Air infiltration is an important factor in heat loss and indoor air quality; in modern well-insulated homes, it may account for as much as half of the total heat loss. Due to the recent emphasis by home buyers and manufacturers on energy efficiency, tighter homes are being constructed. In the past, it was assumed that natural infiltration would provide adequate ventilation to maintain acceptable indoor air quality, but this is no longer the case in modern energy-efficient homes. This report summarizes the results of infiltration measurements made on two groups of manufactured homes in the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) service area: 131 energy-efficient homes constructed under RCDP, and a control group of 29 homes not participating in energy-efficiency programs.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on families no longer receiving welfare, focusing on: (1) the extent to which states have reported information on the condition of families who have left welfare in the following key areas: (a) economic status; (b) family composition; and (c) family and child well-being; (2) generalizable state studies on what is known about the status of former welfare families in the key areas; and (3) federal and state efforts to improve the usefulness of the data obtained through these state efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the potential threat to the public's health from antimicrobial resistant bacteria, focusing on: (1) what is known about the public health burden--in terms of illnesses, deaths and treatment costs--due to antimicrobial resistance; (2) potential future burden, given what is known about the development of resistance in microbes and usage of antimicrobials; and (3) federal efforts to gather and provide information about resistance."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Department of the Interior's High-Level Implementation Plan for improving its management of the Indian trust funds and resources under its control, focusing on whether the Interior has reasonable assurance that: (1) the High-Level Plan provides an effective solution for addressing its long-standing problems; and (2) its acquisition of a new asset and land records management service will cost effectively satisfy trust management needs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on antibiotic resistance issues that may stem from the use of antibiotics in agriculture, focusing on the: (1) use of antibiotics in agriculture and the implications of that use for human health; (2) federal roles and responsibilities for overseeing the use of antibiotics in agriculture; and (3) issues surrounding the debate over whether to further regulate or restrict the use of antibiotics in agriculture."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported on the results of the financial-related audit, conducted by KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) Schedules of Expenditures and Budgetary Resources for the year ended September 30, 1998."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on year 2000 costs and funding at 41 federal agencies and organizations, focusing on the: (1) agency-reported year 2000 costs through fiscal year (FY) 1998 and the agency processes used to track these costs; (2) reported status of FY 1999 obligations for year 2000 activities; (3) estimated year 2000 costs for FY 1999 and the planned uses of emergency funds; and (4) estimated year 2000 costs for FY 2000."

The objectives of this contract are to discover and evaluate the catalytic properties of novel homogeneous, heterogeneous, or combination catalytic systems for the production of alcohol fuel extenders from syngas, to evaluate analytically and on the bench scale novel reactor concepts for use in converting syngas to liquid fuel products, and to develop on the bench scale the best combination of chemistry, reactor, and total process configuration to achieve the minimum product cost for conversion of syngas to liquid fuel products. Methanol production and heterogeneous catalysis utilizing transition elements supported on metal oxides with spinel structure are discussed. 12 figs., 16 tabs.

The production capabilities for and field testing of the heat recovery system are described briefly. Drawings are included.

Electrostatic beneficiation of dry coal has received significant attention in the last decade. In this process the coal is ground and then charged, either by corona charging or by triboelectrification (friction charging). Coal and minerals receive different levels of charge -- often opposite polarities in the case of triboelectrification -- and can then be separated based on differences in electrical mobility. Problems associated with the techniques include rapid deposition of particles on the electrodes, thus, effecting further separation. The goal of this project is to optimize the electrostatic coal cleaning process to remove pyrites and inorganic materials through studies of the electrostatic properties of powdered coal, in-situ measurements of the electrodynamics of coal and mineral particles inside the separator, and development of self-cleaning collector plates for continuous separation.

This report discusses pulse propagation in inhomogeneous optical waveguides and fibers.

Transgenic animals are used in industry and in biomedical research in order to provide in vivo experimental model systems. Sperm cells have been reported used as vectors in the production of transgenic animals before, however no approach has of yet proven to be successful. Fertilizing eggs with genetically modified sperm would be advantageous in that sperm are readily accessible and stable, and eggs can be fertilized by modified sperm cells in vivo. Recent elucidations regarding the unique manner of DNA packaging in sperm chromatin by protamines has provided us with the insight for developing a method of introducing foreign DNA into sperm which is likely to succeed where others have failed. We have developed a method for mimicking the in vivo system of sperm chromatin toroid subunits in vitro, concentrating these toroids, and fluorescent visualization. Our present work concerns development of a method to successfully deliver DNA across the cell membranes and into the nucleus.

The MIT Plasma Fusion Center magnet technology development effort, in support of the DOE/PETC MHD program, has culminated in two recent innovations which, when combined, will not only improve the reliability of commercial scale MHD magnets but will also reduce their cost by a factor of two. The first of these is a new form of Cable In Conduit Conductor (CICC) designed specifically for large scale DC superconducting magnets and the second is a highly efficient, quasi-momentless force containment which is made possible by the new conductor.

Small scale crucible studies were performed by Schumacher to examine the effects of formate and nitrate on glass redox at high copper levels. The results of the crucible studies were used to determine the regions where copper precipitates in the glass. However, durability tests were not performed on the glass samples. Studies were performed in the 774 Research Melter using a simulated feed from the Purex 4 Campaign in the Integrated DWPF Melter System (IDMS). Three runs were performed with this simulated feed. The first used the feed as it was received to determine a baseline. The results from the second and third campaigns were compared to the baseline. The second run increased the copper concentration. The third increased the copper and formate concentrations. The purpose of these experiments was to investigate melter performance and glass durability using a feed with increased copper concentration. The Purex 4 feed did not contain the target amounts of sludge and Precipitate Hydrolysis Aqueous (PHA). Less than 20% of the feed slurry consisted of simulated sludge, making it a low waste-loading feed. The use of this feed with significantly more copper added than anticipated in the DWPF, showed no indication of copper precipitating in …

This project is concerned with the development of an a coal-fired low-emission boiler system. During march, separate kick-off meetings were held with PSI Powerserve, Raytheon and B&W`s Environmental Equipment Division to begin work on Phase I Task 5, the Commercial Plant Design. In addition, a meeting was held with MIT to discuss and review work completed and schedule work remaining on the project.

We have used the transpiration method to measure volatilities of Pu and Am from PuO{sub 2}(s) and PuO{sub 2}/2% AmO{sub 2}(s) in the presence of steam and oxygen at temperatures of 1230--1430 K. We find the volatile species to be PuO{sub 2}(OH){sub 2}(g) and AmO{sub 2}(OH){sub 2}(g) at vapor pressures on the order of 10{sup {minus}10} atm and 10 {sup {minus}12} atm respectively under measurement conditions. For the Pu volatilization reaction, PuO{sub 2}(s) + 1/2 0{sub 2}(9) + H{sub 2}0(g) = PuO{sub 2}(OH){sub 2}(g), we obtain a free energy of reaction of {Delta}G{sup O}{sub T} = 231.3--0.0109 T in kj/mol, and for the Am volatilization reaction, AmO{sub 2}(s.s. in PuO{sub 2}) + 1/2 0{sub 2}(9) + H{sub 2}0(g) = AmO{sub 2}(OH){sub 2}(g), we obtain AG{sup O}{sub T} = 223.9--0.0109 T in kj/mol. We apply these results to the Rocky Flats Plant Fluidized Bed Incinerator to assess the amount of volatile Pu and Am produced in the secondary combustor chamber. Taking operating conditions of 550C combustor temperature, 40 kmols/h of total gas flow at 1 atm pressure, 0.1 atm 0{sub 2}(9), 0.05 atm H{sub 2}0(g), PuO{sub 2} (s) containing 200 ppm AmO{sub 2} in the bed, and 6000 h of operating …

The project involves testing at six full-scale utility flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, to evaluate low capital cost upgrades that may allow these systems to achieve up to 98% SO{sub 2} removal efficiency. The upgrades to be evaluated mostly involve using additives in the FGD systems. On the base program, testing was completed at the Tampa Electric Big Bend Station in November 1992. The upgrade option tested was DBA additive. For Option 1, at the Hoosier Energy Merom Station, three upgrade options have been tested: DBA additive, sodium formate additive, and high pH set point operation. Option 2 has involved testing at the Southwestern Electric Power Company Pirkey Station. Both sodium formate and DBA additives were tested as potential upgrade options at Pirkey. On Option 3, for testing at the PSI Energy Gibson Station, a DBA additive performance and consumption test was conducted in late February through mid-March 1994. Preliminary results from these tests are discussed in Section 3 of this progress report. Option 4 is for testing at the Duquesne Light Elrama Station. The FGD system employs magnesium-enhanced lime reagent and venturi absorber modules. An EPRI-funded model evaluation of potential upgrade options for this FGD system, along with a …

Deshpande, Gupta and Pal neglected the presence of a complex phase in the mass matrix and in the Yukawa coupling matrices of the down-type quarks I argue that phase should not be neglected, because it can explain the observed CP violation. The mechanism of CP violation considered by those authors may certainly be present, but for simplicity one may want to eliminate it, by restricting the soft-breaking sector of the Higgs potential in such a way that complex Higgs bosons propagators do not occur.

None

Tank Characterization Technical Sampling Basis (this document) is the first step of an in place working process to plan characterization activities in an optimal manner. This document will be used to develop the revision of the Waste Information Requirements Document (WIRD) (Winkelman et al. 1997) and ultimately, to create sampling schedules. The revised WIRD will define all Characterization Project activities over the course of subsequent fiscal years 1999 through 2002. This document establishes priorities for sampling and characterization activities conducted under the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Tank Waste Characterization Project. The Tank Waste Characterization Project is designed to provide all TWRS programs with information describing the physical, chemical, and radiological properties of the contents of waste storage tanks at the Hanford Site. These tanks contain radioactive waste generated from the production of nuclear weapons materials at the Hanford Site. The waste composition varies from tank to tank because of the large number of chemical processes that were used when producing nuclear weapons materials over the years and because the wastes were mixed during efforts to better use tank storage space. The Tank Waste Characterization Project mission is to provide information and waste sample material necessary for TWRS to define …

The Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS), the Geological Information Systems department, and the School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering at the University of Oklahoma are engaging in a program to identify and address Oklahoma`s oil recovery opportunities in fluvial-dominated deltaic (FDD) reservoirs. This program includes the systematic and comprehensive collection and evaluation of information on all of Oklahoma`s FDD reservoirs and the recovery technologies that have been (or could be) applied to those reservoirs with commercial success. This data collection and evaluation effort will be the foundation for an aggressive, multifaceted technology transfer program that is designed to support all of Oklahoma`s oil industry, with particular emphasis on smaller companies and independent operators in their attempts to maximize the economic producibility of FDD reservoirs. Specifically, this project will identify all FDD oil reservoirs in the State; group those reservoirs into plays that have similar depositional and subsequent geologic histories; collect, organize and analyze all available data; conduct characterization and simulation studies on selected reservoirs in each play; and implement a technology transfer program targeted to the operators of FDD reservoirs to sustain the life expectancy of existing wells with the ultimate objective of increasing oil recovery.

Project W-0236A has been proposed to provide additional waste tank storage in the 200 East and 200 West Areas. This project would construct two new waste tanks in the 200 West Area and four new tanks in the 200 East Area, and a related project (Project W-058) would construct a new cross-site line. These projects are intended to ensure sufficient space and flexibility for continued tank farm operations, including tank waste remediation and management of unforeseen contingencies. The objective of this operational risk assessment is to support determination of the adequacy of the free-volume capacity provided by Projects W-036A and W-058 and to determine related impacts. The scope of the assessment is the 200 West Area only and covers the time period from the present to the year 2005. Two different time periods were analyzed because the new cross-site tie line will not be available until 1999. The following are key insights: success of 200 West Area tank farm operations is highly correlated to the success of the cross-site transfer line and the ability of the 200 East Area to receive waste from 200 West; there is a high likelihood of a leak on a complexed single-shell tank in the …

This report summarizes the status of this project for the quarter January 1, 1997 to March 31, 1997. Phase II has been started and Task 7, Develop Pilot Scale Test Work Plan has been completed. The operational portion of this phase, Task 8 has been initiated with several pieces of pilot equipment already on-site. The start up of the full process train will not occur until the next quarter. The project is slightly behind schedule. A no cost extension was requested and was granted. The anticipated completion date is December 31, 1997. The project is on budget.

The purpose of this analysis is to determine the structural response of the 21 pressurized water reactor (PWR) uncanistered fuel (UCF) waste package (WP) to a tipover design basis event (DBE) dynamic load; the results will be reported in terms of stress magnitudes. Finite-element solution was performed by making use of the commercially available ANSYS finite-element code. A finite-element model of the waste package was developed and analyzed for a tipover DBE dynamic load. The results of this analysis were provided in tables and were also plotted in terms of the maximum stress contours to determine their locations.