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In October 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a regulation to revise a 2003 Clean Water Act rule governing waste discharges from large confined animal feeding operations. This report details the original 2003 rule, the Waterkeeper Alliance Decision and the EPA's 2008 revised rule.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to studies, the United States provides less commercial space launch indemnification for third party losses than China, France, and Russia. These countries put no limit on the amount of government indemnification coverage, which in the United States is limited by the Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments of 1988 (CSLAA). Governments’ commitments to pay have never been tested because there has not been a third party claim that exceeded a private launch company’s insurance."

This report is on Comparing Compensation for Federal and Private-Sector Workers: An Overview.

We present a detailed study of a novel Cherenkov imaging detector called the Focusing DIRC (FDIRC) with waveform digitizing electronics. In this test study, the FDIRC prototype has been instrumented with seven Hamamatsu H-8500 MaPMTs. Waveforms from {approx}450 pixels are digitized with waveform sampling electronics based on the BLAB2 ASIC, operating at a sampling speed of {approx}2.5 GSa/s. The FDIRC prototype was tested in a large cosmic ray telescope (CRT) providing 3D muon tracks with {approx}1.5 mrad angular resolution and muon energy of E{sub muon} > 1.6 GeV. In this study we provide a detailed analysis of the tails in the Cherenkov angle distribution as a function of various variables, compare experimental results with simulation, and identify the major contributions to the tails. We demonstrate that to see the full impact of these tails on the Cherenkov angle resolution, it is crucial to use 3D tracks, and have a full understanding of the role of ambiguities. These issues could not be fully explored in previous FDIRC studies where the beam was perpendicular to the quartz radiator bars. This work is relevant for the final FDIRC prototype of the PID detector at SuperB, which will be tested this year in the …

This project, Development and Testing of a High Capacity Plasma Chemical Reactor in the Ukraine was established at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT). The associated CRADA was established with Campbell Applied Physics (CAP) located in El Dorado Hills, California. This project extends an earlier project involving both CAP and KIPT conducted under a separate CRADA. The initial project developed the basic Plasma Chemical Reactor (PCR) for generation of ozone gas. This project built upon the technology developed in the first project, greatly enhancing the output of the PCR while also improving reliability and system control.

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Although thorium has long been considered as an alternative to uranium-based fuels, most of the reactors built to-date have been fueled with uranium-based fuel with the exception of a few reactors. The decision to use uranium-based fuels was initially made based on the technology maturity compared to thorium-based fuels. As a result of this experience, lot of knowledge and data have been accumulated for uranium-based fuels that made it the predominant nuclear fuel type for extant nuclear power. However, following the recent concerns about the extent and availability of uranium resources, thorium-based fuels have regained significant interest worldwide. Thorium is more abundant than uranium and can be readily exploited in many countries and thus is now seen as a possible alternative. As thorium-based fuel technologies mature, fuel conversion from uranium to thorium is expected to become a major interest in both thermal and fast reactors. In this study the feasibility of fuel conversion in a fast reactor is assessed and several possible approaches are proposed. The analyses are performed using the Advanced Fast Reactor (AFR-100) design, a fast reactor core concept recently developed by ANL. The AFR-100 is a small 100 MW{sub e} reactor developed under the US-DOE program relying …

A draft safety evaluation of the scenario for spherical resorcinol-formaldehyde (SRF) resin fire inside the ion exchange column was performed by the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Fire Safety organization. The result of this draft evaluation suggested a potential change of the fire safety classification for the Cesium Ion Exchange Process System (CXP) emergency elution vessels, equipment, and piping, which may be overly bounding based on the fire performance data from the manufacturer of the ion exchange resin selected for use at the WTP. To resolve this question, the fire properties of the SRF resin were measured by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), following the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard procedures, through a subcontract managed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). For some tests, the ASTM standard procedures were not entirely appropriate or practical for the SRF resin material, so the procedures were modified and deviations from the ASTM standard procedures were noted. This report summarizes the results of fire safety tests performed and reported by SwRI. The efforts by PNNL were limited to summarizing the test results provided by SwRI into one consolidated data report. All as-received SwRI reports are attached to this report …

This report provides an overview of Medicaid’s financing structure, including both federal and state financing issues. The Medicaid expenditures section of the report discusses economic factors affecting Medicaid, state variability in spending, and projected program spending. Other issues that are examined include congressional proposals to turn Medicaid into a block grant program, federal deficit reduction proposals affecting Medicaid, and state fiscal conditions affecting Medicaid financing and services.

Photonic crystals are materials that are periodically structured on an optical length scale. It was previously demonstrated that the glow, or thermal emission, of tungsten photonic crystals that have a specific structure - known as the 'woodpile structure' - could be modified to reduce the amount of infrared radiation from the material. This ability has implications for improving the efficiency of thermal emission sources and for thermophotovoltaic devices. The study of this effect had been limited because the fabrication of metallic woodpile structures had previously required a complex fabrication process. In this project we pursued several approaches to simplify the fabrication of metallic photonic crystals that are useful for modification of thermal emission. First, we used the self-assembly of micrometer-scale spheres into colloidal crystals known as synthetic opals. These opals can then be infiltrated with a metal and the spheres removed to obtain a structure, known as an inverse opal, in which a three-dimensional array of bubbles is embedded in a film. Second, we used direct laser writing, in which the focus of an infrared laser is moved through a thin film of photoresist to form lines by multiphoton polymerization. Proper layering of such lines can lead to a scaffold …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2005, the number of countries that acquired an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system nearly doubled from about 40 to more than 75. In addition, countries of proliferation concern developed and fielded increasingly more sophisticated systems. Recent trends in new UAV capabilities, including armed and miniature UAVs, increased the number of military applications for this technology. A number of new civilian and commercial applications, such as law enforcement and environmental monitoring, are available for UAVs, but these applications are limited by regulatory restrictions on civilian airspace."

The program goal of the Ohio Advanced Energy Manufacturing Center (OAEMC) is to support advanced energy manufacturing and to create responsive manufacturing clusters that will support the production of advanced energy and energy-efficient products to help ensure the nation's energy and environmental security. This goal cuts across a number of existing industry segments critical to the nation's future. Many of the advanced energy businesses are starting to make the transition from technology development to commercial production. Historically, this transition from laboratory prototypes through initial production for early adopters to full production for mass markets has taken several years. Developing and implementing manufacturing technology to enable production at a price point the market will accept is a key step. Since these start-up operations are configured to advance the technology readiness of the core energy technology, they have neither the expertise nor the resources to address manufacturing readiness issues they encounter as the technology advances toward market entry. Given the economic realities of today's business environment, finding ways to accelerate this transition can make the difference between success and failure for a new product or business. The advanced energy industry touches a wide range of industry segments that are not accustomed to …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On October 1, 2011, the Department of the Interior (Interior) officially established two new bureaus, separating offshore resource management oversight activities, such as reviewing oil and gas exploration and development plans, from safety and environmental oversight activities, such as reviewing drilling permits and inspecting drilling rigs. Because the responsibilities of these bureaus are closely interconnected and will depend on effective coordination, Interior developed memoranda and standard operating procedures to define roles and responsibilities and facilitate and formalize coordination."

The objective of this program is to develop phosphor systems and LED light engines that have steady-state LED efficacies (using LEDs with a 60% wall-plug efficiency) of 105–120 lm/W with correlated color temperatures (CCT) ~3000 K, color rendering indices (CRI) >85, <0.003 distance from the blackbody curve (dbb), and <2% loss in phosphor efficiency under high temperature, high humidity conditions. In order to reach these goals, this involves the composition and processing optimization of phosphors previously developed by GE in combination with light engine package modification.

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This report gives and overview of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and discusses policy issues related to it. Congress passed the Act following several high-profile train accidents; it mandates positive train control (PTC) on many passenger and freight railroads by December 31, 2015.

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A simulator platform for visualization and demonstration of innovative concepts in fast reactor technology is described. The objective is to make more accessible the workings of fast reactor technology innovations and to do so in a human factors environment that uses state-of-the art visualization technologies. In this work the computer codes in use at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for the design of fast reactor systems are being integrated to run on this platform. This includes linking reactor systems codes with mechanical structures codes and using advanced graphics to depict the thermo-hydraulic-structure interactions that give rise to an inherently safe response to upsets. It also includes visualization of mechanical systems operation including advanced concepts that make use of robotics for operations, in-service inspection, and maintenance.

In the US and abroad, major research and development initiatives toward establishing a hydrogen-based transportation infrastructure have been undertaken, encompassing key technological challenges in hydrogen production and delivery, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage. However, the principal obstacle to the implementation of a safe, low-pressure hydrogen fueling system for fuel-cell powered vehicles remains storage under conditions of near-ambient temperature and moderate pressure. The choices for viable hydrogen storage systems at the present time are limited to compressed gas storage tanks, cryogenic liquid hydrogen storage tanks, chemical hydrogen storage, and hydrogen absorbed or adsorbed in a solid-state material (a.k.a. solid-state storage). Solid-state hydrogen storage may offer overriding benefits in terms of storage capacity, kinetics and, most importantly, safety.The fervor among the research community to develop novel storage materials had, in many instances, the unfortunate consequence of making erroneous, if not wild, claims on the reported storage capacities achievable in such materials, to the extent that the potential viability of emerging materials was difficult to assess. This problem led to a widespread need to establish a capability to accurately and independently assess the storage behavior of a wide array of different classes of solid-state storage materials, employing qualified methods, thus allowing development efforts …

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The Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Safeguards (NA-241) is supporting the project 'Coincidence Counting With Boron-Based Alternative Neutron Detection Technology' at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for development of an alternative neutron coincidence counter. The goal of this project is to design, build and demonstrate a boron-lined proportional tube based alternative system in a configuration typically used for 3He-based coincidence counter applications. The specific application selected for boron-lined tube replacement in this project was one of the Uranium Neutron Coincidence Collar (UNCL) designs. This report, providing results for model development of a UNCL, is a deliverable under Task 2 of the project. The current UNCL instruments utilize 3He tubes. As the first step in developing and optimizing a boron-lined proportional counter based version of the UNCL, models of eight different 3He-based UNCL detectors currently in use were developed and evaluated. A comparison was made between the simulated results and measured efficiencies for those systems with values reported in the literature. The reported experimental measurements for efficiencies and die-away times agree to within 10%.