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DOE OSTI2022

Human Performance Analysis Depending on Operator Expertise (Student vs. Operator) and Simulator Complexity (Rancor Microworld vs. Compact Nuclear Simulator)

Human reliability analysis (HRA) evaluates human errors and provides human error probabilities (HEPs) for application in probabilistic safety assessment (PSA), which is a comprehensive safety assessment method for nuclear power plants (NPPs). Generally, HRA methods estimate HEPs based on human reliability data collected from actual historical measurement, simulator experiments, or expert judgement. Most recent HRA data collection studies focus on collecting data via full-scope main control room (MCR) simulators with actual licensed reactor operators. Contrary to this, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has adopted a different approach, which attempts to collect HRA data based on experiment using simplified simulators and student participants by following the Simplified Human Error Experimental Program (SHEEP). This approach has a couple of advantages compared to full-scope data collection. Representatively, it has relatively low entry point for collecting HRA data, and secures large sample sizes with reasonable cost and labor. In the previous studies, we developed the SHEEP framework, then verified whether the data collected through the framework could support a representative full-scope data collection study, i.e., the Human Reliability Data Extraction (HuREX) study. Also, we analyzed human performance measurements depending on participant type (i.e., student vs. operator). In this paper, we analyze human performance data collected from an experiment comparing operator expertise and simulator complexity when using the more simplified simulator developed by INL, i.e., Rancor Microworld and the less simplified simulator, i.e., Compact Nuclear Simulator (CNS) developed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests and correlation analysis are used for analyzing the experimental data.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Development of a Data Platform for High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) Thermal-Fluid Experiments

Since the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) initiated the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) in 2009, a total of 30 NEUP projects focused on High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) thermal-fluid experiments were funded up to fiscal year (FY) 2021. This represents a total DOE investment of approximately $23M over the 12-year period, covering thermal fluid phenomena important to both pebble bed and prismatic HTGR designs. The NEUP projects have produced a large amount of high-quality experimental and computational data that were published in final project reports, journal articles, dissertations, and conference proceedings, but in most cases the actual data sets and supporting information such as facility and instrumentation descriptions were not publicly disseminated to the HTGR community. To the authors’ best knowledge, a data platform that organizes and summarizes these NEUP-funded projects for HTGR research does not currently exist. To improve access to this HTGR validation data and optimize the return on the significant investment made by DOE, the Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) Gas-Cooled Reactor (GCR) program started a survey of completed and ongoing HTGR NEUP projects with the aim of developing a public-access data platform that can be used to retrieve computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and system code validation data and guide future NEUP investments. This paper summarizes the status of the current ART-GCR database, provides an overview of the NEUP-funded HTGR-related research projects from FY2009 to FY2021 and identify validation knowledge gaps still existing in HTGR thermal-fluid research.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) IV

Atmospheric composition continues to be a key Earth science focus for international space agencies and research organizations. The target constituent varies depending upon the topic area of interest such as monitoring the ozone layer and the efficacy of the Montreal Protocol, assessing the influence of volcanic eruptions and large wildfires on the atmosphere, improving our knowledge of transport processes, or evaluating the impacts of greenhouse gases on climate. Additionally, there is a growing need for measurement continuity of many trace gases both from an inability to properly assess long-term trends without it as well as the reliance of reanalyses and chemistry climate models on observational input. To this end, proper continuity requires continuous and overlapping multi-instrument data records of which spaceborne measurements are a critical component. However, most current satellite systems are well beyond their expected lifetimes, and so we look toward the future to develop the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) IV as a future mission concept. Enabled by the NASA Earth Science Technology Office’s (ESTO) Instrument Incubator Program, the SAGE IV Pathfinder project developed and validated a prototype demonstration that paves the way for a future SAGE IV spaceflight mission. Utilizing solar occultation imaging, SAGE IV will be capable of measuring key species in the stratosphere and upper troposphere with the same quality as previous SAGE instruments but with greatly improved pointing knowledge and extensibility to new science targets. The precision and stability of a well-designed occultation instrument can act as a calibration reference standard for other spaceborne instruments, ensuring proper continuity of the desired science targets. Furthermore, current technological advancements allow SAGE IV to fit within a CubeSat framework and make use of commercial hardware, significantly reducing the size and cost when compared with traditional missions and enabling sustainability of future measurements.

Robert Damadeo↗

DOE OSTI2026

Understanding polaronic transport in complex oxides by combining precise synthesis and first-principles many-body theory

In complex oxides, charge carriers often couple strongly with lattice vibrations to form polarons–entangled electron–phonon quasiparticles whose transport properties remain difficult to characterize. Experimental access to intrinsic polaronic transport requires ultraclean samples, while theoretical description demands methods beyond low-order perturbation theory. Here, we show a predictive theory–experiment workflow to study polaron transport in complex oxides. Focusing on a prototypical polaronic oxide, anatase TiO 2 , we combine growth of high-quality oxygen-vacancy-doped films using hybrid molecular beam epitaxy with a first-principles electron–phonon diagrammatic Monte-Carlo (FEP-DMC) framework recently developed for accurate polaron predictions. Our films exhibit record-high electron mobility for anatase TiO 2 , in excellent agreement with FEP-DMC calculations conducted prior to experiment, which predict a room-temperature mobility of 45 ± 15 cm −2 V −1 s −1 and a mobility-temperature scaling of μ ∝ T −1.9 ± 0.077 . Microscopic analysis using scanning transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals the role of oxygen vacancies in modulating transport at lower temperatures. FEP-DMC further provides quantitative insight into polaron formation energy, phonon cloud distribution, lattice distortion around the polaron, and the polaronic contribution to mobility. Together, these results provide a deeper microscopic understanding of large-polaron transport in a complex oxide and provide the blueprint to characterize other polaronic materials.

anatase TiO2↗

NASA NTRS1993

(abstract) Mission Operations and Control Assurance: Flight Operations Quality Improvements

Mission Operations and Command Assurance (MO&CA), a recent addition to flight operations teams at JPL. provides a system level function to instill quality in mission operations. MO&CA's primary goal at JPL is to help improve the operational reliability for projects during flight. MO&CA tasks include early detection and correction of process design and procedural deficiencies within projects. Early detection and correction are essential during development of operational procedures and training of operational teams. MO&CA's effort focuses directly on reducing the probability of radiating incorrect commands to a spacecraft. Over the last seven years at JPL, MO&CA has become a valuable asset to JPL flight projects. JPL flight projects have benefited significantly from MO&CA's efforts to contain risk and prevent rather than rework errors. MO&CA's ability to provide direct transfer of knowledge allows new projects to benefit directly from previous and ongoing experience. Since MO&CA, like Total Quality Management (TQM), focuses on continuous improvement of processes and elimination of rework, we recommend that this effort be continued on NASA flight projects.

mission operation flight operations error detectio↗

DOE OSTI2017

Gravitational wave and collider implications of electroweak baryogenesis aided by non-standard cosmology

Here, we consider various models realizing baryogenesis during the electroweak phase transition (EWBG). Our focus is their possible detection in future collider experiments and possible observation of gravitational waves emitted during the phase transition. We also discuss the possibility of a non-standard cosmological history which can facilitate EWBG. We show how acceptable parameter space can be extended due to such a modification and conclude that next generation precision experiments such as the ILC will be able to confirm or falsify many models realizing EWBG. We also show that, in general, collider searches are a more powerful probe than gravitational wave searches. However, observation of a deviation from the SM without any hints of gravitational waves can point to models with modified cosmological history that generically enable EWBG with weaker phase transition and thus, smaller GW signals.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2020

Non-standard interactions in radiative neutrino mass models

Models of radiative Majorana neutrino masses require new scalars and/or fermions to induce lepton-number-violating interactions. We show that these new particles also generate observable neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) with matter. We classify radiative models as type-I or II, with type-I models containing at least one Standard Model (SM) particle inside the loop diagram generating neutrino mass, and type-II models having no SM particle inside the loop. While type-II radiative models do not generate NSI at tree-level, popular models which fall under the type-I category are shown, somewhat surprisingly, to generate observable NSI at tree-level, while being consistent with direct and indirect constraints from colliders, electroweak precision data and charged-lepton flavor violation (cLFV). We survey such models where neutrino masses arise at one, two and three loops. In the prototypical Zee model which generates neutrino masses via one-loop diagrams involving charged scalars, we find that diagonal NSI can be as large as (8%, 3.8%, 9.3%) for (ε$_{ee}$, ε$_{μμ}$, ε$_{ττ}$), while off-diagonal NSI can be at most (10$^{–3}$%, 0.56%, 0.34%) for (ε$_{eμ}$, ε$_{eτ}$, ε$_{μτ}$). In one-loop neutrino mass models using leptoquarks (LQs), (ε$_{μμ}$, ε$_{ττ}$) can be as large as (21.6%, 51.7%), while ε$_{ee}$ and (ε$_{eμ}$, ε$_{eτ}$, ε$_{μτ}$) can at most be 0.6%. Other two- and three-loop LQ models are found to give NSI of similar strength. The most stringent constraints on the diagonal NSI are found to come from neutrino oscillation and scattering experiments, while the off-diagonal NSI are mostly constrained by low-energy processes, such as atomic parity violation and cLFV. We also comment on the future sensitivity of these radiative models in long-baseline neutrino experiments, such as DUNE. While our analysis is focused on radiative neutrino mass models, it essentially covers all NSI possibilities with heavy mediators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2020

The Hoyle Family: The Search for Alpha-Condensate States in Light Nuclei

Our present understanding of the structure of the Hoyle state in 12 C and other near-threshold states in α-conjugate nuclei is reviewed in the framework of the α-condensate model. The 12 C Hoyle state, in particular, is a candidate for α-condensation, due to its large radius and α-cluster structure. The predicted features of nuclear α-particle condensates are reviewed along with a discussion of their experimental indicators, with a focus on precision break-up measurements. Two experiments are discussed in detail, firstly concerning the break-up of 12 C and then the decays of heavier nuclei. With more theoretical input, and increasingly complex detector setups, precision break-up measurements can, in principle, provide insight into the structures of states in α-conjugate nuclei. However, the commonly-held belief that the decay of a condensate state will result in Nα-particles is challenged. We further conclude that unambiguously characterizing excited states built on α-condensates is difficult, despite improvements in detector technology.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Grassland disturbance increases monarch butterfly oviposition and decreases arthropod predator abundance

Many species of conservation concern depend on disturbance to create or maintain suitable habitat. We evaluated effects of disturbance on the eastern migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus L.), which has declined markedly in recent decades, primarily attributed to the loss of milkweed host plants from annual crop fields in the US Midwest. Currently, remaining milkweeds in this region primarily occur in perennial grasslands, where disturbance is infrequent, predatory arthropods are abundant, and seasonal patterns of plant phenology differ from crop fields. In a two-year study in Michigan, USA, we applied three treatments to 23 patches of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.); one-third of each patch was left undisturbed, while the remaining thirds were mowed in either mid-June or mid-July, respectively, and allowed to regenerate. We subsequently measured effects on monarch oviposition, predator abundance, survival of sentinel eggs and larvae, and tested how milkweed phenology and aphid colonization—both of which are reset by disturbance—structure predation risk for immature monarchs. Monarchs laid more eggs on regenerating versus undisturbed stems under both mowing regimes. Predators were strongly suppressed by mowing treatments, requiring 2–4 weeks to recolonize milkweed after disturbance, and were more abundant on flowering or aphid-infested stems. We found no significant differences in monarch egg/larval survival, although it tended to be higher in mowed plots. Overall, monarchs laid more eggs on regenerating stems where their offspring may also experience enemy-free space. Future work should focus on testing grassland disturbance as a management tool to improve productivity of existing monarch breeding habitat.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

Design of a neutron microscope based on Wolter mirrors

The predominant geometry for a neutron imaging experiment is that of a pinhole camera. Here, this is primarily due to the difficulty in focusing neutrons due to the weak refractive index, which is also strongly chromatic. Proof of concept experiments demonstrated that neutron image forming lenses based on reflective Wolter mirrors can produce quantitative, high spatial resolution neutron images while also increasing the time resolution compared to the conventional pinhole camera geometry. Motivated by these results, we report the design of a neutron microscope where two Wolter mirrors replace condensing and objective lenses, in direct analogy with typical visible light microscopes. Ray tracing results indicate that this system will yield 3 µm spatial resolution images with an acquisition time of order <1 s (10 4 faster than currently possible at this spatial resolution) with a field of view of about 5 mm in diameter.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2025

Investigation of the excited states of 114 Sn using the GRIFFIN spectrometer at TRIUMF

The semi-magic 110-122 Sn isotopes display signs of shape coexistence in their excited 0 + states, which, in contrast to the spherical 0+ ground states, are deformed. Here, this paper investigates the nuclear structure of 114 Sn using the competing β + decay and electron capture of a radioactive beam of 114 Sb produced at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility using the GRIFFIN spectrometer. This study will allow for an in-depth understanding of the excited 0 + states in 114 Sn, by focusing on their decay patterns. In the present experiment, transitions at 856.2-keV and 1405.0-keV, which were observed in an earlier β + decay study but not placed in the 114 Sn level scheme, have been Physics, assigned to the level scheme in connection to the 0$^+_3$ level at 2156.0-keV. Properly assigning these transitions refines the level scheme and enhances our understanding of the nuclear structure in 114 Sn.

GRIFFIN↗

DOE OSTI2018

High-harmonic generation from solids

We report that high-harmonic generation in atomic gases has been studied for decades, and has formed the basis of attosecond science. Observation of high-order harmonics from bulk crystals was, however, reported much more recently, in 2010. This Review surveys the subsequent efforts aimed at understanding the microscopic mechanism of solid-state harmonics in terms of what it can tell us about the electronic structure of the source materials, how it can be used to probe driven ultrafast dynamics and its prospects for novel, compact short-wavelength light sources. Lastly, although most of this work has focused on bulk materials as the source, recent experiments have investigated high-harmonic generation from engineered structures, which could form flexible platforms for attosecond photonics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2020

Evolution of the CMS Global Submission Infrastructure for the HL-LHC Era

Efforts in distributed computing of the CMS experiment at the LHC at CERN are now focusing on the functionality required to fulfill the projected needs for the HL-LHC era. Cloud and HPC resources are expected to be dominant relative to resources provided by traditional Grid sites, being also much more diverse and heterogeneous. Handling their special capabilities or limitations and maintaining global flexibility and efficiency, while also operating at scales much higher than the current capacity, are the major challenges being addressed by the CMS Submission Infrastructure team. These proceedings discuss the risks to the stability and scalability of the CMS HTCondor infrastructure extrapolated to such a scenario, thought to be derived mostly from its growing complexity, with multiple Negotiators and schedulers flocking work to multiple federated pools. New mechanisms for enhanced customization and control over resource allocation and usage, mandatory in this future scenario, are also described.

Yzquierdo, Antonio Pérez-Calero↗

DOE OSTI2012

X-ray emission from relativistically moving electron density cusps

We report on novel methods to generate ultra-short, coherent, X-rays using a laserplasma interaction. Nonlinear interaction of intense laser pulses with plasma creates stable, specific structures such as electron cusps. For example, wake waves excited in an underdense plasma by an intense, short-pulse laser become dense and propagate along with the laser pulse. This is called a relativistic flying mirror. The flying mirror can reflect a counter-propagating laser pulse and directly convert it into high-frequency radiation, with a frequency multiplication factor of {approx} 4{gamma}{sup 2} and pulse shortening with the same factor. After the proof-of-principle experiments, we observed that the photon number generated in the flying mirror is close to the theoretical estimate. We present the details of the experiment in which a 9 TW laser pulse focused into a He gas jet generated the Flying Mirror, which partly reflected a 1 TW pulse, giving up to {approx} 10{sup 10} photons, 60 nJ (1.4 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 12} photons/sr) in the XUV spectral region (12.8-22 nm).

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

DOE OSTI2015

Approaching the investigation of plasma turbulence through a rigorous verification and validation procedure: A practical example

In the present work, a Verification and Validation procedure is presented and applied showing, through a practical example, how it can contribute to advancing our physics understanding of plasma turbulence. Bridging the gap between plasma physics and other scientific domains, in particular, the computational fluid dynamics community, a rigorous methodology for the verification of a plasma simulation code is presented, based on the method of manufactured solutions. This methodology assesses that the model equations are correctly solved, within the order of accuracy of the numerical scheme. The technique to carry out a solution verification is described to provide a rigorous estimate of the uncertainty affecting the numerical results. A methodology for plasma turbulence code validation is also discussed, focusing on quantitative assessment of the agreement between experiments and simulations. The Verification and Validation methodology is then applied to the study of plasma turbulence in the basic plasma physics experiment TORPEX [Fasoli et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 055902 (2006)], considering both two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations carried out with the GBS code [Ricci et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 54, 124047 (2012)]. The validation procedure allows progress in the understanding of the turbulent dynamics in TORPEX, by pinpointing the presence of a turbulent regime transition, due to the competition between the resistive and ideal interchange instabilities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2016

NSLS-II storage ring insertion device and front-end commissioning and operation

The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) is a state of the art 3 GeV third generation light source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. During spring/ summer of 2014, the storage ring was commissioned up to 50 mA without insertion devices. In the fall of 2014, we began commissioning of the project beamlines, which included seven insertion devices on six ID ports. Beamlines IXS, HXN, CSX-1, CSX-2, CHX, SRX, and XPD-1 consist of elliptically polarized undulator (EPU), damping wigglers (DW) and in-vacuum undulators (IVU) covering from VUV to hard x-ray range. In this paper, experience with commissioning and operation is discussed. We focus on reaching storage ring performance with IDs, including injection, design emittance, compensation of orbit distortions caused by ID residual field, source point stability, beam alignment and tools for control, monitoring and protection of the ring chambers from ID radiation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2013

THE ROTATING OUTFLOW, ENVELOPE, AND DISK OF THE CLASS-0/I PROTOSTAR [BHB2007] no. 11 IN THE PIPE NEBULA

We present the results of observations toward a low-mass Class-0/I protostar [BHB2007] no. 11 (B59 no. 11) in the nearby (d = 130 pc) star-forming region Barnard 59 (B59), in the Pipe Nebula. We utilize the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) 10 m telescope ({approx}22'' resolution), focusing on the CO(3-2), HCO{sup +}, H{sup 13}CO{sup +}(4-3), and 1.1 mm dust-continuum emission transitions. We also show Submillimeter Array (SMA) data with {approx}5'' resolution in {sup 12}CO, {sup 13}CO, C{sup 18}O(2-1), and 1.3 mm dust-continuum emission. From ASTE CO(3-2) observations, we found that B59 no. 11 is blowing a collimated outflow whose axis lies almost on the plane of the sky. The outflow traces well a cavity-like structure seen in the 1.1 mm dust-continuum emission. The results of SMA {sup 13}CO and C{sup 18}O(2-1) observations have revealed that a compact and elongated structure of dense gas is associated with B59 no. 11; the structure is oriented perpendicular to the outflow axis. There is a compact dust condensation with a size of 350 Multiplication-Sign 180 AU seen in the SMA 1.3 mm continuum map, and the direction of its major axis is almost the same as that of the dense gas elongation. The distributions of {sup 13}CO and C{sup 18}O emission also show velocity gradients along their major axes, which are thought to arise from the envelope/disk rotation. From detailed analysis of the SMA data, we infer that B59 no. 11 is surrounded by a Keplerian disk with a radius of less than 350 AU. In addition, the SMA CO(2-1) image shows a velocity gradient in the outflow in the same direction as that of the dense gas rotation. We suggest that this velocity gradient indicates rotation in the outflow.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Fermionic sub-GeV dark matter from evaporating primordial black holes at DarkSide-50

We present a search for boosted dark matter from primordial black hole (PBH) evaporation using the DarkSide-50 ionization-signal-only dataset corresponding to the experiment’s ( 12202 ± 180 ) kg d exposure. We focus on evaporation of PBHs with masses in the range [ 10 14 , 10 16 ] g producing Dirac fermionic dark matter particles with sub-GeV kinetic energy. These relativistic particles, with energies up to hundreds of MeV, can generate detectable signals for masses below O ( 100 ) MeV . The absence of a signal enables setting complementary limits to those derived from cosmological observations and direct detection searches for cosmic-ray-boosted dark matter.

Agnes, P. [Gran Sasso; GSSI, Aquila]↗