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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Effects of Galactic Irradiation on Thermal and Electronic Transport in Tungsten

The impact of irradiation on the thermal and electronic properties of materials is a persistent puzzle, particularly defect formation at the atomic and nanoscales. This work examines the nanoscale effects of low-energy irradiation on tungsten (W), focusing on defect-induced modifications to thermal and electronic transport. Using the site-projected thermal conductivity (SPTC) method [A. Gautam et al. PSS-RRL, 2400306, 2024], bulk and twin-grain boundary W with vacancy defects based on the Norgett–Robinson–Torrens displacements per atom model is analyzed. SPTC provides a detailed prediction of postcascade spatial thermal conductivity distribution. Electronic conductivity activity is estimated using the “N 2 method” [K. Nepal et al. Carbon, 119711, 2025] to explore the consequences of vacancies and grain boundaries, highlighting the defect-dependent nature of charge transport behavior. These findings offer high-resolution insights into irradiation-driven transport phenomena, with implications for space-exposed materials and nanoscale thermal/electronic management.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bridge Seismic Screening Tool (BSST), Version 2.0

The Regional Resiliency Assessment Program (RRAP) is a cooperative assessment of specific critical infrastructure within a designated geographic area and a regional analysis of the surrounding infrastructure that addresses a range of infrastructure resilience issues that could have regionally and nationally significant consequences. In 2018, DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) sponsored the Oregon Transportation Systems RRAP project in coordination with the Office of the Governor (under the oversight of the state resilience officer), the Oregon Office of Emergency Management (OEM), the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), and other regional stakeholders (CISA 2021). This project focuses on assessing the impacts of a Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquake on state transportation systems and, in particular, how those impacts may affect the ability of emergency response efforts to move supplies into the region. The intended outcome of this analysis is the prioritization of transportation routes and modes for additional planning, investment, hardening, or other activities to enhance their resilience—and therefore, to enhance their ability to support response and recovery efforts following a CSZ earthquake. An important part of this transportation system-level assessment has been to assess the seismic vulnerability of the state highway system. In doing so, the RRAP project team used the Bridge Seismic Screening Tool (BSST) to assess, at a system-level, the potential impacts that a CSZ earthquake could have on state highway bridges (Bergerson et al. 2019).1 Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne), in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), originally developed the BSST as part of the 2017 Washington State Transportation Systems RRAP project, a sister project to the 2018 Oregon Transportation Systems RRAP project. Argonne updated the BSST during this more recent project in Oregon based on feedback from stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) on the original version of the tool. The first step in the BSST is to assess the seismic vulnerability of roadway bridges following a CSZ earthquake to determine a projected or potential damage state. Damage states then help determine approximate reopening times for bridge crossings.2 This document provides details on the BSST methodology, the implementation of that tool to analyze the projected damage incurred in a CSZ earthquake scenario, and the determination of corresponding reopening times of interstate, state highway, and local bridges following such an event.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Design of Hypothetical Processes for the Production of 131 I and 99 Mo from Activation Targets

For over six decades, medical isotope production has been a high-priority focus of many research reactors across the globe. The majority of these isotopes were produced using highly-enriched uranium (HEU) or low enriched uranium (LEU) – delivering millions of doses of diagnostic and therapeutic isotopes. As a consequence of this production, however, six decades of isotope production has resulted in massive quantities of spent uranium material worldwide with no known disposition pathway creating growing proliferation concerns. Supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Material Management and Minimization (M3) program, there has been increased focus in the production of high-priority isotopes without special nuclear materials or without uranium altogether. Isotope production via activation can potentially fulfill regional isotope demands – particularly in under-developed regions without access to isotope supply chains. The benefits of this approach would be a reduction in uranium proliferation risks, less special nuclear material wastes, and reduced risk of supply disruption in the likely event that major isotope producers will again go off-line as has happened in recent years due to a number of factors.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Compositional Variation Tests on DuraMelter 100 with LAW Sub-Envelope B1 Feed in Support of the LAW Pilot Melter, VSL-02R62N0-5, Rev. 0 (May 2003)

The principal objective of the DM100 tests was to demonstrate the robustness of the vitrification process with respect to feed and glass compositional changes resulting from variations in the simulant-to-additive ratio. The DM100-WV unit was selected for these tests; this melter was used for all of the Part B 1 tests on LAW Envelopes A, B, and C sulfate incorporation that were used to support the subsequent tests on the Pilot Melter as well as for the more recent LAW Sub-Envelope Al, A2, A3 and Cl tests. The same melter was selected for the present tests in order to maintain comparisons between the data sets. In addition, the somewhat smaller glass volume for the same melt surface area as compared to the DM100-BL melter means that more glass turnovers are achieved for a given test duration. The DM100 tests used nominal feed and feed with a 15% surplus in waste simulant. Previous Pilot Melter tests on Envelope A with 10% variations (but with sulfate removal) showed significant impacts on glass production rates that were ultimately corrected by adjustments in the sugar additions. Consequently, robustness with respect to throughput as well as sulfate tolerance are important motivations for these tests.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Direct Ammonia Fuel Cell with a KOH-Free Anode Feed Generating 180 mW cm −2 at 120 °C

The motivations to operate the direct ammonia fuel cell (DAFC) with no addition of aqueous base, include facilitated fuel management and prevention of corrosion and shunt currents in the DAFC stack. We describe here a polymer electrolyte DAFC, operating at a cell temperature (T cell ) of 120 °C on ammonia and water alone as anode feed, that demonstrated peak power of 180 mW cm −2 —a record for this type of fuel cell. We offer a detailed analysis of polarization curves recorded for PE-DAFCs in the T cell range of 60 °C–120 °C, allowing to estimate the effects of KOH-free operation on the ionic and faradaic resistances, R i and R F , that determine together the value of R app , CL – an , the apparent resistance of the anode catalyst layer. The latter resistance drops ten times between 60 °C and 120 °C as result mainly of the drop in R F . Consequently, DAFC performance at T cell > 100 °C improves substantially, including the cell performance on a KOH-free anode feed. The demsontrated performance levels reported here for KOH-free DAFCs support further development of this type of ammonia/air fuel cells.

Achrai, Ben↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modeling evacuation demand during no-notice emergency events: Tour formation behavior

Disastrous events have been drastically increasing – both in frequency and destructive capacity – over the past few years. While advance-notice events have received a great deal of attention in the literature of disaster management, not much attention so far has been given to the no-notice events mainly because of the scarcity of data. As an attempt to address this critical gap, the current study proposes a disaggregate evacuation demand framework to understand evacuees’ travel behavior in case of no-notice emergency events. Here, the proposed framework comprises four main steps of evacuation decision, evacuation planning, tour formation, and activity schedule update. This article is dedicated to the introduction of the framework structure and elaboration on the tour formation step. In this step, we first estimate the total number of intermediate stops, travel time, and distance of the evacuation tours for those who decide to evacuate through a joint modeling structure and then, determine the type of each intermediate stop (if any). It is found that a broad range of factors including evacuees’ demographic profiles, built-environment attributes, and characteristics of the disastrous event plays a significant role in people’s evacuation behavior during no-notice emergency events. The findings of this study can assist responsible agencies in understanding evacuees’ complex behavior, and consequently, in devising effective strategies to alleviate economic damages and casualties resulted by such events.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Identification and Testing of Electric Vehicle Fast Charger Cybersecurity Mitigations

Fast-charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) is needed to enable and achieve the national goals of transitioning the vehicle fleet toward more electrification. Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have jointly worked to identify, evaluate, and mitigate potential cyber-related consequences associated with fast charger systems. NREL contributed by considering cyberattack scenarios and consequences associated with integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) at fast-charging stations. The dynamic nature of fast-charger load profiles would encourage site operators to incorporate solar for energy cost reduction and energy storage for peak demand cost management at future charging facilities with multiple fast chargers at a site. These energy resources would be monitored and coordinated via a site energy management controller with data exchange between devices and local power metering infrastructure; thus, networking between devices and the design of the system becomes important in the overall cybersecurity posture. In addition, component vendors and system operators might have remote interfaces to any of these systems. It is therefore important to understand the breadth of the cyberattack surface and potential strategies to mitigate impacts. This project has focused on components and protocols expected to be found within a local charging site that includes multiple chargers and DER resources. Our methods and results are summarized in this final report.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Alternative Pozzolans for Replacement of Fly Ash in Grout: Literature Review for Continuous Improvement of Cement Waste Forms

The Department of Energy (DOE) is currently responsible for treating radioactive and mixed waste, performing environmental restoration, and closing contaminated tanks and facilities resulting from nuclear weapons production during the Cold War. Cementitious reagents are the most widely used materials for (1) chemically stabilizing and encapsulating radionuclides and hazardous metals and (2) solidifying radioactive wastewater. Cementitious grouts and flowable concretes are also the most widely used materials for tank and facility closures and are used extensively for physical as well as chemical stabilization in environmental restoration projects. Ambient temperature radioactive waste cementation is a widely used technology for producing waste forms for final disposal. The current practice of designing and testing waste forms is based on a mid to late 20th century technology approach (i.e., materials, characterization, and test methods) for generating parameters for risk assessments. DOE technology development is needed to address both current, long-term, and emerging issues in this area as new waste streams come online and as regulations, performance knowledge, and risk assessment methodology continue to evolve. Consequently, the use of cementation as a means of treating chemically challenging radioactive liquid waste streams and reactive debris requires an enduring effort.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

MACCS User Guide (V.5.0)

MACCS is used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and various national and international organizations for probabilistic consequence analysis of nuclear power accidents. This user guide is intended to assist analysts in understanding the MACCS/MACCS-UI User Interface (UI) model and to provide information regarding the code. This user guide version describes MACCS Version 5.0, model history, explains how to set up and execute a problem, and informs the user of the definition of various input parameters and any constraints placed on those parameters. This report is part of a series of reports documenting MACCS. Other reports include the MACCS Theory Manual, MACCS Verification Report, Technical Bases for Consequence Analyses Using MACCS, as well as documentation for preprocessor codes including SecPop, MelMACCS, and COMIDA2.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Severe 21st-century ocean acidification in Antarctic Marine Protected Areas

Antarctic coastal waters are home to several established or proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) supporting exceptional biodiversity. Despite being threatened by anthropogenic climate change, uncertainties remain surrounding the future ocean acidification (OA) of these waters. Here we present 21st-century projections of OA in Antarctic MPAs under four emission scenarios using a high-resolution ocean–sea ice–biogeochemistry model with realistic ice-shelf geometry. By 2100, we project pH declines of up to 0.36 (total scale) for the top 200 m. Vigorous vertical mixing of anthropogenic carbon produces severe OA throughout the water column in coastal waters of proposed and existing MPAs. Consequently, end-of-century aragonite undersaturation is ubiquitous under the three highest emission scenarios. Given the cumulative threat to marine ecosystems by environmental change and activities such as fishing, our findings call for strong emission-mitigation efforts and further management strategies to reduce pressures on ecosystems, such as the continuation and expansion of Antarctic MPAs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Acetonitrile Destruction and Fate of Organics in the Reverse Osmosis System at the ETF

The Hanford Site Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) currently treats aqueous waste streams that include condensates from the 242-A evaporator, leachate from the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF), as well as laboratory wastes and, in the future, will treat liquid effluents from the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) and Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) leachate. Liquid effluents from the WTP will have significant concentrations of acetonitrile. Acetonitrile is formed by reaction of nitrates and sugar in the WTP low activity waste (LAW) melters and is prevalent in the submerged bed scrubber (SBS) and wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) liquid effluents from WTP off-gas treatment. When these liquids are concentrated in the WTP Effluent Management Facility (EMF) evaporator in the direct feed low activity waste (DFLAW) flow-sheet, testing has shown that the majority of the acetonitrile partitions to the evaporator condensate. Since the evaporator condensate is directed to the ETF, this creates a potential issue with the ETF waste acceptance criteria. Consequently, there is a need to validate flow-sheet assumptions on the fate of acetonitrile and other organics within the ETF. The present plan includes the addition of a steam stripper to the ETF to remove acetonitrile. There is, therefore, also a need to determine a suitable method to destroy acetonitrile in the overhead condensate stream from the new steam stripper. Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS) previously contracted with Atkins and the Vitreous State Laboratory (VSL) of The Catholic University of America (CUA) to perform development and testing work to evaluate potential methods for destruction of acetonitrile in WTP secondary liquid effluents. Based on the results of that work, WRPS requested that follow-on testing be conducted to further evaluate acetonitrile destruction in the steam stripper condensate using ultraviolet oxidation (UV/OX) with persulfate. WRPS also requested testing to assess the rejection rate of organics in the reverse osmosis (RO) system installed in the ETF. This report presents the results from testing to address those needs.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2026

Ecological connectivity and habitat loss shape patterns of genetic diversity in a threatened salamander

Context The maintenance of genetic diversity is essential for preserving adaptive potential in populations, yet it is increasingly threatened by landscape alteration. The field of landscape genetics offers a framework for assessing how patch-level landscape conditions, modeled at multiple scales, influence genetic diversity. Objectives We sought to assess how local environmental features and connectivity influence genetic diversity across 74 four-toed salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) breeding wetlands in the southeastern United States. Methods Using next-generation sequencing data and hierarchical Bayesian models, we examined genome-wide heterozygosity in relation to local landscape features and ecological connectivity. We also assessed the scale of effect of landscape features and tested for temporal lag effects. Results Genetic diversity was lower in wetlands with higher levels of historic deforestation and lower connectivity. An interaction between deforestation and connectivity indicated that deforestation had stronger negative effects in isolated wetlands but weaker effects in well-connected wetlands. Accounting for scale of effect and temporal lags was critical for detecting these relationships. Conclusions Our analyses highlight the importance of assessing the spatial scale (scale of effect) and temporal lag of landscape features to detect key drivers of genetic diversity. In line with population genetic theory, our results indicate that the genetic consequences of habitat loss do not affect populations uniformly and are most severe in isolated populations where gene flow cannot buffer against loss of diversity. Altogether, we highlight the importance of considering the interaction of habitat loss and connectivity in conservation genetic management.

Hemidactylium scutatum↗
DOE OSTI2022

The evolution of the Human Systems and Simulation Laboratory in nuclear power research

The events at Three Mile Island in the United States brought about fundamental changes in the ways that simulation would be used in nuclear operations. The need for research simulators was identified to scientifically study human-centered risk and make recommendations for process control system designs. This paper documents the human factors research conducted at the Human Systems and Simulation Laboratory (HSSL) since its inception in 2010 at Idaho National Laboratory. The facility’s primary purposes are to provide support to utilities for system upgrades and to validate modernized control room concepts. In the last decade, however, as nuclear industry needs have evolved, so too have the purposes of the HSSL. Thus, beyond control room modernization, human factors researchers have evaluated the security of nuclear infrastructure from cyber adversaries and evaluated human-in-the-loop simulations for joint operations with an integrated hydrogen generation plant. Lastly, our review presents research using human reliability analysis techniques with data collected from HSSL-based studies and concludes with potential future directions for the HSSL, including severe accident management and advanced control room technologies.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Synergistic effects of climate warming and atmospheric nutrient deposition on the alpine lake ecosystem in the south-eastern Tibetan Plateau during the Anthropocene

Alpine lakes on the Tibetan Plateau are highly sensitive to global change and have been recognized as the sentinel of climate warming. However, anthropogenic impacts in populated area are migrating to these remote areas via transporting particulate nutrients by atmospheric deposition. Whether warming and nutrient deposition would impose additive or synergistic effects on the lake ecosystem remains largely unknown. Here, we present multi-proxy (sediment pigment and geochemistry) records during the past two centuries at the Cuoqia Lake in the southeast Tibetan Plateau. We found that the lake exhibited rapid ecological changes since 1980 AD characterized by an increase in primary productivity due to algal proliferation, with more rapid growth of green algae and diatoms. These findings are in concert with many other lakes (e.g., Moon Lake and Shade Co) in the same area, suggesting a consistent pattern of ecosystem evolution at the region scale. Statistical analyses suggested that nutrient deposition and climate warming were strongly associated with the variations in primary productivity and algae composition, exerting both individual and interactive effects. In addition, scenario analyses with a well-established process-based ecosystem model further revealed that the two factors not only individually, but also synergistically promoted the algal proliferation and community succession. Such synergy is evident in that the effect of lake warming would be more pronounced under higher nutrient deposition scenario, which is potentially due to higher temperature-driven mineralization in warmer conditions, and higher efficiency of nutrient utilization under enhanced light availability attributing to declining ice thickness and duration in cold seasons. Overall, our study proposes the existence and quantifies the synergistic impacts of climate warming and anthropogenic activities in driving the ecological changes in remote alpine lakes on the Tibetan Plateau. The lake ecological consequences driven by individual factor would be worsen by such synergy, so that we cannot predict the lake ecosystem trajectory in the future based on each factor separately, and more efforts than previously expected would be needed for the lake restoration and management.

Zhang, Can↗
DOE OSTI2023

Irreparable Interphase Chemistry Degradation Induced by Temperature Pulse in Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Abstract While it is widely recognized that the operating temperature significantly affects the energy density and cycle life of lithium‐ion batteries, the consequence of electrode‐electrolyte interphase chemistry to sudden environmental temperature changes remains inadequately understood. Here, we systematically investigate the effects of a temperature pulse (T pulse) on the electrochemical performance of LiNi 0.8 Mn 0.1 Co 0.1 O 2 (NMC811) pouch full cells. By utilizing advanced characterization tools, such as time‐of‐flight secondary‐ion mass spectrometry, we reveal that the T pulse can lead to an irreversible degradation of cathode‐electrolyte interphase chemistry and architecture. Despite negligible immediate impacts on the solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI) on graphite anode, aggregated cathode‐to‐anode chemical crossover gradually degrades the SEI by catalyzing electrolyte reduction decomposition and inducing metallic dead Li formation because of insufficient cathode passivation after the T pulse. Consequently, pouch cells subjected to the T pulse show an inferior cycle stability to those free of the T pulse. This work unveils the effects of sudden temperature changes on the interphase chemistry and cell performance, emphasizing the importance of a proper temperature management in assessing performance.

Cui, Zehao↗
DOE OSTI2022

The corrosion effects of neutron activation of 2LiF-BeF 2 (FLiBe)

The redox effect of activation reactions in molten salts has been previously qualitatively defined but never quantified. Here, we quantify the corrosion effects of neutron activation of FLiBe. Rates of change of activation products are computed for FHR and ARC. The impact of activation reactions on salt chemistry is quantitatively compared to other environmental effects of similar consequences on the salt. The results are applied to a redox control case-study and an irradiation-corrosion experiment. The results are presented in a manner useful to the reactor chemist and designer concerned with corrosion and chemistry control and tritium management in irradiated FLiBe, and design of salt-irradiation experiments.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

LANL Accident Analysis and Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling [Slides]

After completion of this course, the analyst will understand the differences between an unmitigated analysis and a mitigated analysis. After completion of this course, the analyst will know the key receptors that a radiological and hazardous chemical accident analysis must consider. After completion of this course, the analyst will understand how to calculate a radiological release source term and a toxic chemical release source term for various phenomenology. After completion of this course, the analyst will understand how to calculate a radiological and toxic chemical health insult to key receptors and compare to consequence thresholds. After completion of this course, the analyst will understand the role of atmospheric dispersion in radiological and toxic consequence calculations. After completion of this course, the analyst will understand atmospheric dispersion modeling and the inputs to and outputs from the MACCS/POSTMAX codes.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Assessing the release, transport, and retention of radioactive aerosols from hypothetical breaches in spent fuel storage canisters

Interim dry storage of spent nuclear fuel involves storing the fuel in welded stainless-steel canisters. Under certain conditions, the canisters could be subjected to environments that may promote stress corrosion cracking leading to a risk of breach and release of aerosol-sized particulate from the interior of the canister to the external environment through the crack. Research is currently under way by several laboratories to better understand the formation and propagation of stress corrosion cracks, however little work has been done to quantitatively assess the potential aerosol release. The purpose of the present work is to introduce a reliable generic numerical model for prediction of aerosol transport, deposition, and plugging in leak paths similar to stress corrosion cracks, while accounting for potential plugging from particle deposition. The model is dynamic (changing leak path geometry due to plugging) and it relies on the numerical solution of the aerosol transport equation in one dimension using finite differences. The model’s capabilities were also incorporated into a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that was developed to enhance user accessibility. Model validation efforts presented in this paper compare the model’s predictions with recent experimental data from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and results available in literature. We expect this model to improve the accuracy of consequence assessments and reduce the uncertainty of radiological consequence estimations in the remote event of a through-wall breach in dry cask storage systems.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗