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

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At least 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

An Overview of the Cooperative Effort between the United States Department of Energy and the China Atomic Energy Authority to Enhance MPC&A Inspections for Civil Nuclear Facilities in China

The United States Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) and the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) are cooperating to enhance the domestic regulatory inspections capacity for special nuclear material protection, control and accounting (MPC&A) requirements for civil nuclear facilities in China. This cooperation is conducted under the auspices of the Agreement between the Department of Energy of the United States of America and the State Development and Planning Commission of the People s Republic of China on Cooperation Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Technology. This initial successful effort was conducted in three phases. Phase I focused on introducing CAEA personnel to DOE and U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection methods for U. S. facilities. This phase was completed in January 2008 during meetings in Beijing. Phase II focused on developing physical protection and material control and accounting inspection exercises that enforced U. S. inspection methods identified during Phase 1. Hands on inspection activities were conducted in the United States over a two week period in July 2009. Simulated deficiencies were integrated into the inspection exercises. The U. S. and Chinese participants actively identified and discussed deficiencies noted during the two week training course. The material control and accounting inspection exercises were conducted at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) in Paducah, KY. The physical protection inspection exercises were conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, TN. Phase III leveraged information provided under Phase I and experience gained under Phase II to develop a formal inspection guide that incorporates a systematic approach to training for Chinese MPC&A field inspectors. Additional hands on exercises that are applicable to Chinese regulations were incorporated into the Phase III training material. Phase III was completed in May 2010 at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) in Beijing. This paper provides details of the successful cooperation between DOE/NNSA and CAEA for all phases of the cooperative effort to enhance civil domestic MPC&A inspections in China.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Direct Measurement of Initial Enrichment and Burn-up of Spent Fuel Assembly with a Differential Die-Away Technique Based Instrument

A key objective of the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI) is to utilize non-destructive assay (NDA) techniques to determine the elemental plutonium (Pu) content in a commercial-grade nuclear spent fuel assembly (SFA). In the third year of the NGSI Spent Fuel NDA project, the research focus is on the integration of a few NDA techniques. One of the reoccurring challenges to the accurate determination of Pu content has been the explicit dependence of the measured signal on the presence of neutron absorbers which build up in the assembly in accordance with its operating and irradiation history. The history of any SFA is often summarized by the parameters of burn-up (BU), initial enrichment (IE) and cooling time (CT). While such parameters can typically be provided by the operator, the ability to directly measure and verify them would significantly enhance the autonomy of the IAEA inspectorate. Within this paper, we demonstrate that an instrument based on a Differential Die-Away technique is in principle capable of direct measurement of IE and, should the CT be known, also the BU.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Ultra-wideband Location Authentication for Item Tracking

International safeguards is increasingly utilizing unattended and remote monitoring methods to improve inspector efficiency and the timeliness of diversion detection. Item identification and tracking has been proposed as one unattended remote monitoring method, and a number of radio-frequency (RF) technologies have been proposed. When utilizing location information for verification purposes, strong assurance of the authenticity of the reported location is required, but most commercial RF systems are vulnerable to a variety of spoofing and relay attacks. ORNL has developed a distance bounding method that uses ultra-wideband technology to provide strong assurance of item location. This distance bounding approach can be coupled with strong symmetric key authentication methods to provide a fully authenticable tracking system that is resistant to both spoofing and relay attacks. This paper will discuss the overall problems associated with RF tracking including the common spoofing and relay attack scenarios, the ORNL distance bounding approach for authenticating location, and the potential applications for this technology.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2012

Graphical User Interface Software for Gross Defect Detection at the Atucha-I Plant

At the Atucha-I pressurized heavy water reactor in Argentina, fuel assemblies in the spent fuel pools are stored by suspending them in two vertically stacked layers. This introduces the unique problem of verifying the presence of fuel in either layer without physically moving the fuel assemblies. Movement of fuel, especially from the lower layer, would involve a major effort on the part of the operator. Given that the facility uses both natural uranium and slightly enriched uranium at 0.85 w% {sup 235}U, and has been in operation since 1974, a wide range of burnups and cooling times can exist in any given pool. Additionally, while fuel assemblies are grouped together in a uniform fashion, the packing density from group to group can vary within a single pool. A tool called the Spent Fuel Neutron Counter (SFNC) was developed and successfully tested at the site to verify, in an in-situ condition, the presence of fuel up to burnups of 8,000 MWd/t. Since the neutron source term becomes a nonlinear function of burnup beyond this burnup, a new algorithm was developed to predict expected response from the SFNC at measurement locations covering the entire range of burnups, cooling times, and initial enrichments. With the aid of a static database of parameters including intrinsic sources and energy group-wise detector response functions, as well as explicit spent fuel information including burnups, cooling times, enrichment types, and spacing between fuel assemblies, an expected response for any given location can be calculated by summing the contributions from the relevant neighboring fuel assemblies. Thus, the new algorithm maps the expected responses across the various pools providing inspectors with a visual aid in verifying the presence of the spent fuel assemblies. This algorithm has been fully integrated into a standalone application built in LabVIEW. The GUI uses a step-by-step approach to allow the end-user to first calibrate the predicted database against a set of measurements with SFNC at selected locations where spent fuel is present. Once the database is calibrated it can be used to detect gross defects by comparing the measured signal to the one predicted by the database with differences beyond a set tolerance indicating missing fuel.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2012

The Euratom Fast Collar (EFC): A Safeguards Instrument Design to Address Future Fuel Measurement Challenges

Summary of this presentation: (1) EFC instrument design for {sup 235}U verification measurements issued to EURATOM to issue a call for commercial tender; (2) Achieved a fast (Cd mode) measurement with less than 2% relative uncertainty in the doubles neutron counting rate in 10 minutes using a standard source strength; (3) Assay time in fast mode consistent with the needs of an inspector; (4) Extended to realistic calibration range for modern fuel designs - Relatively insensitive to gadolinia content for fuel designs with up to 32 burnable poison rods and 15 wt % gadolinia concentration, which is a realistic maximum for modern PWR fuel; (5) Improved performance over the standard thermal neutron collar with greater than twice the efficiency of the original design; (6) Novel tube pattern to reduce the impact of accidental pile-up; and (7) Joint test of prototype unit - EURATOM-LANL.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Application of Condition-Based Monitoring Techniques for Remote Monitoring of a Simulated Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plant

This paper presents research into the adaptation of monitoring techniques from maintainability and reliability (M&R) engineering for remote unattended monitoring of gas centrifuge enrichment plants (GCEPs) for international safeguards. Two categories of techniques are discussed: the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) for diagnostic monitoring, and sequential Monte Carlo (SMC or, more commonly, particle filtering ) for prognostic monitoring. Development and testing of the application of condition-based monitoring (CBM) techniques was performed on the Oak Ridge Mock Feed and Withdrawal (F&W) facility as a proof of principle. CBM techniques have been extensively developed for M&R assessment of physical processes, such as manufacturing and power plants. These techniques are normally used to locate and diagnose the effects of mechanical degradation of equipment to aid in planning of maintenance and repair cycles. In a safeguards environment, however, the goal is not to identify mechanical deterioration, but to detect and diagnose (and potentially predict) attempts to circumvent normal, declared facility operations, such as through protracted diversion of enriched material. The CBM techniques are first explained from the traditional perspective of maintenance and reliability engineering. The adaptation of CBM techniques to inspector monitoring is then discussed, focusing on the unique challenges of decision-based effects rather than equipment degradation effects. These techniques are then applied to the Oak Ridge Mock F&W facility a water-based physical simulation of a material feed and withdrawal process used at enrichment plants that is used to develop and test online monitoring techniques for fully information-driven safeguards of GCEPs. Advantages and limitations of the CBM approach to online monitoring are discussed, as well as the potential challenges of adapting CBM concepts to safeguards applications.

Condition-Based Monitoring↗
DOE OSTI2012

Electromagnetic Signature Technique as a Promising Tool to Verify Nuclear Weapons Storage and Dismantlement under a Nuclear Arms Control Regime

The 2010 ratification of the New START Treaty has been widely regarded as a noteworthy national security achievement for both the Obama administration and the Medvedev-Putin regime, but deeper cuts are envisioned under future arms control regimes. Future verification needs will include monitoring the storage of warhead components and fissile materials and verifying dismantlement of warheads, pits, secondaries, and other materials. From both the diplomatic and technical perspectives, verification under future arms control regimes will pose new challenges. Since acceptable verification technology must protect sensitive design information and attributes, non-nuclear non-sensitive signatures may provide a significant verification tool without the use of additional information barriers. The use of electromagnetic signatures to monitor nuclear material storage containers is a promising technology with the potential to fulfill these challenging requirements. Research performed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has demonstrated that low frequency electromagnetic signatures of sealed metallic containers can be used to confirm the presence of specific components on a “yes/no” basis without revealing classified information. Arms control inspectors might use this technique to verify the presence or absence of monitored items, including both nuclear and non-nuclear materials. Although additional research is needed to study signature aspects such as uniqueness and investigate container-specific scenarios, the technique potentially offers a rapid and cost-effective tool to verify reduction and dismantlement of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons.

low frequency electromagnetics, nuclear materials ↗
DOE OSTI2012

Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracks in Nickel Alloy Dissimilar Metal Welds: Detection and Sizing Using Established and Emerging Nondestructive Examination Techniques

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has established the Program to Assess the Reliability of Emerging Nondestructive Techniques (PARENT) as a follow-on to the international cooperative Program for the Inspection of Nickel Alloy Components (PINC). The goal of PINC was to evaluate the capabilities of various nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to detect and characterize surface-breaking primary water stress corrosion cracks in dissimilar-metal welds (DMW) in bottom-mounted instrumentation (BMI) penetrations and small-bore (≈400-mm diameter) piping components. A series of international blind round-robin tests were conducted by commercial and university inspection teams. Results from these tests showed that a combination of conventional and phased-array ultrasound techniques provided the highest performance for flaw detection and depth sizing in dissimilar metal piping welds. The effective detection of flaws in BMIs by eddy current and ultrasound shows that it may be possible to reliably inspect these components in the field. The goal of PARENT is to continue the work begun in PINC and apply the lessons learned to a series of open and blind international round-robin tests that will be conducted on a new set of piping components including large-bore (≈900-mm diameter) DMWs, small-bore DMWs, and BMIs. Open round-robin testing will engage universities and industry worldwide to investigate the reliability of emerging NDE techniques to detect and accurately size flaws having a wide range of lengths, depths, orientations, and locations. Blind round-robin testing will invite testing organizations worldwide, whose inspectors and procedures are certified by the standards for the nuclear industry in their respective countries, to investigate the ability of established NDE techniques to detect and size flaws whose characteristics range from easy to very difficult to detect and size. This paper presents highlights of PINC and reports on the plans and progress for PARENT round-robin tests.

cracks↗
DOE OSTI2011

Game Imaging Meets Nuclear Reality

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, a team of artists and animators, nuclear engineers and computer scientists is teaming to provide 3-D models of nuclear facilities to train IAEA safeguards inspectors and others who need fast familiarity with specific nuclear sites.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗
DOE OSTI2013

Energy Storage Systems

Energy Storage Systems – An Old Idea Doing New Things with New Technology article for the International Assoication of ELectrical Inspectors

Conover, David R.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Spent Fuel NDA Research Path for the Sweden Encapsulation-Repository

This set of slides provides a description of research performed to date on spent fuel NDA: Next Generation Safeguards Initiative Spent Fuel Project, and NDA analysis and research planned for CLINK. The general purpose is strengthening the technical toolkit of safeguard inspectors. Data mining is being applied to determine the optimal mathematical structure to match the complexity of spent fuel NDA signals and to enable a range of quantities to be estimated.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Toward a Fieldable Atomic Mass Spectrometer for Safeguards Applications: Sample Preparation and Ionization

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) long-term research and development plan calls for the development of new methods to detect misuse at nuclear fuel cycle facilities such as reprocessing and enrichment plants. At enrichment plants, for example, the IAEA’s contemporary safeguards approaches are based on a combination of routine and random inspections that include collection of UF6 samples from in-process material and selected cylinders for subsequent analyses. These analyses include destructive analysis (DA) in a laboratory (typically by mass spectrometry [MS]) for isotopic characterization, and environmental sampling (ES) for subsequent laboratory elemental and isotopic analysis (also both typically by MS). One area of new method development includes moving this kind of isotope ratio analytical capability for DA and ES activities into the field. Some of the reasons for these developments include timeliness of results, avoidance of hazardous material shipments, and guidance for additional sample collecting. However, this capability does not already exist for several reasons, such as that most lab-based chemical and instrumental methods rely on laboratory infrastructure (highly trained staff, power, space, hazardous material handling, etc.) and require significant amounts of consumables (power, compressed gases, etc.). In addition, there are no currently available, fieldable instruments for atomic or isotope ratio analysis. To address these issues, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and collaborator, Clemson University, are studying key areas that limit the fieldability of isotope ratio mass spectrometry for atomic ions: sample preparation and ionization, and reducing the physical size of a fieldable mass spectrometer. PNNL is seeking simple and robust techniques that could be effectively used by inspectors who may have no expertise in analytical MS. In this report, we present and describe the preliminary findings for three candidate techniques: matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) MS, liquid sampling-atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD), and laser ablation/ionization (LAI) MS at atmospheric pressure. Potential performance metrics for these techniques will be presented, including detectability, response, isotope ratio accuracy and precision, and ease of use.

Barinaga, Charles J.↗
DOE OSTI2014

EXAMINING THE ROLE AND RESEARCH CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL FOR NONPROLIFERATION AND ARMS CONTROL TREATY VERIFICATION

Traditional arms control treaty verification activities typically involve a combination of technical measurements via physical and chemical sensors, state declarations, political agreements, and on-site inspections involving international subject matter experts. However, the ubiquity of the internet, and the electronic sharing of data that it enables, has made available a wealth of open source information with the potential to benefit verification efforts. Open source information is already being used by organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency to support the verification of state-declared information, prepare inspectors for in-field activities, and to maintain situational awareness . The recent explosion in social media use has opened new doors to exploring the attitudes, moods, and activities around a given topic. Social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, offer an opportunity for individuals, as well as institutions, to participate in a global conversation at minimal cost. Social media data can also provide a more data-rich environment, with text data being augmented with images, videos, and location data. The research described in this paper investigates the utility of applying social media signatures as potential arms control and nonproliferation treaty verification tools and technologies, as determined through a series of case studies. The treaty relevant events that these case studies touch upon include detection of undeclared facilities or activities, determination of unknown events recorded by the International Monitoring System (IMS), and the global media response to the occurrence of an Indian missile launch. The case studies examine how social media can be used to fill an information gap and provide additional confidence to a verification activity. The case studies represent, either directly or through a proxy, instances where social media information may be available that could potentially augment the evaluation of an event. The goal of this paper is to instigate a discussion within the verification community as to where and how social media can be effectively utilized to complement and enhance traditional treaty verification efforts. In addition, this paper seeks to identify areas of future research and development necessary to adapt social media analytic tools and techniques, and to form the seed for social media analytics to aid and inform arms control and nonproliferation policymakers and analysts. While social media analysis (as well as open source analysis as a whole) will not ever be able to replace traditional arms control verification measures, they do supply unique signatures that can augment existing analysis.

nonproliferation, arms control, social media↗
DOE OSTI2015

Visualizing Safeguards: Software for Conceptualizing and Communicating Safeguards Data

The nuclear programs of states are complex and varied, comprising a wide range of fuel cycles and facilities. Also varied are the types and terms of states’ safeguards agreements with the IAEA, each placing different limits on the inspectorate’s access to these facilities. Such nuances make it difficult to draw policy significance from the ground-level nuclear activities of states, or to attribute ground-level outcomes to the implementation of specific policies or initiatives. While acquiring a firm understanding of these relationships is critical to evaluating and formulating effective policy, doing so requires collecting and synthesizing large bodies of information. Maintaining a comprehensive working knowledge of the facilities comprising even a single state’s nuclear program poses a challenge, yet marrying this information with relevant safeguards and verification information is more challenging still. To facilitate this task, Brookhaven National Laboratory has developed a means of capturing the development, operation, and safeguards history of all the facilities comprising a state’s nuclear program in a single graphic. The resulting visualization offers a useful reference tool to policymakers and analysts alike, providing a chronology of states’ nuclear development and an easily digestible history of verification activities across their fuel cycles.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2016

A Field Evaluation of a Prototype Global Identifier for UF6 Cylinders

The U.S. Department of Energy s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA), members of the U.S. national laboratories, UF6 industry stakeholders, and international inspectorates have been working on developing a global identifier (ID) for UF6 cylinders. This industry-driven project has identified efficiency gains for facility operations, state and/or regional regulation, and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The global ID features standardized alphanumeric characters, a large font, a barcode (for automated reading), and it is affixed to the cylinder. Four years of active engagement with all of the stakeholders has resulted in on the development of user requirements, implementation guidelines, and a preferred design for the ID. Although this project was conceived and has been largely managed from the DOE/NNSA side to address international non-proliferation concerns, it remains an industry-driven initiative. When designing the field evaluation, the NNSA team worked closely with a World Nuclear Transport Institute (WNTI) Working Group on UF6 Cylinder Identification to determine features that would provide the most benefit. The WNTI Working Group consists predominately of industry members associated with cylinder fabrication, UF6 conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, and cylinder transport. Despite its industry-laden focus, the DOE/NNSA team realized that a vote of confidence from the IAEA could serve as a catalyst for the overall project, and its eventual implementation. In April of 2016, a field evaluation was conducted to demonstrate how the key features of the identifier would work in an operational setting. A selected team travelled to Vienna to evaluate the benefits of a global identifier in performing a PIV in a cylinder storage area containing ~50-100 cylinders. The mock tag-checking exercise was conducted three separate times, with varying scenarios with three different teams. The first group performed the exercise according to current inspection methods. The second group focused on the addition of a new global identifier to the cylinders, and the third group used the new global identifier with an automated reader. This paper will discuss the preparation and execution of the field evaluation, its results, and the next steps for the Global Cylinder Identifier Project.

White-Horton, Jessica L↗
DOE OSTI2014

An Unattended Verification Station for UF6 Cylinders: Implementation Concepts and Development Status

In recent years, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has pursued innovative techniques and an integrated suite of safeguards measures to address the verification challenges posed by advanced centrifuge technologies and the growth in separative work unit capacity at modern centrifuge enrichment plants. These measures would include permanently installed, unattended instruments capable of performing the routine and repetitive measurements previously performed by inspectors. Among the unattended instruments currently being explored by the IAEA is an Unattended Cylinder Verification Stations (UCVS) that could provide independent verification of the declared relative enrichment, 235U mass and total uranium mass of 100% of the declared cylinders moving through the plant, as well as the application and verification of an ‘Non-destructive Assay Fingerprint’ to preserve verification knowledge on the contents of each cylinder throughout its life in the facility. As the IAEA’s vision for a UCVS has evolved, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have been developing and testing candidate nondestructive assay (NDA) methods for inclusion in a UCVS. Modeling and multiple field campaigns have indicated that these methods are capable of assaying relative cylinder enrichment with a precision comparable to or perhaps better than today’s high-resolution handheld devices, without the need for manual wall-thickness corrections. In addition, the methods interrogate the full volume of the cylinder, thereby offering the IAEA a new capability to assay the absolute 235U mass in the cylinder and much-improved sensitivity to substituted or removed material. Building on this prior work a UCVS field prototype is being developed and tested. This paper describes potential implementation concepts, a preliminary UCVS prototype design and functional description, and preparations for upcoming field trials.

Smith, Leon E.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Cosmic Ray Muon Imaging of Spent Nuclear Fuel in Dry Storage Casks

In this paper, cosmic ray muon radiography has been used to identify the absence of spent nuclear fuel bundles inside a sealed dry storage cask. The large amounts of shielding that dry storage casks use to contain radiation from the highly radioactive contents impedes typical imaging methods, but the penetrating nature of cosmic ray muons allows them to be used as an effective radiographic probe. This technique was able to successfully identify missing fuel bundles inside a sealed Westinghouse MC-10 cask. This method of fuel cask verification may prove useful for international nuclear safeguards inspectors. Finally, muon radiography may find other safety and security or safeguards applications, such as arms control verification.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2016

Keeping Nuclear Materials Secure

For 50 years, Los Alamos National Laboratory has been helping to keep nuclear materials secure. We do this by developing instruments and training inspectors that are deployed to other countries to make sure materials such as uranium are being used for peaceful purposes and not diverted for use in weapons. These measures are called “nuclear safeguards,” and they help make the world a safer place.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗