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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

Digital Sensor Technology

The nuclear industry has been slow to incorporate digital sensor technology into nuclear plant designs due to concerns with digital qualification issues. However, the benefits of digital sensor technology for nuclear plant instrumentation are substantial in terms of accuracy, reliability, availability, and maintainability. This report demonstrates these benefits in direct comparisons of digital and analog sensor applications. It also addresses the qualification issues that must be addressed in the application of digital sensor technology.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
NASA NTRS2003

Automated Monitoring with a BSP Fault-Detection Test

The figure schematically illustrates a method and procedure for automated monitoring of an asset, as well as a hardware- and-software system that implements the method and procedure. As used here, asset could signify an industrial process, power plant, medical instrument, aircraft, or any of a variety of other systems that generate electronic signals (e.g., sensor outputs). In automated monitoring, the signals are digitized and then processed in order to detect faults and otherwise monitor operational status and integrity of the monitored asset. The major distinguishing feature of the present method is that the fault-detection function is implemented by use of a Bayesian sequential probability (BSP) technique. This technique is superior to other techniques for automated monitoring because it affords sensitivity, not only to disturbances in the mean values, but also to very subtle changes in the statistical characteristics (variance, skewness, and bias) of the monitored signals.

Bickford, Randall L.↗
DOE OSTI2019

An Integrated Risk Assessment Process for Digital Instrumentation and Control Upgrades of Nuclear Power Plants

Most of the existing nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the world rely on traditional analog instrumentation and control (I&C) systems for monitoring, control, and protection functions. With the industrial base largely moving to digital systems, the operation and maintenance of plants involves managing issues including lack of needed analog spare parts, increasing maintenance costs, and the loss of vendor support. Compared with existing analog I&C systems, digital I&C systems have significant functional advantages, such as reliable system performance in terms of accuracy and computational capability, high data handling and storage capabilities to fully measure and display operating conditions, and improved capabilities (e.g., fault tolerance, self-testing, signal validation, process system diagnostics). Therefore, the U.S. nuclear power industry has initiated the replacement of existing, aging analog systems with digital I&C technology, and is developing new designs for advanced plants using digital systems in integrated control rooms to provide modern control and protection systems. However, the qualification of digital I&C systems remains a challenge, especially the issue of software common cause failure (CCF), which has been difficult to address. A CCF is the malfunction of two or more plant components or functions due to a single failure source. CCFs have the potential to generate unanalyzed events or sequences that may not be bounded by previous plant accident analyses, therefore, to challenge the plant safety. Existing analyses on CCF in I&C systems are mainly focusing on hardware failures. With the application and upgrades of new digital I&C systems, software CCFs due to design flaws have become a potential threat to plant safety considering most redundancy designs are using the similar digital platforms or software in the operating and application systems. With complex multi-layer redundancy designs to meet the single failure criterion, these I&C safety systems are of a particular concern in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing procedures. Therefore, there is a need to develop an integrated risk assessment strategy with digital CCF and plant transient responses considered to assure the long-term safety and reliability of vital digital systems and reduce uncertainties in costs, time, and support integration of digital systems in the plant. The overall goal of this project is to deliver a strong technical basis to support effective, licensable, and secure digital I&C technologies for the digital upgrades to existing NPPs. To deal with the expensive licensing justifications from regulatory insights, this technical basis is instructive for nuclear vendors and utilities to effectively lower the costs associated with digital compliance and speed-up industry advances by: (1) defining an integrated risk-informed analysis process for digital I&C upgrades including hazard analysis, reliability analysis, and consequence analysis; (2) applying systematic and risk-informed tools to address CCFs and quantify responding failure probabilities for digital I&C technologies; (3) evaluating the impact of digital failures at the individual level, system level, and plant level; and (4) providing insights and suggestions on designs to manage the risks, thus to support the development, licensing, and deployment of advanced digital I&C technologies on NPPs. Upgrading digital I&C (safety and non-safety related) systems in existing NPPs within a cost-effective and regulatory acceptable way offers the foremost means of performance improvements and cost-reductions for existing NPPs. One key outcome of this project is to perform plant-specific risk assessment to provide a sustainable scientific support for enabling industry to balance the digital-related risks, costs, reliability, and safety.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Nuclear power plant risk-informed surveillance frequency control program implementation at the Duke Catawba nuclear plant with a focus on instrumentation and control systems - 333

This paper summarizes an updated process for risk-informed surveillance frequency control program (SFCP) implementation at the Catawba Nuclear Power Plant in the past year. This program includes selection and prioritization of specific target surveillance test interval extensions; and development, review, and implementation of surveillance test risk informed documented evaluation (STRIDE) packages designed to support extension of conventional surveillance requirement test intervals, in accordance with 'Risk-Informed Technical Specifications Initiative 5b, Risk-Informed Method for Control of Surveillance Frequencies, Industry Guideline,' NEI 04-10, Revision 1 . The scope of work associated with STRIDE development includes probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) case studies, deterministic assessment (DA) evaluations, and, where required, instrument drift evaluation (IDE). The STRIDE implementation efforts have also included support of independent decision-making panel (IDP) meetings at the implementing power stations and IDP member training. The purpose of this paper is to provide a presentation of a refined process for STRIDE development with a focus on instrumentation and control systems based on author experience, which includes support for the development of multiple STRIDE packages for the Catawba Nuclear Plant. This paper outlines a framework for practical implementation of an SFCP within the context of an integrated risk-informed performance-based regulation application program with emphasis on instrumentation and control systems. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
NASA NTRS1973

Application of NASA-developed technology to the automatic control of municipal sewage treatment plants

A search was made of NASA developed technology and commercial technology for process control sensors and instrumentation which would be applicable to the operation of municipal sewage treatment plants. Several notable items were found from which process control concepts were formulated that incorporated these items into systems to automatically operate municipal sewage treatment plants. A preliminary design of the most promising concept was developed into a process control scheme for an activated sludge treatment plant. This design included process control mechanisms for maintaining constant food to sludge mass (F/M) ratio, and for such unit processes as primary sedimentation, sludge wastage, and underflow control from the final clarifier.

Hiser, L. L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A 'figure-of-merit' approach to extraterrestrial resource utilization

An approach for interrelated optimizations in space missions that utilize extraterrestrial resources is developed, consisting in the concept of an overall mission 'figure-of-merit' leading to more realistic designs than through individual performance maximizations. After a brief discussion of this concept, the synthesis of four major components of any future space mission is considered. The four major components are: orbital mechanics of the transportation; performance of the rocket motors; support systems including power, thermal and process controls, and instruments; and in situ resource utilization plant equipment. The Mars Sample Return mission is the basis of an illustration of the proposed concept. A popular spreadsheet is used to quantitatively demonstrate the interdependent nature of the mission optimization. Future prospects are outlined, that promise great economy through extraterrestrial resource utilization and a quick evaluation technique.

Ramohalli, Kumar↗
NASA NTRS1990

A figure-of-merit approach to extraterrestrial resource utilization

A concept is developed for interrelated optimizations in space missions that utilize extraterrestrial resources. It is shown that isolated (component) optimizations may not result in the best mission. It is shown that substantial benefits can be had through less than the best propellants, propellant combinations, propulsion hardware, and actually, some waste in the traditional sense. One ready example is the possibility of discarding hydrogen produced extraterrestrially by water splitting and using only the oxygen to burn storable fuels. The gains in refrigeration and leak-proof equipment mass (elimination) outweigh the loss in specific impulse. After a brief discussion of this concept, the synthesis of the four major components of any future space mission is developed. The four components are: orbital mechanics of the transportation; performance of the rocket motor; support systems that include power; thermal and process controls, and instruments; and in situ resource utilization plant equipment. This paper's main aim is to develop the concept of a figure-of-merit for the mission. The Mars Sample Return Mission is used to illustrate the new concept. At this time, a popular spreadsheet is used to quantitatively indicate the interdependent nature of the mission optimization. Future prospects are outlined that promise great economy through extraterrestrial resource utilization and a technique for quickly evaluating the same.

Ramohalli, K.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hydrogen Storage for Load-Following and Clean Power: Duct-firing of Hydrogen to Improve the Capacity Factor of NGCC Plants (Final Report, Phase II Pre-Front End Engineering Design Study)

GTI Energy (GTI) and team members Southern Company Services (SCS), Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) performed a Phase II Pre-Feed Study under contract DE-FE0032008 for Hydrogen Storage for Load-Following and Clean Power. The configuration of the proposed system consists of subsystems for on-site H 2 production, on-site H 2 storage (up to 54 MWth in commercial vessels) and H 2 combustion in a duct burner in a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) integrated with an existing fossil asset. Here, the firing rate of the duct burner is varied to let the plant respond to fluctuations of electrical load and H 2 production is relatively constant by storing H 2 . The proposed system is an improvement over alternate low carbon dispatchable power options. Technoeconomic analyses show H 2 produced with GTI’s patented Compact Hydrogen Generator (CHG) with inherent carbon capture will be lower cost (Levelized Cost of Hydrogen, LCOH) relative to hydrogen produced with a Steam Methane Reformer (SMR) with an amine system for carbon capture. This lower cost hydrogen enables our integrated system to deliver electricity (Levelized Cost of Electricity, LCOE) at 17.4% lower cost relative to a SMR sourced H 2 -fired HRSG (with an amine system for carbon capture) – Steam Turbine Generator (STG). Our analysis using EPRI’s US REGEN macroeconomic model shows our system will have significant demand in the power market and therefore require significant capacity expansion (CHG plants built to deliver hydrogen) to deliver low cost, low carbon power. In Phase II, our Team has completed a detailed system definition including the development of process models, definition of battery limits, Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), Piping and Instrumentation Drawings (P&IDs), and a plant layout. A preliminary design for the key components of the CHG was developed including component lists & specifications. An evaluation of environmental and permitting considerations was completed and included the development of an Environmental Information Volume (EIV). The duct burners, which are flexible and can burn hydrogen and/or natural gas, were defined and initial CFD analyses were completed.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2022

An Integrated Risk Assessment Process of Safety-Related Digital I&C Systems in Nuclear Power Plants

Upgrading the existing analog instrumentation and control (I&C) systems to state-of-the-art digital I&C (DI&C) systems will greatly benefit existing light water reactors. However, the issue of software common cause failure (CCF) remains an obstacle in terms of qualification for digital technologies. Existing analyses of CCFs in I&C systems mainly focus on hardware failures. With the application and upgrading of new DI&C systems, design flaws could cause software CCFs to become a potential threat to plant safety, considering that most redundancy designs use similar digital platforms or software in their operating and application systems. With complex multilayer redundancy designs to meet the single failure criterion, these I&C safety systems are of particular concern in U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing procedures. In Fiscal Year 2019, the Risk-Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program initiated a project to develop a risk assessment strategy for delivering a strong technical basis to support effective, licensable, and secure DI&C technologies for digital upgrades and designs. An integrated risk assessment for the DI&C process was proposed for this strategy to identify potential key digital-induced failures, implement reliability analyses of related digital safety I&C systems, and evaluate the unanalyzed sequences introduced by these failures (particularly software CCFs) at the plant level. Here this paper summarizes these RISA efforts in the risk analysis of safety-related DI&C systems at Idaho National Laboratory.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

FY 2017 Summary Report on Industrial and Regulatory Engagement Activities

The Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II&C) Systems Technologies Pathway of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program conducts a vigorous engagement strategy with the U.S. nuclear power industry, including the nuclear operating companies, major support organizations, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and suppliers. The goal of this engagement strategy is to develop a shared vision and common understanding across the nuclear industry of the need for II&C modernization, the performance improvement that can be attained, and the opportunities for collaboration to enact this vision. In FY 2017, the vision, strategy, and project work was communicated to a number of key organizations, including the major industry support organizations, and a number of important industry conferences that are attended by leaders in nuclear plant instrumentation and controls as well as human performance and process improvement. This paper presents the specific engagement activities that occurred in FY 2017 to promote awareness and participation by the nuclear power industry in the activities of the II&C Pathway.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Recovery Act. Demonstration of a Pilot Integrated Biorefinery for the Efficient, Direct Conversion of Biomass to Diesel Fuel

The Renewable Energy Institute International, in collaboration with Greyrock Energy and Red Lion Bio-Energy (RLB) has successfully demonstrated operation of a 25 ton per day (tpd) nameplate capacity, pilot, pre-commercial-scale integrated biorefinery (IBR) plant for the direct production of premium, “drop-in”, synthetic fuels from agriculture and forest waste feedstocks using next-generation thermochemical and catalytic conversion technologies. The IBR plant was built and tested at the Energy Center, which is located in the University of Toledo Medical Campus in Toledo, Ohio.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2013

LysM receptor-like kinases to improve plant defense response against fungal pathogens

Perception of chitin fragments (chitooligosaccharides) is an important first step in plant defense response against fungal pathogen. LysM receptor-like kinases (LysM RLKs) are instrumental in this perception process. LysM RLKs also play a role in activating transcription of chitin-responsive genes (CRGs) in plants. Mutations in the LysM kinase receptor genes or the downstream CRGs may affect the fungal susceptibility of a plant. Mutations in LysM RLKs or transgenes carrying the same may be beneficial in imparting resistance against fungal pathogens.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

In-line chemical sensor deployment in a tritium plant

The Savannah River Tritium Plant (TP) relies on well understood but aging sensor technology for process gas analysis. The use of alternative sensing and detection technologies for in-line and real-time analysis would aid process control and optimization. The TP upgrading follows a 2-phase projects. In the first phase, TP sensing requirements were determined by a team of process experts. Meanwhile, Savannah River National Laboratory sensor experts identified candidate technologies and related them to the TP processing requirements. The resulting road-map links the candidate technologies to actual plant needs. In the second phase an instrument demonstration station was established within a TP glove box in order to provide accurate assessments of how a candidate sensor technology would perform in a contaminated process environment.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Automated work packages architecture: An initial set of human factors and instrumentation and controls requirements

The work management process in current fleets of national nuclear power plants is so highly dependent on large technical staffs and quality of work instruction, i.e., paper-based, that this puts nuclear energy at somewhat of a long-term economic disadvantage and increase the possibility of human errors. Technologies like mobile portable devices and computer-based procedures can play a key role in improving the plant work management process, thereby increasing productivity and decreasing cost. Automated work packages are a fundamentally an enabling technology for improving worker productivity and human performance in nuclear power plants work activities because virtually every plant work activity is accomplished using some form of a work package. As part of this year’s research effort, automated work packages architecture is identified and an initial set of requirements identified, that are essential and necessary for implementation of automated work packages in nuclear power plants.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

DEMONSTRATION OF A MULTI-STAGE TESTING AND EVALUATION APPROACH FOR A SAFETY-RELATED DIGITAL UPGRADE AT A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

There is an imminent need for existing United States nuclear power plants to reduce their operating and maintenance costs to remain economically viable. Digital technology provides significant opportunity for the existing nuclear power plant fleet to transform that way in which work is accomplished to reduce costs and allow the fleet to remain economically competitive. However, a careful understanding of the human-technology integration is needed to ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of these existing plants with new digital capabilities. This work presents interim findings in applying human factors engineering to a safety-significant digital upgrade for a United States nuclear power plant, following the new Alternative Review Process in the recently revised Digital Instrumentation and Control Interim Staff Guidance Licensing Process, Revision 2. The interim results described in this work provides an industry perspective, based on ongoing work, to recent work published from Vazquez, Green, and Desaulniers (2022).

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Instrumentation Framework for Molten Salt Reactors

This report provides an overview of the specialized instrumentation necessary to operate and maintain liquid-fueled molten salt reactors (MSRs). The report does not include non-specialized industrial process control instrumentation, fissile material tracking instrumentation, or digital control/communication technologies. The report focuses on identifying MSR measurement technology gaps, and recommending research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities to close the identified gaps. To a large extent modern MSRs can rely on the instrumentation demonstrated during prior MSR development efforts. No fundamental technology gaps have been identified that would prevent operating or maintaining MSRs. However, improved instrumentation technology combined with the integration of modern process modeling and simulation could significantly improve the reliability and decrease the operating costs of future plants. The largest potential impact of new instrumentation technologies is in the integration of maintenance automation into reactor operations. Flow measurement has the largest technology hurdles remaining for to enable deployment of robust systems. Also, the technology for reliable, on-line fuel salt sample acquisition remains at relatively low technology readiness.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2017

A novel priority selection system for nuclear power plant - 287

The priority selection system is an important component of security level instrument control platform for nuclear power plant, the main function of which is priority processing the manual or automatic command with various security levels and driving engineering safety features and field devices, such as pump and valve. Its stability and safety plays a crucial role in the operation of the power plant. The main objective of the present paper is to describe the new nuclear power plant-oriented priority selection system, which is developed independently by China Nuclear Control System Engineering Company. In this system, the control commands from 1E DCS, ECP and DAS systems are transmitted via hardwire, while those from NC DCS are transmitted by field-bus. The control commands experience priority output to control the field actuators. Meanwhile, in order to control key field devices when failure of the instrument control systems occurs, the issuing interface for native instructions with permissions setting is also offered. The whole system provides collection-feedback functions for field devices, high coverage self-diagnostic functions and periodic test functions for safety systems. Moreover, the feedback information of field devices, the results of self-diagnosis and periodic test will be submitted to DCS of nuclear power plant. In addition, the core part of priority selection system, namely priority selection module, is obtained by pure FPGA technology, which is different from DCS systems and could avoid common cause failure of software effectively. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗