Program booklet for the 30th Actinide Separations Conference. Contains agenda and abstracts for 27 poster and 38 oral presentations to be made during the 3-day meeting, May 23-25, 2006.

In 2004 and 2005, Afghanistan adopted a permanent constitution and elected a president and a parliament. The parliament is emerging as a significant force in Afghan politics, as shown in debates over a new cabinet and the 2006 budget. See CRS Report RL30588, Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, by Kenneth Katzman.

Soil vapor extraction (SVE) combined with air injectionprovides an efficient way for the cleanup of vadose zone contaminated byvolatile organic chemicals (VOCs). A successful design of an SVE system,however, relies on a good knowledge of the induced gas flow field in thevadose zone. Analytical solutions are available to help understand thegas flow field at steady-state. However, most SVE systems must pass atransient period before reaching steady (or quasi-steady) state and thelength of the period should be system-specific. This paper presents ananalytical solution for transient gas flow in a vadose zone withextraction and injection wells. The transient solution approaches thesteady-state solution as time increases. Calculations have shown that fora shallow well (screened in a depth of less than 10 m) in a vadose zonewith an air permeability of 1 darcy (10-12 m2) or larger, the systemreaches steady-state in just several hours. Decreasing the airpermeability or increasing the screen depth increases the time to reachsteady-state. In practical applications the transient solution may berelatively insignificant in an SVE design. However, the solution can beimportant in site characterization through pneumatic tests. A procedureis provided for applying the dimensionless solution in estimating airpermeability and air-filled porosity. An example is also given to use thetransient solution …

The general principles of scaling are discussed, followed by a survey of the important dimensionless parameters of fluid dynamics including radiation and magnetic fields, and of non-LTE spectroscopy. The values of the parameters are reviewed for a variety of astronomical and laboratory environments. It is found that parameters involving transport coefficients--the fluid and magnetic Reynolds numbers--have enormous values for the astronomical problems that are not reached in the lab. The parameters that measure the importance of radiation are also scarcely reached in the lab. This also means that the lab environments are much closer to LTE than the majority of astronomical examples. Some of the astronomical environments are more magnetically dominated than anything in the lab. The conclusion is that a good astronomical environment for simulation in a given lab experiment can be found, but that the reverse is much more difficult.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The nation's long-term fiscal outlook is daunting. While the budget process has not caused the problems we face, the absence of meaningful budget controls and other mechanisms has served to compound our fiscal challenge. Conversely, a process that illuminates the looming fiscal pressures and provides appropriate incentives can at least help decision makers focus on the right questions. Meaningful budget controls and other mechanisms can also help to assure that difficult but necessary choices are made. The budget process needs to provide incentives and signals to address commitments the government has already made and better transparency for and controls on the long-term fiscal exposures being considered. Improvements would include the restoration of realistic discretionary caps; application of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) discipline to both mandatory spending and revenue legislation; the use of "triggers" for some mandatory programs; and better reporting of fiscal exposures."

“Falun Gong,” also known as “Falun Dafa,”1 combines an exercise regimen with meditation and moral tenets. The “Falun Gong” movement has led to the largest and most protracted public demonstrations in China since the democracy movement of 1989. On April 25, 1999, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 adherents assembled in front of Zhongnanhai, the Chinese Communist Party leadership compound, and participated in a silent protest against state repression of their activities. On July 21, 1999, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government, fearful of the spread of social unrest, outlawed the movement and began to arrest Falun Gong protesters.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Maintaining the right amount and types of items in its inventory--a key aspect of supply chain management--has been a long-standing challenge for the Department of Defense (DOD) and has been on GAO's list of high-risk areas since 1990. DOD retains inventory above its normal operating requirements for various reasons including for contingency purposes or because it is more economical to keep items than dispose and repurchase them later. DOD's inventory levels have grown in recent years to almost $80 billion in fiscal year 2005. GAO was asked to assess the management of contingency retention inventory to determine whether (1) the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Defense Logistics Agency have followed inventory guidance and (2) DOD is providing oversight of inventory across these components. Also, GAO provided an update on the progress DOD has made in implementing GAO's past recommendations on the components' management of economic retention inventory."

Pulse position modulation (PPM) in lasercom systems is known to provide potential advantages over other modulation schemes. [1]. In PPM, a periodic time frame is established and data is transmitted by placing a pulse in any one of several subintervals (or ''slots'') within each frame. In PPM/O-CDMA all users use the same frame structure and each transmits its unique address code in place of the PPM pulse. The advantage of PPM as a pulsed signal format is that (1) a single pulse can transmit multiple bits during each frame; (2) decoding (determining which subinterval contains the pulse) is by comparison rather than threshold tests (as in on-off-keying); (3) each user transmits in only a small fraction of the frame, hence the multi-access interference (MAI) of any user statistically spreads over the entire frame time, reducing the chance of overlap with any other user; and (4) under an average power constraint, increasing frame time increases the peak pulse power (i.e., PPM trades average power for peak power). The most straightforward approach to implementing PPM/O-CDMA data modulator inserts the PPM pulse modulation first, then imposes the O-CDMA coding. A pulsed PPM modulator converts bits (words) into pulse positions. In the case of …

The Actinide Removal Process (ARP) facility and the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) are scheduled to begin processing salt waste in fiscal year 2007. A portion of the streams generated in these salt processing facilities will be transferred to the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) to be incorporated in the glass matrix. Before the streams are introduced, a combination of impact analyses and research and development studies must be performed to quantify the impacts on DWPF processing. The Process Science & Engineering (PS&E) section of the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was requested via Technical Task Request (TTR) HLW/DWPF/TTR-2004-0031 to evaluate the impacts on DWPF processing. Simulant Chemical Process Cell (CPC) flowsheet studies have been performed using previous composition and projected volume estimates for the ARP sludge/monosodium titanate (MST) stream. Initial MCU incorporation testing for the DWPF flowsheet indicated unacceptable levels of Isopar{reg_sign}L were collecting in the Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) condenser system and unanticipated quantities of modifier were carrying over into the SRAT condenser system. This work was performed as part of Sludge Batch 4 (SB4) flowsheet testing and was reported by Baich et al. Due to changes in the flammability control strategy for DWPF …

This report discusses various budget issues regarding the Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency Program, which is conducted by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

This report discusses about energy tax policy. U.S energy tax policy promoted the supply of oil and gas but witnessed significant cutback, imposition of new excise taxes on oil and introduction of numerous tax preferences for energy conservation.

Extracellular cues play crucial roles in the transcriptional regulation of tissue-specific genes, but whether and how these signals lead to chromatin remodeling is not understood and subject to debate. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays and mammary-specific genes as models, we show here that extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules and prolactin cooperate to induce histone acetylation and binding of transcription factors and the SWI/SNF complex to the {beta}- and ?-casein promoters. Introduction of a dominant negative Brg1, an ATPase subunit of SWI/SNF complex, significantly reduced both {beta}- and ?-casein expression, suggesting that SWI/SNF-dependent chromatin remodeling is required for transcription of mammary-specific genes. ChIP analyses demonstrated that the ATPase activity of SWI/SNF is necessary for recruitment of RNA transcriptional machinery, but not for binding of transcription factors or for histone acetylation. Coimmunoprecipitation analyses showed that the SWI/SNF complex is associated with STAT5, C/EBP{beta}, and glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Thus, ECM- and prolactin-regulated transcription of the mammary-specific casein genes requires the concerted action of chromatin remodeling enzymes and transcription factors.

Nuclear Material Management (NMM) completed a comprehensive study at the request of the Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) in 2004 (Reference 11.1). The study evaluated the feasibility of removal and/or mitigation of the Pu-238 source term in the F-Area Material Storage (FAMS) facility during on-going material storage operations. The study recommended different options to remove and/or mitigate the Pu-238 source term depending on its location within the facility. During April 2005, the Department of Energy (DOE) sent a letter of direction (LOD) to Washington Savannah River Company (WSRC) directing WSRC to implement a new program direction that would enable an accelerated shutdown and decommissioning of FAMS (Reference 11.2). Further direction in the LOD stated that effective December 1, 2006 the facility will be transitioned to begin deactivation and decommissioning (D&D) activities. To implement the LOD, Site D&D (SDD) and DOE agreed the planning end-state would be demolition of the FAMS structure to the building slab. SDD developed the D&D strategy, preliminary cost and schedule, and issued the deactivation project plan in December 2005 (Reference 11.3). Due to concerns and questions regarding the FAMS planning end-state and in support of the project's Critical Decision 1, an alternative study …

The program scope was to affect the heat input and the resultant weld bead geometry by synchronizing robotic weave cycles with desired pulsed waveform shapes to develop process parameters relationships and optimized pulsed gas metal arc welding processes for welding fatique-critical structures of steel, high strength steel, and aluminum. Quality would be addressed by developing intelligent methods of weld measurement that accurately predict weld bead geometry from process information. This program was severely underfunded, and eventually terminated. The scope was redirected to investigate tandem narrow groove welding of steel butt joints during the one year of partial funding. A torch was designed and configured to perform a design of experiments of steel butt weld joints that validated the feasability of the process. An initial cost model estimated a 60% cost savings over conventional groove welding by eliminating the joint preparation and reducing the weld volume needed.

This report is a guide to one of the regular appropriations bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and the Senate Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. It summarizes the status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related congressional activity, and is updated as events warrant.

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A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Hurricane Katrina was one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history. Despite a large deployment of resources at all levels, many have regarded the federal response as inadequate. GAO has a body of ongoing work that covers the federal government's preparedness and response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This statement summarizes key points from GAO's report on the military's response to Katrina (GAO-06-643), which was issued earlier this month. It addresses (1) the support that the military provided in responding to Hurricane Katrina along with some of the challenges faced and key lessons learned; (2) actions needed to address these lessons, including GAO's recommendations to the Secretary of Defense; and (3) the extent to which the military is taking actions to identify and address the lessons learned. In its report, GAO made several recommendations to improve the military response to catastrophic disasters. The recommendations called for updating the National Response Plan to reflect proactive functions the military could perform in a catastrophic incident; improving military plans and exercises; improving National Guard, Reserve, and active force integration; and resolving response problems associated with damage assessment, …

The rate of long-term economic growth is the salient measure of the nation's ability to steady advance its material living standard. The pace of long-term economic growth is likely to be a center of attention in the decades just ahead, as the U.S. economy confronts the need to undertake unprecedentedly large generational transfers of income to pay for the retirement of the huge baby-boom generation as well as large transfers to the rest of the world to meet the debt service costs of the United States' large and still growing foreign debt.

We have utilized our unique bioreactor model to produce three-dimensional thyroid tissue analogs that we believe better represent the effects of radiation in vivo than two-dimensional cultures. Our thyroid model has been characterized at multiple levels, including: cell-cell exchanges (bystander), signal transduction, functional changes and modulation of gene expression. We have significant preliminary data on structural, functional, signal transduction and gene expression responses from acute exposures at high doses (50-1000 rads) of gamma, protons and iron (Green et al., 2001a; 2001b; 2002a; 2002b; 2005). More recently, we used our DOE funding (ending Feb 06) to characterize the pattern of radiation modulated gene expression in rat thyroid tissue analogs using low-dose/low-dose rate radiation, plus/minus acute challenge exposures. Findings from these studies show that the low-dose/low-dose rate “priming” exposures to radiation invoked changes in gene expression profiles that varied with dose and time. The thyrocytes transitioned to a “primed” state, so that when the tissue analogs were challenged with an acute exposure to radiation they had a muted response (or an increased resistance) to cytopathological changes relative to “un-primed” cells. We measured dramatic differences in the primed tissue analogs, showing that our original hypothesis was correct: that low dose gamma irradiation will …

Congestion analysis using National Energy Modeling National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) or NEMS-derivatives, such as LBNL-NEMS, is subject to significant caveats because the generation logic inherent in NEMS limits the extent to which interregional transmission can be utilized and intraregional transmission is not represented at all. The EMM is designed primarily to represent national energy markets therefore regional effects may be simplified in ways that make congestion analysis harder. Two ways in particular come to mind. First, NEMS underutilizes the capability of the traditional electric grid as it builds the dedicated and detached grid. Second, it also undervalues the costs of congestion by allowing more transmission than it should, due to its use of a transportation model rather than a transmission model. In order to evaluate benefits of reduced congestion using LBNL-NEMS, Berkeley Lab identified three possible solutions: (1) implement true simultaneous power flow, (2) always build new plants within EMM regions even to serve remote load, and (3) the dedicated and detached grid should be part of the known grid. Based on these findings, Berkeley Lab recommends the following next steps: (1) Change the build logic that always places new capacity where it is needed and allow the transmission …

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This study performs a cost and schedule analysis of three Nevada Transportation options that support waste receipt at the repository. Based on the U.S. Department of Energy preference for rail transportation in Nevada (given in the Final Environmental Impact Statement), it has been assumed that a branch rail line would be constructed to support waste receipt at the repository. However, due to potential funding constraints, it is uncertain when rail will be available. The three Nevada Transportation options have been developed to meet a varying degree of requirements for transportation and to provide cost variations used in meeting the funding constraints given in the Technical Direction Letter guidelines for this study. The options include combinations of legal-weight truck, heavy-haul truck, and rail. Option 1 uses a branch rail line that would support initial waste receipt at the repository in 2010. Rail transportation would be the primary mode, supplemented by legal weight trucks. This option provides the highest level of confidence in cost and schedule, lowest public visibility, greatest public acceptability, lowest public dose, and is the recommended option for support of waste receipt. The completion of rail by 2010 will require spending approximately $800 million prior to 2010. Option 2 …

North Korea's decisions to restart nuclear installations at Yongbyon that were shut down under the U.S.-South Korean Agreed Framework of 1994 and to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty create an acute foreign policy problem for the United States. Restarting the Yongbyon facilities opens up a possible North Korean intent to stage a "nuclear breakout" of its nuclear program and openly produce nuclear weapons. The main objective of the Bush Administration is to secure the dismantling of North Korea's plutonium and uranium-based nuclear programs. China, South Korea, and Russia have criticized the Bush Administration for not negotiating directly with North Korea, and they voice opposition to economic sanctions and to the use force against Pyongyang. China, Russia, and even South Korea increasingly have expressed support for North Korea's position in six-party talks facilitated by China, but the talks have made little progress.

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