A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congressional interest in the security of offshore energy infrastructure has increased because of the lives lost and the substantial damages that resulted from the Deepwater Horizon incident in April 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard--a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)--is the lead federal agency for maritime security, including the security of offshore energy infrastructure. The Coast Guard oversees two main types of offshore energy infrastructure--facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and deepwater ports. GAO was asked to examine (1) Coast Guard actions to ensure the security of OCS facilities and what additional actions, if any, are needed; (2) Coast Guard actions to ensure the security of deepwater ports and what additional actions, if any, are needed; and (3) what limitations in oversight authority, if any, the Coast Guard faces in ensuring the security of offshore energy infrastructure. GAO reviewed Coast Guard documents, such as inspection records, and relevant laws and regulations and interviewed Coast Guard inspectors and officials, including those at Coast Guard headquarters and the two Coast Guard districts that oversee all OCS facilities and deepwater ports that are subject to security …

This document reports the results of the Hanford personnel nuclear accident dosimeter (PNAD) and fixed nuclear accident dosimeter (FNAD) during a criticality accident dosimeter intercomparison exercise at the CEA Valduc Center on September 20-23, 2010. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) participated in a criticality accident dosimeter intercomparison exercise at the Commissariat a Energie Atomique (CEA) Valduc Center near Dijon, France on September 20-23, 2010. The intercomparison exercise was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Criticality Safety Program, with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as the lead Laboratory. PNNL was one of six invited DOE Laboratory participants. The other participating Laboratories were: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Savannah River Site (SRS), the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL). The goals of PNNL's participation in the intercomparison exercise were to test and validate the procedures and algorithm currently used for the Hanford personnel nuclear accident dosimeters (PNADs) on the metallic reactor, CALIBAN, to test exposures to PNADs from the side and from behind a phantom, and to test PNADs that were taken from a historical batch of Hanford PNADs that had varying degrees of degradation of the bare indium foil. …

The main thrust of our project was to apply the concepts of holographic spectroscopy, developed earlier in the visible and near IR spectral regions for satellite mapping, to the THz region in order to measure the spectral signature of the coherent radiation emanating from a relativistic electron bunch to obtain the bunch length itself. There were four major discoveries. (1) In the course of this ground-breaking work we developed and built the first static THz interferometer suitable for the realization of such a holographic Fourier transform spectrometer. Experimental tests and analysis of the observed results have provided the necessary foundation for future development of THz detector arrays optimized for spectroscopic applications. (2) Since such detectors do not exist at the present time our next effort was to find an alternative approach. We explored the electro-optic (EO) detection of the THz pulse using the short pulse of a visible diode laser synchronized to the bunch with the long-term goal aimed at single bunch measurement capability. The main hurdle was found to be the parasitic scattering of the diode radiation in the EO medium. By using the optical Fourier transform of the THz interference pattern the effects of this background were suppressed …

Ferritic stainless steels and other alloys are of great interest to SOFC developers for applications such as interconnects, cell frames, and balance of plant components. While these alloys offer significant advantages (e.g., low material and manufacturing cost, high thermal conductivity, and high temperature oxidation resistance), there are challenges which can hinder their utilization in SOFC systems; these challenges include Cr volatility and reactivity with glass seals. To overcome these challenges, protective coatings and surface treatments for the alloys are under development. In particular, aluminization of alloy surfaces offers the potential for mitigating both evaporation of Cr from the alloy surface and reaction of alloy constituents with glass seals. Commercial aluminization processes are available to SOFC developers, but they tend to be costly due to their use of exotic raw materials and/or processing conditions. As an alternative, PNNL has developed Reactive Air Aluminization (RAA), which offers a low-cost, simpler alternative to conventional aluminization methods.

Monosodium titanate (MST) for use in the Actinide Removal Process (ARP) must be qualified and verified in advance. A single qualification sample for each batch of material is sent to SRNL for analysis, as well as a statistical sampling of verification samples. The Harrell Industries Lot No.081811 qualification and 12 verification samples met all the requirements in the specification, with the possible exception of the geometric standard deviation for particle size. Two subsamples from the qualification sample were analyzed, giving results of 3.82 and 3.28, respectively, for the geometric standard deviation. The specification is {le}3.5. The results for both samples met the remaining particle size specifications, i.e. <10 vol% below 0.8 {mu}m and <1 vol% above 37 {mu}m. Filtration behavior of the current batch is expected to be near that of recent batches. SRNL recommends acceptance of this material. SRNL also recommends performing a statistical review of particle size data for the MST lots from this vendor to assess whether an improved material specification is appropriate.

This report discusses the question of how federal policies deal with financial stress encountered by dairy farmers has led many in Congress to reconsider federal policy for supporting them.

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This report describes the roles of the federal manufacturing arsenals during the years surrounding the enactment of the two sections of the Arsenal Act, one as part of the Army Appropriations Act for 1854, and the other within the Defense Act of 1920, also known as the Army Reorganization Act of 1920, and provides historical context. The report also shows the change in language between the sections' original enactment and today, and it provides details on the Army's policy in implementing the manufacturing sourcing portion of the statute.

This report discusses the federal scheduling of controlled substances, including the temporary scheduling of substances. It also provides an overview of current trends in selected synthetic cannabinoids and stimulants. It concludes with a review of selected relevant legislation in the 112th Congress as well as issues for policymakers to consider.

This report will focus on issues related to the need for transmission incentives, and consumer cost concerns related to these incentives. Given the changes that FERC cites in the electric industry, the question arises as to whether the need for transmission incentives continues. FERC is bound by EPACT to make incentives available, and is not proposing to end the incentives. However, with concerns raised over the effects of transmission incentives on consumer rates, implications of related federal policies on the electric power sector, additional FERC regulatory policies for transmission, and the aging of electricity infrastructure among key issues, the need for continuing transmission incentives may be a matter for Congress to consider.

This project centered on creating a solar cell prototype enabling significant reductions in module cost and increases in module efficiency. Low cost was addressed by using plentiful organic materials that only comprise 16% of the total module cost, and by leveraging building integrated PV concepts that reduce the cost of key module components to zero. High efficiency was addressed by implementing multiband organic PV, low cost spectral splitting, and possibly integrating photovoltaic and photothermal mechanisms. This research has contributed to the design of multiband organic PV, and the sealing of organic PV cells. If one assumes that the aggregate multiband efficiency can reach 12%, projected cost would be $0.97/W. If the sealing technology enables 10 to 20 year lifetimes, the LCOE will match that of domestic coal. The final report describes progress towards these goals.

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