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This report describes Congressional interest in the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) appeal process due to rumors that it affects the BLM's capacity to handle various resources. Moreover, the report defines what an administrative appeal is, and describes the process required to undertake one. The report also lists the various types of administrative appeals.

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

Supporting nuclear nonproliferation and global security principles, beginning in 1994 the United States has withdrawn more than 50 metric tons (MT) of government-controlled plutonium from potential use in nuclear weapons.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.

This study presents findings from survey and interview data investigating replication efforts of Commercial Building Partnership (CBP) partners that worked directly with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL partnered directly with 12 organizations on new and retrofit construction projects, which represented approximately 28 percent of the entire U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) CBP program. Through a feedback survey mechanism, along with personal interviews, PNNL gathered quantitative and qualitative data relating to replication efforts by each organization. These data were analyzed to provide insight into two primary research areas: 1) CBP partners’ replication efforts of technologies and approaches used in the CBP project to the rest of the organization’s building portfolio (including replication verification), and, 2) the market potential for technology diffusion into the total U.S. commercial building stock, as a direct result of the CBP program. The first area of this research focused specifically on replication efforts underway or planned by each CBP program participant. Factors that impact replication include motivation, organizational structure and objectives firms have for implementation of energy efficient technologies. Comparing these factors between different CBP partners revealed patterns in motivation for constructing energy efficient buildings, along with better insight into market trends for green building …

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The objective of the project was to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the biological effects of low dose/low dose rate ionizing radiation in organs/tissues of irradiated mice that differ in their susceptibility to ionizing radiation, and in human cells grown under conditions that mimic the natural in vivo environment. The focus was on the effects of sparsely ionizing cesium-137 gamma rays and the role of oxidative metabolism and intercellular communication in these effects. Four Specific Aims were proposed. The integrated outcome of the experiments performed to investigate these aims has been significant towards developing a scientific basis to more accurately estimate human health risks from exposures to low doses ionizing radiation. By understanding the biochemical and molecular changes induced by low dose radiation, several novel markers associated with mitochondrial functions were identified, which has opened new avenues to investigate metabolic processes that may be affected by such exposure. In particular, a sensitive biomarker that is differentially modulated by low and high dose gamma rays was discovered.

This report discusses the current moratorium on the conduct of Department of Defense (DOD) public-private competitions under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 and issues for Congress.

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Spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors is comprised of 95-99 percent UO{sub 2} and 1-5 percent fission products and transuranic elements. Certain actinides and fission products are of particular interest in terms of fuel stability, which affects reprocessing and waste materials. The transuranics found in spent nuclear fuels are Np, Pu, Am, and Cm, some of which have long half- lives (e.g., 2.1 million years for {sup 237}Np). These actinides can be separated and recycled into new fuel matrices, thereby reducing the nuclear waste inventory. Oxides of these actinides are isostructural with UO{sub 2}, and are expected to form solid solutions. This project will use computational techniques to conduct a comprehensive study on thermodynamic properties of actinide-oxide solid solutions. The goals of this project are to: Determine the temperature-dependent mixing properties of actinide-oxide fuels; Validate computational methods by comparing results with experimental results; Expand research scope to complex (ternary and quaternary) mixed actinide oxide fuels. After deriving phase diagrams and the stability of solid solutions as a function of temperature and pressure, the project team will determine whether potential phase separations or ordered phases can actually occur by studying diffusion of cations and the kinetics of potential phase separations or …

This report focuses on mass shootings and selected implications they have for federal policy in the areas of public health and safety. While such crimes most directly impact particular citizens in very specific communities, addressing these violent episodes involves officials at all levels of government and professionals from numerous disciplines.

Discusses the status of the control and information systems to support a wide variety of experiments being conducted on NIF including ignition experiments.

The project fits within the area of renewable energy called photovoltaics (PV), or the generation of electricity directly from sunlight using semiconductor devices. PV has the greatest potential of any renewable energy technology. The vast majority of photovoltaic modules are made on crystalline silicon wafers and these wafers accounts for the largest fraction of the cost of a photovoltaic module. Thus, a method of making high quality, low cost wafers would be extremely beneficial to the PV industry The industry standard technology creates wafers by casting an ingot and then sawing wafers from the ingot. Sawing rendered half of the highly refined silicon feedstock as un-reclaimable dust. Being a brittle material, the sawing is actually a type of grinding operation which is costly both in terms of capital equipment and in terms of consumables costs. The consumables costs associated with the wire sawing technology are particularly burdensome and include the cost of the wire itself (continuously fed, one time use), the abrasive particles, and, waste disposal. The goal of this project was to make wafers directly from molten silicon with no sawing required. The fundamental concept was to create a very low cost (but low quality) wafer of the desired …

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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).

This report examines the rise of China's auto and auto parts industries, Chinese government policies to promote these industries, trends in U.S.-China trade in autos and parts, auto-related trade disputes, and implications for U.S.-China commercial relations.

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This report summarizes activity conducted by the Institute for Market Transformation and a team of American and Chinese partners in development of a new building energy-efficiency code for the transitional climate zone in the People's Republic of China.

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC) was established in 2008 with a primary mission to “(1) enhance the capability of the Federal Government to (A) rapidly identify, characterize, localize, and track a biological event of national concern by integrating and analyzing data relating to human health, animal, plant, food, and environmental monitoring systems (both national and international); and (B) disseminate alerts and other information to Member Agencies and, in coordination with (and where possible through) Member Agencies, to agencies of State, local, and tribal governments, as appropriate, to enhance the ability of such agencies to respond to a biological event of national concern; and (2) oversee development and operation of the National Biosurveillance Integration System (NBIS).” Inherent in its mission then and the broader NBIS, NBIC is concerned with the identification, understanding, and use of a variety of biosurveillance models and systems. The goal of this project is to characterize, evaluate, classify, and catalog existing disease forecast and prediction models that could provide operational decision support for recognizing a biological event having a potentially significant impact. Additionally, gaps should be identified and recommendations made on using disease models in an operational environment to support …

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The Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Statement of Work (Department of Energy Contract DE-AC27-01RV14136, Section C) requires the contractor to develop and use process models for flowsheet analyses and pre-operational planning assessments. The Dynamic (G2) Flowsheet is a discrete-time process model that enables the project to evaluate impacts to throughput from eventdriven activities such as pumping, sampling, storage, recycle, separation, and chemical reactions. The model is developed by the Process Engineering (PE) department, and is based on the Flowsheet Bases, Assumptions, and Requirements Document (24590-WTP-RPT-PT-02-005), commonly called the BARD. The terminologies of Dynamic (G2) Flowsheet and Dynamic (G2) Model are interchangeable in this document. The foundation of this model is a dynamic material balance governed by prescribed initial conditions, boundary conditions, and operating logic. The dynamic material balance is achieved by tracking the storage and material flows within the plant as time increments. The initial conditions include a feed vector that represents the waste compositions and delivery sequence of the Tank Farm batches, and volumes and concentrations of solutions in process equipment before startup. The boundary conditions are the physical limits of the flowsheet design, such as piping, volumes, flowrates, operation efficiencies, and physical and chemical environments …

We are establishing a theoretical procedure to identify most potential candidates of CO{sub 2} solid sorbents from a large solid material databank to meet the DOE programmatic goal for energy conversion; A further objective is to explore the optimal working conditions for the promised CO{sub 2} solid sorbents, especially from room to warm T ranges with optimal energy usage, used for both pre- and post-combustion capture technologies.