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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 541 records · Page 30

Benchmark Exercise for the Control Rod Swelling Evaluation

The VTR core has six reactivity control assemblies and three safety assemblies. The control assemblies or primary control rods are adjusted during the normal operation to balance the core reactivity and to control the reactor power. A typical control assembly radial layout is presented in Figure 1. The figure shows the swelled absorber (B 4 C) rod. Initially, helium gas fills the gap between the pin and the cladding before irradiation swelling takes place. For VTR, HT9 steel was selected as the cladding and duct material. The main neutron absorbing material used in the VTR is B 4 C. When residing in the core, the neutronics, thermophysical, and mechanical properties of the materials used in a control assembly will degrade due to accumulated neutron damage. Material degradation limits how long a control assembly can reside in the core. Many phenomena affect the control assembly lifetime, such as the loss of reactivity worth due to B 4 C depletion, the mechanical interaction of the absorber rod and the cladding due to B 4 C swelling, the helium gas buildup in the pin due to B-10 capture, etc. B 4 C swelling, which causes closure of the gap between the absorber rod and the cladding, is usually considered as the main limiting factor from past experience. An initial study was conducted at PNNL to evaluate the irradiation behavior of a VTR control assembly. The evaluation was performed using the CNRD2 code that was initially developed for the FFTF. The study also included an assessment of the VTR control assembly and focused on a 61-pin control assembly design, which is different from that used (37-pin design) in the core design study. The study conducted by PNNL was reviewed independently by ANL. A Python script referred to as the Control Assembly Evaluation Script (CAES) was developed for the independent review and additional assessment of 37-pin control assembly design. The script has focused on the assessment of the absorber rod swelling for its importance in determining the control assembly lifetime. CAES uses geometry, neutronics, materials data as input to predict the swelling of the absorber rod during its residence in the reactor core. The results from CAES showed some non-negligible differences against the PNNL results. Some of the differences can be attributed to the different interpretation of the control rod assembly dimensions. To resolve this issue, a benchmark exercise was proposed. The benchmark specification was developed by PNNL. The benchmark exercise was performed independently at PNNL and ANL using different codes/scripts (CRND2 and CAES). This memo documents the results calculated using the different codes. However, this report is limited to presenting the results obtained. Further investigation of the cause of the observed difference will be performed as part of future activities, pending continuation of the VTR program.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Cyber-Physical Tabletop Exercise for Small Modular Reactor Facilities

U.S. nuclear power facilities face increasing challenges in meeting dynamic security requirements caused by evolving and expanding threats while keeping costs reasonable to make nuclear energy competitive. This evolving threat landscape includes adversaries having offensive cyber capabilities to attack information technology (IT) systems and operation technology (OT) systems. These adversaries may have the ability to attack the physical protection system (PPS) networks with potential consequential impacts that could degrade the effectiveness of the PPS. These cyber attacks may also be used to attack the safety and operational systems used to operate and ensure the safety of the reactor. Additionally, adversaries may gain access to unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that may be used to provide reconnaissance and surveillance of the facility, provide information to the adversaries, and be equipped with kinetic capabilities such as explosives or weapons that can be used to directly attack the facility. The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Reactor Safeguards and Security (ARSS) program funded Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to develop a cyber-physical tabletop exercise (TTX). This exercise was conducted on a hypothetical small modular reactor (SMR) facility, and only considered a potential adversary cyber attack on the PPS to a physical attack on the hypothetical facility to achieve a radiological release. This cyber-physical TTX is meant to provide lessons learned to integrate the cyber security system design and the physical protection system (PPS) design to decrease design, operation, and maintenance costs as well as increase effectiveness for defending against design basis threat attacks at the facility. This TTX will also provide a framework and method for SMR and microreactor vendors to conduct their own cyber-physical TTX and gain impactful insights to improving the cyber and physical protection system design for their SMR or microreactor facility design.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Inflight exercise and work tolerance, experiment M003

The response of the cardiovascular system to a known exercise workload is used as index of the general physical condition of crewmembers during long duration space flight. Day-to-day evaluations of pulse rates before and after exercise periods were not remarkable. The response of the cardiovascular system to a calibrated workload was relatively constant for a given individual during space flights of as many as 14 days in connection with the Gemini Program.

Dietlein, L. F.↗

Metabolic, respiratory, and cardiological measurements during exercise and rest

Low concentration effects of CO2 on metabolic respiration and circulation were measured during work and at rest. The relationship between heart rate and metabolic rate is examined, as well as calibration procedures, and rate measurement during submaximal and standard exercise tests. Alterations in acid base and electrolytes were found during exhaustive exercise, including changes in ECG and metabolic alkalosis effects.

Source record↗

Rhesus monkey heart rate during exercise

Various schedules of reinforcement and their relation to heart rates of rhesus monkeys during exercise are described. All the reinforcement schedules produced 100 per cent or higher increments in the heart rates of the monkeys during exercise. Resting heart rates were generally much lower than those previously reported, which was attributed to the lack of physical restraint of the monkeys during recording.

Delorge, J.↗

Exercise temperature regulation in man in the upright and supine positions.

Rectal, auditory canal, and mean skin temperatures and various metabolic measurements were taken on subjects during 70-min exercise periods, in the upright and supine positions, on a bicycle ergometer. The results indicate nonlinear relationships between sweating and core skin temperatures and suggest the action of undefined thermal and/or nonthermal inputs in the control of exercise temperature regulation.

Greenleaf, J. E.↗

Comparative changes in plasma protein concentration, hematocrit and plasma volume during exercise, bedrest and + Gz acceleration.

Discussion of experiments which indicate that under conditions of a constant red cell volume the proportional changes in hematocrit and plasma volume during exercise are never equal. On the basis of direct measurements and calculated changes of plasma volume it is concluded that during maximal exercise there is a small loss of protein from the plasma. It is clear that changes in content of blood constituents can only be evaluated correctly after determination of changes in plasma volume.

Van Beaumont, W.↗

An Exercise Prescription Intervention Program with Periodic Ergometric Grading

A long term exercise prescription type of physical conditioning program has been available to executive personnel of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center for the past two years. Periodic ergometric testing with a heart rate controlled, automatically programmed, bicycle ergometer is used to follow the individual's progress and appropriately alter his exercise prescription from time to time. Such a program appears feasible, and acceptance is excellent, dropout rates small and periodic testing participation good. Subjects training diligently can maintain satisfactory levels of conditioning.

Owen, C. A.↗

Physiological response to exercise after space flight - Apollo 7 to Apollo 11.

Exercise response tests were conducted preflight and postflight on Apollo missions 7 to 11. The primary objective of these tests was to detect any changes in the cardiopulmonary response to exercise that were associated with the space flight environment and that could have limited lunar surface activities. A heart-rate-controlled bicycle ergometer was used to produce three heart rate stress levels: 120 beats per minute for 6 minutes; 140 beats per minute for 3 minutes and 160 beats per minute per 3 minutes. Work load, blood pressure and respiratory gas exchange were measured during each stress level. Significant decreases were observed immediately postflight in the following dependent variables at a heart rate of 160 beats per minute: work load, oxygen consumption, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. No changes occurred in work efficiency at 100 watts or the ventilatory equivalent for oxygen at 2.0 liters per minute.

Rummel, J. A.↗

Red cell volume with changes in plasma osmolarity during maximal exercise.

The volume of the red cell in vivo was measured during acute changes in plasma osmolarity evoked through short (6 to 8 min) maximal exercise in six male volunteer subjects. Simultaneous measurements of mean corpuscular red cell volume (MCV), hematocrit, blood hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and plasma osmolarity showed that there was no change in the MCV or MCHC with a concomitant rise of nearly 6% in plasma osmolarity. Apparently, in vivo, the volume of the red cell in exercising healthy human subjects does not change measurably, in spite of significant changes in osmotic pressure of the surrounding medium. Consequently, it is not justified to correct postexercise hematocrit measurements for changes in plasma osmolarity.

Van Beaumont, W.↗

Use of the single-breath method of estimating cardiac output during exercise-stress testing.

The single-breath cardiac output measurement technique of Kim et al. (1966) has been modified for use in obtaining cardiac output measurements during exercise-stress tests on Apollo astronauts. The modifications involve the use of a respiratory mass spectrometer for data acquisition and a digital computer program for data analysis. The variation of the modified method for triplicate steady-state cardiac output measurements was plus or minus 1 liter/min. The combined physiological and methodological variation seen during a set of three exercise tests on a series of subjects was 1 to 2.5 liter/min. Comparison of the modified method with the direct Fick technique showed that although the single-breath values were consistently low, the scatter of data was small and the correlation between the two methods was high. Possible reasons for the low single-breath cardiac output values are discussed.

Buderer, M. C.↗

Blood electrolytes and exercise in relation to temperature regulation in man.

It is shown that the body temperature rise during physical exercise is a regulated process and is not due to a failure of heat-dissipating mechanisms. Core and skin temperatures do not provide sufficient information to account for the control of sweating during exercise. Evidence is presented that suggests an association between equilibrium levels of rectal temperature and the osmotic concentration of the blood with essentially no influence from variations in plasma volume.-

Greenleaf, J. E.↗

Erythrocyte volume in acidified venous blood from exercising limbs.

Five male volunteers performed arm exercises in the sitting position by cranking the pedals of a bicycle ergometer at 50 revolutions per min. The initial mechanical work load of 0 kgm/min was increased every minute by 75 kgm/min until exhaustion occurred. The data obtained show a significant acidification of the venous blood from the working arms and a substantial increase in venous pCO2 during this type of muscular activity. However, the erythrocyte volume remained unaltered during the exercise.

Van Beaumont, W.↗

A gravity exercise system

An effective method for muscle conditioning during weightlessness flight is derived from isometric exercise. The basic principle of gravity exercise is to periodically displace the human body upon reactionless rollers so that spacial equilibrium can only be maintained by the proper tension and relaxation of the body's muscles. A rotating platform mounted upon two degrees of freedom rollers provides such a condition of gravitational reaction stress throughout each of its 360 deg rotation.

Brandt, W. E.↗

Blood flow and oxygen uptake during exercise

A model is developed for predicting oxygen uptake, muscle blood flow, and blood chemistry changes under exercise conditions. In this model, the working muscle mass system is analyzed. The conservation of matter principle is applied to the oxygen in a unit mass of working muscle under transient exercise conditions. This principle is used to relate the inflow of oxygen carried with the blood to the outflow carried with blood, the rate of change of oxygen stored in the muscle myoglobin, and the uptake by the muscle. Standard blood chemistry relations are incorporated to evaluate venous levels of oxygen, pH, and carbon dioxide.

Mitchell, J. W.↗

Temperature responses to infusion of electrolytes during exercise

To gain more insight into the ion-osmotic influence on temperature regulation, the rectal temperature responses of mongrel dogs were measured during one hour of treadmill-running at 1.2 m/sec up a 12 deg slope. Results indicate that as in man, the rise in body temperature during exercise appears to be a regulated process. There is a direct relationship between the rise and equilibrium levels of rectal temperature and the plasma sodium and osmotic concentrations. It remains to be determined if the hypernatremic-osmolality inhibits peripheral blood flow, the panting, salivation response, or both. Some background on previous experiments on resting and exercising dogs and men is recounted.

Greenleaf, J. E.↗

Instrumented personal exercise during long-duration space flights

The present work reports the results of instrumented personal exercise performed in flight by Skylab 3 and 4 crewmen. Inflight cycle ergometer data provide conclusive evidence that man can perform earthbound equivalent maximum levels of physical work while in the zero-G environment. Moreover, SL4 crewmen were able to improve their physical condition during 84 days of space flight relative to launch condition, due to rigorous personal exercise regimens. Biological data measured included oxygen consumption, CO2 production, minute volume, and heart rate.

Sawin, C. F.↗

Exercise response

The bicycle ergometer and a graded stress protocol were used to conduct exercise stress tests for the Apollo project. The graded exercise tests permitted a progressive evaluation of physiological control system response and provided a better understanding of safe stress limits; heart rate was used for determining stress levels. During each test, workload, heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory gas exchange (oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, and minute volume) measurements were made. The results are presented and discussed.

J.A. Rummel↗