For reporting year 2006, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL or the Laboratory) submitted Form R reports for lead as required under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313. No other EPCRA Section 313 chemicals were used in 2006 above the reportable thresholds. This document was prepared to provide a description of the evaluation of EPCRA Section 313 chemical use and threshold determinations for LANL for calendar year 2006, as well as to provide background information about data included on the Form R reports. Section 313 of EPCRA specifically requires facilities to submit a Toxic Chemical Release Inventory Report (Form R) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state agencies if the owners and operators manufacture, process, or otherwise use any of the listed toxic chemicals above listed threshold quantities. EPA compiles this data in the Toxic Release Inventory database. Form R reports for each chemical over threshold quantities must be submitted on or before July 1 each year and must cover activities that occurred at the facility during the previous year. In 1999, EPA promulgated a final rule on persistent bioaccumulative toxics (PBTs). This rule added several chemicals to the EPCRA Section 313 list of toxic …

A significant amount of progress has been achieved in the development of the novel vacuum distillation method described in the proposal. The process for the purification of Te was fully developed and characterized in a series of trials. The purification effect was confirmed with GDMS sample analysis and indicates the process yields very high purity Te metal. Results of this initial process study have been submitted for publication in the Proceedings of the SPIE and will be presented on August 28, 2007 at the SPIE Optics and Photonics 2007 conference in San Diego, CA. Concurrent to the development of the Te process, processes for the purification of Cd, Zn, and Mn have also progressed. The development of the processes for Cd and Zn are nearly complete, while the development of the process for Mn is still in its infancy. It is expected that a full characterization of the Cd process will be completed within the next quarter, followed by Zn. Parallel to those characterization studies, efforts will be made to further develop the Mn purification process. Zone melting work for Te and Cd has also been efforted as per the project work schedule. Initial trials have been completed and the …

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides broad nondiscrimination protection for individuals with disabilities in employment, public services, public accommodations and services operated by private entities, transportation, and telecommunications. Enacted in 1990, the ADA is a civil rights statute that has as its purpose “to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities.” It has been the subject of numerous lower court decisions, and the Supreme Court has decided 20 ADA cases, most recently United States v. Georgia. This report examines the Supreme Court decisions on the ADA.

Charities and other entities seeking tax attempt status as organizations must apply to the Internal Revenue Service. This report provides an overview of the application process.

This report provides an overview of Egyptian politics and current issues in U.S. - Egyptian relations. It briefly provides a political history of modern Egypt, an overview of its political institutions, and a discussion of the prospects for democratization in Egypt.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To address concerns about unemployed or underemployed Soviet-era weapons scientists in Russia and other countries, the Department of Energy (DOE) established the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) program in 1994 to engage former Soviet weapons scientists in nonmilitary work in the short term and create private sector jobs for these scientists in the long term. GAO assessed (1) DOE's reported accomplishments for the IPP program, (2) DOE's exit strategy for the program, and (3) the extent to which the program has experienced annual carryovers of unspent funds and the reasons for any such carryovers. To address these issues, GAO analyzed DOE policies, plans, and budgets and interviewed key program officials and representatives from 22 Russian and Ukrainian institutes."

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This report describes a treaty signed by the United States and Australia on Defense Trade Cooperation in September 2007 that would facilitate defense trade and cooperation between the two nations. On the strategic level, the treaty would further develop ties between two very close allies who have fought together in most of America's conflicts, including most recently in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

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Gas centrifuges exhibit very complex flows. Within the centrifuge there is a rarefied region, a transition region, and a region with an extreme density gradient. The flow moves at hypersonic speeds and shock waves are present. However, the flow is subsonic in the axisymmetric plane. The analysis may be simplified by treating the flow as a perturbation of wheel flow. Wheel flow implies that the fluid is moving as a solid body. With the very large pressure gradient, the majority of the fluid is located very close to the rotor wall and moves at an azimuthal velocity proportional to its distance from the rotor wall; there is no slipping in the azimuthal plane. The fluid can be modeled as incompressible and subsonic in the axisymmetric plane. By treating the centrifuge as long, end effects can be appropriately modeled without performing a detailed boundary layer analysis. Onsager's pancake approximation is used to construct a simulation to model fluid flow in a gas centrifuge. The governing 6th order partial differential equation is broken down into an equivalent coupled system of three equations and then solved numerically. In addition to a discussion on the baseline solution, known problems and future work possibilities are …

This report discusses a general approach to validating microbial forensic methods that attempt to simultaneously distinguish among many hypotheses concerning the manufacture of a questioned biological agent sample. It focuses on the concrete example of determining growth medium from chemical or molecular properties of a bacterial agent to illustrate the concepts involved.

The Ames/Salmonella assay, developed by Professor Bruce Ames at the University of California, Berkeley, is a rapid and sensitive assay for detecting mutagenicity of various chemical compounds (Maron and Ames, 1983). It is a widely accepted short-term assay for detecting chemicals that induce mutations in the histidine (his) gene of Salmonella typhimurium. This is a reverse mutation assay that detects the mutational reversion of his-dependent Salmonella to the his-independent counterpart. Thereby, mutagenic compounds will increase the frequency of occurrence of his-independent bacterial colonies. The assay utilizes the specific genetically constructed strains of bacteria either with or without mammalian metabolic activation enzymes (S9), Aroclor induced rat liver homogenate to assess the mutagenicity of different compounds. In this study, we will use the Ames/Salmonella assay to investigate the mutagenicity of Hexanitrostilbene (HNS) from both Bofors and Pantex, and Dipicryethane (DPE).

Addendum to original report updating the structural analysis of the I-beam accident to reflect a smaller I-beam than originally assumed (addendum is 2 pages). The K East Basin currently contains six ion exchange columns (IXCs) that were removed from service over 10 years ago. Fluor Hanford plans to immobilize the six ion exchange columns (IXCs) in place in a concrete monolith. PNNL performed a structural assessment of the concrete monolith to determine its capability to absorb the forces imposed by postulated accidents and protect the IXCs from damage and thus prevent a release of radioactive material. From this assessment, design specifications for the concrete monolith were identified that would prevent a release of radioactive material for any of the postulated hazardous conditions.

This is a report on Awards of attorneys' fee by Federal courts and Federal agencies.

This report presents an overview of child custody proceedings under the Indian Child Welfare Act.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Navy initiated a move away from traditional minesweepers in favor of putting new kinds of anti-mine capabilities aboard ships with a variety of missions--most recently, the Littoral Combat Ship. In addition to a new ship, this approach includes several new systems and new operational concepts. GAO assessed the Navy's progress in (1) developing new mine countermeasures systems, including the Littoral Combat Ship, and (2) introducing these new capabilities to the fleet. To accomplish this, GAO reviewed Navy and program documents and previous GAO work. GAO supplemented its analysis with discussions with Navy and Department of Defense officials and contractors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) operates one of the largest and most complex health systems in the nation and has a dual health care mission--readiness and benefits. The readiness mission provides medical services and support to the armed forces during military operations. The benefits mission provides health care to over 9 million eligible beneficiaries, including active duty personnel, retirees, and dependents worldwide. Past Government Accountability Office (GAO) and other reports have recommended changes to the military health system (MHS) structure. GAO was asked to (1) describe the options for structuring a unified medical command recommended in recent studies by DOD and other organizations and (2) assess the extent to which DOD has identified the potential impact these options would have on the current MHS. GAO analyzed studies and reports prepared by DOD's Joint/Unified Medical Command Working Group, the Defense Business Board, and the Center for Naval Analyses, and interviewed department officials."

This report provides information about the Department of Homeland Security Grants to State and Local Governments in between FY2003 to FY2006. This report also analyzes federal grants to state and local governments that are administered by DHS.

From approximately 1949 until 1970, the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) operated a grain storage facility on federally owned property approximately 0.25 mi northwest of Savannah, Missouri. During this time, commercial grain fumigants containing carbon tetrachloride were commonly used by the CCC/USDA and the private grain storage industry to preserve grain in their facilities. In November 1998, carbon tetrachloride was detected in a private well (Morgan) roughly 50 ft south of the former CCC/USDA facility, as a result of state-wide screening of private wells near former CCC/USDA facilities, conducted in Missouri by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 1999). The 1998 and subsequent investigations by the EPA and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) confirmed the presence of carbon tetrachloride in the Morgan well, as well as in a second well (on property currently occupied by the Missouri Department of Transportation [MoDOT]), approximately 400 ft east of the former CCC/USDA facility. Carbon tetrachloride concentrations in the Morgan well have ranged from the initial value of 29 {micro}g/L in 1998, up to a maximum of 61 {micro}g/L in 1999, and back down to 22 {micro}g/L in 2005. The carbon tetrachloride concentration in the MoDOT well …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As the financial services industry has become increasingly concentrated in a number of large, internationally active firms offering an array of products and services, the adequacy of the U.S. financial regulatory system has been questioned. GAO has identified the need to modernize the financial regulatory system as a challenge to be addressed in the 21st century. This report, mandated by the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006, discusses (1) measurements of regulatory costs and benefits and efforts to avoid excessive regulatory burden, (2) the challenges posed to financial regulators by trends in the industry, and (3) options to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal financial regulatory structure. GAO convened a Comptroller General's Forum (Forum) with supervisors and leading industry experts, reviewed regulatory agency policies, and summarized prior reports to meet these objectives."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Between 1923 and the early 1990s, a mine near Libby, Montana, shipped millions of tons of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore to sites throughout the United States. In 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began to clean up asbestos contamination at the Libby mine and evaluate those sites that received the ore to determine if they were contaminated. Under Superfund program regulations and guidance, EPA regional offices took steps to inform affected communities of contamination problems and agency efforts to address them. GAO was asked to (1) describe the status of EPA's and other federal agencies' efforts to assess and address potential risks at the facilities that received contaminated Libby ore and (2) determine the extent and effectiveness of EPA's public notification efforts about cleanups at sites that received Libby ore. GAO, among other steps, convened focus groups in three of the affected communities to address these issues."