Navy Nuclear-Powered Surface Ships: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress (open access)

Navy Nuclear-Powered Surface Ships: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress

This report discusses the possibility of increasing the number of Navy surface ships powered by nuclear energy, including the Navy's planned CG(X) cruiser. The overall report has a specific emphasis on the planned CG(X) cruiser, and how the implementation of this cruiser may be delayed by current budget proposals.
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
NCSX Trim Coil Design (open access)

NCSX Trim Coil Design

The National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) was being constructed at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory before work was stopped in 2008. The objective of this experiment was to develop the stellarator concept and evaluate it's potential as a model for future fusion power plants. Stellarator design requires very precisely positioned Modular Coils of complex shape to form 3D plasmas. In the design of NCSX, Trim Coils were required to compensate for both the positioning of the coils during assembly and the fabrication tolerances of the Modular Coils. Use of the Trim Coils allowed for larger tolerances increasing ease of assembly and decreasing overall cost. A set of Trim coils was developed to suppress the toroidal flux in island regions due to misalignment, magnetic materials, and eddy currents. The requirement imposed upon the design forced the toroidal flux in island regions below 10% of the total toroidal flux in the plasma. An analysis was first performed to evaluate candidate Trim Coil configurations iterating both the size, number, and position of the coils. The design was optimized considering both performance and cost while staying within the tight restraints presented by the space limited geometry. The …
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: M. Kalish, A. Brooks, J. Rushinski, R. Upcavage
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Novel Demountable TF Joint Design for Low Aspect Ratio Spherical Torus Tokamaks (open access)

A Novel Demountable TF Joint Design for Low Aspect Ratio Spherical Torus Tokamaks

A novel shaped design for the radial conductors and demountable electrical joints connecting inner and outer legs of copper TF system conductors in low aspect ratio tokamaks is described and analysis results are presented. Specially shaped designs can optimize profiles of electrical current density, magnetic force, heating, and mechanical stress.
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Woolley, R.D.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
OVERVIEW OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT APPROACHES: CEMENTITIOUS BARRIERS PARTNERSHIP (open access)

OVERVIEW OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT APPROACHES: CEMENTITIOUS BARRIERS PARTNERSHIP

Engineered barriers including cementitious barriers are used at sites disposing or contaminated with low-level radioactive waste to enhance performance of the natural environment with respect to controlling the potential spread of contaminants. Drivers for using cementitious barriers include: high radionuclide inventory, radionuclide characteristics (e.g., long half-live, high mobility due to chemical form/speciation, waste matrix properties, shallow water table, and humid climate that provides water for leaching the waste). This document comprises the first in a series of reports being prepared for the Cementitious Barriers Partnership. The document is divided into two parts which provide a summary of: (1) existing experience in the assessment of performance of cementitious materials used for radioactive waste management and disposal and (2) sensitivity and uncertainty analysis approaches that have been applied for assessments. Each chapter is organized into five parts: Introduction, Regulatory Considerations, Specific Examples, Summary of Modeling Approaches and Conclusions and Needs. The objective of the report is to provide perspective on the state of the practice for conducting assessments for facilities involving cementitious barriers and to identify opportunities for improvements to the existing approaches. Examples are provided in two contexts: (1) performance assessments conducted for waste disposal facilities and (2) performance assessment-like analyses …
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Langton, C. & Burns, H.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Review of Literature for Inputs to the National Water Savings Model and Spreadsheet Tool-Commercial/Institutional (open access)

Review of Literature for Inputs to the National Water Savings Model and Spreadsheet Tool-Commercial/Institutional

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is developing a computer model and spreadsheet tool for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help estimate the water savings attributable to their WaterSense program. WaterSense has developed a labeling program for three types of plumbing fixtures commonly used in commercial and institutional settings: flushometer valve toilets, urinals, and pre-rinse spray valves. This National Water Savings-Commercial/Institutional (NWS-CI) model is patterned after the National Water Savings-Residential model, which was completed in 2008. Calculating the quantity of water and money saved through the WaterSense labeling program requires three primary inputs: (1) the quantity of a given product in use; (2) the frequency with which units of the product are replaced or are installed in new construction; and (3) the number of times or the duration the product is used in various settings. To obtain the information required for developing the NWS-CI model, LBNL reviewed various resources pertaining to the three WaterSense-labeled commercial/institutional products. The data gathered ranged from the number of commercial buildings in the United States to numbers of employees in various sectors of the economy and plumbing codes for commercial buildings. This document summarizes information obtained about the three products' attributes, quantities, and …
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Whitehead, Camilla Dunham; Melody, Moya & Lutz, James
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Semi-inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering at Small-x (open access)

Semi-inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering at Small-x

We study the semi-inclusive hadron production in deep inelastic scattering at small-x.A transverse momentum dependent factorization is found consistent with the resultscalculated in the color-dipole framework in the appropriate kinematic region. The transverse momentum dependent quark distribution can be studied in this processas a probe for the small-x saturation physics. Especially, the ratio of the quark distributions as functions of transverse momentum at different x demonstrates strong dependence on the saturation scale. The Q2 dependence of the same ratio is also studied by applying the Collins-Soper-Sterman resummation method.
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Marquet, C.; Xiao, B.-W. & Yuan, Feng
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Speed of Presidential and Senate Actions on Supreme Court Nominations, 1900 - 2009 (open access)

Speed of Presidential and Senate Actions on Supreme Court Nominations, 1900 - 2009

This report provides information on the amount of time taken to act on all Supreme Court nominations occurring between 1900 and the present. It focuses on the actual amounts of time that Presidents and the Senate have taken to act (as opposed to the elapsed time between official points in the process). This report focuses on when the Senate became aware of the President's selection (e.g., via a public announcement by the President).
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Garrett, R. Sam & Rutkus, Denis Steven
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Texas Register, Volume 34, Number 22, Pages 3329-3450, May 29, 2009 (open access)

Texas Register, Volume 34, Number 22, Pages 3329-3450, May 29, 2009

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.
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Texas. Secretary of State.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tillman Creek Mitigation Site As-Build Report. (open access)

Tillman Creek Mitigation Site As-Build Report.

This as-built report describes site conditions at the Tillman Creek mitigation site in South Cle Elum, Washington. This mitigation site was constructed in 2006-2007 to compensate for wetland impacts from the Yakama Nation hatchery. This as-built report provides information on the construction sequence, as-built survey, and establishment of baseline monitoring stations.
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Gresham, Doug
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry: Federal Financial Assistance and Restructuring (open access)

U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry: Federal Financial Assistance and Restructuring

This report focuses on the current situation faced by the Detroit 3, key aspects of their current crisis, including possible consequences of a failure of one or more companies, and some aspects of legislative actions that have been considered to bridge their financial conditions to a more stable situation.
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Canis, Bill; Bickley, James M.; Chaikind, Hinda; Pettit, Carol A.; Purcell, Patrick; Rapaport, Carol et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Overview and Issues (open access)

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Overview and Issues

This report discusses the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986, which was enacted to improve absentee registration and voting for this group of voters and to consolidate existing laws.
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Coleman, Kevin J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Upgrading the TFTR Transrex Power Supplies (open access)

Upgrading the TFTR Transrex Power Supplies

In order to provide improved and expanded experimental capabilities, the existing Transrex power supplies at PPPL are to be upgraded and modernized. Each of the 39 power supplies consists of two six pulse silicon controlled rectifier sections forming a twelve pulse power supply. The first modification is to split each supply into two independent six pulse supplies by replacing the existing obsolete twelve pulse firing generator with two commercially available six pulse firing generators. The second change replaces the existing control link with a faster system, with greater capacity, which will allow for independent control of all 78 power supply sections. The third change replaces the existing Computer Automated Measurement and Control (CAMAC) based fault detector with an Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) compatible unit, eliminating the obsolete CAMAC modules. Finally the remaining relay logic and interfaces to the "Hardwired Control System" will be replaces with a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC).
Date: May 29, 2009
Creator: Lawson, J. E.; Marsala, R.; Ramakrishnan, S.; Zhao, X. & Sichta, P.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Biological Air Emissions Control for an Energy Efficient Forest Products Industry of the Future (open access)

Biological Air Emissions Control for an Energy Efficient Forest Products Industry of the Future

The U.S. wood products industry is a leader in the production of innovative wood materials. New products are taking shape within a growth industry for fiberboard, plywood, particle board, and other natural material-based energy efficient building materials. However, at the same time, standards for clean air are becoming ever stricter. Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) during production of wood products (including methanol, formaldehyde, acetylaldehyde, and mercaptans) must be tightly controlled. Conventional VOC and HAP emission control techniques such as regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO) and regenerative catalytic oxidation (RCO) require significant amounts of energy and generate secondary pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and spent carbon. Biological treatment of air emissions offers a cost-effective and sustainable control technology for industrial facilities facing increasingly stringent air emission standards. A novel biological treatment system that integrates two types of biofilter systems, promises significant energy and cost savings. This novel system uses microorganisms to degrade air toxins without the use of natural gas as fuel or the creation of secondary pollutants. The replacement of conventional thermal oxidizers with biofilters will yield natural gas savings alone in the range of $82,500 to $231,000 per year per unit. Widespread use of …
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Jones, K. & Boswell, J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
C-LAMP Subproject Description:Climate Forcing by the Terrestrial Biosphere During the Second Half of the 20th Century (open access)

C-LAMP Subproject Description:Climate Forcing by the Terrestrial Biosphere During the Second Half of the 20th Century

None
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Covey, C & Hoffman, F
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Central Asia: Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests (open access)

Central Asia: Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests

This report mainly focuses on Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests in Central Asia.
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Nichol, Jim
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
FDA Tobacco Regulation: The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 (open access)

FDA Tobacco Regulation: The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009

This report focuses on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. It includes a brief discussion of the contrasting views of FDA tobacco regulation held by the public health community and the industry, and provides some analysis of a number of key regulatory issues that the bill raises.
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Register, Volume 74, Number 101, May 28, 2009, Pages 25385-25612 (open access)

Federal Register, Volume 74, Number 101, May 28, 2009, Pages 25385-25612

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: United States. Office of the Federal Register.
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Final Technical Report (open access)

Final Technical Report

The work done with DOE support during this 15 year period was extensive and successful. It is best summarized by the list of 58 publications (below) which reported progress made with DOE support. These are from the grant period and a few more recent reporting on grant research. Mostly these are primary research reports in reviewed journals. There are also, however, many summary reviews in review journals and in scientific monographs, as they also are key places for reporting research progress. What we did during this grant period (and much longer) was to characterize genetic determinants for bacterial resistances to additional toxic heavy metals of DOE concern, through starting with phenotypic properties of the resistant bacteria to DNA sequence determination and characterization of the genes involved. Over the years (and as shown in the list of publications), the toxic metal-forming elements we have studied included Ag, As, Cd, Cr, and Hg. In each case, we started with basically nothing (or very little) known, progressed through quite detailed understanding, until other laboratory groups also became strongly involved in related studies. More recently, with DOE support, we were the first laboratory group in the world to identify genes for bacterial resistance to …
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Silver, Simon
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Audit: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Funds' 2008 and 2007 Financial Statements (open access)

Financial Audit: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Funds' 2008 and 2007 Financial Statements

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO is required to annually audit the financial statements of the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) and FSLIC Resolution Fund (FRF), which are administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). GAO is responsible for obtaining reasonable assurance about whether FDIC's financial statements for DIF and FRF are presented fairly in all material respects, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, and whether FDIC maintained effective internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. Also, GAO is responsible for testing FDIC's compliance with selected laws and regulations. Created in 1933 to insure bank deposits and promote sound banking practices, FDIC plays an important role in maintaining public confidence in the nation's financial system. In 1989, legislation to reform the federal deposit insurance system created three funds to be administered by FDIC: the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF) and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF), which protect bank and savings deposits, and FRF, which was created to close out the business of the former Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. In accordance with subsequent legislation passed in 2006, FDIC merged the BIF and SAIF into …
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Medicines: International Trade Issues (open access)

Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Medicines: International Trade Issues

This report focuses on the relationship between intellectual property right (IPR) provisions in international and U.S. trade policy and access to medicines. This issue represents one component of a broader debate about the relationship between trade policy and public health.
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Ilias, Shayerah
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iraq: U.S. Casualties (open access)

Iraq: U.S. Casualties

This report consists of a brief table summarizing casualty data compiled by the Department of Defense (DOD), including fatalities during Operation Iraqi Freedom since March 19, 2003, and since May 1, 2003, including statistics on those wounded, but not killed, since March 19, 2003.
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Chesser, Susan G.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
LLE Review, Quarterly Report: Volume 117, October-December 2008 (open access)

LLE Review, Quarterly Report: Volume 117, October-December 2008

This volume of the LLE Review, covering October-December 2008, features 'Demonstration of the Shock-Timing Technique for Ignition Targets at the National Ignition Facility' by T. R. Boehly, V. N. Goncharov, S. X. Hu, J. A. Marozas, T. C. Sangster, D. D. Meyerhofer (LLE), D. Munro, P. M. Celliers, D. G. Hicks, G. W. Collins, H. F. Robey, O. L. Landen (LLNL), and R. E. Olson (SNL). In this article (p. 1) the authors report on a technique to measure the velocity and timing of shock waves in a capsule contained within hohlraum targets. This technique is critical for optimizing the drive profiles for high-performance inertial-confinement-fusion capsules, which are compressed by multiple precisely timed shock waves. The shock-timing technique was demonstrated on OMEGA using surrogate hohlraum targets heated to 180 eV and fitted with a re-entrant cone and quartz window to facilitate velocity measurements using velocity interferometry. Cryogenic experiments using targets filled with liquid deuterium further demonstrated the entire timing technique in a hohlraum environment. Direct-drive cryogenic targets with multiple spherical shocks were also used to validate this technique, including convergence effects at relevant pressures (velocities) and sizes. These results provide confidence that shock velocity and timing can be measured in …
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Bittle, Wade A.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Monitoring the Reproductive Success of Naturally Spawning Hatchery and Natural Spring Chinook Salmon in the Wenatchee River, 2008-2009 Progress Report. (open access)

Monitoring the Reproductive Success of Naturally Spawning Hatchery and Natural Spring Chinook Salmon in the Wenatchee River, 2008-2009 Progress Report.

We investigated differences in the statistical power to assign parentage between an artificially propagated and wild salmon population. The propagated fish were derived from the wild population, and are used to supplement its abundance. Levels of genetic variation were similar between the propagated and wild groups at 11 microsatellite loci, and exclusion probabilities were >0.999999 for both groups. The ability to unambiguously identify a pair of parents for each sampled progeny was much lower than expected, however. Simulations demonstrated that the proportion of cases the most likely pair of parents were the true parents was lower for propagated parents than for wild parents. There was a clear relationship between parentage assignment ability and the degree of linkage disequilibrium, the estimated effective number of breeders that produced the parents, and the size of the largest family within the potential parents. If a stringent threshold for parentage assignment was used, estimates of relative fitness were biased downward for the propagated fish. The bias appeared to be largely eliminated by either fractionally assigning progeny among parents in proportion to their likelihood of parentage, or by assigning progeny to the most likely set of parents without using a statistical threshold. We used a DNA-based …
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Ford, Michael J. & Williamson, Kevin S.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
PILOT-SCALE HYDRAULIC TESTING OF RESORCINOL FORMALDEHYDE ION EXCHANGE RESIN (open access)

PILOT-SCALE HYDRAULIC TESTING OF RESORCINOL FORMALDEHYDE ION EXCHANGE RESIN

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) performed pilot-scale hydraulic/chemical testing of spherical resorcinol formaldehyde (RF) ion exchange (IX) resin for the River Protection Project-Hanford Tank Waste Treatment & Immobilization Plant (WTP) Project. The RF resin hydraulic cycle testing was conducted in two pilot-scale IX columns, 1/4 and 1/2 scale. A total of twenty-three hydraulic/chemical cycles were successfully completed on the spherical RF resin. Sixteen of these cycles were completed in the 24-inch IX Column (1/2 scale column). Hydraulic testing showed that the permeability of the RF resin remained essentially constant, with no observed trend in the reduction of the permeability as the number of cycles increased. The permeability during the pilot-scale testing was 3 times better than the design requirements of the WTP full-scale IX system. The RF resin bed showed no tendency to form fissures or pack more densely as the number of cycles increased. Particle size measurements of the RF resin showed no indication of particle size change (for a given chemical) with cycles and essentially no fines formation. The permeability of the resin bed was uniform with respect to changes in bed depth. Upflow Regeneration and Simulant Introduction in the IX columns revealed another RF resin benefit; negligible …
Date: May 28, 2009
Creator: Adamson, D.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library