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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 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Superior removal of As(III) and As(V) from water with Mn-doped β-FeOOH nanospindles on carbon foam

Arsenic pollution of water is one of the severest environmental challenges threatening human health. Iron-based nanomaterials have been demonstrated effective in arsenic removal. However, they generally suffer from low removal efficiency towards highly toxic As(III), loss of active sites owing to agglomeration, and poor reusability. Herein, we report a carbonized melamine foam supported Mn(IV)-doped β-FeOOH nanospindles(CF@Mn-FeOOH NSp) for tackling the technical hurdles. The designed CF@Mn-FeOOH NSp appears as a free-standing monolith through a low-cost and straightforward hydrothermal method. The atomic-scale integration of Mn(IV) into β-FeOOH enables an oxidation-adsorption bifunctionality, where Mn(IV) serves as oxidizer for As(III) and Fe(III) acts as adsorber for As(V). The maximal adsorption capacity for As(V) and As(III) can reach 152 and 107 mg g -1 , respectively. Meanwhile, As in simulated high arsenic groundwater can be decreased to below 10 μg L -1 within 24 h. By simple "filtrating-washing", 85% and 82% of its initial adsorption capacity for As(V) and As(III) can be easily recovered even after 5-cycles reuse. Kinetics and isotherm adsorption study indicate that the arsenic adsorption behavior is mainly through chemical bonding during single-layer adsorbing process. The as-prepared CF@Mn-FeOOH offers a scalable, efficient, and recyclable solution for arsenic removal in groundwater and wastewater from mines and industry.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Optimization of edge bead removal (EBR) process to enhance defect reduction in optical lithography

Defect reduction remains a critical objective in the integrated circuit manufacturing process, particularly within the highly re-entrant lithography modules where minimizing defects is crucial. Defects at the wafer edge can contaminate lithography modules and downstream processing equipment, leading to redistribution onto the wafer surface and adversely affecting overall device yield. A persistent challenge in the resist coating process is the formation of resist edge beads, driven by the strong Van der Waals attraction of excess photoresist (PR) to itself and the underlying substrate. The edge bead removal (EBR) process is a standard cleaning step designed to eliminate these edge beads and prevent potential contamination. Here, in this study, we identify the sources of EBR induced defects and additional EBR process encroachment toward edge patterning during the EBR cleaning process. This study provides a comprehensive study aimed at optimizing the EBR cleaning process to effectively eliminate EBR-induced defects, thereby enhancing overall device yield. Specifically, we identify three primary defects induced by the EBR cleaning process: rainbow-type, finger-shaped, and teardrop-type defects. Our experimental study reveals that in addition to EBR rinse time, PR cast time is crucial parameters contributing to the formation of these defects. By properly optimizing the PR cast time and EBR rinse time, we were able to remove nearly 100 % of dense clusters of defects that were easily visible even at low magnification optical microscopy throughout the wafer edge. We observed that shorter PR casting times shows edge defects caused by inefficient EBR process because of insufficient time for PR to fully settle causing superfluous PR to continue flowing toward wafer edge during EBR clearing step, leading to partial removal of PR at the wafer edge and the formation of rainbow defects. Proper optimization of both PR casting time and EBR chemistries dispense time is essential to resolve these defects, ensuring efficient EBR cleaning process and improved overall device yield.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Energy Emissions Accounting Methods Can Determine Whether Direct Air Capture with Storage Achieves Net Removal

The voluntary carbon market within the United States has expanded rapidly in recent years and enabled private companies and other organizations to provide revenue streams to carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. For a CDR technology to participate in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), the emissions associated with constructing and operating the technology must be less than the CO 2 captured from the atmosphere. Assessing the extent to which this is true for direct air capture with storage (DACS), a relatively energy-intensive CDR technology, strongly depends on the accounting method used to assess the emissions intensity of purchased energy. We simulate the hourly weather-dependent operation of sorbent- and solvent-based DACS in California, Louisiana, Texas, and Wyoming, representing a wide range of local weather and electric and natural gas grid compositions. In all cases, the single most important emissions accounting decision is the method used to estimate the emissions intensity of purchased grid electricity, which varies the calculated net removal by −1049% to +108%. All other factors influencing net removal introduce a variation of at most ±14%. No electricity emissions accounting method is universally conservative across all scenarios, and none is objectively more accurate. High-spatiotemporal-resolution, high-quality, publicly available data sets and models for electricity emissions accounting do not currently exist and are urgently needed to enable standardization of emissions accounting methods to more accurately determine the true emissions impacts of DACS and other energy-intensive facilities.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Carbon Capture and Storage for Small-to-Medium Biorefineries: Promising Carbon Removal Solution with Economic Challenges

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) integrated with biomass-based fuel production can provide cost-effective biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) and produce high-value bioproducts, such as sustainable aviation fuels. To accelerate BiCRS deployment, it is crucial to quantify the costs of CCS integration, particularly for small- and medium-scale biorefineries that are representative of early-stage deployment. Existing studies tend to focus on plant sizes that are orders-of-magnitude larger than early-stage installations, possibly underestimating CCS costs for small-to-medium biorefineries. We show that the capture, transport, and storage costs to maximize CO 2 removal from a 526 dry tonne per day (tpd) biomass gasification plant (largest existing size) could be 13–47% higher than costs for a typical modeled plant size (2000 dry tpd). The higher cost estimates are driven by less favorable economies of scale and realistic assumptions about the availability of affordable CO 2 transport infrastructure with both drivers broadly applicable to other BiCRS technologies. Compliance and voluntary carbon markets could incentivize biorefinery CCS, but both carry a high degree of uncertainty. In conclusion, these findings highlight that sufficient and reliable financial mechanisms would be essential to unlocking the full CO 2 removal potential of biorefineries and facilitating BiCRS scale-up.

Biological transport↗
DOE OSTI2024

Thiol-Functionalized Adsorbents through Atomic Layer Deposition and Vapor-Phase Silanization for Heavy Metal Ion Removal

The removal of toxic heavy metal ions from water resources is crucial for environmental protection and public health. In this study, we address this challenge by developing a surface functionalization technique for the selective adsorption of these contaminants. Our approach involves atomic layer deposition (ALD) followed by vapor-phase silanization of porous substrates. We utilized porous silica gel powder (similar to 100 mu m particles, 89 m 2 /g surface area, similar to 30 nm pores) as an initial substrate. This powder was first coated with similar to 0.5 nm ALD Al 2 O 3 , followed by vapor-phase grafting of a thiol-functional silane. The modified powder, particularly in acidic conditions (pH = 4), showed high selectivity in adsorbing Cd(II), As(V), Pb(II), Hg(II), and Cu(II) heavy metal ions in mixed ion solutions over common benign ions (e.g., Na, K, Ca, and Mg). Langmuir adsorption isotherms and breakthrough adsorption studies were conducted to assess heavy metal binding affinity and revealed the order of Cd(II) < Pb(II) < Cu(II) < As(V) < Hg(II), with a significantly higher affinity for As(V) and Hg(II) ions. Time-dependent uptake studies demonstrated rapid removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous environments, with Hg(II) exhibiting the fastest adsorption kinetics on thiol-modified surfaces. Finally, these findings highlight the potential of ALD and vapor-phase silanization to create effective adsorbents for the targeted removal of hazardous contaminants from water.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Catalytic Oxygen Reduction for Deep O 2 Removal from CO 2 Streams

Streams of CO 2 from various capture processes may contain several impurities of which O 2 is often overlooked as a problematic impurity. Because of its reactivity, the National Energy Technology Laboratory has recommended a stringent limit, less than 10 ppm, for the O 2 level in treated CO 2 products for safe transport, storage, and utilization. Here, in this study, a variety of catalytic oxygen reduction approaches using commercial automotive exhaust emission catalysts are evaluated for O 2 removal from CO 2 streams using different reducing agents, including H 2 , CO, CH 3 OH, and CH 4 . When the amount of reductant added into the feed is carefully controlled, H 2 , CO, or CH 3 OH can effectively remove O 2 from 1.5% to below 10 ppm with a single-reactor design (>99.93% removal efficiency), while simultaneously meeting the impurity limits for other species. With CH 4 as a reductant, it is challenging to simultaneously meet the the O 2 and CO specifications in a single-reactor design because CH 4 also reacts with CO 2 to produce high levels of CO in the stream (at several hundred ppm). A dual-reactor design is developed to enable the use of CH 4 , a readily available and low-cost reductant, for the purification of CO 2 streams to meet the specifications for O 2 and other impurities.

CO2 purification↗
DOE OSTI2020

Mitigating the Impact of Thermal Binder Removal for Direct Li-Ion Battery Recycling

Li-ion battery recycling will become critical to the management of end-of-life batteries from electric vehicles. Currently, it is a challenge to create a profitable recycling process, which is made more difficult by the reduction in cathode cobalt content. Maintenance of the cathode structure throughout the recycling process can yield increased revenues that may make recycling profitable. This method will require careful removal of the PVDF binder and carbon black, which can be achieved through thermal processing. Furthermore, it is necessary to mitigate the effects of the fluorine from the PVDF on the cathode material. Herein, we report a process that utilizes excess LiOH•H 2 O to react with this fluorine and thereby prevent lithium removal and doping of the cathode material. In addition, we demonstrate a one-step thermal process that can both remove the binder and relithiate the cathode material.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Removal and recovery of ammonia from simulated wastewater using Ti3C2Tx MXene in flow electrode capacitive deionization

Abstract Flowing electrode capacitive deionization systems (FE-CDI) have recently garnered attention because of their ability to prevent cross contamination and operate in uninterrupted cycles ad infinitum. Typically, FE-CDI electrodes suffer from low conductivity, reducing deionization performance. Utilization of higher mass loadings to combat this leads to poor rheological properties. Herein, Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene was introduced as 1 mg mL −1 slurry electrodes in an FE-CDI system for the removal and recovery of ammonia from simulated agricultural wastewater. The electrode performance was evaluated by operating the FE-CDI system with a feed solution of 500 mg L −1 NH 4 Cl running in batch mode at a constant voltage of 1.20 and −1.20 V in charging and discharging modes, respectively. Despite the low loading, Ti 3 C 2 T x flowing electrodes showed markedly improved performance, achieving 60% ion removal efficiency in a saturation time of 115 min with an adsorption capacity of 460 mg g −1 . To understand the high adsorption performance of the electrodes, physiochemical and structural analysis was done via a variety of characterization techniques such as SEM, TEM, XRD, DLS, and Raman spectroscopy. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge profiles were obtained to evaluate the electrochemical properties of the electrodes. The system proved to be an energy-saving technology by exhibiting a charge efficiency of 58–70% while operating at an energy consumption of 0.45 kWh kg −1 . A 92% regeneration efficiency showed that the electrodes were stable and suitable for long term and scalable usage. The results demonstrate that MXenes have the potential to improve the FE-CDI process for energy-efficient removal and recovery of ammonia.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Simultaneous removal of C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 6 for C 2 H 4 purification by robust MOFs featuring a high density of heteroatoms

Simultaneous removal of C 2 H 6 and C 2 H 2 from C 2 H 4 streams is of great importance in the petrochemical industry but remains a challenging task. To address this challenge, we have selected three isoreticular MOFs with high stability, low cost, and desirable scale-up ability, namely, MOF-303, MIL-160, and CAU-23 and assessed their potential in simultaneous removal of acetylene and ethane for ethylene purification. Each MOF exhibits desirable C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 6 uptake capacity (>5.5 mmol g –1 and >4 mmol g –1 , respectively), as well as good C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4 selectivity (>2) and C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 selectivity (>1.5). Notably, MOF-303 takes up 4.96 mmol g –1 C 2 H 6 at 298 K and 1 bar, the highest value among the three MOFs, with C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 selectivity in the range of 1.55–2.47. MIL-160 possesses a very high C 2 H 2 uptake (9.1 mmol g –1 ) and C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4 selectivity, 10.6 (1 : 1, v/v), at 298 K, much higher than those of all other MOFs tested to date for simultaneous removal of C 2 H 6 and C 2 H 2 from C 2 H 4 . The results from breakthrough experiments confirm that all three MOFs demonstrate excellent performance for C 2 H 4 purification in a ternary mixture of C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 /C 2 H 2 (1 : 1 : 1, v/v/v). Here, for MOF-303, MIL-160, and CAU-23, polymer-grade C 2 H 4 up to 0.164, 0.21, and 0.181 mmol g –1 can be obtained from the equimolar ternary mixture in a single separation step from the breakthrough experiment. Additionally, DFT calculations have been performed to further investigate the mechanism of adsorption/separation for C 2 H 6 , C 2 H 4 , and C 2 H 2 .

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Impact of feed variability on cesium removal with multiple actual waste samples from the Hanford site

Here, the Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system, under development by Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), will send initial low-activity Hanford waste tank supernate feeds to the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility. In addition to entrained solids removal from the supernate, the primary goal of TSCR is to remove cesium-137 ( 137 Cs) by ion exchange, allowing contact handling of the liquid effluent product at WTP. Crystalline silicotitanate (CST) ion exchange media, manufactured by Honeywell UOP (product IONSIV™ R9140-B), was selected as the ion exchange media at TSCR. This lot of material was found to have superior performance in comparison to historic batches of CST. Ion exchange column and batch contact testing with supernate from Hanford tanks AP-105, AP-107 and AW-102 was performed to assess the impact of feed variability on system performance. These tests demonstrated that batch contact measurements provide a reasonable prediction of column capacities with some deviation in performance attributed to column dynamics. In addition, the variability in CST capacity for cesium in the various actual waste samples does not track with historical understanding of the competing cations, suggesting that tank waste samples contain other components that may significantly impact cesium loading.

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

The impact of regional resources and technology availability on carbon dioxide removal potential in the United States

To achieve net zero carbon emissions by mid-century, the United States may need to rely on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to offset emissions from difficult-to-decarbonize sectors and/or shortfalls in near-term mitigation efforts. CDR can be delivered using many approaches with different requirements for land, water, geologic carbon storage capacity, energy, and other resources. The availability of these resources varies by region in the U.S. suggesting that CDR deployment will be uneven across the country. Using the global change analysis model for the United States (GCAM-USA), we modeled six classes of CDR and explored their potential using four scenarios: a scenario where all the CDR pathways are available (Full Portfolio), a scenario with restricted carbon capture and storage (Low CCS), a scenario where the availability of bio-based CDR options is limited (Low Bio), and a scenario with constraints on enhanced rock weathering (ERW) capabilities (Low ERW). We find that by employing a diverse set of CDR approaches, the U.S. could remove between 1 and 1.9 GtCO 2 /yr by midcentury. In the Full Portfolio scenario, direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) predominates, delivering approximately 50% of CO 2 removal, with bioenergy with carbon capture and storage contributing 25%, and ERW delivering 11.5%. Texas and the agricultural Midwest lead in CDR deployment due to their abundant agricultural land and geological storage availability. In the Low CCS scenario, reliance on DACCS decreases, easing pressure on energy systems but increasing pressure on the land. In all cases CDR deployment was found to drive important impacts on energy, land, or materials supply chains (to supply ERW, for example) and these effects were generally more pronounced when fewer CDR technologies were available.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

An Overview of Non-LWR Vessel Cooling Systems for Passive Decay Heat Removal (Technical Letter Final Report)

The following report provides a technical review of various reactor vessel cooling system (VCS) concepts under consideration for decay heat removal (DHR) in non-light water advanced reactor designs. This review focuses on ex-vessel designs, including the Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS), the Reactor Vessel Auxiliary Cooling System (RVACS), and hybrid iterations, using both air and water cooling to achieve their heat removal function. Based on a literature review of publicly available sources published between 1979 and 2021, a technical summary is presented detailing existing and planned VCS design options, their applicability to specific reactor type, and review of authored research and development studies. Following an assessment of the availability of data and modeling tools, an evaluation was performed analyzing their likely performance during normal, degraded, and accident conditions, including reliability, stability, and longevity. With renewed consideration of air-based DHR systems by some US vendors, there is a need to fully understand the complexities inherent to natural circulation systems, and more importantly, how they may influence safety-related heat removal functions and system performance. For DHR systems that rely on air-based mode of cooling, this entails quantification of the impacts of low flow conditions during start-up, relative elevations of inlet and outlet ducts for below-grade installations, effects of the use of multiple parallel chimneys for redundancy, and impact of weather conditions at the plant site. For systems relying on water-based mode cooling, reliance on limited coolant inventory in an event of pipe break or extended duration accident scenarios, sensitivities related to stability of boiling flow and heat transfer conditions, and quantification of full-scale structural vibrations on balance of plant structures are among the complicating factors.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characterization of Tank 11H Samples from Tank Closure Cesium Removal 1A (TCCR 1A) Batch 1

Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) is currently operating the Tank Closure Cesium Removal 1A (TCCR 1A) process to remove 137 Cs from tank waste supernate using an ion exchange process. The TCCR 1A unit processes dissolved salt fed from Tank 10H through a series of ion exchange columns containing crystalline silicotitanate (CST, IONSIV TM R9120-B, 30x60) and the effluent is then discharged to Tank 11H. In support of the TCCR 1A program, SRNL analyzed samples taken from Tank 11H (without tank mixing) before, during, and at the completion of TCCR 1A Batch 1 processing. Tank 11H serves as the receipt tank for the filtered and cesium removed product from the TCCR 1A system. Processing of Batch 1 commenced on January 13, 2022 and completed on February 17, 2022, after processing approximately 70,100 gallons. A pre-production sample was collected from the heel remaining in Tank 11H just before Batch 1 processing began. In addition, five interim surface samples were collected from Tank 11H during processing, and both a surface and a variable depth sample (VDS, ~7” from tank bottom) were collected just after processing completed. Analysis of all samples included density and gamma spectroscopy, in addition to a more comprehensive suite of analytes for the pre- and post-production samples. The density of the pre-production sample was the highest of all samples measured and was then observed to decrease for the first two interim samples, followed by becoming fairly consistent for the remainder of the samples (~1.3 g/mL). The density of 1.3 g/mL is similar to the density measured for one of the three Tank 10H qualification samples (HTF-10-21-126). The 137 Cs activity was found to decrease as additional decontaminated effluent from the TCCR columns was added to Tank 11H during processing; however, an increase in activity was observed during periods of no processing which can be attributed to leaching of 137 Cs from the known solids in Tank 11H. The Cs isotope concentrations in the Tank 11H postproduction surface sample were determined to be 99.7-99.8% lower than the concentrations measured in the Tank 10H feed as measured by mass spectrometry.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Approaches for Water Removal in Direct-Fired sCO 2 Power Cycles

There is interest in investigation of water removal processes in direct fired sCO 2 flows, as this may potentially lead to greater system efficiency as the removal of this contaminant will result in sCO 2 behaving close to idealized behaviors. Water removal should be split into a two-step process, condensation of the water, followed by separation of the liquid phase water from the sCO 2 . The two main avenues of condensation are manipulation of pressure and temperature for phase change. For this paper, temperature-based phase change is the primary focus through the implementation of heat exchangers. Of the heat exchangers investigated it was found that printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) could be an alternative for this use case, though the specific design of flow channel geometry and flow direction depends on the specific system case and cannot be determined at this point. For water separation there were four processes identified, all of which already assume water is in liquid phase at that point in the system. Of these separation avenues the best candidate is the hydrocyclone as it has a proven history of separating liquid-liquid phase mixtures with small density differences in oilfield use, in addition they have been investigated and modeled specifically for water separation for sCO 2 flows and the footprint is relatively small.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Tank 14H Preliminary Cease Waste Removal Sample Analyses

Savannah River Mission Completion Waste Removal and Tank Closure requested that Savannah River National Laboratory perform characterization analyses of Tank 14H in support of closure activities, specifically preliminary cease waste removal. This report provides important characterization of the prepared filtrate and air-dried solids in the January 2026 Tank 14H sample, HTF-14-26-1,2,3,4,5,6, for I-129, Tc-99, Cs-137, and Sr-90. The results reported here were utilized by SRMC to declare preliminary cease waste removal for Tank 14H.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Material Removal and Surface Integrity Analysis of Ti6Al4V Alloy after Polishing by Flexible Tools with Different Rigidity

Ti6Al4V alloy has been widely used in many fields, such as aerospace and medicine, due to its excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties. Most high-performance components made of Ti6Al4V alloy usually need to be polished to produce their specific functional requirements. However, due to the material properties of Ti6Al4V, its polishing process still requires significant development. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the performance of polishing Ti6Al4V by using tools with different rigidities. Two kinds of bonnet tool were used, namely a pure rubber (PR) bonnet and a semirigid (SR) bonnet. The characterization of material removal and surface integrity after polishing was conducted through a series of experiments on a 6-DOF robotic polishing device. The results demonstrate that both bonnet tools successfully produce nanometric level surface roughness. Moreover, the material removal rate of the SR bonnet tool is significantly higher than that of the PR bonnet, which is consistent with the material removal characteristics of glass polishing in previous research. In addition, the presented analysis on key polishing parameters and surface integrity lays the theoretical foundation for the polishing process of titanium alloy in different application fields.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1996

Advanced Techniques for Improving Wind Direction Ambiguity Removal in Scatterometry

The ambiguity removal algorithm currently planned for NSCAT utilizes a simple median filter?? will discuss techniques of ambiguity removal and outline two new algorithms which can be used to improve ambiguity removal performance without the inclusion of additional wind field information. The techniques are applied to simulated NSCAT data but can be generalized to other scatterometer instruments such as the ERS-1 and ERS-2 scatterometers, and Sea Winds to be launched aboard ADEOS-II in 1999.

ambiguity↗
DOE OSTI2022

Removal of Bond Sodium from Full-Length Unirradiated Fermi-1 Blanket Elements and Assembly via Melt-Drain-Evaporate Process

Equipment was designed, fabricated, tested, and operated in an inert atmosphere radiological glovebox at Idaho National Laboratory to demonstrate the removal of bond sodium from full-length unirradiated Fermi-1 radial blanket elements and an entire radial blanket assembly using a Melt-Drain-Evaporate process. A series of three runs was performed with individual and multiple radial Fermi-1 blanket elements, and a fourth run was conducted with an entire Fermi-1 radial blanket assembly. After each run, the depleted uranium alloy slugs in every element slid out of its cladding, mechanically exhibiting the effectual absence of bond sodium. Quantitative and further qualitative analyses of the treated Fermi-1 material revealed the substantive, if not complete, absence of sodium metal in blanket element components. Indeed, entire columns of depleted uranium alloy slugs and associated cladding from select treated elements were separately contacted with water to react with residual sodium metal on the element surfaces, forming hydrogen gas. Samples of the resultant gas were analyzed to quantify the hydrogen concentration, which correlated to a residual sodium metal content for the treated element. Accordingly, no detectable sodium metal (<7 µg) was found on the surfaces of multiple depleted uranium alloy slugs after removal from its cladding. Detectable sodium metal, ranging from 14 to 30 µg, was found on the surfaces of one separated column of slugs and two separated full-length cladding segments. Each element originally contained ~25 g of bond sodium, resulting in quantitative sodium metal removal efficiencies of =99.9998%. The remaining separated uranium alloy slugs and cladding segments from the four runs were piece-wise immersed in alcohol while videorecording possible gas bubble formation as an additional qualitative analysis for residual sodium metal on treated surfaces, which identified the predominant absence of sodium reactivity on the balance of treated Fermi-1 blanket material. The results of this demonstration substantiate a path forward for treatment and disposal of 34 metric tons heavy metal of irradiated sodium-bonded Fermi-1 blanket material currently stored at Idaho National Laboratory.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗