As a result of the end of the Cold War, approximately 50 metric tons of plutonium are no longer needed and have been identified for disposition. A ceramic waste form is the chosen option for immobilization of the excess plutonium. The plutonium ceramic form then will be encased in high-level waste glass using can-in-canister technology for final disposition. The precursor materials are the non-radioactive components that are added to the plutonium feed stream to form the desired phases in the immobilization product. The precursor materials are blended and calcined prior to being mixed with the plutonium feed stream. The purpose of the calcine step is to remove any physical or chemical water retained in the precursors and convert any hydroxides or carbonates to the oxides. Initially, a temperature of 750 degrees C for a period of one hour was chosen for the calcining of the precursors. In this effort, several different calcine temperatures were investigated to evaluate the effect on initial phase formation (in the calcined precursors), thermal expansion of the pressed pellets during heating, and mineralogy and porosity of the final product.

Within the next few decades, several million tons of scrap materials (such as metals or concrete) are expected to be removed from nuclear facilities across the world as a result of decontamination and decommissioning activities. Although much of the materials are expected to be free of radioactive contents, some will contain above-background concentrations of residual radioactive material. In many cases, materials containing or potentially containing above-background residual radioactive material have been disposed through burial at licensed facilities. However, some of the materials may be in the form of expensive equipment or devices that are still useful, and the incentive to recover them is high. Others may be expensive raw materials such as nickel, copper, or high-quality stainless steel that can easily be recovered by recycling. Yet another category, which includes carbon steel or concrete, is bulky and requires considerable space for burial. Although the value of these latter materials may not be significant, disposition options such as recycling present an attractive option for alleviating the limited burial capacity and the ever-increasing disposal costs at licensed burial facilities.

We report a new measurement of A{sub b} using data obtained by SLD in 1997-98. This measurement uses a vertex tag technique, where the selection of a b hemisphere is based on the reconstructed mass of the bottom hadron decay vertex. The method uses the 3D vertexing capabilities of SLD's CCD vertex detector and the small and stable SLC beams to obtain a high b-event tagging efficiency and purity of 78% and 97%, respectively. Charged kaons identified by the CRID detector provide an efficient quark-antiquark tag, with the analyzing power calibrated from the data. We obtain a preliminary result of A{sub b} = 0.997 {+-} 0.044 {+-} 0.067.

Weekly newspaper from Rio Grande City, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Weekly newspaper from The Colony, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

We have studied the synthesis of TiC films by vacuum arc deposition and reactive magnetron sputtering over a wide range of compositions. The films were deposited on silicon and tool steel. The films were characterized by various techniques: Auger electron and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, Rutherford backscattering, transmission electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction. Mechanical properties such as stress, adhesion, friction coefficient and wear resistance were obtained by carrying measurements of the curvature of the silicon substrate, pull tests, and ball-on-disk tests, respectively.

Weekly newspaper from Bogata, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Throckmorton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

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Weekly newspaper from Giddings, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Llano, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

It is well known that the attenuation of X-rays as they pass through a material can be used to quantify the amount of matter in their path. This is the basis for the gamma ray densitometer which can measure the amount of material on a moving conveyor belt. It is also the rationale for using X-rays for medical imaging as the attenuation can discriminate between tissue of different density and composition, yielding images of great diagnostic utility. Spatial resolution is obviously important with regard to detecting small features. However, it is less obvious that it plays an important role in obtaining quantitative information from the X-ray transmission data since the spatial resolution of the instrument can affect the accuracy of those measurements. This problem is particularly severe in the case of computed tomography where the accuracy of the reconstruction is dependent on the accuracy of the initial projection data. It should be noted that spatial resolution is not a concern for the case where the material is uniform. Here uniform is defined by small variations related to either the scale size of the resolution element in the detector, or to the size of a collimated X-ray beam. However, if the …

Weekly newspaper from West, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Canadian, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Letter from Hector Garcia to James Nealy discussing the award ceremony of the Texas Human Rights Foundation.

An informational sheet on Dallas City Councilwoman Veletta Forsythe Lill and her civic involvement. The backs of both pages contain a letter to Hector Garcia.

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This document summarizes the results of the U.S. Department of Energy's Near-Facility Environmental Monitoring program conducted by Waste Management Federal Services of Hanford, Inc. for Fluor Daniel Hanford, Inc. for 1998 in the 100,200/600, and 300/400 Areas of the Hanford Site, in southcentral Washington State. Surveillance activities included sampling and analyses of ambient air, surface water, groundwater, soil, sediments, and biota. Also, external radiation measurements and radiological surveys were taken at waste disposal sites, radiologically controlled areas, and roads. These activities were conducted to assess and control the effects of nuclear facilities and waste sites on the local environment. In addition, diffuse sources were monitored to determine compliance with federal, state, and/or local regulations. In general, although effects from nuclear facilities can still be observed on the Hanford Site and radiation levels are slightly elevated when compared to offsite locations, the differences are less than in previous years.

During the first two years of radioactive operation of the Defense Waste Processing Facility process, several areas for improvement in melter design were identified. Due to the need for a process that allows continuous melter operation, the down time associated with disruption to melter operation and pouring has significant cost impact. A major objective of this task is to address performance limitations and deficiencies identified by the user.

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This report compiles the provisions in federal environmental statutes that explicitly state whether Congress intended to preempt state law.