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DOE OSTI2025

Feasibility of fusion plasma burn control via real-time, sub-divertor neutral gas isotopic and compositional analysis

The ability to provide fusion burn control without requiring physical access through the first wall and fuel breeding blankets, would be vital for any future, magnetically confined fusion power reactor. A multi-sensor, fusion fuel cycle exhaust, neutral gas analysis system on JET, capable of delivering real time data, and accessing only the sub-divertor region, provides an excellent example of such capability. Optimized for and operated during the deuterium–tritium experimental campaigns 2 and 3 (DTE2, DTE3), it is proving valuable for planning to explore fusion reactor burn control in ITER with a comparable diagnostic system called the Diagnostic Residual Gas Analyzer (DRGA). This paper aims to show feasibility of developing model-based controllers for ITER and next generation, reactor-relevant devices, by building both on the empirical experience in JET-DTE2, and on the already emerging experience on developing such models specifically for ITER. The paper begins with a specific use-case from JET-DTE2, pertaining to the observed sensitivity of the fusion neutron yield on the concentration of isotopic helium-3 ( 3 He), with data from one of the high-performance DT shots exhibited with emphasis on the 3 He measurement via the sub-divertor. Then, a first model is developed and then explored with simulations that aim to discover how well the controllers in the model react to either insufficient levels of 3 He or excessive levels of 3 He. The simulations then explore potential impact from a delay in the measurement (or the response) that would be comparable to the ∼1 s, conductance limited response for the ITER DRGA system, currently in its final design. The simulations show that control is feasible, and that its effectiveness is not significantly impacted by such delay.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Assessment of volumetric noise and resolution performance for linear and nonlinear CT reconstruction methods

Purpose: For nonlinear iterative image reconstructions (IR), the computed tomography (CT) noise and resolution properties can depend on the specific imaging conditions, such as lesion contrast and image noise level. Therefore, it is imperative to develop a reliable method to measure the noise and resolution properties under clinically relevant conditions. This study aimed to develop a robust methodology to measure the three-dimensional CT noise and resolution properties under such conditions and to provide guidelines to achieve desirable levels of accuracy and precision. Methods: The methodology was developed based on a previously reported CT image quality phantom. In this methodology, CT noise properties are measured in the uniform region of the phantom in terms of a task-based 3D noise-power spectrum (NPS{sub task}). The in-plane resolution properties are measured in terms of the task transfer function (TTF) by applying a radial edge technique to the rod inserts in the phantom. The z-direction resolution properties are measured from a supplemental phantom, also in terms of the TTF. To account for the possible nonlinearity of IR, the NPS{sub task} is measured with respect to the noise magnitude, and the TTF with respect to noise magnitude and edge contrast. To determine the accuracy and precision of the methodology, images of known noise and resolution properties were simulated. The NPS{sub task} and TTF were measured on the simulated images and compared to the truth, with criteria established to achieve NPS{sub task} and TTF measurements with <10% error. To demonstrate the utility of this methodology, measurements were performed on a commercial CT system using five dose levels, two slice thicknesses, and three reconstruction algorithms (filtered backprojection, FBP; iterative reconstruction in imaging space, IRIS; and sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction with strengths of 5, SAFIRE5). Results: To achieve NPS{sub task} measurements with <10% error, the number of regions of interest needed to be greater than 65. To achieve TTF measurements with <10% error, the contrast-to-noise ratio of the edge needed to be ≥15, achievable by averaging multiple slices across the same edge. The NPS{sub task} measured on a commercial CT system showed IR's reduced noise (IRIS, 30% and SAFIRE5, 55%) and “waxier” texture (peak frequencies: FBP, 0.25 mm{sup −1}; IRIS, 0.23 mm{sup −1}; and SAFIRE5, 0.16 mm{sup −1}). The TTF measured within the axial plane showed improved in-plane resolution with SAFIRE5 at the TTF 50% frequency, f{sub 50} (FBP, 0.36–0.41 mm{sup −1}; SAFIRE5, 0.37–0.46 mm{sup −1}). The TTF measured along the axial direction showed improved z-direction resolution with thinner slice thickness (f{sub 50}: 0.6 mm, 0.35–0.79 mm{sup −1}; 1.5 mm, 0.22–0.3 mm{sup −1}) and with SAFIRE5 (f{sub 50}: FBP, 0.35–0.52 mm{sup −1}; SAFIRE5, 0.42–0.79 mm{sup −1}). Both in-plane and z-direction resolution of SAFIRE5 showed strong dependency on contrast, reflecting SAFIRE5's nonlinearity. Conclusions: A methodology was developed to measure three-dimensional CT noise and resolution properties for iterative reconstruction, especially at challenging measurement conditions with low contrast and high image noise. The methodology also demonstrated its utility for evaluating commercial CT systems.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-258: Parallel Optimization of Beam Configurations for CyberKnife Treatments

Purpose: The CyberKnife delivers a large number of beams originating at different non-planar positions and with different orientation. We study how much the quality of treatment plans depends on the beams considered during plan optimization. Particularly, we evaluate a new approach to search for optimal treatment plans in parallel by running optimization steps concurrently. Methods: So far, no deterministic, complete and efficient method to select the optimal beam configuration for robotic SRS/SBRT is known. Considering a large candidate beam set increases the likelihood to achieve a good plan, but the optimization problem becomes large and impractical to solve. We have implemented an approach that parallelizes the search by solving multiple linear programming problems concurrently while iteratively resampling zero weighted beams. Each optimization problem contains the same set of constraints but different variables representing candidate beams. The search is synchronized by sharing the resulting basis variables among the parallel optimizations. We demonstrate the utility of the approach based on an actual spinal case with the objective to improve the coverage. Results: The objective function is falling and reaches a value of 5000 after 49, 31, 25 and 15 iterations for 1, 2, 4, and 8 parallel processes. This corresponds to approximately 97% coverage in 77%, 59%, and 36% of the mean number of iterations with one process for 2, 4, and 8 parallel processes, respectively. Overall, coverage increases from approximately 91.5% to approximately 98.5%. Conclusion: While on our current computer with uniform memory access the reduced number of iterations does not translate into a similar speedup, the approach illustrates how to effectively parallelize the search for the optimal beam configuration. The experimental results also indicate that for complex geometries the beam selection is critical for further plan optimization.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

WE-D-9A-01: A Novel Mesh-Based Deformable Surface-Contour Registration

Purpose: Initial guess is vital for 3D-2D deformable image registration (DIR) while dealing with large deformations for adaptive radiation therapy. A fast procedure has been developed to deform body surface to match 2D body contour on projections. This surface-contour DIR will provide an initial deformation for further complete 3D DIR or image reconstruction. Methods: Both planning CT images and come-beam CT (CBCT) projections are preprocessed to create 0–1 binary mask. Then the body surface and CBCT projection body contours are extracted by Canny edge detector. A finite element modeling system was developed to automatically generate adaptive meshes based on the image surface. After that, the projections of the CT surface voxels are computed and compared with corresponding 2D projection contours from CBCT scans. As a result, the displacement vector field (DVF) on mesh vertices around the surface was optimized iteratively until the shortest Euclidean distance between the pixels on the projections of the deformed CT surface and the corresponding CBCT projection contour is minimized. With the help of the tetrahedral meshes, we can smoothly diffuse the deformation from the surface into the interior of the volume. Finally, the deformed CT images are obtained by the optimal DVF applied on the original planning CT images. Results: The accuracy of the surface-contour registration is evaluated by 3D normalized cross correlation increased from 0.9176 to 0.9957 (sphere-ellipsoid phantom) and from 0.7627 to 0.7919 (H and N cancer patient data). Under the GPU-based implementation, our surface-contour-guided method on H and N cancer patient data takes 8 seconds/iteration, about 7.5 times faster than direct 3D method (60 seconds/iteration), and it needs fewer optimization iterations (30 iterations vs 50 iterations). Conclusion: The proposed surface-contour DIR method can substantially improve both the accuracy and the speed of reconstructing volumetric images, which is helpful for applying in adaptive radiotherapy. This research is supported by CPRIT individual investigator award RP110329.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

WE-G-BRF-07: Non-Circular Scanning Trajectories with Varian Developer Mode

Purpose: Cone-beam CT (CBCT) in image-guide radiation therapy (IGRT) typicallyacquires scan data via the circular trajectory of the linearaccelerator's (linac) gantry rotation. Though this lends itself toanalytic reconstruction algorithms like FDK, iterative reconstructionalgorithms allow for a broader range of scanning trajectories. Weimplemented a non-circular scanning trajectory with Varian's TrueBeamDeveloper Mode and performed some preliminary reconstructions toverify the geometry. Methods: We used TrueBeam Developer Mode to program a new scanning trajectorythat increases the field of view (FOV) along the gantry rotation axiswithout moving the patient. This trajectory consisted of moving thegantry in a circle, then translating the source and detector along theaxial direction before acquiring another circular scan 19 cm away fromthe first. The linear portion of the trajectory includes an additional4.5 cm above and below the axial planes of the source's circularrotation. We scanned a calibration phantom consisting of a lucite tubewith a spiral pattern of CT spots and used the maximum-likelihoodalgorithm to iteratively reconstruct the CBCT volume. Results: With the TrueBeam trajectory definition, we acquired projection dataof the calibration phantom using the previously described trajectory.We obtained a scan of the treatment couch for log normalization byscanning with the same trajectory but without the phantom present.Using the nominal geometric parameters reported in the projectionheaders with our iterative reconstruction algorithm, we obtained acorrect reconstruction of the calibration phantom. Conclusion: The ability to implement new scanning trajectories with the TrueBeamDeveloper Mode enables us access to a new parameter space for imagingwith CBCT for IGRT. Previous simulations and simple dual circle scanshave shown iterative reconstruction with non-circular trajectories canincrease the axial FOV with CBCT. Use of Developer Mode allowsexperimentally testing these and other new scanning trajectories. Support was provided in part by the University of Chicago Research Computing Center, Varian Medical Systems, and NIH Grants 1RO1CA120540, T32EB002103, S10 RR021039 and P30 CA14599. The contents of this work are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the supporting organizations.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

TH-A-18C-07: Noise Suppression in Material Decomposition for Dual-Energy CT

Purpose: A general problem of dual-energy CT (DECT) is that the decomposition is sensitive to noise in the two sets of dual-energy projection data, resulting in severely degraded qualities of decomposed images. We have previously proposed an iterative denoising method for DECT. Using a linear decomposition function, the method does not gain the full benefits of DECT on beam-hardening correction. In this work, we expand the framework of our iterative method to include non-linear decomposition models for noise suppression in DECT. Methods: We first obtain decomposed projections, which are free of beam-hardening artifacts, using a lookup table pre-measured on a calibration phantom. First-pass material images with high noise are reconstructed from the decomposed projections using standard filter-backprojection reconstruction. Noise on the decomposed images is then suppressed by an iterative method, which is formulated in the form of least-square estimation with smoothness regularization. Based on the design principles of a best linear unbiased estimator, we include the inverse of the estimated variance-covariance matrix of the decomposed images as the penalty weight in the least-square term. Analytical formulae are derived to compute the variance-covariance matrix from the measured decomposition lookup table. Results: We have evaluated the proposed method via phantom studies. Using non-linear decomposition, our method effectively suppresses the streaking artifacts of beam-hardening and obtains more uniform images than our previous approach based on a linear model. The proposed method reduces the average noise standard deviation of two basis materials by one order of magnitude without sacrificing the spatial resolution. Conclusion: We propose a general framework of iterative denoising for material decomposition of DECT. Preliminary phantom studies have shown the proposed method improves the image uniformity and reduces noise level without resolution loss. In the future, we will perform more phantom studies to further validate the performance of the purposed method. This work is supported by a Varian MRA grant.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

SU-E-T-446: Group-Sparsity Based Angle Generation Method for Beam Angle Optimization

Purpose: This work is to develop the effective algorithm for beam angle optimization (BAO), with the emphasis on enabling further improvement from existing treatment-dependent templates based on clinical knowledge and experience. Methods: The proposed BAO algorithm utilizes a priori beam angle templates as the initial guess, and iteratively generates angular updates for this initial set, namely angle generation method, with improved dose conformality that is quantitatively measured by the objective function. That is, during each iteration, we select “the test angle” in the initial set, and use group-sparsity based fluence map optimization to identify “the candidate angle” for updating “the test angle”, for which all the angles in the initial set except “the test angle”, namely “the fixed set”, are set free, i.e., with no group-sparsity penalty, and the rest of angles including “the test angle” during this iteration are in “the working set”. And then “the candidate angle” is selected with the smallest objective function value from the angles in “the working set” with locally maximal group sparsity, and replaces “the test angle” if “the fixed set” with “the candidate angle” has a smaller objective function value by solving the standard fluence map optimization (with no group-sparsity regularization). Similarly other angles in the initial set are in turn selected as “the test angle” for angular updates and this chain of updates is iterated until no further new angular update is identified for a full loop. Results: The tests using the MGH public prostate dataset demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed BAO algorithm. For example, the optimized angular set from the proposed BAO algorithm was better the MGH template. Conclusion: A new BAO algorithm is proposed based on the angle generation method via group sparsity, with improved dose conformality from the given template. Hao Gao was partially supported by the NSFC (#11405105), the 973 Program (#2015CB856000) and the Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program (#14PJ1404500)

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

A novel approach to background subtraction in contrast-enhanced dual-energy digital mammography with commercially available mammography devices: Polychromaticity correction

Purpose: Contrast-enhanced digital mammography is an image subtraction technique that is able to improve the detectability of lesions in dense breasts. One of the main sources of error, when the technique is performed by means of commercial mammography devices, is represented by the intrinsic polychromaticity of the x-ray beams. The aim of the work is to propose an iterative procedure, which only assumes the knowledge of a small set of universal quantities, to take into account the polychromaticity and correct the subtraction results accordingly. Methods: In order to verify the procedure, it has been applied to an analytical simulation of a target containing a contrast medium and to actual radiographs of a breast phantom containing cavities filled with a solution of the same medium. Results: The reconstructed densities of contrast medium were compared, showing very good agreement between the theoretical predictions and the experimental results already after the first iteration. Furthermore, the convergence of the iterative procedure was studied, showing that only a small number of iterations is necessary to reach limiting values. Conclusions: The proposed procedure represents an efficient solution to the polychromaticity issue, qualifying therefore as a viable alternative to inverse-map functions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Optical CT imaging of solid radiochromic dosimeters in mismatched refractive index solutions using a scanning laser and large area detector

Purpose: The practical use of the PRESAGE® solid plastic dosimeter is limited by the inconvenience of immersing it in high-viscosity oils to achieve refractive index matching for optical computed tomography (CT) scanning. The oils are slow to mix and difficult to clean from surfaces, and the dosimeter rotation can generate dynamic Schlieren inhomogeneity patterns in the reference liquid, limiting the rotational and overall scan speed. Therefore, it would be beneficial if lower-viscosity, water-based solutions with slightly unmatched refractive index could be used instead. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility of allowing mismatched conditions when using a scanning laser system with a large acceptance angle detector. A fiducial-based ray path measurement technique is combined with an iterative CT reconstruction algorithm to reconstruct images. Methods: A water based surrounding liquid with a low viscosity was selected for imaging PRESAGE® solid dosimeters. Liquid selection was optimized to achieve as high a refractive index as possible while avoiding rotation-induced Schlieren effects. This led to a refractive index mismatch of 6% between liquid and dosimeters. Optical CT scans were performed with a fan-beam scanning-laser optical CT system with a large area detector to capture most of the refracted rays. A fiducial marker placed on the wall of a cylindrical sample occludes a given light ray twice. With knowledge of the rotation angle and the radius of the cylindrical object, the actual internal path of each ray through the dosimeter can be calculated. Scans were performed with 1024 projections of 512 data samples each, and rays were rebinned to form 512 parallel-beam projections. Reconstructions were performed on a 512 × 512 grid using 100 iterations of the SIRT iterative CT algorithm. Proof of concept was demonstrated with a uniformly attenuating solution phantom. PRESAGE® dosimeters (11 cm diameter) were irradiated with Cobalt-60 irradiator to achieve either a uniform dose or a 2-level “step-dose” pattern. Results: With 6% refractive index mismatching, a circular field of view of 85% of the diameter of a cylindrical sample can be reconstructed accurately. Reconstructed images of the test solution phantom were uniform (within 3%) inside this radius. However, the dose responses of the PRESAGE® samples were not spatially uniform, with variations of at least 5% in sensitivity. The variation appears as a “cupping” artifact with less sensitivity in the middle than at the periphery of the PRESAGE® cylinder. Polarization effects were also detected for these samples. Conclusions: The fiducial-based ray path measurement scheme, coupled with an iterative reconstruction algorithm, enabled optical CT scanning of PRESAGE® dosimeters immersed in mismatched refractive index solutions. However, improvements to PRESAGE® dose response uniformity are required.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

3D exemplar-based random walks for tooth segmentation from cone-beam computed tomography images

Purpose: Tooth segmentation is an essential step in acquiring patient-specific dental geometries from cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. Tooth segmentation from CBCT images is still a challenging task considering the comparatively low image quality caused by the limited radiation dose, as well as structural ambiguities from intercuspation and nearby alveolar bones. The goal of this paper is to present and discuss the latest accomplishments in semisupervised tooth segmentation with adaptive 3D shape constraints. Methods: The authors propose a 3D exemplar-based random walk method of tooth segmentation from CBCT images. The proposed method integrates semisupervised label propagation and regularization by 3D exemplar registration. To begin with, the pure random walk method is to get an initial segmentation of the teeth, which tends to be erroneous because of the structural ambiguity of CBCT images. And then, as an iterative refinement, the authors conduct a regularization by using 3D exemplar registration, as well as label propagation by random walks with soft constraints, to improve the tooth segmentation. In the first stage of the iteration, 3D exemplars with well-defined topologies are adapted to fit the tooth contours, which are obtained from the random walks based segmentation. The soft constraints on voxel labeling are defined by shape-based foreground dentine probability acquired by the exemplar registration, as well as the appearance-based probability from a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. In the second stage, the labels of the volume-of-interest (VOI) are updated by the random walks with soft constraints. The two stages are optimized iteratively. Instead of the one-shot label propagation in the VOI, an iterative refinement process can achieve a reliable tooth segmentation by virtue of exemplar-based random walks with adaptive soft constraints. Results: The proposed method was applied for tooth segmentation of twenty clinically captured CBCT images. Three metrics, including the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), the Jaccard similarity coefficient (JSC), and the mean surface deviation (MSD), were used to quantitatively analyze the segmentation of anterior teeth including incisors and canines, premolars, and molars. The segmentation of the anterior teeth achieved a DSC up to 98%, a JSC of 97%, and an MSD of 0.11 mm compared with manual segmentation. For the premolars, the average values of DSC, JSC, and MSD were 98%, 96%, and 0.12 mm, respectively. The proposed method yielded a DSC of 95%, a JSC of 89%, and an MSD of 0.26 mm for molars. Aside from the interactive definition of label priors by the user, automatic tooth segmentation can be achieved in an average of 1.18 min. Conclusions: The proposed technique enables an efficient and reliable tooth segmentation from CBCT images. This study makes it clinically practical to segment teeth from CBCT images, thus facilitating pre- and interoperative uses of dental morphologies in maxillofacial and orthodontic treatments.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Recrystallization and modification of the stainless-steel surface relief under photonic heat load in powerful plasma discharges

Targets made of ITER-grade 316L(N)-IG stainless steel and Russian-grade 12Cr18Ni10Ti stainless steel with a close composition were exposed at the QSPA-T plasma gun to plasma photonic radiation pulses simulating conditions of disruption mitigation in ITER. After a large number of pulses, modification of the stainless-steel surface was observed, such as the formation of a wavy structure, irregular roughness, and cracks on the target surface. X-ray and optic microscopic analyses of targets revealed changes in the orientation and dimensions of crystallites (grains) over a depth of up to 20 μm for 316L(N)-IG stainless steel after 200 pulses and up to 40 μm for 12Cr18Ni10Ti stainless steel after 50 pulses, which is significantly larger than the depth of the layer melted in one pulse (∼10 μm). In a series of 200 tests of ITER-grade 316L(N)-IG ITER stainless steel, a linear increase in the height of irregularity (roughness) with increasing number of pulses at a rate of up to ∼1 μm per pulse was observed. No alteration in the chemical composition of the stainless-steel surface in the series of tests was revealed. A model is developed that describes the formation of wavy irregularities on the melted metal surface with allowance for the nonlinear stage of instability of the melted layer with a vapor/plasma flow above it. A decisive factor in this case is the viscous flow of the melted metal from the troughs to tops of the wavy structure. The model predicts saturation of the growth of the wavy structure when its amplitude becomes comparable with its wavelength. Approaches to describing the observed stochastic relief and roughness of the stainless-steel surface formed in the series of tests are considered. The recurrence of the melting-solidification process in which mechanisms of the hill growth compete with the spreading of the material from the hills can result in the formation of a stochastic relief.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Foreign Travel Trip Report for LLNL travel with DOE FES funding, May 19th-30th, 2012

I attended the 20th biannual International Conference on Plasma Surface Interaction (PSI) in Fusion Devices in Aachen, Germany, hosted this year by the Forschungszentrum Julich (FZJ) research center. The PSI conference is one of the main international forums for the presentation and discussion of results on plasma surface interactions and edge plasma physics relevant to magnetic confinement fusion devices. I disseminated the recent results of FESP/LLNL tokamak research by presenting three posters on: (i) understanding reconnection and controlling edge localized modes (ELMs) using the BOUT++ code, (ii) simulation of resistive ballooning mode turbulence, and (iii) innovative design of Snowflake divertors. I learned of many new and recent results from international tokamak facilities and had the opportunity for discussion of these topics with other scientists at the poster sessions, conference lunches/receptions, etc. Some of the major highlights of the PSI conference topics were: (1) Review of the progress in using metallic tungsten and beryllium (ITER-like) walls at international tokamak facilities: JET (Culham, UK), TEXTOR (FZJ, Germany) and Alcator CMOD (MIT, USA). Results included: effect of small and large-area melting on plasma impurity content and recovery, expected reduction in retention of hydrogenic species, increased heat load during disruptions and need for mitigation with massive gas injection. (2) A review of ELM control in general (T. Evans, GA) and recent results of ELM control using n=2 external magnetic perturbations on ASDEX-Upgrade (MPI-Garching, Germany). (3) General agreement among the international tokamak database that, along the outer midplane of a low collisionality tokamak, the SOL power width in current experiments varies inversely with respect to plasma current (Ip), roughly as 1/Ip, with little dependence on other plasma parameters. This would imply roughly a factor of 1/4 of the width that was assumed for the design of the ITER tokamak. The first studies of the implications for ITER (A. Kukushkin, ITER) have shown a great reduction in operational parameter space that, at present, can only be lifted by increasing target plate heat flux limits. During my visit to the CRPP at the EPFL, I delivered an invited talk in order to disseminate new results of the recent publication [1] on using non-axisymmetric perturbations of the SOL to control the edge plasma. I was given a tour of both the TCV tokamak and the TORPEX simple magnetized plasma device/divertor simulator. TORPEX is an excellent laboratory for exploring the physics of simple magnetized plasmas that are relevant to the scrape-off layer of a tokamak. Properly designed experiments on TORPEX can potentially be used to test the theory of controlling the edge plasma using non-axisymmetric potentials and currents in the SOL developed by LLNL described in [1].

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Disruption avoidance via island suppression: the crucial roles of DIII-D and foundational research

The FESAC long range plan calls out disruption avoidance and mitigation as key remaining technical gaps. In discussing the roles of DIII-D and NSTX-U, the FESAC long range plan says “Additional research on these facilities, in combination with private and international collaborations, continuing support of existing university tokamak programs, and utilization of US expertise in theory and simulation, is needed to find solutions to remaining technical gaps. These gaps include disruption prediction, avoidance, and mitigation …”. Disruptions pose an existential threat to ITER and to FPPs. For a fusion reactor, unplanned shutdowns caused by disruptions will be a significant barrier to connecting such a reactor to the electric grid, even if disruption mitigation is successful. Disruption studies for ITER in recent years have largely focused on disruption mitigation (e.g., pellet injection), motivated by near-term deadlines for finalizing the design of the mitigation hardware. It is recognized, however, that mitigation alone will not suffice. The 2022 U.S. ITER Research Needs Workshop Report states that ”[d]isruptions are considered the largest threat to the ITER Research Program”, and that “[m]itigation should be a last resort”. As we discuss below, there are unresolved foundational issues that play a critical role in avoidance, and DIII-D is an ideal device for generating the data needed to address these issues.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

STRATEGIES IN SEISMIC INFERENCE OF SUPERGRANULAR FLOWS ON THE SUN

Observations of the solar surface reveal the presence of flows with length scales of around 35 Mm, commonly referred to as supergranules. Inferring the subsurface flow profile of supergranules from measurements of the surface and photospheric wavefield is an important challenge faced by helioseismology. Traditionally, the inverse problem has been approached by studying the linear response of seismic waves in a horizontally translationally invariant background to the presence of the supergranule; following an iterative approach that does not depend on horizontal translational invariance might perform better, since the misfit can be analyzed post iterations. In this work, we construct synthetic observations using a reference supergranule and invert for the flow profile using surface measurements of travel times of waves belonging to modal ridges f (surface gravity) and p {sub 1} through p {sub 7} (acoustic). We study the extent to which individual modes and their combinations contribute to infer the flow. We show that this method of nonlinear iterative inversion tends to underestimate the flow velocities, as well as inferring a shallower flow profile, with significant deviations from the reference supergranule near the surface. We carry out a similar analysis for a sound-speed perturbation and find that analogous near-surface deviations persist, although the iterations converge faster and more accurately. We conclude that a better approach to inversion would be to expand the supergranule profile in an appropriate basis, thereby reducing the number of parameters being inverted for and appropriately regularizing them.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

MODELING THE Ly α FOREST IN COLLISIONLESS SIMULATIONS

Cosmological hydrodynamic simulations can accurately predict the properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM), but only under the condition of retaining the high spatial resolution necessary to resolve density fluctuations in the IGM. This resolution constraint prohibits simulating large volumes, such as those probed by BOSS and future surveys, like DESI and 4MOST. To overcome this limitation, we present “Iteratively Matched Statistics” (IMS), a novel method to accurately model the Ly α forest with collisionless N -body simulations, where the relevant density fluctuations are unresolved. We use a small-box, high-resolution hydrodynamic simulation to obtain the probability distribution function (PDF) and the power spectrum of the real-space Ly α forest flux. These two statistics are iteratively mapped onto a pseudo-flux field of an N -body simulation, which we construct from the matter density. We demonstrate that our method can reproduce the PDF, line of sight and 3D power spectra of the Ly α forest with good accuracy (7%, 4%, and 7% respectively). We quantify the performance of the commonly used Gaussian smoothing technique and show that it has significantly lower accuracy (20%–80%), especially for N -body simulations with achievable mean inter-particle separations in large-volume simulations. In addition, we show that IMS produces reasonable and smooth spectra, making it a powerful tool for modeling the IGM in large cosmological volumes and for producing realistic “mock” skies for Ly α forest surveys.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Overlapping localized exponential time differencing methods for diffusion problems

The localized exponential time differencing (ETD) based on overlapping domain decomposition has been recently introduced for extreme-scale phase field simulations of coarsening dynamics, which displays excellent parallel scalability in supercomputers. This paper serves as the first step toward building a solid mathematical foundation for this approach. We study the overlapping localized ETD schemes for a model time-dependent diffusion equation discretized in space by the standard central difference. Two methods are proposed and analyzed for solving the fully discrete localized ETD systems: the first one is based on Schwarz iteration applied at each time step and involves solving stationary problems in the subdomains at each iteration, while the second one is based on the Schwarz waveform relaxation algorithm in which time-dependent subdomain problems are solved at each iteration. The convergences of the associated iterative solutions to the corresponding fully discrete localized ETD solution and to the exact semidiscrete solution are rigorously proved. Finally, numerical experiments are also carried out to confirm theoretical results and to compare the performance of the two methods.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Pin-by-Pin Core Calculation with an NEM-Based Two-Level Hybrid CMFD Algorithm

In the near future, systematic pin-by-pin core calculations are expected to provide a high level of accuracy. These are being developed in pursuit of high-fidelity tools for analyzing the reactor configurations. One such tool that has recently gained significant attention is the pin-by-pin core calculation via local-global iteration using nonlinear acceleration scheme, such as the One-Node CMFD (Coarse-Mesh Finite Difference) nonlinear algorithm. The One-Node CMFD method uses two correction factors to preserve the interface current, in contrast to the one correction term employed by conventional nonlinear iterative methods such as that proposed by Kord. S. Smith. These correction factors are updated with surface flux and net current which are obtained from a high order local problem. With two correction factors, One-Node CMFD can reduce computing time of local FMFD (Fine-Mesh Finite Difference) as it nonlinearly couples the CMFD and FMFD methods in global-local iterations. Nonetheless, very small mesh size is still required and it consequently requires long computing time for high accuracy. As such, a more flexible approach is needed to address this challenge. This paper presents one such possible approach named the hCMFD (Hybrid CMFD) method. In this method, One-Node CMFD is used to solve the global problem, while Two-Node NEM (Nodal Expansion Method) CMFD replaces FMFD as the solver for the local problem. In this paper, two kinds of CMFD methods has been simultaneously implemented for a global-local nonlinear iteration in order to do pin-by-pin heterogeneous reactor calculations. The global problem is solved by a one-node CMFD which uses two correction factors, while the local fixed-source problem is solved by the conventional two-node NEM CMFD which use one correction factor on a surface. From solution of the global eigenvalue problem, incoming partial current is obtained and it is used as boundary condition of the local fixed-source problems. It has been shown that over 99% of the whole calculations can be done in parallel with the new CMFD method for 2-D problems and the algorithm can be easily parallelized by using the OpenMP parallel scheme. The hCMFD method will enable an efficient pin-by-pin reactor analysis since a very efficient parallel calculation is possible with the hCMFD method. In future works, the hCMFD method will be extended to three-dimensional reactor problem. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Assessment of Multi-Step CADIS Parameter Sensitivity to Neutron Flux Spectrum in Shutdown Dose Rate Calculations

Shutdown dose rate (SDDR) analysis requires (a) a neutron transport calculation to estimate neutron flux fields, (b) an activation calculation to compute radionuclide inventories and associated photon sources, and (c) a photon transport calculation to estimate final dose rate. In some applications, accurate full-scale Monte Carlo (MC) SDDR simulations are needed for very large systems with massive amounts of shielding materials. For example, SDDR assessments are required throughout the biological shield (bio-shield) of the ITER experimental facility to evaluate the required waiting period after the shutdown of ITER and to identify the locations where human accessibility should be prohibited. The bio-shield is a large cylindrical concrete structure (30 m tall and 34 m in diameter) surrounding the very complex tokamak machine. Determining the effects on SDDR of important factors, such as the cross talk (interactions) between the different ports of ITER, is possible only through full-scale simulations that involve all the complex inner details of the ITER tokamak machine. These simulations are impractical because calculation of space- and energy-dependent neutron fluxes throughout the structural materials is needed to estimate the distribution of radioisotopes causing the SDDR. Determining a good importance function that can be used in biasing a neutron MC calculation for SDDR is complicated because it is difficult to explicitly express the SDDR response function, which depends on subsequent computational steps. The Multi-Step Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (MS-CADIS) hybrid MC/deterministic method was developed to speed up the SDDR MC neutron transport calculation using an importance function that represents the neutron importance to the final SDDR. The MS-CADIS method uses the CADIS method, which has been Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC0500OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for the United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). successfully used for more than a decade in radiation shielding applications to generate consistent source biasing and weight window (WW) variance reduction parameters to accelerate continuous-energy MC simulations. However, because MS-CADIS focuses on multi-step shielding calculations such as SDDR calculations, it develops an importance function for the initial radiation transport calculation (e.g., the neutron calculations in SDDR simulations) that represents the importance of particles to the final response of the overall simulation. To develop this importance function, the MS-CADIS method uses an adjoint calculation with a specific neutron adjoint source that represents the neutron's contribution to the final SDDR. Brute force calculation of the MS-CADIS neutron adjoint source requires a deterministic neutron transport calculation coupled with activation calculations in each element of the deterministic mesh. These calculations are needed to determine the MS-CADIS parameter for the neutron interactions that produce radioisotopes contributing to the SDDR. The MS-CADIS parameter is the microscopic cross section of the radioisotope-producing interaction, multiplied by the mass of this radioisotope existing at the end of the irradiation and decay scenario, and divided by the steady-state rate of the interaction. Because the activation calculations are performed for each radionuclide in each mesh element, implementation of the MS-CADIS method can be computationally expensive. However, these neutron transport and activation calculations are not needed if we assume that the radioisotopes are created due to single neutron interactions and their concentrations do not change as a result of burnup by neutron irradiation. The use of this approximation, which renders the MS-CADIS parameter independent of the neutron flux, seems reasonable in calculating the MS-CADIS importance function because this function is needed only to speed up the MC calculation, not to calculate the final SDDR. In this work, we investigate the validity of this approximation by investigating the behavior of the MS-CADIS parameter as a function of the neutron flux spectra in the Fusion Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (FENDL) Neutronics and Shielding Benchmark problem that contains representative isotopes and flux environments of fusion energy systems. (authors)

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

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