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Summary of Technical Peer Review on the Risk Assessment Framework proposed in Report INL/RPT-22-68656 for Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems

This report summarizes the peer review activities initiated by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) during fiscal year (FY) 2023 for the evaluation and improvement of the methodology developed under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, Risk Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway, digital instrumentation and control (DI&C) risk assessment project. In FY 2019, the RISA Pathway initiated a project to develop a risk assessment strategy for delivering a technical basis to support effective and secure DI&C technologies for digital upgrades/designs. A framework was proposed for this strategy, which aims to (1) provide a best-estimate, risk-informed capability to quantitatively and accurately estimate the risk impact of plant modernization, considering the introduction of high safety-significant safety-related (HSSSR) DI&C systems, (2) support and supplement existing risk-informed DI&C design guides by providing quantitative risk information and evidence, (3) offer a capability of design architecture evaluation of various DI&C systems, (4) assure the long-term safety and reliability of HSSSR DI&C systems, and (5) reduce uncertainty in costs and support integration of DI&C systems in the plant. The R&D efforts of this project from FY 2019 through FY 2022 were focused on methodology improvement and demonstration of the proposed framework for the risk assessment and design optimization of safety-critical DI&C systems. Collaborations with the nuclear industry have been initiated to support the reliability and risk assessment of their DI&C systems by using the proposed framework. In FY 2023, the framework has reached to a point for a technical peer review and obtain stakeholder feedback. This peer review activity includes coordination of the reviews performed by a group of industry stakeholders, documentation of the peer review suggestions, providing resolutions and responses to the peer review comments. The objective of this technical peer review is to obtain representative feedback on the proposed framework to improve the technical qualities of its methodology and readiness for deployment to the industry. Feedback may identify potential areas for improvement and further development. The Subject Matter experts were invited to review the latest project report documenting the methodology developed in the project and provide evaluations of the technical qualities of the proposed framework and relevant methods. The reviewed project report is “An Integrated Framework for Risk Assessment of High Safety-significant Safety-related Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems in Nuclear Power Plants: Methodology and Demonstration” INL/RPT-22-68656 (short as “INL/RPT-22-68656” in this report). This peer review report documents the technical questions provided for technical peer review and introduces the technical peer reviewers from the stakeholders including nuclear utilities, regulators, and universities. Comments from technical peer reviewers and the resolutions and responses to these comments are outlined. Insights and lessons learned from the technical peer review are summarized in conclusions and future work. The primary audience of this report are DI&C designers, engineers, and probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) practitioners. This includes stakeholders, such as the nuclear utilities and regulators who consider the deployment and upgrade of DI&C systems, DI&C software developers and reviewers, and cybersecurity specialists.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Analysis of Powered Air-Purifying Respirator (PAPR) Cartridge Performance Testing on Hanford Tanks SX-101 and SX-104 Volume 1

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) conducted tests using two types of chemical cartridges for use in powered air-purifying respirators (PAPR) to determine the period of time that the cartridges would provide adequate performance for PAPRs used to protect workers when exposed to a mixture of Chemicals of Potential Concern (COPCs) from vapors exiting the headspaces of Hanford tanks SX-101 and SX-104. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) considers cartridge testing to be a valid approach for establishing cartridge change schedules. Testing is commonly applied in situations where mixtures of COPCs exist, and where other approaches, such as manufacturer recommendations and modeling, are less reliable. The tests were designed and conducted to assure measurement and/or control of the key variables OSHA identified as important to estimate the cartridge service life, including temperature, humidity, COPC concentration, breathing rate, and cartridge adsorption capacity. Testing was conducted from June 16-17, 2017, from headspace vapors from Hanford tank SX-101 and from June 23-24, 2017, from Hanford tank SX-104. Headspace vapors were fed to a respirator cartridge test stand developed by WRPS in collaboration with HiLine Engineering (Richland, Washington). Multipurpose high-efficiency PAPR cartridges, MSA-TL (TL1) (MSA Safety Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and 3M FR-57 (TL2) (3M Company, Maplewood, Minnesota) were assessed on separate days. Sample media (i.e., sorbent tubes) were used to collect samples of the vapor stream entering and exiting the respirator cartridge and were subsequently analyzed for COPC concentrations. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory was tasked with conducting an independent analysis of the analytical results and making recommendations based on the results for respiratory cartridge performance and service life. The key conclusions from the analysis are described below.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Vulcan Test Platform: Demonstrating the Data Center as a Flexible Grid Asset

Explosive data center demand is outpacing grid infrastructure development. AI workloads and hyperscale cloud growth are creating unprecedented power requirements, while traditional grid expansion faces multi-year development timelines, regulatory hurdles, and decarbonization challenges. Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners recognized this impending crisis years ago and founded Verrus to develop an innovative solution: data centers that function as grid assets rather than passive loads. The Verrus approach integrates proprietary grid-aware controls with battery energy storage systems (BESS) in a medium-voltage architecture that delivers three critical capabilities: Fast-responding demand flexibility that can service requests from the utility within 10 seconds, Uninterrupted transition to islanded operation during grid disturbances, Continuous uptime assurance while maintaining all customer service level commitments Through Verrus' strategic partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), we validated these capabilities on Vulcan, a 70 MW utility-scale test platform powered by NREL's ARIES Virtual Emulation Environment. This deployment-ready technology has successfully demonstrated that Verrus data centers can deliver meaningful grid services while maintaining mission-critical reliability. This technical report outlines the design, methodology, and results of this emulated deployment, demonstrating that data centers can play a pivotal role in enhancing grid flexibility and reliability, without sacrificing service level guarantees.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics Conference

The Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics Conference (formerly the E. coli and Small Genomes Conference, and the Microbial Genomes Conference) was held September 11-15, 2022, at the UCLA Conference Center at Lake Arrowhead, California. This conference is part of a yearly meeting initiated in 1991 to bring together genome sequencers, bioinformatics specialists, biologists, and geneticists, to forge interactions that would result in meaningful functional genomics. The goal of the meeting was to translate the influx of new genome sequencing information into useful biological studies. The Lake Arrowhead 2022 meeting had a major focus on microbial communities, the human microbiome, pathogens, phage therapy, bioinformatic methods of analysis, bioenergenics, and environmental microbiology. The field of genomics has reached the point where deriving the sequence of an organism’s entire genome is now seen as a beginning rather than an endpoint. Moreover, understanding the sequences of whole communities, and particularly those that make up different microbiomes, is now a central point of the field. The 2022 meeting covered microorganisms for which extensive analyses exist, and those for which new biological and technical strategies are being developed. The focus on biodiversity, the human microbiome, pathogenic organisms and methods of countering them, and bioenergetics added special significance to this meeting. This meeting was designed to have a mix of 36 invited presentations and poster sessions with more than 80 posters, and had 147 participants. This meeting has become established as a major annual microbial genomics conference during the last 29 years and has assured status and quality. It offers a major opportunity for young investigators and students to attend, present posters, and give talks. In fact, 50% of the invited speakers were early career stage scientists. An important impact of the conference was the forging of new collaborations between scientists and particularly young scientists with the array of multidisciplinary researchers at the meeting.

Miller, Jeffrey H.↗

A functional modeling approach for quality assurance in metal additive manufacturing

Purpose: Due to the complexity of and variations in additive manufacturing (AM) processes, there is a level of uncertainty that creates critical issues in quality assurance (QA), which must be addressed by time-consuming and cost-intensive tasks. This deteriorates the process repeatability, reliability and part reproducibility. So far, many AM efforts have been performed in an isolated and scattered way over several decades. Here, a systematically integrated holistic view is proposed to achieve QA for AM. Design/methodology/approach: A systematically integrated view is presented to ensure the predefined part properties before/during/after the AM process. It consists of four stages, namely, QA plan, prospective validation, concurrent validation and retrospective validation. As a foundation for QA planning, a functional workflow and the required information flows are proposed by using functional design models: Icam DEFinition for Function Modeling. Findings: The functional design model of the QA plan provides the systematically integrated view that can be the basis for inspection of AM processes for the repeatability and qualification of AM parts for reproducibility. Research limitations/implications: A powder bed fusion process was used to validate the feasibility of this QA plan. Feasibility was demonstrated under many assumptions; real validation is not included in this study. Social implications: This study provides an innovative and transformative methodology that can lead to greater productivity and improved quality of AM parts across industries. Furthermore, the QA guidelines and functional design models provide the foundation for the development of a QA architecture and management system. Originality/value: This systematically integrated view and the corresponding QA plan can pose fundamental questions to the AM community and initiate new research efforts in the in-situ digital inspection of AM processes and parts.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Energy Emergency and Preparedness Data: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Quick Guidance on Crisis Communications

State Energy Offices and Public Utility Commissions rely on timely, accurate, and actionable information to perform their energy emergency response duties and execute their roles as state energy security planners. In support of this need, the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions (NARUC) hosted an Energy Security and Data Analysis Workshop in Washington, DC to identify energy security response and planning data sources; and to share successful methods of data use and integration in state, federal, and private sector tools. Following the workshop, NASEO and NARUC hosted two topical data-centric webinars based on state priorities to identify best practices in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Crisis Communications programs leveraged in energy assurance planning and response. The Crisis Communications webinar covered best practice tactics for how states can respond during energy emergencies and other crises. Based on the workshop and webinars, this document summarizes commonly used data sources and includes frequently asked questions which may be used by state energy officials (i.e., consisting of staff from Public Utility Commissions and Governor-designated State Energy Offices) to help guide them in developing or improving their Crisis Communications capabilities. A strong public information program is a key crisis management tool. Timely and accurate information helps prevent confusion and uncertainty and encourages public support and cooperation. As energy subject matter experts, state energy officials are vital in the distilling, clarifying, and conveying energy sector information and implications to decision-makers and the public. Other participants in an effective public information program include the Governor’s Office, other state agencies, local governments, energy providers, local businesses, state legislature, and the federal government. It is essential to provide stakeholders and the public with information about the nature, severity, and duration of an emergency because inadequate understanding and awareness can lead to undesirable actions that could further exacerbate the situation. Before a state government can provide information to the public, it must gather information, describe the emergency accurately, and develop recommendations to manage the situation.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Crop Modeling Application to Improve Irrigation Efficiency in Year-Round Vegetable Production in the Texas Winter Garden Region

Given a rising demand for quality assurance, rather than solely yield, supplemental irrigation plays an important role to ensure the viability and profitability of vegetable crops from unpredictable changes in weather. However, under drought conditions, agricultural irrigation is often given low priority for water allocation. This reduced water availability for agriculture calls for techniques with greater irrigation efficiency, that do not compromise crop quality and yield, and that provide economic benefit for producers. This study developed vegetable growing models for eight different vegetable crops (bush bean, green bean, cabbage, peppermint, spearmint, yellow straight neck squash, zucchini, and bell pepper) based on data from several years of field research. The ALMANAC model accurately simulated yields and water use efficiency (WUE) of all eight vegetables. The developed vegetable models were used to evaluate the effects of various irrigation regimes on vegetable growth and production in several locations in the Winter Garden Region of Texas, under variable weather conditions. Based on our simulation results from 960 scenarios, optimal irrigation amounts that produce high yield as well as reasonable economic profit to producers were determined for each vegetable crop. Overall, yields for all vegetables increased as irrigation amounts increased. However, irrigation amounts did not have a sustainable impact on vegetable yield at high irrigation treatments, and the WUEs of most vegetables were not significantly different among various irrigation regimes. When vegetable yields were compared with water cost, the rate decreased as irrigation amounts increased. Thus, producers will not receive economic benefits when vegetable irrigation water demand is too high.

Kim, Sumin↗

Eco-Friendly High-Performance Carbon Building Material Development from Coal

The development of eco-friendly high-performance building materials based on coal-derived materials is greatly beneficial for promoting environmental sustainability and the coal industry. This project focused on advancing technology to create innovative and scalable construction materials from two domestic sources: (1) coal-derived pyrolyzed char (PC), and (2) solvent-extracted coal deposit, extracts, and residue (CDER). It aimed to simultaneously develop and produce two types of coal-derived building products: (1) char-based concrete bricks (CCB) for wall construction in buildings, and (2) carbon-based structural units (CSU) intended as alternatives to traditional wood, concrete, or steel framing structures. The project team has successfully developed methods for manufacturing CCB samples. Extensive experiments were conducted to assess various manufacturing techniques for these samples. This included measuring their physical properties such as thermal conductivity (ranging from 0.26 to 0.38 W/mK) and bulk density (ranging from 0.85 to 1.15 g/cm 3 ), along with their mechanical properties (e.g., compressive strength ranging from 14 to 16 MPa at 28 days) for samples with a PC composition of 70%. Quality assurance and quality control tests, focusing on density and compressive strength, were also performed on samples selected randomly from pilot-scale production, and cured for a long term (over three months). The average long-term compressive strength of two randomly selected CCB samples was measured as 15.1 MPa, which was higher than the required target strength of 14 MPa. This indicates that the manufactured CCB samples from the preliminary pilot scale production run have good quality control and long-term strength performance.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Thermomechanical analysis and modeling of involute-shaped fuel plates using the Cheverton–Kelley experiments for the High Flux Isotope Reactor

Three research reactors with involute-shaped fuel plates are pursuing conversion from highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium fuel. Various core design and safety evaluation studies are essential to assess the feasibility of the conversion. The use of 3D computational multiphysics codes is being explored in these analyses and therefore they must undergo a thorough evaluation and quality assurance process due to their potential impact on nuclear safety. Here, the Cheverton and Kelley physical tests performed in the late 1960s to investigate the deflections of HFIR’s outer plate under uniform pressure and temperature fields are simulated by employing commercially available computational codes, with the goals to (1) verify and validate the models and numerical solvers implemented in the codes for thermomechanical analysis of involute reactor plates and (2) to develop a benchmark computational test to evaluate future versions of existing software or newly developed computational codes. The results of the simulations showed good agreement with each other as well as against the Cheverton–Kelley experimental data. Some minor deviations were observed for a few multiphysics cases and their potential origins and impact on the analysis results is investigated in the paper. The validated models increase the confidence in using multiphysics codes to evaluate existing or new LEU designs.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

MASTODON: An Open-Source Software for Seismic Analysis and Risk Assessment of Critical Infrastructure

Seismic analysis and risk assessment of safety-critical infrastructure like hospitals, nuclear power plants, dams, and facilities handling radioactive materials involve computationally intensive numerical models and coupled multiphysics scenarios. They are also performed in a strict regulatory environment that requires high software quality assurance standards, and in the case of safety-related nuclear facilities, a conformance to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Nuclear Quality Assurance (NQA-1) standard. This paper introduces the open-source finite-element software, MASTODON (Multi-hazard Analysis of Stochastic Time-Domain Phenomena), which implements state-of-the-art seismic analysis and risk assessment tools in a quality-controlled environment. MASTODON is built on MOOSE (Multi-physics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment), which is a highly parallelizable, NQA-1 conforming, coupled multiphysics, finite-element framework developed at Idaho National Laboratory. MASTODON is capable of fault rupture and source-to-site wave propagation using the domain reduction method, nonlinear site response, and soil-structure interaction analysis, implicit and explicit time integration, automated stochastic simulations, and seismic probabilistic risk assessment. When coupled with other MOOSE applications, MASTODON can also solve strongly and weakly coupled multiphysics problems. This paper presents a summary of the capabilities of MASTODON and some demonstrative examples.

42 ENGINEERING↗

ORNL Package Testing Program Software Quality Assurance Plan

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Package Testing Program (PTP) uses commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software in performing data collection of thermal test results for package designs that contain radioactive materials. Specifically, this software is used to collect temperature data from the furnace, packages, and ambient air to prepare and execute the thermal test specified in 10 CFR 71.73, “Thermal Test.” This software quality assurance (SQA) plan sets forth the guidelines, standards, and procedures that shall be used to provide SQA for PTP software applications. This is a living document that will be maintained for the lifecycle of the PTP program. The SQA plan follows the requirements set forth in ORNL Standards Based Management System (SBMS): Information Technology; Subject Area: Software Quality Assurance. When applicable to the requirements as described in ORNL SBMS, Software Quality Assurance, the software shall be listed in the ORNL Software Registration System (SRS). Exemptions to this SBMS are COTS and firmware that are not modified; spreadsheet applications and personal productivity tools that do not have a utility or safety application, research applications, legacy software, system software, vendor-supplied software used to interface with the vendor’s services, software used within the organization to facilitate processing or management of information, and software developed for applications not specific to the US Department of Energy (DOE).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Automated Segmentation of Twin Boundaries in TRISO Silicon Carbide Using Deep Neural Networks

Coated particle fuels, such as the tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel particle, are essential for high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR) applications due to their efficiency and stability under normal and off-normal conditions. However, widespread commercialization and deployment of this technology for next-generation nuclear applications require robust quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) methods linking fabrication, properties, and performance. Of the many important metrics for TRISO QA/QC, quantification of the silicon carbide (SiC) microstructure is critical because it correlates with fission product retention during irradiation. Previous work has shown extensive twinning of the SiC microstructure, which strongly affects microstructural metrics; however, twin grain boundaries are not expected play a significant role in fission product diffusion. This report summarizes the initial development, training, and testing of a machine learning image processing algorithm to detect twin grain boundaries in a backscattered electron image, which can be removed so that microstructural metrics can be recalculated for legacy data. Further development and deployment of this model will provide automated, scalable improvement of potential QA/QC methods for the SiC layer of TRISO particles.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

A New Reflected Target Optical Assessment System: Stage 1 Development Results

NREL has completed stage 1 development of an indoor optical measurement tool for fully assembled heliostats and single facets. This tool began as an indoor version of NREL’s outdoor Non-Intrusive Optical (NIO) measurement technique [1]. It uses similar techniques to other available tools (deflectometry, photogrammetry, etc.), but is designed to require very little infrastructure, labor, and time to set up and collect surface slope and canting measurements, making it a valuable tool for quality assurance and laboratory measurement of heliostat optics. It accomplishes this by using computer vision, photogrammetry, and multiple images stitched together to minimize the printed target size and required setup precision. This adaptable setup is useful for taking measurements at a variety of heliostat pointing angles, and for measuring fully assembled heliostats on the assembly line. In this paper, we describe the methodology behind the measurement system, present an initial analysis of its uncertainty and sensitivity, and compare it with established optical measurement systems.

Kesseli, Devon (ORCID:0000000193113036)↗

A New Reflected Target Optical Assessment System - Stage 1 Development Results: Preprint

NREL has completed stage 1 development of an indoor optical measurement tool for fully assembled heliostats and single facets. This tool began as an indoor version of NREL's NIO technique. It uses similar techniques to other available tools (deflectometry, photogrammetry, etc.), but is designed require very little infrastructure, labor, and time to set up and collect surface slope and canting measurements on fully assembled heliostats and parabolic trough facets, making it a valuable tool for quality assurance and laboratory measurement of helio-stat optics. It accomplishes this by using computer vision, photogrammetry, and multiple images stitched together to minimize the printed target size and required setup precision. This adaptable setup is useful for taking measurements at a variety of heliostat pointing angles, and for measuring fully assembled heliostats on the assembly line. The measurement system's methodology and an analysis of its uncertainty, sensitivity and comparison with established optical measurement systems is described below.

canting↗

Preliminary Enhanced LAW Glass Formulation Algorithm

This report summarizes the Preliminary Enhanced Low-Activity Waste Glass Formulation Algorithm (GFA), its background information, and the calculations it performs. The Preliminary Enhanced Low-Activity Waste GFA is a tool developed in MATLAB to formulate glass for a given waste composition while attempting to maximize waste loading. It is intended for use at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, where nuclear waste will be vitrified into glass. The formulated glass is required to satisfy several processing and product quality constraints. In addition, calculations must account for associated uncertainties in constraint prediction and measurement. The GFA adheres to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory nuclear quality assurance procedures and has been validated and verified. In this second revision to the report, two constraints: the lithium and zirconia target constraints were amended to Table 3.1 and programmed into the algorithm. Additionally, three sections were added. Section 3.2.1 includes the Enhanced LAW Correlation Rules, an addition to the glass optimality criteria. Section 4.0 discusses a stepped process approach taken to ensure the algorithm can adequately react to differences between its recommended output and the actual measurements and transfers made during plant operation, and calculation of specific radionuclide concentrations. Section 5.2 describes changes to the user interaction with the algorithm program including the addition of a graphical user interface and compilation of the software.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Annual Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2022 (Final Report)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), one of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s 10 national laboratories, provides innovative science and technology development in the areas of energy and the environment, fundamental and computational science, and national security. There are three DOE offices within the Richland area. Two are responsible for the Hanford Site, whereas the Pacific Northwest Site Office (PNSO) oversees PNNL. PNNL prepares this Annual Site Environmental Report to meet the requirements of DOE Order 231.1B, Environmental, Safety and Health Reporting, and DOE Order 458.1, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment, assuring that the public is informed of any PNNL-Richland Campus or PNNL-Sequim Campus event that could adversely affect the health and safety of the public, site staff, or the environment. The report provides a synopsis of ongoing environmental management performance and compliance activities for operations that occur on the PNNL-Richland Campus in Richland, Washington, and at the PNNL-Sequim Campus near Sequim, Washington. It describes the location of and background for each facility; addresses compliance with applicable DOE, federal, state, and local regulations, and site-specific permits; documents environmental monitoring efforts and their status; presents potential radiation doses to staff and the public in the surrounding areas; and describes DOE-required data quality assurance methods used for data verification. The ASER summarizes site compliance with federal, state, and local environmental laws, regulations, policies, directives, permits, and Orders, and provides environmental management performance benchmarks and their status to the public, regulatory agencies, community officials, Native American tribes, and public interest groups.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Annual Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2023

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), one of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s 10 national laboratories, provides innovative science and technology development in the areas of energy and the environment, fundamental and computational science, and national security. There are three DOE offices within the Richland area. Two are responsible for the Hanford Site, whereas the Pacific Northwest Site Office oversees PNNL. PNNL prepares an Annual Site Environmental Report to meet the requirements of DOE Order 231.1B, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting, and DOE Order 458.1, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment, thus assuring that the public is informed of any PNNL-Richland campus or PNNL-Sequim campus event that could adversely affect the health and safety of the public, site staff, or the environment. The report provides a synopsis of ongoing environmental management performance and compliance activities for operations that occur at the PNNL-Richland campus in Richland, Washington, and at the PNNL-Sequim campus near Sequim, Washington. It describes the location of and background for each facility; addresses compliance with applicable DOE, federal, state, and local regulations, and site-specific permits; documents environmental monitoring efforts and their status; presents potential radiation doses to staff and the public in the surrounding areas; and describes DOE-required data quality assurance methods used for data verification. The ASER report describes Compliance with Federal, State, and Local Laws and Regulations in 2023, Environmental Sustainability, Environmental monitoring and dose assessment, Natural and Cultural Resource Management, and Quality Assurance activities that took place during Calendar Year 2023.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

Preliminary Enhanced LAW Glass Formulation Algorithm

This report summarizes the Preliminary Enhanced Low-Activity Waste Glass Formulation Algorithm (GFA), its background information, and the calculations it performs. The Preliminary Enhanced Low-Activity Waste GFA is a tool that has been developed in MATLAB to formulate glass for a given waste composition while attempting to maximize waste loading. It is intended for use at the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, where nuclear waste will be vitrified into glass. The formulated glass is required to satisfy several processing and product quality constraints. In addition, calculations must account for associated uncertainties in constraint prediction and measurement. The GFA adheres to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory nuclear quality assurance procedures and has been validated and verified.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗