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At least 505 records · Page 28
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Tribal Colleges and Universities/Advanced Manufacturing Network Initiative Phase II Sandia Technical Assistance (Q2 FY2021 Progress Report)

The National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) initiated the Minority Serving Institution Partnership Plan (MSIPP) to 1) align investments in a university capacity and workforce development with the NNSA mission to develop the needed skills and talent for NNSA’s enduring technical workforce at the laboratories and production plants, and 2) to enhance research and education at under-represented colleges and universities. Out of this effort, MSIPP launched a new consortium in early FY17 focused on Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) known as the Advanced Manufacturing Network Initiative (AMNI). This consortium has been extended for FY20 and FY21. The following report summarizes the status update during this quarter.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Improving Fission Products at CARIBU: Near Field Detection (Q3/FY21 Quarterly Progress Report)

The overview of our project as well as most recent results have been presented at the NSARD review in April, and more recently during the WoNDRAM workshop. We have been dealing with recent personnel changes in the group. Miguel Bencomo, who has worked with us on this project as a postdoc at LLNL since 2019, will be terminating his appointment within the next two weeks to take a full-time appointment with Raytheon. We continue training our new team member Dan Hoff to take over data analysis from the last experiment we performed, as well as prepare for upcoming measurements. Additionally, we are working with a summer student, John Wilkinson, who is training to perform GEANT4 simulations of beta detector this summer.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Wood-to-Fuel for California's Transportation Sector using Autothermal Pyrolysis (Progress Report for FRD-17-002)

Accomplishments this period: Subcontract with Frontline BioEnergy, LLC has been executed and is in place (Task 1). List of TAC members is awaiting input from the CEC including any additional members of their own choosing before we finalize confirmation with the listed individuals. This is also holding off on the documented TAC Member commitment, and the DRAFT TAC Meeting Schedule, as we need to know who is approved to be on the TAC before we get commitments and start setting meetings. We are awaiting input from the CEC as to a requested date for the CPR#1. It was originally set for the beginning of July (July 7th), but as the CEC needs to conduct this, we need their input on the revised date. The additional wood feed stock was sent to ISU for analysis of autothermal pyrolysis products on July 15. The Kern refinery continues to express interest in using the bio-oil produced from the demonstration in one or more of their plants. We believe this analysis information will be a critical component of what we share at our first Workshop later this summer

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Sandia National Laboratories FY20 Progress Report

The Energetic Neutrons campaign led by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) had a successful year testing electronic devices and printed circuit boards (PCBs) under 14 MeV neutron irradiation at OMEGA. During FY20 the Energetic Neutrons campaign increased the number and complexity of experiments, continued collaborations with external organizations, and generated knowledge that supports SNL’s National Security mission. In FY20 the Energetic Neutrons campaign was executed by an early career team led by a new PI. The SNL team members were trained to take over new responsibilities during the shot day to increase the number and complexity of experiments in the campaigns. Also, in FY20 for the first time the Energetic Neutrons campaign had a graduate student contributing with pre and post-irradiation characterizations at SNL of the semiconductor devices irradiated at OMEGA. In FY20 SNL collaborated with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC) and supported experiments related to radiation effects in semiconductor devices. SNL also gave the opportunity to ride along to Los Alamos National Laboratory and multiple scientists from MIT and LLE. SNL continued using the last two generations of the Neutron Effects Diagnostics (NEDs) to field active and passive experiments but also redesigned the latest generation of the NEDs to accommodate larger components and improve the vacuum sealing as shown in figure 1a. The redesigned NEDs allowed SNL to perform active tests of a high voltage (HV) PCB for the first time at OMEGA; where signals before, during and after the irradiation were recorded. The HV PCB installed in one of the SNL NEDs is shown in figure 1b where a 3D-printed nosecone was used to check for mechanical and electrical interference. Passive irradiations of multiple components were followed up with leakage current, gain measurements and radiation-induced defect characterization.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Tribal Colleges and Universities/Advanced Manufacturing Network Initiative Phase II Sandia Technical Assistance FY21 Q3 Progress Report

The National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) initiated the Minority Serving Institution Partnership Plan (MSIPP) to 1) align investments in a university capacity and workforce development with the NNSA mission to develop the needed skills and talent for NNSA’s enduring technical workforce at the laboratories and production plants, and 2) to enhance research and education at under-represented colleges and universities. Out of this effort, MSIPP launched a new consortium in early FY17 focused on Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) known as the Advanced Manufacturing Network Initiative (AMNI). This consortium has been extended for FY20 and FY21. The following report summarizes the status update during this quarter.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Progress Report on Performance of A709 and G91 Steels in Sodium

Specimens in six different processing and heat treatment conditions of A709 H58776 were exposed to sodium at 550, 600, and 650°C, respectively for various exposure times. G91 base metal was tested in sodium at 550, 600, and 650°C, and G91 weldment at 550 and 600°C, respectively. Parallel thermal aging experiments were conducted on G91 and A709 to obtain thermal aging data for comparison with sodium exposure results to separate the thermal and sodium effects. The corrosion data obtained on A709 steel continue to show low corrosion rates, which indicate good compatibility of A709 with sodium when oxygen content is controlled. G91 has also shown acceptable corrosion rates over the temperature range of 550-650°C in sodium. Thermal aging or sodium exposures reduced the tensile strength, uniform elongation, and total elongation for A709 ESR, AOD specimens. These specimens consistently showed higher yield stress and tensile strength and lower uniform and total elongations after sodium exposure than after thermal aging under comparable testing conditions. It implies that there was an additional effect of sodium exposure that gave rise to an increase in tensile strength of A709. Dynamic strain aginginduced flow serrations were completely removed by either thermal aging or sodium exposure at 650°C, which imply that carbon or nitrogen in solution was removed from the solution and formed precipitates during aging or sodium exposures. The tensile data ruled out the possibility of decarburization under the sodium exposure conditions. The HOMO specimens behaved somewhat differently from the ESR and AOD specimens in sodium. While thermal aging and sodium exposures at 550 and 600°C decreased the yield stress and the ultimate tensile strength of G91, there was virtually no additional effect resulting from sodium exposures at these two temperatures. In contrast, sodium exposures at 650°C had a drastic effect on the yield stress and the ultimate tensile strength of G91. It is suggested that G91 experienced decarburization in the 650°C sodium environments. Carbon concentrations in sodium in the SMT-1 and SMT-2 loops were determined by a foil equilibration method. The estimated carbon concentration was in the range of 0.8-1.2 ppm in the SMT-1 loop and 0.3-0.7 ppm in the SMT-2 loop. The carbon activity in sodium in the SMT-2 loop was estimated to be 0.03-0.08 at 600°C, and 0.08-0.2 at 550°C. The carbon activity in sodium at 650°C in the SMT-1 loop was 0.04-0.07. Equilibrium simulation of the carburization – decarburization processes was conducted for A709 and G91 steels exposed in sodium environments at temperatures of 550-700°C. The carbon activity-concentration relationship for G91 was re-evaluated by considering four phases in G91, i.e. bcc ferrite, M 23 C 6 , NbC and VC carbides. It was found that the carburization-decarburization process in G91 steel was dictated by M 23 C 6 carbides at high carbon activities, while NbC carbides dominated the process at low carbon activities. Formation of NbC increases the decarburization resistance of G91 steel. It remains to be understood whether the decarburization resistance provided by MC carbides in G91 can be maintained during long-term operations of SFRs. The carbon concentration-activity relationship for A709 was calculated based on the equilibrium of fcc-austenite and M 23 C 6 carbide phase. The calculations showed that A709 decarburizes at 650°C in the SMT-1 loop environments, which is different from the experimental findings. The carbon concentration-activity relationship in A709 was further evaluated by considering four phases, including fcc-austenite, M 23 C 6 , NbC, and TiC carbide phases. TiC is the most stable carbides among the three carbide phases. The carburization-decarburization process in A709 is dictated by M 23 C 6 carbides at high carbon activities and by TiC at low carbon activities. Formation of TiC increases the decarburization resistance of A709 steel. Because of the complexity of the precipitation process in A709 during sodium exposures, detailed characterization of precipitates in sodium-exposed specimens and improved thermodynamic models are needed to understand the carburization-decarburization behavior of A709. Kinetic analysis of carbon transfer will be investigated for G91 and A709 in future work.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

FY20 Progress Report on FIPD Development and User Support

The DOE Advanced Reactor Technologies program has supported efforts to recover and preserve metallic fuel data generated throughout the past fast reactor R&D programs. Those efforts have focused on establishing databases for information from the experiments conducted during the Integral Fast Reactor program including data generated at EBR-II, FFTF, and TREAT reactors, as well as out of pile transient testing data. These databases are essential for future-licensing activities of metallic fuel based advanced fast reactors. This report describes the EBR-II Fuels Irradiation & Physics Database (FIPD) development, content updates, and user support during the current fiscal year (FY20). Future plans are also provided.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

BISON Simulation Development for ALD Coated Particles (Progress Report, FY21)

Argonne has on ongoing effort to perform atomic layer deposition coatings on micron-scale fuel particles. Initial results showed cracking of the coating layer above a specific coating thickness, which motived the development of a BISON model for the coated particle system to help explain the behavior. This report describes the initial development of the BISON model, the materials models used, and the conditions used in the simulation. A 2D model has been developed, with sensitivity studies performed on several key parameters. Based on the 2D model results, and 3D model was also developed, with results from all calculations described. First principles calculations were also performed on the fuel/coating interface to help describe the observed behavior. Potential future activities are also described.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ab initio calculations of material properties for modeling debris (FY2021 Progress Report)

This report summarizes the work done during the first 6 months of the project “Ab initio calculations of material properties for modeling debris” that is part of the Rapid Response Research (R3) Venture. The main focus for this fiscal year (FY) has been the evaluation of classical interatomic potentials for the description of the condensation of uranium oxides in the regimes relevant to fireball conditions. We also delineate how these functions will be used within the molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo frameworks to compute thermodynamic properties of these materials. These descriptions are to be utilized within continuum modeling formulations to generate a more accurate characterization of the homogeneous nucleation process.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Developing and Testing a Novel Stochastic Ice Microphysics Parameterization for Cloud and Climate Models Using ARM Field Campaign Data (Final Progress Report)

The major goals of this project were: 1) to use field campaign measurements from DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program to characterize variability of important parameters describing properties of ice particles in the atmosphere; 2) based on this observational analysis, to develop a parameterization scheme for weather and climate models that stochastically varies these parameters, and implement the new scheme into a weather model called the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF); 3) to use WRF coupled with the new stochastic scheme to simulate ARM field campaign thunderstorm cases and analyze how accounting for this parameter variability affects the model simulations. This work was performed jointly between the National Center for Atmospheric Research, University of Oklahoma, and University of Utah. To accomplish these goals, we extended an approach previously developed to characterize the variability in the size distribution of ice particles to parameters that are explicitly represented in models (i.e., relationships between ice particle mass and size, and between particle fall velocity and size). Our project was, to our knowledge, the first to apply observationally-constrained estimates of this parameter variability describing mass-size and fall velocity-size in a modeling framework. Our results showed efficacy of the approach, evaluated using ARM observations. Similarly, to our knowledge, work in this project was the first to propose and evaluate in detail a stochastic approach for unresolved turbulent mixing in high-resolution model simulations against detailed, benchmark large eddy simulations and ARM observations. Results showed some promising behavior, particularly with increased mixing and dilution of air in thunderstorm cores with surrounding environmental air, bringing the stochastic simulations closer to the benchmark large eddy simulations; however, results were somewhat degraded using stochastic mixing compared to observations from the AMIE/DYNAMO field campaign. This project also further refined and applied a modeling methodology called “piggybacking” that can robustly separate dynamical and thermodynamic impacts of model changes, and comparison studies of different models based on cases developed from ARM observations. Finally, this project directly supported three graduate students who completed their PhDs as well as a postdoctoral research fellow.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Tribal Colleges and Universities/Advanced Manufacturing Network Initiative: Phase II Sandia Technical Assistance (FY21 Q4 Progress Report)

The National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) initiated the Minority Serving Institution Partnership Plan (MSIPP) 1) to align investments in a university capacity and workforce development with the NNSA mission to develop the needed skills and talent for NNSA’s enduring technical workforce at the laboratories and production plants, and 2) to enhance research and education at under-represented colleges and universities. Out of this effort, MSIPP launched a new consortium in early FY17 focused on Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) known as the Advanced Manufacturing Network Initiative (AMNI). This consortium has been extended for FY20 and FY21. The following report summarizes the status update during this quarter.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

FY2020 Materials Annual Progress Report

The Materials Technology subprogram supports the Vehicle Technologies Office’s (VTO’s) mission to accelerate the deployment of clean energy technology toward achieving net-zero emissions in the transportation sector. The Propulsion Materials research portfolio seeks to develop higher performance materials that can withstand increasingly extreme environments and address the future properties needed for a variety of high-efficiency powertrain types, sizes, fueling concepts, and combustion modes. The Lightweight Materials research portfolio enables improvements in fuel economy by providing properties that are equal to or better than traditional materials at a lower weight. Because it takes less energy to accelerate a lighter object, replacing cast-iron (Fe) and traditional steel components with lightweight materials—such as advanced high-strength steels (AHSS), magnesium (Mg) alloys, aluminum (Al) alloys, and fiber-reinforced polymer composites—can directly reduce a vehicle’s fuel consumption. By 2025, the Materials Technology research activities seek to enable a 25% weight reduction of the glider for light-duty (LD) vehicles including body, chassis, and interior as compared to a 2015 baseline at no more than a $5/lb-saved increase in cost.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Advanced Engine and Fuel Technologies FY2020 Annual Progress Report

In support of the Vehicle Technology Office’s goal for future U.S. economic growth, the Advanced Engine and Fuel Technologies Program focuses early-stage research and development on improving the understanding of combustion processes, fuel properties, and emissions control technologies, generating knowledge and insight necessary for industry to develop the next generation of engines and fuels for the efficient, cost-effective, and secure transportation of people and goods across America.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Electrification FY2020 Annual Progress Report

The Electric Drive Technologies (EDT) program’s mission is to conduct early-stage research and development on transportation electrification technologies that accelerate the development of cost-effective and compact electric traction drive systems that meet or exceed performance and reliability requirements of internal combustion engine (ICE)-based vehicles, thereby enabling electrification across all light-duty vehicle types.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Progress Report on Graphite-Salt Interaction Studies (FY21)

This report summarizes the activities performed in FY21 to investigate the interactions between nuclear graphite and molten salts, such as FLiNaK. First, building on last year’s achievements, the team improved the procedure for measurements on pressurized salt intrusion in nuclear graphite and performed new experiments at variable pressures with specimens of different sizes and shapes. Additionally, the team actively provided suggestions and comments for ASTM D8091, Standard Guide for Impregnation of Graphite with Molten Salts , which came up for periodic revision in 2021. Second, the team expanded its capabilities to further characterize salt-impregnated graphite by procuring and installing a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument capable of producing a 3D chemical composition of a surface and subsurface region of specimens. A methodology for accurately analyzing information was developed, and a manuscript was submitted for publication. The LIBS instrument sample cell is sealed in controlled inert atmosphere, which is an advantage for using humidity-sensitive samples and Be-contaminated samples. This aligns with the team’s effort to expand the capabilities of handling FLiBe and Becontaining materials in two newly installed glovebox units. Third, the team performed preliminary tribology tests for pebble graphite wear in contact with stainless steel in dry state and in molten salt at high temperature. These tests are needed to establish the baseline for the wear of pebble graphite by friction against metallic walls. The friction and wear of pebbles in the fluoride salt-cooled hightemperature reactor are expected to generate dust, which is a concern for other components’ properties and safe reactor operation.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

FY2021 Progress Report on BISON Metallic Fuel Model Development and V&V Using EBR-II Legacy Data

In this report, the activities and achievements made by Argonne National Laboratory for the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) BISON code metallic fuel validation and verification project in FY2021 are summarized. The cladding degradation model based on the FCCI/CCCI wastage calculations has been developed and implemented into BISON. A comprehensive evaluation of the cladding degradation model was performed based on FIPD data of the IFR experiment X447. BISON objects were also developed to enable direct use of time-varying cladding outer surface temperature profile as temperature boundary conditions, which proved to provide more accurate temperature predictions for the metallic fuel pins irradiated in EBR-II. Additionally, a new BISON object was implemented to enable direct comparison between BISON predicted data and FIPD-based post-irradiation examination (PIE) results, which would significantly facilitate BISON metallic fuel verification and validation (V&V) activities. These new BISON-FIPD integration features were used in the establishment of a low-burnup fuel swelling evaluation framework as demonstration. The framework was successfully used to evaluate current fuel swelling models based on the IFR experiment X423.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗