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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

SULI Report - Development of a Molten Salt Circulation Loop for in-situ Spectroscopy

This project supports the development of real time optical monitoring capabilities for molten salt reactor (MSR) environments by designing, testing, and refining a molten salt circulation loop suitable for combined laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and ultraviolet visible (UV Vis) absorption measurements. Online spectroscopic monitoring is increasingly important for nuclear safeguards, corrosion tracking, and material accountancy, yet MSR process fluids present substantial challenges due to their chemical complexity and hazards such as high temperatures and radiation. To address these needs, this work focuses on Phase I, the development of a room temperature aqueous circulation loop that serves as a surrogate platform for evaluating flow behavior, optical access, and component performance prior to high temperature salt operation. Initial testing identified several practical issues—including leaks, obstructions, and two-phase flow through the absorption cell—that were systematically resolved through hardware replacement, flow path redesign, and venturi pressure optimization. Relocating the flow cell upstream of the primary venturi enabled periods of stable single-phase flow, demonstrating the feasibility of integrating optical diagnostics into a circulation system. The results of Phase I provide essential design insight for Phase II, which will incorporate furnace compatible materials and LiCl KCl eutectic salt. Completion of the molten salt system will deliver a reusable testbed for evaluating multimodal spectroscopic techniques, advancing nondestructive, real time monitoring tools for future MSR and nuclear fuel cycle applications.

98 - NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL↗
DOE OSTI2026

SULI Peer Review

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Engineering - Mechanical and civil engineering↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Predictive Model for Offgas Composition in Waste Glass Melters - Spring 2021 SULI General Audience Abstract

Approximately 56 million gallons of nuclear waste are currently stored in 177 underground storage tanks at the Hanford site in Washington state. A portion of the tank waste is targeted for immobilization by converting the nuclear waste to borosilicate glass through a process called vitrification. During vitrification, emissions are produced in addition to the intended glass product. These emissions, contained in a volume above the molten glass called the plenum, are composed of water vapor, air components, aerosols, particulates, and other gaseous species that result from evaporation, reactions, and air influx. The formation of these gasses causes the surface of the glass to foam. To reduce foaming, sucrose is added to the waste stream before the conversion to glass. Sucrose also reduces the formation of hazardous gasses in the plenum including nitrous oxides, NOx, and carboxides, COx. However, if excess sucrose is present, the reactions that produce the gasses in the plenum will be incomplete, and increased levels of NOx and COx can be observed. The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Hanford site is equipped with the technology to treat the plenum emissions. Though many tests have been run to determine the presence of particulates in the plenum emissions, there is does not exist an established method to confidently predict the composition of the gaseous species in the plenum prior to treatment without physical testing. A model was created in the process modeling software Aspen Plus to predict the composition of NOx and COx in the plenum. The model employs a constant stirred tank reactor and user-defined reaction chemistry to determine the plenum composition. To verify the model, the offgas predicted by the model were compared to available offgas data for ten different feed compositions. It is demonstrated that the developed Aspen Plus model is capable of predicting the composition of NOx and COx in the plenum.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

SULI Oral Presentation

Furthering our understanding of the prevalence and severity of issues that customers face when charging their electric vehicles (EVs) is crucial in order to improve the charging experience across the United States. This project utilizes web-scraping, machine leaning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to analyze and categorize user-generated reviews. Selenium was used to build a data collection tool that can scrape vast amounts of user review data from the PlugShare website. Sentiment analysis was employed on this dataset in order to filter out negative reviews for further analysis. NLP techniques such as tokenization and word embedding were then used to convert user-written comments into a numerical format that a ML model can interpret. Multiple ML approaches are currently being explored in order to identify and categorize the charging issues being talked about in each review. Ultimately, the results from the ML model will be visualized and explained in a report on customer pain points to be delivered to the ChargeX Consortium, therefore revealing specific areas for improvement in the customer charging experience.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

SULI Oral Presentation

Furthering our understanding of the prevalence and severity of issues that customers face when charging their electric vehicles (EVs) is crucial in order to improve the charging experience across the United States. This project utilizes web-scraping, machine leaning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to analyze and categorize user-generated reviews. Selenium was used to build a data collection tool that can scrape vast amounts of user review data from the PlugShare website. Sentiment analysis was employed on this dataset in order to filter out negative reviews for further analysis. NLP techniques such as tokenization and word embedding were then used to convert user-written comments into a numerical format that a ML model can interpret. Multiple ML approaches are currently being explored in order to identify and categorize the charging issues being talked about in each review. Ultimately, the results from the ML model will be visualized and explained in a report on customer pain points to be delivered to the ChargeX Consortium, therefore revealing specific areas for improvement in the customer charging experience.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

SULI Internship Deliverables (Flow Orifice Design: Measuring Degas Flow of Experiment Loops at the Advanced Test Reactor)

These deliverables present a design for a new orifice flow meter to be installed in three experiment loops at the Advanced Test Reactor. The current configuration of the experiment loop system has an orifice that is not properly sized to the low flow rates of the degas line of the pressurizer system, causing inaccurate flow measurements. Under consideration of flow conditions and system constraints, an iterative procedure was utilized to determine the optimal sizing for a new orifice. This orifice is designed to accurately and precisely measure the flow rate of the degas line, which will consequently improve control of the pressure and chemistry of the loop pressurizer system. The scope of this project includes recommendations for orifice sizing, material, flange type, face type, and installation location on the loop piping spools. The design is suitable for experiment loops 1D-N, 2B-SE, and 2D-SW and meets all necessary standards.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2026

SULI End of Summer Presentation

This presentation made on Power Point is a brief summary of my work enhancing the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) architecture for Idaho National Lab’s Critical Infrastructure Test Range Complex (CITRC). This work was part of an on-going project to create a digital twin of CITRC that will be implemented for resiliency research. Resiliency is growing more important as extreme weather, aging infrastructure, and increasing load all exert stress on the United States power grid. This presentation highlights how I documented the existing devices and data flow on site and then updated specific device settings to better support the needs of the project. It also examines future use of this data in the digital twin data warehouse (DeepLynx), and future Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Distribution Management System applications. It will be presented to the B751 Water and Energy Systems Analysis group at INL during my last week.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ion Mobility Spectrometry Characterization of the Intermediate Hydrogen-Containing Gold Cluster Au7(PPh3)7H52+

We employ ion mobility spectrometry and density functional theory to determine the structure of Au7(PPh3)7H52+ (PPh3 = triphenylphosphine) which was recently identified by high mass resolution mass spectrometry. Experimental ion-neutral collision cross sections represent the momentum transfer between the ionic clusters and gas molecules averaged over the relative thermal velocities of the colliding pair, thereby providing structural insights. Theoretical calculations indicate the geometry of Au7(PPh3)7H52+ is similar to Au7(PPh3)7+, with three hydrogen atoms bridging two gold atoms and two hydrogen atoms forming single Au–H bonds. Collision induced dissociation products observed during IMS experiments reveal that smaller hydrogen containing clusters may be produced through fragmentation of Au7(PPh3)7H52+. Our findings indicate that hydrogen containing species like Au7(PPh3)7H52+ act as intermediates in the formation of larger phosphine ligated gold clusters. These results advance the understanding and ability to control the mechanisms of size selective cluster formation which is necessary for scalable synthesis of clusters with tailored properties. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences. M.A.H. acknowledges support from the DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program. H.H. acknowledges support from the DOE Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientist (WDTS) under the Visiting Faculty Program (VFP). The efforts of K.A.M. and B.H.C. were supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (Grant No. HDTRA1-14-1-0023). The research was performed using EMSL, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is operated by Battelle for DOE under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830.

Ligare, Marshall R.↗
DOE OSTI2021

ESI-MS Identification of the Cationic Phosphine-Ligated Gold Clusters Au1-Au22: Insight into the Gold-Ligand Ratio and Abundance of Larger Clusters

Triphenylphosphine (PPh3)-ligated gold clusters offer promising potential applications due to their relative ease of synthesis and usefulness in forming advanced cluster architectures. While previous studies reported cationic PPh3-ligated gold clusters with core sizes of Au1 - Au4, Au6 - Au11, and Au¬13 - Au14, there has not been definitive identification by mass spectrometry of larger clusters in the Au12 - Au25¬ range. Herein, we survey a polydisperse solution of cationic PPh3-ligated gold clusters using high mass-resolution (M/?M = 60,000) electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). To improve the sensitivity and mass resolution of larger clusters for unambiguous identification, we increased the number of scan averages and reduced the range of mass collection windows to 200 m/z, thereby mitigating potential mass and ion abundance bias resulting from smaller “building block” gold clusters and other solution components present in higher abundance. In addition to the previously reported clusters, we identified several new species including Au5(PPh3)5+, Au12(PPh3)9HCl2+, Au15(PPh3)9Cl2+, Au16(PPh3)10Cl22+, Au17(PPh3)113+, Au18(PPh3)102+, Au19(PPh3)10Cl2+, Au20(PPh3)12H33+, Au21(PPh3)10Cl2+, and Au22(PPh3)10Cl22+, indicating that a full range of clusters between Au1 - Au22 may be observed in a single polydisperse solution. Considering all of the observed clusters, our findings provide evidence that the “magic number” icosahedral Au13 may be the transition point in cluster growth between smaller clusters, exhibiting a 1:1 gold-to-ligand ratio, and larger clusters, wherein subsequent gold atoms are added to the core without an equal number of accompanying ligands. Our method demonstrates that reducing the range of m/z collection windows and increasing the number of scan averages can improve instrument sensitivity for cationic gold clusters and enable a more complete survey of polydisperse solutions, thereby providing new insights to guide and validate the results of other characterization methods and theoretical calculations. This work was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences. MH acknowledges support from the DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program. HH acknowledges support from the DOE Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientist (WDTS) under the Visiting Faculty Program (VFP). This work was performed using EMSL, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the DOE's Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is a multiprogram national laboratory operated for DOE by Battelle.

Hewitt, Michael↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bi-metallic Nanoparticle Synthesis for Advanced Manufactured Melt Wires

Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) Program Report: Additive manufacturing (AM) based on direct-write technologies has emerged as the predominant method for the fabrication of passive sensors for the harsh operating environments seen in a nuclear reactor. Through the modification of previous methods, Idaho National Laboratory and Villanova University have improved the synthesis process for AM feedstock, which will allow for the improvement of advanced nuclear sensors and instrumentation. A major part of this work includes the synthesis process of relevant AM compatible feedstock to support the development, fabrication, and testing of AM sensors for peak temperature detection. For this report, bismuth, bismuth/platinum, tin, tin/silver, tin/zinc, indium, and indium/silver bi-metallic nanoparticles were synthesized using the polyol method, which will enhance temperature sensitivity and allow for miniaturization. To characterize the synthesized nanoparticles, we used x-ray fluorescence to evaluate the elemental composition of the nanoparticles and differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis to determine the melting point and mass loss of the samples. Results show that bi-metallic nanoparticles are a viable option for the fabrication of high-resolution AM melt wires. The temperature sensitivity can be brought to within 5°C and melt wires can be fabricated that are in the micrometer scale. This will expand the range of irradiation experiments melt wires can be used for and the measured temperature will be significantly more accurate.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mu2e otsdaq Documentation and Online Reconstruction Analytics

This report outlines the results of the DOE-funded SULI (Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship) research completed over the summer 2024 on site at Fermilab. The project focused on the \textit{otsdaq} software responsible for data acquisition. The project included drafting updated documentation for new users including new procedures relevant for the Alma-Linux 9 operating system update, and the UPS package managing system replacement with spack (scientific software package manager). A new \textit{art} module (ReadTriggerCounts) to track trigger rates was created, with compatibility to be displayed via a Grafana server. The author also assisted in calorimeter cable installation in the detector hall.

Saarinen, Talia↗
DOE OSTI2024

Annual Report on NCSP Technical Support task in BNL during FY24

This work reports on the investigations done during FY 24 in collaboration with two 2024 Summer undergraduate interns through the DOE SULI and BNL SURP programs. These efforts were partially funded by the Nuclear Criticality Safety Program through the Technical Support Succession Plan task. The first project, developed by Ian Snider, focused on testing the impact of uncertainties in thermal cross sections for multiple materials in nuclear reactor simulations. The second project aimed implement concurrent into BNL’s machine-learning code to correct spin mis-assignments in neutron resonances, the Bayesian Resonance Reclassifier (BRR).

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Convectively Inhibitive Qualities of Heat Waves in the Southeast and their Enhancement of Rainfall Events

INTRODUCTION Started from a simple question from initial anecdotal observations: • On June 14th, 2022, in the midst of a string of hot days, there was a particularly intense rain event that occurred. • There looks to be some synoptic influence, but the storms showed major convective growth in a short period of time. • I began to wonder: What is it about these sustained heat events that contribute to occasional explosive convection? SULI Intern Joe Gott conducted analyses on “zerohour” HRRR gridded products for June 2022, using a qualitatively defined “heat wave” 10-day period compared to the rest of the month. • Found that through the various regions of Savannah River Site (SRS) and the broader Central Savannah River Area (CSRA), there seemed to be greater stabilization in the nocturnal boundary layer, and destabilization in the daytime boundary layer. • Results are consistent with Huang et al. (2023), who found similar nocturnal stabilization in Melbourne using aircraft soundings. • I wondered if there is a connection between heat wave rainfall events and the “Convective Inhibition” phenomenon seen in severe weather forecasting. • A “cap” is seen in the morning, trapping moisture near the ground until a mid-day mechanism (dryline) allows spontaneous convection.

Wermter, Joseph [Savannah River National Laborator↗
DOE OSTI2025

Geant4 Simulations and Experimental Results for the Pacific-Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE)

The Pacific-Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE) is an upcoming large-volume neutrino telescope planned to be built off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. It aims to detect high-energy neutrinos via the Cherenkov radiation produced in water by secondary particles born from high-energy neutrino interactions. Its first set of detectors is planned to be commissioned this year. However, since the telescope is still in its early stages of development, many tests and simulations must still be run to characterize the efficacy of the detectors. One necessary simulation must be devoted towards examining whether the polarization of the incoming Cherenkov light impacts the strength of the signals by the PMTs, and it must be supported by experimental data. In this report, I detail what I have completed during my SULI internship at the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL); I present the preliminary results of a Geant4 polarization simulation as well as preliminary laboratory measurements that will later be used to inform the future P-ONE design.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Annual Report on NCSP Technical Support task in BNL during FY25

This work reports on the investigations done during FY 25 in collaboration with one 2025 Summer undergraduate intern through the DOE SULI program. These efforts were partially funded by the Nuclear Criticality Safety Program through the Technical Support Succession Plan task. This project, developed by Matthew Molnar, aimed to apply the BNL’s machine-learning code to correct spin mis-assignments in neutron resonances, the Bayesian Resonance Reclassifier (BRR), to the odd-even nucleus 143 Nd. For this, the handling of spingroup classification had to be further investigated and improved.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Real-Time Anomaly Detection for Beyond Standard Model Searches in ProtoDUNE Horizontal Drift

This paper summarizes work conducted throughout a SULI internship at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory focused on building an unsupervised machine learning model for real-time anomaly detection in ProtoDUNE Horizontal Drift. Using simulated data, we trained an autoencoder model on a pure cosmic dataset, and evaluated it on both cosmic and neutrino events---making the model an anomaly detector. The goal was to make a model which matches or exceeds the current ADC Simple Window trigger algorithm so that our model can perform at the same rate but provide sensitivity to potential beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) signatures. In the end, we were able to construct a model which slightly exceeds the capabilities of the ADC Simple Window while remaining completely unsupervised, achieving $31.9 \pm 0.2$\% ($26.6 \pm 0.2$\%) $\nu$ efficiency at 5 Hz (2 Hz), a 3.6 (3.2) percentage point increase. Additionally, $17.5 \pm 0.3$\% ($18.3 \pm 0.3$\%) of the events that passed the autoencoder at 5 Hz (2 Hz) were missed by the current trigger algorithm. Future work will investigate alternative normalization methods, including quantile transformation, and evaluate the model on ProtoDUNE-HD detector-glitch data if that data becomes available.

Wilson, Cameron C. [Cincinnati U., RWC]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Real-Time Anomaly Detection for Beyond Standard Model Searches in ProtoDUNE Horizontal Drift

This paper summarizes work conducted throughout a SULI internship at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory focused on building an unsupervised machine learning model for real-time anomaly detection in ProtoDUNE Horizontal Drift. Using simulated data, we trained an autoencoder model on a pure cosmic dataset, and evaluated it on both cosmic and neutrino events---making the model an anomaly detector. The goal was to make a model which matches or exceeds the current ADC Simple Window trigger algorithm so that our model can perform at the same rate but provide sensitivity to potential beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) signatures. In the end, we were able to construct a model which slightly exceeds the capabilities of the ADC Simple Window while remaining completely unsupervised, achieving $31.9 \pm 0.2$\% ($26.6 \pm 0.2$\%) $\nu$ efficiency at 5 Hz (2 Hz), a 3.6 (3.2) percentage point increase. Additionally, $17.5 \pm 0.3$\% ($18.3 \pm 0.3$\%) of the events that passed the autoencoder at 5 Hz (2 Hz) were missed by the current trigger algorithm. Future work will investigate alternative normalization methods, including quantile transformation, and evaluate the model on ProtoDUNE-HD detector-glitch data if that data becomes available.

Wilson, Cameron C. [Cincinnati U., RWC]↗