Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to concerns regarding its previous recommendations proposing that Department of Defense (DOD) pharmacy programs charge copayments for prescription drugs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO assessed the effectiveness of information system general controls at the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Austin Automation Center (AAC)."

The meeting began with presentations by the facilitator, Mr. Spiegel, and the representative from DOE, Dr. Lewis. The facilitator introduced those on the podium. He then described the general structure of the meeting and its purpose: to hear the issues and concerns of those present regarding the proposed Hawaiian Geothermal Project. He described his role as assuring the impartiality and fairness of the meeting. Dr. Lewis of DOE further defined the scope of the project, introduced those of the EIS team present and briefly described the EIS process.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) teamed with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and ITT Flygt Corporation to conduct a test program evaluating shrouded axial propeller mixers (Flygt mixers) for heel removal in SRS Tank 19. SRS is identifying and investigating techniques to remove sludge heels from waste tanks such as Tank 19.

Radioactive wastes are generated at many DOE laboratories, military facilities, fuel fabrication and enrichment plants, reactors, hospitals, and university research facilities. At all of these sites, wastes must be separated, packaged, categorized, and packed into some sort of container--usually 208-L (55-gal) drums--for shipment to waste-storage sites. Prior to shipment, the containers must be labeled, assayed, and certified; the assay value determines the ultimate disposition of the waste containers. An accurate nondestructive assay (NDA) method would identify all the radioisotopes present and provide a quantitative measurement of their activity in the drum. In this way, waste containers could be routed in the most cost-effective manner and without having to reopen them. Currently, the most common gamma-ray method used to assay nuclear waste drums is segmented gamma-ray scanning (SGS) spectrometer that crudely measures only the amount of {sup 235}U or {sup 239}Pu present in the drum. This method uses a spatially-averaged, integrated, emitted gamma-ray-intensity value. The emitted intensity value is corrected by an assumed constant-attenuation value determined by a spatially-averaged, transmission (or active) measurement. Unfortunately, this typically results in an inaccurate determination of the radioactive activities within a waste drum because this measurement technique is valid only for homogeneous-attenuation or known drum …

Direct holographic imaging of biological materials is widely applicable to the study of the structure, properties and action of genetic material. This particular application involves the sequencing of the human genome where prospective genomic imaging technology is composed of three subtechnologies, name an x-ray holographic camera, suitable chemistry and enzymology for the preparation of tagged DNA samples, and the illuminator in the form of an x-ray laser. We report appropriate x-ray camera, embodied by the instrument developed by MCR, is available and that suitable chemical and enzymatic procedures exist for the preparation of the necessary tagged DNA strands. Concerning the future development of the x-ray illuminator. We find that a practical small scale x-ray light source is indeed feasible. This outcome requires the use of unconventional physical processes in order to achieve the necessary power-compression in the amplifying medium. The understanding of these new physical mechanisms is developing rapidly. Importantly, although the x-ray source does not currently exist, the understanding of these new physical mechanisms is developing rapidly and the research has established the basic scaling laws that will determine the properties of the x-ray illuminator. When this x-ray source becomes available, an extremely rapid and cost effective instrument for …

We describe WARP, a new particle-in-cell code being developed and optimized for ion beam studies in true geometry. We seek to model transport around bends, axial compression with strong focusing, multiple beamlet interaction, and other inherently 3d processes that affect emittance growth. Constraints imposed by memory and running time are severe. Thus, we employ only two 3d field arrays ({rho} and {phi}), and difference {phi} directly on each particle to get E, rather than interpolating E from three meshes; use of a single 3d array is feasible. A new method for PIC simulation of bent beams follows the beam particles in a family of rotated laboratory frames, thus straightening'' the bends. We are also incorporating an envelope calculation, an (r, z) model, and 1d (axial) model within WARP. The BASIS development and run-time system is used, providing a powerful interactive environment in which the user has access to all variables in the code database. 10 refs., 3 figs.

Objective is to develop molecular simulation techniques for phase equilibria in complex systems. The Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo method was extended to obtain phase diagrams for highly asymmetric and ionic fluids. The modified Widom test particle technique was developed for chemical potentials of long polymeric molecules, and preliminary calculations of phase behavior of simple model homopolymers were performed.

An aluminum piston tank has been developed for applications requiring lightweight, low cost, low pressure, positive-expulsion liquid storage. The 3 liter (183 in{sup 3}) vessel is made primarily from aluminum sheet, using production forming and joining operations. The development process relied mainly on pressurizing prototype parts and assemblies to failure, as the primary source of decision making information for driving the tank design toward its optimum minimum-mass configuration. Critical issues addressed by development testing included piston operation, strength of thin-walled formed shells, alloy choice, and joining the end cap to the seamless deep drawn can. 9 refs., 8 figs.

The food ingestion consequences due to radioactive particulates of an accidental release, scenario 1-RD-3, are evaluated for Savannah River Technology Center. The sizes of land areas requiring the protective action of food interdiction are calculated. The consequences of the particulate portion of the release are evaluated with the HOTSPOT model and an EXCEL spreadsheet for particulates.

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.

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.

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, Dan Morales, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Liability for costs of health care provided to indigent inmates of the Karnes County Jail (RQ-420)

SUPERCODE is a systems code used in designing tokamak devices and reactors. This report is divided into 4 chapters. Chapter one covers installing the code and directory organization. The execution of the code, command line editing and history, the shell language, classes, and shell input and output are discussed in chapter two. Chapter three covers the writing modules. In chapter four, the Consts module, Sys module, and Plot module are covered. At the end of the report, the need and use of SUPERCODE are summarized.

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 article VII, section 9 of the Texas Constitution grants the Parrie Haynes Ranch, which was willed “to the State Orphan Home of Texas to help orphan children,” to the asylum fund established by the constitutional provision (RQ-432)

I use a piece-wise linear approximation to the directed flux expressions for a flowing Maxwellian fluid to write down boundary conditions for the fluid description of a multicomponent plasma. These boundary conditions are sufficiently robust to treat particle reflection, surface reactions leading to secondary production, diffusion, and field-induced drift of charged species.

Direct holographic imaging of biological materials is widely applicable to the study of the structure, properties and action of genetic material. This particular application involves the sequencing of the human genome where prospective genomic imaging technology is composed of three subtechnologies, name an x-ray holographic camera, suitable chemistry and enzymology for the preparation of tagged DNA samples, and the illuminator in the form of an x-ray laser. We report appropriate x-ray camera, embodied by the instrument developed by MCR, is available and that suitable chemical and enzymatic procedures exist for the preparation of the necessary tagged DNA strands. Concerning the future development of the x-ray illuminator. We find that a practical small scale x-ray light source is indeed feasible. This outcome requires the use of unconventional physical processes in order to achieve the necessary power-compression in the amplifying medium. The understanding of these new physical mechanisms is developing rapidly. Importantly, although the x-ray source does not currently exist, the understanding of these new physical mechanisms is developing rapidly and the research has established the basic scaling laws that will determine the properties of the x-ray illuminator. When this x-ray source becomes available, an extremely rapid and cost effective instrument for …

The purpose of this report is to assess the waste tank inventory of uranium, plutonium and Np-237 to determine potential impacts on waste certification for the E-Area vaults (EAV). Procedure WAC 3.10, Rev. 1, of the 1S Manual imposes administrative control limits for radioactive material in waste packages sent to the EAV. Waste tank supernate contains trace amounts of U, Pu, and Np. Thus any material contaminated with supernate and placed in a B-25 waste package may contain one or more of these elements` radioactive isotopes. This report uses material inventory data, solubility data and tank volumes to determine the potential-, for waste packages, contaminated with waste tank supernate, to exceed the administrative control limits of procedure WAC 3. 10, Rev. 1, for U-233, U-234, U-235, U-236, U-238, Np-237, Pu-238, Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241, and Pu-242.

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Following the installation of modules, cables and other equipment into the DO central cryostat (CC cryostat) the small clearance between the cryostat head and internal equipment caused concern that the head would make contact with the equipment when the cryostat was put under vacuum for leak checking. This finite element analysis was requested by George Mulholland to determine the amount of deflection in the head due to vacuum loads.

The most significant event during this period for the accelerator community is of course the termination of the SSC project. The collaboration with the SSC Laboratory came to an end with the decision to discontinue the effort at Waxahachie. The collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory was also completed. With the close of the SSC, the new association with the LHC group at CERN will become more important than ever. Jicong Shi worked three months at CERN in the area of nonlinear beam dynamics problems in the large hadron collider. Status and main results from the following topics have been reported in Progress Report, DOE/ER/40374-73, covering the first half of this project period: (1) final test of HESQ; (2) coupling impedance of a hole in accelerator beam pipe; (3) new calculation of diffusion rate; (4) integrable polynomial factorization for symplectic map tracking; and (5) physics of magnet sorting in superconducting rings. Status and main results from research reported in this report are as follows: (1) multi-parameter sorting of dipoles for large superconducting rings and (2) integrable polynomial factorization for symplectic map tracking.

We study multiple muon events (muon bundles) recorded underground at a depth of 2090 mwe. To penetrate to this depth, the muons must have energies above 0.8 TeV at the Earth`s surface; the primary cosmic ray nuclei which give rise to the observed muon bundles have energies at incidence upon the upper atmosphere of 10 to 10{sup 5}TeV. The events are detected using the Soudan 2 experiment`s fine grained tracking calorimeter which is surrounded by a 14 m {times}10 m {times} 31 m proportional tube array (the ``active shield``). Muon bundles which have at least one muon traversing the calorimeter, are reconstructed using tracks in the calorimeter together with hit patterns in the proportional tube shield. All ionization pulses are required to be coincident within 3 microseconds. A goal of this study is to investigate the relative nuclear abundances in the primary cosmic radiation around the ``knee`` region (10{sup 3} {minus} 10{sup 4} TeV) of the incident energy spectrum. Four models for the nuclear composition of cosmic rays are considered: The Linsley model, the Constant Mass Composition model (CMC), the Maryland model and the Proton-poor model. A Monte Carlo which incorporates one model at a time is used to simulate …

The purpose of this analysis is to systematically identify and evaluate hazards related to the design of the Yucca Mountain Project Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) East-West Cross Drift. This analysis builds upon prior ESF System Safety Analyses and incorporates TS Main Drift scenarios, where applicable, into the East-West Drift scenarios. This System Safety Analysis (SSA) focuses on the personnel safety and health hazards associated with the engineered design of the East-West Drift. The analysis also evaluates other aspects of the East-West Drift, including purchased equipment (e.g., scientific mapping platform) or Systems/Structures/Components (SSCs) and out-of-tolerance conditions. In addition to recommending design mitigation features, the analysis identifies the potential need for procedures, training, or Job Safety Analyses (JSAs). The inclusion of this information in the SSA is intended to assist the organization(s) (e.g., constructor, Safety and Health, design) responsible for these aspects of the East-West Drift in evaluating personnel hazards and augment the information developed by these organizations. The SSA is an integral part of the systems engineering process, whereby safety is considered during planning, design, testing, and construction. A largely qualitative approach is used which incorporates operating experiences and recommendations from vendors, the constructor and the operating contractor. The risk assessment …

In February, 1999, we conducted a small-scale characterization effort to support future remediation decisions for the Southern Sector of the upper Three Runs watershed. The study concentrated on groundwater adjacent to the seepline at Tim's Branch above and below Steed's Pond. the primary compounds of interest were the volatile organic contaminants (VOCs), trichlorethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Due to the site topography and hydrogeology, samples collected north of Steed's Pond were from the M-Area (water table) aquifer; while those locations south of Steed's Pond provided samples from the Lost Lake aquifer. Results of the study suggest that the leading edge of the A/M Area plume in the Lost Lake aquifer may be approaching the seepline at Tim's Branch below Steed's Pond, south of Road 2. Neither TCE nor PCE were detected int he samples targeting the seepline of the water table aquifer. The concentrations found for both TCE and PCE associated with the Lost Lake aquifer outcrop region were slightly above the detection limit of the analytical instrument used. The findings of this study are consistent with the conceptual model for the organic contaminant plume in the A/M Area of the Savannah River Site (SRS) -- the plume in the …