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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 361 records · Page 20

2024 Annual Report Laboratory Directed Research & Development

This is the FY-24 LDRD annual report. The 62 projects concluded in fiscal year 2024, highlighted in this report, represent a glimpse into the extraordinary breadth and depth of leading-edge science, technology, and engineering endeavors ongoing at INL. I invite you to explore this report thoroughly, discovering first-hand how INL's LDRD portfolio not only fosters innovation but also nurtures researcher talent, propelling us closer to realizing our vision of transforming the world's energy future and safeguarding our critical infrastructure.

99 - GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Improving Elemental Mercury Recovery in DWPF by pH and Ionic Strength Studies Using Laboratory Scale Replica – 26141

In order to safely disposition nuclear material at large scales, the Savannah River Site (SRS) constructed the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) for the removal of actinides, the Saltstone facility for preparation of a low-level cementitious grout, and the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) for the vitrification of high-level waste (HLW). A few years after processing began, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in cementitious waste at the Saltstone facility which initiated a search for the source of mercury during processing at these SRS facilities. Mercury serves as a catalyst in the dissolution of spent nuclear fuel, aluminum-actinide alloys, for actinide recovery, but not enough is known about the behavior and properties of mercury within these process streams.

Pina, Jeanette [Savannah River National Laboratory↗

Electrocoagulation in Water Treatment: Targeted Contaminant Removal and Laboratory Best Practices

Electrocoagulation for water treatment offers many advantages over traditional treatment technologies, including improved energy efficiency and modularity. One challenge with electrocoagulation is the lack of standardization in the methodology and reporting. This review provides a novel contribution by examining the past literature using a uniform metric (charge loading) as a basis for comparison, highlighting the importance of uniform reporting practices in this field. Furthermore, this review provides practical guidance for experimentalists in standardizing the electrocoagulation design and operating procedures. First, we present a comprehensive overview of contaminant-specific electrocoagulation as an electrochemical treatment technology for processing industrial, municipal, and agricultural water, with a focus on aluminum and iron electrocoagulation. We detail the fundamental mechanisms that allow for constituent removal during pretreatment. Specifically, we highlight electrocoagulation’s potential for organics, metalloids, microbes, and hardness remediation, examining the optimal removal conditions in terms of charge loading and current density. We conclude this work with some experimental best practices for lab-scale electrocoagulation experiments.

aluminum↗

Multimodal Ambient Pressure Sample Environment for the HIPPIE Solid-Gas Endstation at MAX IV Laboratory

The HIPPIE APXPS instruments have undergone several major upgrades, such as developing a dedicated solid gas endstation to specialize in multimodal ambient pressure sample environments centered around X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Herein, the technical specifications of the HIPPIE solid gas endstation are detailed; upgrades to the laser heating and gas systems, as well as the addition of an offline 1 bar reactor, are introduced. To demonstrate how the endstation is currently being utilized, scientific examples of all upgrades are presented, as well as science cases using infrared reflection-adsorption spectroscopy. The HIPPIE solid gas endstation is maturing into an instrument offering bespoke sample environments aimed at pushing experimental capabilities, especially in the time-resolved domain.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A tetrahedral probe constellation approach for measuring canonical momentum in self-organized laboratory plasma

To examine momentum redistribution processes and study generalized helicities during plasma relaxation in Madison Symmetric Torus, MST, reversed field pinch plasma, a new probe is being tested to measure the full 3D plasma ion flow and magnetic field vectors at four spatial locations arranged in a tetrahedral shape reminiscent of a satellite measurement constellation. These measurements permit calculation of ∇ x $\vec{u}$ and canonical momentum, where $\vec{u}$ is the plasma ion flow vector. The probe consists of four probe heads arranged in a tetrahedral pattern, with an overall probe diameter of ∼31.75 mm. The probe head diameter is ∼1.0 cm, which is of the order of the ion Larmor radius. Each head has four molybdenum electrodes, also arranged in tetrahedral geometry, which are biased relative to a common return electrode, using four power supplies (one for each head), to measure the local ion flow. Additionally, each head has three orthogonal magnetic pickup coils within it to measure equilibrium and fluctuating magnetic fields.

Physics - Plasma physics↗

High-resolution lidar observations of sedimentation-induced size sorting of droplets near a laboratory cloud top

Cloud optical properties and precipitation, which are crucial to weather and climate, are strongly influenced by cloud microphysical properties that are still poorly understood. Here, we develop a high-resolution time-correlated single-photon-counting lidar and apply it to observe cloud microphysical properties at one-centimeter range resolution in a convection chamber under well-controlled conditions. Together with concurrent in-situ measurements and theoretical analysis, our lidar observations indicate that although turbulent mixing tends to homogenize the cloud in the bulk region, entrainment and sedimentation cause inhomogeneities in droplet concentrations near the cloud top. Specifically, the topmost region is directly affected by entrainment, and lidar profiles show clear evidence of entrained air and detrained cloud filament. The transition region below exhibits vertical size sorting of cloud droplets caused by sedimentation. Our results suggest that using a single sedimentation velocity for all cloud droplets, as is done in many atmospheric models, overlooks key physics relevant to the microphysical structure near the cloud top. In conclusion, our conceptual model used to describe these measurements can serve as a step toward improving the current modeling of processes in the cloud top region.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Idaho National Laboratory Team Visits NCERC

The DOE/NRC Criticality Safety for Commercial-Scale High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) for Fuel Cycle and Transportation (DNCSH) initiative is a collaboration between the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission focused on criticality safety benchmarking for processing and transportation applications related to HALEU and Advanced Reactors. The project includes design, siting and construction of a horizontal split table (HST), which has long been recognized as a need for validating advanced reactor systems.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Enterprise Artificial Intelligence Strategy for Los Alamos National Laboratory

In the 1984 martial arts drama film, The Karate Kid, a young Daniel LaRusso is unexpectedly placed in an adversarial environment unable to eYectively adapt to a series of new threats and limitations. Fortunately for the main character, once placed under the tutelage of a Mr. Miyagi, he finds resiliency not through the adoption of new tools, but a re-focused set of fundamentals. Much in the same way that Daniel learns waxing on and buYing oY car wax by hand has rewards for Karate, LANL is choosing the harder path of self-hosting Large Language Models (LLMs) for enterprise use instead of only relying on buying access to a hosted AI service like Azure’s OpenAI Application Programming Interface (API). We also are not willing to wait for software-as-a-service (SAAS) AI services to meet us where we need to be from a FedRAMP accreditation standpoint. Our operations regularly depend on access at CUI, UCNI, ITAR and other FIPS-199 moderate-impact data levels and hosting our own services gives us the right security and compliance posture to be useful across the broad range of our work at LANL. With the rise in threats to critical infrastructure, cloud service providers (CSPs), and supply chain attacks from both state and non-state actors, we are not placing the bet that SAAS hosted AI services will be available when we need them. Should a major event occur, we do not want our staY and operations left without a pathway for us to fix the problem and resume the use of AI tools.

42 ENGINEERING↗

SESAME: The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Tabulated Equation of State Database Description with Extensions for Multi-phase Representations

Modeling of the thermodynamic equation of state (EOS) of various materials has had a long storied tradition at LANL. As early as 1949 Feynman, Metropolis, and Teller published a paper presenting EOS values for some elements and a methodology for calculating the EOS at high compression [1]. Cowan and Ashkin made notable methodology improvements for compressed materials throughout the 1950’s and beyond [2]. In 1971 Jack Barnes and Jerry Rood created the SESAME database and by 1972 the database became publicly available.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Competition for Management and Operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory

Reconnection is one of the key nonlinear processes in a plasma, in which great amounts of magnetic energy can be rapidly transformed and released via a change in magnetic topology. Field lines of opposite polarity flow together, annihilate, and release pent-up magnetic stress. Snapshots from one of our 2D test simulations (Fig 1) demonstrate key stages in magnetic reconnection. First, antiparallel magnetic field lines are brought together by an inflow in the z direction (the “upstream”). Second, the field lines begin reconnecting and an outflow forms in the x direction (the “downstream”). Finally, in the fully nonlinear stage, structures known as plasmoids are formed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

FRMAC Laboratory Analysis Manual Volume 1, Revision 0

The Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) is an operational center, available on request by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to respond to nuclear and radiological incidents as described in the National Response Framework (NRF). Under the Federal Interagency Operational Plan for Response and Recovery’s Nuclear/Radiological Annex, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has the responsibility to maintain the operational readiness of the FRMAC during the emergency phase of an event. FRMAC is initially established and managed by the Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) and serves as an interagency operations center with representatives from various federal, state, and local radiological response organizations. The purpose of the FRMAC is to assist state, local, tribal, and territorial governments (SLTT) in their mission to protect the health and well-being of their citizens with: • Verified radiation measurements. • Interpretations of radiation distributions based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or local Protective Action Guidelines (PAGs). • Characterization of overall radiological conditions. Once a declaration to respond to a radiological emergency has been made, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Headquarters will coordinate the response in consultation with the cognizant NNSA Regional Coordinating Office (RCO). Each of the eight RCOs maintain a 24-hour response capability for radiological emergencies that may occur in states served by its region. When a FRMAC is established, it operates under the parameters of the Incident Command System (ICS), as defined in the National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) construct. The Consequence Management Home Team (CMHT) will be activated immediately during normal business hours (Pacific Time Zone), and within two hours otherwise. The Consequence Management Response Team (CMRT) is prepared for deployment within six hours after activation. Along with the assets, FRMAC provides an operational framework for coordinating of all federal off-site radiological monitoring and assessment activities during a response to a radiological emergency to support the coordinating agency and SLTT governments. Potential radiological emergencies that fall within FRMAC vary widely in terms of the area affected, the nature of the contamination, and the scope of the government’s response. Detonation of a nuclear device, accidental release of radiation from a nuclear power plant, and a terrorist threat are just a few of the many possible scenarios FRMAC must be prepared to address. Through all this, supporting the state, local, and tribal organizations in the protection of the public remains the primary goal of the federal response.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Modernizing the Kokkos Build System: Using CMake to Encapsulate the Complexity of Build Instructions for Performance Portable Libraries

Kokkos, a C++ library focused on performance portability, requires a build system that can work with a variety of compilers and hardware. Ideally, users need only select the compiler and architecture and should not have to know or specify how programs using Kokkos are built. CMake can be used to create a flexible, robust build system and automatically configures compilers and settings based on the user’s inputs. Nevertheless, Kokkos’ requirements as a performance portability library for the build system exceed CMake’s current capabilities. This report describes the requirements, solutions, and testing of various implementations to create a CMake-based build system suitable for Kokkos. It compares the strengths and shortcomings of the approaches and evaluates the implementations with respect to the requirements. Because no solution was found to meet all of the requirements, the Kokkos team engaged with the CMake development team to discuss and plan a path toward support for performance-portable build systems in CMake in the future.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗