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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 253 records · Page 14

Integration of the ITER Tokamak C-model with the Building Model

The pellet injector system is designed to accommodate the requirement of continuous plasma refueling during ITER Tokamak operations. Through pellet flight tubes/injection lines, the pellets can directly reach the interior of the tokamak vacuum vessel. The pellet injector system is located at a port cell outside of the Tokamak bio-shield. The plasma radiation source in the tokamak vacuum vessel, together with the highly activated surrounding water in port cells, present major radiation challenges for the pellet injector system during ITER operation and after shutdown. These sources produce a radiation field encompassing the entire Tokamak complex. The ITER neutronics reference model C-model is an ITER radiation transport model. It represents a 40 deg. regular torus sector out to the bio-shield, which consists of 38 individual systems. The Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) input of the C-model consists of more than a hundred thousand cell definitions and surface definitions, and over three hundred material compositions. The latest tokamak complex MCNP model is significantly more detailed than any previous releases. It consists of 36,863 cell definitions, 57,105 surface definitions, and a total of 21 different types of materials. The C-model and tokamak building model share the bio-shield as the boundary between them. In general, the radiation fields in the building due to the plasma source during tokamak operation are determined by generating the radiation source in the inner faces of the bio-shield. An inherent limitation of this approach is that it can only approximate the directions in which streaming paths are produced through the bio-shield plugs. To better estimate the shutdown dose rate for the pellet injector system due to the plasma source, we have decided to integrate the tokamak model (C-model) with the complex building model. Both MCNP models are provided by the ITER International Organization (IO) to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Radiation Transport (RT) group.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Examining Two-Phase Flow with Optical Sensors

In lieu of the events that occurred at Fukushima in 2011, passive safety shutdowns for nuclear reactors has become a focus area for recent research. At Argonne National Laboratory this research has been simulated using air as a means of cooling down a experimental reactor core. This operates on the principals of natural convection and can be further studied in the report devised by Lisowski et al. in 2014. The air reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) at Argonne National Laboratory is currently being transitioned into a water cooled system for passive safety reactor shutdown systems. In this system eight water pipes (1.5'' schedule 160 stainless steel) will transfer heat by means of natural convection. However, the primary network pipe will be 4 inch schedule 40 stainless steel pipe. The adiabatic chimney portion of this piping segment will be under analysis for void fraction. Based on the internal temperature of the water pipes, the characteristic regimes of two-phase flow that could exist inside of the pipe are an area of interest for experimental analysis. Determining which phase the water exists is instrumental to understanding the state of the processes inside of the water cooling pipe. Knowledge of these states allows for analysis of the efficiency of the RCCS as it shuts down. The state of two-phase flow can be measured by the analysis of the fluids void fraction.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Recovery from loss of reductant feed to a U/Pu separation contactor, magnox reprocessing plant, Sellafield - 14217

Following a revealed sustained loss of reductant feed to the Primary Separation 4 (PS4) U/Pu separation contactor in the Magnox Reprocessing Plant in 2014 the solvent extraction cycles were safely shutdown. However, initial mass balance calculations indicated that over four times the typical mass of Pu could be present in PS4. Due to the loss of reductant feed, much of this Pu was expected to be in the solvent phase of Tributyl Phosphate and Odourless Kerosene (TBP/OK) where it would be difficult to observe with the neutron monitors located under PS4. Samples were taken of the solvent in PS4 which confirmed the presence of Pu in solvent; normally almost all of the Pu in PS4 is in the aqueous phase. The volume ratio of solvent to aqueous in the PS4 contactor is high. This meant that simply re-dosing PS4 with reductant could not be supported as a recovery option due to the potential to realise high Pu concentrations in the aqueous phase. This paper details the recovery options which were considered and the ultimate decision to recover PS4 using Gadolinium (Gd) poisoning and Gd-dosed reductant feeds. The recovery included: - The need to consider the impact of Gd poisoning on monitoring of the recovery with the PS4 neutron monitors; - Close support from criticality safety personnel on the plant at all times during the recovery; - Production of operator aids and short fit for purpose safety documentation to assist with the recovery. The recovery of PS4 proceeded safely and smoothly. There were no losses of Pu to raffinate streams despite the prolonged shutdown. The plant was then safely rundown to flush out residual Pu and Gd. (author)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Advanced wind turbine control development using field test analysis for generator overspeed mitigation

Abstract Turbulent and gusty wind conditions can cause generator overspeed peaks to exceed a threshold that then lead to wind turbine shutdowns, which then decrease the energy production of the wind turbines. We derive so‐called “gust measures” that predict when generator overspeed peaks may occur. These gust measures are then used to develop advanced controllers to mitigate generator overspeed peaks so that wind turbines can operate more robustly in difficult wind conditions without exceeding generator overspeed thresholds that would lead to turbine shutdown events. The advanced controllers are demonstrated in nonlinear aeroelastic simulations using the open‐source wind turbine simulation tool OpenFAST. To increase the realism of the simulations, they are run using field‐replicated wind conditions and a wind turbine model based on data from an experimental field campaign on a downscaled demonstrator of a novel extreme‐scale, two‐bladed, downwind rotor design.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Preliminary design of control rods in the single-fluid double-zone thorium molten salt reactor (SD-TMSR)

Recent studies on Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) showed that the excess reactivity at the beginning of the operation is large for many fueling strategies and must be compensated by a reactivity control system. The current work introduces a reliable safety system based on control rods in addition to the online feed system reactivity control in the Single-fluid Double-zone Thorium-based Molten Salt Reactor (SD-TMSR). Three different initial fissile loadings are considered: 233 U, reactor-grade Pu, and transuranic (TRU) elements as a startup fuel. We applied six different absorbing materials to investigate the main operational and safety parameters in the SD-TMSR: natural B 4 C, enriched B 4 C with 90% 10 B, HfB 2 , HfH 1.62 , Eu 2 O 3 , and Gd 2 O 3 . The present work focuses on control rod design, integral and differential control rod worth, shutdown margin, and shadowing effects at steady-state. We employed the SERPENT-2 Monte-Carlo code to calculate the reactivity worth and analyze the performance of the reactivity control system. We showed that 233 U and reactor-grade Pu startup cores maintain adequate shutdown margin with all considered absorbers. Finally, this report proposes a design of control rod clusters that compensate the excess reactivity of the SD-TMSR loaded with different initial fissile material.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Scalable modular dynamic molten salt reactor system model with decay heat

Nodal dynamic models allow rapid reduced-order simulations of complex systems. This paper presents a publicly available system dynamic model of a molten salt reactor system with a topology of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE), in MATLAB/Simulink, building upon a model previously published and validated with MSRE data. It adds scaling of nominal power, dynamic representation of decay heat generation, a generic decay heat removal system, improved documentation, modularity, and test cases. One hour of system transient runs in less than 10 min on a laptop. This model is intended for first order engineering calculations, developing insights into system transient behavior, equipment sizing, parameter sensitivity studies. The model contains an easy to use toolkit which can be customized and expanded to describe any molten salt reactor system. Finally, scenarios involving off-normal transients are presented. Relation between shutdown reactivity insertions, decay heat removal, core recriticality, and safe shutdown conditions are discussed.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Thermal and electric multidomain dynamic model for integration of power grid distribution with behind-the-meter devices

As renewable energy sources like solar and wind power become more integrated into the grid, coordinated control of behind-the-meter devices is crucial for enhancing grid flexibility and reliability and for meeting cost targets, with standardized models being developed to support this transition. The increasing flexibility and uncertainty of integrated renewable energy grids, along with interactions between various subsystems, make traditional steady-state modeling insufficient to capture transient and dynamic behaviors. Current models (e.g., composite load and battery equivalent models) focus on thermodynamic or electrical characteristics but overlook critical electromechanical interactions. This limits the ability to share performance information for grid services and hampers fast dynamic simulations. In addition, motor stalling is usually triggered by a fault event and attributed to the characteristics of the mechanical torque of the motor, resulting in absorption of a large amount of reactive power during the stalling period. Further, this significant withdrawal of reactive power will deteriorate the dynamic voltage stability of power grids and cause delayed voltage recovery. Therefore, an in-depth modeling of the thermodynamics or mechanical torque is essential to study the impacts of the realistic torque characteristics of those behind-the-meter devices on power system voltage stability. This study developed a dynamic multidomain model for building HVAC systems, such as air-source heat pumps, to simulate their thermal and electrical responses to grid transients. The model can accurately predict power metrics with a mean absolute percentage error of 10%, by validating against with power system computer-aided design performance data. Case studies demonstrate the model capability of capturing the transient response to sudden voltage changes, rapid load fluctuations, and system shutdowns respectively. During a sudden voltage drop (30% for 0.1s), a fully loaded heat pump’s motor speed dropped, continued declining, and shut down after 3.6s, with severe power oscillations and a torque spike. A partially loaded unit experienced temporary oscillations but stabilized. Under higher building loads, compressor speed increased from 64% to 100%, with power and torque rising before stabilizing. In safety-triggered shutdowns, power decreased after minor fluctuations, and torque briefly spiked before dropping to zero.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Implementation and verification of PyNE R2S with DAG-OpenMC

The mesh-based Rigorous-Two-Step (R2S) method has been widely used in the accurate estimation of the shutdown dose rate (SDR) of fusion systems. Several mesh-based R2S code has been implemented based on Monte Carlo particle transport code MCNP5 or DAG-MCNP5 and inventory calculation code such as FISPACT-II, ALARA or ACAB. Recently, the OpenMC, a community-developed Monte Carlo particle transport code, implemented the photon particle transport capability, which enables OpenMC to be used in R2S. In this paper, PyNE R2S is extended with the support of DAG-OpenMC, i.e., OpenMC with DAGMC. Modifications that allow PyNE to read the flux result in the state point file of OpenMC has been implemented to PyNE R2S workflow. A custom source routine of OpenMC that reads the photon source file from PyNE R2S and sampling photon particle in OpenMC photon transport has been implemented in OpenMC. With these modifications, PyNE R2S is now capable of performing R2S calculations with both DAG-MCNP5 and DAG-OpenMC. The ITER FNG dose rate benchmark problem has been used to validate the code. The FNG neutron source has been modified for neutron transport with DAG-OpenMC. The shutdown dose rate of 19 cooling times has been calculated and compared with the experimental data and the computational results of other R2S codes. The results of PyNE R2S with DAG-OpenMC show satisfactory agreement with the experimental data and other computational results. Therefore, we consider PyNE R2S with DAG-OpenMC is a reliable code to calculate the SDR of fusion systems.

fusion↗

Consequence analyses of sabotage-induced radiological releases in sodium-cooled fast microreactors

Analysis of three sodium-cooled fast microreactors (SFMs) with thermal powers of 10, 30, and 50 MWt showed that smaller reactors result in lower radiological consequences during a postulated sabotage-induced event because of their reduced core inventory. All SFMs used U-10Zr metal fuel enriched to 15 wt% high-assay low-enriched uranium and operated until their respective effective multiplication factor (k eff ) reduced to less than 1 or until the end of their operational lifespan. Sabotage scenarios were simulated at this point, when the fuel inventory within the core contains the highest-level of radioactivity. Radionuclide core inventories were calculated using the SCALE code at shutdown and 3 days post-shutdown. Dose consequence analyses were performed for three sabotage scenarios using the RASCAL tool. As microreactor developers plan for minimal on-site or complete off-site emergency response, it remains essential to evaluate their physical protection needs and potential hazards, including assessing postulated sabotage-induced events that could become more relevant. SFM licensees should identify a credible worst-case, major accident, estimate release source terms, and perform dose consequence analyses to evaluate site-specific physical protection measures. In conclusion, this recommendation supports a risk-informed, performance-based approach, aligning with applicable regulatory requirements, i.e., 10 CFR Parts 100 and 53 rulemaking in the United States.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

Cells Respond to Distinct Nanoparticle Properties with Multiple Strategies As Revealed by Single-Cell RNA-Seq

The impact of distinct nanoparticle (NP) properties on cellular response and ultimately human health is unclear. This gap is partially due to experimental difficulties in achieving uniform NP loads in the studied cells, creating heterogeneous populations with some cells “overloaded” while other cells are loaded with few or no NPs. Yet gene expression studies have been conducted in the population as a whole, identifying generic responses, while missing unique responses due to signal averaging across many cells, each carrying different loads. Here we applied single-cell RNA-Seq to alveolar epithelial cells carrying defined loads of aminated or carboxylated quantum dots (QDs), showing higher or lower toxicity, respectively. Interestingly, cells carrying lower loads responded with multiple strategies, mostly with upregulated processes, which were nonetheless coherent and unique to each QD type. In contrast, cells carrying higher loads responded more uniformly, with mostly downregulated processes that were shared across QD types. Strategies unique to aminated QDs showed strong upregulation of stress responses, coupled in some cases with regulation of cell cycle, protein synthesis and organelle activities. In contrast, strategies unique to carboxylated QDs showed upregulation of DNA repair and RNA activities, and decreased regulation of cell division, coupled in some cases with upregulation of stress responses and ATP related functions. Together, our studies suggest scenarios where higher NP loads lock cells into uniform responses, mostly shutdown of cellular processes, whereas lower loads allow for unique responses to each NP type that are more diversified, proactive defenses or repairs of the NP insults.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Optimizing Desalination Operations for Energy Flexibility

Despite the value of energy optimization in desalination processes, modeling dynamic operations for monthly billing periods has remained a computational challenge. This work proposes a framework for energy flexibility optimization, which includes new modeling features for independent operation of parallel skids, start-up delays associated with chemical stabilization, the consideration of industrial energy tariff structures, and inclusion of hourly electrical carbon intensities. This is done using a modular and computationally efficient formulation that guarantees a globally optimal solution with standard optimization solvers. In this study, the approach is demonstrated in two distinct case studies: a seawater desalination plant in Santa Barbara, CA, and an indirect potable reuse facility in San Jose, CA. Trends predicted from the model are validated against operational facility measurements from a demand response shutdown event. Preliminary results show that optimizing energy flexibility can result in 18.51% monthly cost savings over energy efficiency-optimized operation. The value extracted from a facility-wide shutdown during peak electricity price hours is hampered by start-up delays in post-treatment chemical stabilization. In cases in which a facility does not have much excess capacity, using a flow equalization tank or operating over a wide recovery range may be cost-effective.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Global energy balance simulations of shattered pellet injection

The dynamics of shattered pellet injection (SPI) shutdowns are simulated using a time-dependent global energy balance model, based on a modification of the KPRAD framework. The new SPI particle source in the model calculates the ablation of individual pellet fragments that enter the plasma as a temporally resolved plume, thus capturing the effects of earlier fragments on the ablation of those that follow, which has a significant impact on the overall assimilation. Despite the reduced physics and the global averaging of all quantities, results from a large number of DIII-D, KSTAR, and JET experiments are well reproduced, including the plasma cooling timescales, particle assimilation, and current quench (CQ) rates. Cooling timescales and CQ rates are in good agreement for pellets containing as little as ∼1% neon, while particle assimilations are most accurate for neon fractions above ∼15% by number of atoms. Below this, the assimilation tends to be overestimated due to the lack of radial transport in the particle balance, which becomes important in the low-Z limit. Predictive simulations of mixed-composition dual-SPI shutdowns in ITER are compared against those with the 3D non-linear magnetohydrodynamic code JOREK and are found to reproduce overall trends observed in the higher-fidelity modeling across a range of injection scenarios. The general success of the model points to the critical role of energy balance in determining SPI particle assimilation and the subsequent disruption dynamics and highlights the value of these simulations for experimental interpretation and for optimizing the deployment of computationally expensive, higher-fidelity models.

energy balance model↗

Injection of multiple shattered pellets for disruption mitigation in DIII-D

Plasma shutdown experiments in DIII-D have injected multiple shattered pellets at different toroidal locations for the first time, as is planned for the ITER disruption mitigation system. Systematically varying the relative timing of the two pellets suggests that simultaneously injected pellets may influence the assimilation of each other, altering the resulting disruption characteristics compared to a single pellet injecting similar neon quantities. Thermal quench (TQ) radiation measured near the injection location is reduced with the dual pellets, contrary to TQ radiation measured away from the injection ports, which does not show a clear difference between single or dual pellet injections. The mitigation of other disruption loads, such as the current quench (CQ) duration and divertor heat loads, decrease when the pellets enter the plasma simultaneously compared to single shattered pellet injections with similar neon quantities. This similar reduction in mitigation of CQ and conductive loads is consistent with the observed reduction in total TQ radiation. The time between initial pellet injection and the end of the TQ is shorter when both pellets are injected simultaneously compared to a single pellet. This lower cooling duration may limit the amount of the neon assimilated by the plasma prior to the end of the TQ, consistent with the observed reduction in radiation. The injected impurities spread primarily in the parallel direction, away from the source at the injection location. The addition of two shattered pellet injectors shows that the initial poloidal radiation is spread out into two distinct regions, cooling multiple flux tubes simultaneously, which may induce global MHD instabilities more rapidly than a single flux tube of impurities leading to a shorter cooling duration. The electron density increased by approximately a factor of two with the addition of multiple pellets, but is highly sensitive to the time between injections. Here, a maximum density increase is found when both pellets arrive at the plasma prior to the start of the TQ.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

First results of Ne shattered pellet injection for mitigating plasma disruption with full metal wall in EAST tokamak

Disruption mitigation poses a significant and unresolved challenge for ITER and future fusion reactor devices. To mitigate the effect of plasma disruption, a Shattered Pellet Injection (SPI) system has been developed and the first rapid shutdown experiments have been successfully performed in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak with full metal wall. The experiments confirmed the system’s capability to inject 5 mm diameter neon (Ne) pellets at velocities ranging from 100 to 400 m s −1 , with a maximum injected quantity of 13.2 Pa m 3 . Compared to unmitigated disruptions, the total radiation power was significantly higher with the respective use of SPI and Massive Gas Injection (MGI). Additionally, the radiation distribution and divertor heat flux were compared between SPI and MGI methods. The results demonstrated that SPI exhibited shorter cooling time, stronger core radiation and more uniform poloidal radiation distribution compared to MGI, indicating deeper deposition using SPI. Furthermore, during plasma shutdown, the electron temperature and peak heat flux near outer divertor strike points were reduced by 40% and 50% respectively, with SPI, in comparison to MGI. These findings serve as a valuable reference for implementing SPI technology as the baseline approach for disruption mitigation in ITER.

EAST↗

Extended-MHD simulations of disruption mitigation via massive gas injection in SPARC

Recent developments to the M3D-C1 code enable higher fidelity modeling of disruptions, and can be applied in the design verification of reactor-scale tokamaks. Among these new capabilities is a method to mesh conducting vessel structures such as coils and passive plates, packing of the toroidal mesh around gas injectors, as well as anisotropic resistivity inside the vessel structures. We present extended-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of disruption mitigation via massive gas injection (MGI) in SPARC. The goal of this study is to inform the disruption mitigation layout of SPARC and aid in the design of an effective gas injector configuration. Fully three-dimensional simulations with M3D-C1 are carried out for various injector configurations with the primary goal of determining the effect of different MGI parameters on heat loads and vessel forces. The simulations include a model for impurity ionization, recombination, advection and radiation, as well as spatially resolved conducting structures around the plasma. A localized mixture of deuterium and neon with a small toroidal and poloidal width is injected in up to six locations. We demonstrate that M3D-C1 can model a rapid shutdown via MGI using narrow and more realistic gas plumes than in previous simulations. As a result of the q = 1 surface in the SPARC baseline case a sawtooth is observed early in the simulations. Despite the sawtooth and the onset of edge MHD instabilities, the impurity distribution remains localized around the injector locations, but enables a radiative shutdown of the plasma. We find that using the maximum of six gas injectors results in a lower peaking factor and leads to a more even distribution of radiation toroidally than using two injectors.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Production and integration of the ATLAS Insertable B-Layer

During the shutdown of the CERN Large Hadron Collider in 2013-2014, an additional pixel layer was installed between the existing Pixel detector of the ATLAS experiment and a new, smaller radius beam pipe. The motivation for this new pixel layer, the Insertable B-Layer (IBL), was to maintain or improve the robustness and performance of the ATLAS tracking system, given the higher instantaneous and integrated luminosities realized following the shutdown. Because of the extreme radiation and collision rate environment, several new radiation-tolerant sensor and electronic technologies were utilised for this layer. Furthermore, this paper reports on the IBL construction and integration prior to its operation in the ATLAS detector.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

GEM detectors for the CMS endcap muon system: status of three new detector stations

The High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC, or Phase-2 LHC) will deliver proton-proton collisions at 5–7.5 times the nominal LHC luminosity, with an expected number of 140–200 pp-interactions per bunch crossing (Pile-up or PU). To maintain the performance of muon triggering and reconstruction under high background, the forward part of the Muon Spectrometer of the CMS experiment will be upgraded with Gas Electron Multipliers (GEM) and improved Resistive Plate Chambers (iRPC) detectors. A first GEM station (GE1/1) was installed during Long Shutdown 2 (LS2, 2019–2021), a 2 nd station (GE2/1) of Triple-GEM detectors will be installed in winter 2023–24 and 2024–25, while a new 6-layer station (ME0) will be installed in the third Long Shutdown (LS3, 2026–2028). GE11 is considered an early Phase-2 upgrade as it will reduce the p T threshold by combining GEM and Cathode Strip Chamber (CSC) hits in the forward muon system at twice the LHC design luminosity ($\mathcal{L}$ = 2 · 10 34 cm -2 s -1 , 50 PU). After a successful start of Run-3 in 2022, with almost 40 fb -1 collected, the commissioning of the GE1/1 detector is nearly complete. Most chambers are operated stably with an efficiency in excess of 95%, next being the demonstration of the combined CSC-GEM trigger in 2023. The lessons learnt with the first large-area GEM station have lead to improvements in detector and electronics design for the Phase 2 detectors GE2/1 and ME0. This proceeding will discuss the progress made since last MPGD Conference (MPGD 2019), discussing the commissioning and early performance of GE1/1; the design improvements and start of construction of GE2/1; and the R&D currently ongoing for ME0.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Impact of Detailed Parameter Modeling of Open-Cycle Gas Turbines on Production Cost Simulation: Preprint

Flexible resources are increasingly important as variable renewable energy deployment in the power system increases. Although many systems are transitioning away from fossil fuels, open-cycle gas turbines are likely to play an important balancing role for some time, thus requiring accurate modeling of their operational parameters. This paper explores the impact of detailed representation of three operational parameters - start- up costs, run-up rates, and forced outage rates - in the production cost model of a system as it adopts higher levels of wind and solar. Using PLEXOS simulations of the NREL-118 bus test system, the study examines how more detailed parameter modeling affects outcomes such as the number of start-ups and shutdowns, ramping and total generation costs for open-cycle gas turbines, as renewable energy levels increase. The results suggest the value of detailed parameter modeling and continued research on combustion turbines' ability to provide flexibility.

economic dispatch↗