A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In October 2000, Congress passed the International Anticorruption and Good Governance Act (P.L. 106-309). The purpose of this legislation is to promote good governance by helping other countries combat corruption and improve government transparency and accountability. U.S. agencies spent about $33 million per year in fiscal years 2001-2002 providing anticorruption assistance to 22 sub-Saharan African countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided the majority of this assistance, along with the Departments of the Treasury, Justice, Commerce, and State. To help Congress oversee management of anticorruption programs in sub-Saharan Africa, GAO was asked to examine (1) what is known about the extent of corruption in the region, (2) the factors that give rise to corruption in this region, (3) the anticorruption assistance U.S. agencies have provided, and (4) the lessons about anticorruption assistance that U.S. agencies and other international organizations have learned."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2003, we issued our report on the results of our audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ending September 30, 2003 and 2002, and on the effectiveness of its internal controls as of September 30, 2003. We also reported our conclusions on IRS's compliance with significant provisions of selected laws and regulations and on whether IRS's financial management systems substantially comply with requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996. A separate report on the implementation status of recommendations from our prior IRS financial audits and related financial management reports including this one will be issued shortly. The purpose of this report is to discuss issues identified during our fiscal year 2003 audit regarding internal controls and accounting procedures that could be improved for which we do not presently have any recommendations outstanding. Although not all of these issues were discussed in our fiscal year 2003 audit report, they all warrant management's consideration."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether 49 U.S.C. § 14501(c)(1) preempts chapter 145 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code (RQ-0123-GA)

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The objective of this paper is to introduce the process and philosophies used to develop LLNL methodology for performing nonnuclear safety bases. Our former approach needed revision in order to implement the new Work Smart Standard (WSS), 'Safety Basis Requirements for Nonnuclear Facilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Site Specific Standard' (UCRL-ID-150214), approved in 2003 and revised January, 2004. This work relates directly to the following workshop theme: 'Improvements in Chemical, Biological, and Non-nuclear Safety analysis.' A requirements document, Environmental Safety and Health Manual, Document 3.1 provides safety bases methodology 'how-to' for LLNL personnel. This methodology document had to undergo a major revision, and essentially was completely re-written, since the nonnuclear requirements underwent a major change due to the new standard. The new methodology was based on a graded approach respective to risk level for each hazard type and facility classification. The development process included input from a cross-section of representatives of LLNL organizations at every step in the process. The initial methodology was tested in a pilot project that resulted in completed safety basis analyses and documentation for a major facility at LLNL. Feedback from the pilot was used to refine the methodology. The new methodology promotes a graded …

Results from the first use of Focused Ion Beam (FIB) technology to section Bacillus spores at LLNL in a dual-beam (electron and ion) instrument is presented and discussed. With the use of a dual-beam instrument, high resolution imaging of single spores using low voltage scanning electron microscopy followed by FIB sectioning, SEM imaging of internal structure of the same spore is demonstrated to be possible. Additionally, FIB is shown to be able to precisely micro-machine spores thus potentially facilitating micro-scale experiments on single spores.

Successful operation in NSTX of two prototype fast-response micro ionization gauges during plasma operations has motivated us to install five gauges at different toroidal and poloidal locations to measure the edge neutral pressure and its dependence on the type of discharge (L-mode, H-mode, CHI) and the fueling method and location. The edge neutral pressure is also used as an input to the transport analysis codes TRANSP and DEGAS-2. The modified PDX-type Penning gauges are well suited for pressure measurements in the NSTX divertor where the toroidal field is relatively high. Behind the NSTX outer divertor plates where the field is lower, an unshielded fast ion gauge of a new design has been installed. This gauge was developed after laboratory testing of several different designs in a vacuum chamber with applied magnetic fields.

The Chemical Engineering Division is one of six divisions within the Engineering Research Directorate at Argonne National Laboratory, one of the U.S. government's oldest and largest research laboratories. The University of Chicago oversees the laboratory on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Argonne's mission is to conduct basic scientific research, to operate national scientific facilities, to enhance the nation's energy resources, to promote national security, and to develop better ways to manage environmental problems. Argonne has the further responsibility of strengthening the nation's technology base by developing innovative technology and transferring it to industry. The Division is a diverse early-stage engineering organization, specializing in the treatment of spent nuclear fuel, development of advanced electrochemical power sources, and management of both high- and low-level nuclear wastes. Additionally, the Division operates the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, which provides a broad range of analytical services to Argonne and other organizations. The Division is multidisciplinary. Its people have formal training in chemistry; physics; materials science; and electrical, mechanical, chemical, and nuclear engineering. They are specialists in electrochemistry, ceramics, metallurgy, catalysis, materials characterization, nuclear magnetic resonance, repository science, and the nuclear fuel cycle. Our staff have experience working in and collaborating with university, industry …

The incompressibility of the phase flow of Hamiltonian wave-plasma interactions restrains the class of realizable wave-driven transformations of the particle distribution. After the interaction, the distribution remains composed of the original phase-space elements, or local densities, which are only rearranged (''restacked'') by the wave. A variational formalism is developed to study the corresponding limitations on the energy and momentum transfer. A case of particular interest is a toroidal plasma immersed in a dc magnetic field. The restacking algorithm by Gardner [Phys. Fluids 6, 839 (1963)] is formulated precisely. The minimum energy state for a plasma with a given current is determined

Predictions of increasing levels of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) and the specter of global warming have intensified research efforts to identify ways to sequester carbon. A number of novel avenues of research are being considered, including bioprocessing methods to promote and accelerate biosequestration of CO{sub 2} from the environment through the growth of organisms such as coccolithophorids, which are capable of sequestering CO{sub 2} relatively permanently. Calcium and magnesium carbonates are currently the only proven, long-term storage reservoirs for carbon. Whereas organic carbon is readily oxidized and releases CO{sub 2} through microbial decomposition on land and in the sea, carbonates can sequester carbon over geologic time scales. This proposal investigates the use of coccolithophorids single-celled, marine algae that are the major global producers of calcium carbonate to sequester CO{sub 2} emissions from power plants. Cultivation of coccolithophorids for calcium carbonate (CaCO{sub 3}) precipitation is environmentally benign and results in a stable product with potential commercial value. Because this method of carbon sequestration does not impact natural ecosystem dynamics, it avoids controversial issues of public acceptability and legality associated with other options such as direct injection of CO{sub 2} into the sea and ocean fertilization. Consequently, cultivation of coccolithophorids could …

Off-axis rf-driven current can play a critical role in sustaining high Beta spherical torus (ST) plasmas without a central solenoid. Numerical modeling of electron Bernstein wave current drive (EBWCD) for a {Beta} {approx} 40% ST plasma predicts efficient, off-axis, Ohkawa EBWCD. Current can be efficiently driven at r/a greater than 0.5 where the large trapped electron fraction precludes conventional Fisch-Boozer current drive and provides near-ideal conditions for Ohkawa EBWCD. Also, Ohkawa EBWCD efficiency increases with r/a. Enhancement over Fisch-Boozer current drive is a factor of two at r/a {approx} 0.2 rising to over an order of magnitude at r/a {approx} 0.5.

A thin foil Faraday cup array is being built to measure the loss of 3.5 MeV alpha particles and MeV ion cyclotron heating (ICH) tail ions on JET. It will consist of nine detectors spread over five different poloidal locations and three radial positions. They will measure the poloidal distribution and radial scrape off of the losses. The detectors will be comprised of four layers of thin (2.5 micron) Ni foil, giving some resolution of the lost particle energy distribution as different ranges of energies will stop in different layers of the detector. One detector will utilize eight thinner (1.0 micron) foils to obtain a better resolved energy distribution. These detectors will accept particles incident up to 45{sup o} from the normal to the foils.

In December of 2003 a large amount of water from the Santa Rosa wastewater project began being pumped to The Geysers for injection. Millions of dollars are being spent on this injection project in the anticipation that the additional fluid will not only extend the life of The Geysers but also greatly increase the net amount of energy extracted. Optimal use of the injected water, however, will require that the water be injected at the right place, in the right amount and at the proper rate. It has been shown that Microearthquake (MEQ) generation is a direct indicator of the effect of fluid injection at The Geysers (Majer and McEvilly 1979; Eberhart-Phillips and Oppenheimer 1984; Enedy et al. 1992; Stark 1992; Kirkpatrick et al. 1999; Smith et al. 2000). It is one of the few, if not only methods, practical to monitor the volumetric effect of water injection at The Geysers. At the beginning of this project there was not a detailed MEQ response, Geysers-wide, to a large influx of water such as will be the case from the Santa Rosa injection project. New technology in MEQ acquisition and analysis, while used in parts of The Geysers for short periods …

Gas Technology Institute is developing a novel concept of membrane gasifier for high efficiency, clean and low cost production of hydrogen from coal. The concept incorporates a hydrogen-selective membrane within a gasification reactor for direct extraction of hydrogen from coal synthesis gases. The objective of this project is to determine the technical and economic feasibility of this concept by screening, testing and identifying potential candidate membranes under high temperature, high pressure, and harsh environments of the coal gasification conditions. The best performing membranes will be selected for preliminary reactor design and cost estimates. To evaluate the performances of the candidate membranes under the gasification conditions, a high temperature/high pressure hydrogen permeation unit will be constructed in this project. During this reporting period, the mechanical construction of the permeation unit was completed. Commissioning and shake down tests are being conducted. The unit is capable of operation at temperatures up to 1100 C and pressures to 60 atm for evaluation of ceramic membranes such as mixed ionic conducting membrane. The membranes to be tested will be in disc form with a diameter of about 3 cm. Operation at these high temperatures and high hydrogen partial pressures will demonstrate commercially relevant hydrogen flux, …

Recent progress in simulation methodologies and high-performance parallel computers have made it is possible to perform detailed simulations of multidimensional reacting flow phenomena using comprehensive kinetics mechanisms. As simulations become larger and more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to extract useful information from the numerical solution, particularly regarding the interactions of the chemical reaction and diffusion processes. In this paper we present a new diagnostic tool for analysis of numerical simulations of reacting flow. Our approach is based on recasting an Eulerian flow solution in a Lagrangian frame. Unlike a conventional Lagrangian view point that follows the evolution of a volume of the fluid, we instead follow specific chemical elements, e.g., carbon, nitrogen, etc., as they move through the system . From this perspective an ''atom'' is part of some molecule of a species that is transported through the domain by advection and diffusion. Reactions cause the atom to shift from one chemical host species to another and the subsequent transport of the atom is given by the movement of the new species. We represent these processes using a stochastic particle formulation that treats advection deterministically and models diffusion and chemistry as stochastic processes. In this paper, we discuss the …

The conceptual and predictive models documented in this Engineered Barrier System: Physical and Chemical Environment Model report describe the evolution of the physical and chemical conditions within the waste emplacement drifts of the repository. The modeling approaches and model output data will be used in the total system performance assessment (TSPA-LA) to assess the performance of the engineered barrier system and the waste form. These models evaluate the range of potential water compositions within the emplacement drifts, resulting from the interaction of introduced materials and minerals in dust with water seeping into the drifts and with aqueous solutions forming by deliquescence of dust (as influenced by atmospheric conditions), and from thermal-hydrological-chemical (THC) processes in the drift. These models also consider the uncertainty and variability in water chemistry inside the drift and the compositions of introduced materials within the drift. This report develops and documents a set of process- and abstraction-level models that constitute the engineered barrier system: physical and chemical environment model. Where possible, these models use information directly from other process model reports as input, which promotes integration among process models used for total system performance assessment. Specific tasks and activities of modeling the physical and chemical environment are …

During this quarter, work was focused on testing layered composite membranes under varying feed stream flow rates at high pressure. By optimizing conditions, H{sub 2} permeation rates in excess of 400 mL {center_dot} min{sup -1} {center_dot} cm{sup -2} at 440 C were measured. Membrane stability was characterized by repeated thermal and pressure cycling. The effect of cermet grain size on permeation was determined. Finally, progress is summarized on thin film cermet fabrication, catalyst development, and H{sub 2} separation unit scale up.

The objective of this study was to examine the homogeneous and heterogeneous reduction of Cr(VI) by dissolved Fe(II) and Fe(II)-containing minerals under conditions thought to be indicative of HLW fluids (high pH, high ionic strength and high temperature). Many investigators have reported the homogeneous reduction of Cr(VI) by dissolved FE(ii), but less information is available for Ph values > 8. The first part of this effort evaluated the ability of dissolved Fe(II) to reduce dissolved Cr(VI) in hyperalkaline solutions.

In an ongoing project to relate surface hydrothermal alteration to structurally controlled geothermal aquifers, we mapped a 16 km swath of the eastern front of the Stillwater Range using Hyperspectral fault and mineral mapping techniques. The Dixie Valley Fault system produces a large fractured aquifer heating Pleistocene aged groundwater to a temperature of 285 C at 5-6 km. Periodically over the last several thousand years, seismic events have pushed these heated fluids to the surface, leaving a rich history of hydrothermal alteration in the Stillwater Mountains. At Dixie Hot Springs, the potentiometric surface of the aquifer intersects the surface, and 75 C waters flow into the valley. We find a high concentration of alunite, kaolinite, and dickite on the exposed fault surface directly adjacent to a series of active fumaroles on the range front fault. This assemblage of minerals implies interaction with water in excess of 200 C. Field spectra support the location of the high temperature mineralization. Fault mapping using a Digital Elevation Model in combination with mineral lineation and field studies shows that complex fault interactions in this region are improving permeability in the region leading to unconfined fluid flow to the surface. Seismic studies conducted 10 km …

The early nonlinear phase of Rayleigh-Taylor growth is typically described in terms of the classic Layzer model in which bubbles of light fluid rise into the heavy fluid at a constant rate determined by the bubble radius and the gravitational acceleration. However, this model is strictly valid only for planar interfaces and hence ignores any effects which might be introduced by the spherically converging interfaces of interest in inertial confinement fusion. Here a generalization of the Layzer nonlinear bubble rise rate is given for a self-similar spherically converging flow of the type studied by Kidder. A simple formula for the bubble amplitude is found showing that, while the bubble initially rises with a constant velocity similar to the Layzer result, during the late phase of the implosion, an acceleration of the bubble rise rate occurs. The bubble rise rate is verified by comparison with numerical hydrodynamics simulations.

The purpose of the study described in this report was to generate maps and statistics that quantify contamination in groundwater, based on historical groundwater concentration data for multiple points in time. The results generated from this study include several quantitative summaries of contaminant distributions (e.g., the location of the center of mass of contaminant plumes and the total mass of contaminants in the plume) and are collectively referred to as history matching data. A primary goal of this study was to use geostatistical and Monte Carlo methods that allow one to provide an estimate of uncertainty in the history matching data generated.

Heulandite is a common rock-forming zeolite that exhibits wide solid solution of extra framework cations, presumably due to ready ion exchange with aqueous solutions. In order to provide a quantitative basis for interpreting and predicting the distribution of aqueous species between heulandite and aqueous solutions, ion exchange equilibrium between heulandite and aqueous solutions with respect to the binary cation pairs Ca{sup 2+} - K{sup +}, Ca{sup 2+} - Na{sup +}, K{sup +} - Na{sup +}, K{sup +} - Sr{sup 2+}, Na{sup +} - Sr{sup 2+}, and Ca{sup 2+} - Sr{sup 2+} was investigated. Homoionic Ca-, K-, and Na-heulandites prepared from natural heulandite were equilibrated with 0.1 N Cl{sup -} solutions containing various proportions of the cations in a given binary pair at 55 and 85 C to define isotherms describing partitioning of the cations over a wide range of heulandite and solution composition with respect to the cations in each pair. In general, the experiments equilibrated rapidly, within 11-15 weeks at 55 C and 3-4 weeks at 85 C. The exception was the Ca{sup 2+} - Sr{sup 2+} binary exchange, which did not equilibrate even after 3 months at 55 C and 4 weeks at 85 C. Slow exchange of …

The Microsensors Program was born out the need for enhanced sensor technology in support of the Weapons Program. In the interest of expanded diagnostic capabilities to provide true performance characteristics of weapon assemblies in flight and ground tests, a suite of sensor requirements was proposed. These potential new sensor technologies were envisioned to be completely unobtrusive and allow for the development of test vehicles (mock warheads and bomb assemblies) that were designed to mechanical and electrical specifications as close to the stockpile weapon design configuration as possible. The closeness of a test vehicle design to the respective stockpile weapon design is referred to as ''fidelity,'' with the term ''high-fidelity'' to mean all components are designed to emulate, very closely, the true system design. These efforts were in line with many activities associated with Stockpile Stewardship and were intended to enable better modeling and performance assessment without the need for underground testing. Several weapons are currently undergoing Life Extension Programs (LEP) to lengthen each weapon system's respective service life. The ability to assess the projected life of these complex assemblies is crucial to the success of the LEP activities.