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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1998

The Moon's Molten Core and Tidal Q

The rotation of the Moon is influenced by solid-body tides and interaction at a liquid-core/solid-mantle boundary. The Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data are sensitive to variations in lunar rotation. Analysis of those ranges reveals four dissipation periodicities in the rotation. These signatures can be explained with the combined effects of tide plus core, but not with either alone. The fluid core detection exceeds three times its uncertainty. The inferred core radius has a 1 -sigma upper limit of 352 km for iron and up to 374 km if sulfur is present. The tidal dissipation is strong, Q at one month is 37 +/- 5 .Q increases for longer periods and is 60 (-15, +40) at one year.Dynamical evidence for a fluid lunar core has previously been presented. These-earlier solutions included three dissipation parameters. New solutions benefit from additional LLR data and an improved gravity field from Doppler tracking of Lunar Prospector. Five dissipation parameters are now solved for. There are several options for dissipation parameters: a core coupling parameter, a time delay for tidal distortion of the moments of inertia, and five periodic terms in the rotation angles. Solutions with different combinations of these are compatible (a theory relates K/C and time delay to a series of periodic terms). The solutions used K/C, time delay, and one periodic term. When dissipation signatures at five rotation frequencies are solved for, four amplitudes (4 to 263 milliarcseconds) are detected above the noise. Attempts to explain these results using either tides alone or core alone fail (less than 3(sigma) discrepancy for the former and 9(sigma), for the latter). A combination of tides and liquid core matches the results well.

Williams, J. G.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Paris Observatory Analysis Center (OPAR): Report on Activities, January - December 2012

We report on activities of the Paris Observatory VLBI Analysis Center (OPAR) for calendar year 2012 concerning the development of operational tasks, the development of our Web site, and various other activities: monitoring of the Earth's free core nutation, measuring of the post-seismic displacements of some stations, and the analysis of the recent IVS R&D sessions, including observations of quasars close to the Sun.

Lambert, Sebastien↗
DOE OSTI2022

Circular Economy Modeling and Analysis

NREL is working to transform the "linear economy" - where materials are simply used and disposed - into a circular one. The linear economy is not only unsustainable and inefficienct, but will ultimately bring us face-to-face with resource limitations. NREL is dedicated to developing a circular economy for energy materials, with recycling, repairing, and reusing in mind. This factsheet describes NREL's core competencies and capabilities, and opportunities for partnership.

analysis↗
NASA NTRS1975

Observations of the structure and evolution of solar flares with a soft X-ray telescope

One hundred thirty-two soft X-ray flare events have been observed with the S-056 X-ray telescope aboard Skylab. The observations are summarized, and a detailed discussion of the X-ray flare structures is presented. The data indicated that soft X-rays emitted by a flare come primarily from an intense well-defined core surrounded by a region of fainter more diffuse emission. Loop structures are found to constitute a fundamental characteristic of flare cores, and arcades of loops are found to play a more important role in flare phenomena than previously thought. Size distributions of these core features are presented, and a classification scheme describing the brightest flare X-ray features is proposed. Analysis of flare evolution indicates evidence for preliminary heating and energy release prior to the main phase of the flare. Core features are found to be remarkably stable and to retain their shape throughout a flare. Most changes in the overall configuration seem to be the result of the appearance, disappearance, or change in brightness of individual features, rather than the restructuring or reorientation of these features.

Vorpahl, J. A.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Charge-transfer satellites and chemical bonding in photoemission and x-ray absorption of SrTi O 3 and rutile Ti O 2 : Experiment and first-principles theory with general application to spectroscopic analysis

First-principles, real-time-cumulant, and Bethe-Salpeter-equation calculations fully capture the detailed satellite structure that occurs in response to the sudden creation of the core hole in both photoemission and x-ray absorption spectra of the transition-metal compounds SrTi O 3 and rutile Ti O 2 . Analysis of the excited-state, real-space charge-density fluctuations betrays the physical nature of these many electron excitations that are shown to reflect the materials’ solid-state electronic structure and chemical bonding. This first-principles development of the cumulant-based core hole spectral function is generally applicable to other systems and should become a standard tool for all similar spectroscopic analysis going beyond the quasiparticle physics of the photoelectric effect.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS2005

In situ Analysis of Organic Compounds on Mars using Chemical Derivatization and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

One of the core science objectives of NASA's 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is to determine the past or present habitability of Mars. The search for key organic compounds relevant to terrestrial life will be an important part of that assessment. We have developed a protocol for the analysis of amino acids and carboxylic acids in Mars analogue materials using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS). As shown, a variety of carboxylic acids were readily identified in soil collected from the Atacama Desert in Chile at part-per-billion levels by GCMS after extraction and chemical derivatization using the reagent N,N-tert.-butyl (dimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide (MTBSTFA). Several derivatized amino acids including glycine and alanine were also detected by GCMS in the Atacama soil at lower concentrations (chromatogram not shown). Lacking derivatization capability, the Viking pyrolysis GCMS instruments could not have detected amino acids and carboxylic acids, since these non-volatile compounds require chemical transformation into volatile species that are stable in a GC column. We are currently optimizing the chemical extraction and derivatization technique for in situ GCMS analysis on Mars. Laboratory results of analyses of Atacama Desert samples and other Mars analogue materials using this protocol will be presented.

Glavin, D. P.↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Update on Cardinal: Toward Full Core Pebble Simulations

The new DOE-NE Center of Excellence for Thermal-fluids applications in Nuclear Energy inaugurated in April 2018 considers and researches novel new solution strategies for historically challenging flow issues that still plague the current fleet of deployed Light Water nuclear Reactors (LWRs) as well as predicting various fluid flow and fluid related issues with advanced reactor technologies. Our advanced thermal-fluids research and development approach synergistically combines three natural, though overlapping, length and time scales in a hierarchal multi-scale approach to avoid the temptation and pitfalls of attempting to develop a single solve-all algorithm for physical fluid flow problems that will span nine orders of magnitude in spatial and temporal scales. To demonstrate the multi-scale philosophy of the center we focus on Fluoride Cooled High Temperature Reactors (FHRs), and in particular on the Berkley’s PB-FHR Mark-I design. The Fluoride salt cooled High temperature Reactor (FHR) is a class of advanced nuclear reactors that combine the robust coated particle fuel form from high temperature gas cooled reactors, direct reactor auxiliary cooling system (DRACS) passive decay removal of liquid metal fast reactors, and the transparent, high volumetric heat capacitance liquid Fluoride salt working fluids - such as Flibe - from molten salt reactors. This combination of fuel and coolant enables FHRs to operate in a high-temperature low-pressure design space that has beneficial safety and economic implications. The PB-FHR reactor relies on a pebble bed approach and pebble bed reactors are in a sense the poster child for multi-scale analysis. The lower length-scale simulator for pebble reactor cores comprises three physics: neutronics (OpenMC), thermal-fluids (Nek5000/NekRS) and fuel performance (BISON). As part of Center of Excellence ongoing research efforts we have developed Cardinal, a new tool platform for lower length-scale simulation. Cardinal tightly couples all three physics and leverages advances in MOOSE such as the MultiApp system and the concept of MOOSE-wrapped Apps. The present report provides an update on the development of Cardinal with an extension of Cardinal to GPUs. We also perform a first-of-a-kind demonstration simulation on Summit representing a 10x capability increase in terms of pebble count for Cardinal.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
NASA NTRS1982

Calculation of the flow field including boundary layer effects for supersonic mixed compression inlets at angles of attack

The flow field in supersonic mixed compression aircraft inlets at angle of attack is calculated. A zonal modeling technique is employed to obtain the solution which divides the flow field into different computational regions. The computational regions consist of a supersonic core flow, boundary layer flows adjacent to both the forebody/centerbody and cowl contours, and flow in the shock wave boundary layer interaction regions. The zonal modeling analysis is described and some computational results are presented. The governing equations for the supersonic core flow form a hyperbolic system of partial differential equations. The equations for the characteristic surfaces and the compatibility equations applicable along these surfaces are derived. The characteristic surfaces are the stream surfaces, which are surfaces composed of streamlines, and the wave surfaces, which are surfaces tangent to a Mach conoid. The compatibility equations are expressed as directional derivatives along streamlines and bicharacteristics, which are the lines of tangency between a wave surface and a Mach conoid.

Vadyak, J.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Integration of Online Cross-Section Generation Capability with Depletion and Transient Solvers in Griffin

Griffin is a Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE)-based reactor multiphysics analysis application jointly developed by Argonne and Idaho National Laboratories under the DOENE Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program. In FY25, an online crosssection generation capability based on the Self-Shielding Application Programming Interface (SSAPI) was demonstrated for TRISO-fueled reactor problems under steady-state conditions. This fiscal year, that capability was extended to support depletion and transient multiphysics calculations, enabling high-fidelity analyses that generate self-shielded cross sections on the fly from the actual evolving composition and temperature states rather than from pre-tabulated libraries. For depletion, a two-way coupling was established in which SSAPI computes compact-averaged self-shielded cross sections that the depletion solver then uses to advance the Bateman equations, with the updated compositions returned to SSAPI at each step; the depletion module was refactored to support both library-based and SSAPI-based cross sections, and additional logic was added to track daughter isotopes and to exclude minor isotopes for efficiency. For transient analysis, the SSAPI multigroup library was extended with the kinetics data required for time-dependent calculations, the Improved Quasi-Static (IQS) scheme was coupled with SSAPI, and several supporting capabilities were implemented, including a self-shielding treatment that lets control rods and drums move within a self-shielded model, which had previously been impossible and had ruled out rod- and drum-movement transients with on-the-fly cross sections altogether, a new mixing scheme for delayed-neutron precursor decay constants, a checkpoint-based restart workflow, and performance improvements such as pointwise cross-section interpolation and the bypassing of unnecessary Dancoff factor calculations. The implemented capabilities were verified against Serpent Monte Carlo solutions. For depletion, a prismatic pin-cell problem based on a Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Very High Temperature Reactor benchmark showed excellent agreement, with eigenvalue differences within 200 pcm over the entire burnup range (up to 140 MWD/kgU) and fission-product and actinide inventories agreeing to within 0.8% and 2.5%, respectively; a heat-pipe microreactor assembly problem with a much higher fuel loading confirmed the same behavior and quantified the bias introduced when the multigroup equivalence effect is neglected. For transient analysis, a pin-cell problem with a step reactivity insertion and temperature feedback reproduced the analytically expected asymptotic power and showed close agreement between the direct and IQS solutions, and a two-dimensional microreactor core problem with control-drum rotation exercised the new moving-drum self-shielding treatment and demonstrated successful coupling of the online crosssection generation with both the direct and IQS transient methods. The capability was further exercised on a full-core pebble-bed problem, in which Griffin was coupled with the System Analysis Module (SAM) to simulate load-following operation of the gPBR with the Doppler feedback resolved at the TRISO fuel kernel temperature. These developments in Griffin provide a convenient, high-fidelity approach to cross-section generation for advanced thermal reactors with geometrically complex and highly heterogeneous configurations, including TRISO-fueled prismatic and pebble-bed systems, and support steady-state, depletion, and transient multiphysics calculations. They also enable self-shielded cross sections to be evaluated directly at the actual coupled state of the system, thereby establishing a foundation for high-fidelity, fully coupled multiphysics analysis of advanced reactors

Park, H.↗
NASA NTRS2008

From Informal Safety-Critical Requirements to Property-Driven Formal Validation

Most of the efforts in formal methods have historically been devoted to comparing a design against a set of requirements. The validation of the requirements themselves, however, has often been disregarded, and it can be considered a largely open problem, which poses several challenges. The first challenge is given by the fact that requirements are often written in natural language, and may thus contain a high degree of ambiguity. Despite the progresses in Natural Language Processing techniques, the task of understanding a set of requirements cannot be automatized, and must be carried out by domain experts, who are typically not familiar with formal languages. Furthermore, in order to retain a direct connection with the informal requirements, the formalization cannot follow standard model-based approaches. The second challenge lies in the formal validation of requirements. On one hand, it is not even clear which are the correctness criteria or the high-level properties that the requirements must fulfill. On the other hand, the expressivity of the language used in the formalization may go beyond the theoretical and/or practical capacity of state-of-the-art formal verification. In order to solve these issues, we propose a new methodology that comprises of a chain of steps, each supported by a specific tool. The main steps are the following. First, the informal requirements are split into basic fragments, which are classified into categories, and dependency and generalization relationships among them are identified. Second, the fragments are modeled using a visual language such as UML. The UML diagrams are both syntactically restricted (in order to guarantee a formal semantics), and enriched with a highly controlled natural language (to allow for modeling static and temporal constraints). Third, an automatic formal analysis phase iterates over the modeled requirements, by combining several, complementary techniques: checking consistency; verifying whether the requirements entail some desirable properties; verify whether the requirements are consistent with selected scenarios; diagnosing inconsistencies by identifying inconsistent cores; identifying vacuous requirements; constructing multiple explanations by enabling the fault-tree analysis related to particular fault models; verifying whether the specification is realizable.

Cimatti, Alessandro↗
NASA NTRS2014

Identification of New Lithic Clasts in Lunar Breccia 14305 by Micro-CT and Micro-XRF Analysis

From 1969 to 1972, Apollo astronauts collected 382 kg of rocks, soils, and core samples from six locations on the surface of the Moon. The samples were initially characterized, largely by binocular examination, in a custom-built facility at Johnson Space Center (JSC), and the samples have been curated at JSC ever since. Despite over 40 years of study, demand for samples remains high (~500 subsamples per year are allocated to scientists around the world), particularly for plutonic (e.g., anorthosites, norites, etc.) and evolved (e.g., granites, KREEP basalts) lithologies. The reason for the prolonged interest is that as new scientists and new techniques examine the samples, our understanding of how the Moon, Earth, and other inner Solar System bodies formed and evolved continues to grow. Scientists continually clamor for new samples to test their emerging hypotheses. Although all of the large Apollo samples that are igneous rocks have been classified, many Apollo samples are complex polymict breccias that have previously yielded large (cm-sized) igneous clasts. In this work we present the initial efforts to use the non-destructive techniques of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and micro x-ray fluorescence (micro-XRF) to identify large lithic clasts in Apollo 14 polymict breccia sample 14305. The sample in this study is 14305,483, a 150 g slab of regolith breccia 14305 measuring 10x6x2 cm (Figure 1a). The sample was scanned at the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility on an Xradia MicroXCT scanner. Two adjacent overlapping volumes were acquired at 49.2 micrometer resolution and stitched together, resulting in 1766 slices. Each volume was acquired at 100 kV accelerating voltage and 98 mA beam current with a 1 mm CaF2 filter, with 2161 views gathered over 360deg at 3 seconds acquisition time per view. Micro-XRF analyses were done at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri on an EDAX Orbis PC micro-XRF instrument. Multiple scans were made at 40 kV accelerating voltage, 800 mA beam current, 30 μm beam diameter, and a beam spacing of 30-120 micrometer. The micro-CT scan of 14305,483 (Figure 2) was able to identify several large lithic clasts (approx. 1 cm) within the interior of the slab. These clasts will be exposed by band-sawing or chipping of the slab, and their composition more fully characterized by subsequent micro-XRF analysis. In addition to lithic clasts, the micro-CT scans identified numerous mineral clasts, including many FeNi metal grains, as well as the prominent fractures within the slab. The micro-XRF analyses (Figure 1b,c) of the slab surfaces revealed the bulk chemical compositions (qualitative) of the different clast types observed. In particular, by looking at the ratios of major elements (e.g. Ca:Mg:Fe), differences among the many observed clast types are readily observed. Moreover, several clasts not apparent to the naked eye were revealed in the K:Al:Si ratio map. The scans are also able to identify small grains of Zr- and P-rich minerals (not shown), which could in turn yield important age dates for the samples.

Zeigler, Ryan A.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Welch Method and Bootstrapping Applied to Subcritical Gamma Noise

We measured the prompt neutron decay constant 𝛼 of the CROCUS zero-power reactor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne using cross-power spectral density (CPSD) analysis of gamma-gamma correlations from two trans-stilbene organic scintillators positioned near the reactor core. We measured critical and subcritical states, with water levels ranging from 960 mm (critical) to 800 mm (𝜌=−1.4 $ subcritical). Our analysis used the Welch method, dividing signal segments for fast Fourier transform (FFT) frequency analysis and applying bootstrapping uncertainty quantification that uses Welch-defined segments. Results demonstrated a clear increase in the measured 𝛼 as reactor reactivity decreased, distinguishing critical from subcritical conditions. At the 960-mm critical level, 𝛼 was estimated at 155.9 ± 0.7 s −1 , and for the 800-mm subcritical level, 𝛼 increased significantly to 367.3 ± 6.9 s –1 . A linear regression of subcritical states yielded a critical estimate of 154.0 ± 3.1 s –1 , aligning with the static 𝛼 estimate at critical. The bootstrapping method produced normally distributed 𝛼 estimates, confirming data consistency. The gamma CPSD 𝛼 estimates clearly distinguish reactor states and improve monitoring of zero-power reactors. The future deployment of modular and microreactors as potential candidates for noise analysis is demonstrated in CROCUS, particularly zero-power mock-ups of new designs. The improvement of noise analysis in the subcritical domain from this work will support experimental data for reactor deployment and procedure.

CROCUS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fatty acid capped, metal oxo clusters as the smallest conceivable nanocrystal prototypes

Metal oxo clusters of the type M 6 O 4 (OH) 4 (OOCR) 12 (M = Zr or Hf) are valuable building blocks for materials science. Here, we synthesize a series of zirconium and hafnium oxo clusters with ligands that are typically used to stabilize oxide nanocrystals (fatty acids with long and/or branched chains). The fatty acid capped oxo clusters have a high solubility but do not crystallize, precluding traditional purification and single-crystal XRD analysis. We thus develop alternative purification strategies and we use X-ray total scattering and Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis as our main method to elucidate the structure of the cluster core. We identify the correct structure from a series of possible clusters (Zr3, Zr4, Zr6, Zr12, Zr10, and Zr26). Excellent refinements are only obtained when the ligands are part of the structure model. Further evidence for the cluster composition is provided by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), and mass spectrometry (MS). We find that hydrogen bonded carboxylic acid is an intrinsic part of the oxo cluster. Using our analytical tools, we elucidate the conversion from a Zr6 monomer to a Zr12 dimer (and vice versa), induced by carboxylate ligand exchange. Finally, we compare the catalytic performance of Zr12-oleate clusters with oleate capped, 5.5 nm zirconium oxide nanocrystals in the esterification of oleic acid with ethanol. The oxo clusters present a five times higher reaction rate, due to their higher surface area. Since the oxo clusters are the lower limit of downscaling oxide nanocrystals, we present them as appealing catalytic materials, and as atomically precise model systems. In addition, the lessons learned regarding PDF analysis are applicable to other areas of cluster science as well, from semiconductor and metal clusters, to polyoxometalates.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Semi-Annual Report for Horizontal Compact High Temperature Gas Reactor (HC-HTGR) Development during Performance Period April 2023 – September 2023

Horizontal Compact High Temperature Gas Reactor (HC-HTGR) is being designed by a multi-disciplinary team of nuclear, mechanical, and structural engineers under the support of a DOE-NE Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program’s Advanced Reactor Concepts-20 (ARC-20) award. The objective of this ARC-20 project is to deliver a conceptual design for the proposed HC-HTGR in 3 years and support its commercialization as a safe, low-cost HTGR. Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) is responsible for the design and analysis of the reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) as a safety system for passive decay heat removal of the reactor concept. Additionally, Argonne is providing analysis of the primary coolant system to ensure temperatures within the core remain below safety margins during steady-state and potential accident scenarios. This fourth semi-annual report summarized the progress made at Argonne on the two tasks during the second half of FY23. As a part of the RCCS design task, recent efforts have been made to complete a conceptual design of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR, including the design update of the water panel and system configuration favorable in point of view of fabrication and system operation. Design calculations were conducted under various heat load conditions to validate the system design. Transient simulations using RELAP5-3D were conducted to investigate system dynamics under transients of interest and to evaluate the system performance in the design condition. The results demonstrated the overall system feasibility that the RCCS design maintains structures temperatures lower than maximum allowable temperature with sufficient system inventory without any active heat sink. In the primary system thermal hydraulics task, the preliminary analysis was performed for a long term pressurized conduction cooldown (PCC) transient. This analysis used a combination of a fully resolved and coarse homogenized mesh to predict the temperature distribution for the steady-state initial condition and the PCC transient. The steady-state initial condition was determined using a fully resolved full core model with 3D solid to 1D fluid coupling. The fully resolved mesh was also used to model the first 20 seconds of the PCC. The temperature difference between fuel pins and the graphite matrix becomes minimal and the dominant heat transfer shifts to a larger scale radially towards the RCCS. After 20 seconds, a homogenized coarse mesh is used, greatly reducing the computational costs of the model. These results demonstrate that the core is designed to passively remove enough decay heat in a protected loss of primary coolant flow to prevent an unsafe rise of core temperatures.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

FINITE ELEMENT MODEL MESH REFINEMENT EFFECTS ON QUALIFICATION OF NUCLEAR GRADE GRAPHITE COMPONENTS

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) provides the full and simplified design-by-analysis probabilistic assessments for determining acceptance of nuclear grade graphite core components. The assessments can be characterized by three parts: (1) a component stress distribution, often determined by a finite element (FE) model; (2) a Weibull probability density function (pdf) that characterizes the experimental tensile strength distribution; and (3) the post-processor, which combines the FE model and the Weibull strength distribution in accordance with the full and simplified assessments to determine component acceptance. It is known that the level of mesh refinement in FE models can affect the modeled component’s calculated stress distribution. Depending on the component geometry, the stress distribution may converge with sufficient refinement. It was previously unknown whether the acceptance decision resulting from the full and simplified assessments might change even with sufficient mesh refinement. This study explores that question using experimental strength results for a dog-bone geometry for two graphite grades, IG-110 and PCEA. The simplified assessment has two criteria that must be met, the first limits the combined membrane stress by the allowable stress and the second limits the peak equivalent stress by the allowable stress scaled by the ratio of flexural to tensile strength. In the application of the simplified assessment, convergence of the peak equivalent stress required extreme mesh refinement, however, the acceptance decision was not affected. It is hypothesized that more complex geometries with stress concentrations may present mesh refinement effects on the simplified assessment acceptance decision. Mesh refinement did affect the acceptance decision in the full assessment for the applied pressure loadings in this study. This work suggests component stress distribution convergence is not a sufficient criteria for POF convergence in the full assessment and that mesh refinement should continue until the POF has converged, especially where the resulting POF is bordering the SRC acceptable POF limit.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS2017

Initial Data Analysis Results for ATD-2 ISAS HITL Simulation

To evaluate the operational procedures and information requirements for the core functional capabilities of the ATD-2 project, such as tactical surface metering tool, APREQ-CFR procedure, and data element exchanges between ramp and tower, human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations were performed in March, 2017. This presentation shows the initial data analysis results from the HITL simulations. With respect to the different runway configurations and metering values in tactical surface scheduler, various airport performance metrics were analyzed and compared. These metrics include gate holding time, taxi-out in time, runway throughput, queue size and wait time in queue, and TMI flight compliance. In addition to the metering value, other factors affecting the airport performance in the HITL simulation, including run duration, runway changes, and TMI constraints, are also discussed.

HITL simulation↗
DOE OSTI2025

New capabilities for rapid depletion analysis of pebble-bed reactors in SCALE

The SCALE Leap-In for Cores at Equilibrium (SLICE) method leverages capabilities available in the SCALE modeling and simulation suite to facilitate rapid estimation of equilibrium core inventories for flowing-pebble reactor systems in support of a variety of fuel cycle applications. New capabilities that compliment the SLICE method have been developed for the ORIGAMI interface to ORIGEN in SCALE to facilitate rapid depletion calculations for flowing-pebble systems. New features include a more generalized and flexible means of specifying interpolation dimensions, the ability to evaluate pebbles moving through user-defined “axial zones” in each of the pebble’s multiple passes through the core, and the treatment of differential velocities across radial channels (representing both pebble-to-pebble and wall-to-pebble friction effects). ORIGAMI thus provides an efficient user interface to define a pebble’s path and irradiation histories of its multiple passes through the core to calculate the pebble’s time-dependent inventories, which can be useful in various applications domains such as safeguards, criticality safety, and disposal analyses. The consistency of new ORIGAMI approach was verified against the solution obtained using the SLICE method with ORIGEN-ARP, showing excellent agreement.

Skutnik, Steven E. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory ↗