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This report presents results of an assessment of the available information concerning US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) requirements and guidance applicable to sampling, handling, and analyzing physical parameter samples at Comprehensive Environmental Restoration, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) investigation sites. Geotechnical testing laboratories measure the following physical properties of soil and sediment samples collected during CERCLA remedial investigations (RI) at the Hanford Site: moisture content, grain size by sieve, grain size by hydrometer, specific gravity, bulk density/porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, moisture retention, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, and permeability of rocks by flowing air. Geotechnical testing laboratories also measure the following chemical parameters of soil and sediment samples collected during Hanford Site CERCLA RI: calcium carbonate and saturated column leach testing. Physical parameter data are used for (1) characterization of vadose and saturated zone geology and hydrogeology, (2) selection of monitoring well screen sizes, (3) to support modeling and analysis of the vadose and saturated zones, and (4) for engineering design. The objectives of this report are to determine the QA/QC levels accepted in the EPA Region 10 for the sampling, handling, and analysis of soil samples for physical parameters during CERCLA RI.

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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: Validity of a state licensing fee assessed on certified public accounts who are employed by the federal government (RQ-485)

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: Whether chapter 106 of the Human Resources Code requires a facility that submits the name of an employee for a criminal conviction check to terminate the employee if the checks reveal convictions of certain offenses (RQ-211)

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: Whether students are "employees" for the purposes of the Texas Hazard Communication Act of the Health and Safety Code sections 502-001-.016, which require employers to furnish "employees" with education, training, and information regarding hazardous chemicals at their work places (RQ-382)

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 Comal County Water Oriented Recreation District is authorized to waive penalties and interest due on delinquent taxes (ID# 19913)

Prior to 1988, a variety of materials were buried on the US DOE Oak Ridge Reservation. Records of the disposal operations are incomplete and toxic materials may have been placed adjacent to potential explosives. One of the safety concerns in conducting an environmental restoration project at the burial sites, is the possibility of an explosion which could release toxic materials to the atmosphere. A safety analysis examined the consequences of such releases by first postulating an upper bound for the strength of an explosive. A correlation, developed by Steindler and Seefeldt of Argonne National Laboratory, was then used to estimate the amount and particle-size distribution of the material that could become airborne from the explosion. The estimated amount of airborne material was the source term in an atmospheric dispersion model which was used to calculate infinite-time, concentration-time integrals and 5-minute, time- weighted average concentrations at locations down-wind from the explosion. The dispersion model includes particle deposition as a function of particle-size distribution class. The concentration-time integrals and average concentrations were compared to published guidelines to assess the consequences of an accidental explosion.

Experiments have been developed for measuring the rates of chemical reactions liquids and in supercritical Co[sub 2]. A pulsed (Q-switch) Nd:YAG laser at 355 nm was the pump beam for laser flash photolysis studies of molybdenum and tungsten hexacarbonyls undergoing ligand displacement reactions by bidentate chelating agents such as 2,2[prime]-bipyridine in toluene. Experiments were carried out at 0.1 to 150 MPa. In the case of molybdenum complexes, the reaction mechanism for thermal ring closure is found from activation volumes to change from associative interchange to dissociative interchange as substituents on the 2,2[prime]-bipyridine ligands become bulkier. In a similar study of more rigid, substituted phenanthroline bidentate ligands it was found that substituent bulkiness had little effect on the thermal ring closure mechanism. Similar high pressure flash photolysis experiments with tungsten hexacarbonyl have also been completed. The concentration dependence of the fluorescence and nonradiative decay quantum yields for cresyl violet in several solvent have been reported as well as stability constants for the complexation of lithium ion by four different crown ethers dissolved in a room temperature molten salt.

Experiments have been developed for measuring the rates of chemical reactions liquids and in supercritical Co{sub 2}. A pulsed (Q-switch) Nd:YAG laser at 355 nm was the pump beam for laser flash photolysis studies of molybdenum and tungsten hexacarbonyls undergoing ligand displacement reactions by bidentate chelating agents such as 2,2{prime}-bipyridine in toluene. Experiments were carried out at 0.1 to 150 MPa. In the case of molybdenum complexes, the reaction mechanism for thermal ring closure is found from activation volumes to change from associative interchange to dissociative interchange as substituents on the 2,2{prime}-bipyridine ligands become bulkier. In a similar study of more rigid, substituted phenanthroline bidentate ligands it was found that substituent bulkiness had little effect on the thermal ring closure mechanism. Similar high pressure flash photolysis experiments with tungsten hexacarbonyl have also been completed. The concentration dependence of the fluorescence and nonradiative decay quantum yields for cresyl violet in several solvent have been reported as well as stability constants for the complexation of lithium ion by four different crown ethers dissolved in a room temperature molten salt.

We have recently completed a two-year study of recirculating induction heavy-ion accelerators (recirculators) as low-cost drivers for inertial-fusion-energy power plants. We present here a summary of that study and other recent work on recirculators.

The project described in this Report was to investigate the possibility of using sorbent added to coal-water fuel (CWF) mixtures as a means of reducing SOX emissions when burning Ohio coal. The results are significantly encouraging, with SOX concentrations reduced by amounts ranging from 25% to 65%, depending on the sorbent type and the firing conditions, where one major condition identified was the residence time in the flame gases. With the sorbent-loaded slurrys, the trend generally showed increasing SO{sub 2} capture with increasing sorbent loading. There were significant differences between the two different mixture formulations, however: The calcite/No. 8-seam mixture showed significantly higher SO{sub 2} capture at all times (ranging from 45% to 65%) than did the dolomite/No. 5 seam mixture (ranging from 25% to 45%). If the successes so far achieved are not to be wasted, advantage should be taken of these encouraging results by extending the work at both the present scale to determine the other unknown factors controlling sorption efficiency, and at larger scale to start implementation in commercial systems.

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;Clarification and reconsideration of Attorney General Opinion DM-210(1993)(ID# 19950)

With recent theoretical and empirical research in basic and applied psychology, human factors, and engineering, it is now sufficient to define an integrated approach to the deign of advanced displays for present and future nuclear power plants. Traditionally, the conventional displays have shown operators the individual variables on gauges, meters, strip charts, etc. This design approach requires the operators to mentally integrate the separately displayed variables and determine the implications for the plant state. This traditional approach has been known as the single-sensor-single-indicator display design and it places an intolerable amount of mental workload on operators during transients and abnormal conditions. This report discusses a new alternative approach which is the use of direct perception interfaces. Direct perception a interfaces display the underlying physical and system constraints of the situation in a directly perceptual way, such that the viewer need not reason about what is seen to identify system states, but can identify the state of the system perceptually. It is expected that displays which show the dynamics of fundamental physical laws should better support operator decisions and diagnoses of plant states. The purpose of this research project is to develop a suite of direct perception displays for PWR nuclear …

The United States produced just over 1 billion short tons of coal in 1992, 0.4 percent more than in 1991. Most of the 4-million-short-ton increase in coal production occurred west of the Mississippi River, where a record level of 408 million short tons of coal was produced. The amount of coal received by domestic consumers in 1992 totaled 887 million short tons. This was 7 million short tons more than in 1991, primarily due to increased coal demand from electric utilities. The average price of delivered coal to each sector declined by about 2 percent. Coal consumption in 1992 was 893 million short tons, only 1 percent higher than in 1991, due primarily to a 1-percent increase in consumption at electric utility plants. Consumer coal stocks at the end of 1992 were 163 million short tons, a decrease of 3 percent from the level at the end of 1991, and the lowest year-end level since 1989. US coal exports fell 6 percent from the 1991 level to 103 million short tons in 1992. Less coal was exported to markets in Europe, Asia, and South America, but coal exports to Canada increased 4 million short tons.

The fatigue and fracture properties of U6Nb were measured to provide the materials property data needed for structural designs in material processed by solution quenching and aging 200 C/2h. Limited testing was also performed on as-quenched U6Nb. The authors have extended the database on fatigue properties in U6Nb to include both crack initiation data and crack propagation data. The static load carrying capabilities have been characterized through fracture toughness and tensile property measurements. Using a rotating beam fatigue machine, a fatigue strength of 248 MPa was measured at 10{sup 8} cycles for smooth bars at zero mean load. As is typical of nonferrous alloys, U6Nb does not exhibit a fatigue endurance limit. Reductions in fatigue strength for notched bars and for mean loads of 276 MPa and 483 MPa (70 ksi) were also determined. The predominant sites for fatigue crack initiation were identified as niobium carbide and uranium oxide inclusion clusters and the distribution of these inclusions are presented. Fatigue crack propagation rates were measured in the near-threshold regime using compact tension specimens. The fatigue threshold for crack growth rates below 10{sup {minus}7} mm/cycle were measured at both R = 0.1, for which a fatigue threshold of 3.2 MPa{radical}m was …

A new test method was developed which showed the installed In- Tank Precipitation Filter Unit {number_sign}3 provided at least 40, 000 x decontamination of the precipitated potassium tetraphenylborate (KTPB) during the cold chemical runs.This filter is expected to meet the needed 40,000 x hot cesium decontamination requirements, assuming that the cesium precipitate, CsTPB, behaves the same as KTPB. The new method permits cold chemicals field testing of installed filters to quantify particulate decontamination and verify filter integrity before going hot. The method involves a 1000 x concentration of fine particulate KTPB in the filtrate to allow direct analysis by counting for naturally radioactive isotope K-40 using the underground SRTC gamma spectroscopy facility. The particulate concentration was accomplished by ultra filtration at Rhone-Poulenc, NJ, using a small cross-flow bench facility, followed by collection of all suspended solids on a small filter disc for K analysis.

Existing ITP filtrate hold tanks may provide sufficient capacity and residence time to strip dissolved benzene from the incoming filtrate using nitrogen sparging in the bottom of the old tanks. This is based on equilibrium supported by late Wash test data using aged washed slurry. Theoretical considerations indicate that benzene stripping will be more difficult from the ITP unwashed high salt filtrates due to reduced mass transfer. Therefore experimental sparging data is needed to quantify the theoretical effects.Foaming limits which dictate allowable sparging rate will also have to be established. Sparging in the hold tanks will require installation of sintered metal spargers, and possibly stirrers and foam monitoring/disengagement equipment. The most critical sparging needs are at the start of the precipitation/concentration cycle, when the filtrate flux rate is the highest,and at the end of wash cycle where Henry`s equilibrium constant falls off,requiring more gas to sparge the dissolved benzene. With adequate recycle (for proper distribution) or sparging in the old tanks, the 30 inch column could be used for the complete ITP process. A courser packing would reduce back pressure while enabling benzene stripping. The Late Wash Tests indicate adequate benzene stripping even at reduced gas flow. This will require …

A new reagent, BO-IMI, has been developed that achieves, single step, phosphate specific fluorescence labeling under aqueous conditions. Both 3 in. and 5 in. mononucleotides, including representative DNA adducts can be labeled. Included in this technique is a convenient procedure for postlabeling sample cleanup, leading to a practical detection of the products by capillary electrophoresis with laser fluorescencedetection. We consider that this new method will have a significant impact on the measurement of DNA adducts in human samples. This work was largely accomplished in the second half of our project. In the first half, we set up a new way to isolate DNA nucleotides from blood, worked with an initial, less specific technique for labeling DNA adducts, compared ionizing radiation vs oxidative damage to fluorescein labeled deoxyadenylic acid, and set up a capillary electrophoresis laser fluorescence detection system.

A new reagent, BO-IMI, has been developed that achieves, single step, phosphate specific fluorescence labeling under aqueous conditions. Both 3 in. and 5 in. mononucleotides, including representative DNA adducts can be labeled. Included in this technique is a convenient procedure for postlabeling sample cleanup, leading to a practical detection of the products by capillary electrophoresis with laser fluorescencedetection. We consider that this new method will have a significant impact on the measurement of DNA adducts in human samples. This work was largely accomplished in the second half of our project. In the first half, we set up a new way to isolate DNA nucleotides from blood, worked with an initial, less specific technique for labeling DNA adducts, compared ionizing radiation vs oxidative damage to fluorescein labeled deoxyadenylic acid, and set up a capillary electrophoresis laser fluorescence detection system.

We report improvement of the polarization diagnostics and their use in the development of the Optically Pumped Polarized Ion Source (OPPIS).

We report improvement of the polarization diagnostics and their use in the development of the Optically Pumped Polarized Ion Source (OPPIS).

Weekly newsletter discussing natural resources, parks, hunting and fishing, and other information related to the outdoors in Texas.

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.