The Savannah River National Laboratory is collaborating with Alfred University to evaluate the potential for additives in borosilicate glass to improve sulfur retention. This preliminary report provides further background on the incorporation of sulfur in glass and outlines the experiments that are being performed by the collaborators. A simulated waste glass composition has been selected for the experimental studies. The first phase of experimental work will evaluate the impacts of BaO, PbO, and V{sub 2}O{sub 5} at concentrations of 1.0, 2.0, and 5.0 wt % on sulfate retention in simulated high level waste borosilicate glass. The second phase of experimental work will evaluate the effects of time at the melt temperature on sulfur retention. The resulting samples will be characterized to determine the amount of sulfur remaining as well as to identify the formation of any crystalline phases. The results will be used to guide the future selection of frits and glass forming chemicals in vitrifying Department of Energy wastes containing high sulfur concentrations.

This report serves as a primer on the EU. Despite the UK's vote to leave the EU, the UK remains a full member of the bloc until it completes withdrawal negotiations and officially exits the EU (expected to occur in March 2019). As such, this report largely addresses the EU and its institutions as they currently exist. It also briefly describes U.S.-EU political and economic relations that may be of interest in the 115th Congress.

This report examines policies aimed at promoting integration, combating terrorism, and countering violent extremism in five European countries with significant Muslim populations: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The report also evaluates the role of the 27-member European Union (EU) in shaping European laws and policies related to integration and counter-radicalization.

This report provides background on drug trafficking in Mexico, identifies the major drug trafficking organizations, and analyzes the context, scope, and scale of the violence. It examines current trends of the violence, analyzes prospects for curbing violence in the future, and compares it with violence in Colombia.

Based on existing sources, I compile parameters for the RF systems for a neutrino factory which accelerates to 10 GeV.

This report provides a short history of the federal excise tax on gasoline and the highway trust fund.

Report that explores the history of the Purple Heart and changes in eligibility over time as well as several current issues facing Congress.

The heat loading on plasma facing components (PFCs) provides a critical limitation for design and operation of the first wall, divertor, and other special components. Power plants will have high power entering the scrape-off layer and transporting to the first wall and divertor. Although the design for steady heat loads is understood, the approach for transient and offnormal loading is not. The characterization of heat loads developed for ITER1 can be applied to power plants to better develop the operating space of viable solutions and point to research focus areas.

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For the grand challenge of reducing our energy and carbon footprint, the development of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies offer a potential solution. Energy technologies can reduce our dependence on foreign oil as well as the energy consumed by the petroleum industry, the leading consumer of energy by a U.S. industry sector. Nonetheless, the manufacturing processes utilized to manufacture equipment for alternative energy technologies often involve energy-intensive processes. This undermines some of the advantages to moving to 'green' technologies in the first place. Our answer to the Industrial Technology Program's (ITP) Grand Challenge FOA was to develop a transformational low cost manufacturing process for plastic-based photovoltaics that will lower by over 50% both energy consumption and greenhouse emissions and offer a return-of-investment of over 20%. We demonstrated a Luminescent Solar Concentrator fabricated on a plastic acrylic substrate (i.e. no glass) that increases the power output of the PV cell by 2.2x with a 2% power efficiency as well as an LSC with a 7% power efficiency that increased the power output from the PV cells by 35%. S large area 20-inch x 60-inch building-integrated photovoltaic window was fabricated using contract manufacturing with a 4% power efficiency which improved the …

This report collects statistics from a variety of sources on casualties sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which began on October 7, 2001. OEF actions took place primarily in Afghanistan; however, OEF casualties also includes American casualties in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Yemen.

This report discusses labor enforcement in free trade agreements (FTAs), U.S. labor disputes, and issues for Congress to consider.

This report discusses efforts by the non-U.S. parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)--the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China, the European Union (EU) and Iran--to preserve the accord after the United States announced they would cease implementation.

The present report describes installed cost trends for grid-connected PV projects installed from 1998 through 2010 (with some limited and preliminary results presented for projects installed in the first six months of 2011). The analysis is based on project-level cost data from approximately 116,500 residential, non-residential, and utility-sector PV systems in the United States. The inclusion of utility-sector PV is a new element in this year’s report. The combined capacity of all systems in the data sample totals 1,685 MW, equal to 79% of all grid-connected PV capacity installed in the United States through 2010 and representing one of the most comprehensive sources of installed PV cost data for the U.S. Based on this dataset, the report describes historical installed cost trends over time, and by location, market segment, technology type, and component. The report also briefly compares recent PV installed costs in the United States to those in Germany and Japan, and describes trends in customer incentives for PV installations and net installed costs after receipt of such incentives. The analysis presented here focuses on descriptive trends in the underlying data, serving primarily to summarize the data in tabular and graphical form.

This report summarizes and describes the EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) final revisions to the NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards). The summary also explores how the revisions are contentious in certain areas that may not be meeting those standards which materializes as congressional oversight.

High level radioactive wastes are being vitrified at the Savannah River Site for long term disposal. Many of the wastes contain sulfate at concentrations that can be difficult to retain in borosilicate glass. This study involves efforts to optimize the composition of a glass frit for combination with the waste to improve sulfate retention while meeting other process and product performance constraints. The fabrication and characterization of several series of simulated waste glasses are described. The experiments are detailed chronologically, to provide insight into part of the engineering studies used in developing frit compositions for an operating high level waste vitrification facility. The results lead to the recommendation of a specific frit composition and a concentration limit for sulfate in the glass for the next batch of sludge to be processed at Savannah River.

Presented is the current progress of a search for the signature of a dark photon or new particle using the BaBar data set. We search for the processes e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} {gamma}{sub ISR}A{prime},A{prime} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -} and e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} {gamma}{sub ISR}{gamma}, {gamma} {yields} A{prime},A{prime} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -}, where {gamma}{sub ISR} is an initial state radiated photon of energy E{sub {gamma}} >= 1 GeV. Twenty-five sets of Monte Carlo, simulating e{sup +}e{sup -} collisions at an energy of 10.58 GeV, were produced with different values of the A{prime} mass ranging from 100 MeV to 9.5 GeV. The mass resolution is calculated based on Monte Carlo simulations. We implement ROOT's Toolkit for Multivariate Analysis (TMVA), a machine learning tool that allows us to evaluate the signal character of events based on many of discriminating variables. TMVA training is conducted with samples of Monte Carlo as signal and a small portion of Run 6 as background. The multivariate analysis produces additional cuts to separate signal and background. The signal efficiency and sensitivity are calculated. The analysis will move forward to fit the background and scan the residuals for the narrow resonance peak of a new particle.

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Redeployment of existing law enforcement resources and optimal use of geographic terrain are examined for countering the threat of a maritime based small-vessel radiological or nuclear attack. The evaluation was based on modeling conducted by the Savannah River National Laboratory that involved the development of options for defensive resource allocation that can reduce the risk of a maritime based radiological or nuclear threat. A diverse range of potential attack scenarios has been assessed. As a result of identifying vulnerable pathways, effective countermeasures can be deployed using current resources. The modeling involved the use of the Automated Vulnerability Evaluation for Risks of Terrorism (AVERT{reg_sign}) software to conduct computer based simulation modeling. The models provided estimates for the probability of encountering an adversary based on allocated resources including response boats, patrol boats and helicopters over various environmental conditions including day, night, rough seas and various traffic flow rates.

This report examines the scope of the Second Amendment, as interpreted by the federal circuit courts of appeals, after the watershed Supreme Court decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago.

This report identifies recess appointments made by President Obama. The report discusses these recess appointments in the context of recess appointment authorities and practices generally, and it provides related statistics. Congressional actions to prevent recess appointments prior to and during the Obama presidency, the President's unconstitutional appointments, and the judiciary's response are discussed in more detail in an appendix to the report. Additional information concerning recess appointments by President George W. Bush, general recess appointment practices, and legal issues pertaining to judicial recess appointments in particular may be found in other CRS reports.

Oxy-Fuel Fireside Research goals are: (1) Determine the effect of oxy-fuel combustion on fireside corrosion - (a) Flue gas recycle choice, Staged combustion ramifications, (c) JCOAL Collaboration; and (2) Develop methods to use chromia solubility in ash as an 'ash corrosivity' measurement - (a) Synthetic ashes at first, then boiler and burner rig ashes, (b) Applicable to SH/RH conditions.

Materials Performance in USC Steam: (1) pressure effects on steam oxidation - unique capability coming on-line; (2) hydrogen evolution - hydrogen permeability apparatus to determine where hydrogen goes during steam oxidation; and (3) NETL materials development - steam oxidation resource for NETL developed materials.

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