A dual carbon-nitrogen biological model of the upper ocean has been developed, which has successfully allowed predictions of fluxes of carbon between atmosphere and the deep ocean to made. Regarding studying the carbon cycle in the ocean, the modelling has highlighted the need for a good understanding of the interactions between the carbon and nitrogen cycles, and also the importance of zooplankton grazing and levels of overwintering biological stocks. Problems have been encountered with the accuracy of prediction of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the surface ocean, and the sensitivity of the model to zooplankton parameters, and those parameters which effect overwintering stocks (e.g. mortality parameters). The model has recently been incorporated into a physical General Circulation Model of the Atlantic Ocean. Future work will involve assessing the performance of the biological model in General Circulation Models, and making necessary refinements in order to improve its predictive ability. 1 ref., 1 fig.

The objective of this project is to evaluate and demonstrate a cost effective emission control technology for acid rain precursors, oxides of nitrogen (NO{sub x}) and sulfur (SO{sub x}), on two coal fired utility boilers in Illinois. The units selected are representative of pre-NSPS design practices: tangential and cyclone fired. A third unit, wall fired, is on hold'' because of funding limitations. The specific objectives are to demonstrate reductions of 60 percent in NO{sub x} and 50 percent in SO{sub x} emissions, by a combination of two developed technologies, gas reburning (GR) and sorbent injection (SI). With GR, about 80--85 percent of the coal fuel is fired in the primary combustion zone. The balance of this fuel is added downstream as natural gas to create a slightly fuel rich environment in which NO{sub x} is converted to N{sub 2}. The combustion process is completed by overfire air addition. SO{sub x} emissions are reduced by injecting dry sorbents (usually calcium based) into the upper furnace. The sorbents trap SO{sub x} as solid sulfates that are collected in the particulate control device.

This research uses several techniques to measure the concentration of catalyst sites and determine their stoichiometry for the catalyzed gasification of carbon. Both alkali and alkaline earth oxides are effective catalysts for accelerating the gasification rate of coal chars, but only a fraction of the catalyst appears to be in a form that is effective for gasification, and the composition of that catalyst is not established. Transient techniques, with {sup 13}C labeling, are being used to study the surface processes, to measure the concentration of active sites, and to determine the specific reaction rates. We have used secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) for both high surface area samples of carbon/alkali carbonate mixtures and for model carbon surfaces with deposited alkali atoms. SIMS provides a direct measure of surface composition. The combination of these results can provide knowledge of catalyst dispersion and composition, and thus indicate the way to optimally utilize carbon gasification catalysts.

The development of inertial fusion as a power source will require achieving four principal milestones: ignition and propagating burn; high gain at low drive energy for the reactor driver; pulse repetition rates of a few Hz; and long-term reliability and economics of a reactor. To keep development time and costs to a minimum, these should be accomplished with as few major facilities as possible. A viable scenario for the Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) Program would include establishing the first milestone in a Nova Upgrade for ignition and gain and the latter three in an upgradable, low-power Engineering Test Facility (ETF)/Demonstration Power Plant (DPP), i.e. two major facilities. To be successful in as short a time as possible operations at the major facilities would have to be supported by off-line reactor driver and other reactor technology development efforts. These efforts would evaluate and prioritize the myriad of options available at present for power plant and subsystem concepts. This paper describes the elements of such a program that could make the first commercial power available in the decade of the 2020s and estimates the resources needed. This program would be carried out in phases with major go/no-go decision points before each large …

The gasification of coal char by hydrogen is much slower than in steam or carbon dioxide; moreover, hydrogasification rate in pure hydrogen decreases sharply with conversion for most carbons. To overcome this kinetic behavior, the oxidation of the char prior to and during hydrogasification has been investigated as a means of enhancing hydro gasification rate. Kinetic rate studies under well-characterized conditions have been complemented by careful surface analyses to characterize oxygen on the char surface prior to and during hydrogasification.

The US Department of Energy reports of events that occurred in the chemical processing 200 Areas of the Hanford Site during the period from 1972 through 1986 were reviewed to identify the causes of contaminated wounds. Contaminated wounds were reported in 19 events involving 20 workers. The causal agents (high risk operations) and the root causes were characterized. Emergency actions taken and their efficacy were noted. The 19 wound events were compared with 17 events with the potential for inhalation. It was found that the wound events involve a single worker and frequently result in an internal contamination and its resulting dose. Inhalation events involve groups of workers and rarely resulted in detectable internal contamination. The difference is attributed to anticipation of an inhalation event and use of respiratory protection and continuous air monitors to mitigate its effects.

Samples from three time-series sediment traps deployed in the Santa Monica Basin off the California coast were analyzed to study the flux and scavenging of uranium and thorium series isotopes. Variations of uranium and thorium series isotopes fluxes in the water column were obtained by integrating these time-series deployment results. Mass and radionuclide fluxes measured from bottom sediment traps compare favorably with fluxed determined from sediment core data. This agreement suggests that the near-bottom sediment traps are capable of collecting settling particles representative of the surface sediment. The phase distributions of {sup 234}Th in the water column were calculated by an inverse method using sediment trap data, which help to study the variations of {sup 234}Th scavenging in the water column. Scavenging and radioactive decay of {sup 234}Th are the two principal processes for balancing {sup 234}Th budget in the water column. The residence times of dissolved and particulate {sup 234}Th were determined by a {sup 234}Th scavenging model.

During safety rod tests in K-reactor prior to startup, one safety rod could not be lifted because the button'' broke off and became lodged in the mechanism. Examination of the failed latch assembly along with other assemblies from both K-Area and L-Area revealed several missing buttons as well as severely deformed jaw hanger extensions.'' We participated in the investigation of the damage by request of the Reactor Restart Section. Based on our study of the latch mechanism, the modifications to the safety rod extension,'' and the operating history of the machine, this memorandum describes the causes of the observed damage with experimental evidence and calculations to support the findings. 3 refs.

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the quality of life and retention in the military, focusing on: (1) military personnel's overall intentions to stay or leave the military; (2) military personnel's levels of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the military; (3) factors that affect dissatisfaction and intent to leave the military; and (4) factors that affect satisfaction and intentions to stay in the military."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the impact of federal requirements on local school districts, focusing on how some states may not be fully implementing the provisions of federal law that allow local school districts to submit consolidated plans for federal funding."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on three selected research and development initiatives using the plasma arc technology to treat waste, focusing on comparing the characteristics of the largest of the Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives and both Navy shore and ship initiatives."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the budgetary implications of selected program reforms discussed in its work but not yet implemented or enacted."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the role the Department of Defense (DOD) training is playing in implementing best practices in weapon system programs, focusing on the: (1) contribution DOD training makes to program offices' ability to apply best practices; (2) different methods used by DOD and leading commercial firms in training on best practices; and (3) strategic approaches that underlie DOD's and leading commercial firms' training methods for best practices."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the extent to which the Department of Defense (DOD) has applied the Government Performance and Results Act's outcome-oriented principles to the Chemical and Biological (CB) Defense Program, focusing on whether: (1) CB Defense Program goals are explicit and measurable; (2) the CB Defense Program has performance measures that assess outcomes and impacts rather than outputs and activities; and (3) organizations executing the CB Defense research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) activities have incorporated Results Act principles in their program planning and evaluation."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the coordination of federal research and development (R&D) efforts to develop nonmedical technology related to chemical and biological (CB) defense, focusing on: (1) federal programs that conduct nonmedical CB defense-related R&D; and (2) the existing mechanisms for coordinating these programs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the General Services Administration's (GSA) efforts to ensure that the telecommunications systems it manages for the federal government are year 2000 compliant."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Labor's (DOL) plan to develop and implement an electronic reporting and disclosure system and the status of the Department's efforts."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the environment within which railroad rates have been set since 1990; (2) how railroad rates have changed since 1990; (3) how railroad service quality has changed since 1990; and (4) actions taken by the Surface Transportation Board and others to address railroad service quality problems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) complaint caseload, focusing on: (1) trends in the size of inventories and the age of cases in inventory at various stages of the EEO complaint process; (2) trends in the number of complaints filed by federal employees and the time taken by agencies and EEOC to process them; and (3) implications of these trends and how future caseloads may be affected by EEOC's regulatory changes to the complaint process."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) proposal to restructure its regional operations, focusing on: (1) FTC's rationale for proposing the regional restructuring; (2) the process FTC followed in developing its restructuring proposal; (3) factors FTC used and could have used in deciding how to restructure; (4) other options to the proposed restructuring identified in prior FTC studies or by Boston and Denver regional officials; and (5) the views of selected stakeholders regarding the impact the proposed restructuring could have in the areas covered by the Boston and Denver regional offices."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) payment problems and how recovery auditing is being used to identify and recover overpayments."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed how best to ensure the long-term viability of the nation's social security program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) appraisal process, focusing on: (1) how well the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is monitoring the performance of the appraisers on its roster and implementing procedures for addressing consumers' complaints about FHA appraisals; (2) the extent to which HUD is holding appraisers accountable for poor-quality FHA appraisals; (3) the extent to which HUD is holding lenders responsible for the quality of the FHA appraisals they use; and (4) how HUD ensures that appraisers on its roster are qualified to perform FHA appraisals."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) efforts to ensure that its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is year 2000 compliant."