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At least 379 records · Page 21

Update on Activities Related to the Library of Graphite Microstructures

This report provides an overview and update of the ongoing efforts to create a comprehensive library of microstructures for nuclear graphite and carbon-based materials under consideration for nuclear applications. The library includes data on microstructural characterization of unirradiated graphite materials, a guide to the techniques used to analyze graphite (which complements the ASME guidelines and ASTM standards), a summary of characterization data for neutron-irradiated or oxidized material, and a compendium of microstructural information for carbon-based materials. These efforts are being conducted at various length scales for the filler and binder phases in graphite to better understand graphite’s local structure and property relationships. This report is a follow-up to the previous milestone report titled Report on initial development of a database of nuclear graphite characteristics based on microstructural characterization, ORNL/TM/-2023/2992, published in July 2023.The effort to develop the library of microstructures supports the US Department of Energy Office of Advanced Reactor Technologies program objectives of aiding the material selection, licensing, management, and core assessments of a graphite core by documenting the unirradiated microstructure of relevant grades or characterizing the microstructure’s evolution under the reactor environment. Additionally, this project aims to provide (1) information and guidelines for the characterizing of graphite and (2) a protocol to assess a nuclear graphite grade.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Context-Aware Learning for Inverse Design in Photovoltaics

This document describes progress in the ARPA-E DIFFERENTIATE project titled “Context-Aware Learning for Inverse Design in Photovoltaics” during the period of May 2019 to May 2022. This project is being performed at Iowa State University, New York University, Stanford University, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The project aims to develop a new machine learning (ML) framework to significantly accelerate the design of organic microstructures for improved organic photovoltaic performance. In this project, we had developed an inverse design framework using Deep Learning called InvNets for generating microstructures with desired physics-driven properties. As a preliminary product, in Milestone 3, we demonstrated how InvNets show 20% improvement in the performance of the microstructures and over 100X speedup in the performance compared to traditional processes for physics-driven inverse design. Later, in Milestone 6, we demonstrated that InvNets work for more complex physics properties, specifically, generating microstructures for organic photovoltaic cells with desired current-voltage characteristics. Further, in Milestone 4, we explored the idea of using physics-aware surrogates for obtaining solutions of partial differential equations(PDE) called as DiffNets(now called as NeuFENets to avoid ambiguity of names). The connection between both frameworks is that DiffNet surrogates form the physics-aware surrogate in the InvNet framework. Finally in Milestone 8, we extend our framework for other physics domains. Specifically, we explore building geometry-aware NeuFENets by developing physics surrogates that exploit ideas from traditional immersed boundary finite element methods. With these updates, we are able to achieve all the Milestones.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Station 6: Focused Experiments

This station, the second of four on the inside portion of the exhibit, explains focused experiments at Los Alamos. The station consists of a title monitor, main monitor, pushbuton monitor, and tabletop.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Ultrafast High Voltage Kicker System Hardware for Ion Clearing Gaps

Jefferson Lab (JLab) will collaborate with Radiabeam, LLC in a DOE SBIR Phase II Project (DOE Grant No. DE-SC0019684, title: “Ultrafast High Voltage Kicker System Hardware for Ion Clearing Gaps”) to develop and test a MHz high voltage nanosecond kicker system that enables the time structure required by the ion traps for high current electron beam cooling. High current (in particular energy recovery) linac based electron cooling facilities for medium to high energy bunched proton or ion beams are of great interest for the recently funded Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) to which Jefferson Lab plays a critical role. The successful execution of this project will enable the capability to mitigate the ion trapping effect and circumvent a major obstacle preventing reliable operation of the crucial cooling facilities.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Advancing Small Business Solar Equity: Final Technical Insights Report

The Advancing Small Business Solar Equity: Final Technical Insights Report represents the culmination of two years of work in participation with Round 3 of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN). SEIN Round 3, titled "Equitable Solar in Underserved Communities," supported eight underserved communities across the United States in "exploring new approaches to the equitable adoption of solar energy in residential and commercial-scale settings" and in "confronting the solar barriers they face and unlocking the solar benefits most relevant to their own contexts" (National Renewable Energy Laboratory 2023). This project was one of four selected to support solar access for commercial entities in underserved communities. The research conducted for this report was done within the Minnesota Twin Cities geographic context, but certain findings and the proposed Solar Hub Network model may be found applicable nationally. Community-based organizations that serve small businesses, chambers of commerce, community development finance institutions and other community lenders, municipal governments, solar incentive providers, solar industry professionals, and others may find elements of this report useful.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

LLNL NESHAPs 2023 Annual Report

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC operates facilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in which radionuclides are handled and stored. These facilities are subject to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) in Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 40, Part 61, Subpart H, which regulates radionuclide emissions to air from Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. Specifically, NESHAPs limits the emission of radionuclides to the ambient air to levels resulting in an annual effective dose equivalent of 10 mrem (100 µSv) to any member of the public. Using measured and calculated emissions, and building-specific and common parameters, LLNL personnel applied the EPA-approved computer code, CAP88-PC, Version 4.1.1.0, to calculate the dose to the maximally exposed individual member of the public for the Livermore Site and Site 300.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

What is the gradient of a scalar function defined on a subspace of square matrices?

We illustrate a technique to calculate the gradient of scalar functions that are defined on any arbitrary matrix subspace. It generalizes our earlier work titled “What is the gradient of a scalar function of a symmetric matrix ?”(Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics (2022), doi:10.1007/s13226-022-00313-x), in which we considered the special case of the subspace of symmetric matrices. Extant methods to calculate the gradient in such cases have an inherent flaw which leads to spurious results that populate several publications, as well as respected textbooks and handbooks on matrix calculus. We examine these sources and results in a rigorous and concrete mathematical setting of a finite-dimensional inner-product space and discover the inherent flaw and also a remedy. We demonstrate two ways to calculate the derivative/gradient and second derivative for scalar functions of matrices defined over an arbitrary matrix subspace; the first method is by considering any (differentiable) extension to the space of square matrices and projection of its gradient onto the given subspace. The second method utilizes an ordered basis and computes each component of the gradient through evaluation of the directional derivative. All the ideas presented are illustrated by non-trivial examples, namely, considering the subspace of 3 × 3 circulant and Toeplitz matrices and presenting the results of gradient-descent with both the spurious and correct gradients. Moreover, our bibliography makes it clear that a rigorous approach to matrix calculus is not common in practice, and our presentation of matrix calculus in the language of inner-product spaces will be significant and meaningful for applied mathematicians, engineers and researchers working in inter-disciplinary fields to avoid the conceptual pitfalls that exist.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Summary of Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's Workforce Needs Assessment for the City of Lawrence

In July 2023, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) published an employment report titled “Powering the Future: A Massachusetts Clean Energy Workforce Needs Assessment.” This report was intended to support the State in meeting its 2030 decarbonization goals by identifying both existing workforce and training resources as well as gaps and barriers that need to be addressed in order to scale the State’s workforce to meet future demand. The following is a summary of the content that is relevant to Lawrence, MA. This was completed as part of the US Department of Energy’s Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) Pilot supporting the Lawrence Stakeholders Coalition (LSC) led by Browning the Green Space in partnership with Groundwork Lawrence, All In Energy, and the City of Lawrence.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Community Sentiment Analysis with Focus on CCS

This research assesses community sentiment towards Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as depicted in digital media, focusing on themes such as emissions, transport, and storage. Utilizing the VADER sentiment analysis model, the study analyzed titles and descriptions from online news articles to capture immediate impressions and sentiments. Results indicate a predominantly positive sentiment towards CCS, with significant regional variations. States like Alabama and Texas exhibit high positive sentiment, likely due to economic ties to the energy industry, while states like Delaware and Utah show negative sentiment, potentially driven by environmental concerns. The significance of this study lies in its potential to inform policy and communication strategies for CCS implementation. Understanding public sentiment is crucial for the success of CCS projects as it helps to identify and address community concerns. Media influence plays a significant role in shaping public opinion, and this study highlights the need for effective communication strategies to promote the benefits of CCS while addressing any misconceptions. By providing insights into regional differences in sentiment, this research supports the development of tailored interventions that can enhance public acceptance and support for CCS initiatives, ultimately contributing to the success of efforts to mitigate climate change through reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

White, Casey↗

Nuclear Safety System Cybersecurity Panel Summary

The panel discussion titled "Innovations in Advanced Cybersecurity Technologies for Safety Systems Within Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs)" took place at the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Annual Meeting in Las Vegas on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. The session was moderated by Lee Maccarone of Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and featured four experts: Benjamin Karch from Sandia National Laboratories, Ismael Garcia from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Trevor Taylor from Paragon Energy Solutions (ES), and Forrest Shriver from Sentinel Devices.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Distribution System Model Calibration for GMLC 3.3.3 "Incipient Failure Identification for Common Grid Asset Classes" - Project Summary

Distribution system model calibration is a key enabling task for incipient failure identification within the distribution system. This report summarizes the work and publications by Sandia National Laboratories on the GMLC project titled “Incipient Failure Identification for Common Grid Asset Classes”. This project was a joint effort between Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The included work covers distribution system topology identification, transformer groupings, phase identification, regulator and tap position estimation, and the open-source release and implementation of the developed algorithms.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Identifying and Explaining Anomalous Activity in Surveillance Video with Compression Algorithms

The primary purpose of this document is to outline the progress made on the LDRD titled “Identifying and Explaining Anomalous Activity in Surveillance Video with Compression Algorithms” in FY22 and FY23. In this LDRD, we explored the usage of compression-based analytics to identify anomalous activity in video. We developed a novel algorithm, Spatio-Temporal N-Gram PPM (STNG PPM) that accounts for spatially and temporally aware anomalies in video. We extracted features using motions vectors from video as well as operating on the raw features. STNG PPM is comparable to many deep learning approaches but does not require specialized hardware (GPUs) to run efficiently. We also examine the evaluation metrics and propose novel measures addressing faults in the current evaluation measures.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Stack Test Summary for TA-59-0001

The Radioactive Air Emissions Management (RAEM) team performed stack flow characterization tests at Technical Area (TA) 59 Building 0001 Exhaust Stack (ES) 8. These tests were completed in accordance with Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 61, Subpart H and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) N13.1-1999 required by the Clean Air Act. Subpart H of the regulation is the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for radionuclides, which compliance with is maintained by the REAM team.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Reconstruction of plasma equilibrium and eddy current induced error fields in the Lithium Tokamak eXperiment-β (Final Report)

This is the final report for the DOE award DE-SC0019239, titled “Reconstruction of plasma equilibrium and eddy current induced error fields in the Lithium Tokamak eXperiment-b” for the period July 1, 2018 – July 2, 2023. This award supported research into computational models for plasma equilibrium and 3D conducting structures in the Lithium Tokamak eXperiment-b (LTX-b) using the PSI-Tri/TokaMaker and PSI-Tet codes. Additional detail on progress in support of these tasks is provided below.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Assessment of Heavy-Duty Fueling Methods and Components

Building on the successful commissioning and demonstration of NREL's heavy-duty (HD) fast flow research facility under the Innovating Hydrogen Station's Project, researchers advanced R&D activities to the next phase under a new project titled, Assessment of Heavy-Duty Fueling Methods and Components. This Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is led by NREL in partnership with NextEnergy, Argonne National Laboratory, and Chevron with NextEnergy representing a larger group of industry partners that includes AirLiquide, Hyundai, Nel, Nikola, Shell, and Toyota. The CRADA seeks to develop a comprehensive assessment of HD fuel cell electric vehicle fueling protocols and fueling hardware to understand the effects of fueling protocol architectures on station design, vehicle design, functional safety requirements, and the implications on the total cost of ownership (TCO) and techno economic assessment (TEA).

class 8 truck↗

The Impact of Cement Plant Air Ingress on Membrane-Based CO2 Capture Retrofit Cost

This PowerPoint presentation summarizes the cost and performance results of the techno-economic analysis of membrane-based carbon capture retrofits at cement plants, published in June 2024, titled “The Impact of Cement Plant Air Ingress on Membrane-Based CO2 Capture Retrofit Cost.” The analysis report used as a basis for slide contents was developed by NETL for publication in the scientific journal Carbon Capture Science and Technology.

Hughes, Sydney↗

The Impact of Cement Plant Air Ingress on Membrane-Based CO2 Capture Retrofit Cost

This PowerPoint presentation summarizes the cost and performance results of the techno-economic analysis of membrane-based carbon capture retrofits at cement plants, published in June 2024, titled “The Impact of Cement Plant Air Ingress on Membrane-Based CO2 Capture Retrofit Cost.” The analysis report used as a basis for slide contents was developed by NETL for publication in the scientific journal Carbon Capture Science and Technology.

Hughes, Sydney↗