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The National Drought Policy Commission was established under the National Drought Policy Act of 1998, P.L.105-199. The Act charged the Commission with conducting a thorough study of drought and its impacts and submitting a report on its findings discussing the feasibility for creating a national drought policy. The NDPC report and accompanying materials is posted on this website and can be downloaded by the public.

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 Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the individual elected to serve as Lieutenant Governor under article II, section 9 of the Texas Constitution is required to serve on the Legislative Redistricting Board established by article III, section 28 (RQ-0388-JC)

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy's (DOE) Clean Coal Technology program provides cost-sharing assistance or partnerships with industry in demonstrating the commercial applications of emerging technologies, referred to as "clean coal." This testimony discusses the successes DOE has reported, some weaknesses GAO identified, and lessons learned in cost-sharing. GAO found that DOE has many examples of successes in the program, including commercialization of some technologies--the primary way DOE measures success. From a management perspective, many projects had experienced delays, cost overruns, bankruptcies, and performance problems. This program serves as an example to other cost-share programs in demonstrating how the government and the private sector can work effectively together to develop and demonstrate new technologies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began the Customer Account Data Engine (CADE) project to modernize the agency's outdated and inefficient data management system. This report determines (1) the reported status of CADE and IRS' plans for completing the project, (2) whether IRS is managing the relationship between CADE and the agency's enterprise architecture and current systems environment, (3) whether IRS is managing CADE in accordance with its Enterprise Life Cycle (ELC), and (4) whether IRS is ensuring that CADE will satisfy agency business needs. GAO found that IRS was over budget and behind schedule in meeting CADE's next project milestone, which is the completion of the preliminary design. IRS was not effectively managing the relationship between CADE and the enterprise architecture or its current systems environment. IRS had not fully employed several critical management controls that are intended to ensure that CADE is aligned with ELC. IRS had completed or was in the process of completing steps to ensure that CADE will satisfy agency business needs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a rule requiring vehicle manufacturers to install advanced air bag systems in an increasing number of cars beginning in 2003. This report reviews the development of technologies that vehicle manufacturers plan to use to comply with the advanced air bag rule. GAO found that some advanced air bag technologies are now being installed in vehicles and others are still being developed. The principal advanced technology being installed in some vehicles is an air bag that can inflate with lower or higher levels of power--rather than a single level--depending on the severity of the crash. Although frontal air bag systems with these advanced technologies are an improvement over previous systems, they do not contain all of the features that manufacturers believe are needed to meet the requirements of the advanced air bag rule, such as sensors that can distinguish among different types of occupants. To meet the requirements, manufacturers plan to introduce new technologies as well as continue to make further improvements in current technologies. The key new technologies that manufacturers plan to introduce are occupant classification sensors …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews whether the policies and procedures of the Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board ensure that (1) its peer review panelists are independent and the panels are properly balanced and (2) the public is sufficiently informed about the points of view represented on the panels. GAO found that the policies and procedures used by the staff office to ensure the independence of the Board's peer reviewers and the balancing of viewpoints have limitations that reduce their effectiveness. The staff office has not systematically requested information that is needed to assess the independence and overall balance of viewpoints represented on the panel--such as previous public positions the panelists have taken on the matter being reviewed--until the first meeting, when the panelists have already been chosen. Furthermore, conflicts of interest may not be identified and mitigated in a timely manner. GAO also found that the staff office's policies and procedures for providing the public with information on the backgrounds of the Board's peer review panelists do not adequately inform the public about the points of view represented on the panels."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report investigates whether the Department of Defense (DOD) misused the security classification process to stifle public discussion of problems with the National Missile Defense System. On May 11, 2000, Dr. Theodore Postol reported an alleged incident of fraud to John Podesta, former White House Chief of Staff. Dr. Postol wrote a letter that alleged scientific fraud by contractors involved in developing the National Missile Defense system for DOD's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). The letter contained Dr. Postol's analysis of public data and extracts from documents he used to reach his conclusion. BMDO's decision to classify Dr. Postol's letter prompted him to write another letter to Mr. Podesta complaining that the classification was an attempt to restrict his public exposure of scientific fraud. Dr. Postol wrote a third letter to Mr. Podesta complaining that an unscheduled visit by the Defense Security Service (DSS) was an attempt to intimidate him and violate his First Amendment rights. GAO found that DOD's decision to conduct a security classification review was performed in accordance with Executive Order 12958. Similarly, BMDO's subsequent request that DSS contact Dr. Postol to discuss concerns that …

We report progress on the design of the Next Linear Collider (NLC) Damping Rings complexes. The purpose of the damping rings is to provide low emittance electron and positron bunch trains to the NLC linacs, at a rate of 120 Hz. As an option to operate at the higher rate of 180 Hz, two 1.98 GeV main damping rings per beam are proposed, and one positron pre-damping ring. The main damping rings store up to 0.8 amp in 3 trains of 190 bunches each and have normalized extracted beam emittances {gamma}{var_epsilon}x = 3 mm-mrad and {gamma}{var_epsilon}y = 0.02 mm-mrad. The optical designs, based on a theoretical minimum emittance lattice (TME), are described, with an analysis of dynamic aperture and non-linear effects. Key subsystems and components are described, including the wiggler, the vacuum systems and photon stop design, and the higher-order-mode damped RF cavities. Impedance and instabilities are discussed.

We report on impedance calculations and single-bunch and multi-bunch instabilities in the NLC damping rings. Preliminary designs of vacuum chambers and major components have addressed beam impedance issues, with the desire to increase instability current thresholds and reducing growth rates. MAFIA calculations of short-range and long-range wakefields have allowed computations of growth rates and thresholds, which are presented here. Resistive wall instability dominates long-range effects, and requires a broadband feedback system to control coupled-bunch motion. Growth rates are within the range addressable by current feedback system technologies. Single-bunch instability thresholds are safely above nominal operating current.

A general update of things fleet managers and fuel providers need to know regarding the State and Alternative Fuel Provider Program.

This Corrective Action Decision Document/Closure Report (CADD/CR) has been prepared for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 409: Other Waste Sites, Tonopah Test Range (TTR), Nevada, in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order. Located near Area 3 on the TTR approximately 140 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, CAU 409 is comprised of three Corrective Action Sites (CASs): CAS RG-24-001-RGCR, Battery Dump Site; CAS TA-53-001-TAB2, Septic Sludge Disposal Pit (referred to as Septic Sludge Disposal Pit No.1); CAS TA-53-002-TAB2, Septic Sludge Disposal Pit (referred to as Septic Sludge Disposal Pit No.2). This CADD/CR identifies and rationalizes the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office's (NNSA/NV's) recommendation that no corrective action is deemed necessary for CAU 409. The CADD/CR have been combined into one report based on sample data collected during the field investigation performed in November 2000. Analysis of the data generated from these investigation activities indicates preliminary action levels were not exceeded for total volatile organic compounds, Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) volatile organic compounds, total semivolatile organic compounds, TCLP semivolatile organic compounds, total Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) metals (except arsenic), TCLP RCRA metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, total petroleum hydrocarbons as gasoline- …

New houses designed by Cambridge Homes in Crest Hill, Illinois, with technical support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program, save their homeowners money by applying the principles of ''whole-building'' design to the entire home product line. Regardless of the model chosen, home buyers can enjoy consistently high levels of comfort and performance with the added benefit of reduced operating costs.

A variety of factors can affect the cost of photovoltaic systems. This report analyses the relationship among such factors by using information entered into a voluntary registry of PV systems and performing regression analyses. The results showed statistically significant relationships between photovoltaic system cost and (a) grid connection, (b) installation year, (c) areas where the utility had entered into volume purchasing agreements.

In the year 2000, a design concept of a Neutrino Factory based on Muon Storage Ring was studied at FNAL. To treat high energy spread of muons that come out of a target and decay channel and are to be accelerated before they go into the storage ring, a phase rotating scheme using a long-pulse accelerating system has been proposed. In this system accelerating voltage is to be shaped to correct the energy spread. To implement this approach, the pulse power system has been suggested that allows forming a bipolar accelerating voltage pulse with the predefined shape. This report addresses some issues of the pulse shape optimization and describes main features of the accelerating system comprising an accelerating structure similar to that of a linear induction accelerator (LIA) and a pulser that drives it.

The objective of this study, as defined in the associated test specifications and task technical and quality assurance plan, was to estimate all the physical properties that are required to design the storage and transport facilities for the concentrated cesium and technetium eluates. Specifically, the scope of this study included: (1) modeling of the aqueous electrolyte chemistry of Tank 241-AN-107 Cs and Tc eluate evaporators, (2) process modeling of semi-batch and continuous evaporation operations, (3) determination of the operating vacuum and target endpoint of each evaporator, (4) calculation of the physical properties of the concentrated Cs and Tc eluate blend, and (5) development of the empirical correlations for the physical properties thus estimated.

The scientific and technical (S and T) activities of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE/EM) provide solutions to DOE/EM remediation problems. In many cases, the solution of choice eventually involves deploying a new process or piece of equipment. There has been intensive scrutiny of such deployments over the last few years, and DOE/EM is now in the position of being able to track and depict its progress and plans regarding these solutions. In addition to the well-recognized hardware solutions, many DOE/EM S and T activities result in improved knowledge or understanding of a particular situation or phenomenon that does not lead to a deployment but which nevertheless has proven to be very valuable. However, in many cases, the value of knowledge (VOK) is unrecognized, and it is certain that some key decision makers do not fully appreciate the VOK. The need to inform others concerning the VOK resulted in the preparation of this paper, the purposes of which are to provide conceptual background on the definition of VOK and why it is valuable to DOE/EM, cite examples of how knowledge has benefited and will benefit DOE/EM, and provide recommendations on the actions that the DOE/EM Office …

We have examined the decay K{sub L}{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup 0} {mu}{sup +} {mu}{sup -} in which the branching ratio, the muon energy asymmetry and the muon decay asymmetry could be measured. In particular, we find that within the Standard Model the longitudinal polarization (PL) of the muon is proportional to the direct CP violating amplitude. On the other hand the energy asymmetry and the out-of-plane polarization (P{sub N}) depend on both indirect and direct CP violating amplitudes. Although the branching ratio is small and difficult to measure because of background, the asymmetries could be large {Omicron}(1) in the Standard Model. A combined analysis of the energy asymmetry, P{sub L} and P{sub N} could be used to separate indirect, CPV, direct CPV, and CP conserving contributions to the decay.

We present a status report on the research and development of high-gradient normal-conducting RF structures for the ionization cooling of muons in a neutrino factory or muon collider. High-gradient RF structures are required in regions enclosed in strong focusing solenoidal magnets, precluding the application of superconducting RF technology [1]. We propose using linear accelerating structures, with individual cells electromagnetically isolated, to achieve the required gradients of over 15 MV/m at 201 MHz and 30 MV/m at 805 MHz. Each cell will be powered independently, and cell length and drive phase adjusted to optimize shunt impedance of the assembled structure. This efficient design allows for relatively small field enhancement on the structure walls, and an accelerating field approximately 1.7 times greater than the peak surface field. The electromagnetic boundary of each cell may be provided by a thin Be sheet, or an assembly of thin-walled metal tubes. Use of thin, low-Z materials will allow passage of the muon beams without significant deterioration in beam quality due to scattering. R and D in design and analysis of robust structures that will operate under large electric and magnetic fields and RF current heating are discussed, including the experimental program based in a high-power …

A 4-strap ICRF antenna suitable for plasma heating and current drive has been designed and fabricated for the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. Initial operation in plasma was limited by high metallic impurity injection resulting from front surface arcing between protection tiles and from current straps to Faraday shields. Antenna modifications were made in February 2000, resulting in impurity reduction, but low-heating efficiency was observed when the antenna was operated in its 4-strap rather than a 2-strap configuration. Further modifications were made in July 2000, with the installation of BN plasma-facing tiles and radio- frequency bypassing of the antenna backplane edges and ends to reduce potential leakage coupling to plasma surface modes. Good heating efficiency was now observed in both heating configurations, but coupled power was limited to 2.5 MW in H-mode, 3 MW in L-mode, by plasma-wall interactions. Additional modifications were started in February 2001 and will be completed by this meeting. All the above upgrades and their effect on antenna performance will be presented.

This newsletter is prepared for the NARUC Subcommittee on Renewable Energy to promote information sharing on state-level renewable electric activities. It is sponsored by the Office of Power Technologies of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Limits at the 10{sup -4} level are reported for rare and forbidden decays of the D{sup 0} charm meson to a pair of leptons and either a vector meson or two pseudoscalar mesons. Of these searches, 18 are investigations of decays without previous published results; several others have significantly improved sensitivity over previous results.