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At least 235 records · Page 13

Stable and radioactive carbon isotope partitioning in soils and saturated systems: a reactive transport modeling benchmark study

This benchmark provides the first rigorous test of a three-isotope system [ 12 C, 13 C, and 14 C] subject to the combined effects of radioactive decay and both stable equilibrium and kinetic fractionation. We present a series of problems building in complexity based on the cycling of carbon in both organic and inorganic forms. The key components implement (1) equilibrium fractionation between multiple coexisting carbon species as a function of pH, (2) radioactive decay of radiocarbon with associated mass-dependent speciation demonstrating appropriate correction of the Δ 14 C value in agreement with reporting convention, and (3) kinetic stable isotope fractionation due to the oxidation of organic carbon to inorganic forms as a function of time and space in an open, through-flowing system. Participating RTM codes are CrunchTope, ToughReact, Hytec, and The Geochemist’s Workbench. Across all problem levels, simulation results from all RTMs demonstrate good agreement.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Spatial calibration and synthetic diagnostic of a multi-energy hard x-ray camera at WEST tokamak

WEST (tungsten environment in steady-state tokamak) is starting operation for the first time with a water-cooled full tungsten divertor, enabling long pulse operation. Heating is provided by radiofrequency systems, including lower hybrid current drive (LHCD). In this context, a compact multi-energy hard x-ray camera has been installed for energy and space-resolved measurements of the electron temperature, the fast electron tail density produced by LHCD and runaway electrons, and the beam–target emission of tungsten at the target due to fast electron losses interacting with the divertor plates. The diagnostic is a pinhole camera based on a 2D pixel array detector (Pilatus 3 CdTe CMOS Hybrid-Pixel detector produced by DECTRIS). The novelty of this diagnostic technique is the detector’s capability of adjusting the threshold energy at pixel level. This innovation provides great flexibility in the energy configuration, allowing simultaneous space and energy-resolved x-ray measurements. This contribution details two important steps in the preparation of the diagnostic operation. First, the in-vessel spatial calibration that was carried out with a radioactive source. Second, the synthetic diagnostic is obtained by the suite of codes ALOHA/C3PO/LUKE/R5-X2, which simulates LH wave propagation and absorption, as well as the fast electron bremsstrahlung production.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

The very high n Rydberg series of Ar 16+ in Alcator C-Mod tokamak plasmas

We report x-ray transitions of the very high-n Rydberg series in Ar 16+ have been observed from Alcator C-Mod tokamak plasmas. Individual emission lines up to 1s16p-1s 2 have been resolved and the central chord line brightnesses with principal quantum number n between 7 and 16 are generally found to decay as 1/n α , with α slightly larger than 3. In the plasma periphery, emission from 1s9p-1s 2 and 1s10p-1s 2 are found to be significantly enhanced relative to this decrease, indicative of selected population of these levels through charge exchange between background neutral deuterium in the ground state and Ar 17+ . An unresolved feature between the wavelengths of 1s27p-1s 2 and 1s30p-1s 2 is also present, which arises through charge exchange with neutral deuterium in the n* = 3 excited state. The brightnesses of transitions populated by charge exchange are spatially up/down asymmetric, with an excess on the side of the magnetic surface X-point. The relative brightness of the unresolved very high-n feature compared to 1s7p-1s 2 is found to increase with electron temperature and decrease with electron density. Simulations of line emission just on the long wavelength side of the Ar 16+ ionization limit indicate that the principal quantum number decay exponent is closer to α = 4 at very high n. The brightness dependence on n below 16 is in excellent agreement with calculations from the flexible atomic code package.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

The Promise of Emergent Nanobiotechnologies for In Vivo Applications and Implications for Safety and Security

Nanotechnology, the multi-disciplinary field based on the exploitation of the unique physicochemical properties of nanoparticles (NPs) and nanoscale materials, has opened a new realm of possibilities for biological research and biomedical applications. The development and deployment of mRNA-NP vaccines for COVID-19, for example, may revolutionize vaccines and therapeutics. However, regulatory and ethical frameworks that protect the health and safety of the global community and environment are lagging, particularly for nanotechnology geared towards biological applications (i.e., bio-nanotechnology). Considering this, the following review, while not comprehensive, attempts to illustrate the breadth and promise of bionanotechnology developments, and how they may present future safety and security challenges. Specifically, we address current advancements to streamline the development of engineered NPs for in vivo applications and provide discussion on nano-bio interactions, NP in vivo delivery, nano-enhancement of human performance, nanomedicine, and the impacts of NPs on human health and the environment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

CMakePPLang: An object-oriented extension to CMake

CMakePPLang is an object-oriented extension to the CMake language written entirely using the original CMake language, with the goal of making projects built on CMake easier to create and maintain. That said, CMakePPLang has different coding practices, paradigms, and standards than the original CMake language, much in the same way that C++ coding differs from C coding despite some level of interoperability. Currently, CMakePPLang is used within the CMakePP organization as the foundation for two in-progress projects: CMakeTest and CMaize. CMakeTest provides a solution for unit testing CMake and CMakePPLang code. CMaize is a CMake tool to simplify interoperability between projects and writing their build systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Commissioning the H i Observing Mode of the Beam Former for the Cryogenically Cooled Focal L-band Array for the GBT (FLAG)

We present the results of commissioning observations for a new digital beam-forming back end for the Focal plane L-band Array for the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (FLAG), a cryogenically cooled Phased Array Feed (PAF) with the lowest measured T {sub sys}/η of any PAF outfitted on a radio telescope to date. We describe the custom software used to apply beam-forming weights to the raw element covariances to create research-quality spectral-line images for the new fine-channel mode, study the stability of the beam weights over time, characterize FLAG’s sensitivity over a frequency range of 150 MHz, and compare the measured noise properties and observed distribution of neutral hydrogen emission from several extragalactic and Galactic sources with data obtained with the current single-pixel L-band receiver. These commissioning runs establish FLAG as the preeminent PAF receiver currently available for spectral-line observations on the world’s major radio telescopes.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

The Very High n Rydberg Series of Ar^16+ in Alcator C-Mod Tokamak Plasmas

X-ray transitions of the very high-n Rydberg series in Ar^16+ have been observed from Alcator C-Mod tokamak plasmas. Individual emission lines up to 1s16p - 1s^2 have been resolved and the central chord line brightnesses with principal quantum number n between 7 and 16 are generally found to decay as 1/n^alpha, with alpha slightly larger than 3. In the plasma periphery, emission from 1s9p - 1s^2 and 1s10p - 1s^2 are found to be significantly enhanced relative to this decrease, indicative of selected population of these levels through charge exchange between background neutral deuterium in the ground state and Ar^17+. An unresolved feature between the wavelengths of 1s27p - 1s^2 and 1s30p - 1s^2 is also present, which arises through charge exchange with neutral deuterium in the n^* = 3 excited state. The brightnesses of transitions populated by charge exchange are spatially up/down asymmetric, with an excess on the side of the magnetic surface X-point. The relative brightness of the unresolved very high-n feature compared to 1s7p - 1s^2 is found to increase with electron temperature and decrease with electron density. Simulations of line emission just on the long wavelength side of the Ar^16$ ionization limit indicate that the principal quantum number decay exponent is closer to alpha = 4 at very high n. The brightness dependence on n below 16 is in excellent agreement with calculations from the Flexible Atomic Code package.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Updates to the Instant Online PV LCOE Calculator Tool

Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is an important metric for techno-economic analysis of PV modules, systems, and performance. An NREL team within DuraMAT has developed a simplified PV-specific LCOE calculator as an alternative to the NREL System Advisor Model (SAM) for applications that do not have the degree of detail required by SAM. This webinar will review recent data and new features that have been added to the simplified calculator this year, including breakeven buttons, commercial system options, and inverter loading ratios. It will also review the structure of the source code on GitHub, how to edit a local version of the calculator, and walk through some example use cases for the calculator.

calculator↗

Designing Iowa Agricultural Landscapes to Improve Environmental Co-Benefits of Bioenergy Production

Cellulosic bioenergy feedstocks are needed to improve carbon (C) management while provisioning biomass for bioproducts and biofuel. The transition to increased cellulosic biomass production can be guided by land management plans designed to improve economic, environmental, and ecological performance. We constructed a sustainability model to compare landscape designs for biofuel production from corn (Zea mays L.) stover and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) in central Iowa, USA. We used the model to compare environmental and socioeconomic outcomes associated with four landscape management strategies, with and without cellulosic biomass markets. We evaluated (1) a fuelshed area containing over 1.2 million ha (3 million acres) of corn and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) within 80 km (50 miles) of a commercial-scale cellulosic biorefinery in Nevada, Iowa, and (2) the South Fork watershed containing over 72,000 ha (178,000 acres) of these row crops within eight north central Iowa HUC-12 (hydrologic unit code) watersheds. At both landscape scales, we found that it is possible to achieve multiple environmental and socioeconomic benefits concomitantly with cellulosic biomass production by strategically collecting corn stover and converting the 10% of the lowest-profitability row crop land to perennial switchgrass. Potential benefits from landscape design include increased biodiversity, soil and water quality improvements, increased soil carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation, and reduced fertilizer use and cost. Our model results showed that increasing benefits can accrue when complementary conservation practices (e.g., reduced tillage, use of a rye cover crop) are combined and integrated throughout a fuelshed or watershed area. We conclude that ecologically based landscape designs offer valuable insights about costs and benefits of land management alternatives, with relevance for achieving stakeholder goals.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

AlphaZero Reimplementation with Zoning Game and Associated Materials [SWR-26-016]

Here, we present a de novo, extensible, modular, research-oriented, single-player reimplementation of the "AlphaZero" class of algorithms originally described in [1]. We also present a novel task called the Zoning Game, designed as a toy problem to test the applicability of various AlphaZero-based paradigms to infrastructure planning problems, along with several other games. We implement specializations of AlphaZero to play several games. We also include code that serves as a starting point to explore language generation with AlphaZero, as well as documentation and other related materials. [1] Silver, D., Schrittwieser, J., Simonyan, K., Antonoglou, I., Huang, A., Guez, A., Hubert, T., Baker, L., Lai, M., Bolton, A., Chen, Y., Lillicrap, T., Hui, F., Sifre, L., van den Driessche, G., Graepel, T., & Hassabis, D. (2017). Mastering the game of Go without human knowledge. Nature, 550(7676), 354–359. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature24270

Konar-Steenberg, Gabriel [National Laboratory of t↗

Review of the first charged-particle transport coefficient comparison workshop

We present the results of the first Charged-Particle Transport Coefficient Code Comparison Workshop, which was held in Albuquerque, NM October 4–6, 2016. In this first workshop, scientists from eight institutions and four countries gathered to compare calculations of transport coefficients including thermal and electrical conduction, electron–ion coupling, inter-ion diffusion, ion viscosity, and charged particle stopping powers. In this paper, we give general background on Coulomb coupling and computational expense, review where some transport coefficients appear in hydrodynamic equations, and present the submitted data. Large variations are found when either the relevant Coulomb coupling parameter is large or computational expense causes difficulties. Understanding the general accuracy and uncertainty associated with such transport coefficients is important for quantifying errors in hydrodynamic simulations of inertial confinement fusion and high-energy density experiments.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Verification and benchmarking relativistic electron beam transport through a background gas

It is necessary to establish confidence in high-consequence codes containing an extensive suite of physics algorithms in the regimes of interest. Verification problems allow code developers to assess numerical accuracy and increase confidence that specific sets of model physics were implemented correctly in the code. The two main verification techniques are code verification and solution verification. In this work, we present verification problems that can be used in other codes to increase confidence in simulations of relativistic beam transport. Specifically, we use the general plasma code EMPIRE to model and compare with the analytical solution to the evolution of the outer radial envelope of a relativistic charged particle beam. Additionally, we also outline a benchmark test of a relativistic beam propagating through a vacuum and pressurized gas cell, and present the results between EMPIRE and the hybrid code GAZEL. Further, we discuss the subtle errors that were caught with these problems and detail lessons learned.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Structural Analysis of the US ITER ECH Transmission Line System

The electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and current drive system is one of the main plasma heating systems for ITER. It uses high-power microwave beams with the power deposition location steerable across the plasma cross section. Microwave power is conveyed via transmission lines (TLs) that run from the gyrotrons in the radio frequency building through the assembly hall and tokamak building to the ECH launchers within the tokamak vacuum vessel. The ECH system includes a vast array of interconnected TL waveguides, in-line components, and support structures.Finite element (FE) modeling provides an essential means of simulating the system, applying loads and determining deflections, rotations, forces, moments, and stresses in order to evaluate various structural and microwave transmission performance metrics. A representative FE model of the overall ECH TL system is developed in ANSYS®. This top-level model defines the centerline of the waveguide system. Waveguide segments are represented by line elements (beams and pipes) with equivalent section properties, and support structures are represented by boundary conditions. A systematic approach is used to model each ECH component with lumped masses and structurally equivalent stiffness matrices or ANSYS superelements.The top-level TL FE model is used to evaluate the various loads (thermal, vacuum, seismic, etc.) and operating scenarios. The top-level model directly calculates stresses in the straight aluminum waveguide segments. The model provides the forces and moments acting on the in-line components for detailed submodel assessments. Displacement results from the top-level analysis feed into a separate microwave performance model to help determine operational efficiency. All TL performance and thermal-structural requirements are met, as specified by the applicable codes and standards, and successfully documented in numerous technical reports and demonstrated at the final design review.

Shanmugasundaram, Aravind↗

Sierra/SolidMechanics 4.56 User's Guide

Siera/SolidMechanics (Sierra / SM) is a Lagrangian, three-dimensional code for finite element analysis of solids and structures. It provides capabilities for explicit dynamic, implicit quasistatic and dynamic analyses. The explicit dynamics capabilities allow for the efficient and robust solution of models with extensive contact subjected to large, suddenly applied loads. For implicit problems, Sierra / SM uses a multi-level iterative solver, which enables it to effectively solve problems with large deformations, nonlinear material behavior, and contact. Sierra / SM has a versatile library of continuum and structural elements, and a large library of material models. The code is written for parallel computing environments enabling scalable solutions of extremely large problems for both implicit and explicit analyses. It is built on the SIERRA Framework, which facilitates coupling with other SIERRA mechanics codes . This document describes the functionality and input syntax for Sierra/SM.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Sierra/SolidMechanics 4.56.2 User's Guide

Sierra/SolidMechanics (Sierra/SM) is a Lagrangian, three-dimensional code for finite element analysis of solids and structures. It provides capabilities for explicit dynamic, implicit quasistatic and dynamic analyses. The explicit dynamics capabilities allow for the efficient and robust solution of models with extensive contact subjected to large, suddenly applied loads. For implicit problems, Sierra/SM uses a multi-level iterative solver, which enables it to effectively solve problems with large deformations, nonlinear material behavior, and contact. Sierra/SM has a versatile library of continuum and structural elements, and a large library of material models. The code is written for parallel computing environments enabling scalable solutions of extremely large problems for both implicit and explicit analyses. It is built on the SIERRA Framework, which facilitates coupling with other SIERRA mechanics codes . This document describes the functionality and input syntax for Sierra/SM.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Studsvik R2 materials test reactor Ad Hoc depletion strategy for the derivation of the fuel isotopic composition of the MPCMIV benchmark

The Ad Hoc Depletion Strategy elaborated by the NINE company, developed in support of the organization of the MPCMIV (Multi-physics Pellet Cladding Mechanical Interaction Validation) benchmark input and output specifications, is presented. This work aims at illustrating the strategy itself and then showing the results obtained with its application over the Studsvik R2 Testing Reactor, which is analyzed in the benchmark. The objective of the application of the strategy is to compute the fuel elements isotopic compositions at the beginning of some core loadings of interest for the benchmark. To this objective, it is necessary to implement first the simulation model of the three single assembly types and perform the infinite lattice depletions, then, to build the full core model and to perform the simulation of the core cycle. All the models and simulations were carried out with the use of the Monte Carlo particle transport code Serpent 2. Finally, the simulations results are assessed against Studsvik isotopic compositions of the fuel elements discharged from the R2 Reactor at the end of the core loading. Several assumptions were necessary during all the steps of the strategy, to overcome the lack of information regarding the core management. For this reason, the solution found at the end of the current analysis may not be completely optimized and further improvements regarding the model assumptions will be tested in a future work. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

A revisitation of the ENEA TAPIRO Fast Source Reactor neutronic capabilities

This work is devoted to the analysis of the neutronic characterization of the ENEA-Casaccia center RSV TAPIRO fast neutrons source reactor performed during the 80's in the frame of a joint ENEA-SCK-CEN Mol collaboration. The Belgian scientist Albert Fabry, who was available to investigate a fast research reactor to perform a full characterization of the system neutron flux, led the TAPIRO experimental campaign. In particular, the paper is focused on the comparison between some 'recommended' Fabry experimental reaction rates traverses and nowadays MCNP Monte Carlo and ERANOS deterministic calculation results. It appears that the quality of the results depends on the penetration depth into the copper reflector. The influence of copper nuclear data are more evident in the ERANOS results. Massimo Salvatores has provided a great contribution to the interpretation of the TAPIRO neutronics: this humble work is dedicated to him.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Benchmark evaluation of one dimensional array of HEU moderated and reflected by Lucite

The evaluation of two HEU-Lucite experiments is presented. The critical experiments were performed using the Planet Universal Critical Assembly Machine at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2019. In these experiments, HEU foils were interleaved with Lucite in a column stack and were moderated and reflected from the square Lucite plates. The neutron data produced were used to approximate the multiplication of each measured configuration. The evaluation of the experiments using calculational techniques is presented in the paper. A Monte-Carlo computational model to be used with MCNP6 was developed for the determination of uncertainties and the effects of various uncertainties on the multiplication factor were studied. The evaluation of the benchmark was performed for comparison of calculation results with the experimental data and validation of calculation techniques in particular the newly available thermal scattering data for the Lucite material. The sensitivity studies include parametric variations of material composition and geometry. Experimental uncertainties were low, with the overall height of the HEU/Lucite stack being the largest contributor to the overall uncertainty in k{sub eff}. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗