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The ORTEC Detective X is a new radiation detector being produced and sold by AMTEK ORTEC. The main detector (for gamma radiation energy) is a High Purity Germanium (HPGe) crystal. A Geiger-Müller (GM) tube is used for radiation exposure measurements above about 2 mR/hr. As an available option, a Li6 F/ZnS neutron detector module can be attached to the Detective X to measure neutrons.
The Hanford Site Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF) treats aqueous waste streams; some of these waste streams have high concentrations of ammonium ion. When the WTP begins operation the ETF LSW is slated to be stabilized by grouting prior to disposal. During stabilization of such waste by grouting the pH would rise considerably, leading to the evolution of ammonia gas. Such an ammonia release would require engineering controls to assure worker and environmental safety. The primary objective of this work was to perform a parametric study of the efficacy of ammonia destruction from solution using sodium nitrite addition under varying conditions that expands upon previous work.
GTI and team members CanmetENERGY and Linde worked on developing technologies at the pilot-scale to significantly improve the performance and economics of current oxy-fired pressurized fluidized bed combustor systems and reduce scale up risk. The technologies include: an In-bed Supercritical CO 2 (SCO 2 ) Heat Exchanger, the objective being to quantify SCO 2 heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop in an Oxygen-fired pressurized fluidized bed combustor (Oxy-PFBC) environment to anchor design rules for scale up; Staged Coal Combustion, the objective being to develop design rules for placement of staged coal combustion injectors to appropriately distribute heat throughout the bed to maintain an oxidizing environment and avoid slagging; and an Isothermal Deoxidation Reactor, the objective being to define operational limits on flue gas O 2 concentration for an isothermal catalyst bed and demonstrate heat recovery from this deoxidation unit. In-bed SCO 2 heat exchanger manifolds were successfully manufactured and installed in the combustor at CanmetENERGY. Staged fuel injectors were designed and fabricated. A task to test an oxygen carrier in the fluidized bed was also planned. A Quasi-Isothermal Deoxidation Reactor (Q-IDR) concept was developed and fabricated, consisting of two adiabatic catalytic reactors with a single inter-stage cooler with SCO 2 as the coolant. The project was stopped prior to testing these technologies due to damage to the hardware on the related Oxy-PFBC Phase II project (DE-FE0009448).
Nuclear energy technology developers seek to bring to market new advanced reactor designs and new light water reactor fuel designs, many of which would deploy fuel made from uranium with 235 U enrichment ranging from 5% to 19.75%. There is currently no commercial supply of uranium in this enrichment range, which is higher than used in today’s light water reactors but still lower than the safeguards limit of 20% 235 U. This limitation is a barrier to development of demonstration of these new nuclear energy technologies. As a means to address this near-term need, DOE and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has considered how the HALEU product from sodium-bonded spent fuel treatment in the INL Fuel Conditioning Facility (FCF), located at the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC), might be provided and fabricated into some of the new fuel designs. The evaluation presented in this report addresses the potential establishment of two types of fuel fabrication capability at INL, represented generically as a ceramic-type (or pellet-type) fuel fabrication line and a metallic fuel fabrication line. Because the FCF HALEU feedstock contains residual transuranic contamination and a relatively small amount of residual fission products, fabrication with that material is necessarily performed inside of engineered confinement barriers, such as gloveboxes, which would be filled with inert gas for most of the fuel types considered. The throughput rate of the fabrication lines envisioned is 2.5 metric tons of HALEU fuel per year, which is judged to be sufficiently representative of engineering-scale. Space in three existing buildings was identified for consideration in this study of pre-conceptual equipment layouts. The scope and nature of the work needed to prepare each of the three buildings for each type of fuel fabrication was identified (though not in engineering detail), and three-dimensional models of envisioned fabrication equipment were laid out in each of the buildings to assess adequacy of space. The study concluded that either type of fuel fabrication line can feasibly be installed and operated in either of the three buildings. However, each of the three buildings presents different challenges in preparation, due to accommodating current missions that would need to be relocated or necessary decontamination and decommissioning work to free-up space for fuel fabrication, or due to complications of accessibility. Rough order-of-magnitude (ROM) cost estimates for preparing buildings begin at $10M ( 20%/+50%) and would increase with increased complexity of building modifications. The cost of fabrication equipment and gloveboxes is roughly estimated to be $21M (-20%/+50%) for a metallic fuel fabrication line and $27M (-20%/+50%) for a ceramic/intermetallic fuel fabrication line. Nominal operating costs are estimated to be $7M per year (in 2019 dollars), increasing from lower amounts needed as the operating crew is being assembled and trained.
The mission of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) is to advance nuclear power as a resource that is capable of meeting the nation’s energy, environmental, and national security needs by resolving technical, cost, safety, proliferation resistance, and security barriers through research, development, and demonstration (RD&D). There has never been a more compelling time to develop sources of safe, clean, renewable, carbon-free base power for the United States. Over six decades of use, nuclear power has been proven to be a safe and reliable base alternative to fossil energy sources. The primary barriers to wider commercialization of nuclear power are the life-cycle costs of current plants, the long cycle associated with development of new nuclear technologies that may be more suitable for today’s energy markets, including the management and disposition of used nuclear fuel, and the regulatory risk associated with this investment in new nuclear technology. These barriers can be addressed, in good part, by development of new technology that is simpler and therefore simpler to license, and by establishing new technology development approaches that more quickly establish design and safety bases that provide risk-averse investors and regulators the confidence they need for new technology to enter the market. While many innovative nuclear energy concepts exist that match current energy market needs, the lengthy and expensive research, development, and demonstration process and uncertain prospects for licensing discourages investment of private capital.
This final technical report summarizes scientific and technical achievements derived through the the award, DE-FG02-04ER46173 [2013-2016, 2016-2017, and 2017-2018(NCE)], for the grant proposal titled, “Dynamical Self-Assembly: Constrained phase separation and mesoscale dynamics in lipid membranes.” The effort was organized into three major scientific aims: (1) characterize the mechanism of inter-layer coupling of laterally phase-separated domains in stacked lipid bilayers; (2) characterize curvature-dependent dynamic reorganization in membrane milieu; and (3) characterize real-time effects of mechanochemical perturbations on lateral phase separation membrane bilayers. The cumulative weight of the activities, including experimental research and collaborative modeling, disseminated through the publications listed above and presentations, has addressed two over-arching objectives: (a) to abstract a physical science based understanding of fundamental rules that determine dynamic self-assembly processes in lipid bilayer membranes - a versatile class of biologically inspired interfacial complex fluids and (b) to translate these physical principles into quantitative design rules for the development of new classes of membrane-based complex materials that exhibit complex, co-operative, and adaptive behavior.
In April 2019, staff members from the Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) and the Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research (KINBER) met with researchers in bioinformatics at Arcadia University as part of a training exercise to perform an Application Deep Dive. The goal of this meeting was to help characterize the requirements team for a research team in bioinformatics, and to enable cyberinfrastructure support staff to better understand the needs of the researchers they support. Material for this event includes both the written documentation from the bioinformatics team at Arcadia University but also a writeup of the discussion that took place in person on April 3, 2019.
This report compiles multiple articles describing activities developed and performed under the Site-Directed Research and Development Program for the benefit the Nation during Fiscal Year 2018. Sustained investment and ongoing core innovation are the keys to successful research and development programs. These elements drive the Site-Directed Research and Development (SDRD) Program and provide solutions to some of the most challenging problems our nation and our allies face. Our Nevada enterprise, consisting of both our management and operating entity and our NNSA field office, is aggressively investing in SDRD and injecting innovation through strategic partnerships. Our partnerships with universities, industry, and our sister institutions within the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) build upon our core capabilities and allow us to create innovative solutions to support our mission requirements. In 2018, we raised the investment level of SDRD for only the second time in the history of the program. Nearly at our congressionally authorized limit, SDRD has substantial resources to successfully address numerous issues. Investment is only one part of the equation; innovation is generated through collaborations that bring discovery and provide the “technical differentiation” and the return on investment we seek. This report demonstrates an enduring theme of how partnerships help us drive the best outcomes and provide the maximum impact possible, while using our resources efficiently.
This report discusses the fiscal year 2019 (FY19) design, implementation, and preliminary data interpretation plan for a set of borehole heater tests call the brine availability tests in salt (BATS), which is funded by the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The organization of BATS is outlined in Project Plan: Salt In-Situ Heater Test. An early design of the field test is laid out in Kuhlman et al., including extensive references to previous field tests, which illustrates aspects of the present test. The previous test plan by Stauffer et al., places BATS in the context of a multi-year testing strategy, which involves tests of multiple scales and processes, possibly culminating in a drift-scale disposal demonstration.
Our first purpose here is to offer to a general technical and policy audience a perspective on whether the supercomputing community should focus on improving the efficiency of supercomputing systems and their use rather than on building larger and ostensibly more capable systems that are used at low efficiency. After first summarizing our content and defining some necessary terms, we give a concise answer to this question. We then set this in context by characterizing performance of current supercomputing systems on a variety of benchmark problems and actual problems drawn from workloads in the national security, industrial, and scientific context. Along the way we answer some related questions, identify some important technological trends, and offer a perspective on the significance of these trends. Our second purpose is to give a reasonably broad and transparent overview of the related issue space and thereby to better equip the reader to evaluate commentary and controversy concerning supercomputing performance. For example, questions repeatedly arise concerning the Linpack benchmark and its predictive power, so we consider this in moderate depth as an example. We also characterize benchmark and application performance for scientific and engineering use of supercomputers and offer some guidance on how to think about these. Examples here are drawn from traditional scientific computing. Other problem domains, for example, data analytics, have different performance characteristics that are better captured by different benchmark problems or applications, but the story in those domains is similar in character and leads to similar conclusions with regard to the motivating question.
The objective of this project was to develop an advanced Oxy-Combustion Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustor (Oxy-PFBC) technology and mature it to TRL 6 through pilot testing. Performance goals included demonstrating capture of 90% or greater of the produced carbon dioxide, with no more than a 35% increase in the cost of electricity. A 1 MWth pilot scale plant was designed, built and operated at CanmetENERGY in Ottawa. Extensive support work was carried out on component testing, analysis and commercial planning. The team members included GTI, Linde, Natural Resources Canada (CanmetENERGY), Pennsylvania State University, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and General Electric. Additional research was provided by the University of Ottawa. Funding was provided by the US Department of Energy, Alberta Innovates and each of the team members. The total funding for Phase II was $\$$18.537M with $\$$12.058M. The period of performance for Phase II was from July 1, 2014 through December 31, 2018. Component testing conducted in preparation for pilot testing included cold flow testing at atmospheric and pressurized conditions, and coal and limestone reactivity tests at elevated temperatures and pressures. These tests validated in-bed heat exchanger heat transfer capability, bed stability, and coal particle residence time predictions. They also quantified coal and limestone reactivity at the expected combustor temperatures and pressures. The 1 MWth pilot testing achieved all performance goals with the exception of carbon conversion. The combustor achieved oxy-combustion at the full target pressure of 8 bar. Two key combustor performance goals that were achieved include exceeding the target sulfur capture in the combustor as well as exceeding the acid dewpoint target at full operating pressure. This validates assumptions about the pressures that can be achieved without acid gas condensation and the associated corrosion risks. The ability to achieve target operating pressures supports combustor cost assumptions. In addition, the CO 2 processing unit (CPU), demonstrated a new technology, the deoxidation (DeOxo) reactor. The CPU achieved all of its performance targets, while the DeOxo reactor demonstrated the ability to achieve 100 ppm or less of oxygen in the flue gas stream to meet CO 2 pipeline specs. The pilot combustor was damaged during testing and an incident investigation was conducted. The primary cause of the hardware damage was due to anomalous temperature readings, caused by sensors buried and insulated in bed particles trapped by heat exchanger tubes near the wall. This led to higher gas velocities than intended, which then caused lower fuel residence time, lower carbon conversion, freeboard burning, and undetected excess temperatures in the combustor. As a result, the TRL 6 goal was not achieved. Updated technoeconomic analysis predicts that the Oxy-PFBC can achieve the goal of <35% increase in COE with 90% CO 2 capture if the carbon conversion performance target can be demonstrated in future testing.
The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer is a next-generation massively multiplexed spectroscopic facility currently under development in Hawaii. It is completely dedicated to large-scale spectroscopic surveys and will enable transformative science. In this white paper we summarize the science case and describe the current state of the project.
In May 2019, staff members from the Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) and the Lonestar Education And Research Network (LEARN) met with researchers and staff at Trinity University for the purpose of a Campus-Wide Deep Dive into research drivers. The goal of this meeting was to help characterize the requirements for five campus research use cases and to enable cyberinfrastructure support staff to better understand the needs of the researchers they support. Profiled use cases included: Physics and Neuroscience, Computer Science and Engineering, Classical Studies and Archeology, Biological Sciences, and Geosciences. Material for this event included the written documentation from each of the research areas at Trinity University, documentation about the current state of technology support, and a write-up of the discussion that took place in person.
In May 2019, staff members from the Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) met with researchers at Purdue University for the purpose of a campus-wide Application Deep Dive. The goal of this meeting was to help characterize the requirements for two research labs on campus, and to enable cyberinfrastructure support staff to better understand the needs of the researchers they support. Material for this report includes both written documentation from the 2nd Annual Symposium for Research Data Technology at Purdue University, but also a writeup of the discussion that took place in person on May 31st, 2019. The Case Studies highlighted the ongoing challenges that Purdue University has in supporting aspects of the research community that are relatively new to the available technology support structures.
In April 2019, staff members from the Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) and the The Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet) met with faculty and staff from the University of Cincinnati to perform a Campus-Wide Deep Dive. The goal of this interaction was to help characterize a number of scientific and educational drivers for the entire campus, and to enable cyberinfrastructure support staff to better understand the needs of the researchers they support. Material for this event includes both the written documentation from the University of Cincinnati, but also a writeup of the discussion that took place in person on April 26, 2019. Each of the highlighted use case highlights specific challenges, but a number of themes emerged that the campus is encouraged to address. In particular, the lack of available local compute and storage resources is impacting several groups and others can greatly benefit from a fully featured Science DMZ infrastructure to facilitate remote data access and transfer.
In order to study the effects of Ni oxidation barriers on H diffusion in Zr, a Ni-Zr-H potential was developed based on an existing Ni-Zr potential. Using this and existing binary potentials H diffusion characteristics were calculated and some limited findings for the performance of Ni on Zr coatings are made.
The Boston University component has focused on the algorithmic development of new Multigrid solver for the critical kernel for the Dirac propagators that dominated the both simulation require for lattice ensemble and the analysis of physical correlation functions. Progress on this has meet the above objects, even exceeding them a bit. The result is the beginning if multiscale lattice QCD applicable to future Exascale hardware and the development of the QUDA software for NVIDIA GPUs to give near optimal performance. As we approach exascale hardware and computation at that scale this provides the infrastructure for further advances.
During Phase 1, Consequence Prioritization, the CCE Team identified High Consequence Events (HCEs) that can be accomplished through cyber means to impact critical functions, services, and processes. During Phase 2, System-of-Systems Analysis (SoS Analysis), the CCE Team will conduct a systematic review and analysis of information related to the equipment, systems, processes, operations, maintenance, testing, and procurement practices based on the HCEs identified in Phase 1.