Letter opinion 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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Texas Department of Criminal Justice may adopt a policy of mandatory tuberculosis screening of all employees and volunteers (RQ-1043)

The purpose of this Notice of Construction (NOC) is to provide a rewritten NOC for obtaining regulatory approval for changes to the previous Canister Storage Building (CSB) NOCs (WDOH, 1996 and EPA, 1996) as were approved by the Washington State Department of Health (WDOH, 1996a) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 1996a). These changes are because of a revised sealing configuration of the multi-canister overpacks (MCOS) that are used to store the SNF. A flow schematic of the SNF Project is provided in Figure 1-1. A separate notification of startup will be provided apart from this NOC.

This report documents radionuclide air emission from the Hanford Site in 1997, and the resulting effective dose equivalent to the maximally exposed member of the public, referred to as the MEI. The report has been prepared in accordance with reporting requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities. This report has also been prepared in accordance with the reporting requirements of the Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, Radiation Protection-Air Emissions. The effective dose equivalent to the MEI from the Hanford Site`s 1997 point source emissions was 1.2 E-03 mrem (1.2 E-05 mSv), which is well below the 40 CFR 61 Subpart H regulatory limit of 10 mrem/yr. Radon and thoron emissions, exempted from 40 CFR 61 Subpart H, resulted in an effective dose equivalent to the MEI of 2.5 E-03 mrem (2.5 E-05 mSv). The effective dose equivalent to the MEI attributable to diffuse and fugitive emissions was 2.2 E-02 mrem (2.2 E-04 mSv). The total effective dose equivalent from all of the Hanford Site`s air emissions was 2.6 …

The main purpose and objective of this analysis is to confirm the validity of the ground support design for Busted Butte Test Facility (BBTF). The highwall stability and adequacy of highwall and tunnel ground support is addressed in this analysis. The design of the BBTF including the ground support system was performed in a separate document (Reference 5.3). Both in situ and seismic loads are considered in the evaluation of the highwall and the tunnel ground support system. In this analysis only the ground support designed in Reference 5.3 is addressed. The additional ground support installed (still work in progress) by the constructor is not addressed in this analysis. This additional ground support was evaluated by the A/E during a site visit and its findings and recommendations are addressed in this analysis.

We have examined the weathered surfaces of 720 year old Hawaiian basalt glasses that were recovered from a subaerial environment with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy filtered imaging and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) techniques. Whereas the alteration products (palagonite) were physically detached from the underlying glass in most samples, a gel-like amorphous layer was observed adjacent to the glass in a few samples. To our knowledge, this is the first time a gel layer has been observed on weathered basalt. This is significant because analogous gel layers have been observed on nuclear waste glasses reacted in laboratory tests, and this demonstrates an important similarity in the mechanisms of the weathering of basalt and the corrosion of waste glasses.

This report summarizes current programs for adult education and literacy, provides a funding history, and analyzes major provisions of the legislative proposals being considered by the 105th Congress for amending adult education and literacy programs. Specifically, the report examines the provisions of H.R. 1385, the Employment, Training, and Literacy Enhancement Act of 1997, as passed by the House, and H.R. 1385, the Workforce Investment Partnership Act of 1998, as amended by the Senate (originally considered as S. 1186). Key issues include state and local administration issues, comprehensive state plan requirements, integration with other federal training and employment programs, and program performance standards. The report will be updated as legislative action occurs.

In reauthorizing federal surface transportation programs this year (P .L 105-178), Congress has modified the attributes of some of the transportation fuel excise taxes that fluid. those programs and others. Since the federal government first started taxing transportation fuels, the issue of how the revenues should be used has played a major role in determining whether and which transportation fuels should be taxed; and by how much. Congress changed several aspects of transportation fuel taxation in 1997, most notably redirecting revenues from deficit reduction to the trust funds established for transportation-related projects This report provides the context for federal excise taxes on transportation fuels describes recent developments, and outlines the structure of those taxes on the major fuels with respect to levels, disposition of revenues, effective dates, and expiration dates. This report will be updated as legislative activity warrants.

During the quarter ending March 31, 1998, the IACs in the Western Region issued assessment reports to 16 clients for the 1996-97 program period. The attached summary shows the aggregate numbers of industrial assessments performed by, reports received from, critiques completed and returned to, and implementation reports completed by each of the Western Region IACs under the 1995-96 program period through the quarter ending March 31, 1998. Table 2 shows the numbers of industrial assessments performed by, reports received from, critiques completed and returned to, and implementation reports completed by each of the Western Region IACs under the 1996-97 program period.

This talk considers the problem of defining success criteria for petaflop computers. Current expectations for teraflop systems show an alarming acceleration of a trend we have seen for many years in high performance computers. Namely, it is becoming increasingly difficult to effectively use the computational capability of these machines. If this situation is not reversed quickly, the term "petaflop computer" may simply mean the next fastest computer that we cannot use. In many cases, we have some understanding of why we cannot achieve anywhere near the peak performance of these machines on real applications. Effective use of these resources is a highly complex optimization problem that must be solved over all of the different components of each application program. Given this complexity, it is the responsibility of our community to better quantify our progress in developing high perforrnance systems with more meaningful metrics than simply "peak floating point operations per second." We need to develop metrics and tools that help us to enhance the end-to-end performance of solving large scientific applications on these advanced machines.

Several types of coatings have previously been visually identified on the surface of 105-K East and 105-K West Basins fuel elements. One type of coating (found only in K West Basin) in particular was found to be a thick translucent material that was often seen to be dislodged from the elements as flakes when the elements were handled during visual examinations (Pitner 1997). Subsequently it was determined (for one element only in a hot cell) that this material, in the dry condition, could easily be removed from the element using a scraping tool. The coating was identified as Al(OH){sub 3} through X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses and to be approximately 60 {micro}m thick via scanning electron microscopy (SEM). However, brushing under water in the basin using numerous mechanical strokes failed to satisfactorily remove these coatings in their thickest form as judged by appearance. Such brushing was done with only one type of metal brush, a brush design previously found satisfactory for removing UO{sub 4}.xH{sub 2}O coatings from the elements.

We present results of recent kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of the effect of annealing time and ramp rate on boron transient enhanced diffusion (BTED) in low energy ion implanted silicon. The simulations use a database of defect and dopant energetics derived from first principle calculations. We discuss the complete atomistic details of defect and dopant clustering during the anneals, and the dependence of boron TED on ramp rate. The simulations provide a complete time history of the evolution of the active boron fraction during the anneal for a wide variety of conditions. We also studied the lateral spreading of the boron during the annealing for two different conditions, furnace anneal and ramp anneal.

We presents results from a predictive atomic level simulation of Boron diffusion in Silicon under a wide variety of implant and annealing conditions. The parameters for this simulation have been extracted from first principle approximation models and molecular dynamics simulations. The results are compared with experiments showing good agreement in all cases. The parameters and reactions used have been implemented into a continuum-level model simulator.

A simple two-volume model was defined and used for calculating flammable gas concentrations within headspace volumes of single-shell tanks, and within smaller ex-tank volumes connected to the headspace. Assumptions and parameters used to characterize the headspace portion of the model were taken from the GRE Analysis Tool (AT) for simulating gas release events. Additional assumptions used to construct the ex-tank portion of the two-volume model were conservative extensions of those made within the AT, and chosen to simulate headspace to ex-tank gas-flow conditions that would maximize ex-tank concentrations. Numerical evaluations of the two-volume model were performed over a range of headspace GRE conditions and representative ex-tank parameters. To assure consistency with the AT, the range of headspace parameters was taken from 1000 simulated GREs generated by the AT computer code RESOLVE. Based upon waste level fill factors, three tanks (TX-102, SX-103, and TX 112) were chosen to represent typical large, medium, and small headspace volumes available in actual SSTs. Engineering drawings of these tanks were used to determine values of their ex-tank parameters (V2`s and estimates for the gas-flow fraction ``a`` into the specific V2). The results of these evaluations were used to compare time periods for which flammable gas …

The Ohio State University Nuclear Reactor Laboratory (OSU NRL) participated in the Department of Energy (DOE) grant program commonly denoted as the University Reactor Instrumentation (URI) program from the period September 1990 through August 1995, after which funding was terminated on a programmatic basis by DOE. This program provided funding support for acquisition of capital equipment targeted for facility upgrades and improvements, including modernizing reactor systems and instrumentation, improvements in research and instructional capabilities, and infrastructure enhancements. The staff of the OSU NRL submitted five grant applications during this period, all of which were funded either partially or in their entirety. This report will provide an overview of the activities carried out under these grants and assess their impact on the OSU NRL facilities.

This report describes the Eco Logic Process and discusses the procedures and results of a pilot-scale treatability study on explosives in shell casings. The study was conducted as part of a contract which was awarded to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and Eco Logic by the Department of Energy's Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC) in Morgantown, West Virginia to conduct treatability studies on complex hazardous wastes, energetic and low level mixed wastes. The U.S. Army currently decontaminates spent shell casings using a bailout or high pressure wash process that removes a large amount of the propellant from the casing but not enough to allow recycle of the entire casing intact; the U.S. Army currently projects the use of a metal parts furnace to completely decontaminate the shell casings. Use of the Eco Logic Process to decontaminate the shell casings would allow the shell casing to be reused intact. In addition to explosives commonly used by the Army such as TNT and Composition B, ARDEC personnel also were interested in the decontamination of shell casings with a residual of the propellant Yellow D which is a common energetic in artillery shell casings used by the Navy. A series of treatability tests …

The purpose of the ALPS program is to identify and evaluate advanced limiter/diverter systems that will enhance the attractiveness of fusion power. The highest priority goals at present are achieving high power density, up to 50 MW/m{sup 2}, and showing compatibility of plasma-facing surfaces with plasma operation. Personnel representing a wide range of disciplines from a number of institutions are engaged in the program, where an evaluation phase of the program is planned for three years. Successful identification of promising concepts in the evaluation phase should lead to an R and D phase that includes proof-of-principle experiments.

Report summarizes status of project to provide a resource for understanding risk by public living in the vicinity of hazardous and radioactive waste sites.

Periodical discussing the legislation related to end-of-life care and decisions. It includes the historic precedents for such legislation, the complex ethical and moral issues surrounding end-of-life care, and possible legal consequences of proposed and existing legislation.

This report summarizes current programs for adult education and literacy, provides a funding history, and analyzes major provisions of the legislative proposals being considered by the 105th Congress for amending adult education and literacy programs. Specifically, the report examines the provisions of H.R. 1385, the Employment, Training, and Literacy Enhancement Act of 1997, as passed by the House, and H.R. 1385, the Workforce Investment Partnership Act of 1998, as amended by the Senate (originally considered as S. 1186). Key issues include state and local administration issues, comprehensive state plan requirements, integration with other federal training and employment programs, and program performance standards. The report will be updated as legislative action occurs.