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This document addresses hydrogen generation in TRU waste transportation packages. The potential sources of hydrogen generation are summarized with a special emphasis on radiolysis. After defining various TRU wastes according to groupings of material types, bounding radiolytic G-values are established for each waste type. Analytical methodologies are developed for prediction of hydrogen gas concentrations for various packaging configurations in which hydrogen generation is due to radiolysis. Representative examples are presented to illustrate how analytical procedures can be used to estimate the hydrogen concentration as a function of time. Methodologies and examples are also provided to show how the time to reach a flammable hydrogen concentration in the innermost confinement layer can be estimated. Finally, general guidelines for limiting the hydrogen generation in the payload and hydrogen accumulation in the innermost confinement layer are described.

This report discusses the reprocessing of nuclear fuel that refers to the chemical separation of fissionable uranium and plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel.

This report provides background information and policy analysis regarding the ways to develop that directly and indirectly convert coal into liquid fuel.

The authors present a measurement of the branching fraction of the decay B{sup 0} {yields} a{sub 1}{sup {+-}}(1260){pi}{sup {-+}} with a{sub 1}{sup {+-}}(1260) {yields} {pi}{sup {-+}}{pi}{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {+-}}. The data sample corresponds to 218 x 10{sup 6} B{bar B} pairs produced in e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilation through the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance. The authors measure the branching fraction {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} a{sub 1}{sup {+-}}(1260){pi}{sup {-+}}){Beta}(a{sub 1}{sup {+-}}(1260){yields} {pi}{sup {-+}}{pi}{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {+-}})=(16.6 {+-} 1.9 {+-} 1.5) x 10{sup -6}, where the first error quoted is statistical and the second is systematic.

This report discusses law and proposed changes related to Country-of-Origin labeling for Foods.

Federal law requires most imports, including many food items, to bear labels informing the “ultimate purchaser” of their country of origin. Various bills have been introduced to impose expanded country-of-origin labeling requirements on meats and on several other agricultural products. Such proposals have attracted attention for a number of reasons. One is that they are viewed (by some advocates) as a way to help U.S. producers dealing with low farm prices. Also, some perceive that food products from certain countries might pose greater risks than those from the United States.

The 107th Congress is expected to consider new "fast track" (or, Presidential trade promotion) authority, which could enable the Administration to submit trade agreements negotiated with foreign countries to Congress for consideration under expedited procedures. Many agricultural and food industry interests are among the export-oriented enterprises that support fast track authority, arguing that foreign trading partners will not seriously negotiate with an Administration that lacks it. However, some agricultural groups argue that fast track ultimately will lead to new agreements that deliver more benefits to foreign than to U.S. producers, at least in some commodity sectors.

This paper reviews the set of analytical tools commonly used to describe the purchase and use of energy-saving technologies and compares them with recent advances in applied microeconomics. Its goal is to determine if supplementing or replacing parts of the traditional tool kit will better equip the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to design and promote the superior energy-using technologies of the future. The paper was prepared at the request of EERE's Jerry Dion, and is part of a larger set of white paper's intended to inform EERE's senior managers and program officers about the state of the art on a number of topics of special relevance to the EERE program. The advances in applied microeconomics discussed herein can be generally described as the theory of investment under uncertainty, behavioral economics, and the economics of asymmetrical information. While these concepts are quite familiar to economic methodologists and well entrenched in many applied topics, they are only now beginning to be applied to the field of energy technology analysis. If this work proves accurate, the new concepts would appear to hold substantial interest for those designing energy-saving technologies and promoting their penetration into markets. Two …

Many believe that the Department of Defense (DoD) — including the Air Force — must transform itself to ensure future U.S. military dominance. The Air Force has a transformation plan that includes advanced technologies, concept development, and organizational innovation. Issues for Congress include the efficacy of this plan, its feasibility, and the attendant costs.

The objective of this calculation is to determine the acceleration of the fuel assemblies contained in a 21-Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel waste package impacting an unyielding surface. A range of initial velocities of the waste package is studied. The scope of this calculation is limited to estimating the acceleration of the fuel assemblies during the impact.

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This report debates agricultural subsidies given out by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Moreover, the report provides statistical information on this specifically from the European Union (EU) and the United States.

This report presents the issues considered by the 107th Congress related to the civil works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Corps plans, constructs, and operates water resources facilities primarily for flood control, navigation, and environmental purposes.

The Everglades, a unique network of subtropical wetlands, is now half its original size. Many factors have contributed to its decline, including flood control projects and agricultural and urban development. As part of a larger restoration program for South Florida, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal, state, tribal, and local agencies collaborated to develop the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP or the Plan). CERP focuses on increasing storage of wet season waters to provide more water during the dry season for the natural system, and urban and agricultural users

The scientific aims of this project have been the evaluation and dissemination of key nuclear reactions in nuclear astrophysics, with a focus on ones to be studied at new radioactive beam facilities worldwide. These aims were maintained during the entire funding period from 2003 - 2006. In the following, a summary of the reactions evaluated during this period is provided. Year 1 (2003-04): {sup 21}Na(p,{gamma}){sup 22}Mg and {sup 18}Ne({alpha},p){sup 21}Na - The importance of the {sup 21}Na(p,{gamma}){sup 22}Mg and the {sup 18}Ne({alpha},p){sup 21}Na reactions in models of exploding stars has been well documented: the first is connected to the production of the radioisotope {sup 22}Na in nova nucleosynthesis, while the second is a key bridge between the Hot-CNO cycles and the rp-process in X-ray bursts. By the end of Summer 2004, our group had updated these reaction rates to include all published data up to September 2004, and cast the reaction rates into standard analytical and tabular formats with the assistance of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's computational infrastructure for reaction rates. Since September 2004, ongoing experiments on these two reactions have been completed, with our group's participation in both: {sup 21}Na(p,{gamma}){sup 22}Mg at the TRIUMF-ISAC laboratory (DRAGON collaboration), and 18Ne({alpha},p){sup …

The UNLV Research Foundation, as the primary award recipient, teamed with Varian Medical Systems-Security & Inspection Products and the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) for the purpose of conducting research and engineering related to a "next-generation" mega-voltage imaging (MVCI) system for inspection of cargo in large containers. The procurement and build-out of hardware for the MVCI project has been completed. The K-9 linear accelerator and an optimized X-ray detection system capable of efficiently detecting X-rays emitted from the accelerator after they have passed through the device is under test. The Office of Science financial assistance award has made possible the development of a system utilizing a technology which will have a profound positive impact on the security of U.S. seaports. The proposed project will ultimately result in critical research and development advances for the "next-generation" Linatron X-ray accelerator technology, thereby providing a safe, reliable and efficient fixed and mobile cargo inspection system, which will very significantly increase the fraction of cargo containers undergoing reliable inspection as the enter U.S. ports. Both NNSA/NA-22 and the Department of Homeland Security's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office are collaborating with UNLV and its team to make this technology available as soon as possible.

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Strongly connected components of a directed graph can be found in an optimal linear time, by algorithms based on depth first search. Unfortunately, depth first search is difficult to parallelize. We describe two divide--and--conquer algorithms for this problem that have significantly greater potential for parallelization. We show the expected serial runtime of our simpler algorithm to be O(m log n), for a graph with n vertices and m edges. We then show that the second algorithm has O(mlog n) worst--case complexity.

This report discusses the status and current issues regarding animal agriculture that is being transformed by rapid advances in biotechnology. This report will be updated as significant developments in agricultural biotechnology occur and as Congress develops legislation addressing emerging agricultural biotechnology issues.

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This is a technical report prepared for Oregon Sustainable Energy, LLC, under Agreement 06-19 with PNNL's Office of Small Business Programs. The request was to perform a review of the toxicity and safe handling of guanidine. The request was later amended to add urea. This report summarizes the toxicity data available in the scientific literature and provides an interpretation of the results and recommendations for handling these compounds.