A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In November 1997, the President called for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to create an interface that would allow the two agencies to share patient health information. By allowing health care providers to electronically share comprehensive patient information, computer-based patient record's (GCPR) should help VA, DOD, and the Indian Health Service (IHS) to improve the quality of care for their beneficiaries. But without a lead entity, a clear mission, and detailed planning to achieve that mission, it is difficult to monitor progress, identify project risks, and develop appropriate contingency plans to keep the project moving forward and on track. Critical project decisions were not made, and the agencies were not bound by those that were made. The VA and DOD Chief Information Officers' (CIO) action to focus on short-term deliverables and to capitalize on existing technologies is warranted and a step in the right direction. However, until problems with the two agencies' existing systems and issues regarding planning, management, and accountability are resolved, project costs will likely continue to increase and implementation of the larger GCPR effort--and its expected …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the facts surrounding the ability of the Clinton White House to preserve certain electronic mail (e-mail) deemed official government records. GAO found that two malfunctions occurred in the White House e-mail system that prevented official records from being properly recorded in the Automated Records Management System (ARMS). The first problem involved an anomaly with incoming Internet e-mail users of the "Mail2" e-mail server. The second problem surfaced while the contractor was trying the resolve the first problem. During its efforts to determine the cause of the Mail2 e-mail errors, the letter D was deleted from a key piece of software, causing the ARMS scanner to skip e-mail accounts of users with first names beginning with the letter D. The White House began a costly and time-consuming project to recover e-mail records that had not been effectively managed. Several factors contributed to the cost and scope of the tape restoration project, including the contractor's performance of tape management and systems maintenance and legal scrutiny of e-mail malfunctions by external authorities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO audited the financial statements of the Capitol Preservation Fund for fiscal years 2000 and 1999. GAO found that the financial statements were presented fairly in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, contained no material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (including safeguarding assets) and complied with the provisions of laws and regulations tested."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Army is acquiring a new, state-of-the-art radar countermeasures system--called the Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures to help helicopters and other aircraft identify, track, and defeat radar-guided missiles in complex electronic environments where many radar systems could be operating simultaneously. The Army has identified software and hardware modification needed for its new radar countermeasures system. The Army expects that future tests will enable it to determine whether the modified software performs as required before the planned low-rate initial production decision in early 2002. However, the testing of the modified hardware is not scheduled for completion until September 2002. By deferring low-rate initial production decision, the Army would reduce the risk of incurring anticipated costs to retrofit articles if the system does not work as expected."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The use of incorrect or unreliable data and inappropriate assumptions in the Research and Special Program Administration's (RSPA) calculation of the minimum Pipeline Safety Fund (PSF) balance caused RSPA to overstate the necessary minimum balance. Crucial to a reasonable calculation of the PSF minimum balance is an analysis of expected receipts as compared to expected obligations. Until RSPA does this type of analysis, it will be unable to reasonably estimate the required minimum PSF balance. In addition, the timing of the Office of Pipeline Safety's (OPS) cash receipts is affected by OPS' slow data collection and verification process. This process results in delayed billings and likely delays cash receipts, resulting in a larger required minimum PSF balance. OPS' current efforts to implement a new Internet-based data collection and billing system could shorten what is now an extended billing process. Finalizing the operator data on which the fee assessments are based at an earlier date would allow billing to take place shortly after the agency received its appropriation for the fiscal year. Accordingly, fee revenue would likely be available for obligation in a more timely manner and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although the criteria used to rate the bonds of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and other electric utilities are the same, they are weighted differently and, as a result, the basis for TVA's bond rating is more nonfinancial in nature than that for other electric utilities. According to bond analysts, TVA's high bond rating is largely based on the perception that its debt is federally backed because of its ties to the federal government as a wholly owned government corporation and its legislative protections from competition. If these conditions were to change, TVA's bond rating would likely be lowered, which, in turn, would affect the cost of new debt. This would add to its already high interest expense and corresponding financial challenges in a competitive market."

In calculating cosmic-ray exposure ages of meteorites it is generally assumed that the meteoroids were expelled from a shielded position within their parent body and then experienced a single stage exposure before colliding with Earth. The combination of noble gas and radionuclide measurements in several large meteorites, such as Jilin and Bur Ghelaui, have revealed complex exposure histories: i.e. an initial exposure on the surface of an asteroid (or within meter-sized meteoroid), followed by a second exposure as a smaller object. In fact, orbital dynamics calculations predicted that at least 30% of the meteorites arriving on Earth experienced two- or multiple-stage exposure histories [1]. More recently, after the recognition that the Yarkovsky effect plays an important role in delivering meteorites from the asteroid belt to Earth-crossing orbits, it was confirmed that complex exposure histories should be common [2]. Nevertheless, despite the ability to measure a wide range of radionuclides with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), only a few meteorites with complex exposure histories have been identified [e.g. 3,4]. The question is whether the relatively paucity of complex exposure histories is real or have we simply overlooked complex-exposure histories. In this work we focus on meteorites with low {sup 3}He/{sup 21}Ne ratios, …

Over the period of the program we systematically varied microstructural features of magnetic thin films in an attempt to better identify the role which each feature plays in determining selected extrinsic magnetic properties. This report summarizes the results.

The TFA uses a systematic process for developing its annual program that draws from the tanks science and technology development needs expressed by the five DOE tank waste sites. TFA's annual program development process is iterative and involves the following steps: Collection of site needs; Needs analysis; Development of technical responses and initial prioritization; Refinement of the program for the next fiscal year; Formulation of the Corporate Review Budget (CRB); Preparation of Program Execution Guidance (PEG) for the next FY Revision of the Multiyear Program Plan (MYPP). This document describes the outcomes of the first phase of this process, from collection of site needs to the initial prioritization of technical activities. The TFA received site needs in October - December 2000. A total of 170 site needs were received, an increase of 30 over the previous year. The needs were analyzed and integrated, where appropriate. Sixty-six distinct technical responses were drafted and prioritized. In addition, seven strategic tasks were approved to compete for available funding in FY 2002 and FY 2003. Draft technical responses were prepared and provided to the TFA Site Representatives and the TFA User Steering Group (USG) for their review and comment. These responses were discussed at …

This report addresses the feasibility of the laboratory measurements of isotopic ratios for selected trace constituents in irradiated nuclear-grade graphite, based on the results of a proof-of-principal experiment completed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 1994. The estimation of graphite fluence through measurement of isotopic ratio changes in the impurity elements in the nuclear-grade graphite is referred to as the Graphite Isotope Ratio Method (GIRM). Combined with reactor core and fuel information, GIRM measurements can be employed to estimate cumulative materials production in graphite moderated reactors. This report documents the laboratory procedures and results from the initial measurements of irradiated graphite samples. The irradiated graphite samples were obtained from the C Reactor (one of several production reactors at Hanford) and from the French G-2 Reactor located at Marcoule. Analysis of the irradiated graphite samples indicated that replicable measurements of isotope ratios could be obtained from the fluence sensitive elements of Ti, Ca, Sr, and Ba. While these impurity elements are present in the nuclear-grade graphite in very low concentrations, measurement precision was typically on the order of a few tenths of a percent to just over 1 percent. Replicability of the measurements was also very good with measured values …

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In August of 1999, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved a standard for clearance of materials contaminated with residual levels of radioactivity. "Clearance," as used in the standard, means the movement of material from the control of a regulatory agency to a use or disposition that has no further regulatory controls of any kind. The standard gives derived screening levels (DSLs) in Bq/g and Bq/cm2 for 50 radionuclides. Items or materials with residual surface and volume radioactivity levels below the DSLs can be cleared, that is, managed without regard to their residual radioactivity. Since federal agencies are to use voluntary, industry standards developed by the private sector whenever possible, the standard should play an important role in DOE's regulatory process. The thrust of this report is to explain the standard, make simple observations on its usefulness to DOE, and to explore uses of the standard within DOE facilities beyond the clearance of radioactive materials.

A thorough literature survey on low-temperature electrolyte and electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) is presented. Preliminary results of co-sintering LaGaO{sub 3} (LSGM) film on the cathode substrate were also reported. The chemical stability of LSGM in various SOFC environments was thermodynamically assessed and verified by the molten-salt technique.

Numerous advanced coal cleaning processes have been developed in recent years that are capable of substantially reducing both ash- and sulfur-forming minerals from coal. However, most of the processes involve fine grinding and use water as the cleaning medium; therefore, the clean coal products must be dewatered before they can be transported and burned. Unfortunately, dewatering fine coal is costly, which makes it difficult to deploy advanced coal cleaning processes for commercial applications. As a means of avoiding problems associated with the fine coal dewatering, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) developed a dry coal cleaning process in which mineral matter is separated from coal without using water. In this process, pulverized coal is subjected to triboelectrification before being placed in an electric field for electrostatic separation. The triboelectrification is accomplished by passing a pulverized coal through an in-line mixer made of copper. Copper has a work function that lies between that of carbonaceous material (coal) and mineral matter. Thus, coal particles impinging on the copper wall lose electrons to the metal thereby acquiring positive charges, while mineral matter impinging on the wall gain electrons to acquire negative charges. The charged particles then pass through an electric field where they …

NSA Engineering, Inc., conducted seismic tomography surveys in Niche No.3 in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF), Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and Alcove No.8 in the Enhanced Characterization of the Repository Block (ECRB) cross drift as part of the Infiltration Experiment being conducted in Niche No.3. NSA Engineering is a direct support contractor to the Yucca Mountain Project. This report documents the work performed from August 14 through 30, 2000, prior to the beginning of the infiltration experiment. The objective of the seismic tomography survey was to investigate the flow path of water between access drifts and more specifically to (Kramer 2000): (1) Conduct a baseline seismic tomography survey prior to the infiltration experiment; (2) Produce 2-D and 3-D tomographic images of the rock volume between Alcove No.8 and Niche No.3; (3) Correlate tomography results with published structural and lithological features, and with other geophysical data such as ground penetrating radar (GPR); and (4) Results of this survey will form a baseline with which to compare subsequent changes to the rock mass. These changes may be as a result of the water infiltration tests that could be conducted in Alcove No.8 in 2001. The scope of this reported work is to use …

Eltron Research Inc., and team members, are developing an environmentally benign, inexpensive, and efficient method for separating hydrogen from gas mixtures produced during industrial processes, such as coal gasification. This project was motivated by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Vision 21 initiative which seeks to economically eliminate environmental concerns associated with the use of fossil fuels. This objective is being pursued using dense membranes based in part on Eltron-patented ceramic materials with a demonstrated ability for proton and electron conduction. The technical goals are being addressed by modifying single-phase and composite membrane composition and microstructure to maximize proton and electron conductivity without loss of material stability. Ultimately, these materials must enable hydrogen separation at practical rates under ambient and high-pressure conditions, without deactivation in the presence of feedstream components such as carbon dioxide, water, and sulfur. During this quarter, it was demonstrated that increasing the transition metal loading in a model perovskite composition resulted in an increase in hydrogen flux. Improved flux corresponded to the emergence of additional phases in the ceramic membrane, and highest flux was achieved for a composite consisting of pseudo-cubic and rhombohedral perovskite phases. A 0.9-mm thick membrane of this material generated a hydrogen flux …

This is the third semi-annual technical progress report summarizing observations and tentative conclusions drawn from evaluations of the data captured to date from the operation of the ambient PM{sub 2.5} speciation sites in a geographical area encompassing southeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northwestern West Virginia. The overall goal of this program, called the Upper Ohio River Valley Project (UORVP), is to better understand the relationship between coal-based power system emissions and ambient air quality in the upper Ohio River Valley region through the collection of chemically resolved or speciated data. In order to provide a ''stand alone'' document, this report contains updated versions of Section 1 (Introduction) and Section 2 (Experimental) in their entirety from the first report.

Lithium/solid polymer electrolyte (Li/SPE) secondary batteries are under intense development as power sources for portable electronic devices as well as electric vehicles. These batteries offer high specific energy, high energy density, very low self-discharge rates, and flexibility in packaging; however, problems have inhibited their introduction into the marketplace. This report summarizes findings to examine processes that occur with Li/SPE secondary batteries upon cyclic charging/discharging. The report includes a detailed analysis of the impedance measured on the Li/SPE/IC and IC/SPE/IC systems. The SPE was a derivative of methoxyethoxyethoxyphosphazene (MEEP) with lithium triflate salt as the electrolyte, while the intercalated cathodes (IC) comprised mixtures of manganese dioxide, carbon powder, and MEEP as a binder. Studies on symmetrical Li/SPE/Li laminates show that cycling results in a significant expansion of the structure over the first few tens of cycles; however, no corresponding increase in the impedance was noted. The cycle life of the intercalation cathode was found to be very sensitive to the method of fabrication. Results indicate that the cycle life is due to the failure of the IC, not to the failure of the lithium/SPE interface. A pattern recognition neural network was developed to predict the cycle life of a battery from …

Advanced electronic magnetic resonance (EMR) as well as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods have been used to examine properties of coals, chars, and molecular species related to constituents of coal. During the span of this grant, progress was made on construction and applications to coals and chars of two high frequency EMR systems particularly appropriate for such studies--48 GHz and 95 GHz electron magnetic resonance spectrometer, on new low-frequency dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) experiments to examine the interaction between water and the surfaces of suspended char particulates in slurries, and on a variety of proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to measure characteristics of the water directly in contact with the surfaces and pore spaces of carbonaceous particulates.

Work has begun under three major tasks of this project. With respect to increasing the circumferential strength of a MA956 tube, approximately 60 MA956 rods have been extruded using a 20:1 extrusion ratio and extrusion temperatures of 1000, 1075, 1150, and 1200 C. Also, creep testing is underway for the purpose of determining the ''stress threshold'' curves for this alloy. Regarding joining of the alloy MA956, work has begun on the friction welding, magnetic impulse welding, explosive welding, and transient liquid phase bonding aspects of this project. And finally, material is being prepared for the laboratory fire-side high temperature corrosion tests, with potential gas and deposits for a typical Vision 21 plant being reviewed for final determination of these variables in the test program.

Faculty and students from five universities (Kentucky, West Virginia, Utah, Pittsburgh and Auburn) are collaborating on a basic research program to develop novel C1 chemistry processes for the production of clean, high quality transportation fuel. An Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) with members from Chevron, Eastman Chemical, Energy International, Teir Associates, and the Department of Defense has been formed to provide practical guidance to the program. The program has two principal objectives. (1) Develop technology for conversion of C1 source materials (natural gas, synthesis gas, carbon dioxide and monoxide, and methanol) into clean, high efficiency transportation fuel. (2) Develop novel processes for producing hydrogen from natural gas and other hydrocarbons. Some of the principal accomplishments of the program in its first two years are: (1) The addition of acetylenic compounds in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is found to produce significant amounts of oxygenated products in FT diesel fuels. Such oxygenated products should decrease particulate matter (PM) emissions. (2) Nanoscale, binary, Fe-based catalysts supported on alumina have been shown to have significant activity for the decomposition of methane into pure hydrogen and potentially valuable multi-walled carbon nanotubes. (3) Catalytic synthesis processes have been developed for synthesis of diethyl carbonate, higher ethers, and higher alcohols …

This is the third semi-annual technical progress report summarizing observations and tentative conclusions drawn from evaluations of the data captured to date from the operation of the ambient PM{sub 2.5} speciation sites in a geographical area encompassing southeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northwestern West Virginia. The overall goal of this program, called the Upper Ohio River Valley Project (UORVP), is to better understand the relationship between coal-based power system emissions and ambient air quality in the upper Ohio River Valley region through the collection of chemically resolved or speciated data. In order to provide a ''stand alone'' document, this report contains updated versions of Section 1 (Introduction) and Section 2 (Experimental) in their entirety from the first report.

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This report presents a brief overview of the activities and tasks accomplished during the first half year (October 1, 2000-March 31, 2001) of the fourth project year budget period (October 1, 2000-September 30, 2001). An executive summary is presented initially followed by the tasks of the current budget period. Then, detailed description of the experimental and modeling investigations are presented. Subsequently, the technical and scientific results of the activities of this project period are presented with some discussions. The findings of this investigation are summarized in the ''Conclusions'' section followed by relevant references. The fourth project year activities are divided into three main parts, which are carried out in parallel. The first part is continuation of the experimental program that includes a study of the oil/water two-phase behavior at high pressures and control system development for the three-phase GLCC{copyright}. This investigation will be eventually extended for three-phase flow. The second part consists of the development of a simplified mechanistic model incorporating the experimental results and behavior of dispersion of oil in water and water in oil. This will provide an insight into the hydrodynamic flow behavior and serve as the design tool for the industry. Although useful for sizing GLCC{copyright} …