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At least 1,063 records · Page 59

Testing of A Photon-Counting Optical Ground Receiver With Emulated Space-to-Ground Link Effects

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) developed and previously characterized a photon-counting optical ground receiver system. The receiver is compliant with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications Coding and Synchronization High Photon Efficiency (HPE) Standard. The standard will be used on the Optical Artemis-2 Orion (O2O) communications demonstration and the Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) project aboard the Psyche spacecraft. The receiver system consists of a fiber interconnect, up to sixteen superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based receive modem. Previously, the receiver system architecture was described and test results without emulated link effects were presented. SNSPD device properties, which impact detection jitter and time delay, can limit the receiver dynamic range, especially when operating with varying flux rates (>10 dB) between detectors. Codeword error-rate curves with and without simulated clock drifts attributed to Doppler shift and space transmitter clock differences are presented. Results with ±66 ppm clock differences show minimal performance impact (<0.2 dB). Test results show that the receiver dynamic range (>28 dB) is limited by changing SNSPD detection delays at high photon flux rates.

optical communications↗

Multicode benchmark on simulated Ti K-edge x-ray absorption spectra of Ti-O compounds

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is an element-specific materials characterization technique that is sensitive to structural and electronic properties. First-principles simulated XAS has been widely used as a powerful tool to interpret experimental spectra and draw physical insights. Recently, there has also been growing interest in building computational XAS databases to enable data analytics and machine learning applications. However, there are non-trivial differences among commonly used XAS simulation codes, both in underlying theoretical formalism and in technical implementation. Reliable and reproducible computational XAS databases require systematic benchmark studies. In this work, we benchmarked Ti K-edge XAS simulations of ten representative Ti-O binary compounds, which we refer to as the Ti-O-10 dataset, using three state-of-the-art codes: XSPECTRA, OCEAN and exciting. We systematically studied the convergence behavior with respect to the input parameters and developed a workflow to automate and standardize the calculations to ensure converged spectra. Our benchmark comparison considers a 35 eV spectral range starting from the K-edge onset, representative of widely used near-edge spectra. Quantitative comparison over this range is based on Spearman’s rank correlation score (r sp ). Our results show: (1) the two Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) codes (OCEAN and exciting) have excellent agreement with an average $r$ $sp$ of 0.998; (2) good agreement is obtained between the core-hole potential code (XSPECTRA) and BSE codes (OCEAN and exciting) with an average $r$ $sp$ of 0.990, and this smaller $r$ $sp$ reflects the noticeable differences in the main edge spectral shape that can be primarily attributed to the difference in the strength of the screened core-hole potential; (3) simulations from both methods overall reproduce well the main experimental spectral features of rutile and anatase, and the different treatments of the screened core-hole potential have visible impact on pre-edge intensities and the peak ratio of the main edge; (4) there exist moderate differences in the relative edge alignment of the three codes with a standard deviation of about 0.2 eV, which arise from multiple contributions including the frozen core approximation, final state effects, and different approximations used for the self-energy correction. In conclusion, our benchmark study provides important standards for first-principles XAS simulations with broad impact in data-driven XAS analysis.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Performance Assessment of OVERFLOW on Distributed Computing Environment

The aerodynamic computer code, OVERFLOW, with a multi-zone overset grid feature, has been parallelized to enhance its performance on distributed and shared memory paradigms. Practical application benchmarks have been set to assess the efficiency of code's parallelism on high-performance architectures. The code's performance has also been experimented with in the context of the distributed computing paradigm on distant computer resources using the Information Power Grid (IPG) toolkit, Globus. Two parallel versions of the code, namely OVERFLOW-MPI and -MLP, have developed around the natural coarse grained parallelism inherent in a multi-zonal domain decomposition paradigm. The algorithm invokes a strategy that forms a number of groups, each consisting of a zone, a cluster of zones and/or a partition of a large zone. Each group can be thought of as a process with one or multithreads assigned to it and that all groups run in parallel. The -MPI version of the code uses explicit message-passing based on the standard MPI library for sending and receiving interzonal boundary data across processors. The -MLP version employs no message-passing paradigm; the boundary data is transferred through the shared memory. The -MPI code is suited for both distributed and shared memory architectures, while the -MLP code can only be used on shared memory platforms. The IPG applications are implemented by the -MPI code using the Globus toolkit. While a computational task is distributed across multiple computer resources, the parallelism can be explored on each resource alone. Performance studies are achieved with some practical aerodynamic problems with complex geometries, consisting of 2.5 up to 33 million grid points and a large number of zonal blocks. The computations were executed primarily on SGI Origin 2000 multiprocessors and on the Cray T3E. OVERFLOW's IPG applications are carried out on NASA homogeneous metacomputing machines located at three sites, Ames, Langley and Glenn. Plans for the future will exploit the distributed parallel computing capability on various homogeneous and heterogeneous resources and large scale benchmarks. Alternative IPG toolkits will be used along with sophisticated zonal grouping strategies to minimize the communication time across the computer resources.

Djomehri, M. Jahed↗

On the Information in Spike Timing: Neural Codes Derived from Polychronous Groups

There is growing evidence regarding the importance of spike timing in neural information processing, with even a small number of spikes carrying information, but computational models lag significantly behind those for rate coding. Experimental evidence on neuronal behavior is consistent with the dynamical and state dependent behavior provided by recurrent connections. This motivates the minimalistic abstraction investigated in this paper, aimed at providing insight into information encoding in spike timing via recurrent connections. We employ information-theoretic techniques for a simple reservoir model which encodes input spatiotemporal patterns into a sparse neural code, translating the polychronous groups introduced by Izhike-vich into codewords on which we can perform standard vector operations. Finally, we show that the distance properties of the code are similar to those for (optimal) random codes. In particular, the code meets benchmarks associated with both linear classification and capacity, with the latter scaling exponentially with reservoir size.

computational modeling↗

Applying the Gyrokinetic Formulation of Magnetized Plasma Dynamics to Z-pinch plasmas

This project adapts and applies the gyrokinetic Eulerian code COGENT to an emerging area of highly-magnetized Z-pinch plasma systems. Simulation efforts for these plasmas currently use either magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) fluid codes, which suffer from fidelity being restricted to narrow plasma conditions, or fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) methods, which suffer from the run-time needed to resolve the very small spatial and temporal scales required for the plasma conditions. The progress with achieving detailed theoretical understanding of Z-pinch plasma systems can be greatly expedited using some combination of gyrokinetic and drift-ordered MHD models, developed in the tokamak community and implemented in the COGENT code. These formulations are applicable to a much larger parameter space than standard MHD models, while providing a substantial speed-up in run-time over fully kinetic codes. In particular, the gyrokinetic formalism is successfully applied to a flow-stabilized Z pinch (FSZP) system – a promising fusion concept where a sheared axial flow is used to provide stability against large-scale ideal-MHD modes. Results of gyrokinetic simulations with COGENT agree well with those from fully kinetic simulations, while requiring ~500x less run-time.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Reproducibility of fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo across diverse community codes: The case of water–methane dimer

Fixed-node diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (FN-DMC) is a widely trusted many-body method for solving the Schrödinger equation, known for its reliable predictions of material and molecular properties. Furthermore, its excellent scalability with system complexity and near-perfect utilization of computational power make FN-DMC ideally positioned to leverage new advances in computing to address increasingly complex scientific problems. Even though the method is widely used as a computational gold standard, reproducibility across the numerous FN-DMC code implementations has yet to be demonstrated. This difficulty stems from the diverse array of DMC algorithms and trial wave functions, compounded by the method’s inherent stochastic nature. Here, this study represents a community-wide effort to assess the reproducibility of the method, affirming that yes, FN-DMC is reproducible (when handled with care). Using the water–methane dimer as the canonical test case, we compare results from eleven different FN-DMC codes and show that the approximations to treat the non-locality of pseudopotentials are the primary source of the discrepancies between them. In particular, we demonstrate that, for the same choice of determinantal component in the trial wave function, reliable and reproducible predictions can be achieved by employing the T-move, the determinant locality approximation, or the determinant T-move schemes, while the older locality approximation leads to considerable variability in results. These findings demonstrate that, with appropriate choices of algorithmic details, fixed-node DMC is reproducible across diverse community codes—highlighting the maturity and robustness of the method as a tool for open and reliable computational science.

Della Pia, Flaviano [Univ. of Cambridge (United Ki↗

Marine Sciences Laboratory Radionuclide Air Emissions

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) Pacific Northwest Site Office has oversight and stewardship duties associated with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL), located on Battelle Land-Sequim. The facility has two buildings with the potential to emit low levels of radioactive materials. DOE-SC contracted for exclusive use of its radiological operations effective October 1, 2012. This report is prepared to document compliance with the Code of Federal Regulation, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants , Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, Radiation Protection–Air Emissions . Compliance is indicated by comparing the estimated effective dose equivalent (EDE) to the maximally exposed individual (MEI) with the 10 millirem per year (mrem/yr) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard. The MSL has only fugitive emissions sources. Despite the fact that the regulations are intended for application to point source emissions, fugitive emissions are included with regard to complying with the EPA standard. The EDE to the MSL MEI due to routine operations in 2016 was 5.7E-04 mrem (5.7E-06 mSv). No non-routine emissions occurred in 2016. The MSL is in compliance with the federal and state 10 mrem/yr standard.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

Marine Sciences Laboratory Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2017

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) Pacific Northwest Site Office has oversight and stewardship duties associated with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL), located on Battelle Land-Sequim. The facility has two buildings with the potential to emit low levels of radioactive materials. This report is prepared to document compliance with the Code of Federal Regulation, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, Radiation Protection–Air Emissions. Compliance is indicated by comparing the estimated effective dose equivalent (EDE) to the maximally exposed individual (MEI) with the 10 millirem per year (mrem/yr) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard. The MSL has only fugitive emissions sources. Despite the fact that the regulations are intended for application to point source emissions, fugitive emissions are included with regard to complying with the EPA standard. The EDE to the MSL MEI due to routine operations in 2017 was 1.6E-04 mrem (1.6E-06 mSv). No non-routine emissions occurred in 2017. The MSL is in compliance with the federal and state 10 mrem/yr standard.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

Marine Sciences Laboratory Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2018

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) Pacific Northwest Site Office has oversight and stewardship duties associated with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL), located on Battelle Land-Sequim. The facility has two buildings with the potential to emit low levels of radioactive materials. This report is prepared to document compliance with the Code of Federal Regulation, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, Radiation Protection–Air Emissions. Compliance is indicated by comparing the estimated effective dose equivalent (EDE) to the maximally exposed individual (MEI) with the 10 millirem per year (mrem/yr) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard. The MSL has only fugitive emissions sources. Despite the fact that the regulations are intended for application to point source emissions, fugitive emissions are included with regard to complying with the EPA standard. The EDE to the MSL MEI due to routine operations in 2018 was 4.5E-04 mrem (4.5E-06 mSv). No non-routine emissions occurred in 2018. The MSL is in compliance with the federal and state 10 mrem/yr standard.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

PNNL Sequim Campus Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2020

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) Pacific Northwest Site Office has oversight and stewardship duties associated with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Sequim Campus. Some research projects have the potential to emit low levels of radioactive materials. This report is prepared to document compliance with the Code of Federal Regulation, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, "Radiation Protection–Air Emissions." Compliance is indicated by comparing the estimated effective dose equivalent (EDE) to the maximally exposed individual (MEI) member of the public with the 10 millirem per year (mrem/yr) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard. The PNNL Sequim Campus has only fugitive emissions sources. Despite the fact that the regulations are intended for application to point source emissions, fugitive emissions are included with regard to complying with the EPA standard. The EDE to the Campus MEI due to routine operations in 2020 was 3.5E-05 mrem (3.5E-07 mSv). No non-routine emissions occurred in 2020. The Sequim Campus is in compliance with the federal and state 10 mrem/yr standard.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

PNNL Sequim Campus Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2021

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) Pacific Northwest Site Office has oversight and stewardship duties associated with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Sequim Campus. Some research projects have the potential to emit low levels of radioactive materials. This report is prepared to document compliance with the Code of Federal Regulation, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, "Radiation Protection–Air Emissions." Compliance is indicated by comparing the estimated effective dose equivalent (EDE) to the maximally exposed individual (MEI) member of the public with the 10 millirem per year (mrem/yr) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard. The PNNL Sequim Campus has only fugitive emissions sources. Despite the fact that the regulations are intended for application to point source emissions, fugitive emissions are included with regard to complying with the EPA standard. The EDE to the Campus MEI due to routine operations in 2021 was 5.4E-05 mrem (5.4E-07 mSv). No non-routine emissions occurred in 2021. The Sequim Campus is in compliance with the federal and state 10 mrem/yr standard.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

PNNL-Sequim Campus Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2022

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) Pacific Northwest Site Office has oversight and stewardship duties associated with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Sequim Campus. Some research projects have the potential to emit low levels of radioactive materials. This report is prepared to document compliance with the Code of Federal Regulation, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, "Radiation Protection–Air Emissions." Compliance is indicated by comparing the estimated effective dose equivalent (EDE) to the maximally exposed individual (MEI) member of the public with the 10 millirem per year (mrem/yr) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard. The PNNL-Sequim Campus has only fugitive emissions sources. Despite the fact that the regulations are intended for application to point source emissions, fugitive emissions are included with regard to complying with the EPA standard. The EDE to the Campus MEI due to routine operations in 2022 was 7.5E-07 mrem (7.5E-09 mSv). No non-routine emissions occurred in 2022. The PNNL-Sequim Campus is in compliance with the federal and state 10 mrem/yr standard.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

PNNL-Sequim Campus Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2023

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC) Pacific Northwest Site Office has oversight and stewardship duties associated with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Sequim campus. Some research projects have the potential to emit low levels of radioactive materials. This report is prepared to document compliance with the Code of Federal Regulation, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, "Radiation Protection–Air Emissions." Compliance is indicated by comparing the estimated effective dose equivalent (EDE) to the maximally exposed individual (MEI) member of the public with the 10 millirem per year (mrem/yr) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard. The PNNL-Sequim campus has only fugitive emissions sources.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

Fuel Behavior Implications of Reactor Design Choices in Pressurized Water SMRs

Small pressurized water reactors (PWRs) can feature boron free operation, natural circulation mode, reduced height assemblies and/or long refueling cycles. This paper attempts to explore core design optimization for each of these design evolutions. In consequence, five core design layouts are developed incorporating boron free operation with continuous control rods insertion, natural circulation with low burnup/low power density design, natural circulation with high burnup/low power density design, forced circulation with standard core power density design, and forced circulation with high power density design. These cores’ performance is compared to a standard 4-loop PWR. The design process aims to improve the fuel cycle cost under safety constraints through core design optimization using CASMO4E/SIMULATE3 reactor physics codes and FRAPCON4.1 fuel performance assessment tool. Core modeling assumes standard 17x17 PWR fuel assemblies loaded with low enriched uranium (LEU) up to 5wt% or LEU+ (i.e., below 10wt% enrichment) pellets with gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) as the burnable poison. Satisfactory core and fuel performances are obtained for all the designed cores under steady state and considered overpower transients. For low power density operation, long cycle lengths are achieved reaching a 2.5- and a 5-year cycles and peak rod-average burnup is pushed to 83 MWd/kgU. Other cycle lengths are maintained at 18 months. Boron free operation exhibits the ability to achieve longer cycle lengths at the cost of higher peaking factors leading to high local power and fuel temperatures which prevents sizable power uprates and is deemed uneconomical. Fuel assembly height reduction allows coolant velocity retrofit which enables higher core power density without violating structural integrity of the fuel assembly. As a result, a core power density of 123 kW/l is reached where total cladding hoop strain becomes the limiting parameter.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

SANTA BARBARA CLUSTER COMPARISON TEST WITH DISPH

The Santa Barbara cluster comparison project revealed that there is a systematic difference between entropy profiles of clusters of galaxies obtained by Eulerian mesh and Lagrangian smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) codes: mesh codes gave a core with a constant entropy, whereas SPH codes did not. One possible reason for this difference is that mesh codes are not Galilean invariant. Another possible reason is the problem of the SPH method, which might give too much “protection” to cold clumps because of the unphysical surface tension induced at contact discontinuities. In this paper, we apply the density-independent formulation of SPH (DISPH), which can handle contact discontinuities accurately, to simulations of a cluster of galaxies and compare the results with those with the standard SPH. We obtained the entropy core when we adopt DISPH. The size of the core is, however, significantly smaller than those obtained with mesh simulations and is comparable to those obtained with quasi-Lagrangian schemes such as “moving mesh” and “mesh free” schemes. We conclude that both the standard SPH without artificial conductivity and Eulerian mesh codes have serious problems even with such an idealized simulation, while DISPH, SPH with artificial conductivity, and quasi-Lagrangian schemes have sufficient capability to deal with it.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A User''s Guide to the Zwikker-Kosten Transmission Line Code (ZKTL)

This user's guide documents updates to the Zwikker-Kosten Transmission Line Code (ZKTL). This code was developed for analyzing new liner concepts developed to provide increased sound absorption. Contiguous arrays of multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) liner elements serve as the model for these liner configurations, and Zwikker and Kosten's theory of sound propagation in channels is used to predict the surface impedance. Transmission matrices for the various liner elements incorporate both analytical and semi-empirical methods. This allows standard matrix techniques to be employed in the code to systematically calculate the composite impedance due to the individual liner elements. The ZKTL code consists of four independent subroutines: 1. Single channel impedance calculation - linear version (SCIC) 2. Single channel impedance calculation - nonlinear version (SCICNL) 3. Multi-channel, multi-segment, multi-layer impedance calculation - linear version (MCMSML) 4. Multi-channel, multi-segment, multi-layer impedance calculation - nonlinear version (MCMSMLNL) Detailed examples, comments, and explanations for each liner impedance computation module are included. Also contained in the guide are depictions of the interactive execution, input files and output files.

Kelly, J. J.↗

PNNL-Richland Campus Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2024

This report documents radionuclide air emissions that result in the 2024 highest effective dose equivalent (EDE) to an offsite member of the public, referred to as the maximally exposed individual (MEI). The report has been prepared in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, “Radiation Protection–Air Emissions.” The total dose to the MEI from all PNNL-Richland campus radionuclide emissions in 2024, including fugitive emissions and radon, is 1.3E-05 mrem (1.3E-07 mSv) EDE, or 100,000 times less than the federal and state standard of 10 mrem/yr, with which the PNNL Richland campus is in compliance. The dose attributable to radon emissions is 4.1E-10 mrem (4.1E-12 mSv) EDE.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗

PNNL Richland Campus Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2025

This report documents radionuclide air emissions that result in the 2025 highest effective dose equivalent (EDE) to an offsite member of the public, referred to as the maximally exposed individual (MEI). The report has been prepared in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Subpart H, “National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities” and Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-247, “Radiation Protection–Air Emissions.” The total dose to the MEI from all PNNL Richland Campus radionuclide emissions in 2025, including fugitive emissions and radon, is 1.8E-05 mrem (1.8E-07 mSv) EDE, or more than 100,000 times less than the federal and state standard of 10 mrem/yr, with which the PNNL Richland Campus is in compliance. The dose attributable to radon emissions is 1.5E-13 mrem (1.5E-15 mSv) EDE.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗