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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

FY22 Development of Improved Grout Waste Forms for Supplemental Low Activity Waste Treatment

About 54 to 56 million gallons of radioactive mixed waste is currently stored in underground tanks at the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hanford site in the State of Washington. This waste will be separated into low- and high activity waste fractions, which will then be vitrified respectively into Immobilized Low Activity Waste (ILAW) and Immobilized High Level Waste (IHLW) products for subsequent disposal. The ILAW product will be disposed of in an engineered facility at the Hanford site while the IHLW product is designed for acceptance into a national deep geological disposal facility for high level nuclear waste. Treatment of the tank waste will take place in the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), which is under construction. However, since the WTP Low Activity Waste (LAW) Vitrification Facility was not designed to process the entire inventory of Hanford LAW, up to half of the retrieved Hanford LAW will require supplemental immobilization. Immobilizing LAW in a cementitious waste form known as Cast Stone has been investigated as a possible candidate supplemental immobilization technology

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) Doppler Lidar & Derived Products

This repository contains all processed Doppler‐lidar outputs from the PSU lidar deployed for the Baltimore Social‐Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) project. Vertical Stare Scans (fixed‐beam, vertical profiling): 1 Hz backscatter intensity (m⁻¹ sr⁻¹), signal‐to‐noise ratio (unitless), and Doppler vertical‐velocity (m s⁻¹) on ~30 m range gates, stored as CF-compliant NetCDF. Wind Profiles (horizontal‐wind retrieval): daily NetCDF outputs of retrieved horizontal wind speed (m s⁻¹) and direction (degrees), computed from the angled‐scan returns. Profile Statistics (summary statistics on the vertical velocity): 15 min windows (default) of mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis, high-frequency variance, etc., as a function of height; saved as CF-compliant NetCDF files. Boundary Layer Height (BLH) (fuzzy-logic output): 15 min BLH estimates (m), with lower/upper fuzzy bounds (m) and a quality flag (0–4) indicating data status (e.g., no data, good, below range, ran out of signal, cloud-topped). Cloud Base Height (Haar-gradient detection): 15 min estimates of cloud-base height (m) with a cloud-detection quality flag (0–3: none, low, moderate, high). All five product streams are organized by year and date under their own top-level folders (01_Vertical_Stare_Scans/ through 05_Cloud_Height/). Each folder contains a data_ /YYYY/ subdirectory with daily CF-compliant NetCDF outputs (96 windows per day at 15 min intervals). Global attributes in each file include creation history, version (2.0.0), institution, and source. Instrument & MeasurementsThe PSU Doppler Lidar samples aerosol backscatter (m⁻¹ sr⁻¹), signal-to-noise ratio, and radial velocity at ~1 Hz. Vertical stare scans point the beam straight up; after collecting angled scans through multiple elevation angles, the "Wind Profiles" product contains the fully retrieved horizontal wind speed and direction. Data were collected continuously at ~30 m range resolution, with a typical height ceiling of ~12 km. How to Use Open any NetCDF with Python's xarray, MATLAB, or similar CF-compliant tools. Stare scans and angled-scan retrievals (Wind Profiles) are CF-compliant daily NetCDF files. Profile-Statistics, BLH, and Cloud Height files are daily 15 min summaries (96 time steps per file). Inspect the included variables (e.g., vertical_velocity_variance, wind_speed, BLH, cloud_base_height) for your analyses. Use the quality flags (BLH_flag, cloud_flag) to filter out poor-quality retrievals. For more information or questions about processing methods, please contact:Nicholas E. Prince ⟨nec5299@psu.edu⟩Penn State Department of Meteorology & Atmospheric Science

Air Quality↗
DOE OSTI2026

Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) Doppler Lidar & Derived Products

This repository contains all processed Doppler‐lidar outputs from the PSU lidar deployed for the Baltimore Social‐Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) project. Vertical Stare Scans (fixed‐beam, vertical profiling): 1 Hz backscatter intensity (m⁻¹ sr⁻¹), signal‐to‐noise ratio (unitless), and Doppler vertical‐velocity (m s⁻¹) on 30 m range gates (and 3 m range gates), stored as CF-compliant NetCDF. Wind Profiles (horizontal‐wind retrieval): daily NetCDF outputs of retrieved horizontal wind speed (m s⁻¹) and direction (degrees), computed from the angled‐scan returns. Profile Statistics (summary statistics on the vertical velocity): 15 min windows (default) of mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis, high-frequency variance, etc., as a function of height; saved as CF-compliant NetCDF files. Boundary Layer Height (BLH) (fuzzy-logic output): 15 min BLH estimates (m), with lower/upper fuzzy bounds (m) and a quality flag (0–4) indicating data status (e.g., no data, good, ran out of signal, below range, cloud-topped). Cloud Base Height (Haar-gradient detection): 10 min estimates of cloud-base height (m). All five product streams are organized by year and date under their own top-level folders (01_Vertical_Stare_Scans/ through 05_Cloud_Height/). Each folder contains a data_ /YYYY/ subdirectory with daily CF-compliant NetCDF outputs (96 windows per day at 15 min intervals). Global attributes in each file include creation history, version (3.0.0), institution, and source. Instrument & MeasurementsThe PSU Doppler Lidar samples aerosol backscatter (m⁻¹ sr⁻¹), signal-to-noise ratio, and radial velocity at ~1 Hz. Vertical stare scans point the beam straight up; after collecting angled scans through multiple elevation angles, the "Wind Profiles" product contains the fully retrieved horizontal wind speed and direction. Data were collected continuously at ~30 m range resolution (and 3 m for the year of 2025), with a typical height ceiling of ~12 km. How to Use Open any NetCDF with Python's xarray, MATLAB, or similar CF-compliant tools. Stare scans and angled-scan retrievals (Wind Profiles) are CF-compliant daily NetCDF files. Profile-Statistics, BLH, and Cloud Height files are daily 15 min (10 min for Cloud Heights) summaries (96 time steps per file). Inspect the included variables (e.g., vertical_velocity_variance, wind_speed, BLH, cloud_base_height) for your analyses. Use the quality flags (BLH_flag, cloud_flag) to filter out poor-quality retrievals. For more information or questions about processing methods, please contact:Nicholas E. Prince ⟨nec5299@psu.edu⟩Penn State Department of Meteorology & Atmospheric Science

Air Quality↗
DOE OSTI2026

Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) Doppler Lidar & Derived Products

This repository contains all processed Doppler‐lidar outputs from the PSU lidar deployed for the Baltimore Social‐Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) project. Vertical Stare Scans (fixed‐beam, vertical profiling): 1 Hz backscatter intensity (m⁻¹ sr⁻¹), signal‐to‐noise ratio (unitless), and Doppler vertical‐velocity (m s⁻¹) on 30 m range gates (and 3 m range gates), stored as CF-compliant NetCDF. Wind Profiles (horizontal‐wind retrieval): daily NetCDF outputs of retrieved horizontal wind speed (m s⁻¹) and direction (degrees), computed from the angled‐scan returns. Profile Statistics (summary statistics on the vertical velocity): 15 min windows (default) of mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis, high-frequency variance, etc., as a function of height; saved as CF-compliant NetCDF files. Boundary Layer Height (BLH) (fuzzy-logic output): 15 min BLH estimates (m), with lower/upper fuzzy bounds (m) and a quality flag (0–4) indicating data status (e.g., no data, good, ran out of signal, below range, cloud-topped). Cloud Base Height (Haar-gradient detection): 10 min estimates of cloud-base height (m). All five product streams are organized by year and date under their own top-level folders (01_Vertical_Stare_Scans/ through 05_Cloud_Height/). Each folder contains a data_ /YYYY/ subdirectory with daily CF-compliant NetCDF outputs (96 windows per day at 15 min intervals). Global attributes in each file include creation history, version (3.0.1), institution, and source. Instrument & MeasurementsThe PSU Doppler Lidar samples aerosol backscatter (m⁻¹ sr⁻¹), signal-to-noise ratio, and radial velocity at ~1 Hz. Vertical stare scans point the beam straight up; after collecting angled scans through multiple elevation angles, the "Wind Profiles" product contains the fully retrieved horizontal wind speed and direction. Data were collected continuously at ~30 m range resolution (and 3 m for the year of 2025), with a typical height ceiling of ~12 km. How to Use Open any NetCDF with Python's xarray, MATLAB, or similar CF-compliant tools. Stare scans and angled-scan retrievals (Wind Profiles) are CF-compliant daily NetCDF files. Profile-Statistics, BLH, and Cloud Height files are daily 15 min (10 min for Cloud Heights) summaries (96 time steps per file). Inspect the included variables (e.g., vertical_velocity_variance, wind_speed, BLH, cloud_base_height) for your analyses. Use the quality flags (BLH_flag, cloud_flag) to filter out poor-quality retrievals. For more information or questions about processing methods, please contact:Nicholas E. Prince ⟨nec5299@psu.edu⟩Penn State Department of Meteorology & Atmospheric Science

Air Quality↗
DOE OSTI2023

Datasets for DOE 2023 Communities LEAP

This data is aligned to eligibility criteria outlined in the United States Department of Energy (DOE) 2023 Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program). Please visit the LEAP website (https://www.energy.gov/communitiesLEAP/communities-leap) to learn more about LEAP and gain additional contextual information for how these data may be used. The data provided approximates how the eligibility criteria apply at the census tract level across the United States. This EDX submission provides access to information pertaining to each of the four eligibility criteria outlined (average energy burden, percent low income, communities with a historic economic dependence on fossil fuel industrial facilities, and disadvantaged communities) for all census tracts within the 50 U.S. States, the District of Columbia (D.C.), and Puerto Rico. This information can be access in a detailed excel spreadsheet or through the linked interactive web application (https://arcgis.netl.doe.gov/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=2a77f443d72b4a4d82474b3ffe33b8cd). Please note that while these data are provided at the census tract level, census tracts do not necessarily have the same physical boundaries as a community but were used as they provide the closest proxy based on publicly available information collected using an empirically robust method. U.S. territories are not listed but are eligible to apply to Communities LEAP. As stated in the Opportunity Announcement, applying communities should describe how they meet the eligibility criteria in their application even if these data do not specifically show that they are eligible.

2023↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ocean & Geohazard Analysis Tool

The Ocean & Geohazard Analysis (OGA) software tool is designed to summarize insights into key offshore hazards drawing from a diverse set of approaches, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, probabilistic and statistical, and offshore data sources. The offshore hazards that can be analyzed include submarine landslides, extreme wind/wave/current event probabilities, earthquakes, and metocean pathways (CIAM Climatological Isolation and Attraction Model–Climatological Lagrangian Coherent Structures - Submissions - EDX (doe.gov)). Currently, the tool is developed for use in the Gulf of Mexico. The data underlying the offshore hazard analyses can be found here: https://edx.netl.doe.gov/dataset/gulf-of-mexico-risk-analysis-database-gomrad This work was conducted under the Advanced Offshore Research Portfolio, FWP Number 1022409 at National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy. Disclaimer This project was funded by the United States Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, in part, through a site support contract. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor the support contractor, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

AIML↗
DOE OSTI2023

Geospatial and Information Substitution and Anonymization Tool (GISA)

The Geospatial and Information Substitution and Anonymization Tool (GISA) incorporates techniques for obfuscating identifiable information from point data or documents, while simultaneously maintaining chosen variables to enable future use and meaningful analysis. This approach promotes collaboration and data sharing while also reducing the risk of exposure to sensitive information. GISA can be used in a number of different ways, including the anonymization of point spatial data, batch replacement/removal of user-specified terms from file names and from within file content, and aid with the selection and redaction of images and terms based on recommendations using natural language processing. Version 1 of the tool, published here, has updated functionality and enhanced capabilities to the beta version published in 2023. Please see User Documentation for further information on capabilities, as well as a guide for how to download and use the tool. If there are any feedback you would like to provide for the tool, please reach out with your feedback to edxsupport@netl.doe.gov. Disclaimer: This project was funded by the United States Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, in part, through a site support contract. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor the support contractor, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. The Geospatial and Information Substitution and Anonymization Tool (GISA) was developed jointly through the U.S. DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s EDX4CCS Project, in part, from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law↗
DOE OSTI2024

Subsurface Energy Systems Mapping Inquiry Tool (MapIT)

The Subsurface Energy Systems Mapping Inquiry Tool (MapIT) is an online web mapping tool designed to help users discover available public-sourced data to facilitate data exploration for subsurface energy exploration and characterization efforts for resource identification (e.g. critical minerals, hydrocarbons, geothermal) as well as injection of geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide (e.g. enhanced oil recovery, saline storage, etc.). Modules within the tool curate data related to geology, faults, fractures, injection and confining zones, hydrologic information, groundwater, groundwater wells, geomechanical and petrophysical data, and geochemical data. User documentation on how to use the tool is also provided. Data have been collected from authoritative national, state, and local sources and made available in this tool. The data is also available as a data catalog and Esri Geodatabase at: https://edx.netl.doe.gov/dataset/mapit-database Disclaimer: There is no guarantee of completeness or appropriateness for individual user’s requirements. Use of this tool is solely at the discretion of the user. See full Federal Disclaimer for further information (https://netl.doe.gov/home/disclaimer). This project was funded by the United States Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, in part, through a site support contract. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor the support contractor, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. https://www.netl.doe.gov/home/disclaimer

Carbon Sequestration↗
DOE OSTI2024

Industry Scan of Non-SF6 Gas-Insulated Technologies

Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF 6 ) is a specialty gas with excellent electrical insulation properties which has been used extensively in the power industry. This gas is unfortunately also one of the most potent greenhouse gases known to humanity. A 2014 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that SF 6 has a global warming potential (GWP) 23,000 times higher than Carbon Dioxide, and has the highest GWP of all gases assessed (Myhre 2013). SF 6 is almost exclusively man-made and is produced for use as an insulator in high voltage electrical equipment. This makes the production and use of SF 6 one of the leading sources of anthropogenic climate change. Since SF 6 recognition as a significant contributor to climate change, most governments and organizations have sought ways to reduce or eliminate their use of this gas. Many utilities have initiated leak monitoring and repair programs which have significantly reduced emissions of this gas into the atmosphere. While leak reduction programs have been effective at reducing emission rates in the developed world, leak rates remain frozen at ~1% annually. However, one of the largest and fastest growing markets for this gas is in the developing world where emissions standards are often lacking (P&S Intelligence. 2023). To fully eliminate the environmental impacts of SF 6 , alternative technology is needed. The ideal replacement would be a technology that can fulfil the same role as SF 6 , at the same cost or cheaper, but without adverse environmental effects. Currently, no technology fits this description, however several promising technologies have begun to enter the market. This report was commissioned by the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity under the Transformer Resilience and Advanced Components (TRAC) program to assess the state of industry adoption and manufacturing capability for SF 6 -free alternative technologies for use at the high-voltage level, and the primary barriers to broader adoption. While this report is tailored to the United States, the findings should be relevant to all stakeholders seeking to reduce SF 6 emissions.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

BISON: A Finite Element-Based Nuclear Fuel Performance Code

BISON is a finite element-based nuclear fuel performance code applicable to a variety of fuel forms including light water reactor fuel rods, TRISO particle fuel, and metallic rod and plate fuel. It is a multiphysics fuel analysis tool that solves fully-coupled thermomechanical problems. BISON is based on MOOSE and can efficiently solve problems using standard workstations or very large high-performance computers in a variety of different dimensions, including full 3D, 2D-RZ axisymmetric, layered axisymmetric 1D, and spherically symmetric 1D systems. It is developed by a team of scientists and engineers at Idaho National Laboratory and by collaborators. The development of BISON is supported by various funding agencies, principally the United States Department of Energy.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

MultiSector Dynamics: 2023 Inaugural Workshop Report

Preface The MultiSector Dynamics (MSD) Community of Practice (CoP) hosted an inaugural workshop on October 3-5, 2023 at the University of California, Davis, to bring together members of the MSD community of practice to advance understanding of the co-evolution of human and natural systems, and to build the next generation of tools that bridge sectors, scales, and systems to realize a more resilient and equitable future. The theme of the workshop was "Advancing Complex Adaptive Human-Earth Systems Science in a World of Interconnected Risks". This document outlines the motivation for the workshop, its goals and objectives, the application process, the agenda, overviews of the training sessions offered to the workshop participants and a summary of each breakout session. The MSD workshop report further discusses the feedback from workshop participants and presents some reflections and next steps. The MSD Workshop organizers thank the DOE Office of Science, Earth and Environmental System Modeling, MultiSector Dynamics program area for financial support of its activities through the Integrated Multisector Multiscale Modeling (IM3) project. For more information related to the broader DOE MultiSector Dynamics Program please see https://climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/program-area/multisector-dynamics. D.L.M. and C.M.B. acknowledge support from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy (DOE). Disclaimer This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither theUnited States Government nor any agency thereof, nor Battelle Memorial Institute, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, complete- ness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name,trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof, or Battelle Memorial Institute. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory operated by Battelle for the United States Department of Energy Available from:Office of Scientific and Technical Information http://www.OSTI.gov multisectordynamics.org This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4 Suggested citation: Monier, E., Reed, P.M., Vernon, C.R., Hadjimichael, A., Brelsford, C.M., Burleyson, C.B., Dyreson, A.R., Fletcher, S.M., Giang, A., Gupta, R.S., Jackson, N.D., Jones, A.D., Lamontagne, J.R., McCollum, D.L., Morris, J.F., Moss, R.H., Peng, W., Saari, R.K., Srikrishnan, V., Szinai, J.K., Yoon, J. (2024) MultiSector Dynamics: 2023 Inaugural Workshop Report. MSD-LIVE Data Repository. doi:10.57931/2371710.

Monier, Erwan↗
DOE OSTI2024

Insights from FEED studies for retrofitting existing fossil power plants with carbon capture technology

Recent United States Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored front-end engineering design (FEED) studies for retrofitting existing fossil-fueled power plants with state-of-the-art carbon capture technology contain previously overlooked real-world design considerations for near-term deployment of carbon capture. Insights from examining seven recently published FEED study reports are summarized in this paper. This includes a discussion of the design, performance, and cost implications associated with (1) location-specific considerations such as water availability, land availability, and accessibility; (2) host-plant-specific factors such as flue gas specifications, allowable degree of integration between the capture system and host plant, and operational mode; and (3) miscellaneous factors such as market conditions, permitting requirements, and business case incentives. In conclusion, this manuscript highlights (1) water availability as a key design and cost driver, with host plant steam extraction increasing capture system cooling water availability, (2) modularization and constructability impacts on the number of capture trains, (3) the impacts of host plant operational mode and capacity factor on the business case for installing capture, and (4) the merit of continued research, development, and demonstration efforts addressing steam extraction, host plant tie-in at the stack, solvent reclamation and air emissions control.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

PFAS Removal by Ion Exchange Resins: Background and Knowledge Gaps with Respect to the Hanford Site

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been a rising concern for the past two decades, with the United States Department of Defense and Environmental Protection Agency investing millions of dollars in research into remediation and clean-up technologies. Due to the environmental persistence, toxicity, biological uptake, and ongoing changes in both federal and state regulatory space, understanding the fate and transport of PFAS compounds has been of growing concern to the US Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE’s Hanford Site is investigating historical use of PFAS and will be doing site characterization for PFAS. Thus, PFAS have not yet been identified as a contaminant concern in regulatory documents. Based on historical records that mention the discharge of aqueous film-forming foam containing PFAS and having on-site fire stations (a risk factor for PFAS contamination), it seems likely that environmental releases of PFAS may have occurred. Pump and treat (P&T) remediation is the selected remedy for multiple groundwater contaminant plumes at Hanford. These P&T systems use ion exchange (IX) as a component of aboveground treatment, with the specific resins depending on the target contaminants. There is potential that these IX resins may be able to remove PFAS from groundwater, but investigation is needed to understand affinity/selectivity and removal capacity given the groundwater composition and the operating conditions. This report provides background on PFAS uses and chemistry, then provides a review of IX resin applications for PFAS, identifying knowledge gaps. Recommendations are provided regarding research needed to address knowledge gaps and acquire information needed to propose IX as a future PFAS remediation technology at the Hanford Site, as well as other U.S. Department of Energy sites. Generally, PFAS compounds are fluorinated substances that contain at least one fully fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon – with a few noted exceptions, any chemical with at least a perfluorinated methyl group (–CF3) or a perfluorinated methylene group (–CF2–) is a PFAS. These chemical compounds are characterized as non-biodegradable, non-reactive, non-photolytic, and hydrolysis resistant. This makes them highly recalcitrant within the environment, however polyfluoroalkyl materials are less recalcitrant as the carbon chains contain C–H bonds which are more easily broken than carbon – fluorine (C–F) bonds. The backbone carbon structures are commonly punctuated with a head group, the most well-known of them are perfluorooctanesulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid, which possess a sulfonate and a carboxylate group, respectively. IX resins are marketed for the removal of PFAS from water systems and industrial water, however, the mechanism of removal is not as well understood as for anion or cation removal. A better understanding of the mechanism of removal would enable the development of IX resins that have improved specificity for PFAS removal. Four knowledge gaps were identified: 1) the effect of dissolved ions on the IX resin PFAS removal effectiveness, 2) the effect of additional primary contaminants of concern (PCOCs) or secondary contaminants of concern (SCOCs) on the effectiveness of PFAS via IX resin, 3) the mechanisms of PFAS removal from water, and 4) practical solutions to IX resin regeneration and waste disposal.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Massively parallel phase-field simulations targeting exascale

The interface thickness in the phase-field (PF) method limits its simulation scales. Consequently, large-scale PF simulations become prohibitively expensive for resolving the extremely fine microstructures that typically form during rapid solidification processing. This challenge is significant in predicting microstructure evolution in metal additive manufacturing and has been identified by the United States Department of Energy’s Exascale Computing Project. Here, to address this, we develop a multi-GPU and MPI-based massively parallel simulation code, utilizing state-of-the-art algorithms, software, and libraries, for large-scale three-dimensional (3D) PF simulations. We report the first GPU-parallel PF simulations on Frontier (currently the second TOP500 exascale cluster) and Summit machines, taking dendritic growth as an example problem. We evaluate the parallel performance of our implementation using scaling studies with more than 24 000 GPUs (among the largest known computations to date) and the acceleration performance using large-scale simulations of dendritic growth in 3D. Finally, massively parallel GPUs in these supercomputers enabled the first coupled multiscale simulations of laser melting and subsequent dendritic solidification on the scale of a full melt-pool, demonstrating the feasibility of performing PF simulations with a point total over 2 billion grid points within an acceptable time.

Exascale↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multi-Modal Characterization of Interfacial Corrosion of Ni-based Alloys in Chloride-based Molten Salts

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is committed to the advancement of nuclear reactor technology through initiatives such as the Advanced Reactor Development Program (ARDP), to diversify the United States energy portfolio towards more sustainable energy options. The ARDP includes demonstration by industry partners of molten salt fast reactors (MSRs). Construction of molten salt reactor technology requires qualified nuclear structural materials. Unfortunately, there are no current materials that meet current qualification requirements dictated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction of MSRs. Adapting current structural material qualifications requires expansion of our current knowledgebase on corrosion performance. In this investigation, we assess microstructural changes in a Ni-based superalloy after exposure to a chloride-containing salt system through a correlated multi-modal approach combining several advanced characterization techniques. Namely we will highlight the impact of grain boundary phenomena at the onset of corrosion attack, including the role of intergranular crack propagation and development of internal corrosion products. The findings from this investigation will further expand our assessment of the corrosion performance of structural materials being investigated for construction of MSR components.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Application of multi-criteria decision analysis techniques and decision support framework for informing plant select agent designation and decision making

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Division of Agricultural Select Agents and Toxins (DASAT) established a list of biological agents (Select Agents List) that threaten crops of economic importance to the United States and regulates the procedures governing containment, incident response, and the security of entities working with them. Every 2 years the USDA DASAT reviews their select agent list, utilizing assessments by subject matter experts (SMEs) to rank the agents. We explored the applicability of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques and a decision support framework (DSF) to support the USDA DASAT biennial review process. The evaluation includes both current and non-select agents to provide a robust assessment. We initially conducted a literature review of 16 pathogens against 9 criteria for assessing plant health and bioterrorism risk and documented the findings to support this analysis. Technical review of published data and associated scoring recommendations by pathogen-specific SMEs was found to be critical for ensuring accuracy. Scoring criteria were adopted to ensure consistency. The MCDA supported the expectation that select agents would rank high on the relative risk scale when considering the agricultural consequences of a bioterrorism attack; however, application of analytical thresholds as a basis for designating select agents led to some exceptions to current designations. A second analytical approach used agent-specific data to designate key criteria in a DSF logic tree format to identify pathogens of low concern that can be ruled out for further consideration as select agents. Both the MCDA and DSF approaches arrived at similar conclusions, suggesting the value of employing the two analytical approaches to add robustness for decision making.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Elucidating the corrosion mechanism of Ni-based superalloys in the presence of uranium-containing chloride molten salt

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is committed to the advancement of nuclear reactor technology through initiatives such as the Advanced Reactor Development Program (ARDP), in an effort to diversify the United States energy portfolio towards more sustainable energy options. The ARDP includes demonstration by industry partners of molten chloride fast reactors (MCFRs). Construction of MCFRs requires qualified nuclear structural materials. Unfortunately, there are no current materials that are fully qualified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the construction of molten salt reactors, including MCFRs. Adapting current structural material qualifications requires expansion of our current knowledgebase on the property-performance relationships regarding corrosion performance. In this investigation, we assess microstructural changes in a Ni-based superalloy after exposure to a UCl3¬-containing chloride salt eutectic mixture through a correlated multi-modal approach combining several advanced characterization techniques, including scanning electron microscopy/focused ion beam (SEM/FIB) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). SEM/FIB analysis will illustrate changes in elemental composition, microstructure, and isotopic information acquired from energy x-ray dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), respectively. This information will then aid in identifying localized regions to elucidate the corrosion mechanism with TEM through a combination of electron diffraction, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), and additional EDS. The findings from this investigation will further expand our assessment of the corrosion performance of structural materials in molten salt chloride systems, aiding to developing fully qualified materials for construction of MCFRs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Results of Re-evaluation of FEPs Related to Higher Fissile Content in HLW Glass at SRS

One of the objectives of the United States Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s Office of Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition is to better understand the technical bases, risks, and uncertainties associated with the safe and secure disposition of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Domestic defense and research activities have generated a few thousand metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, much of which has been or will be processed and vitrified into high-level waste glass. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act 1982 makes the Department of Energy responsible for disposal of these materials.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗