A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to clean up nuclear waste at DOE's Savannah River Site in South Carolina, focusing on: (1) the factors causing the project's delays and cost growth; (2) the effect of the in-tank precipitation process project's suspension on the Savannah River Site's cleanup plans and costs; and (3) DOE's plans for developing an alternative technology for separating high-level waste from the liquid."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the contribution of federal programs and policies to urban sprawl, focusing on: (1) the origins and implications of urban sprawl; (2) evidence that exists on the influence of federal programs and policies on urban sprawl; and (3) regulatory review and coordination mechanisms evaluating and mitigating the effects of federal actions on urban sprawl."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO recommended actions it believes the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should take to improve its efforts to develop and deploy its Automated Land and Mineral Record System (ALMRS)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Retired Enlisted Association, Incorporated, for the fiscal years ended December 31, 1995, 1996, and 1997, focusing on whether the audit report complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Postal Service's Preliminary Performance Plan for fiscal year (FY) 2000."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Reserve Officers Association of the United States for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998, focusing on whether the audit report complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the National Ski Patrol System, Incorporated, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1998, focusing on whether the audit report complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) 10-year business plan, focusing on whether the 10-year plan: (1) addresses key issues facing TVA; (2) takes into consideration all applicable costs and revenue sources; (3) contains goals and assumptions that are achievable or reasonable and in line with industry estimates and expectations; and (4) has been updated to reflect significant changes in key goals and assumptions or actual experience."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the readiness of the insurance industry to meet the year 2000 date change, focusing on: (1) what state regulators were doing to oversee the year 2000 readiness of the insurance industry; (2) how the regulatory oversight of the insurance industry's year 2000 readiness compared with the oversight of the banking and securities industries; (3) the status of the insurance industry's year 2000 readiness; and (4) the nature and extent of year 2000 liability exposures that insurers face and the mitigation efforts taken to address such exposures."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) modernization investment management approach as carried out through the Acquisition Management System (AMS), focusing on the extent to which FAA, through AMS: (1) has established a structured approach for selecting and controlling its investments; (2) incorporates all investments, including those in operation, in the agency's portfolio; and (3) selects, controls, and evaluates its investments with complete and reliable information."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined whether the Department of Energy's (DOE) expenses to close out its participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project were reasonable."

Using electroless deposition of palladium thin-films on a microporous ceramic substrate, we developed a hydrogen-selective palladium-ceramic composite membrane. The new membrane has significantly higher permeability and selectivity for hydrogen than many of the commercially available dense-metallic membrane. The hydrogen permeability of the new membrane increases with increasing temperature. These properties make it an ideal candidate for use in membrane reactors to study dehydrogenation reactions by equilibrium shift. To investigate the usefulness of the new membrane in membrane reactor-separator configuration, a model for studying dehydrogenation of cyclohexane by equilibrium in a membrane reactor is developed. Radial diffusion is considered to account for the concentration gradient in the radial direction due to permeation through the membrane. The model is investigated with and without the reaction. In the non-reaction case, a mixture of argon, benzene, cyclohexane, and hydrogen is used in the reaction side and argon is used in the separation side. In the case of dehydrogenation reaction, the feed stream to the reaction side contained hydrogen and argon while in the separation side argon is used as sweep gas. Equilibrium conversion for dehydrogenation of cyclohexane is 18.7%. Present study shows that 100% conversion can be achieved by equilibrium shift using Pd-Ceramic membrane …

It is well known that natural and synthetic zeolites (molecular sieves) can adsorb gaseous SO{sub 2} from flue gas and do it more efficiently than lime based scrubbing materials. Unfortunately their cost ($500-$800 per ton) has deterred their use in this capacity. It is also known that zeolites are easy to synthesize from a variety of natural and man-made materials. The overall objective of the current work has been to evaluate the feasibility of having a utility synthesize its own zeolites, on-site, from fly ash and other recycled materials and then use these zeolites to adsorb SO{sub 2} from their flue gases. Work to date has shown that the efficiency of the capture process is related to the degree of crystallinity and the type of zeolite that forms in the samples. Normally, those samples cured at 150 C contained a greater proportion of zeolite and as such were more SO{sub 2} adsorptive than their low-temperature counterparts. However, in order for the project to be successful, on site synthesis must remain an option, i.e. 100 C synthesis. In light of this, the experimental focus now has two aspects. First, compositions of the starting materials are being altered by blending the current …

The interaction of plasmas with intense lasers is an excellent example of how different fields of physics are inter-connected. Invention of the laser and its ongoing development has allowed the creation and study of high temperature, dense matter in the laboratory. The results both advance the underlying plasma science and are relevant to many fields ranging from astrophysics to fusion and nonlinear physics. A brief overview of the interaction physics is given. Selected topics are discussed to illustrate the exciting progress in experimental, theoretical and computational investigations with focused laser intensities up to 10{sup 21} W/cm{sup 2}.

INFOSEC Experience-Based Training (IEBT) is a simulation and modeling approach to education in the arena of information security issues and its application to system-specific operations. The IEBT philosophy is that ''Experience is the Best Teacher''. This approach to computer-based training aims to bridge the gap between unappealing ''read the text, answer the questions'' types of training (largely a test of short-term memory), and the far more costly, time-consuming and inconvenient ''real hardware'' laboratory experience. Simulation and modeling supports this bridge by allowing the critical or salient features to be exercised while avoiding those aspects of a real world experience unrelated to the training goal.

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) ability to close the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site by the end of 2006, focusing on: (1) DOE's plans for accelerating the site's closure and challenges that could impede closure; (2) the condition of the site at closure and the activities that will remain after closure; and (3) the costs of closing the site and the savings expected from accelerating its closure."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) Paths to Closure report, which details DOE's strategy to accelerate its hazardous waste cleanup efforts, focusing on the: (1) methodologies and assumptions used to develop the Paths to Closure report and any associated limitations; (2) uncertainties in the Paths to Closure report that may affect its usefulness; and (3) funding implications related to the cost of cleanup."

The West Valley Nuclear Services Co. LLC (WVNS) is committed to provide a safe, clean, working environment for employees, and to implement U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requirements affecting worker safety. The West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) Occupational Safety and Health Program is designed to protect the safety, health, and well-being of WVDP employees by identifying, evaluating, and controlling biological, chemical, and physical hazards in the work place. Hazards are controlled within the requirements set forth in the reference section at the end of this report. It is the intent of the WVDP Occupational Safety and Health Program to assure that each employee is provided with a safe and healthy work environment. This report shows the logical path toward ensuring employee safety in planning work at the WVDP. In general, planning work to be performed safely includes: combining requirements from specific programs such as occupational safety, industrial hygiene, radiological control, nuclear safety, fire safety, environmental protection, etc.; including WVDP employees in the safety decision-making processes; pre-planning using safety support re-sources; and integrating the safety processes into the work instructions. Safety management principles help to define the path forward for the WVDP Occupational Safety and Health Program. Roles, responsibilities, and authority …

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

This report details the work undertaken at ANSTO under Project 2 of the State of Work with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (document B345772). In this Statement of Work, it was detailed that the following tasks would be carried out: Task 2.1--Corrosion tests on monoliths. This task was to assess the durability of ''impurity samples'' produced in Task 1.4, and ''near-equilibrium processing condition samples'' produced in Task 1.2. Task 2.2--Corrosion tests on powdered samples. This task was to determine the forward dissolution rate of single-phase materials using a single-pass-flow-through test (SPFT). Task 2.3--Physical property measurements. These results have been reported elsewhere and will not be included in this report. Task 2.4--Natural mineral analogue studies. These studies were to be undertaken to document the geological durability of natural brannerites. This report provides results of the work undertaken in Tasks 2.1, 2.2 and 2.4 until the end of April 1999.

No plant and animal species protected under the Endangered Species Act, candidates for such protection, or species listed by the Washington state government were observed in the vicinity of the proposed sites. Piper's daisy is a Washington State Sensitive plant species, and as such is a Level III resource under the Hanford Site Biological Resources Management Plan. Compensatory mitigation is appropriate for this species when adverse impacts cannot be avoided. The stalked pod and crouching milkvetchs are relatively common throughout 200 West area, therefore even if the few individuals within the active burial grounds are disturbed, it is not likely that the overall local population will be adversely affected. The Watch List is the lowest level of listing for plant species of concern in the State of Washington. No adverse impacts to species or habitats of concern are expected to occur from routine maintenance within the active portions of the 218-W-4C, 218-W-4B, 218-W-3, 218-W-3A, a nd 218-W-5 burial grounds, as well as the portion of 218-E-12B currently used for storage of retired submarine reactor cores. The remaining portions of the 218-E-12B burial ground, the entire 218-E-10 burial ground, and the 218-W-6 burial ground currently have extensive vegetative cover and it …

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The objective of this project was to improve the performance and the fabrication of cadmium zinc telluride room temperature gamma ray detetors This paper outlines the necessity for controlled surface preparation and deposition of ohmic contacts.

Many companies or governmental entities provide or use transportation systems that are heavily dependent on computers, software, and other technologies that do not have Y2K problems, e.g., they are Y2K compliant or ready. Some transportation systems, however, still use technologies with Y2K problems, which if left uncorrected, could pose safety risks or efficiency concerns on or after January 1, 2000. The extent and nature of those impacts are expected to vary among the modes of transportation and among various providers or users. In addition, Y2K-related problems occurring in the communications and energy industries could reduce the safety and efficiency of some transportation systems in early January 2000. Operations at some foreign ports and international air traffic control systems with Y2K problems also could adversely affect shipments and flights into and out of the United States. The total amount that has been spent to assess and fix Y2K problems affecting transportation is not known, but estimates suggest that at least $1 billion of private sector, transit authority, and federal funds have been or will soon be allocated for that purpose.