The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) and the Federal Power Act (FPA) were enacted to eliminate unfair practices and other abuses by electricity and gas holding companies by requiring federal control and regulation of interstate public utility holding companies. Comprehensive energy legislation has passed the House and Senate. The House passed H.R. 6 on April 11, 2003. On July 31, 2003, the Senate suspended debate on S. 14, inserted the text of H.R. 4 (107th Congress) as a substitute, and passed H.R. 6. A conference agreement was reached November 17, 2003, and passed by the House the next day. H.R. 6 includes an electricity title that would, in part, repeal PUHCA, would prospectively repeal the mandatory purchase requirement under PURPA, and would create an electric reliability organization. On June 15, 2004, H.R. 4503, a comprehensive energy policy bill, passed the House.

This report addresses legal issues after the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol to the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The protocol is not yet in effect internationally and cannot be legally binding on the U.S. unless and until the Senate gives its advice and consent.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently seeking to validate technologies that can directly treat radioactively contaminated high mercury (Hg) subcategory wastes without removing the mercury from the waste. The Sulfur Polymer Stabilization/Solidification (SPSS) process developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory is one of several candidate technologies capable of successfully treating various Hg waste streams. To supplement previously supplied data on treatment of soils, EPA needs additional data concerning stabilization of high Hg subcategory waste sludges. To this end, a 5000 ppm sludge surrogate, containing approximately 50 wt% water, was successfully treated by pilot-scale SPSS processing. In two process runs, 85 and 95 wt% of water was recovered from the sludge during processing. At waste loadings of 30 wt% dry sludge, the treated waste form had no detectable mercury (<10 ppb) in TCLP leachates. Data gathered from the demonstration of treatment of this sludge will provide EPA with information to support revisions to current treatment requirements for high Hg subcategory wastes.

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This Final Report summarizes the significant progress made by the researchers, students and staff of the Center for Laser Imaging and Cancer Diagnostics (CLICD) from January 1998 through May 2002. During this period, the Center supported several projects. Most projects were proposed initially, some were added subsequently as their relevance and importance to the DOE mission became evident. DOE support has been leveraged to obtain continuing funding for some projects. Leveraged funds come from various sources, including NIH, Army, NSF and the Air Force. The goal of the Center was to develop laser-based instruments for use in the detection and diagnosis of major diseases, with an emphasis on detection and diagnosis of various cancers. Each of the supported projects is a collaborative effort between physicists and laser scientists and the City College of New York and noted physicians, surgeons, pathologists, and biologists located at medical centers in the Metropolitan area. The participating institutions were: City College of New York Institute for Ultrafast Lasers and Spectroscopy, Hackensack University Medical Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and New York Eye and Ear Institute. Each of the projects funded by the Center is grouped into one of four research …

This report provides an alphabetical list of the 61 Members of Congress who have died of other than natural causes while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. Each entry includes party affiliation, the name of the state that the Member represented, dates of service, chamber in which the Member served, and cause of death.

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Endwall heat transfer distributions taken in a large-scale low speed linear cascade facility are documented for mock catalytic and dry low NOx (DLN) combustion systems. Inlet turbulence levels range from about 1.0 percent for the mock Catalytic combustor condition to 14 percent for the mock dry low NOx combustor system. Stanton number contours are presented at both turbulence conditions for Reynolds numbers based on true chord length and exit conditions ranging from 500,000 to 2,000,000. Catalytic combustor endwall heat transfer shows the influence of the complex three-dimensional flow field, while the effects of individual vortex systems are less evident for the mock dry low NOx cases. Turbulence scales have been documented for both cases. Inlet boundary layers are relatively thin for the mock catalytic combustor case while inlet flow approximates a channel flow with high turbulence for the mock DLN combustor case. Inlet boundary layer parameters are presented across the inlet passage for the three Reynolds numbers and both the mock catalytic and DLN combustor inlet cases. Both midspan and 95 percent span pressure contours are included. This research provides a well-documented database taken across a range of Reynolds numbers and turbulence conditions for assessment of endwall heat transfer predictive …

Some recent work (Walker 2001, Andrews 2002) has indicated that installing a modulating furnace in a conventional duct system may, in many cases, result in a significant degradation in thermal distribution efficiency. The fundamental mechanism was pointed out nearly two decades ago (Andrews and Krajewski 1985). The problem occurs in duct systems that are less-than-perfectly insulated (e.g., R-4 duct wrap) and are located outside the conditioned space. It stems from the fact that when the airflow rate is reduced, as it will be when the modulating furnace reduces its heat output rate, the supply air will have a longer residence time in the ducts and will therefore lose a greater percentage of its heat by conduction than it did at the higher airflow rate. The impact of duct leakage, on the other hand, is not expected to change very much under furnace modulation. The pressures in the duct system will be reduced when the airflow rate is reduced, thus reducing the leakage per unit time. This is balanced by the fact that the operating time will increase in order to meet the same heating load as with the conventional furnace operating at higher output and airflow rates. The balance would …

The project analyzed the challenges raised by complex genetic disorders in genetic counselling, for clinical practice, for public health, for quality assurance, and for protection against discrimination. The research found that, in some settings, solutions created in the context of single gene disorders are more difficult to apply to complex disorders. In other settings, the single gene solutions actually backfired and created additional problems when applied to complex genetic disorders. The literature of five common, complex genetic disorders--Alzheimer's, asthma, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and psychiatric illnesses--was evaluated in depth.

Using the 100 office-building Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE) Study dataset, we performed multivariate logistic regression analyses to quantify the associations between indoor minus outdoor CO{sub 2} (dCO{sub 2}) concentrations and mucous membrane (MM) and lower respiratory system (Lresp) Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms, adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, presence of carpet in workspace, thermal exposure, relative humidity, and a marker for entrained automobile exhaust. Using principal components analysis we identified a number of possible sources of 73 measured volatile organic compounds in the office buildings, and assessed the impact of these VOCs on the probability of presenting the SBS symptoms. Additionally we included analysis adjusting for the risks for predisposition of having SBS symptoms associated with the allergic, asthmatic, and environmentally sensitive subpopulations within the office buildings. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for statistically significant, dose-dependant associations (p<0.05) for dry eyes, sore throat, nose/sinus congestion, and wheeze symptoms with 100-ppm increases in dCO{sub 2} ranged from 1.1 to 1.2. These results suggest that increases in the ventilation rates per person among typical office buildings will, on average significantly reduce the prevalence of several SBS symptoms, up to 80%, even when these buildings meet the existing ASHRAE ventilation standards …

The focus of this work is to more tightly integrate tools traditionally used in MARSSIM (Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual) final status survey design. MARSSIM provides guidance on appropriate methodologies for establishing that dose or risk-based standards for a site contaminated with radionuclides have been achieved. RESidual RADioactive (RESRAD) codes are used by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other federal agencies to convert dose-based cleanup criteria to site-specific-derived concentration guideline level (DCGL) requirements. By implementing MARSSIM concepts directly within RESRAD, users can now directly generate site-specific DCGL requirements and associated area factors.

A gamma ray spectrometer at LBNL (the Luis W. Alvarez Iridium Coincidence Spectrometer), that was specifically designed for high sensitivity measurements of iridium abundances, has been significantly modified in order to provide precisions of measurement in neutron activation analysis of obsidian significantly better than previously obtained (about 1%). Repeated measurements on a single sample of obsidian from a deposit near Chivay, Arequipa, Peru, showed a precision (average coefficient of variation) of 0.19% for the 6 best-measured elements, the value anticipated from the known random errors of measurement. In measurement of samples made from 7 different obsidian nodules from two locations near Chivay, a group of 5 had a spread of 0.30% for the 6 elements measured with counting statistics of better than 0.3% (and 1.8% for the remaining 6 elements). The data suggest there are source inhomogeneity and/or sample preparation contamination errors totaling 0.24 {+-} .05% for the 6 best measured elements. A sixth obsidian sample could be distinguished from the main group because it differed by +0.8% for most elements, and the last sample could be easily distinguished because several elements differed by more than 1%. The precision of measurements now being developed may provide a significantly more precise …

Despite many decades of jet-in-crossflow experimentation, a distinct lack of data remains for a supersonic jet exhausting into a subsonic compressible crossflow. The present investigation seeks to address this deficiency by examining the flowfield structure of a Mach 3.73 jet injected transversely from a flat plate into a subsonic compressible freestream. The experimental results described herein include the mean surface pressure field as mapped using static pressure taps on the flat plate and an identification of flow features by employing an oil-based surface flow tracer. The possibility of flow separation within the nozzle itself also is addressed using pressure taps along the nozzle interior wall, as is the asymmetry of the separation line due to the variation of the local backpressure around the perimeter of the nozzle orifice resulting from the jet-in-crossflow interaction. Pressure data both on the flat plate and within the nozzle are presented at numerous angles with respect to the crossflow freestream direction to provide a breadth of measurements throughout the interaction region. Since the data are intended for use in validating computational models, attention is paid to providing details regarding the experimental geometry, boundary conditions, flowfield nonuniformities, and uncertainty analyses. Eight different sets of data are …

In 1993, the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA, PL 103-62) was enacted. GPRA, which applies to all federal programs, has three components: strategic plans, annual performance plans, and metrics to show how well annual plans are being followed. As part of meeting the GRPA requirement in FY2002, a 15-member external review committee chaired by Dr. Alvin Trivelpiece (the Trivelpiece Committee) was convened by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) on May 7-9, 2002 to review Sandia National Laboratories' Pulsed Power Programs as a component of the Performance Appraisal Process negotiated with the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy (NNSA/DOE). The scope of the review included activities in high energy density physics (HEDP), inertial confinement fusion (ICF), radiation/weapon physics, the petawatt laser initiative (PW) and fast ignition, equation-of-state studies, radiation effects science and lethality, x-ray radiography, ZR development, basic research and pulsed power technology research and development, as well as electromagnetics and work for others. In his charge to the Committee, Dr. Jeffrey P. Quintenz, Director of Pulsed Power Sciences (Org. 1600) asked that the evaluation and feedback be based on three criteria: (1) quality of technical activities in science, technology, and engineering, (2) programmatic performance, management, and planning, …

ALEGRA is an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element code that emphasizes large distortion and shock propagation. This document describes the user input language for the code.

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The grant augmented funds from Westinghouse Electric Co. to enhance the Nuclear Engineering program at KSU. The program was designed to provide educational opportunities and to train engineers for careers in the nuclear industry. It provided funding and access to Westinghouse proprietary design codes for graduate and undergraduate studies on topics of current industrial importance. Students had the opportunity to use some of the most advanced nuclear design tools in the industry and to work on actual design problems. The WCOBRA/TRAC code was used to simulate loss of coolant accidents (LOCAs).

The most widely used algorithm for estimating seismic event hypocenters and origin times is iterative linear least squares inversion. In this paper we review the mathematical basis of the algorithm and discuss the major assumptions made during its derivation. We go on to explore the utility of using Levenberg-Marquardt damping to improve the performance of the algorithm in cases where some of these assumptions are violated. We also describe how location parameter uncertainties are calculated. A technique to estimate an initial seismic event location is described in an appendix.

This Facility Effluent Monitoring Plan (FEMP) has been prepared for the 331 Building Life Sciences Laboratory and associated support facilities at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to meet the requirements in DOE Order 5400.1, "General Environmental Protection Programs." This FEMP has been prepared for the 331 Complex primarily because it has a ?major? (potential to emit > 0.1 mrem/yr) emission point for radionuclide air emissions according to the annual National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) assessment performed. The FEMP includes characterization of effluent streams, monitoring/sampling design criteria, a description of the monitoring systems and sample analysis, and quality assurance requirements.

The Bush Administration issued its plan for a national energy policy on May 16, 2001. The plan was controversial, characterized by some as leaner on conservation and renewables than Democratic proposals, and predisposed to trade off environmental considerations to increase supply. Comprehensive energy legislation was introduced in the Senate by both parties by late March (S. 388, S. 389, S. 596, S. 597). Bills reported by several House committees (H.R. 2436, H.R. 2460, H.R. 2511, and H.R. 2587) were combined in a single bill, H.R. 4, passed by the House, August 1, 2001. The House version of H.R. 4 would require a 5 billion gallon reduction in light-duty truck and SUV fuel consumption and would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to leasing.

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The authors investigated the performance of freshly precipitated manganese oxide and monosodium titanate (MST) for the removal of strontium (Sr) and actinides from actual high-level waste. Manganese oxide precipitation occurs upon addition of a reductant such as formate (HCO2-) or peroxide (H2O2) to a waste solution containing permanganate (MnO4-). An addition of non-radioactive strontium typically precedes the MnO4- and reductant addition, which serves primarily to isotopically dilute the strontium-90 (90Sr) present in the waste. Tests utilized a Tank 37H/44F composite waste solution. Personnel significantly increased the concentration of actinides in the waste by the addition of acidic americium/curium solution (F-Canyon Tank 17.1 solution), which contained a significant quantity of plutonium (Pu), and neptunium-237 (237Np) stock solution. Initial tests examined three manganese oxide treatment options.

The Department of Defense (DOD) administers five environmental programs in response to various requirements under federal environmental laws. These programs include environmental cleanup, environmental compliance, pollution prevention, environmental technology, and conservation. Additionally, the Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for managing defense nuclear waste and cleaning up contaminated nuclear weapons sites. The Administration requested a total of $11.17 billion for these programs in FY2003, about $390 million more than the FY2002 funding level of $10.78 billion. Some of the ongoing issues associated with these programs are the adequacy, cost, and pace of cleanup, whether DOD and DOE adequately comply with environmental laws and regulations, and the extent to which environmental requirements encroach upon military readiness.