This report provides a brief explanation of baselines and scorekeeping and their uses in the federal budget process.

Report that provides a brief overview of the basic terminology and concepts used in the federal budget process.

This report briefly discusses the budget reconciliation process, which is an optional two-step process Congress may use to assure compliance with the direct spending, revenue, and debt-limit levels set forth in budget resolutions.

This report provides a brief explanation of spending for entitlements, including so-called appropriated entitlements, and discusses the procedural and statutory constraints on legislation affecting such entitlement spending.

The Washoe Tribe Wiskem Project (Project) was a Congressionally Directed Project identified for funding in the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. The Project focused on installing up to four small vertical wind turbines at designated locations on Tribal lands to offset energy costs for the Tribe. The Washoe Tribe will use and analyze data collected from the wind turbines to better understand the wind resource.

This report presents the results of a 10-year project conducted by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (Air Products) to determine the feasibility of coproducing hydrogen with electricity. The primary objective was to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of a hydrogen energy station using a high-temperature fuel cell designed to produce power and hydrogen. This four-phase project had intermediate go/no-go decisions and the following specific goals: • Complete a technical assessment and economic analysis of the use of high-temperature fuel cells, including solid oxide and molten carbonate, for the co-production of power and hydrogen (energy park concept). • Build on the experience gained at the Las Vegas H2 Energy Station and compare/contrast the two approaches for co-production. • Determine the applicability of co-production from a high-temperature fuel cell for the existing merchant hydrogen market and for the emerging hydrogen economy. • Demonstrate the concept on natural gas for six months at a suitable site with demand for both hydrogen and electricity. • Maintain safety as the top priority in the system design and operation. • Obtain adequate operational data to provide the basis for future commercial activities, including hydrogen fueling stations. Work began with the execution of the cooperative agreement …

Electrodynamic and particle simulation studies have been carried out to optimize design of a two-cavity harmonic frequency multiplier, in which a linear electron beam is energized by rotating fields near cyclotron resonance in a TE111 cavity in a uniform magnetic field, and in which the beam then radiates coherently at the nth harmonic into a TEn11 output cavity. Examples are worked out in detail for 7th and 2nd harmonic converters, showing RF-to-RF conversion efficiencies of 45% and 88%, respectively at 19.992 GHz (K-band) and 5.712 GHz (C-band), for a drive frequency of 2.856 GHz. Details are shown of RF infrastructure (S-band klystron, modulator) and harmonic converter components (drive cavity, output cavities, electron beam source and modulator, beam collector) for the two harmonic converters to be tested. Details are also given for the two-frequency (S- and C-band) coherent multi-MW test stand for RF breakdown and RF gun studies.

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This report gives a brief overview of P.L. 110-49, the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007. Although both the President and Congress are directly involved in formulating the scope and direction of U.S. foreign investment policy, this law broadens Congress' oversight role; it also explicitly includes the areas of homeland security and critical infrastructure as separately-identifiable components of national security that the President must consider when evaluating the national security implications of a foreign investment transaction.

Report containing information regarding foreign direct investments, including the foreign acquisition of American firms.

Report that provides a brief overview of how foreign investments can affect the U.S.

This report will track and describe actions taken by the Administration and Congress to provide FY2013 appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) accounts. It also provides an overview of FY2012 appropriations for agencies and bureaus funded as a part of the annual appropriation for CJS.

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This report looks at the pros and cons of recent legislation brought up in the 112th Congress, including the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and how it will affect trade between the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Two notable modeling efforts within the Hanford Tank Waste Operations Simulator (HTWOS) are currently underway to (1) increase the robustness of the underlying chemistry approximations through the development and implementation of an aqueous thermodynamic model, and (2) add enhanced planning capabilities to the HTWOS model through development and incorporation of the lifecycle cost model (LCM). Since even seemingly small changes in apparent waste composition or treatment parameters can result in large changes in quantities of high-level waste (HLW) and low-activity waste (LAW) glass, mission duration or lifecycle cost, a solubility model that more accurately depicts the phases and concentrations of constituents in tank waste is required. The LCM enables evaluation of the interactions of proposed changes on lifecycle mission costs, which is critical for decision makers.

The objective of sanctions may be on its way to achievement but has not been accomplished to date. U.S. officials believe that these sanctions caused Iran to return to the nuclear bargaining table in April 2012 with greater seriousness and intent toward peaceful resolution. Despite the imposition of what many now consider to be "crippling" sanctions, some in Congress believe that economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran needs to increase further and faster. In the 112th Congress, legislation would enhance both the economic sanctions and human rights-related provisions of a previous Iran sanctions laws However, movement on new sanctions might be on hold pending the outcome of a second round of nuclear talks slated for May 23 in Baghdad.

This report gives an overview of the U.S. sanctions in place on Iran and legislation that would enhance both the economic sanctions and human rights-related provisions of CISADA and other laws. It also discusses the measures that the United Nations and others have enacted against Iran and the effects of the sanctions.

This report consists of business organizational choices with taxation and responses to legislative changes.

This report summarizes a study into some false positive issues in the use of radioxenon as a method to verify a clandestine nuclear weapons explosion. False positives arise due to similarities between the radioxenon signature generated in medical isotope production and that generated in a nuclear weapon explosion. This report also discusses how to categorize the radioxenon by levels of urgency for manual analysis and interpretation and recommends applying machine learning and time series analysis techniques in the automation of radioxenon characterization. The literature indicates that medical isotope production is a major contributor to atmospheric radioxenon and is the main source of confusion in determining the source of radioxenon. While radioxenon emissions from nuclear power plants can be distinguished from that from nuclear weapon explosions, emissions from medical isotope production generate signatures similar to certain nuclide ratios found in nuclear weapons explosions. Different techniques for analyzing nuclide concentrations and ratios as well as including other sensing modalities via sensor fusion are discussed.

This report discusses the United States' relationship with India as it regards nuclear nonproliferation and cooperation. It particularly looks at agreements made between the Bush administration and India, and the Obama administration's continuation of these policies.

This report looks at how the Federal-Aid Highway Program (FAHP) works, including its funding and administration by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

Large Scale Integrated Testing (LSIT) is being planned by Bechtel National, Inc. to address uncertainties in the full scale mixing performance of the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). Testing will use simulated waste rather than actual Hanford waste. Therefore, the use of suitable simulants is critical to achieving the goals of the test program. External review boards have raised questions regarding the overall representativeness of simulants used in previous mixing tests. Accordingly, WTP requested the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to assist with development of simulants for use in LSIT. Among the first tasks assigned to SRNL was to develop a list of waste properties that matter to pulse-jet mixer (PJM) mixing of WTP tanks. This report satisfies Commitment 5.2.3.1 of the Department of Energy Implementation Plan for Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 2010-2: physical properties important to mixing and scaling. In support of waste simulant development, the following two objectives are the focus of this report: (1) Assess physical and chemical properties important to the testing and development of mixing scaling relationships; (2) Identify the governing properties and associated ranges for LSIT to achieve the Newtonian and non-Newtonian test objectives. This includes the properties to support …