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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 1,063 records · Page 59
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Mechanical and Microstructural Effects of Thermal Aging on Cast Duplex Stainless Steels by Experiment and Finite Element Method

Cast duplex stainless steel piping in light water nuclear reactors expe- rience thermal aging embrittlement during operational service. Interest in extending the operational life to 80 years requires an increased understanding of the microstructural evolution and corresponding changes in mechanical behavior. We analyze the evolution of the microstructure during thermal aging of cast CF-3 and CF-8 stainless steels using electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. The evolution of the mechanical properties is measured concurrently by mechanical methods such as tensile tests, Charpy V-notch tests, and instrumented nanoinden- tation. A microstructure-based finite element method model is developed and uti- lized in conjunction with the characterization results in order to correlate the local stress-strain effects in the microstructure with the bulk measurements. This work is supported by the DOE Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP), contract number DE-NE0000724.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of a Trace Detection Method for Mercury Speciation in Hanford Tank Waste - 19014

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Site in southeast Washington State stores 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste stored in underground tanks. Mercury species in liquid and solid fractions of Hanford tank waste pose a risk to the implementation and execution of DoE's River Protection Project mission due to mercury concentration limits imposed under waste acceptance criteria, toxicity characteristic leaching procedure restrictions for secondary waste disposal, and air emission permits. Although there is currently no processing of tank waste at Hanford, waste processing is imminent, and representative mercury inventory tracking will be important to anticipate and mitigate stack emissions and secondary liquid waste disposal issues. A methodology to accurately determine total mercury and mercury speciation in Hanford tank waste, while maintaining low mercury detection limits, currently does not exist at Hanford. Moreover, the mercury species in the waste solids are unknown and may be waste type-specific. The development of an analytical method to separate and speciate mercury in tank waste was undertaken by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) while leveraging an existing non-radiological, ultra-trace mercury detection technique frequently performed at PNNL's Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Washington. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop an analytical method to obtain detailed mercury speciation information and update flowsheet modeling assumptions related to mercury partitioning at Hanford. The first phase of testing was completed in the development of an analytical methodology for the low-level determination of total mercury, elemental mercury, methylmercury, and dimethylmercury in Hanford tank waste. This paper presents Phase I testing which focused on determining whether mercury species can be preconcentrated from aqueous Hanford tank waste solution onto a solid substrate, while simultaneously eliminating or very significantly reducing the parent radionuclide activity. This was demonstrated by developing protocols for the separation and preconcentration of total mercury and methylmercury onto solid substrates, then measuring the substrates for radiological content at PNNL's Radiochemical Processing Laboratory on the Hanford Site. The mercury content was successfully separated onto stable substrates and the radionuclide activity reduction was significant enough that the preconcentrated samples could be subjected to quantification using far less restrictive handling and radiological controls than would be required for the parent sample (i.e., contamination area fume hood vs. hot cell). This mercury separation method required no sample dilution, which enables maximum mercury detectability, while still allowing mercury speciation. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2013

Optofluidic-Tunable Color Filters And Spectroscopy Based On Liquid-Crystal Microflows

The integration of color filters with microfluidics has attracted substantial attention in recent years, for on-chip absorption, fluorescence, or Raman analysis. We describe such tunable filters based on the micro-flow of liquid crystals. The filter operation is based on the wavelength dependent liquid crystal birefringence that can be tuned by modifying the flow velocity field in the microchannel. The latter is possible both temporally and spatially by varying the inlet pressure and the channel geometry respectively. We explored the use of these optofluidic filters for on-chip absorption spectroscopy; by integrating the distance dependent color filter with a dye-filled micro-channel, the absorption spectrum of a dye could be measured. Liquid crystal microflows simplify substantially the optofluidic integration, actuation and tuning of color filters for lab-on-a-chip spectroscopic applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Disorder driven crossover between anomalous Hall regimes in Fe 3 GaTe 2

The large anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) of the Fe 3 ⁢(Ge,Ga)⁢Te 2 compounds has attracted considerable attention. Here, we expose the intrinsic nature of the AHC in Fe 3 ⁢GaTe 2 crystals characterized by high conductivities, which show disorder-independent AHC with a pronounced value 𝜎$^{c}_{𝑥⁢𝑦}$≈ 420 Ω −1 ⁢cm −1 . In the low-conductivity regime, we observe the scaling relation 𝜎 𝑥⁢𝑦 ∝ 𝜎$^{1.6}_{𝑥⁢𝑥}$, which crosses over to 𝜎 𝑥⁢𝑦 ≃ 𝜎$^{c}_{𝑥⁢𝑦}$ as 𝜎 𝑥⁢𝑥 increases. Disorder in low-conductivity crystals is confirmed by the broadening of a first-order transition between ferromagnetism and the ferrimagnetic ground state. Through density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we reveal that the dominant sources of Berry curvature are located a few hundred meV below the Fermi energy around the Γ point. Furthermore, Fe 3⁢ GaTe 2 clearly exposes the disorder-induced crossover among distinct AHC regimes, previously inferred from measurements on different ferromagnets located on either side of the crossover region.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Temperature chaos in a Ge:Mn thin-film spin glass

Temperature changes in thin-film Ge:Mn spin-glass dynamics are introduced that reflect temperature chaos (TC) when the spin-glass correlation length ξ ( t , T ) grows to its thickness L . For small L ≈ 15.5 nm, the transition to chaos takes place over a temperature range Δ T sufficiently large to exhibit both reversible and chaotic behavior. The value of Δ T can be related to the critical exponent for TC, ζ . Experimentally, ζ is found to be ≈ 1.06 , in the range of recent simulations. The presence of a specific length scale L allows the transition to chaos to be examined over measurable laboratory temperature changes. The transition is found to be abrupt. Bulk materials, with a distribution of crystallite sizes, will smear out the transition, ending in a very slow crossover. The abruptness of the transition and its nature are compared with recent theoretical calculations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Gene co-expression network analysis in Rhodobacter capsulatus and application to comparative expression analysis of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

The genus Rhodobacter contains purple nonsulfur bacteria found mostly in freshwater environments. Representative strains of two Rhodobacter species, R. capsulatus and R. sphaeroides, have had their genomes fully sequenced and both have been the subject of transcriptional profiling studies. Gene co-expression networks can be used to identify modules of genes with similar expression profiles. Functional analysis of gene modules can then associate co-expressed genes with biological pathways, and network statistics can determine the degree of module preservation in related networks. In this paper, we constructed an R. capsulatus gene co-expression network, performed functional analysis of identified gene modules, and investigated preservation of these modules in R. capsulatus proteomics data and in R. sphaeroides transcriptomics data. Results: The analysis identified 40 gene co-expression modules in R. capsulatus. Investigation of the module gene contents and expression profiles revealed patterns that were validated based on previous studies supporting the biological relevance of these modules. We identified two R. capsulatus gene modules preserved in the protein abundance data. We also identified several gene modules preserved between both Rhodobacter species, which indicate that these cellular processes are conserved between the species and are candidates for functional information transfer between species. Many gene modules were non-preserved, providing insight into processes that differentiate the two species. In addition, using Local Network Similarity (LNS), a recently proposed metric for expression divergence, we assessed the expression conservation of between-species pairs of orthologs, and within-species gene-protein expression profiles. Conclusions: Our analyses provide new sources of information for functional annotation in R. capsulatus because uncharacterized genes in modules are now connected with groups of genes that constitute a joint functional annotation. We identified R. capsulatus modules enriched with genes for ribosomal proteins, porphyrin and bacteriochlorophyll anabolism, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites to be preserved in R. sphaeroides whereas modules related to RcGTA production and signalling showed lack of preservation in R. sphaeroides. In addition, we demonstrated that network statistics may also be applied within-species to identify congruence between mRNA expression and protein abundance data for which simple correlation measurements have previously had mixed results.

Comparative transcriptomics, Module preservation, ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Experimental Evaluation of the Fast-Neutron Passive Collar (FNPC) Performance and Comparison with Scintillation Based Collars

This report describes a new method for the verification of fresh low enrichment uranium (LEU) fuel assemblies that can reduce International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection time in the field and be completely independent of operator declared burnable poison content. The passive measurement makes unattended mode operation practical, and thus provides the potential for reducing inspector time in the field for future applications. The new simplified passive neutron measurement uses the 238 U spontaneous fission in LEU fresh fuel rods to self-interrogate the 235 U mass in the neighboring rods. The measured response increases linearly with the increase in the linear density (LD) of 235 U. The relatively high efficiency of the passive neutron detector (24%) provides good statistical precision (~ 2%) for the singles, doubles, and triples counting rates in the thermal-neutron mode. The three observables makes possible multiplicity analysis so that both the 235 U LD and the effective burnable poison content can be determined independent of the operator declarations. This closes the potential diversion path of miss-declaration the burnable poison content. This report presents the detector design, the as-built system, the detector parameter measurements, the calibration, and the assay uncertainty estimates. The calibration measurements were performed using the Los Alamos Laboratory mockup PWR fuel assembly. The measurements were made in both the fastneutron mode (with Cd/Gd metal liners) and the thermal-neutron mode (no Cd/Gd liners).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Preliminary Design of a New Pulsed-Neutron Die--Away Experiments with Absorbers (IER-552 CED-1)

This report presents the preliminary design (CED-1) of IER-552, pulsed-neutron die-away (PNDA) experiments with absorbers, to be conducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The goal of the PNDA experiments with absorbing materials is to produce high-quality, low-cost integral benchmarks that can be used to validate cross sections that are high priority nuclear data for the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP). PNDA experiments can be used to generate nuclear data validation benchmarks quickly and cheaply, as they do not require fissile material or a nuclear facility to conduct them. The original PNDA experiments were set up at LLNL under IER-501. Extending the PNDA experiments to include absorbing materials leverages existing facilities and resources at LLNL to validate cross sections, with a basic experiment design that uses a neutron generator to impinge a short, mono-energetic neutron pulse on a poisoned, moderating target sample. The neutron pulse lasts 100 µs, after which the neutron population in the sample reaches thermal equilibrium and later spatial equilibrium. In this fully equilibrized state, the neutron population has a characteristic decay-time eigenvalue. The eigenvalue can be used as an integral parameter to validate nuclear data involved with neutron scattering and absorption. Two observables can be measured: the neutron population and the population of secondary γ-rays produced by inelastic and capture reactions. This report explores the feasibility of both approaches. For γ-ray measurements, this allows for direct measurement of reactions of interest for validation. During the neutron burst time, inelastic (prompt) γ-rays dominate, and these data can be isolated for validation of neutron inelastic scattering data. After the pulse ends, neutron capture (delayed) γ-rays dominate and are produced by many reaction channels as neutrons slow down to thermal energies. Two sets of γ-ray spectra (inelastic, capture) can be produced for validation. Additionally, the time-dependent decay of the capture γ-ray population when the neutron population is thermalized and in its fundamental mode can be used for validation. Two experiments can be imagined where pulsed neutrons are used to validate the nuclear data of absorbing materials. The first integrates well into the existing PNDA testbed at LLNL. The absorber material would be introduced into a moderating target and the same neutron generator, neutron detectors, electronics, and shielding box used for IER-501 would be employed. From the same experimental setup, many absorbing materials can be validated by simply changing the neutron poison in the moderator. The only significant modification would be the introduction of a γ-ray detector. Such an experiment would primarily serve to validate nuclear data in the thermal energy range. The second kind of experiment would validate the fast and epithermal energy range. It would involve pulsing neutron into a bare assembly of the absorber material and measuring the die-away of neutrons. The fast leakage of such an assembly requires nanosecond neutron-generator pulse widths and fast detectors/electronics that could measure ~200 ns die-away curves. This kind of experiment would ideally be performed at a cyclotron, like that available at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Orientation-Dependent Surface Faceting in UO{sub 2}

The surface behavior of UO{sub 2} plays an important role throughout the lifetime of this widely-used commercial nuclear fuel, from manufacturing to waste storage. UO{sub 2} surface properties affect fuel swelling behavior by determining the morphology, size and distribution of fission gas bubbles. Additionally, UO{sub 2} surface characteristics influence fracture behavior, which is controlled by the thermodynamics of fracture surfaces. Therefore, detailed understanding of the fundamental surface behavior will help advance prediction of the fuel performance of UO{sub 2}. Due to significant anisotropy in surface tension, faceting features form after annealing in both UO{sub 2} and many other crystalline materials. Knowledge of the correlation between crystallographic orientation and surface faceting features will expand the fundamental knowledge of UO{sub 2} surface characteristics, leading to a better understanding of fission gas swelling and fracture mechanisms. Inherent characterization technique limited previous studies on the crystallographic orientation of UO{sub 2} surface facets to low Miller index surfaces in single crystal specimens. In this study, synchrotron Laue microdiffraction was utilized to examine the crystallographic orientation of grains on the coarse surface of a polycrystalline UO{sub 2} specimen. The results were then compared with the surface morphology, obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM), so that a general correlation between the surface faceting features and crystallographic orientation in UO{sub 2} can be established. Both the fundamental surface characteristics and the crystallographic orientation measurements obtained in this study help advance the experiment validation of MARMOT, a mesoscale multi-physics code that predicts the coevolution of microstructure and properties within reactor fuel during its lifetime in the reactor. The MARMOT code is an indispensable component of the MOOSE-BISON-MARMOT (MBM) code suite that has been developed by Idaho National Laboratory to enable next generation fuel performance modeling capability as a part of the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Program Fuels Product Line (FPL). In this study, the surface-faceting features of UO{sub 2} were found to be dominated by the triple-plane structure and its variants. With this knowledge, by measuring the directions of the <110> edges, the crystallographic orientation of a surface UO{sub 2} grain can be precisely deduced in most regions of the standard stereogram triangle (SST) of the surface normal. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The potential of a TeV-scale muon-ion collider

We propose the development of a novel muon-proton and muon-nucleus collider facility at the TeV scale that is capable of performing precision deep inelastic scattering measurements in new regimes and providing a rich program in nuclear and particle physics. Such a facility could seed, or leverage, the development of a muon-antimuon collider and make use of the existing hadron accelerator infrastructure when sited at a facility such as Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermilab, or CERN. Here, we discuss the possible energy and luminosity design parameters for several collider configurations, and illustrate the science potential with several studies on deep inelastic scattering kinematics, Higgs and vector boson production, top quark production, and beyond Standard Model leptoquark production. Detector design considerations and a possible road map toward development are also given.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Volume 9: Critical Facility with Add-On Ion Beam

Completion of the originally planned critical facility has been considered as part of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) Sustaining and Enhancing Neutron Science Initiative at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). A working group of ORNL staff members was formed to develop the idea and to recommend one or more configurations to best support future HFIR operations and scientific capacities. HFIR was designed with a critical pool in the reactor bay that was projected to be outfitted as a critical facility. The primary purpose of the planned critical facility was to measure the subcritical worth of fresh fuel elements to support startup requirements. However, the Y-12 National Security Complex already housed a critical facility that was used for this purpose. This report presents the working group’s efforts, including determination of the proposed critical facility’s high-impact benefits. A generic low-power critical facility would be employed for reactor physics measurements, code and data validation, reactor operator and staff training, and education. This facility would be instrumental in supporting current HFIR operations, conversion of HFIR to low-enriched uranium, existing light water reactor operations, and advanced reactor development and deployment.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Toward a microscopic picture of hadronization and multi-parton processes

This project advanced the understanding of how quarks and gluons produced in high-energy collisions transform into the hadrons observed in particle detectors, a fundamental process known as quantum chromodynamics (QCD) hadronization. By combining theoretical calculations, quantum simulation methods, and modern AI techniques, the research developed new tools to study multi-parton dynamics and nonperturbative effects that are essential for interpreting data from current and future nuclear physics experiments. Key outcomes include new theoretical frameworks for jet and hadron measurements, pioneering quantum simulation algorithms for real-time dynamics in field theories, and the development of advanced machine-learning models, such as diffusion models and explainable classifiers, to simulate and analyze collider events. These results are directly relevant to experiments at Jefferson Lab, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the future Electron-Ion Collider, and they also have a broader impact in areas such as quantum information science and data-driven modeling of complex systems. The project supported the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and contributed to the broader scientific community through publications, workshops, and collaborative activities. Overall, this work provides new insights into the microscopic mechanisms of hadron formation and establishes a foundation for future studies at the intersection of nuclear physics, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

UAS remote sensing (Osprey platform): Red-green-blue (RGB) imagery, thermal infrared (TIR) imagery, and canopy reflectance, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 2017

Airborne remote sensing data collected using the Brookhaven National Laboratory's (BNL) heavy-lift unoccupied aerial system (UAS) octocopter platform - the Osprey - operated by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Technology (TEST) group (https://www.bnl.gov/testgroup). This package includes raw (L0) data from 14 flights flown over the NGEE-Arctic Council Mile Marker 71 (MM71), Kougarok MM64, and Teller MM 27 sites in August, 2017. The Osprey is a multi-sensor UAS platform that simultaneously measures very high spatial resolution optical red/green/blue (RGB) and thermal infrared (TIR) surface "skin" temperature imagery, as well as near-surface surface reflectance at 1 nm intervals in the visible to near-infrared spectral range from ~350-1000 nm measured at regular intervals along each flight path. This package provides the Level 0 (raw, unprocessed) data collected by the Osprey platform. Ancillary aircraft data, flight mission parameters, and general flight conditions provided by the onboard flight and data collection computers are also included. Data and metadata are provided as text (*.txt, *.json), tabular (*.dat, *.csv, *.waypoint), and image (*.jpg) formats. This metadata documents contain flight campaign, platform, sensor, flight and file metadata, along with a description of the L0 data and the file naming scheme. The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a 15-year research effort (2012-2027) to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hybrid Flush and Synthetic Air Data Filter for Entry Vehicle Atmospheric State Estimation

A hybrid flush/synthetic air data sensing filter for entry vehicle atmosphere estimation is developed. The approach makes use of a Kalman-Schmidt and Rauch-Tung-Streibel smoother. The filter/smoother blends information from pressure sensors distributed on the heatshield with pseudo-measurements of the vehicle aerodynamic forces and moments computed from mass properties and inertial measurement unit data, and prior estimates of the atmosphere. The filter produces estimates of the atmospheric conditions along the entry trajectory, and systematic error estimates to reconcile differences between the pressure and aerodynamic data sources. The filter is applied to data acquired during the Mars 2020 entry, descent, and landing at Jezero crater on February 18th, 2021. The final paper will also include results from the Mars Science Laboratory entry, descent, and landing.

Chris D. Karlgaard↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optical Properties of Airborne Soil Organic Particles

Recently, airborne soil organic particles (ASOP) were reported as a type of solid organic particles emitted after water droplets impacted wet soils. Chemical constituents of ASOP are macromolecules such as polysaccharides, tannins, and lignin (derived from degradation of plants and biological organisms). Optical properties of ASOP were inferred from the quantitative analysis of the electron energy-loss spectra acquired over individual particles in the transmission electron microscope. The optical constants of ASOP are further compared with those measured for laboratory generated particles composed of Suwanee River Fulvic Acid (SRFA) reference material, which was used as a laboratory surrogate of ASOP. The particle chemical compositions were analyzed using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, electron energy-loss spectroscopy, and synchrotron-based scanning transmission x-ray microscopy with near edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. ASOP and SRFA exhibit similar carbon composition, but SRFA has minor contributions of S and Na. When ASOP are heated to 350 °C their absorption increases as a result of their pyrolysis and partial volatilization of semi-volatile organic constituents. The retrieved refractive index (RI) at 532 nm of SRFA particles, ASOP, and heated ASOP were 1.22-62 0.07i, 1.29-0.07i, and 1.90-0.38i, respectively. Compared to RISRFA, RIASOP has a higher real part but similar imaginary part. These measurements of ASOP optical constants suggest that they have properties characteristic of atmospheric brown carbon and therefore their potential effects on the radiative forcing of climate need to be assessed in atmospheric models.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Parallax diagnostics of radiation source geometric dilution for iron opacity experiments

Experimental tests are in progress to evaluate the accuracy of the modeled iron opacity at solar interior conditions [J. E. Bailey et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 058101 (2009)]. The iron sample is placed on top of the Sandia National Laboratories z-pinch dynamic hohlraum (ZPDH) radiation source. The samples are heated to 150–200 eV electron temperatures and 7× 10{sup 21}–4× 10{sup 22} cm{sup −3} electron densities by the ZPDH radiation and backlit at its stagnation [T. Nagayama et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 056502 (2014)]. The backlighter attenuated by the heated sample plasma is measured by four spectrometers along ±9° with respect to the z-pinch axis to infer the sample iron opacity. Here, we describe measurements of the source-to-sample distance that exploit the parallax of spectrometers that view the half-moon-shaped sample from ±9°. The measured sample temperature decreases with increased source-to-sample distance. This distance must be taken into account for understanding the sample heating.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗