Bioscience Division GL Search - Overview [Slides]
A presentation aimed at job candidates describes the BioScience Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory and desired qualifications for the position.
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “Los Alamos”
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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Co-processing Part 3: LANL Studies Quicker Method to Identify Renewable Carbon Percentages in Fuel Blends [Success Story]
Upgrading bio-oils with petroleum feedstocks at existing refineries—known as “co-processing”—could offer a fast pathway for lowering the carbon footprint of today’s transportation fuels. With equipment and infrastructure already in place, more than 100 refineries across the country are equipped to integrate bio-oil into their processes. But just where might companies insert sustainable bio-oils into existing refinery systems like fluid catalytic crackers and hydrotreaters? If successful, just how much of that renewable or “green” carbon makes it into final fuel products? In this three-part blog series, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) offer insights into these pressing coprocessing questions—and others—amid the push to dramatically expand the production of climate-friendly fuels. Read part 1 and part 2.
02 PETROLEUM↗
Production Agency Quality Assurance Management Execution Strategy [Thesis]
There are multiple federal directives that Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) must follow for the proper implementation of quality assurance, strategic planning, and execution of manufacturing and surveillance operations. Recent assessments identified that manufacturing in all processing areas is dynamic due to influencing scope changes, design modifications, funding adjustments, and staff attrition. In response, this project was started to develop a comprehensive PAQ execution strategy to support the success of LANL’s manufacturing mission. This project’s method for developing an updated architecture was to create an integrated, flexible, reliable, and agile strategic process. The execution plan has five deliverables: 1) an integrated schedule view of PAQ work scope, 2) a resource management plan that aligns with the required scope, 3) a metrics monitoring dashboard, 4) a project management plan for sustaining NAP 401.1A implementation, and 5) a risk management plan. The research design is a mixed-method approach focused on data collection for each deliverable. The methodology entails qualitative and quantitative research, metrics monitoring, data analysis, and the creation of a dashboard. The qualitative methods used include literature reviews and interviews. The quantitative methods include resource, financial, schedule and survey data analysis. Preliminary and final results were peer reviewed by subject matter experts both within the ALDWP organization and deployed support.
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
Lab’s Z-machine efforts advance stockpile stewardship in multi-org collaboration
For the past 15 years, Los Alamos (LANL) employees have played a major role in plutonium experiments using the Z-machine — a device at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) that uses high magnetic fields, electrical currents, and X-rays to help scientists understand how materials behave under extreme temperatures and pressures. High-energy density physics, or the study of matter under extreme conditions, is a key component of certifying the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Applied Acoustics from sensing to particle manipulation [Slides]
The field of acoustics is described along with specific examples of applied acoustics research performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Nuclear Data: What, Why How, Who? [Slides]
Nuclear data is data that describes physics in forms and formats that computer code can read to perform simulations of nuclear processes. The data is put into ”evaluations” following the combination of experiment and theory. Various physics are applied to these evaluations by the NJOY nuclear data processing code to produce application files, which simulation codes (e.g., MCNP, Partisn, etc.) can use to model various scenarios. The Nuclear Data Team at Los Alamos National Laboratory—in partnership with a variety of national and international organizations—provides nuclear data for use at LANL and throughout the world. This data is verified and validated to ensure that it performs as expected and accurately represents Mother Nature.
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
National Energetic and Engineering Weapon Campus (NEEWC) [Slides]
Functions of Los Alamos National Laboratory's National Energetic and Engineering Weapon Campus (NEEWC) are described and the campus layout shown.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Low Enriched Fuel Fabrication Facility (LEFFF) [Slides]
The motivation for, vision and details for Los Alamos National Laboratory's Low Enriched Fuel Fabrication Facility (LEFFF) are described.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
A Mother’s Day Tribute. Luckily for moms, what’s old is new again
A mother’s love for her child is expressed in so many ways. And strongly reinforced when they’re wearing matching clothes. Today’s mother-daughter twinning trend has actually been part of a global fashion cycle that began in Europe more than a hundred years ago and included Los Alamos by the time the Lab opened in 1943.
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
Jan-Dec 2021 IC Project: w20_earthquake (Yearly Report)
The simulations conducted under this IC project used an in-house code developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory called HOSS (Hybrid Optimization Software Suite) and its extended version called HOSS-FSIS (fluid-structure interaction solver). HOSS has been under development in LANL’s Geophysics Group since 2004 and was used to simulate the signal propagation in pieces of material with pre-existing defects and also to simulate the near source effects of above ground nuclear explosions. One of the key feature of HOSS is that it is superior to pure finite element method and discrete element method implementations because it allows for a natural transition from continuum to discontinuum when the material breaks or fractures.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Enewetak Sign Ceremony
Enewetak became our partner in October 1947 when Norris Bradbury sent Darol Froman to the Marshall Islands to find a site on which to anchor the nation’s test program. Froman selected Enewetak because of its remote location and favorable weather. The people of Enewetak, numbering about 150, agreed to leave their ancestral home of over a thousand years, to make way for the X-Ray, Yoke, and Zebra tests of Operation Sandstone. They would not return until 1980. Enewetak and its people are little known today. Their sacrifice, made for our nation, also is little recognized or appreciated. The new sign being dedicated today is a show of respect for a people who have given so much to Los Alamos and to the nation.
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
Rules and Tools Crosswalk: A Compendium of Computational Tools to Support Geologic Carbon Storage Environmentally Protective UIC Class VI Permitting
This report identifies computational tools useful for addressing aspects of the dedicated carbon storage (Class VI) well permit application under the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program. The survey was conducted by researchers of the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Research and Innovation Center in collaboration with representatives of the U.S. EPA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and the four Regional Initiatives to Accelerate Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage: Carbon Utilization and Storage Partnership of the Western United States (CUSP), Plains CO 2 Reduction Partnership Initiative to Accelerate Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Deployment (PCOR Partnership), Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative (MRCI), and the Southeast Regional Carbon Utilization and Storage Partnership (SECARB-USA). A total of 59 tools were identified through the elicitation for this report. It is intended to serve as a reference that can be used by geologic carbon storage stakeholders to identify computational tools that may be used to develop Class VI permit applications.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
LANL Fuel Cell Program [Slides]
Fuel Cell R&D programs are the longest running non-weapons programs at LANL, running since 1977. The current DOE HFTO program grew out of the Los Alamos program. It is primarily polymer electrolyte membrame (PEM) technology. The cost and durability are the biggest barriers to commercialization. The program focus is on obtaining fundamental understanding to enable "knowledge-based innovation," and subsequent materials and process development.
08 HYDROGEN↗
SCALE Modeling of the Fast Spectrum Heat Pipe Reactor
As part of the severe accident analysis collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), SCALE models were developed for a fast-spectrum heat pipe reactor. These models were based on the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Design A concept, which is an alternative design to the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Special Purpose Reactor (SPR), also known as the Megapower reactor. The model contains 1,134 heat pipes, surrounded by hexagonal fuel elements, with a potassium working fluid; the fuel is UO 2 with 19.75 wt% 235 U enrichment. The model contains axial beryllium oxide (BeO) reflectors above and below the active fuel region along with a radial alumina reflector containing 12 B 4 C control drums. The center of the core is left unfueled to make room for two shutdown control rods, one annular and one solid. The active region of the core was discretized into twenty axial and five radial zones to analyze spatial variations in power and burnup. Infinite lattice unit cell sensitivity studies were used to perform verification between the SCALE and INL models. The eigenvalue results agreed well with the reported results to within roughly 50 percent mille (pcm). Full-core model verification was performed by analyzing system eigenvalues with differing configurations of control drum and shutdown rod positions. These full core results all had eigenvalue differences less than 310 pcm. Control drum and shutdown rod worths were also compared, with differences of 3.2% or less. Using the verified model, the isotopic inventory and decay heat, as well as temperature feedback coefficients, were calculated and provided to SNL as input to the MELCOR severe accident code to analyze potential releases from this class of reactor. The results of the MELCOR analysis are provided in a different report.
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
Actinides and Correlated Electron Materials
The Actinides and Correlated Electron Materials area of leadership spans Los Alamos National Laboratory competency in actinide materials research dating to the Manhattan Project as articulated in the Integrated Plutonium Science and Research Strategy and competency in strongly correlated electron systems dating back to at least the early 1980s. This area of leadership focuses on the goals of discovering, understanding, and controlling emergent electronic states and predictive performance of actinide materials. They are quintessentially linked by the fact that the physics of actinides—and plutonium in particular—are governed by strong electronic correlations. Not only is the electronic structure of actinides dictated by fine details of electron correlations, but chemical bonding and physical structure are as well. Hence, by addressing the first goal of this leadership area we can significantly accelerate progress on the second goal. To understand such matter requires probing the intertwined spin, charge, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom with greater precision and developing models that accurately predict the consequences of these coupled degrees of freedom, on multiple length and time scales and including acute reactivity and effects of self-irradiation phenomena in these materials.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Developing New Polymeric Powder Feedstocks for Selective Laser Sintering: Emphasizing Particle Size and Shape
Although selective laser sintering is considered a major player in the additive manufacturing community, significant limitations exist when it comes to processing the polymeric powder feedstocks in the laser sintering machine. While these limitations – such as inadequate and uneven heating and complex thermal phenomena leading to curling and shrinkage – cannot be ignored and are being addressed in the community, it is also vitally important to turn our attention to the expansion of commercially available powder feedstocks. A major drawback of SLS is the lack of available feedstocks. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, a primary desire for advancement in the manufacturing or development of new feedstocks lies in the nuclear weapons applications program. New feedstocks with greater thermal stability and performance would provide the opportunity for insertion of production parts, rather than just prototype parts. Additionally, the ability to print with so-called commodity polymers like polyethylene and polypropylene poses great economic advantages for prototyping and production of large batches of parts. However, a gap exists between the Lab’s needs and what is commercially available – a gap which could be filled by collaboration with the broader industrial sector. Furthermore, connecting with and building relationships with industry partners allows for greater control and input in the developmental process of new powders. This would provide reliable feedstocks, improved quality assurance, and overall higher performance of processes across the additive manufacturing community.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Detection of Damage Inducing Impact Events in Vibration Test Fixtures Using Holder Exponents
The Shock and Vibration team within the Test Engineering group at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) aids in the development and qualification of weapon systems for the United States Department of Energy (DOE). Performing tests that replicate shock and vibration environments representative of a weapon’s lifetime is critical in ensuring safety, survivability, and reliability. A key factor in shock and vibration testing is accurate representation of the weapon’s boundary conditions in its end use configuration. The boundary conditions representative of a reentry body in flight are particularly difficult to replicate on an electrodynamic shaker. When executing shock and vibration tests on a reentry body, two system axes are tested with the system in a cantilevered configuration. This cantilevered testing configuration results in a moment load being applied to the system while undergoing vibration environments. A special fixture, known as the Flex-Web, was developed to decouple this moment load from the reentry body in order to more accurately represent real world boundary conditions while replicating flight environments.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Complex Functional Materials
The Complex Functional Materials (CFM) area of leadership focuses on the identification and development of materials comprised of multiple components or building blocks that are integrated or chemically bound together to achieve a desired function or response. Soft materials, such as polymers, as well as structural properties at the meso- and micro-scale that control materials function are particularly emphasized in this leadership area. Further, complex functional materials are generally developed to satisfy multiple materials design criteria all of which are essential to the overall application. CFM supports applications that are aligned with all three Los Alamos National Laboratory mission areas. These mission areas are: materials for nuclear deterrence, materials for energy security, and materials for global security
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗