The DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) currently manages the largest research program in the country for controlling coal-based mercury emissions. NETL has shown through various field test programs that the determination of cost-effective mercury control strategies is complex and highly coal- and plant-specific. However, one particular technology has the potential for widespread application: the injection of activated carbon upstream of either an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) or a fabric filter baghouse. This technology has potential application to the control of mercury emissions on all coal-fired power plants, even those with wet and dry scrubbers. This is a low capital cost technology in which the largest cost element is the cost of sorbents. Therefore, the obvious solutions for reducing the costs of mercury control must focus on either reducing the amount of sorbent needed or decreasing the cost of sorbent production. NETL has researched the economics and performance of novel sorbents and determined that there are alternatives to the commercial standard (NORIT DARCO{reg_sign} Hg) and that this is an area where significant technical improvements can still be made. In addition, a key barrier to the application of sorbent injection technology to the power industry is the availability of activated carbon production. …

This report summarizes highlights of new scientific research and assessments released in 2007 related to global warming.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers are working on the Columbia River Protection Supplemental Technologies Project. This project is a U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management-funded initiative designed to develop new methods, strategies, and technologies for characterizing, modeling, remediating, and monitoring soils and groundwater contaminated with metals, radionuclides, and chlorinated organics. This Quality Assurance Project Plan provides the quality assurance requirements and processes that will be followed by the Technologies Project staff.

This report discusses the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty that would ban all nuclear explosions. The report presents a detailed, comprehensive discussion of the treaty's pros and cons from a U.S. perspective.

The purpose of this work was to acquire Sensor Fish data on turbine passage at Bonneville II, John Day, and Ice Harbor dams for later analysis and use. The original data sets have been entered into a database and are being maintained by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory pending delivery to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when requested. This report provides documentation for the data sets acquired and details about the operations of the Sensor Fish and interpretation of Sensor Fish data that will be necessary for later use of the acquired data. A limited review of the acquired data was conducted to assess its quality and to extract information that might prove useful to its later use.

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The studies completed under this grant significantly advanced the understanding and design of strategies for in situ uranium bioremediation. Novel strategies identified show promise to make in situ uranium bioremediation technically simpler and less expensive. As detailed, important findings included: (1) Development of an electron donor delivery strategy to prolong the in situ activity of Geobacter species and enhance the removal of uranium from the groundwater; (2) Demonstration that reproducible year-to-year field experiments were possible at the ERSP study site in Rifle, CO, making hypothesis-driven field experimentation possible; (3) Elucidation of the geochemical and microbiological heterogeneities with the subsurface during in situ uranium bioremediation, which must be accounted for to accurately model the bioremediation process; (4) The discovery that most of the U(VI) contamination at the Rifle site is sediment-associated rather than mobile in the groundwater, as previously considered; (5) The finding that unlike soluble U(VI), sediment-associated U(VI) is not microbially reducible; (6) The demonstration that electrodes may be an effective alternative to acetate as an electron donor to promote microbial U(VI) reduction in the subsurface with the added benefit that electrode-promoted microbial U(VI) reduction offers the possibility of removing the immobilized uranium from the subsurface; and (7) The finding …

This project began with the simple goal of trying to understand the diversity of dissimilatory metal-reducing microorganisms that might be found in subsurface environments. It ended with a sophisticated understanding not only of what microorganisms are important for metal reduction in uranium-contaminated subsurface environments, but also their physiological status during in situ uranium bioremediation. These findings have provided unprecedented insight into uranium bioremediation and the methods by which this process might be optimized. A brief summary of the major accomplishments of the project is given.

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Data collected during this study show that the performance of hydraulically fractured wells (with respect to mass removal rates) may tend to decrease with time following precipitation events. These effects are due to temporary increases in water saturation in the formation within the vicinity of the fractures, therefore, the wells should tend to rebound during subsequent dry periods. The data available for fractured well versus conventional well performance (with respect to flow rate versus vacuum pressure) are limited in this study. However, the data that we have to draw from suggest that, with the possible exception of a few extreme examples, hydraulically fractured wells tend to perform better than conventional wells during soil vapor extraction (SVE) operation at the A-14 Outfall. The pancake like geometry associated with hydraulic fractures also leads to a significant increase in zone of influence (ZOI), as compared to conventional wells. The increase in ZOI is due to the radially extending, horizontal, high-permeability conduit nature of the hydraulic fracture, however, air-flow into the fracture is predominately vertical (occurring at right angles to the fracture plane). Flow rates from above and below the fracture will tend to be equivalent when the formation is homogeneous, however, in the …

From Summary: This report describes genetic ancestry testing, outlines the basic scientific limitations of the testing currently, and provides an overview of the policy issues this testing may raise.

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Report on Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY 2007

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The media industry plays an important role in educating and entertaining the public. While the media industry provides the public with many national choices, media outlets located in a local market are more likely to provide local programs that meet the needs of residents in the market compared to national outlets. This report reviews (1) the number and ownership of various media outlets; (2) the level of minority- and women-owned broadcast outlets; (3) the influence of economic, legal and regulatory, and technological factors on the number and ownership of media outlets; and (4) stakeholders' opinions on modifying certain media ownership laws and regulations. GAO conducted case studies of 16 randomly sampled markets, stratified by population. GAO also interviewed officials from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Commerce, trade associations, and the industry. Finally, GAO reviewed FCC's forms, processes, and reports."

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U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 450.1, Environmental Protection Program, requires each DOE site to conduct environmental monitoring. Environmental monitoring at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is conducted in order to: (a) Verify and support compliance with applicable federal, state, and local environmental laws, regulations, permits, and orders; (b) Establish baselines and characterize trends in the physical, chemical, and biological condition of effluent and environmental media; (c) Identify potential environmental problems and evaluate the need for remedial actions or measures to mitigate the problems; (d) Detect, characterize, and report unplanned releases; (e) Evaluate the effectiveness of effluent treatment and control, and pollution abatement programs; and (f) Determine compliance with commitments made in environmental impact statements, environmental assessments, safety analysis reports, or other official DOE documents. This Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) explains the rationale and design criteria for the environmental monitoring program, extent and frequency of monitoring and measurements, procedures for laboratory analyses, quality assurance (QA) requirements, program implementation procedures, and direction for the preparation and disposition of reports. Changes to the environmental monitoring program may be necessary to allow the use of advanced technology and new data collection techniques. This EMP will document changes in the environmental monitoring program. …