The results are reported of a technical evaluation of alternate fuels for the proposed oil and natural gas fired No. 3 boiler at the Minnegasco Energy Center (MEC) located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This report has been prepared for the Department of Energy, Office of Fuels Conversion for their use in considering an alternate fuel exemption petition submitted by MEC. The fuels considered for the proposed boiler include oil, natural gas, bituminous coal, petroleum coke/coal mixture, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), coal-oil mixtures, and coal/oil dual fuel fired. The purchase of steam from the Northern States Power Company (NSPCo) was also considered as an alternative to construction of another boiler at MEC. Evaluation of each fuel included review of the overall plant design, estimates of capital and O and M costs, salvage value, useful life, and quantities of solid waste produced. The MEC supplies steam and chilled water to the downtown Minneapolis area for building heating and cooling using two presently owned and operated 200,000 lb/h oil/natural gas fired boilers. If the proposed boiler is permitted to burn oil and natural gas, it will be identical in design to the existing boilers. The evaluation showed that the use of oil, natural gas, coal, …

The noise performance evaluation of the two digitizer cards being considered for the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR (MJD) is presented in this document. The procurement of the data acquisition electronics for the MJD is scheduled to happen this year. At the time of writing this document, there are two candidate digitizer electronic boards. One aspect that is being considered by the collaboration is the feasibility of using the MJD for dark matter searches. The feasibility of using the MJD for this application is going to be dictated by the ability of the demonstrator to reach sub-keV energy resolution. One of the potential sources of noise in the MJD is the data acquisition system. This document will is concluded with a recommendation for the final digitizer board by comparing the noise performance of the two electronics systems. Noise parameters such as the effective number of bits, input range linearity and signal to noise ratio are experimentally determined. The two digitizer cards feature different on-board digital signal processing and these features are compared. The experimental set-up was also used to identify sources of noise. This paper describes these sources of noise in the data acquisition system, along with mitigation strategies. Issues such as grounding …

CQ Inc. and its project team members--Howard University, PrepTech Inc., Fossil Fuel Sciences, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and industry advisors--are applying mature coal cleaning and scientific principles to the new purpose of removing potentially hazardous air pollutants from coal. The team uniquely combines mineral processing, chemical engineering, and geochemical expertise. This project meets more than 11 goals of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Energy Strategy, and the 1993 Climate Change Action Plan. During this project: (1) Equations were developed to predict the concentration of trace elements in as-mined and cleaned coals. These equations, which address both conventional and advanced cleaning processes, can be used to increase the removal of hazardous air pollutant precursors (HAPs) by existing cleaning plants and to improve the design of new cleaning plants. (2) A promising chemical method of removing mercury and other HAPs was developed. At bench-scale, mercury reductions of over 50 percent were achieved on coal that had already been cleaned by froth flotation. The processing cost of this technology is projected to be less than $3.00 per ton ($3.30 per tonne). (3) Projections were made of the average trace element concentration in cleaning plant solid waste streams from …

This report briefly discusses the European policy response to recent terrorist attacks.

This report presents preliminary considerations for recovering and converting weapon plutonium from various US weapon forms into feed material for fabrication of reactor fuel elements. An ongoing DOE study addresses the disposition of excess weapon plutonium through its use as fuel for nuclear power reactors and subsequent disposal as spent fuel. The spent fuel would have characteristics similar to those of commercial power spent fuel and could be similarly disposed of in a geologic repository.

The system description of the Double-Shell Tank (DST) Monitor and Control Subsystem establishes the system boundaries and describes the interface of the DST Monitor and Control Subsystem with new and existing systems that are required to accomplish the Waste Feed Delivery (WFD) mission.

This Panel was chartered to review and assess new evaluations of work on fission product data, as well as the evaluation process used by the two U.S. nuclear weapons physics laboratories. The work focuses on fission product yields resulting from fission spectrum neutrons incident on plutonium, and includes data from measurements that had not been previously published as well as new or revised fission product cumulative yield data, and related quantities such as Q values and R values. This report documents the Panel's assessment of the work presented by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Based on the work presented we have seven key observations: (1) Experiments conducted in the 1970s at LANL, some of which were performed in association with a larger, NIST-led, program, have recently been documented. A preliminary assessment of this work, which will be referred to in this document as ILRR-LANL, shows it to be technically sound. (2) LLNL has done a thorough, unbiased review and evaluation of the available literature and is in the process of incorporating the previously unavailable LANL data into its evaluation of key fission product yields. The results of the LLNL effort, which includes a preliminary …

This report focuses on the process by which the Office of the Prosecutor investigates allegations of war crimes and second on U.S policy towards the International Criminal Court (ICC) and how the court might assert jurisdiction over U.S. nationals.

Increased interest in the development of high density plasma sources for ultra large scale integrated circuit manufacturing with varying geometry and power coupling strategies require the development of 2D models for accurate plasma reactor studies. An objective of their research was to develop a computationally efficient numerical code that would be useful as a design tool for inductively coupled plasma reactors. To achieve that goal the authors created a 2D fluid model (INDUCT2D) of an argon discharge. As uniformity is a primary issue in wafer manufacturing they have used INDUCT2D to investigate the effect of pressure and reactor geometry on the spatial uniformity of the etching ion flux. They have found that the optimum pressure for maximum uniformity depends upon the spatial profile of the inductive heating, and decreases with the reactor aspect ratio.

The Edge Coordinating Committee (ECC) was formed in July 14-15, 2004 when OFES Theory Team invited 14 plasma researchers to a two-day meeting in Germantown, MD to discuss the state of edge-plasma research in the U.S. with a focus on theory and modeling (see http://www.mfescience.org/ecc/ ecc/). At that time, OFES tasked the ECC with providing, in about a six month period, a report on the present status of key issues in this area together with a roadmap of what range of activities should be undertaken in the next five years to resolve these issues. This document is a response to that charge. Future edge-plasma research described here is assumed to fit into a budget constraint of a ''flat budget,'' with some additional activities cited for budget increases of as much as 50%. To obtain some measure of the relative fraction of OFES Theory funding presently devoted to edge plasma research, the OFES Theory Team informally surveyed funded work they support in this area at National Labs, Universities, and industry. John Mandrekas reported to us that approximately 10% of the present budget goes to edge-physics areas at 10 institutions, for a total of {approx}$2.5M each year. While not explicitly estimated, we …

This report provides an overview of the Stafford Act and Stafford Act declarations. The report discusses the types of assistance and eligibility, funding caps and cost shares, hazard mitigation assistance, disaster relief funds, and other issues for the 111th Congress.

This report discusses Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Task Forces, which have been certified, trained, and funded by the federal government. The task forces represent a partnership involving federal, local government, and private sector experts. Most recently, USAR teams received considerable publicity, and reportedly achieved life-saving results, in their mission to Haiti after the earthquakes of early 2010.

This report discusses the current U.S.-Puerto Rico relationship, the history of said relationship, and the current political state of Puerto Rico, as well as relevant pieces of U.S. Congressional legislation concerning Puerto Rico.

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This report focuses on a conflict between the European Union (EU) and the United States, Canada, and Argentina. The United States suggests that the European Union's moratorium costs the U.S. 300 million dollars in exports to the EU annually. Moreover, the report highlights other concerns the U.S. has with the EU's biotechnology policies.

This report provides an introduction to German foreign and security policy. The report discusses the foundations of German foreign policy, Germany in the European Union (EU), evolving security and defense policy, and transatalantic implications.

The major purpose of this project was to demonstrate the use of cost effective reservoir characterization and management tools that will be helpful to both independent and major operators for the optimal development of heterogeneous, low permeability carbonate reservoirs such as the North Robertson (Clearfork) Unit.

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The field of x-ray optics struggles to develop optical systems with the versatility and sophistication of their visible light counterparts. The advent of fourth-generation light sources will make the struggle even more difficult. Fourth-generation light sources include laser/plasma sources, x-ray Free Electron Lasers (FEL), inverse Compton scattering sources, and the National Ignition Facility. LCLS, (Linac Coherent Light Source), and its European cousin, will be the first of the x-ray FELs. The LCLS, to be built at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), takes advantage of the existing SLAC linear accelerator to send intense, low emittance electron bunches through a 100 m long undulator structure. Through a process called SASE (Self Amplification of Spontaneous Emission) the electrons interact with the radiation fields they produce while in the undulator causing them to collect into micro bunches that emit coherent light. In the case of the LCLS the coherent radiation will have a wavelength in the x-ray regime, and will be tunable from 1.5 to 15 {angstrom}. The LCLS will deliver x-rays in individual coherent packages lasting < 300 fs, making the LCLS a very important source for studying short time phenomenon and for performing high-resolution x-ray structural analysis of molecular sized systems. …

This report discusses the recent revolution in Libya, from its 2011 uprising to the end of the Qadhafi era. It specifically looks at Libya's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) disarmament, political reform and human rights, and energy as it relates to the Libyan economy.

This report looks at how the debate over family planning within the U.S. is spilling over to U.S.-funded family planning programs abroad.

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Annual report submitted by the Boy Scouts of America to Congress describing highlights from 1970, activities, organizational leadership, and other information about scouting programs.