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Proposed Classifications of Remote Operations for Nuclear Reactors Based on Physical and Cybersecurity Considerations

The incorporation of remote operations into reactor operations is a topic of high interest among advanced and small modular reactor (A/SMR) vendors, with some considering it essential to the success of their business models. However, remote operations are a concept novel to the nuclear industry. While various technical aspects of remote operations have been explored, a significant gap remains in understanding the security implications of integrating remote operations into reactor designs, particularly concerning the security requirements for remote-operations facilities and infrastructure. This report aims to address this gap by first defining classes of remote operation based on the extent of remote access to reactor control systems and grounded in the existing regulatory framework with compatible terminology. Secondly, the report outlines the physical and cybersecurity requirements applicable to remote-operations facilities and infrastructure at each defined class. These requirements are based on existing licensing frameworks provided by 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 50 and 10 CFR Part 52, as well as the upcoming A/SMR licensing framework in the proposed Part 53. The assessment focuses specifically on security regulations, such as 10 CFR Part 73, which includes provisions for both cybersecurity (§ 73.54) and physical security (§ 73.55). This report proposes five classes of remote reactor operations. Class 1 involves remote monitoring only, with no control over reactor systems. Class 2 allows for the remote issuance of allowlisted commands to the reactor facility. Class 3 extends control to non-safety-significant, non-safety-related, or not important to safety systems and equipment. Class 4 permits remote control of safety-significant systems. Finally, Class 5 allows remote control of safety-related systems. It is important to note that these classes were defined purely with functionality in mind, without considering the practicality or feasibility of implementation for each class under current or upcoming regulatory guidance. The intention behind this approach is to enable an assessment of which security requirements apply to each class, allowing readers to evaluate the implementation possibilities for their specific use cases. Following the definition of remote-operation classes, the report assesses the specific physical and cybersecurity requirements applicable to the remote-operations facility and infrastructure within each defined class. This includes defining the types and locations of operators that are possible at each class of operation and, based on operator type and location, as well as functionality within each class, outlining the physical and cybersecurity requirements. By detailing the security requirements by class, the report provides readers with the information needed to determine the type of security program they may need to implement for their desired concept of operation. The next contribution of this report was to assess the practicality of implementing each proposed class of remote operations based upon the security requirement assessment. In short, three of the five proposed remote-operation classes were found to possibly have a practical path forward to implementation under the U.S. regulatory framework. Class 1 remote operations are currently in use in the U.S. while Class 2 and 3 remote operations may be logistically possible to implement under the U.S. regulatory framework. The final two Classes, 4 and 5, would likely be logistically difficult, if not infeasible to implement within the current U.S. physical- and cybersecurity regulatory framework. Given the results of the feasibility assessment, an example architecture is proposed for both Class 2, remote allowlisted commands, and Class 3, remote control of non-safety systems as well as security implication assessments of each architecture. These example implementations are not meant to be prescriptive in terms of how Class 2 or Class 3 remote operations should be deployed; instead, they are intended to be informative to stakeholders on how Class 2 or Class 3 could potentially be applied in order to inform their system design. An example architecture for Class 1 remote monitoring was not provided as Class 1 in already in use in U.S. nuclear operations. Example architectures for Class 4 and Class 5 were not provided due to their assessment of being likely infeasible to implement. The final contribution is an assessment of the physical- and cybersecurity implications of introducing autonomous operations into an A/SMR. What was found was that the security implications can be separated into two cases. Autonomous operations supported by SSCs located only at the reactor site, and autonomous operations supported by SSCs outside of the reactor site. For the first case, the introduction of autonomous systems will likely not change the facility’s requirement to comply with existing cyber and physical security regulation

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Development of a fs/Ps CARS System for Temperature Measurements Within Supersonic and Hypersonic Environments

A hybrid femtosecond/picosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (fs/ps CARS) system was developed for quantitative measurements of temperature in a laboratory-scale supersonic jet facility. Measurements were recorded at low pressures and densities relevant for supersonic and hypersonic environments, with special interest in exploring the feasibility of deploying this technique in the 20-inch Mach 6 and 31-inch Mach 10 wind tunnels located at NASA Langley Research Center. Modifications to the existing supersonic jet facility were made to simulate a test section with a width of 31 inches, so that the size of the test section is relevant for either wind tunnel. The CARS system was designed such that a similar beam geometry can be used in the laboratory to acquire point-based fs/ps CARS measurements along two axes of translation. Rotational Raman transitions of O 2 and N 2 were targeted.

CARS↗

Development of a fs/ps CARS System for Temperature Measurements in Supersonic and Hypersonic Environments

A hybrid femtosecond/picosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (fs/ps CARS) system was developed for quantitative measurements of temperature in a laboratory-scale supersonic jet facility. Measurements were recorded at low pressures and densities relevant for supersonic and hypersonic environments, with special interest in exploring the feasibility of deploying this technique in the 20-inch Mach 6 and 31-inch Mach 10 wind tunnels located at NASA Langley Research Center. Modifications to the existing supersonic jet facility were made to simulate a test section with a width of 31 inches, so that the size of the test section is relevant for either wind tunnel. The CARS system was designed such that a similar beam geometry can be used in the laboratory to acquire point-based fs/ps CARS measurements along two axes of translation. Rotational Raman transitions of O 2 and N 2 were targeted.

CARS↗

Surveillance of Site A and Plot M Report (2019)

The environmental surveillance program discussed in this report is an ongoing activity that resulted from the 1976-1978 radiological characterization of the former site of Argonne National Laboratory and its predecessor, the University of Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory. This site was part of the World War II Manhattan Engineer District Project and was located in a forested area southwest of Chicago, IL, owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, now known as the Palos Area Preserves. Research was conducted at two locations in the Palos Area Preserves: Site A, a 19-acre area that contained experimental laboratories and nuclear reactor facilities; and Plot M, a 150 ft x 140 ft area used for the burial of radioactive waste. The location of the Palos Area Preserves is shown in Figure 2.1. The locations of Site A and Plot M are shown in Figure 2.2. Previous comprehensive reports on this subject provide additional detail and illustrations on sampling locations and provide descriptive material along with the results through 1981. Annual reports are available for 1982 through 2018. While earlier data will not be repeated in this report, reference is made to some of the results.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Observation of molecular hydrogen produced from bridging hydroxyls on anatase TiO2(101)

Anatase TiO2 is used extensively in a wide range of catalytic and photocatalytic processes and is a promising catalyst for hydrogen production. Here, we show that molecular hydrogen was produced from bridging hydroxyls, HOb, on the (101) surface of single crystal anatase (a-TiO2(101)). Electron bombardment at 30 K produced bridging oxygen vacancies in the surface. Deuterated bridging hydroxyls, DOb, were subsequently formed via dissociation of adsorbed D2O and confirmed by infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy. During temperature programmed desorption (TPD) spectroscopy, D2 desorption was observed at 520 K. Density functional theory calculations show that both H2 and H2O production from HOb are endothermic at 0 K on a-TiO2(101), but H2 (H2O) desorption is entropically driven above 230 K (800 K). The calculated activation barrier for H2 desorption is 1.40 eV, which is similar to the desorption energy obtained from analysis of the D2 TPD spectra. The H2 desorption likely proceeds in two steps: H atom diffusion on the surface and then recombination. The calculations indicate that diffusion of the hydrogen atoms into the subsurface could also be an important process. We thank Drs. Z. Dohnalek and R. Rousseau for stimulating discussions. This work was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, & Biosciences and performed in EMSL, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is a multiprogram national laboratory operated for DOE by Battelle. We also acknowledge the WPI computational facilities for providing resources to perform the DFT studies.

Deskins, N A.↗

XBoard: A Framework for Integrating and Enhancing Collaborative Work Practices

Teams typically collaborate in different modes including face-to-face meetings, meetings that are synchronous (i. e. require parties to participate at the same time) but distributed geographically, and meetings involving asynchronously working on common tasks at different times. The XBoard platform was designed to create an integrated environment for creating applications that enhance collaborative work practices. Specifically, it takes large, touch-screen enabled displays as the starting point for enhancing face-to-face meetings by providing common facilities such as whiteboarding/electronic flipcharts, laptop projection, web access, screen capture and content distribution. These capabilities are built upon by making these functions inherently distributed by allowing these sessions to be easily connected between two or more systems at different locations. Finally, an information repository is integrated into the functionality to provide facilities for work practices that involve work being done at different times, such as reports that span different shifts. The Board is designed to be extendible allowing customization of both the general functionality and by adding new functionality to the core facilities by means of a plugin architecture. This, in essence, makes it a collaborative framework for extending or integrating work practices for different mission scenarios. XBoard relies heavily on standards such as Web Services and SVG, and is built using predominately Java and well-known open-source products such as Apache and Postgres. Increasingly, organizations are geographically dispersed, and rely on "virtual teams" that are assembled from a pool of various partner organizations. These organizations often have different infrastructures of applications and workflows. The XBoard has been designed to be a good partner in these situations, providing the flexibility to integrate with typical legacy applications while providing a standards-based infrastructure that is readily accepted by most organizations. The XBoard has been used on the Mars Exploration Rovers mission at JPL, and is currently being used or considered for use in pilot projects at Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mission Control, the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetav Laboratory (Phoenix Mars Lander), and MBART (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute).

Shab, Ted↗

Remediation of Temporary Storage Sites in Support of the Port Hope Area Initiative - 20295

The Port Hope Area Initiative is a community-based solution for the long-term management of historic low level radioactive waste (LLRW) resulting from 60 years of uranium and radium processing operations in the Town of Port Hope which is located in Ontario, Canada. The Eldorado refinery, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, began refining radium-226 from pitchblende ore, later transitioning to the refining of uranium. Through the history of the operation, LLRW was deposited throughout the town of Port Hope as a result of fugitive emissions from the plant and/or through the re-use of process residues as building material and backfill. Historical clean-up activities conducted in the late 1970's involved the remediation of approximately 400 properties and the relocation of 100,000 cubic metres of contaminated soil to a disposal facility in Chalk River operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). Owing to space limitations at that disposal facility, any LLRW identified through construction monitoring since that time has been stored in the community at three temporary storage sites located throughout the town. These include: the Centre Pier mound that contained approximately of 19,800 m{sup 3} of LLRW-impacted soil that originated from the construction of a new water treatment plant; two mounds located at a licensed storage facility containing LLRW obtained from residential clean-up activities (11,000 m{sup 3}); and a small pad adjacent to the municipal sewage treatment plant containing 2200 m{sup 3} of LLRW-containing sludge. With the construction of a new long-term waste management facility (LTWMF) that has been designed to house all of the LLRW identified within Port Hope, the three sites were early candidates for remediation. The clean-up of the three temporary storage sites was a significant milestone for the Port Hope Area Initiative. After a decade of planning and consultation, this work represents the first sites in the municipality to be remediated with the waste being safety removed and transferred to the newly constructed LTWMF. This paper discusses the challenges associated with the clean-up activities for these three sites and the strategies employed to address those challenges. These included weather-related challenges, owing to the seasons over which the work was conducted as well as those associated with working within a closely-knit community. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), working on behalf of the federal government, has worked diligently to develop a positive and trusting relationship with the community. Consequently, the successful execution of this project needed to be sensitive to, and respectful of the needs of the community. In addition to the usual Health, Safety and Environment training, project staff received community awareness training that spoke to the history of this community-based initiative and the expected behavior when working within the community. Transportation routes were defined based on safety and the need to minimize disruption to local traffic while haul-times where scheduled around school bus hours to enhance public safety. The successful completion of this first of many remediation projects to be completed under the Port Hope Area Initiative reflected years of careful planning. Nevertheless, there were a number of 'lessons learned' that have been applied on other ongoing projects be completed under the Port Hope Area Initiative. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

95th percentile doses to public and co-located workers based on five years (2010-2014) of LLNL meteorological data (WSF B625)

This calculation is to be used for accident analysis at the Waste Storage Facilities (WSF). The objective of this analysis is to determine: The 95th percentile dose to the public and co-located workers used for accident analysis consistent with NRC Regulatory Guide 1.145 Position 3 using MACCS2 and five years (2010-2014) of LLNL meteorological data.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Advanced acoustic and aerodynamic 20-inch fan program

The aerodynamic analyses, mechanical analyses, and stress tests of a 20-inch diameter advanced fan design intended for acoustic investigation by NASA-LeRC are discussed. A high tip speed transonic fan rotor was scaled directly to 20.0 inches (0.508 m) from a 28.74-inch (0.73-m) diameter rotor. A new stator was designed and fabricated for the fan and incorporated with a test rig housing and adapter hardware for installation in the NASA-LeRC Jet Noise Facility for acoustic evaluation. The stator was designed to allow mounting at three axial locations, and the fan, housing, and adapters are reversible so that either the inlet or the exhaust ends of the assembly face the open room of the test facility. Excellent aerodynamic performance is predicted, and a low noise signature is expected since the unique aerodynamic design features of this fan are directly conductive to producing minimum sound power.

Erwin, J. R.↗

Elemental analyses of hypervelocity micro-particle impact sites on interplanetary dust experiment sensor surfaces

The Interplanetary Dust Experiment (IDE) had over 450 electrically active ultra-high purity metal-oxide-silicon impact detectors located on the six primary sides of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). Hypervelocity micro-particles that struck the active sensors with enough energy to breakdown the 0.4 to 1.0 micron thick SiO2 insulator layer separating the silicon base (the negative electrode), and the 1000 A thick surface layer of aluminum (the positive electrode) caused electrical discharges that were recorded for the first year of orbit. These discharge features, which include 50 micron diameter areas where the aluminum top layer has been vaporized, facilitate the location of the impacts. The high purity Al-SiO2-Si substrates allow detection of trace (ppm) amounts of hypervelocity impactor residues. After sputtering through a layer of surface contamination, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is used to create two-dimensional elemental ion intensity maps of micro-particle impact sites on the IDE sensors. The element intensities in the central craters of the impacts are corrected for relative ion yields and instrumental conditions and then normalized to silicon. The results are used to classify the particles' origins as 'manmade', 'natural' or 'indeterminate'. The last classification results from the presence of too little impactor residue (a frequent occurrence on leading edge impacts), analytical interference from high background contamination, the lack of information on silicon residue, the limited usefulness of data on aluminum in the central craters, or a combination of these circumstances. Several analytical 'blank' discharges were induced on flight sensors by pressing down on the sensor surface with a pure silicon shard. Analyses of these blank discharges showed that the discharge energy blasts away the layer of surface contamination. Only Si and Al were detected inside the discharge zones, including the central craters, of these features. A total of 35 impacts on leading edge sensors and 22 impacts on trailing edge sensors were analyzed.

Simon, Charles G.↗

Refining the W1 and SE1 Facilities

The Engine Research Building (ERB) houses more than 60 test rigs that study all aspects of engine development. By working with Mary Gibson in the SE1 and W1A Turbine Facilities, I became aware of her responsibilities and better acquainted with the inner workings of the ERB. The SE1 Supersonic/Subsonic Wind Tunnel Facility contains 2 small wind tunnels. The first tunnel uses an atmospheric inlet, while the second uses treated 40-psig air. Both of the tunnels are capable of subsonic and supersonic operation. An auxiliary air supply and exhaust piping providing both test sections with suction, blowing, and crossfire capabilities. The current configuration of SE1 consists of a curved diffuser that studies the blockage along the endwalls. The W1A Low Speed Compressor Facility provides insight for the complex flow phenomena within its 4-stage axial compressor, sand the data obtained from W 1A is used to develop advanced models for fluid dynamic assessment. W1A is based off of a low speed research compressor developed by GE in the 1950's. This compressor has a removable casing treatment under rotor 1, which allows for various tip treatment studies. The increased size and low speed allows instrumentation to be located in the compressor s complex flow paths. Air enters the facility through a filtered roof vent, conditioned for temperature and turbulence, and then passed through the compressor W1A is described as a dynamic facility with many projects taking place simultaneously. This current environment makes it challenging to follow the various affairs that are taking place within the area. During my first 4 weeks at the NASA Glenn Research Center, I have assisted Mary Gibson in multiple tasks such as facility documents, record keeping, maintenance and upgrades. The facility has lube systems for its gearbox and compressor. These systems are critical in the successful operation of the facility. I was assigned the task of creating a facility estimate list, which included the filters and strainers required for the compressor. For my remaining time spent here, we expect to complete a facility parts listing and a virtual project summary so that W1A and SE1 will become ergonomic facilities that will make it easier for people to observe the capabilities and history of the area and the employees that operate. Bolstering our efforts in achieving these goal are the online technical tutorials, software such as Microsoft Excel. Macromedia Flash MX Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Photoshop 6.0 and the assistance of several NASA employees.

Chambers, Rodney D.↗

Altitude Testing of Large Liquid Propellant Engines

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration entered a new age on January 14, 2004 with President Bush s announcement of the creation the Vision for Space Exploration that will take mankind back to the Moon and on beyond to Mars. In January, 2006, after two years of hard, dedicated labor, engineers within NASA and its contractor workforce decided that the J2X rocket, based on the heritage of the Apollo J2 engine, would be the new engine for the NASA Constellation Ares upper stage vehicle. This engine and vehicle combination would provide assured access to the International Space Station to replace that role played by the Space Shuttle and additionally, would serve as the Earth Departure Stage, to push the Crew Excursion Vehicle out of Earth Orbit and head it on a path for rendezvous with the Moon. Test as you fly, fly as you test was chosen to be the guiding philosophy and a pre-requisite for the engine design, development, test and evaluation program. An exhaustive survey of national test facility assets proved the required capability to test the J2X engine at high altitude for long durations did not exist so therefore, a high altitude/near space environment testing capability would have to be developed. After several agency concepts the A3 High Altitude Testing Facility proposal was selected by the J2X engine program on March 2, 2007 and later confirmed by a broad panel of NASA senior leadership in May 2007. This facility is to be built at NASA s John C. Stennis Space Center located near Gulfport, Mississippi. 30 plus years of Space Shuttle Main Engine development and flight certification testing makes Stennis uniquely suited to support the Vision For Space Exploration Return to the Moon. Propellant handling infrastructure, engine assembly facilities, a trained and dedicated workforce and a broad and varied technical support base will all ensure that the A3 facility will be built on time to support the schedule needs of the J2X engine and the ultimate flight of the first Ares I vehicle. The A3 facility will be able to simulate pre-ignition altitude from sea-level to 100,000 feet and maintain it up to 650 seconds. Additionally the facility will be able to accommodate initial ignition, shutdown and then restart test profiles. A3 will produce up to 5000 lbm/sec of superheated steam utilizing a Chemical Steam generation system. Two separate inline steam ejectors will be used to produce a test cell vacuum to simulate the 100,000 ft required altitude. Operational capability will ensure that the facility can start up and shutdown without producing adverse pressure gradients across the J2X nozzle. The facility will have a modern thrust measurement system for accurate determination of engine performance. The latest advances in data acquisition and control will be incorporated to measure performance parameters during hotfire testing. Provisions are being made in the initial design of the new altitude facility to allow for testing of other, larger engines and potential upper stage launch vehicles that might require vacuum start testing of the engines. The new facility at Stennis Space Center will be complete and ready for hotfire operations in late 2010.

Maynard, Bryon T.↗

Scaling Evaluation of Ice-Crystal Icing on a Modern Turbofan Engine in PSL Using the COMDES-MELT Code

This paper presents preliminary ice-crystal icing (ICI) altitude scaling evaluation results of a Honeywell Uncertified Research Engine (HURE) that was tested in the NASA Glenn Research Center Propulsion Systems Laboratory (PSL) during January of 2018. This engine geometry features a hidden core design to keep the core less exposed. The engine was fitted with internal video cameras to observe various ice buildup processes at multiple selected locations within the engine core flow path covering the fan stator, the splitter-lip/shroud/strut, and the high pressure compressor (HPC) variable inlet guide vane (IGV) regions. The potential ice accretion risk was pre-determined to occur by using NASA’s in-house 1D Engine Icing Risk assessment code, COMDES-MELT. The code was successful in predicting the risk of ice accretion in adiabatic regions like the fan-stator of the HURE at specific engine operating points. However at several operating points during the test, liquid water was observed running along the shroud toward the variable IGV of the HPC regions with an air temperature well below freezing, thus no particle melting could have occurred due to heating from the air alone. It was reasoned that other sources of heat were present in that region. To account for these heat sources the inlet total temperature was adjusted to give a wet bulb temperature of 24 F below the standard minimum wet bulb temperature of 492 R to allow ice to accrete in the splitter-lip/shroud/strut region, which was determined from a reference case where hard ice was observed in that region. With that adjustment the COMDES-MELT code was successful in providing operating points where there was a risk of ice accretion during the test campaign. In addition to calculating possible conditions at different selected lower altitudes, simulations were run to determine potential inlet conditions that could lead to ice-crystal accretion along the prescribed stations where the cameras were available. From there, scaled test conditions were determined by best matching the following three icing related parameters of the reference condition: (1) the local air total wet bulb temperature, (2) the local ice crystal cloud melt ratio and (3) the engine fan face ice/water to air mass flux ratio of the ice crystal cloud. Instantaneous images taken from the time-lapsed movies of ice buildup were used along with the relevant thermodynamic data of air, water vapor and local icing condition to help evaluate how closely the proposed altitude scaling method could be used in ground based test facility to duplicate selected reference ICI features observed at specific location inside this engine at different scale altitudes. Discussions on observed limitation for engine icing scaling application from this test campaign and needed improvement are provided. A scaling test procedure to help identify potential ICI risk conditions and possible ice accretion locations of a new turbofan engine is evaluated in PSL.

Engine Testing in PSL↗

Spacecraft propulsion systems test capability at the NASA White Sands Test Facility

The NASA White Sands Facility (WSTF), a component insallation of the Johnson Space Center, is located on a 94-square-mile site in southwestern New Mexico. WSTF maintains many unique capabilities to support its mission to test and evaluate spacecraft materials, components, and propulsion systems to enable the safe human exploration and utilization of space. WSTF has tested over 340 rocket engines with more than 2.5 million firings to date. Included are propulsion system testing for Apollo, Shuttle, and now Space Station as well as unmanned spacecraft such as Viking, Pioneer, and Mars Observer. This paper describes the current WSTF propulsion test facilities and capabilities.

Baker, Pleddie↗

Determinants for proton location and electron coupled proton transfer in hydrogen bonded pentafluorophenol-anion clusters

This work aims to reveal the determinant factors for proton locations and electron coupled proton transfer (ECPT) in biologically relevant hydrogen bonded systems. Pentafluorophenol-anion clusters [C6F5O-•H+•A-]- are chosen to model active sites of biological functions, with the anion A- being systematically varied to ensure the proton affinities (PAs) of the anions well cover the referenced PA of C6F5O- from being appreciably smaller, similar, and to significantly larger. Negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy of these clusters provides spectroscopic evidence showing that proton location in the anionic state is largely following the PA prediction, while ECPT is observed only for the clusters with the anion possessing the electron binding energy (EBE) significantly larger than that of the referenced C6F5O-. Theoretical calculations suggest these clusters are stabilized by forming single strong hydrogen bond between donor and acceptor, and the associated charge and MO analyses fully support the experimental observations. The current holistic cluster model study indicates that PA is the right determinant that can be used to predict the proton location and describe hydrogen bonding structures, while both PA and EBE of anionic groups play important roles in facilitating ECPT process. This work was supported by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Science, Geosciences, and Biosciences (X.-B.W.), and performed using EMSL, a national scientific user facility sponsored by DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is operated by Battelle Memorial Institute for the DOE. Part of this work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No-11604046 for JZ; No. 11727810 for ZRS), as well as “Chenguang Program” by Shanghai Education Development Foundation, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (No. 16CG38) and Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No. 16ZR1448100) (JZ).

Zhang, Jian↗

The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and its telescopes.

The campus and observatory facilities of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona are described, with particular reference to the Space Sciences Building and its Optical Shop. The Catalina Observatory (located on a peak of the Catalina Mountains, 36 miles from the University) and its facilities intended for planetary photography, near-infrared spectroscopy and interferometry, far-infrared broadband photometry and image scanning, and studies of asteroids, comets, and other stellar studies are discussed. The layout, facilities, and telescopes of the Mount Lemmon Observatory intended for infrared astronomical research are also covered.

Kuiper, G. P.↗

Design improvements to cables and connectors in the Majorana Demonstrator

The Majorana Demonstrator is an experiment constructed to search for neutrinoless double-beta decays in germanium-76 and to demonstrate the feasibility to deploy a ton-scale experiment in a phased and modular fashion. It consists of two modular arrays of natural and 76 Ge-enriched germanium p-type point contact detectors totaling 44.1 kg, located at the 4850 level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. The Demonstrator uses custom high voltage cables to bias the detectors, as well as custom signal cables and connectors to read out the charge deposited at the point contact of each detector. These low-mass cables and connectors must meet stringent radio purity requirements while being subjected to thermal and mechanical stress. A number of issues have been identified with the currently installed cables and connectors. An improved set of cables and connectors for the Majorana Demonstrator are being developed with the aim of increasing their overall reliability and connectivity. In conclusion, we will discuss some of the issues encountered with the current cables and connectors as well as our improved designs and their initial performance.

42 ENGINEERING↗