Engineering topics
Fox, Kevin
Publications and source records attributed to Fox, Kevin.
Development of a Validation Approach for an Integrated Waste Glass Melter Model
Integrated models are being developed to represent the physics occurring within the high-level and low-activity waste melters that will be used to vitrify legacy tank waste at the Hanford site. These models couple the melt pool, cold cap, and plenum region within a single computational domain. Validation of the models is essential to ensure the reliability of the numerical predictions of the operational melters. Experimental data from laboratory- and pilot-scale tests are thus being used to inform and validate various aspects of the melter model. This study presents a tiered approach to model validation consisting of a series of progressively more complex test cases designed to model the physics occurring in the full-scale system. A hierarchical methodology has been developed to segregate and simplify the physical phenomena affecting the multiphase flow and heat transfer within a waste glass melter. Finally, four hierarchical levels are defined in a validation pyramid and built up in levels of increasing complexity from unit problems to subsystem cases, to pilot-scale systems, and then to the full-scale system.
Engineering scale demonstration of a prospective cast Stone process - 15584
A cementitious waste form is one of the alternatives being evaluated for Supplemental Immobilization of Hanford Low Activity Waste (LAW). Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) is collecting data on cementitious or pozzolanic waste forms such as Cast Stone. The goal of this project for WRPS is to obtain data on the performance of the Cast Stone waste form for immobilizing LAW. As part of the data package being assembled, an engineering-scale demonstration with non-radioactive simulants was performed at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) using the Scaled Continuous Processing Facility (SCPF) to fill a container with simulated Cast Stone grout. Legacy salt solution from previous Hanford salt waste testing was trimmed to resemble the average composition generated from the Hanford Tank Waste Operation Simulator (HTWOS) used in the screening tests. The dry blend materials, ordinary portland cement (OPC), Class F fly ash, and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS or BFS) were obtained from Lafarge North America in Pasco, WA. Over three days, the SCPF was used to fill a 6,056 liter (1600 gallon) container with simulated Cast Stone grout. The tank was instrumented with x-, y-, and z-axis thermocouples to monitor curing temperature and two formed core sampling vials. The target production rate was 5.7 L/min (1.5 gpm). This required a salt solution flow rate of approximately 3.78 L/min (1 gpm) and a premix feed rate of approximately 263 kh/h (580 lb/h). The final surface slope at a fill height of 100 cm was 2.5-3.8 cm across the 260 cm (8.5 ft) diameter tank. During processing, grout was collected from both the mixer discharge and the discharge into the tank. These samples were stored in a humid environment either in a closed box proximal to the tank or inside the laboratory. (authors)
Cast Stone Formulation for Nuclear Waste Immobilization at Higher Sodium Concentrations
Low activity radioactive waste at U.S. Department of Energy sites can be immobilized for permanent disposal using cementitious waste forms. This study evaluated waste forms produced with simulated wastes at concentrations up to twice that of currently operating processes. The simulated materials were evaluated for their fresh properties, which determine processability, and cured properties, which determine waste form performance. The results show potential for greatly reducing the volume of material. Fresh properties were sufficient to allow for processing via current practices. Cured properties such as compressive strength meet disposal requirements. Leachability indices provide an indication of expected long-term performance.
Road Map for Development of Crystal-Tolerant High Level Waste Glasses
This road map guides the research and development for formulation and processing of crystal-tolerant glasses, identifying near- and long-term activities that need to be completed over the period from 2014 to 2019. The primary objective is to maximize waste loading for Hanford waste glasses without jeopardizing melter operation by crystal accumulation in the melter or melter discharge riser. The potential applicability to the Savannah River Site (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) is also addressed in this road map.
Single phase melt processed powellite (Ba,Ca)MoO4 for the immobilization of Mo-rich nuclear waste
Cs is one of the more problematic fission product radionuclides to immobilize due to its high volatility at elevated temperatures, ability to form water soluble compounds, and its mobility in many host materials. The hollandite structure is a promising crystalline host for Cs immobilization and has been traditionally fabricated by solid state sintering methods. This study presents the structure and performance of Ba{sub 1.0}Cs{sub 0.3}A{sub 2.3}Ti{sub 5.7}O{sub 16}; A = Cr, Fe, Al hollandite fabricated by melt processing. Melt processing is considered advantageous given that melters are currently in use for High Level Waste (HLW) vitrification in several countries. This work details the impact of Cr additions that were demonstrated to i) promote the formation of a Cs containing hollandite phase and ii) maintain the stability of the hollandite phase in reducing conditions anticipated for multiphase waste form processing.
Advances in Materials Science for Environmental and Energy Technologies II
The Materials Science and Technology 2012 Conference and Exhibition (MS&T'12) was held October 7-11, 2012, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of the major themes of the conference was Environmental and Energy Issues. Papers from five of the symposia held under that theme are invluded in this volume. These symposia included Materials Issues in Nuclear Waste Management for the 21st Century; Green Technologies for Materials Manufacturing and Processing IV; Energy Storage: Materials, Systems and Applications; Energy Conversion-Photovoltaic, Concentraing Solar Power and Thermoelectric; and Materials Development for Nuclear Applications and Extreme Environments.
Updating Small Generator Interconnection Procedures for New Market Conditions
Federal and state regulators are faced with the challenge of keeping interconnection procedures updated against a backdrop of evolving technology, new codes and standards, and considerably transformed market conditions. This report is intended to educate policymakers and stakeholders on beneficial reforms that will keep interconnection processes efficient and cost-effective while maintaining a safe and reliable power system.
MyEMSL
MyEMSL provides the following features: user-assisted upload of data from scientific instruments to an archive, tracking data though the upload process, providing metadata for recovery of uploaded data, providing users with access to the data. These features are supplied by a mixture of open source software and internally developed software. MyESML also provides a notification system that allows the system to communicate with users and other parts of the MyEMSL system. This allows the system to support automated workflows and user interaction. Reprocessing of already ingested data is also supported.
Amalgam
Amalgam is a system that allows you to generate collections of files that work with conventional tools but take up minimal extra space on storage. If you already are archiving files in a file system and don't want to make multiple copies of whole files in order to ship the data somewhere then this system is for you. Amalgam consists of tools that allow you to create and get information about '.amalgam' files which contain just the metadata associated with a set of files. It also contains a fuse file system that, using amalgam files, will dynamically create traditional tar files. With this setup, you can see multiple orders of magnitude reduction in storage requirements for temporary data collections.
Amalgam
Amalgam is a system that allows you to generate collections of files that work with conventional tools but take up minimal extra space on storage. If you already are archiving files in a file system and don't want to make multiple copies of whole files in order to ship the data somewhere then this system is for you. Amalgam consists of tools that allow you to create and get information about '.amalgam' files which contain just the metadata associated with a set of files. It also contains a fuse file system that, using amalgam files, will dynamically create traditional tar files. With this setup, you can see multiple orders of magnitude reduction in storage requirements for temporary data collections.
Purge Lock Server
The software provides a simple web api to allow users to request a time window where a file will not be removed from cache. HPSS provides the concept of a "purge lock". When a purge lock is set on a file, the file will not be removed from disk, entering tape only state. A lot of network file protocols assume a file is on disk so it is good to purge lock a file before transferring using one of those protocols. HPSS's purge lock system is very coarse grained though. A file is either purge locked or not. Nothing enforces quotas, timely unlocking of purge locks, or managing the races inherent with multiple users wanting to lock/unlock the same file. The Purge Lock Server lets you, through a simple REST API, specify a list of files to purge lock and an expire time, and the system will ensure things happen properly.