A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the public benefit conveyance (PBC) program, state or local governments and certain nonprofits can obtain surplus real property for public uses. The General Services Administration (GSA) has responsibility for the program but has delegated authority to the Department of Defense (DOD) for properties disposed of as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Several "sponsoring agencies" ensure that properties are used as agreed to by grantees. GAO (1) determined the number, types, and locations of PBC properties disposed of in fiscal years 2000 through 2004, (2) assessed efforts to ensure that the properties are used as agreed to, and (3) identified any challenges facing agencies and grantees."

This report covers the period from June 2005 through May 2006. During this, the third year of our program, our research has focused mainly on applying the surrogate reaction technique and our newly developed surrogate ratio method to deduce neutron induced fission cross sections on uranium nuclei. The year has been marked by continued scientific progress, by the arrival of new personnel, by a growth in the numbers of students working in the group and by a continuation of our experimental program and close collaboration with staff and scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

This report discusses U.S.-Pakistan relationship marked by periods of both cooperation and discord, which was transformed by the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States into the enlistment of Pakistan as a key ally in U.S.-led counterterrorism efforts. This report outlines key aspects of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, as well as of Pakistan's economic conditions, political environment, handling of ongoing separatist violence, and nuclear nonproliferation.

This report discusses Lost Jobs, Trade, Outsourcing, and wages, A Rising Level of Trade and Economic Well-Being and Implications for Economic Policy.

This report outlines the background and original passage of the ILSA (Iran-Libya Sanctions Act), its key provisions which excluded Libya from the act, its implementation and effectiveness and the proposed modifications and extensions to the ILSA.

This progress report is submitted under a contract between the Special Project Office of DARPA and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The Project Manager at DARPA is Dr. Michael Zatman. Our purpose under this contract is to investigate interactions between electromagnetic waves and a class of buried targets located in multilayered media with rough interfaces. In this report, we investigate three preliminary problems. In each case our specific goal is to understand various aspects of the electromagnetic wave interaction mechanisms with targets in layered media. The first problem, discussed in Section 2, is that of low-frequency electromagnetic backscattering from a tunnel that is cut into a lossy dielectric half-space. In this problem, the interface between the upper (free space) region and the lower (ground) region is smooth. The tunnel is assumed to be a cylindrical free-space region of infinite extent in its axial direction and with a diameter that is small in comparison to the free-space wavelength. Because its diameter is small, the tunnel can be modeled as a buried ''wire'' described by an equivalent impedance per unit length. In Section 3 we extend the analysis to include a statistically rough interface between the air and ground regions. The interface is …

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) established an area monitoring dosimeter program in accordance with Article 514 of the Department of Energy (DOE) Radiological Control Manual (RCM) in January 1993. This program is to minimize the number of areas requiring issuance of personnel dosimeters and to demonstrate that doses outside Radiological Buffer Areas are negligible. In accordance with 10 CFR Part 835.402 (a)(1)-(4) and Article 511.1 of the PNNL Radiological Control Program Description, personnel dosimetry shall be provided to (1) radiological workers who are likely to receive at least 100 mrem annually, and (2) declared pregnant workers, minors, and members of the public who are likely to receive at least 50 mrem annually. Program results for calendar years 1993-2005 confirm that personnel dosimetry is not needed for individuals located in areas monitored by the program

This report summarizes fluid electrical conductivity (FEC)and thermal logging data collected in Borehole NC-EWDP-24PB, locatedapproximately 15 km south of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain.Preliminary analyses of a small fraction of the FEC and temperature dataindicate that relatively large, localized fluid fluxes are likely toexist at this location. The implication that considerable flow is inducedby small gradients, and that flow is highly localized, is significant forthe estimation of groundwater transport velocities and radionuclidetravel times. The sensitivity of the data to potential perturbationsduring testing (i.e., internal wellbore flow in the case of FEC data, andbuoyancy effects in the case of thermal logging data) make it difficultto conclusively derive fluid fluxes and transport velocities without adetailed analysis of all data and processes involved. Such acomprehensive analysis has not yet been performed. However, thepreliminary results suggest that the ambient component of the estimatedflow rates is significant and on the order of liters per minute, yieldinggroundwater transport velocities in the range of kilometers per year. Oneparticular zone in the Bullfrog tuff exhibits estimated velocities on theorder of 10 km/yr. Given that the preliminary estimates of ambient flowrates and transport velocities are relatively high, and considering thepotential impact of high rates and velocities on saturated-zone …

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This report details the history of the three federal transfer taxes, tracing their development from their eighteenth century roots to the present.

Known fossil fuel reserves, especially coal, can support global energy demands for centuries to come, if the environmental problems associated with CO{sub 2} emissions can be overcome. Unlike other CO{sub 2} sequestration candidate technologies that propose long-term storage, mineral sequestration provides permanent disposal by forming geologically stable mineral carbonates. Carbonation of the widely occurring mineral olivine (e.g., forsterite, Mg{sub 2}SiO{sub 4}) is a large-scale sequestration process candidate for regional implementation, which converts CO{sub 2} into the environmentally benign mineral magnesite (MgCO{sub 3}). The primary goal is cost-competitive process development. As the process is exothermic, it inherently offers low-cost potential. Enhancing carbonation reactivity is key to economic viability. Recent studies at the U.S. DOE Albany Research Center have established that aqueous-solution carbonation using supercritical CO{sub 2} is a promising process; even without olivine activation, 30-50% carbonation has been achieved in an hour. Mechanical activation (e.g., attrition) has accelerated the carbonation process to an industrial timescale (i.e., near completion in less than an hour), at reduced pressure and temperature. However, the activation cost is too high to be economical and lower cost pretreatment options are needed. Herein, we report our second year progress in exploring a novel approach that offers the potential …

FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT FOR DOE AWARD DE-FG02-03ER41267 NEUTRINO FACTORY AND MUON COLLIDER FELLOW 1. Introduction By providing an intense, well controlled, well characterized, narrow beam of muon neutrinos (’s) and electron antineutrinos ( ’s) from the decay of muons (’s) in a storage ring, a neutrino factory can advance neutrino physics beyond the current round of approved and proposed experiments using conventional neutrino beams produced from a beam of decaying pions and kaons [1, 2]. There is no other comparable single clean source of electron neutrinos (from the decay of +’s) or antineutrinos. A muon storage ring producing 1019 to 1021 muon decays per year should be feasible. These intense neutrino beams can be used to study neutrino oscillations and possible CP violation. An entry-level muon storage ring that could provide 1019 decays per year would allow a determination of the sign of and a first measurement of sin2213 for favorable values of this parameter. An improved muon storage ring system that could provide 1020 muon decays per year would allow measurement of sin2213 to 104. A high performance muon storage ring capable of providing more than 1020 muon decays per year would allow the exciting possibility of a measurement …

The DOE Savannah River Site (SRS) is evaluating the potential applicability of the monitored natural attenuation (MNA) process as a contributor to the understanding of the restoration of its unconfined groundwater aquifer known to be contaminated with the chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). This report discusses the results from aqueous desorption experiments on SRS aquifer sediments from two different locations at the SRS (A/M Area; P-Area) with the objective of providing technically defensible TCE/PCE distribution coefficient (Kd) data and data on TCE/PCE reversible and irreversible sorption behavior needed for further MNA evaluation.

This report details the number and cost of three different naval vessels which the Navy is interested in procuring: the DDG-1000 (formerly DD(X)) destroyer, the CG(X) cruiser, and a smaller vessel called the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The report also explains two different pieces of defense legislation (H.R. 5122/S.2766 and H.R. 5631, respectively) which discuss different financial approaches to funding the procurement of said vessels. These pieces of legislation also explore more cost-efficient methods of achieving equivalent results with less costly vessels, as well as funding research for future designs.

A comprehensive test ban treaty, or CTBT, is the oldest item on the nuclear arms control agenda. These treaties currently limit testing to underground only, with a maximum force equal to 150,000 tons of TNT. Since 1997, the United States has held 22 "subcritical experiments" at the Nevada Test Site, asserting that these experiments do not violate the CTBT because they cannot produce a self-sustaining chain reaction. The Senate rejected the CTBT on October 13, 1999, and the current Administration under President George W. Bush has indicated that it will continue to oppose the CTBT, will continue to adhere to the test moratorium, is considering modifying existing warheads for use against hard and deeply-buried targets, has not ruled out resumed testing, and has no plans to test.

Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic's long reign came to an end in October 2000, when he was deposed from power by a popular revolt after he refused to concede defeat in an election for the post of President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) won by his opponent, Vojislav Kostunica. Organized crime, extremists within the Serbian military and security apparatus, and the links between them continue to pose a threat to Serbia's democratic development. The United States and other Western countries have sought to encourage Serbia and Montenegro's integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. However, these efforts have been hampered by controversy over the future status of Serbia's Kosovo province, Serbia's failure to fully cooperate with the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal, and Serbia's fitful progress in such areas as rule of law and military and security sector reform.

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Report discussing the state of politics in Serbia and Montenegro following the downfall of Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevec in October 2000. In particular, the report focuses on aid from the United States to support political reforms and the various conditions set regarding the war crimes tribunal.

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