Commercial experience with facility deactivation to safe storage

The Department of Energy (DOE) has shutdown many production reactors; the Department has begun a major effort to also shutdown a wide variety of other nuclear facilities. Because so many facilities are being closed, it is necessary to place many of them into a safe- storage status, i.e., deactivation, before conducting decommissioning- for perhaps as long as 20 years. The challenge is to achieve this safe-storage condition in a cost-effective manner while remaining in compliance with applicable regulations. The DOE Office of Environmental Management, Office of Transition and Management, commissioned a lessons-learned study of commercial experience with safe storage and decommissioning. Although the majority of the commercial experience has been with reactors, many of the lessons learned presented in this document can provide insight into transitioning challenges that Will be faced by the DOE weapons complex

The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals

Organisms vary widely in size, from microbes weighing 0.1 pg to trees weighing thousands of megagrams - a 10-fold range similar to the difference in mass between an elephant and the Earth. Mass has a pervasive influence on biological processes, but the effect is usually non-proportional; for example, a tenfold increase in mass is typically accompanied by just a four- to sevenfold increase in metabolic rate. Understanding the cause of allometric scaling has been a long-standing problem in biology. Here, we examine the evolution of metabolic allometry in animals by linking microevolutionary processes to macroevolutionary patterns. We show that the genetic correlation between mass and metabolic rate is strong and positive in insects, birds and mammals. We then use these data to simulate the macroevolution of mass and metabolic rate, and show that the interspecific relationship between these traits in animals is consistent with evolution under persistent multivariate selection on mass and metabolic rate over long periods of time

How long do nosocomial pathogens persist on inanimate surfaces? A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Inanimate surfaces have often been described as the source for outbreaks of nosocomial infections. The aim of this review is to summarize data on the persistence of different nosocomial pathogens on inanimate surfaces. METHODS: The literature was systematically reviewed in MedLine without language restrictions. In addition, cited articles in a report were assessed and standard textbooks on the topic were reviewed. All reports with experimental evidence on the duration of persistence of a nosocomial pathogen on any type of surface were included. RESULTS: Most gram-positive bacteria, such as Enterococcus spp. (including VRE), Staphylococcus aureus (including MRSA), or Streptococcus pyogenes, survive for months on dry surfaces. Many gram-negative species, such as Acinetobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens, or Shigella spp., can also survive for months. A few others, such as Bordetella pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae, Proteus vulgaris, or Vibrio cholerae, however, persist only for days. Mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and spore-forming bacteria, including Clostridium difficile, can also survive for months on surfaces. Candida albicans as the most important nosocomial fungal pathogen can survive up to 4 months on surfaces. Persistence of other yeasts, such as Torulopsis glabrata, was described to be similar (5 months) or shorter (Candida parapsilosis, 14 days). Most viruses from the respiratory tract, such as corona, coxsackie, influenza, SARS or rhino virus, can persist on surfaces for a few days. Viruses from the gastrointestinal tract, such as astrovirus, HAV, polio- or rota virus, persist for approximately 2 months. Blood-borne viruses, such as HBV or HIV, can persist for more than one week. Herpes viruses, such as CMV or HSV type 1 and 2, have been shown to persist from only a few hours up to 7 days. CONCLUSION: The most common nosocomial pathogens may well survive or persist on surfaces for months and can thereby be a continuous source of transmission if no regular preventive surface disinfection is performed

Personal Papers (MS 80-0002)

Letter from J. R. Pirtle discussing about injured foot and crutches

Trend of the Butter Industry in the United States and Other Countries

Excerpts from the report: The foregoing charts are subject to many interpretations of varied character. Of the deductions applying to the dairy industry of the United States, however, the following are of particular interest: 1. Farm buttermaking reached its maximum production about 1900. The present trend indicates that it will become a less and less important factor in the Nation's butter supply, being superseded by the factory product. 2. Production of factory butter in the United States shows a more rapid general upward trend than is observed in any foreign country from which dependable butter figures have been obtained. 3. Production of renovated butter in the United States is declining. This condition evidently results from reduced supplies of low-quality farm butter, the chief product from which renovated butter is made. 4. Butter made in the United States is a very small factor in the international butter trade. More than 99 per cent of our butter business has been entirely domestic, except in the last three years. 5. The United Kingdom and Germany were the principal butter-importing nations, and Europe in the last decade has been unable to supply its own butter needs. Shortly before the war, Siberia, Australia, and New Zealand supplied most of the butter which Europe imported. 6. The export-butter business of nearly all countries shows noticeable fluctuations in short periods of time, indicating that the balance between domestic supplies and the profitable foreign outlet is delicate. 7. Well-known facts considered in connection with the charts show that high quality is essential to a large export trade. In Denmark, which before the war had the largest butter business in the world, the quality was high. It may be added that her stringent laws controlled the quality of export butter. 8. Information supplementary to the charts shows also that high quality and a high per capita consumption generally are found together, as also are low quality and low consumption. 9. Since consumption is depressed by high prices, it is apparent, in connection with the quality influences discussed, that high per capita consumption is influenced by both quality and price. 10. Briefly, a general improvement in the quality of butter in the United States will help to strengthen the domestic market, and with enlarged production will put this country in a better position to increase its export trade