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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Research and Development Roadmaps for Nondestructive Evaluation of Cables, Concrete, Reactor Pressure Vessels, and Piping Fatigue

The purpose of the Materials Aging and Degradation Pathway is to develop the scientific basis for understanding and predicting long-term environmental degradation behavior of materials in nuclear power plants and to provide data and methods to assess the performance of systems, structures, and components essential to safe and sustained nuclear power plant operations. The understanding of aging-related phenomena and their impacts on systems, structures, and components is expected to be a significant issue for any nuclear power plant planning for long-term operations (i.e., service beyond the initial license renewal period). Management of those phenomena and their impacts during long-term operations can be better enabled by improved methods and techniques for detection, monitoring, and prediction of systems, structures, and components degradation.

Materials Aging↗
DOE OSTI2012

Sustainable Forward Operating Base Nuclear Power Evaluation (Relationship Mapping System) Users’ Manual

The Sustainable Forward Operating Base (FOB) Nuclear Power Evaluation was developed by the Idaho National Laboratory Systems Engineering Department to support the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in assessing and demonstrating the viability of deploying small-scale reactors in support of military operations in theatre. This document provides a brief explanation of how to access and use the Sustainable FOB Nuclear Power Evaluation utility to view assessment results as input into developing and integrating the program elements needed to create a successful demonstration.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Progress Towards Prognostic Health Management of Passive Components in Advanced Small Modular Reactors

Sustainable nuclear power to promote energy security and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are two key national energy priorities. The development of deployable small modular reactors (SMRs) is expected to support these objectives by developing technologies that improve the reliability, sustain safety, and improve affordability of new reactors. Advanced SMRs (AdvSMRs) refer to a specific class of SMRs and are based on modularization of advanced reactor concepts. Prognostic health management (PHM) systems can benefit both the safety and economics of deploying AdvSMRs and can play an essential role in managing the inspection and maintenance of passive components in AdvSMR systems. This paper describes progress on development of a prototypic PHM system for AdvSMR passive components, with thermal creep chosen as the target degradation mechanism.

prognostics, small modular reactors, passive compo↗
DOE OSTI2018

Simultaneous Thermal and Gamma Radiation Aging of Electrical Cable Polymers

The polymers used for insulation in nuclear power plant electrical cables are susceptible to aging during long term operation. Elevated temperature is the primary contributor to changes in polymer structure that result loss of mechanical and electrical properties, but gamma radiation is also a significant source of degradation for polymers used within relevant plant locations. Despite many years of polymer degradation research, the combined effects of simultaneous exposure to thermal and radiation stress are not well understood. As nuclear operators contemplate and prepare for extended operations beyond initial license periods, a predictive understanding of exposure-based cable material degradation is becoming an increasingly important input to safety, licensing, operations and economic decisions. We are focusing on carefully-controlled simultaneous thermal and gamma radiation accelerating aging and characterization of the most common nuclear cable polymers to understand the relative contributions of temperature, time, dose and dose rate to changes in cable polymer material structure and properties. Improved understanding of cable performance in long term operation will help support continued sustainable nuclear power generation.

Cables, Nuclear, Polymers, Thermal aging, Gamma ag↗
DOE OSTI2010

Options Study - Phase II

The Options Study has been conducted for the purpose of evaluating the potential of alternative integrated nuclear fuel cycle options to favorably address the issues associated with a continuing or expanding use of nuclear power in the United States. The study produced information that can be used to inform decisions identifying potential directions for research and development on such fuel cycle options. An integrated nuclear fuel cycle option is defined in this study as including all aspects of the entire nuclear fuel cycle, from obtaining natural resources for fuel to the ultimate disposal of used nuclear fuel (UNF) or radioactive wastes. Issues such as nuclear waste management, especially the increasing inventory of used nuclear fuel, the current uncertainty about used fuel disposal, and the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation have contributed to the reluctance to expand the use of nuclear power, even though it is recognized that nuclear power is a safe and reliable method of producing electricity. In this Options Study, current, evolutionary, and revolutionary nuclear energy options were all considered, including the use of uranium and thorium, and both once-through and recycle approaches. Available information has been collected and reviewed in order to evaluate the ability of an option to clearly address the challenges associated with the current implementation and potential expansion of commercial nuclear power in the United States. This Options Study is a comprehensive consideration and review of fuel cycle and technology options, including those for disposal, and is not constrained by any limitations that may be imposed by economics, technical maturity, past policy, or speculated future conditions. This Phase II report is intended to be used in conjunction with the Phase I report, and much information in that report is not repeated here, although some information has been updated to reflect recent developments. The focus in this Options Study was to identify any nuclear fuel cycle technology or option that may result in a significant beneficial impact to the issues as compared to the current U.S. approach of once-through use of nuclear fuel in LWRs or similar reactors followed by direct disposal of UNF. This approach was taken because incremental differences may be difficult to clearly identify and justify due to the large uncertainties that can be associated with the specific causes of the issues. Phase II of this Options Study continued the review of nuclear fuel cycle options that was initiated and documented during Phase I, concentrating on reviewing and summarizing the potential of integrated nuclear fuel cycles. However, based on the reviews of previous studies and available data, it was not always possible to clearly determine sufficiently large differences between the various fuel cycle and technology options for some of the issues or evaluation measures, for example, in cases where only incremental differences with respect to the issues might be achieved regardless of the fuel cycle option or technologies being considered, or where differences were insufficient to clearly rise above the uncertainties.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Prognostics Health Management for Advanced Small Modular Reactor Passive Components

In the United States, sustainable nuclear power to promote energy security is a key national energy priority. Advanced small modular reactors (AdvSMR), which are based on modularization of advanced reactor concepts using non-light-water reactor (LWR) coolants such as liquid metal, helium, or liquid salt may provide a longer-term alternative to more conventional LWR-based concepts. The economics of AdvSMRs will be impacted by the reduced economy-of-scale savings when compared to traditional LWRs and the controllable day-to-day costs of AdvSMRs are expected to be dominated by operations and maintenance costs. Therefore, achieving the full benefits of AdvSMR deployment requires a new paradigm for plant design and management. In this context, prognostic health management of passive components in AdvSMRs can play a key role in enabling the economic deployment of AdvSMRs. In this paper, the background of AdvSMRs is discussed from which requirements for PHM systems are derived. The particle filter technique is proposed as a prognostics framework for AdvSMR passive components and the suitability of the particle filter technique is illustrated by using it to forecast thermal creep degradation using a physics-of-failure model and based on a combination of types of measurements conceived for passive AdvSMR components.

passive components↗
DOE OSTI2019

Method and application of data integration at a nuclear power plant. Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program report

The data of a nuclear power plant (NPP) is stored in silos for the various plant tools. A previous study conducted by the LWRS program identified the different data sources that can benefit online monitoring in an NPP. These data have different structures and tools and are therefore used independently. Integrating data from various sources can result in multiple benefits to online monitoring by enhancing the ability to compare data, reduce statistical uncertainty due to a larger data set, increase data heterogeneity in space and time to reveal confounded information, develop intelligent methods, and share data. Data integration can result in direct cost saving by reducing the amount of effort needed to find needed information. It can also enable establishing a data warehouse, the backbone repository of data for an NPP, and is necessary to evolve NPPs to a holistic online monitoring approach and automate labor-intensive activities. Whether within an NPP or for a fleet of NPPs, deploying a data warehouse in a plant or data broker for a fleet of plants requires overcoming multiple challenges, including the lack of a standard form of storing and using data and the lack of integration methods to compare and map the different data sources. This effort demonstrates two methods and applications for data integration through an application integration pilot and a data fusion pilot. The application integration is targeted towards the software interfacing of data and data management. This approach is commonly used by data integrators. The data fusion pilot is targeted towards intelligently mapping or coupling data for optimized data use. The pilots were performed in collaboration with two NPPs.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Development and implementation of an in-situ cable condition monitoring method for nuclear power plants - 130

The sustainability of the existing fleet of nuclear power reactors depends on utilities' ability to manage the aging of key components that cannot easily or economically be replaced or upgraded. Cables, metals, and concrete structures are among the major and key components that the industry and government are working on to ensure the long term reliability and safety of nuclear plants. To ensure that these key components continue to meet their performance requirements, new testing and condition monitoring technologies must be developed that are capable of identifying and quantifying degradation in these materials. The work presented in this paper focuses on the development and implementation of an in-situ condition monitoring method for nuclear power plant cables. This cable condition monitoring method is based on the frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) technique, which is a non-destructive in-situ electrical test that uses the principle of transmission line theory to locate and quantify impedance changes in a cable circuit. Through extensive research, development, and validation, the FDR test technique has been adapted as a cable condition monitoring method that trends with increasing cable degradation. In addition, the FDR data has been correlated to the industry standard elongation at break (EAB) test to quantify the degree of localized degradation in nuclear plant cable insulation material caused by long term exposure to high temperatures and radiation. By correlating FDR to EAB, the aging condition of cables routed through harsh environments can be better understood in relation to its ability to perform its intended function. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Uranium Resource Recovery from Desalination Plant Feed and Reject Water Using Amidoxime Functionalized Adsorbent

With global demand for nuclear power expected to rise, new nuclear fuel resources must be explored to ensure the viability and sustainability of nuclear power. Uranium recovery from seawater is one potential source, though the low concentration of uranium in seawater is a significant obstacle. As a concentrate of seawater, desalination brine reject would have a significantly higher uranyl concentration. In this work, the adsorption of uranium and competing ions in brine reject is investigated. Adsorption experiments were performed over 84 days in 5-gallon batch tanks with amidoxime adsorbents and samples taken from the feed seawater and reverse osmosis brine reject of the Tampa Bay Desalination Plant. The aqueous concentration and adsorbed mass of uranium, zinc, copper, iron, vanadium, calcium, and magnesium were determined through inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. Aqueous adsorption modeling was used to simulate speciation and adsorption of these ions under the experimental conditions. The adsorbed mass of uranium in seawater was 6.22 mg/g adsorbent which declined to 3.95 mg/g in brine. This is a result of increased competition from iron and vanadium whose adsorbed masses increased from 1.06 to 3.00 mg/g and 1.05 to 2.67 mg/g, respectively. Good agreement between experimental and predicted results was obtained for all ions in seawater. Uranium adsorption was overpredicted in brine which may be attributed to the presence of other competing ions and the system not being at equilibrium. Furthermore, results demonstrate that the influence of competing ions, such as those of iron and vanadium, on uranium adsorption would need to be reduced for brine reject to become a significant uranium resource.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2011

Diagnostic and Prognostic Tools for Residual Life Estimation in Aging Nuclear Power Plant Components

A central issue in life extension for the current fleet of light water nuclear power reactors (LWR) is the early detection and monitoring of significant materials degradation. To meet this need, nondestructive methods that are suitable for continuous monitoring over extended time periods (months to years) are needed. A related issue is the ability to estimate remaining useful life (RUL) of components and systems based on condition assessment or degradation information. Monitoring for early detection of materials degradation requires novel sensors and enhanced data integration techniques. A range of acoustic and electromagnetic measurement methods may be suitable, including acoustic microscopy, eddy current and magnetic Barkhausen emission. Prognostic methods that predict rate of degradation and remaining life based on phenomena that can be described by linear elastic fracture mechanics have been reported by several researchers. However, the challenge of predicting remaining life starting from earlier phases of degradation is largely unsolved. This paper discusses an assessment of selected diagnostic techniques, and the application of Bayesian prognostic algorithms to detection of early degradation and rate of degradation/life prediction. Such measurement and modeling methods are expected to form the basis for a new range of advanced diagnostic and prognostic approaches for assessing and monitoring life extension of ageing light water reactors.

diagnostics↗
DOE OSTI2013

DOE-NE Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program

Nuclear power has safely, reliably, and economically contributed almost 20% of the total amount of electricity generated in the United States over the past two decades. High capacity factors and low operating costs make nuclear power plants (NPPs) some of the most economical power generators available. Further, nuclear power remains the single largest contributor (more than 60%) of non-greenhouse-gas-emitting electric power generation in the United States. Even when major refurbishments are performed to extend operating life, these plants continue to represent cost-effective, low-carbon assets to the nation’s electrical generation capability.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Diagnostics and Prognostics Tools for Assessing Remaining Useful Life of Nuclear Power Plant Materials

In recent years, there has been renewed interest in expanding the use of nuclear power to provide sustainable, carbon-free energy. As part of these activities in the USA, there are major initiatives focused on "life extension" for existing light-water nuclear power reactors (LWR) from 60 to 80 (or 100) years. To enable longer term operation, a range of advanced diagnostics and prognostics methods that are suitable for on-line, continuous, in-plant monitoring over extended time periods (months to years) are necessary. A central issue in life extension for the current fleet of LWRs is the early detection and monitoring of materials degradation. Material aging and degradation due to stresses and irradiation is a critical element in assessing potential for the failure of components in legacy nuclear power plants. A related issue is the ability to estimate remaining useful life (RUL) of components and systems based on condition assessment or degradation information. Detection of early stage damage in materials and assessment of remaining life is important in proactive or prognostic-based life management of legacy nuclear power plants. These approaches go beyond what is currently included in "condition-based maintenance," this strategy can potentially improve safety and reduce costs by detecting damage and scheduling appropriate maintenance/mitigation strategies early in the component lifecycle. For early detection of degradation, novel nondestructive (i.e., without destroying the utility of the specimen) tests that are suitable for continuous monitoring over extended time periods are needed, as are new techniques for data integration. The challenge of predicting remaining life starting from earlier phases of degradation is also largely unsolved and will require new prognostics tools. This paper will discuss the development and application of advanced diagnostics and prognostics tools to the life extension problem. The focus of these activities will be on ferritic and stainless steels, and degradation mechanisms common to an LWR operating environment in these materials. The use of micromagnetic measurements to assess early stages of degradation will be discussed. The measurements will be used, along with models of degradation accumulation over time, to assess the remaining useful life using a Bayesian prognostic algorithm. The primary advantage of a Bayesian approach is the ability to incorporate a priori information to constrain the solution of the problem and mitigate uncertainties in the measurements. Further, a Bayesian approach enables the incorporation of additional information as it becomes available, which can be used to update, and refine, the RUL estimates. Results of the proposed techniques on experimentally acquired measurements will be presented in the full paper.

diagnostics↗
DOE OSTI2024

ION Work Reduction Opportunity Realization Demonstration

The purpose of this research was to realize one of the advanced training work reduction opportunities first presented in the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) report, “Process for Significant Nuclear Work Function Innovation Based on Integrated Operations Concepts” (INL/EXT-21-64134) [1], with a nuclear power plant (NPP) research partner. Researchers modernized two trainings: (1) an accredited instructor-led training (ILT) overview course on Westinghouse DS 480-volt (V) circuit breakers to a multimedia-focused computer-based-training (CBT) learning module, and (2) an on-demand chaptered video on how to properly rack and un-rack a Westinghouse DS 480-V circuit breaker. These modernized work products were developed and implemented in a manner consistent with the industry guidelines found in Institution of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Teaching and Learning 23-001 [2]. Researchers calculated that the modernized accredited training course reduced the time necessary to prepare and deliver the training material by a factor of 8:1. The amount of time learners spend in class could be reduced by this same factor. In other words, if a course took 8 hours to deliver a class, the new CBT instruction would take just over 1 hour. The researchers noted that the requirement for any practicum training by the learners with the instructor(s) would remain in place. But through interviews with new and experienced learners, the researchers discovered that the confidence of these learners in performing the racking and un-racking of the circuit breaker improved as a result of using the new modernized CBT process. Additionally, the learners who tested the modernized work products enjoyed the modernized CBT and the learning video significantly more than current in-class learning methods. These are encouraging results for the nuclear industry, as this modernization of training can be applied to other classes and is scalable across the industry. In line with the Integrated Operations for Nuclear (ION) model, positive workload analysis supports the investment of resources in modernizing NPP training processes and infrastructure. Implementation of the advanced training technologies in this report is likely to result in substantive long-term workload benefits to instructors and learners and result in hard-dollar savings on contractor spends. Additionally, investment in these modernized training processes will result in improved learner proficiency. The results of this research can be applied to additional operator, technical, and general training topics to provide additional workload and learning benefits in addition to what was explored.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: Integrated Program Plan

Nuclear power has safely, reliably, and economically contributed almost 20% of electrical generation in the United States over the past two decades. It remains the single largest contributor (more than 60%) of non-greenhouse-gas-emitting electric power generation in the United States. Domestic demand for electrical energy is expected to grow by about 24% from 2013 to 2040 . At the same time, most of the currently operating nuclear power plants will begin reaching the end of their initial 20-year extension to their original 40-year operating license, for a total of 60 years of operation (the oldest commercial plants in the United States reached their 40th anniversary in 2009). Figure E-1 shows projected nuclear energy contribution to the domestic generating capacity for 40- and 60-year license periods. If current operating nuclear power plants do not operate beyond 60 years (and new nuclear plants are not built quickly enough to replace them), the total fraction of generated electrical energy from nuclear power will rapidly decline. That decline will be accelerated if plants are shut down before 60 years of operation. Decisions on extended operation ultimately rely on economic factors; however, economics can often be improved through technical advancements. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s 2010 Research and Development Roadmap (2010 Nuclear Energy Roadmap) organizes its activities around four objectives that ensure nuclear energy remains a compelling and viable energy option for the United States. The four objectives are as follows: 1. Develop technologies and other solutions that can improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the life of the current reactors; 2. Develop improvements in the affordability of new reactors to enable nuclear energy to help meet the Administration’s energy security and climate change goals; 3. Develop sustainable nuclear fuel cycles; and 4. Understand and minimize the risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is the primary programmatic activity that addresses Objective 1. This document summarizes the LWRS Program’s plans. For the LWRS Program, sustainability is defined as the ability to maintain safe and economic operation of the existing fleet of nuclear power plants for a longer-than-initially-licensed lifetime. It has two facets with respect to long-term operations: (1) manage the aging of plant systems, structures, and components so that nuclear power plant lifetimes can be extended and the plants can continue to operate safely, efficiently, and economically; and (2) provide science-based solutions to the industry to implement technology to exceed the performance of the current labor-intensive business model.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Demonstration and Evaluation of Explainable and Trustworthy Predictive Technology for Condition-based Maintenance

The domestic nuclear power plant (NPP) fleet has historically relied on labor-intensive and time-consuming predictive maintenance (PdM) programs, thus driving up operation and maintenance (O&M) costs to achieve high-capacity factors. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) can help simplify complex problems such as diagnosing equipment degradation to enable more effective decision-making efforts. The benefits of AI will be felt through more efficient plant O&M, improved work processes, and better integration of people and technology. Together, these benefits hold the promise to make nuclear power more sustainable by reducing O&M costs while improving employee engagement. While AI and ML technologies hold significant promise for the nuclear industry, there are challenges or barriers to their adoption. Explainability and trustworthiness of AI are two salient challenges that need to be addressed for wider deployment of these technologies in NPPs. This research focuses specifically on addressing the explainability and trustworthiness of AI technologies to advance the human, technical, and organization (HTO) readiness levels in adopting a risk-informed PdM strategy at commercial NPPs. In addition, this approach can be adapted to enhance the acceptability of AI in other nuclear applications with a few application-specific modifications. The technical approach ensuring wider adoption of AI technologies was developed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL)—in collaboration with Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), Nuclear, LLC—by utilizing the circulating water system (CWS) at two PSEG-owned plant sites for demonstration. Focused user studies were performed in collaboration with subject matter experts (SMEs) from PSEG and other nuclear domains to enhance human and organization readiness by building trust in AI-informed technologies. VIsualization for PrEdictive maintenance Recommendation (VIPER)—a Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, copyrighted software—was developed and expanded to provide a user-centric visualization by incorporating inputs from the collaborating utility, human factors engineering guidelines, and data analysts. The VIPER software enables users, who may be unfamiliar with ML in general, to be interactively engaged by asking technical questions about PdM, work orders, diagnosis results and their confidence levels, the kind of data being used, and the types of ML algorithms employed. This interactive engagement enhances explainability and builds trust. One of the enabling accomplishments was the integration of large language models (LLMs), both text-based and vision-based, in the VIPER software.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Comparison of Energy Storage and Arbitrage Options for Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is the most reliable source of clean energy and plays a crucial role in decarbonization efforts and national energy security. Achievement of Net-Zero targets depends on the deployment of new Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) – both advanced reactors and large-scale Light-Water Reactors (LWRs) – as well as continuing operations at existing LWR plants. The Light-Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program seeks to extend the lifetime of existing NPPs and improve their economic performance through research into plant modernization, Flexible Plant Operation and Generation (FPOG), risk-informed systems analysis, materials research, and physical security. The FPOG pathway investigates alternative revenue streams for LWRs. When electricity prices are driven low by an oversupply of renewable energy, steam and electricity from an NPP can be used to make value-added products while taking advantage of the low energy price; alternatively, this cheap energy can be stored chemically, electrically, or thermally, and used to regenerate-generate electricity at a later time when energy demand, and therefore the wholesale price of electricity, is higher in an economic concept called arbitrage. The purpose of this report is to investigate energy storage technologies that can store 500 MW of electricity from an LWR for a wide spectrum of durations.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗