Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed reports of erroneous Department of Education payments to schools participating in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP) during the conversion to a new computerized payment system, focusing on: (1) the transition from the old payment system to the new payment system; and (2) whether the Department erroneously disbursed $400 million to schools participating in the direct loan program during the conversion."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to reduce the size and cost of its headquarters activities, focusing on DOD's: (1) efforts to reduce headquarters positions and associated costs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and Washington Headquarters Services, as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997; (2) efforts to reduce headquarters positions across DOD as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998; and (3) reporting of personnel on temporary assignment to OSD from other DOD components."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to improve joint operations, focusing on: (1) the U.S. Atlantic Command's (USACOM) actions to establish itself as the joint force trainer, provider, and integrator of most continental U.S.-based forces; (2) views on the value of the Command's contributions to joint military capabilities; and (3) recent expansion of the Command's responsibilities and its possible effects on the command."

This project is a continuing multidisciplinary study of middle to Upper Cretaceous marine carbonate and clastic rocks in the Utah-Colorado-Kansas corridor of the old Cretaceous seaway that extended from the Gulf Coast to the Arctic during maximum Cretaceous transgressions. It is collaborative between in the US Geological Survey (W.E. Dean, P.I.) and University researchers led by The Pennsylvania State University(M.A. Arthur, P.I.) and funded by DOE and the USGS, in part. Research focusses on the Greenhom, Niobrara and lower Pierre Shale units and their equivalents, combining biostratigraphic/paleoecologic studies, inorganic, organic and stable isotopic geochemical studies, mineralogical investigations and high-resolution geophysical logging. This research requires unweathered samples and continuous smooth exposures'' in the form of cores from at least 4 relatively shallow reference holes (i.e. < 1000m) in transect from east to west across the basin. The major initial effort was recovery in Year 1 of the project of continuous cores from each site in the transect. This drilling provided samples and logs of strata ranging from pelagic sequences that contain organic-carbon-rich marine source rocks to nearshore coal-bearing units. This transect also will provide information on the extent of thermal maturation and migration of hydrocarbons in organic-carbon-rich strata along a burial …

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.

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.

The Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory is a facility of the Department of Energy operated for the DOE by the University of Notre Dame under contract No. DE-AC02-76ER00038. This quarterly report summarizes the progress on the programs within the Laboratory for the period of October 1, 193 through December 31, 1993. The activities of the staff during this period are noted. A list of publications is presented. A listing and a brief description of each of the reports issued during this quarter are provided.

In June 28, 1997, the Low Level Waste (LLW) glovebox was tested using glovebox acceptance test procedure 13031A-85. The primary focus of the glovebox acceptance test was to examine control system interlocks, display menus, alarms, and operator messages. Limited mechanical testing involving the drum ports, hoists, drum lifter, compacted drum lifter, drum tipper, transfer car, conveyors, lidder/delidder device and the supercompactor were also conducted. As of November 24, 1997, 2 of the 131 test exceptions that affect the LLW glovebox remain open. These items will be tracked and closed via the WRAP Master Test Exception Database. As part of Test Exception resolution/closure the responsible individual closing the Test Exception performs a retest of the affected item(s) to ensure the identified deficiency is corrected, and, or to test items not previously available to support testing. Test Exceptions are provided as appendices to this report.

The Nijmegen YN potential models are reviewed. Differences with the models constructed by the Juelich group are highlighted. A mini- review is given of the status of the scalar mesons and their relevance for the NN and YN interactions. Finally, the reactions {bar N}N {yields} {bar Y}Y are discussed.

High power and radiance copper-vapor laser technology developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows great promise for many materials processing tasks. The authors recently transmitted the visible light produced by these lasers through fiber optics to perform hole drilling experiments. They found the tolerances on the hole circulatory and cylindricity to be excellent when compared to that produced by conventional optics. This technique lends itself to many applications that are difficult to perform when using conventional optics, including robotic manipulation and hole drilling in non-symmetric parts.

This project is a continuing multidisciplinary study of middle to Upper Cretaceous marine carbonate and clastic rocks in the Utah-Colorado-Kansas corridor of the old Cretaceous seaway that extended from the Gulf Coast to the Arctic during maximum Cretaceous transgressions. It is collaborative between in the US Geological Survey (W.E. Dean, P.I.) and University researchers led by The Pennsylvania State University(M.A. Arthur, P.I.) and funded by DOE and the USGS, in part. Research focusses on the Greenhom, Niobrara and lower Pierre Shale units and their equivalents, combining biostratigraphic/paleoecologic studies, inorganic, organic and stable isotopic geochemical studies, mineralogical investigations and high-resolution geophysical logging. This research requires unweathered samples and continuous smooth ``exposures`` in the form of cores from at least 4 relatively shallow reference holes (i.e. < 1000m) in transect from east to west across the basin. The major initial effort was recovery in Year 1 of the project of continuous cores from each site in the transect. This drilling provided samples and logs of strata ranging from pelagic sequences that contain organic-carbon-rich marine source rocks to nearshore coal-bearing units. This transect also will provide information on the extent of thermal maturation and migration of hydrocarbons in organic-carbon-rich strata along a burial …

The Supplement to the Annual Energy Outlook 1993 is a companion document to the Energy Information Administration`s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 1993 (AEO). Supplement tables provide the regional projections underlying the national data and projections in the AEO. The domestic coal, electric power, commercial nuclear power, end-use consumption, and end-use price tables present AEO forecasts at the 10 Federal Region level. World coal tables provide data and projections on international flows of steam coal and metallurgical coal, and the oil and gas tables provide the AEO oil and gas supply forecasts by Oil and Gas Supply Regions and by source of supply. All tables refer to cases presented in the AEO, which provides a range of projections for energy markets through 2010.

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 article I, section 16 of the Texas Constitution precludes the Texas Workers' Compensation Insurance Facility from denying workers' compensation insurance coverage to an employer that, prior to the effective date of section VII.f.6 of the facility's rules, committed the conduct that section VII.f.6 describes.

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 Commission of Human Rights Act, V.T.C.S. article 5221k, authorizes local commissions to file civil actions in state district court (RQ-453)

The purpose of the present program is to develop soluble analogs of surface confined catalysts that can be impregnated directly into the coal structure at low temperatures. This approach should avoid problems related to surface area dependence, a two phase (surface-liquid) reaction system and, mass transport limitations. Heteropolyanions (HPAs) offer the opportunity to develop soluble forms of surface confined catalysts. HPAS, are inexpensive, well-characterized, water soluble metal oxide clusters, e.g. [EM{sub 12}O{sub 40}]{sup 4-} where E = Si or P and M = Mo or W. They are easily modified to contain other transition metals such as Co, Ni or Ru and, can be made soluble in organic solvents. The protic forms exhibit extremely high acidities pK{sub a} {approx} = 0--2. In addition, selectively modified HPAs can function as low temperature hydrogenation catalysts that exhibit microporosity. HPAs are multi-functional catalysts that could be used to promote both hydroliquefaction and hydrotreating. In theory, these functions could be employed sequentially or simultaneously and could permit exceptional control of liquefaction reactions and reaction conditions. Thus, the current research program involves efforts to evaluate HPAs as soluble liquefaction and hydrotreating catalysts, with the goal of developing soluble analogs of surface confined catalysts. The exploration …

The Information Systems Engineering (ISE) System Development Methodology Manual (SDM) is a framework of life cycle management guidelines that provide ISE personnel with direction, organization, consistency, and improved communication when developing and maintaining systems. These guide-lines were designed to allow ISE to build and deliver Total Quality products, and to meet the goals and requirements of the US Department of Energy (DOE), Westinghouse Savannah River Company, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

The Environmental Protection Department/Environmental Monitoring Section (EPD/EMS) administers the Savannah River Site`s (SRS) Groundwater Monitoring Program. During third quarter 1991, EPD/EMS conducted extensive sampling of monitoring wells. Analytical results from third quarter 1991 are listed in this report.

None

A closure and postclosure plan for the Hanford Site Nonradioactive Dangerous Waste Landfill (NRDWL) was prepared by Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) and submitted for regulatory agency review in 1990. In the closure plan, construction of a final cover over the NRDWL is proposed. The design specifies a topsoil component consisting of layers of compacted and noncompacted fine-textured soil. The objective of compacting a portion of the topsoil layer is to impede infiltration of soil moisture. The McGee Ranch area on the Hanford Site is proposed as the source area for fine-textured soils to support cover construction. A number of data needs are identified in the closure plan for definitive design of the NRDWL final cover. Specifically, the plan identifies a need to characterize potential borrow areas for fine-textured soil, to ensure that (1) material properties vary within acceptable limits for the application, and (2) sufficient quantities of suitable material are available.

The capacitive deionization of water with a stack of carbon aerogel electrodes has been successfully demonstrated for the first time. Unlike ion exchange, one of the more conventional deionization processes, no chemicals were required for regeneration of the system. Electricity was used instead. Water with various anions and cations was pumped through the electrochemical cell. After polarization, ions were electrostatically removed from the water and held in the electric double layers formed at electrode surfaces. The water leaving the cell was purified, as desired.

The technology of room-temperature-setting phosphate ceramics or Ceramicrete{trademark} technology, developed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)-East is being used to treat and dispose of low-level mixed wastes through the Department of Energy complex. During the past year, Ceramicrete{trademark} technology was implemented for field application at ANL-West. Debris wastes were treated and stabilized: (a) Hg-contaminated low-level radioactive crushed light bulbs and (b) low-level radioactive Pb-lined gloves (part of the MWIR {number_sign} AW-W002 waste stream). In addition to hazardous metals, these wastes are contaminated with low-level fission products. Initially, bench-scale waste forms with simulated and actual waste streams were fabricated by acid-base reactions between mixtures of magnesium oxide powders and an acid phosphate solution, and the wastes. Size reduction of Pb-lined plastic glove waste was accomplished by cryofractionation. The Ceramicrete{trademark} process produces dense, hard ceramic waste forms. Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) results showed excellent stabilization of both Hg and Pb in the waste forms. The principal advantage of this technology is that immobilization of contaminants is the result of both chemical stabilization and subsequent microencapsulation of the reaction products. Based on bench-scale studies, Ceramicrete{trademark} technology has been implemented in the fabrication of 5-gal waste forms at ANL-West. Approximately 35 kg of real …

Development of high-temperature superconductor technology will make possible the design and fabrication of smaller, lighter, and more efficient power devices such as motors, generators, transformers, transmission cables, and fault-current limiters. A prototype fault-current limiter, a 200-hp motor, and a 50-m-long transmission cable have already been demonstrated using Ag-clad Bi-2223 superconductor tapes. We have recently enhanced the transport current properties of long lengths of multifilament Ag-clad Bi-2223 tapes through increased packing density of precursor powder, improved mechanical deformation, optimization of conductor design, and adjusted cooling rate. These improved processing parameters had a pronounced effect on the transport critical current of the super-conducting tapes. Our improvements are briefly discussed and their implications are assessed in this paper.

This project involved two related areas of research: (1) simulating natural climate variability using a global climate model, and (2) using the computer resources of the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) Blue computer for specific problems in atmospheric science and climate. Although originally scheduled to last two years, this ER project ended after one year; the work is begin continued under a larger (Strategic Initiative) project which started in FY99.

A description is given of the parallelization algorithms and results for two codes used ex- tensively to model edge-plasmas in magnetic fusion energy devices. The codes are UEDGE, which calculates two-dimensional plasma and neutral gas profiles, and BOUT, which cal- culates three-dimensional plasma turbulence using experimental or UEDGE profiles. Both codes describe the plasma behavior using fluid equations. A domain decomposition model is used for parallelization by dividing the global spatial simulation region into a set of domains. This approach allows the used of two recently developed LLNL Newton-Krylov numerical solvers, PVODE and KINSOL. Results show an order of magnitude speed up in execution time for the plasma equations with UEDGE. A problem which is identified for UEDGE is the solution of the fluid gas equations on a highly anisotropic mesh. The speed up of BOUT is closer to two orders of magnitude, especially if one includes the initial improvement from switching to the fully implicit Newton-Krylov solver. The turbulent transport coefficients obtained from BOUT guide the use of anomalous transport models within UEDGE, with the eventual goal of a self-consistent coupling.