A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A company formed by security guards at the Anchorage, Alaska, Federal Office Building (AFOB) competed unsuccessfully for two contracts and later alleged bias and preselection by the General Services Administration (GSA) in the contract award process. However, GAO's review of relevant documentation and discussions with officials of GSA and the company that alleged the irregularities did not disclose any evidence of bias or preselection in GSA's award of these contracts. GSA appears to have inadvertently used an outdated Department of Labor (DOL) wage determination in its most recent contract because of a misunderstanding of the wage determination process and incorrect advice provided by DOL in 1999. On the basis of the substantial amount of information GAO was able to obtain, including documents and oral information from the guards and GSA officials, GAO concludes that GSA could have done more to respond to the guards' concerns and help ensure and document that the contractor was providing for the safety of federal employees and the security of federal facilities in accordance with the contract. Also, GSA could have done more to respond to the guards' repeated charges of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed federal community and migrant health centers (C/MHC), focusing on: (1) the current status of C/MHCs, the populations they serve, the types of services they provide, and their primary sources of revenue; (2) changes in Medicaid that have had an effect on C/MHCs; (3) how C/MHCs have responded to these and other changes in the health care environment; and (4) assessing the Department of Health and Human Services' actions to monitor C/MHC performance and help them improve operations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) reorganization plans, focusing on: (1) what factors, complicate the interactions between small businesses and IRS; and (2) whether IRS' reorganization plans address those factors."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the steps the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is taking to help ensure departmentwide information systems security."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the implementation of the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, focusing on the: (1) extent to which employers comply with the law and how they have revised their health plans; (2) law's effect on claims costs; and (3) steps federal agencies have taken to ensure compliance with the law."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on U.S. government programs intended to help businesses promote their products and services in overseas markets, focusing on: (1) the federal agencies involved in promoting exports of U.S. goods and services and the export promotion activities they perform; (2) these agencies' total resources devoted to export promotion in fiscal year (FY) 1999; and (3) the agencies' overseas resources devoted to export promotion during this period."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the status and impact of reforms to improve the United Nations (U.N.), focusing on whether: (1) the U.N. had put into place the three core elements of the Secretary General's 1997 reform program; and (2) they are improving U.N. management and performance as intended."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) review and approval of drug manufacturers' applications to market seven drugs that would be covered by H.R. 1598 and S.1172, focusing on: (1) the review and approval times for the seven pipeline drugs in comparison with other drugs and the factors that contributed to the time FDA required to approve the three of the seven drugs for which the manufacturers agreed to supply GAO with information; and (2) whether Congress based the 2-year patent extension granted to pipeline drugs on the assumption that FDA action on these drugs' applications would occur within the average length of time for FDA approval of new drug applications."

Documention of the methodology used to calculate relative hazard and risk measure results for the DOE complex wide risk profiles. This methodology is used on major site risk profiles.

In the debate over the Department of Defense policy on military health care benefits, many military personnel and retirees say that they were promised “free health care for life” when they entered the armed forces. What benefits are available and who is eligible to receive these benefits are matters determined by Congress. This report discusses the issue of “promises” of lifetime health care benefits made to military retirees.

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This report provides a brief overview o the six features of the committee system in the House: organization, hearings, markup, reporting, oversight, and publications.

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A study was performed in the Plutonium Finishing Plant to assess the performance of Hanford personnel neutron dosimetry. The study was assessed whole body dosimetry and extremity dosimetry performance. For both parts of the study, the TEPC was used as the principle instrument for characterizing workplace neutron fields. In the whole body study, 12.7-cm-diameter TEPCs were used in ten different locations in the facility. TLD and TED personnel dosimeters were exposed on a water-filled phantom to enable a comparison of TEPC and dosimeter response. In the extremity study, 1.27-cm-diameter TEPCs were exposed inside the fingers of a gloveboxe glove. Extremity dosimeters were wrapped around the TEPCs. The glove was then exposed to six different cans of plutonium, simulating the exposure that a worker's fingers would receive in a glovebox. The comparison of TEPC-measured neutron dose equivalent to TLD-measured gamma dose equivalent provided neutron-to-gamma ratios that can be used to estimate the neutron dose equivalent received by a worker's finger based on the gamma readings of an extremity dosimeter. The study also utilized a Snoopy and detectors based on bubble technology for assessing neutron exposures, providing a comparison of the effectiveness of these instruments for workplace monitoring. The study concludes that …

This document summarizes the Tanks Focus Area (TFA's) process of collecting, analyzing, and responding to high-level radioactive tank waste science and technology needs developed from across the DOE complex in FY 2000. The document also summarizes each science and technology need, and provides an initial prioritization of TFA's projected work scope for FY 2001 and FY 2002.

Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is under consideration as a potential high-level radioactive waste repository situated above the water table in 12.7 Ma tuffs. A wealth of textural and geochemical evidence from low-temperature deposits of calcite and silica, indicates that their genesis is related to unsaturated zone (UZ) percolation and that the level of the potential repository has never been saturated. Nonetheless, some scientists contend that thermal waters have periodically risen to the surface depositing calcite and opal in the tuffs and at the surface. This hypothesis received some support in 1996 when two-phase fluid inclusions (FIs) with homogenization temperatures (Th) between 35 and 75 C were reported from UZ calcite. Calcite deposition likely followed closely on the cooling of the tuffs and continues into the present. The paragenetic sequence of calcite and silica in the UZ is early stage calcite followed by chalcedony and quartz, then calcite with local opal during middle and late stages. Four types of FIs are found in calcite assemblages: (1) all-liquid (L); (2) all-vapor (V); (3) 2-phase with large and variable V:L ratios; and (4) a few 2-phase with small and consistent V:L ratios. Late calcite contains no FI assemblages indicating elevated depositional temperatures. In early …

This document provides the justification for the change in survey frequency in East Tank Farms occupied contamination areas from weekly to monthly. The Tank Farms Radiological Control Organization has performed radiological surveys of its Contamination Area (CA) Double Shell Tank (DST) farms in 200 East Area on a weekly basis for several years. The task package (DST-W012) controlling these routines designates specific components, at a minimum, that must be surveyed whenever the task is performed. This document documents the evaluation of these survey requirements and provides the recommendation and basis for moving DST tank farms in the 200 East Area from a weekly to monthly contamination survey. The contamination surveys for occupied contamination areas in West Tank Farms (WTF) were changed from a weekly frequency to a monthly frequency in 1997. Review of contamination survey data in WTF indicates a monthly interval remains satisfactory.

Neoclassical tearing modes have now entered the mainstream of tokamak research. One indication of this was the featuring of it in the ITER MHD instabilities paper at the 1998 Yokohama meeting, of which we (along with many colleagues throughout the world) were co-authors. In addition, this past year a number of talks were given on various aspects of neoclassical tearing modes and their impacts in tokamak plasmas. At present, we are anxiously awaiting the DIII-D electron cyclotron heating and current drive feedback experiments to see if neoclassical tearing modes can be stabilized according to our theoretical model, or if the theory needs to be modified. A major question in the application of neoclassical tearing mode theory to realistic aspect ratio toroidal plasmas such as DIII-D is: what is the effect of shear in the toroidal flow velocity on toroidicity-induced mode coupling? Both differential rotation between surfaces and flow shear at the rational surfaces can be important both in determining the linear growth rates of tearing modes and in the nonlinear excitation of tearing modes induced by sawtooth crashes. To explore these effects we have been developing an efficient new code NEAR that is based on the FAR code and the …

This sampling and analysis plan (SAP) identifies characterization objectives pertaining to sample collection, laboratory analytical evaluation, and reporting requirements for vapor samples obtained during the operation of mixer pumps in tank 241-AZ-101. The primary purpose of the mixer pump test (MPT) is to demonstrate that the two 300 horsepower mixer pumps installed in tank 241-AZ-101 can mobilize the settled sludge so that it can be retrieved for treatment and vitrification. Sampling will be performed in accordance with Tank 241-AZ-101 Mixer Pump Test Data Quality Objective (Banning 1999) and Data Quality Objectives for Regulatory Requirements for Hazardous and Radioactive Air Emissions Sampling and Analysis (Mulkey 1999). The sampling will verify if current air emission estimates used in the permit application are correct and provide information for future air permit applications.

The 1D performance of laser or X-ray driven targets to study phenomena such as the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in a single, steady shock, step down in density system has been described by a simple model based on 1D hydrodynamics. It is shown that the distance the interface travels under constant velocity conditions is a multiple of the separation between the ablation and shock front, and that this multiple depends on the density ratio at the interface, and the equations of states of the two materials. The model is applied to NIF with the aid of 1D hydrocode simulations to predict the ablation-shock separation. It is found that if adequate interface planarity can be maintained over an experimental length equal to the focal spot diameter, direct drive may out-perform indirect drive by up to {approx} factor 2 at the same pulse length and typically {ge} 2 at the same ablation pressure. This depends on the ability to control 2D effects in the directly driven targets (critically), and on the optimum hohlraum performance achievable for these experiments, rather than the achievable performance used for the study. It is predicted that several mm of constant velocity interface travel are potentially achievable on NIF, and …

In this note is reported the testing of the pre-production version of a solid-state adder type modulator. In this configuration, the adder consists of transformers that are driven by an array of MOSFET switches that are connected in parallel but not in series; i.e. the input voltage on the transformer is limited to the maximum voltage rating on the MOSFETs. At present, there are only enough printed circuit boards (MOSFET carrier boards) to drive four transformers and two of those are prototypes that are restricted by their gate drive circuits to a minimum output pulse width of {approx}100ns. We also have two pre-production boards that meet all of our requirements for rise and fall-times and minimum pulse width. The remainder of the production boards are due to be delivered in the first week in January and should give us full high voltage capability.

The purpose of this section is to explain the meaning of logical connectors with specific examples. Logical connectors are used in Technical Safety Requirements (TSRs) to discriminate between, and yet connect, discrete Conditions, Required Actions, Completion Times, Surveillances, and Frequencies. The only logical connectors that appear in TSRs are AND and OR. The physical arrangement of these connectors constitutes logical conventions with specific meanings.

The Integrated Environment, Safety and Health Management System (ISMS) Implementation Project Plan serves as the project document to guide the Fluor Hanford, Inc (FHI) and Major Subcontractor (MSC) participants through the steps necessary to complete the integration of environment, safety, and health into management and work practices at all levels.

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