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: Authority of county to enter into coliseum concession contract which allows extension of lease term and transfer if lease to another entity (RQ-1050)

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 the City of New Braunfels must reimburse New Braunfels Utility ratepayers if it disposes of nonrevenue-producing land originally purchased, but never used, for future expansion of the utility system (RQ-976)

This supporting document has been prepared to make the FDNW calculations for Project W-320, readily retrievable.

This project is designed to develop a family of novel NO{sub x} control technologies, called Second Generation Advanced Reburning which has the potential to achieve 90+% NO{sub x} control in coal fired boilers at a significantly lower cost than SCR. The third reporting period in Phase II (April 1--June 30, 1998) included experimental activities at pilot scale and comparison of the results with full-scale data. The pilot scale tests were performed with the objective of simulating furnace conditions of ongoing full-scale tests at the Greenidge boiler No. 6 owned and operated by NYSEG and defining the processes controlling AR performance to subsequently improve the performance. The tests were conducted in EER' s Boiler Simulator Facility. The main fuel pulsing system was used at the BSF to control the degree of unmixedness, thus providing control over furnace gas O{sub 2} and CO concentrations. Results on AR-Lean, presented in the previous quarterly report, were compared with full-scale data. Performance of reburn+SNCR was tested to predict NO{sub x} control at Greenidge. The results of the BSF reburn+SNCR simulation tests demonstrated that there are synergistic advantages of using these two technologies in series. In particular, injection of overfire air provides additional mixing that reduces …

While office equipment accounts for about 7 percent of commercial building energy use, this reflects considerable energy savings from the use of automatic power management. Most of these savings were gained through the use of low-power modes that meet the criteria of the U.S. EPA's Energy Star program. Despite this success, there are large amounts of additional savings that could be gained if all equipment capable of power management use were enabled and functioning. A considerable portion of equipment is not enabled for power management at all, enabled only partially, or is enabled but prevented from functioning. Additional savings could be gained if more equipment were turned off at night manually. We compiled results from 17 studies from the office equipment literature addressing PCs and monitors. Some factors important for annual energy use, such as power levels, have been documented elsewhere and are not covered. We review methods for estimating office equipment use patterns and energy use, and present findings on night status--power management and manual turn-off rates. In early studies, PC power management was often found to function in 25 percent or less of the Energy Star compliant units (10 percent of all PCs). However, recent assessments have found …

Understanding the fate of environmental contaminants is of fundamental importance in the development and evaluation of effective remediation strategies. Among the factors influencing the transport of these contaminants are the chemical speciation of the sample and the chemical and physical attributes of the surrounding medium. Characterization of the spatial distribution and chemical speciation at micron and submicron resolution is essential for studying the microscopic physical, geological, chemical, and biological interfaces that play a crucial role in determining contaminant fate and mobility. Hard X-ray spectroscopy and imaging are powerful techniques for the element-specific investigation of complex environmental samples at the needed micron and submicron resolution. An important advantage of these techniques results from the large penetration depth of hard X-rays in water. This minimizes the requirements for sample preparation and allows the detailed study of hydrated samples. This paper discusses some current problems in environmental science that can be addressed by using synchrotron-based X-ray imaging and spectroscopy. These concepts are illustrated by the results of recent X-ray microscopy studies at the Advanced Photon Source.

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) 7-GeV storage ring and the synchrotron radiation diagnostics have matured noticeable in the past year. The monitors now include information from two separate bending-magnet sources (one at a dispersive point in the lattice) as well as a 198-period diagnostic undulator. Data logging via EPICS of the observed transverse beam size is coupled with the measured lattice parameters to calculate emittance on-line as well. Information on the beam emittance (7 {+-} 1 nm rad) in both the standard lattice and a low {beta}{sub y} lattice, the vertical coupling (1 to 4%), and beam position and jitter are logged. In addition, measurements of divergence, (3 to 7 {micro}rad), beam bunch length ({approximately} 35 ps), and even effects of the moon's gravity on the source point image position have been performed.

The Ozone Transport Assessment Group (OTAG) represented a cooperative effort between states, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and numerous stakeholders to address teh complex issue of ozone transport. However, opponents of the new ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) argue that the OTAG recommendations are far too vague and ambiguous to be cited by EPA as a basis for implementation. This report provides background on the effort, and summarizes OTAG's assessment and recommendations.

HNF-SD-WM-TRD-O07, System Specification for the Double-Shell Tank System, (hereafter referred to as DST Specification), defines the requirements of the double-shell tank system at the Hanford Site for Phase 1 privatization. Many of the sections in this document reference other documents for design guidance and requirements. Referenced documents include Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) procedures (HNF-PROS), Codes of Federal Regulation (CFRs), DOE Orders, and Washington Administrative Codes (WACs). This document provides rationale for the selection and inclusion of HNF-PROS, CFRs, DOE Orders and WACs.

Understanding the �extreme statistics� of failure at a weak link allows extrapolation of the results of small area laser damage tests to predict damage levels for the large areas pertinent to NIF/LMJ. Conceptually, it is important to focus on the fluence dependence of the surface density of damage sites. Results of different types of damage tests can be reported in terms of this sample characteristic property.

The potential cost savings due to the use of caustic recycle used in conjunction with remediation of radioactive underground storage tank waste, is shown in a figure for the Hanford and Savannah River sites. Two cost savings estimates for each case have been made for Hanford, and one cost savings estimate for each case have been made for Hanford, and one cost savings estimate for each case has been made for the Savannah River site. This is due to the Hanford site remediation effort being less mature than that of Savannah River; and consequently, a range of cost savings being more appropriate for Hanford. This range of cost savings (rather than a ingle value) for each case at Hanford is due to cost uncertainties related to the LAW immobilization operation. Caustic recycle Case-1 has been defined as the sodium required to meet al identified caustic needs for the entire Site. Case-2 has been defined as the maximum sodium which can be separated from the low activity waste without precipitation of Al(OH){sub 3}. It has been determined that the potential cost savings at Hanford ranges from $194 M to $215 M for Case-1, and $293 M to $324 M for Case-2. …

The sludges remaining in the K Basins after removal of the spent N Reactor nuclear fuel will be conditioned for disposal. After conditioning, an acid-insoluble residue will remain that may require further leaching to properly condition it for disposal. This document presents a literature study to identify and recommend one or more chemical leaching treatments for laboratory testing, based on the likely compositions of the residues. The processes identified are a nitric acid cerate leach, a silver-catalyzed persulfate leach, a nitric hydrofluoric acid leach, an oxalic citric acid reactor decontamination leach, a nitric hydrochloric acid leach, a ammonium fluoride nitrate leach, and a HEOPA formate dehydesulfoxylate leach. All processes except the last two are recommended for testing in that order.

Laser-induced damage on the tensile side of vacuum-barrier fused silica optics can result in catastrophic fracture. This fracture can lead to two possible modes of failure: a benign failure resulting in a slow air leak into the vacuum chamber or an implosion. In previous work, they measured fracture in round vacuum windows and lenses and proposed a fail-safe design that would insure the benign failure mode by fracturing into only two parts, thus eliminating the possibility of implosion. In this paper they extend the previous work to include square vacuum-barrier windows and lenses.

One of the most significant challenges facing environmental engineers and scientists is predicting the movement and degradation of chemicals in hierarchical porous media. The distribution of subsurface properties is poorly known because of the inaccessibility of the subsurface environment and the random nature of the geologic deposition process. In addition, the subsurface often possesses distinct physical, chemical and biological hierarchies, which complicates the ability to successfully characterize and thus predict property distributions and processes with information from a limited number of sample locations over a limited number of scales. Knowledge of the spatial structure of microbial populations and activities and the dynamic environmental factors that control this spatial structure are important in characterizing sites for remediation and disposal, and for the ability to effectively deliver nutrients to promote degradation and stabilization. To do so effectively requires a correct theoretical formulation of the problem, implementation of this formulation for predictive purposes, and even more importantly knowledge of what should be measured and how and when to measure it. The contents of this report is as follows: (Section 2) statement of goals, (Section 3) development of nonlocal models for chemical transport with uncertainty in biological, physical and chemical data, (Section 4) a …

Pulse detonation technology for the purpose of removing slag and fouling deposits in coal-fired utility power plant boilers offers great potential. Conventional slag removal methods including soot blowers and water lances have great difficulties in removing slags especially from the down stream areas of utility power plant boilers. The detonation wave technique, based on high impact velocity with sufficient energy and thermal shock on the slag deposited on gas contact surfaces offers a convenient, inexpensive, yet efficient and effective way to supplement existing slag removal methods. A slight increase in the boiler efficiency, due to more effective ash/deposit removal and corresponding reduction in plant maintenance downtime and increased heat transfer efficiency, will save millions of dollars in operational costs. Reductions in toxic emissions will also be accomplished due to reduction in coal usage. Detonation waves have been demonstrated experimentally to have exceptionally high shearing capability, important to the task of removing slag and fouling deposits. The experimental results describe the parametric study of the input parameters in removing the different types of slag and operating condition. The experimental results show that both the single and multi shot detonation waves have high potential in effectively removing slag deposit from boiler heat …

The purpose of this CRADA project was to evaluate the seismic stability of block retaining wall systems. Retaining wall systems are used extensively in private and commercial developments. This study was designed to develop and demonstrate a computer modeling technology to be used to predict the seismic stability of any block wall system design. The nonlinear finite element computer programs developed at LLNL and employed in the Computational Earthquake Initiative were utilized in this small business CRADA to analyze the seismic stability of the block retaining walls. The unique capability of the LLNL programs to rigorously model frictional contact in a dynamic analysis problem were used in a computer simulation of the dynamic interaction the block wall/soil systems under seismic excitation. Another important application, and the focus of the proposal, was the use of block retaining walls in highway transportation systems to provide a vertical wall to hold back a mass of soil near highway bridges, and at on-ramps and off-ramps. Block retaining walls offered the potential of highway retaining wall construction which was both more flexible and more economical than existing poured-in-place and tilt-up highway retaining wall construction. However, block retaining wall technology was not embraced and utilized in …

Friction affects several aspects important to the design of kinematic couplings, but particularly the ability to reach its centered position is fundamental (In this paper, the term kinematic coupling refers to any connection device based on pairs of contacting surfaces that provide six constraints in an ideal sense). It becomes centered when all pairs of contacting surfaces are fully seated even though a small uncertainty may exist about the exact center where potential energy is minimum. For many applications, centering ability is a good indicator for optimizing the coupling design. Typically, the coupling design process has been largely heuristic based on a few guidelines [Slocum, 1992]. Several simple kinematic couplings (for example, a symmetric three-vee coupling) are compared for centering ability using closed-form equations. More general configurations lacking obvious symmetries are difficult to model in this way. A unique kinematic coupling for large interchangeable optics assemblies in the National Ignition Facility motivated the development of a computer program to optimize centering ability. However, space limits the description of the program to the basic algorithm. Currently the program is written in MathcadTM Plus 6 and is available upon request.

The permeability of soil to fluid flow defines the magnitude of soil gas and groundwater flow under imposed pressure gradients. Pressure gradients exist due to natural effects such as hydraulic gradients (in the case of groundwater) and barometrically imposed gradients (in the case of soil gas). Unnatural gradients are imposed by soil vapor extraction air sparging, active venting, pump-and-treat, and other remediation processes requiring the active movement of fluids through the soil. The design of these processes requires knowledge of the flow characteristics of the soil. The most variable of the soil's flow characteristics is its permeability, which can vary by several orders of magnitude in a given geologic and hydrologic setting. Knowledge of soil gas permeability is needed to design soil vapor extraction systems and predict the general movement of gas in soil. Saturated hydraulic conductivity, or the soil's permeability to liquid flow, is required to predict movement of groundwater in saturated soils. The variability of permeability is illustrated by the range of values for different media in a table. It is not uncommon for permeabilities to vary by several orders of magnitude at a given site.

The objective of the main project is to identify the current developmental status of MCFC systems and address those technical issues that need to be resolved to move the technology from its current status to the demonstration stage in the shortest possible time. The specific objectives are separated into five major tasks as follows: Stack research; Power plant development; Test facilities development; Manufacturing facilities development; and Commercialization. This Final Report discusses the M-C power Corporation effort which is part of a general program for the development of commercial MCFC systems. This final report covers the entire subject of the Unocal 250-cell stack. Certain project activities have been funded by organizations other than DOE and are included in this report to provide a comprehensive overview of the work accomplished.

Final Report for Tank 100 Sump Sludge (KON332) for Polychlorinated Biphenyl`s (PCB) Sample Receipt Sample KON332 was received from Tank 100-Sump (WESF) on May 18, 1998. The laboratory number issued for this sample is S98BOO0207 as shown on the Request for Sample Analysis (RSA) form (Attachment 4). The sample breakdown diagram (Attachment 3) provides a cross-reference of customer sample identification to the laboratory identification number. Attachment 4 provides copies of the Request for Sample Analysis (RSA) and Chain of Custody (COC) forms. The sample was received in the laboratory in a 125-ml polybottle. Breakdown and subsampling was performed on June 6, 1998. PCB analysis was performed on the wet sludge. A discussion of the results is presented in Attachment 2. The 222-S extraction bench sheets are presented in Attachment 5. The PCB raw data are presented in Attachment 6.

This supporting document has been prepared to make the FDNW calculations for Project W-320, readily retrievable. The report contains the following design calculations: Cooling load in pump pit 241-AY-102; Pressure relief seal loop design; Process building piping stress analysis; Exhaust skid maximum allowable leakage criteria; and Recirculation heat, N509 duct requirements.