Results and Preliminary Inferences from Tracer Tests in Smith Ranch Mining Unit 4, Header House 4-6
This report documents results from tracer tests in Smith Ranch Mining Unit 4.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
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Closure Report Central Nevada Test Area Subsurface Corrective Action Unit 443 January 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management (LM) prepared this Closure Report for the subsurface Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 443 at the Central Nevada Test Area (CNTA), Nevada, Site. CNTA was the site of a 0.2- to 1-megaton underground nuclear test in 1968. Responsibility for the site’s environmental restoration was transferred from the DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Field Office to LM on October 1, 2006. The environmental restoration process and corrective action strategy for CAU 443 are conducted in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO 1996, as amended 2011) and all applicable Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) policies and regulations. This Closure Report provides justification for closure of CAU 443 and provides a summary of completed closure activities; describes the selected corrective action alternative; provides an implementation plan for long-term monitoring with well network maintenance and approaches/policies for institutional controls (ICs); and presents the contaminant, compliance, and use-restriction boundaries for the site.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Thermal-Hydraulic Response of the TREAT Multi-Vessel Static Environment Test Vehicle
As part of the resumption of transient testing in the United States, multiple test vehicles are currently under design, which are ideally suited for achieving various test environments. Of these, the multi- static environment rodlet transient test apparatus (SERTTA) is the most mature design. The test vehicle is designed for testing up to four isolated specimens under a variety of conditions ranging from gas, steam, water, and liquid sodium. During proposed transient events such as reactivity initiated accidents (RIA) and loss of coolant accidents (LOCA) in reactors, prototypic environments dictate a wide range of thermal-hydraulic boundary conditions. The purpose of the this work is to provide the thermal hydraulic response of the Multi-SERTTA test vehicle subjected to fuel specimen energy depositions representative of pressurized water reactor (PWR) conditions. Calculations are performed for a RIA-type power pulse in a 10 cm long UO2-zircaloy rodlet immersed in a water environment in Multi-SERTTA. The relatively small volume available in the Multi-SERTTA causes the vessel pressure to be very sensitive to total energy deposition. The effects of total energy deposition and free gas volume in the pressure vessel are presented. The design provides additional flexibility of environment conditions through use of the expansion tank volume. The results show the influence of the vehicle geometric and safety constraints and provide indication of the expected thermal-hydraulic conditions relative to typical RIA transient events.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Demonstration Testing of a Thermal Desorption Unit to Receive and Treat Waste with Unlimited Concentration of PCBs - 13437
For the last nine years, EnergySolutions and TD*X Associates LP have teamed up to provide the most comprehensive organic removal treatment process in the radioactive waste industry. The high performance thermal desorption unit (HP-TDU) located at the EnergySolutions Clive facility in Utah has successfully processed over 1,850 tons of organically contaminated radioactive mixed waste. Products from the HP-TDU system include a radioactively contaminated dry solid material that can be disposed in the on-site landfill and an organic condensate with high thermal energy content that is generally below background radiation and capable of free-release to a non-radioactive incinerator. Over the years, Permits and approvals have been obtained through the state of Utah, United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region 8, and USEPA headquarters that enable the treatment of several waste categories including volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, combustion-coded (CMBST) compounds, volatile metals, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The unit has recently successfully completed Demonstration Testing for PCB concentrations up to 660,000 ppm (parts per million). Solid processed material from this Demonstration Testing was less than two ppm PCBs in three separate treatment runs; reprocessing or additional treatment was not needed to meet this limit. Through post-demonstration permitting, the system is unlimited in scope as approval has been given to receive and solidify up to pure PCBs down to this processing limit concentration to complete treatment of mixed waste. (authors)
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Aquifer Hydraulic Testing and Characterization Plan for the Ringold Formation Unit A in the Hanford 200-ZP-1 Groundwater Operable Unit and Vicinity
This document presents a plan for testing and characterizing the hydraulic properties of the Ringold Formation, member of Wooded Island – unit A (Rwia) in the 200-ZP groundwater operable unit. The testing approach includes multiple field methods and associated analyses designed to investigate and understand aquifer hydraulic properties over a range of scales. Testing was designed to achieve specific testing objectives identified previously in the 200 ZP-1 Groundwater Operable Unit Ringold Formation Unit A Characterization Sampling and Analysis Plan (Ringold A SAP). The test plan provides necessary technical and operational detail for writing subsequent field test instruction documents specific to each testing location. Hydraulic characterization activities will proceed in a phased manner focusing on areas identified to have knowledge gaps and also critical for remedy modifications and/or selection. These activities are designed to minimize impact to pump-and-treat (P&T) operations and to use existing P&T injection and extraction wells as stress wells, and include use of the new Rwia monitoring wells installed for Ringold A SAP activities. ZP-1 hydraulic testing will include slug testing in new Rwia wells, shutdown-recovery tests in multiple Rwia and composite Ringold Formation member of Wooded Island – unit E (Rwie)-Rwia aquifer test locations, installation of new Automated Water Level Network stations in Rwia monitoring wells, characterization of P&T and barometric responses, identifying the vertical distribution of hydraulic conductivity in the Rwia and Rwie units using electromagnetic borehole flowmeter tests, and single-well tracer testing in select Rwia monitoring wells. Slug testing to be conducted during drilling is described under the Ringold A SAP. The remaining testing activities are to be conducted after well drilling and completion and are described in this test plan.
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Dosage unit uniformity and dissolution testing of extended-release pharmaceutical products marketed in the U.S.
Not Available
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
SU-D-204-07: Comparison of AAPM TG150 Draft Image Receptor Tests with Vendor Automated QC Tests for Five Mobile DR Units
Purpose: To determine the consistency of digital detector (DR) tests recommended by AAPM TG150 and tests provided by commercially available DirectView Total Quality Tool (TQT). Methods: The DR tests recommended by the TG150 Detector Subgroup[1] were performed on 4 new Carestream DRX-Revolution and one Carestream DRX1C retrofit of a GE AMX-4 that had been in service for three years. After detector calibration, flat-field images plus images of two bar patterns oriented parallel and perpendicular to the A-C axis, were acquired at conditions recommended by TG150. Raw images were harvested and then analyzed using a MATLAB software previously validated[2,3,4]. Data were analyzed using ROIs of two different dimensions: 1) 128 x 128 ROIs matching the detector electronics; and 2) 256 x 256 ROIs, each including 4 adjacent smaller ROIs. TG150 metrics from 128 x 128 ROIs were compared to TQT metrics, which are also obtained from 128 x 128 ROIs[5]. Results: The results show that both TG150 and TQT measurements were consistent among these detectors. Differences between TG150 and TQT values appear systematic. Compared with 128 x 128 ROIs, noise and SNR non-uniformity were lower with 256 x 256 ROIs, although signal non-uniformity was similar, indicating detectors were appropriately calibrated for gain and offset. MTF of the retrofit unit remained essentially the same between 2012 and 2015, but was inferior to the new units. The older generator focal spot is smaller (0.75mm vs. 1.2mm), and the SID for acquisition is 182cm as well, so focal spot dimensions cannot explain the difference. The difference in MTF may be secondary to differences in generator X-ray spectrum or by unannounced changes in detector architecture. Further investigation is needed. Conclusion: The study shows that both TG150 and TQT tests are consistent. The numerical value of some metrics are dependent on ROI size.
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
A Review of Power Distribution Test Feeders in the United States and the Need for Synthetic Representative Networks
Under the increasing penetration of distributed energy resources and new smart network technologies, distribution utilities face new challenges and opportunities to ensure reliable operations, manage service quality, and reduce operational and investment costs. Simultaneously, the research community is developing algorithms for advanced controls and distribution automation that can help to address some of these challenges. However, there is a shortage of realistic test systems that are publically available for development, testing, and evaluation of such new algorithms. Concerns around revealing critical infrastructure details and customer privacy have severely limited the number of actual networks published and that are available for testing. In recent decades, several distribution test feeders and US-featured representative networks have been published, but the scale, complexity, and control data vary widely. This paper presents a first-of-a-kind structured literature review of published distribution test networks with a special emphasis on classifying their main characteristics and identifying the types of studies for which they have been used. As a result, this both aids researchers in choosing suitable test networks for their needs and highlights the opportunities and directions for further test system development. In particular, we highlight the need for building large-scale synthetic networks to overcome the identified drawbacks of current distribution test feeders.
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
CHP Fuel Cell Durability Demonstration - Final Report
Plug Power has managed a demonstration project that has tested multiple units of its high-temperature, PEM fuel cell system in micro-combined heat and power (μ-CHP) applications in California. The specific objective of the demonstration project was to substantiate the durability of GenSys Blue, and, thereby, verify its technology and commercial readiness for the marketplace. In the demonstration project, Plug Power, in partnership with the National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and Sempra, will execute two major tasks: • Task 1: Internal durability/reliability fleet testing. Six GenSys Blue units will be built and will undergo an internal test regimen to estimate failure rates. This task was modified to include 3 GenSys Blue units installed in a lab at UCI. • Task 2: External customer testing. Combined heat and power units will be installed and tested in real-world residential and/or light commercial end user locations in California.
Petrecky, James↗
Metrology for Industry for use in the Manufacture of Grazing Incidence Beam Line Mirrors
The goal of this SBIR was to determine the slope sensitivity of Specular Reflection Deflectometry (SRD) and whether shearing methods had the sensitivity to be able to separate errors in the test equipment from slope error in the unit under test (UUT), or mirror. After many variations of test parameters it does not appear that SRD yields results much better than 1 μ radian RMS independent of how much averaging is done. Of course, a single number slope sensitivity over the full range of spatial scales is not a very insightful number in the same sense as a single number phase or height RMS value in interferometry does not tell the full story. However, the 1 μ radian RMS number is meaningful when contrasted with a sensitivity goal of better than 0.1 μ radian RMS. Shearing is a time proven method of separating the errors in a measurement from the actual shape of a UUT. It is accomplished by taking multiple measurements while moving the UUT relative to the test instrument. This process makes it possible to separate the two errors sources but only to a sensitivity of about 1 μ radian RMS. Another aspect of our conclusions is that this limit probably holds largely independent of the spatial scale of the test equipment. In the proposal for this work it was suggested that a test screen the full size of the UUT could be used to determine the slopes on scales of maybe 0.01 to full scale of the UUT while smaller screens and shorter focal length lenses could be used to measure shorter, or smaller, patches of slope. What we failed to take into consideration was that as the scale of the test equipment got smaller so too did the optical lever arm on which the slope was calculated. Although we did not do a test with a shorter focal length lens over a smaller sample area it is hard to argue with the logic that the slope sensitivity will be about the same independent of the spatial scale of the measurement assuming the test equipment is similarly scaled. On a more positive note, SRD does appear to be a highly flexible, easy to implement, rather inexpensive test for free form optics that require a dynamic range that exceeds that of interferometry. These optics are quite often specified to have more relaxed slope errors, on the order of 1 μ radian RMS or greater. It would be shortsighted to not recognize the value of this test method in the bigger picture.
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
Closure Report Central Nevada Test Area Subsurface Corrective Action Unit 443
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management (LM) prepared this Closure Report for the subsurface Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 443 at the Central Nevada Test Area (CNTA), Nevada, Site. CNTA was the site of a 0.2- to 1-megaton underground nuclear test in 1968. Responsibility for the site’s environmental restoration was transferred from the DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Field Office to LM on October 1, 2006. The environmental restoration process and corrective action strategy for CAU 443 are conducted in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO 1996, as amended 2011) and all applicable Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) policies and regulations.
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Evaluation of a Turbidity Meter for Use at the Defense Waste Processing Facility
Savannah River Remediation’s (SRR’s) Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Laboratory currently tests for sludge carry-over into the Recycle Collection Tank (RCT) by evaluating the iron concentration in the Slurry Mix Evaporator Condensate Tank (SMECT) and relating this iron concentration to the amount of sludge solids present. A new method was proposed for detecting the amount of sludge in the SMECT that involves the use of an Optek turbidity sensor. Waste Services Laboratory (WSL) personnel conducted testing on two of these units following a test plan developed by Waste Solidification Engineering (WSE). Both Optek units (SN64217 and SN65164) use sensor model AF16-N and signal converter model series C4000. The sensor body of each unit was modified to hold a standard DWPF 12 cc sample vial, also known as a “peanut” vial. The purpose of this testing was to evaluate the use of this model of turbidity sensor, or meter, to provide a measurement of the sludge solids present in the SMECT based upon samples from that tank. During discussions of the results from this study by WSE, WSL, and Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) personnel, an upper limit on the acceptable level of solids in SMECT samples was set at 0.14 weight percent (wt%). A “go/no-go” decision criterion was to be developed for the critical turbidity response, which is expressed in concentration units (CUs), for each Optek unit based upon the 0.14 wt% solids value. An acceptable or a “go” decision for the SMECT should reflect the situation that there is an identified risk (e.g. 5%) for a CU response from the Optek unit to be less than the critical CU value when the solids content of the SMECT is actually 0.14 wt% or greater, while a “no-go” determination (i.e., an Optek CU response above the critical CU value, a conservative decision relative to risk) would lead to additional evaluations of the SMECT to better quantify the possible solids content of the tank. Subsequent to the issuance of the initial version of this report but under the scope of the original request for technical assistance, WSE asked for this report to be revised to include the “go/no-go” CU value corresponding to 0.28 wt% solids. It was this request that led to the preparation of Revision 1 of the report. The results for the 0.28 wt% solids value were developed following the same approach as that utilized for the 0.14 wt% solids value. A sludge simulant was used to develop standards for testing both Optek units and to determine the viability of a “go/no-go” CU response for each of the units. Statistical methods were used by SRNL to develop the critical CU value for the “go/no-go” decision for these standards for each Optek unit. Since only one sludge simulant was available for this testing, the sensitivity of these results to other simulants and to actual sludge material is not known. However, limited testing with samples from the actual DWPF process (both SRAT product samples and SMECT samples) demonstrated that the use of the “go/no-go” criteria developed from the sludge simulant testing was conservative for these samples taken from the sludge batch, Sludge Batch 7b, being processed at the time of this testing. While both of the Optek units performed very reliably during this testing, there were statistically significant differences (although small on a practical scale) between the two units. Thus, testing should be conducted on any new unit of this Optek model to qualify it before it is used to support the DWPF operation.
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Qualification and Commissioning of Helium Flow Loop Experiment for Blanket Design Measurements
Sufficient cooling of plasma-facing materials remains an outstanding challenge in the design of fusion reactor blankets in commercial power demonstration plants. Due to its chemical inertness and low neutron interaction cross section, pressurized helium is a candidate coolant fluid for such systems; however, helium has a small thermal mass compared to liquid coolants, potentially reducing heat removal performance. To address this need, a number of heat transfer enhancements have been proposed to improve the cooling efficiency of such components, thereby decreasing pumping power needs and improving overall plant efficiency. Toward this end, a helium flow loop experiment (HFLE) has been designed and commissioned to test advanced passive heat transfer enhancements in unit-cell test sections, providing necessary data for model validation and subsequent system design. The HFLE is designed to provide flow of pressurized (up to 4 MPa) helium at flow rates up to 80 g/s, enabling heat transfer and pressure drop measurements in test pieces at Reynolds numbers in excess of 180 000. To explore the effects of novel and complex heat transfer enhancements, test sections are produced via additive manufacturing, providing geometries not typically obtainable by conventional machining. Here in this work, we present results from HFLE commissioning and the initial thermal-hydraulic tests of an additively manufactured rifled-rib test section. Results are compared to smooth pipe correlations, and plans are described for future HFLE measurements. These preliminary experiments indicate the utility of the HFLE for heat transfer enhancement testing and simulation validation activities.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Testing the 10 spectrograph units for DESI: approach and results
The recently commissioned Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars over 14000 sqdeg will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the KPNO Mayall telescope delivers light to 5000 fiber optic positioners. The fibers in turn feed ten broad-band spectrographs. A consortium of Aix-Marseille University (AMU) and CNRS laboratories (LAM, OHP and CPPM) together with LPNHE (CNRS, IN2P3, Sorbonne Université and Université de Paris) and the WINLIGHT Systems company based in Pertuis (France), were in charge of integrating and validating the performance requirements of the ten full spectrographs, equipped with their cryostats, shutters and other mechanisms. We present a summary of our activity which allowed an efficient validation of the systems in a short-time schedule. We detail the main results. We emphasize the benefits of our approach and also its limitations.
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
Development of an Airborne Wind Energy Test Site in the United States
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Houchens, Brent C.↗
Corrective Action Decision document/Corrective Action Plan for Corrective Action Unit 443: Central Nevada Test Area-Subsurface Central Nevada Test Area, Nevada
CNTA is located in Hot Creek Valley in Nye County, Nevada, north of U.S. Highway 6, about 48 kilometers north of Warm Springs, Nevada. CNTA was the site of Project Faultless, a nuclear device detonated in the subsurface by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in January 1968.
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Comparative Analysis of Anti-Islanding Requirements and Test Procedures in the United States and Japan.
Abstract not provided.
Ellis, Abraham↗
Bench-Scale Testing of a High Efficiency, Ultra-Compact Process for Pre-Combustion CO 2 Capture (Final Report)
The overarching objective of this bench-scale study is to field-validate the technical feasibility of a membrane- and adsorption-enhanced water gas shift (WGS) reaction process that employs a carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane reactor (MR) followed by an adsorption reactor (AR) for pre-combustion CO 2 capture while demonstrating progress towards achievement of the overall performance goals of CO 2 capture with 95% CO 2 purity at a cost of electricity (COE) of 30% less than the baseline capture approaches. The main goal of this bench-scale project is to advance the proposed MR-AR transformative CO 2 capture technology to a sufficient maturity level so that our present industrial partners (M&PT and Worley) can potentially adapt the technology for further small pilot-scale testing. The project began at TRL 4, as the system prototype had already been validated in the laboratory on simulated syngas (as part of project DE-FE0026423). The project ended at TRL 5, via scaling-up of the prototype system and testing it on actual syngas at a host site (CAER at the University of Kentucky (UKy)). The project was carried-out in two different phases: In Phase I (during BP1 of the project), the team designed, constructed, and assembled the bench-scale experimental MR-AR system, prepared the membranes, adsorbents, and catalysts, tested the bench-scale unit with simulated syngas to validate functionality, and prepared a preliminary TEA of the technology. In Phase II (during BP2 of the project), the team installed the unit at the test site at the UKy site and completed all utility connections and hookups, field-tested the novel MR-AR process in the bench-scale system using real syngas, collected and analyzed experimental data, and completed a detailed TEA of the technology. A key aim of the project was to identify and address the technical and process risks and to generate information to advance the technology to the next stage of development. All project milestones and success criteria were met. Specifically, the team: (i) designed, constructed and assembled a bench scale system that handled 1 – 5 scfm syngas and tested its functionality with simulated syngas; (ii) prepared high performance CMS membrane tubes (ID: 3.5 mm, OD: 5.7 mm, 30” long) that meet the target H 2 permeance ( > 1 m 3 /(m 2 .hr.bar) or (> 370.3 GPU)) and a target H 2 /CO selectivity >80 at the relevant temperature (up to 300oC) and pressure conditions (up to 25 bar) with a <10% decline in performance over each 250 hr. testing period (iii) procured commercial sour-shift catalyst in sufficient quantity and prepared up to 10 kg of pelletized adsorbent for use at relevant conditions (250oC 2.5wt.% and target sorbent attrition rate < 0.2; (iv) installed the bench-scale unit at the test site (UKy) and tested the MR-AR technology using real syngas for over 250 hr. for both static and flow experiments; (v) updated the TEA analysis based on bench-scale data and met CO 2 capture goals of 95% CO 2 purity at a cost of electricity 30% less than baseline capture approaches. The CMS membranes, HTC adsorbents and catalysts employed all exhibited very robust and stable performance during the long-term run (over a >250 hr live syngas run). Furthermore, the proposed MR-AR IGCC system achieved a LCOE with a N 2 sale price of $\$$ 30/ton, with N 2 compression (no N 2 compression) of 101.2 $\$$/MWh (95.3 $\$$/MWh), which represents a 29.8% (33.9%) LCOE reduction in the baseline IGCC with carbon capture of 144.2 $\$$/MWh. The proposed MR-AR IGCC delivers a CO 2 capture cost of 44.8 $\$$/tonne (39.9 $\$$/tonne) vs 98.1 $\$$/tonne of the baseline capture case and a net power production of 586 MWe (623 MWe) vs 556 MWe of the baseline capture case.
01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗