A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) efforts to track taxpayer information about IRS notices, focusing on: (1) whether IRS tracks information about notices from individual taxpayers who call IRS; and (2) if not, whether such a tracking system could be useful and feasible."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fiscal year (FY) 2001 budget request, focusing on: (1) the 2000 tax filing season; (2) IRS' FY 2001 budget request and supporting documentation; and (3) GAO's reviews of various IRS activities, including those related to information systems and IRS' reorganization."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the results of its investigation of the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) negotiated settlements of large overpayments to three Medicare providers between 1991 and July 1999."

Large-scale scientific computation, and all of the disciplines that support it and help to validate it, have been placed at the focus of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory by the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI). The Laboratory operates the computer with the highest peak performance in the world and has undertaken some of the largest and most compute-intensive simulations ever performed. Computers at the architectural extremes, however, are notoriously difficult to use efficiently. Even such successes as the Laboratory's two Bell Prizes awarded in November 1999 only emphasize the need for much better ways of interacting with the results of large-scale simulations. Advances in scientific computing research have, therefore, never been more vital to the core missions of the Laboratory than at present. Computational science is evolving so rapidly along every one of its research fronts that to remain on the leading edge, the Laboratory must engage researchers at many academic centers of excellence. In FY 1999, the Institute for Scientific Computing Research (ISCR) has expanded the Laboratory's bridge to the academic community in the form of collaborative subcontracts, visiting faculty, student internships, a workshop, and a very active seminar series. ISCR research participants are integrated almost seamlessly with the Laboratory's …

The objective of this calculation is to generate radionuclide inventories for the Department of Energy (DOE) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) waste stream destined for disposal at the potential repository at Yucca Mountain. The scope of this calculation is limited to the calculation of two radionuclide inventories; one for all uranium/thorium carbide fuels in the waste stream and one for the entire waste stream. These inventories will provide input in future screening calculations to be performed by Performance Assessment to determine important radionuclides.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has pursued an aggressive site characterization and remediation program since the early 1980's. The effort has required drilling and sampling over 1000 wells. The development of tools for interacting with the large volume of data is imperative. Working closely with interdisciplinary project scientists, we have developed a suite of web-based tools for facilitating many data-driven analysis and interpretation tasks. LLNL tool development must meet the needs of several different groups: LLNL project staff, DOE project managers, and government regulators. The project managers and regulators require general tools, answering questions such as ''what locations have had detectable amounts of a particular chemical.'' In addition to general inquiries, regulators want specific information, such as reports of volatile organic compound concentrations for an area over time. LLNL users need tools that support analysis and facility operations as well as general inquiry tools. We have developed web-based tools that allow each class of user to obtain much of the information they desire without the assistance of database specialists. While these tools were created for particular classes of users, each tool has proven useful to other groups as well. Providing a web interface to these tools makes them easily accessible …

This document comprises the Operational Test Report for the 241-AZ-101 Ultrasonic Interface Level Analyzer. The objective of the testing was to verify that all equipment and components functioned as designed following construction completion and turnover to operations.

Applicants seeking a Certificate of Compliance for an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) cask must evaluate the consequences of a handling accident resulting in a drop or tip-over of the cask onto a concrete storage pad. As a result, analytical modeling approaches that might be used to evaluate the impact of cylindrical containers onto concrete pads are needed. One such approach, described and benchmarked in NUREG/CR-6608,{sup 1} consists of a dynamic finite element analysis using a concrete material model available in DYNA3D{sup 2} and in LS-DYNA,{sup 3} together with a method for post-processing the analysis results to calculate the deceleration of a solid steel billet when subjected to a drop or tip-over onto a concrete storage pad. The analysis approach described in NUREG/CR-6608 gives a good correlation of analysis and test results. The material model used for the concrete in the analyses in NUREG/CR-6608 is, however, somewhat troublesome to use, requiring a number of material constants which are difficult to obtain. Because of this a simpler approach, which adequately evaluates the impact of cylindrical containers onto concrete pads, is sought. Since finite element modeling of metals, and in particular carbon and stainless steel, is routinely and accurately accomplished with …

Assessment of the long-term performance of nuclear melt glass under saturated conditions provides insight into factors controlling radionuclide release into groundwater. Melt glass samples were collected from an underground nuclear detonation cavity at the Nevada Test Site that was in contact with groundwater for more than 10 years. The samples were made into thin sections and the distribution of alpha activity mapped using CR-39 plastic detectors. The melt glass is visually heterogeneous and the results of the alpha track radiography indicate that the highest alpha activity is associated with areas of dark colored glass. Analyses of the thin sections by alpha spectrometry show the prominent actinide species to be {sup 238}Pu, {sup 239}Pu and {sup 241}Am. Scanning electron microprobe analysis of the bulk glass shows conspicuous alteration layers lining internal vesicle surfaces in the glass. X-ray diffraction patterns for the alteration phases are consistent with clay mineral compositions. Glass dissolution models indicate these layers are too thick to have formed at ambient temperatures over the 10 year period in which they remained in a saturated environment. This implies the alteration layers likely formed at temperatures higher than ambient during cooling of the cavity following the underground detonation. Mobilization of this …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Army's competitive sourcing studies, focusing on the: (1) Army's plans for competitive sourcing studies at five chemical munitions facilities and the extent to which emergency response or chemical defense industrial positions are included in the competitive sourcing studies; and (2) status of the Army's assessment and GAO's assessment of how competitive sourcing would impact emergency response capabilities and environmental permits associated with the destruction of the chemical agents and munitions."

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a live broadcast of a tornado in Fort Worth. This story includes the live broadcast and on-air talent accompanied by instructions from the producer.

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Harper, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Emory, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Thermo-chemical ablation during reentrant and high altitude skipping flights is treated using a variety of techniques. The solid material response is computed using heat-balance integrals, finite differences, and finite elements. The surface mass loss is computed using curve fits to the standard transport coefficient approach and by a surface kinetic model. Agreement between the approaches, when using the curve fits, is good. All approaches concur that for the skipping trajectory studied there is very little mass loss and surface temperatures remain in a range where the thermal protection system can be reused.

Steep increases in the prices of gasoline, diesel, and other transportation fuels have prompted some Members of Congress to seek to ease the effects on households and businesses. Interest has focused on possible repeal or suspension of the levying of all or part of the federal excise taxes on those fuels. Current market conditions and the small amount of tax relief incorporated in most proposals, however, raise uncertainty as to whether prices to individuals and businesses would fall and whether any price decline would be meaningful to consumers. A reduction in transportation fuel taxes would result in a decrease in spending for transportation trust-fund-supported federal programs, unless Congress designated alternate sources of funding for these programs. As a result of the structure of the federal programs the effects of a fuel tax repeal on federal transportation programs would not necessarily be immediate, but depending on the length/scope of the repeal or suspension, they could be substantial.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Bimonthly newsletter produced for DOE's Office of Industrial Technologies to promote the use of energy-efficient industrial systems. This issue focuses on Adjustable Speed Drive Technologies.

A ceramic waste form composed of glass-bonded sodalite is being developed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for immobilization and disposition of the molten salt waste stream from the electrometallurgical treatment process for metallic DOE spent nuclear fuel. As part of the spent fuel treatment program at ANL, a model is being developed to predict the long-term release of radionuclides under repository conditions. Dissolution tests using dilute, pH-buffered solutions have been conducted at 40, 70, and 90 C to determine the temperature and pH dependence of the dissolution rate. Parameter values measured in these tests have been incorporated into the model, and preliminary repository performance assessment modeling has been completed. Results indicate that the ceramic waste form should be acceptable in a repository environment.

This presentation covers the process of commissioning a new 150,000 sq. ft. research facility at Sandia National Laboratories. The laboratory being constructed is a showcase of modern design methods being built at a construction cost of less than $180 per sq. ft. This is possible in part because of the total commissioning activities that are being utilized for this project. The laboratory's unique approach to commissioning will be presented in this paper. The process will be followed through from the conceptual stage on into the actual construction portion of the laboratory. Lessons learned and cost effectiveness will be presented in a manner that will be usable for others making commissioning related decisions. Commissioning activities at every stage of the design will be presented along with the attributed benefits. Attendees will hear answers to the what, when, who, and why questions associated with commissioning of this exciting project.