On October 24, 1992, President Bush signed into law the National Energy Policy Act of 1992. The bill is a sweeping, comprehensive overhaul of the Nation`s energy laws, the first in more than a decade. Among other provisions, the National Energy Policy Act reforms the licensing process for new nuclear power plants by adopting a new approach developed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 1989, and upheld in court in 1992. The NRC 10 CFR Part 52 rule is a three-step process that guarantees public participation at each step. The steps are: early site permit approval; standard design certifications; and, combined construction/operating licenses for nuclear power reactors. Licensing reform increases an organization`s ability to respond to future baseload electricity generation needs with less financial risk for ratepayers and the organization. Costly delays can be avoided because design, safety and siting issues will be resolved before a company starts to build a plant. Specifically, early site permit approval allows for site suitability and acceptability issues to be addressed prior to an organization`s commitment to build a plant. Responsibility for site-specific activities, including communications and public participation, rests with those organizations selected to try out early site approval. This plan …

This document is a program from the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) Forum on Technology and Governance in the 1990s, held on January 27, 1993. The program includes a schedule of events and biographical information on each of the forum speakers.

The Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP) has initiated the Minimum Additive Waste Stabilization (MAWS) Program to demonstrate and evaluate integrated treatment of the FEMP site`s Operable Unit 1 contaminated soils and sludges. The demonstration will require on-site operation of an integrated treatment system consisting of soil washing, water treatment by ion exchange, and vitrification of all contaminated solid wastes at a rate of 300 kg per day. Compliance with all relevant environmental regulations is a major priority of this program. Relevant regulatory requirements come under the jurisdiction of the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), and the Department of Energy (DOE). The plethora of potentially applicable regulations were reviewed and an efficient regulatory compliance strategy developed. This strategy was documented in the MAWS Regulatory Compliance Plan which was presented to the regulatory agencies as a reasonable working plan. The FEMP has found the development of a comprehensive, organized regulatory plan to be critical to the successful implementation of integrated demonstration projects such as the MAWS Program. This paper discusses the approaches used in the MAWS Regulatory Compliance Plan and highlights which could prove useful for others that want to approach the DOE and/or …

The workshop was called to assess the performance of neutron dosimetry per the responses from ten DOE accelerator facilities to an Office of Energy Research questionnaire regarding implementation of a personnel dosimetry requirement in DRAFT DOE 5480.ACC, Safety of Accelerator Facilities''. The goals of the workshop were to assess the state of dosimetry at high energy accelerators and if such dosimetry requires improvement, to reach consensus on how to proceed with such improvements. There were 22 attendees, from DOE Programs and contract facilities, DOE, Office of Energy Research (ER), Office of Environmental Safety and Health (EH), Office of Fusion Energy, and the DOE high energy accelerator facilities. A list of attendees and the meeting agenda are attached. Copies of the presentations are also attached.

The workshop was called to assess the performance of neutron dosimetry per the responses from ten DOE accelerator facilities to an Office of Energy Research questionnaire regarding implementation of a personnel dosimetry requirement in DRAFT DOE 5480.ACC, ``Safety of Accelerator Facilities``. The goals of the workshop were to assess the state of dosimetry at high energy accelerators and if such dosimetry requires improvement, to reach consensus on how to proceed with such improvements. There were 22 attendees, from DOE Programs and contract facilities, DOE, Office of Energy Research (ER), Office of Environmental Safety and Health (EH), Office of Fusion Energy, and the DOE high energy accelerator facilities. A list of attendees and the meeting agenda are attached. Copies of the presentations are also attached.

Document outlining the Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) for Texas, including statistics and assessment data, strategies to address housing needs, and updates about various initiatives that have been started.

This study employs Lycopersicon esculentum and L. pennellii as model systems to study the interspecific reproductive barriers unilateral incongruity (UI), hybrid breakdown and interspecific aberrant ratio syndrome (IARS).

This study employs Lycopersicon esculentum and L. pennellii as model systems to study the interspecific reproductive barriers unilateral incongruity (UI), hybrid breakdown and interspecific aberrant ratio syndrome (IARS).

Work on ICRF interaction with the edge plasma is reported. ICRF generated convective cells have been established as an important mechanism for influencing edge transport and interaction with the H-mode, and for controlling profiles in the tokamak scrape-off-layer. Power dissipation by rf sheaths has been shown to be significant for some misaligned ICRF and IIBW antenna systems. Near-field antenna sheath work has been extended to the far-field case, important for experiments with low single pass absorption. Impurity modeling and Faraday screen design support has been provided for the ICRF community. In the area of core-ICRF physics, the kinetic theory of heating by applied ICRF waves has been extended to retain important geometrical effects relevant to modeling minority heated tokamak plasmas, thereby improving on the physics base that is standard in presently employed codes. Both the quasilinear theory of ion heating, and the plasma response function important in wave codes have been addressed. In separate studies, it has been shown that highly anisotropic minority heated plasmas can give rise to unstable field fluctuations in some situations. A completely separate series of studies have contributed to the understanding of tokamak confinement physics. Additionally, a diffraction formalism has been produced which will be …

Work on ICRF interaction with the edge plasma is reported. ICRF generated convective cells have been established as an important mechanism for influencing edge transport and interaction with the H-mode, and for controlling profiles in the tokamak scrape-off-layer. Power dissipation by rf sheaths has been shown to be significant for some misaligned ICRF and IIBW antenna systems. Near-field antenna sheath work has been extended to the far-field case, important for experiments with low single pass absorption. Impurity modeling and Faraday screen design support has been provided for the ICRF community. In the area of core-ICRF physics, the kinetic theory of heating by applied ICRF waves has been extended to retain important geometrical effects relevant to modeling minority heated tokamak plasmas, thereby improving on the physics base that is standard in presently employed codes. Both the quasilinear theory of ion heating, and the plasma response function important in wave codes have been addressed. In separate studies, it has been shown that highly anisotropic minority heated plasmas can give rise to unstable field fluctuations in some situations. A completely separate series of studies have contributed to the understanding of tokamak confinement physics. Additionally, a diffraction formalism has been produced which will be …

This contract is a follow on effort in the development of a laser initiated piston actuator. During the previous contract a miniature piston actuator was developed which had two system related problems. First, during operation of the actuator, combustion gases would escape past the piston shank, overheating the surrounding materials. Secondly, the function of the device seemed to be overly brisant. The purpose of this contract was to improve the performance of the laser initiated piston actuator by developing a means of sealing the device, and to reduce the velocity of the piston. Three sealing concepts were tested; a silicone pad placed on the powder side of the piston, a stainless steel cup placed on the powder side of the piston, and copper plating on the shank of the piston. Piston velocity was to be reduced by changing the powder charge to BCTK or reducing the amount of Ti/KClO{sub 4}.

The Michigan Technological University Teacher Education Program received funding from the US Department of Energy for the purpose of providing capable and suitably inclined, MTU Engineering and Science students a chance to explore high school level science and mathematics teaching as a career option. Ten undergraduate students were selected from nominations and were paired with mentor teachers for the study. This report covers the experience of the first ten nominees and their participation in the program.

The Michigan Technological University Teacher Education Program received funding from the US Department of Energy for the purpose of providing capable and suitably inclined, MTU Engineering and Science students a chance to explore high school level science and mathematics teaching as a career option. Ten undergraduate students were selected from nominations and were paired with mentor teachers for the study. This report covers the experience of the first ten nominees and their participation in the program.

The effect of Coulomb multipole scattering on the beam emittance is studied with the 6 dimensional injection program ARCHSIM by A. Thiessen. Since the energy loss due to Bhabha scattering is small, the six dimensional simulation can be approximated into transverse 4 dimensional and longitudinal 2 dimensional tracking. The emittance growth agrees well with the multiple scattering theory. The beam loss occurs mainly in the adiabatic capture process in the longitudinal phase space.

The effect of Coulomb multipole scattering on the beam emittance is studied with the 6 dimensional injection program ARCHSIM by A. Thiessen. Since the energy loss due to Bhabha scattering is small, the six dimensional simulation can be approximated into transverse 4 dimensional and longitudinal 2 dimensional tracking. The emittance growth agrees well with the multiple scattering theory. The beam loss occurs mainly in the adiabatic capture process in the longitudinal phase space.

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 the Fort Bend County Tax Assessor/Collector may collect additional taxes for change of use of agricultural land in light of the 1989 amendment to section 23.55(e) of the Tax Code (RQ-325)

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.

This report discusses numerous elements of the maintenance program at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) which have undergone changes during the last 5 years. Looking back, many of the maintenance program changes prior to 1991 were fragmented. Maintenance program elements were being ratcheted to address specific productivity and safety concerns. The improvements were warranted, but often improvements were implemented without a systematic review of how they impacted other maintenance program elements. After 1990 when WINCO began using the Chapter II guidelines of DOE Order 4330.4A as a maintenance program model, there was a marked improvement in the quality of the maintenance program changes. The post 1990 changes have been part of a systematic plan that has been communicated to all of the maintenance players. The Chapter II guidelines and the maintenance implementation plan (MIP) personnel with a focus for improvement that was missing prior to 1991.

High power and radiance laser technologies developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory such as copper-vapor and dye lasers show great promise for material processing tasks. Evaluation of models suggests significant increases in welding, cutting, and drilling capabilities, as well as applications in emerging technologies such as micromachining, surface treatment, and stereolithography. Copper lasers currently operate at 1.8 kW output at approximately three times the diffraction limit and achieve mean time between failures of more than 1,000 hours. Dye lasers have near diffraction limited beam quality at greater than 1.0 kW. Results from cutting and drilling studies in titanium and stainless steel alloys show that cuts and holes with extremely fine features can be made with dye and copper-vapor lasers. High radiance beams produce low distortion and small heat-affected zones. The authors have accomplished very high aspect ratios (> 60:1) and features with micron scale (5-50 {mu}m) sizes. The paper gives a description of the equipment; discusses cutting theory; and gives experimental results of cutting and drilling studies on Ti-6Al-4V and 304 stainless steel.

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 County of El Paso may use the county law library fund to maintain statutes and reporters located in the chambers of district and county courts (ID# 19317)

In many applications, x-ray multilayer mirrors are exposed to high peak fluxes of x-rays with subsequent damage to the mirror. Mirror damage is a particularly severe problem with the use of multilayers as cavity optics for short wavelength x-ray lasers. Intense optical and x-ray radiation, from the x-ray laser plasma amplifier, often damage the multilayer mirror on time scales of hundreds of picoseconds. The phenomenon of multilayer mirror damage by pulsed x-ray emission has been studied using short duration (500 psec) bursts of soft x-rays 1 from a laser produced gold plasma. The results of the experiments will be compared with some simple models and the possibility of increasing the damage thresholds of short wavelength multilayer mirrors will be discussed.

High-power copper vapor lasers (CVLs) have been under development at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for more than 15 years in support of the DOE`s Program in Laser Isotope Separation. The technology is now quite mature, having met many of its goals in system architecture, power, reliability, and maintainability. Over the past several years we have begun an effort to utilize this technology in other industrial applications, such as metals processing, and have found a number of unique processes. In this paper we describe briefly the general characteristics of the CVL, our recent progress in developing the laser as an industrial tool, and our progress in using the laser in precision drilling and cutting.

This publication presents information and compiled data on energy sources. The following information is presented: energy overview; energy consumption; petroleum; natural gas; oil and gas resource development; coal; electricity; nuclear energy; energy prices; and international energy.

The Natural Gas Monthly NGM highlights activities, events, and analyses of interest to public and private sector organizations associated with the natural gas industry. Volume and price data are presented each month for natural gas production, distribution, consumption, and interstate pipeline activities. Producer-related activities and underground storage data are also reported. From time to time, the NGM features articles designed to assist readers in using and interpreting natural gas information.