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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 829 records · Page 46
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Investigation of Electrochemical Recovery of Zirconium from Spent Nuclear Fuels

This project uses both modeling and experimental studies to design optimal electrochemical technology methods for recovery of zirconium from used nuclear fuel rods for more effective waste management. The objectives are to provide a means of efficiently separating zirconium into metallic high-level waste forms and to support development of a process for decontamination of zircaloy hulls to enable their disposal as low- and intermediate-level waste. Modeling work includes extension of a 3D model previously developed by Seoul National University for uranium electrorefining by adding the ability to predict zirconium behavior. Experimental validation activities include tests for recovery of zirconium from molten salt solutions and aqueous tests using surrogate materials. *This is a summary of the FY 2013 progress for I-NERI project # 2010-001-K provided to the I-NERI office.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Validation Experiments for Spent-Fuel Dry-Cask In-Basket Convection

This work consisted of the following major efforts; 1. Literature survey on validation of external natural convection; 2. Design the experiment; 3. Build the experiment; 4. Run the experiment; 5. Collect results; 6. Disseminate results; and 7. Perform a CFD validation study using the results. We note that while all tasks are complete, some deviations from the original plan were made. Specifically, geometrical changes in the parameter space were skipped in favor of flow condition changes, which were found to be much more practical to implement. Changing the geometry required new as-built measurements, which proved extremely costly and impractical given the time and funds available

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Applications of Analytic Models to Spent Fuel Cask Analysis

The advent of high performance computing has changed the way scientists and engineers solve problems. Scientists previously would make a tremendous effort to simplify a complex problem to it’s essence by reducing geometry, neglecting changes and only preserving first-order effects. Now, scientist are able to leave the details in the problem and computationally arrive at a result. To develop the computational physics programs used by scientists, developers make assumptions and use approximation to reduce complex, continuous calculus to algebraic expressions which computers are able to solve.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

In-Situ Liquid Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy of Nanoparticles from Spent Nuclear Fuel

Noble Metal Particles (NMP) that are present in SNF play an important role in the Fuel Matrix Degradation (FMD) Model that is being considered for predicting the release rate of radionuclides from a waste package. Previous characterization of chemically separated NMP from SNF showed that these were well-crystallized nanoparticles containing Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, and Pd with some evidence of actinides. These same chemically separated particles were re-characterized following 10 years of storage as the separated material in water. Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) analysis revealed that significant alteration had occurred in this material during storage, resulting in the almost complete degradation of the NMP. We hypothesized that radiolytic damaged had occurred in the material. To support these concepts, we synthesized a mixed Ru-Pd nanoparticle and subjected it to irradiation in the electron microscope in an in-situ liquid cell. We demonstrated that intense radiation can lead to the decomposition of these metallic particles.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Development of Transient Coupled Chemical-Thermal-Fluid Multiphysics Simulation for Unsealed, Vented Aluminum-clad Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Canister

As the second step towards modeling three-dimensional (3D) multi-physics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of the unsealed containers in the IFSF facility, the previous methodology used for developing the sealed DOE standard canister model was utilized here. This 3D CFD model considers unsealed canister with small mass exchange with surrounding air as time evolves in the simulation and contains a larger network of chemical reactions to consider due to several of the side reactions occurring in the presence of water vapor, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide rather than a helium backfilled canister. Similar to the sealed system, the set of full radiolytic chemical reactions of bulk moist air were established, and then reduced to a more manageable set of equations for the computational efficiency of the 3D CFD simulation. Due to the similar size of the unsealed canisters to the sealed DOE canisters, it is assumed that the chemical and thermal response times to changes in the conditions remains similar such that the same time-stepping algorithm can be utilized. This report documents the theory of the model, workflow to establish radiolysis reaction network, and initial simulations of the evolutions of thermal fields, hydrogen gas and nitric acid concentrations within unsealed canisters in conditions relevant to INL INTEC CPP-603 over a long period of time.

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

Transient Coupled Chemical-Thermal-Fluid Field Simulation for Sealed Aluminum-clad Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Canister

As the first step toward developing three-dimensional (3D) multi-physics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for unsealed and vented canister storage system, a 3D CFD model coupled with bulk gas radiolysis reactions was developed first for sealed DOE standard canisters filled with inert gas and trace amount of air and water. The workflow for constructing canister-scale 3D CFD models and coupling with gas phase radiolysis reactions were established, which can be readily extended to unsealed, vented canister storage system. This interim milestone report documents the theory of the model, workflow to establish radiolysis reaction network, and initial simulations of the evolutions of thermal fields and hydrogen gas concentrations within sealed DOE standard canisters over long period of time. In addition, a mesh refinement test was done to show that increasing the models mesh refinement had negligible impact upon the temperature profiles.

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

Guide to CFD-Chemical Model for Spent Fuel Storage

This outlines the steps that were used to create the CFD model in Star-CCM+ to simulate the 50 year thermal history of ATR fuel stored in DOE sealed canisters. Then this goes through the steps to set up the processing the model results for the one-way coupled Cantera chemical model. The next part describes the process for setting up the 50-year Cantera model in Python. The goal of this is to document the procedure for quality assurance, as well as in the event another person will need to run the process to generate additional results.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Radiolytic Gas Production from Aluminum Coupons (Alloy 1100 and 6061) in Helium Environments—Assessing the Extended Storage of Aluminum Clad Spent Nuclear Fuel

Corrosion of aluminium alloy clad nuclear fuel, during reactor operation and under subsequent wet storage conditions, promotes the formation of aluminium hydroxide and oxyhydroxide layers. These hydrated mineral phases and the chemisorbed and physisorbed waters on their surfaces are susceptible to radiation-induced processes that yield molecular hydrogen gas (H 2 ), which has the potential to complicate the long-term storage and disposal of aluminium clad nuclear fuel through flammable and explosive gas mixture formation, alloy embrittlement, and pressurization. Here, we present a systematic study of the radiolytic formation of H 2 from aluminium alloy 1100 (AA1100) and 6061 (AA6061) coupons in “dry” (~0% relative humidity) and “wet” (50% relative humidity) helium environments. Cobalt-60 gamma irradiation of both aluminium alloy types promoted the formation of H 2 , which increased linearly up to ~2 MGy, and afforded G-values of 1.1 ± 0.1 and 2.9 ± 0.1 for “dry” and “wet” AA1100, and 2.7 ± 0.1 and 1.7 ± 0.1 for “dry” and “wet” AA6061. The negative correlation of H 2 production with relative humidity for AA6061 is in stark contrast to AA1100 and is attributed to differences in the extent of corrosion and varying amounts of adsorbed water in the two alloys, as characterized using optical profilometry, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Determination of Pu content in a Spent Fuel Assembly by Measuring Passive Total Neutron count rate and Multiplication with the Differential Die-Away Instrument

Inspired by approach of Bignan and Martin-Didier (ESARDA 1991) we introduce novel (instrument independent) approach based on multiplication and passive neutron. Based on simulations of SFL-1 the accuracy of determination of {sup tot}Pu content with new approach is {approx}1.3-1.5%. Method applicable for DDA instrument, since it can measure both multiplication and passive neutron count rate. Comparison of pro's & con's of measuring/determining of {sup 239}Pu{sub eff} and {sup tot}Pu suggests a potential for enhanced diversion detection sensitivity.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Evaluation of Simplified Models for Estimating Public Dose from Spent Nuclear Fuel Shipments

This paper investigates the dose rate as a function of distance from a representative high-capacity SNF rail-type transportation cask. It uses the SCALE suite of radiation transport modeling and simulation codes to determine neutron and gamma radiation dose rates. The SCALE calculated dose rate is compared with simplified analytical methods historically used for these calculations. The SCALE dose rate calculation presented in this paper employs a very detailed transportation cask model (e.g., pin-by-pin modeling of fuel assembly) and a new hybrid computational transport method. Because it includes pin-level heterogeneity and models ample air and soil outside the cask to simulate scattering of gamma and neutron radiation, this detailed SCALE model is expected to yield more accurate results than previously used models which made more simplistic assumptions (e.g., fuel assembly treated as a point or line source, simple 1-D model of environment outside of cask). The results in this paper are preliminary and, as progress is made on developing and validating improved models, results may be subject to change as models and estimates become more refined and better information leads to more accurate assumptions.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗