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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

R&D Insights for Extreme Fast Charging of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles: Insights from the NREL Commercial Vehicles and Extreme Fast Charging Research Needs Workshop, August 27-28, 2019

As battery costs have declined and battery performance has improved, the applicability of vehicle electrification has expanded beyond passenger cars to the commercial vehicle sector. However, due to the larger batteries that would be needed for the medium- and heavy-duty (MDHD) sector, the electric charging capabilities to serve these larger commercial vehicles will need to be substantially more powerful than light-duty chargers. More specifically, such 'extreme fast charging' (XFC) will likely need to reach the megawatt scale to provide a full charge in less than 30 minutes in some applications. In addition, the combined cost of electrified vehicles and charging must be competitive with the costs of petroleum-based technologies and other alternatives to encourage widespread adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) among MDHD fleets. Most of these fleets have a commercial mission and demand low total cost of ownership (TCO) (which motivates minimal refueling times) and high performance from their vehicles.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Radiation Testing for Nuclear Inspection Systems (Final CRADA Report)

Higher-radiation hardened video cameras are needed in the operation and remote handling of equipment in nuclear reactor inspection and refueling applications. Vega Wave Systems has developed a radiation-hardened vision system for Nuclear Energy applications. The high-radiation hardness testing of this vision system was conducted using the Argonne Low-Energy Accelerator Facility (LEAF).

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hydrogen Contamination Detector: Protecting the future of zero-emission fuel cell energy [Brief]

Los Alamos National Laboratory developed an electrochemical detector to protect zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells from contaminated fuels. Fuel cells power environmentally clean vehicles, fork lifts, drones, and provide auxiliary power. High-purity hydrogen is essential to avoid poisoning fuel cells. Current analysis methods are costly and cannot detect impurities in realtime. The Hydrogen Contamination Detector measures the two highest impact Department of Energy-identified impurities with a simple, low-cost unit that provides 24/7, point-of-service analysis. Los Alamos partnered with H2Frontiers to conduct field trials at hydrogen refueling stations and with Skyre LLC for commercialization through a DOE Technology Commercialization Fund project.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2021

User Guide to the Advanced Dimensional Depletion for Engineering of Reactors (ADDER) Software (V.1.0)

The Advanced Dimensional Depletion for Engineering of Reactors (ADDER) software is being developed in the Research and Test Reactor (RTR) Program at Argonne National Laboratory to meet the reactor design and analysis needs of the Conversion Program. ADDER is a flexible tool that (1) provides a depletion capability through coupling external neutronics codes with a built-in CRAM solver or external depletion code and (2) provides a user-friendly interface to perform fuel management and criticality search operations. The ADDER software is a Python 3 application written using modern software development practices subject to a compliant implementation of NQA-1 and applicable Department of Energy software quality assurance standards. This report is the user guide for the initial software release as ADDER v1.0.0. The motivation for a software to have flexible capabilities that ADDER possesses is the need to support a wide variety of geometries that are commonly required in analysis of research and test reactors. These reactors can have complex fuel, experiment, or control material shuffling patterns that persist over several years with many fuel management and partial refueling intervals. The scale of fuel management analysis can require tracking of an inventory that is multiple times the core loading. Many reactors, both power and non-power reactors of various types, will find the features of ADDER useful to facilitate key tasks that a fuel or core design engineer must perform with the convenience of concise input and validated functionality.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Validation of an Advanced High-Pressure PEM Electrolyzer and Composite Hydrogen Storage

One of the challenges associated with transitioning our nation’s transportation economy to any alternative fuel is bringing fuel production, storage, transportation, and end-customer delivery infrastructure online. There are challenges associated with planning and implementing hydrogen fueling stations at locations relevant to the parallel effort of bringing the related transportation vehicles into the market. There are additional challenges associated with the operation of hydrogen fueling stations and reducing operating costs through energy reduction. Through calculation and design efforts it was concluded that elevating the pressure of a PEM cell stack and further developing hydrogen processing equipment that support elevated pressures while maintaining similar characteristics to their current production counterparts will yield in energy savings and by extension cost reductions. In this report, the design of a 57-bar (827-psig) electrolysis system and electrolysis cell stack is described. Furthermore, the fabrication, component verification, and integrated testing are summarized. Prior to this development effort, Proton had demonstrated thousand of hours of durability on 30-bar (435-psig) differential pressure PEM electrolysis hardware. Proton has sold and installed many of these 30-bar devices at customer sites. Through this project, Proton has developed and tested 57-bar PEM electrolysis, thereby extending the proven capability of PEM electrolysis as a hydrogen generation and electrochemical compression device. A design and validation effort to arrange hydrogen processioning equipment for refueling OEM vehicles was also undertaken within this project. By arranging equipment within two 6-meter ISO shipping containers and further developing NFPA 2 Hydrogen Technologies Code to support containerized hydrogen equipment, efforts to site, install, and commission, and approve hydrogen fueling stations were reduced and now provide a groundwork for future installations.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2021

Use Machine Learning to Improve Burnup Measurement in Pebble Bed Reactors

Advanced pebble bed reactor (PBR) designs post new challenges in material control and accountancy (MC&A) because the fuel materials, distributed in many discrete pebbles, are continuously circulated through the reactor core and the refueling path compared to the bulk fuel assembly design in conventional reactors, e.g., light water reactors. In pebble bed reactors, there are hundreds of thousands of fuel pebbles in the reactor core during the normal operation, and the burnup of each pebble is measured when ejected from the core. Accurate burnup measurement is an important step in material control and spent fuel disposition. The measurement is usually based on detection of radiation signatures of fission products accumulated in the pebble fuel over irradiation in the core. Previous research has shown that height of photopeaks of fission products, such as 134 Cs, 137 Cs, 154 Eu, etc., can be used independently or in combination to infer or predict the level of burnup in the fuel. However, it remains challenging to measure such complex sources due to self-shielding effects, strong radiation background and intervening materials. Another operational challenge is the required high throughput of pebbles undergoing burnup measurement, which necessitates limited measurement time and thus impacts quality of measured gamma-ray spectra. Hence, advanced spectral analysis methods are needed to analyze the noisy gamma spectra and predict the burnup values.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2021

History of Ethanol Fuel Adoption in the United States: Policy, Economics, and Logistics

Ethanol has the achieved the greatest market share of all the alternative transportation fuels that have been researched, developed, and deployed in the US. There are multiple lessons to be learned from the history of ethanol adoption that can be applied to future fuels and products. Ethanol has replaced portions of gasoline in three main blend levels, with corresponding vehicles, equipment, benefits, and policies. The first is E10, which has replaced nearly all pure gasoline (E0) sold in the United States today (U.S. Energy Information Administration 2015). This was brought about through generations of policies that were motivated by multiple factors related to engine performance, energy security, health, air quality, and climate protection. Ethanol's high octane has been a consistent driver of the fuel because this enables higher performance engines. Early policies (1973-1979) were largely motivated by the desire to reduce dependence on petroleum sourced from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. Fuel policy in the 1980s was largely in pursuit of promoting octane number enhancers that could replace lead. Criteria pollutant reduction was the overarching goal of actions taken from 1990 to 2005. From 2005 to the present, fuel policy has been largely motivated by energy security and climate protection goals. These policies were usually technology-agnostic and promoted multiple fuels and additives during each period. However, ethanol is the only fuel identified that is cost effective with qualities that enabled it to prosper in the policy environments of all four of these periods.The second market for ethanol is via 85% ethanol (E85). This fuel has the advantage of a greater concentration of ethanol but the disadvantage of not being compatible with regular gasoline vehicles. Instead, it can only be used in flexible-fuel vehicle (FFVs), which can use every blend level from E0 to E85. Therefore, much of the effort to increase E85 consumption has been aimed at incentivizing automakers to manufacture FFVs, drivers to purchase FFVs, and fueling stations to equip themselves to sell E85.The third, and newest, market through which ethanol is consumed is 15% ethanol (E15), which builds upon the E10 market to increase ethanol consumption by common gasoline vehicles. Efforts to create the E15 market consisted largely of testing vehicles and refueling equipment for compatibility, creating waivers to allow the use of E15, placing requirements on E15 retailers, and incentivizing retailers to equip themselves to purchase E15.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Advanced PGM-free Cathode Engineering for High Power Density and Durability

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are among the most promising technologies for future electric vehicles by using clean H2 with much-improved energy conversion efficiency, longer range, and rapid refueling. However, due to a large amount of platinum group metal (PGM) catalyst used in their electrodes, their prohibitively high cost hinders broad commercialization of PEFCs for transportation. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop low-cost, high-performance PGM-free cathode catalysts that have the potential to dramatically transform the economics of PEFC commercialization by reducing catalyst costs by one to two orders of magnitude. However, before PGM-free cathodes become viable, several technical challenges associated with PGM-free cathodes must be addressed, including insufficient activity and stability of the catalysts, as well as severe water flooding and large transport losses in the electrodes. Overcoming those barriers and ultimately meeting the challenging automotive PEFC performance targets was the focus of this comprehensive research and development effort on new PGM-free cathodes. To this end, we assembled a team including leading researchers from universities and industry with different but complementary expertise and capabilities. The project combined three novel and promising approaches: Advanced metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived M-N-C catalysts with a high activity and impressive durability, Novel PGM-free specific cathode architectures and fabrication strategies capable of addressing the substantial flooding and transport resistances in thicker cathodes by introducing engineered hydrophobicity through additives and support layers, and Advanced electrode ionomers with high proton conductivity for low ohmic losses across the electrode and more uniform catalyst utilization. The implementation of these new materials and electrode designs was supported by a suite of advanced experimental and simulation tools that allows us to identify performance and durability bottlenecks, devise solutions, and establish rational material design and synthesis targets. These methods include advanced electrochemical characterization, high-resolution imaging, and multi-scale modeling. In addition, the project team leveraged a broad cross-section of the ElectroCat consortium’s national laboratory facilities and expertise in advancing these materials and design strategies. Finally, the industry partners on the project facilitated the evaluation of scaled-up synthesis and manufacturing in the United States. Over its four-year period, the project made significant year-over-year advances in PGM-free cathode performance and viability. A combination of high activity and highly durable catalysts were developed through novel catalyst synthesis strategies, which met several performance and durability targets. More specifically, a catalyst prepared from MOFs and Fe2O3 nanoparticles with ammonium chloride and chemical vapor deposition treatments yielded a significant advancement in PGM-free cathode durability. Several novel strategies for fabricating cathodes were demonstrated, including those designed to reduce flooding and thickness of the cells for significantly increased volumetric power density. An optimized cathode with high conductivity ionomer and tuned ink processing for hydrophobicity yielded high fuel cell performance with new levels power density and maximum current. The scientific studies and modeling assessment also provided an outlook for future efforts, including a focus on catalysts with an increased density of the highly stable active sites developed in this project.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2021

Jet Fuel Production at the Pittsburgh Airport: GTL via Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

The Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)—with the Allegheny County Airport Authority (which manages PIT)—has established itself as a leader in resiliency by becoming the first major United States (U.S.) airport to have a self-sustaining microgrid, providing electricity, heating, and cooling for airport operations. The microgrid is powered by natural gas and solar power produced on the airport property and was completed in Summer 2021. This study examines the feasibility of producing jet fuel at the airport to provide a secure supply of aviation fuel, furthering PIT’s ability to weather supply disruptions and operate self-sufficiently. Gas-to-liquids (GTL) is a commercially available technology that converts natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons, including synthetic jet fuel. A GTL facility at PIT could convert natural gas from onsite wells to jet fuel, effectively doubling the onsite fuel stores in the event of a supply disruption. Moreover, GTL provides a pathway to renewable jet fuel production and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the aviation sector, particularly if renewable natural gas (RNG) is used as a feedstock or other renewable energy sources are used for energy inputs. This study has found that it would be technically feasible to construct and operate a GTL facility on PIT’s property. The approximately 6,000-barrel per day (BPD) facility evaluated would produce nearly 70 million (MM) gallons (gal) of synthetic jet fuel per year, which could supplant nearly all (85 percent) current jet fuel consumption at PIT. Given the current blend limitation of 50 percent Fischer-Tropsch fuels by volume, the plant would have excess production capacity available for the United States Air Force (USAF) Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station and the USAF 171st Air Refueling Wing co-located at the airport.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Function and Operational Requirements for High-Temperature Irradiation-Resistant Thermocouples

The function and operation requirements for the high-temperature irradiation-resistant thermocouple (HTIR-TC) are set forth. A mission and product are proposed. The function and operational requirements involve temperature range, accuracy, drift, life, mechanical ruggedness, and response time. Each have a criterion set to establish a thermocouple that can withstand a typical 18-month nuclear power plant refueling cycle.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

High Temperature Irradiation-Resistant Thermocouple Qualification (Test Results Report)

This is a qualification report for the high-temperature irradiation-resistant thermocouple (HTIR-TC) developed by Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation program. Utilizing the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) 5/6/7 test conducted in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory, the HTIR-TCs measured temperatures upwards of 1500°C during accident conditions. The HTIR TCs are thus qualified to perform and withstand an 18-month refueling cycle typical of nuclear power plants at the normal operating temperature, with a drift of less than ±1%. The HTIR-TC is also qualified for incorporating into a test fixture during new fuels tests.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

WIRE-21 Sensor Irradiation Experiment Ready for HFIR Insertion

The ability to deploy new nuclear fuels for current or future reactor concepts requires a wealth of data regarding fuel performance during normal operation, anticipated operational occurrences, and design-basis accidents. Most of these data have historically been collected during experiments in materials test reactors, ideally with online instrumentation to collect as much data as possible. However, advanced instrumentation could also allow for in situ monitoring of fuel operating conditions during commercial reactor operation to maximize fuel utilization, reduce unnecessary conservativism in design margins, and improve operator understanding of limiting peaking factors. The latter approach would complicate fuel handling, particularly during refueling, unless the instrumentation could be placed inside the fuel rods and transmitted wirelessly to a receiver located outside the fuel’s primary pressure boundary. To this end, Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) developed wireless sensors based on inductive coupling that can transmit information regarding fuel centerline temperatures and rod internal pressures wirelessly from within a fuel rod to a nearby instrument thimble. After testing these sensors in lower-power university research reactors, the next step is to perform high neutron fluence testing to characterize the performance of these wireless sensors under conditions that are more representative of the intended application—in this case, light-water reactors (LWRs). The removable Be (RB) positions of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) provide the neutron flux, experiment volume, and access to instrument leads required to achieve these sensor testing goals. This report summarizes the design, analysis, and assembly of the Wireless Instrumented RB Experiment 2021 (WIRE-21). This is the most highly instrumented irradiation experiment ever performed in HFIR. The experiment will use seven different sensing techniques to measure temperature, pressure, neutron flux, and neutron fluence during reactor operation. In addition to WEC’s wireless temperature and pressure sensors, WIRE-21 includes an array of thermocouples, self-powered neutron detectors, spatially distributed fiber optic temperature sensors, passive SiC temperature monitors, and flux wires. The design of WIRE-21 and the cabling that was installed in HFIR also provide the infrastructure to enable accelerated, economical testing of advanced sensor technologies while leveraging the extremely high neutron flux that is available in HFIR. The containment for WIRE-21 is similar to previous RB irradiation vehicles but includes a few modifications, most notably the use of integrated compression seals to pass a larger number of sensor leads through the experiment’s pressure boundary. In addition to the sensor leads, inert gas lines are passed into the experiment to enable active temperature control and the ability to pneumatically actuate a bellows-driven pressure sensor. WIRE-21 is targeting component temperatures (300–350°C) and neutron fluence levels (~10 22 n/cm 2 ) that would be expected in the plenum region of LWR fuels, except for the active sensing region of the wireless temperature sensor, which is targeting LWR fuel centerline temperatures (~800–1,100°C). WIRE-21 was successfully assembled, passed all nondestructive examination, and was delivered to HFIR for insertion during upcoming cycle 498 (April 2022).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

BayoTech Risk and Modeling Support of NM Gas Site

The BayoTech hydrogen generation system has been evaluated in terms of safety considerations at the NM Gas site. The consequence of a leak in different components in the system was evaluated in terms of plume dispersion and overpressure. Additionally, the likelihood of a leak scenario for different hydrogen components was identified. The worst-case plume dispersion cases, full-bore leaks, resulted in relatively large plumes. However, these cases were noted to be far less likely than the partial break cases that were evaluated. The partial break cases resulted in nearly negligible plume lengths. Similarly, the overpressure analysis of the full-bore break scenarios resulted in much larger overpressures than the partial break cases (which resulted in negligible overpressure at the lot line). There were several cases evaluated in the analysis that represented leak scenarios from both hydrogen and natural gas sources. Generally, the natural gas leak scenarios resulted in a smaller horizontal impact than that of hydrogen leaks. The worst-case consequence from a hydrogen leak resulted from the compressors, storage pods, or dispensing system. To consider the safety features that may isolate the leak, the consequence was evaluated at different times after the leak event to show the reduction of pressure. After 2 seconds, the plume dispersion from this event is contained within the perimeter of the site. The worst-case consequences show that the plume may disperse to adjacent facilities and to the street. When considering both likelihood and consequence, the risk may be considered low because the maximum frequency of a full-bore leak from any component within the hydrogen compound is 8.2 E-5/yr. This means that a full-bore leak is expected to occur less than once every 10,000 years. The risk can be further reduced by implementing mitigative countermeasures, such as CMU walls along the sides of the equipment compound. This would reduce the overall consequence of the worst-case dispersion scenarios (horizontal impact of plume). In terms of siting and safety analysis, the NFPA 2 code was used to provide a high-level evaluation of the current site plan. The most limiting equipment in terms of set-back distance are the compressors/storage units because of the high-pressure hydrogen. The site layout was evaluated for an acceptable location for the compression/storage unit based on NFPA 2 set-back distances. It is important to note that the NFPA 2 set-back distances consider both likelihood and consequence. This is important because the worst-case results evaluated herein also represent the least likely leak scenario. Other site-specific considerations were evaluated, including the parking shade structure with photovoltaic cells and refueling vehicles. These issues were dispositioned and determined to not present a safety risk.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2022

User Guide to the Advanced Dimensional Depletion for Engineering of Reactors (ADDER) Software (V.1.01)

The Advanced Dimensional Depletion for Engineering of Reactors (ADDER) software is being developed in the Research and Test Reactor (RTR) Program at Argonne National Laboratory to meet the reactor design and analysis needs of the Conversion Program. ADDER is a flexible tool that (1) provides a depletion capability through coupling external neutronics codes with a built-in CRAM solver or external depletion code and (2) provides a user-friendly interface to perform fuel management and criticality search operations. The ADDER software is a Python 3 application written using modern software development practices subject to a compliant implementation of NQA-1 and applicable Department of Energy software quality assurance standards. This report is the user guide for the software release referred to as ADDER v1.0.1. The motivation for a software to have flexible capabilities that ADDER possesses is the need to support a wide variety of geometries that are commonly required in analysis of research and test reactors. These reactors can have complex fuel, experiment, or control material shuffling patterns that persist over several years with many fuel management and partial refueling intervals. The scale of fuel management analysis can require tracking of an inventory that is multiple times the core loading. Many reactors, both power and non-power reactors of various types, will find the features of ADDER useful to facilitate key tasks that a fuel or core design engineer must perform with the convenience of concise input and validated functionality.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Enabling Extreme Fast Charging through Control of Li Deposition Overpotential on Graphite Electrodes

Currently produced electric vehicles (EVs) rely on the use of lithium ion battery technology due to its high energy and power density. However, a major barrier facing the adoption of electric vehicles is that currently utilized Li-ion batteries take significantly longer to recharge (~ 30 minutes) compared to the time necessary to refuel vehicles powered by internal combustion engines (< 10 minutes). Thus, the need to develop Li-ion batteries which can be charged in approximately 10 minutes (6 C rate) without sacrificing range, cost, or cycle life is critical for the widespread implementation of EVs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Report on General Hydrogen Safety

Hydrogen is an important resource for many different industries throughout the world, including refining, manufacturing, and as a direct energy source. Hydrogen production, through methods such as steam methane reforming, has been developed over several decades. There is a large global demand for hydrogen from these industries and safe production and distribution are paramount for hydrogen systems. Codes and standards have been developed to reduce the risk associated with hydrogen accidents to the public. These codes and standards are similar to those in other industries in which there is inherent risk to the public, such as gasoline and natural gas production and distribution. Although there will always be a risk to the public in these types of fuels, the codes and standards are developed to reduce the likelihood of an accident occurring and reduce the severity of impact, should one occur. This report reviews the current state of hydrogen in the United States and outlines the codes and standards that ensure safe operation of hydrogen systems. The total hydrogen demand and use in different industries is identified. Additionally, the current landscape of hydrogen production and fueling stations in the United States is outlined. The safety of hydrogen systems is discussed through an overview of the purpose, methods, and content included in codes and standards. As outlined in this safety overview, the risk to the public in operation of hydrogen generation facilities and fueling stations is reduced through implementation of appropriate measures. Codes, such as NFPA 2, ensure that the risk associated with a hydrogen system is no greater than the risk presented by gasoline refueling stations.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Continued Verification of MOOSE Structural Mechanics Tools for Modeling Core Bowing Phenomena in Fast Reactors

Under the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Program, an integrated multiphysics approach is being developed to model the core bowing phenomena important to liquid metal-cooled fast reactors. Core bowing is an important passive safety mechanism whereby increased power (which leads to temperature and flux gradients) influences the core to bow into less reactive configurations when the restraint system is properly designed. The phenomenon includes a complex interplay of radiation transport, duct temperature calculations involving fluid flow and heat transfer, and thermo-mechanical responses to the induced temperature and flux gradients. Structural material properties are also important to determining inelastic response to longer term flux gradients which cause irradiation creep and swelling. While core bowing provides a strong negative reactivity feedback when the restraint system is designed properly, it also results in additional forces between assemblies which increase the loads required to extricate them during refueling or control rod movement. Therefore, the restraint system must be designed with these tradeoffs in mind. The first stage of the work, which commenced in FY21 and continues through FY22, assesses thermo-mechanical modeling tools for producing core bowing predictions consistent with conventional tools. The Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) Tensor Mechanics and Contact Modules are employed. This status report describes work on additional thermo-mechanical benchmark verification problems with increased complexity from the examples demonstrated in FY21. Several benchmark verification examples were selected from the IAEA verification and validation report. These examples involve clusters of ducts representative of a sector of a hexagonal reactor core which bow into each other and cause contact and load pad elevations, as well as single ducts subjected to irradiation fields undergoing swelling and subsequent bowing. The MOOSE-based results were compared to both IAEA benchmark participants’ results, analytic equations as available, and NUBOW-3D, a beam model code developed by Argonne National Laboratory. In every case, the MOOSE results agreed with other simulations results, providing additional verification basis of the tools for this particular physics application.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Fabrication and Characterization of Single-Particle Compacts

The programmatic objective of the advanced low enriched uranium (aLEU) fuel Project within the Office of Nonproliferation Research and Development (NA-22) is to advance the development of nuclear reactor designs, fuel materials, and fabrication technologies capable of meeting a number of challenging customer requirements, including reactor stability, extended lifetime, and power density without refueling, while using only low-enriched uranium (i.e., less than 20% enrichment of 235 U). The tandem requirements of delivering sufficient power density and maintaining fuel performance over the course of a multidecade fuel lifetime tightly constrain the field of potential fuel options. Monolithic fuel forms (e.g., fuel pellets) provide maximized density of fissile material, but they may face challenges in maintaining their structure and performance over the long reactor lifetimes envisioned in this program. Dispersion fuel forms with an inert matrix provide enhanced long-term stability but sacrifice fissile material density, and they may not provide sufficient power density over the reactor lifetime with the limit of low enrichment.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗