Model and experimental estimates of the Multi-Isotope Process Monitor performance for determining burnup after dissolution and acid concentration during solvent extraction steps during reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel are presented.

This report discusses key issues regarding funding for a next-generation bomber (NGB) program. Congress's decisions on these issues could affect Air Force capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. aircraft manufacturing industrial base.

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This report provides an overview of the administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request. The report discusses base budget, war costs and issues regarding the defense appropriations for FY2010.

Cloning of large chunks of human genomic DNA in recombinant systems such as yeast or bacterial artificial chromosomes has greatly facilitated the construction of physical maps, the positional cloning of disease genes or the preparation of patient-specific DNA probes for diagnostic purposes. For this process to work efficiently, the DNA cloning process and subsequent clone propagation need to maintain stable inserts that are neither deleted nor otherwise rearranged. Some regions of the human genome; however, appear to have a higher propensity than others to rearrange in any host system. Thus, techniques to detect and accurately characterize such rearrangements need to be developed. We developed a technique termed 'Quantitative DNA Fiber Mapping (QDFM)' that allows accurate tagging of sequence elements of interest with near kilobase accuracy and optimized it for delineation of rearrangements in recombinant DNA clones. This paper demonstrates the power of this microscopic approach by investigating YAC rearrangements. In our examples, high-resolution physical maps for regions within the immunoglobulin lambda variant gene cluster were constructed for three different YAC clones carrying deletions of 95 kb and more. Rearrangements within YACs could be demonstrated unambiguously by pairwise mapping of cosmids along YAC DNA molecules. When coverage by YAC clones was …

This report provides information on the Lisbon Treaty and possible U.S.-EU implications that may be of interest to the 112th Congress.

Non-destructive gamma-ray analysis is a fundamental part of nuclear safeguards, including nuclear energy safeguards technology. Developing safeguards capabilities for nuclear energy will certainly benefit from the advanced use of gamma-ray spectroscopy as well as the ability to model various reactor scenarios. There is currently a wide variety of nuclear data that could be used in computer modeling and gamma-ray spectroscopy analysis. The data can be discrepant (with varying uncertainties), and it may difficult for a modeler or software developer to determine the best nuclear data set for a particular situation. To use gamma-ray spectroscopy to determine the relative isotopic composition of nuclear materials, the gamma-ray energies and the branching ratios or intensities of the gamma-rays emitted from the nuclides in the material must be well known. A variety of computer simulation codes will be used during the development of the nuclear energy safeguards, and, to compare the results of various codes, it will be essential to have all the {gamma}-ray libraries agree. Assessing our nuclear data needs allows us to create a prioritized list of desired measurements, and provides uncertainties for energies and especially for branching intensities. Of interest are actinides, fission products, and activation products, and most particularly mixtures …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A successful terrorist attack on a facility containing nuclear weapons could have devastating consequences. GAO was asked to compare the Department of Defense's (DOD) and Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to protect the nation's nuclear weapons where they are stored, maintained, or transported. This report (1) compares the nuclear weapons security policies and procedures at DOD and DOE, and the extent to which cost-benefit analyses are required; (2) compares DOD and DOE efforts to assess threats to nuclear weapons; and (3) identifies total current and projected funding requirements for securing nuclear weapons, including military construction costs. GAO analyzed DOD and DOE nuclear weapons security policies and procedures; visited sites that store, maintain, or transport nuclear weapons; and analyzed funding data for fiscal years 2006 through 2013. This report is an unclassified version of a classified report issued in May 2009."

This report discusses the efforts currently underway to improve coordination and encourage better analysis amongst the various agencies within the U.S. Intelligence Community, especially with regard to the ongoing and prominent issue of international terrorism. In particular, this report addresses the false intelligence regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and the current efforts in Iraq and Iran in general.

This report looks at the background of Iran's nuclear policy. It covers the current status of Iran's nuclear facilities, and current controversy surrounding them, as well as the effects of international sanctions on Iran, recent sabotages on the Iran Enrichment Program, an estimated timeline of Iran's nuclear weapon capabilities, and whether or not Iran even has a nuclear weapons program.

Report regarding recent issues in which the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and various state attorneys general have taken action to address the problems posed by unethical conduct by immigration attorneys and by persons posing as immigration attorneys, such as so-called "notarios" and other immigration consultants.

Task report detailing low probability tail event analysis and mitigation in BPA control area. Tail event refers to the situation in a power system when unfavorable forecast errors of load and wind are superposed onto fast load and wind ramps, or non-wind generators falling short of scheduled output, causing the imbalance between generation and load to become very significant.

The Navy has begun a multi-billion dollar program to modernize its 84 existing Aegis cruisers and destroyers over a period of more than 20 years. This report explores this program in detail, including the reasons for the program and the oversight issues it poses for Congress.

This report explores the reasoning behind the development of the new cruiser called the CG(X), the budgetary actions taking place to enable their development, selected technical specifics of their design, and various other information relating to defense procurement costs.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Funds are made available under the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act of 1990 (CARE Act) for individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. Part A provides for grants to metropolitan areas and Part B provides for grants to states and territories and associated jurisdictions for HIV/AIDS services and for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP). The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 (RWTMA) reauthorized CARE Act programs for fiscal years 2007 through 2009. RWTMA requires name-based HIV case counts for determining CARE Act funding, but an exemption allows the use of code-based case counts through fiscal year 2009. RWTMA formulas include hold-harmless provisions that protect grantees' funding at specified levels. RWTMA also included provisions under which Part A and B grantees with unobligated balances over 2 percent at the end of the grant year incur a penalty in future funding. GAO was asked to examine CARE Act funding provisions. This report provides information on (1) how many Part B grantees collect and use name-based HIV case counts for CARE Act funding; (2) the distribution of Part A hold-harmless funding; and (3) reductions in Part B grantees' …

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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.

This report analyzes Brazil's political, economic, and social conditions, and how those conditions affect its role in the region and its relationship with the United States.

We investigate the effects of non-equilibrium particle distributions resulting from rapid deuterium-tritium burning in plasmas using a Fokker-Planck code that incorporates small-angle Coulomb scattering, Brehmsstrahlung, Compton scattering, and thermal-nuclear burning. We find that in inertial confinement fusion environments, deviations away from Maxwellian distributions for either deuterium or tritium ions are small and result in 1% changes in the energy production rates. The deuterium and tritium effective temperatures are not equal, but differ by only about 2.5% near the time of peak burn rate. Simulations with high Z (Xe) dopants show that the dopant temperature closely tracks that of the fuel. On the other hand, fusion product ion distributions are highly non-Maxwellian, and careful treatments of energy-exchange between these ions and other particles is important for determining burn rates.

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This report (Rev 1) incorporates corrections and clarifications regarding the interpretation of solutions in BNL (1995) per reviewer comments from a June 7-8, 2007 review meeting. The review comments affect Appendixes C and D of this report - the body of the report is unchanged.

Rev 1 of this report provides corrections and clarifications in response to reviewer comments arising during a project review meeting held June 7-8, 2007.

The reaction of excess HSiCl{sub 3} with the aforementioned triamines led to the formation of [Si{sub 6}Cl{sub 14}]{sup 2-} containing salts in all instances. The isolated complex salts were characterized using FT-IR and elemental analysis. IR spectra of these compounds showed characteristic Si-H stretching modes around 2100cm{sup -1} due to the hexacoordinate silane cation and Si-Cl active modes near 528cm{sup -1} as a result of the cyclic dianion. Reaction yields and elemental analysis (CHN) of the salts are summarized in a table. The reaction of peralkylated triamines with HSiCl{sub 3} in dry CH{sub 2}Cl{sub 2} gives ionic compounds based upon the tetradecachlorocyclohexasilane dianion. Several substituted triamines(R{sub 2}NC{sub 2}H{sub 4}NR{prime}C{sub 2}H{sub 4}NR{sub 2}where R = R{prime} = Et, {sup n}Pr; R = Et, R{prime}= {sup n}Bu, {sup n}Hexyl, Benzyl) were examined for this reaction and N,N,N{prime},N{prime}-tetraethyl-N{sup {double_prime}}-benzyl-diethylenetriamine produced the best yields of [Si{sub 6}Cl{sub 14}]{sup 2-} salt at 23% based on the amine reagent. This improvement in yield could be attributed to the decreased nucleophilicity of the central amine through increased steric hindrance of the alkyl substituents. The overall consequence of this substituent variation study has revealed new reagents for the synthesis of [Si{sub 6}Cl{sub 14}]{sup 2-} salts and further demonstrated …

This report focuses on the United States' relationship with Iran and how the Obama Administration is handling prior administrations' economic sanctions against Iran. The Obama Administration's policy approach toward Iran has contrasted with the Bush Administration's by attempting to couple the imposition of sanctions to an active and direct U.S. effort to negotiate with Iran on the nuclear issue.