Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) through fiscal year 2010, approximately $475 million in federal funds was made available for screening, monitoring, or treating responders for illnesses and conditions--such as asthma and depression--related to the WTC disaster. Within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) awards funds to and oversees the programs that provide screening, monitoring, and treatment services for responders to the WTC attack. The two largest programs, which we refer to here as the WTC health programs, are the New York City Fire Department's (FDNY) WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, and the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) WTC Consortium. These programs began as screening and monitoring programs, tracking the health status of responders related to the WTC disaster. In December 2005, the Congress first appropriated funds that were specifically available for treatment programs for certain responders with health conditions related to the WTC disaster, and in fall 2006, NIOSH began awarding funds for outpatient and inpatient treatment. According to NIOSH, as of June 30, …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Ferries are a vital component of the U.S. transportation system and 2008 data show that U.S. ferries carried more than 82 million passengers and over 25 million vehicles. Ferries are also potential targets for terrorism in the United States and have been terrorist targets overseas. GAO was asked to review ferry security, and this report addresses the extent to which (1) the Coast Guard, the lead federal agency for maritime security, assessed risk in accordance with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) guidance and what risks it identified; and (2) federal agencies, ferry and facility operators, and law enforcement entities have taken actions to protect ferries and their facilities. GAO reviewed relevant requirements, analyzed 2006 through 2009 security operations data, interviewed federal and industry officials, and made observations at five domestic and one international locations with varying passenger volumes and relative risk profiles. Site visits provided information on security, but were not projectable to all ports. This is the public version of a sensitive report that GAO issued in October 2010. Information that DHS deemed sensitive has been redacted."

This report discusses Special Operations Forces (SOFs), which are elite military units with special training and equipment that can infiltrate hostile territory through land, sea, or air to conduct a variety of operations, many of them classified.

This report focuses on the current federal budget process, including criticisms of that process. This report will provide information on (1) the current horizons used in the budget process, including already existing long-term components; (2) the rationale for increased focus on longterm budgeting; (3) general challenges to long-term budgeting; and (4) an analysis of general proposals that have been made to increase the focus of long-term budgeting in the budget process.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Bi-weekly student newspaper from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas that includes local, state and campus news along with advertising.

Daily student newspaper from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that includes local, state, and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Dallas, Texas that includes local, state, and national news and advertising of interest to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community.

A primary purpose of computational models is to inform design decisions and, in order to make those decisions reliably, the confidence in the results of such models must be estimated. Monte Carlo neutron transport models are common tools for reactor designers. These types of models contain several sources of uncertainty that propagate onto the model predictions. Two uncertainties worthy of note are (1) experimental and evaluation uncertainties of nuclear data that inform all neutron transport models and (2) statistical counting precision, which all results of a Monte Carlo codes contain. Adjoint-based implicit uncertainty analyses allow for the consideration of any number of uncertain input quantities and their effects upon the confidence of figures of merit with only a handful of forward and adjoint transport calculations. When considering a rich set of uncertain inputs, adjoint-based methods remain hundreds of times more computationally efficient than Direct Monte-Carlo methods. The LIFE (Laser Inertial Fusion Energy) engine is a concept being developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Various options exist for the LIFE blanket, depending on the mission of the design. The depleted uranium hybrid LIFE blanket design strives to close the fission fuel cycle without enrichment or reprocessing, while simultaneously achieving high discharge …

Considerable interest has been expressed for developing a stable U.S. production capacity for medical isotopes and particularly for molybdenum- 99 (99Mo). This is motivated by recent re-ductions in production and supply worldwide. Consistent with U.S. nonproliferation objectives, any new production capability should not use highly enriched uranium fuel or targets. Conse-quently, Aqueous Homogeneous Reactors (AHRs) are under consideration for potential 99Mo production using low-enriched uranium. Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has guidance to facilitate the licensing process for non-power reactors, that guidance is focused on reactors with fixed, solid fuel and hence, not applicable to an AHR. A panel was convened to study the technical issues associated with normal operation and potential transients and accidents of an AHR that might be designed for isotope production. The panel has produced the requisite AHR licensing guidance for three chapters that exist now for non-power reactor licensing: Reac-tor Description, Reactor Coolant Systems, and Accident Analysis. The guidance is in two parts for each chapter: 1) standard format and content a licensee would use and 2) the standard review plan the NRC staff would use. This guidance takes into account the unique features of an AHR such as the fuel being in solution; …

ICF power plants, such as the LIFE scheme at LLNL, may employ a high-Z, target-chamber gas-fill to moderate the first-wall heat-pulse due to x-rays and energetic ions released during target detonation. To reduce the uncertainties of cooling and beam/target propagation through such gas-filled chambers, we present a pulsed plasma source producing 2-5 eV plasma comprised of high-Z gases. We use a 5-kJ, 100-ns theta discharge for high peak plasma-heating-power, an electrode-less discharge for minimizing impurities, and unobstructed axial access for diagnostics and beam (and/or target) propagation studies. We will report on the plasma source requirements, design process, and the system design.

Complex target structures are necessary to take full advantage of the unique laboratory environment created by inertial confinement fusion experiments. For example, uses-of-ignition targets that contain a thin layer of a low density nanoporous material inside a spherical ablator shell allow placing dopants in direct contact with the DT fuel. The ideal foam for this application is a low-density hydrocarbon foam that is strong enough to survive wetting with cryogenic hydrogen, and low enough in density (density less than {approx}30 mg/cc) to not reduce the yield of the target. Here, we discuss the fabrication foam-lined uses-of-ignition targets, and the development of low-density foams that can be used for this application. Much effort has been directed over the last 20 years toward the development of spherical foam targets for direct-drive and fast-ignition experiments. In these targets, the spherical foam shell is used to define the shape of the cryogenic DT fuel layer, or acts as a surrogate to simulate the cryogenic fuel layer. These targets are fabricated from relatively high-density aerogels (>100 mg/cc) and coated with a few micron thick permeation barrier. With exception of the above mentioned fast ignition targets, the wall of these targets is typically larger than 100 …

The Next Generation Retrieval (NGR) project will retrieve suspect transuranic (TRU) waste containers from Trenches 17 and 27 in the 218-E-12B (12B) burial ground. The trenches were in operation from May 1970 through October 1972. A portion of the retrieved containers that will require shipment to and acceptance at a treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facility and the containers will be either remote-handled (RH) and/or contact-handled (CH). The method discussed in this document will be used for the RH and some of the CH containers to determine the radionuclide inventory. Waste disposition (shipment and TSD acceptance) requires that the radioactive content be characterized for each container. Source-term estimates using high resolution, shielded, gamma-ray scan assay techniques cannot be performed on a number of RH and other containers with high dose rates from {sup 137}Cs-{sup 137m}Ba. This document provides the method to quantify the radioactive inventory of fission product gamma emitters within the containers based on the surface dose rate measurements taken in the field with hand-held survey instruments.

The objective of this Feasibility Study was to identify the potential of dimmable lighting for providing regulation capacity and contingency reserves if massively-deployed throughout the State. We found that one half of the total electric lighting load in the California commercial sector is bottled up in larger buildings that are greater an 50,000 square feet. Retrofitting large California buildings with dimmable lighting to enable fast DR lighting would require an investment of about $1.8 billion and a"fleet" of about 56 million dimming ballasts. By upgrading the existing installed base of lighting and controls (primarily in large commercial facilities) a substantial amount of ancillary services could be provided. Though not widely deployed, today's state-of-the art lighting systems, control systems and communication networks could be used for this application. The same lighting control equipment that is appropriate for fast DR is also appropriate for achieving energy efficiency with lighting on a daily basis. Thus fast DR can leverage the capabilities that are provided by a conventional dimming lighting control system. If dimmable lighting were massively deployed throughout large California buildings (because mandated by law, for example) dimmable lighting could realistically supply 380 MW of non-spinning reserve, 47percent of the total non-spinning reserves …

We used short lived {sup 239}Np as a yield tracer and state of the art magnetic sector ICP-MS to measure ultra low levels of {sup 237}Np in a number of 'hot wells' at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), formerly known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The results indicate that {sup 237}Np concentrations at the Almendro, Cambric, Dalhart, Cheshire and Chancellor sites, are in the range of 3 x 10{sup -5} to 7 x 10{sup -2} pCi/L and well below the MCL for alpha emitting radionuclides (15 pCi/L) (EPA, 2009). Thus, while Np transport is believed to occur at the NNSS, activities are expected to be well below the regulatory limits for alpha-emitting radionuclides. We also compared {sup 237}Np concentration data to other radionuclides, including tritium, {sup 14}C, {sup 36}Cl, {sup 99}Tc, {sup 129}I, and plutonium, to evaluate the relative {sup 237}Np transport behavior. Based on isotope ratios relative to published unclassified Radiologic Source Terms (Bowen et al., 1999) and taking into consideration radionuclide distribution between melt glass, rubble and groundwater (IAEA, 1998), {sup 237}Np appears to be substantially less mobile than tritium and other non-sorbing radionuclides, as expected. However, this analysis also suggests that {sup 237}Np mobility is …

In this paper, the authors present several new exact analytic space and time dependent solutions to the problem of magnetic diffusion in R-Z geometry. These problems serve to verify several different elements of an MHD implementation: magnetic diffusion, external circuit time integration, current and voltage energy sources, spatially dependent conductivities, and ohmic heating. The exact solutions are shown in comparison with 2D simulation results from the Ares code.

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The gas leak from the gas attenuator to the main beam line of the Linac Coherent Light Source has been evaluated, with the effect of the Knudsen molecular beam included. It has been found that the gas leak from the gas attenuator of the present design, with nitrogen as a working gas, does not exceed 10{sup -5} torr x l/s even at the highest pressure in the main attenuation cell (20 torr).

Automation of the LCLS undulator tuning offers many advantages to the project. Automation can make a substantial reduction in the amount of time the tuning takes. Undulator tuning is fairly complex and automation can make the final tuning less dependent on the skill of the operator. Also, algorithms are fixed and can be scrutinized and reviewed, as opposed to an individual doing the tuning by hand. This note presents algorithms implemented in a computer program written for LCLS undulator tuning. The LCLS undulators must meet the following specifications. The maximum trajectory walkoff must be less than 5 {micro}m over 10 m. The first field integral must be below 40 x 10{sup -6} Tm. The second field integral must be below 50 x 10{sup -6} Tm{sup 2}. The phase error between the electron motion and the radiation field must be less than 10 degrees in an undulator. The K parameter must have the value of 3.5000 {+-} 0.0005. The phase matching from the break regions into the undulator must be accurate to better than 10 degrees. A phase change of 113 x 2{pi} must take place over a distance of 3.656 m centered on the undulator. Achieving these requirements is the …

There is great concern that the short, intense XFEL pulse of the LCLS will damage the optics that will be placed into the beam. We have analyzed the extent of the problem by considering the anticipated materials and position of the optical components in the beam path, calculated the absorbed dose as a function of photon energy, and compared these doses with the expected doses required (i) to observe rapid degradation due to thermal fatigue, (ii) to reach the melting temperature, or (iii) to actually melt the material. We list the materials that are anticipated to be placed into the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) beam line, their positions, and the absorbed dose, and compare this dose with anticipated damage thresholds.

The laser heater undulator for the LCLS requires different tuning techniques than the main undulators. It is a pure permanent magnet (PPM) undulator, rather than the hybrid design of the main undulators. The PPM design allows analytic calculation of the undulator fields. The calculations let errors be introduced and correction techniques be derived. This note describes how the undulator was modelled, and the methods which were found to correct potential errors in the undulator. The laser heater undulator for the LCLS is a pure permanent magnet device requiring different tuning techniques than the main undulators. In this note, the laser heater undulator is modelled and tuning techniques to compensate various errors are derived.

Beam Finder Wire (BFW) devices will be installed at each break in the Undulator magnet line. These devices will scan small wires across the beam causing some electrons to lose energy through bremsstrahlung. The degraded electrons are subsequently detected downstream of a set of vertical dipole magnets after they pass through the vacuum chamber. This signal can then be used to accurately determine the beam position with respect to the BFW wire. The choice of the wire diameter, scan speed, and operating parameters, depends on the trade-off between the signal size and the radiation damage to the undulator magnets. In this note I estimate the rate of undulator magnet damage that results from scanning as a function of, wire size, scan speed, and average beam current. A separate analysis of the signal size was carried out by Wu. The damage estimate is primarily based on two sources: the first, Fasso, is used to estimate the amount of radiation generated and then absorbed by the magnets; the second, Alderman et. al., is used to estimate the amount of damage the magnet undergoes as a result of the absorbed radiation. Fasso performed a detailed calculation of the radiation, including neutron fluence, that …

The SSRL Gun Test Facility (GTF) was built to develop a high brightness electron injector for the LCLS and has been operational since 1996. Based on longitudinal phase space measurements showing a correlated energy spread the gun was removed and re-characterized in 2002. The low power RF measurements performed on the gun are described below. Perturbative bead measurements were performed to determine the field ratio in the two-cell gun, and network analyzer measurements were made to characterize the mode structure. A second probe was installed to monitor the RF field in the first cell, and a diagnostic was developed to monitor the high-power field ratio. Calibration of the RF probes, a model for analyzing RF measurements, and Superfish simulations of bead and RF measurements are described.