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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

GDSA Framework Development and Process Model Integration FY2022

The Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) Campaign of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Office of Spent Fuel & Waste Disposition (SFWD) is conducting research and development (R&D) on geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW). A high priority for SFWST disposal R&D is disposal system modeling (Sassani et al. 2021). The SFWST Geologic Disposal Safety Assessment (GDSA) work package is charged with developing a disposal system modeling and analysis capability for evaluating generic disposal system performance for nuclear waste in geologic media. This report describes fiscal year (FY) 2022 advances of the Geologic Disposal Safety Assessment (GDSA) performance assessment (PA) development groups of the SFWST Campaign. The common mission of these groups is to develop a geologic disposal system modeling capability for nuclear waste that can be used to assess probabilistically the performance of generic disposal options and generic sites. The modeling capability under development is called GDSA Framework (pa.sandia.gov). GDSA Framework is a coordinated set of codes and databases designed for probabilistically simulating the release and transport of disposed radionuclides from a repository to the biosphere for post-closure performance assessment. Primary components of GDSA Framework include PFLOTRAN to simulate the major features, events, and processes (FEPs) over time, Dakota to propagate uncertainty and analyze sensitivities, meshing codes to define the domain, and various other software for rendering properties, processing data, and visualizing results.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Insert Modeling in UNF ST&DARDS

The Used Nuclear Fuel-Storage, Transportation & Disposal Analysis Resource and Data System (UNF-ST&DARDS) is a software tool that integrates a used nuclear fuel (UNF) or spent nuclear fuel (SNF) relational database and key analysis capabilities to simplify and automate numerous UNF management and fuel cycle–related activities. UNF-ST&DARDS is being developed for the US Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition program. UNF-ST&DARDS provides an integrated framework that uses advanced modeling and simulation to predict the behavior of SNF over the timescales associated with permanent disposal in a geologic repository. After leaving the spent fuel pool, SNF is transferred to dry storage in a dual-purpose canister (DPC). DPCs are considered “dual purpose” because they are designed for both storage and transportation, removing the need to transfer the fuel to a separate transportation cask. However, much research has been conducted investigating the feasibility of directly disposing of DPCs in geologic repositories. Direct disposal of DPCs could reduce worker exposure during repackaging, reducing the amount of low-level waste from the discarded DPCs and potentially saving billions of dollars. Therefore, direct disposal of as-loaded DPCs is desirable if it can be done safely.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Evaluation of IMIS7

In 1995 there was an effort to make the IFR Material Information System (IMIS) to allow researchers to easily access the data generated by the IFR program. This was cut short due to funding issues. Now there is a new effort to make this data available to support the qualification of generation IV reactors. This will require migrating IMIS to a new system, and to make updates to IMIS. Some issues with the database structure have been identified as well as minor data holes that would affect models based on these data. Most of the existing documentation that supports these data, and which exist have been found. The database should be redesigned by an expert in database normalization, and NQA-1 compliance. In addition, an archive search needs to be conducted to find critical burnup and fluence data for approximately 2% of the fuel in the database. The database will only need to undergo a small redesign in order to become reactor agnostic, and capable of hosting additional data provided by FFTF. Further research is needed to determine if missing documentation is recoverable.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development of In-Situation Radioactivity Inspection System for Food Materials

The impacts on the ocean of releases of radionuclides from the Fukushima nuclear power plants remain unclear. Korean people worry about radioactive contamination of Japanese and Korean sea products. Radioactive contamination of processed foodstuffs, livestock, sea products, farm products imported from Japan and fishes caught in coastal oceans of Korea has become an important social issue. Recently, there are also needs of inspection system for monitoring of public meals such like school feedings of kindergarten, elementary/middle/high school and university. Radioactivity inspections of food materials have been executed manually with portable measuring instruments or at labs using their samples. But, it's very important the radioactivity inspection should be performed at the field of feeding facilities. To protect the health of people from radioactivity contained in Japanese marine products imported to Korea, a system to inspect radioactivity in real time has been developed. The system is to measure the radioactivity level of farm and marine products and public meals continuously and automatically at inspection sites of an agency checking radiation of imported foodstuffs or school. The performance test of NaI(Tl) detector was examined using the quantified Cs-137 source 10 Bq/kg, 30 Bq/kg, 50 Bq/kg, 300 Bq/kg and 900 Bq/kg at Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science(KRISS). Source was put in a box and radioactivity was measured in the middle of the box. First of all, Background was measured and calibration was performed using the Cs-137 300 Bq and Ba-133 3700 Bq for 60 minutes. After setting the background and calibration data, tests of the Cs-137 10, 30, 50, 300, 900 Bq/kg were executed for 10 minutes. A peak-shaped graph is shown at the location of 662 KeV (80∼100 channel). This is due to the gamma radiation energy with 662 KeV emitted by the Cs-137. Because through KRISS examination, the MDA (minimum detectable activity) is about 23 Bq/kg, it is reasonable Cs-137 10 Bq/kg cannot be measured. And in cases of Cs-137 300 Bq/kg and 900 Bq/kg, there are some peak movement on the graph. It can be adjusted by controlling gain or high voltage. The examination was identified through the performance test (Cs-137 10, 30, 50, 300, 900 Bq/kg) at KRISS. In order to increase the measurement efficiency of Cs-137 and the system performance, database will be built up based on radioactivity measurement results from 10 to 300 Bq/kg with the unit 10. Thus, Cs-137 concentration of food materials can be identified below the maximum permissible concentration of 100 Bq/kg on a basis of the spectrum characteristic of Cs-137. Also, anxiety about radioactive contamination of foods after the Fukushima nuclear accident will be eased and trust of the radioactive inspection is expected definitely. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Machine Learning Modeling Pipeline for Extracting Nuclear Proliferation Events of Interest from Open Data Sources (U)

In FY2020, the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University entered a collaboration funded by Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development. The project’s mission was to take the first steps toward developing a demonstration prototype system that uses multiple machine learning and data analytics methods on largescale open data sources to identify new, developing, and/or undeclared nuclear programs. Given the SRNL team’s on-site perspective of events culminating in the DOE’s decision to pursue the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF), the team targeted the identification of events and indicators in retrospective datasets that pointed to the activity of “fissile core fabrication at the Savannah River Site” prior to the official announcement in May of 2018. A preliminary modeling pipeline was developed in FY20 that showed the datasets contained adequate signal for continuation of efforts. In FY21, a modular demonstration prototype modeling pipeline has continued in development for two text-based data sources: a broad internet archive (Webhose Ltd.) and a decahose Twitter database (i.e., a global sampling of one in every ten Tweets). The techniques that have been developed rely on graph theory and anomaly detection to identify contextual shifts in key words and phrases at various points in time such that indicators of events of interest could be identified and subsequently, events could be extracted from the corpuses. The foundational concept behind the approaches is that contextual shifts in key words and phrases can act as indicators of events of interest. Both datasets have proven successful in extracting events of interest related to pit production at the Savannah River Site prior to the official announcement. In addition, the pipelines have generated a wide range of events broadly summarized as: the awarding of DOE contracts at major sites, DOE investments in various programs, accidents at DOE national laboratories, speculations about the fate of pit production in the DOE complex, domestic and international shipments and receipts of nuclear materials at DOE sites, termination of non-proliferation agreements with Russia, termination of MOX, new weapons development approvals/testing, nuclear posture reviews, major DOE cleanup/production milestones, political opinions, and nuclear watch groups’ opinions, among many others.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2018

Toolbox for Research and Exploration (TREX): Investigations of Fine-Grained Materials on Small Bodies

The Toolbox for Research and Exploration (TREX) is a NASA SSERVI (Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute) node. TREX (trex.psi.edu) aims to decrease risk to future missions, specifically to the Moon, the Martian moons, and near- Earth asteroids, by improving mission success and assuring the safety of astronauts, their instruments, and spacecraft. TREX studies will focus on characteristics of the fine grains that cover the surfaces of these target bodies - their spectral characteristics and the potential resources (such as H2O) they may harbor. TREX studies are organized into four Themes (Laboratory- Studies, Moon-Studies, Small-Bodies Studies, and Field-Work). In this presentation, we focus on the work targeted by the Small-Bodies Theme. The Small-Bodies' Theme delves into several topics, many which overlap or are synergistic with the other TREX Themes. The main topics include photometry, spectral modeling, laboratory simulations of space weathering processes relevant to asteroids, the assembly of an asteroid regolith database, the dichotomy between nuclear and reflectance spectroscopy, and the dynamical evolution of asteroids and the implications for the retention of volatiles.

Domingue, D. L.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Electrochemical and Thermodynamic Properties of U in LiCl-KCl-UCl{sub 3} salt system

Pyro-processing technology has been considered and examined by several countries as a promising method for the recovery and recycle of uranium and actinide elements from used nuclear fuel. One of the key processes in pyro-processing is an electro-refiner (ER) where the metallic fission products are loaded into an anode basket and dissolved into lithium-potassium chloride (LiCl-KCl) eutectic salt at 773 K. Many researchers have been exploring the fundamental characterizations of U in LiCl-KCl system by using various electrochemical methods, resulting in several reported values of diffusion coefficient, apparent standard potential, and activity coefficient of U in the salt system. In addition, several researchers measured kinetic parameter of U (exchange current density, i{sub 0}) by using Tafel and linear polarization (LP) methods. Despite available data sets on this ternary salt system, there are discrepancies due to different experimental conditions, design, size of the cell, and measurement techniques. In addition, the i{sub 0} for U/U{sup 3+} reaction has only been measured since 2009; therefore, only few data sets are available to date although the i{sub 0} is critical for the development of dynamic ER model. The value of i{sub 0} is a kinetic characteristic in an ideal equilibrium state; therefore, it is very challenging to be measured by experiments. The authors have estimated the values of i{sub 0} via Tafel and linear polarization methods (LP); however, these methods are lack of maintaining electrode surface area during the measurements. In addition, some data are not following the trends from other literature studies due to its difficulties of the measurement. Therefore, further experimental determinations have to be accomplished to understand the i{sub 0} kinetics and the database for the i{sub 0} of U/U{sup 3+} couple in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt needs to be established systematically. In the present study, an experimental setup was designed and used in a consistent manner to build a meaningful database for U in LiCl-KCl system. LiCl-KCl-UCl{sub 3} salt was prepared at different concentrations and temperatures ranging from 0.5 wt% to 4 wt% and 723 K to 798 K, respectively. Then, CV, open circuit potential (OCP), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were performed to understand the electrochemical, thermodynamic, and kinetic properties of U. Specially, i{sub 0} values have not been measured via EIS method; therefore, this study provides a good chance to confirm the i{sub 0} values with the new technique.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Radiology and Enterprise Medical Imaging Extensions (REMIX)

Radiology and Enterprise Medical Imaging Extensions (REMIX) is a platform originally designed to both support the medical imaging-driven clinical and clinical research operational needs of Department of Radiology of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. REMIX accommodates the storage and handling of “big imaging data,” as needed for large multi-disciplinary cancer-focused programs. The evolving REMIX platform contains an array of integrated tools/software packages for the following: (1) server and storage management; (2) image reconstruction; (3) digital pathology; (4) de-identification; (5) business intelligence; (6) texture analysis; and (7) artificial intelligence. These capabilities, along with documentation and guidance, explaining how to interact with a commercial system (e.g., PACS, EHR, commercial database) that currently exists in clinical environments, are to be made freely available.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Application of Robotics Technology to D and D - 17249

The Knowledge Management Information Tool (KM-IT) is a web-based system developed to maintain and preserve the deactivation and decommissioning (D and D) knowledge base across the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. The system was developed by the Applied Research Center (ARC) at Florida International University (FIU) with the support of the D and D community, including the DOE Office of Environmental Management (DOE EM), and with the active collaboration and support of the DOE's Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG). The KM-IT system is a D and D community driven system tailored to serve the technical issues faced by the D and D workforce across the DOE Complex. As part of the D and D KM-IT, FIU has developed a robotics database in collaboration with DOE EM and Nuvision/Cogentus which currently contains over 500 robotics technologies along with information about the robotics technology vendors. This information is aggregated in real time and presented as a robotics technology fact sheet to the end user based on the selected technology. FIU is researching these technologies and studying their capabilities and application to D and D. As part of the research, FIU is categorizing each technology into specific application areas: characterization, decontamination, inspection, and demolition. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Roadmap for thermal property measurements of Molten Salt Reactor systems

Thermal properties of molten salts, both with and without fissile and fertile material, are fundamental to modeling and simulation that supports design, construction, operation, and accident progression evaluation of molten salt reactors. This roadmap provides guidance to the research community on the types and amounts of required data for base, or carrier, salt systems, recommends simulated burnup fuel salt compositions to evaluate, and provides a technical foundation for a focused salt property evaluation matrix. The property values generated from both computation and experimental methods are used to develop models that constitute the Molten Salt Thermal Properties Database (MSTDB). While the building blocks of MSTDB are fundamental in nature, its data facilitates constructing engineering models that allow stakeholders to investigate the behavior of specific compositions of interest and supports broader modeling and simulation of MSRs through coupling to multi-physics, multi-scale mass accountancy tools.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Seamless Digital Environment – Plan for Data Analytics Use Case Study

The U.S Department of Energy Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program initiated research in to what is needed in order to provide a roadmap or model for Nuclear Power Plants to reference when building an architecture that can support the growing data supply and demand flowing through their networks. The Digital Architecture project published report Digital Architecture Planning Model (Oxstrand et. al, 2016) discusses things to consider when building an architecture to support the increasing needs and demands of data throughout the plant. Once the plant is able to support the data demands it still needs to be able to provide the data in an easy, quick and reliable method. A common method is to create a “one stop shop” application that a user can go to get all the data they need. The creation of this leads to the need of creating a Seamless Digital Environment (SDE) to integrate all the “siloed” data. An SDE is the desired perception that should be presented to users by gathering the data from any data source (e.g., legacy applications and work management systems) without effort by the user. The goal for FY16 was to complete a feasibility study for data mining and analytics for employing information from computer-based procedures enabled technologies for use in developing improved business analytics. The research team collaborated with multiple organizations to identify use cases or scenarios, which could be beneficial to investigate in a feasibility study. Many interesting potential use cases were identified throughout the FY16 activity. Unfortunately, due to factors out of the research team’s control, none of the studies were initiated this year. However, the insights gained and the relationships built with both PVNGS and NextAxiom will be valuable when moving forward with future research. During the 2016 annual Nuclear Information Technology Strategic Leadership (NITSL) group meeting it was identified would be very beneficial to the industry to support a research effort focused on data analytics. It was suggested that the effort would develop and evaluate use cases for data mining and analytics for employing information from plant sensors and database for use in developing improved business analytics.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Recent evolutions in the LTDP CDF project

In the latest years, CNAF (the national center of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics INFN dedicated to Research and Development on Information and Communication Technologies) has been working on the Long Term Data Preservation (LTDP) project for the CDF experiment, active at Fermilab from 1990 to 2011. The main aims of the project are to protect the most relevant part of the CDF RUN-2 data collected between 2001 and 2011 and already stored on tape at CNAF (4 PB), as well as to ensure the availability and the access to the analysis facility to those data over time. Lately, the CDF database, hosting information about CDF datasets such as their structure, file locations and metadata, has been imported from Fermilab to CNAF. Also, the Sequential Access via Metadata (SAM) station data handling tool for CDF data management, that allows to manage data transfers and to retrieve information from the CDF database, has been properly installed and configured at CNAF. This was a fundamental step in the perspective of a complete decommissioning of CDF services on Fermilab side. An access system has been designed and tested to submit CDF analysis jobs, using CDF software distributed via CERN Virtual Machine File System (CVMFS) and requesting delivery of CDF files stored on CNAF tapes, as well as data present only on Fermilab storage archive. Moreover, the availability and the correctness of all CDF data stored on CNAF tapes has been verified. This paper describes all these recent evolutions in detail, presenting the future plans for the LTDP project at CNAF.

Fornari, Federico↗
DOE OSTI2024

AFC Metallic Fuel Research and Development 5-Year Plan

The mission of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Fuel Campaign (AFC) program is conducting R&D on nuclear fuel technology that enables near- and long-term implementation of the reactor systems necessary to meet national nuclear energy objectives. Its primary goals align with goals of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy in sustaining the current LWR fleet through Accident Tolerant Fuels program and Enabling Advanced Reactors. The latter goal is to be achieved through the following subgoals in order of logistical priority: • Establish the qualification basis for reference metallic fuel designs for sodium-cooled fast reactors. • Develop next generation metallic fuel fabrication and design for improved fissile utilization and management. • Develop accelerated fuel development and qualification methodologies. • Identify next generation fuel technologies. The purpose of this document is to serve as a five-year research and development (R&D) plan to achieve the goals identified to support enabling advanced reactor deployment related to metallic fuels starting in 2025. The specific objectives of this document are to: • align program R&D work across technical areas, national laboratories, and with stakeholder interests, and • aid yearly and outyear scope and budgetary planning activities. This plan lays the foundation of databases, capabilities, expertise, and research-commercial-regulatory integration for launching next-generation initiatives in advanced fuel technologies (fuel and cladding) and improved methodologies for achieving accelerated qualification of next generation fuel technologies.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluation of Nuclear Spent Fuel Disposal in Clay-Bearing Rock - Process Model Development and Experimental Studies

The DOE R&D program under the Spent Fuel Waste Science Technology (SFWST) campaign has made key progress in modeling and experimental approaches towards the characterization of chemical and physical phenomena that could impact the long-term safety assessment of heat-generating nuclear waste disposition in deep clay/shale/argillaceous rock. International collaboration activities such as heater tests and postmortem analysis of samples recovered from these have elucidated key information regarding changes in the engineered barrier system (EBS) material exposed to years of thermal loads. Chemical and structural analyses of sampled bentonite material from such tests has as well as experiments conducted on these are key to the characterization of thermal effects affecting bentonite clay barrier performance and the extent of sacrificial zones in the EBS during the thermal period. Thermal, hydrologic, and chemical data collected from heater tests and laboratory experiments has been used in the development, validation, and calibration of THMC simulators to model near-field coupled processes. This information leads to the development of simulation approaches (e.g., continuum vs. discrete) to tackle issues related to flow and transport at various scales of the host-rock and EBS design concept. Consideration of direct disposal of large capacity dual-purpose canisters (DPCs) as part of the back-end SNF waste disposition strategy has generated interest in improving our understanding of the effects of elevated temperatures on the EBS design. This is particularly important for backfilled repository concepts where temperature plays a key role in the EBS behavior and long-term performance. This report describes multiple R&D efforts on disposal in argillaceous geologic media through development and application of coupled THMC process models, experimental studies on clay/metal/cement barrier and host-rock (argillite) material interactions, molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of water transport during (swelling) clay dehydration, first-principles studies of metaschoepite (UO 2 corrosion product) stability, and advances in thermodynamic plus surface complexation database development. Drift-scale URL experiments provides key data for testing hydrological-chemical (HC) model involving strong couplings of fluid mixing and barrier material chemical interactions. The THM modeling focuses on heater test experiments in argillite rock and gas migration in bentonite as part of international collaboration activities at underground research laboratories (URLs). In addition, field testing at an URL involves in situ analysis of fault slip behavior and fault permeability. Pore-scale modeling of gas bubble migration is also being investigated within the gas migration modeling effort. Interaction experiments on bentonite samples from heater test under ambient and elevated temperatures permit the evaluation of ion exchange, phase stability, and mineral transformation changes that could impact clay swelling. Advances in the development, testing, and implementation of a spent nuclear fuel (SNF) degradation model coupled with canister corrosion focus on the effects of hydrogen gas generation and its integration with Geologic Disposal Safety Assessment (GDSA). GDSA integration activities includes evaluation of groundwater chemistries in shale formations.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Database of Previous Research Supporting Microreactor Designs

This report provides a list of previous research supporting microreactor designs. For the purposes of this report, a “microreactor” will be defined as a reactor designed to produce less than 20 MW thermal while ensuring that the system is factory manufacturable, transportable (via truck, rail, or aircraft), and maintains neutronic simplicity (e.g., external controls) that can enable safe operation under semiautonomous or autonomous operation. The 20 MW thermal limit is based on the U.S. Department of Energy limit for a Hazard Category 2 (per 10 CFR 830 and DOE-STD-1027). Above the Hazard Category 2 limit, licensing activities would be required to be more detailed and robust. This does not eliminate higher-than-Hazard Category 2 reactors from consideration, but an increase in requirements typically means increased cost and time for development. Similarly, neutron simplicity is vital for minimizing the number of on-site operators; in turn, this enhances cost-competetiveness. Complicated designs do not eliminate reactors from inclusion in this report.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Novel N Staging System for Predicting Survival in Patients with Medullary Thyroid Cancer

Introduction: Despite the crucially prognostic value of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in patients with medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), only the LNM compartment alone was reflected in the 8th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) system. Objective: This study aimed to incorporate the metastatic lymph node number and metastatic lymph node ratio to generate a more accurate and appropriate N staging system for patients with MTC based on recursive partitioning analysis. Design, Setting, and Patients: Two cohorts were included in the analysis, including 1374 MTC patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database as the derivation cohort, and 164 patients from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center as the validation cohort. The predictive performance of the alternative proposed N staging system was compared with that of the 8th AJCC system by using the Harrell concordance index (C-index) and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: In the derivation cohort, the C-index and the AUC at 10 years were 0.778 and 0.789, respectively, for the novel N staging system, and 0.749 and 0.741, respectively, for the 8th AJCC N staging system. Similar trends were also observed in the validation cohort. The proposed N staging system had a better prognostic performance. Conclusion: With some improvements, the novel N staging system for MTC suggested from this research may be assessed for potential adoption in the next edition of the AJCC N staging system.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Evaluation of Used Fuel Disposition in Clay-Bearing Rock

The DOE R&D program under the Spent Fuel Waste Science Technology (SFWST) campaign has made key advances in experimental and modeling aspects of chemical and physical phenomena towards the long-term safety assessment of nuclear waste disposition in deep clay/shale/argillaceous rock. Experimental activities on clay barrier interactions with fluids and radionuclides provide the much needed knowledge to evaluate engineered barrier system (EBS) performance. Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) model development of clay provides a rigorous simulation platform to assess the complex dynamic behavior of engineered and natural barrier materials in response to coupled process phenomena induced by heat-generating nuclear waste. This report describes the ongoing disposal R&D efforts on the advancement and refinement of coupled THMC process models, hydrothermal experiments and geochemical modeling of on barrier material (clay/metal) interactions, spent fuel and canister material degradation, radiolytic phenomena and UO 2 degradation, and thermodynamic database development. These play an important role to the evaluation of sacrificial zones as part of the EBS exposure to thermally-driven chemical and transport processes. Clay-zeolite phase equilibria play a key role in the mineralogical transformations of clay barrier conducive to loss in swelling properties but also in controlling H 2 0 uptake/release through hydration/dehydration reactions. The result is volume changes can affect the interface / bulk phase porosities, transport, and the mechanical (stress) state of the bentonite barrier. Characterization studies on barrier samples (bentonite/cement) from controlled tests at underground research laboratories (URLs) provide key insights into barrier materials interactions at EBS interfaces. Spent fuel degradation modeling coupled with canister and cladding corrosion effects demonstrate the strong influence of H 2 generation on the source term.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS2010

Telescience Support Center Data System Software

The Telescience Support Center (TSC) team has developed a databasedriven, increment-specific Data Require - ment Document (DRD) generation tool that automates much of the work required for generating and formatting the DRD. It creates a database to load the required changes to configure the TSC data system, thus eliminating a substantial amount of labor in database entry and formatting. The TSC database contains the TSC systems configuration, along with the experimental data, in which human physiological data must be de-commutated in real time. The data for each experiment also must be cataloged and archived for future retrieval. TSC software provides tools and resources for ground operation and data distribution to remote users consisting of PIs (principal investigators), bio-medical engineers, scientists, engineers, payload specialists, and computer scientists. Operations support is provided for computer systems access, detailed networking, and mathematical and computational problems of the International Space Station telemetry data. User training is provided for on-site staff and biomedical researchers and other remote personnel in the usage of the space-bound services via the Internet, which enables significant resource savings for the physical facility along with the time savings versus traveling to NASA sites. The software used in support of the TSC could easily be adapted to other Control Center applications. This would include not only other NASA payload monitoring facilities, but also other types of control activities, such as monitoring and control of the electric grid, chemical, or nuclear plant processes, air traffic control, and the like.

Rahman, Hasan↗