The joint goal of the Russian work is to establish a full-scale plutonium immobilization facility at a Russian industrial site by 2005. To achieve this requires that the necessary engineering and technical basis be developed in these Russian projects and the needed Russian approvals be obtained to conduct industrial-scale immobilization of plutonium-containing materials at a Russian industrial site by the 2005 date. This meeting and future work will provide the basis for joint decisions. Supporting R&D projects are being carried out at Russian Institutes that directly support the technical needs of Russian industrial sites to immobilize plutonium-containing materials. Special R&D on plutonium materials is also being carried out to support excess weapons disposition in Russia and the US, including nonproliferation studies of plutonium recovery from immobilization forms and accelerated radiation damage studies of the US-specified plutonium ceramic for immobilizing plutonium. This intriguing and extraordinary cooperation on certain aspects of the weapons plutonium problem is now progressing well and much work with plutonium has been completed in the past two years. Because much excellent and unique scientific and engineering technical work has now been completed in Russia in many aspects of plutonium immobilization, this meeting in St. Petersburg was both timely …

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This grant supported research on methanogenic archaea. The two major areas that were supported were conversion of acetic acid to methane and nitrogen fixation by Methanosarcina. Among the achievements of this research were the isolation of novel methanogenic cultures, elucidation of the pathways from acetate to methane, description of a specific DNA-binding complex in nitrogen fixing methanogens, and demonstration of an alternative nitrogenase in Methanosarcina.

This annual report describes the research and accomplishments of the Chemical Structure and Dynamics Program in the year 2000, one of six research programs at the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) - a multidisciplinary, national scientific user facility and research organization. The Chemical Structure and Dynamics (CS&D) program is meeting the need for a fundamental, molecular-level understanding by 1) extending the experimental characterization and theoretical description of chemical reactions to encompass the effects of condensed media and interfaces; 2) developing a multidisciplinary capability for describing interfacial chemical processes relevant to environmental chemistry; and 3) developing state-of-the-art research and analytical methods for characterizing complex materials of the types found in natural and contaminated systems.

This progress report covers continuing work to develop a temperature probe for a coal gasifier. A workable probe design requires finding answers to crucial questions involving the probe materials. We report on attempts to answer those questions. We attempted to measure the laser-input power at a wavelength of 355 nm that would damage the ends of sapphire fiber optics. We were surprised and pleased to learn that they survived an input power density of about 3 x 10{sup 9} W/cm{sup 2}, which greatly exceeds the best that fused-silica fibers can do. During a run of our new simulator to obtain an upgraded calibration curve for the improved YAG:Dy phosphors, we found that the phosphor appeared to form a eutectic, with the fused-silica cuvette used to hold the phosphor, when the temperature exceeded 1450 C. This result could have substantial ramifications in this and other high-temperature applications. Our new proprietary detector package that replaced the original photomultiplier tube gave excellent results, with much better signal-to-noise ratio at a given temperature than the old package. Our new plasma-spraying operation has succeeded in spraying YAG, which we think may be a technological breakthrough.

In this quarter, the research effort is to develop the drill control unit (DCU) that acquire, store drilling parameters and control the drilling operation. The relevant publications have been reviewed and the methodology developed by previous researchers has been evaluated using the collected data in our laboratory and field tests conducted prior to the start of this project. Numerical modeling for exploring roof bolting mechanism has been started.

In this first quarter we made an organizational change in the project that should allow us to more easily meet the project milestones. This change consists of designing a new systems that will allow to simplify field operation and reduce survey costs. The new system design has been completed and we are in the process of completing the manufacture and test of the first prototype. Production of the final system for the survey should be completed by end of July. The new acquisition and processing software is in progress and will be ready by the end of July. The new processing software will include the robust processing developed by Larsen and Egbert.

The objective of this project is to develop an improved ultra-lightweight cement using ultralight hollow glass spheres (ULHS). Work reported herein addresses Task 1: Assess Ultra-Lightweight Cementing Problems and Task 3: Test Ultra-Lightweight Cements. Results reported this quarter include a review and summary of Halliburton Energy Services (HES) and BJ Services historical performance data for lightweight cement applications. These data are analyzed and compared to ULHS cement and foamed cement performances. Similar data is expected from Schlumberger, and an analysis of this data will be completed in the following phases of the project. Quality control testing of materials used to formulate ULHS cements in the laboratory was completed to establish baseline material performance standards. A testing protocol was developed employing standard procedures as well as procedures tailored to evaluate ULHS and foamed cement. This protocol is presented and discussed. Results of further testing of ULHS cements are presented along with an analysis to establish cement performance design criteria to be used during the remainder of the project. Finally, a list of relevant literature on lightweight cement performance is compiled for review during the next quarter.

The principal objective of this project is to develop materials technology for use in ultrasupercritical (USC) plant boilers capable of operating with 760 C (1400 F), and up to 5500 psi with emphasis upon 35 MPa (5000 psi) steam. In the 21st century, the world faces the critical challenge of providing abundant, cheap electricity to meet the needs of a growing global population while at the same time preserving environmental values. Most studies of this issue conclude that a robust portfolio of generation technologies and fuels should be developed to assure that the United States will have adequate electricity supplies in a variety of possible future scenarios. The use of coal for electricity generation poses a unique set of challenges. On the one hand, coal is plentiful and available at low cost in much of the world, notably in the U.S., China, and India. Countries with large coal reserves will want to develop them to foster economic growth and energy security. On the other hand, traditional methods of coal combustion emit pollutants and CO{sub 2} at high levels relative to other generation options. Maintaining coal as a generation option in the 21st century will require methods for addressing these environmental …

In the 107th Congress, the most prominent air quality issue has been whether state and federal regulations designed to protect air quality are having a negative impact on energy production, and, if so, whether legislation should be enacted to reform such regulations. The early discussion focused primarily on California, but with the release of the Administration’s energy policy recommendations in May 2001 and subsequent congressional action, attention shifted to issues more national in scope.

Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS) is a rare autosomal recessive chromosome instability syndrome characterized by microcephaly, growth retardation, immunodeficiency, and cancer predisposition, with cellular features similar to that of ataxia telangiectasia (AT). NBS results from mutations in the mammalian gene Nbs1 that codes for a 95-kDa protein called nibrin, NBS1, or p95. To establish an animal model for NBS, we attempted to generate NBS1 knockout mice. However, NBS1 gene knockouts were lethal at an early embryonic stage. NBS1 homozygous(-/-) blastocyst cells cultured in vitro showed retarded growth and subsequently underwent growth arrest within 5 days of culture. Apoptosis, assayed by TUNEL staining, was observed in NBSI homozygous(-/-) blastocyst cells cultured for four days. NBSI heterozygous(+/-) mice were normal, and exhibited no specific phenotype for at least one year. However, fibroblast cells from NBSI heterozygous(+/-) mice displayed an enhanced frequency of spontaneous transformation to anchorage-independent growth as compared to NBS1 wild-type(+/+) cells. Furthermore, heterozygous(+/-) mice exhibited a high incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma after one year compared to wild-type mice, even though no significant differences in the incidence of other tumors such as lung adenocarcinoma and lymphoma were observed. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that NBS1 heterozygosity and reduced NBSI expression induces …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report examines the progress the District of Columbia has made with its fiscal year 2001 performance accountability report and highlights continuing challenges facing our nation's capital. The District must submit a performance accountability plan with goals for the coming fiscal year and, at the end of the fiscal year, a performance accountability report on the extent to which it achieved these goals. GAO found that the District's Performance Accountability Report for Fiscal Year 2001 provided a more complete picture of its performance and made progress in complying with statutory reporting requirements by using a consistent set of goals. This allowed the District to measure and report progress toward the goals in its 2001 performance plan. Specifically, it reported information on the level of performance achieved, the titles of managers and their supervisors responsible for each goal, and described the status of certain court orders. The District has made progress over the last three years in its performance accountability reports and established positive direction for enhancements in court orders, its fiscal year 2003 performance based budgeting pilots, and performance goals and measures."

PNNL estimated the FY2002 energy, environmental, and financial benefits (i.e., metrics) of the technologies and practices in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs (BTS). BTS uses the estimates of benefits as part of its annual budget request. This report includes an overview of the analytical approaches used to estimate energy savings for the FY2002 appropriated budget for BTS. The report also includes descriptions of key assumptions and the methodology that is used to calculate energy savings estimates for each BTS program.

PNNL estimated the FY2003 energy, environmental, and financial benefits (i.e., metrics) of the technologies and practices in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs (BTS). BTS uses the estimates of benefits as part of its annual budget request. This report includes an overview of the analytical approaches used to estimate energy savings for the FY2003 appropriated budget for BTS. The report also includes descriptions of key assumptions and the methodology that is used to calculate energy savings estimates for each BTS program.

This quarterly report documents significant achievements in the Enhanced Practical Photosynthetic CO{sub 2} Mitigation project during the period from 1/3/2001 through 4/02/2002. Most of the achievements are milestones in our efforts to complete the tasks and subtasks that constitute the project objectives, and we are currently on schedule to complete Phase I activities by 10/2002, the milestone date from the original project timeline. As indicated in the list of accomplishments below, we are continuing to evaluate candidate organisms and growth surfaces, and we are expanding the test facilities in preparation for scaled up system-level testing. Specific results and accomplishments for the first quarter of 2002 include: Organisms and Growth Surfaces: (1) Isolate 1.2 s.c. (2) has been selected for further investigations because of its favorable growth properties. (2) Research on optimal conditions for the growth of cyanobacterial isolates from YNP should be carried out using distilled water which has more stable chemical parameters, although tap water use may be permissible during full scale operations (at the cost of longer organism doubling times). (3) Tr. 9.4 WF is able to generate a biofilm on an Omnisil surface. Over the long term Omnisil does not inhibit the growth of TR 9.4 isolate, …

Roof bolting is the most popular method for underground openings in the mining industry, especially in the bedded deposits such as coal, potash, salt etc. In fact, all U.S. underground coal mine entries are roof-bolted as required by law. However, roof falls still occur frequently in the roof bolted entries. The two possible reasons are: the lack of knowledge of and technology to detect the roof geological conditions in advance of mining, and lack of roof bolting design criteria for modern roof bolting systems. This research is to develop a method for predicting the roof geology and stability condition in real time during roof bolting operation. Based on such information, roof bolting design criteria for modern roof bolting systems will be developed for implementation in real time. More laboratory tests have been performed in this quarter. The analysis performed on the testing data showed: (1) abnormal rotational accelerations can be used as the indicator of the rock interfaces, and (2) the sharp drops of drilling thrust and torque agree well with the locations of fractures.

This report discusses the issues for Congress related to fruits & vegetables. The contents include federal activities, programs, farm bill issues, & trade issues.

This report discusses the Issues for Congress on Fruits and Vegetables.The primary law that exclusively serves the produce industry is the perishable agriculture commodities act in the 1930(PACA).

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This report provides information on the special counsels and the department of justice regulations surrounding the allegations that the company Enron received favorable government treatment.

This is a report on modeling of the Intellite three layer membrane mirror design. The goal of this project was to provide Intellite with a model that will allow them to design a mirror with confidence.

We have studied the nuclear-coupled thermal-hydraulic stability of boiling water reactors (BWRs) using a model that includes: space-time modal neutron kinetics based on spatial w-modes; single- and two-phase flow in parallel boiling channels; fuel rod heat conduction dynamics; and a simple model of the recirculation loop. The BR model is represented by a set of time-dependent nonlinear ordinary differential equations, and is studied as a dynamical system using the modern bifurcation theory and nonlinear dynamical systems analysis. We first determine the stability boundary (SB) - or Hopf bifurcation set- in the most relevant parameter plane, the inlet-subcooling-number/external-pressure-drop plane, for a fixed control rod induced external reactivity equal to the 100% rod line value; then we transform the SB to the practical power-flow map used by BWR operating engineers and regulatory agencies. Using this SB, we show that the normal operating point at 100% power is very stable, that stability of points on the 100% rod line decreases as the flow rate is reduced, and that operating points in the low-flow/high-power region are least stable. We also determine the SB that results when the modal kinetics is replaced by simple point reactor kinetics, and we thereby show that the first harmonic …

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has identified high-performance computing as a critical competency necessary to meet the goals of LLNL's scientific and engineering programs. Leadership in scientific computing demands the availability of a stable, powerful, well-balanced computational infrastructure, and it requires research directed at advanced architectures, enabling numerical methods and computer science. To encourage all programs to benefit from the huge investment being made by the Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASCI) at LLNL, and to provide a mechanism to facilitate multi-programmatic leveraging of resources and access to high-performance equipment by researchers, M&IC was created. The Livermore Computing (LC) Center, a part of the Computations Directorate Integrated Computing and Communications (ICC) Department can be viewed as composed of two facilities, one open and one secure. This acquisition is focused on the M&IC resources in the Open Computing Facility (OCF). For the M&IC program, recent efforts and expenditures have focused on enhancing capacity and stabilizing the TeraCluster 2000 (TC2K) resource. Capacity is a measure of the ability to process a varied workload from many scientists simultaneously. Capability represents the ability to deliver a very large system to run scientific calculations at large scale. In this procurement action, we intend to significantly …

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