AFCI Storage and Disposal participants at LLNL, ANL and INL provide assessment of how AFCI technology can optimize the future evolution of the fuel cycle, including optimization of waste management. Evaluation of material storage and repository disposal technical issues provides feedback on criteria and metrics for AFCI, and evaluation of AFCI waste streams provides technical alternatives for future repository optimization. LLNL coordinates this effort that includes repository analysis at ANL and incorporation of repository impacts into AFCI criteria at INL. Cooperative evaluation with YMP staff is pursued to provide a mutually agreed technical base. Cooperation with select international programs is supported.

Several active interrogation techniques are being developed to detect shielded special nuclear materials (SNM) hidden in cargo containers loaded on container ships arriving at US ports. It raises the questions of the types of cargos in which SNM could be hidden, and their impact on detected signatures. Since the definition of a set of ''typical'' or standard cargos has proven to be difficult, we analyzed shipping manifests for US imports shipped through North American ports collected on 14 days distributed over 12 months. From these data, we generated several distribution functions such as commodity categories, average densities, and packaging types that could be of interest to the cargo scanning community. One of the cargo scanning techniques currently under development at LLNL is based on neutron active interrogation, and relies on the unique signature of beta-delayed gammas emitted by fission products in the 3 to 7 MeV energy range. {sup 19}F(n,a){sup 16}N, has been identified as the main potential interference for 7 and 9 MeV neutron beams. Estimates of cargo compositions based on manifests identified as containing fluorine are presented.

This article reports world averages for measurements on b-hadron properties obtained by the Heavy Flavor Averaging Group (HFAG) using the available results as of at the end of 2005. In the averaging, the input parameters used in the various analyses are adjusted (rescaled) to common values, and all known correlations are taken into account. The averages include lifetimes, neutral meson mixing parameters, parameters of semileptonic decays, branching fractions of B decays to final states with open charm, charmonium and no charm, and measurements related to CP asymmetries.

High-redshift blazars are promising candidates for detection by the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST). GLAST, expected to be launched in the Fall of 2007, is a high-energy gamma-ray observatory designed for making observations of celestial gamma-ray sources in the energy band extending from 10 MeV to more than 200 GeV. It is estimated that GLAST will find several thousand blazars. The motivations for measuring the gamma-ray emission from distant blazars include the study of the high-energy emission processes occurring in these sources and an indirect measurement of the extragalactic background light. In anticipation of the launch of GLAST we have compiled a catalog of candidate high-redshift blazars. The criteria for sources chosen for the catalog were: high radio emission, high redshift, and a flat radio spectrum. A preliminary list of 307 radio sources brighter than 70mJy with a redshift z {ge} 2.5 was acquired using data from the NASA Extragalactic Database. Flux measurements of each source were obtained at two or more radio frequencies from surveys and catalogs to calculate their radio spectral indices {alpha}. The sources with a flat-radio spectrum ({alpha} {le} 0.5) were selected for the catalog, and the final catalog includes about 200 sources.

This document describes a Computed Tomography (CT) reconstruction code called CCG-LCONE. CCG-LCONE is used to reconstruction objects from projections acquired on a cone beam radiographic system. This document will describe in brief the theory behind parts of the code, as well as detail the structure of the code, so it will function as both a ''User's Guide and a Programmer's Guide''. The Introduction will describe CT in general and cone beam systems in particular. It will explain why CCG-LCONE was developed and give an overview of the design and function. This report discusses the various parts of the system, both theory and code structure.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2003, the United States and other countries began implementing the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) to curtail the trade of rough diamonds that had fueled severe conflicts in Africa, known as conflict diamonds. CDTA provides the statutory framework for U.S. implementation of the KPCS. As mandated in CDTA, this report (1) describes the institutional framework established to implement the act, (2) examines implementation of the domestic provisions of the act and challenges it faces, and (3) examines how the United States has helped to strengthen the KPCS and challenges it faces."

The reprocessing of commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) generates a Zircaloy cladding hull waste which requires disposal as a high level waste in the geologic repository. The hulls are primarily contaminated with fission products and actinides from the fuel. During fuel irradiation, these contaminants are deposited in a thin layer of zirconium oxide (ZrO{sub 2}) which forms on the cladding surface at the elevated temperatures present in a nuclear reactor. Therefore, if the hulls are treated to remove the ZrO{sub 2} layer, a majority of the contamination will be removed and the hulls could potentially meet acceptance criteria for disposal as a low level waste (LLW). Discard of the hulls as a LLW would result in significant savings due to the high costs associated with geologic disposal. To assess the feasibility of decontaminating spent fuel cladding hulls, two treatment processes developed for dissolving fuels containing zirconium (Zr) metal or alloys were evaluated. Small-scale dissolution experiments were performed using the ZIRFLEX process which employs a boiling ammonium fluoride (NH{sub 4}F)/ammonium nitrate (NH{sub 4}NO{sub 3}) solution to dissolve Zr or Zircaloy cladding and a hydrofluoric acid (HF) process developed for complete dissolution of Zr-containing fuels. The feasibility experiments were performed using Zircaloy-4 …

Nitinol is a superelastic alloy made of equal parts nickel and titanium. Due to its unique shape memory properties, nitinol is used to make medical stents, lifesaving devices used to allow blood flow in occluded arteries. Micromechanical models and even nitinol-specific finite element analysis (FEA) software are insufficient for unerringly predicting fatigue and resultant failure. Due to the sensitive nature of its application, a better understanding of nitinol on a granular scale is being pursued through X-ray diffraction techniques at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Through analysis of powder diffraction patterns of nitinol under increasing tensile loads, localized strain can be calculated. We compare these results with micromechanical predictions in order to advance nitinol-relevant FEA tools. From this we hope to gain a greater understanding of how nitinol fatigues under multi-axial loads.

This report discusses the major provisions of the Endangered Species Act, both domestic and international, and also discusses some of the background issues, such as extinction in general, and the effectiveness of the statute.

None

Most of our work involves photogenerated donor (D+) and acceptor (A-) radical ion pairs and their escape and recombination. The geminate radical ions are produced by inter or intramolecular electron transfer quenching of photoexcited acceptors. We made great progress in understanding the effect of charge separation distance and other factors on free ion formation. For geminate radical ion pairs formed by intermolecular electron transfer quenching, we found that, at least in a medium polarity solvent lilce dichloromethane, free radical ions are mainly formed from solvent separated radical ion pairs (SSRIPs). Contact radical ion pairs (CRIPs) make a very small contribution to free radical ion formation. It is observed that CRIPs and SSRIPs are kinetically distinguishable species. There is a potential barrier between CRIPs and SSRIPs that prevents a fast equilibrium between the two during the recombination of radical ion pairs and free radical ion formation. We confirmed for the first time that, for the recombination of both CRIPs and SSRIPs that are in the Marcus inverted region, rate constants of SSRIPs are larger than those of CRIPs. Our study indicates that initial charge separation distance and the potential barrier between CRIPs and SSRIPs play a more important role than recombination …

This report discusses the Pension Protection Act (PPA) reforms and the funding rules for defined benefit pensions; requires employers to disclose more information about pension funding; restricts benefit payments and accruals in underfunded plans; and clarifies, prospectively, that cash balance pension plans do not violate legal prohibitions on age discrimination in employee benefits.

DCART (Doses from Chronic Atmospheric Releases of Tritium) is a spreadsheet model developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that calculates doses from inhalation of tritiated hydrogen gas (HT), inhalation and skin absorption of tritiated water (HTO), and ingestion of HTO and organically bound tritium (OBT) to adult, child (age 10), and infant (age 6 months to 1 year) from routine atmospheric releases of HT and HTO. DCART is a deterministic model that, when coupled to the risk assessment software Crystal Ball{reg_sign}, predicts doses with a 95% confidence interval. The equations used by DCART are described and all distributions on parameter values are presented. DCART has been tested against the results of other models and several sets of observations in the Tritium Working Groups of the International Atomic Energy Agency's programs, Biosphere Modeling and Assessment and Environmental Modeling for Radiation Safety. The version of DCART described here has been modified to include parameter values and distributions specific to conditions at LLNL. In future work, DCART will be used to reconstruct dose to the hypothetical maximally exposed individual from annual routine releases of HTO and HT from all LLNL facilities and from the Sandia National Laboratory's Tritium Research Laboratory over the …

The majority of radiation from galaxies containing active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is emitted not by the stars composing the galaxy, but from an active source at the galactic center, most likely a supermassive black hole. Of particular interest are radio galaxies, the active galaxies emitting much of their radiation at radio wavelengths. Within each radio galaxy, an AGN powers a pair of collimated jets of relativistic particles, forming a pair of giant lobes at the end of the jets and thus giving a characteristic double-lobed appearance. A particular class of radio galaxies have an ''X''-shaped morphology: in these, two pairs of lobes appear to originate from the galactic center, producing a distinctive X-shape. Two main mechanisms have been proposed to explain the X-shape morphology: one being through the merger of a binary supermassive black hole system and the second being that the radio jets are expanding into an asymmetric medium. By analyzing radio host galaxy shapes, we probe the distribution of the stellar mass to compare the differing model expectations regarding the distribution of the surrounding gas and stellar material about the AGN.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused unprecedented damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Individuals and Households Program (IHP), provides direct assistance (temporary housing units) and financial assistance (grant funding for temporary housing and other disaster-related needs) to eligible individuals affected by disasters. Our objectives were to (1) compare the types and amounts of IHP assistance provided to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita victims to other recent hurricanes, (2) describe the challenges FEMA faced by the magnitude of the requests for assistance following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and (3) determine the vulnerability of the IHP program to fraud and abuse. GAO determined the extent to which the program was vulnerability to fraud and abuse, by conducting statistical sampling, data mining and undercover operations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has some of the most extensive acquisition needs within the federal government. In fiscal year 2005, DHS spent $17.5 billion on contracted purchases, $6.5 billion, or 37 percent, of which was through the use of other agencies' contracts and contracting services, a process known as interagency contracting. While these types of contracts offer the benefits of efficiency and convenience, in January 2005, GAO noted shortcomings and designated the management of interagency contracting as a governmentwide high-risk area. Given the department's critical national security mission and the results of our earlier work, GAO reviewed the extent to which DHS manages the risks of interagency contracting and assessed DHS' guidance, planning, and oversight of interagency contracting."

None

None

None

Effective monitoring is essential to keep a large group of machines, like the ones at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), up and running. SLAC currently uses Ganglia Monitoring System to observe about 2000 machines, analyzing metrics like CPU usage and I/O rate. However, metrics essential to machine hardware health, such as temperature and fan speed, are not being monitored. Many machines have a Winbond w83782d chip which monitors three temperatures, two of which come from dual CPUs, and returns the information when the sensor command is invoked. Ganglia also provides a feature, gmetric, that allows the users to monitor their own metrics and incorporate them into the monitoring system. The programming language Perl is chosen to implement a script that invokes the sensors command, extracts the temperature and fan speed information, and calls gmetric with the appropriate arguments. Two machines were used to test the script; the two CPUs on each machine run at about 65 Celsius, which is well within the operating temperature range (The maximum safe temperature range is 77-82 Celsius for the Pentium III processors being used). Installing the script on all machines with a Winbond w83782d chip allows the SLAC Scientific Computing and Computing Services group …

None

For years, the British and Irish governments have sought to facilitate a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Northern Ireland. After many ups and downs, the two government and the parties participating in the peace talks announced an agreement on April 10, 1998. The implementation of the resulting Good Friday Agreement continues to be difficult. A political stalemate in Northern Ireland since 2002 has halted the peace process and forced London to suspend the devolved government and to resume governance of the province. British and Irish leaders have set a November 24, 2006, deadline to revive talks on governance in Northern Ireland.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for overseeing the nation's 103 commercial nuclear power plants to ensure they are operated safely. The safety of these plants has always been important, since an accident could release harmful radioactive material. NRC's oversight has become even more critical as the potential resurgence of nuclear power is considered. NRC implemented a new Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) in 2000 to address weaknesses in its oversight of nuclear plant safety. In this report, GAO reviewed (1) how NRC oversees nuclear power plants, (2) the results of the ROP over the past several years, and (3) the status of NRC's efforts to improve the ROP. To complete this work, GAO analyzed programwide information, inspection results covering 5 years of ROP operations, and detailed findings from a nonprobability sample of 11 plants."

Many potential biological terrorism agents lack available countermeasures. President Bush proposed Project BioShield to address this need and signed into law on July 21, 2004 S. 15 (The Project BioShield Act of 2004). The main provisions of this law include (1) relaxing procedures for bioterrorism-related procurement, hiring, and awarding of research grants; (2) guaranteeing a federal government market for new biomedical countermeasures; and (3) permitting emergency use of unapproved countermeasures.