Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Bureau of the Census' progress in: (1) performing first-pass data capture operations, including the performance of the Data Capture System 2000; (DCS) and (2) modifying DCS 2000 to perform planned second-pass data capture operations."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the use of funds for capital improvements at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, focusing on several funding sources: (1) the Airport Improvement Program (AID), a grant program administered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); (2) passenger facility charges, (PFC) a per-passenger fee levied on each passenger enplaning at the airport; (3) General Airport Revenue Bonds (GARB) issued by the city of Chicago, which owns and operates the airport; and (4) other revenue bond funds that are not secured by general airport revenues, but by specific sources of airport income."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on possible violations of the Antideficiency Act by the District of Columbia Health and Hospitals Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) or the District of Columbia government, focusing on if the PBC: (1) violated the Anitdeficiency Act in fiscal years 1997 through 2000 by obligating more than Congress appropriated for those fiscal years; and (2) along with the District of Columbia, violated the Antideficiency Act in fiscal years 1997 through 2000 by using the District of Columbia General Fund to pay PBC liabilities during those fiscal years in excess of the resources PBC ultimately realized. GAO noted that for the fiscal years 1997 through 2000 the: (1) PBC violated the Antideficiency Act by obligating more than Congress appropriated; and (2) PBC and the District of Columbia are not authorized to incur obligations in excess of the amounts appropriated for the PBC, and a reportable violation of the Antideficiency Act therefore has occurred."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on aviation security, focusing on: (1) the frequency with which law enforcement officers carry weapons on board commercial aircraft; and (2) if weapons carriage regulations, both current and proposed, are sufficient to ensure the safety of passengers and the security of the aircraft."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the Border Patrol's procurement of the MD 600N helicopter, including procurement specifications and selection factors; and (2) whether the experience has shown the MD 600N helicopter to be effective in safely supporting the Border Patrol's primary air operations mission."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the implications of using cash balance plans for retirement income, focusing on the: (1) prevalence and features of cash balance plans; (2) factors employers considered in making a decision about whether or not to use a cash balance formula; (3) effects of using cash balance formulas on the adequacy of individual workers' retirement income; and (4) effects of current disclosure practices on plan participants' ability to address issues regarding the adequacy of their retirement funds."

Nozzles and flow straighteners were compared to assess the relative quality of the water streams for sluicing waste from underground storage tankes. The criteria for comparison were 1) the impact force produced by the streams over a range of distance from the nozzle impinging on target plates, and 2) the coherence of the streams as manifest by the variation of force on targets of two different sizes. It was determined that 1) the standard Hanford flow straightener is measurable less effective than a commercial firefighting flow straightener at producing a coherent stream when used with the standard Hanford nozzle, and 2) a lighter and more compact firefighting deluge nozzle will deliver a stream of equal quality to that from the Hanford nozzle when either nozzle is used with the commercial flow straightener.

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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed agencies' handling of appeals and challenges within the broader context of the initial implementation of the Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act of 1998, focusing on: (1) the 24 Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Act agencies' inventories and the number of challenges and appeals that interested parties filed; (2) issues raised in challenges and appeals by interested parties and agencies' responses to them; and (3) six agencies' plans for reviewing or using their inventories and how agencies could use information contained in the inventories to help ensure that activities are effectively aligned and efficiently performed."

In this report, the authors describe the work done to improve the material and device properties of a-Si:H and a-(Si,Ge):H alloys prepared using electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma deposition and to understand the growth chemistry. Major results were obtained in the following areas: (1) Influence of plasma chemistry on properties and stability of a-Si:H single-junction solar cells; (2) Fabrication of good-quality tandem-junction cells. The authors made tandem-junction a-Si/a-Si cells with excellent voltages and fill factors using the H-ECR process; (3) Growth of high-quality a-(Si,Ge):H films using the ECR deposition process; (4) Fabrication of single-junction devices in a-(Si,Ge):H for diagnosing the material; and (5) Graded-gap cells in a-(Si,Ge):H. Good devices were produced using a graded-gap I-layer. In summary, the most important finding from this research has been that plasma chemistry plays a very important role in determining the properties of the materials, particularly the properties of the a-(Si,Ge):H alloy system. Even in a-Si:H, plasma chemistry plays a role in determining stability. This result suggests that by deliberately changing the chemistry of deposition, one may be able to further improve the a-(Si,Ge):H materials system and make its properties comparable to the properties of a-Si:H. The ECR reactor has proved to be a …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Army's efforts to control the costs of its Balkans Support Contract, focusing on whether: (1) the Army is taking effective actions to contain costs; and (2) improvements are needed in how the Army and other Department of Defense (DOD) agencies involved in Balkan operations manage activities under the primary Balkan contract."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to reduce weapon system operating and support costs, focusing on the Army's efforts to reduce: (1) projected operating and support costs for weapon systems under development; and (2) operating and support costs of fielded weapon systems."

Fluor Fernald Inc., in conjunction with partners from Argonne National Laboratory, the Department of Energy's Environmental Measurements Laboratory, and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, has developed a program for characterizing radiological contaminants in soil in real time. The soil characterization system in use at the Fernald Environmental Management Project (FEMP) for over three years combines gamma ray spectrometry equipment with other technologies to produce a system that can scan large areas of ground and produce color coded maps which display quantitative information regarding isotopic contamination patterns. Software running on a battery powered lap-top computer, is used to control acquisition of gamma spectral data to link the spectral Information with precise detector position measurements from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, and to control transmission of data to a central station or van via a wireless Ethernet link where Surfer6 mapping software is used to produce maps showing the position and amount of each target analyte. Either sodium iodide (NaI) gamma ray detectors mounted on three different vehicles for mobile measurements or stationary tripod-mounted hyper-pure germanium (HPGe) detectors can be used in this system to radiologically characterize soil. The operational and performance characteristics, as well as the strengths and limitations of …

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A drift-scale distinct element model (DSDE) is being used to analyze geomechanical behavior in the Drift Scale Test (DST) now underway at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The DST is a large-scale, long-term thermal test designed to investigate coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrological-chemical behavior in a fractured, welded tuff rock mass. Electric heaters are being used to heat a 50 m length of drift for 4 years, followed by 4 years of cooling. The target drift wall temperature is 200 C during much of the heating period. The distinct element method was chosen to permit explicit modeling of fracture deformations. Shear deformations and normal mode opening of fractures are expected to increase fracture permeability and thereby alter thermal-hydrologic behavior in the DST region. This paper will describe the DSDE model and present preliminary modeling results, including temperature and stress fields, and normal and shear fracture displacements at a series of times after start of heating. Figure 1 shows the drift geometry and associated fracture planes used in the simulations. The fracture locations and orientations were determined by analysis of borehole video logs. Predicted normal mode fracture deformations are concentrated along and above the heated drift (Figure 2). The results indicate similar magnitudes and spatial distributions …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO identified federal programs that supported economic development, focusing on: (1) the programs that more directly fund economic development activities, including the level of financial support that they provide; and (2) comparing selected aspects of these programs, such as program applicants, to identify areas of potential overlap."

This technical report evaluates and develops options for reducing the amount of steel in the emplacement drift invert. Concepts developed in the ''Invert Configuration and Drip Shield Interface'' were evaluated to determine material properties required for the proposed invert concepts. Project requirements documents prescribe the use of a carbon steel frame for the invert with a granular material of crushed tuff as ballast. The ''Invert Configuration and Drip Shield Interface'' developed three concepts: (1) All-Ballast Invert; (2) Modified Steel Invert with Ballast; and (3) Steel Tie with Ballast Invert. Analysis of the steel frame members, runway beams, and guide beams, for the modified steel invert with ballast, decreased the quantity of steel in the emplacement drift invert, however a substantial steel support frame for the gantry and waste package/pallet assembly is still required. Use of one of the other two concepts appears to be an alternative to the steel frame and each of the concepts uses considerably less steel materials. Analysis of the steel tie with ballast invert shows that the bearing pressure on the ballast under the single steel tie, C 9 x 20, loaded with the waste package/pallet assembly, drip shield, and backfill exceeds the upper bound of …

This report reviews technologies that could be applicable to Enhanced Geothermal Systems development. EGS covers the spectrum of geothermal resources from hydrothermal to hot dry rock. We monitored recent and ongoing research, as reported in the technical literature, that would be useful in expanding current and future geothermal fields. The literature review was supplemented by input obtained through contacts with researchers throughout the United States. Technologies are emerging that have exceptional promise for finding fractures in nonhomogeneous rock, especially during and after episodes of stimulation to enhance natural permeability.

This report reviews enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) research outside the United States. The term ''enhanced geothermal systems'' refers to the use of advanced technology to extract heat energy from underground in areas with higher than average heat flow but where the natural permeability or fluid content is limited. EGS covers the spectrum of geothermal resources from low permeability hydrothermal to hot dry rock.

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The objective of this calculation is to estimate the quantity of fissile material that could accumulate in fractures in the rock beneath plutonium-ceramic (Pu-ceramic) and Mixed-Oxide (MOX) waste packages (WPs) as they degrade in the potential monitored geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. This calculation is to feed another calculation (Ref. 31) computing the probability of criticality in the systems described in Section 6 and then ultimately to a more general report on the impact of plutonium on the performance of the proposed repository (Ref. 32), both developed concurrently to this work. This calculation is done in accordance with the development plan TDP-DDC-MD-000001 (Ref. 9), item 5. The original document described in item 5 has been split into two documents: this calculation and Ref. 4. The scope of the calculation is limited to only very low flow rates because they lead to the most conservative cases for Pu accumulation and more generally are consistent with the way the effluent from the WP (called source term in this calculation) was calculated (Ref. 4). Ref. 4 (''In-Drift Accumulation of Fissile Material from WPs Containing Plutonium Disposition Waste Forms'') details the evolution through time (breach time is initial time) of the chemical composition of …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the efforts of the White House China Trade Relations Working Group, focusing on: (1) whether such efforts violated the antilobbying provisions of 18 U.S.C. 1913 or any applicable appropriations statutes; and (2) how much the administration has spent on its efforts to garner support for China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO audited the expenditures of seven offices of independent counsel and one office of special counsel for the 6 months ended March 31, 2000."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the financial management of the Census Monitoring Board (CMB), focusing on: (1) information on seven specific matters contained in congressional requests; (2) an audit relating to all CMB out-of-town travel disbursements and all other financial transactions over $200 from CMB's inception in June 1998 through March 31, 2000, which resulted in GAO auditing about 98 percent of the dollar value of total CMB disbursements; (3) CMB financial policies and practices, the internal control environments, and specific internal controls over disbursements, including those related to travel, personnel, and procurement of services; and (4) related-party transactions that met the criteria congressional members asked GAO to use."