This report discusses the burden of a national debt, the view among economists, the federal budget deficits, and the financial burden that future generations will inherit, a larger privately owned capital stock and a higher level of income.

Constant or repeated exposure to sounds of 90 decibels or higher can lead to hearing loss, and noise exposure is responsible for hearing impairment in about 10 million people in the United States. To limit the public's exposure to potentially harmful sound levels, the federal government sets and enforces uniform noise control standards for aircraft and airports, interstate motor carriers and railroads, workplace activities, medium and heavy-duty trucks, motorcycles and mopeds, portable air compressors, and federally assisted housing projects located in noise exposed areas.

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 Defense's (DOD) authority, which was established under Section 845 of the Fiscal Year 1994 National Defense Authorization Act, to use nonstandard contracting approaches to procure research and development services, focusing on: (1) the extent to which DOD has used Section 845 agreements; (2) the benefits reported from their use; (3) how DOD tailored these agreements to address issues normally governed by standard contract provisions; and (4) recent DOD efforts to provide additional guidance on their use."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed issues related to the closing of the Lorton correctional facilities that house felon inmates from the District of Columbia and the transfer of these inmates to the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), focusing on: (1) the D.C. Department of Corrections' response to the Office of the Corrections Trustee's 1999 recommendations on the Youngstown prison facility; (2) BOP's efforts to comply with the privatization requirements of the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997; and (3) any challenges concerning the closing of Lorton faced by the District of Columbia and BOP as December 31, 2001, the statutory date for closing all of Lorton, nears."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) research on a home health prospective payment system (PPS), focusing on: (1) the objectives, findings, and costs of the research and demonstration projects HCFA has funded that were related to the design of the PPS; and (2) how these projects contributed to the proposed PPS design and which design decisions were based on incomplete information."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) efforts to improve its accountability, focusing on the: (1) agency's new approach and the status of its implementation; and (2) extent to which the approach will improve accountability."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Veterans Benefits Administration's (VBA) claims processing procedures, focusing on: (1) practices that individual regional offices believe have helped them improve the accuracy of their disability decisions and remand rates; and (2) VBA's efforts to evaluate and disseminate information on individual regional office practices that hold promise for improving accuracy and remand rates of regional offices nationwide."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed a public opinion survey regarding the United States Mint's promotion of the new dollar coin as the "Golden Dollar," focusing on whether the public: (1) has seen or heard any advertising of the new dollar coin; and (2) believes the new dollar coin contains any gold on the basis of that advertising or the use of the term "Golden Dollar.""

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) continuous levy program, focusing on: (1) the number of taxpayers that could be subject to a continuous levy, the revenue that might be generated, and the cost to IRS to have the Financial Management Service (FMS) levy the federal payments of those taxpayers; (2) issues that could delay program implementation or otherwise affect revenues from the program; (3) the controls and testing that IRS and FMS have planned to prevent levying taxpayers not subject to levy and to prevent levying payments for more than the taxpayer owes; and (4) changes, if any, IRS and FMS could make to yield increased revenues from the program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed five foreign countries' efforts to combat terrorism, focusing on: (1) how other governments are organized to combat terrorism; and (2) how they allocate their resources to combat terrorism."

This analysis demonstrates that a satisfactory ground control system can be designed for the Yucca Mountain site, and provides the technical basis for the design of ground support systems to be used in repository emplacement and non-emplacement drifts. The repository ground support design was based on analytical methods using acquired computer codes, and focused on the final support systems. A literature review of case histories, including the lessons learned from the design and construction of the ESF, the studies on the seismic damages of underground openings, and the use of rock mass classification systems in the ground support design, was conducted (Sections 6.3.4 and 6.4). This review provided some basis for determining the inputs and methodologies used in this analysis. Stability of the supported and unsupported emplacement and non-emplacement drifts was evaluated in this analysis. The excavation effects (i.e., state of the stress change due to excavation), thermal effects (i.e., due to heat output from waste packages), and seismic effects (i.e., from potential earthquake events) were evaluated, and stress controlled modes of failure were examined for two in situ stress conditions (k_0=0.3 and 1.0) using rock properties representing rock mass categories of 1 and 5. Variation of rock mass units …

This paper describes how the Nuclear Materials Identification System (NMIS), developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, was used to verify the mass and enrichment of hundreds of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) metal items in storage at the Y-12 Plant. The verifications had a relative spread of {+-}5% (3 sigma) with relative mean deviations from their declared values of +0.2% for mass and {minus}0.2% for enrichment. NMIS's capability to perform quantification of HEU enabled the Y-12 Plant to meet their nuclear material control and accountability (NMC and A) requirements. These verifications were performed in the storage vault in a very time and cost effective manner with as many as 55 verifications in one shift of operation.

This report contains the following three parts. (1) An investigation into the use of direct liquid hydrocarbon fuels in single cell tests. (2) An analysis of residual stresses in anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells. (3) A manuscript on the synthesis of nanosize ceramic (electrode and electrolyte) powders. Nanosize YSZ powder was prepared by a unique approach, in which yttria-doped BaZrO{sub 3} or yttria-doped Na{sub 2}ZrO{sub 3} precursors were first synthesized by a solid state reaction. Then, then the unwanted species, BaO or Na{sub 2}O, was leached away by washing the precursors in a dilute HNO{sub 3} solution or in water. This led to the formation of very fine, nanosize yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). The particle size of the as-synthesized YSZ powders was a few nanometers and increased to tens of nanometers after thermal treatment at a temperature as high as 1000 C. The as-synthesized as well as heat-treated YSZ powder was of cubic crystal structure.

Nanosize yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) was synthesized by a unique approach based on molecular decomposition. In this approach, yttria-doped BaZrO{sub 3} (Y-BaZrO{sub 3}) or yttria-doped Na{sub 2}ZrO{sub 3} (Y-Na{sub 2}ZrO{sub 3}) precursors were first synthesized from BaCO{sub 3}, ZrO{sub 2}, Y2O{sub 3} or BaCO{sub 3} and commercial YSZ for Y-BaZrO{sub 3}, and from Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3} and YSZ for Y-Na{sub 2}ZrO{sub 3}, by a conventional solid state reaction method. Then, the precursors were boiled to leach away the unwanted species, BaO or Na{sub 2}O, either in a dilute HNO{sub 3} solution in water in the case of Y-BaZrO{sub 3}, or in de-ionized water in the case of Y-Na{sub 2}ZrO{sub 3}. During boiling in HNO{sub 3} or water, the insoluble residue of Zr-Y-O composition formed fine, nanosize YSZ particles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and specific surface area measurements on the as-synthesized powders confirmed the formation of nanosize YSZ. A subsequent heating in air led to particle growth. However, for a treatment at a temperature as high as 1000 C, the particle size was well in the nanosize range. XRD showed that the as-synthesized YSZ powders, as well as those heated up to 1000 C, the maximum temperature the powders were heated to after …

This report describes QA verification exercises carried out for the computer codes applied in the analyses summarized ''Stress Intensity Factors for HFIR HB-2 Nozzle Corner'' (ORNL/TM-1999/159). Several benchmark problems are presented that establish the following: (1) The version of the finite-element mesh generator code ORNOZL used in the subject analyses reproduces the results of the two sample problems given in its previously published user's guide. (2) The ABAQUS code reproduces, independently of ORNOZL, the results of a benchmark verification problem given in its Example Problems Manual that compares linear-elastic stress intensity factors for semi-elliptical surface flaws to solutions published in the literature. (3) The ORNOZL/ABAQUS code combination was benchmarked against an approximate method for estimating linear-elastic stress-intensity factors for corner flaws in pressure vessel nozzles. In addition, all input and output files produced during the analyses described in ORNL/TM-1999/159 have been archived on an electronic medium (CD-R74-ORNL/TM-1999/159) and transmitted with this report to ORNL Research Reactors Division personnel for archival storage.

During this past six months we continued our ongoing studies of the diffusion controlled uptake of coal and petroleum asphaltenes into a porous carbon catalyst. Toluene was used as the solvent for experiments at 20 C and 75 C while 1-methylnaphthalene was the solvent for the higher temperature experiments at 100 C, 150 C and 250 C. All runs were made at a pressure of 250 psi (inert He gas). Experiments were performed at 20 C and 75 C, for the petroleum asphaltene/toluene system. For the coal asphaltene/toluene system, experiments were performed at 75 C. Experiments were performed at 100 C, 150 C and 250 C for the coal asphaltene/1-methylnaphthalene system. A comparison between the experimental data and model simulated data showed that the mathematical model satisfactorily fitted the adsorptive diffusion of both the coal and petroleum asphaltenes onto a porous activated carbon. The adsorption constant decreases with an increase in temperature for both, the coal asphaltene/1-methylnaphthalene system as well as the petroleum asphaltene/toluene system. It was found that the adsorption constant for the coal asphaltene/toluene system at 75 C was much higher than that of the petroleum asphaltene/toluene system at the same temperature providing evidence of the greater affinity …

The purpose of this document is to establish the facility Authorization Envelope (AE) for the 300 Liquid Effluent Facilities (LEP )Project and identify the requirements related to the maintenance of the AE as Specified in HNF-PRO-2701, Authorization Envelope and Authorization Agreement. The 300 LEF Project consists of two separate facilities operating under one management organization. They are the 310 Facility and the 340 Facility. The AE documents the limits of operations for all 300 LEF Project activities.

This study evaluated the ability of the electrical distribution system to support safe storage as well as the first phase of the Waste Feed Delivery. Several recommendations are made to improve the electrical system. The ability to assure adequate Waste Feed Delivery (WFD) to the Privatization Contractor's vitrification facility is a key element in the overall Hanford cleanup schedule. An important aspect of this WFD is the availability of sufficient and appropriate electrical power in the single- and double-shell tank farms. The methodology for performing this review and the results are described.

This task plan addresses the scope, schedule, and deliverables associated with preparation of the Long Length Contaminated Equipment Transport System for deployment in the Tank Farms.

The purpose of the transport methodology and component analysis is to provide the numerical methods for simulating radionuclide transport and model setup for transport in the unsaturated zone (UZ) site-scale model. The particle-tracking method of simulating radionuclide transport is incorporated into the FEHM computer code and the resulting changes in the FEHM code are to be submitted to the software configuration management system. This Analysis and Model Report (AMR) outlines the assumptions, design, and testing of a model for calculating radionuclide transport in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain. In addition, methods for determining colloid-facilitated transport parameters are outlined for use in the Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) analyses. Concurrently, process-level flow model calculations are being carrier out in a PMR for the unsaturated zone. The computer code TOUGH2 is being used to generate three-dimensional, dual-permeability flow fields, that are supplied to the Performance Assessment group for subsequent transport simulations. These flow fields are converted to input files compatible with the FEHM code, which for this application simulates radionuclide transport using the particle-tracking algorithm outlined in this AMR. Therefore, this AMR establishes the numerical method and demonstrates the use of the model, but the specific breakthrough curves presented do not …

This report discusses the burden of a national debt and who bears that burden, which is a matter of Congressional concern since the gross national debt of the United States stands at some $5.5 trillion dollars.

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