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At least 811 records · Page 45

Commercialization Opportunity SFAI: An acoustic-based method for measuring composition and flow in containers, vessels, and pipes

The need to accurately discern the characteristics of materials within closed containers non-invasively is a problem that plagues many industrial sectors. In particular, characterizing multi-phase flow in pipes and other infrastructure is an ongoing challenge for many industries. Swept Frequency Acoustic Interferometry, or SFAI, and related technologies represent a portfolio that uses high-frequency sound to characterize liquids, gasses, mixtures, emulsions, and other fluids inside pipes and containers. SFAI offers the potential to measure material characteristics and two -and three -phase flows within pipes including flow rates and water- and gas-volume fractions. Such measurements can take place noninvasively both in accessible infrastructure and potentially downhole.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Preliminary Requirements for NSLS-II Beam Containment Systems

Beam containment system (BCS) is the term used to describe the various active and passive devices designed to prevent excessive radiation levels in occupied areas by limiting beam energy and beam losses. BCS components provide protection function by controlling machine operation through the NSLS-II personnel protective system (PPS) and through local and remote alarms. All equipment designated as a component of the BCS beam containment system will be subject to formal configuration control and, depending on the magnitude of the resulting radiation fields, may require redundant sensors and electronic channels.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Design, Synthesis and Characterization of Triptycene-Containing Macromolecules with Hierarchically Controlled Architectures as Functional Membrane Materials for Energy Applications

This DOE CAREER award supported the Guo research group at the University of Notre Dame in its efforts to develop hierarchically functional polymer membrane materials based on iptycene unit to enable energy-efficient molecular separations and fast ion transport in polymeric membranes. To do this, the Guo group engaged in three major research objectives, each exploiting a unique molecular motif offered by iptycene units: (1) developing glassy microporous polymers with exquisitely tailored free volume microporosity for ultra-fast and selective gas transport; (2) developing robust PEO-rich multicomponent polymers via supramolecular reinforcement for CO 2 -selective membranes; and (3) developing ion-containing, nanophase separated multiblock copolymers with suppressed water swelling and fast proton transport for hydrogen fuel cells. Through the research in this project, the iptycene strategy has established a new paradigm of macromolecular design for harnessing free volume microporosity and specific structure motifs to facilitate fast and selective molecular and ion transport in polymers. The results from this project not only provide new fundamental knowledge to the membrane community and broader materials community, but also bridge the technical gaps via providing robust high performance polymer materials for a wide range of applications that impact energy and environmental sustainability. This technical report summarizes the major accomplishments of the study of these innovative polymer membrane materials in this project. For example, introducing triptycene unit into polybenzoxazole structures led to superior size sieving properties, which, along with their ultrahigh gas permeability, placed these polymers among the best gas separation membranes ever reported; the study of PEO-based model network structures demonstrated for the first time that crosslink inhomogeneity (i.e., uneven distribution of crosslink sites)–an previously unexplored structure parameter, plays a significant role in regulating gas transport, ushering in a completely new dimension in the design of crosslinked polymers with broad applicability; exploiting the unique supramolecular interlocking and chain threading interactions and the internal free volume offered by iptycene units addressed the grand challenge of excessive water swelling encountered by conventional ion-containing polymers while allowing nanophase separated membrane morphologies enabling fast ion transport. The new polymer membrane materials and the new macromolecular design strategies developed from this project hold great potential for a much wider applicability beyond gas separations and polyelectrolyte membranes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Pipe Overpack Container Fire Testing: Phase II-A

The Pipe Overpack Container (POC) was developed at Rocky Flats to transport plutonium residues with higher levels of plutonium than standard transuranic (TRU) waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for disposal. In 1996 Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) conducted a series of tests to determine the degree of protection POCs provided during storage accident events. One of these tests exposed four of the POCs to a 30-minute engulfing pool fire, resulting in one of the 7A drum overpacks generating sufficient internal pressure to pop off its lid and expose the top of the pipe container (PC) to the fire environment. The initial contents of the POCs were inert materials, which would not generate large internal pressure within the PC if heated. However, POCs are now being used to store combustible Transuranic (TRU) waste at Department of Energy (DOE) sites. At the request of DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), SNL started conducting a new series of fire tests in 2015 to examine whether PCs with combustibles would reach a temperature that would result in (1) decomposition of inner contents and (2) subsequent generation of sufficient gas to cause the PC to overpressurize and release its inner content. In 2016, Phase II tests showed that POCs tested in a pool fire failed within 3 minutes of ignition with the POC lid ejecting. These POC lids were fitted with an all-metal (NUCFIL019DS) filter and revealed that this specific filter did not relieve sufficient pressure to prevent lid ejection. For the test phase discussed in this report, Phase II-A, the POCs are exposed to a 30-minute pool fire, with similar configurations to those tested in Phase II, except that the POC lids are fitted with a hybrid metal-polyethylene (UT9424S) filter instead. This report will: describe the various tests conducted in Phase II-A, present results from these tests, and discuss implications for the POCs based on the test results.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

The Effects on Non-Actinide Impurities from Aging Heat Source Plutonium in Stainless Steel Containers

Replacing the tantalum vials used for 238 PuO 2 sample collection and storage with stainless steel sample vials has several advantages. These advantages include a decreased cost, better material availability, and ease of fabrication. However, it must first be demonstrated that the alloying elements contained in stainless steel are not leached into the 238 PuO 2 such that product specifications are exceeded. In order to determine the suitability of stainless steel for this application, two seperate 238 PuO 2 fuel lots were investigated. These two fuel lots had been stored in stainless steel containers since their first sampling date of March of 2015, and were again sampled in February of 2019.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Evaluating Corrosion Effects on the Stainless Steel Components of the SAVY-4000/Hagan Nuclear Material Storage Containers: FY19 Update

This report provides an update of the FY19 corrosion observations, laboratory studies, and mitigation efforts for the nuclear material storage program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Nuclear material packages outside of an approved engineered contamination barrier must meet packaging, surveillance, and testing requirements designed to protect workers from airborne contamination per Department of Energy (DOE) Manual 441.1-1, Nuclear Material Packaging.1 The SAVY-4000 containers were developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in conjunction with Nuclear Filter Technology as a manually-compliant container system for staging and storage of plutonium for LANL and the DOE complex.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Proactive Data Containers for Scientific Storage (Final Report)

Emerging HPC systems are expected to be deployed with an unprecedented level of complexity, due to a deep system memory/storage hierarchy and heterogeneity of the storage hardware. This hierarchy is expected to range from CPU cache through several levels of volatile memory to nonvolatile memory, traditional hard disks, and tape. Simple and efficient methods of data management and movement through this hierarchy is critical for scientific applications using exascale systems. Existing storage system and I/O (SSIO) technologies face severe challenges in dealing with these requirements. POSIX and MPI I/O standards that are the basis for existing I/O libraries and parallel file systems present fundamental challenges in the areas of scalable metadata operations, semantics-based data movement performance tuning, asynchronous operation, and support for scalable consistency of distributed operations. Moving toward new paradigms for SSIO in the extreme-scale era, we have proposed to investigate novel object-based data abstractions and storage mechanisms that take advantage of the deep storage hierarchy and enable proactive automated performance tuning. In order to achieve these overarching goals, we initiated an effort to develop a fundamental new data abstraction, called Proactive Data Containers (PDC). A PDC is a container within a locus of storage (memory, NVRAM, disk, etc.) that stores science data in an object-centric manner. Managing data as objects enables powerful optimization opportunities for data movement and transformations. The R&D focus of this project are: 1) formulation of object-oriented PDCs and their mapping in different levels of the exascale storage hierarchy; 2) efficient strategies for moving data in deep storage hierarchies using PDCs; 3) techniques for transforming and reorganizing data based on application requirements; and 4) novel analysis paradigms for enabling data transformations and user-defined analysis on data in PDCs. Toward achieving these overarching goals, we designed an object-centric application programing interface (API) for HPC, scalable metadata management for object-centric storage systems, and data movement optimizations such as Data Elevator for moving data between two levels of storage devices and TAPIOCA for efficient aggregation of data on compute nodes. We then implemented several components of the PDC system. They include metadata management, data placement services, remote procedure calls, data aggregation, etc. We have put them together into the overall PDC framework.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Status of the Characterization of DEs from the Full Circumference Examination of the Inner Container Closure Weld Region (FY2020)

One of the main focus areas of the 3013 Surveillance Program is a thorough evaluation of the inner container closure weld region (ICCWR) opened for destructive examination (DE). As part of the protocol to investigate the corrosion in the ICCWR a laser confocal microscope (LCM) is used to perform close visual examination of the surface and measurements of corrosion features on the surface. DE containers from FY13 through FY16 were screened with three candidates selected for full circumference evaluation (FCE) according to the ICCWR examination protocol, During the FCE, FY16 DE05 and FY15 DE07 showed suspect major corrosion events, FY16 DE05 Section C2 shows two crack-like features, identified as Denebola and Draco. Both features are located at the boundary of Zone 2 and Zone 3. Consequently, Section C2 of FY16 DE05 was selected for examination by serial metallography at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). For FY15 DE07 the suspect corrosion events were observed on Sections Cl and C2. Section Cl shows one crack-like feature, identified as Acrux. Section C2 shows three crack-like features, identified as Bellatrix, Cursa Minor and Cursa Major. Unlike Acrux and Bellatrix, which are located at the boundary of Zone 2 and Zone 3, Cursa Minor and Cursa Major are located in Zone 2. Sections Cl and C2 of FY15 DE07 were sent to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANE) for characterization by X-Ray Tomography (XRT).

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Wide Area 3D Measurement System for Analysis of 3013 Inner Container Closure Weld Region

One of the main focus areas of the 3013 Surveillance Program is a thorough evaluation of the inner container closure weld region (ICCWR) opened for destructive examination (DE). As part of the protocol to investigate the corrosion in the ICCWR, a laser confocal microscope (LCM) is used to perform close visual examination of the surface and to measure corrosion features on the surface. However, in FY20, the introduction of the Wide Area 3D Measurement System (WAMS) was tested as a method for faster inspection of the ICCWR. Optimization of the WAMS parameters for data collection was carried out using a generic tear-drop type sample containing large and fine Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) fractures and high resolution images were compared to the image obtained with the LCM. Although the image with the LCM shows higher resolution than the WAMS images, the small features can be still identified in the WAMS images. The advantage of collecting data for the full circumference using the WAMS is that it can take about a week to complete, which represents 1/16 of the time needed with the LCM. Nonetheless, both systems offer capabilities that combined can be utilized to expedite the examination of the ICCWR. The WAMS can be utilized to obtain images for faster screening or identification of corrosion features on the surface while the LCM can be utilized to obtain higher resolution images of those areas identified by the WAMS.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Filter Test System for Nuclear Container Filters

The purpose of this procedure is to measure the collection efficiency of the filters that are integrated into the lids of containers for nuclear material at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). As an application of this procedure, a filter test report certificate can be created to document the measurement process. This procedure is intended to describe the TA-55, PF-4 (room 6A) operation of a Filter Test System (FTS) for Hagan and SAVY storage containers.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

TWF Waste Container Receipt, Inspection and Transfer to Storage

This procedure provides instructions for the receipt, inspection, and transfer to storage of Transuranic (TRU) Waste Containers and Pipe Overpack Containers (POC) within the Transuranic Waste Facility (TWF) (Waste Storage Buildings [WSBs] and Characterization and Waste Storage Building [CWSB]). Performance of this procedure meets the requirements of AC 5.8.9, AC 5.8.13 2nd Bullet, SAC 5.9.1, SAC 5.9.3, SR 4.2.1.1, 4.2.1.2, 4.2.1.5, 4.2.1.6, 4.2.2.1, 4.2.2.2, 4.2.2.3, 4.2.2.4, 4.2.3.1, 4.2.3.2, 4.2.3.3, 4.3.4.1, 4.4.1.1, 4.4.1.2 and 4.4.1.3.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Additively Manufactured Tamper Evident Container (TEC)

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a tamper evident container (TEC) to secure a broad variety of items from adversarial disclosure and espionage accidents. The new technology uses additive-manufacturing (AM) techniques for the concurrent creation of a container and arbitrarily complex-shaped three-dimensional tamper-sensitive features within its walls that authenticate the package. Analog and encrypted digital boards safely stored inside the TEC permanently record the complete security history of the protected items. Los Alamos is seeking commercial partners interested in further development and engineering prototype work.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Development of an international security standard for devices containing high-activity radioactive sources

Radioisotopes such as Cs-137 and Co-60 are utilized in various medical, industrial, and research applications. This radiological material can be a theft or sabotage target, which necessitates a certain level of security to adequately protect it. The presented work will explore the necessity of an international security standard for devices used in clinical settings that contain high activity radiological material and the facilities that contain these devices. This standard intends to complement existing safety standards; however, it serves a very different purpose: to reduce the threat of radiological theft and sabotage while taking into full consideration the effect on the patient, user safety, and patient workflow with the aim to minimize the unwanted effects of the security measures. The proposed standard will complement existing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidance, published in the IAEA Nuclear Security Series. While those documents primarily focus on the state, competent authorities, and regulatory agencies, the proposed industry standard will involve device manufacturers, source producers, and medical staff.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Pipe Overpack Container Fire Testing: Phase II-B

The Pipe Overpack Container (POC) was developed at Rocky Flats to transport plutonium residues with higher levels of plutonium than standard transuranic (TRU) waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for disposal. In 1996 Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) conducted a series of tests to determine the degree of protection POCs provided during storage accident events. One of these tests exposed four of the POCs to a 30-minute engulfing pool fire. This test resulted in one of the POCs generating sufficient internal pressure to pop off its drum lid and expose the top of the pipe container (PC) to the fire environment. The initial contents of the POCs were inert materials that would not generate large internal pressure within the PC if heated. However, POCs are now being used to store combustible Transuranic (TRU) waste at Department of Energy (DOE) sites. At the request of DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), SNL started conducting a new series of fire tests in 2015 to examine whether PCs with combustibles would reach a temperature that could result in: (1) decomposition of inner contents and (2) subsequent generation of sufficient gas to cause the PC to over-pressurize and release its inner contents. In 2016, Phase II of the tests showed that POCs tested in a pool fire failed within 3 minutes of ignition with the POC lid ejecting. These POC lids were fitted with a NUCFIL-019DS filter and revealed that this specific filter did not relieve sufficient pressure to prevent lid ejection. In the Fall of 2017, Phase II-A was conducted to expose POCs to a 30-minute pool fire with similar configurations to those tested in Phase II, except that the POC lids were fitted with an UltraTech (UT) 9424S filter instead. That specific filter was chosen because of its design to help relieve internal pressure during the fire and thus prevent lid ejection. In Phase II-A, however, setups of two POCs stacked upon one another were never tested, which led to this phase of tests, Phase II-B. This report will describe the various tests conducted in Phase II-B, present results from these tests, and implications for the POCs based on the test results will be discussed.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Peer Review Comments on the Authorized Limits Technical Document (OREM-19-2573) for Disposal of Waste Containing Residual Radioactive Material at the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Landfill IV, Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Argonne National Laboratory is assigned responsibility by DOE/EM-4 to conduct a peer review of the proposed Authorized Limits (ALs) for disposal of waste containing residual radioactive material at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Landfill IV, Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The ALs document package (Document Number OREM-19-2573, dated May 2020) was sent to Argonne by DOE on June 1, 2020 (Oak Ridge 2020a). Argonne started the review immediately and held several BlueJeans meetings with Oak Ridge and DOE to discuss review comments. The first BlueJeans meeting was June 17, 2020. Oak Ridge presented a briefing of the AL package, followed by discussion of the assumptions, methodology, and parameters used in the analysis. A follow-up BlueJeans meeting was held on June 24, 2020, at which Argonne presented both general and specific review comments in PowerPoint slides. This set of slides - Review Comments on the “Authorized Limits for Disposal of Waste Containing Residual Radioactive Material at DOE Industrial Landfill IV, Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee” - was then emailed to Oak Ridge and DOE after the BlueJeans meeting on June 24, 2020. A PDF version of this slide set is included as Appendix A.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Lightning Burnthrough to Containment Breach of 55-Gallon TRU Waste Drums

We investigated by arc-plasma heating the feasibility of attributing inherent lightning protection to 55-gallon DOT 7A, Type A, open head carbon steel drums made of 1.5 millimeter painted carbon steel, designed to protect Department of Energy transuranic nuclear waste. The Sandia Lightning Simulator transferred continuing current in 300 ampere (A), 400 A, and 500 A tests to achieve a 350 coulomb charge transfer and simulate cloud-to-ground lightning attachment to test coupons and 9 drums. A tungsten electrode was placed 0.75 inch from the drums. High-speed photography was recorded to observe the exterior containment breach, or "first light," seen on camera when burnthrough opened a hole in the containment. Sheet metal burnthrough occurred between 18 and 71 coulombs in lid and rolling hoop tests, but 12-gauge closure ring tests did not result in burnthrough, which suggests this feature may provide an inherent air terminal protective feature.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Selection of 3013 Containers for Field Surveillance (FY 2021 Update)

This Update is the ninth in a series of reports that document the binning and sample selection of 3013 containers for the Field Surveillance program as part of the Integrated Surveillance Program. The last Update was in 2016. This Update documents changes to the binning and changes to the random and engineering judgment samples since 2016. This Update also documents field surveillance activities since 2016 and describes plans to complete random sampling in 2025. In addition, this Update describes a new effort to collect surveillance data as part of down blending operations and updates assumptions about Advanced Recovery and Integrated Extraction System (ARIES) 3013 containers.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Gamma ray analysis of the K2 containers

The K2 containers contain PuO2 with 238 Pu being the most abundant isotope of all plutonium isotopes. The purpose of this analysis is to determine the light element impurities in the PuO2. These light elements can interact with the alpha particles from plutonium decay to release gamma rays, protons, and neutrons through the reactions (α,α’), (α,p), and (α,n) respectively. The gamma rays released by the interactions can be measured and compared with the gamma rays released by the plutonium. The ratios of the gamma rays from the interactions and the plutonium gamma rays allow for the determination of the impurities in the items. The elements that can be detected are Lithium (Z=3), Beryllium (Z=4), Boron (Z=5), Fluorine (Z=9), Sodium (Z=11), Magnesium (Z=12), Aluminum (Z=13), Silicon (Z=14), Phosphorous (Z=15), Chlorine (Z=17), and Potassium (Z=19).

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗