The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is an area rich in fauna, flora, and oil potential, where development has been debated for over 36 years. Current law forbids oil and gas leasing. This report discusses debate over whether or not to open the ANWR up for development and includes discussion of various legislative options under consideration.

The following references to the current periodical literature are taken from CRS, public policy literature file (PPLT). Congressional users may request full text of items by phoning 707-5700. Others users should consult their local library.

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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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 Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents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.

Document 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, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation is authorized to contract with the parents of mentally disabled individuals for the provision of community based mental health services (RQ-1912)

Document 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 Kerr County Commissioners Court may abolish the office of County Public Weigher (RQ-105)

This report presents the conceptual design for a Direct-Hydrogen-Fueled Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell System for transportation applications. The design is based on the initial selection of the Chrysler LH sedan as the target vehicle with a 50 kW (gross) PEM Fuel Cell Stack (FCS) as the primary power source, a battery-powered Load Leveling Unit (LLU) for surge power requirements, an on-board hydrogen storage subsystem containing high pressure gaseous storage, a Gas Management Subsystem (GMS) to manage the hydrogen and air supplies for the FCS, and electronic controllers to control the electrical system. The design process has been dedicated to the use of Design-to-Cost (DTC) principles. The Direct Hydrogen-Powered PEM Fuel Cell Stack Hybrid Vehicle (DPHV) system is designed to operate on the Federal Urban Driving Schedule (FUDS) and Hiway Cycles. These cycles have been used to evaluate the vehicle performance with regard to range and hydrogen usage. The major constraints for the DPHV vehicle are vehicle and battery weight, transparency of the power system and drive train to the user, equivalence of fuel and life cycle costs to conventional vehicles, and vehicle range. The energy and power requirements are derived by the capability of the DPHV system to …

Abstract. Harness is the next generation heterogeneous distributed computing package being developed by the PVM team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Tennessee, and Emory University. This paper describes the changing trends in cluster computing and how Harness is being designed to address the future needs of PVM and MPI application developers. Harness (which will support both PVM and MPI) will allow users to dynamically customize, adapt, and extend a virtual machine's features to more closely match the needs of their application and to optimize for the underlying computer resources. This paper will describe the architecture and core services of this new virtual machine paradgm, our progress on this project, and our experiences with early prototypes of Harness.

A laboratory scouting test was conducted of precipitation methods for reducing the solubility of radionuclides in complexant concentrate (CC) waste solution. The results show that addition of strontium nitrate solution is effective in reducing the liquid phase activity of 90Sr (Strontium) in CC waste from tank 107-AN by 94% when the total strontium concentration is adjusted to 0.1 M. Addition of ferric nitrate solution effective in reducing the 241Am (Americium) activity in CC waste by 96% under the conditions described in the report. Ferric nitrate was also marginally effective in reducing the solubility of 239/240Pu (Plutonium) in CC waste

This document defines the baseline scope, schedule, and cost of the replacement computer system for the Vault Safety and Inventory System at the Plutonium Finishing Plant.

This document contains the results of stress analysis and component sizing for the 101-SY mitigation pump, Water Decon System. Calculations included are a stress analysis of the High Pressure Manifold, the threaded connection on the Yoke Water Connector and a sizing of an air receiver tank.

This Acceptance/Operational Test Procedure will document the satisfactory operation of the 103-AN Camera Purge Control System and 103-AN Video Camera System

This document presents the 300 Area Treated Effluent Disposal Facility (TEDF) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit Compliance Monitoring Plan (MP). The MP describes how ongoing monitoring of the TEDF effluent stream for compliance with the NPDES permit will occur. The MP also includes Quality Assurance protocols to be followed.

The objective of this research is to develop a condensation/oxidation route for the synthesis of acrylates/methacrylates from coal-derived synthesis gas. This quarter work continued on the development of catalysts for propionate synthesis.

With many nuclear reactors and facilities being decommissioned in the next ten to twenty years the concern for handling and storing Radioactive Scrap Metal (RSM) is growing. Upon direction of the DOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Lockheed Idaho Technology Company (LITCO) is developing technologies for the conditioning of spent fuels and high-level wastes for interim storage and repository acceptance, including the recycling of Radioactive Scrap Metals (RSM) for beneficial reuse with the DOE complex. In February 1993, Montana Tech of the University of Montana was contracted to develop and demonstrate technologies for the decontamination of stainless steel RSM. The general objectives of the Montana Tech research program included conducting a literature survey, performing laboratory scale melt refining experiments to optimize decontaminating slag compositions, performing an analysis of preferred melting techniques, coordinating pilot scale and commercial scale demonstrations, and producing sufficient quantities of surrogate-containing material for all of the laboratory, pilot and commercial scale test programs. Later on, the program was expanded to include decontamination of carbon steel RSM. Each research program has been completed, and results are presented in this report.

The Waste Information Requirements Document describes the activities of the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Characterization Project that provide characterization information on Hanford Site waste tanks. The characterization information is required to perform operations and meet the commitments of TWRS end users. These commitments are derived from the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, also known as the Tri-Party Agreement; the Recommendation 93-5 Implementation Plan to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB); and other directives as listed in Section 4.0. This Waste Information Requirement Document applies to Fiscal Years 1997 and 1998 activities. Its contents are based on the best information available in August 1997. The format and content are based on the directions of DOE-RL (Sieracki, 1997) and Fluor Daniel Hanford Incorporated (Umek, 1997). Activities, such as the revision of the Tank Characterization Technical Sampling Basis (Brown et al. 1997), the revision of the data quality objectives (DQOs), issue closures, discussions with Ecology, and management decisions may cause subsequent updates to the Waste Information Requirements Document.

This document describes the conceptual design for the Sludge Receipt Subproject that meets the functional design criteria. Also included in this document are the cost estimate and schedule.

Standard thermal stability tests were carried out on four liquids: decahydroquinoline (DHQ); 1, 3-Di-4 piperidylpropane (134PPDP), Naphthenic Base 37 and tetrahydronaphthalene (tetralin). Tetralin was more stable than decahydronaphthalene (Decalin{reg_sign}), and THQ was slightly less stable. Both tetralin and THQ should be evaluated further as slurry liquids in the presence of catalyst and syngas. Naphthenic Base 37 and 134PPDP do not have satisfactory thermal stability. Vapor pressure osmometry (VPO) was shown to be an unreliable technique for measuring the average molecular weight of slurry liquids. Gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GUMS) is a more accurate technique for pure compounds.

Enriched stable isotopes are required for production of radionuclides as well as for research and diagnostic uses. Science Research Laboratory (SRL) has developed a plasma centrifuge for moderate throughput of enriched stable isotopes, such as {sup 13}C, {sup 17}O, {sup 18}O, and {sup 203}Tl, for medical as well as other applications. Dwindling isotope stocks have restricted the use of enriched isotopes and their associated labeled organic molecules in medical imaging to very few research facilities because of high costs of isotope separation. With the introduction of the plasma centrifuge separator, the cost per separated gram of even rarely occurring isotopes ({le} 1% natural abundance) is potentially many times lower than with other separation technologies (cryogenic distillation and calutrons). The centrifuge is a simple, robust, pulsed electrical discharge device that has successfully demonstrated isotope separation of small (mg) quantities of {sup 26}Mg. Based on the results of the Phase 2 program, modest enhancements to the power supplies and cooling systems, a centrifuge separator will have high repetition rate (60 pps) and high duty cycle (60%) to produce in one month kilogram quantities of highly enriched stable isotopes. The centrifuge may be used in stand-alone operation or could be used as a …

The goal of this project is the development of a commercially viable, cobalt-based Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) catalyst for use in a slurry bubble column reactor. Cobalt-based catalysts have long been known as being active for F-T synthesis. They typically possess greater activity than iron-based catalysts, historically the predominant catalyst being used commercially for the conversion of syngas based on coal, but possess two disadvantages that somewhat lessen its value: (1) cobalt tends to make more methane than iron does, and (2) cobalt is less versatile with low H{sub 2}/CO ratio syngas due to its lack of water-gas shift activity. Therefore, the major objectives of this work are (1) to develop a cobalt-based F-T catalyst with low (< 5 %) methane selectivity, (2) to develop a cobalt-based F-T catalyst with water-gas shift activity, and (3) to combine both these improvements into one catalyst. It will be demonstrated that these catalysts have the desired activity, selectivity, and life, and can be made reproducibly. Following this experimental work, a design and a cost estimate will be prepared for a plant to produce sufficient quantities of catalyst for scale-up studies.

The goal of this project is the development of a commercially viable, cobalt-based Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) catalyst for use in a slurry bubble column reactor. Cobalt-based catalysts have long been known as being active for F-T synthesis. They typically possess greater activity than iron-based catalysts, historically the predominant catalyst being used commercially for the conversion of syngas based on coal, but possess two disadvantages that somewhat lessen its value: (1) cobalt tends to make more methane than iron does, and (2) cobalt is less versatile with low H{sub 2}/CO ratio syngas due to its lack of water-gas shift activity. Therefore, the major objectives of this work are (1) to develop a cobalt-based F-T catalyst with low ( < 5 %) methane selectivity, (2) to develop a cobalt-based F-T catalyst with water-gas shift activity, and (3) to combine both these improvements into one catalyst. It will be demonstrated that these catalysts have the desired activity, selectivity, and life, and can be made reproducibly. Following this experimental work, a design and a cost estimate will be prepared for a plant to produce sufficient quantities of catalyst for scale-up studies.

Rigid, high surface area activated carbon fiber composites have been produced with high permeabilities for environmental applications in gas and water purification. These novel monolithic adsorbents can be produced in single pieces to a given size and shape. The project involves a collaboration between the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER), University of Kentucky. The carbon fiber composites are produced at the ORNL and activated at the CAER using different methods, with the aims of producing a uniform degree of activation, and of closely controlling pore structure and adsorptive properties. The main focus of the present work has been to find a satisfactory means to uniformly activate large samples of carbon fiber composites and produce controlled pore structures. Several environmental applications have been explored for the activated carbon fiber composites. One of these was to evaluate the activated composites for the separation of CH{sub 4}-CO{sub 2} mixtures, and an apparatus was constructed specifically for this purpose. The composites were further evaluated in the cyclic recovery of volatile organics. The activated carbon fiber composites have also been tested for possible water treatment applications by studying the adsorption of sodium pentachlorophenolate, PCP.

This characterization report summarizes information on the historical uses, current status, and sampling and analysis results of waste stored in tank 241-U-109.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 was established by Congress more than a quarter of a century ago, yet there is a surprising lack of specific tools, techniques, and methodologies for effectively implementing these regulatory requirements. Lack of professionally accepted techniques is a principal factor responsible for many inefficiencies. Often, decision makers do not fully appreciate or capitalize on the true potential which NEPA provides as a platform for planning future actions. New approaches and modem management tools must be adopted to fully achieve NEPA`s mandate. A new strategy, referred to as Total Federal Planning, is proposed for unifying large-scale federal planning efforts under a single, systematic, structured, and holistic process. Under this approach, the NEPA planning process provides a unifying framework for integrating all early environmental and nonenvironmental decision-making factors into a single comprehensive planning process. To promote effectiveness and efficiency, modem tools and principles from the disciplines of Value Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Total Quality Management are incorporated. Properly integrated and implemented, these planning tools provide the rigorous, structured, and disciplined framework essential in achieving effective planning. Ultimately, the goal of a Total Federal Planning strategy is to construct a unified and interdisciplinary framework that substantially …