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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Development of hybrid 3-D hydrological modeling for the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM)

This is the Final Report of our four-year (3-year plus one-year no cost extension) collaborative project between the University of Arizona (UA) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The overall objective of our project is to develop and evaluate the first hybrid 3-D hydrological model with a horizontal grid spacing of 1 km for the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM). We have made substantial progress in model development and evaluation, computational efficiencies and software engineering, and data development and evaluation, as discussed in Sections 2-4. Section 5 presents our success in data dissemination, while Section 6 discusses the scientific impacts of our work. Section 7 discusses education and mentoring success of our project, while Section 8 lists our relevant DOE services. All peer-reviewed papers that acknowledged this project are listed in Section 9. Highlights of our achievements include: • We have finished 20 papers (most published already) on model development and evaluation, computational efficiencies and software engineering, and data development and evaluation • The global datasets developed under this project have been permanently archived and publicly available • Some of our research results have already been implemented in WRF and CLM • Patrick Broxton and Michael Brunke have received their Ph.D. • PI Zeng has served on DOE proposal review panels and DOE lab scientific focus area (SFA) review panels

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development of Simultaneous Beta-and-Coincidence-Gamma Imager for Plant Imaging Research

The goal of this project is to develop a novel imaging system that can simultaneously acquire beta and coincidence gamma images of positron sources in thin objects such as leaves of plants. This hybrid imager can be used to measure carbon assimilation in plants quantitatively and in real-time after C-11 labeled carbon-dioxide is administered. A better understanding of carbon assimilation, particularly under the increasingly elevated atmospheric CO 2 level, is extremely critical for plant scientists who study food crop and biofuel production. Phase 1 of this project is focused on the technology development with 3 specific aims: (1) develop a hybrid detector that can detect beta and gamma rays simultaneously; (2) develop an imaging system that can differentiate these two types of radiation and acquire beta and coincidence gamma images in real-time; (3) develop techniques to quantify radiotracer distribution using beta and gamma images. Phase 2 of this project is to apply technologies developed in phase 1 to study plants using positron-emitting radionuclide such as 11 C to study carbon assimilation in biofuel plants.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Research and Development Opportunities for Technologies to Influence Water Consumption Behavior

In April 2015, Argonne National Laboratory hosted a two-day workshop that convened water experts and stakeholders from across industry, government, and academia to undertake three primary tasks: 1) identify technology characteristics that are favorable for motivating behavioral change, 2) identify barriers that have prevented the development and market adoption of technologies with these characteristics in the water sector, and 3) identify concrete research and development pathways that could be undertaken to overcome these barriers, increase the penetration of technologies that influence water consumption behavior, and ultimately reduce domestic water consumption. While efforts to reduce water consumption have gained momentum in recent years, there are a number of key barriers that have limited the effectiveness of such efforts. Chief among these is the fact that many consumers have limited awareness of their water consumption patterns because of poor data availability, and/or are unmotivated to reduce their consumption because of low costs and split incentives. Without improved data availability and stronger price signals, it will be difficult to effect true transformative behavioral change. This report also reviews a number of technology characteristics that have successfully motivated behavioral change in other sectors, as well as several technologies that could be developed specifically for the water sector. Workshop participants discussed how technologies that provide active feedback and promote measurable goals and social accountability have successfully influenced changes in other types of behavior. A range of regulatory and policy actions that could be implemented to support such efforts are also presented. These include institutional aggregation, revenue decoupling, and price structure reforms. Finally, several R&D pathways were proposed, including efforts to identify optimal communication strategies and to better understand consumer perceptions and psychology as they relate to human behavior regarding water consumption. The findings presented here can help to inform policy makers as they develop new policies and seek to support new research to help consumers use water more efficiently. It is our hope that these findings will also be utilized to prioritize topics for additional follow-up workshops to address individual issues and barriers more directly and in more detail. The goal of such future workshops will be to develop specific solutions, research plans, and technology development pathways that can be undertaken to increase the market penetration of technologies that effect behavioral change and reduce water consumption.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2017

FY2016 Ceramic Fuels Development Annual Highlights

Key challenges for the Advanced Fuels Campaign are the development of fuel technologies to enable major increases in fuel performance (safety, reliability, power and burnup) beyond current technologies, and development of characterization methods and predictive fuel performance models to enable more efficient development and licensing of advanced fuels. Ceramic fuel development activities for fiscal year 2016 fell within the areas of 1) National and International Technical Integration, 2) Advanced Accident Tolerant Ceramic Fuel Development, 3) Advanced Techniques and Reference Materials Development, and 4) Fabrication of Enriched Ceramic Fuels. High uranium density fuels were the focus of the ceramic fuels efforts. Accomplishments for FY16 primarily reflect the prioritization of identification and assessment of new ceramic fuels for light water reactors which have enhanced accident tolerance while also maintaining or improving normal operation performance, and exploration of advanced post irradiation examination techniques which will support more efficient testing and qualification of new fuel systems.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Status on the Development of a Modeling and Simulation Framework for the Economic Assessment of Nuclear Hybrid Energy

Continued effort to design and build a modeling and simulation framework to assess the economic viability of Nuclear Hybrid Energy Systems (NHES) was undertaken in fiscal year (FY) 2016. The purpose of this report is to document the various tasks associated with the development of such a framework and to provide a status of their progress. Several tasks have been accomplished. First, a synthetic time history generator has been developed in RAVEN, which consists of Fourier series and autoregressive moving average model. The former is used to capture the seasonal trend in historical data, while the latter is to characterize the autocorrelation in residue time series (e.g., measurements with seasonal trends subtracted). As demonstration, both synthetic wind speed and grid demand are generated, showing matching statistics with database. In order to build a design and operations optimizer in RAVEN, a new type of sampler has been developed with highly object-oriented design. In particular, simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation algorithm is implemented. The optimizer is capable to drive the model to optimize a scalar objective function without constraint in the input space, while the constraints handling is a work in progress and will be implemented to improve the optimization capability. Furthermore, a simplified cash flow model of the performance of an NHES in the electric market has been developed in Python and used as external model in RAVEN to confirm expectations on the analysis capability of RAVEN to provide insight into system economics and to test the capability of RAVEN to identify limit surfaces. Finally, an example calculation is performed that shows the integration and proper data passing in RAVEN of the synthetic time history generator, the cash flow model and the optimizer. It has been shown that the developed Python models external to RAVEN are able to communicate with RAVEN and each other through the newly developed RAVEN capability called “EnsembleModel”.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development of Macroscale Models of UO 2 Fuel Sintering and Densification using Multiscale Modeling and Simulation

Light water reactor fuel pellets are fabricated using sintering to final densities of 95% or greater. During reactor operation, the porosity remaining in the fuel after fabrication decreases further due to irradiation-assisted densification. While empirical models have been developed to describe this densification process, a mechanistic model is needed as part of the ongoing work by the NEAMS program to develop a more predictive fuel performance code. In this work we will develop a phase field model of sintering of UO 2 in the MARMOT code, and validate it by comparing to published sintering data. We will then add the capability to capture irradiation effects into the model, and use it to develop a mechanistic model of densification that will go into the BISON code and add another essential piece to the microstructure-based materials models. The final step will be to add the effects of applied fields, to model field-assisted sintering of UO 2 . The results of the phase field model will be validated by comparing to data from field-assisted sintering. Tasks over three years: 1. Develop a sintering model for UO 2 in MARMOT 2. Expand model to account for irradiation effects 3. Develop a mechanistic macroscale model of densification for BISON

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Integrated Computational Materials Engineering Development of Advanced High Strength Steel for Lightweight Vehicles

The goal of the ICME 3GAHSS project was to successfully demonstrate the applicability of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) for the development and deployment of third generation advanced high strength steels (3GAHSS) for immediate weight reduction in passenger vehicles. The ICME approach integrated results from well-established computational and experimental methodologies to develop a suite of material constitutive models (deformation and failure), manufacturing process and performance simulation modules, a properties database, as well as the computational environment linking them together for both performance prediction and material optimization. This is the Final Report for the ICME 3GAHSS project, which achieved the fol-lowing objectives: 1) Developed a 3GAHSS ICME model, which includes atomistic, crystal plasticity, state variable and forming models. The 3GAHSS model was implemented in commercially available LS-DYNA and a user guide was developed to facilitate use of the model. 2) Developed and produced two 3GAHSS alloys using two different chemistries and manufacturing processes, for use in calibrating and validating the 3GAHSS ICME Model. 3) Optimized the design of an automotive subassembly by substituting 3GAHSS for AHSS yielding a design that met or exceeded all baseline performance requirements with a 30% mass savings. A technical cost model was also developed to estimate the cost per pound of weight saved when substituting 3GAHSS for AHSS. The project demonstrated the potential for 3GAHSS to achieve up to 30% weight savings in an automotive structure at a cost penalty of up to $0.32 to $1.26 per pound of weight saved. The 3GAHSS ICME Model enables the user to design 3GAHSS to desired mechanical properties in terms of strength and ductility.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Complete Report on the Development of Welding Parameters for Irradiated Materials

The advanced welding facility at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which was conceived to enable research and development of weld repair techniques for nuclear power plant life extension, is now operational. The development of the facility and its advanced welding capabilities, along with the model materials for initial welding trials, were funded jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program, the Electric Power Research Institute, Long Term Operations Program and the Welding and Repair Technology Center, with additional support from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Welding of irradiated materials was initiated on November 17, 2017, which marked a significant step in the development of the facility and the beginning of extensive welding research and development campaigns on irradiated materials that will eventually produce validated techniques and guidelines for weld repair activities carried out to extend the operational lifetimes of nuclear power plants beyond 60 years. This report summarizes the final steps that were required to complete weld process development, initial irradiated materials welding activities, near-term plans for irradiated materials welding, and plans for post-weld analyses that will be carried out to assess the ability of the advanced welding processes to make repairs on irradiated materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

2017 State of Wind Development in the United States by Region

This document summarizes the status and drivers for U.S. wind energy development during 2017. Regional Resource Center (RRC) leaders provided a report of wind energy development in their regions, which was combined with findings from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers to provide an account of the state of the regions, as well as updates on developments in individual states. NREL researchers and state partners added updates for all states that are not directly supported by an RRC. Accounts for each region include updates on renewable portfolio standards, workforce development, manufacturing and economic development, and individual state updates for installed wind capacity, ongoing policy developments, planned projects and their status, transmission progress reports, etc. This report also highlights the efforts of the RRCs to engage stakeholders in their individual regions.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Impact of Technology Developments on Cost and Embodied Energy of Advanced Polymer Composite Components

Within Manufacturing USA, The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, IACMI, is a partnership of industry, private and state universities, as well as federal, state, and local governments that are working together to benefit the nation’s energy and economic security. This diverse public/private partnership validates manufacturing technologies that respond to private industry’s need for faster and more cost-, material-, and energy-efficient composites manufacturing, including recycling at the end of product life. IACMI has set specific quantitative goals towards advancing the state-of-the-art in materials and manufacturing technologies for carbon fiber reinforced polymer matrix (CFRP) composites. The goals were set with respect to three targeted application areas, namely: automobiles, wind turbine blades and compressed gas storage tanks. The specific goals set for IACMI at the end of the first five years were to: (1) reduce the cost of productionized composite parts by 25%, (2) reduce the embodied energy in the production of these parts by 50%, and (3) increase recyclability of CFRP parts into useful products to 80% of the part being recycled. A baseline set of metrics representing the state-of-the-art at the start of IACMI (June 2015) were required to estimate the potential impact of the various technology development efforts towards these goals. Further, the actual impact on the baseline metrics as each project is completed needs to be quantified, considering the technology advances accomplished. These baseline cost and energy metrics are available on the IACMI website at https://iacmi.org/baseline-cost-energy. A special embodied energy estimator tool, developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is available to the public online at http://www.energytoolestimator.com/, and has been used to develop the baselines as well as evaluate impacts from completed IACMI projects. This report describes the impact of two recently completed IACMI sponsored technology projects on the baseline metrics. In the first project, titled “Thermoplastic Composites Parts Manufacturing Enabling High Volumes, Low Cost, Reduced Weight with Design Flexibility”, a highly drapable, easily recyclable thermoplastic coated, near net-shape carbon fiber fabric was developed. The thermoplastic coated tow (CT) fabric was manufactured using a rapid fabric formation (RFF) process developed for textile manufacturing. The DuPont, Fibrtec, and Purdue University team that accomplished the development of this low scrap rate carbon fiber product form selected an automobile control arm to be built in a follow-on phase of the project as a demonstrator of the benefits of this technology.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Development of Mixed-Salt Technology for CO 2 Capture from Coal Power Plants

SRI International (SRI), in collaboration with Stanford University, OLI Systems (OLI), Politecnico de Milano (PoliMi), and Aqueous Systems Aps (ASApS) performed a 45-month effort to develop a promising Mixed-Salt Process (MSP) for carbon dioxide capture. The MSP combines existing ammonia and potassium-carbonate technologies with improved absorption steps for rate enhancement and ammonia emission reduction and a novel selective regeneration process with a high-pressure CO 2 product to introduce a new and advanced transformational solvent-based technology. The striking advantages of the SRI MSP include: low heat of reaction, high loading of CO 2 , high-pressure regeneration of > 99% pure dry CO 2 , low sensitivity to impurities, low process cost, use of a non-degradable low-cost solvent with a very low carbon footprint for its production, low emissions, and reduced water use compared to the state-of-the-art ammonia-based and amine technologies. The overall objective of the project was to develop and test a solvent-based CO 2 capture technology that can capture CO 2 from existing or new pulverized coal (PC) power plants at low cost. Our specific goal was to test SRI’s newly developed MSP at the large bench-scale level to demonstrate that the process could capture CO 2 at high efficiency (> 90%) with very high CO 2 loading (> 10 wt.%), require less than 2 GJ/tonne for solvent regeneration, and produce a CO 2 stream at high pressure with a purity > 95 vol.%. This 45-month MSP development program was designed to conduct (1) extensive test campaigns with different process flowsheet variants, and (2) detailed thermodynamic, kinetic, and process modeling. These tests and models were very important to identify any issues associated with the process in the early stages and then resolve them before moving into the next scale-up (> 1 MWe scale) testing. The technology development plan consisted of balanced experimental and process modeling activities as shown in Figure i. Such an approach reduces the risks associated with the process operability at large scales and provides capital and operating expenditure (CAPEX/OPEX) predictions with improved accuracies. Under the MSP development program at SRI, we performed an aggressive testing campaign with individual subsystems as well as integrated CO 2 capture and regeneration system to identify the best operating conditions. The project was carried out in two budget periods (BP1 & BP2).

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Site Classification for Standard Modular Hydropower Development: Characterizing Stream Reaches by Module Need

The objective of site classification for Standard Modular Hydropower (SMH) development is to develop a framework for classifying potential SMH sites in terms useful for informing SMH development, such as module need and module design requirements. While the current vision for SMH has focused on applications for new stream-reach development, these site classifications are equally useful for other applications, such as modular development at non-powered dams and other hydropower co-development opportunities. We used K-means clustering to classify sites (i.e., stream reaches) into clusters (i.e., groups of sites with similar attributes) based on simultaneous consideration of physical and biological attributes of those sites. Stream reaches included were confined to those with mean annual flow > 50 cfs and < 25,000 cfs (~350,000 reaches). Site Classification was conducted separately for six modules: hydroelectric generation, water quality, sediment passage, fish passage, foundation support, and recreation. About 340,000 stream reaches across the contiguous US were classified into 10 groups for each of the 6 different module categories. For each module category, clusters are visualized on US maps and described based on the defining variables that differentiate clusters from each other.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Advanced Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessment Methodology: Development of Beta 1.0 MASTODON Toolset

Design of nuclear power plant (NPP) facilities to resist natural hazards has been a part of the regulatory process from the beginning of the NPP industry in the United States, but has evolved substantially over time. The original set of approaches and methods was entirely deterministic in nature and focused on a traditional engineering margins-based approach. However, over time probabilistic and risk-informed approaches were also developed and implemented in US Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidance and regulation. A defense-in-depth framework has also been incorporated into US regulatory guidance over time. As a result, today, the US regulatory framework incorporates deterministic and probabilistic approaches for a range of different applications and for a range of natural hazard considerations. Although the US regulatory framework has continued to evolve over time, the tools, methods and data available to the US nuclear industry to meet the changing requirements have not kept pace. Notably, there is room for improvement in the tools and methods available for external event probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), which is the principal assessment approach used in risk-informed regulations and risk-informed decision-making applied to natural hazard assessment and design. Development of a new set of tools and methods that incorporate current knowledge, modern best practice, and state-of-the-art computational resources would lead to more reliable assessment of facility risk and risk insights (e.g., the plant elements and accident sequences that are most risk-significant), with less uncertainty and reduced conservatisms. Development of the next generation tools and methods for external events PRA is ongoing under the Risk Informed Safety Margins Characterization (RISMC) technical pathway. The RISMC toolkit development centers on integration of the tools and methods under a common framework, MOOSE. These tools and methods make use of existing and newly developed tools and methods, coupled with the experience and data gained in the past decades, to define and analyze more realistic risk assessment models. Specific focus in this report is on the capability to model seismic risk using advanced SPRA methods. Over the last year, significant capability has been added to Mastodon to simulate 3-D wave passage effects through nonlinear soil. Verification has demonstrated the capability of Mastodon to model wave passage effects in 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D. Methods have been developed to incorporate probabilistic floor response capabilities. Additional capability will be added to Mastodon over the next year to implement a robust gapping and sliding element for cyclic shaking, web-based verification and user manuals, stochastic finite elements, and frequency independent damping. Verification of added capabilities has occured in parallel with code writing activities.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Advanced Gasification and Novel Transformational Coal Conversion Technologies Development: Final Technical Report

This report summarizes the work carried out in furtherance of the NETL/DOE award, OTM-Enhanced Coal Syngas for Carbon Capture Power Systems and Fuel Synthesis Applications. The overall objective of the project was to further develop Oxygen Transport Membrane (OTM) technology and assess the potential for integration in coal power generation. OTM technology has the potential to enhance the quality of syngas produced by coal gasifiers, reduce the amount of cryogenic-derived oxygen required in Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants, and allow for coal and natural gas integration. Process simulations and techno-economic analyses were carried out to estimate the cost and performance of OTM enhanced IGCC plants, IG-NGCC plants, and OTM enhanced Fischer Tropsch (FT) Liquids from coal and natural gas plants. The OTM enhanced power plants achieved higher carbon capture rates, higher efficiencies, and lower cost of electricity compared to the base cases. The most significant benefits were achieved for cases which used low rank coal as the feed. Fischer-Tropsch coal to liquids plants with iron-based catalysts and natural gas integration utilizing OTM technology showed improved carbon conversion, improved thermal efficiency and lower cost of production. With respect to OTM core technology development, significant advances have been made in several areas. The development and implementation of a third-generation membrane materials and manufacturing process has resulted in the availability of robust and reliable, high performance membranes, that can be manufactured at high yield. Progress towards the goal of higher pressure operation has been demonstrated with the development of improved metal-ceramic seals and components of the panel array module that integrate membrane-seal assemblies with primary and secondary reforming catalysts have been further developed and demonstrated. Work concluded with the successful start-up and operation of a multi-panel pilot-scale system which is the final step in technology development ahead of demonstration.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Integrated FHR technology development: Tritium management, materials testing, salt chemistry control, thermal hydraulics and neutronics, associated benchmarking and commercial basis

This report summarizes the results of a 3-year Integrated Research Project (IRP) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy to address major technical challenges in the development of the Fluoride-salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor (FHR). The IRP universities included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), the University of Wisconsin (UW), and the University of New Mexico (UNM). The FHR is a new reactor concept less than 20 years old that combines (1) a clean fluoride salt coolant, (2) the graphite-matrix coated-particle fuel originally developed for High- Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors and (3) passive decay heat removal systems from sodium fast reactors. The base-line design is a pebble-bed FHR that delivers heat between 600 to 700°C with a 7 Li 2 BeF 4 (flibe) salt coolant to the power cycle or industrial users. The Executive Summary describes what was accomplished and summarizes major conclusions. The main report contains stand-alone sections in each major area of work. Highlights are summarized below. Tritium. The coolant salt produces tritium necessitating understanding and control of tritium. Experimental work included measuring hydrogen uptake on carbon, tritium uptake during irradiation of graphite in 700°C salt and the permeability of tritium through metals with and without coatings. An FHR systems model was developed to predict tritium behavior and enable design of tritium control systems. The leading candidate for tritium removal from the flibe salt is carbon bed outside the reactor core. Thermal hydraulics and Neutronics. A 10-meter high FHR integral effects test facility, using Dowtherm A®, has been built and used to simulate the integral response of a representative FHR to improve understanding of FHR thermal hydraulics and validate thermal hydraulics codes used for the FHR. Neutronic analysis included code-to-code benchmarking, multiphysics modeling, uncertainty analysis for nuclear data uncertainties and shielding analysis. Twisted-tube heat exchangers were examined that may provide significant cost reductions because of their improved heat-transfer performance with liquid salts. The impacts on safety and design caused by uncertainties in physical properties of the salt were assessed with recommendations on where added physical property measurements are needed. Work began on understanding radiative heat transfer that becomes important in salt systems at higher temperatures. Materials. Static corrosion tests were conducted on graphite and materials in 700°C salt -- both in the UW laboratory and in the MIT reactor. In addition to static corrosion testing, a circulating salt corrosion loop was built and is operating. Methods to measure salt properties including redox were developed. The presence of carbon increases corrosion. With good redox control, the evidence indicates stainless steel can be used as a material of construction. Benchmarking. An additional series of workshops where held to enable benchmarking and comparison of results between different investigators. Commercialization. The FHR delivers higher average-temperature (~650°C) heat to the power cycle or industry than other reactors. This enables power cycles with lower-cost heat storage for variable electricity to the grid while the reactor operates at base-load -- providing a major competitive advantage by maximizing revenue from electricity sales. In October, 2016, a new startup company named Kairos Power was formed, and opened its first office in Jack London Square, Oakland, California, in January 2017. Kairos Power exists largely due to the work that was accomplished by this IRP and the previous DOE-funded FHR IRP that performed research on FHR technology from 2012 to 2015. In September, 2018, as this IRP is concluding, Kairos Power was staffed at 60 full time employees, working to develop technology derived from this IRP. Many of these employees worked with the IRP before joining Kairos Power 1 (https://kairospower.com). Other students and researchers from this IRP have joined other startup companies, including the Terrapower Molten Chloride Fast Reactor and the Terrestrial Energy development efforts.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Mercury Remediation Technology Development for Lower East Fort Poplar Creek - FY2018 Update

Mercury (Hg) remediation is a high priority for the US Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM). Mercury contamination in the environment can be found at all three DOE facilities in Oak Ridge, but probably the greatest environmental risk concern relative to Hg on the Oak Ridge Reservation is associated with historical Hg losses at and near the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12). Water and fish from East Fork Poplar Creek (EFPC) downstream of Y-12 exceed regulatory thresholds. Because of the complexities of Hg transport and fate in the aquatic environment, conventional remedial options for EFPC are highly uncertain. DOE is using a phased, adaptive management approach to Hg remediation at Y-12, with a focus in the next few years on construction of the Mercury Treatment Facility (MTF) to treat the most contaminated Y-12 outfall entering EFPC (DOE 2017a; DOE 2017b). Once operational, the MTF will provide additional protection against inadvertent releases of Hg into the stream from decontamination and decommissioning of Y-12 Hg-use buildings. Although it is anticipated that the MTF will substantially decrease Hg water concentrations and flux in the upper part of EFPC, research and technology development is needed to develop appropriate and longer-term remedial solutions for the downstream environment. Since late 2014, OREM and UCOR/RSI (URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC/Restoration Services, Inc.) have supported Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Environmental Sciences Division staff in conducting field and laboratory studies to develop Hg remedial technology solutions for lower EFPC (LEFPC). A technology development strategy for lower EFPC was developed in 2014 that was consistent with the adaptive management paradigm and DOE’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) guidelines (Peterson et al. 2015). Initially, a thorough review of the literature and site-specific information was conducted to develop a broad number of potential technologies that might be applied in lower EFPC. An adaptive management approach was then used to focus on technologies that might have the most promise and potential remediation benefit. Field and laboratory studies conducted during 2014–2018 have (1) identified the major drivers of Hg flux and bioaccumulation in EFPC and (2) narrowed the list of highmerit technologies that might be of use in remediating the downstream environment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development and Comparison of Purgeable Mercury Values in SRR Samples Measured by SRNL and Eurofins FGS

Savannah River Remediation (SRR) requested the development of mercury speciation capabilities at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to support the Liquid Waste Operations at SRS. As part of that method development, SRR requested that SRNL Analytical Development (AD) compare their results with those obtained from their outside contract laboratory, Eurofins Frontier Global Sciences (FGS). This document reports on this method development work as well as the comparative analyses conducted between the two laboratories. Development, optimization, and validation were undertaken at SRNL to produce a method for the species-specific analysis of dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) in samples from SRR. It was determined that DGM present in SRR samples represented a combination of various soluble and volatile mercury species- and is thus referred to in this document as purgeable mercury. A method has been developed and analytically validated for the analysis of purgeable mercury in caustic nuclear waste. Using multivariate optimization method, purge flow rate was determined to be highly correlated with increased response (p=0.023). Total recovery of spiked purgeable mercury from deionized water was 99.4 ±10.6% and 91.6 ±14.9% from spiked high-activity tank waste samples. Calibration, by external calibration and standard addition calibration, maintained a mean accuracy of 101 ±5% and 99.9 ±1.7%, respectively. This method represents a decrease in sample handling and processing over currently standard methods and represents a more amenable method for purgeable mercury analysis in liquid nuclear waste.1 An interlaboratory comparison was performed between SRNL and Eurofins FGS in the co-analysis of three quarterly Tank 50 samples. Two samples demonstrated no statistically significant difference (p=0.271, p=0.0811), with one sample biased 30% low to a statistically significant degree (p=0.0432). Large mean uncertainty was present in the results reported by both laboratories (±15% and 40% from SRNL and Eurofins), with no significant difference observed in uncertainty (p=0.934). Across all co-analyzed samples, no significantly difference was observed in precision (p=0.205) or reported values (p=0.352) between SRNL and Eurofins. These results indicate that SRNL-AD may provide data to the customer of statistically similar quality.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development and Comparison of Purgeable Mercury Values in SRR Samples Measured by SRNL and Eurofins FGS

Savannah River Remediation (SRR) requested the development of mercury speciation capabilities at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to support the Liquid Waste Operations at SRS. As part of that method development, SRR requested that SRNL Analytical Development (AD) compare their results with those obtained from their outside contract laboratory, Eurofins Frontier Global Sciences (FGS). This document reports on this method development work performed at SRNL as well as the comparative analyses conducted between the two laboratories. Development, optimization, and validation were undertaken at SRNL to produce a method for the species-specific analysis of dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) in samples from SRR. It was determined that DGM present in SRR samples represented a combination of various soluble and volatile mercury species- and is thus referred to in this document as purgeable mercury. A method has been developed and analytically validated for the analysis of purgeable mercury in caustic nuclear waste. Using multivariate optimization, an efficient and sensitive method was produced. Total recovery of spiked purgeable mercury from deionized water was 99.4 ±10.6% and 91.6 ±14.9% from spiked high-activity tank waste samples. Calibration, by external calibration and standard addition calibration, maintained a mean accuracy of 101 ±5% and 99.9 ±1.7%, respectively. An interlaboratory comparison was performed between SRNL and Eurofins FGS in the co-analysis of three quarterly SRR Tank 50 samples. The statistical evaluations presented in this document support the following conclusions: for internal validation data, the two laboratories demonstrate biases of -4.3% for SRNL and 4.4% for Eurofins FGS, though neither are statistically significant at the 5% level. While the percent relative standard deviation for each of the laboratories is rather large (21.5% for SRNL and 18.4% for Eurofins FGS), there is no indication of a statistically significant difference between the two laboratories in the precision of these results. For the three sets of SRR quarterly Tank 50 samples, there is no indication of a statistically significant bias between the two laboratories at the 5% significance level. These results indicate that SRNL may provide data to the customer of statistically similar quality to Eurofins FGS.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗