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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Evolution of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory to the Astromaterial Sample Curation Facility: Technical Tensions Between Containment and Cleanliness, Between Particulate and Organic Cleanliness

The Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) was planned and constructed in the 1960s to support the Apollo program in the context of landing on the Moon and safely returning humans. The enduring science return from that effort is a result of careful curation of planetary materials. Technical decisions for the first facility included sample handling environment (vacuum vs inert gas), and instruments for making basic sample assessment, but the most difficult decision, and most visible, was stringent biosafety vs ultra-clean sample handling. Biosafety required handling of samples in negative pressure gloveboxes and rooms for containment and use of sterilizing protocols and animal/plant models for hazard assessment. Ultra-clean sample handling worked best in positive pressure nitrogen environment gloveboxes in positive pressure rooms, using cleanable tools of tightly controlled composition. The requirements for these two objectives were so different, that the solution was to design and build a new facility for specific purpose of preserving the scientific integrity of the samples. The resulting Lunar Curatorial Facility was designed and constructed, from 1972-1979, with advice and oversight by a very active committee comprised of lunar sample scientists. The high precision analyses required for planetary science are enabled by stringent contamination control of trace elements in the materials and protocols of construction (e.g., trace element screening for paint and flooring materials) and the equipment used in sample handling and storage. As other astromaterials, especially small particles and atoms, were added to the collections curated, the technical tension between particulate cleanliness and organic cleanliness was addressed in more detail. Techniques for minimizing particulate contamination in sample handling environments use high efficiency air filtering techniques typically requiring organic sealants which offgas. Protocols for reducing adventitious carbon on sample handling surfaces often generate particles. Further work is needed to achieve both minimal particulate and adventitious carbon contamination. This paper will discuss these facility topics and others in the historical context of nearly 50 years' curation experience for lunar rocks and regolith, meteorites, cosmic dust, comet particles, solar wind atoms, and asteroid particles at Johnson Space Center.

Allton, J. H.↗
DOE OSTI2021

X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope characterizations of the salt waste processing facility tank 101 and tank 104 solid samples

The “as-received” Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) Tank 101 and two Tank 104 samples (pre-wash and washed solids) have been characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive x-ray (SEM/EDX) techniques to address the concerns for the existence of solids, which may interfere with the operational performance of the SWPF crossflow filtration process.

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

Tank Waste Characterization: History, Challenges, and Success Stories

The preparation and chemical and radiochemical analysis of Hanford tank waste samples can be performed with standard laboratory equipment and instruments as relatively routine processes that are not particularly challenging. Rather, the main challenges of tank waste characterization are associated with radiological dose and sampling limitations. Accurate, representative and effective sampling techniques are difficult with the waste tanks because they were not designed for routine sampling. There are a finite number of sampling locations for each tank based on riser positioning, depth and the operational functionality of the sampling riser. For example, in one recently emptied SST, there was one riser that was found to have had concrete dumped down it, thereby eliminating that sampling port. Additionally, the waste within the tank; especially true for the saltcake and sludge, is not homogenous. The ability to adequately mix a million-gallon double shell tank (DST) is a concern for data reproducibility. Another real challenge that must be addressed for sampling single shell tanks, is how to dissolve the salt cake waste in a compromised (leaking) SST. These physical constraints mean that uncertainty in the representativeness of samples must be considered when applying analytical results to the bulk contents of the tank. The tank waste is highly radioactive and thus can only be handled initially by facilities that can receive samples into concrete-shielded hot cells with remote operation with an example provided in Figure 1. The shielding protects the worker from the radiological dose while mineral oil windows and remotely operated manipulators enables the samples to be handled. At Hanford, analytical laboratories with these hot cell capabilities are limited to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the main Hanford operations support laboratory, 222-S Laboratory. Because of their highly radioactive nature, samples must be sufficiently diluted to facilitate their analysis outside of a shielded cell. In some cases, this means some accuracy must be compromised to complete the analysis beyond that normally encountered for non-radioactive material.

Waste Characterization, BBI, PHOENIX: Tank Farms: ↗
NASA NTRS2015

Curating NASA's Astromaterials Collections: Past, Present, and Future

Planning for the curation of samples from future sample return missions must begin during the initial planning stages of a mission. Waiting until the samples have been returned to Earth, or even when you begin to physically build the spacecraft is too late. A lack of proper planning could lead to irreversible contamination of the samples, which in turn would compromise the scientific integrity of the mission. For example, even though the Apollo missions first returned samples in 1969, planning for the curation facility began in the early 1960s, and construction of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory was completed in 1967. In addition to designing the receiving facility and laboratory that the samples will be characterized and stored in, there are many aspects of contamination that must be addressed during the planning and building of the spacecraft: planetary protection (both outbound and inbound); cataloging, documenting, and preserving the materials used to build spacecraft (also known as coupons); near real-time monitoring of the environment in which the spacecraft is being built using witness plates for critical aspects of contamination (known as contamination control); and long term monitoring and preservation of the environment in which the spacecraft is being built for most aspects of potential contamination through the use of witness plates (known as contamination knowledge). The OSIRIS REx asteroid sample return mission, currently being built, is dealing with all of these aspects of contamination in order to ensure they return the best preserved sample possible. Coupons and witness plates from OSIRIS REx are currently being studied and stored (for future studies) at the Johnson Space Center. Similarly, planning for the clean room facility at Johnson Space Center to house the OSIRIS-REx samples is well advanced, and construction of the facility should begin in early 2017 (despite a nominal 2023 return date for OSIRIS-REx samples). Similar development is being done, in concert with JAXA, for the return of Hayabusa 2 samples (nominally in 2020). We are also actively developing advanced techniques like cold curation and organically clean curation in anticipation of future sample return missions such as comet nucleus sample return and Mars sample return.

Zeigler, Ryan↗
NASA NTRS2000

Overview of Mars Sample Hazard Analysis (Requirements Workshop Series)

Samples returned from Mars should be contained and treated as though potentially hazardous until proven otherwise. If sample containment cannot be verified en route to Earth, the sample and spacecraft should either be sterilized in space or not returned to Earth. Integrity of sample containment should be maintained through reentry and transfer to a receiving facility. Controlled distribution of unsterilized materials should only occur if analyses determine the sample not to contain a biological hazard. Planetary protection measures adopted for the first sample return should not be relaxed for subsequent missions without thorough scientific review and concurrence by an appropriate independent body.

Rummel, John D.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Introduction to Mars Sample Handling Workshop Series: Overview of Mars Sample Hazard Analysis

Samples returned from Mars should be contained and treated as though potentially hazardous until proven otherwise If sample containment cannot be verified en route to Earth, the sample and spacecraft should either be sterilized in space or not returned to Earth. Integrity of sample containment should be maintained through reentry and transfer to a receiving facility. Controlled distribution of unsterilized materials should only occur if analyses determine the sample not to contain a biological hazard. Planetary protection measures adopted for the first sample return should not be relaxed for subsequent missions without thorough scientific review and concurrence by an appropriate independent body

Rummel, John D.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Mobile/Modular BSL-4 Containment Facilities Integrated into a Curation Receiving Laboratory for Restricted Earth Return Missions

NASA robotic sample return missions designated Category V Restricted Earth Return by the NASA Planetary Protection (PP) Office require sample containment and biohazard testing upon return to Earth. Since the 1960s, sample containment from an unknown extraterrestrial biohazard have been related to the highest containment standards and protocols known to modern science. Today, this is Biosafety Level (BSL) 4 containment. In the U.S., the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories publication authored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health houses the primary recommendations, standards, and design requirements for all BSL labs. Past mission concept studies for constructing a NASA Curation Receiving Laboratory with an integrated BSL-4 quarantine and biohazard testing facility have been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars (USD). As an alternative option, we have conducted a trade study for constructing a mobile and/or modular sample containment laboratory that would meet all BSL-4 and planetary protection standards and protocols at a fraction of the cost. Mobile and modular BSL-2 and 3 facilities have been successfully constructed and deployed world-wide for government testing of pathogens and pharmaceutical production. Our study showed that a modular BSL-4 construction could result in ~ 90% cost reduction when compared to traditional BSL-4 construction methods without compromising the preservation of the samples or Earth. For the design/construction requirements of a mobile/modular BSL-4 containment, we used the established HHS document standards and protocols for manipulation of agents in Class III Biosafety Cabinets (BSC; i.e., negative pressure gloveboxes) that are currently followed in operational BSL-4 facilities in the U.S.

Calaway, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Developing the New Hayabusa Curation Facility at Johnson Space Center

On 25 November 2005 the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa spacecraft made contact with the asteroid 25143 Itokawa and collected a small amount of regolith dust from Muses Sea region of smooth terrain [1]. Even though optimal sample collection did not occur, the spacecraft returned to Earth with more than 10,000 grains ranging in the size from 30-180 microns [2]. These grains represent the only collection of pristine material returned from an asteroid by a spacecraft. As part of the joint agreement between JAXA and NASA for the mission, 10% of the Hayabusa grains will be transferred to NASA for parallel curation and allocation, the first 15 of which arrived in December 2011. In order to properly receive and process these samples, a new curation facility was developed at Johnson Space Center (JSC).

De Gregorio, B. T.↗
DOE OSTI2019

First Annual Progress Report on the Procurement and Post-Irradiation Examination of the Selected Samples of Alloy 800H and Grade 92 and 91 Steels

Ferritic-martensitic steel Grade 92, with Grade 91 as a reference, together with austenitic stainless steel (or Incoloy Alloy) 800H and its grain-boundary-engineered version 800H-TMP (Thermo-Mechanical Processing), is investigated in this project. A total of fifteen Grade 92 samples from two or three heats, four T91 samples from two heats, and six 800H and six 800H-TMP samples from one heat were selected, which were primarily irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) of Idaho National Laboratory (INL), with the rest in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), BOR-60 of Russia, and Phénix reactor of France. The samples were irradiated in the temperature range of 241 to 720°C and a dose range of 1.28 to ~70 displacements per atom. All the INL and ORNL samples and part of the LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) samples have been received at the Irradiated Materials Examination and Testing (IMET) hot cell facility. The selected ORNL samples include six Grade 92 and two 800H samples, which were irradiated in the HFIR to 0.46–14.66 dpa at 400 to ~720°C. The Grade 92 is an optimized heat and named as G92-2b. The two 800H samples have one sample as the standard solution-annealed condition and the other sample as a TMP condition with a maximized fraction of low-Σ coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries. Tensile test of the G92-2b samples were conducted at room temperature in the IMET hot cell. The lower temperature irradiation at 400–496.7°C to 0.52–14.66 dpa resulted in minimal changes in tensile properties. However, the higher temperature irradiation at ~683.3–720°C to 0.46–14.63 dpa tended to reduce yield and tensile strength by about –136 to –311 MPa and plastic elongation by –1 to –3% with the increasing dose. The 800H and 800H-TMP samples were tensile-tested at their irradiation temperature 580°C in the IMET hot cell, which showed >40% increase in yield and tensile strength with nearly 9% reduction in elongation for 800H-TMP compared with 800H. Three of the G92-2b samples, i.e., GB04 (7.44 dpa at ~490°C), GB05 (14.66 dpa at 496.7°C), and GB12 (14.63 dpa at ~720°C), were examined at the LAMDA for Vickers hardness measurements and microstructural characterization by SEM and TEM. Vickers hardness was successfully measured on GB12, which was reduced by is – (112.4 ± 12.3) HV1 from the control sample. However, the Vickers hardness measurements were failed on GB04 and GB05 because the samples were polished too thin to prevent the interference from the substrate (epoxy). The other half of the GB04 and GB05 will be polished for the hardness measurements, as well as nanoindentation studies. Fractography by SEM indicated increased numbers of ductile dimples (or voids) with the increasing irradiation dose, while significantly increased numbers and sizes of dimples with the increasing irradiation temperature. TEM characterization exhibited the presence of Cr 23 C 6 , VN, and Laves precipitates at boundaries and matrix, which showed pronounced precipitate-dislocation interactions (pinning effect). Dense dislocations but limited dislocation loops were observed in the samples, which noticeably reduced in GB12. Additionally, some tiny partially amorphized spherical domains were observed in GB12, which had a normal body-centered cubic lattice parameter of 9Cr steels at the surround regions but ~11% smaller than the lattice parameter of the matrix away from the amorphized spherical domains. Further characterization will be pursued to clarify the new findings.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Chemical, biological, and DNA markers for tracing slaughterhouse effluent

Agricultural practices, if not managed correctly, can have a negative impact on receiving environments via waste disposal and discharge. In this study, a chicken slaughter facility on the rural outskirts of Sydney, Australia, has been identified as a possible source of persistent effluent discharge into a peri-urban catchment. Questions surrounding the facility's environmental management practices go back more than four decades. Despite there having never been a definitive determination of the facility's impact on local stream water quality, the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (NSW EPA) has implemented numerous pollution reduction requirements to manage noise and water pollution at the slaughter facility. However, assessment of compliance remains complicated by potential additional sources of pollution in the catchment. To unravel this long-standing conundrum related to water pollution we apply a forensic, multiple lines of evidence approach to delineate the origin of the likely pollution source(s). Water samples collected between 2014 and 2016 from irrigation pipes and a watercourse exiting the slaughter facility had elevated concentrations of ammonia (max: 63,000 µg/L), nitrogen (max: 67,000 µg/L) and phosphorus (max: 39,000 µg/L), which were significantly higher than samples from adjacent streams that did not receive direct runoff from the facility. Arsenic, sometimes utilised in growth promoting compounds, was detected in water discharging from the facility up to ~4 times (max 3.84 µg/L) local background values (<0.5 µg/L), with inorganic As{sup (∑V+III)} being the dominant species. The spatial association of elevated water pollution to the facility could not unequivocally distinguish a source and consequently DNA analysis of a suspected pollution discharge event was undertaken. Analysis of catchment runoff from several local streams showed that only water sampled at the downstream boundary of the facility tested positive for chicken DNA, with traces of duck DNA being absent, which was a potential confounder given that wild ducks are present in the area. Further, PCR analysis showed that only the discharge water emanating from the slaughter facility tested positive for a generalized marker of anthropogenic pollution, the clinical class 1 integron-integrase gene. The environmental data collected over a three-year period demonstrates that the slaughter facility is indisputably the primary source of water-borne pollution in the catchment. Moreover, application of DNA and PCR for confirming pollution sources demonstrates its potential for application by regulators in fingerprinting pollution sources. - Highlights: • Multiple lines of evidence approach to delineate the origin of water pollution. • Arsenic speciation and clinical class 1 integron-integrase gene used as indicators. • Multidisciplinary approach for addressing global concerns about agricultural waste.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2013

The Hayabusa Curation Facility at Johnson Space Center

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa spacecraft made contact with the asteroid 25143 Itokawa and collected regolith dust from Muses Sea region of smooth terrain [1]. The spacecraft returned to Earth with more than 10,000 grains ranging in size from just over 300 μm to less than 10 μm [2, 3]. These grains represent the only collection of material returned from an asteroid by a spacecraft. As part of the joint agreement between JAXA and NASA for the mission, 10% of the Hayabusa grains are being transferred to NASA for parallel curation and allocation. In order to properly receive process and curate these samples, a new curation facility was established at Johnson Space Center (JSC). Since the Hayabusa samples within the JAXA curation facility have been stored free from exposure to terrestrial atmosphere and contamination [4], one of the goals of the new NASA curation facility was to continue this treatment. An existing lab space at JSC was transformed into a 120 sq.ft. ISO class 4 (equivalent to the original class 10 standard) clean room. Hayabusa samples are stored, observed, processed, and packaged for allocation inside a stainless steel glove box under dry N2. Construction of the clean laboratory was completed in 2012. Currently, 25 Itokawa particles are lodged in NASA's Hayabusa Lab. Special care has been taken during lab construction to remove or contain materials that may contribute contaminant particles in the same size range as the Hayabusa grains. Several witness plates of various materials are installed around the clean lab and within the glove box to permit characterization of local contaminants at regular intervals by SEM and mass spectrometry, and particle counts of the lab environment are frequently acquired. Of particular interest is anodized aluminum, which contains copious sub-mm grains of a multitude of different materials embedded in its upper surface. Unfortunately the use of anodized aluminum was necessary in the construction of the clean room frame to strengthen it and eliminate corrosion and wear over time. All anodized aluminum interior to the lab was thus covered or replaced by minimally contaminating materials.

Zolensky, M.↗