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At least 1,495 records · Page 83

Analysis of Phenix natural convection test with the TRACE code

Experimental data from the Natural Convection (NC) test performed in the Phenix reactor prior to its final shutdown have been used to further validate the single-phase sodium flow modeling in TRACE. The experimental data for the benchmark have been shared by the CEA in the frame of a Coordinated Research Project (CRP), initiated by the IAEA Technical Working Group on Fast Reactors (TWG-FR). This paper presents a complete TRACE model of the Phenix primary circuit developed for the analysis. Steady-state calculations at nominal (350 MWth) and reduced (120 MWth) power are compared to the experimental data for the validation of the model. We presents results from the 'blind' comparison, i.e. the comparison of the test results with those computed prior to the communication of the experimental data, so-called 'pre-test' results. 'Post-test' results, calculated from a model improved on the basis of the discrepancies identified from the blind comparison, are also presented. The analysis highlights the need to accurately simulate the reactor structures, since these define the thermal inertia of the system during the first phase of the transient. Furthermore, it shows the limitations of computed 1D-results when applied to the simulation of highly-stratified temperature fields. Nevertheless, the simulated reactor behavior and temperatures are found to match very well with the experimental data after the first two hours and, in general, the TRACE blind predictions may be considered as having been quite satisfactory. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Characterization of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity in fractured media using the multistep outflow method - 15461

The multistep outflow method is routinely used to characterize the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of soils. The technique involves placing a soil sample in a pressure plate apparatus, subjecting the sample to multiple gas pressures in discrete steps through time, and measuring the transient volume of pore fluid extracted. Unsaturated hydraulic property values are estimated through inverse modeling of the experimental conditions. In this study the multistep outflow concept was applied to micro-cracked cementitious materials to assess the efficacy of the technique for these materials. The cementitious materials tested were salt-waste simulant grout samples artificially damaged through oven-drying. Compared to typical soils, fractured media exhibit higher saturated conductivity and lower air-entry pressure, and the volume of fluid extractable from fractures is much lower than soil porosity. To accommodate these material differences the standard test apparatus was modified to incorporate a higher conductivity ceramic pressure plate, a high-precision digital balance for logging outflow mass, a low volume (diameter) effluent line, multiple in-line high-precision gas regulators, and a high-precision low-range pressure gauge. Testing to date indicates that the modified apparatus can provide a viable means to measure the unsaturated hydraulic properties of micro-fractured cementitious materials. However the accuracy/uniqueness of inverse modeling is limited by the inherent characteristics of fractured media: high saturated conductivity, low air-entry pressure, and strong non-linearities. Hydraulic property results in the form of van Genuchten / Mualem curves are presented for three fractured grout specimens. DOE Performance Assessments often involve cementitious barriers and/or waste forms that are predicted or assumed to degrade over time due to various mechanisms such as carbonation-influenced reinforcing steel corrosion, external sulfate attack, differential settlement, and seismic activity. Physical degradation typically takes the form of small-scale cracking / fracturing, and the affected materials reside in unsaturated hydrogeologic zones. In these cases, unsaturated hydraulic properties are needed for fractured cementitious materials to simulate moisture movement and contaminant transport within and around the facility. The outflow extraction method, as implemented in the present study, provides a suitable method for estimating these material properties. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

A DATA EFFICIENT SPARSE MODELING FRAMEWORK FOR POWER ESTIMATION IN WATER TREATMENT SENSING OPERATIONS

With increasing freshwater scarcity, advanced process design mechanisms such as Closed-Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) and Digital/Physical Twin systems are gaining traction in water treatment and reuse operations. While digital and physical twin models enable improved system insight and control, their development is often expensive and computationally intensive, requiring large volumes of synthetic or experimental data to characterize underlying process dynamics. This work introduces a sparse surrogate modeling framework to estimate power consumption from measured flow and pressure variables, along with their nonlinear polynomial and interaction expansions. To ensure model reliability and reduce overfitting, a two-stage pipeline is proposed. First, a dynamic data filtering algorithm is employed to remove uninformative observations and transient operational states. Second, a sparse penalized regression technique is applied to select a minimal set of parsimonious features. The proposed model achieves high sparsity, retaining only 7 out of 34 candidate features (≈79.41% sparsity) while delivering a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.072 on the test dataset.

Mukherjee, Subrata [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000309930338)↗

Dynamic event tree analysis with the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 safety analysis code

The consequences of a transient in an advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor are difficult to capture with the traditional approach to probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). Numerous safety-relevant systems are passive and may have operational states that cannot be represented by binary success or failure. In addition, the specific order and timing of events may be crucial which necessitates the use of dynamic PRA tools such as ADAPT. The modifications to the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 sodium-cooled fast reactor safety analysis code for linking it to ADAPT to perform a dynamic PRA are described. A test case is used to demonstrate the linking process and to illustrate the type of insights that may be gained with this process. Finally, newly-developed dynamic importance measures are used to assess the significance of reactor parameters/constituents on calculated consequences of initiating events.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Development and demonstration of a methodology to evaluate high burnup fuel susceptibility to pulverization under a loss of coolant transient

For economic reasons, the US nuclear industry is renewing efforts to build a technical basis to extend rod average burnup limits above the current regulatory burnup limit of 62 GWd/MTU. The primary driver is to increase pressurized water reactor cycle lengths to 24 months, reducing the number of fresh fuel assemblies and core design constraints, thereby making core energy utilization more efficient. However, fuel pellet fragmentation and pulverization, termed high burnup fuel fragmentation (HBFF), has been observed in the high burnup (>90 GWd/MTU) Halden loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) integral test series. The issue gained attention when fuel fragmentation and pulverization were also observed closer to the current US regulatory limit during the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) sponsored out-of-core integral test at Studsvik Nuclear in early 2011. This led to NRC concerns with potential changes to fuel and core designs relative to fuel pellet pulverization. In a letter to the NRC Commissioners, the staff specifically identified a need to “…define the boundary of safe operation for key fuel design and operating parameters,” stating that “the staff is challenged to evaluate the acceptability of future fuel design advancements and fuel utilization changes.” As such, it can be concluded that HBFF and potential dispersal into the reactor coolant system introduces additional complications in light-water reactor (LWR) fuel safety evaluations. However, it is not clear how much fuel will be susceptible to HBFF; nor has there been a methodology developed to evaluate fuel susceptibility to HBFF. To that end, this paper proposes an analysis methodology to assess fuel susceptibility to HBFF during LOCA scenarios. The work presented here uses the BISON fuel performance code to evaluate a representative pressurized water reactor fuel rod exposed to a rod average burnup of 75 GWd/MTU. Sensitivity studies investigated the impact of the peak cladding temperature, transient fission gas released, and pre-transient fission gas release on cladding ballooning and burst timing. Subsequently, a methodology to assess fuel susceptibility to HBFF will be developed based on experimental data published in the open literature. The methodology will then be demonstrated by calculating the mass of fuel susceptibility to HBFF. The BISON results conclude that increasing peak cladding temperature drastically decreased time to failure, and decreased balloon size both of which have been confirmed experimentally. Additionally, the effect of pre-transient and transient fission gas release affected cladding balloon size and burst timing. Finally, fuel susceptibility to HBFF significantly decreased as a function of peak cladding temperature.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Coupling coarse-mesh CFD with fine-mesh CFD for modeling molten-salt reactors in the Virtual Test Bed (VTB)

The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program aims at developing a simulation tool kit to accelerate the development and deployment of nuclear power technologies. NEAMS multiphysics tools have been designed to provide numerical simulation support for the design and licensing of GEN IV reactors. Pronghorn is NEAMS's coarse-mesh computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool, which is designed to run 3D core transients in GEN IV reactors at a reduced computational cost. To increase their accuracy, coarse-mesh CFD simulations require calibrated closure coefficients. One way of computing these coefficients is via the Nek5000, NEAMS's high-fidelity CFD tool. This article discusses our current research lines in informing Pronghorn closure coefficients via Nek5000 to enable multiphysics simulations of the core cavity of the molten-salt fast reactor. We present an application in which Pronghorn mixing length turbulent viscosity has been calibrated from Nek5000 simulations. The resulting Pronghorn thermal-hydraulics model is then coupled to Griffin, the NEAMS neutron transport solver, to solve for the steady-state configuration of the molten-salt fast reactor. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Coupling coarse mesh CFD with fine mesh CFD for modeling for Molten Salt Reactors in the Virtual Test Bed VTB

The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program aims at developing a simulation tool kit to accelerate the development and deployment of nuclear power technologies. NEAMS multiphysics tools have been designed to provide numerical simulation support for the design and licensing of GEN IV reactors. Pronghorn is NEAMS’s coarse-mesh computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool, which is designed to run 3D core transients in GEN IV reactors at a reduced computational cost. To increase their accuracy, coarse-mesh CFD simulations require calibrated closure coefficients. One way of computing these coefficients is via the Nek5000, NEAMS’s high-fidelity CFD tool. This article discusses our current research lines in informing Pronghorn closure coefficients via Nek5000 to enable multiphysics simulations of the core cavity of the molten-salt fast reactor. We present an application in which Pronghorn mixing length turbulent viscosity has been calibrated from Nek5000 simulations. The resulting Pronghorn thermal-hydraulics model is then coupled to Griffin, the NEAMS neutron transport solver, to solve for the steady-state configuration of the molten-salt fast reactor.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Low-GWP HVAC System with Ultra-small Centrifugal Compression

Mechanical Solutions, Incorporated (MSI) was awarded a contract from the United States Department of Energy under Contract DE-EE0007042 to advance the potential of vapor compression utilizing an advanced high speed centrifugal compressor with an advanced heat exchanger design. The design was mandated to maintain high efficiency while utilizing a low GWP refrigerant. The specific goal of this program was to develop an advanced 5 ton air conditioning system. The target of the air conditioner is residential and commercial. To accomplish these goals, MSI teamed with Lennox International, a leading air conditioning manufacturer. MSI would design, oversee manufacturing, assemble, and test the compressor, while Lennox designed the heat exchanger and tested the overall air conditioner. Lennox initiated the project with a detailed cycle analysis that examined systems and refrigerants. At various break points, MSI performed a preliminary compressor design to identify realizable targets. Initially, the refrigerant that was targeted was R1234ze(E), but this was subsequently rejected over concerns of flammability. R515a was ultimately accepted as a qualified fluid based upon its GWP and flammability rating. MSI performed a complete design of the centrifugal compressor based upon the cycle system design and analysis. The design was based upon advanced aerodynamics utilizing transient Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), as well as mechanical and rotordynamic analysis. A detailed materials investigation was conducted to ensure mechanical integrity and refrigerant compatibility. To achieve the high rotational speed required by the compressor (105,300 rpm), foil bearings were designed by MSI, as was a high speed motor to provide the required torque for the compressor. All elements of the design complied with Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) principles. The compressor was manufactured in components, utilizing specializing subcontractors throughout the country. The components were assembled into an operational compressor in MSI’s Albany facility, where it was tested in the MSI refrigeration test loop. The compressor achieved 90% of its maximum speed during testing at MSI. The interaction between the inverter and the high speed motor was the reason that full speed could not be attained. The compressor operated smoothly and quietly at all speeds, with the bearings performing as expected. The compressor was then shipped to Lennox’s facilities in Texas, where it was tested in the entire air conditioning system. Lennox was able to achieve 95% of the maximum rotational speed. They employed the same inverter as MSI. Lennox compiled the results of the testing and based upon the results, a go forward plan has been developed to correct the issues with the inverter, as well as redesign some parts that proved to be a challenge during the program. The consensus of the team is that a fully functional air conditioning system can be developed to achieve all of the goals identified in this program.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

H/L chondrite LaPaz Icefield 031047 - A feather of Icarus?

Antarctic meteorite LAP 031047 is an ordinary chondrite composed of loosely consolidated chondritic fragments. Its petrography, oxygen isotopic composition and geochemical inventory are ambiguous and indicate an intermediate character between H and L chondrites. Petrographic indicators suggest LAP 031047 suffered a shock metamorphic overprint below ~10 GPa, which did not destroy its unusually high porosity of ~27 vol%. Metallographic textures in LAP 031047 indicate heating above ~700 °C and subsequent cooling, which caused massive transformation of taenite to kamacite. The depletion of thermally labile trace elements, the crystallization of chondritic glass to microcrystalline plagioclase of unusual composition, and the occurrence of coarsely crystallized chondrule fragments is further evidence for post-metamorphic heating to ~700-750 °C. However, this heating event had a transient character because olivine and low-Ca pyroxene did not equilibrate. Nearly complete degassing up to very high temperatures is indicated by the thorough resetting of LAP 031047's Ar-Ar reservoir ~100 ± 55 Ma ago. A noble gas cosmic-ray exposure age indicates it was reduced to a meter-size fragment at <0.5 Ma. In light of the fact that shock heating cannot account for the thermal history of LAP 031047 in its entirety, we test the hypothesis that this meteorite belonged to the near-surface of an Aten or Apollo asteroid that underwent heating during orbital passages close to the Sun.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

A Critical Review of High Burnup Fuel Fragmentation, Relocation, and Dispersal under Loss-Of-Coolant Accident Conditions

High burnup fuel in excess of ~6268 GWd/MTU has been observed to severely fragment when subjected to temperature transient conditions as in a loss-of-coolant accident. In the event of cladding failure, the severely fragmented fuel can relocate into the balloon region and potentially disperse through the burst opening into the reactor’s primary system. This observation has led to implementation of several independent test programs designed to focus on various aspects of fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal. The purpose of this review is to perform a critical, holistic assessment of fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal under loss-of-coolant conditions to identify data gaps in the experimental data base. Phenomena have been identified and well defined through the various testing programs, and general agreement regarding the governing parameters (temperature, burnup, heating rate, cladding deformation, etc.) has been established. However, there is a significant data gap connecting research to commercial application. Furthermore, previous research attempted to evaluate the problem holistically, but has yet to provide a comprehensive understanding of the problem. Major identified data gaps consist of (1) a comprehensive understanding of pretransient fuel rod conditions (fuel temperature, fuel stress, rod internal pressures, microstructure, etc.), (2) definition of prototypic loss-of-coolant accident conditions (heating rate, fuel temperatures, fuel stress), (3) identification of the differences between nuclear and electrical integral loss-of-coolant accident tests, and connection of fuel rod performance (cladding ballooning, burst opening, potential relocation, fragmentation susceptibility, etc.) to fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal severity. Finally, the content of this manuscript provides a clear path for connecting testing and data acquisition to commercial application by providing concrete means for filling data gaps and prioritized testing regimes.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Developing a robust sensor for infrared imaging bolometers

A new type of large area sensor for infrared imaging bolometers has been developed. It replaces the thin and fragile free-standing metal foils, which typically have been used, with a multi-layer coated sapphire (or diamond) substrate. Sapphire is transparent to mid-infrared wavelengths, is robust against transients, and can be thick enough to even be the vacuum window. The primary radiation absorber is still a thin deposited metal layer, but now it is partially insulated from the supporting sapphire substrate by a black (carbon-based) layer, which also acts as a blackbody remitter. Test results indicate 6× more noise equivalent power density (estimated NEPD = 23 W/m 2 at 5 ms camera exposure time, foil temperature decay time 60 ms) for a 2 μm gold-coated sapphire disk compared to estimated NEP = 4 W/m 2 at 1.8 ms exposure time, with foil decay time 420 ms, for a nominal 2.5 μm thick platinum-free-standing foil.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Interactive Power to Frequency Dynamics Between Grid-Forming Inverters and Synchronous Generators in Power Electronics-Dominated Power Systems

With increased attention on grid-forming inverters as a power system stabilizing device during high shares of inverter-based resource operations, there is a present need for a transparent and methodical investigation of the inverted and direct power to frequency control capabilities and impacts of these devices on emerging power systems. Here, analysis of the frequency dynamics of the droop-controlled grid-forming inverter and the synchronous generator illuminates the inverted active power-frequency relationship and the frequency response order reduction, forming the basis for novel, nonlinear frequency control approaches. Device-level electromagnetic transient domain simulations corroborate the order-reduction findings, establish that a properly designed dc-side system has a negligible impact on power transfer and will not impede frequency regulation, and confirm the primary frequency response improvement with nonlinear control. Simulations of the 9- and 39-bus test systems validate the order reduction and associated decoupling of the nadir and rate of change of frequency in larger networks. Oscillatory mode analysis confirms the grid-forming benefit of increased damping; decreased damping is observed at shares above 80%, but not at 100%. Finally, simulations on a validated Maui power system model with a 96% of inverter-based resources model yield a trend toward a first-order response.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

3-D Thermal-Electric Finite Element Model of a Nb 3 Sn Coil During a Quench

High field superconducting magnets for particle accelerators often exhibit premature quenches. Once a normal zone is generated within the conductor, the quench may propagate causing temperature and resistive voltage rise along the coil. The resulting thermal gradients can potentially cause new peak stresses that might exceed the tolerable limits, degrading the conductor. The computation of the strain state in the coils during quench then becomes of paramount importance for magnet design, and requires a complete three-dimensional (3-D) analysis of quench phenomena. The objective of this paper is to present the first multiphysics modeling activities towards a new full 3-D methodology for the analysis of magnet mechanics during quench. As a first step, a 3-D thermal-electric finite element model of a Nb 3 Sn superconducting coil is developed and explained here. The model uses direct coupled-field elements to solve the system of thermal and electrical equations. A solving algorithm has also been implemented in order to investigate the physics behind quench transients. The output from this model, built in ANSYS APDL, can be easily coupled in a later stage to a mechanical model in order to estimate the strain state in the coil windings. In conclusion, a very good agreement has been observed between the numerical results and experimental tests performed in individual superconducting cables and real superconducting magnets.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Paternal preconception alcohol consumption increased Angiotensin II‐mediated vasoconstriction in male offspring cerebral arteries via oxidative stress‐AT1R pathway

Abstract Alcohol consumption is popular worldwidely and closely associated with cardiovascular diseases. Influences of paternal preconception alcohol consumption on offspring cerebral arteries are largely unknown. Male rats were randomly given alcohol or water before being mated with alcohol‐naive females to produce alcohol‐ and control‐sired offspring. Middle cerebral artery (MCA) was tested with a Danish Myo Technology wire myograph, patch‐clamp, IONOPTIX, immunofluorescence and quantitative PCR. Alcohol consumption enhanced angiotensin II (AngII)‐mediated constriction in male offspring MCA mainly via AT1R. PD123,319 only augmented AngII‐induced constriction in control offspring. AngII and Bay K8644 induced stronger intracellular calcium transient in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from MCA of alcohol offspring. L‐type voltage‐dependent calcium channel (L‐Ca 2+ ) current at baseline and after AngII‐stimulation was higher in VSMCs. Influence of large‐conductance calcium‐activated potassium channel (BK C a ) was lower. Caffeine induced stronger constriction and intracellular calcium release in alcohol offspring. Superoxide anion was higher in alcohol MCA than control. Tempol and thenoyltrifluoroacetone alleviated AngII‐mediated contractions, while inhibition was significantly higher in alcohol group. The mitochondria were swollen in alcohol MCA. Despite lower Kcnma1 and Prkce expression, many genes expressions were higher in alcohol group. Hypoxia induced reactive oxygen species production and increased AT1R expression in control MCA and rat aorta smooth muscle cell line. In conclusion, this study firstly demonstrated paternal preconception alcohol potentiated AngII‐mediated vasoconstriction in offspring MCA via ROS‐AT1R. Alcohol consumption increased intracellular calcium via L‐Ca 2+ channel and endoplasmic reticulum and decreased BK Ca function. The present study provided new information for male reproductive health and developmental origin of cerebrovascular diseases.

Zhang, Ze↗

MULTIPHASE FLOW CONCENTRATION CHARACTERIZATION IN SLURRIES DURING PULSE JET MIXING

Obtaining real-time, in situ slurry concentration measurements during unsteady mixing can provide increased understanding into mixer performance. During tests of an operating pulse jet mixing system, an ultrasonic attenuation sensor was inserted into a mixing vessel to measure the slurry concentration during unsteady mixing in real time. Pulse jet mixing tests to suspend noncohesive solids in Newtonian liquid were conducted at three geometric scales. To understand the solids suspension process and resulting solids distribution, the concentration of solids in the cloud was measured at various elevations and radial positions during the pulse jet mixer cycle. This paper presents transient concentration data obtained at three scales at the tank center to provide insight into pulse jet mixer performance.

concentration profile↗

Strain shift measured from stress-controlled oscillatory shear: Evidence for a continuous yielding transition and new techniques to determine recovery rheology measures

Understanding the yielding of complex fluids is an important rheological challenge that affects our ability to engineer and process materials for a wide variety of applications. Common theoretical understandings of yield stress fluids follow the Oldroyd–Prager formalism in which the material behavior below the yield stress is treated as solidlike, and above the yield stress as liquidlike, with an instantaneous transition between the two states. This formalism was built on a quasi-static approach to the yield stress, while most applications, ranging from material processing to end user applications, involve a transient approach to yielding over a finite timescale. Using stress-controlled oscillatory shear experiments, we show that yield stress fluids flow below their yield stresses. This is quantified through measuring the strain shift, which is the value about which the strain oscillates during a stress-controlled test and is a function of only the unrecoverable strain. Measurements of the strain shift are, therefore, measurements of flow having taken place. These experimental results are compared to the Herschel–Bulkley form of the Saramito model, which utilizes the Oldroyd–Prager formalism, and the recently published Kamani–Donley–Rogers (KDR) model, in which one constitutive equation represents the entire range of material responses. Scaling relationships are derived, which allow us to show why yield stress fluids will flow across all stresses, above and below their yield stress. Finally, derivations are presented that show strain shift can be used to determine average metrics previously attainable only through recovery rheology, and these are experimentally verified.

Mechanics↗

Simulation of CEFR neutronic start-up tests with FENNECS

This paper presents simulation results of selected Neutronic Start-up Tests of the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) obtained by the neutronics code FENNECS that have been performed within the frame of the IAEA Coordinated Research Program I31032. The Finite Element Neutronics code FENNECS is developed at GRS and solves the few-group steady-state and transient diffusion equation using a Galerkin-based finite element approach. Its main purpose is the safety assessment of Small Modular Reactors and Micro Reactors with complex geometry (e.g., rotating control drums) which gain increased interest internationally. Serpent has been applied to create reference models of the CEFR and cross-section libraries in 10 energy groups for FENNECS. Using these libraries, the following experiments have been simulated with FENNECS: net criticality, control rod integral and differential worth, void reactivity effect, subassembly exchange reactivity effects and reaction rate distribution. The obtained satisfactory agreements with the measurements represent a valuable contribution to the validation of FENNECS. (author)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗