The physics reach of the STAR detector at RHIC has been extended to include elastic and inelastic diffraction measurements with tagged forward protons. This program has started at RHIC in p+p collisions with a special optics run of {beta}* {approx} 21 m at STAR, at the center-of-mass energy {radical}s = 200 GeV during the last week of the RHIC 2009 run.

The DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) tasked Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) with providing an independent expert review of the documented model and prediction results for net infiltration of water into the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain. The specific purpose of the model, as documented in the report MDL-NBS-HS-000023, Rev. 01, is “to provide a spatial representation, including epistemic and aleatory uncertainty, of the predicted mean annual net infiltration at the Yucca Mountain site ...” (p. 1-1) The expert review panel assembled by ORISE concluded that the model report does not provide a technically credible spatial representation of net infiltration at Yucca Mountain. Specifically, the ORISE Review Panel found that: • A critical lack of site-specific meteorological, surface, and subsurface information prevents verification of (i) the net infiltration estimates, (ii) the uncertainty estimates of parameters caused by their spatial variability, and (iii) the assumptions used by the modelers (ranges and distributions) for the characterization of parameters. The paucity of site-specific data used by the modeling team for model implementation and validation is a major deficiency in this effort. • The model does not incorporate at least one potentially important hydrologic process. Subsurface lateral flow …

This session will examine a method developed by Federal and Contractor personnel at the Nevada Site Office (NSO) to improve the planning and execution of work activities utilizing an Activity Level Work Control process in response to Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Recommendation 2004-1, Oversight of Complex, High-Hazard Nuclear Operations. The process was initially developed during Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, and implementation is commencing during the fourth quarter of FY 2008. This process will significantly enhance the flexibility and the appropriate rigor in the performance of work activities.

The focus of this research was to develop new membrane materials by synthesizing different compounds and determining their defect structures, crystallographic structures and electrical properties. In addition to measuring electrical conductivity, oxygen vacancy concentration was also evaluated using thermogravimetry, Neutron diffraction and Moessbauer Spectroscopy. The reducing conditions (CO{sub 2}/CO/H{sub 2} gas mixtures with steam) as encountered in a reactor environment can be expected to have significant influence on the mechanical properties of the oxides membranes. Various La based materials with and without Ti were selected as candidate membrane materials for OTM. The maximum electrical conductivity of LSF in air as a function of temperature was achieved at < 600 C and depends on the concentration of Sr (acceptor dopant). Oxygen occupancy in LSF was estimated using Neutron diffractometry and Moessbauer Spectroscopy by measuring magnetic moment changes depending on the Fe{sup 3+} and Fe{sup 4+} ratio. After extensive studies of candidate materials, lanthanum ferrites (LSF and LSFT) were selected as the favored materials for the oxygen transport membrane (OTM). LSF is a very good material for an OTM because of its high electronic and oxygen ionic conductivity if long term stability and mechanical strength are improved. LSFT not only exhibits p-type …

This report documents the activities of the structural integrity program at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center relevant to the high-level waste Calcined Solids Storage Facilities and associated equipment, as required by DOE M 435.1-1, 'Radioactive Waste Management Manual'. Based on the evaluation documented in this report, the Calcined Solids Storage Facilities are not leaking and are structurally sound for continued service. Recommendations are provided for continued monitoring of the Calcined Solids Storage Facilities.

This report is about the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) and related Funding Programs in the fiscal year 2007.

The purpose of this project was to develop software that will model the behavior of the high performance Spectral Instruments 1000 series Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) camera located in the Final Optics Damage Inspection (FODI) system on the National Ignition Facility. NIF's target chamber will be mounted with 48 Final Optics Assemblies (FOAs) to convert the laser light from infrared to ultraviolet and focus it precisely on the target. Following a NIF shot, the optical components of each FOA must be carefully inspected for damage by the FODI to ensure proper laser performance during subsequent experiments. Rapid image capture and complex image processing (to locate damage sites) will reduce shot turnaround time; thus increasing the total number of experiments NIF can conduct during its 30 year lifetime. Development of these rapid processes necessitates extensive offline software automation -- especially after the device has been deployed in the facility. Without access to the unique real device or an exact behavioral model, offline software testing is difficult. Furthermore, a software-based behavioral model allows for many instances to be running concurrently; this allows multiple developers to test their software at the same time. Thus it is beneficial to construct separate software that will exactly …

This report discusses Central Asia's regional developments and gives an overview of U.S policy concerns.

The initial phase of bulk waste removal operations was recently completed in Tank 5F. Video inspection of the tank indicates several mounds of sludge still remain in the tank. Additionally, a mound of white solids was observed under Riser 5. In support of chemical cleaning and heel removal programs, samples of the sludge and the mound of white solids were obtained from the tank for characterization and testing. A core sample of the sludge and Super Snapper sample of the white solids were characterized. A supernate dip sample from Tank 7F was also characterized. A portion of the sludge was used in two tank cleaning tests using oxalic acid at 50 C and 75 C. The filtered oxalic acid from the tank cleaning tests was subsequently neutralized by addition to a simulated Tank 7F supernate. Solids and liquid samples from the tank cleaning test and neutralization test were characterized. A separate report documents the results of the gas generation from the tank cleaning test using oxalic acid and Tank 5F sludge. The characterization results for the Tank 5F sludge sample (FTF-05-06-55) appear quite good with respect to the tight precision of the sample replicates, good results for the glass standards, …

This report addresses the characterization and actual waste tests with tank 5F samples.

The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) is an atmospheric numerical model developed by scientists at Colorado State University and the ASTER Division of Mission Research Corporation for simulating and forecasting meteorological phenomena. RAMS v3a and v4.3 are being used by the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) as an operational tool for weather forecast and emergency response for the Savannah River Site (SRS). ATmospheric, Meteorological, and Environmental Technologies (ATMET) is now the proprietor of RAMS. The latest upgrade (v6.0) was officially released on January 11, 2006. ATG plans to eventually replace the RAMS v3a and v4.3 with the RAMS v6.0 for operational site forecasting if the newest version provides a significant improvement in the numerical forecast. A study to compare the three model (v3a, v4.3 and v6.0) results with respect to surface stations observations was conducted and is the subject of this report. Two cases were selected for simulation by these three RAMS models. One simulation started at 0 Z on April 3, 2007 and represents a warm weather case (high temperature of 26 C and low temperature of 16 C) at SRS, while the other simulation started at 0 Z on April 7, 2007 and represents a cold weather case …

This report provides basic information on congressional salaries and allowances. The report briefly summarizes the current salary of Members of Congress, limits on their outside earned income and honoraria, and applicable health insurance and retirement benefits. The report also provides information on allowances available to Representatives and Senators. Lastly, this report lists the salaries of congressional officers and officials and committee staff.

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Agenda: {lg_bullet} Convey current state of the retail gasoline market {lg_bullet} Explore E85 as part of the solution {lg_bullet} Test the profitability of E85 as an investment {lg_bullet} Give retailers guidance to assess if E85 would be a good investment for them

This report provides information about The Role of State and Local Law Enforcement on Enforcing Immigration Law.

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Suspensions of solid particles in liquids appear in numerous applications, from environmental settings like river silt, to industrial systems of solids transport and water treatment, and biological flows such as blood flow. Despite their importance, much remains unexplained about these complicated systems. Mucha's research aims to improve understanding of basic properties of suspensions through a program of simulating model interacting particle systems with critical evaluation of proposed continuum equations, in close collaboration with experimentalists. Natural to this approach, the original proposal centered around collaboration with studies already conducted in various experimental groups. However, as was detailed in the 2004 progress report, following the first year of this award, a number of the questions from the original proposal were necessarily redirected towards other specific goals because of changes in the research programs of the proposed experimental collaborators. Nevertheless, the modified project goals and the results that followed from those goals maintain close alignment with the main themes of the original proposal, improving efficient simulation and macroscopic modeling of sedimenting and colloidal suspensions. In particular, the main investigations covered under this award have included: (1) Sedimentation instabilities, including the sedimentation analogue of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability (for heavy, particle-laden fluid over lighter, clear …

This report provides background on the Government Accountability Office.

This report provides an explanation of the house rules changes affecting the Congressional budget process made at the beginning of the 110th Congress.

Significant savings are being realized from the consolidated tritium gas-processing operations at the Savannah River Site. However, the trade-off is some reduction of operational flexibility due to decreased storage capacity for process and waste gases. Savannah River National Laboratory researchers are developing an integrated process gas model for tritium processing using Aspen Custom Modeler{trademark} (ACM) software. The modeling involves fully characterizing process flow streams (gas composition, quantity), frequency of batch transfers, and availability of equipment in the flow stream. The model provides a valuable engineering tool to identify flow bottlenecks, thereby enabling adjustments to be made to improve process operations.

The use of sequestering agents for the transformation of radionuclides in low concentrations in contaminated soils/sediments offers considerable potential for long-term environmental cleanup. This study evaluated the influence of four phosphate amendments and two microbial amendments on U availability. The synchrotron X-ray fluorescence mapping of the untreated U-contaminated sediment showed that U was closely associated with Mn. All tested phosphate amendments reduced aqueous U concentration more than 90%, likely due to formation of insoluble phosphate precipitates. The addition of A. piechaudii and P. putida alone were found to reduce U concentrations 63% and 31% respectively. Uranium sorption in phosphate treatments was significantly reduced in the presence of microbes. However, increased microbial activity in the treated sediment led to reduction of phosphate effectiveness. The average U concentration in 1 M MgCl{sub 2} extract from U amended sediment was 437 {micro}g/kg, but in the same sediment without microbes (autoclaved sediment), the extractable U concentration was only 103 {micro}g/kg. When the autoclaved amended sediment was treated with autoclaved biological apatite, U concentration in the 1 M MgCl{sub 2} extract was {approx}0 {micro}g/kg. Together these tests suggest that microbes may enhance U leaching and reduce phosphate amendment remedial effectiveness.

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This report covers recent events in Liberia, a small, poor West African country.

This report discusses the legislative history and current law regarding the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides funds to states so that they may help low-income households pay home energy expenses.