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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 631 records · Page 35
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Measurements and 2-D Modeling of Recycling and Edge Transport in Discharges with Lithium-coated PFCs in NSTX

The application of lithium coatings on plasma facing components has been shown to profoundly affect plasma performance in the National Spherical Torus Experiment, improving energy confinement and eliminating edge-localized modes. The edge particle balance during these ELM-free discharges has been studied through 2-D plasma-neutrals modeling, constrained by measurements of the upstream plasma density and temperature profiles and the divertor heat flux and D-alpha emission. The calculations indicate that the reduction in divertor D-alpha emission with lithium coatings applied is consistent with a drop in recycling coefficient from R similar to 0.98 to R similar to 0.9. The change in recycling is not sufficient to account for the change in edge density profiles: interpretive modeling indicates similar transport coefficients within the edge transport barrier (D/chi(e) similar to 0.2/1.0 m(2)/s), but a widening of the barrier with lithium. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

A Novel Charge Recycling Approach to Low-Power

A novel charge-recycling scheme has been designed and implemented to demonstrate the feasibility of operating digital circuits using the charge scavenged from the leakage and dynamic load currents inherent to digital logic. The proposed scheme uses capacitors to efficiently recover the ground-bound charge and to subsequently boost the capacitor voltage to power up the source circuit. This recycling methodology has been implemented on a 12-bit Gray-code counter within a 12-bit multichannel Wilkinson ADC. The circuit has been designed in 0.5 m BiCMOS and in 90nm CMOS processes. SPICE simulation results reveal a 46 53% average reduction in the energy consumption of the counter. The total energy savings including the control generation aggregates to an average of 26 34%.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Argonne explains nuclear recycling in 4 minutes

Currently, when using nuclear energy only about five percent of the uranium used in a fuel rod gets fissioned for energy; after that, the rods are taken out of the reactor and put into permanent storage. There is a way, however, to use almost all of the uranium in a fuel rod. Recycling used nuclear fuel could produce hundreds of years of energy from just the uranium we've already mined, all of it carbon-free. Problems with older technology put a halt to recycling used nuclear fuel in the United States, but new techniques developed by scientists at Argonne National Laboratory address many of those issues. For more information, visit http://www.anl.gov/energy/nuclear-energy.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Distributed Wind Deployment: Triad Recycling and Energy Corporation

This is a case study on a distributed wind project. Located 1,500 feet from the Niagara River, near the decommissioned Huntley coal-fired power plant, Triad Recycling and Energy Corporation uses a distributed wind system to cost-effectively offset the power required by their energy intensive recycling equipment. Their location is ideal for distributed wind development because they are surrounded by brownfields that offer wide, open spaces with unobstructed winds.

case study↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effects of Lithium-ion Battery Recycling Wastes on Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria

Increased demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIB) necessitates development of effective recycling methods for critical battery materials. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is exploring membrane solvent extraction (MSX) for the hydrometallurgical recycling of LIB materials. In this study, waste from MSX was investigated for its impact on the ammonia-oxidizing organism, Nitrosomonas europaea—a model organism for nitrogen removal during wastewater treatment. It was found that Raffinate 4 from ORNL was inhibitory to the growth and nitrite production of N. europaea, likely due to its nickel content. Further investigation is currently underway.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Comparing Polymer Recycling Technologies for a Circular Plastic Economy

This presentation summarizes the research article "Technical, Economic, and Environmental Comparison of Closed-Loop Recycling Technologies for Common Plastics" by Uekert et al. (ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2023) for a carpet industry audience. It covers the technical performance, environmental impacts, and costs of existing and emerging plastic recycling technologies, with a focus on those that are applicable to carpet materials such as polypropylene and polyester.

carpet↗
DOE OSTI2013

Waste Estimates for a Future Recycling Plant in the US Based Upon AREVA Operating Experience - 13206

Estimates of process and secondary wastes produced by a recycling plant built in the U.S., which is composed of a used nuclear fuel (UNF) reprocessing facility and a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility, are performed as part of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored study [1]. In this study, a set of common inputs, assumptions, and constraints were identified to allow for comparison of these wastes between different industrial teams. AREVA produced a model of a reprocessing facility, an associated fuel fabrication facility, and waste treatment facilities to develop the results for this study. These facilities were divided into a number of discrete functional areas for which inlet and outlet flow streams were clearly identified to allow for an accurate determination of the radionuclide balance throughout the facility and the waste streams. AREVA relied primarily on its decades of experience and feedback from its La Hague (reprocessing) and MELOX (MOX fuel fabrication) commercial operating facilities in France to support this assessment. However, to perform these estimates for a U.S. facility with different regulatory requirements and to take advantage of some technological advancements, such as in the potential treatment of off-gases, some deviations from this experience were necessary. A summary of AREVA's approach and results for the recycling of 800 metric tonnes of initial heavy metal (MTIHM) of LWR UNF per year into MOX fuel under the assumptions and constraints identified for this DOE study are presented. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Comparison of REMIX vs. MOX fuel characteristics in multiple recycling in VVER reactor

Multiple recycling of regenerated uranium-plutonium fuel in thermal reactors of VVER-1000 type with high enriched uranium feeding (REMIX-fuel) gives a possibility to terminate the accumulation of spent nuclear fuels (SNF) and Pu and decrease the accumulation of irradiated uranium by an order of magnitude. Results of comparison of VVER-1000 nuclear fuel cycle characteristics vs different fuel types such as UOX, MOX and REMIX-fuel have been presented. REMIX fuel (Regenerated Mixture of U-, Pu oxides) is the mixture of plutonium and uranium extracted from SNF and refined from other actinides and fission products with the addition of enriched uranium to provide the power potential necessary. The savings in terms of uranium quantities and separation works in the nuclear energy system (NES) with reactors using REMIX-fuel compared to the NES with uranium-fuelled reactors are shown to be of about 30% and 8%, respectively. For the NES with thermal reactors partially loaded with MOX-fuel, the uranium and separation works saving of about 14% would be obtained. Production of neptunium and americium in reactors with REMIX-fuel in steady state increases by a factor 3, and production of curium - by 10 compared to the reactors with UOX-fuel. This increase of minor actinide buildup is owed to the multiple recycling of plutonium. It should be noted that in this case all fuel assemblies contain high-background plutonium, and their manufacturing involves an expensive technology. Besides, management of REMIX-fuel will require special protection measures even during the fresh fuel manufacturing phase. The above-said gives ground to state that the use of REMIX fuel would be questionable in economic aspect.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Discussion on the merits of deep borehole disposal, especially with recycling - 15389

With the continued global expansion of the nuclear industry, disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high level waste (HLW) continues to be a largely unimplemented (but extensively studied) activity throughout the world and can continue to do so due to the safe practices of 'interim' SNF/used nuclear fuel (UNF) and HLW storage. However as the industry continues to operate and expand in both existing and new countries, the accumulated SNF/UNF and HLW will continue to grow in both quantity and locations across the globe; hence, requiring more effort to control and monitor. Countries with nuclear power programs, or are considering starting nuclear power programs, must consider the potential financial and the engineering burden associated with both the interim storage and the disposal of SNF/UNF and HLW produced by these programs: can the cost of disposal be reasonably captured in the cost of electricity produced from nuclear programs and are there suitable sites for disposal in their country, such as a mined-geologic site, for the expected accumulated quantity of SNF and HLW? Answering these questions may be particularly vexing for countries with small nuclear programs where establishing viable disposal sites for SNF and HLW and funding of the development of these sites may be a challenge. In an effort to establish an alternative to traditional, expensive, mined-geologic disposal sites, the deep borehole option has been (re-)considered by multiple countries and entities to be a relatively simple solution to disposal of SNF and HLW. However, disposal of SNF in deep boreholes must overcome several issues including: (1) limiting-sized borehole diameters; (2) limited ability for retrieval; and (3) potential hang-up issues associated with lowering longer (e.g., > 180 inches) canisters down into a deep borehole. Since most SNF is a resource when recycled (i.e., UNF) and to dispose of it in an irretrievable manner would be wasteful, a more optimal alternative that could overcome these issues and maximize the benefits of the UNF is to recycle the UNF and dispose of the resulting HLW into deep boreholes. The multiple and mutual benefits of this approach are elucidated in this paper. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

Conservation and Recycling for Radiological-Contaminated Laundry Applications - 16044

Recovery and reuse of materials exposed to radioactive environments is a critical element for those whom are involved with processing such materials. In order to minimize the disposal of radiological-contaminated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE, laundry, respirators, etc.) the need for environmentally-friendly and cost-effective technologies to provide laundering services is needed for current and future processes. A by-product of the laundry process is contaminated water. In order to reduce waste generation, we developed a radiological water filtration system custom-designed for laundry applications, which is used as both a filtration device as well as a water recycling system. The filtration process utilizes membrane filtration, suspended solids and organic filtration, ion-exchange capture, and ozonization/UV as germicidal reducers. In addition, ultrafiltration is used as a final step in order to return clean water back to the washing process system. The system was originally designed for non-radiological industrial laundry applications (hospitality, health care, correctional and governmental settings, etc). This process reduces the water consumption and discharge by up to 75% while retaining heat to minimize energy input costs. Principle components of the system include lint shakers and collection tanks with ozone injection, suspended solids filter, activated charcoal, ultraviolet lamp treatment cell, ion exchange columns, ultrafiltration filters, and final holding tank with ozone injection. Although up-front equipment costs are required, we believe that the reduction in waste generated through recycle and reuse of the water, along with avoiding premature disposal of PPE as radioactive waste, greatly outweighs up-front effort. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

Treatment of LLW Components for Waste Minimization and Recycling - 16258

The Studsvik Melting Facility has been in operation for almost 30 years. Many turbines, heat exchangers and other retired components, pipes, structures have been treated in the facility during those years. The ambition of all projects is to minimize the waste volumes for final disposal and to maximize the amount of material that can be recycled. Another objective, respecting ALARA, is to keep dose exposition to the personnel at very low levels. The overall concept comprises the whole sequence of preparations from road and sea transports, the management of the metallic LLW by segmentation, decontamination and sorting using specially devised tools and shielded treatment cell, to the decision criteria for recycling of the metals, radiological analyses and conditioning of the residual waste into a final form suitable for customer-related disposal. The records show that the amount of material possible for conditional clearance to open market after treatment is between 95 - 97 % on weight for falling metallic scrap. For large components there is a larger span and especially for heat exchangers. This paper describes the Studsvik technical concept and experience related to treatment of metals from the program for modernization and power upgrade of the Swedish nuclear power plants. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

Initial Testing of Off-Gas Recycle Condensate Liquid from the WTP Low Activity Waste Vitrification Process - 16432

The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) under construction at the Hanford site is designed to treat and immobilize the inventory of High-Level Waste stored in the 177 underground storage tanks. The WTP process flow was designed to pre-treat this waste, separating it into High Level Waste (HLW) and Low Activity Waste (LAW) fractions for vitrification. Vitrification of the waste generates a condensate stream from the off-gas processes originating from two off-gas treatment unit operations, the Submerged Bed Scrubber (SBS) and the Wet Electrostatic Precipitator (WESP). The baseline plan for disposition of the stream from the LAW melter is to recycle it to the Pretreatment facility where it gets evaporated and processed through the LAW melter again. If the Pretreatment facility is unavailable, this baseline disposition pathway is not viable. Additionally, chloride, fluoride, and sulfate are partially volatile in the melter, accumulating to high concentrations while recycling and impacting the glass waste loading and facility throughput. The primary radionuclide that volatizes and accumulates is {sup 99}Tc. The long half-life and environmental mobility of {sup 99}Tc complicates disposal options for this secondary aqueous waste stream. This task is investigating {sup 99}Tc removal to examine the potential for diverting this stream to an alternate disposition path and avoiding impacting the glass waste loading. Separation methods for {sup 99}Tc have focused on using inorganic precipitation agents that can remove it by reducing it from soluble pertechnetate ion, with a +7 oxidation state, to insoluble technetium dioxide in the +4 oxidation state. Stannous chloride (SnCl{sub 2}) has been found highly effective at causing the reduction and precipitating {sup 99}Tc for removal, but it also precipitates other components. The primary competitor that precipitates is chromium, which consumes the redox activity of the Sn(II), causing addition of more of the SnCl{sub 2}. Research has examined the optimum quantity of SnCl{sub 2}, mixing time, and the impact of other redox-active species. It is also important to know the stability of the precipitated {sup 99}Tc in process conditions, since it is expected it will eventually be re-oxidized by oxygen and dissolve. This work is expected to determine if a {sup 99}Tc removal step could be used to decontaminate the bulk of this stream, and make it suitable for other disposal paths so that the chloride, fluoride, and sulfate can be diverted away from the glass melter. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mass Inventory Balance and Fuel Breeding Analysis on Transuranic Recycling Option of FBR

Maintaining sustainability of nuclear fuel can be maintained by utilizing new fresh fuel resources, utilization of spent fuel resource, and obtaining fuel breeding resource in the reactors. Utilization of used fuel from recycling resource and fuel breeding resource becomes the key issue which affects to the reprocessing and refueling facilities. Some minor actinides (MA) have been developed to be recycled as well as some different compositions of plutonium for some purposes such as converted fuel for extending longer reactor operation, burning and transmutation of MA, fuel breeding of FBR as well as for proliferation resistance purposes. This evaluation intends to investigate the mass inventory balance focused on plutonium (Pu) and minor actinide (MA) inventory and reactor behavior in relation to reactor criticality, excess reactivity and fuel breeding for several fuel types. Time dependence as well as irradiation process during reactor operation gives the significant impact for changing the behavior of fuel composition which affects to the behavior of reactor itself. Reactor operation time effect on this analysis has been analyzed from the beginning of cycle up to the equilibrium condition of each fuel type compositions. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Enhanced Sustainability in Treatment of Contaminated Metals for Clearance and Recycling - 20290

Cyclife Sweden AB has, for more than 30 years, provided metal treatment services to the domestic and international nuclear industry with the aim of creating value through metal clearance and recycling. These operations are to a large extent based on the concept that the materials, after pre-treatment, including decontamination, will be melted for clearance. During the melting process, some nuclides separate from the metal while the remaining radioactivity becomes fully homogenized in the metal bath and the resulting ingots, along with the samples taken before casting At a time when activities to fight Climate Challenge are in focus, any savings in energy consumption, in addition to the positive environmental effect of recycling metals back to industry, is more than welcome. If the clearance of certain metallic items can be achieved safely, without using melting, it is the environmentally preferred option provided it carries a reasonable cost. It is even better if an object can go through a decontamination and clearance process prior to re-use inside or outside the nuclear sector. Cyclife Sweden is currently investing in a direct clearance process, to be operated in parallel with the melting process. This new process is expected to be fully operational in the late summer of 2020 and includes pre-treatment, decontamination and heavily shielded clearance measurement installations. The treatment will also allow clearance measurements of larger objects without the need for segmentation, along with allowing objects composed of different materials, like electric motors can be accepted for treatment. This paper gives an overview of the circular economy aspects in a nuclear back-end context, the Cyclife approach to further implement a circular economy approach in the processes, Material Acceptance Criteria for treatment, the facility set-up for the new process and how the melting route and the direct route can be combined in an efficient industrial scale process. To put the new capabilities into perspective, the two different treatment and clearance approaches, i.e. direct clearance and melting, are to be compared. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Operations and Recent Upgrades to a Tritium Recycling Facility - 20375

Nuclear Sources and Services Inc. (NSSI) is a waste handling treatment company that has been operating since 1971. In 2000, NSSI began building a 1,000 m{sup 2} (∼10,000 sqft) tritium recycling facility on the Houston, Texas premises to address a growing need in the waste disposal market. Over the years, the capability of the facility grew to address many different waste streams with the goal of recycling > 99.9% of all tritium activity back into the fusion community. This is achieved by maintaining an effluent stack release well below the 150 GBq/year (C Ci/year) operating limit and maintaining all liquid and solid waste disposal below the low-level radioactive release limit of 0.C MBq/kg (10 μCi/kg). The unique processing systems in the facility attracts many challenging contracts. Within the past two years, NSSI has engaged with customers to treat; organic mixed wastes that simultaneously contain tritium and carbon-14, safely extract tritium from large quantities of exit sign lights, and remove tritium from uncharacterised legacy depleted uranium beds from a superfund site. This paper will outline the initial testing, the system upgrades to treat these varied streams, and the progress in processing the feedstocks provided by these projects. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2026

Electronic Waste (E-Waste) Recycling: Barriers and Opportunities for State, Local, and Tribal Governments

Electronic waste, or e-waste, encompasses end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment, including computers, monitors, televisions, printers, cell phones, household appliances with electronic components, and small consumer devices containing batteries or circuitry. E-waste is one of the fastest-growing components of the U.S. waste stream, with nearly 8 million tons generated in 2022. E-waste presents two related public-interest considerations. First, e-waste contains economically and strategically important materials: base metals (copper, aluminum, iron, steel), precious metals (gold, silver, platinum group metals), and critical materials such as rare earth elements, gallium, and indium that appear on the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Second, many electronic devices contain hazardous constituents - including lead, mercury, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants - as well as rechargeable batteries that can pose fire risks during handling. Effective management of these constituents helps protect workers, communities, and the environment. In the United States, it is estimated that less than 20% of e-waste is formally collected and recycled, leaving over 6 million tons landfilled or otherwise unrecovered. This fact sheet provides state and local decision-makers an overview of (1) e-waste composition and recoverable materials, (2) technology pathways used to recover those materials, and (3) examples of operational and partnership structures used to provide e-waste recycling capacity in the United States. It is intended to complement existing collection-program guidance available through U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other sources.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Magnesium Recycling of Partially Oxidized, Mixed Magnesium-Aluminum Scrap Through Combined Refining and Solid Oxide Membrane (SOM) Electrolysis Processes

Pure magnesium (Mg) is recycled from 19g of partially oxidized 50.5wt.%Mg-Aluminum (Al) alloy. During the refining process, potentiodynamic scans (PDS) were performed to determine the electrorefining potential for magnesium. The PDS show that the electrorefining potential increases over time as the Mg content inside the Mg-Al scrap decreases. Up to 100% percent of magnesium is refined from the Mg-Al scrap by a novel refining process of dissolving magnesium and its oxide into a flux followed by vapor phase removal of dissolved magnesium and subsequently condensing the magnesium vapors in a separate condenser. The solid oxide membrane (SOM) electrolysis process is employed in the refining system to enable additional recycling of magnesium from magnesium oxide (MgO) in the partially oxidized Mg-Al scrap. The combination of the refining and SOM processes yields 7.4g of pure magnesium; could not collect and weigh all of the magnesium recovered.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Microclusters of Kinked Silicon Nanowires Synthesized by a Recyclable Iodide Process for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

Silicon shows great promise as a high-capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries. Nanostructuring silicon minimizes the impact of fracturing during charging and discharging. However, synthesizing nanostructured silicon typically requires complicated procedures with high manufacturing costs. Additionally, these complicated procedures typically have poor secondary particle formation, a requirement to achieve a high tap density. Here, a cost-effective synthesis procedure which generates nearly ideal secondary particle clusters of nanostructured silicon is developed. The cost-effectiveness is a result of the in operando generation of silicon iodide from iodine gas and low-grade silicon microparticle. Decomposition of silicon iodide into crystalline silicon and iodine gas enables recycling of the iodine gas, allowing for near full reutilization of iodine in the following cycles. Additionally, the optimal nanostructures and microstructures of silicon synthesized by the recyclable iodide decomposition reaction enables 83.6% capacity retention over 1000 cycles. The good performance is a result of well-maintained morphology during cycling, enabling reutilization of the solid electrolyte interphase.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗