A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to implement the Packers and Stockyards Act, focusing on: (1) the number and status of investigations conducted by the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) in response to complaints and concerns about anticompetitive activity involving the marketing of cattle and hogs; and (2) factors that affect GIPSA's ability to investigate concerns about anticompetitive practices."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the pricing of genetically modified seeds, focusing on the: (1) prices of Roundup Ready soybean seeds and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn seeds in the United States and Argentina; and (2) major reasons for the price differences, if any, between the two countries for these seeds."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed foreign assistance, focusing on the: (1) use of the Compact of Free Association funding by the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) between fiscal years 1987 and 1998; (2) progress both nations have made in advancing economic self-sufficiency; (3) role of Compact funds in supporting economic progress; and (4) extent of accountability by the two nations and the United States over Compact expenditures."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's use of withdrawn land near Hawthorne, Nevada, focusing on: (1) the status of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) proposal to reduce the amount of withdrawn land near Hawthorne; and (2) possible approaches for addressing the use of this land."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the deficiencies in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) internal controls over royalty income that is distributed to institutes and inventors."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) compliance with the requirements to maintain capacity and access for veterans with special disabilities, focusing on: (1) the accuracy of the conclusions in VA's fiscal year (FY) 1998 annual capacity report; and (2) challenges facing VA in managing its special disability programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the role of the Department of Energy's power marketing administrations (PMA), focusing on: (1) how federal legislation and major relevant court cases have, over time, directed the PMAs to give preference to particular customers in purchasing electricity; and (2) the role of preference in the PMAs' electricity sales in light of the restructuring of the electricity industry."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the role and functioning of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, focusing on: (1) whether the issues listed for consideration by the Working Group in Executive Order 12631 have been considered; (2) what additional issues have been considered by the Working Group and how they were identified; and (3) the nature of coordination and cooperation within the Working Group and the views of members of Congress and Working Group participants about whether it needs to be formalized in statute."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The colocation of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) units provides the best opportunity for the agencies to jointly serve the public, effect operational efficiencies, and improve land management. The Service First Initiative is designed to improve the operations of these two agencies by combining resources and providing "one-stop shopping" services for the public. Since the initiative has been in operation, the number of shared projects between BLM and the Forest Service has increased from 15 in fiscal year 1996 to 272 in mid-fiscal year 2000. Many of the projects involve shared personnel, shared equipment, and joint training projects. Although there have been some successes in achieving efficient government operations, there are many legal and regulatory barriers that prevent the full integration of the agencies' resources. The full integration of the agencies' operations depends on resolution of these barriers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) reviewed the status of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) implementation of the taxpayer protection and rights provisions in title III of its Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998; and (2) determined what, if any, tax administration or other concerns IRS has identified in implementing these provisions."

We have estimated interference from external background radiation for a computed tomography (CT) scanner. Our intention is to estimate the interference that would be expected for the high-resolution SkyScan 1072 desk-top x-ray microtomography system. The SkyScan system uses a Microfocus x-ray source capable of a 10-{micro}m focal spot at a maximum current of 0.1 mA and a maximum energy of 130 kVp. All predictions made in this report assume using the x-ray source at the smallest spot size, maximum energy, and operating at the maximum current. Some of the systems basic geometry that is used for these estimates are: (1) Source-to-detector distance: 250 mm, (2) Minimum object-to-detector distance: 40 mm, and (3) Maximum object-to-detector distance: 230 mm. This is a first-order, rough estimate of the quantity of interference expected at the system detector caused by background radiation. The amount of interference is expressed by using the ratio of exposure expected at the detector of the CT system. The exposure values for the SkyScan system are determined by scaling the measured values of an x-ray source and the background radiation adjusting for the difference in source-to-detector distance and current. The x-ray source that was used for these measurements was not the …

During the WBS4 review almost a year ago in January, and in more recent discussions of needed capsule characterization, I was struck by three pieces of information related to machined Be capsules: (1) that the speed of sound (and perhaps other properties) in Be grains is markedly different in orthogonal directions, (2) that the grain size in the best refined bulk Be samples is 10 to 15 {micro}m, and that these grains in the best case are randomly oriented, and (3) that we are concerned about capsule homogeneity on the level of 1 part in 10{sup 4}, presumably over angular length scales corresponding to the maximum in the growth curve. It seems to me that the first two points might be inconsistent with the third, and this led me to attempt to model the effect of randomly oriented Be grains on the radially dependent properties of a capsule.

The data evaluated in this qualification report have been cited in analysis and model reports (AMRs) in support of the Site Recommendation in determining the suitability of the Yucca Mountain Site for a repository for high level nuclear waste. The AMRs use these hydrochemical data as a basis for modeling the chemical interactions between groundwater and engineered materials, including waste forms, packages and materials in the engineered barrier system J-13 water is also used as a reactant in experiments performed to collect data on corrosion of waste packages and repository materials, on solubility of radionuclides, on waste form leach rates, and in simulations of the mobility of radionuclides in groundwater, among other applications. J-13 water serves effectively as a reference or surrogate water composition across the program. Establishing a qualified data set describing the composition of J-13 will help ensure commonality among the various studies.

Preliminary shielding calculations were performed to establish the dimensions of the radiation shielding surrounding the three Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) beam stops. Steel shielding thicknesses were sized to give dose levels of 1, 2, and 5 mrem/h at the top of the shield, and, to provide enough shielding along the sides and bottom of the beam dump so that soil activation is not a problem. It was concluded that 144 in. of steel shielding is needed above the beam stop. The thickness of the concrete floor in the service building above the dump was not a part of these calculations. This shielding design is current as of January 2000.

The purpose and scope of this report is to describe the analysis of available colloidal data from waste form corrosion tests at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to extract characteristics of these colloids that can be used in modeling their contribution to the source term for sparingly soluble radioelements (e.g., Pu). Specifically, the focus is on developing a useful description of the following waste form colloid characteristics: (1) composition, (2) size distribution, and (3) quantification of the rate of waste form colloid generation. The composition and size distribution information are intended to support analysis of the potential transport of the sparingly soluble radionuclides associated with the waste form colloids. The rate of colloid generation is intended to support analysis of the waste form colloid-associated radionuclide concentrations. In addressing the above characteristics, available data are interpreted to address mechanisms controlling colloid formation and stability. This report was developed in accordance with the ''Technical Work Plan for Waste Form Degradation Process Model Report for SR'' (CRWMS M&O 2000). Because the end objective is to support the source term modeling we have organized the conclusions into two categories: (1) data analysis conclusions and (2) recommendations for colloid source term modeling. The second category is …

The purpose of this report was to document the process leading to development of the Biosphere Dose Conversion Factors (BDCFs) for the postclosure nominal performance of the potential repository at Yucca Mountain. BDCF calculations concerned twenty-four radionuclides. This selection included sixteen radionuclides that may be significant nominal performance dose contributors during the compliance period of up to 10,000 years, five additional radionuclides of importance for up to 1 million years postclosure, and three relatively short-lived radionuclides important for the human intrusion scenario. Consideration of radionuclide buildup in soil caused by previous irrigation with contaminated groundwater was taken into account in the BDCF development. The effect of climate evolution, from the current arid conditions to a wetter and cooler climate, on the BDCF values was evaluated. The analysis included consideration of different exposure pathway's contribution to the BDCFs. Calculations of nominal performance BDCFs used the GENII-S computer code in a series of probabilistic realizations to propagate the uncertainties of input parameters into the output. BDCFs for the nominal performance, when combined with the concentrations of radionuclides in groundwater allow calculation of potential radiation doses to the receptor of interest. Calculated estimates of radionuclide concentration in groundwater result from the saturated zone …

Burnup credit is an ongoing issue in designing and licensing transportation and storage casks for spent nuclear fuel (SNF). To address this issue, in July 1999, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Spent Fuel Project Office, issued Interim Staff Guidance-8 (ISG-8), Revision 1 allowing limited burnup credit for pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) to be used in transport and storage casks. However, one of the key limitations for a licensing basis analysis as stipulated in ISG-8, Revision 1 is that ''burnup credit is restricted to intact fuel assemblies that have not used burnable absorbers''. Because many PWR fuel designs have incorporated burnable-absorber rods for more than twenty years, this restriction places an unnecessary burden on the commercial nuclear power industry. This paper summarizes the effects of in-reactor irradiation on the isotopic inventory of PWR fuels containing different types of integral burnable absorbers (BAs). The work presented is illustrative and intended to represent typical magnitudes of the reactivity effects from depleting PWR fuel with different types of burnable absorbers.

A goal of the Mesaverde project was to better define the depositional system of the Mesaverde in hopes that it would provide insight to new or by-passed targets for oil exploration. The new, detailed studies of the Mesaverde give us a better understanding of the lateral variability in depositional environments and facies. Recognition of this lateral variability and establishment of the criteria for separating deltaic, strandplain-barrier, and estuarine deposits from each other permit development of better hydrocarbon exploration models, because the sandstone geometry differs in each depositional system. Although these insights will provide better exploration models for gas exploration, it does not appear that they will be instrumental in finding more oil. Oil in the Mesaverde Group is produced from isolated fields on the Chaco slope; only a few wells define each field. Production is from sandstone beds in the upper part of the Point Lookout Sandstone or from individual fluvial channel sandstones in the Menefee. Stratigraphic traps rather than structural traps are more important. Source of the oil in the Menefee and Point Lookout may be from interbedded organic-rich mudstones or coals rather than from the Lewis Shale. The Lewis Shale appears to contain more type III organic matter …

Report on status of program to raise awareness and heighten interest in nuclear engineering and nuclear science, particularly among 7th through 12th grade students and pre-college freshmen.

This document is a revision of the document titled above, summarizing the technical baseline of the Tank Farm Contractor. It is one of several documents prepared by CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc. to support the U.S. Department of Energy Office of River Protection Tank Waste Retrieval and Disposal Mission at Hanford.

Atomic force microscopy was used to study changes in the surface step structure of GaInAsSb layers with varying degrees of phase separation. The layers were grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy on (001) GaSb substrates with 2{sup o} miscut angles toward (-1-11)A, (1-11)B, and (101). Alloy decomposition was observed by contrast modulations in plan-view transmission electron microscopy, and broadening in x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence peaks. GaInAsSb layers with a minimal degree of phase separation exhibit a step-bunched step structure. A gradual degradation in the periodicity of the step structure is observed as the alloy decomposes into GaAs- and InSb-rich regions. The surface eventually develops trenches to accommodate the local strain associated with composition variations, which are on the order of a few percent. The surface composition is affected by substrate miscut angle, and although phase separation cannot be eliminated, its extent can be reduced by growing on substrates miscut toward (1-11)B.

These valves are 1/2 inch ball valves fabricated of 316 stainless steel. Packing is TFE (standard). They are used as isolation valves for pressure instrumentation in the SCHe System between the helium bottle supply manifolds and safety class helium pressure instrumentation, and in lower pressure SCHe supply line.

Bent crystal monochromators were developed for the neutron scattering community: (1) doubly focusing bulk silicon, for high-resolution neutron diffraction; (2) doubly focusing multi-wafer silicon, for residual stress instruments; (3) silicon-wafer: (a) with pneumatic spherical bending, (b) with mechanical cylindrical bending, (c) with mechanical two-dimensional bending, for high-resolution three-axis spectrometry; (4) doubly focusing multi-wafer silicon, for epithermal (eV range) neutrons; (5) doubly focusing composite pyrolytic graphite (low-cost), for high-flux applications.

This document is a printout of the S-102 software for the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) for Pumping, Instrumentation and Control Skid ''E''.