The goal of TVA's Availability Improvement Program for its fossil-fueled power plants is to increase plant availability from 79 to 83%, to reduce the forced outage rate from 10 to 7%, and to reduce the equivalent outage rate related to forced deratings from 6 to 2%. As background for this program historical data on plant availabilities, trends toward improved availability, factors which contribute to current reliability, and ongoing programs to improve fossil-fueled plant reliability are discussed. (LCL)

A computer program called BPROP7 was written to enable the user to obtain conveniently the thermodynamic properties of brine and water vapor in combination, given at least three of nine parameters. The parameters included in this program are two types of salt content, temperature, pressure, enthalpy, entropy, density or specific volume, quality, and amount of superheat.

This report is on The Costs and Benefits of Residential Energy Conservation.

A study to develop, evaluate, and fabricate mullite for use in molten silicon containers and silicon sheet substrates for the Low-Cost Silicon Solar Array Project is described. Compositional variations in Mullite formulations have been found to lower the thermal expansion of Mullite. Increased glass phase has been found to lower thermal expansion of fired Mullite bodies. Attempts to lower the thermal expansion to that of Silicon are underway. Sessile drop experiments on a series of composition and firing variations of Mullite produced a drastic change in some of the materials after a 10 hour exposure time. At 5 and 20 minutes nothing unusual was noted. Mullite substrates 100 cm x 10 cm x 0.1 cm were fabricated and fired successfully. Slots and holes have been fabricated in smaller 3.75 x 5.0 cm substrates. Crucibles from the standard Mullite formulation have been fabricated both dense and porous. Cost projections have been made for large quantities of substrates.

A version of the High Energy Astronomical Observatory (HEAO) magnetic spectrometer which is updated for the space shuttle sortie mode is described. A stripped-down experiment is considered with a magnetic spectrometer alone, even though any real space shuttle magnetic spectrometer experiment would almost certainly include other detectors. Problems relating specifically to superconducting magnetic spectrometers are studied. In particular, almost all of the support provided for this contract was spent in investigating new cryostat parameters appropriate to the shuttle weight and duration constraints. It was found that the size and weight of the cryostat, for a two-month lifetime, can be substantially reduced from that contemplated for HEAO. Moreover, with the reduced documentation requirements contemplated for the space shuttle, a considerable cost savings relative to HEAO can be realized. Since a superconducting magnetic spectrometer has considerable magnetic fringe field, methods for shielding sensitive electronic and mechanical components of other experiments, or the space shuttle itself, from the effects of the field, are considered. Experiments placed further away than the immediately neighboring pallet will see a magnetic field only slightly greater than the Earth's. Since even the neighboring pallet's components see a field of less than 100 gauss, magnetic shielding can be accomplished …

This report is a brief organizational history of the NSC and other components of the Executive office and their changing role in the national security policy process.

A guide to what home health care services are covered under the Medicare program.

Initial results from a study of EUV emissions from the 2XIIB experiment are reported. Time-dependent brightness measurements of deuterium, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and titanium emissions from the central 2XIIB plasma have been made. The deuterium Lyman alpha brightness is 1.5 x 10/sup 17/ photons sec/sup -1/cm/sup -2/sr/sup -1/. The Lyman alpha time development and broad spectral profile are consistent with other knowledge of the 2XIIB plasma. Oxygen is the dominant impurity in 2XIIB. The 0 VI 1032 A brightness is 1.65 x 10/sup 18/ photons sec/sup -1/cm/sup -2/sr/sup -1/. The oxygen concentration is 2% and its estimated confinement lifetime is 300 ..mu..s; this may imply mirror confinement of the oxygen ions. Nitrogen and carbon concentrations are 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. It is not certain whether these impurities are mirror confined. The titanium concentration is believed to be low compared to that of oxygen. The power loss from the central plasma due to radiation by and ionization of light impurities is approximately 60 kW, which is 4% of the power deposited by the neutral beams. Further studies of impurity sources and penetration are now being performed.

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, John L. Hill, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Authority of Upper Colorado River Authority to purchase,store and sell water outside of its district.

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, John L. Hill, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Validity of arrest based on teletyped warrant.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.