A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Park Service's (NPS) structural fire safety efforts, focusing on: (1) whether national parks are effectively addressing their structural fire safety responsibilities and if not, what are the main reasons; and (2) what improvements, if any, are under way to address identified problems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the status of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) efforts to improve its estimates of taxpayer compliance burden, focusing on: (1) IRS' overall strategy to improve its methodology for estimating compliance burden; (2) what IRS has done to begin implementing its overall strategy and how IRS expects this to improve its methodology; and (3) whether IRS expects that its new methodology will be able to measure the burden associated with the complex tax rules identified in IRS' forthcoming first annual report on tax complexity."

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This document discusses the sampling of strontium-90 on the Hanford Site and any implications it may have to the ecology of the area.

This project plan establishes the management framework for the conduct of the CHG Single-Shell Tank Interim Stabilization completion program. Specifically, this plan defines the mission needs and requirements; technical objectives and approach; organization structure, roles, responsibilities, and interfaces; and operational methods. This plan serves as the project executional baseline.

The average {sup 235}U neutron total cross sections were obtained in the energy range 2 keV to 330 keV from high-resolution transmission measurements of a 0.033 atom/b sample. The experimental data were corrected for the contribution of isotope impurities and for resonance self-shielding effects in the sample. The results are in very good agreement with the experimental data of Poenitz et al. in the energy range 40 keV to 330 keV and are the only available accurate experimental data in the energy range 2 keV to 40 keV. ENDF/B-VI evaluated data are 1.7% larger. The SAMMY/FITACS code was used for a statistical model analysis of the total cross section, selected fission cross sections and {alpha} data in the energy range 2 keV to 200 keV. SAMMY/FITACS is an extended version of SAMMY which allows consistent analysis of the experimental data in the resolved and unresolved resonance region. The Reich-Moore resonance parameters were obtained from a SAMMY Bayesian fits of high resolution experimental neutron transmission and partial cross section data below 2.25 keV, and the corresponding average parameters and covariance data were used in the present work as input for the statistical model analysis of the high energy range of the …

At the WRAP facility, there are two identical imaging passive/active neutron (IPAN) assay systems and two identical gamma energy assay (GEA) systems. Currently, only the GEA systems are used to characterize waste, therefore, only the GEA systems are addressed in this document. This document contains the limiting factors relating to the waste drum analysis for shipments destined for WIPP. The TMU document provides the uncertainty basis in the NDA analysis of waste containers at the WRAP facility. The defined limitations for the current analysis scheme are as follows: The WRAP waste stream debris is from the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant's process lines, primarily combustible materials. Plutonium analysis range is from the minimum detectable concentration (MDC), Reference 6, to 160 grams (8). The GEA system calibration density ranges from 0.013 g/cc to 1.6 g/cc. PDP Plutonium drum densities were evaluated from 0.065 g/cc to 0.305 gkc. PDP Plutonium source weights ranged from 0.030 g to 3 18 g, in both empty and combustibles matrix drums. The GEA system design density correction macroscopic absorption cross section table (MAC) is Lucite, a material representative of combustible waste. Drums with material not fitting the debris waste criteria are targeted for additional calculations, reviews, and …

This section reviews extensions and variations of the direct-semidirect (DSD) model for understanding the high-energy component of gamma spectra resulting from radiative capture of fast nucleons; i.e., the part of the spectrum that is not amenable to standard statistical model (Hauser-Feshbach) treatments. We describe recent results on the extension of the DSD model to unbound final states, including comparison with proton and neutron capture data. The importance of including convective-current magnetic radiation to explain proton capture angular distributions in the 30 MeV region is shown. We conclude with a brief discussion of a model closely related to the DSD, the pure-resonance model.

In this section we review the available data on gamma spectra following radiative capture of neutrons above 10 MeV. A few measurements below that energy are included. An important source for references to this topic is the CINDA compilation maintained by the IAEA in cooperation with three other major data centers. An additional useful source is the review article by Weller and Roberson, which treats capture reactions with neutrons, protons, and alpha particles. The following discussion refers only to data that are easily accessible through readily-available journals, reports, or the EXFOR database. Most of the reported measurements were made for the purpose of determining cross sections for discrete states at the high energy end of the gamma spectra which are resolvable or nearly so. In only a few cases have cross sections been measured over a wide range of gamma energies. These measurements are first reviewed below, followed by a review of more detailed measurements such as angular distributions and analyzing powers. Neutron capture on hydrogen isotopes have not been included with the exception of a fairly recent measurement on deuterium; see CINDA for references to this specialized topic.

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The U.S. Department of Energy has developed a schedule and approach for the removal of spent fuels, sludge, and debris from the K East (KE) and K West (KW) Basins, located in the 100 Area at the Hanford Site. The project that is the subject of this data quality objective (DQO) process is focused on the removal of debris from the K Basins and onsite disposal of the debris at the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF). This material previously has been dispositioned at the Hanford Low-Level Burial Grounds (LLBGs) or Central Waste Complex (CWC). The goal of this DQO process and the resulting Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) is to provide the strategy for characterizing and designating the K-Basin debris to determine if it meets the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC), Revision 3 (BHI 1998). A critical part of the DQO process is to agree on regulatory and WAC interpretation, to support preparation of the DQO workbook and SAP.

The goal of this project was to determine the machining techniques and testing capabilities required for mechanical property evaluation of commercially procured reservoir forgings. Due to the small size of these specific forgings, specialized methods are required to adequately machine and test these sub-miniature samples in accordance with the requirements of ASTM-E8 and ASTM-E9. At the time of project initiation, no capability existed at Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T) to verify the physical properties of these reservoirs as required on the drawing specifications. The project determined the sample definitions, machining processes, and testing procedures to verify the physical properties of the reservoir forgings; specifically, tensile strength, yield strength, reduction of area, and elongation. In addition, a compression test method was also developed to minimize sample preparation time and provide a more easily machined test sample while maintaining the physical validation of the forging.

Strontium-90, a radioactive contaminant from historical operations at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site, enters the Columbia River at several locations associated with former plutonium production reactors at the Site. Strontium-90 is of concern to humans and the environment because of its moderately long half-life (29.1 years), its potential for concentrating in bone tissue, and its relatively high energy of beta decay. Although strontium-90 in the environment is not a new issue for the Hanford Site, recent studies of near-river vegetation along the shoreline near the 100 Areas raised public concern about the possibility of strontium-90-contaminated groundwater reaching the riverbed and fall chinook salmon redds. To address these concerns, DOE asked Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to prepare this report on strontium-90, its distribution in groundwater, how and where it enters the river, and its potential ecological impacts, particularly with respect to fall chinook salmon. The purpose of the report is to characterize groundwater contaminants in the near-shore environment and to assess the potential for ecological impact using salmon embryos, one of the most sensitive ecological indicators for aquatic organisms. Section 2.0 of the report provides background information on strontium-90 at the Hanford Site related to historical operations. …

During the past year, the Principal Investigator (PI) (Z. F. Ren) moved from SUNY-Buffalo to Boston College as an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics to further enhance the future success of this program. Due to the moving and set up of the new laboratory at Boston College, the project was slowed down in some extent. Nevertheless, the PI and his associates have been able to accomplish the following: (1) The upper critical field study has been carried out on the early samples (made when the PI was still with SUNY-Buffalo). Those samples have either high {Tc} (>20K) with single transition or low TC but with double transitions. Therefore, there has no definitive conclusion been drawn yet. (2) X-ray photoemission has been used to study the Tl-2201 thin films. (3) In addition, J. Y. Lao has synthesized the epitaxial thallium-containing 1212 films with critical current density up to 10{sup 6}/cm{sup 2} at 77K and zero magnetic field as part of his Ph.D thesis. The success of this research has enabled us to consider using this material as an alternative for Yba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7} (YBCO) or TlBa{sub 2}Ca{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 9} (Tl-1223) for long length wire development for applications …