Actinide materials present an extreme scientific challenge to the materials research community. The complex electronic structures of actinide materials result in many unusual and unique properties that have yet to be fully understood. The difficulties in handling, preparing, and characterizing actinide materials has frequently precluded investigations and has the limited the detailed understanding of these relevant, complex materials. However, modern experiments with actinide materials have the potential to provide key, fundamental information about many long-standing issues concerning actinide materials. This workshop focused on the scientific and technical challenges posed by actinide materials and the potential that synchrotron radiation approaches available at the ALS can contribute to improving the fundamental understanding of actinides materials. Fundamental experimental approaches and results, as well as theoretical modeling and computational simulations, were part of the workshop program.

A wavelet-neural network signal processing method has demonstrated approximately tenfold improvement over traditional signal-processing methods for the detection limit of various nitrogen and phosphorus compounds from the output of a thermionic detector attached to a gas chromatograph. A blind test was conducted to validate the lower detection limit. All fourteen of the compound spikes were detected when above the estimated threshold, including all three within a factor of two above the threshold. In addition, two of six spikes were detected at levels of 1/2 the concentration of the nominal threshold. Another two of the six would have been detected correctly if we had allowed human intervention to examine the processed data. One apparent false positive in five nulls was traced to a solvent impurity, whose presence was subsequently identified by analyzing a solvent aliquot evaporated to 1% residual volume, while the other four nulls were properly classified. We view this signal processing method as broadly applicable in analytical chemistry, and we advocate that advanced signal processing methods should be applied as directly as possible to the raw detector output so that less discriminating preprocessing and post-processing does not throw away valuable signal.

From Summary: This report briefly summarizes the events that occurred and the issues, they raised in regards to violations of state laws, against Marsh & McClennan Companies and Marsh, Inc, which the Attorney General of the Sate of New York filling a civil law suit.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We have performed the procedures contained in this report, which we agreed to perform and with which the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Transportation concurred, solely to assist that office in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, is supported by the underlying records. We evaluated fiscal year 2004 activity affecting distributions to the AATF. The adequacy of the procedures to meet the IG's objectives is the IG's responsibility, and we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform were (1) detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to the AATF, (2) review of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly AATF certifications, (3) review of the Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service adjustments to the AATF for fiscal year 2004, (4) review of IRS's precertification1 of receipts for the second and third quarters of fiscal year 2004, (5) review of certain procedures of the Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis' (OTA) estimation procedures affecting excise tax distributions …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We assisted the Department of Labor in ascertaining whether the net federal unemployment tax (FUTA) revenue distributed to the Unemployment Trust Fund (UTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, is supported by the underlying records. We evaluated fiscal year 2004 activity affecting distributions to the UTF. In performing the agreed-upon procedures, we conducted our work in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporate financial audit and attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. These standards also provide guidance for performing and reporting the results of agreed-upon procedures. The procedures we agreed to perform include (1) detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to the UTF and (2) review of key reconciliations of the Internal Revenue Service records to the Department of the Treasury records."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We assisted the Department of Transportation (DOT) in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, is supported by the underlying records. As agreed with DOT, we evaluated fiscal year 2004 activity affecting distributions to the HTF. In performing the agreed-upon procedures, we conducted our work in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporate financial audit and attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. These standards also provide guidance for performing and reporting the results of agreed-upon procedures."

This report provides a list of who would possibly succeed Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat in the event of his death. It also outlines why said people would succeed him.

The principal research effort for Year 2 of the project is the determination of the burial and thermal maturation histories and basin modeling and petroleum system identification of the North Louisiana Salt Basin. In the first six (6) to nine (9) months of Year 2, the research focus is on the determination of the burial and thermal maturation histories and the remainder of the year the emphasis is on basin modeling and petroleum system identification. No major problems have been encountered to date, and the project is on schedule.

This report is a guide to a subset of one of the 13 regular appropriation bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Homeland Security; and to supplement the information provided in the CRS Department of Homeland Security Appropriations report. This report summarizes the current legislative status of the bill, major issues, funding levels, and legislative activity related to border and transportation security and will be updated as events warrant.

This report discusses how the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) is structured, how it has been used, and how various commentators have assessed its design and implementation. The report concludes with a discussion of potential criteria for assessing the PART or other program evaluations, which Congress might consider during the budget process, in oversight of federal agencies and programs, and in consideration of legislation that relates to the PART or program evaluation generally.

The purpose of this analysis is to specify and document the total and respirable fractions for radioactive materials that could be potentially released from an accident at the repository involving commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in a dry environment. The total and respirable release fractions are used to support the preclosure licensing basis for the repository. The total release fraction is defined as the fraction of total commercial SNF assembly inventory, typically expressed as an activity inventory (e.g., curies), of a given radionuclide that is released to the environment from a waste form. Radionuclides are released from the inside of breached fuel rods (or pins) and from the detachment of radioactive material (crud) from the outside surfaces of fuel rods and other components of fuel assemblies. The total release fraction accounts for several mechanisms that tend to retain, retard, or diminish the amount of radionuclides that are available for transport to dose receptors or otherwise can be shown to reduce exposure of receptors to radiological releases. The total release fraction includes a fraction of airborne material that is respirable and could result in inhalation doses; this subset of the total release fraction is referred to as the respirable release fraction. …

Existing analytical data from samples taken from Hanford Tank 241-S-109, along with process knowledge of the wastes transferred to this tank, are reviewed to determine whether dangerous waste characteristics currently assigned to all waste in Hanford underground storage tanks are applicable to this tank waste. Supplemental technologies are examined to accelerate the Hanford tank waste cleanup mission and to accomplish the waste treatment in a safer and more efficient manner. The goals of supplemental technologies are to reduce costs, conserve double-shell tank space, and meet the scheduled tank waste processing completion date of 2028.

This report describes a site-response model and its implementation for developing earthquake ground motion input for preclosure seismic design and postclosure assessment of the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The model implements a random-vibration theory (RVT), one-dimensional (1D) equivalent-linear approach to calculate site response effects on ground motions. The model provides results in terms of spectral acceleration including peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and dynamically-induced strains as a function of depth. In addition to documenting and validating this model for use in the Yucca Mountain Project, this report also describes the development of model inputs, implementation of the model, its results, and the development of earthquake time history inputs based on the model results. The purpose of the site-response ground motion model is to incorporate the effects on earthquake ground motions of (1) the approximately 300 m of rock above the emplacement levels beneath Yucca Mountain and (2) soil and rock beneath the site of the Surface Facilities Area. A previously performed probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) (CRWMS M&O 1998a [DIRS 103731]) estimated ground motions at a reference rock outcrop for the Yucca Mountain site (Point A), but those results do not include these site response effects. …

Following the closely contested presidential election of 2000, it is anticipated that Congress may revisit the issue of Electoral College reform. Although some reforms could be effected through federal or state statutes, most would require overcoming the considerable hurdles encountered by proposed constitutional amendments: two-thirds approval by both houses of Congress, followed by ratification by three-fourths (38) of the states, usually within a period of seven years.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO is required to audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government. Due to the significance of the federal debt held by the public to the governmentwide financial statements, GAO has also been auditing the Bureau of the Public Debt's (BPD) Schedules of Federal Debt annually. The audit of these schedules is done to determine whether, in all material respects, (1) the schedules prepared are reliable, (2) BPD management maintained effective internal control relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt, and (3) BPD complies with selected provisions of significant laws related to the Schedule of Federal Debt. Federal debt managed by BPD consists of Treasury securities held by the public and by certain federal government accounts, referred to as intragovernmental debt holdings. The level of debt held by the public reflects how much of the nation's wealth has been absorbed by the federal government to finance prior federal spending in excess of total federal revenues. Intragovernmental debt holdings represent balances of Treasury securities held by federal government accounts, primarily federal trust funds such as Social Security, that typically have an obligation to invest their excess …

This report briefly discusses procedures regarding conference reports in the House of Representatives.

This report briefly discusses procedure regarding conference reports in the Senate.

Internal inspection of pipelines is an important tool for ensuring safe and reliable delivery of fossil energy products. Current inspection systems that are propelled through the pipeline by the product flow cannot be used to inspect all pipelines because of the various physical barriers they encounter. Recent development efforts include a new generation of powered inspection platforms that crawl slowly inside a pipeline and are able to maneuver past the physical barriers that can limit inspection. At Battelle, innovative electromagnetic sensors are being designed and tested for these new pipeline crawlers. The various sensor types can be used to assess a wide range of pipeline anomalies including corrosion, mechanical damage, and cracks. The Applied Energy Systems Group at Battelle is concluding the first year of work on a projected three-year development effort. In this first year, two innovative electromagnetic inspection technologies were designed and tested. Both were based on moving high-strength permanent magnets to generate inspection energy. One system involved translating permanent magnets towards the pipe. A pulse of electric current would be induced in the pipe to oppose the magnetization according to Lenz's Law. The decay of this pulse would indicate the presence of defects in the pipe wall. …

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We report the results of Raman measurements of various materials under simultaneous conditions of high temperature and high pressure in the diamond anvil cell (DAC). High temperatures are generated by laser heating or internal resistive (ohmic) heating or a combination of both. We present Raman spectra of cubic boron nitride (cBN) to 40 GPa and up to 2300 K that show a continuous pressure and temperature shift of the frequency of the transverse optical mode. We have also obtained high-pressure Raman spectra from a new noble metal nitride, which we synthesized at approximately 50 GPa and 2000 K. We have obtained high-temperature spectra from pure nitrogen to 39 GPa and up to 2000 K, which show the presence of a hot band that has previously been observed in CARS measurements. These measurements have also allowed us to constrain the melting curve and to examine changes in the intramolecular potential with pressure.

This ICN documents the installation of two additional downgradient monitoring wells and two additional upgradient wells. It updates the monitoring network. The project scientist will provide a schedule change request providing the list of additional wells to the sample scheduler.

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