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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Strategic Research and Development Insights for Digital Twins

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is pleased to provide our response to the NITRD RFI on Digital Twins Research and Development. Digital twins are virtual representations of physical systems, leveraging real-time data to simulate and predict behaviors. ORNL is advancing digital twin technology across various disciplines, including neutron scattering, networking, science ecosystems, supercomputing, secure facilities, mobility technologies, materials design and discovery, power systems, fusion reactors, biological sciences, and earth observation. These efforts aim to enhance scientific research, operational efficiency, and decision-making processes. ORNL facilities, such as the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), Grid-C, Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), provide the infrastructure to develop and demonstrate these digital twin technologies. In this document, we lay out key challenges, research gaps, and future opportunities based on our experience with digital twins that aim to serve as useful contributions towards a National Digital Twins R&D Strategic Plan. In the remaining document, we address nine of the thirteen topic areas specified in the RFI.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Self-alignment features for III-V ridge process and angled facet die

A method of forming a laser including device is provided that in one embodiment includes providing a laser chip including at least one ridge structure that provides an alignment features. The method further includes bonding a type IV photonics chip to the laser chip, wherein a vertical alignment feature from the type IV photonics chip is inserted in a recess relative to the at least one ridge structure that provides the alignment features of the laser structure.

Barwicz, Tymon↗
DOE OSTI2023

Recent Radioactive Material Package Testing Experiences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was a pioneer in the testing of radioactive material shipping packages and has been performing such tests for over 50 years. Currently, except for Type B thermal tests, testing is performed at the purpose-built Packaging Research Facility that is located at the National Transportation Research Center - a U.S. Department of Energy User Facility. Packages used for the transportation of Type B quantities of radioactive materials must be capable of meeting normal conditions of transportation (NCT) requirements and hypothetical accident conditions (HAC) requirements as defined in Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 71. Evaluation of package designs to these criteria typically involves a combination of analysis and physical testing. Required physical tests include free drop, crush, puncture, penetration, compression, vibration, water spray, water immersion, and thermal. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Packaging Evaluation Facility (PEF) at the National Transportation Research Center (NTRC) provides an inclusive testing capability for a wide variety of packages needed for shipment of radioactive materials. Since PATRAM 2019, ORNL has performed several sets of tests including testing of two designs of the Defense Program Package (DPP-3 and DPP-1) and several Special Form Capsules. This paper provides an overview of the testing performed as well as a summary of advancements made to the ORNL package testing program during that time.

Martinez, Oscar↗
DOE OSTI2026

Adaptive spectra-to-exposure conversion using ridge regularized polynomial response models

Real-time gamma spectra-to-exposure conversion in aerial and ground monitoring commonly relies on calibration-derived, detector- or system-specific conversion coefficients that are assumed to generalize across operational environments. In practice, deployment specific differences in spectral composition and transport conditions can introduce systematic bias relative to reference instruments, motivating methods that adapt coefficients using minimal field supervision while explicitly limiting overfitting. In this work, we present a conservative coefficient adaptation framework that updates a baseline polynomial energy-weighting function using ridge-regularized regression, with leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) used to select the regularization strength. The findings support ridge-constrained minimal-supervision adaptation as a practical mechanism to suppress site-specific bias without destabilizing a calibration-derived baseline.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Phased Construction Completion Report for Decontamination Laundry Demolition at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

This Phased Construction Completion Report (PCCR) documents completion of demolition, waste disposition, and slab stabilization activities of Building 2523 (Decontamination Laundry) for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The Decontamination Laundry is located directly north of the intersection of White Oak Avenue and the 2519 Access Road. This demolition scope included the removal of the above-grade structures and facility components associated with Building 2523. This scope included the removal of Building 2523 (and all remaining contents inside), Trailer 2523A (and all remaining contents inside), an above-grade wastewater tank, and a wooden access porch connecting Buildings 2523 and Trailer 2523A. On the north side of Building 2523, above-grade portions of selected remaining foundations/stairs were removed from former Building 2517 to make room to stage waste containers. Building 2621 is west of the Laundry Building and Buildings 2547 and 2649 are to the east, while Building 2525 is to the north. Building 2523 is located within Bethel Valley Exposure Unit (EU) 3. The total area of the EU is approximately 39 acres. The area within EU 3 is bounded by First Street on the west, Central Avenue on the north, Third Street on the east and south. The slab of Building 2523 has been stabilized with a cap of flowable fill concrete and asphalt to contain residual radiological contamination and to provide surface suitable for vehicle parking. No below-grade demolition actions were performed during this task.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Transformative Impacts of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy on Environmental and Biological Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

This manuscript will present an advancement of transformative research that has been conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) over a 25-year period (2000–2025) on a variety of environmental and biological matrices. These investigations derived a fundamental understanding of how elemental detection and analysis of these matrices led to the knowledge and discovery of natural processes in plants and the environment. Each project led to the initiation of a new research area which unearthed awesome and novel breakthroughs. Highlights are listed below: 1. The preliminary research at ORNL centered on the detection of aerosols utilizing Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) technology. The Clean Air Act Amendment (CAAA) of 1990 highlighted the importance of identifying hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) due to their impact on environmental and human health, thereby underscoring the need to detect various toxic elements. Research in aerosol chemistry aimed to identify these harmful elements released by factories during periods of increased emissions in their manufacturing processes. LIBS emerged as the most effective method for real-time, in situ measurements of metal species in both gaseous and aerosol phases. 2. An understanding of the presence of total carbon in soils gives perspective on how to develop carbon sequestration strategies. The recognition that carbon sinks can evolve back to carbon sources to emit back to the atmosphere was an important consideration. Also, the concentration of carbon in soil indicates the health of land areas for growing crops successfully. 3. The direct detection of most of the elements in a wood sample in a single emission spectrum, without sample preparation, encouraged the research to use the LIBS technique for preservative treated wood coupled with use of multivariate statistical methodology. Additionally, it encouraged the researchers to try to differentiate natural woods from different parts of the country, and it was successfully demonstrated that LIBS coupled with MVA analysis could differentiate wood of different species from each other and of similar species grown in different environments based on their elemental spectra. This was a breakthrough since it revealed a systematic approach to connect elemental scarcity and abundance to either drought or typical rainfall conditions for the hardwood trees grown in specific areas. 4. Furthermore, the research progressed to reveal physiological and developmental processes contributing to biomass production such that the variation in leaf elemental composition increases our understanding of terrestrial nutrient cycles, as well as tracking the transfer of toxic elements from soils to living organisms. 5. Recently another breakthrough viz., ionomics initiated the correlation of elements to specific genes, uncovering the function that the element performed in the plant. More recently, this has been extended from plants to fungi as well as fungi growing in symbiotic relations with plants.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Data, Photographs, Videos, and Information for the Niwot Ridge Subalpine Forest (US-NR1) AmeriFlux site

This data package contains data and information about the operation of the Niwot Ridge Subalpine Forest AmeriFlux site (US-NR1) between Nov 1998 to the present (2020). This data archive supplements the primary 30-min data storage for the US-NR1 data (i.e., https://doi.org/10.17190/AMF/1246088) by providing the following: (i) five-minute statistics (means, variances, covariances) of all data measured by the data system between Nov 1998 and September 2020 in netCDF format, (ii) CSV data files saved within the memory of the CR23X data loggers (as well as an archive of the data logger programs), (iii) an archive of previous 30-min ASCII data versions of the US-NR1 AmeriFlux data and information related to each data release (a replica of what can be found at http://urquell.colorado.edu/data_ameriflux/), (iv) a web calendar (in HTML format) documenting activity at the site (a replica of http://urquell.colorado.edu/calendar/), (v) photos (over 15,000) and video taken at the site between years 2001 and present day (2020), and (vi) several auxiliary datasets, primary related to trees near the site, soil moisture and soil temperature, and subcanopy radiation data. The data package is setup so that the web calendar, photos, and electronic logbook can be easily accessed on a local computer using a web browser. The provided data files are in either netCDF, CSV, ASCII, or MATLAB format. To obtain a better understanding about the archive, please start by reading the PDF: README_ESS_DIVE_USNR1_readme_first.pdf.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

GNSS-based Vegetation Optical Depth, Tree Sway, and Evapotranspiration data from the Niwot Ridge Subalpine Forest (US-NR1) AmeriFlux site

This data package contains data and information about Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD), tree sway motion, and eddy-covariance evapotranspiration (ET) data collected at the Niwot Ridge Subalpine Forest AmeriFlux site (US-NR1). The raw GNSS data were collected between May 2022 and August 2023. Other processed datasets such as tree sway motion and ET data are also included. The goal was to study the water content within a subalpine forest and, more specifically, examine the canopy evaporation process. This data archive includes all data that were used within the following Biogeosciences discussion paper that further summarizes the research objectives and conclusions:Burns, S.P., V. Humphrey, E.D. Gutmann, M.S. Raleigh, D.R. Bowling, and P.D. Blanken, 2025: Using GNSS-based vegetation optical depth, tree sway motion, and eddy-covariance to examine evaporation of canopy-intercepted rainfall in a subalpine forest. EGUsphere [preprint],https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1755This data archive also supplements the 30-min Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) AmeriFlux dataset for US-NR1 (i.e., https://doi.org/10.17190/AMF/1246088) and updates what was in the 2020 ESS-DIVE US-NR1 archive (https://doi.org/10.15485/1671825) to include data from the years 2020-2025. More specifically, the following updates are provided: (i) five-minute statistics (means, variances, covariances) of all data measured by the US-NR1 data system between Sep 2020 and Jun 2025 in netCDF format, (ii) the electronic logbook of US-NR1 site visits, (iii) a web calendar (in HTML format) documenting activity at the site (a replica of https://urquell.colorado.edu/calendar/), (iv) photos taken at the site between years 2020 and present day (Aug 2025), and (v) several auxiliary datasets, primary related to trees near the site, soil properties, soil moisture and soil temperature, and subcanopy radiation data. The data package is setup so that the web calendar, photos, and electronic logbook can be easily accessed on a local computer using a web browser. The provided data files are in either BINEX or SBF format (for the raw GNSS data), netCDF, CSV, ASCII, or MATLAB format. To obtain a better understanding about the archive, please start by reading the following PDF which is included within the data archive:README_ESS_DIVE_USNR1_2025_readme_first.pdf.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

AGR-2 PIE at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) is currently supporting a fuel development and qualification program, which includes fuel fabrication, test irradiations, and post-irradiation examination (PIE) and safety testing to assess fuel performance during normal irradiation and under potential accident conditions. PIE work on fuel from the second test irradiation, Advanced Gas Reactor-2 (AGR-2), began at INL in July 2014. This work scope includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) providing technical input, performing PIE testing and analysis, and contributing expertise to this effort.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

AGR-3/4 PIE at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) is currently supporting a tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel development and qualification program, which includes fuel fabrication, test irradiations, and post-irradiation examination (PIE) and safety testing to assess fuel performance during normal irradiation and under accident conditions. PIE work on fuel from the third and fourth test irradiations, Advanced Gas Reactor-3/4 (AGR-3/4), began at INL in April 2015. The work scope in this memorandum purchase order (MPO) includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) providing technical input, preparations for PIE testing and analysis, and contributing general expertise to this effort.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Session 097C - Panel: Reuse of Federal Land on the Oak Ridge Reservation, TN (3/4) (R.16c)

This panel was to focus on what is being done to enable federal reuse across the DOE's Oak Ridge Reservation, including how the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET) plays a critical role, how the community is benefiting, and the experience of the private sector companies now occupying the site. The Panelists were to discuss how resources from the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) are being transitioned to support cleanup efforts that enable critical NNSA and Office of Science missions. This session integrated with panel sessions 97A, 97B, and 97D. Panelists with presentations: Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET) (Ryan Overton); Community Perspective (Ron Woody); ETTP Tenant Point of View (Bradley Spears); Enabling NNSA and Office of Science Missions (Stephen Phillips); Enabling Federal Land Reuse (David Adler)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Status of the Fuel Fragment Dispersal Studies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

During a loss-of-coolant accident, a nuclear fuel rods undergo balloon and burst. High burnup fuel is known to fragment and pulverize leading to the potential for the fuel to disperse through the burst opening either during the initial burst or following the burst during the reflood event. This milestone summarizes the design and assembly of a system to study dispersal in a postburst event. Surrogate fuel material (HfO 2 , tungsten, and yttria-stabilized zirconia [YSZ]) dispersing from as-burst loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) test specimens was extensively investigated, along with dispersal of actual nuclear fuel following a LOCA Severe Accident Test Station (SATS) test.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Status of the Fuel Fragment Dispersal Studies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

During a loss-of-coolant accident, a nuclear fuel rods undergo balloon and burst. High burnup fuel is known to fragment and pulverize leading to the potential for the fuel to disperse through the burst opening either during the initial burst or following the burst during the reflood event. This milestone summarizes the design and assembly of a system to study dispersal in a postburst event. Surrogate fuel material (HfO2, tungsten, and yttria-stabilized zirconia [YSZ]) dispersing from as-burst loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) test specimens was extensively investigated, along with dispersal of actual nuclear fuel following a LOCA Severe Accident Test Station (SATS) test. Surrogate material tests spanned a variety of burst geometries, particle types, particle size distributions, and rod oscillation loadings (frequency and amplitude combinations).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Oak Ridge National Laboratory EAGLE-I TM : Modeling Electric Utility County Customers for Situational Awareness

During natural hazard events (hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, etc.) and recent man-made events (e.g., cyber attacks), the exchange of near real-time, spatially refined data within the response community is critical. The EAGLE-I$^{TM}$ platform is one tool that facilitates this data for decision makers within the energy sector. While much information can be collected and integrated into the system directly, other pertinent data must be augmented by other derived data products to enhance the information and allow for a consistent evaluation of on-the-ground conditions. One such data set that requires the addition of other derived data is the electric utility customer outage data that is aggregated to the county level within the EAGLE-I application. Without a county customer data set, outages can only be compared on total counts, which gives greater importance to higher population outages. Including an electric utility customer data set at the county level allows for these outage counts to be converted to percent outages and brings a consistent classification of outages and equal importance to all outages. To achieve this, several available data sets were combined and spatial disaggregation techniques were employed to model customer estimates at the county scale. This paper presents the approach to produce this data for the United States and lessons learned from working with these disparate data sets. Data validation is provided, where possible, and limitations of the model and possible improvements are discussed.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Survey on Sustainable Software Ecosystems to Support Experimental and Observational Science at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

In the search for a sustainable approach for software ecosystems that supports experimental and observational science (EOS) across Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), we conducted a survey to understand the current and future landscape of EOS software and data. This paper describes the survey design we used to identify significant areas of interest, gaps, and potential opportunities, followed by a discussion on the obtained responses. The survey formulates questions about project demographics, technical approach, and skills required for the present and the next five years. The study was conducted among 38 ORNL participants between June and July of 2021 and followed the required guidelines for human subjects training. We plan to use the collected information to help guide a vision for sustainable, community-based, and reusable scientific software ecosystems that need to adapt effectively to: i) the evolving landscape of heterogeneous hardware in the next generation of instruments and computing (e.g. edge, distributed, accelerators), and ii) data management requirements for data-driven science using artificial intelligence.

Bernholdt, David↗
DOE OSTI2021

Reduction and bacterial adsorption of dissolved mercuric ion by indigenous bacteria at the Oak Ridge Reservation site

Mercury exists in various forms in the environment and the indigenous bacteria mediated processes have the potential to be used for mercury remediation. In this study, two mixed cultures of indigenous bacteria at the Oak Ridge Reservation site (i.e., ORR soil culture and ORR sediment culture) were selected to study the microbial mediated mercuric reduction under an aerobic condition as well as mercury adsorption onto bacterial surfaces. PCR analysis was performed to provide insights into the microbial community. The mercuric volatilizing experiment demonstrated the mercuric reducing capacity for both ORR cultures, in which the Pseudomonas genus was the dominating Hg 0 producer. The investigation of the impact of the sole carbon source revealed the energy-dependent characteristics of the mercuric reduction in this study. Namely, the mercuric reduction was nearly not impacted by the type of carbon source but positively related to the energy that a unit amount of substrate could provide. The study also indicated that the mercury adsorption competed with the reduction. According to the fitting of the Langmuir isotherm, the ORR soil culture was found to have a higher mercury adsorption capacity (i.e., 67.5 mg Hg/g dry biomass) than the ORR sediment culture (i.e., 53.1 mg Hg/g dry biomass). The negative correlation between the reduced mercury mass and adsorbed mercury mass was identified for both ORR cultures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗