Power generators are concerned with the maintenance costs associated with the advanced turbines that they are purchasing. Since these machines do not have fully established operation and maintenance (O&M) track records, power generators face financial risk due to uncertain future maintenance costs. This risk is of particular concern, as the electricity industry transitions to a competitive business environment in which unexpected O&M costs cannot be passed through to consumers. These concerns have accelerated the need for intelligent software-based diagnostic systems that can monitor the health of a combustion turbine in real time and provide valuable information on the machine's performance to its owner/operators. EPRI, Impact Technologies, Boyce Engineering, and Progress Energy have teamed to develop a suite of intelligent software tools integrated with a diagnostic monitoring platform that will, in real time, interpret data to assess the ''total health'' of combustion turbines. The Combustion Turbine Health Management System (CTHM) will consist of a series of dynamic link library (DLL) programs residing on a diagnostic monitoring platform that accepts turbine health data from existing monitoring instrumentation. The CTHM system will be a significant improvement over currently available techniques for turbine monitoring and diagnostics. CTHM will interpret sensor and instrument outputs, correlate …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the wake of September 11, 2001, Congress enacted the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Title VIII, subtitle F, section 852 of the act provided for a temporary set of emergency procurement flexibilities intended to address the immediate needs for procurement of property (other than real property) or services to be used to defend against or recover from terrorist threats, including nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attacks. These flexibilities, which expired on November 24, 2003, included (1) increasing the threshold for simplified acquisition procedures in support of humanitarian, peacekeeping, or contingency operations from $100,000 to $200,000 for contracts awarded and performed within the United States and, for contracts awarded and performed, or purchases to be made outside the United States, to $300,000; (2) increasing the micro-purchase threshold from $2,500 to $7,500 to allow agencies the use of purchase cards above the current limit; (3) waiving certain provisions of law and the dollar threshold related to commercial item procurements; and (4) requiring the head of an agency, when appropriate, to use streamlined acquisition authorities and procedures authorized by law for a procurement referred to in section 852. Section 852 …

Research is being conducted under United States Department of Energy (DOE) Contract DEFC26-03NT41865 to develop a new technology to achieve very low levels of NOx emissions from pulverized coal fired boiler systems by employing a novel system level integration between the PC combustion process and the catalytic NOx reduction with CO present in the combustion flue gas. The combustor design and operating conditions will be optimized to achieve atypical flue gas conditions. This approach will not only suppress NOx generation during combustion but also further reduce NOx over a downstream catalytic reactor that does not require addition of an external reductant, such as ammonia. This report describes the work performed during the January 1 to March 31, 2004 time period.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On May 15, 2003, and again on July 25, 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, Subcommittees on Homeland Security, of its intention to reprogram a large amount of funds appropriated to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for fiscal year 2003. In an August 2003 letter, Congress requested that we review the key events leading up to the reprogramming and subsequent revisions as they related to the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS). In particular, we were asked to determine (1) whether senior TSA, DHS, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials were informed of the implications of the FAMS funding reductions prior to submission of the reprogramming notices; (2) the programmatic implications of the funding reductions on the FAMS program; (3) whether it was legally necessary to send an impoundment message to the Congress; and whether the Secretary of Homeland Security had delegated to the Under Secretary for Management the authority to transmit reprogramming notifications to the cognizant Appropriations Subcommittees. Finally, Congress asked us to identify, as appropriate, improvements in budget execution for future consideration. As agreed, we briefed …

Faculty and students from five universities--the University of Kentucky, University of Pittsburgh, University of Utah, West Virginia University, and Auburn University--are collaborating in a research program to develop C1 chemistry processes to produce ultra-clean liquid transportation fuels and hydrogen, the zero-emissions transportation fuel of the future. The feedstocks contain one carbon atom per molecular unit. They include synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced by coal gasification or reforming of natural gas, methane, methanol, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. An important objective is to develop C1 technology for the production of liquid transportation fuel and hydrogen from domestically plentiful resources such as coal, coalbed methane, and natural gas. An Industrial Advisory Board with representatives from Chevron-Texaco, Eastman Chemical, Conoco-Phillips, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army National Automotive Center (Tank & Automotive Command--TACOM), and Tier Associates provides guidance on the practicality of the research. The current report presents results obtained in this research program during the six months of the subject contract from October 1, 2002 through March 31, 2003. The results are presented in thirteen detailed reports on research projects headed by various faculty members at each of the five CFFS Universities. Additionally, an …

The term "soft money" generally refers to unregulated funds for election related activities that are not subject to the Federal Election Campaign Act's (FECA) source restrictions, contribution limits, and disclosure requirements. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which amended FECA and became effective on November 6, 2002, restricts the raising and spending of soft money. This report contains information on a summary of campaign financing, recent developments, background and analysis, definitions of Hard and Soft money in federal elections, political party soft money, soft money spent on issue advocacy, corporate and labor union soft money, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, and additional related materials.

The construction of the sampling system was completed during the past quarter. The sampling system has been built on a 3 feet x 4 feet x 2 inch breadboard table. The laser system, all the associated optics, and the mounts and hardware needed to couple the UV light into the fiber optic have also been condensed and placed on an identical 3 feet x 4 feet x 2 inch breadboard table. This reduces the footprint of each system for ease of operation at a field test facility. The two systems are only connected with a fiber optic, to bring the UV light to the CRD cavity, and a single coaxial cable used to apply a voltage to the diode seed laser to scan the frequency over the desired mercury transition. SRD software engineers applied a couple of software fixes to correct the problems of the diode seed laser drifting or mode hopping. Upon successful completion of the software fixes another long-term test was conducted. A nearly 3 day long, 24 hours/day, test was run to test out the new subroutines. Everything appeared to work as it should and the mercury concentrations were accurately reported for the entire test, with the …

Ceramic materials have been considered as corrosion resistant coatings for nuclear waste containers. Their suitability can be derived from the fully oxidized state for selected metal oxides. Several types of ceramic coatings applied to plain carbon steel substrates by thermal spray techniques have been exposed to 90 C simulated ground water for nearly 6 years. In some cases no apparent macroscopic damage such as coating spallation was observed in coatings. Thermal spray processes examined in this work included plasma spray, High Velocity Oxy Fuel (HVOF), and Detonation Gun. Some thermal spray coatings have demonstrated superior corrosion protection for the plain carbon steel substrate. In particular the HVOF and Detonation Gun thermal spray processes produced coatings with low connected porosity, which limited the growth rate of corrosion products. It was also demonstrated that these coatings resisted spallation of the coating even when an intentional flaw (which allowed for corrosion of the carbon steel substrate underneath the ceramic coating) was placed in the coating. A model for prediction of the corrosion protection provided by ceramic coatings is presented. The model includes the effect of the morphology and amount of the porosity within the thermal spray coating and provides a prediction of the …

This quarterly technical progress report will summarize work accomplished for Phase 2 Program during the quarter January to March 2004. In task 1 OTM development has led to improved strength and composite design for lower temperatures. In task 2, the measurement system of OTM element dimensions was improved. In task 3, a 10-cycle test of a three-tube submodule was reproduced successfully. In task 5, sizing of several potential heat recovery systems was initiated. In task 7, advanced OTM and cryogenic IGCC cases for near-term integration were developed.

In the Spring of 2003, a series of dispersion field experiments (Joint Urban 2003) were conducted at Oklahoma City. These experiments were complimentary to the URBAN 2000 field studies at Salt Lake City (Allwine, et. al, 2002) in that they will provide a second set of comprehensive field data for evaluation of CFD as well as for other dispersion models. In contrast to the URBAN 2000 experiments that were conducted entirely at night, these new field studies took place during both daytime and nighttime thus including the possibility of convective as well as stable atmospheric conditions. Initially several CFD modeling studies were performed to provide guidance for the experimental team in the selection of release sites and in the deployment of wind and concentration sensors. Also, while meteorological and concentration measurements were taken over the greater Oklahoma City urban area, our CFD calculations were focused on the near field of the release point. The proximity of the source to a large commercial building and to the neighboring buildings several of which have multi-stories, present a significant challenge even for CFD calculations involving grid resolutions as fine as 1 meter. A total of 10 Intensive Observations Periods (IOP's) were conducted within …

This report is based on the CCO extension program mainly to promote the responsible uses of Ohio CCPs that are technically sound, technically safe and commercially competitive.

The integrity of coatings used in hot section components of combustion turbines is crucial to the reliability of the buckets. This project was initiated in recognition of the need for predicting the life of coatings analytically, and non-destructively; correspondingly, three principal tasks were established. Task 1, with the objective of analytically developing stress, strain and temperature distributions in the bucket and thereby predicting thermal fatigue (TMF) damage for various operating conditions; Task 2 with the objective of developing eddy current techniques to measure both TMF damage and general degradation of coatings and, Task 3 with the objective of developing mechanism based algorithms. Task 4 would be aimed at verifying analytical predictions from Task 1 and the NDE predictions from Task 3 against field observations. Task 5 would develop a risk-based decision analysis model to make run/repair decisions. This report is a record of the progress to date on these four tasks.

This report discusses the background of Continuity of Operations (COOP) in planning, discusses elements of an effective COOP plan, and reviews the current policies governing COOP planning in the executive branch. The final two sections address issues and policy questions, including, among other matters, the status of agency preparedness, maintaining COOP preparedness, congressional committee oversight of COOP activity, and funding for contingency planning.

Mechanically alloyed oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) Fe-Cr-Al alloy thin walled tubes and sheets, produced via powder processing and consolidation methodologies, are promising materials for eventual use at temperatures up to 1200 C in the power generation industry, far above the temperature capabilities of conventional alloys. Target end-uses range from gas turbine combustor liners to high aspect ratio (L/D) heat exchanger tubes. Grain boundary creep processes at service temperatures, particularly those acting in the hoop direction, are the dominant failure mechanisms for such components. The processed microstructure of ODS alloys consists of high aspect ratio grains aligned parallel to the tube axis, a result of dominant axial metal flow which aligns the dispersoid particles and other impurities in the longitudinal direction. The dispersion distribution is unaltered on a micro scale by recrystallization thermal treatments, but the high aspect ratio grain shape typically obtained limits transverse grain spacing and consequently the hoop creep response. Improving hoop creep in ODS-alloy components will require understanding and manipulating the factors that control the recrystallization behavior, and represents a critical materials design and development challenge that must be overcome in order to fully exploit the potential of ODS alloys. The objectives of this program are to …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although the weapons that the Department of Defense (DOD) develops have no rival in superiority, there still remain ways in which they can be improved. GAO's reviews over the past 20 years have found consistent problems with weapon acquisitions--cost increases, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls--along with underlying causes, such as pressure on managers to promise more than they can deliver. DOD can resolve these problems by using a knowledge-based approach derived from the best practices of successful product developments. GAO's goal for this report is to provide congressional and DOD decision makers with an independent, knowledge-based assessment of selected defense programs that identifies potential risks and offers an opportunity for action when a program's projected attainment of knowledge diverges from the best practice. It can also highlight those programs that employ practices worthy of emulation by other programs. GAO plans to update and issue this report annually."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. government has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in developing the most sophisticated weapon systems and technologies in the world. Yet, U.S. weapons and technologies are vulnerable to exploitation, which can weaken U.S. military advantage, shorten the expected combat life of a system, and erode the U.S. industrial base's technological competitiveness. In an effort to protect U.S. technologies from exploitation, the Department of Defense (DOD) established in 1999 a policy directing each military service to implement anti-tamper techniques, which include software and hardware protective devices. This report reviews DOD's implementation of the anti-tamper policy as required by the Senate report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has issued several reports pertaining to the Department of Defense's (DOD) architecture and systems modernization efforts which revealed that many of the underlying conditions that contributed to the failure of prior DOD efforts to improve its business systems remain fundamentally unchanged. The Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, House Committee on Armed Services, asked GAO to provide its perspectives on (1) the impact long-standing financial and related business weaknesses continue to have on DOD, (2) the underlying causes of DOD business transformation challenges, and (3) DOD business transformation efforts. In addition, GAO reiterates the key elements to successful reform: (1) an integrated business transformation strategy, (2) sustained leadership and resource control, (3) clear lines of responsibility and accountability, (4) results-oriented performance, (5) appropriate incentives and consequences, (6) an enterprise architecture to guide reform efforts, and (7) effective monitoring and oversight. GAO also offers two suggestions for legislative consideration that are intended to improve the likelihood of meaningful, broad-based financial management and related business reform at DOD."

This project explores the extension of previously discovered Fe-based catalysts with unprecedented Fischer-Tropsch synthesis rate, selectivity, and ability to convert hydrogen-poor synthesis gas streams typical of those produced from coal and biomass sources. Contract negotiations between the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of California were completed on December 9, 2004. During this first reporting period, we have modified and certified a previously decommissioned microreactor, ordered and installed a budgeted gas chromatograph, developed and reviewed safe operating procedures and data analysis methods, and reproduced successfully previous synthetic protocols and catalytic performance of catalytic materials based on Fe-Zn-Cu-K oxide precursors synthesized using precipitation methods, drying using surface-active agents, and activated in synthesis gas within Fischer-Tropsch synthesis tubular reactors.

This program was organized to focus on materials development issues critical to the acceleration of solid-state lighting, and was split into three major thrust areas: (1) study of dislocation density reduction for GaN grown on sapphire using 'cantilever epitaxy', and the impact of dislocation density on the performance of state-of-the-art high-power LEDs; (2) the evaluation of in situ techniques for monitoring gas phase chemistry and the properties of GaN-based layers during metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOCVD), and (3) feasibility for using semiconductor nanoparticles ('quantum dots') for the down-conversion of blue or ultraviolet light to generate white light. The program included a partnership between Lumileds Lighting (epitaxy and device fabrication for high power LEDs) and Sandia National Laboratories (cantilever epitaxy, gas phase chemistry, and quantum dot synthesis). Key findings included: (1) cantilever epitaxy can provide dislocation density reduction comparable to that of more complicated approaches, but all in one epitaxial growth step; however, further improvements are required to realize significant gains in LED performance at high drive currents, (2) in situ tools can provide detailed knowledge about gas phase chemistry, and can be used to monitor and control epitaxial layer composition and temperature to provide improved yields (e.g., a fivefold increase …

OAK-B135 Our BES funded research is aimed at determining structure(s) of model gas-phase ions and understanding how structure influences unimolecular reactivity. The model gas-phase ions include positional isomers of di- and tri-amino acids synthesized in my laboratory, i.e., RGG, GRG, and GGR, to peptides derived from proteolytic digestion of biologically relevant proteins. We are especially interested in understanding the role of intramolecular interactions in the stabilizing ion structure and how changing the charge-site affects structure. The location of charge of gas-phase ions can be manipulated by changing the position of the charge carrying amino acid (basic vs. acidic side chains) and by derivatization of the N- and/or C-terminus. For example, the proton of [M + H]+ ions is mobile and migrates over the entire molecule, whereas Li+, Na+, and to some extent K+ prefers to bind to the C-terminal or side-chain carboxylic acid groups, and Cu+ binds exclusively to the N-terminus and/or basic side-chains such as H, K, and R. The studies are carried out using tandem TOF mass spectrometry, viz. 193 nm (6.43 eV) photodissociation, low (Elab = 10-100 eV) and high kinetic energy (Elab = 1-10 keV) collision-induced dissociation (CID) and surface-induced dissociation (SID)(Elab = 20-70 eV). These …

There are many carbonate reservoirs in US (and the world) with light oil and fracture pressure below its minimum miscibility pressure (or reservoir may be naturally fractured). Many carbonate reservoirs are naturally fractured. Waterflooding is effective in fractured reservoirs, if the formation is water-wet. Many fractured carbonate reservoirs, however, are mixed-wet and recoveries with conventional methods are low (less than 10%). Thermal and miscible tertiary recovery techniques are not effective in these reservoirs. Surfactant flooding (or huff-n-puff) is the only hope, yet it was developed for sandstone reservoirs in the past. The goal of this research is to evaluate dilute (hence relatively inexpensive) surfactant methods for carbonate formations and identify conditions under which they can be effective. Anionic surfactants (Alfoterra 35, 38) recover more than 40% of the oil in about 50 days by imbibition driven by wettability alteration in the core-scale. Anionic surfactant, Alfoterra-68, recovers about 28% of the oil by lower tension aided gravity-driven imbibition in the core-scale. Residual oil saturation showed little capillary number dependence between 10{sup -5} and 10{sup -2}. Wettability alteration increases as the number of ethoxy groups increases in ethoxy sulfate surfactants. Plans for the next quarter include conducting mobilization, and imbibition studies.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1975, the District of Columbia has operated its mental health system under a series of court orders aimed at developing a community-based system of care for District residents with mental illnesses. Placed in receivership from 1997 to 2002, the District regained full control of its mental health system in 2002 but has been ordered to implement a courtapproved plan for developing and implementing a community-based mental health system. Additionally, the District must comply with exit criteria, which must be met in order to end the lawsuit. The court expects that it will take the District 3 to 5 years to implement the courtordered plan and begin measuring performance against the exit criteria, with year 1 beginning in July 2001. GAO was asked to report on the current status of the District's efforts to develop and implement (1) a mental health department with the authority to oversee and deliver services, (2) a comprehensive enrollment and billing system that accesses available funds for federal programs such as Medicaid, (3) a consumer-centered approach to services, and (4) methods to measure the District's performance as required by the court's …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Ineffective oversight and management of the Department of Defense's (DOD) travel card program, which GAO previously reported on, have led to concerns about airline tickets DOD purchased but did not use and for which it did not claim refunds. GAO was asked to (1) determine whether, and to what extent, airline tickets purchased through the centrally billed accounts were unused and not refunded and (2) determine whether DOD's internal controls provided reasonable assurance that all unused tickets were identified and submitted for refunds."

During this second Quarter of the Project, the first four tasks of Phase I--all focusing on the behavior of aphrons--were continued: (a) Aphron Visualization--evaluate and utilize various methods of monitoring and measuring aphron size distribution at elevated pressure; (b) Fluid Density--investigate the effects of pressure, temperature and chemical composition on the survivability of aphrons; (c) Aphron Air Diffusivity--determine the rate of loss of air from aphrons during pressurization; and (d) Pressure Transmissibility--determine whether aphron bridges created in fractures and pore throats reduce fracture propagation. The project team expanded the laboratory facilities and purchased a high-pressure system to measure bubble size distribution, a dissolved oxygen (DO) probe and computers for data acquisition. Although MASI Technologies LLC is not explicitly ISO-certified, all procedures are being documented in a manner commensurate with ISO 9001 certification, including equipment inventory and calibration, data gathering and reporting, chemical inventory and supplier data base, waste management procedures and emergency response plan. Several opportunities presented themselves to share the latest aphron drilling fluid technology with potential clients, including presentation of papers and working exhibit booths at the IADC/SPE Drilling Conference and the SPE Coiled Tubing Conference & Exhibition. In addition, a brief trip to the Formation Damage Symposium …