Report describing Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), how it is supposed to work, why it has gained the interest and support of some members of Congress, and what some of the challenges are to its implementation and deployment across the United States.

Report that looks at the history and applications of the Lacey Act, which allows the U.S. to enforce the laws of other countries.

This report discusses the current state of Bahrain, which has undergone substantial political reforms since the late 1990s, but which still suffers from tension between the Shiite majority and the Sunni-led government. This report focuses particularly on Bahrain's relationship with Iran and with the United States.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "About 14 percent of small employers sponsor some type of plan for their employees to save for retirement and these employers in general can face numerous challenges establishing and maintaining a plan. GAO's March 2012 report found that many of the small employers who were contacted said they felt overwhelmed by the number of plan options, plan administration requirements, and fiduciary responsibilities. For example, some small employers found it challenging to select investment funds for their plans. Small employers also cited other challenges in sponsoring a plan, including a lack of financial resources, time, and personnel. GAO's April 2012 review of select 401(k) plans--the most common type of plan sponsored by small employers--found that some smaller plan sponsors did not know about or fully understand fees they and their participants were charged, such as fees associated with group annuity contracts. In addition to these fees, participants in small plans often pay higher recordkeeping and investment management fees than participants in larger plans. GAO's work demonstrates the need for plan sponsors, particularly small sponsors, to understand fees in order to help participants secure adequate retirement savings. Any fees paid …

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In the report we present a summary of the new models and algorithms developed by the PI and the students supported by this grant. These developments are described in detail in ten peer-reviewed journal articles that acknowledge support from this grant.

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The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has examined the issue of trioctylamine (TOA) losses at the Modular Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) solvent. For this study, SRNL used partitioning and radiolysis data from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as well as actual MCU operational data. From the radiolysis data, SRNL prepared a model on the rate of TOA degradation. From the combined sets of data, SRNL has calculated the largest possible value of TOA (although this value is not credible) in the Strip Effluent (SE) and also calculated two different conservative, more realistic values for TOA in the SE. Even under conservative assumptions, such as all of the TOA losses partitioning solely into the Strip Effluent (SE), the MCU operational data suggests that the maximum realistic TOA concentration in the SE is < 0.6 mg/L. Furthermore, from understanding the chemical differences between the old and new strip solutions, SRNL does not believe that the TOA will deplete from the blended BOBCalixC6 – Next Generation Solvent (NGS-MCU) at a rate higher than previously experienced. Finally, SRNL recommends pursuing analytical development of a method for TOA with a superior precision compared to the current method. However, as the TOA in the …

Supporting nuclear nonproliferation and global security principles, beginning in 1994 the United States has withdrawn more than 50 metric tons (MT) of government-controlled plutonium from potential use in nuclear weapons. The Department of Energy (DOE), including the National Nuclear Security Administration, established protocols for the tracking of this "excess" and "surplus" plutonium, and for reconciling the current storage and utilization of the plutonium to show that its management is consistent with the withdrawal policies. Programs are underway to ensure the safe and secure disposition of the materials that formed a major part of the weapons stockpile during the Cold War, and growing quantities have been disposed as waste, after which they are not included in traditional nuclear material control and accountability (NMC&A) data systems. A combination of resources is used to perform the reconciliations that form the basis for annual reporting to DOE, to U.S. Department of State, and to international partners including the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Plasmas in spherical and conventional tokamaks, with weakly reversed shear q pro le and minimum q above but close to unity, are susceptible to an non-resonant (m, n ) = (1, 1) internal kink mode. This mode can saturate and persist and can induce a (2; 1) seed island for Neoclassical Tearing Mode (NTMs)1 . The mode can also lead to large energetic particle transport and signi cant broadening of beam-driven current. Motivated by these important e ects, we have carried out extensive nonlinear simulations of the mode with nite toroidal rotation using parameters and pro les of an NTSX plasma with a weakly reversed shear pro le. The numerical results show that, at the experimental level, plasma rotation has little e ect on either equilibrium or linear stability. However, rotation can signi cantly inuence the nonlinear dynamics of the (1, 1) mode and the the induced (2, 1) magnetic island. The simulation results show that a rotating helical equilibrium is formed and maintained in the nonlinear phase at nite plasma rotation. In contrast, for non-rotating cases, the nonlinear evolution exhibits dynamic oscillations between a quasi-2D state and a helical state. Furthermore, the e ects of rotation are found to …

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A major component of this proposal is to elucidate the connection between optical and electron excitation of plasmon modes in metallic nanostructures. These accomplishments are reported: developed a routine protocol for obtaining spatially resolved, low energy EELS spectra, and resonance Rayleigh scattering spectra from the same nanostructures.; correlated optical scattering spectra and plasmon maps obtained using STEM/EELS.; and imaged electromagnetic hot spots responsible for single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SMSERS).

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Weekly newspaper from Emory, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The United States ITER Project Office (USIPO) is responsible for design of the Toroidal Field (TF) insert coil, which will allow validation of the performance of significant lengths of the conductors to be used in the full scale TF coils in relevant conditions of field, current density and mechanical strain. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) will build the TF insert which will be tested at the Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC) Test facility at JAEA, Naka, Japan. Three dimensional mathematical model of TF Insert was created based on the initial design geometry data, and included the following features: orthotropic material properties of superconductor material and insulation; external magnetic field from CSMC, temperature dependent properties of the materials; pre-compression and plastic deformation in lap joint. Major geometrical characteristics of the design were preserved including cable jacket and insulation shape, mandrel outline, and support clamps and spacers. The model is capable of performing coupled structural, thermal, and electromagnetic analysis using ANSYS. Numerical simulations were performed for room temperature conditions; cool down to 4K, and the operating regime with 68kA current at 11.8 Tesla background field. Numerical simulations led to the final design of the coil producing the required strain levels on …

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This report focuses on selected legal issues related to the use of hydraulic fracturing.

This article discusses the modification of an existing material model to take into account softening and residual strain effects observed in polymeric materials reinforced with carbon nanotubes when subjected to loading and unloading cycles.

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

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

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.