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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Use of the Common Core State Standards Initiative by Texas school districts to teach state standards (RQ-1175-GA).

When analyzing field data, the uncertainty in the background continuum emission produces the majority of error in the final gamma-source analysis. The background emission typically dominates an observed spectrum in terms of counts and is highly variable spatially and temporally. The majority of the spectral shape of the background continuum is produced by combinations of cosmic rays, {sup 40}K, {sup 235}U, and {sup 220}Rn, and the continuum is similar in shape to the 15%-20% level for most field observations. However, the goal of spectroscopy analysis is to pick up subtle peaks (<%5) upon this large background. Because the continuum is falling off as energy increases, peak detection algorithms must first define the background surrounding the peak. This definition is difficult when the range of background shapes is considered. The full spectral template matching algorithms are heavily weighted to solving for the background continuum as it produces significant counts over much of the energy range. The most appropriate background mitigation technique is to take a separate background observation without the source of interest. But, it is frequently not possible to record a background observation in the exact location before (or after) a source has been detected. Thus, one uses approximate backgrounds …

A literature survey on the dissolution of spent nuclear fuel from the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) has been performed. This survey encompassed both internal and external literature sources for the dissolution of aluminum-clad uranium alloy fuels. The most limiting aspect of dissolution in the current facility configuration involves issues related to the control of the flammability of the off-gas from this process. The primary conclusion of this work is that based on past dissolution of this fuel in H-Canyon, four bundles of this fuel (initial charge) may be safely dissolved in a nitric acid flowsheet catalyzed with 0.002 M mercuric nitrate using a 40 scfm purge to control off-gas flammability. The initial charge may be followed by a second charge of up to five bundles to the same dissolver batch depending on volume and concentration constraints. The safety of this flowsheet relies on composite lower flammability limits (LFL) estimated from prior literature, pilot-scale work on the dissolution of site fuels, and the proposed processing flowsheet. Equipment modifications or improved LFL data offer the potential for improved processing rates. The fuel charging sequence, as well as the acid and catalyst concentrations, will control the dissolution rate during the initial …

Thermal ionization and gas mass spectrometers are widely used across the Department of Energy (DOE) Complex and contractor laboratories. These instruments support critical missions, where high reliability and low measurement uncertainty are essential. A growing number of these mass spectrometers are significantly older than their original design life. The reality is that manufacturers have declared many of the instrument models obsolete, with direct replacement parts and service no longer available. Some of these obsolete models do not have a next generation, commercially available replacement. Today's budget conscious economy demands for the use of creative funds management. Therefore, the ability to refurbish (or upgrade) these valuable analytical tools and extending their useful life is a cost effective option. The Savannah River Site (SRS) has the proven expertise to breathe new life into older mass spectrometers, at a significant cost savings compared to the purchase and installation of new instruments. A twenty-seven year old Finnigan MAT-261{trademark} Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS), located at the SRS F/H Area Production Support Laboratory, has been successfully refurbished. Engineers from the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) fabricated and installed the new electronics. These engineers also provide continued instrument maintenance services. With electronic component drawings being DOE …

The Area 5 Hazardous Waste Storage Unit (HWSU) was established to support testing, research, and remediation activities at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), a large-quantity generator of hazardous waste. The HWSU, located adjacent to the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS), is a prefabricated, rigid steel-framed, roofed shelter used to store hazardous nonradioactive waste generated on the NTS. No offsite generated wastes are managed at the HWSU. Waste managed at the HWSU includes the following categories: Flammables/Combustibles; Acid Corrosives; Alkali Corrosives; Oxidizers/Reactives; Toxics/Poisons; and Other Regulated Materials (ORMs). A list of the regulated waste codes accepted for storage at the HWSU is provided in Section B.2. Hazardous wastes stored at the HWSU are stored in U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) compliant containers, compatible with the stored waste. Waste transfer (between containers) is not allowed at the HWSU and containers remain closed at all times. Containers are stored on secondary containment pallets and the unit is inspected monthly. Table 1 provides the metric conversion factors used in this application. Table 2 provides a list of existing permits. Table 3 lists operational Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) units at the NTS and their respective regulatory status.

Recent studies have found the performance of commercial handheld detectors with automatic RIID software to be less than acceptable. Previously, we have explored approaches rooted in speech processing such as cepstral features and information-theoretic measures. Scientific advances are often made when researchers identify mathematical or physical commonalities between different fields and are able to apply mature techniques or algorithms developed in one field to another field which shares some of the same challenges. The authors of this paper have identified similarities between the unsolved problems faced in gamma-spectroscopy for automated radioisotope identification and the challenges of the much larger body of research in speech processing. Our research has led to a probabilistic framework for describing and solving radioisotope identification problems. Many heuristic approaches to classification in current use, including for radioisotope classification, make implicit probabilistic assumptions which are not clear to the users and, if stated explicitly, might not be considered desirable. Our framework leads to a classification approach with demonstrable improvements using standard feature sets on proof-of-concept simulated and field-collected data.

While window frames typically represent 20-30percent of the overall window area, their impact on the total window heat transfer rates may be much larger. This effect is even greater in low-conductance (highly insulating) windows which incorporate very low conductance glazings. Developing low-conductance window frames requires accurate simulation tools for product research and development. The Passivhaus Institute in Germany states that windows (glazing and frames, combined) should have U-values not exceeding 0.80 W/(m??K). This has created a niche market for highly insulating frames, with frame U-values typically around 0.7-1.0 W/(m2 cdot K). The U-values reported are often based on numerical simulations according to international simulation standards. It is prudent to check the accuracy of these calculation standards, especially for high performance products before more manufacturers begin to use them to improve other product offerings. In this paper the thermal transmittance of five highly insulating window frames (three wooden frames, one aluminum frame and one PVC frame), found from numerical simulations and experiments, are compared. Hot box calorimeter results are compared with numerical simulations according to ISO 10077-2 and ISO 15099. In addition CFD simulations have been carried out, in order to use the most accurate tool available to investigate the convection …

Sonar and speech techniques have been investigated to improve functionality and enable handheld and other man-portable, mobile, and portal systems to positively detect and identify illicit nuclear materials, with minimal data and with minimal false positives and false negatives. RadSonar isotope detection and identification is an algorithm development project funded by NA-22 and employing the resources of Savannah River National Laboratory and three University Laboratories (JHU-APL, UT-ARL, and UW-APL). Algorithms have been developed that improve the probability of detection and decrease the number of false positives and negatives. Two algorithms have been developed and tested. The first algorithm uses support vector machine (SVM) classifiers to determine the most prevalent nuclide(s) in a spectrum. It then uses a constrained weighted least squares fit to estimate and remove the contribution of these nuclide(s) to the spectrum, iterating classification and fitting until there is nothing of significance left. If any Special Nuclear Materials (SNMs) were detected in this process, a second tier of more stringent classifiers are used to make the final SNM alert decision. The second algorithm is looking at identifying existing feature sets that would be relevant in the radioisotope identification context. The underlying philosophy here is to identify parallels between …

It is difficult to overestimate the importance that physical measurements performed with nondestructive assay instruments play throughout the nuclear fuel cycle. They underpin decision making in many areas and support: criticality safety, radiation protection, process control, safeguards, facility compliance, and waste measurements. No physical measurement is complete or indeed meaningful, without a defensible and appropriate accompanying statement of uncertainties and how they combine to define the confidence in the results. The uncertainty budget should also be broken down in sufficient detail suitable for subsequent uses to which the nondestructive assay (NDA) results will be applied. Creating an uncertainty budget and estimating the total measurement uncertainty can often be an involved process, especially for non routine situations. This is because data interpretation often involves complex algorithms and logic combined in a highly intertwined way. The methods often call on a multitude of input data subject to human oversight. These characteristics can be confusing and pose a barrier to developing and understanding between experts and data consumers. ASTM subcommittee C26-10 recognized this problem in the context of how to summarize and express precision and bias performance across the range of standards and guides it maintains. In order to create a unified approach …

Propane as an auto fuel has a high octane value and has key properties required for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. To operate a vehicle on propane as either a dedicated fuel or bi-fuel (i.e., switching between gasoline and propane) vehicle, only a few modifications must be made to the engine. Until recently propane vehicles have commonly used a vapor pressure system that was somewhat similar to a carburetion system, wherein the propane would be vaporized and mixed with combustion air in the intake plenum of the engine. This leads to lower efficiency as more air, rather than fuel, is inducted into the cylinder for combustion (Myers 2009). A newer liquid injection system has become available that injects propane directly into the cylinder, resulting in no mixing penalty because air is not diluted with the gaseous fuel in the intake manifold. Use of a direct propane injection system will improve engine efficiency (Gupta 2009). Other systems include the sequential multi-port fuel injection system and a bi-fuel 'hybrid' sequential propane injection system. Carbureted systems remain in use but mostly for non-road applications. In the United States a closed-loop system is used in after-market conversions. This system incorporates an electronic sensor that provides …

High-resolution tracking detectors based on Active Pixel Sensor (APS) have been valuable tools in Nuclear Physics and High-Energy Physics research, and have contributed to major discoveries. Their integration time, radiation length and readout rate is a limiting factor for the planed luminosity upgrades in nuclear and high-energy physics collider-based experiments. The goal of this program was to demonstrate and develop high-gain, high-resolution tracking detector arrays with faster readout, and shorter radiation length than APS arrays. These arrays may operate as direct charged particle detectors or as readouts of high resolution scintillating fiber arrays. During this program, we developed in CMOS large, high-resolution pixel sensor arrays with integrated readout, and reset at pixel level. Their intrinsic gain, high immunity to surface and moisture damage, will allow operating these detectors with minimal packaging/passivation requirements and will result in radiation length superior to APS. In Phase I, we designed and fabricated arrays with calorimetric output capable of sub-pixel resolution and sub-microsecond readout rate. The technical effort was dedicated to detector and readout structure development, performance verification, as well as to radiation damage and damage annealing.

Relying on coal for energy requires optimizing the extraction of heat content from various blends of coal fuel and reducing harmful constituents and byproducts. Having a real-time measurement instrument provides relevant information about toxic constituents released in the atmosphere from burning coal and optimizes the performance of a power plant. A few commercial instruments exist and have been in operation for more than a decade. However, most of these instruments are based on radioactive sources and are bulky, expensive and time-consuming. The proposed instrument is based on the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). The advantage of LIBS is that it is a standoff instrument, does not require sample preparation and provides precise information about sample constituents.

Newsletter of the Texas Credit Union Department containing departmental news and announcements, deadlines, and other information of importance to credit unions. Information provided covers CDFI guarantee bond program, FFIEC announces cyber security assessments, and policies and procedures.

This report discusses phase two of the SCience ICe EXercise (SCICEX) Science Plan.

This report is a summary of a workshop held on March 2011 by the Climate Change Division (CCD) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The workshop was organized with experts on various aspects of climate change. The workshop was intended to gather feedback on EPA's 2010 report, Climate Change Indicators in the United States and to solicit suggestions for future versions of the report and its contents.

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Ultraclean fuels production has become increasingly important as a method to help decrease emissions and allow the introduction of alternative feed stocks for transportation fuels. Established methods, such as Fischer-Tropsch, have seen a resurgence of interest as natural gas prices drop and existing petroleum resources require more intensive clean-up and purification to meet stringent environmental standards. This review covers some of the advances in deep desulfurization, synthesis gas conversion into fuels and feed stocks that were presented at the 245th American Chemical Society Spring Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA in the Division of Energy and Fuels symposium on "Ultraclean Fuels Production and Utilization".

Uranium speciation and retention mechanism onto Savannah River Site (SRS) wetland sediments was studied using batch (ad)sorption experiments, sequential extraction desorption tests and U L{sub 3}-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy of contaminated wetland sediments. U was highly retained by the SRS wetland sediments. In contrast to other similar but much lower natural organic matter (NOM) sediments, significant sorption of U onto the SRS sediments was observed at pH <4 and pH >8. Sequential extraction tests indicated that the U(VI) species were primarily associated with the acid soluble fraction (weak acetic acid extractable) and NOM fraction (Na-pyrophosphate extractable). Uranium L3- edge XANES spectra of the U-retained sediments were nearly identical to that of uranyl acetate. The primary oxidation state of U in these sediments was as U(VI), and there was little evidence that the high sorptive capacity of the sediments could be ascribed to abiotic or biotic reduction to the less soluble U(IV) species. The molecular mechanism responsible for the high U retention in the SRS wetland sediments is likely related to the chemical bonding of U to organic carbon.

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This report provides background information and issues for Congress on three potential new weapons that could improve the ability of Navy surface ships to defend themselves against enemy missiles--solid state lasers (SSLs), the electromagnetic railgun (EMRG), and the hypervelocity projectile (HVP).

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on China's naval modernization effort and its implications for U.S. Navy capabilities. The issue for Congress is how the U.S. Navy should respond to China's military modernization effort, particularly its naval modernization effort.