The surprise election of Socialist Party leader Tomiichi Murayama as Prime Minister on June 29, 1994, reflects an ongoing process of change and realignment in Japanese politics that, in the short term, has made the management of U.S.-Japan relations significantly more difficult and impeded the resolution of important issues. Although Murayama has pledged continuity in U.S.-Japan relations, and key cabinet posts have been given to senior LDP leaders with experience in dealing with Washington, his election could have a number of negative implications for U.S. interests. Among other possibilities, the change could temporarily set back the cause of political reform in Japan, further delay the recovery of the Japanese economy from a three-year long slump, pose new obstacles to trade negotiations aimed at more fully opening Japanese markets to U.S. goods and services, and bring into question Tokyo's cooperation under certain scenarios on the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The likely hiatus in major decisionmaking may continue at least until the next general election.

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

Recent experiments with femtosecond lasers provide a test bed for theoretical ideas about electron processes in hot dense plasmas. We briefly review aspects of electron conduction theory likely to prove relevant to femtosecond laser absorption. We show that the Mott-Ioffe-Regel limit implies a maximum inverse bremsstrahlung absorption of about 50% at temperatures near the Fermi temperature. We also propose that sheath inverse bremsstrahlung leads to a minimum absorption of 7-10% at high laser intensity.

The objective of the survey was to locate subsurface obstructions that may affect the drilling of proposed borehole, 199-K-106A, about 50 ft east of the 1,714 KW Building, 100-K Area. Based upon the results of the survey, possible drill sites within the zone, with the least likelihood of encountering identified obstructions, were identified. The ground-penetrating radar (GPR) system used for this work utilized a 300-megahertz antenna to transmit the electromagnetic (EM) energy into the ground. The transmitted energy is reflected back to a receiving antenna where variations in the return signal are recorded. Common reflectors include natural geologic conditions such as bedding, cementation, moisture, and clay, or man-made objects such as pipes, barrels, foundations, and buried wires. The method is limited in depth by transmit power, receiver sensitivity, frequency, and attenuation of the transmitted energy which can be strongly affected by geology. Depth of investigation is also influenced by highly conductive material, such as metal drums, which reflect all the energy back to the receiver. Therefore, the method cannot ``see`` below such objects. Maximum depth of penetration for this survey seemed to be about 10 to 12 ft.

This report presents estimated costs and indice for domestic oil and gas field equipment and production operations for 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993. The costs of all equipment and serives were those in effect during June of each year. The sums (aggregates) of the costs for representative leases by region, depth, and production rate were averaged and indexed. This provides a general measure of the increased or decreased costs from year to year for lease equipment and operations. These general measures do not capture changes in industry-wide costs exactly because of annual variations in the ratio of oil wells to gas wells. The body of the report contains summary tables, and the appendices contain detailed tables. Price changes for oil and gas, changes in taxes on oil and gas revenues, and environmental factors (costs and lease availability) have significant impact on the number and cost of oil and gas wells drilled. These changes also impact the cost of oil and gas production equipment and operations.

This report summarizes the results of the geophysical investigations conducted as part of the characterization of the buried ``Thimble`` site. The site is located just south of the 116-H-2 Crib and is in the 100-HR-2 Operable Unit. Available documentation has it located between, and at the convergence of, two railroad spurs that run north-south. A concrete monument is believed to mark the site. The burial ground is suspected of containing a vertical safety rod thimble that is reportedly 40 ft long. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic induction (EMI) were the two techniques used in the investigation. The methods were selected because they are non-intrusive, relatively fast, economical, and have been used successfully in other similar investigations on the Hanford Site. The objective of the investigation was to locate the buried thimble.

High Level Waste Programs has radioactive waste storage, treatment and processing facilities that are located in the F and H Areas at the Savannah River Site. These facilities include the Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF), F and H Area Tank Farms, Extended Sludge Processing (ESP), and In-Tank Precipitation (ITP). Job wastes are generated from operation, maintenance, and construction activities inside radiological areas. These items may have been contaminated with radioactive supernate, salt, and sludge material. Most of these wastes will be disposed of in the E-area Vaults. Therefore, an isotopic and hazardous characterization must be performed. The characterization of HLW supernate radionuclides is discussed in Chapter I. The characterization for salt and sludge phases, which can also contaminate LLW, will be included in other Chapters.

A principal objective of this work was to study the conversion of coal to C{sub 2} {minus} C{sub 4} hydrocarbons in a two-stage reactor system. Coal was converted to liquids at 440{degrees}C in a stirred batch autoclave using tetralin as the hydrogen donor solvent. The liquids produced were separated from the unreacted coal and ash by filtration. The liquids were then fed into a second stage fixed bed reactor containing sulfided Ni-Mo/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and SiO{sub 2{minus}}Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} catalyst. The liquids were hydrocracked on the dual functional catalyst giving high yields of C{sub 2} {minus} C{sub 4}. hydrocarbons. The pressure was 1800 psi and the temperatures were in the range of 425 to 500{degrees}C. The kinetic parameters of the conversion of coal liquids to gases were determined. The activation energy was determined.

The general objectives are to: (1) to identify and develop gelled polymer systems which have potential to improve reservoir conformance of fluid displacement processes, (2) to determine the performance of these systems in bulk and in porous media, and (3) to develop methods to predict the capability of these systems to recover oil from petroleum reservoirs. This work focuses on three types of gel systems--an aqueous polysaccharide (KUSP 1) system that gels as a function of pH, the chromium(III)-polyacrylamide system and the aluminum citrate-polyacrylamide system. Laboratory research is directed at the fundamental understanding of the physics and chemistry of the gelation process in bulk form and in porous media. This knowledge will be used to develop conceptual and mathematical models of the gelation process. Mathematical models will then be extended to predict the performance of gelled polymer treatments in oil reservoirs.