A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO contracted with KPMG Peat Marwick LLP to audit the financial statements of the Senate Restaurants Revolving Fund for fiscal years 2000 and 1999. KPMG found that the statements were fairly presented in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Management fairly stated that internal controls safely guarded assets against loss from unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition; ensured material compliance with laws and regulations; and ensured that there were no material misstatements in the financial statements. KPMG found no reportable noncompliance with selected provisions of the laws and regulations it tested."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage more than 41 million acres of federal lands in Oregon and Washington, including 122,000 miles of roads that use culverts--pipes or arches that allow water to flow from one side of the road to the other. Many of the streams that pass through these culverts are essential habitat for fish and other aquatic species. More than 10,000 culverts exist on fish-bearing streams in Oregon and Washington, but the number that impede fish passage is unknown. Ongoing agency inventory and assessment efforts have identified nearly 2,600 barrier culverts, but agency officials estimate that more than twice that number may exist. Although the agencies recognize the importance of restoring fish passage, several factors inhibit their efforts. Most significantly, the agencies have not made enough money available to do all the necessary culvert work. In addition, the often lengthy process of obtaining federal and state environmental clearances and permits, as well as the short seasonal "window of opportunity" to do the work, affects the agencies' ability to restore fish passages quickly. Furthermore, the shortage of experienced engineering staff limits …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made progress in revamping its performance management system. The goals, objectives, and measures that IRS has developed, along with its new strategic planning and budgeting process, are intended to integrate results-oriented management into IRS' daily decision-making. However, as IRS officials acknowledge, extensively revamping a performance management system is a complex task that takes years to complete. GAO identified several opportunities to enhance IRS' performance management system, including clarifying goals and objectives, improving the linkages between measures, objectives, and goals, and developing fewer but more specific action items. Such enhancements could increase managerial accountability and create stronger incentives for frontline employees to achieve IRS' goals and objectives."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) received $13.2 million in supplemental funding to replace equipment lost at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the May 2000 Cerro Grande fire. GAO reviewed the practices used by the contractor that runs the laboratory--the University of California (UC)--to determine whether it can benefit from modified purchasing practices. GAO found that UC can save money by (1) expanding its supply sources to include suppliers such as the General Services Administration and the Internet; (2) establishing mandatory maximum performance standards for computer purchases to avoid unjustified, costly, and unnecessary capabilities; and (3) increasing its use of a standard brand of computer and computer-related equipment to maximize volume discounts with selected suppliers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO analyzed data from the Department of Labor's Current Population Survey (CPS) to better understand the challenges that women face in advancing their careers. Female managers in most of the industries GAO examined had less education, were younger, were more likely to work part-time, and were less likely to be married than were male managers. There was no statistically significant difference between the percent of management positions filled by women and the percent of all positions filled by women for five of the 10 industries GAO examined. In addition, in 1995 and 2000, full-time female managers earned less than full-time male managers, after controlling for education, age, marital status and race."

In an attempt to predict the creep deformation of spent nuclear fuel cladding under the repository conditions, different correlations have been developed. One of them, which will be referred to as Murty's correlation in the following, and whose expression is given in Henningson (1998), was developed on the basis of experimental points related to unirradiated Zircaloy cladding (Henningson 1998, p. 56). The objective of this calculation is to adapt Murty's correlation to experimental points pertaining to irradiated Zircaloy cladding. The scope of the calculation is provided by the range of experimental parameters characterized by Zircaloy cladding temperature between 292 C and 420 C, hoop stress between 50 and 630 MPa, and test time extending to 8000 h. As for the burnup of the experimental samples, it ranges between 0.478 and 64 MWd/kgU (i.e., megawatt day per kilogram of uranium), but this is not a parameter of the adapted correlation.

This report focuses on the situation in Hong Kong as it continues its political and social transformation after the July 1997 reversion to Chinese sovereignty.

The water quality of discharge from the surface water system is ultimately dictated by land use and climate within the watershed. Water quality has vastly improved from point source reduction measures, yet, non-point source pollutants continue to rise. 30 to 40% of rivers still do not meet water quality standards for reasons that include impact from urban storm water runoff, agricultural and livestock runoff, and loss of wetlands. Regulating non-point source pollutants proves to be difficult since specific dischargers are difficult to identify. However, parameters such as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) limit the amounts of chlorination due to simultaneous disinfection by-product formation. The concept of watershed management has gained much ground over the years as a means to resolve non-point source problems. Under this management scheme stakeholders in a watershed collectively agree to the nature and extent of non-point sources, determine water quality causes using sound scientific approaches, and together develop and implement a corrective plan. However, the ''science'' of watershed management currently has several shortcomings according to a recent National Research Council report. The scientific component of watershed management depends on acquiring knowledge that links water quality sources with geographic regions. However, there is an observational gap in this …

This paper presents a proposal for modifying the current employee annual evaluation process in SCAD. It purports to simplify that process, primarily by breaking up the resultant document into a set of more or less independent components. It claims to reduce the overall time and effort required from each actor.

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A groundwater quality assessment plan was prepared to investigate the rate and extent of aquifer contamination beneath Waste Management Area T at the Hanford Site in Washington State. This plan is an update of a draft plan issued in January 1999, which guided work performed in fiscal year 2000.

A groundwater quality assessment plan was prepared to investigate the rate and extent of aquifer contamination beneath Waste Management Area TX-TY on the Hanford Site in Washington State. This plan is an update of a draft plan issued in February 1999, which guided work performed in fiscal year 2000.

Natural attenuation processes are commonly used for remediation of contaminated sites. A variety of natural processes occur without human intervention at all sites to varying rates and degrees of effectiveness to attenuate (decrease) the mass, toxicity, mobility, volume, or concentration of organic and inorganic contaminants in soil, groundwater, and surface water systems. The objective of this review is to identify potential technical investments to be incorporated in the Subsurface Contaminant Focus Area Strategic Plan for monitored natural attenuation. When implemented, the technical investments will help evaluate and implement monitored natural attenuation as a remediation option at DOE sites. The outcome of this review is a set of conclusions and general recommendations regarding research needs, programmatic guidance, and stakeholder issues pertaining to monitored natural attenuation for the DOE complex.

This report describes the FY 2000 results of a Science and Technology investigation of the groundwater/river interface at the Hanford Site. The investigation focused on (1) a 2-D simulation of water flowpaths beneath the shoreline region under the influence of a transient river stage, and (2) mixing between groundwater and river water.

This report updates a continuing groundwater quality assessment for single-shell tank Waste Management Area S-SX at the Hanford Site. This report covers November 1997 through April 2000. Major new findings include the following: groundwater contamination continues to persist in both the northern half of the Waste Management Area as well as the southern half; evaluation of changes in water table elevations indicates a gradual shift in the direction of groundwater flow from the southeast to a more easterly direction; discrete depth sampling suggests mobile tank waste contaminants are at the very top of the aquifer in downgradient wells along the southeast side of the SX tank farm.

During 8 GeV antiproton transfers between the Accumulator to the Main Injector, the antiprotons must travel through four separate beam lines, AP3, AP1, P2, and P1. The AP1, P1, and P2 transfer lines are also used for 120 GeV antiproton production so that many of the magnet strings must accommodate a large range of excitation current. This note will quantify the relationship between emittance dilution for 8 GeV antiprotons injected into the Main Injector and variations in the excitation currents of the bending magnets.

Development of chemical separations for the transactinides has traditionally been performed with longer-lived tracer activities purchased commercially. With these long-lived tracers, there is always the potential problem that the tracer atoms are not always in the same chemical form as the short-lived atoms produced in on-line experiments. This problem is especially severe for elements in groups 4 and 5 of the periodic table, where hydrolysis is present. The long-lived tracers usually are stored with a complexing agent to prevent sorption or precipitation. Chemistry experiments performed with these long-lived tracers are therefore not analogous to those chemical experiments performed in on-line experiments. One way to eliminate the differences between off-line and on-line chemistry experiments is through the use of a {sup 252}Cf fission fragment collection device. A {sup 252}Cf fission fragment collection device has already been constructed [1]. This device is limited in its capabilities. A new fission fragment device would allow the study of the chemical properties of the homologues of the heaviest elements. This new device would be capable of producing fission fragments for fast gas chemistry and aqueous chemistry experiments, long-lived tracers for model system development and neutrons for neutron activation. Fission fragment activities produced in this way …

To complete project planning, various project groups conducted several meetings and teleconferences. As a result a draft project management plan was written and circulated. The plan will be finalized in a project kick off meeting to be held on January 16, 2001 in Lebanon, NH, which will be attended by all project participants (Task 1.0). Various project personnel have been trained in the use of Fluent and Aspen Plus, which completes all the training tasks except for Aspen Plus and IDL training for Alstom Power (Task 2.1). A preliminary version of User Requirements Document (preURD) was written. This document will be sent to key users of Aspen Plus and FLUENT and their responses will be collected in January (Task 2.3). A prototype of Fluent integration with Aspen Plus was constructed for understanding the required software design. The development of a general architecture for the integrated software suite has been started (Task 2.6). Invitation letters for participation in an Advisory Board were sent out to several Vision 21 contractors. Their responses will be used to form an Advisory Board in January (Task 5.0). Fluent has awarded subcontracts to Alstom Power, CERC, and Aspen Tech and negotiations with Intergraph are underway. Aspen …

The focus of this research has been the study and development of useful chemical reactions initiated via photoinduced electron transfer events.

An 8-year long, drift scale heater test (DST) is currently underway at the underground Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The host rock for the DST is a highly fractured, welded tuff. The rock has {approx}10% matrix porosity 90% filled with water. After a little more than two years of heating, the temperature at the drift wall reached {approx}200 C and has been maintained at that temperature for the past {approx}1.5 years. Gas and water (both vapor and liquid) have been collected from monitoring boreholes since the test began. The CO{sub 2} concentration of the gas and the isotopic compositions of the water and CO{sub 2} are measured. These data are used to constrain numerical models of coupled thermal, hydrological, and chemical processes occurring in the system. Despite obvious differences from epithermal systems (e.g., the DST is being conducted in an unsaturated system), the trends observed in the isotopic compositions of the water and CO{sub 2} have interesting implications for natural systems. In areas below boiling, the isotope ratios of the water are near that of the ambient pore water ({delta}{sup 18}O about -12{per_thousand}). Where significant amounts of vapor condensate occur (above the boiling front above the drift …

Microarray analysis and other molecular biology techniques were used to investigate the regulation of gene expression following ionizing radiation exposure.

The objective of this project is to develop an improved ultra-lightweight cement using ultra-lightweight hollow glass spheres (ULHS). Work reported herein addresses tasks performed in the fourth quarter as well as the other three quarters of the past year. The subjects that were covered in previous reports and that are also discussed in this report include: Analysis of field laboratory data of active cement applications from three oil-well service companies; Preliminary findings from a literature review focusing on problems associated with ultra-lightweight cements; Summary of pertinent information from Russian ultra-lightweight cement literature review; and Comparison of compressive strengths of ULHS systems using ultrasonic and crush methods Results reported from the fourth quarter include laboratory testing of ULHS systems along with other lightweight cement systems--foamed and sodium silicate slurries. These comparison studies were completed for two different densities (10.0 and 11.5 lb/gal) and three different field application scenarios. Additional testing included the mechanical properties of ULHS systems and other lightweight systems. Studies were also performed to examine the effect that circulation by centrifugal pump during mixing has on breakage of ULHS.

Since 1995, with funds from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Transportation Technologies (OTT), Argonne National Laboratory has been developing the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model. The model is intended to serve as an analytical tool for use by researchers and practitioners in estimating fuel-cycle energy use and emissions associated with alternative transportation fuels and advanced vehicle technologies. Argonne released the first version of the GREET mode--GREET 1.0--in June 1996. Since then, it has released a series of GREET versions with revisions, updates, and upgrades. In February 2000, the latest public version of the model--GREET 1.5a--was posted on Argonne's Transportation Technology Research and Development Center (TTRDC) Web site (www.transportation.anl.gov/ttrdc/greet).

To complete project planning, various project groups conducted several meetings and teleconferences. As a result a draft project management plan was written and circulated. The plan will be finalized in a project kick off meeting to be held on January 16, 2001 in Lebanon, NH, which will be attended by all project participants (Task 1.0). Various project personnel have been trained in the use of Fluent and Aspen Plus, which completes all the training tasks except for Aspen Plus and IDL training for Alstom Power (Task 2.1). A preliminary version of User Requirements Document (preURD) was written. This document will be sent to key users of Aspen Plus and FLUENT and their responses will be collected in January (Task 2.3). A prototype of Fluent integration with Aspen Plus was constructed for understanding the required software design. The development of a general architecture for the integrated software suite has been started (Task 2.6). Invitation letters for participation in an Advisory Board were sent out to several Vision 21 contractors. Their responses will be used to form an Advisory Board in January (Task 5.0). Fluent has awarded subcontracts to Alstom Power, CERC, and Aspen Tech and negotiations with Intergraph are underway. Aspen …