Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to the results of a limited program effectiveness audit of the Texas Workforce Commission's Communities in Schools program.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to identifying all funds in the possession of the Texas Turnpike Authority that belong to the Texas Turnpike Authority Division of the Texas Department of Transportation.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining if the Integrated Statewide Administrative System (ISAS) will provide the required functionality for the agencies implementing the system; determining if ISAS includes sufficient controls to ensure the accuracy of data input, output, and processing; and evaluating key project management controls and project planning to help ensure the successful implementation of ISAS at the participating agencies.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to opportunities for the University of Houston (University) to improve aspects of its resource and policy management control systems to make them more efficient and effective.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority's compliance with the significant requirements contained in the resolution that provides for the issuance of taxable commercial paper.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to the Office of the Comptroller of Public Accounts (Comptroller) taking appropriate action to improve controls over the following statewide information systems: the Uniform Statewide Accounting System, the Uniform Statewide Payroll/Personnel System, the Human Resource Information System, and the Statewide Property Accounting System.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to assessing the State's efforts to comply with federal disclosure rules and regulations of municipal securities; determining whether state bond issuers are aware of federal disclosure rules and whether they have established policies and procedures for compliance; and identifying opportunities to share information regarding good disclosure practices recommended by industry organizations and used by state issuers.

The performance of residential geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) was assessed by comparing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and whole house energy use of GHP houses and control houses. Actual energy savings were calculated and compared to expected savings (based on ARI ratings and literature) and predicted savings (based on coefficient of performance - COP - measurements). Differences between GHP and control houses were normalized for heating degree days and floor area or total insulation value. Predicted savings were consistently slightly below expected savings but within the range of performance cited by the industry. Average rated COP was 3.4. Average measured COP was 3.1. Actual savings were inconsistent and sometimes significantly below predicted savings. No correlation was found between actual savings and actual energy use. This suggests that factors such as insulation and occupant behavior probably have greater impact on energy use than type of HVAC equipment. There was also no clear correlation between climate and actual savings or between climate and actual energy use. There was a trend between GHP installation date and savings. Newer units appear to have lower savings than some of the older units which is opposite of what one would expect given the increase …

Quarterly publication of the Texas Comptroller's Office regarding sales and use tax in the state of Texas, including an analysis by county, analysis by industry, and related notes.

In May of 1996, the US Department of Energy implemented a four-year demonstration project identified as the Hanford Tanks Initiative (HTI). The HTI mission is to minimize technical uncertainties and programmatic risks by conducting demonstrations to characterize and remove tank waste using technologies and methods that will be needed in the future to carry out tank waste remediation and tank farm closure at the Hanford Site. Included in the HTI scope is the development of retrieval performance evaluation criteria supporting readiness to close single-shell tanks in the future. A path forward that includes evaluation of closure basis alternatives has been outlined to support the development of retrieval performance evaluation criteria for the AX Farm, and eventual preparation of the SEIS for AX Farm closure. This report documents the results of the Task 4, Waste Inventory study performed to establish the best-basis inventory of waste contaminants for the AX Farm, provides a means of estimating future soil inventories, and provides data for estimating the nature and extent of contamination (radionuclide and chemical) resulting from residual tank waste subsequent to retrieval. Included in the report are a best-basis estimate of the existing radionuclide and chemical inventory in the AX Farm Tanks, an …

This document defines the performance requirements for a graphic display dispatching system to support Hanford Patrol Operations Center. This document reflects the as-built requirements for the system that was delivered by GTE Northwest, Inc. This system provided a commercial off-the-shelf computer-aided dispatching system and alarm monitoring system currently in operations at the Hanford Patrol Operations Center, Building 2721E. This system also provides alarm back-up capability for the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP).

During this reporting period the authors continued their investigations of how low rank coals are degraded by wood rotting fungi. Previous investigations showed that ligninolytic cultures of P. chrysosporium could decolorize soluble low rank coal macromolecule. The authors continue to investigate this phenomenon. Consistent with earlier observations they conclude that soluble coal macromolecule is decolorized in ligninolytic cultures of P. chrysosporium. To determine if this fungus can depolymerize coal macromolecule, samples were analyzed by GPC-HPLC. These analyses suggested that when coal macromolecules were incubated with ligninolytic cultures of P. chrysosporium a slight decrease in the average peak molecular weight of this mixture had occurred. During this reporting period they also discovered that changes in buffer composition can alter the peak retention times of coal macromolecules during GPC-HPLC probably by causing dissociation and reassociation of individual macromolecules. In other experiments it has been shown that lignin peroxidases that are secreted by ligninolytic cultures of P. chrysosporium are responsible, at least in part, for decolorization of coal macromolecules. Taken together, these studies show that the lignin degrading system of P. chrysosporium is able to enzymatically attack macromolecules solubilized from low rank coal. The ability of nonacclimated bacteria from sewage sludge to used …

A facility effluent monitoring plan is required by the US Department of Energy in DOE Order 5400.1 for any operations that involve hazardous materials and radioactive substances that could impact employee or public safety or the environment. This document is prepared using the specific guidelines identified in A Guide for Preparing Hanford Site Facility Effluent Monitoring Plans, WHC-EP-0438-01. This facility effluent monitoring plan assesses effluent monitoring systems and evaluates whether these systems are adequate to ensure the public health and safety as specified in applicable federal, state, and local requirements. This facility effluent monitoring plan will ensure long-range integrity of the effluent monitoring systems by requiring an update whenever a new process or operation introduces new hazardous materials or significant radioactive materials. This document must be reviewed annually even if there are no operational changes, and it must be updated, at a minimum, every 3 years.

During the past quarter, protocols for pyrolysis and combustion experiments were developed. The performance of the new control algorithms was evaluated, particularly for the rapid pyrolysis experiments where heating rates ranging from 100 to 1,000 C/s were achieved. Finally, a new digital image analysis procedure was developed to detect and quantify thermal ignitions of burning coal or char particles.

This document describes the original basis for selection of the analog input setpoints for the MICON Automation System. In most cases the setpoints were based on vendor supplied information and design requirements. However, some setpoints were also established based on engineering judgment. These setpoints are subject to change as more experience with operation of the ventilation system is obtained. Revision 1 incorporates minor changes to ensure the document setpoints accurately reflect limits established in OSD-T-151-00019, Rev B-0.

This document is the final report for tank 241-AP-107 grab samples. Three grab samples were collected from riser 1 on September 11, 1997. Analyses were performed on samples 7AP-97-1, 7AP-97-2 and 7AP-97-3 in accordance with the Compatibility Grab Sampling and Analysis Plan (TSAP) (Sasaki, 1997) and the Data Quality Objectives for Tank Farms Waste Compatibility Program (DQO) (Rev. 1: Fowler, 1995; Rev. 2: Mulkey and Nuier, 1997). The analytical results are presented in the data summary report (Table 1). A notification was made to East Tank Farms Operations concerning low hydroxide in the tank and a hydroxide (caustic) demand analysis was requested. The request for sample analysis (RSA) (Attachment 2) received for AP-107 indicated that the samples were polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) suspects. Therefore, prior to performing the requested analyses, aliquots were made to perform PCB analysis in accordance with the 222-S Laboratory administrative procedure, LAP-101-100. The results of this analysis indicated that no PCBs were present at 50 ppm and analysis proceeded as non-PCB samples. The results and raw data for the PCB analysis will be included in a revision to this document. The sample breakdown diagrams (Attachment 1) are provided as a cross-reference for relating the tank farm customer …

This document is a summary of the history of Tank 241-Z-361 through December 1997. Documents reviewed include engineering files, laboratory notebooks from characterization efforts, waste facility process procedures, supporting documents and interviews of people`s recollections of 20 plus years ago. Records of transfers into the tank, past characterization efforts, and speculation will be used to estimate the current condition of Tank 241-Z-361 and its contents.

The readiness of the Tank 241-SY-101 Data Acquisition and Control System (DACS-1) to provide monitoring and alarms for a halt failure of any thermocouple module will be tested during the performance of this procedure. Updated DACS-1 ``1/0 MODULE HEALTH STATUS``, ``MININ1``, and ``MININ2`` screens, which now provide indication of thermocouple module failure, will also be tested as part of this procedure.

Fluor Daniel Northwest (FDNW) has been tasked by Lockheed Martin Hanford Corporation (LMHC) to incorporate current location data for 64 of the 200-Area plateau inactive miscellaneous underground storage tanks (IMUST) into the centralized mapping computer database for the Hanford facilities. The IMUST coordinate locations and tank names for the tanks currently assigned to the Hanford Site contractors are listed in Appendix A. The IMUST are inactive tanks installed in underground vaults or buried directly in the ground within the 200-East and 200-West Areas of the Hanford Site. The tanks are categorized as tanks with a capacity of less than 190,000 liters (50,000 gal). Some of the IMUST have been stabilized, pumped dry, filled with grout, or may contain an inventory or radioactive and/or hazardous materials. The IMUST have been out of service for at least 12 years.

Residual free water expected to remain in a Multi-Canister Overpack (MCO) after processing in the Cold Vacuum Drying (CVD) Facility is investigated based on three alternative models of fuel crevices. Tests and operating conditions for the CVD process are defined based on the analysis of these models. The models consider water pockets constrained by cladding defects, water constrained in a pore or crack by flow through a porous bed, and water constrained in pores by diffusion. An analysis of comparative reaction rate constraints is also presented indicating that a pressure rise test can be used to show MCO`s will be thermally stable at operating temperatures up to 75 C.

The development and employment of a new diagnostic instrument for characterizing intense, heavy ion beams is reported on. This instrument, the ''Gated Beam Imager'' or ''GBI'' was designed for use on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Heavy Ion Fusion Project's ''Small Recirculator'', an integrated, scaled physics experiment and engineering development project for studying the transport and control of intense heavy ion beams as inertial fusion drivers in the production of electric power. The GBI allows rapid measurement and calculation of a heavy ion beam's characteristics to include all the first and second moments of the transverse phase space distribution, transverse emittance, envelope parameters and beam centroid. The GBI, with appropriate gating produces a time history of the beam resulting in a 4-D phase-space and time ''map'' of the beam. A unique capability of the GBI over existing diagnostic instruments is its ability to measure the ''cross'' moments between the two transverse orthogonal directions. Non-zero ''cross'' moments in the alternating gradient lattice of the Small Recirculator are indicative of focusing element rotational misalignments contributing to beam emittance growth. This emittance growth, while having the same effect on the ability to focus a beam as emittance growth caused by non-linear effects, is in …

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