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DOE OSTI2023

Consequence Management Cobalt Magnet 2022 Laboratory Analysis: After Action Report

On May 16-20, 2022, federal mission partners (e.g., DOE Consequence Management, CDC, FDA, FBI, DHS) as well as integrated state, local, tribal, and territorial governments took part in Cobalt Magnet 22 (CM22), a large-scale, week-long radiological incident exercise in Austin, Texas, that linked several important national assets (National Search Program, Radiological Assistance Program, and Consequence Management [CM] personnel) into a single response effort. The exercise had nine (9) overarching Objectives and an additional 162 associated Critical Tasks for all the participating organizations. In total, 13 National Core Capabilities spanning 5 Mission Areas were represented in the final exercise. This exercise enabled a full range of capabilities to be fielded together and examine the operational connection between major assets, discover any resource shortages associated with conducting multiple mission areas simultaneously or in close succession, and identify any challenges related to leadership. This report summarizes nearly 100 successes and observations provided from players and controllers supporting the LA Division, Fly Away Laboratory (FAL) and Gamma Spectroscopist operations. The observations were categorized to align with the FRMAC programmatic functional areas to consider for future improvements: Logistics, CBRN Responder, Laboratory Analysis, Sampling and Monitoring, Health and Safety, Gamma Spectroscopist Operations, Fly Away Laboratory, and the FRMAC Interdivision Interoperability Group (FIIG).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Los Alamos National Laboratory 2023 Annual Site Environmental Report

Los Alamos National Laboratory (Laboratory) annual site environmental reports are prepared each year by the Laboratory’s environmental organizations as required by U.S. Department of Energy Order 231.1B, Administrative Change 1, Environment, Safety, and Health Reporting, and Order 458.1, Administrative Change 4, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Shaping the Future of Self-Driving Autonomous Laboratories Workshop

The "Shaping the Future of Self-Driving Autonomous Laboratories" workshop, held in Denver on November 7-8, 2024, brought together leading experts from materials science and computing to address the growing need to revolutionize scientific research through AI-driven autonomous laboratories. The workshop identified critical challenges, including the integration of heterogeneous data, development of AI systems that understand fundamental physical principles, and comprehensive safety protocols. Key recommendations emerged around developing universal laboratory equipment interfaces, implementing automated metadata collection systems, and creating hybrid AI approaches that combine data-driven learning with scientific principles. The workshop emphasized maintaining human oversight while leveraging automation, transforming scientific education to prepare the next generation of researchers, and establishing a national consortium leveraging DOE facilities as anchors for broader collaboration with academia and industry. Participants stressed the urgency of addressing the growing disconnect between human decision-making timescales and modern instrumentation capabilities, highlighting the need for strategic automation while preserving essential human insight and oversight in the research process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Addendum to Architectural Documentation and National Register of Historic Places Evaluations of Built-Environment Resources at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos County, New Mexico

The Los Alamos National Laboratory contracted Statistical Research, Inc. (SRI), to document and evaluate 110 facilities for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register). This effort was conducted in compliance with Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended; the Code of Federal Regulations (36 CFR 800); the Programmatic Agreement among the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos Field Office, the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Concerning Management of the Historic Properties at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos New Mexico; and A Plan for the Management of the Cultural Heritage at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico (LANL’s Cultural Resources Management Plan) (2017).

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2010

Preliminary volcanic hazards evaluation for Los Alamos National Laboratory Facilities and Operations : current state of knowledge and proposed path forward

The integration of available information on the volcanic history of the region surrounding Los Alamos National Laboratory indicates that the Laboratory is at risk from volcanic hazards. Volcanism in the vicinity of the Laboratory is unlikely within the lifetime of the facility (ca. 50–100 years) but cannot be ruled out. This evaluation provides a preliminary estimate of recurrence rates for volcanic activity. If further assessment of the hazard is deemed beneficial to reduce risk uncertainty, the next step would be to convene a formal probabilistic volcanic hazards assessment.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2010

Idaho National Laboratory’s Greenhouse Gas FY08 Baseline

A greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory is a systematic attempt to account for the production and release of certain gasses generated by an institution from various emission sources. The gasses of interest are those which have become identified by climate science as related to anthropogenic global climate change. This document presents an inventory of GHGs generated during fiscal year (FY) 2008 by Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored entity, located in southeastern Idaho. Concern about the environmental impact of GHGs has grown in recent years. This, together with a desire to decrease harmful environmental impacts, would be enough to encourage the calculation of a baseline estimate of total GHGs generated at the INL. Additionally, the INL has a desire to see how its emissions compare with similar institutions, including other DOE-sponsored national laboratories. Executive Order 13514 requires that federally-sponsored agencies and institutions document reductions in GHG emissions in the future, and such documentation will require knowledge of a baseline against which reductions can be measured. INL’s FY08 GHG inventory was calculated according to methodologies identified in Federal recommendations and an as-yet-unpublished Technical and Support Document (TSD) using operational control boundary. It measures emissions generated in three Scopes: (1) INL emissions produced directly by stationary or mobile combustion and by fugitive emissions, (2) the share of emissions generated by entities from which INL purchased electrical power, and (3) indirect or shared emissions generated by outsourced activities that benefit INL (occur outside INL’s organizational boundaries but are a consequence of INL’s activities). This inventory found that INL generated a total of 114,256 MT of CO2-equivalent emissions during fiscal year 2008 (FY08). The following conclusions were made from looking at the results of the individual contributors to INL’s baseline GHG inventory: • Electricity is the largest contributor to INL’s GHG inventory, with over 50% of the net anthropogenic CO2e emissions • Other sources with high emissions were stationary combustion, fugitive emissions from the onsite landfill, mobile combustion (fleet fuels) and the employee commute • Sources with low emissions were contracted waste disposal, wastewater treatment (onsite and contracted) and fugitive emissions from refrigerants. This report details the methods behind quantifying INL’s GHG inventory and discusses lessons learned on better practices by which information important to tracking GHGs can be tracked and recorded. It is important to stress that the methodology behind this inventory followed guidelines that have not yet been formally adopted. Thus, some modification of the conclusions may be necessary as additional guidance is received. Further, because this report differentiates between those portions of the INL that are managed and operated by the Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) and those managed by other contractors, it includes only that large proportion of Laboratory activities overseen by BEA. It is assumed that other contractors will provide similar reporting for those activities they manage, where appropriate.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2017

C{sub 60}{sup +} and the Diffuse Interstellar Bands: An Independent Laboratory Check

In 2015, Campbell et al. presented spectroscopic laboratory gas phase data for the fullerene cation, C{sub 60}{sup +}, that coincide with the reported astronomical spectra of two diffuse interstellar band (DIB) features at 9633 and 9578 Å. In the following year, additional laboratory spectra were linked to three other and weaker DIBs at 9428, 9366, and 9349 Å. The laboratory data were obtained using wavelength-dependent photodissociation spectroscopy of small (up to three) He-tagged C{sub 60}{sup +}--He{sub n} ion complexes, yielding rest wavelengths for the bare C{sub 60}{sup +} cation by correcting for the He-induced wavelength shifts. Here we present an alternative approach to derive the rest wavelengths of the four most prominent C{sub 60}{sup +} absorption features, using high-resolution laser dissociation spectroscopy of C{sub 60}{sup +} embedded in ultracold He droplets. Accurate wavelengths of the bare fullerene cation are derived from linear wavelength shifts recorded for He{sub n} C{sub 60}{sup +} species with n up to 32. A careful analysis of all of the available data results in precise rest wavelengths (in air) for the four most prominent C{sub 60}{sup +} bands: 9631.9(1) Å, 9576.7(1) Å, 9427.5(1) Å, and 9364.9(1) Å. The corresponding bandwidths have been derived and the relative band intensity ratios are discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Interaction of Hemispherical Blast Waves with Inhomogeneous Spheres: Probing the Collision of a Supernova Ejecta with a Nearby Companion Star in the Laboratory

Past laboratory experiments at high energy density have provided insights into the physics of supernovae, supernova remnants, and the destruction of interstellar clouds. In a typical experimental setting, a laser-driven planar blast wave interacts with a compositionally homogeneous spherical or cylindrical target. In this work we propose a new laboratory platform that accounts for curvature of the impacting shock and density stratification of the target. Both characteristics reflect the conditions expected to exist shortly after a supernova explosion in a close binary system. We provide details of a proposed experimental design (laser drive, target configuration, diagnostic system), optimized to capture the key properties of recent ejecta–companion interaction models. Good qualitative agreement found between our experimental models and their astrophysical counterparts highlights the strong potential of the proposed design to probe details of the ejecta–companion interaction for broad classes of objects by means of laboratory experiments at high energy density.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

C{sub 60}{sup +} in diffuse clouds: laboratory and astronomical comparison

The wavelengths of the strongest absorptions in the electronic spectrum of C{sub 60}{sup +} have been determined by experimental investigation into the perturbation caused by the helium in the laboratory spectra of C{sub 60}{sup +}−He{sub n}(n=1--3). The extrapolation of these gives absorption bands of bare C{sub 60}{sup +} at 9348.4, 9365.2, 9427.8, 9577.0, and 9632.1 Å, with ±0.2 Å as the 2σ uncertainty. The laboratory data are compared with the complete set of astronomical observations reported in the literature. The spectral characteristics are found to be in agreement with five diffuse interstellar bands, for which the systematic uncertainties are larger than for the laboratory data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Kinetic Simulations of Electron Pre-energization by Magnetized Collisionless Shocks in Expanding Laboratory Plasmas

Collisionless shocks are common features in space and astrophysical systems where supersonic plasma flows interact, such as in the solar wind, the heliopause, and supernova remnants. Recent experimental capabilities and diagnostics allow detailed laboratory investigations of high-Mach-number shocks, which therefore can become a valuable way to understand shock dynamics in various astrophysical environments. Using 2D particle-in-cell simulations with a Coulomb binary collision operator, we demonstrate the mechanism for generation of energetic electrons and experimental requirements for detecting this process in the laboratory high-Mach-number collisionless shocks. We show through a parameter study that electron acceleration by magnetized collisionless shocks is feasible in laboratory experiments with laser-driven expanding plasmas.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Glaciation of mixed-phase clouds: insights from bulk model and bin-microphysics large-eddy simulation informed by laboratory experiment

Abstract. Mixed-phase clouds affect precipitation and radiation differently from liquid and ice clouds, posing greater challenges to their representation in numerical simulations. Recent laboratory experiments using the Pi Cloud Chamber explored cloud glaciation conditions based on increased injection of ice-nucleating particles. In this study, we use two approaches to reproduce the results of the laboratory experiments: a bulk scalar mixing model and large-eddy simulation (LES) with bin microphysics. The first approach assumes a well-mixed domain to provide an efficient assessment of the mean cloud properties for a wide range of conditions. The second approach resolves the energy-carrying turbulence, the particle size distribution, and their spatial distribution to provide more details. These modeling approaches enable a separate and detailed examination of liquid and ice properties, which is challenging in the laboratory. Both approaches demonstrate that, with an increased ice number concentration, the flow and microphysical properties exhibit the same changes in trends. Additionally, both approaches show that the ice integral radius reaches the theoretical glaciation threshold when the cloud is subsaturated with respect to liquid water. The main difference between the results of the two approaches is that the bulk model allows for the complete glaciation of the cloud. However, LES reveals that, in a dynamic system, the cloud is not completely glaciated as liquid water droplets are continuously produced near the warm lower boundary and subsequently mixed into the chamber interior. These results highlight the importance of the ice mass fraction in distinguishing the mixed-phase clouds and ice clouds.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Cosmogenic 10 Be in pyroxene: laboratory progress, production rate systematics, and application of the 10 Be– 3 He nuclide pair in the Antarctic Dry Valleys

Here, we present cosmogenic- 10 Be and cosmogenic- 3 He data from Ferrar dolerite pyroxenes in surficial rock samples and a bedrock core from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, with the goal of refining the laboratory methods for extracting beryllium from pyroxene, further estimating the 10 Be production rate in pyroxene and demonstrating the applicability of 10 Be– 3 He in mafic rock. The ability to routinely measure cosmogenic 10 Be in pyroxene will open new opportunities for quantifying exposure durations and Earth surface processes in mafic rocks. We describe scalable laboratory methods for isolating beryllium from pyroxene, which include a simple hydrofluoric acid leaching procedure for removing meteoric 10 Be and the addition of a pH 8 precipitation step to reduce the cation load prior to ion exchange chromatography. 10 Be measurements in pyroxene from the surface samples have apparent 3 He exposure ages of 1–6 Myr. We estimate a spallation production rate for 10 Be in pyroxene, referenced to 3 He, of 3.6 ± 0.2 atoms g –1 yr –1 . 10 Be and 3 He measurements in the bedrock core yield initial estimates for parameters associated with 10 Be and 3 He production by negative-muon capture ($f_{10}^{*}$ = 0.00183 and $f_{3}^{*}f_{C}f_{D}$ = 0.00337). Next, we demonstrate that the 10 Be– 3 He pair in pyroxene can be used to simultaneously resolve erosion rates and exposure ages, finding that the measured cosmogenic-nuclide concentrations in our surface samples are best explained by 2–8 Myr of exposure at erosion rates of 0–35 cm Myr –1 . Finally, given the low 10 Be in our laboratory blanks (average of 5.7 × 10 3 atoms), the reported measurement precision, and our estimated production rate, it should be possible to measure 2 g samples with 10 Be concentrations of 6 × 10 4 and 1.5 × 10 4 atoms g –1 with 5 % and 15 % uncertainty, respectively. With this level of precision, Last Glacial Maximum to Late Holocene surfaces can now be dated with 10 Be in pyroxene. Application of 10 Be in pyroxene, alone or in combination with 3 He, will expand possibilities for investigating glacial histories and landscape change in mafic rock.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1968

Chemistry laboratory safety manual available

Chemistry laboratory safety manual outlines safe practices for handling hazardous chemicals and chemistry laboratory equipment. Included are discussions of chemical hazards relating to fire, health, explosion, safety equipment and procedures for certain laboratory techniques and manipulations involving glassware, vacuum equipment, acids, bases, and volatile solvents.

Elsbrock, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Manned earth orbital laboratories to perform communications/navigation research.

Review of the feasibility of manned earth orbiting laboratories in the 1980s for solving problems identified with operational communication and navigation systems. A program of experiments recommended for implementation in the 1980 to 1990 period is presented. Equipment for conducting experiments is listed. Conceptual designs of laboratories which could be carried to orbit by the forthcoming NASA Space Shuttle Orbiter and then operated on orbit by an experimenter crew are discussed. Studies of the expected benefits, together with investigations of the configurations, mission considerations, and equipment selection result in the conclusion that manned communication/navigation research laboratories in earth orbit would be practical and effective, and that the experiments performed could derive meaningful information having application to future unmanned operational systems.

Waltz, D. M.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Plasma physics and environmental perturbation laboratory

Current work aimed at identifying the active magnetospheric experiments that can be performed from the Space Shuttle, and designing a laboratory to carry out these experiments is described. The laboratory, known as the PPEPL (Plasma Physics and Environmental Perturbation Laboratory) consists of 35-ft pallet of instruments connected to a 25-ft pressurized control module. The systems deployed from the pallet are two 50-m booms, two subsatellites, a high-power transmitter, a multipurpose accelerator, a set of deployable canisters, and a gimbaled instrument platform. Missions are planned to last seven days, during which two scientists will carry out experiments from within the pressurized module. The type of experiments to be performed are outlined.

Vogl, J. L.↗

NASA NTRS1974

The design and development of a space laboratory to conduct magnetospheric and plasma research

A design study was conducted concerning a proposed shuttle-borne space laboratory for research on magnetospheric and plasma physics. A worldwide survey found two broad research disciplines of interest: geophysical studies of the dynamics and structure of the magnetosphere (including wave characteristics, wave-particle interactions, magnetospheric modifications, beam-plasma interactions, and energetic particles and tracers) and plasma physics studies (plasma physics in space, wake and sheath studies, and propulsion and devices). The Plasma Physics and Environmental Perturbation Laboratory (PPEPL) designed to perform experiments in these areas will include two 50-m booms and two maneuverable subsatellites, a photometer array, standardized proton, electron, and plasma accelerators, a high-powered transmitter for frequencies above 100 kHz, a low-power transmitter for VLF and below, and complete diagnostic packages. Problem areas in the design of a space plasma physics laboratory are indicated.

Rosen, A.↗

NASA NTRS1976

System tests with electric thruster beam and accelerator directly powered from laboratory solar arrays

Laboratory high voltage solar arrays were operated directly connected to power the beam and accelerator loads of an 8-centimeter ion thruster. The beam array comprised conventional 2 by 2 centimeter solar cells; the accelerator array comprised multiple junction edge-illuminated solar cells. Conventional laboratory power supplies powered the thruster's other loads. Tests were made to evaluate thruster performance and to investigate possible electrical interactions between the solar arrays and the thruster. Thruster performance was the same as with conventional laboratory beam and accelerator power supplies. Most of the thruster beam short circuits that occurred during solar array operation were cleared spontaneously without automatic or manual intervention. No spontaneous clearing occurred during conventional power supply operation.

Stover, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Ultraviolet solar identifications based on extended absorption series observed in the laboratory spectrum of Si I

The absorption spectrum of Si I in the wavelength region between 1500 and 1900 A has been photographed at high resolution. The silicon vapor was produced in a 122-cm-long King furnace at 1800 to 2300 C. Forty-two Rydberg series have been observed from the ground state terms 3p(2)3P and 1D to terms associated with the 3pns and 3pnd configurations. All of the series from these configurations with J less than 4 have been extended with the 3pnd 3D(3) levels reaching n = 56. Numerous perturbations have been observed. This laboratory work has provided the basis for extending the identification of silicon lines in the solar spectrum. Nearly all lines found in the laboratory spectrum are also found in rocket spectrograms of the solar chromosphere. More than 300 lines have been attributed to Si I. The excellent correlation between laboratory and solar Si I lines is illustrated.

Moore, C. E.↗