optics, and the mounts and hardware needed to couple the UV light into the fiber optic have also been condensed and placed on an identical 3 feet x 4 feet x 2 inch breadboard table. This reduces the footprint of each system for ease of operation at a field test facility. The two systems are only connected with a fiber optic, to bring the UV light to the CRD cavity, and a single coaxial cable used to apply a voltage to the diode seed laser to scan the frequency over the desired mercury transition. SRD software engineers applied a couple of software fixes to correct the problems of the diode seed laser drifting or mode hopping. Upon successful completion of the software fixes another long-term test was conducted. A nearly 3 day long, 24 hours/day, test was run to test out the new subroutines. Everything appeared to work as it should and the mercury concentrations were accurately reported for the entire test, with the …

Ceramic materials have been considered as corrosion resistant coatings for nuclear waste containers. Their suitability can be derived from the fully oxidized state for selected metal oxides. Several types of ceramic coatings applied to plain carbon steel substrates by thermal spray techniques have been exposed to 90 C simulated ground water for nearly 6 years. In some cases no apparent macroscopic damage such as coating spallation was observed in coatings. Thermal spray processes examined in this work included plasma spray, High Velocity Oxy Fuel (HVOF), and Detonation Gun. Some thermal spray coatings have demonstrated superior corrosion protection for the plain carbon steel substrate. In particular the HVOF and Detonation Gun thermal spray processes produced coatings with low connected porosity, which limited the growth rate of corrosion products. It was also demonstrated that these coatings resisted spallation of the coating even when an intentional flaw (which allowed for corrosion of the carbon steel substrate underneath the ceramic coating) was placed in the coating. A model for prediction of the corrosion protection provided by ceramic coatings is presented. The model includes the effect of the morphology and amount of the porosity within the thermal spray coating and provides a prediction of the …

This quarterly technical progress report will summarize work accomplished for Phase 2 Program during the quarter January to March 2004. In task 1 OTM development has led to improved strength and composite design for lower temperatures. In task 2, the measurement system of OTM element dimensions was improved. In task 3, a 10-cycle test of a three-tube submodule was reproduced successfully. In task 5, sizing of several potential heat recovery systems was initiated. In task 7, advanced OTM and cryogenic IGCC cases for near-term integration were developed.

Integral to the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) Program’s proposed closed nuclear fuel cycle, the fission products cesium and strontium in the dissolved spent nuclear fuel stream are to be separated and managed separately. A comprehensive literature survey is presented to identify cesium and strontium separation technologies that have the highest potential and to focus research and development efforts on these technologies. Removal of these high-heat-emitting fission products reduces the radiation fields in subsequent fuel cycle reprocessing streams and provides a significant short-term (100 yr) heat source reduction in the repository. This, along with separation of actinides, may provide a substantial future improvement in the amount of fuel that could be stored in a geologic repository. The survey and review of the candidate cesium and strontium separation technologies are presented herein. Because the AFCI program intends to manage cesium and strontium together, technologies that simultaneously separate both elements are of the greatest interest, relative to technologies that separate only one of the two elements.

Researchers at the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) successfully demonstrated the Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) process flow sheet using a 33-stage, 2-cm centrifugal contactor apparatus in two 24-hour tests using actual high level waste. Previously, we demonstrated the solvent extraction process with actual SRS HLW supernatant solution using a non-optimized solvent formulation. Following that test, the solvent system was optimized to enhance extractant solubility in the diluent by increasing the modifier concentration. We now report results of two tests with the new and optimized solvent.

In the Spring of 2003, a series of dispersion field experiments (Joint Urban 2003) were conducted at Oklahoma City. These experiments were complimentary to the URBAN 2000 field studies at Salt Lake City (Allwine, et. al, 2002) in that they will provide a second set of comprehensive field data for evaluation of CFD as well as for other dispersion models. In contrast to the URBAN 2000 experiments that were conducted entirely at night, these new field studies took place during both daytime and nighttime thus including the possibility of convective as well as stable atmospheric conditions. Initially several CFD modeling studies were performed to provide guidance for the experimental team in the selection of release sites and in the deployment of wind and concentration sensors. Also, while meteorological and concentration measurements were taken over the greater Oklahoma City urban area, our CFD calculations were focused on the near field of the release point. The proximity of the source to a large commercial building and to the neighboring buildings several of which have multi-stories, present a significant challenge even for CFD calculations involving grid resolutions as fine as 1 meter. A total of 10 Intensive Observations Periods (IOP's) were conducted within …

We present deep Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of the galaxy cluster RDCS1252.9-2927, which was selected from the ROSAT Deep Cluster Survey (RDCS) and confirmed by extensive spectroscopy with the VLT at redshift z = 1.237. With the Chandra data, the X-ray emission from the intra-cluster medium is well resolved and traced out to 500 kpc, thus allowing a measurement of the physical properties of the gas with unprecedented accuracy at this redshift. We detect a clear 6.7 keV Iron K line in the Chandra spectrum providing a redshift within 1% of the spectroscopic one. By augmenting our spectroscopic analysis with the XMM-Newton data (MOS detectors only), we significantly narrow down the 1{sigma} error bar to 10% for the temperature and 30% for the metallicity, with best fit values kT = 6.0{sup +0.7}{sub -0.5} keV, Z = 0.36{sup +0.12}{sup -0.10}Z{sub {circle_dot}}. In the likely hypothesis of hydrostatic equilibrium, we measure a total mass of M{sub 500} = (1.9{+-}0.3)10{sup 14}h{sup -1}{sub 70} M{sub {circle_dot}} within R{sub {Delta}=500} {approx} 536 kpc. Overall, these observations imply that RDCS1252.9-2927 is the most X-ray luminous and likely the most massive bona-fide cluster discovered to date at z > 1. When combined with current samples of distant …

Three dip samples of suspended sludge slurry were obtained from Tank 51H in December, 2003 after addition of corrosion control chemicals to the tank. The samples were sent to the Savannah River Technology Center for analysis. The analyses requested included those required for Extended Sludge Processing washing controls and corrosion controls. The washing controls require the measurement of the sodium concentration, density, and weight per cent solids of the sample. The corrosion control analyses require determination of the nitrate, nitrite, and free hydroxide concentrations in the supernate. The low per cent relative standard deviations for all analytical results indicate good analytical precision for the three replicates. The blanks submitted with the sample show no contamination of the samples from reagents used in the sample preparations. The results of the density and weight per cent solids measurements appear consistent with the sodium concentration measured in the supernate.