Annual compilation summarizing data regarding graduates and dropouts in Texas public secondary schools, including historical information and longitudinal analyses, with information about data collection and other related information.

Report that discusses information on cancer incidence and mortality in Texas for 1998, including biographical information.

Reconciliation report with an ending account balance of $1,622.07 reconciled for the period ending on August 30, 2002.

A series of laser welds were performed using a high-power diode-pumped continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser welder. In a previous study, the experimental results of those welds were examined, and the effects that changes in incident power and various welding parameters had on weld geometry were investigated. In this report, the fusion zones of the laser welds are compared with those predicted from a laser keyhole weld simulation model for stainless steels (304L and 21-6-9), vanadium, and tantalum. The calculated keyhole depths for the vanadium and 304L stainless steel samples fit the experimental data to within acceptable error, demonstrating the predictive power of numerical simulation for welds in these two materials. Calculations for the tantalum and 21-6-9 stainless steel were a poorer match to the experimental values. Accuracy in materials properties proved extremely important in predicting weld behavior, as minor changes in certain properties had a significant effect on calculated keyhole depth. For each of the materials tested, the correlation between simulated and experimental keyhole depths deviated as the laser power was increased. Using the model as a simulation tool, we conclude that the optical absorptivity of the material is the most influential factor in determining the keyhole depth. Future work will …

This report presents the findings of a U.S. DOE Environmental Management technology transfer initiative of waste-reducing ground water sampling systems between Savannah River Site (SRS) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) which occurred during fiscal years 2001 and 2002. The report describes the collaboration between the two sites, the deployment of the Savannah River Site Purge Water Management System at LLNL, the changes made to that system for use at LLNL, and documents the return-on-investment derived from the system's use at LLNL as well as other benefits generated through this inter-laboratory collaboration. An evaluation of the deployment of the LLNL EasyPump sampling technology at SRS will be covered in a separate report from SRS.

This report summarizes environmental information for the Hanford Site in Washington State for the calendar year 2001.

This report documents tests performed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to verify that the new air monitoring system for the 296-Z-1 ventilation exhaust stack meets the applicable regulatory criteria regarding the placement of the air sampling probe, sample transport, and stack flow measurement accuracy. These criteria ensure that the contaminants in the stack are well mixed with the airflow at the location of the probe so that the collected sample represents the whole. The sequence of tests addresses the acceptability of the flow angle relative to the probe uniformity of air velocity and gaseous and particle tracers in the cross section of the stack delivery of the sample from the sampler nozzle to the collection filter. The tests conducted on the air monitoring system demonstrated that the location for the air-sampling probe meets all performance criteria for air sampling systems at nuclear facilities. The performance criterion for particle transport was also met. All tests were successful, and all acceptance criteria were met.

To predict contaminant release to the groundwater, it is necessary to understand the hydraulic properties of the material between the release point and the water table. Measurements of the hydraulic properties of the Hanford unsaturated sediments that buffer the water table are available from many areas of the site; however, the documentation is not well cataloged nor is it easily accessible. The purpose of this report is to identify what data is available for characterization of the unsaturated hydraulic properties at Hanford and Where these data can be found.

A validated Johnson-Cook model could be employed to perform simulations that conform to FAA standards for evaluating aircraft and engine designs for airworthiness and containment considerations. A previous LLNL report [1] described the motivation for using the Johnson-Cook material model in simulations involving engine containment and the effect of uncontained engine debris on aircraft structures. In that report, experimental studies of the deformation and failure behavior of Ti-6Al-4V and 2024-T3 aluminum at high strain rates and large strains were conducted. The report also describes the generation of material constants for the Johnson-Cook strength model. This report describes the determination and validation of parameters for Ti-6Al-4V and 2024-T3 aluminum that can be used in the failure portion of the Johnson-Cook material.

The approach of isolating high-level nuclear waste in the designated site of Yucca Mountain (Nevada) is to separate it from the environment using a series of engineering and natural barriers. The container for the waste will consist of two concentric metal cylinders. The outer cylinder is going to be fabricated of Alloy 22 (N06022). If water is present at the site, several corrosion processes may occur. These include passive or general corrosion, localized corrosion and environmentally assisted cracking. The occurrence of one (or more) mode of corrosion over another will be determined by the redox potential of the aqueous electrolyte that may enter in contact with the container. This redox potential will also control the corrosion potential (E{sub corr}) of the container. This paper summarizes the findings of an extensive laboratory testing aimed at measuring E{sub corr} of Alloy 22 in presence of a variety of electrolyte solutions. Some of these solutions are multi-ionic electrolytes that may simulate concentrated ground waters. Other environments are chemical solutions of pure salts, which are highly unlikely for an underground repository but that may establish an extreme bounding condition. Current results show that the highest measured potential for Alloy 22 was approximately +0.3 to …

As a member of the science-support part of the ITT-lead LISA development program, BNL is tasked with the acquisition of UV Raman spectral fingerprints and associated scattering cross-sections for those chemicals-of-interest to the program's sponsor. In support of this role, the present report contains the first installment of UV Raman spectral fingerprint data on the initial subset of chemicals. Because of the unique nature associated with the acquisition of spectral fingerprints for use in spectral pattern matching algorithms (i.e., CLS, PLS, ANN) great care has been undertaken to maximize the signal-to-noise and to minimize unnecessary spectral subtractions, in an effort to provide the highest quality spectral fingerprints. This report is divided into 4 sections. The first is an Experimental section that outlines how the Raman spectra are performed. This is then followed by a section on Sample Handling. Following this, the spectral fingerprints are presented in the Results section where the data reduction process is outlined. Finally, a Photographs section is included.

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This month's issue has the following articles: (1) Livermore--Poised for the Future, Commentary by Michael R. Anastasio; (2) A Hitchhiker's Guide to Early Earth--Experiments examine the possibility that the building blocks of life arrived on Earth as hitchhikers on comets; (3) A New World of Maps--More than pretty pictures, maps prepared with the tools of geographic information sciences allow researchers to find new relationships among spatial information; (4) Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells Stack Up to Efficient, Clean Power--The goal of Livermore's research in solid-oxide fuel cells is electric power generated cleanly and efficiently at an affordable cost; and (5) Empowering Light, Historic Accomplishments in Laser Research--During the past 40 plus years, the laser program at Livermore has played a seminal role in taking high-energy lasers from concept to reality.

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) operates a number of research and development (R&D) facilities for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on the Hanford Site's 300 Area (see Figure 1). Process wastewater from these facilities is treated by the 300 Area Treated Effluent Disposal Facility (TEDF) and discharged to the Columbia River via a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System-permitted outfall. The NPDES permit specifies limits of chemical constituents and requires proper operation and maintenance of the TEDF. To meet permit requirements, Fluor Hanford, operator of the TEDF, requires generators who discharge to the 300 Area TEDF to submit a Liquid Waste Certification Plan. This plan is the second revision to PNNL's plan.

This booklet summarizes the Hanford Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2001. The report includes information and summary data that describe environmental management performance at the site, demonstrate the status of the site's compliance with applicable federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations, and highlight significant environmental monitoring and surveillance programs and efforts. The document is written to meet requirements and guidelines of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the needs of the public.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Radiation Technology Group (RTG) uses a number of computer codes for simulation and analysis of radiation data. The number of incompatible data formats that these data presented themselves in have continued to multiply. In the 1980's a Common Data Format (CDF, see Appendix A) was devised for internal use by the RTG. This format represented a single gamma-ray spectrum as ASCII energy/count pairs preceded by an ASCII header. The ASCII representation of the data assured that it was compatible on any computing platform and this format is still in use. In the mid 1990's it became apparent that instrument systems of greater complexity would demand a file format of larger capacity to support systems then on the drawing board, including networks of sensors collecting time series of gamma-ray spectra. These systems were in the planning stage and defined data structures were not available. It became apparent that a new storage format for nuclear measurements data would be needed and it would have to be flexible and extensible to accommodate the requirements of systems of the future. As part of an LDRD, we began to investigate what others were doing, especially in the high-energy physics community, to …

This report summarizes the results of testing and evaluation of noble metal surrogates that will support testing of noble metals in melters. The candidate system, potential surrogates, model glass systems, and test conditions have been chosen based on the existing reported data in literature as well as expertise existing at various sites, thermodynamics, physical properties, and cost. The methodology involves testing interaction of RuO2 and WO3 and other surrogates in the test melt followed by characterization of the bulk glass and oxide-glass melt interfaces. The report explains different techniques used for studying settling, crystallization, rheology, and partitioning of noble metals or surrogates or spinel phases in the selected systems. The report presents and discusses how these results support the selection of the suitable surrogate for RuO2. Finally the report concludes with the best-suited surrogate (WO3) proposed and makes suitable recommendations for the follow up melter test activities.

This report describes an environmental surveillance study of the near-shore of the Columbia River at the 300 Area of the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site. The study was conducted in August - October, 2001 to coincide with expected low river stage. The low river stage facilitated locating and sampling riverbank spring water and other media along the Columbia River shoreline. River water, riverbank spring water, near shore groundwater, riparian and aquatic biota samples were collected. Contaminants of concern included radionuclides, metals, organics, and anions. A survey of the external radiation levels along the near-shore area was also conducted. The report presents the objectives and regulatory drivers for this study, a description of the sample collection process, analytical results and discussion for both radiological and non-radiological (chemical) samples. In addition, human and ecological dose/risk assessments based upon the analytical results are presented.

Near-facility environmental monitoring is defined as monitoring near facilities that have the potential to discharge or have discharged, stored, or disposed of radioactive or hazardous materials. Monitoring locations are associated with nuclear facilities such as the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), Canister Storage Building (CSB), and the K Basins; inactive nuclear facilities such as N Reactor and the Plutonium-Uranium Extraction Plant (PUREX); and waste storage or disposal facilities such as burial grounds, cribs, ditches, ponds, tank farms, and trenches. Much of the monitoring consists of collecting and analyzing environmental samples and methodically surveying areas near facilities. The program is also designed to evaluate acquired analytical data, determine the effectiveness of facility effluent monitoring and controls, assess the adequacy of containment at waste disposal units, and detect and monitor unusual conditions. The

This is the first update of the catalog that was published in 2001. This report catalogs the existing geologic data that can be found in various databases, published and unpublished reports, and in individuals' technical files. The scope of this catalog is primarily on the 100, 200, and 300 Areas, with a particular emphasis on the 200 Areas. Over 2,922 wells are included in the catalog. Nearly all of these wells (2,459) have some form of driller's or geologist's log. Archived samples are available for 1,742 wells. Particle size data are available from 1,078 wells and moisture data are available from 356 wells. Some form of chemical property data is available from 588 wells. However, this catalog is by no means complete. Numerous individuals have been involved in various geologic-related studies of the Hanford Site. The true extent of unpublished data retained in their technical files is unknown. However, this data catalog is believed to represent the majority (>90%) of the geologic data that is currently retrievable.

This document contains the tables of data on which PNNL's environmental surveillance summary information is based. This data report contains the actual raw data used to create the tables and summaries in the Hanford Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2001.

Water inputs to the vadose zone from irrigation of a tree windbreak in the 200 W Area of the Hanford Site were monitored during the summer of 2002. Water flux and soil-water contents were measured within the windbreak and at two locations just east of the windbreak to assess the impact of the irrigation on the vadose zone and to assist in optimizing the irrigation applications. In May 2002, instrumentation was placed in auger holes and backfilled with local soil. Sensors were connected to a data acquisition system (DAS), and the data were telemetered to the laboratory via digital modem in late June 2002. Data files and graphics were made web accessible for instantaneous retrieval. Precipitation, drip irrigation, deep-water flux, soil-water content, and soil-water pressures have been monitored on a nearly continuous basis from the tree-line site since June 26, 2002.

A first-order property model for normalized Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) release as a function of glass composition was developed using collected data from various studies. The normalized boron release is used to estimate the release of toxic elements based on the observation that the boron release represents the conservative release for those constituents of interest. The current TCLP model has two targeted application areas: (1) delisting of waste-glass product as radioactive (not mixed) waste and (2) designating the glass wastes generated from waste-glass research activities as hazardous or non-hazardous. This report describes the data collection and model development for TCLP releases and discusses the issues related to the application of the model.

Four boreholes were drilled at the Immobilized Low-Activity Waste Disposal Site in April 2002. Three were completed as groundwater monitoring wells. This report documents the results of the drilling and data collected from the drilling.