A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which provides direction to the federal executive boards (FEBs), is now emphasizing that in the post-9/11 environment, the boards have a transformed emergency support role. The report discusses the boards' emergency preparedness roles and responsibilities and their potential role in preparing for and responding to pandemic influenza. GAO selected 14 of the 28 FEBs for review because they coordinate the greatest number of federal employees or had recent emergency management experience."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Public Law 110-28 requires GAO to report to Congress by September 1, 2007, on whether or not the government of Iraq has met 18 benchmarks contained in the Act, and the status of the achievement of these benchmarks. The benchmarks stem from commitments first articulated by the Iraqi government in June 2006. In comparison, the Act requires the administration to report in July and September 2007 on whether satisfactory progress is being made toward meeting the benchmarks, not whether the benchmarks have been met. To complete our work, we reviewed government documents and interviewed officials from U.S. agencies; the UN; and the government of Iraq. We also made multiple visits to Iraq during 2006 and 2007. Our analyses were enhanced by approximately 100 Iraq-related audits we have completed since May 2003."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since January 1, 2006, all dual-eligible beneficiaries--individuals with both Medicare and Medicaid coverage--must receive their drug benefit through Medicare's new Part D prescription drug plans (PDP) rather than from state Medicaid programs. GAO analyzed (1) current challenges in identifying and enrolling new dual-eligible beneficiaries in PDPs, (2) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) efforts to address challenges, and (3) federal and state approaches to assigning dual-eligible beneficiaries to PDPs. GAO reviewed federal law, CMS regulations and guidance and interviewed CMS and PDP officials, among others. GAO also made site visits to six states to learn about the enrollment of dual-eligible beneficiaries from the state perspective."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, many entities in the private, public, and government sectors have reported the loss or theft of sensitive personal information. These breaches have raised concerns in part because they can result in identity theft--either account fraud (such as misuse of credit card numbers) or unauthorized creation of new accounts (such as opening a credit card in someone else's name). Many states have enacted laws requiring entities that experience breaches to notify affected individuals, and Congress is considering legislation that would establish a national breach notification requirement. GAO was asked to examine (1) the incidence and circumstances of breaches of sensitive personal information; (2) the extent to which such breaches have resulted in identity theft; and (3) the potential benefits, costs, and challenges associated with breach notification requirements. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed available reports on data breaches, analyzed 24 large data breaches, and gathered information from federal and state government agencies, researchers, consumer advocates, and others."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Increases in the volume and complexity of patent applications have lengthened the amount of time it takes the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to process them. In addition, concerns have continued about USPTO's efforts to hire and retain an adequate patent examination workforce that can not only meet the demand for patents but also help reduce the growing backlog of unexamined patent applications. In this context, GAO was asked to determine for the last 5 years (1) USPTO's process for identifying its annual hiring estimates and the relationship of these estimates to the patent application backlog; (2) the extent to which patent examiner hiring has been offset by attrition, and the factors that may contribute to this attrition; and (3) the extent to which USPTO's retention efforts align with patent examiners' reasons for staying with the agency. For this review, GAO surveyed 1,420 patent examiners, and received an 80 percent response rate."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) recognizes that a terrorist attack on a DOE site containing material that can be used in a nuclear weapon could have devastating consequences. DOE currently stores special nuclear material at 10 sites in 8 states. To reduce security costs, DOE plans to consolidate the material at fewer sites and dispose of material that it no longer needs. In 2005, DOE chartered the Nuclear Material Disposition and Consolidation Coordination Committee (the committee) to plan for consolidation and disposition of DOE's special nuclear material. GAO was asked to (1) examine DOE's progress in consolidating and disposing of special nuclear material and (2) determine if DOE's plans to consolidate and dispose of special nuclear material can be implemented on schedule and within cost. To do this, GAO reviewed the committee's plans and discussed consolidation and disposition with DOE officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1998, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), requiring states and localities to bring together employment and training programs into a single workforce system, the one-stop system. States have flexibility in how they provide these services--colocated within the one-stop--through electronic linkage or referral. WIA did not provide funds to pay for the infrastructure costs, but programs must share the costs of operating one-stop centers. As Congress considers reauthorization of WIA, GAO assessed (1) the current composition of states' one-stop systems and how this has changed, (2) what funds are primarily used to support states' one-stop system infrastructure and how this has changed, and (3) the extent to which states are monitoring customer satisfaction. Our work was primarily based on a 50-state survey of state workforce officials, updating work we previously did in 2000 and 2001."

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This document has two purposes: {sm_bullet} Describe how data generated by High Resolution REsistivity (HRR) leak detection (LD) systems deployed during single-shell tank (SST) waste retrieval operations are processed and evaluated. {sm_bullet} Provide the basic review requirements for HRR data when Hrr is deployed as a leak detection method during SST waste retrievals.

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Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for the Kansas City Plant. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

Earthquake activity in the Yucca Mountain from October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003 (FY03) is assessed and compared with previous activity in the region. FY03 is the first reporting year since the 1992 M 5.6 Little Skull Mountain earthquake with no earthquakes greater than M 3.0 within 65 km of Yucca Mountain. In addition, FY03 includes the fewest number of earthquakes greater than M 2.0 in any reporting year since the LSM event. With 3075 earthquakes in the catalog, FY03 represents the second largest number of earthquakes (second to FY02) since FY96 when digital seismic network operations began. The largest event during FY03 was M 2.78 in eastern NTS and there were only 8 earthquakes greater than M 2.0.

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for Los Alamos National Lab. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

An important goal of the US DOE Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) program is to develop the technology necessary to increase safety margins in future fast reactor systems. Although no decision has been made yet about who will build the next demonstration fast reactor, it seems likely that the construction team will include a combination of international companies, and the safety design philosophy for the reactor will reflect a consensus of the participating countries. A significant amount of experience in the design and safety analysis of Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR) using oxide fuel has been developed in both Japan and France during last few decades. In the US, the traditional approach to reactor safety is based on the principle of defense-in-depth, which is usually expressed in physical terms as multiple barriers to release of radioactive material (e.g. cladding, reactor vessel, containment building), but it is understood that the 'barriers' may consist of active systems or even procedures. As implemented in a reactor design, defense-in-depth is classed in levels of safety. Level 1 includes measures to specify and build a reliable design with significant safety margins that will perform according to the intentions of the designers. Level 2 consists of additional design …

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) developed a new geometric form: hollow glass microspheres (HGMs), with unique porous walls. The new geometric form combines the existing technology of HGMs with basic glass science knowledge in the realm of glass-in-glass phase separation. Conceptually, the development of a HGM with porous walls (referred to as a PWHGM) provides a unique system in which various media or filling agents can be incorporated into the PWHGM (via transport through the porous walls) and ultimately has the capacity to serve as a functional delivery system in various industrial applications. Applications of these types of systems could range from hydrogen storage, molecular sieves, drug and bioactive delivery systems, to environmental, chemical and biological indicators, relevant to Energy, Environmental Processing and Homeland Security fields. As a specific example, previous studies at SRNL have introduced materials capable of hydrogen storage (as well as other materials) into the interior of the PWHGMs. The goal of this project was to determine if the microstructure (i.e., pore size and pore size distribution) of a PWHGM could be altered or tailored by varying composition and/or heat treatment (time and/or temperature) conditions. The ability to tailor the microstructure through composition or heat treatments …

A Glass Furnace Model (GFM) was developed under a cost-shared R&D program by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in close collaboration with a consortium of five glass industry members: Techneglas, Inc., Owens-Corning, Libbey, Inc., Osram Sylvania, Inc., and Visteon, Inc. Purdue University and Mississippi State University's DIAL Laboratory were also collaborators in the consortium. The GFM glass furnace simulation model that was developed is a tool industry can use to help define and evaluate furnace design changes and operating strategies to: (1) reduce energy use per unit of production; (2) solve problems related to production and glass quality by defining optimal operating windows to reduce cullet generation due to rejects and maximize throughput; and (3) make changes in furnace design and/or operation to reduce critical emissions, such as NO{sub x} and particulates. A two-part program was pursued to develop and validate the furnace model. The focus of the Part I program was to develop a fully coupled furnace model which had the requisite basic capabilities for furnace simulation. The principal outcome from the Phase I program was a furnace simulation model, GFM 2.0, which was copyrighted. The basic capabilities of GFM 2.0 were: (1) built-in burner models …

This Technical Review Report (TRR) documents the review, performed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) staff, at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), on the 'Mound 1KW Package Safety Analysis Report for Packaging, Addendum No. 1, Revision b', dated May 2007 (Addendum 1). The Mound 1KW Package is certified by DOE Certificate of Compliance (CoC) number USA/9516/B(U)F-85 for the transportation of Type B quantities of plutonium heat source material. The safety analysis of the package is documented in the 'Safety Analysis Report for Packaging (SARP) for the Mound 1KW Package' (i.e., the Mound 1KW SARP, or the SARP). Addendum 1 incorporates a new fueled capsule assembly payload. The following changes have been made to add this payload: (1) The primary containment vessel (PCV) will be of the same design, but will increase in height to 11.16 in.; (2) A new graphite support block will be added to support up to three fueled capsule assemblies per package; (3) The cutting groove height on the secondary containment vessel (SCV) will be heightened to accommodate the taller PCV; and (4) A 3.38 in. high graphite filler block will be placed on top of the PCV. All other packaging features, …

This report provides a detailed, bottom-up analysis ofenergy consumption in China. It recalibrates official Chinese governmentstatistics by reallocating primary energy into categories more commonlyused in international comparisons. It also provides an analysis of trendsin sectoral energy consumption over the past decades. Finally, itassesses the future outlook for the critical period extending to 2020,based on assumptions of likely patterns of economic activity,availability of energy services, and energy intensities. The followingare some highlights of the study's findings: * A reallocation of sectorenergy consumption from the 2000 official Chinese government statisticsfinds that: * Buildings account for 25 percent of primary energy, insteadof 19 percent * Industry accounts for 61 percent of energy instead of 69percent * Industrial energy made a large and unexpected leap between2000-2005, growing by an astonishing 50 percent in the 3 years between2002 and 2005. * Energy consumption in the iron and steel industry was 40percent higher than predicted * Energy consumption in the cement industrywas 54 percent higher than predicted * Overall energy intensity in theindustrial sector grew between 2000 and 2003. This is largely due tointernal shifts towards the most energy-intensive sub-sectors, an effectwhich more than counterbalances the impact of efficiency increases. *Industry accounted for 63 percent of …

This Technical Review Report (TRR) summarizes the review findings for the Safety Analysis Report for Packaging (SARP) for the Model 9977 B(M)F-96 shipping container. The content analyzed for this submittal is Content Envelope C.1, Heat Sources, in assemblies of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators or food-pack cans. The SARP under review, i.e., S-SARP-G-00001, Revision 2 (August 2007), was originally referred to as the General Purpose Fissile Material Package. The review presented in this TRR was performed using the methods outlined in Revision 3 of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Packaging Review Guide (PRG) for Reviewing Safety Analysis Reports for Packages. The format of the SARP follows that specified in Revision 2 of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's, Regulatory Guide 7.9, i.e., Standard Format and Content of Part 71 Applications for Approval of Packages for Radioactive Material. Although the two documents are similar in their content, they are not identical. Formatting differences have been noted in this TRR, where appropriate. The Model 9977 Package is a 35-gallon drum package design that has evolved from a family of packages designed by DOE contractors at the Savannah River Site. The Model 9977 Package design includes a single, 6-inch diameter, stainless steel pressure vessel containment system (i.e., …

A key part of preparedness in the event of a chemical warfare agent (CWA) or toxic industrial chemical (TIC) release at a large facility, such as an airport or subway, is to develop a concept of operations that allows for an effective incident response and recovery. This document is intended as a component of the concept of operations and will be used in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as a decision tool for the Unified Command (UC). The Checklist for Facility Response, Remediation, and Recovery presented in this document is principally focused on the Consequence Management Phase (see Figure 1; LLNL 2007a and 2007b) of a chemical release. Information in this document conforms to the National Response Plan (NRP) (DHS 2004) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS 2004). Under these two guidance documents, personnel responsible for managing chemical response and recovery efforts--that is, the decision-makers--are members of an Incident Command (IC), which is likely to transition to a UC in the event of a CWA or TIC attack. A UC is created when more than one agency has incident jurisdiction or when incidents cross political jurisdictions. The location for primary, tactical-level command and management is referred to as the …

The infrastructure for transportation in the United States allows for a high level of mobility and freight activity for the current population of 300 million residents, and several million business establishments. According to a Department of Transportation study, more than 230 million motor vehicles, ships, airplanes, and railroads cars were used on 6.4 million kilometers (4 million miles) of highways, railroads, airports, and waterways in 1998. Pipelines and storage tanks were considered to be part of this deteriorating infrastructure. The annual direct cost of corrosion in the infrastructure category was estimated to be approximately $22.6 billion in 1998. There were 583,000 bridges in the United States in 1998. Of this total, 200,000 bridges were steel, 235,000 were conventional reinforced concrete, 108,000 bridges were constructed using pre-stressed concrete, and the balance was made using other materials of construction. Approximately 15 percent of the bridges accounted for at this point in time were structurally deficient, primarily due to corrosion of steel and steel reinforcement. Iron-based amorphous metals, including SAM2X5 (Fe{sub 49.7}Cr{sub 17.7}Mn{sub 1.9}Mo{sub 7.4}W{sub 1.6}B{sub 15.2}C{sub 3.8}Si{sub 2.4}) and SAM1651 (Fe{sub 48}Mo{sub 14}Cr{sub 15}Y{sub 2}C{sub 15}B{sub 6}) have been developed, and have very good corrosion resistance. These materials have been prepared as …

Annual Illness and Injury Surveillance Program report for 2003 for the Fernald Environmental Management Project. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) commitment to assuring the health and safety of its workers includes the conduct of epidemiologic surveillance activities that provide an early warning system for health problems among workers. The IISP monitors illnesses and health conditions that result in an absence of workdays, occupational injuries and illnesses, and disabilities and deaths among current workers.

To identify research areas in geosciences, such as behavior of multiphase fluid-solid systems on a variety of scales, chemical migration processes in geologic media, characterization of geologic systems, and modeling and simulation of geologic systems, needed for improved energy systems.

This cleanup verification package documents completion of remedial action for the 118-F-3, Minor Construction Burial Ground waste site. This site was an open field covered with cobbles, with no vegetation growing on the surface. The site received irradiated reactor parts that were removed during conversion of the 105-F Reactor from the Liquid 3X to the Ball 3X Project safety systems and received mostly vertical safety rod thimbles and step plugs.