A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Advisory Commission to Study the Consumer Price Index's (CPI) updated estimate of CPI bias, focusing on the: (1) methodological changes the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) made to the CPI since December 1996, when the Advisory Commission (also referred to as the Boskin Commission) issued its final report; and (2) opinions of the five former Boskin Commission members on how much of the bias in the CPI that the Commission estimated in its December 1996 report remains after recent methodological changes to the CPI."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effects that the U.S. cargo preference law and federal export assistance programs have on the pork export industry, focusing on the: (1) extent to which other countries' trade practices and the U.S. cargo preference law are impediments to exporting more pork products; (2) extent to which existing federal programs could be used to increase the export of pork products; and (3) potential for increased exports to strengthen the U.S. agricultural trade balance and improve producer prices."

Lake Franklin D. Roosevelt was created with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam in 1942. The lake stretches 151 miles up-stream to the International border between the United States and Canada at the 49th parallel. Increased recreational use, subsistence and sport fishing has resulted in intense interest and possible exploitation of the resources within the lake. Previous studies of the lake and its fishery have been limited. Early studies indicate that natural reproduction within the lake and tributaries are not sufficient to support a rainbow trout (Onchoryhnchus mykiss) fishery (Scholz et. al., 1988). These studies indicate that the rainbow trout population may be limited by lack of suitable habitat for spawning and rearing (Scholz et. al., 1988). The initial phase of this project (Phase I, baseline data collection- 1990-91) was directed at the assessment of limiting factors such as quality and quantity of available spawning gravel, identification of passage barriers, and assessment of other limiting factors. Population estimates were conducted using the Seber/LeCren removal/depletion method. After the initial assessment of stream parameters, several streams were selected for habitat/passage improvement projects (Phase II, implementation-1992-96). At the completion of project habitat improvements, the final phase (Phase III, monitoring) began. This phase …

Potential for Advanced Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies in a Climate Constrained World

This Performance Indicator Report is provided in accordance with Article 133 of the INEEL Radiological Control Manual. The INEEL collective occupational radiation deep dose is 63.034 person-rem year to date, compared to a goal of 83.1 person-rem. During the fourth quarter, all areas experienced deletions of work resulting from the Maintenance Stand Down. This reduction in work is a primary factor in the difference in the year end dose and the ALARA goal. The work will be completed during CY-99. Beginning in CY-98, a numeric Radiological Performance Index (RPI) is being used to compare radiological performance. The RPI takes into consideration frequency and severity of events such as skin contaminations, clothing contaminations, spills, exposures to radiation exceeding limits, and positive internal dose. The RPI measures the cost of these events in cents per hour of radiological work performed. To make the RPI meaningful, tables have been prepared to show the facility that contributes to the values used. The data are compared on a quarterly basis to the prior year to show measurable performance.

This report presents a short overview of various data sources available for understanding investment levels in energy research and development (R&D). The report describes some of the strengths and weaknesses of these data sources. The report also discusses some issues that still need to be resolved in using energy R&D statistics for decision-making purposes.

Three unit operations for the removal of selected fission products, actinides, and RCRA metals (mercury and lead) have been successfully integrated and tested for extended run times with simulated INEEL acidic tank waste. The unit operations were ion exchange for Cs removal, followed by TRUEX solvent extraction for Eu (actinide surrogate), Hg, and Re (Tc surrogate) removal, and subsequent SREX solvent extraction for Sr and Pb removal. Approximately 45 L of simulated INTEC tank waste was first processed through three ion exchange columns in series for selective Cs removal. The columns were packed with a composite ammonium molybdophosphate-polyacrylonitrile (AMP-PAN) sorbent. The experimental breakthrough data were in excellent agreement with modeling predictions based on data obtained with much smaller columns. The third column (220 cm3) was used for polishing and Cs removal after breakthrough of the up-stream columns. The Cs removal was >99.83% in the ion exchange system without interference from other species. Most of the effluent from the ion exchange (IX) system was immediately processed through a TRUEX solvent extraction flowsheet to remove europium (americium surrogate), mercury and rhenium (technetium surrogate) from the simulated waste. The TRUEX flowsheet test was performed utilizing 23 stages of 3.3-cm centrifugal contactors. Greater than …

The Metals and Radionuclides Product Line of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Subsurface Contaminants Focus Area (SCFA) is responsible for the development of technologies and systems that reduce the risk and cost of remediation of radionuclide and hazardous metal contamination in soils and groundwater. The rapid and efficient remediation of these sites and the areas surrounding them represents a technological challenge. Phytoremediation, the use of living plants to cleanup contaminated soils, sediments, surface water and groundwater, is an emerging technology that may be applicable to the problem. The use of phytoremediation to cleanup organic contamination is widely accepted and is being implemented at numerous sites. This workshop was held to initiate a discussion in the scientific community about whether phytoremediation is applicable to inorganic contaminants, such as metals and radionuclides, across the DOE complex. The Workshop on Phytoremediation of Inorganic Contaminants was held at Argonne National Laboratory from November 30 through December 2, 1999. The purpose of the workshop was to provide SCFA and the DOE Environmental Restoration Program with an understanding of the status of phytoremediation as a potential remediation technology for DOE sites. The workshop was expected to identify data gaps, technologies ready for demonstration and deployment, …

The objective of the INEEL GHG Inventory and Trend Analysis is to establish INEEL expertise in carbon management decision making and policy analysis. This FY-99 effort is the first step toward placing the INEEL in a leadership role within the DOE laboratories to support carbon management systems and analysis.

HIBEAM is a 2 1/2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation code developed in the late 1990's in the Heavy-Ion Fusion research program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The major purpose of HIBEAM is to simulate the transverse (i.e., X-Y) dynamics of a space-charge-dominated, non-relativistic heavy-ion beam being transported in a static accelerator focusing lattice. HIBEAM has been used to study beam combining systems, effective dynamic apertures in electrostatic quadrupole lattices, and emittance growth due to transverse misalignments. At present, HIBEAM runs on the CRAY vector machines (C90 and J90's) at NERSC, although it would be relatively simple to port the code to UNIX workstations so long as IMSL math routines were available.

An experimental comparison between two contrasting fuel-air swirlers for industrial gas turbine applications was undertaken at the United Technologies Research Center. The first, termed an Aerodynamic nozzle, relied on the prevailing aerodynamic forces to stabilize the downstream combustion zone. The second configuration relied on a conventional bluff plate for combustion stability and was hence named a Bluff-Body nozzle. Performance mapping over the power curve revealed the acoustic superiority of the Bluff-Body nozzle. Two dimensional Rayleigh indices calculated from CCD images identified larger acoustic driving zones associated with the Aerodynamic nozzle relative to its bluff counterpart. The Bluff-Body's success is due to increased flame stabilization (superior anchoring ability) which reduced flame motion and thermal/acoustic coupling.

OAK-B135 The General Atomics (GA) Advanced Fusion Technology program seeks to advance the knowledge base needed for next-generation fusion experiments, and ultimately for an economical and environmentally attractive fusion energy source. To achieve this objective, they carry out fusion systems design studies to evaluate the technologies and materials needed for next-step experiments and power plants, and they conduct research to develop basic and applied knowledge about these materials and technologies. GA's Advanced Fusion Technology program derives from, and draws on, the physics and engineering expertise built up by many years of experience in designing, building, and operating plasma physics experiments. The technology development activities take full advantage of the current DIII-D program and facility. The following sections summarize GA's FY99 work done in the areas of Fusion Power Plant Design Studies (Section 2), Advanced Liquid Plasma Facing Surfaces (Section 3), Advanced Power Extraction Study (Section 4), Next Step Fusion Design (Section 5), Plasma Interactive Materials (Section 6), Radiation Testing of Magnetic Coil (Section 7), Vanadium Component Demo (Section 8), RF Technology (Section 9) and Inertial Fusion Energy Target Supply System (Section 10). The work in these areas continues to address many of the issues that must be resolved for the …

The U.S. Department of Energy and EPRI are co-funding this project to improve the control of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants equipped with wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. The project is investigating catalytic oxidation of vapor-phase elemental mercury to a form that is more effectively captured in wet FGD systems. If successfully developed, the process could be applicable to over 90,000 MW of utility generating capacity with existing FGD systems, and to future FGD installations. Field tests are being conducted to determine whether candidate catalyst materials remain active towards mercury oxidation after extended flue gas exposure. Catalyst life will have a large impact on the cost effectiveness of this potential process. A mobile catalyst test unit is being used to test the activity of four different catalysts for a period of up to six months at each of three utility sites. Catalyst testing at the first site, which fires Texas lignite, was completed in December 1998. Testing at the second test site, which fires a Powder River Basin subbituminous coal, was completed in the fall of 1999, and testing at the third site, which fires a high-sulfur bituminous coal, will begin in early 2000. This technical note reports …

Placing a pellicle in front of a x-ray converter target for radiographic applications can confine the backstreaming ions and target plasma to a shorter channel so that the cumulative effect on e-beam focusing is reduced. The pellicle is subject to heating by e-beam since the pellicle is placed upstream of the target. The calculation of the hydrodynamic expansion, caused by the heating, using the radiation hydrodynamics code LASNEX is presented in this report. Calculations show that mylar pellicles disintegrate at the end of a multi-pulse intense e-beam while beryllium and carbon pellicles remain intact. The expansions for the kapton-carbon multi-layered targets are also examined. Hydrodynamic expansions for pellicles with various e-beam spot radii are calculated for DARHT-II beam parameters. All the simulation results indicate that the backstreaming ions can be stopped.

This document details the performance of the acceptance test of the Honeywell MAS Control System for equipment to be installed in gloveboxes HA-20MB and HA-211 at a later date. Equipment that was anticipated included 6 stabilization furnaces, only three and their associated equipment were installed.

This document summarizes the information on the historical uses, present status, and the sampling and analysis results of waste stored in Tank 241-U-103. This report supports the requirements of the Tri-Party Agreement Milestone M-44-15B.

This Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) provides information on how the Project Hanford Quality Assurance Program is implemented by CH2M HILL Hanford Group Inc (CHG) for managing the Initial Tank Retrieval Systems (ITRS), Project W-211. This QAPP is responsive to the CHG Quality Assurance Program Description (QAPD) (LMH-MP-599) which provides direction for compliance to 10 CFR 830 120, ''Nuclear Safety Management, Quality Assurance Requirements'', and DOE Order 5700 6C, ''Quality Assurance'' Project W-211 modifies existing facilities and provides systems for retrieval of radioactive wastes from selected double-shell tanks (DST). The contents of these tanks are a combination of supernatant liquids and settled solids. To retrieve waste from the tanks, it is first necessary to mix the liquid and solids prior to transferring the slurry to alternative storage or treatment facilities. The ITRS will provide systems to mobilize the settled solids and transfer the wastes out of the tanks. In so doing, ITRS provides feed for future processing plants, allows for consolidation of tank solids to manage space within existing DST storage capacity, and supports continued safe storage of tank waste. This project includes the design, procurement, construction, startup and turnover of these retrieval systems This QAPP identifies organizational structures and …

The purpose of this data collection activity is to obtain data for a screening of combustible gases in catch tanks that are currently operated by the River Protection Project (RPP). The results will be used to support closure of the flammable gas unreviewed safety question for these facilities. The data collection will be conducted in accordance with the ''Tank Safety Screening Data Quality Objective'' (Dukelow et a1 1995). Combustible gas, ammonia, and organic vapor levels in the headspace of the catch tanks will be field-measured using hand-held instruments. If a combustible gas level measurement in a tank exceeds an established threshold, vapor grab samples will be collected for laboratory analysis. In addition, ventilation rates of some catch tanks will be determined using the tracer gas injection method to evaluate removal of flammable gas by air flowing through the tanks. This test plan identifies the field tests, sample collection, laboratory analysis, quality assurance, and reporting objectives for this data collection effort. The plan also provides step by-step direction for field measurement of combustible gas concentrations and determination of ventilation rates.

Consider a simple damper system shown in Figure 1. The phase advance between pickup and kicker is {phi}{sub k}. Assume a particle passes through the pickup at time t=0 with a complex betatron amplitude: {rvec A}{sub pu} = A{sub o}. When the particle passes through the kicker, the betatron amplitude of the particle will be: {rvec A}{sub kr} = A{sub o}e{sup j{phi}k}. Assume that the damper is timed so that the delay through the electronics matches the time of flight for the particle between pickup to kicker. The difference in phase between the kicker betatron amplitude and the pickup amplitude must be: arg({rvec A}{sub kr})-arg({rvec A}{sub pu}) = (2n + 1) {pi}/2 and {phi}{sub k} = (2n+1) {pi}/2 because the pickup measures the position and the kicker corrects an angle.

The content of this report is excerpted from Mark Andrew's Ph.D. Thesis (Andrews, 1999), which was funded by a DOEYOTT High Temperature Materials Laboratory Graduate Fellowship. It involves the characterization of NT551 and valves fabricated with it. Greater detail of the described issues may be found in that reference or through communications with Andrew Wereszczak.

A Radiological Performance Assessment Maintenance Plan (SDW, 1997) was prepared in response to Recommendation 94-2 made by the Defense Nuclear Facility Board (DNFSB) and establishes a requirement for preparing and implementing the E-Area Monitoring Program (EMOP). Based on the results of a statistical analysis of the existing groundwater monitoring network at the Burial Ground and a review of alternative monitoring strategies, a vadose zone monitoring system (YZMS) was selected for the EMOP. The EMOP (SWD, 1998) was prepared in 1998 and describes a phased approach for implementation. The YZMS was designed to detect contamination before it reached the water table and includes collection of pore water samples from sediments above the water table and monitoring pore water pressure and water content of the unsaturated sediments that comprise the vadose zone. This information is then used to calculate the flux of contaminants for comparison with the requirements specified in the E-Area Performance Assessment. In 1999, Phase I of the EMOP was implemented by installation of advanced tensiometers, water content sensors, and vertical and angled lysimeters. In addition several cone penetrometer logs of resistivity and stress ratio were collected and shelby tube samples were collected for measurement of hydraulic properties. Results from …

This final report describes our efforts on the Three-Dimensional Massively Parallel CEM Technologies LDRD project (97-ERD-009). Significant need exists for more advanced time domain computational electromagnetics modeling. Bookkeeping details and modifying inflexible software constitute a vast majority of the effort required to address such needs. The required effort escalates rapidly as problem complexity increases. For example, hybrid meshes requiring hybrid numerics on massively parallel platforms (MPPs). This project attempts to alleviate the above limitations by investigating flexible abstractions for these numerical algorithms on MPPs using object-oriented methods, providing a programming environment insulating physics from bookkeeping. The three major design iterations during the project, known as TIGER-I to TIGER-III, are discussed. Each version of TIGER is briefly discussed along with lessons learned during the development and implementation. An Application Programming Interface (API) of the object-oriented interface for Tiger-III is included in three appendices. The three appendices contain the Utilities, Entity-Attribute, and Mesh libraries developed during the project. The API libraries represent a snapshot of our latest attempt at insulated the physics from the bookkeeping.

The growth of computer power and connectivity, together with advances in wireless sensing and communication technologies, is transforming the field of complex distributed systems. The ability to deploy large numbers of sensors with a rapid, broadband communication system will enable high-fidelity, near real-time monitoring of complex systems. These technological developments will provide unprecedented insight into the actual performance of engineered and natural environment systems, enable the evolution of many new types of engineered systems for monitoring and detection, and enhance our ability to perform improved and validated large-scale simulations of complex systems. One of the challenges facing engineering is to develop methodologies to exploit the emerging information technologies. Particularly important will be the ability to assimilate measured data into the simulation process in a way which is much more sophisticated than current, primarily ad hoc procedures. The reports contained in this section on the Center for Complex Distributed Systems describe activities related to the integrated engineering of large complex systems. The first three papers describe recent developments for each link of the integrated engineering process for large structural systems. These include (1) the development of model-based signal processing algorithms which will formalize the process of coupling measurements and simulation and …

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