A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "With the closing of Howard Air Force Base in Panama, the Department of Defense (DOD), the Coast Guard and the Customs Service began searching for alternate sites from which to conduct counterdrug operations close to drug producing zones. The United States has secured 10-year agreements for the use of four such sites. However, each site requires some construction to support a designated mix of aircraft. In response to concerns over the costs to develop and operate these four sites and whether these sites would meet the needs of interagency users, GAO briefed members of the Caucus on International Narcotics Control on (1) the process used to select these sites, (2) the estimated costs to develop and maintain these sites, and (3) issues that might affect operational capabilities at the sites. GAO found that the United States used a reasonable process to locate and secure four sites for its counterdrug efforts in foreign countries. DOD estimated that it would cost about $136.6 million to build airfields at these sites. Several issues might affect the capabilities of these sites, including (1) the unavailability of certain U.S. aircraft to …

The Plutonium Immobilization Program requires development of the process and plant prototypic equipment to immobilize surplus plutonium in ceramic for long-term storage. Because of the hazardous nature of plutonium, it was necessary to develop a remotely operable materials transfer system which can function within the confines of a glovebox. In support of this work at LLNL, such a material transfer system (MTS) was developed. This paper presents both the mechanical and controls parts making up this system, and includes photographs of the key components and diagrams of their assemblies, as well as a description of the control sequence used to validate the MTS capabilities.

Semiweekly newspaper from Seminole, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

This Analysis/Model Report (AMR) summarizes transport properties for the lower unsaturated zone hydrogeologic units and the saturated zone at Yucca Mountain and provides a summary of data from the Busted Butte Unsaturated Zone Transport Test (UZTT). The purpose of this report is to summarize the sorption and transport knowledge relevant to flow and transport in the units below Yucca Mountain and to provide backup documentation for the sorption parameters decided upon for each rock type. Because of the complexity of processes such as sorption, and because of the lack of direct data for many conditions that may be relevant for Yucca Mountain, data from systems outside of Yucca Mountain are also included. The data reported in this AMR will be used in Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) calculations and as general scientific support for various Process Model Reports (PMRs) requiring knowledge of the transport properties of different materials. This report provides, but is not limited to, sorption coefficients and other relevant thermodynamic and transport properties for the radioisotopes of concern, especially neptunium (Np), plutonium (Pu), Uranium (U), technetium (Tc), iodine (I), and selenium (Se). The unsaturated-zone (UZ) transport properties in the vitric Calico Hills (CHv) are discussed, as are colloidal …

The Special Oversight Board shall provide advice and recommendations based on its review of Department of Defense investigations into possible detections of, and exposures to, chemical or biological weapons agents and environmental and other factors that may have contributed to Gulf War illnesses.

The purpose of this Analysis/Model Report (AMR) is to document the predictions and analysis performed using the Seepage Model for Performance Assessment (PA) and the Disturbed Drift Seepage Submodel for both the Topopah Spring middle nonlithophysal and lower lithophysal lithostratigraphic units at Yucca Mountain. These results will be used by PA to develop the probability distribution of water seepage into waste-emplacement drifts at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as part of the evaluation of the long term performance of the potential repository. This AMR is in accordance with the ''Technical Work Plan for Unsaturated Zone (UZ) Flow and Transport Process Model Report'' (CRWMS M&O 2000 [153447]). This purpose is accomplished by performing numerical simulations with stochastic representations of hydrological properties, using the Seepage Model for PA, and evaluating the effects of an alternative drift geometry representing a partially collapsed drift using the Disturbed Drift Seepage Submodel. Seepage of water into waste-emplacement drifts is considered one of the principal factors having the greatest impact of long-term safety of the repository system (CRWMS M&O 2000 [153225], Table 4-1). This AMR supports the analysis and simulation that are used by PA to develop the probability distribution of water seepage into drift, and is therefore a …

The purpose of this analysis/model report (AMR) is to select and/or abstract conservative degradation models for DOE-(US. Department of Energy) owned spent nuclear fuel (DSNF) and the immobilized ceramic plutonium (Pu) disposition waste forms for application in the proposed monitored geologic repository (MGR) postclosure Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA). Application of the degradation models abstracted herein for purposes other than TSPA should take into consideration the fact that they are, in general, very conservative. Using these models, the forward reaction rate for the mobilization of radionuclides, as solutes or colloids, away from the waste fondwater interface by contact with repository groundwater can then be calculated. This forward reaction rate generally consists of the dissolution reaction at the surface of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in contact with water, but the degradation models, in some cases, may also include and account for the physical disintegration of the SNF matrix. The models do not, however, account for retardation, precipitation, or inhibition of the migration of the mobilized radionuclides in the engineered barrier system (EBS). These models are based on the assumption that all components of the DSNF waste form are released congruently with the degradation of the matrix.

Semiweekly newspaper from Levelland, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Laser conditioning by raster scanning KDP and DKDP crystals using Nd:YAG and XeCl excimer laser systems was demonstrated. The laser systems were evaluated to determine their respective feasibility of improving the damage thresholds of the harmonic materials for use on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Crystals were first evaluated using an Nd:YAG laser (355 nm, 7.6 ns) by scanning 2 x 2 cm2 areas with sub-damage threshold fluences and then performing unconditioned (SA) damage tests at 355-nm in the respectively scanned regions. Subsequently, five KDP and DKDP samples of various damage quality were raster scanned in a similar fashion at MicroLas GmbH (Goettingen, Germany) using a commercial Lambda Physik Excimer system (XeCl, {lambda} = 308 nm, 20 ns). The samples treated in Germany were then tested at Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) at 355 nm to demonstrate the excimer's potentia1 as an alternative conditioning source. The excimer scan results suggest that crystals can be treated at high fluence (50 Ycm2, 308-nm, 204s) levels without noticeable bulk damage. In addition, comparable conditioning is possible even with the fluence set at 30% of the 308-nm damage threshold. The laser damage tests with 355-nrn on the majority of the excimer laser-treated crystals demonstrates the …

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

Photograph of a scene during Kingfisher in Lights, at the Kingfisher City Park.

Photograph of a scene during Kingfisher in Lights, at the Kingfisher City Park.

Photograph of a Victorian Christmas scene in Historic Downtown Guthrie.

Photograph of a scene during Kingfisher in Lights, at the Kingfisher City Park.

Photograph of a Victorian Christmas scene in Historic Downtown Guthrie.

Photograph of a scene during Kingfisher in Lights, at the Kingfisher City Park.

Photograph of a scene during Kingfisher in Lights, at the Kingfisher City Park.

Photograph of a scene during Kingfisher in Lights, at the Kingfisher City Park.

Photograph of a scene during Kingfisher in Lights, at the Kingfisher City Park.

Photograph of a Victorian Christmas scene in Historic Downtown Guthrie.

Photograph of a Victorian Christmas scene in Historic Downtown Guthrie.

Photograph of a scene during Kingfisher in Lights, at the Kingfisher City Park.