16.B. Publication Information Requests for OTA Publications - 115 During fiscal year 1991, OTA's Publications Distribution Office processed over 14,000 telephone and mail requests. Of these, 9,191 were telephone and 4,897 were mail requests. A majority of the non-Congressional requests received in the Publications Distribution Office were referred to the U.S. Government Printing Office or the National Technical Information Service for purchase of OTA documents. Additional requests were processed by OTA program offices and the OTA Congressional and Public Affairs Office. The Publications Distribution Office received requests for multiple copies of many of OTA's reports from Congressional offices. The largest number of Congressional requests for reports were for: Replacing Gasoline: Alternative Fuels for Light-Duty Vehicles Complex Cleanup: The Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production Making Things Better: Competing in Manufacturing Changing by Degrees: Steps to Reduce Greenhouse Gases Finding the Rx for Managing Medical Waste Delivering the Goods: Public Works Technologies. Management, and Financing Energy Efficiency in the Federal Government: Government by Good Example? U.S. Dairy Industry at a Crossroads: Biotechnology and Policy Choices Rural America at the Crossroads: Networking for the Future Multiple copies of OTA reports and summaries were also requested by various government agencies and private organizations including: Bellcore; Missouri Division of Job Development Training; NASA; McDonnell Douglas Corporation; USDA Extension Services; Association for Utah Community Health; Federal Reserve Board; General Accounting Office; Dunlap and Browder, Inc.; Ontario Public Library; National Defense University; NIOSH; Battelle Memorial Institute; American Nuclear Energy Council; Rockwell International; National Research Council; Department of Energy; Pacific Sierra Research Institute; GTE Telephone Operations; Lawrence Livermore National Lab; University of California School of Medicine; FDA; Fish and Wildlife Service; Sandia National Lab; National Academy of Sciences; Tennessee Education Association; Department of Labor; AAAS; Department of Treasury; National Science Foundation; United Steel Workers of America; and National Institutes of Health. The Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, sold out several titles and reprinted nine OTA titles during fiscal year 1991; these include: Energy in Developing Countries Energy Efficiency in the Federal Government: Government by Good Example? U.S. Dairy Industry at a Crossroad: Biotechnology and Policy Choices OTA publications are sometimes selected by commercial publishers or private organizations for reprinting. For example, in fiscal year 1991 commercial publishers requested to reprint the following: Van Nostrand Reinhold (New York, NY) Facing Ameria's Trash: What Next for Municipal Solid Waste? Korea Information Society Development Institute (Seoul, Korea)-- Critical Connections: Communication for the Future Additionally, other agencies, organizations, and magazines requested the use of text, photographs, or other graphics from OTA publications for use in articles and reviews, including: Grain Journal (article on Agricultural Commodities as Industrial Raw Materials); Simon Fraser University (information from Biological Effects of Power Frequency The Bent of Tau Beta Pi (article on Making Things Better: Competing in Manufacturing); The Futurist (article on Finding the Rx for Managing Medical Wastes); ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Personnel Services (Adolescent Health. Journal of the Air & Waste Management ...sociation (article on Finding the Rx for Association for Utah Community Health (article on Health Care in Rural America); Jobs Skills Partnership, St. Paul, MN (article on Worker Training: Competing in Middle East Research and Publication (article on Global Arms Trade: Commerce - 117 16.C. Assessments in Progress as of October 1. 1991, and Related Legislation AGING NUCLEAR POWERPLANTS: LIFE ATTAINMENT. LICENSE EXTENSION, AND DECOMMISSIONING (R) Existing nuclear powerplants play a vital role in the United States today, supplying 20 percent of the Nation's electricity. The nuclear industry and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are working with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to extend the safe and economical operating lives of these plants. Their initial analyses are encouraging. Many plant components will remain operable beyond the 40 year licensed lives, and careful maintenance or replacement of other critical components could help extend overall lifetimes. The benefits of extending nuclear plant lives can be substantial, deferring not only the cost to build expensive new plants, but also the costs of plant decommissioning. Proponents also note that nuclear plants emit no greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide) and reduce dependence on imported oil. However, aging nuclear plants face a number of technical, institutional, safety, and economic challenges. First, NRC operating licenses for the oldest units are due to expire in the coming decade, but at present there are no regulations governing license renewal for nuclear plants. The technical issues which renewal regulations must address are complex; including setting new standards for monitoring, evaluating, and maintaining dozens of plant components. By 1993, the NRC anticipates developing and applying a new rule governing license renewal to two nuclear plants, potentially leading to 20-year license extensions. Another challenge to aging nuclear plants is posed by unexpectedly rapid deterioration of critical components in certain plants. For example, steel reactor pressure vessels with trace levels of copper or nickel may become embrittled far more rapidly than initially expected when irradiated by neutrons. New technologies such as annealing of pressure vessels, enhanced monitoring and maintenance, and revised operations may provide remedies to such challenges of accelerated aging, but the situation is not yet clear. Declining plant performance and economics pose another challenge to aging nuclear plants. Safety is the primary concern in nuclear plant licensing and operating decisions. However, to contribute effectively to the Nation's energy supply, any power plant must be not only safe but also economic and reliable. Aging is one factor which can lead to rising operating costs and declining performance; reducing the benefits of extending plant lives. Nonfuel operating and maintenance costs at nuclear plants have continued to rise since the mid-1970s although the rate of increase has slowed. Again, new monitoring and maintenance technologies may mitigate the harmful economic effects of plant aging. This assessment will examine the technical, economic, institutional, and safety factors determining the useful lives of existing nuclear power plants. It will examine both the prospects for life extension of nuclear plants, and the cost and performance of those plants in attaining their currently-licensed operating lives. Because one major safety and economic impact of extending plant life is the deferral of nuclear plant decommissioning, this assessment will also examine decommissioning technology. Possible Impact on Legislation: Neither license extension nor decommissioning of large commercial nuclear power plants have been accomplished yet, although the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission continues working to establish appropriate methods and regulations. Further Congressional guidance related to nuclear plant license extension or decommissioning has been suggested in several bills including: - H.R. 2012 Nuclear Decommissioning Reserve Fund Act of 1991 - S. 732: A bill to amend the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 to create an -H.R. 2190: A bill to prohibit the operation of a nuclear power plant for which the -H.R. 1184: A bill to amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to encourage the Project Director: Robin Roy 228-6285. Requested by: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Energy and Power RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY: RESEARCH. DEVELOPMENT, AND COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS (R) New concerns over energy security, economic growth, and environmental quality are once again focusing interest on renewable energy technologies. Much has been learned during the past 15 years of work with these technologies and resources but the environment in which they are being commercialized has changed considerably. Renewable energy technologies offer many potential advantages. Liquid fuels can be domestically produced from biomass; reducing U.S. vulnerability to disruptions of foreign oil supplies. Electricity can be produced using wind, hydro, solar, or biomass powered generating technologies, thus avoiding coal-fired power plants' emissions of acid rain precursors and greenhouse gases. Renewable energy technologies also have drawbacks. They are often more expensive, at least in terms of direct financial costs (not accounting for external costs), than conventional fossil fuel supplies. They are also often highly capital intensive per unit energy output. Finally, many renewable energy sources are intermittent and can only be used in baseload applications with both extensive interconnected networks as well as expensive storage devices. This study will evaluate a wide variety of renewable energy technologies and resources on the basis of their security, economic, and environmental costs and benefits in the near-, mid-, and long-term. Systems that would be considered include solar (hightemperature thermal, low-temperature thermal, photovoltaic, passive); wind (electric); hydro (conventional, micro and low-head); biomass (liquids or solids); geothermal; and ocean (thermal, tidal). The study would begin with an assessment of renewable energy resources and costs on an individual basis including the potential for further cost reductions through technological advances or economies of scale or learning in mass production. Important opportunities or bottlenecks at the R&D or commercialization stages will be identified. Finally, it will examine the potential of these technologies and U.S. competitiveness in both domestic and international markets. Possible Impact on Legislation: This OTA project is analyzing issues addressed in the comprehensive energy legislation being considered in both the House and Senate as well as a number of other bills including: H.R. 3397: A bill providing for research and development and the demonstration in Federal buildings of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, and - 119 -S. 1269: A bill to require the Secretary of Energy to expedite the development of hydrogen derived from renewable energy sources as an alternative energy system for residential, industrial, utility, and motor vehicle use, and for other purposes. -H.R. 3498: A bill amending the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technology Competitiveness Act of 1989 to establish research and development and joint venture authority for high temperature superconductivity electric power technologies, and for other purposes. Project Director: Sam Baldwin 228-6274. Estimated publication date: Spring/Summer 1993. MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY: INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS WITH PRODUCT DESIGN (R) In response to tougher regulations and greater environmental awareness, many companies are beginning to be more concerned with reducing the wastes they generate. As yet, though, few companies take responsibility for their products after they are discarded by consumers and enter the waste stream. The problem is complicated by the fact that designers are using increasingly complex materials (e.g., multilayer food packaging) that are often more difficult to recycle or reuse. This assessment will explore how technologies for disposal or reclamation of "postconsumption" wastes could be coupled more fully to the initial product design process. It will examine how present economic incentives and environmental regulations influence choices made by designers, and what changes in public policies might encourage a new environmental ethic in product design. Possible Impact on Legislation: This study was requested in part to help structure proposals on environmentally sound product design that might be considered as part of the reauthorization of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, the primary statute for controlling and managing solid and hazardous wastes. Project Director: Gregory Eyring 228-6270. Estimated publication date: Spring 1992. Requested by: House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation U.S. ENERGY EFFICIENCY: TRENDS AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES (R) The United States has achieved significant improvements in energy efficiency over the past decade and a half, prompting some observers to speculate that additional improvements will be much more difficult to obtain, especially in an era of relatively low energy prices. Nevertheless, many technologists argue that the potential for improved energy efficiency in virtually all sectors of the economy is far from being fully utilized. Many policy makers consider continued improvements essential as Congress faces such issues as slowing the increase in oil imports in the 1990s, improving international industrial competitiveness of U.S. goods and services, and addressing focal and global environmental |