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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Proton Therapy for Reirradiation of Progressive or Recurrent Chordoma

Purpose: To report the results in patients reirradiated with proton therapy for recurrent or progressive chordoma, with or without salvage surgery. Methods and Materials: A retrospective review of 16 consecutive patients treated from 2005 to 2012 was performed. All patients had received at least 1 prior course of radiation therapy to the same area, and all but 1 patient had at least 1 surgical resection for disease before receiving reirradiation. At the time of recurrence or progression, half of the patients underwent additional salvage surgery before receiving reirradiation. The median prior dose of radiation was 75.2 Gy (range, 40-79.2 Gy). Six patients had received prior proton therapy, and the remainder had received photon radiation. The median gross tumor volume at the time of reirradiation was 71 cm{sup 3} (range, 0-701 cm{sup 3}). Reirradiation occurred at a median interval of 37 months after prior radiation (range, 12-129 months), and the median dose of reirradiation was 75.6 Gy (relative biological effectiveness [RBE]) (range. 71.2-79.2 Gy [RBE]), given in standard daily fractionation (n=14) or hyperfractionation (n=2). Results: The median follow-up time was 23 months (range, 6-63 months); it was 26 months in patients alive at the last follow-up visit (range, 12-63 months). The 2-year estimate for local control was 85%, overall survival 80%, chordoma-specific survival 88%, and development of distant metastases 20%. Four patients have had local progression: 3 in-field and 1 marginal. Late toxicity included grade 3 bitemporal lobe radionecrosis in 1 patient that improved with hyperbaric oxygen, a grade 4 cerebrospinal fluid leak with meningitis in 1 patient, and a grade 4 ischemic brainstem stroke (out of radiation field) in 1 patient, with subsequent neurologic recovery. Conclusions: Full-dose proton reirradiation provided encouraging initial disease control and overall survival for patients with recurrent or progressive chordoma, although additional toxicities may develop with longer follow-up times.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Adding Erlotinib to Chemoradiation Improves Overall Survival but Not Progression-Free Survival in Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: To test, in a single-arm, prospective, phase 2 trial, whether adding the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib to concurrent chemoradiotherapy for previously untreated, locally advanced, inoperable non-small cell lung cancer would improve survival and disease control without increasing toxicity. Methods and Materials: Forty-eight patients with previously untreated non-small cell lung cancer received intensity modulated radiation therapy (63 Gy/35 fractions) on Monday through Friday, with chemotherapy (paclitaxel 45 mg/m², carboplatin area under the curve [AUC] = 2) on Mondays, for 7 weeks. All patients also received the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib (150 mg orally 1/d) on Tuesday-Sunday for 7 weeks, followed by consolidation paclitaxel–carboplatin. The primary endpoint was time to progression; secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), toxicity, response, and disease control and whether any endpoint differed by EGFR mutation status. Results: Of 46 patients evaluable for response, 40 were former or never-smokers, and 41 were evaluable for EGFR mutations (37 wild-type [WT] and 4 mutated [all adenocarcinoma]). Median time to progression was 14.0 months and did not differ by EGFR status. Toxicity was acceptable (no grade 5, 1 grade 4, 11 grade 3). Twelve patients (26%) had complete responses (10 WT, 2 mutated), 27 (59%) partial (21 WT, 2 mutated, 4 unknown), and 7 (15%) none (6 WT, 2 mutated, 1 unknown) (P=.610). At 37.0 months' follow-up (range, 3.6-76.5 months) for all patients, median OS time was 36.5 months, and 1-, 2-, and 5-year OS rates were 82.6%, 67.4%, and 35.9%, respectively; none differed by mutation status. Twelve patients had no progression, and 34 had local and/or distant failure. Eleven of 27 distant failures were in the brain (7 WT, 3 mutated, 1 unknown). Conclusions: Toxicity and OS were promising, but time to progression did not meet expectations. The prevalence of distant failures underscores the need for effective systemic therapy.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effect of disease progression on the podocyte cell cycle in Alport Syndrome

Progression of glomerulosclerosis is associated with loss of podocytes with subsequent glomerular tuft instability. It is thought that a diminished number of podocytes may be able to preserve tuft stability through cell hypertrophy associated with cell cycle reentry. At the same time, reentry into the cell cycle risks podocyte detachment if podocytes cross the G1/S checkpoint and undergo abortive cytokinesis. In order to study cell cycle dynamics during chronic kidney disease (CKD) development, we used a FUCCI model (fluorescence ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator) of mice with X-linked Alport Syndrome. This model exhibits progressive CKD and expresses fluorescent reporters of cell cycle stage exclusively in podocytes. With the development of CKD, an increasing fraction of podocytes in vivo were found to be in G1 or later cell cycle stages. Podocytes in G1 and G2 were hypertrophic. Heterozygous female mice, with milder manifestations of CKD, showed G1 fraction numbers intermediate between wild-type and male Alport mice. Proteomic analysis of podocytes in different cell cycle phases showed differences in cytoskeleton reorganization and metabolic processes between G0 and G1 in disease. Additionally, in vitro experiments confirmed that damaged podocytes reentered the cell cycle comparable to podocytes in vivo. Importantly, we confirmed the upregulation of PDlim2, a highly expressed protein in podocytes in G1, in a patient with Alport Syndrome, confirming our proteomics data in the human setting. Thus, our data showed that in the Alport model of progressive CKD, podocyte cell cycle distribution is altered, suggesting that cell cycle manipulation approaches may have a role in the treatment of various progressive glomerular diseases characterized by podocytopenia.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

MicroRNA-630 inhibits breast cancer progression by directly targeting BMI1

Highlights: • MiR-630 initiates apoptosis, blocks cell cycle progression and suppresses cell proliferation in breast cancer cells. • BMI1, a member of polycomb group family, is identified as a novel direct target of miR-630. • BMI1 mediates miR-630-suppressed breast cancer progression including apoptosis induction, cell cycle arrest, and proliferation inhibition. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in breast cancer cell biological processes, including proliferation and apoptosis by inhibiting the expression of their target genes. Herein, we reported that miR-630 overexpression initiates apoptosis, blocks cell cycle progression and suppresses cell proliferation in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, BMI1, a member of polycomb group family, was identified as a direct target of miR-630, and there was a negative correlation between the expression levels of BMI1 and miR-630 in human breast cancer samples. With a series of biology approaches, subsequently, we proved that BMI1 was a functional downstream target of miR-630 and mediated the property of miR-630-dependent inhibition of breast cancer progression. Taken together, these findings provide further evidence on the tumor-suppression function of miR-630 in breast cancer, and clarify BMI1 as a novel functional target gene of miR-630.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Progressive transfer learning for advancing machine learning-based reduced-order modeling

Abstract To maximize knowledge transfer and improve the data requirement for data-driven machine learning (ML) modeling, a progressive transfer learning for reduced-order modeling (p-ROM) framework is proposed. A key concept of p-ROM is to selectively transfer knowledge from previously trained ML models and effectively develop a new ML model(s) for unseen tasks by optimizing information gates in hidden layers. The p-ROM framework is designed to work with any type of data-driven ROMs. For demonstration purposes, we evaluate the p-ROM with specific Barlow Twins ROMs (p-BT-ROMs) to highlight how progress learning can apply to multiple topological and physical problems with an emphasis on a small training set regime. The proposed p-BT-ROM framework has been tested using multiple examples, including transport, flow, and solid mechanics, to illustrate the importance of progressive knowledge transfer and its impact on model accuracy with reduced training samples. In both similar and different topologies, p-BT-ROM achieves improved model accuracy with much less training data. For instance, p-BT-ROM with four-parent (i.e., pre-trained models) outperforms the no-parent counterpart trained on data nine times larger. The p-ROM framework is poised to significantly enhance the capabilities of ML-based ROM approaches for scientific and engineering applications by mitigating data scarcity through progressively transferring knowledge.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Chromosome compartmentalization alterations in prostate cancer cell lines model disease progression

Prostate cancer aggressiveness and metastatic potential are influenced by gene expression and genomic aberrations, features that can be influenced by the 3D structure of chromosomes inside the nucleus. Using chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C), we conducted a systematic genome architecture comparison on a cohort of cell lines that model prostate cancer progression, from normal epithelium to bone metastasis. We describe spatial compartment identity (A-open versus B-closed) changes with progression in these cell lines and their relation to gene expression changes in both cell lines and patient samples. In particular, 48 gene clusters switch from the B to the A compartment, including androgen receptor, WNT5A, and CDK14. These switches are accompanied by changes in the structure, size, and boundaries of topologically associating domains (TADs). Further, compartment changes in chromosome 21 are exacerbated with progression and may explain, in part, the genesis of the TMPRSS2-ERG translocation. These results suggest that discrete 3D genome structure changes play a deleterious role in prostate cancer progression.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Dark progression reveals slow timescales for radiation damage between T = 180 and 240 K

Between T = 180 and 240 K, radiation damage progresses on minute timescales when the X-rays are off, suggesting that a fraction of damage at higher temperatures may be outrun using currently available sources and detectors. Can radiation damage to protein crystals be ‘outrun’ by collecting a structural data set before damage is manifested? Recent experiments using ultra-intense pulses from a free-electron laser show that the answer is yes. Here, evidence is presented that significant reductions in global damage at temperatures above 200 K may be possible using conventional X-ray sources and current or soon-to-be available detectors. Specifically, ‘dark progression’ (an increase in damage with time after the X-rays have been turned off) was observed at temperatures between 180 and 240 K and on timescales from 200 to 1200 s. This allowed estimation of the temperature-dependent timescale for damage. The rate of dark progression is consistent with an Arrhenius law with an activation energy of 14 kJ mol{sup −1}. This is comparable to the activation energy for the solvent-coupled diffusive damage processes responsible for the rapid increase in radiation sensitivity as crystals are warmed above the glass transition near 200 K. Analysis suggests that at T = 300 K data-collection times of the order of 1 s (and longer at lower temperatures) may allow significant reductions in global radiation damage, facilitating structure solution on crystals with liquid solvent. No dark progression was observed below T = 180 K, indicating that no important damage process is slowed through this timescale window in this temperature range.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Improving Progressive Retrieval for HPC Scientific Data using Deep Neural Network

As the disparity between compute and I/O on high-performance computing systems has continued to widen, it has become increasingly difficult to perform post-hoc data analytics on full-resolution scientific simulation data due to the high I/O cost. Error-bounded data decomposition and progressive data retrieval framework has recently been developed to address such a challenge by performing data decomposition before storage and reading only part of the decomposed data when necessary. However, the performance of the progressive retrieval framework has been suffering from the over-pessimistic error control theory, such that the achieved maximum error of recomposed data is significantly lower than the required error. Therefore, more data than required is fetched for recomposition, incurring additional I/O overhead. In order to tackle this issue, we propose a DNN-based progressive retrieval framework that can better identify the minimum amount of data to be retrieved. Our contributions are as follows: 1) We provide an in-depth investigation of the recently developed progressive retrieval framework; 2) We propose two designs of prediction models (named D-MGARD and E-MGARD) to estimate the amount of retrieved data size based on error bounds. 3) We evaluate our proposed solutions using scientific datasets generated by real-world simulations from two domains. Evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our solution in accurately predicting the amount of retrieval data size, as well as the advantages of our solution over the traditional approach to reducing the I/O overhead. Based on our evaluation, our solution is shown to read significantly less data (5% - 40% with D-MGARD, 20% - 80% with E-MGARD).

Wang, Jinzhen↗
DOE OSTI2026

QProR: An Efficient Framework for Quantity-of-Interest Based Progressive Retrieval with Guaranteed Error Control

Scientific applications generate an unprecedented volume of data, overwhelming the network and file systems’ bandwidth and posing challenges for efficient and scalable data retrieval and analysis. Progressive data compression offers a promising solution by enabling on-demand retrieval at reduced size. However, existing progressive methods either fail to bound the errors in essential quantities of interest (QoIs) derived from raw data or suffer from suboptimal retrieval efficiency. In this work, we propose QProR, an efficient QoI-based progressive framework that optimizes progressive retrieval for target QoIs. Our key contributions include: (1) a systematic framework that integrates error-controlled lossy compressors with bitplane encoding while decoupling the two processes for high flexibility and adaptability; (2) a novel weighted bitplane encoding method which incorperates QoI knowledge into data refactoring to enhance retrieval efficiency; (3) an optimized retrieval strategy that accounts for the varying impacts of different variables on multivariate QoIs; (4) comprehensive evaluations using six real-world datasets from multiple scientific applications and thorough comparisons against state of the arts. Experimental results demonstrate that QProR achieves up to 80.38% reduction in the retrieval size under the same requested QoI error tolerance, when compared with the best-performing existing methods. When transferring 384 GB of scientific data to remote sites, QProR delivers up to 1.68 × speedup in the end-to-end data transfer performance.

Li, Wenbo [University of Kentucky]↗
DOE OSTI2023

T cell activation is insufficient to drive SIV disease progression

Resolution of T cell activation and inflammation is a key determinant of the lack of SIV disease progression in African green monkeys (AGMs). Although frequently considered together, T cell activation occurs in response to viral stimulation of acquired immunity, while inflammation reflects innate immune responses to mucosal injury. We dissociated T cell activation from inflammation through regulatory T cell (Treg) depletion with Ontak (interleukin-2 coupled with diphtheria toxin) during early SIV infection of AGMs. This intervention abolished control of T cell immune activation beyond the transition from acute to chronic infection. Ontak had no effect on gut barrier integrity, microbial translocation, inflammation, and hypercoagulation, despite increasing T cell activation. Ontak administration increased macrophage counts yet decreased their activation. Persistent T cell activation influenced SIV pathogenesis, shifting the ramp-up in viral replication to earlier time points, prolonging the high levels of replication, and delaying CD4 + T cell restoration yet without any clinical or biological sign of disease progression in Treg-depleted AGMs. Thus, by inducing T cell activation without damaging mucosal barrier integrity, we showed that systemic T cell activation per se is not sufficient to drive disease progression, which suggests that control of systemic inflammation (likely through maintenance of gut integrity) is the key determinant of lack of disease progression in natural hosts of SIVs.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Early Unloading After ACL Rupture and Prior to Surgical Restabilization in Mice Slows Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis Progression

Purpose: People who sustain joint injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture often go on to develop post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). ACL injuries are often treated with ACL reconstruction, but there is typically a gap of several weeks between injury and surgery. However, it is unclear how loading or unloading of the injured joint during the early postinjury period affects the progression of PTOA. The goal of this study was to determine how unloading between noninvasive ACL injury and surgical restabilization of the injured joint affects PTOA progression in mice. Findings: Mice were subjected to noninvasive ACL injury or no injury followed by 1 week of hindlimb unloading (HLU) or normal cage activity. After 1 week of HLU or cage activity, mice underwent restabilization surgery or no surgery. ACL injury resulted in considerable epiphyseal trabecular bone loss regardless of HLU or cage activity. HLU groups exhibited significantly reduced chondrophyte/osteophyte formation, OA scoring, and synovitis at day 42. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed that 1 week of HLU resulted in more neutrophils and less monocytes-macrophages in the injured joint. Conclusions: This study establishes that 1 week of HLU after ACL injury effectively slowed PTOA progression, suggesting that the early inflammatory response and joint instability play a key role in PTOA initiation and progression, and neutrophils and monocytes-macrophages play roles in the modulation. However, subsequent joint restabilization surgery caused greater inflammatory protease activity in the joint and exacerbated the loss of epiphyseal trabecular bone but did not significantly diminish OA score or synovitis.

ACL injury↗
DOE OSTI2023

Chymotrypsin-like Elastase-1 Mediates Progressive Emphysema in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency

Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is a rare disease affecting approximately 1 in 2000 White individuals with approximately 10% of these individuals developing AATD lung disease. This lung disease is marked by progressive alveolar loss despite the withdrawal of triggering agents such as cigarette smoke. Although the PiZZ genotype is the most common mutation, there are over 100 described variants making true population estimates difficult and AAT deficiency is typically diagnosed by reduced levels of AAT in the blood. Typically developing in the fourth and fifth decades of life, AAT-deficient lung disease is marked by progressive emphysema and is the fourth leading indication for lung transplantation. AAT augmentation therapy does not prevent disease progression making the development of new therapeutic approaches critical. Chymotrypsin-like elastase 1 (CELA1) is a serine protease synthesized and secreted by alveolar type 2 cells with a physiologic role in reducing postnatal lung elastance. At a molecular level, CELA1 binds and cleaves non-crosslinked, hydrophobic domains of tropoelastin, and its binding to lung elastin fibers is increased with strain—similar to other pancreatic elastases. CELA1 is neutralized by covalent binding with AAT, and Cela1 -/- mice were completely protected from emphysema in an antisense oligonucleotide model of AAT-deficient emphysema. This model, however, did not include any injury apart from administration of the antisense oligonucleotide with levels of emphysema exceeding that seen in mice with genetic ablation of 5 Serpina1 paralogues and subjected to tracheal lipopolysacharide or cigarette smoke. Here, we use this murine genetic model of AAT deficiency to test the role of the CELA1 gene in AAT-deficient emphysema using multiple models to show that CELA1 has a role in progressive airspace enlargement in AAT-deficiency independent of inflammation.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Progress Toward Ignition on the National Ignition Facility

The principal approach to ignition on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is indirect drive. A schematic of an ignition target is shown in Figure 1. The laser beams are focused through laser entrance holes at each end of a high-Z cylindrical case, or hohlraum. The lasers irradiate the hohlraum walls producing x-rays that ablate and compress the fuel capsule in the center of the hohlraum. The hohlraum is made of Au, U, or other high-Z material. For ignition targets, the hohlraum is ~0.5 cm diameter by ~1 cm in length. The hohlraum absorbs the incident laser energy producing x-rays for symmetrically imploding the capsule. The fuel capsule is a ~2-mm-diameter spherical shell of CH, Be, or C filled with DT fuel. The DT fuel is in the form of a cryogenic layer on the inside of the capsule. X-rays ablate the outside of the capsule, producing a spherical implosion. The imploding shell stagnates in the center, igniting the DT fuel. NIC has overseen installation of all of the hardware for performing ignition experiments, including commissioning of approximately 50 diagnostic systems in NIF. The diagnostics measure scattered optical light, x-rays from the hohlraum over the energy range from 100 eV to 500 keV, and x-rays, neutrons, and charged particles from the implosion. An example of a diagnostic is the Magnetic Recoil Spectrometer (MRS) built by a collaboration of scientists from MIT, UR-LLE, and LLNL shown in Figure 2. MRS measures the neutron spectrum from the implosion, providing information on the neutron yield and areal density that are metrics of the quality of the implosion. Experiments on NIF extend ICF research to unexplored regimes in target physics. NIF can produce more than 50 times the laser energy and more than 20 times the power of any previous ICF facility. Ignition scale hohlraum targets are three to four times larger than targets used at smaller facilities, and the ignition drive pulses are two to five times longer. The larger targets and longer pulse lengths produce unique plasma conditions for laser-plasma instabilities that could reduce hohlraum coupling efficiency. Initial experiments have demonstrated efficient coupling of laser energy to x-rays. X-ray drive greater than 300 eV has been measured in gas-filled ignition hohlraum and shows the expected scaling with laser energy and hohlraum scale size. Experiments are now optimizing capsule implosions for ignition. Ignition conditions require assembling the fuel with sufficient density and temperature for thermonuclear burn. X-rays ablate the outside of the capsule, accelerating and spherically compressing the capsule for assembling the fuel. The implosion stagnates, heating the central core and producing a hot spot that ignites and burns the surrounding fuel. The four main characteristics of the implosion are shell velocity, central hot spot shape, fuel adiabat, and mix. Experiments studying these four characteristics of implosions are used to optimize the implosion. Integrated experiments using cryogenic fuel layer experiments demonstrate the quality of the implosion as the optimization experiments progress. The final compressed fuel conditions are diagnosed by measuring the x-ray emission from the hot core and the neutrons and charged particles produced in the fusion reactions. Metrics of the quality of the implosion are the neutron yield and the shell areal density, as well as the size and shape of the core. The yield depends on the amount of fuel in the hot core and its temperature and is a gauge of the energy coupling to the fuel. The areal density, the density of the fuel times its thickness, diagnoses the fuel assembly, which is measured using the fraction of neutrons that are down scattered passing through the dense shell. The yield and fraction of down scattered neutrons, or shell rho-r, from the cryogenic layered implosions are shown in Figure 3. The different sets of data represent results after a series of implosion optimization experiments. Both yield and areal density show significant increases as a result of the optimization. The experimental Ignition Threshold Factor (ITFX) is a measure of the progress toward ignition. ITFX is analogous to the Lawson Criterion in Magnetic Fusion. Implosions have improved by over a factor of 50 since the first cryogenic layered experiments were done in September 2010. This increase is a measure of the progress made toward the ignition goal in the past year. Optimization experiments are planned in the coming year for continued improvement in implosion performance to achieve the ignition goal. In summary, NIF has made significant progress toward ignition in the 30 months since project completion. Diagnostics and all of the supporting equipment are in place for ignition experiments. The Ignition Campaign is under way as a national collaborative effort of all the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) science laboratories as well as international partners.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2011

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program conducted education and outreach activities and used the competition's technical goals and vehicle demonstrations as a means of attracting students and the public to learn more about advanced vehicle technologies, energy efficiency, climate change, alternative fuels, and the science and math behind efficient vehicle development. The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program comprised three integrated components that were designed to educate the general public and create a multi-tiered initiative to engage students and showcase the 21st century skills students will need to compete in our global economy: teamwork, creativity, strong literacy, math and science skills, and innovative thinking. The elements included an Online Experience, a National Student Contest, and in person education events and activites. The project leveraged online connections, strategic partnerships, in-classroom, and beyond-the-classroom initiatives, as well as mainstream media. This education program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also funded the specification of vehicle telemetry and the full development and operation of an interactive online experience that allowed internet users to follow the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE vehicles as they performed in real-time during the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competition events.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Foothill Transit Agency Battery Electric Bus Progress Report, Data Period Focus: Jan. 2018 through Jun. 2018

This report summarizes results of a battery electric bus (BEB) evaluation at Foothill Transit, located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles. Foothill Transit is collaborating with the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate the buses in revenue service. The focus of this evaluation is to compare the performance and the operating costs of the BEBs to that of conventional technology buses and to track progress over time. Previous reports documented results from April 2014 through December 2017. This report extends the data analysis through June 2018. NREL plans to publish progress reports on the Foothill Transit fleet every six months through 2020. performance and the operating costs of the BEBs to that of conventional technology buses and to track progress over time. Previous reports documented results from April 2014 through December 2017. This report extends the data analysis through June 2018. NREL plans to publish progress reports on the Foothill Transit fleet every six months through 2020.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Overview of the State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Uncertainty Assessment Accident Progression Insights

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) have completed three uncertainty analyses (UAs) as part of the State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses (SOARCA) program. The SOARCA UAs included an integrated evaluation of uncertainty in accident progression, radiological release, and offsite health consequence projections. The UA for Peach Bottom, a boiling-water reactor (BWR) with a Mark I containment located in the State of Pennsylvania, analyzed the unmitigated long-term station blackout SOARCA scenario. The UA for Sequoyah, a 4-loop Westinghouse pressurized-water reactor (PWR) located in the State of Tennessee, analyzed the unmitigated short-term station blackout SOARCA scenario, with a focus on issues unique to the ice condenser containment and the potential for early containment failure due to hydrogen deflagration. The UA for Surry, a 3-loop Westinghouse PWR with a sub-atmospheric large dry containment located in the State of Virginia, analyzed the unmitigated short-term station blackout SOARCA scenario including the potential for thermally-induced steam-generator tube rupture. These three UAs are currently documented in three NUREG/CR reports. This report provides input to planned NRC documentation on the insights and findings from the SOARCA UA program. The purpose of the summary report is to provide a useful reference for regulatory applications that require the evaluation of offsite consequence risk from beyond design basis event severe accidents. This report focuses on the accident progression and source term insights developed from the MELCOR analyses. MELCOR is the NRC's best-estimate, severe accident computer code used in the SOARCA UAs. In anticipation of the SOARCA UA insights work, NRC and Sandia benchmarked the response of the Peach Bottom model to selected reference calculations from the Peach Bottom SOARCA UA. Peach Bottom was the first SOARCA UA performed and was completed in 2015 using the MELCOR 1.8.6 code. The PWR SOARCA UAs evolved the original methodology and utilized the updated MELCOR 2.2 computer code. The Peach Bottom model has been systematically updated for other NRC research efforts and has been updated to MELCOR 2.2. computer code. The findings from the new reference calculations using the updated model with the MELCOR 2.2 code are also integrated into the report. A second objective is an assessment of the applicability of the results to the other nuclear reactors in the U.S. As the key findings are reviewed, judgments are presented on the applicability of the results to other U.S. nuclear power plants. An important objective of the SOARCA program relied on high- fidelity plant-specific modeling. However, the nature of the insights and conclusions allowed judgements to be made on the applicability of the various insights to the same general classification of plant (i.e., BWR or PWR) or the entire fleet of plants. Finally, the results from the SOARCA UA accident progression calculations contain a wealth of information not previously documented in the NUREG/CRs. This report includes new but related information that can be used to benchmark past or support future regulatory decisions related to severe accidents. The new work includes a benchmark of the NUREG-1465 licensing source term definitions, the variability of key accident progression events and timing to radionuclide release, and an improved understanding of the timing and source terms from consequential steam generator tube ruptures. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Sandia authors gratefully acknowledge the significant technical and programmatic contributions from the NRC SOARCA team which are reflected throughout the report. Dr. Tina Ghosh has been involved throughout the SOARCA UAs, providing the primary managerial and technical oversight. The long lists of NRC and Sandia contributors from the SOARCA UAs are cited in the three NUREG/CRs and are also gratefully acknowledged by the small team of authors compiling the results of their efforts. Significant technical contributions, advice, and reviews were provided by Dr. Hossein Esmaili, Dr. Alfred Hathaway, and Dr. Edward Fuller (retired) of the NRC. Dr. Randal Gauntt (retired), Mr. Patrick Mattie, Mr. Joseph Jones (retired), and Dr. Doug Osborn from Sandia are recognized as the SOARCA UA managers guiding the past efforts. There is a comparable list of project managers at the NRC including Ms. Patricia Santiago, Dr. Salman Haq, and Mr. Jon Barr. Sadly, we have lost Mr. Charlie Tinkler and Mr. Robert Prato, who were important contributors to the original SOARCA project. Finally, Mr. Kyle Ross and Mr. Mark Leonard have also retired but were significant technical contributors. Mr. Kyle Ross was the technical lead on all three SOARCA UAs and the original pressurized water reactor SOARCA study. Mr. Leonard was the technical lead on the original boiling water reactor SOARCA study and a key contributor to the first Peach Bottom SOARCA UA. iv

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Quarterly Technical Progress Report Piperazine Advanced Stripper (PZAS™) Front End Engineering Design

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document summarizes the status of Cooperative Agreement DE-FE0031844, “Piperazine Advanced Stripper (PZAS™) Front-End Engineering Design,” during the reporting period of January 1 through March 31, 2020. The objective of this project is to develop accurate installed costs by conducting a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of PZAS™ at Golden Spread Electric Cooperative’s (GSEC) Mustang Station located in Denver City, TX. Complementary benefits include positioning the technology for a commercial project with the 45Q tax credits, qualifying PZAS™ for use on a Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) Cogen facility, and to provide cost detail to optimize PZAS™ and help guide R&D of second-generation solvent CO2 capture technologies. Results from the FEED will be used to evaluate the economic feasibility of the process at Mustang Station. This project is funded by the U.S. DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory under the aforementioned Cooperative Agreement. Exxon, Total, Chevron, UOP-Honeywell, and the University of Texas (UT) are project co-funders. AECOM and Trimeric are project team members; UT is the prime contractor. Summary of Progress Cooperative Agreement DE-FE0031844 was established in October 2019. The current reporting period, January 1 through March 31, 2020, is the second technical progress reporting period for the project. Several milestones were accomplished during this reporting period, including: • Kickoff Meeting with DOE on February 3, 2020. • Kickoff Meeting with GSEC on March 30, 2020. (Note: Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions and shelter-in-place guidelines, the kickoff meeting was conducted remotely via videoconferencing. See attached notes from that telecon.) • Updated Project Management Plan March 2020, submitted with this quarterly report Other activities during the quarter included progress on contracting and other legal agreements (e.g., non-disclosure agreements), internal kickoff meetings at both AECOM and Trimeric, and development of a Technical Implementation Plan (TIP). The TIP will help the team to make critical, early process decisions and, ultimately, to develop a project and process design basis. Note that all agreements between project team participants are complete as of this submittal, except the vendor agreement with Kiewit (steam cycle modeling). Plans for Next Reporting Period Activities during the next reporting period (April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2020) include: the completion of the Project Design Basis and progress towards the Process Design Basis/Process Design Package (PDP). The Project Design Basis is due as a deliverable and milestone during the next reporting period.

Rochelle, Gary T.↗
DOE OSTI2012

Progress on Footprint Reduction at the Hanford Site - 12406

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) continues to reduce the footprint of legacy sites throughout the EM complex. Footprint reduction is being accomplished by focusing cleanup activities on decontamination and demolition of excess contaminated facilities, soil and groundwater remediation, and solid waste disposition. All of these initiatives are being accomplished with established technologies in proven regulatory frameworks. Ultimately, completion of these environmental cleanup activities will reduce the monitoring and maintenance costs associated with managing large federal facilities, allowing EM to place more focus on other high priority cleanup efforts and facilitate a successful transition to land-term stewardship of these sites. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investment, the Department's cleanup footprint has been reduced by 45 percent to date, from 2411 km{sup 2} (931 mi{sup 2}) to 1336 km{sup 2} (516 mi{sup 2}s). With this significant progress on footprint reduction, the Department is on track towards their goal to reduce its overall footprint by approximately 90 percent by 2015. In addition, some areas cleaned up may become available for alternate uses (i.e. recreation, conservation, preservation, industrialization or development). Much of the work to reduce the complex's footprint occurred at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Hanford Site in Washington, but cleanup continues across the complex. Footprint reduction is progressing well at the Hanford Site, supported predominantly through ARRA investment. To date, 994 km{sup 2} (384 mi{sup 2}) (65%) of footprint reduction have been achieved at Hanford, with a goal to achieve a 90% reduction by Fiscal Year 2015. The DOE EM and DOE Richland Operations Office, continue to make great progress to reduce the legacy footprint of the Hanford Site. Footprint reduction is being accomplished by focusing cleanup activities on decontamination and demolition of excess facilities, both contaminated and uncontaminated, waste site cleanup activities, and debris pile removal. All of these activities can be accomplished with proven technologies and within established regulatory frameworks. Footprint reduction goals for Fiscal Year 2011 were exceeded, largely with the help of ARRA funding. As cleanup projects are completed and the total area requiring cleanup shrinks, overall costs for surveillance and maintenance operations and infrastructure services decrease. This work completion and decrease in funding requirements to maintain waste sites and antiquated facilities allows more focus on high priority site missions (i.e. groundwater remediation, tank waste disposition, etc.) and moves Site areas closer to transition from EM to the Legacy Management program. The progress in the Hanford footprint reduction effort will help achieve success in these other important mission areas. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗