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At least 1,711 records · Page 95
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Supporting Nuclear Energy Research with MLOps

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have been shown to be increasingly helpful tools in a growing number of use-cases relevant to scientific research, despite significant software-related obstacles. There exist large technical costs to setting up, using, and maintaining AI/ML models in production. This often prevents researchers from utilizing these models in their work. The growing field of machine learning operations (MLOps) aims to automate much of the AI/ML life cycle while increasing access to these models. This paper presents our initial work in creating a nuclear energy MLOps platform for use by researchers at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and aims to reduce the barriers of using AI/ML in scientific research. We hope to promote the integration of the latest AI/ML technologies into researchers' workflows and create more opportunity for scientific innovation. In this paper we discuss how our MLOps efforts aim to increase usage and the impact of AI/ML models created by engineers. We also present several use-cases that are currently integrated. Finally, we evaluate the maturity of our project as well as our plans for future functionality.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Importance of Chemical Research to the U.S. Economy

Chemistry plays a pivotal role in the strength of the U.S. economy and the advancement of humankind. Chemists' achievements include life-saving pharmaceuticals, advanced energy solutions, improved agricultural productivity, and novel materials used in products from clothing to electronic devices. The many sectors reliant on the U.S. chemical economy account for about 25% of the U.S. GDP and support 4.1 million U.S. jobs. However, a new and evolving chemistry landscape requires changes with regard to funding, training, and a focus on integrating sustainability into manufacturing, product usage, and product disposal. This report identifies strategies and options for research investments that will support U.S. leadership while considering environmental sustainability and developing a diverse chemical economy workforce with equitable opportunities for all chemistry talent. The report recommends that funding agencies and philanthropic organizations who support the chemical sciences fund as large a breadth of fundamental research projects as possible. Chemical industry and their partners at universities, scientific research institutions, and national laboratories should align the objectives of fundamental research to directly assist with new practices toward environmental stewardship, sustainability, and clean energy. Additionally, the report recommends that funding agencies make substantial investment toward education research to enable innovative ways of teaching about emerging concepts, tools and technologies.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2012

Implementing Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste Technology Platform From the Strategic Research Agenda to its Deployment - 12015

Several European waste management organizations (WMOs) have initiated a technology platform for accelerating the implementation of deep geological disposal of radioactive waste in Europe. The most advanced waste management programmes in Europe (i.e. Finland, Sweden, and France) have already started or are prepared to start the licensing process of deep geological disposal facilities within the next decade. A technology platform called Implementing Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste Technology Platform (IGD-TP) was launched in November 2009. A shared vision report for the platform was published stating that: 'Our vision is that by 2025, the first geological disposal facilities for spent fuel, high-level waste, and other long-lived radioactive waste will be operating safely in Europe'. In 2011, the IGD-TP had eleven WMO members and about 70 participants from academia, research, and the industry committed to its vision. The IGD-TP has started to become a tool for reducing overlapping work, to produce savings in total costs of research and implementation and to make better use of existing competence and research infrastructures. The main contributor to this is the deployment of the IGD-TP's newly published Strategic Research Agenda (SRA). The work undertaken for the SRA defined the pending research, development and demonstration (RD and D) issues and needs. The SRA document describing the identified issues that could be worked on collaboratively was published in July 2011. It is available on the project's public web site (www.igdtp.eu). The SRA was organized around 7 Key Topics covering the Safety Case, Waste forms and their behaviour, Technical feasibility and long-term performance of repository components, Development strategy of the repository, Safety of construction and operations, Monitoring, and Governance and stakeholder involvement. Individual Topics were prioritized within the Key Topics. Cross-cutting activities like Education and Training or Knowledge Management as well as activities remaining specific for the WMOs were as well identified in the document. For example, each WMO has to develop their own waste acceptance rules, and plan for the economics and the funding of their waste management programmes. The challenge at hand for the IGD-TP is to deploy the SRA. This is carried out by agreeing on a Deployment Plan (DP) that guides organizing the concrete joint activities between the WMOs and the other participants of the IGD-TP. The first DP points out the coordinated RD and D projects and other activities that need to be launched to produce these results over the next four to five years (by the end of 2016). The DP also describes general principles for how the joint work can be organised and funded. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

The use of underground research facilities for the demonstration of safety of geological disposal - 15094

Many countries are progressing towards developing research programmes related to the development of geological disposal facilities and as part of these research programmes many countries have constructed or are planning to construct Underground Research Facilities (URFs). The development of the safety case for geological disposal facilities, which covers both the operational phase and the post-closure phase, is built on the acquisition and integration of all necessary data including data on the natural and engineered barriers, on the facility itself (design), on the operation of the disposal facility, and in the specific case of geological disposal facilities, the conditions at the depth of disposal relevant for both in-situ and waste emplacement states. Taking these conditions into account can make the demonstration of safety more complex and demanding than for near surface disposal facilities. Most if not all of the countries well advanced in the development of geological disposal facilities have also developed underground research facilities to support the decision processes within their disposal facility development programme. Underground Research Facilities play an essential role in the demonstration of safety of geological disposal facilities and a distinction has to be made between data acquired from surface based investigations and boreholes and those data and experiments carried out in-situ. The use of in-situ data contribute to build confidence in the demonstration of safety and contribute to public confidence and acceptance of geological disposal facilities. Further discussion will elaborate on whether to use the URF as part of a future disposal facility or not, with an emphasis on the transposition of data from the experimental site to the disposal site and how this is addressed and validated in the demonstration of safety. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

The role of Aspo Hard Rock laboratory for the Swedish nuclear fuel and waste management's research, developing and demonstration programme for a final repository of spent nuclear fuel - 15378

The Aspo Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL), located in the Simpevarp area in the municipality of Oskarshamn in Sweden, Figure 1, constitutes an important part of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management (SKB) work with design and construction of a deep geological repository for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. One of the fundamental reasons behind SKB's decision to construct an underground laboratory was to create an opportunity for research, development and demonstration in a realistic and undisturbed rock environment down to repository depth. Most of the research has concerned with processes of importance for the long-term safety of a future final repository and the capability to model the processes taking place at repository depth. Demonstration addresses the performance of the engineered barriers and practical means of constructing a repository and emplacing the canisters containing spent fuel. SKB will in the coming years more focus on using the Aspo HRL for demonstrating technology for and function of important parts of the repository system before constructing and operate the spent nuclear fuel repository in Forsmark. Aspo HRL includes both a research village with office space for 100 persons and different laboratories, e.g. Chemistry and Material Science Laboratory and Bentonite Laboratory, and an underground research laboratory to a depth of 460 m. The Aspo HRL is also open for other organisations to be used for their own projects and experiments not only related to nuclear waste management research. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

An underground laboratory in the context of salt disposal research - 15549

Evaluating the basis of need for an underground research laboratory for salt science and engineering is imperative because of the significant commitment of time and money involved. Decades of salt repository studies, numerous experiments, and sophisticated modeling capabilities underpin the scientific database that supports safe disposal of nuclear waste in salt. The safety case for disposal of non-heat-generating waste such as transuranic waste interred at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is robust, with the only long-term releases to the environment projected to be by way of human intrusion. The scientific evidence also favors safe disposal of heat-generating waste. Technical evaluations for disposal of heat-generating waste in salt experienced a rather long hiatus in the United States subsequent to certification of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and issuance of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendment that ended salt disposal research for the civilian program. Similar salt repository research in Germany was delayed by a ten-year moratorium that ended in 2010. In collaboration with German peers, the United States Department of Energy has reviewed and evaluated thermally driven processes in salt disposal and identified key technical areas in which to prioritize resources. The goal for disposal research in salt is to provide sufficient technical information to license a repository successfully. The necessity or utility of a salt underground laboratory is to be evaluated in the context of an overall research agenda that supports a license application. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

The Bukov underground research facility as part of the Czech Republic's DGR development programme - 15644

The Czech Republic's deep geological repository (DGR) policy sets out a number of important milestones including the selection of candidate sites by 2018 and the selection of a final site by 2025. The final commissioning of the Czech DGR is planned for 2065. In 2010 a screening process was completed employing geological and other criteria that resulted in the identification of 7 potentially suitable sites, all situated in crystalline - granite host rock environments. The next step of the process will result in a reduction both in the number of sites and the surface area of remaining sites based on preliminary safety evaluations and socioeconomic, political and environmental criteria. In order to better understand the behaviour of crystalline host rock environments for DGR safety case purposes, the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA) made decided to enhance the extent of in-situ measurements and research at a depth corresponding to that of the future DGR. In the second half of 2013, RAWRA commenced the construction of the Bukov Underground Research Facility (Bukov URF) in the southern section of the Rozna uranium mine at a depth of 600 m below the earth's surface in a geologically well-mapped area of a Moldanubic crystalline rock formation which is composed principally of migmatised gneisses, migmatites and granulites. The Bukov URF will be, first and foremost, a research facility at which work will be conducted focusing on the taking of geophysical measurements, petrographic, mineralogic, geochemical research and the in-situ determination of the physical - mechanical, geochemical and hydrogeological properties of the host rock massif. The research results will form input data which will be used to both support and improve the safety of the future DGR. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Role of Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) in Nuclear Energy Materials Research

The Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) is one of a diverse number of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) user facilities established to provide researchers with the most advanced tools of modern science. The NSUF is unique and represents a consortium of capabilities distributed across the U.S. at twenty-one institutions. The NSUF is centered at and managed from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where it was originally founded, but it coordinates activities at twenty “partner” institutions that include universities, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES), national laboratories, and a nuclear industry vendor. These institutions have capabilities that include neutron, ion, and gamma irradiation, hot cells, advanced materials characterization equipment, and high-performance computing resources. Many of these capabilities were beyond reach for most researchers before NSUF. The NSUF provides researchers to access these capabilities at no cost to nuclear energy researchers to produce the highest quality research results to increase understanding of advanced nuclear energy technologies important to DOE-NE and support national priorities by adapting to the needs of DOE-NE programs, industry, and new innovative concepts for sustainable nuclear future.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

White Paper: Research & Development for the Time at Temperature Approach

Recent advancements in nuclear power research are greatly improving reactor safety and performance through the development of Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) and Low-Enriched Uranium Plus (LEU+). These innovations can address Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) margins, which are vital for reactor safety. DNB happens when the coolant switches to film boiling, significantly decreasing heat transfer and posing a risk of fuel cladding failure. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) employs conservative DNB criteria, which can potentially restrict the operational flexibility and efficiency of reactors. The Time at Temperature (TaT) approach could provide a more detailed and adaptable operational guideline by establishing acceptable time-temperature limits, accounting for the duration a material can withstand elevated temperatures without losing its integrity. This method allows reactors to operate more efficiently and safely, offering additional operational margins, faster power adjustments, and improved fuel cycle economics. TaT criteria allow for higher power levels and more flexible responses to operational transients, particularly applicable for anticipated operational occurrences (AOOs) that result in short durations of post-DNB conditions. It enhances plant operational flexibility, allows faster startup times, and enables quicker power level adjustments, optimizing fuel loading patterns and improving fuel cycle economics. Implementing TaT limits reduces core design constraints, lowers fuel usage, and reduces costs, essential for the long-term sustainability of Light Water Reactors (LWRs). TaT maximizes the use of advanced fuel technologies like ATF and LEU+, further enhancing their economic and environmental benefits. To apply the TaT approach in existing LWRs, collaborative research activities among various DOE-sponsored programs are essential. These efforts should incorporate fuel experiments, physics-based high-fidelity modeling, ML-based surrogate modeling, and optimization techniques. This whitepaper proposes four research and development areas: 1) Investigation of the feasibility of new operations of LWR with updated safety limits; 2) Assessment of reactor operation limits through uncertainty reduction; 3) Evaluation of power uprate in virtual environment; and 4) Lattice and reactor core design for power uprate. Each area includes why this research is in need and a suggested scope of work. These comprehensive research areas ensure practical and beneficial advancements for existing reactors, translating innovations in nuclear fuel and cladding technology into improved reactor performance and safety.

42 - ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tree drought physiology: critical research questions and strategies for mitigating climate change effects on forests

Droughts of increasing severity and frequency are a primary cause of forest mortality associated with climate change. Yet, fundamental knowledge gaps regarding the complex physiology of trees limit the development of more effective management strategies to mitigate drought effects on forests. Here, in this work, we highlight some of the basic research needed to better understand tree drought physiology and how new technologies and interdisciplinary approaches can be used to address them. Our discussion focuses on how trees change wood development to mitigate water stress, hormonal responses to drought, genetic variation underlying adaptive drought phenotypes, how trees ‘remember’ prior stress exposure, and how symbiotic soil microbes affect drought response. Next, we identify opportunities for using research findings to enhance or develop new strategies for managing drought effects on forests, ranging from matching genotypes to environments, to enhancing seedling resilience through nursery treatments, to landscape-scale monitoring and predictions. We conclude with a discussion of the need for co-producing research with land managers and extending research to forests in critical ecological regions beyond the temperate zone.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

National Institute for Climatic Change Research Coastal Center

It is widely recognized that coastal environments are under particular threat due to changes associated with climate change. Accelerated sea-level rise, in some regions augmented by land subsidence, plus the possibility of a changing storm climate, renders low-lying coastal landscapes and their ecosystems vulnerable to future change. This is a pressing problem, because these ecosystems commonly rank as some of the most valuable on the planet. The objective of the NICCR Coastal Center was to support basic research that aims at reducing uncertainty about ecosystem changes during the next century, carried out along the U.S. coastlines. The NICCR Coastal Center has funded 20 projects nationwide (carried out at 27 institutions) that addressed numerous aspects of the problems outlined above. The research has led to a variety of new insights, a significant number of which published in elite scientific journals. It is anticipated that the dissemination of this work in the scientific literature will continue for several more years, given that a number of projects have only recently reached their end date. In addition, NICCR funds have been used to support research at Tulane University. The lion’s share of these funds has been invested in the development of unique facilities for experimental research in coastal ecosystems. This aspect of the work could have a lasting impact in the future.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Expanding NREL's Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) Capabilities

NREL's Integrated Energy Pathways vision represents a transformed, future integrated energy system that is more affordable, clean, secure, and resilient than today. Key to this vision is the unique Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) research platform. With a focus on advancing modern grid infrastructure, making investments in energy efficiency building technology research, and innovating battery storage and much more, the unique ARIES research platform can be used to accelerate the integration of new technologies into a modern grid.

advanced research↗
DOE OSTI2025

Forced flow transient safety analysis of irradiation device with adjustable orifice for research reactor fuel assemblies

The Belgium Reactor 2 (BR2) of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN) has several irradiation devices or rigs that are dedicated to the fuel performance and qualification demonstration testing of research reactor fuels. In support of the U.S. High Performance Research Reactor (USHPRR) LEU conversion project, a new flexible irradiation apparatus, MUSTANG-R, has been constructed. SCK CEN has completed the design and safety study, in cooperation with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), to allow for the irradiation testing of a full-size fuel assembly in a 200 mm diameter channel in the BR2 reactor. The moveable valve is a key design feature of the device and acts like an adjustable orifice enhancing or restricting the flow through a coolant channel inlet located in the BR2 upper plenum. This moveable valve allows the flow through the device to be adjusted prior to each BR2 cycle to obtain the necessary conditions for the fuel qualification test. This ensures accurate and representative thermal-hydraulic conditions of the fuel design are achieved. The device was designed and qualified as passively safe, implying verification by a combination of mechanical and thermal-hydraulic analysis and testing. This includes characterization of the safety margin required for a scenario where the moveable valve is assumed to be erroneously closed during irradiation. A simplified and conservative method is proposed for analyzing the corresponding forced flow transient using a critical heat flux criterion. In conclusion, this allows the required minimum valve opening to be determined for the experiments' design and safety studies.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Measuring success for a future vision: Defining impact in science gateways/virtual research environments

Scholars worldwide leverage science gateways/virtual research environments (VREs) for a wide variety of research and education endeavors spanning diverse scientific fields. Evaluating the value of a given science gateway/VRE to its constituent community is critical in obtaining the financial and human resources necessary to sustain operations and increase adoption in the user community. In this article, we feature a variety of exemplar science gateways/VREs and detail how they define impact in terms of, for example, their purpose, operation principles, and size of user base. Further, the exemplars recognize that their science gateways/VREs will continuously evolve with technological advancements and standards in cloud computing platforms, web service architectures, data management tools and cybersecurity. We also present a number of technology advances that could be incorporated in next-generation science gateways/VREs to enhance their scope and scale of their operations for greater success/impact. The exemplars are selected from owners of science gateways in the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI) clientele in the United States, and from the owners of VREs in the International Virtual Research Environment Interest Group (VRE-IG) of the Research Data Alliance. Thus, community-driven best practices and technology advances are compiled from diverse expert groups with an international perspective to envisage futuristic science gateway/VRE innovations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Razorback – A reactor transient analysis code for large rapid reactivity additions in a natural circulation research reactor

Research reactors play an important role in higher education, scientific research, and medical radioisotope production around the world. It is thus important to ensure the safety of facility workers and the public. This work presents a new reactor transient analysis code referred to as Razorback. The code has been developed for the evaluation of large rapid reactivity addition in research reactors. Its initial focus is the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) at Sandia National Laboratories. Results have been validated against ACRR pulse operations. Razorback models the reactor kinetics, fuel element heat transfer, fuel element thermal expansion, and natural circulation coolant channel thermal-hydraulic response. Simulation results for ACRR pulse operations are shown to agree very well with operational data obtained from the ACRR. Finally, Razorback is expected to be a valuable tool for ACRR pulse performance prediction and ACRR reactor safety analyses.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Innovative control mechanism for research and test reactors using mandrel-shaped control rods

Research and test reactors have historically played a pivotal role in supporting the initial development of nuclear reactors. They continue to provide essential data for enhancing fuel designs and material knowledge. However, with many such reactors aging and the growing demand for data to bolster advanced reactor development, it is more necessary to research potential design attributes of the next generation of research and test reactors. For test reactors dedicated to fuel and material testing, the design of control mechanisms significantly influences the stabilization of neutron flux levels in irradiation positions while sustaining criticality. This study presents an innovative control mechanism for potential research and test reactor designs. It employs small absorber rods that move in opposite axial directions to maintain axial symmetry of power and neutron flux during burnup cycles. These rods maximize reactivity worth while also offering flexibility to flatten the radial power distribution. An axial translation of the control mechanisms’ absorbers, as compared to the rotational movement of absorbers in control cylinders, also provides a benefit to available excess reactivity and cycle length. Additionally, this work utilizes a simplified core model of the Advanced Test Reactor to assess the performance of this control mechanism. Compared to the current control system based on rotating control cylinders, the new control mechanism has the potential to enhance, or at least maintain, neutronic performance parameters in this reactor design.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Current Research on Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The thermochemical research platform at the National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is primarily focused on conversion of biomass to transportation fuels using non-biological techniques. Research is conducted in three general areas relating to fuels synthesis via thermochemical conversion by gasification: (1) Biomass gasification fundamentals, chemistry and mechanisms of tar formation; (2) Catalytic tar reforming and syngas cleaning; and (3) Syngas conversion to mixed alcohols. In addition, the platform supports activities in both technoeconomic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) of thermochemical conversion processes. Results from the TEA and LCA are used to inform and guide laboratory research for alternative biomass-to-fuels strategies. Detailed process models are developed using the best available material and energy balance information and unit operations models created at NREL and elsewhere. These models are used to identify cost drivers which then form the basis for research programs aimed at reducing costs and improving process efficiency while maintaining sustainability and an overall net reduction in greenhouse gases.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

A research agenda for the science of actionable knowledge: Drawing from a review of the most misguided to the most enlightened claims in the science-policy interface literature

Linking science with action affords a prime opportunity to leverage greater societal impact from research and increase the use of evidence in decision-making. Success in these areas depends critically upon processes of producing and mobilizing knowledge, as well as supporting and making decisions. For decades, scholars have idealized and described these social processes in different ways, resulting in numerous assumptions that now variously guide engagements at the interface of science and society. We systematically catalog these assumptions based on prior research on the science-policy interface, and further distill them into a set of 26 claims. We then elicit expert perspectives (n = 16) about these claims to assess the extent to which they are accurate or merit further examination. Out of this process, we construct a research agenda to motivate future scientific research on actionable knowledge, prioritizing areas that experts identified as critical gaps in understanding of the science-society interface. The resulting agenda focuses on how to define success, support intermediaries, build trust, and evaluate the importance of consensus and its alternatives – all in the diverse contexts of science-society-decision-making interactions. We further raise questions about the centrality of knowledge in these interactions, discussing how a governance lens might be generative of efforts to support more equitable processes and outcomes. We offer these suggestions with hopes of furthering the science of actionable knowledge as a transdisciplinary area of inquiry.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗