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At least 19 records

Virtual Special Issue on Catalysis at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratories

Catalysis research at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Laboratories covers a wide range of research topics in heterogeneous catalysis, homogeneous/molecular catalysis, biocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and surface science. Since much of the work at National Laboratories is funded by DOE, the research is largely focused on addressing DOE's mission to ensure America's security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. The catalysis research carried out at the DOE National Laboratories ranges from very fundamental catalysis science, funded by DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), to applied research and development (R&D) in areas such as biomass conversion to fuels and chemicals, fuel cells, and vehicle emission control with primary funding from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Los Alamos National Laboratory Input for the National TRU Program 5 Year Plan for National Nuclear Security Administration TRU Waste

On July 16, 2018, Los Alamos National Security (LANS) received a Corporate Board Data Call for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) site input to the National TRU Program 5 Year Plan from the Office of the National TRU Program. This report summarizes LANL input for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) TRU waste and captures the shipping needs to support the LANL mission. Information is included for the current waste inventory and projected generation rates. The site’s location, characteristics, role and mission are described. Additional information for consideration and pictures for inclusion are provided. A separate submittal will be prepared by N3B for LANL legacy TRU waste managed by N3B under contract to EM-LA.

, LANL↗

A soft x-ray transmission grating imaging-spectrometer for the National Ignition Facility

A soft x-ray transmission grating spectrometer has been designed for use on high energy-density physics experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF); coupled to one of the NIF gated x-ray detectors it records 16 time-gated spectra between 250 and 1000 eV with 100 ps temporal resolution. The trade-off between spectral and spatial resolution leads to an optimized design for measurement of emission around the peak of a 100-300 eV blackbody spectrum. Performance qualification results from the NIF, the Trident Laser Facility and vacuum ultraviolet beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source, evidence a <100 {mu}m spatial resolution in combination with a source-size limited spectral resolution that is <10 eV at photon energies of 300 eV.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

National Synchrotron Light Source II storage ring vacuum systems

The National Synchrotron Light Source II, completed in 2014, is a 3-GeV synchrotron radiation (SR) facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory and has been in steady operation since. With a design electron current of 500 mA and subnanometer radians horizontal emittance, this 792-m circumference storage ring is providing the highest flux and brightness x-ray beam for SR users. The majority of the storage ring vacuum chambers are made of extruded aluminium. Chamber sections are interconnected using low-impedance radiofrequency shielded bellows. SR from the bending magnets is intercepted by water-cooled compact photon absorbers resided in the storage ring chambers. This paper presents the design of the storage ring vacuum system, the fabrication of vacuum chambers and other hardware, the installation, the commissioning, and the continuing beam conditioning of the vacuum systems.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Evaluating the Value of High Spatial Resolution in National Capacity Expansion Models using ReEDS

Power sector capacity expansion models (CEMs) have a broad range of spatial resolutions. This paper uses the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model, a long-term national scale electric sector CEM, to evaluate the value of high spatial resolution for CEMs. ReEDS models the United States with 134 load balancing areas (BAs) and captures the variability in existing generation parameters, future technology costs, performance, and resource availability using very high spatial resolution data, especially for wind and solar modeled at 356 resource regions. In this paper we perform planning studies at three different spatial resolutions--native resolution (134 BAs), state-level, and NERC region level--and evaluate how results change under different levels of spatial aggregation in terms of renewable capacity deployment and location, associated transmission builds, and system costs. The results are used to ascertain the value of high geographically resolved models in terms of their impact on relative competitiveness among renewable energy resources.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Abstract for CRADA among National Energy Technology Laboratory, Research Triangle Institute, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory (AGMT-0921)

Through the Carbon Capture Simulation for Industry Impact (CCSI 2 ) project, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) (herein collectively “the CCSI 2 team”) will collaborate through a CRADA with the Research Triangle Institute (RTI). This collaboration will develop a modeling framework of RTI’s Non-Aqueous Solvent (NAS) process using physical and thermodynamic data and models previously developed by RTI. RTI will provide existing models and data on its NAS system to inform the model construction effort by the CCSI 2 team.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Radiation transport and energetics of laser-driven half-hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility

Experiments that characterize and develop a high energy-density half-hohlraum platform for use in benchmarking radiation hydrodynamics models have been conducted at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Results from the experiments are used to quantitatively compare with simulations of the radiation transported through an evolving plasma density structure, colloquially known as an N-wave. A half-hohlraum is heated by 80 NIF beams to a temperature of 240 eV. This creates a subsonic diffusive Marshak wave, which propagates into a high atomic number Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5} aerogel. The subsequent radiation transport through the aerogel and through slots cut into the aerogel layer is investigated. We describe a set of experiments that test the hohlraum performance and report on a range of x-ray measurements that absolutely quantify the energetics and radiation partition inside the target.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Time-resolved measurements of the hot-electron population in ignition-scale experiments on the National Ignition Facility (invited)

In laser-driven inertial confinement fusion, hot electrons can preheat the fuel and prevent fusion-pellet compression to ignition conditions. Measuring the hot-electron population is key to designing an optimized ignition platform. The hot electrons in these high-intensity, laser-driven experiments, created via laser-plasma interactions, can be inferred from the bremsstrahlung generated by hot electrons interacting with the target. At the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [G. H. Miller, E. I. Moses, and C. R. Wuest, Opt. Eng. 43, 2841 (2004)], the filter-fluorescer x-ray (FFLEX) diagnostic–a multichannel, hard x-ray spectrometer operating in the 20–500 keV range–has been upgraded to provide fully time-resolved, absolute measurements of the bremsstrahlung spectrum with ∼300 ps resolution. Initial time-resolved data exhibited significant background and low signal-to-noise ratio, leading to a redesign of the FFLEX housing and enhanced shielding around the detector. The FFLEX x-ray sensitivity was characterized with an absolutely calibrated, energy-dispersive high-purity germanium detector using the high-energy x-ray source at NSTec Livermore Operations over a range of K-shell fluorescence energies up to 111 keV (U K{sub β}). The detectors impulse response function was measured in situ on NIF short-pulse (∼90 ps) experiments, and in off-line tests.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

The National Ignition Facility modular Kirkpatrick-Baez microscope

Current two-dimensional X-ray imaging at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) uses time resolved pinhole cameras with ∼10-25 μm pinholes. This method has limitations in the smallest resolvable features that can be imaged with reasonable photon statistics for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) applications. ICF sources have a broadband self-emission spectrum that causes the pinhole images obtained, through thin foil filters, to contain a similarly broadband spectrum complicating the interpretation of structure in the source. In order to study phenomena on the scale of ∼5 μm, such as dopant mix in the ICF capsule, a narrow energy band, higher spatial resolution microscope system with improved signal/noise has been developed using X-ray optics. Utilizing grazing incidence mirrors in a Kirkpatrick-Baez microscope (KBM) configuration [P. Kirkpatrick and A. V. Baez, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 38, 766–774 (1948)], an X-ray microscope has been designed and fielded on NIF with four imaging channels. The KBM has ∼12 × magnification, <8 μm resolution, and higher throughput in comparison to similar pinhole systems. The first KBM mirrors are coated with a multilayer mirror to allow a “narrow band” energy response at 10.2 keV with ΔE ∼ 3 keV. By adjusting the mirror coating only, the energy response can be matched to the future experimental requirements. Several mirror packs have been commissioned and are interchangeable in the diagnostic snout.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Simulated performance of the optical Thomson scattering diagnostic designed for the National Ignition Facility

An optical Thomson scattering diagnostic has been designed for the National Ignition Facility to characterize under-dense plasmas. We report on the design of the system and the expected performance for different target configurations. The diagnostic is designed to spatially and temporally resolve the Thomson scattered light from laser driven targets. The diagnostic will collect scattered light from a 50 × 50 × 200 μm volume. The optical design allows operation with different probe laser wavelengths. A deep-UV probe beam (λ{sub 0} = 210 nm) will be used to Thomson scatter from electron plasma densities of ∼5 × 10{sup 20} cm{sup −3} while a 3ω probe will be used for plasma densities of ∼1 × 10{sup 19} cm{sup −3}. The diagnostic package contains two spectrometers: the first to resolve Thomson scattering from ion acoustic wave fluctuations and the second to resolve scattering from electron plasma wave fluctuations. Expected signal levels relative to background will be presented for typical target configurations (hohlraums and a planar foil).

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Impact of different cleaning processes on the laser damage threshold of antireflection coatings for Z-Backlighter optics at Sandia National Laboratories

We have examined how different cleaning processes affect the laser-induced damage threshold of antireflection coatings for large dimension, Z-Backlighter laser optics at Sandia National Laboratories. Laser damage thresholds were measured after the coatings were created, and again 4 months later to determine which cleaning processes were most effective. There is a nearly twofold increase in laser-induced damage threshold between the antireflection coatings that were cleaned and those that were not cleaned. Aging of the coatings after 4 months resulted in even higher laser-induced damage thresholds. Also, the laser-induced damage threshold results revealed that every antireflection coating had a high defect density, despite the cleaning process used, which indicates that improvements to either the cleaning or deposition processes should provide even higher laser-induced damage thresholds.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Abstract for CRADA between the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Ohio State University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories (AGMT-0804)

This CRADA will enable cooperation between Ohio State University (OSU) and a collective led by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), with the goal of facilitating the accelerated commercialization of OSU’s iron-based chemical looping process through advanced modeling and state-of-the-art optimization techniques. OSU will provide data for model development and validation, while NETL and collaborators through the Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES) will develop advanced high-fidelity optimization-based system models. The project will use data collected primarily from OSU’s bench scale and sub pilot scale facilities and will be supplemented by data collected from the open literature. Models representative of chemical looping combustion or gasification using either coal or natural gas as fuel are considered in scope. Specific tasks will include 1) development of physical property sub-models, 2) development of steady-state and dynamic 1 st principles models of the novel gas solid contactor technologies being developed by OSU, and 3) superstructure and parametric optimization of a full chemical looping process by leveraging the large-scale optimization capabilities being developed by IDAES. This collaboration will provide a greater fundamental understanding of the OSU chemical looping process, will help to improve the overall process economics, and will thus enable a greater probability of commercial success. It will provide IDAES with the opportunity to validate, demonstrate, and further develop its toolset through a real-world practical demonstration.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

High-density carbon ablator experiments on the National Ignition Facility

High Density Carbon (HDC) is a leading candidate as an ablator material for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) capsules in x-ray (indirect) drive implosions. HDC has a higher density (3.5 g/cc) than plastic (CH, 1 g/cc), which results in a thinner ablator with a larger inner radius for a given capsule scale. This leads to higher x-ray absorption and shorter laser pulses compared to equivalent CH designs. This paper will describe a series of experiments carried out to examine the feasibility of using HDC as an ablator using both gas filled hohlraums and lower density, near vacuum hohlraums. These experiments have shown that deuterium (DD) and deuterium-tritium gas filled HDC capsules driven by a hohlraum filled with 1.2 mg/cc He gas, produce neutron yields a factor of 2× higher than equivalent CH implosions, representing better than 50% Yield-over-Clean (YoC). In a near vacuum hohlraum (He = 0.03 mg/cc) with 98% laser-to-hohlraum coupling, such a DD gas-filled capsule performed near 1D expectations. A cryogenic layered implosion version was consistent with a fuel velocity = 410 ± 20 km/s with no observed ablator mixing into the hot spot.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗