Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 574 is identified in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) as 'Neptune' and consists of the following two Corrective Action Sites (CASs), located in Area 12 of the Nevada National Security Site: (1) CAS 12-23-10, U12c.03 Crater (Neptune); and (2) CAS 12-45-01, U12e.05 Crater (Blanca). This Closure Report presents information supporting closure of CAU 574 according to the FFACO (FFACO, 1996 [as amended March 2010]) and the Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration Plan for CAU 574 (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office [NNSA/NSO], 2011). The following activities were performed to support closure of CAU 574: (1) In situ external dose rate measurements were collected using thermoluminescent dosimeters at CAS 12-45-01, U12e.05 Crater (Blanca). (2) Total effective dose rates were determined at both sites by summing the internal and external dose rate components. (3) A use restriction (UR) was implemented at CAS 12-23-10, U12c.03 Crater (Neptune). Areas that exceed the final action level (FAL) of 25 millirems per year (mrem/yr) based on the Occasional Use Area exposure scenario are within the existing use restricted area for CAU 551. The 25-mrem/yr FAL is not exceeded outside the existing CAU 551 UR …

One of the biggest uncertainties associated with climate models and climate forcing is the treatment of aerosols and their effects on clouds. The effect of aerosols on clouds can be divided into two components: The first indirect effect is the forcing associated with increases in droplet concentrations; the second indirect effect is the forcing associated with changes in liquid water path, cloud morphology, and cloud lifetime. Both are highly uncertain. This project applied a cloud-resolving model to understand the response of clouds under a variety of conditions to changes in aerosols. These responses are categorized according to the large-scale meteorological conditions that lead to the response. Meteorological conditions were sampled from various fields, which, together with a global aerosol model determination of the change in aerosols from present day to pre-industrial conditions, was used to determine a first order estimate of the response of global cloud fields to changes in aerosols. The response of the clouds in the NCAR CAM3 GCM coupled to our global aerosol model were tested by examining whether the response is similar to that of the cloud resolving model and methods for improving the representation of clouds and cloud/aerosol interactions were examined.

The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) carried out a small-scale carbon dioxide (CO2) injection test in a sandstone within the Clore Formation (Mississippian System, Chesterian Series) in order to gauge the large-scale CO2 storage that might be realized from enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of mature Illinois Basin oil fields via miscible liquid CO2 flooding. As part of the MGSC’s Validation Phase (Phase II) studies, the small injection pilot test was conducted at the Bald Unit site within the Mumford Hills Field in Posey County, southwestern Indiana, which was chosen for the project on the basis of site infrastructure and reservoir conditions. Geologic data on the target formation were extensive. Core analyses, porosity and permeability data, and geophysical logs from 40 wells were used to construct cross sections and structure contour and isopach maps in order to characterize and define the reservoir architecture of the target formation. A geocellular model of the reservoir was constructed to improve understanding of CO2 behavior in the subsurface. At the time of site selection, the Field was under secondary recovery through edge-water injection, but the wells selected for the pilot in the Bald Unit had been temporarily shut-in for several years. The most recently shut-in …

Mixed Electron and Carbonate ion Conductor (MECC) membranes have been proposed as a means to separate CO{sub 2} from power plant flue gas. Here a modified MECC CO{sub 2} capture process is analyzed that supplements retentate pressurization and permeate evacuation as a means to create a CO{sub 2} driving force with a process assisted by the catalytic combustion of syngas on the permeate side of the membrane. The combustion reactions consume transported oxygen, making it unavailable for the backwards transport reaction. With this change, the MECC capture system becomes exothermic, and steam for electricity production may be generated from the waste heat. Greater than 90% of the CO{sub 2} in the flue gas may be captured, and a compressed CO{sub 2} product stream is produced. A fossil-fueled power plant using this process would consume 14% more fuel per unit electricity produced than a power plant with no CO{sub 2} capture system, and has the potential to meet U.S. DOE's goal that deployment of a CO{sub 2} capture system at a fossil-fueled power plant should not increase the cost of electricity from the combined facility by more than 30%.

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.

This slide-show presented an overview of the Constrained Progressive Reversal (CPR) method for computing decays, age dating, and spoof detecting. The CPR method is: Capable of temporal profiling a SNM sample; Precise (compared with known decay code, such a ORIGEN); Easy (for computer implementation and analysis).  We have illustrated with real SNM data using CPR for age dating and spoof detection. If SNM is pure, may use CPR to derive its age. If SNM is mixed, CPR will indicate that it is mixed or spoofed.

The main goal (long term) of this work is to perform computational dynamics analysis and quantify uncertainty from vector fields computed directly from measured data. Global analysis based on observed spatiotemporal evolution is performed by objective function based on expected physics and informed scientific priors, variational optimization to compute vector fields from measured data, and transport analysis proceeding with observations and priors. A mathematical formulation for computing flow fields is set up for computing the minimizer for the problem. An application to oceanic flow based on sea surface temperature is presented.

The objective of this program is to develop sensors that allow condition based monitoring of critical combustion parts of gas turbines. Siemens teamed with innovative, small companies that were developing sensor concepts that could monitor wearing and cracking of hot turbine parts. A magnetic crack monitoring sensor concept developed by JENTEK Sensors, Inc. was evaluated in laboratory tests. Designs for engine application were evaluated. The inability to develop a robust lead wire to transmit the signal long distances resulted in a discontinuation of this concept. An optical wear sensor concept proposed by K Sciences GP, LLC was tested in proof-of concept testing. The sensor concept depended, however, on optical fiber tips wearing with the loaded part. The fiber tip wear resulted in too much optical input variability; the sensor could not provide adequate stability for measurement. Siemens developed an alternative optical wear sensor approach that used a commercial PHILTEC, Inc. optical gap sensor with an optical spacer to remove fibers from the wearing surface. The gap sensor measured the length of the wearing spacer to follow loaded part wear. This optical wear sensor was developed to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5. It was validated in lab tests and …

This report is categorized into seven categories: (I) Background, (II) Member Mail Allowances, (III) Regulation, (IV) Costs, (V) Legislation in the 112th Congress, (VI) Legislation in the 111th Congress and (VII) Legislation in the 110th Congress.

Report that describes statutory requirements for allocating congressional nominations to service academies. It also identifies the qualifications that must be met by potential nominees. Includes a sample document.

This report seeks to provide an overview of Congress's ability to participate in litigation before Article III courts.

Report that describes the steps which precede the joint session and the procedures set in the Constitution and statute by which the House and Senate jointly certify the results of the electoral vote. It also discusses the procedures set in law governing challenges to the validity of an electoral vote, and makes reference to the procedures followed during the joint session in 2005 by which the election of George W. Bush was certified.

The purpose of this project was to provide administrative and technical support for the completion of energy efficiency projects that reduce energy intensity and create or save Wisconsin industrial jobs. All projects have been completed. Details in the attached reports include project management, job development, and energy savings for each project.

This program allowed further advancing the development of a novel type of wave energy converter, a Cycloidal Wave Energy Converter or CycWEC. A CycWEC consists of one or more hydrofoils rotating around a central shaft, and operates fully submerged beneath the water surface. It operates under feedback control sensing the incoming waves, and converts wave power to shaft power directly without any intermediate power take off system. Previous research consisting of numerical simulations and two dimensional small 1:300 scale wave flume experiments had indicated wave cancellation efficiencies beyond 95%. The present work was centered on construction and testing of a 1:10 scale model and conducting two testing campaigns in a three dimensional wave basin. These experiments allowed for the first time for direct measurement of electrical power generated as well as the interaction of the CycWEC in a three dimensional environment. The Atargis team successfully conducted two testing campaigns at the Texas A&M Offshore Technology Research Center and was able to demonstrate electricity generation. In addition, three dimensional wave diffraction results show the ability to achieve wave focusing, thus increasing the amount of wave power that can be extracted beyond what was expected from earlier two dimensional investigations. Numerical results …

A final report is made of a three-year effort to develop a new forecasting paradigm for computer network performance. This effort was made in co-ordination with Fermi Lab's construction of e-Weather Center.

This report contains the information about The Davis-Bacon Act. It further discusses the comparison of David-Bacon Prevailing Wages with Average Hourly Wages from the occupational employment statistics (OES) survey.

A review of five post-top light-emitting diode (LED) pedestrian luminaires installed in New York City's Central Park for possible replacement to the existing metal halide post-top luminaire. This report reviews the energy savings potential and lighting delivered by the LED post-top luminaires.

The overall goal of the program is to develop design concepts, incorporating advanced technologies in areas such as oxygen production, feed systems, gas cleanup, component separations and gas turbines, for integrated and economically viable coal and biomass fed gasification facilities equipped with carbon capture and storage for the following scenarios: (i) coproduction of power along with hydrogen, (ii) coproduction of power along with fuels, (iii) coproduction of power along with petrochemicals, and (iv) coproduction of power along with agricultural chemicals. To achieve this goal, specifically the following objectives are met in this proposed project: (i) identify advanced technology options and innovative preliminary design concepts that synergistically integrate plant subsections, (ii) develop steady state system simulations to predict plant efficiency and environmental signature, (iii) develop plant cost estimates by capacity factoring major subsystems or by major equipment items where required, and then capital, operating and maintenance cost estimates, and (iv) perform techno- economic analyses for the above described coproduction facilities. Thermal efficiencies for the electricity only cases with 90% carbon capture are 38.26% and 36.76% (HHV basis) with the bituminous and the lignite feedstocks respectively. For the coproduction cases (where 50% of the energy exported is in the form of electricity), …

Destructive and non-destructive examinations have been performed on specified components of shipping package 9975-03431. For those attributes that were also measured during the field surveillance, no significant changes were observed. All observations and test results met identified criteria, or were collected for information and trending purposes. Except for modest corrosion of the lead shield (which is typical of these packages following several years service), no evidence of a degraded condition was found in this package. The Savannah River Site (SRS) stores packages containing plutonium (Pu) materials in the KArea Complex (KAC). The Pu materials are packaged per the DOE 3013 Standard and stored within Model 9975 shipping packages in KAC. The KAC facility DSA (Document Safety Analysis) credits the Model 9975 package to perform several safety functions, including criticality prevention, impact resistance, containment, and fire resistance to ensure the plutonium materials remain in a safe configuration during normal and accident conditions. The Model 9975 package is expected to perform its safety function for at least 12 years from initial packaging. The DSA recognizes the degradation potential for the materials of package construction over time in the KAC storage environment and requires an assessment of materials performance to validate the assumptions …

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 …

The current fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure is not sustainable. Solar radiation is a plausible alternative, but realizing it as such will require significant technological advances in the ability to harvest light energy and convert it into suitable fuels. The biological system of photosynthesis can carry out these reactions, and in principle could be engineered using the tools of synthetic biology. One desirable implementation would be to rewire the reactions of a photosynthetic bacterium to direct the energy harvested from solar radiation into the synthesis of the biofuel H2. Proposed here is a series of experiments to lay the basic science groundwork for such an attempt. The goal is to elucidate the transcriptional network of photosynthesis using a novel driver-reporter screen, evolve more robust hydrogenases for improved catalysis, and to test the ability of the photosynthetic machinery to directly produce H2 in vivo. The results of these experiments will have broad implications for the understanding of photosynthesis, enzyme function, and the engineering of biological systems for sustainable energy production. The ultimate impact could be a fundamental transformation of the world's energy economy.

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) is developing and deploying Mobile Arm Retrieval System (MARS) technologies solutions to support retrieval of radioactive and chemical waste from underground single shell storage tanks (SST) located at the Hanford Site, which is near Richland, Washington. WRPS has developed the MARS using a standardized platform that is capable of deploying multiple retrieval technologies. To date, WRPS, working with their mentor-protege company, Columbia Energy and Environmental Services (CEES), has developed two retrieval mechanisms, MARS-Sluicing (MARS-S) and MARS-Vacuum (MARS-V). MARS-S uses pressurized fluids routed through spray nozzles to mobilize waste materials to a centrally located slurry pump (deployed in 2011). MARS-V uses pressurized fluids routed through an eductor nozzle. The eductor nozzle allows a vacuum to be drawn on the waste materials. The vacuum allows the waste materials to be moved to an in-tank vessel, then extracted from the SST and subsequently pumped to newer and safer double shell tanks (DST) for storage until the waste is treated for disposal. The MARS-S system is targeted for sound SSTs (i.e., non leaking tanks). The MARS-V is targeted for assumed leaking tanks or those tanks that are of questionable integrity. Both versions of MARS are being/have been developed in …

This project was aimed at obtaining process engineering and scale-up data at a laboratory scale to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of a patented post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) capture process?the Integrated Vacuum Carbonate Absorption Process (IVCAP). Unique features of the IVCAP include its ability to be fully-integrated with the power plant?s steam cycle and potential for combined sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) removal and CO{sub 2} capture. Theoretical and experimental studies of this project were aimed at answering three major technical questions: 1) What additives can effectively reduce the water vapor saturation pressure and energy requirement for water vaporization in the vacuum stripper of the IVCAP? 2) What catalysts can promote CO{sub 2} absorption into the potassium carbonate (PC) solution to achieve an overall absorption rate comparable to monoethanolamine (MEA) and are the catalysts stable at the IVCAP conditions and in the flue gas environment? 3) Are any process modifications needed to combine SO{sub 2} and CO{sub 2} removal in the IVCAP? Lab-scale experiments and thermodynamic and process simulation studies performed to obtain detailed information pertinent to the above three technical questions produced the following results: 1) Two additives were identified that lower the saturation pressure of water vapor …