Biweekly, comprehensive compilation of decisions, reports, public notices, and other documents of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Biweekly, comprehensive compilation of decisions, reports, public notices, and other documents of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

This report assesses the proposals and prospects for automated checks, ranging from the point-of-sale “instant” check now used by the State of Virginia, to the establishment of a computerized national felons file, to live scanning of fingerprints, or the issuance of ‘smart’ cards to identify firearm purchasers. It considers the benefits, costs, and risks of automated checks. The report examines the relationship between automated record checks and waiting periods, the wide variability in State criminal record systems, and the challenges of improving the automation and quality of record systems.

This report examines the potential and limitations of cooperative aerial surveillance as a means of supporting the goals of a variety of international agreements. It surveys the types of aircraft and sensors that might be used. It reviews the status of and issues raised by the Open Skies Treaty negotiations as an extended example of an aerial surveillance regime. The report concludes with a quantitative analysis of one possible use of cooperative over flights: the search for potential arms control violations.

The report provides a broad overview of energy choices facing the Nation. It is not an exhaustive analysis of any one technology; rather, it draws together the main themes of OTA reports from the past 16 years, and other documents, into an outline of the main directions the country could follow.

This report, the result of an assessment of the potential for automation and robotics technology to assist in the exploration of the Moon and Mars, raises a number of issues related to the goals of the U.S. civilian space program. Among other things, the report discusses how greater attention to automation and robotics technologies could contribute to U.S. space exploration efforts.

In 1984, the year after cyclosporine made its debut onto the health care market, OTA reported to Congress on the likely benefits of the drug for Medicare kidney transplant recipients. The present report, requested by the Senate Committee on Finance in the wake of the repeal of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, examines Medicare’s current immunosuppressive drug coverage dilemma and the policy tradeoffs it entails for the 1990s.

This report examines emerging U.S. national security requirements, surveys the current conditions and trends in the DTIB, and proposes some desirable characteristics for the future base. The report concludes with a discussion of the broad strategic choices and tactical decisions that must be considered as the Nation moves to this future base.

This report deals with the Federal research and development effort in countering terrorism, and with the state of attempts to use technology to aid in detecting and preventing attempts to introduce explosives aboard aircraft. A review of the relevant R&D programs in many agencies is provided. The second report of this study will be released in late summer 1991.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The staff of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has prepared this staff technical position for the purpose of compiling and further clarifying previous staff positions on regulatory considerations in the design and construction of the exploratory shaft facility (ESF). (The US Department of Energy (DOE) now refers to the ESF as the ``exploratory studies facility.`` DOE`s change in terminology does not affect the positions taken in this guidance.) This document lists the key regulations in 10 CFR Part 60 that should be considered in the design and construction of the ESF and presents the staff position statements and corresponding discussions. 13 refs., 1 fig.

This report describes a quality assurance program plan for the Yucca Mountain Project. Aspects of the plan include: document control, equipment maintenance and calibration, process control, audits, computer software, and inspections. (CBS)

Corrosion resistant materials are being considered for the metallic barrier of the Yucca Mountain Project`s high-level radioactive waste disposal containers. High nickel alloys and titanium alloys have good corrosion resistance properties and are considered good candidates for the metallic barrier. The localized corrosion phenomena, pitting and crevice corrosion, are considered as potentially limiting for the barrier lifetime. An understanding of the mechanisms of localized corrosion of how various parameters affect it will be necessary for adequate performance assessments of candidate container materials. Examples of some of the concerns involving candidate container materials. Examples of some of the concerns of involving localized corrosion are discussed. The effects of various parameters, such as temperature and concentration of halide species, on localized corrosion are given. In addition concerns about aging of the protective oxide layer in the expected service temperature range (50 to 250{degrees}C) are presented. Also some mechanistic considerations of localized corrosion are given. 31 refs., 1 tab.

The Sleeping Butte volcanic centers comprise two, spatially separate, small-volume (<0.1 km{sup 3}) basaltic centers. The centers were formed by mildly explosive Strombolian eruptions. The Little Black Peak cone consists of a main scoria cone, two small satellitic scoria mounds, and associated lobate lava flows that vented from sites at the base of the scoria cone. The Hidden Cone center consists of a main scoria cone that developed on the north-facing slope of Sleeping Butte. The center formed during two episodes. The first included the formation of the main scoria cone, and venting of aa lava flows from radial dikes at the northeast base of the cone. The second included eruption of scoria-fall deposits from the summit crater. The ages of the Little Black Peak and the Hidden Cone are estimated to be between 200 to 400 ka based on the whole-rock K-Ar age determinations with large analytical undertainty. This age assignment is consistent with qualitative observations of the degree of soil development and geomorphic degradation of volcanic landforms. The younger episode of the Hidden Cone is inferred to be significantly younger and probably of Late Pleistocene or Holocene age. This is based on the absence of cone slope rilling, …

A set of experiments, based on the application of the Unsaturated Test method to the reaction of UO{sub 2} with EJ-13 water, has been conducted over a period of 182.5 weeks. One half of the experiments have been terminated, while one half are still ongoing. Solutions that have dripped from UO{sub 2} specimens have been analyzed for all experiments, while the reacted UO{sub 2} surfaces have been examined for only the terminated experiments. A pulse of uranium release from the UO{sub 2} solid, in conjunction with the formation of dehydrated schoepite on the surface of the UO{sub 2}, was observed during the 39- to 96-week period. Thereafter, the uranium release decreased and a second set of secondary phases was observed. The latter phases incorporate cations from the EJ-13 water and include boltwoodite, uranophane, sklodowskite, compreignacite, and schoepite. The experiments are being continued to monitor for additional changes in solution composition and secondary phase formation, and have now reached the 319-week period. 9 refs., 17 figs., 25 tabs.

Sandia National Laboratories, has developed a methodology for performance assessment of deep geologic disposal of high-level nuclear waste. The applicability of this performance assessment methodology has been demonstrated for disposal in bedded salt and basalt; it has since been modified for assessment of repositories in unsaturated, fractured tuff. Changes to the methodology are primarily in the form of new or modified ground water flow and radionuclide transport codes. A new computer code, DCM3D, has been developed to model three-dimensional ground-water flow in unsaturated, fractured rock using a dual-continuum approach. The NEFTRAN 2 code has been developed to efficiently model radionuclide transport in time-dependent velocity fields, has the ability to use externally calculated pore velocities and saturations, and includes the effect of saturation dependent retardation factors. In order to use these codes together in performance-assessment-type analyses, code-coupler programs were developed to translate DCM3D output into NEFTRAN 2 input. Other portions of the performance assessment methodology were evaluated as part of modifying the methodology for tuff. The scenario methodology developed under the bedded salt program has been applied to tuff. An investigation of the applicability of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis techniques to non-linear models indicate that Monte Carlo simulation remains the most …

The Waste Package Project Research Team, at UNLV, has four general required tasks. Task one is the management, quality assurance, and overview of the research that is performed under the cooperative agreement. Task two is the structural analysis of spent fuel and high level waste. Task three is an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Pressure Vessel Code review for waste package application. Finally, task four is waste package labeling. This report includes preliminary information about task three (ASME Pressure Vessel Code review for Waste package Application). The first objective is to compile a list of the ASME Pressure Vessel Code that can be applied to waste package containers design and manufacturing processes. The second objective is to explore the use of these applicable codes to the preliminary waste package container designs. The final objective is to perform a library search for reliability and/or failure rates data on low pressure, low temperature, containers and casks with long design lives.

Thermal neutron logs were collected to monitor changes in moisture content within a welded tuff rock mass heated from a borehole containing an electrical heater which remained energized for 195 days. Thermal neutron measurements were made in sampling boreholes before, during and after heating. The results generally corroborated our conceptual understanding of hydrothermal flow as well as most of the numerical modeling conducting for this study. Conceptual models have been developed in conjunction with the numerical model calculations to explain differences in the drying and re-wetting behavior above and below the heater. Numerical modeling indicated that the re-wetting of the dried-out zone was dominated by the binary diffusion of water vapor through fractures. Saturation gradients in the rock matrix resulted in relative humidity gradients which drove water vapor (primarily along fractures) back to the dried-out zone where it condensed along the fracture walls and was imbibed by the matrix. 4 refs., 28 figs.