This booklet is the summary chapter of the large groundwater report printed in booklet form with a CD of the complete report inside the back cover. It contains information on the current status of groundwater beneath the Hanford Site, highlights of FY 2004 monitoring, and emerging issues.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors have conducted research and development (R&D) in geothermal energy since 1971. The Geothermal Technologies Program (GTP) works in partnership with industry to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply. Geothermal energy production, a $1.5 billion a year industry, generates electricity or provides heat for direct use applications. The technologies developed by the Geothermal Technologies Program will provide the Nation with new sources of electricity that are highly reliable and cost competitive and do not add to America's air pollution or the emission of greenhouse gases. Geothermal electricity generation is not subject to fuel price volatility and supply disruptions from changes in global energy markets. Geothermal energy systems use a domestic and renewable source of energy. The Geothermal Technologies Program develops innovative technologies to find, access, and use the Nation's geothermal resources. These efforts include emphasis on Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) with continued R&D on geophysical and geochemical exploration technologies, improved drilling systems, and more efficient heat exchangers and condensers. The Geothermal Technologies Program is balanced between short-term goals of greater interest to industry, and long-term goals of importance to national energy interests. The program's research and …

The Yucca Mountain site was recommended by the President to be a geological repository for commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The multi-barrier approach was adopted for assessing and predicting system behavior, including both natural barriers and engineered barriers. A major component of the long-term strategy for safe disposal of nuclear waste is first to completely isolate the radionuclides in waste packages for long times and then to greatly retard the egress and transport of radionuclides from penetrated packages. The goal of the Materials Performance Targeted Thrust program is to further enhance the understanding of the role of engineered barriers in waste isolation. In addition, the Thrust will explore technical enhancements and seek to offer improvements in materials costs and reliability.

The 2004 visual inspection of four Uruguay nuclear fuel assemblies stored in L-Basin was completed. This was the third inspection of this wet stored fuel since its arrival in the summer of 1998. Visual inspection photographs of the fuel from the previous and the recent inspections were compared and no evidence of significant corrosion was found on the individual fuel plate photographs. Fuel plates that showed areas of pitting in the cladding during the original receipt inspection were also identified during the 2004 inspection. However, a few pits were found on the non-fuel aluminum clamping plates that were not visible during the original and 2001 inspections.

Stroke is a major cause of mortality and is the primary cause of long-term disability in the United States. A recent study of Stroke incidence, using conservative calculations, suggests that over 700,000 people annually in this country will have a stroke. Of these 700,000, approximately 150,000 will die and 400,000 will be left with a significant deficit; only one quarter will return to an independent--although not necessarily baseline--level of functioning. The costs of caring for victims of stroke in the acute phase, chronic care, and lost productivity amount to 40 billion per year. Of all strokes, approximately 20% are hemorrhagic and 20% are due to small vessel disease. Thus, the number of people with large vessel thromboembolic disease and the target population of this research is greater than 400,000. Currently, the only approved therapy for treatment of acute ischemic stroke is intravenous thrombolytic drugs. While stroke patients who receive these drugs are more likely to have better outcomes than those who do not, their improvement is highly dependent on the initiation of treatment within three hours of the onset of symptoms, with an increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage if the medication is begun outside this time window. With this rigid …

Two papers completely describe the objectives and work performed in this laboratory directed research and development (LDRD) project. The first paper published in Review of Scientific Instruments (UCRL-JC-152913) describes the purpose, construction, and operation of a novel instrument to produce and characterize actinide nanostructures by pulsed laser deposition. The second paper submitted to Physical Review B (UCRL-JRNL-209427) describes our work quantifying the oxidation of pulsed laser deposited depleted uranium nanostructures by following the evolution of the electronic structure.

In this first institutional plan prepared by Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC, for the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, the INEEL will focus its efforts on three strategic thrusts: (1) Environmental Management stewardship for DOE-EM, (2) Nuclear reactor technology for DOE-Nuclear Energy (NE), and (3) Energy R and D, demonstration, and deployment (initial focus on biofuels and chemicals from biomass). The first strategic thrust focuses on meeting DOE-EMs environmental cleanup and long-term stewardship needs in a manner that is safe, cost-effective, science-based, and approved by key stakeholders. The science base at the INEEL will be further used to address a grand challenge for the INEEL and the DOE complex--the development of a fundamental scientific understanding of the migration of subsurface contaminants. The second strategic thrust is directed at DOE-NEs needs for safe, economical, waste-minimized, and proliferation-resistant nuclear technologies. As NE lead laboratories, the INEEL and ANL will pursue specific priorities. The third strategic thrust focuses on DOE's needs for clean, efficient, and renewable energy technology. As an initial effort, the INEEL will enhance its capability in biofuels, bioprocessing, and biochemicals. The content of this institutional plan is designed to meet basic DOE requirements for content and structure and reflect the …

This Institutional Plan describes what Argonne management regards as the optimal future development of Laboratory activities. The document outlines the development of both research programs and support operations in the context of the nation's R and D priorities, the missions of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Argonne, and expected resource constraints. The product of many discussions between DOE and Argonne program managers, the Draft Institutional Plan is provided to the Department before Argonne's On-Site Review. Issuance of the final Institutional Plan in the fall, after further comment and discussion, marks the culmination of the Laboratory's annual planning cycle. The final Plan also reflects programmatic priorities developed during Argonne's summer strategic planning process and the allocation of Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds.

This report contains the program plan and background information for the Heavy Vehicle Hybrid Propulsion R and D Program sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies. The program is a collaboration between industry and government established for the development of advanced hybrid-electric propulsion technology for urban cycle trucks and buses. It targets specific applications to enhance potential market success. Potential end-users are also involved.

The FY 2000-2004 Institutional Plan provides an overview of the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab, the Laboratory) mission, strategic plan, initiatives, and the resources required to fulfill its role in support of national needs in fundamental science and technology, energy resources, and environmental quality. To advance the Department of Energy's ongoing efforts to define the Integrated Laboratory System, the Berkeley Lab Institutional Plan reflects the strategic elements of our planning efforts. The Institutional Plan is a management report that supports the Department of Energy's mission and programs and is an element of the Department of Energy's strategic management planning activities, developed through an annual planning process. The Plan supports the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 and complements the performance-based contract between the Department of Energy and the Regents of the University of California. It identifies technical and administrative directions in the context of the national energy policy and research needs and the Department of Energy's program planning initiatives. Preparation of the plan is coordinated by the Office of Planning and Communications from information contributed by Berkeley Lab's scientific and support divisions.

Jefferson Lab contributes to the Department of Energy mission to develop and operate major cutting-edge scientific user facilities. Jefferson Lab's CEBAF (Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility) is a unique tool for exploring the transition between the regime where strongly interacting (nuclear) matter can be understood as bound states of protons and neutrons, and the regime where the underlying fundamental quark-and-gluon structure of matter is evident. The nature of this transition is at the frontier of the authors understanding of matter. Experiments proposed by 834 scientists from 146 institutions in 21 countries await beam time in the three halls. The authors user-customers have been delighted with the quality of the data they are obtaining. Driven by their expressed need for energies higher than the 4 GeV design energy and on the outstanding performance of their novel superconducting accelerator, the laboratory currently delivers beams at 5.5 GeV and expects to deliver energies approaching 6 GeV for experiments in the near future. Building on the success of Jefferson Lab and continuing to deliver value for the nation's investment is the focus of Jefferson Lab's near-term plans. The highest priority for the facility is to execute its approved experimental program to elucidate the quark …