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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

The Vela Hotel Program: The AEC's Space-Based Nuclear Detection and Treaty Verification Program [Slides]

Early Interest in "Detection": "I would suggest that the best way to get reliable information in a short time would be to send from the States a man qualified to do the testing of the samples on the spot. This man should be officially a representative of the State Department, and his detecting devices, such as small portable Geiger Counters, could then go into Switzerland in the diplomatic pouch via air from Southern Italy. This man could then contact, through the Embassy, suitable people who could collect the water samples without arousing too much curiosity. A fishing trip in a boat would probably give the best disguise, as the fisherman could carry a water bottle in his lunch basket, and fill it after drinking the original contents. The water should be collected from the center of the river, to get the swiftest flowing water, so that the holdup could be minimized. In the lake, the water should be collected as near to the suspected site as possible, or as near to each of the inlet rivers as can be done. Speed in getting from the collection point to the counting room is of great importance, as you are, no doubt, aware." - Luis Alvarez to Major Furman, May 1944.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

The U.S. Accident Tolerant Fuels Program — Update on a National Initiative

In 2012 the U.S. Congress directed the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy to give priority to developing enhanced fuels and cladding for light water reactors to improve safety in the event of accidents in the reactor or spent fuel pools. DOE developed a plan with a goal to insert a Lead Test Assembly (LTA) into a commercial light water reactor by the end of FY 2022. Three of the leading commercial nuclear fuel vendors, in concert with several participating commercial nuclear utilities, are now seriously engaged in this initiative and have exceeded initial expectations by having met DOE’s goal this year, three years ahead of schedule. The early successes of the ATF program are due in part to a strong collaboration by the DOE national laboratories with both commercial nuclear fuel vendors and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This undertaking has recently been expanded to incorporate an effort to extend burnup from the current U.S. regulatory limit of 62 GWD/MTU and increase enrichment as necessary to support routine utilization of fuel at >75 GWD/MTU. This effort provides a critical economic incentive to accelerate the deployment of ATF technologies. This paper reviews the DOE-sponsored, industry-led ATF concepts currently under development and highlights the contributions made by the DOE laboratories in support of these ATF concepts, including: 1) steady-state irradiation testing in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR); 2) transient irradiation testing in the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT); 3) fabrication process development and characterization of high density fuels, Cr-coated Zry cladding, FeCrAl cladding, and SiC cladding; and 4) post-irradiation examination of lead test rods irradiated in commercial reactors.

Goldner, Frank J.↗
DOE OSTI2022

An MILP-Based Distributed Energy Management for Coordination of Networked Microgrids

An MILP-based distributed energy management for the coordination of networked microgrids is proposed in this paper. Multiple microgrids and the utility grid are coordinated through iteratively adjusted price signals. Based on the price signals received, the microgrid controllers (MCs) and distribution management system (DMS) update their schedules separately. Then, the price signals are updated according to the generation–load mismatch and distributed to MCs and DMS for the next iteration. The iteration continues until the generation–load mismatch is small enough, i.e., the generation and load are balanced under agreed price signals. Through the proposed distributed energy management, various microgrids and the utility grid with different economic, resilient, emission and socio-economic objectives are coordinated with generation–load balance guaranteed and the microgrid customers’ privacy preserved. In particular, a piecewise linearization technique is employed to approximate the augmented Lagrange term in the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm. Thus, the subproblems are transformed into mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problems and efficiently solved by open-source MILP solvers, which would accelerate the adoption and deployment of microgrids and promote clean energy. The proposed MILP-based distributed energy management is demonstrated through various case studies on a networked microgrids test system with three microgrids.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Effect of spacer grids on high-burnup fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal

Increasing the fuel burnup limit in light-water reactors to improve fuel cycle economics requires a strong technical foundation. Experimental observations from the Halden and Studsvik programs have revealed severe fuel fragmentation during loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) conditions, highlighting the need for additional technical evaluation. Consequently, further LOCA test data are needed to complement existing findings and improve the understanding of fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal (FFRD) behavior. Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Severe Accident Test Station has played a significant role in advancing the understanding of high-burnup fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal phenomena. One remaining gap in the available experimental database is the effect of fuel assembly structural features on cladding deformation behavior during a LOCA, and more specifically, their impact on the fuel’s ability to fragment, relocate, and disperse. Recent analyses using the BISON fuel performance code suggest that cladding deformation near grid spacers will remain below the 3% threshold that has been reported in the NRC Research Information Letter, indicating that the cladding could remain mechanically constrained during the LOCA event. This paper builds upon the BISON analyses to design and conduct a series of out-of-cell tests aimed at further evaluating cladding deformation in and around grid spacers. In addition, these tests were used to assess local cladding temperature conditions and compare them against analytical predictions in order to better replicate expected in-reactor behavior. Finally, an in-cell high-burnup LOCA test was designed and performed to evaluate the effects of a grid spacer, or cladding restraint, on fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal susceptibility. The high-burnup test results differed from those of historical LOCA experiments, with a recorded rupture temperature of 861°C. Two ballooned regions and corresponding rupture openings were observed, with rupture widths of approximately 0.64 mm for both ruptures and rupture lengths of 4.8 mm and 5.6 mm, respectively.

Capps, Nathan [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2023

Mechanistic Insights into Nonoxidative Ethanol Dehydrogenation on NiCu Single-Atom Alloys

Ethanol dehydrogenation presents a promising pathway towards the production of acetaldehyde, a valuable building block in chemicals production. Under non-oxidative conditions, the reaction is facilitated by supported Cu nanoparticles which afford reasonable activity and high selectivity. The stability issues associated with Cu nanoparticle sintering can be addressed by the addition of small amounts of Ni, which further boost reactivity while retaining selectivity. Despite the promise of NiCu single-atom alloys for non-oxidative ethanol dehydrogenation, little is known about the role of each component and the pathway of this mechanistically complex process. Herein, kinetic investigations from reactor tests identify C-H bond scission as the rate limiting step, while 1-hydroxyethyl is detected as the intermediate via IR spectroscopy. Temperature program desorption studies are employed to examine the effect of Ni coverage and to demonstrate that Ni atoms activate ethanol selectively at lower temperatures, resulting in higher acetaldehyde yield than pure Cu. Temperature program desorption experiments also reveal the spillover of intermediates from the Ni atom to neighboring Cu sites as a relevant step in the reaction pathway. Density functional theory calculations are used to investigate the 2 reaction energetics and to confirm that C-H bond scission is the initial reaction step, while a clear effect of H 2 partial pressure on the reaction pathway is realized. Further, counter to the expected behavior that all reaction steps take place on the Ni atoms, our degree of rate control analysis reveals that a mechanism involving spillover of the 1-hydroxyethyl intermediate from the Ni atom to the Cu surface, where it will dehydrogenate further, is more likely. Furthermore, our combined kinetic, spectroscopic, and theoretical approach sheds light on this complex reaction mechanism and represents a promising method for the understanding and designing of highly active, selective, and stable single-atom alloys for other multistep catalytic processes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

The eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS)

Theoretical models of the co-evolution of galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) ascribe an important role in the feedback process to a short, luminous, obscured, and dust-enshrouded phase during which the accretion rate of the supermassive black hole is expected to be at its maximum and the associated AGN-driven winds are also predicted to be maximally developed. Here, to test this scenario, we have isolated a textbook candidate from the eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS) obtained within the performance and verification program of the eROSITA telescope on board the Spectrum Röntgen Gamma mission. From an initial catalogue of 246 hard X-ray selected sources that are matched with the photometric and spectroscopic information available within the eROSITA and Hyper Suprime-Cam consortia, three candidates quasars in the feedback phase have been isolated applying a diagnostic proposed previously. Only one source (eFEDS J091157.4+014327) has a spectrum already available (from SDSS-DR16, z = 0.603) and it unambiguously shows abroad component (full width at half maximum ~1650 kms –1 ) in the [OIII]5007 line. The associated observed L [OIII] is ~2.6 × 10 42 erg s –1 , one to two orders of magnitude higher than that observed in local Seyfert galaxies and comparable to those observed in a sample of z ~ 0.5 type 1 quasars. From the multi-wavelength data available, we derive an Eddington ratio (L bol /L Edd ) of ~0.25 and a bolometric correction in the hard X-ray band of k bol ~ 10, which is lower than the corrections observed for objects at similar bolometric luminosity. These properties, along with the outflow, the high X-ray luminosity, the moderate X-ray obscuration (L X ~10 44.8 erg s –1 , N H ~2.7 × 10 22 cm –2 ), and the red optical colour, all match the prediction of quasars in the feedback phase from merger-driven models. Forecasting to the full eROSITA all-sky survey with its spectroscopic follow-up, we predict that by the end of 2024, we will have a sample of few hundred such objects at z= 0.5–2.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Spent Nuclear Fuel Mechanical Loads in the General Package Drop Scenario

The US Department of Energy Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology program is performing research to determine the mechanical loading conditions applied to spent nuclear fuel (SNF) during normal conditions of transportation to inform mechanical tests of SNF and close an important knowledge gap related to the practical disposition of SNF in the US. A recent multi-national collaborative test campaign measured SNF assembly impact response to the 30 cm horizontal package drop scenario, which is a common regulatory basis test of SNF package design. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are using the test data to validate explicit finite element models to calculate the mechanical loads and structural response of spent nuclear fuel assemblies in the as-tested 30 cm horizontal package drop scenario. Once the as-tested package drop model is validated, the next step is to apply the model to the general 30 cm drop scenario, which includes all impact angles, all fuel assembly types, and all burnup conditions. PNNL is developing a damage model that will incorporate the results of finite element parametric studies to establish trends in SNF mechanical loading to various input parameters, like impact orientation and burnup. The damage model will have the capability to estimate mechanical loads for any single set of input parameters, but it will first be used to describe the upper bounds of potential SNF loading in the 30 cm drop scenario. This paper describes PNNL’s progress toward developing the general solution to the problem of spent nuclear fuel mechanical loads in the 30 cm package drop scenario and it describes the next steps in closing the knowledge gap.

Klymyshyn, Nicholas A.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured 316L Stainless Steel Before and After Neutron Irradiation–FY23

This report presents the observed mechanical behavior of the additively manufactured (AM) 316L stainless steel (SS) before and after neutron irradiation. In the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies (AMMT) program, a variety of mechanical and physical property data are generated and accumulated to assess the AM austenitic alloy for nuclear reactor applications. The testing and evaluation task in the FY 2023 focused on elucidating the effects of sampling location and build size on the mechanical properties of AM 316L SS (in stress-relieved condition) before and after neutron irradiation. The laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process produced 316L plates of three distinct sizes from which SS-J3 miniature tensile specimens were machined from six different locations. The tensile specimens were irradiated in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) normally to 2 and 10 dpa at the target temperatures of 300 °C and 600 °C. Post-irradiation tensile testing was performed at room temperature, 300 °C, and 600 °C. The mechanical properties of AM 316L SS were significantly influenced by the characteristic microstructures of printed materials, which include fine grains and high-density dislocations. Compared with the traditional 316L SS, AM 316L showed higher initial strength and lower ductility. Regardless of sampling location, the AM 316L steel retained relatively high strength and ductility to the highest irradiation dose. A prompt necking at yield (with little uniform ductility) was observed after irradiation at 300 °C but no embrittlement was observed up to 10 dpa. Ductilization by irradiation–the radiation-induced increase of ductility–was observed for the 600 °C irradiation only and it occurred in low dose range only. The neutron irradiation increased the data variation in many tensile property datasets, particularly after 600 °C irradiation, and no clear dependence of tensile properties on build thickness or sampling location was observed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

RaDIATE Collaboration for Material Studies

In the recent past, major accelerator facilities have been limited in beam power not by their accelerators, but by the beam intercepting device survivability. As next-generation accelerator target facilities (High Energy Physics, Spallation Sources, …) become increasingly more powerful and intense, high power target systems face key technical challenges. Beam-intercepting devices such as beam windows and secondary particle-production targets are continuously bombarded by high-energy high-intensity pulsed proton beams to produce secondary particles. Energy deposition from the primary beam induces near instantaneous heating (thermal shock) and microstructural changes (radiation damage) in the beam-intercepting materials. Both thermal shock and radiation damage ultimately degrade the performance and lifetime of targets and have been identified as the leading cross-cutting challenges of high-power target facilities. In order to operate reliable beam-intercepting devices in the framework of energy and intensity increase for next generation accelerators, the RaDIATE collaboration (Radiation Damage In Accelerator Target Environment) managed by Fermilab, brings together existing expertise in nuclear material and accelerator targets from 20 international institutions to execute a coordinated strategy for high power targetry R&D. This collaboration is generating new and useful materials data for application within the accelerator and the fission/fusion communities. I will give an overview of the RaDIATE R&D program and the achievement in the last few years on material studies in support of High Power Targetry development, including results obtained from irradiation test, development of novel materials and the prospective towards future irradiation campaign. A highlight will be given to the results in collaboration with our colleagues from J-PARC.

Pellemoine, Frederique↗
DOE OSTI2021

ARC Software Validation Work for the FFTF Reactor

Extensive efforts have been carried out at ANL for the verification and validation of the Argonne Reactor Codes (ARC) software package currently used for the design of Versatile Test Reactor (VTR). The ARC software package consists of steady state neutronics and thermal hydraulics modeling capabilities which are being used by the VTR program to develop most of the VTR reactor design details which will be part of the licensing application. It is anticipated that this software will continue to be used for the design work and for initial operations although additional software may be introduced at a later time. The validation work was focused primarily on obtaining validation data consistent with VTR and usable for the ARC software. Because no critical facilities or operating fast spectrum reactors are available to do experiments for the VTR, the next best option is to identify historical experimental data that can be used as validation data. Early on in VTR, the ZPPR-15 set of experiments was identified as good validation data because of 1) the availability and quality of the data, 2) existing staff that are already familiar with the experimental machine and measurements, 3) most of the ZPPR-15 loadings of interest have already been processed into ARC models, and 4) a full uncertainty quantification has already been done for several loadings of ZPPR-15. The FFTF startup and operations data was identified as the most consistent reactor type that has validation data usable for VTR. Finally, the EBR-II fuel depletion measurements were identified as the best available validation data for VTR. It is important to note that both the FFTF and EBR-II reactors typically come with higher uncertainties than the ZPPR. In the frame of the discussed verification and validation efforts, the present document discusses the analysis of selected FFTF measurements included in the benchmark specifications of the International Reactor Physics Experiment (IRPhE) handbook. The FFTF reactor core configurations from the benchmark specification are presented in Section 2. The analysis is performed with the use of the ARC code suite available at ANL for fast reactor studies and is discussed in Section 3. The reactor parameters from the benchmark include criticality, neutron spectra, effective delayed neutron spectra, control rod worth, isothermal temperature coefficient and low energy gamma-ray spectra. The calculated values and the comparison with the experimental data is discussed in Sections 4 to 9 for each considered reactor parameter. Finally, conclusions are presented in Section 10.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Microwave-Assisted Production of Polycarbonate Diols using Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a cheap and readily available resource that can be converted to value-added chemicals including fuels, polymers, and other products. One lucrative option is polycarbonate diols, which are the precursor to polyurethanes that find wide applications in automotive and aerospace industries. The traditional process for the synthesis of polycarbonate diols involves using hazardous phosgene and alcohols in a strongly basic medium that generates significant amounts of salt. Alternately, CO2 can be reacted with alkanediols over CeO2 catalysts to produce polycarbonate diols. For the current work, a microwave-assisted atmospheric flow system was investigated for converting CO2 into polycarbonate diols and was compared against a thermal system. Various parameters such as type and ratio of solvents, and the addition of dehydrating agents for the microwave system was tested. The different CeO2 catalysts used were characterized using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and temperature programmed desorption (NH3-TPD and CO2-TPD).

CO2 utilization↗
DOE OSTI1995

Nuclear Safety [Vol. 36, No. 1, January-June 1995]

Nuclear Safety is a journal that covers significant issues in the field of nuclear safety. Its primary scope is safety in the design, construction, operation, and decommissioning of nuclear power reactors worldwide and the research and analysis activities that promote this goal, but it also encompasses the safety aspects of the entire nuclear fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing and handling, and nuclear waste disposal, the handling of fissionable materials and radioisotopes, and the environmental effects of all these activities. Table of Contents for this issue follows. THE CHORNOBYL ACCIDENT: 1 The Chornobyl Accident Revisited, Part II: The State of the Nuclear Fuel Located Within the Chornobyl Sarcophagus, A A. Borovoi and A. R. Sich; GENERAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: 33 Nuclear Power Safety in Central and Eastern Europe, R. Wilson; 46 Safety of Nuclear Power Reactors in the Former Eastern European Countries, S. Chakraborty; 53 Technical Note: On the Definition of Common-Cause Failures, H. Paula; ACCIDENT ANALYSIS: 58 Modeling and Analysis of Core-Debris Recriticality During Hypothetical Severe Accidents in the Advanced Neutron Source Reactor, S.-H. Kim, V. Georgevich, D. B. Simpson, C. O. Slater, and R. P. Taleyarkhan; 68 Ignitability of Hydrogen/Oxygen/Diluent Mixtures in the Presence of Hot Surfaces, R. K. Kumar and G. W. Koroll; 94 Coupled RELAP5 and CONTAIN Accident Analysis Using PVM, K. A. Smith, A. J. Baratta, and G. E. Robinson; CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATION: 109 Application of Fuzzy Logic in Nuclear Reactor Control Part I: An Assessment of State-of-the-Art, A. S. Heger, N. K. Alang-Rashid, and M. Jamshidi; DESIGN FEATURES: 122 Twenty-Third DOE/NRC Nuclear Air-Cleaning and Treatment Conference, R. R. Bellamy, J. J. Hayes, and M. W. First; ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: 135 Atmospheric Dispersion and the Radiological Consequences of Normal Airborne Effluents from a Nuclear Power Plant, D. Fang, C. Z. Sun, and L. Yang; 142 Calculation of Distribution Coefficients for Radionuclides in Soils and Sediments, I. Puigdomenech and U. Bergstrom: OPERATING EXPERIENCES: 155 Reactor Shutdown Experience, Compiled by J. W. Cletcher; U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION INFORMATION AND ANALYSES: 158 Operating Experience Feedback Report—Reliability of Safety-Related Steam Turbine-Driven Standby Pumps Used in U.S. Commercial Nuclear Power Plants, J. R. Boardman; 166 Turbine Building Hazards, H. L Ornstein; RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: 169 Reports, Standards, and Safety Guides, D. S. Queener; 175 Proposed Rule Changes as of Dec. 31,1994; ANNOUNCEMENTS: 32 Harvard School of Public Health In-Place Filter Testing Workshop; 134 International Conference on Advances in the Operational Safety of Nuclear Power Plants; 193 30th Tennessee Industries Week; 193 DOE Technical Standards Program 1995 Workshop; 194 Multiphase Flow Experiments and Instrumentation; 180 The Authors; 185 Indexes to Nuclear Safety, Volumes 34 and 35.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Neutron Irradiation Experiments

This presentation discusses the ongoing and upcoming neutron irradiation experiments within the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies (AMMT) program for the 2024 AMMT program review meeting. Ongoing and upcoming neutron irradiation of additively manufactured 316 stainless steel and A709 in the High Flux Isotope Reactor and Advanced Test Reactor are described.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Non-Invasive Approach for Elucidating the Spatial Distribution of in-situ Stress in Deep Subsurface Geologic Formations Considered for CO 2 Storage (Task 4 (Field Testing) Report)

"This document presents a summary of TASK 4 (Field Testing) of the project entitled “A Non-Invasive Approach for Elucidating the Spatial Distribution of in-situ Stress in Deep Subsurface Geologic Formations Considered for CO 2 Storage (FE0031686)”. This three-year project is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Carbon Storage program to research and address gaps that affect the economics of commercial CCS projects. One of these key gaps is the lack of certainty in predicting the geomechanical impacts of pressure migration due to CO 2 injection into a storage complex. This report documents field testing that was conducted under TASK 4 to obtain input data needed to develop the site-specific geomechanical model in TASK 5 and to verify the model results (i.e. calculated stresses) for this site. The field work entailed collecting geophysical logs and core samples and conducting geomechanical stress tests in the Core Energy LLC State Otsego Lake (SOL 8-15A) well, located in Otsego County, Michigan."

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterization of Aluminum Metal Powders for Plutonium-238 Program

As part of radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) production for power sources in deep space exploration, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) produces plutonium-238 ( 238 Pu). To produce 238 Pu, neptunium-237 ( 237 Np) targets are fabricated at ORNL and subsequently irradiated at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at ORNL and the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Specifically, current flowsheets utilize neptunium dioxide ( 237 NpO 2 ) targets. Aluminum (Al) powder is blended with 237 NpO 2 target material to improve thermal conductivity during irradiation. The current composition of 237 NpO 2 /Al pellets (i.e., cermets, or ceramic–metallics) is 20% 237 NpO 2 , 70% Al, and 10% void space. Al powders utilized by the 238 Pu program are high-fired under vacuum before blending into targets. The primary objective of this work is to measure the physical, chemical, and thermal properties of Al before and after the high-firing process. Properties of interest include the morphology, surface texture, particle size, crystal phase(s), and thermal conductivity of the material. These properties are measured with existing materials characterization equipment at ORNL, including powder x-ray diffraction (pXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), laser flash analysis (LFA), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). A secondary objective of this work is to compare the Al powders before and after the high-firing procedure to determine the effects of high-firing on chemical, physical, and thermal properties and to determine the efficacy of the high-firing process.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Optimal sizing of battery energy storage systems for peak shaving and demand response using a degradation-aware Bayesian Optimization-Mixed-Integer Linear Programming framework

The increasing integration of renewable energy and rising electricity demand highlight the importance of battery energy storage systems for peak shaving and demand response. Unlike prior approaches that overlook operational impacts on degradation, this study proposes a Bayesian Optimization–Mixed Integer Linear Programming framework for optimal battery energy storage system sizing. In this framework, Mixed Integer Linear Programming determines short-term scheduling while a calibrated electrochemical model iteratively evaluates degradation. The central hypothesis is that the framework can efficiently identify optimal sizes that yield realistic and economically robust outcomes. The method is tested across three scenarios: peak shaving, peak shaving with energy-reduction demand response, and peak shaving with power-reduction demand response. Results show that the framework converge to the optimum within 20 iterations out of 150 possible sizes. Under baseline conditions, the framework consistently selects the smallest feasible system, minimizing unnecessary degradation costs from oversized storage. Sensitivity analyses reveal that larger systems are favored as demand rates or incentives increase. Comparisons of demand response programs indicate that power-reduction demand response offers greater economic benefits than energy-reduction demand response, although demand savings from peak shaving remain the dominant contributor to overall performance. This study demonstrates that the proposed framework balances computational tractability with degradation fidelity, identifies critical economic thresholds for investment, and offers a practical, flexible tool to guide industrial stakeholders in cost-effective battery energy storage system deployment.

Batteries↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Visual Comparison of Silent Error Propagation

High-performance computing (HPC) systems play a critical role in facilitating scientific discoveries. Their scale and complexity (e.g., the number of computational units and software stack) continue to grow as new systems are expected to process increasingly more data and reduce computing time. However, with more processing elements, the probability that these systems will experience a random bit-flip error that corrupts a program's output also increases, which is often recognized as silent data corruption. Analyzing the resiliency of HPC applications in extreme-scale computing to silent data corruption is crucial but difficult. An HPC application often contains a large number of computation units that need to be tested, and error propagation caused by error corruption is complex and difficult to interpret. Here, to accommodate this challenge, we propose an interactive visualization system that helps HPC researchers understand the resiliency of HPC applications and compare their error propagation. Our system models an application's error propagation to study a program's resiliency by constructing and visualizing its fault tolerance boundary. Coordinating with multiple interactive designs, our system enables domain experts to efficiently explore the complicated spatial and temporal correlation between error propagations. At the end, the system integrated a nonmonotonic error propagation analysis with an adjustable graph propagation visualization to help domain experts examine the details of error propagation and answer such questions as why an error is mitigated or amplified by program execution.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Data Testing of Polyethylene Thermal Scattering Law with New Thermal Epithermal eXperiments (TEX) Plutonium Baseline Benchmark, PU-MET-MIXED-002

Five plutonium baseline experiments completed in September of 2018 from the Thermal Epithermal eXperiments (TEX) program have been accepted by the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project as PU-MET-MIXED-002 and will be included in the 2020 version of the handbook. The experiments were made up of stacked layers of plutonium Zero Power Physics Reactor (ZPPR) plates moderated by polyethylene (PE, chemical formula C2H4) to varying degrees to create configurations with five different neutron spectra, including one fast configuration, one thermal configuration, and three mixed configurations. Calculations of the benchmark show overprediction of k eff when using the most recent release of the Evaluated Nuclear Data File Version B (ENDF/B) library release (VIII.0) cross sections, particularly when compared to the previous ENDF/B-VII.1 results. One potential source of overprediction was hypothesized to be the new Molecular Dynamics (MD) generated PE Thermal Scattering Law (TSL). The overprediction was shown via calculation to not be caused by the new ENDF/B-VIII.0 thermal scattering law, and in fact the overprediction was mitigated by the new PE TSL.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗