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At least 19 records

United States Nuclear Power Reactor Used Nuclear Fuel Database and Applications

The Unified Database (UDB) within STANDARDS serves as the foundational data infrastructure for managing the United States' spent nuclear fuel inventory of 315,111 discharged assemblies totaling 91,036 metric tons of heavy metal. The database organizes this complex inventory through over 200 interconnected tables structured into eight primary attribute categories, supporting integrated analyses across storage, transportation, and disposal domains. Data enters the UDB through the GC-859 Nuclear Fuel Data Survey, which transitioned to web-based collection in 2023, improving data quality through real-time validation. The UDB enables automated generation of input files for nuclear safety analyses, reducing preparation time from weeks to hours while maintaining traceability. Applications include national inventory reporting, Certificate of Compliance assessments, and facility optimization. The three-tier distribution model balances accessibility with security requirements for federal agencies, national laboratories, and research organizations. The UDB provides essential data infrastructure as spent fuel management transitions from site-specific to integrated national campaigns.

Stefanovic, Peter↗

Documentation of Radioactive Waste Packages for Disposal in the Konrad Repository - 16253

For the Konrad repository, the plan approval procedure has been completed in 2002. In 2007 all complaints filed against the repository were dismissed, so that there is a legal and un-appealable license decision available. The waste acceptance requirements were revised taking into account additional requirements from the plan approval decision. Today, there are already several hundred waste packages produced that meet all requirements for final disposal in Konrad. The acquisition, verification and quality assurance of the data relevant for disposal is performed in parallel to the waste treatment and packaging. This constitutes the development of database applications, on the one hand to capture and handle specific data for the waste packages to another to manage the disposal procedures. The development of a database application for recording disposal-relevant data of waste packages has already been completed with regard to the radiological requirements. Additional aspects based on the requirements of the plan approval decision, e.g. water law relevant aspects, have to be taken into account. Thus, an upgrade relating to the recording of groundwater debilitating substances will be carried out in a second step, which is expected to be completed in 2016. In parallel, the development of a database application is carried out to coordinate the waste package deliveries to the repository and to document their disposal. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Leveraging Application Data Constraints to Optimize Database-Backed Web Applications

Exploiting the relationships among data is a classical query optimization technique. As persistent data is increasingly being created and maintained programmatically, prior work that infers data relationships from data statistics misses an important opportunity. We present Coco, the first tool that identifies data relationships by analyzing database-backed applications. Once identified, Coco leverages the constraints to optimize the application's physical design and query execution. Instead of developing a fixed set of predefined rewriting rules, Coco employs an enumerate-test-verify technique to automatically exploit the discovered data constraints to improve query execution. Each resulting rewrite is provably equivalent to the original query. Using 14 real-world web applications, our experiments show that Coco can discover numerous data constraints from code analysis and improve real-world application performance significantly.

Computer Science↗

Conditions Databases at FNAL

Conditions databases is an important class of database applications where the database is used to record the state of a set of quantities as a function of observation time. Conditions databases are used in Hight Energy Physics to record the state of the detector apparatus during data taking, and then to use the data during the event reconstruction and analysis phases. At FNAL, we have a set of 3 different conditions database products, Minerva Conditions DB, ConDB and UConDB, which cover the whole range of the use cases presented by the FNAL experiments. These products have common features such as conditions data representation model, data version control, ability to restore the database to a previous state, scalable web service data access interface. In the paper, we will present the common features of the products, common solutions used to build them and also the differences between the products and their target use cases.

Mandrichenko, Igor V.↗

An integrated online radioassay data storage and analytics tool for nEXO

Large-scale low-background detectors are increasingly used in rare-event searches as experimental collaborations push for enhanced sensitivity. However, building such detectors, in practice, creates an abundance of radioassay data especially during the conceptual phase of an experiment when hundreds of materials are screened for radiopurity. A tool is needed to manage and make use of the radioassay screening data to quantitatively assess detector design options. We have developed a Materials Database Application for the nEXO experiment to serve this purpose. Furthermore, this paper describes this database application, explains how it functions, and discusses how it streamlines the design of the experiment.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

PylotDB - A Database Management, Graphing, and Analysis Tool Written in Python

PylotDB, written completely in Python, provides a user interface (UI) with which to interact with, analyze, graph data from, and manage open source databases such as MySQL. The UI mitigates the user having to know in-depth knowledge of the database application programming interface (API). PylotDB allows the user to generate various kinds of plots from user-selected data; generate statistical information on text as well as numerical fields; backup and restore databases; compare database tables across different databases as well as across different servers; extract information from any field to create new fields; generate, edit, and delete databases, tables, and fields; generate or read into a table CSV data; and similar operations. Since much of the database information is brought under control of the Python computer language, PylotDB is not intended for huge databases for which MySQL and Oracle, for example, are better suited. PylotDB is better suited for smaller databases that might be typically needed in a small research group situation. PylotDB can also be used as a learning tool for database applications in general.

Barnette, DanielW.↗

Inverse Band Structure Design via Materials Database Screening: Application to Square Planar Thermoelectrics

Electronic band structure contains a wealth of information on the electronic properties of a solid and is routinely computed. However, the more difficult problem of designing a solid with a desired band structure is an outstanding challenge. In order to address this inverse band structure design problem, we devise an approach using materials database screening with materials attributes based on the constituent elements, nominal electron count, crystal structure, and thermodynamics. Our strategy is tested in the context of thermoelectric materials, for which a targeted band structure containing both flat and dispersive components with respect to crystal momentum is highly desirable. We screen for thermodynamically stable or metastable compounds containing d 8 transition metals coordinated by anions in a square planar geometry in order to mimic the properties of recently identified oxide thermoelectrics with such a band structure. In doing so, we identify 157 compounds out of a total of over half a million candidates. After further screening based on electronic band gap and structural anisotropy, we explicitly compute the band structures for the several of the candidates in order to validate the approach. We successfully find two new oxide systems that achieve the targeted band structure. Electronic transport calculations on these two compounds, Ba 2 PdO 3 and La 4 PdO 7 , confirm promising thermoelectric power factor behavior for the compounds. This methodology is easily adapted to other targeted band structures and should be widely applicable to a variety of design problems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Data Structures for Extreme Scale Computing

As computing problems of national importance grow, the government meets the increased demand by funding the development of ever larger systems. The overarching goal of the work supported in part by this grant is to increase efficiency of programming and performing computations on these large computing systems. In past work, we have demonstrated that some of these computations once thought to require expensive hardware designs and/or complex, special-purpose programming may be executed efficiently on low-cost commodity cluster computing systems using a general-purpose “latency-tolerant” programming framework. One important developed application of the ideas underlying this framework is graph database technology supporting social network pattern matching used by US intelligence agencies to more quickly identify potential terrorist threats. This database application has been spun out by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a Department of Energy Laboratory, into a commercial start-up, Trovares Inc. We explore an alternative application of the same underlying ideas to a well-studied challenge arising in engineering: solving unstructured sparse linear equations. Solving these equations is key to predicting the behavior of large electronic circuits before they are fabricated. Predicting that behavior ahead of fabrication means that designs can optimized and errors corrected ahead of the expense of manufacture.

42 ENGINEERING↗

E-KIT: An Electronic-Knowledge Information Tool for Organizing Site Information and Improving Technical Communication with Stakeholders - 13082

Managing technical references for projects that have long histories is hampered by the large collection of documents, each of which might contain discrete pieces of information relevant to the site conceptual model. A database application has been designed to improve the efficiency of retrieving technical information for a project. Although many databases are currently used for accessing analytical and geo-referenced data, applications designed specifically to manage technical reference material for projects are scarce. Retrieving site data from the array of available references becomes an increasingly inefficient use of labor. The electronic-Knowledge Information Tool (e-KIT) is designed as a project-level resource to access and communicate technical information. The e-KIT is a living tool that grows as new information becomes available, and its value to the project increases as the volume of site information increases. Having all references assembled in one location with complete reference citations and links to elements of the site conceptual model offers a way to enhance communication with outside groups. The published and unpublished references are incorporated into the e-KIT, while the compendium of references serves as a complete bibliography for the project. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

BDDR, a new CEA technological and operating reactor database

The new application BDDR (Reactor database) has been developed at CEA in order to manage nuclear reactors technological and operating data. This application is a knowledge management tool which meets several internal needs: -) to facilitate scenario studies for any set of reactors, e.g. non-proliferation assessments; -) to make core physics studies easier, whatever the reactor design (PWR-Pressurized Water Reactor-, BWR-Boiling Water Reactor-, MAGNOX- Magnesium Oxide reactor-, CANDU - CANada Deuterium Uranium-, FBR - Fast Breeder Reactor -, etc.); -) to preserve the technological data of all reactors (past and present, power generating or experimental, naval propulsion,...) in a unique repository. Within the application database are enclosed location data and operating history data as well as a tree-like structure containing numerous technological data. These data address all kinds of reactors features and components. A few neutronics data are also included (neutrons fluxes). The BDDR application is based on open-source technologies and thin client/server architecture. The software architecture has been made flexible enough to allow for any change. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

The Fabric for Frontier Experiments Project at Fermilab

The FabrIc for Frontier Experiments (FIFE) project is a new, far-reaching initiative within the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division to drive the future of computing services for experiments at FNAL and elsewhere. It is a collaborative effort between computing professionals and experiment scientists to produce an end-to-end, fully integrated set of services for computing on the grid and clouds, managing data, accessing databases, and collaborating within experiments. FIFE includes 1) easy to use job submission services for processing physics tasks on the Open Science Grid and elsewhere, 2) an extensive data management system for managing local and remote caches, cataloging, querying, moving, and tracking the use of data, 3) custom and generic database applications for calibrations, beam information, and other purposes, 4) collaboration tools including an electronic log book, speakers bureau database, and experiment membership database. All of these aspects will be discussed in detail. FIFE sets the direction of computing at Fermilab experiments now and in the future, and therefore is a major driver in the design of computing services worldwide.

Kirby, Michael↗

Expediting Groundwater Sampling at Hanford and Making It Safer - 13158

The CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) manages the groundwater monitoring programs at the Department of Energy's 586-square-mile Hanford site in southeastern Washington state. These programs are regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and the Atomic Energy Act (AEA). The purpose of monitoring is to track existing groundwater contamination from past practices, as well as other potential contamination that might originate from RCRA treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facilities. An integral part of the groundwater-monitoring program involves taking samples of the groundwater and measuring the water levels in wells scattered across the site. Each year, more than 1,500 wells are accessed for a variety of reasons. Historically, the monitoring activities have been very 'people intensive'. Field personnel or 'samplers' have been issued pre-printed forms showing information about the well(s) for a particular sampling evolution. This information is taken from two official electronic databases: the Hanford Well Information System (HWIS) and the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS). The samplers traditionally used these hardcopy forms to document the groundwater samples and well water-levels. After recording the entries in the field, the samplers turned the forms in at the end of the day and other personnel posted the collected information. In Automating Groundwater Sampling at Hanford (HNF-38542-FP Revision 0, Presented at Waste Management 2009 Conference, March 1 - March 5, 2009, Phoenix, AZ), we described the methods, tools, and techniques that would be used in automating the activities associated with measuring water levels. The Field Logging and Electronic Data Gathering (FLEDG) application/database that automates collecting the water-level measurement data has now been implemented at Hanford. In addition to eliminating the need to print out documents, the system saves three-to-four man days each month for the field personnel taking the measurements and the scientists and administrators managing the data and the documentation. After the information has received technical review, FLEDG automatically updates the database for water-level measurements and loads the document management system with the completed sampling report. Due to safety considerations, access to wells is conditional. A spreadsheet with appropriate data not only lists the wells that are cleared for work, but also the safety personnel who must be present before work can start. This spreadsheet is used in planning daily activities. Daily plans are structured to ensure that the wells to be sampled are cleared for work and the appropriate safety personnel have been assigned and are present before the work starts. Historically, the spreadsheets have been prepared manually, and as a result, are potentially subject to human error. However, a companion database application has been developed to work with FLEDG - making the entire sampling process more efficient and safer for personnel. The Well Access List - Electronic, WAL-E, is a database that contains much the same information that was previously manually loaded into the spread sheet. In addition, WAL-E contains a managed work-flow application that shows the access requirements and allows for appropriate reviews of the compiled well. Various CHPRC organizations, including Industrial Hygiene, RADCON, and Well Maintenance and Sample Administration are able to enter and review the wells added or deleted from the WAL-E database. The FLEDG system then accesses this database information to identify appropriate support personnel and provide safety requirements to field personnel. In addition, WAL-E offers the assurance that wells have appropriate locks and are correctly labeled and electrically grounded as required, before well activities begin. This feature is an extremely important aspect of the FLEDG/WAL-E system because it adds another safety check to the work evolution and reduces the potential for unsafe conditions to exist that would lead to a stop-work situation. This paper will further describe the technical aspects of both electronic programs/databases and their successful application at Hanford. (authors)

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A decay database of coincident γ–γ and γ–X -ray branching ratios for in-field spectroscopy applications

Current fieldable spectroscopy techniques often use single detector systems heavily impacted by interferences from intense background radiation fields. These effects result in low-confidence measurements that can lead to misinterpretation of the collected spectrum. To help improve interpretation of the fission products and short-lived radionuclides produced in a composite sample, a coincidence-database is being developed in support of a robust portable and X-ray coincidence detector system concurrently under development at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for in-field deployment. Hitherto, no database exists containing coincident γ–γ and γ–X-ray branching-ratio intensities on an absolute scale that will greatly enhance isotopic identification for in-field applications. As part of this project, software has been developed to parse all radioactive-decay data sets from the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) archive to enable translation into a more useful JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) formats that more readily supports query-based data manipulation. The coincident database described in this work is the first of its kind and contains coincidence γ–γ and γ–X-ray intensities and their corresponding uncertainties, together with auxiliary metadata associated with each decay data set. The new JSON format provides a convenient and portable means of data storage that can be imported into analysis frameworks with relatively low overhead allowing for meaningful comparison with measured data.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Integrating Parabolic Trough Solar Fields Into Computerized Maintenance Management Systems

Computerized maintenance management systems for power plants are not well suited for application in solar fields. They work well for tracking maintenance requirements on the hundreds or even thousands of pieces of equipment in conventional power plants, but they do not work as well tracking the maintenance requirements on hundreds of thousands of identical pieces of equipment found in a solar field. A database application, known as a field status program, is being developed for tracking the maintenance and status of collectors and components in parabolic trough solar fields as a complement to the computerized maintenance management system. This system, patterned after a similar system developed by the KJC Operating Company in the 1990s, provides a valuable tool for the O&M of parabolic trough solar fields. This paper describes the development and application of the tool and the new expanded capabilities that are being added to further enhance the O&M of solar fields.

Price, Hank↗

Tool for Developing Integrated Strategies for Decontamination and Waste Management - 20291

Management of waste from chemical, biological, and radiological incidents is complicated by the fact that decontamination decisions have a profound impact on the characteristics of resulting waste streams. Wide-area biological and radiological incidents could produce massive quantities of waste that may need to be treated on-site and sent for subsequent disposal as non-contaminated materials, or else be directly disposed of as contaminated materials. The EPA has developed the Waste Estimation Support Tool (WEST) for characterizing and quantifying biological and radiological waste that may be generated from decontamination efforts. This paper focuses on the WEST's uses for radiological incidents. WEST combines Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis of externally-supplied plume data, infrastructure databases derived from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Hazus tool [1], and satellite imagery surface recognition algorithms to combine the composition and square footage of the buildings in the plume with estimates of the materials between the buildings in the plume. The resulting GIS data files are then imported into a Microsoft Access database application, where they are combined with information about the nature and concentration of contaminants, and then subjected to decontamination strategies for different contaminated surfaces. The tool provides estimates of the type and quantities of potential wastes resulting from simulated decontamination and/or demolition activities and includes estimates of the remaining contamination levels including residual contamination contained within each waste stream. Estimates are presented at several levels of detail, allowing users to obtain needed data at the desired resolution. These include estimates for the total affected area, estimates by contamination zone, estimates by decontamination method(s), and estimates by building type (occupancy classification). EPA is currently developing the next version of WEST which will include several substantial enhancements. The most significant improvement for the next version of WEST will include the ability for users to develop contamination scenarios and waste estimates based on previously developed, readily available, and geographically specific infrastructure data. Instead of using WEST's default infrastructure data based on FEMA's Hazus tool, users will be able to import their own building data specific to the geographically affected area. This capability may substantially decrease uncertainties in the resulting waste estimates because the results will be based on actual building data (numbers of each type, square footage, building height, etc.). Two other significant enhancements will be the ability to generate waste estimates for vehicles and biomass. In addition to building debris and building decontamination waste, vehicles and biomass will likely constitute a significant percentage of the total waste which may result from wide area contamination events. This presentation will present the most recent version of WEST, which includes such considerations as affected biomass (e.g., trees), vehicles, and the ability to replace the default Hazus infrastructure databases with custom infrastructure databases. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Structural analysis and unique molecular recognition properties of a Bauhinia forficata lectin that inhibits cancer cell growth

Lectins have been used at length for basic research and clinical applications. New insights into the molecular recognition properties enhance our basic understanding of carbohydrate–protein interactions and aid in the design/development of new lectins. In this study, we used a combination of cell‐based assays, glycan microarrays, and X‐ray crystallography to evaluate the structure and function of the recombinant Bauhinia forficata lectin (BfL). The lectin was shown to be cytostatic for several cancer cell lines included in the NCI ‐60 panel; in particular, it inhibited growth of melanoma cancer cells ( LOX IMVI ) by over 95%. BfL is dimeric in solution and highly specific for binding of oligosaccharides and glycopeptides with terminal N ‐acetylgalactosamine (Gal NA c). BfL was found to have especially strong binding (apparent K d = 0.5–1.0 n m ) to the tumor‐associated Tn antigen. High‐resolution crystal structures were determined for the ligand‐free lectin, as well as for its complexes with three Tn glycopeptides, globotetraose, and the blood group A antigen. Extensive analysis of the eight crystal structures and comparison to structures of related lectins revealed several unique features of Gal NA c recognition. Of special note, the carboxylate group of Glu126, lining the glycan‐binding pocket, forms H‐bonds with both the N ‐acetyl of Gal NA c and the peptide amido group of Tn antigens. Stabilization provided by Glu126 is described here for the first time for any Gal NA c‐specific lectin. Taken together, the results provide new insights into the molecular recognition of carbohydrates and provide a structural understanding that will enable rational engineering of BfL for a variety of applications. Database Structural data are available in the PDB under the accession numbers 5T50 , 5T52 , 5T55 , 5T54 , 5T5L , 5T5J , 5T5P , and 5T5O .

Lubkowski, Jacek↗