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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 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Nineteen eighty-eight marked the United States' return to space flight with two successful space shuttle launches in September and December, as well as six successful expendable rocket launches. Meanwhile, many other less spectacular but important contributions were made in aeronautics and space by the 14 participating government organizations. Each organization's aeronautics and/or space activities for the year are presented. The organizations involved include: (1) NASA; (2) Department of Defense; (3) Department of Commerce; (4) Department of Energy; (5) Department of the Interior; (6) Department of Agriculture; (7) Federal Communications Commission; (8) Department of Transportation; (9) Environmental Protection Agency; (10) National Science Foundation; (11) Smithsonian Institution; (12) Department of State; (13) Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; and (14) United States Information Agency.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2026

EAMxx 3.25 km Western Pacific RRM Technical Note

The Western Pacific Convection-Permitting (CP) Regionally Refined Model (RRM) used for 2023 Jingjinji Flood event is developed based on the Simple Cloud-Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM) version 0 (Fortran code) under the United States (U.S) Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project (Caldwell et al., 2021) and the regionally refined model (RRM) configuration (Tang et al., 2019, 2023; Zhang et al., 2024; Bogenschutz et al., 2024).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2008

Integration for Airborne Dust Prediction Systems and Vegetation Phenology to Track Pollen for Asthma Alerts in Public Health Decision Support Systems

The objective of the program is to assess the feasibility of combining a dust transport model with MODIS derived phenology to study pollen transport for integration with a public health decision support system. The use of pollen information has specifically be identified as a critical need by the New Mexico State Health department for inclusion in the Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) program. Material and methods: Pollen can be transported great distances. Local observations of plan phenology may be consistent with the timing and source of pollen collected by pollen sampling instruments. The Dust REgional Atmospheric Model (DREAM) is an integrated modeling system designed to accurately describe the dust cycle in the atmosphere. The dust modules of the entire system incorporate the state of the art parameterization of all the major phases of the atmospheric dust life such as production, diffusion, advection, and removal. These modules also include effects of the particles size distribution on aerosol dispersion. The model was modified to use pollen sources instead of dust. Pollen release was estimated based on satellite-derived phenology of key plan species and vegetation communities. The MODIS surface reflectance product (MOD09) provided information on the start of the plant growing season, growth stage, and pollen release. The resulting deterministic model is useful for predicting and simulating pollen emission and downwind concentration to study details of phenology and meteorology and their dependencies. The proposed linkage in this project provided critical information on the location timing and modeled transport of pollen directly to the EPHT> This information is useful to support the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC)'s National EPHT and the state of New Mexico environmental public health decision support for asthma and allergies alerts.

Luvall, J. C.↗
DOE OSTI2024

High-Burnup Spent Fuel Data Project Sibling Pin Test Campaign Closeout Summary

The Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) was established within the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) to conduct research and development (R&D) activities associated with storage, transportation, and disposal of used or spent nuclear fuel (UNF or SNF) and high-level radioactive waste.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Unveiling the Mechanism of Mn Dissolution Through a Dynamic Cathode‐Electrolyte Interphase on LiMn2O4

Abstract Understanding the formation and evolution of the cathode‐electrolyte interphase (CEI), which forms at the interface between the cathode and electrolyte, is crucial for revealing degradation mechanisms in cathode materials, especially for developing strategies to stabilize the interphase in the strongly oxidizing conditions that evolve at high operating voltages in next‐generation Li‐ion batteries. However, The present understanding of the CEI is challenged by its complex and dynamic nature. In this work, near‐edge X‐ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, electrochemical characterization, and reactive molecular dynamics simulations are combined to reveal a mechanism for CEI formation and evolution above model LiMn 2 O 4 (LMO) thin‐film electrodes in contact with conventional carbonate‐based electrolytes. It is found that Mn dissolution from LMO can be understood in terms of repetitive Mn 3 O 4 formation and dissolution behavior during cycling, which is closely connected to electrolyte decomposition and a key aspect of the CEI formation and growth. The behavior of the CEI in this model system offers detailed insight into the dynamic chemistry of the interphase, underscoring the important role of electrolyte composition and cathode surface structure in interphase degradation.

Ou, Wenhan↗
NASA NTRS1998

An Intercomparison of the Dynamical Cores of Global Atmospheric Circulation Models for Mars

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Center and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. The focus of this JRI has been to evaluate the dynamical "cores" of two global atmospheric circulation models for Mars that are in operation at the NASA Ames Research Center. The two global circulation models in use are fundamentally different: one uses spherical harmonics in its horizontal representation of field variables; the other uses finite differences on a uniform longitude-latitude grid. Several simulations have been conducted to assess how the dynamical processors of each of these circulation models perform using identical "simple physics" parameterizations. A variety of climate statistics (e.g., time-mean flows and eddy fields) have been compared for realistic solstitial mean basic states. Results of this research have demonstrated that the two Mars circulation models with completely different spatial representations and discretizations produce rather similar circulation statistics for first-order meteorological fields, suggestive of a tendency for convergence of numerical solutions. Second and higher-order fields can, however, vary significantly between the two models.

Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.↗
NASA NTRS1998

An Intercomparison of the Dynamical Cores of Global Atmospheric Circulation Models for Mars

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Center and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. The focus of this JRI has been to evaluate the dynamical 'cores' of two global atmospheric circulation models for Mars that are in operation at the NASA Ames Research Center. The two global circulation models in use are fundamentally different: one uses spherical harmonics in its horizontal representation of field variables; the other uses finite differences on a uniform longitude-latitude grid. Several simulations have been conducted to assess how the dynamical processors of each of these circulation models perform using identical 'simple physics' parameterizations. A variety of climate statistics (e.g., time-mean flows and eddy fields) have been compared for realistic solstitial mean basic states. Results of this research have demonstrated that the two Mars circulation models with completely different spatial representations and discretizations produce rather similar circulation statistics for first-order meteorological fields, suggestive of a tendency for convergence of numerical solutions. Second and higher-order fields can, however, vary significantly between the two models.

Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.↗
NASA NTRS1998

An Intercomparison of the Dynamical Cores of Global Atmospheric Circulation Models for Mars

This is a Final Report for a Joint Research Interchange (JRI) between NASA Ames Research Cen- ter and San Jose State University, Department of Meteorology. The focus of this JRI has been to evaluate the dynamical "cores" of two global atmospheric circulation models for Mars that are in operation at the NASA Ames Research Center. ne two global circulation models in use are fundamentally different: one uses spherical harmonics in its horizontal representation of field variables; the other uses finite differences on a uniform longitude-latitude grid. Several simulations have been conducted to assess how the dynamical processors of each of these circulation models perform using identical "simple physics" parameterizations. A variety of climate statistics (e.g., time-mean flows and eddy fields) have been compared for realistic solstitial mean basic states. Results of this research have demonstrated that the two Mars circulation models with completely different spatial representations and discretizations produce rather similar circulation statistics for first-order meteorological fields, suggestive of a tendency for convergence of numerical solutions. Second and higher-order fields can, however, vary significantly between the two models.

Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Coupled wave-current modeling for hydrodynamic load analysis of macroalgae cultivation farms

Large-scale cultivation of macroalgae is one of the most promising biofuel sources that could reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and would be particularly economically competitive when grown for the co-production of additional goods such as food and textiles. Current production of biofuel from algal biomass is limited by labor costs and lack of data on potential impacts of cultivation and harvesting on marine and coastal environments as well as a comprehensive characterization of the impact of environmental conditions on macroalgal feedstock and their bioproduct and biofuel yield and quality. Awarded by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources (MARINER) program, which seeks to enable the U.S. as a global leader in the production of marine biomass, the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) has been developing a test system for tropical seaweed cultivation in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. An integral step in designing macroalgae cultivation farms is to adequately characterize the hydrodynamic climate at potential growth sites. In regions like the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, which are highly exposed to tropical cyclones, it is critical to not only consider the day-to-day hydrodynamic conditions but to also assess the risk of extreme sea states to ensure the survivability of future macroalgae farms. Under these considerations, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is providing modeling support for MBL to inform the design and siting of the farm systems that have been proposed for their ARPA-E MARINER project. This report describes the development of a high-resolution coupled storm surge and wave model to simulate the hydrodynamics and wave climate at proposed macroalgae cultivation sites selected by MBL in Florida and Puerto Rico. Model results, including model validation, water level, current distributions, and sea states, are discussed for both selected sites in Florida and Puerto Rico coast. These simulations provide an accurate insight into the hydrodynamic conditions that a macroalgae farm is likely to experience during its operational lifetime, including current information to support fine-scale hydrodynamic load modeling, risk analysis and system design.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

FY24 Status of Engineered Barrier Systems Research

This report describes research and development (R&D) activities conducted during Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) specifically related to the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) R&D Work Package in the Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition Campaign supported by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE). The R&D activities focus on understanding EBS component evolution and interactions within the EBS, as well as interactions between the host media and the EBS. The R&D team represented in this report consists of individuals from Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Vanderbilt University. EBS R&D work also leverages international collaborations to ensure that the DOE program is active and abreast of the latest advances in nuclear waste disposal.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Value of Nuclear Energy to the Reliability of the North American Power System: Results for Western and Eastern Interconnections

This report documents the fulfillment of a milestone for the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: completing a baseline study of regional impact of nuclear power plants and hydrogen production in maintaining grid services and power quality. Models have been comprehensively demonstrated for the Western Interconnection, or Western Electric Coordinating Council area, and in the Eastern Interconnection for scenarios representative of past extreme events (e.g., drought and heat waves). Understanding the impact on the reliability of the bulk electric system of any reduction in generation capacity from nuclear power, for any reason, is the motivation of this work. Factors that might lead to the premature or unplanned closure of nuclear plants, extended outages, or repurposing of nuclear power include: • Aging infrastructure: Many nuclear power plants in the U.S. are nearing the end of their designed operating lives. Upgrading aging infrastructure can be expensive, and some utilities may choose to retire plants rather than invest in costly upgrades. • Low wholesale electricity prices: The deregulation of the electricity market in many states has led to increased competition and driven down wholesale electricity prices, causing nuclear power operators to seek other revenue sources for their heat and power such as clean hydrogen production. • Renewables growth: The rapid growth of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power is posing a challenge to traditional generation sources like nuclear. While many see renewables as a key part of the clean energy transition, their intermittent nature requires additional grid solutions for reliable power supply. • The potential for regulatory decisions to be in conflict: In its 2021 rulemaking, EPA rule (86 FR 880), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a compliance date for the ban on processing and distribution in commerce of Decabromodiphenyl Ether (DecaBDE). Since DecaBDE is in many components, particularly wiring, of nuclear power plants which are deemed safety-related or important to safety, three plants would not have been able to restart after their 2023 spring outages, and numerous others would have faced issues in the near future. Fortunately, in this case, the EPA provided relief to the nuclear energy industry. The report provides a summary of the significant role nuclear energy plays in the United States’ power generation mix, supplying around 20% of the nation’s electricity generation, spread across 28 U.S. states. Nuclear power is reliable, mostly unaffected by weather and seasonal changes, and provides a consistent source of baseload power. In terms of capacity, nuclear power plants account for as much as 26% of balancing area power generation capacity. Nuclear power also provides a substantial contribution (e.g., 10% of the inertia in the Eastern Interconnection) of the synchronous spinning mass/inertia that buffers the rate at which frequency changes when a load and generation imbalance occurs (e.g., a large plant trips or a load is suddenly shed due to a transmission outage). This contribution is critical for maintaining grid stability during sudden changes in load or generation.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

LIS-Hydro: Authoritative Source for OCONUS Hydro-Intelligence

U.S. military forces are often tasked to participate in a variety of transboundary water-related decision-making activities, including humanitarian assistance operations through Department of State tasking, support of in-country infrastructure development activities that help develop or improve diplomatic relationships, and support of transboundary water treaty negotiations or disputes to reduce risk of conflict caused by water security issues. The U.S. intelligence communities have identified the coordination over shared water resources as an area of significant concern to U.S. national security (U.S. National Defense Strategy, 2018). Such transboundary water issues are projected to intensify in the future under increasingly complex population dynamics, political tensions due to parallel issues, and a changing climate. A 2017 joint NASA, USACE/RDC, and U.S. Air Force co-sponsored workshop revealed a lack of sufficient decision support tools and access to timely technical and contextual information needed to assess and respond to potential water-related threats around the world. The need for an integrated operational service, with the capacity to combine and synthesize hydrological modeling, assimilation, forecasting, and visualization capabilities across the U.S. Government, was highlighted as a key recommendation. In direct response, a subset of the U.S. Department of Defense, National Intelligence Community, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are collaborating on the development of a fully integrated hydro-modeling and streamflow prediction system (i.e., LIS-Hydro). Completion of the project and sustainment of the operational capability by Air Force Weather will establish a national asset to assist federal agencies implement government-wide strategies around water resources (U.S. Global Water Strategy, 2017). The hydrological products and services will, for the very first time, establish a routinely available authoritative source of global water intelligence information supporting war-fighters, planners, and decision makers at all echelons and services of the U.S. military, Federal government, and intelligence community. A summary of the interagency scientific collaboration in addressing some of the key gaps and needs identified during the 2017 workshop will be presented.

Land Information System↗
DOE OSTI2025

Engineered Barrier System Research Activities at SNL: FY25 Report

This report describes research and development (R&D) activities conducted at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) during Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) specifically related to the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) Properties & Processes Work Package in the Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition (SFHLWD) Campaign supported by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE). SNL activities focus on understanding EBS component evolution and interactions within the EBS, as well as interactions between the host media and the EBS. The team represented in this report consists of individuals from SNL, Argonne National Laboratory (Advanced Photon Source), and Vanderbilt University. The activities represented in this report include development of anion sorbent materials for buffer formulations, properties of pure bentonite and bentonite mixtures, and characterization of cement interfaces relevant to the EBS. The SNL EBS activities also leverage interactions with EBS teams from other national laboratories, and international collaborations to ensure that the DOE program is active and abreast of the latest advances in nuclear waste disposal.

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

Evaluation of Engineered Barrier Systems (FY19 Report)

This report describes research and development (R&D) activities conducted during fiscal year 2019 (FY19) specifically related to the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) R&D Work Package in the Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) Campaign supported by the United States (U.S.) Department of Eneregy (DOE). The R&D activities focus on understanding EBS component evolution and interactions within the EBS, as well as interactions between the host media and the EBS. A primary goal is to advance the development of process models that can be implemented directly within the Genreric Disposal System Analysis (GDSA) platform or that can contribute to the safety case in some manner such as building confidence, providing further insight into the processes being modeled, establishing better constraints on barrier performance, etc.The FY19 EBS activities involved not only modeling and analysis work, but experimental work as well. The report documents the FY19 progress made in seven different research areas as follows: (1) thermal analysis for the disposal of dual purpose canisters (DPCs) in sedimentary host rock using the semianalytical method, (2) tetravalent uranium solubility and speciation, (3) modeling of high temperature, thermal-hydrologic-mechanical-chemical (THMC) coupled processes, (4) integration of coupled thermalhydrologic- chemical (THC) model with GDSA using a Reduced-Order Model, (5) studying chemical controls on montmorillonite structure and swelling pressure, (6) transmission x-ray microscope for in-situ nanotomography of bentonite and shale, and (7) in-situ electrochemical testing of uranium dioxide under anoxic conditions. The R&D team consisted of subject matter experts from Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), the University of California Berkeley, and Mississippi State University. In addition, the EBS R&D work leverages international collaborations to ensure that the DOE program is active and abreast of the latest advances in nuclear waste disposal. For example, the FY19 work on modeling coupled THMC processes at high temperatures relied on the bentonite properties from the Full-scale Engineered Barrier EXperiment (FEBEX) Field Test conducted at the Grimsel Test Site in Switzerland. Overall, significant progress has been made in FY19 towards developing the modeling tools and experimental capabilities needed to investigate the performance of EBS materials and the associated interactions in the drift and the surrounding near-field environment under a variety of conditions including high temperature regimes.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Technical Issues in the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Ratification Debate: A 20 Year Retrospective

Two decades after the U.S. Senate declined in 1999 to give its consent to ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the treaty remains in legal and political limbo. Legally, the treaty cannot enter into force without U.S. ratification. However, the Senate’s rejection does not strip the treaty of its force as an element of customary international law or alter the will of other signatories to see it enter into force. Politically, the debate over the virtues and flaws of the treaty remains as strong as ever, with some CTBT advocates pushing energetically for U.S. re-review while some opponents seek ways to “un-sign” the treaty. Meanwhile, despite the Senate’s rejection of the treaty, the United States acts in a manner consistent with its main obligations by maintaining a moratorium on explosive nuclear testing and providing financial support (as well as technical expertise) to the CTBT Organization (CTBTO)—in particular the CTBTO’s International Monitoring System (IMS). The CTBT may well remain in such limbo for a long time to come, unless some catalytic event comes along to re-shape national perceptions and priorities, one way or the other. The treaty’s future, whatever it might be, will be determined in part by how much perspectives might have changed in light of interim developments. Our purpose is to shed light on some of those developments and to assess their relevance. The 1999 ratification debate addressed a large number of issues. Rejection was driven by various policy and technical judgments. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine those technical judgments in light of what has been learned over the following two decades. On some technical matters, there was explicit recognition of extant uncertainties, as well as a conviction and hope that time would dispel them. To be doubly clear, our purpose is not to recommend a way forward on CTBT ratification. The policy judgments of 1999 and 2020 are beyond the scope of this paper. This technical re-examination proceeds as follows. It begins with a short background section to introduce the key technical matters in discussion in the U.S. ratification process. Then it moves systematically through each of those topics with a review of relevant background information, a discussion of key points in debate, an analysis of subsequent experience, and a current assessment. The historical analysis draws on many sources including the primary documents of the Congressional debate, the official article-by-article interpretation by the Department of State, and the statements of key players in the process. We also relied on key technical reports and publications by subject matter experts that have addressed in more detail many of the issues in our focus. These sources include the 2002 and 2012 reports of the National Academy of Sciences as well as publications by senior technical staff of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) who were actively involved in the ratification debate, including then-Laboratory Director Bruce Tarter. We also conducted several interviews with government officials from the 1990s, past laboratory directors, and other members of the scientific community. But, except where individuals are specifically cited by name, the judgments offered here are our own and should not be attributed to any other individual or to LLNL as such.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2022

FY2022 Progress Report for Advanced Re-fabrication/Re-instrumentation Capability Development

In support of performing follow-on irradiation experiments with previously irradiated materials, the Halden Reactor Project developed unique and state of the art capabilities to refabricate and re-instrument previously irradiated materials. Such materials were used in in-pile tests at the Halden reactor, and out-of-pile tests for example using furnaces as a heat source. The decision to close the Halden Reactor Project results in the loss of this refabrication and re-instrumentation capability. As a result, the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) has determined to develop refabrication and re-instrumentation capability at the unique shielded facilities at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The development of refabrication capability has been completed and demonstrated. This report focuses on the complementary aspects of reinstrumentation and the progress to-date. Halden spent nearly 30 years developing both refabrication and re-instrumentation. Collaboration with Halden is allowing Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to develop this capability much more rapidly. In FY-21 the results include development of the capability to drill annular center holes in ceramic UO2 fuel pellets, development of fuel rod end caps with feedthroughs for centerline instrumentation inside the rodlet, The procurement of both fuel drilling and welding demonstration equipment from Halden, evaluation of surface thermocouple attachments to support better understanding of temperature measurement uncertainties, and finally, the conceptual design of a new shielded enclosure where advanced refabrication and re-instrumentation equipment can be housed. In FY-22, the results include; Completing set up of the drilling and welding modules procured from Halden, and early experimental trials using that equipment.; Completing set up of an out-of-cell circumferential weld system to allow for further weld development to take place and support fabrication of fuel for fresh fuel experiments.; Evaluation of the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF) infrastructure to support future installation of advanced re-fabrication/re-instrumentation equipment, specifically related to necessary infrastructure for cryo-drilling.; Developments in dry-drilling alternative. Including experimental studies showing cordierite is the most suitable surrogate for UO 2 for performing drilling studies. That drilling performance is enhanced when a fuel-clad bonding condition is simulated.; Conceptual design completed for attaching surface thermocouples to irradiated fuel in support of TWIST capsule experiments. The authors would like to thank the numerous colleagues at INL and Halden who provided support in accomplishing this work. Their support both material and intellectual is invaluable in advancing the state of the art and establishing the capabilities for refabrication and re-instrumentation at INL.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗