This report discusses the Superfund program for cleaning up the nation's worst hazardous waste sites, created by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, or CERCLA (P.L. 96-510, as amended). It includes recent development and background issues, superfund issues, revenue issues, comprehensive reauthorization, and legislation regarding superfund program.

The project aim was the improvement, evaluation, and application of one dimensional (1D) inversion and development and application of three dimensional (3D) inversion to processing of data collected at waste pits at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The inversion methods were intended mainly for the Very Early Time Electromagnetic (VETEM) system which was designed to improve the state-of-the-art of electromagnetic imaging of the shallow (0 to about 5m) subsurface through electrically conductive soils.

The purpose of this analysis report is to evaluate and document the inclusion or exclusion of biosphere features, events, and processes (FEPs) with respect to modeling used to support the total system performance assessment (TSPA) for the license application (LA). A screening decision, either ''Included'' or ''Excluded'', is given for each FEP along with the corresponding technical basis for the excluded FEPs and the descriptions of how the included FEPs were incorporated in the biosphere model. This information is required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations at 10 CFR 63.114 (d, e, and f) [DIRS 156605]. The FEPs addressed in this report concern characteristics of the reference biosphere, the receptor, and the environmental transport and receptor exposure pathways for the groundwater and volcanic ash exposure scenarios considered in biosphere modeling. This revision provides the summary of the implementation of included FEPs in TSPA-LA, (i.e., how the FEP is included); for excluded FEPs, this analysis provides the technical basis for exclusion from TSPA-LA (i.e., why the FEP is excluded). This report is one of the 10 documents constituting the biosphere model documentation suite. A graphical representation of the documentation hierarchy for the biosphere model is presented in Figure 1-1. …

The purpose of this report is to evaluate and document the inclusion or exclusion of the waste form features, events and processes (FEPs) with respect to modeling used to support the Total System Performance Assessment for License Application (TSPA-LA). A screening decision, either Included or Excluded, is given for each FEP along with the technical bases for screening decisions. This information is required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 10 CFR 63.114 (d, e, and f) [DIRS 156605]. The FEPs addressed in this report deal with the issues related to the degradation and potential failure of the waste form and the migration of the waste form colloids. For included FEPs, this analysis summarizes the implementation of the FEP in TSPA-LA, (i.e., how the FEP is included). For excluded FEPs, this analysis provides the technical bases for exclusion from TSPA-LA (i.e., why the FEP is excluded). This revision addresses the TSPA-LA FEP list (DTN: MO0407SEPFEPLA.000 [DIRS 170760]). The primary purpose of this report is to identify and document the analyses and resolution of the features, events, and processes (FEPs) associated with the waste form performance in the repository. Forty FEPs were identified that are associated with the waste form performance. …

Because fossil fuel fired power plants are among the largest and most concentrated producers of CO{sub 2} emissions, recovery and sequestration of CO{sub 2} from the flue gas of such plants has been identified as one of the primary means for reducing anthropogenic CO{sub 2} emissions. In this Phase II study, ALSTOM Power Inc. (ALSTOM) has investigated one promising near-term coal fired power plant configuration designed to capture CO{sub 2} from effluent gas streams for sequestration. Burning fossil fuels in mixtures of oxygen and recirculated flue gas (made principally of CO{sub 2}) essentially eliminates the presence of atmospheric nitrogen in the flue gas. The resulting flue gas is comprised primarily of CO{sub 2}, along with some moisture, nitrogen, oxygen, and trace gases like SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x}. Oxygen firing in utility scale Pulverized Coal (PC) fired boilers has been shown to be a more economical method for CO{sub 2} capture than amine scrubbing (Bozzuto, et al., 2001). Additionally, oxygen firing in Circulating Fluid Bed Boilers (CFB's) can be more economical than in PC or Stoker firing, because recirculated gas flow can be reduced significantly. Oxygen-fired PC and Stoker units require large quantities of recirculated flue gas to maintain acceptable …

This project is directed at a fundamental understanding of hydrogen bonding, the primary reversible interaction leading to defined geometries, networks and supramolecular aggregates formed by organic molecules. Hydrogen bonding is still not sufficiently well understood that the geometry of such supramolecular aggregates can be predicted. In the approach taken existing quantum chemical methods capable of treating periodic solids have been applied to hydrogen bonded systems of known structure. The equilibrium geometry for the given space group and packing arrangement were computed and compared to that observed. The second derivatives and normal modes of vibration will then be computed and from this inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectra were computed using the normal mode eigenvectors to compute spectral intensities. Appropriate inclusion of spectrometer line width and shape was made in the simulation and overtones, combinations and phonon wings were be included. These computed spectra were then compared with experimental results obtained for low-temperature polycrystalline samples at INS spectrometers at several facilities. This procedure validates the computational methodology for describing these systems including both static and dynamic aspects of the material. The resulting description can be used to evaluate the relative free energies of two or more proposed structures and so ultimately to …

This report provides an overview of the Federal Communication Commission's political broadcasting regulations, including general public interest obligations; the equal opportunity (equal time) regulations; and the various interpretations of the Fairness Doctrine, which is no longer enforced by the Commission. A brief section of frequently asked questions regarding political broadcasting is also provided.

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We have previously described our methodology for quantification of risk and risk reduction, and the use of risk, quantified as a dollar value, in the Value Engineering and decision tradeoff process. In this work we extend our example theme of the safety of reactive materials during accidental impacts. We have begun to place the validation of our impact safety model into a systems engineering context. In that sense, we have made connections between the data and the trends in the data, our models of the impact safety process, and the implications regarding confidence levels and reliability based on given impact safety requirements. We have folded this information into a quantitative risk assessment, and shown the assessed risk reduction value of developing an even better model, with more model work or more experimental data or both. Since there is a cost incurred for either model improvement or testing, we have used a Benefit/Cost Ratio metric to quantify this, where Benefit is our quantification of assessed risk reduction, and cost is the cost of the new test data, code development, and model validation. This has left us with further questions posed for our evolving system engineering representation for impact safety and its …

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The purpose of the saturated zone (SZ) flow and transport model abstraction task is to provide radionuclide-transport simulation results for use in the total system performance assessment (TSPA) for license application (LA) calculations. This task includes assessment of uncertainty in parameters that pertain to both groundwater flow and radionuclide transport in the models used for this purpose. This model report documents the following: (1) The SZ transport abstraction model, which consists of a set of radionuclide breakthrough curves at the accessible environment for use in the TSPA-LA simulations of radionuclide releases into the biosphere. These radionuclide breakthrough curves contain information on radionuclide-transport times through the SZ. (2) The SZ one-dimensional (I-D) transport model, which is incorporated in the TSPA-LA model to simulate the transport, decay, and ingrowth of radionuclide decay chains in the SZ. (3) The analysis of uncertainty in groundwater-flow and radionuclide-transport input parameters for the SZ transport abstraction model and the SZ 1-D transport model. (4) The analysis of the background concentration of alpha-emitting species in the groundwater of the SZ.

This report discusses the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was completed December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six “greenhouse gases.”

This report discuses lumber imports from Canada and provides a concise historical account of the dispute, summarizes the subsidy and injury evidence, and discusses the current issues and events.

As of October 11, 2004, 29 bills have been introduced in the 108th Congress to change the nation’s campaign finance laws (primarily under Titles 2 and 26 of the U.S. Code). These bills — 20 in the House and nine in the Senate — seek to make improvements in the current system, including to tighten perceived loopholes. In the wake of enactment of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107- 155), there has been decidedly less legislative activity in this area than in recent Congresses, which typically saw well over 100 campaign finance-related bills introduced.

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From a public policy perspective, the goals are to ensure that broadband deployment is timely, that industry competes fairly, and that service is provided to all sectors and geographical locations of American society. The federal government -- through Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) -- is seeking to ensure fair competition among the players so that broadband will be available and affordable in a timely manner to all Americans who want it. While the FCC's position is not to intervene at this time, some assert that legislation is necessary to ensure fair competition and timely broadband deployment. One proposal would ease certain legal restrictions and requirements, imposed by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, on incumbent telephone companies who provide high speed data (broadband) access. Another proposal would compel cable companies to provide "open access" to competing Internet service providers.

This report discusses intelligence issues for Congress including narcotics trafficking, conflicts between Israel and Palestine, in Iraq, and among the former Yugoslav states, and North Korean missile capabilities. Updated October 27, 2004.

This report discusses the "oil-for-food" program (OFFP) as the centerpiece of a long-standing U.N. Security Council effort to alleviate human suffering in Iraq while maintaining key elements of the 1991 Gulf war-related sanctions regime. The program, in operation from December 1996 until March 2003, is detailed.