This document defines the detailed NIF full system shot procedure to obtain 8% power balance as specified by the SDR002 3.2.1.04. Because the 48 quads of the NIF will be set up over a period of five years, obtaining power balance will naturally be accomplished in two steps. First, as each quad is brought online, the four laser beams within each quad will be tuned by setting the PABTS splitter ratios so that each beam will give the same laser power on target during low energy square pulse shots. During the quad activation period all of the technical tools and procedures will be developed that are needed for attaining full laser power balance. After the initial settings of the 48 PABTS, if no other tuning is done the overall NIF power balance is expected to be about <15%. In the second step, an iteration procedure with approximately 18 full laser system shots will be needed to obtain 8% power balance by tuning out the remaining systematic differences among the quads to an acceptable small difference of 2% rms (at 3{omega}). This rms difference is smaller than the expected variation of the injection energy or the amplifier gain, and is also …

This report includes a discussion of the groundwater flow direction and rate, the groundwater analytical results, and the methane monitoring results.

The continued strength of American's economy depends on the availability of affordable energy, which has long been provided by the Nations rich supplies of fossil fuels. Forecasts indicate that fossil fuels will continue to meet much of the demand for economical electricity and transportation fuels for decades to come. It is projected that natural gas, oil, and coal will supply nearly 90% of US energy in 2020, with coal fueling around 50% of the electricity. It is essential to develop ways to achieve the objectives for a cleaner environment while using these low-cost, high-value fuels. A national commitment to improved technologies--for use in the US and abroad--is the solution. The Coal and Power Systems program is responding to this commitment by offering energy solutions to advance the clean, efficient, and affordable use of the Nations abundant fossil fuel resources. These solutions include: (1) Vision 21--A multi-product, pollution-free energy plant--producing electricity, fuels, and/or industry heat--could extract 80% or more of the energy value of coal and 85% or more of the energy value of natural gas; (2) Central Power Systems--Breakthrough turbines and revolutionary new gasification technologies that burn less coal and gas to obtain energy, while reducing emissions; (3) Distributed Generation--Fuel …

The report describes the Interim Digest, which is a compilation of interim committee action. In general, committees were given interim charges and have reported their recommendations to the 77th Legislature. The Interim Digest summarizes several recommendations for the next legislature.

This report summarizes the history of legislation on abortion. Moreover, the report discusses the conflict that surrounds the history of the court cases and how it has effected legislation passed since Roe v. Wade. The report also covers how Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton did not cover a variety of issues that have since been raised by states seeking to restrict abortion.

This report offers an overview of the development of abortion law from 1973 to the present. Beginning with a brief discussion of the historical background, the report analyzes the leading Supreme Court decisions over the past twenty-eight years, emphasizing particularly the landmark decisions in Roe and Doe, the Court’s shift in direction in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, and the Court’s most recent decision on abortion, Stenberg v. Carhart. The Court’s decisions on the constitutionality of restricting public funding for abortion are also discussed.

During this phase of the project the research team concentrated on acquisition of acoustic emission data from the high porosity rock samples. The initial experiments indicated that the acoustic emission activity from high porosity Danian chalk were of a very low amplitude. Even though the sample underwent yielding and significant plastic deformation the sample did not generate significant AE activity. This was somewhat surprising. These initial results call into question the validity of attempting to locate AE activity in this weak rock type. As a result the testing program was slightly altered to include measuring the acoustic emission activity from many of the rock types listed in the research program. The preliminary experimental results indicate that AE activity in the sandstones is much higher than in the carbonate rocks (i.e., the chalks and limestones). This observation may be particularly important for planning microseismic imaging of reservoir rocks in the field environment. The preliminary results suggest that microseismic imaging of reservoir rock from acoustic emission activity generated from matrix deformation (during compaction and subsidence) would be extremely difficult to accomplish.

The Phase 1 report (ORNL/Sub/94-SVO44/1), completed earlier in this program, involved a comprehensive field survey and market analysis comparing various specialized outdoor air handling units. This initial investigation included conventional cooling and reheat, conventional cooling with sensible recovery, total energy recovery systems (passive desiccant technology) and various active desiccant systems. The report concluded that several markets do promise a significant sales opportunity for a Climate Changer-based active desiccant system offering. (Climate Changer is a registered trademark of Trane Company.) This initial market analysis defined the wants and needs of the end customers (design engineers and building owners), which, along with subsequent information included in this report, have been used to guide the determination of the most promising active desiccant system configurations. This Phase 2 report begins with a summary of a more thorough investigation of those specific markets identified as most promising for active desiccant systems. Table 1 estimates the annual sales potential for a cost-effective product line of active desiccant systems, such as that built from Climate Changer modules. The Product Development Strategy section describes the active desiccant system configurations chosen to best fit the needs of the marketplace while minimizing system options. Key design objectives based on market …

The main objective of this project is for a university-industry consortium to develop a comprehensive model for fracture carbonate reservoirs based on the ''data cube'' concept using the Michigan Basin as a prototype. This project combined traditional historical data with 2D and 3D seismic data as well as data from modern logging tools in a novel way to produce a new methodology for characterizing fractured reservoirs in carbonate rocks. Advanced visualization software was used to fuse the data and to image it on a variety of scales, ranging from basin-scale to well-scales.

The results of Laboratory and Bench-Scale experiments and supporting technical and economic assessments conducted under DOE Contract No. DE-AC22-91PC91040 are reported for the period October 1, 2000 to December 31, 2000. This work involves the introduction into the basic two-stage liquefaction process several novel concepts, which include dispersed lower-cost catalysts, coal cleaning by oil agglomeration, and distillate hydrotreating and dewaxing. This project has been modified to include an investigation into the production of value added materials from coal using low-severity liquefaction based technologies.

The U.S. Department of Energy and ADA Environmental Solutions has begun a project to develop commercial flue gas conditioning additives. The objective is to develop conditioning agents that can help improve particulate control performance of smaller or under-sized electrostatic precipitators on utility coal-fired boilers. The new chemicals will be used to control both the electrical resistivity and the adhesion or cohesivity of the flyash. There is a need to provide cost-effective and safer alternatives to traditional flue gas conditioning with SO{sub 3} and ammonia. During the third reporting quarter, the electrostatic tensiometer for laboratory determination of flyash cohesivity was completed. Modifications were made to this method to improve repeatability. In addition, a new multi-cell laboratory flyash resistivity furnace was completed. Also during this quarter an agreement was reached for the initial field trial of the new additives at the City of Ames, Iowa Municipal Power Plant.

The activities of the Advanced Gas Turbine Systems Research (AGTSR) program for this reporting period are described in this quarterly report. As this program administers research, we have included all program activity herein within the past quarter dated. More specific research progress reports are provided weekly at the request of the AGTSR COR and are being sent to NETL. As for the administration of this program, items worthy of note are presented in extended bullet format following the appropriate heading.

Eltron Research Inc., and team members CoorsTek, McDermott Technology, Inc., Sued Chemie, Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing an environmentally benign, inexpensive, and efficient method for separating hydrogen from gas mixtures produced during industrial processes, such as coal gasification. This objective is being pursued using dense membranes based in part on Eltron-patented ceramic materials with a demonstrated ability for proton and electron conduction. The technical goals are being addressed by modifying single-phase and composite membrane composition and microstructure to maximize proton and electron conductivity without loss of material stability. Ultimately, these materials must enable hydrogen separation at practical rates under ambient and high-pressure conditions, without deactivation in the presence of feedstream components such as carbon dioxide, water, and sulfur. This project was motivated by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Vision 21 initiative which seeks to economically eliminate environmental concerns associated with the use of fossil fuels. The proposed technology addresses the DOE Vision 21 initiative in two ways. First, this process offers a relatively inexpensive solution for pure hydrogen separation that can be easily incorporated into Vision 21 fossil fuel plants. Second, this process could reduce the cost of hydrogen, which is a clean burning …

Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories are combining entertainment industry software with traditional data collection techniques to create an interactive visualization tool. By replacing the usual flight simulator joystick with a telemetry data stream, experimental data is combined with existing three-dimensional (3D) engineering models. Users are immersed in their experiment, allowing interaction with and comprehension of complex data sets. Software tools are currently under development for post flight data visualization, and their usefulness and reusability have been demonstrated on numerous spaced-based programs within Sandia. However, data from remote sensors are subject to transmission errors that yield nonphysical behavior in real-time data visualization applications. We propose to investigate the applicability of real-time processing algorithms and estimation theories, such as Kalman filters, that have been successfully applied in other fields. Results will be integrated into existing postflight visualization tools for Proof-of-Concept validation and for potential integration of real-time applications.

As part of Task 1 in the Advanced Technologies for Stripper Gas Well Enhancement, Schlumberger--Holditch Reservoir Technologies (H-RT) has partnered with two Appalachian Basin producers, Great Lakes Energy (formerly Range Resources) and Belden and Blake Corporation, to develop methodologies for the identification and enhancement of stripper wells with economic upside potential. These industry partners have provided data for over 700 wells in northwestern Pennsylvania. Phase 1 goals of this project are to develop and validate methodologies that can quickly and cost-effectively identify wells with enhancement potential. We are currently in the final stages of developing and testing our new Access/Excel based software and processing this well data to generate a list of potential candidate wells that can be used in Phase 2 to validate these methodologies. Preparation of the Final Technical report has begun.

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator is used to provide a power source for long-term deep space missions. This General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) is fabricated using iridium clad vent sets to contain the plutonium oxide fuel pellets. Integrity of the closure weld is essential to ensure containment of the plutonium. The Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant took the lead role in developing the ultrasonic inspection for the closure weld and transferring the inspection to Los Alamos National Laboratory for use in fueled clad inspection for the Cassini mission. Initially only amplitude and time-of-flight data were recorded. However, a number of benign geometric conditions produced signals that were larger than the acceptance threshold. To identify these conditions, a B-scan inspection was developed that acquired full ultrasonic waveforms. Using a test protocol the B-scan inspection was able to identify benign conditions such as weld shield fusion and internal mismatch. Tangential radiography was used to confirm the ultrasonic results. All but two of 29 fueled clads for which ultrasonic B-scan data was evaluated appeared to have signals that could be attributed to benign geometric conditions. This report describes the ultrasonic inspection developed at Y-12 for the Cassini mission.

Congressional interest in Africa seems certain to continue, not only because the region is affected by a number of serious problems, some of which could have grave humanitarian consequences, but also because of the potential Africa offers for U.S. trade and investment should these problems ease. Africa's problems and prospects will likely assure continuing constituent interest as well, stimulated in part by the churches, relief organizations, and other non-governmental organizations active on African issues. This report is intended to introduce congressional readers to the region by providing an overview of Africa's history, a summary of U.S. policy toward Africa, and a listing of principal congressional actions affecting the region. The paper concludes with suggestions for further reading and a list of selected Congressional Research Service (CRS) products.

Persistent low farm prices and 3 years of multi-billion dollar ad hoc additions to federal spending for farmers are expected to put pressure on the 107th Congress for an early review of federal farm policy. Farm policy is governed by a variety of laws, many of which are incorporated into an omnibus, multi-year farm bill. Most of the provisions of the current farm bill, the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act of 1996, expire after the 2002 crop year. Key issues are the responsiveness of current policy to low commodity prices and farm income, factors influencing low prices, and options for improving prices and/or providing automatic relief to farmers when prices fall. Increased concentration in the agriculture industry, trade, and environmental regulations affecting agriculture are likely to be part of the debate.

This LDRD is aimed to place Sandia at the forefront of GaN-based technologies. Two important themes of this LDRD are: (1) The demonstration of novel GaN-based devices which have not yet been much explored and yet are coherent with Sandia's and DOE's mission objectives. UV optoelectronic and piezoelectric devices are just two examples. (2) To demonstrate front-end monolithic integration of GaN with Si-based microelectronics. Key issues pertinent to the successful completion of this LDRD have been identified to be (1) The growth and defect control of AlGaN and GaN, and (2) strain relief during/after the heteroepitaxy of GaN on Si and the separation/transfer of GaN layers to different wafer templates.

This report consists of the amending process in the house of representatives.

The amending process on the floor of the House of Representatives gives Members an opportunity to change the provisions of the bills and resolutions on which they are going to vote. This report summarizes many of the procedures and practices affecting this process, which can be among the most complex as well as the most important stages of legislative consideration.

Power in American national government is decentralized, divided, dispersed, and limited. This distribution of power derives in part from the Constitution, through limitations imposed on the government, the system of checks and balances among the three branches, and independent bases of support and authority for each branch. This report, which examines these elements, will be updated as developments require.

This report discusses Amtrak, an intercity railway transit system that being operatios in 1971. Amtrak receives considerable criticism for its inability to make a profit. The central policy issue, which this report addresses, is the following: Given that a national system of passenger rail service appears to be inherently unprofitable, as is the case for other public services, do we as a Nation wish to preserve our system or to liquidate it?

A series of unit pin-cell benchmark problems have been analyzed related to irradiation of mixed oxide fuel in VVER-1000s (water-water energetic reactors). One-dimensional, discrete-ordinates eigenvalue calculations of these benchmarks were performed at ORNL using the SAS2H control sequence module of the SCALE-4.3 computational code system, as part of the Fissile Materials Disposition Program (FMDP) of the US DOE. Calculations were also performed using the SCALE module CSAS to confirm the results. The 238 neutron energy group SCALE nuclear data library 238GROUPNDF5 (based on ENDF/B-V) was used for all calculations. The VVER-1000 pin-cell benchmark cases modeled with SAS2H included zero-burnup calculations for eight fuel material variants (from LEU UO{sub 2} to weapons-grade MOX) at five different reactor states, and three fuel depletion cases up to high burnup. Results of the SAS2H analyses of the VVER-1000 neutronics benchmarks are presented in this report. Good general agreement was obtained between the SAS2H results, the ORNL results using HELIOS-1.4 with ENDF/B-VI nuclear data, and the results from several Russian benchmark studies using the codes TVS-M, MCU-RFFI/A, and WIMS-ABBN. This SAS2H benchmark study is useful for the verification of HELIOS calculations, the HELIOS code being the principal computational tool at ORNL for physics studies of …