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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 289 records · Page 16

US Department of Energy, Office of Science, High-Performance Computing Facility: 2023 Operational Assessment Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility

The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) was established to accelerate scientific discovery by providing world-leading computational performance and advanced data infrastructure. As a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility, the OLCF has managed the successful deployment and operation of a succession of leadership-class resources dedicated to open science. In addition to these resources, the OLCF staff continually strive to develop innovative processes and technologies, improve security, and empower users through effective allocation management and comprehensive user support and training. These efforts support the advancement of science by the OLCF users and benefit high-performance computing (HPC) facilities around the world. In calendar year (CY) 2023, the OLCF supported 1,676 users and 598 projects and exceeded all targets for user satisfaction. The facility received an average satisfaction score of 4.52 out of 5 on the annual user survey, and 94% of respondents reported a high satisfaction rate with the OLCF overall. Of the 3,619 user tickets submitted in CY 2023, OLCF staff resolved 97% within 3 business days. The facility opened Frontier to full scientific operations this year. Two projects conducted on Frontier received the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Gordon Bell Prize and the Gordon Bell Special Prize for Climate Modeling, and a third earned a nomination as a Gordon Bell Prize finalist. The facility’s previous flagship machine, Summit, gained new life and was extended through 2024 in part to help provide resources to the Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) projects and the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot program. The facility instantiated an Advanced Computing Ecosystem testbed in part to support IRI workflows. OLCF made interactivity easier and more accessible to users than ever through tools like Jupyter notebooks and workflows.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Recent High Burnup LOCA Testing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

To improve fuel cycle economics, increasing the fuel burnup limit in light-water reactors requires a solid technical foundation. Observations from experiments at Halden and Studsvik highlighted severe fuel fragmentation during loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) conditions, indicating a need for further technical considerations. These experiments suggest that the fragmentation threshold for high-burnup fuel might be influenced by pre-transient power levels. Consequently, additional LOCA test data are essential to complement existing findings and to deepen our understanding. Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Severe Accident Test Station has been instrumental in advancing knowledge about high-burnup fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal. This milestone report details two high-burnup LOCA tests designed to evaluate the effects of terminal temperature and grid spacers (or cladding restraints) on fuel fragmentation and relocation susceptibility. In addition, BISON fuel performance modeling and out-of-cell benchmark testing were conducted to better interpret the in-cell test results. These tests were developed in collaboration with fuel vendors to ensure that the results provide valuable data for topical reports and support the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

233 U oxide Measurement Campaign Data: Passive and Active Neutron Multiplicity Measurements of Uranium Oxide Samples at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

During FY2023, three measurement campaigns were conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The goal was to quantify the neutron signatures of samples of uranium oxide containing uranium 233 and uranium-235. This report presents the neutron multiplicity data obtained using the large volume active well coincidence counter (LV-AWCC).

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Thermoplastic Composite Joining of Pultruded Continuous Fiber Spars for Multi-Functional Battery Enclosure

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) worked with DowAksa Industry to investigate the potential of using PA66 material to produce larger composite parts, transcending the limitations of traditional presses. The project aimed to develop a suitable material for printing battery boxes using Nylon 66 infused with 40 wt.% carbon fiber, compatible with the ORNL Additive Manufacturing and Compression Molding (AM-CM) system. However, even with extensive work, it was concluded that the material is not compatible with the AMCM process and suitable for joining using compression technique. Main reason for the incompatibility were found to be very high crystallinity of the PA66 grade chosen for this work. To improve printability, a modifier (proprietary) was added to decrease crystallinity, but this led to reduced thermal stability and adhesion issues.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Assessment of Contaminant Bioaccumulation in Aquatic Biota on and Adjacent to the Oak Ridge Reservation—2020

This report provides information on contaminant concentrations in multiple wildlife prey species inhabiting or associated with water bodies on and downstream from the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), including regional reference sites. This information can be used to understand the nature and extent of contaminant exposure and transfer through the food web and to provide a baseline for evaluating temporal trends in contaminant exposure and accumulation. This information was gathered as part of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Five-Year Review (FYR) process, and it also addresses regulator comments on the annual Remediation Effectiveness Report (RER). This report summarizes the results of biological sampling completed in the spring and summer of 2020, prior to the 2021 FYR. Sampled locations included key sites upstream from the point sources of contaminants, along with watershed integration points on and off the ORR. Integration points are spatially the most important sampling sites because they capture biological responses to upstream contaminant inputs from both aqueous and groundwater sources, as well as responses to various remedial actions. These sites are most often located at a watershed administration unit boundary and may have regulatory significance for performance measures. In many cases, there are long-term biological and other monitoring data associated with these sites; these data generally fall within the areas of exposure and effects.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Fusion Materials Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Fiscal Year 2023

The materials science challenge of providing a suite of suitable materials to satisfy the technology to achieve fusion energy is addressed in this ORNL program. The inability of currently available materials and components to withstand the harsh fusion nuclear environment requires development of new materials, and an understanding of their response to the fusion environment. The overarching goal of the ORNL Fusion Materials program is to provide the applied materials science support and materials understanding to underpin the ongoing DOE Office of Science—Fusion Energy Sciences program, in parallel with developing the materials for fusion power systems. In this effort the program continues to be integrated both with the larger U.S. and international fusion materials communities and with the U.S. and international fusion design and technology communities. The excitement of this program comes from the priorities given to this subject in the two recent fusion reviews, by the FESAC and NAS committees. An important element of those recommendations is the support for pivoting the national R&D emphasis to the Fusion Materials and Technologies (FM&T), the long-advocated Fusion Prototypic Neutron Source, and for the Fusion Pilot Plant study that will help focus program direction and efforts. Furthermore, the surge of venture capital investment into the private fusion industry start-ups over the last few years is anticipated to help accelerate all aspects of the fusion energy development. This twelfth annual report of the ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Fusion Reactor Materials Program summarizes the accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2023 (FY2023). The year was the first to return to full post-COVID-restriction operations, with students and international assignees no longer impacted by COVID restrictions, as in FY20-21-22. Following the pattern of planning used in this program, work for the year FY2023 focused on having the data and productivity to support a strong presence at the International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials (ICFRM) 21, organized by Spain and occurred in October 2023. Twenty-nine ORNL-led abstracts were submitted, with all accepted. Four were invited presentations, nine contributed oral, fourteen posters, and two withdrawn due to unforeseen circumstances. Additionally, nine external abstracts with ORNL contributing authors were presented. These will be reported in the FY24 report next year.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Neutron detector development for high-rate neutron reflectometry at the Second Target Station of Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The Second Target Station (STS) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is expected to produce a neutron source that is the brightest in the world, having a significantly higher peak brightness compared to the First Target Station (FTS), where the reflectometry instruments already fall short of being able to handle the highest available flux by a factor of ~100. The neutron reflectometers at the SNS FTS are not suitable for the reflectometers planned for the SNS STS because of its unprecedentedly high peak brightness and the already limited capabilities of these instruments at high count rates. Furthermore, the high rate instruments that are now under development are expected to underperform with regard to gamma sensitivity, meaning that signal-to-noise will be reduced and they will be unable to measure weaker reflectance phenomena in the presence of the significant prompt gamma flash at SNS. To address these challenges, we conducted research to advances associated instruments, techniques, and capabilities for the SNS STS reflectometers. More specifically, we investigated the development of a scalable, 2-D positive-sensitive, pixelated, scintillator-based neutron detector module based on a newly developed scintillator. The work has potential for impact on future neutron reflectometry instruments and neutron science performed at the SNS STS. In particular, the improved background rejection capability of the developed detector could extend the available experimental dynamic Q range, allowing it to measure weak reflectance phenomena.

reflectometry, radiation instrumentation, neutron ↗

A Tool for Furthering GNSS Security Research: The Oak Ridge Spoofing and Interference Test Battery (OAKBAT)

A new global navigation satellite system (GNSS) dataset of digitized RF signals named Oak Ridge Spoofing and Interference Test Battery (OAKBAT) has been created. OAKBAT contains digitized spoofing signals that serve as both a supporting “sibling” and an advancement to the widely used Texas Spoofing Test Battery (TEXBAT) dataset [1]. OAKBAT at its core was developed to 1) allow for 100% reproducibility of the data, 2) provided more detailed metadata and contextual information about each dataset such as the precise moment that the spoofing and/or interference signals begins, positions used, constellations visible, etc., and 3) to provide datasets generated using the same key parameters as the TEXBAT ds1 through ds6 datasets. Through these “sibling” datasets it will now be possible to determine if the behavior of algorithms and designs developed using these datasets are being affected by possible intrinsic behavior and properties of the equipment used in the generation and digitization of the two datasets. The end goal of OAKBAT is to be a new resource for the community of researchers and developers working in the field of GNSS. This additional source of data provides a GNSS “playground” on which to experiment, explore, and evaluate new ideas.

Albright, Austin P.↗

Self-potential tomography preconditioned by particle swarm optimization—Self-potential monitoring and streamflow data acquired March 26–September 14, 2023 at East Fork Poplar Creek near Oak Ridge Tennessee

This data release contains self-potential (SP) monitoring data measured on the flood plain of East Fork Poplar Creek (East Fork) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and streamflow data measured at streamgage EFK5.4 about 310 meters upstream from the SP monitoring site. Additionally, forward and inverse numerical modeling scripts used to model the electrical-potential field on the East Fork flood plain are provided. SP monitoring data included in this data release were measured at 39 different data-collection points on the east flood plain; 30 points were spaced 3-m apart along an 87-m profile parallel to the edge of the streambank, and 9 points were spaced 5-m apart along a 40-m profile approximately perpendicular to the streambank. The two profiles of SP data-collection points intersected at the approximate midpoint of the profile parallel to the streambank. Transient voltages were measured at each data-collection point every 60 seconds between 16:13 Eastern Standard Time (EST) on March 26, 2023, and 11:41 EST on September 14, 2023. Streamflow data included in this data release overlap the time-period of self-potential monitoring and were measured every 900 seconds between 16:23 on March 26, 2023, and 23:53 on September 14, 2023.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Geomorphology of a sand ridge.

Sand ridge origin and dynamical setting, discussing morphology-tidal current system equilibrium indicated by theory and field measurements

Smith, J. D.↗