Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On October 16, 2003, GAO testified before Congress at a hearing on whether DOD and VA are providing seamless health care coverage to transitioning veterans. This letter responds to a request thst we provide answers to follow-up questions from the hearing."

BRAC 2005 Intelligence Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of November 24, 2003. The document is redacted.

This Interim Change Notice (ICN) updates the radionuclides and sampling schedule in Table 4.3

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Technology Center are using advanced microscopy techniques to understand the effects of trace organic chemical additions on nuclear waste slurry flow properties. Trace organic chemicals, surfactants (rheology modifiers), are being used in all types of industries to modify the flow properties of various commercial chemicals. Nuclear waste treatment at the Department of Energy's weapons production facilities, Savannah River Site and Hanford Reservation, is limited by the viscosity of the nuclear waste slurries as the material is processed through a variety of waste treatment and immobilization processes. The picture was taken using a laser scanning confocal microscope.

The original proposal described the construction and operation of a 1 MMscfd treatment system to be operated at a Butcher Energy gas field in Ohio. The gas produced at this field contained 17% nitrogen. During precommissioning of the project, a series of well tests showed that the amount of gas in the field was significantly smaller than expected and that the nitrogen content of the wells was very high (25 to 30%). After evaluating the revised cost of the project, Butcher Energy decided that the plant would not be economical and withdrew from the project. Since that time, Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR) has signed a marketing and sales partnership with ABB Lummus Global, a large multinational corporation. MTR will be working with the company's Randall Gas Technology group, a supplier of equipment and processing technology to the natural gas industry. Randall's engineering group has found a new site for the project at a North Texas Exploration (NTE) gas processing plant. The plant produces about 1 MMscfd of gas containing 24% nitrogen. The membrane unit will bring this gas to 4% nitrogen for delivery to the pipeline. The membrane skid is being built by ABB. NTE has ordered the …

Increased biomass burning (e.g., forest fires, controlled burns, etc.) and anthropogenic emissions into the earth's atmosphere in the past century have led to much debate with regard to greenhouse gases, atmospheric carbon buildup, aerosol increases, and global warming. Atmospheric aerosols are linked to reduced air quality and visibility (V) in many parts of the world. In south-central South Carolina visibility reduction has been responsible for traffic fatalities on public highways, with resulting lawsuits against governmental entities. Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1963, with amendments in 1970, 1977, and 1990 to improve air quality. The actual implementation of the Clean Air Act has been an intermittent process because of litigation over some provisions of the Act. However, it is reasonable to assume that visibility has improved in the U.S. over the past decades due to implementation of the Clean Air Act's provisions. In this study visibility data have been acquired for seven weather stations along or near the U.S. East Coast to study how conditions have changed from the 1980s to the 1990s.

The results of the DOE-funded Mouse Genome Sequence (MGS) project include a significant enhancement in the capacity of the community to connect biological knowledge with the mouse genome sequence in a comparative context. The resources developed as the result of the activities of the MGS project staff are used extensively by both individual researchers and other informatics groups.

OAK-B135 Our research efforts over the past year have focused on the development of advanced integrated PCR reactors on chips, the development of robust integrated valves, the development of integrated optical detectors, and the development of microdevices for performing integrated genetic analysis. The details of all the projects will be found in the listed papers.

Tritium removal is a major unsolved development task for next-step devices with carbon plasma-facing components. The 2-3 order of magnitude increase in duty cycle and associated tritium accumulation rate in a next-step tokamak will place unprecedented demands on tritium removal technology. The associated technical risk can be mitigated only if suitable removal techniques are demonstrated on tokamaks before the construction of a next-step device. This article reviews the history of codeposition, the tritium experience of TFTR (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor) and JET (Joint European Torus) and the tritium removal rate required to support ITER's planned operational schedule. The merits and shortcomings of various tritium removal techniques are discussed with particular emphasis on oxidation and laser surface heating.

Plasma potentials and electron temperatures were deduced from emissive and cold floating probe measurements in a 2 kW Hall thruster, operated in the discharge voltage range of 200-400 V. An almost linear dependence of the electron temperature on the plasma potential was observed in the acceleration region of the thruster both inside and outside the thruster. This result calls into question whether secondary electron emission from the ceramic channel walls plays a significant role in electron energy balance. The proportionality factor between the axial electron temperature gradient and the electric field is significantly smaller than might be expected by models employing Ohmic heating of electrons.

We investigate the appearance of closed timelike curves in quotients of plane waves along spacelike isometries. First we formulate a necessary and sufficient condition for a quotient of a general spacetime to preserve stable causality. We explicitly show that the plane waves are stably causal; in passing, we observe that some pp-waves are not even distinguishing. We then consider the classification of all quotients of the maximally supersymmetric ten-dimensional plane wave under a spacelike isometry, and show that the quotient will lead to closed timelike curves iff the isometry involves a translation along the u direction. The appearance of these closed timelike curves is thus connected to the special properties of the light cones in plane wave spacetimes. We show that all other quotients preserve stable causality.

Planar flames are intrinsically unstable in open domains due to the thermal expansion across the burning front--the Landau-Darrieus instability. This instability leads to wrinkling and growth of the flame surface, and corresponding acceleration of the flame, until it is stabilized by cusp formation. We look at the Landau-Darrieus in stability for C/O thermonuclear flames at conditions relevant to the late stages of a Type Ia supernova explosion. Two-dimensional direct numerical simulations of both single-mode and multi-mode perturbations using a low Mach number hydrodynamics code are presented. We show the effect of the instability on the flame speed as a function of both the density and domain size, demonstrate the existence of the small scale cutoff to the growth of the instability, and look for the proposed breakdown of the non-linear stabilization at low densities. The effects of curvature on the flame as quantified through measurements of the growth rate and computation of the corresponding Markstein number. While accelerations of a few percent are observed, they are too small to have any direct outcome on the supernova explosion.

This report describes development of a revised Savannah River Site (SRS) meteorological data set for the MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System (MACCS). This data set contains quality assured values of transport wind direction, wind speed, atmospheric stability class, and precipitation for all hours in each of the five years 1997-2001. Measurements collected from the SRS H-area meteorological tower are the primary source for these data. Substitution was used to complete the data set for the 2 percent of hours in which data from the H-tower record were missing or invalid.

Interview with landscape architect and Army veteran William Garbo Sr. The interview includes Garbo's personal experiences about the G Troop, 112th Cavalry, in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World-War II, growing up in an Italian-American family in Mississippi during the Great Depression, volunteering for the draft and processing at Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, basic training at Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, being assigned to the 26th War Dog Platoon and to New Guinea in 1944, the Battle of the Driniumor River and his attachment to elements of the 32nd Infantry Division, jungle patrols on New Guinea with his dog, his transfer to Troop, 112th Cavalry and the invasion of Layte, Philippines, and the living condition in the Philippine jungles. Additionally, Garbo speaks about the fighting prowess of his comrades in the 112th Cavalry, jungle patrols on Leyte and Luzon, the 112th's activities around Marungko and Antipolo, Luzon, descriptions of cannibalism by Japanese soldiers, his wounds from artillery shrapnel and evacuation by helicopter, his return to the 112th Cavalry and preparations for the invasion of Japan, witnessing the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, occupation duty at Tateyama, Honshu, relations between Japanese civilians and American occupation troops, the destruction of Japanese defensive fortifications …

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

This report summarizes the work done at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the Oligonucleotide and Long Polymeric DNA Encoding project, part of the Microelectronic Bioprocesses Program at DARPA. The goal of the project was to develop a process by which long (circa 10,000 base-pair) synthetic DNA molecules could be synthesized in a timely and economic manner. During construction of the long molecule, errors in DNA sequence occur during hybridization and/or the subsequent enzymatic process. The work done on this project has resulted in a novel synthesis scheme that we call the parallel pyramid synthesis protocol, the development of a suit of computational tools to minimize and quantify errors in the synthesized DNA sequence, and experimental proof of this technique. The modeling consists of three interrelated modules: the bioinformatics code which determines the specifics of parallel pyramid synthesis for a given chain of long DNA, the thermodynamics code which tracks the products of DNA hybridization and polymerase extension during the later steps in the process, and the kinetics model which examines the temporal and spatial processes during one thermocycle. Most importantly, we conducted the first successful syntheses of a gene using small starting oligomers (tetramers). The synthesized sequence, 813 base pairs …

M-shell spectra of W ions have been produced at the Livermore EBIT-II electron beam ion trap at different energies of the electron beam. A survey has been performed for 2.4 keV, 2.8 keV, 3.6 keV and for steps in energy of 100 eV over the 3.9-4.6 keV energy range. The analysis of 11 W spectra has shown the presence of a wide variety of ionization stages from Se-like to Cr-like W; the appearances of these ionization stages correlate well with the energy of their production. The present paper focuses on the identification of 63 experimental features of W ions in a spectral region from 5 to 6 Angstrom using calculations with inclusion of all ionization stages matching this spectral region. The majority of lines in all spectra have been identified and assigned to the 4f {yields} 3d and 4d {yields} 3p transitions. This is the first work that lists a comprehensive identification of so many resolved spectral features of M-shell transitions in W ions recorded in such detail in the laboratory.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF), currently under construction at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is a stadium-sized facility containing a 192-beam, 1.8-Megajoule, 500-Terawatt, ultraviolet laser system together with a 10-meter diameter target chamber with room for nearly 100 experimental diagnostics. When completed, NIF will be the world's largest and most energetic laser experimental system, providing an international center to study inertial confinement fusion and the physics of matter at extreme energy densities and pressures. NIF's 192 energetic laser beams will compress fusion targets to conditions required for thermonuclear burn, liberating more energy than required to initiate the fusion reactions. Other NIF experiments will allow the study of physical processes at temperatures approaching 10{sup 8} K and 10{sup 11} Bars, conditions that exist naturally only in the interior of stars, planets and in nuclear weapons. NIF is now entering the first phases of its laser commissioning program. This paper provides a detailed look the NIF laser systems and the results of recent laser commissioning shots. We discuss plans for experiments using the first laser beams of NIF and plans for future uses of NIF, including short pulse laser capability on NIF for high energy, high brightness radiographic x-ray backlighters for physics …

Oxide thickness and composition averaged over a few square millimeter has been measured with nm thickness resolution by diffuse reflectance fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. {mu}-Raman spectroscopy has been done on powders and bulk samples in the past, and can now be done on surfaces layers with {micro}m lateral and depth resolution using con-focal microscopy. Here we apply con-focal-microscopy-based {mu}-Raman spectroscopy to a freshly polished/lightly oxidized and to heavily oxidized uranium to determine its sensitivity. The spectra show that {mu}-Raman spectroscopy does detect oxide thickness and oxide composition with high sensitivity.

Renewed interest in hydrogen storage materials has resulted in the development of Ti-doped NaAlH{sub 4}. Different doping methods such as mechanical milling with powdered TiCl{sub 3}, or wet doping in solvents such as tetrahydrofuran (THF), yield enhanced kinetics. Still, the location and action of the Ti dopant is an open question. In order to address titanium substitution in the bulk, we present lattice parameter measurements of crushed single crystals which were exposed to Ti during growth. Rietveld refinements suggest that the titanium does not appear to enter the bulk by this method of exposure. Therefore, reaction products are investigated by x-ray diffraction of completely reacted samples of solvent-mixed versus mechanically milled 3 NaAlH{sub 4}+TiCl{sub 3}. Formation of TiAl{sub 3} is observed in mechanically milled materials, but not solution mixed samples, where bonding to THF likely stabilizes Ti-based nanoclusters. The Ti in these clusters is activated by mechanical milling.

This report provides a history of official congressional mail sent at government expense(franking privilege), a description of its costs, distribution of franking funds, criticism and defense of franking, past franking reforms, and considerations for possible future franking reform.

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A preliminary lifetime assessment of S5370 stress cushions has been performed. Data from three sources were obtained and reviewed to perform this assessment. The sources were the following: (1) the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Honeywell FM&T Kansas City Plant's 2-year and 9-year accelerated aging studies; (2) a large selection of weapon surveillance return data; (3) laboratory experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Honeywell FM&T Kansas City Plant on artificially aged material. The general conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) There is an inherently large degree of structural and chemical heterogeneity in S5370 cushions that complicates lifetime assessments; (2) Current surveillance testing procedures are inadequate for providing insight into aging trends; (3) LANL PMAP data suggests a 60 year load retention of greater than 40%; however, this is for low density versions and extrapolation to high density must be performed with caution and a new set of testing is recommended; (4) Results of chemical aging assessments suggest that radiation damage is minimal at stockpile relevant doses, thermal degradation leads to compression set due to disentanglement of the network structure over time and a negligible amount of chain scissioning at relevant temperatures. The compression set is accelerated by …

This ICN updates the sampling schedule in Table RB.1b.