Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Reactor Physics Method”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,297 records · Page 72
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Aneutronic Fusion in Collision of Oppositely Directed Plasmoids

Tri-Alpha and Helion energy companies have proposed an approach as the near future fusion reactor. The method used in this kind of reactor for attaining high fusion yield is based on the formation and throwing of two plasmoids toward each other. In this study, the optimized reaction rate for interpenetration of two head on colliding plasmoids is investigated. Calculations are performed by supposing the velocity of plasmoids ions as Maxwellian distribution function. Fusion output-to-input power ratio (Q factor) was computed by evaluation of the velocity-averaged cross sections and also ion−electron and ion−ion Coulomb power loss. A fluid model including a computational code has been used for the precise calculations of fusion power balance. The optimum interpenetration velocity and plasmoids parameters required to reach the ignition are studied for aneutronic fusion fuels, such as p–{sup 11}B and D–{sup 3}He, as well as D−T and D−D fuels. The results of investigation show that the breakeven is attainable in specific collision velocity and plasma temperature for each fuel. Also, the plasma density has to be around 10{sup 20} ions/cm{sup 3}.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

TiO 2 Supported gold–palladium catalyst for effective syngas production from methane partial oxidation

The CO and H 2 (syngas) production from methane partial oxidation (MPO) using TiO 2 supported Au-Pd bimetallic catalysts are discussed. The supported Au, Pd and Au-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles were prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation or co-impregnation method and were characterized. The supported Au-Pd catalyst was selective for reforming and was more active compared to bare TiO 2 , TiO 2 supported Au only, or Pd only catalysts. The catalyst properties before and after MPO reaction were investigated, including the stability of the TiO 2 support, and the stability of Au and Pd nanoparticles. The supported Au-Pd catalyst has the highest TON (TON H2 = 23 at 650 °C), compared to supported Au catalyst (TON H2 < 1) and supported Pd catalyst (TON H2 < 1). Based on the analysis of outlet gases from the MPO reaction in a flow reactor, synergetic effects between Au and Pd, where Pd activates CH bonds while gold modulates the behavior of oxygen at the catalyst surface, are shown to contribute to MPO. Additionally, the Au-Pd/TiO 2 material shows long-term activity (>12 h) for the MPO reaction at 600 °C.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Particle formation and its control in dual frequency plasma etching reactors

The behavior of a particle cloud in plasma etching reactors at the moment when radio frequency (RF) power changes, that is, turning off and transition steps, was observed using the laser-light-scattering method. Two types of reactors, dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) and the hybrid CCP/inductively coupled plasma (ICP), were set up for experiments. In the hybrid CCP/ICP reactor (hereafter ICP reactor), the position and shape of the cloud were strongly dependent on the RF frequency. The particle cloud becomes larger and approaches the electrode as the RF frequency increases. By turning the lower frequency power off later with a small delay time, the particle cloud is made to move away from the electrode. Maintaining lower frequency RF power only was also helpful to reduce the particle cloud size during this transition step. In the ICP reactor, a sufficient bias power is necessary to make a particle trap appear. A similar particle cloud to that in the CCP reactor was observed around the sheath region of the lower electrode. The authors can also use the low-frequency effect to move the particle cloud away from the substrate holder if two or more bias powers are applied to the substrate holder. The dependence of the particle behavior on the RF frequencies suggests that choosing the proper frequency at the right moment during RF power changes can reduce particle contamination effectively.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Experimental demonstration of hydraulic jump control in liquid metal channel flow using Lorentz force

Here in this paper, hydraulic jump control using electromagnetic force in a liquid metal flow is presented. The control methods used give insight into the hydraulic jump behavior in the presence of magnetic fields and electrical currents. Flowing liquid metals is a proposed solution to heat flux challenges posed in fusion reactors, specifically the tokamak. Unfortunately, thin, fast-flowing liquid metal divertor concepts for fusion reactors are susceptible to hydraulic jumps that drastically reduce the liquid metal flow speed, leading to potential problems such as excessive evaporation, unsteady power removal, and possible plasma disruption. Highly electrically conductive flows within the magnetic fields do not exhibit traditional hydraulic jump behavior. There is very little research investigating the use of externally injected electrical currents and magnetic fields to control liquid metal hydraulic jumps. By using externally injected electrical currents and a magnetic field, a Lorentz force (also referred to as j × B force) may be generated to control the liquid metal jump behavior. In this work, a free-surface liquid metal—GaInSn eutectic or “galinstan”$-$flow through an electrically insulating rectangular duct was investigated. It was shown that applying a Lorentz force has a repeatable and predictable impact on the hydraulic jump, which can be used for liquid metal control within next-generation fusion reactors.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Pulsed-Neutron Experiments at the Inherently Safe Subcritical Assembly

The pulsed neutron technique is a powerful, dynamic method to assay the reactivity of a multiplying system. This work presents the novel application of the pulsed neutron technique to the Inherently Safe Subcritical Assembly, an experimental configuration accepted by the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project Handbook. The experiments were replicated with COG11.3, a continuous-energy Monte Carlo code. The pulsed neutron data were analyzed using the Sjöstrand and Gozani area-ratio methods and by extracting the prompt neutron decay constant. Subsequent static k-eigenvalue and 𝛼-eigenvalue simulations were also performed for the same configurations. Neutron detector dead-time effects from the experiments were corrected using the Backwards Extrapolation Method and shown to have a negligible impact on the estimated reactivities. The results highlight that capturing time-dependent effects like delayed neutron precursor buildup are essential to accurately reproduce experimental results. They also highlight the importance of shielding the detectors from generator source neutrons in deeply subcritical configurations.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A method for development of efficient 3D models for neutronic calculations of ASTRA critical facility using experimental information

The application of experimental information on measured axial distributions of fission reaction rates for development of 3D numerical models of the ASTRA critical facility taking into account azimuthal asymmetry of the assembly simulating a HTGR with annular core is substantiated. Owing to the presence of the bottom reflector and the absence of the top reflector, the application of 2D models based on experimentally determined buckling is impossible for calculation of critical assemblies of the ASTRA facility; therefore, an alternative approach based on the application of the extrapolated assembly height is proposed. This approach is exemplified by the numerical analysis of experiments on measurement of efficiency of control rods mockups and protection system (CPS).

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Incorporating the latest Neutron NDA analysis techniques into INCC6

International Neutron Coincidence Counting (INCC6) is the IAEA’s neutron NDA software. With FY25 SGTech support we implemented self-diagnostic features into INCC6. For FY26 we propose to implement advanced analysis methods that have been splintered into custom software for one-off instruments. Incorporating these capabilities in INCC6 will make them available for any new or existing application on the ubiquitous INCC6 platform, increasing safeguards efficiency and effectiveness.

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

Modelling the ejection of primary aerosols during the fast pyrolysis of biomass anisotropic particles

A model for the fast pyrolysis of anisotropic biomass particles is presented which considers bubbling dynamics within the liquid intermediate phase (metaplast) and aerosol ejection from this phase. The model employs the population balance equation and the method of moments to estimate the production rate and resultant size distribution of aerosol ejections, incorporating a detailed CRECK reaction mechanism, and considers the effect of anisotropic biomass microstructure on the intraparticle transport of mass and energy. Here, this study investigates the impact of particle size, heating rate (heat transfer coefficient), and lignocellulosic composition on aerosol ejection. The model predicts that, at high heating rates (convective heat transfer coefficient of 359 W/m 2 .K), aerosols can contribute over 20% to the heavy fraction yield in bio-oil for small particles (1 mm diameter, 4 mm length). The model can predict aerosol size distribution and surface area, indicating an average size of 20 μm for bubbles and 5 μm for aerosols during increased bubble production and aerosol ejection rates. These findings are consistent with prior experimental results and provide essential information for future modeling of extra-particle reactions of the aerosols as they progress through the reactor.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Comparative Analysis of Standard and Advanced USL Methodologies for Nuclear Criticality Safety

The American National Standards Institute/American Nuclear Society national standards 8.1 and 8.24 provide guidance on the requirements and recommendations for establishing confidence in the results of the computerized models used to support operation with fissionable materials. By design, the guidance is not prescriptive, leaving freedom to the analysts to determine how the various sources of uncertainties are to be statistically aggregated. Due to the involved use of statistics entangled with heuristic recipes, the resulting safety margins are often difficult to interpret. Also, these technical margins are augmented by additional administrative margins, which are required to ensure compliance with safety standards or regulations, eliminating the incentive to understand their differences. With the new resurgent wave of advanced nuclear systems, e.g., advanced reactors, fuel cycles, and fuel concepts, focused on economizing operation, there is a strong need to develop a clear understanding of the uncertainties and their consolidation methods to reduce them in manners that can be scientifically defended. In response, the current studies compare the analyses behind four notable methodologies for upper subcriticality limit estimation that have been documented in the nuclear criticality safety literature: the parametric, nonparametric, Whisper, and TSURFER methodologies. Specifically, the work offers a deep dive into the various assumptions of the noted methodologies, their adequacies, and their limitations to provide guidance on developing confidence for the emergent nuclear systems that are expected to be challenged by the scarcity of experimental data. Here, to limit the scope, the current work focuses on the application of these methodologies to criticality safety experiments, where the goal is to calculate a bias, a bias uncertainty, and a tolerance limit for k eff in support of determining an upper subcriticality limit for nuclear criticality safety.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2024

The mechanical properties of Kel-F 800 (FK-800) as a function of crystallinity

Kel-F 800 is a copolymer of chlorotrifluoroethylene PTFE (75 wt. %) and vinylidene fluoride PVDF (25 wt. %). It has previously been used as a PBX binder for insensitive explosives such as PBX 9502 and LX-17. 3M started production of Kel-F 800 in 1957 and small-scale batches continued to be made until 2002 when production ceased due to environmental concerns regarding one of the emulsifiers used during production. Around 2000 the Kel-F 800 name was changed to FK-800 to avoid trademark concerns because rights to produce another polymer with a similar tradename (Kel-F 81) had been sold to another manufacturer. The Kel designation came from the original manufacturer of PCTFE (Kel-F 81), the Kellog company. To avoid confusion this document will only refer to Kel-F 800. In 2006, production of small-scale batches of Kel-F 800 was started again by 3M in response to customer enquiries. This new material, the first blended batch is referred to as LOT 1, was produced with a different emulsifier than used previously. Because Kel-F 800 is made in a small batch reactor, considerable variation in crystallinity can be expected from lot to lot and year to year. In many ways, this is not significant since the material is dissolved in a solvent (often MEK, ethylmethyl ketone or ethyl acetate) for PBX production purposes. This destroys the as received crystallinity and the resulting crystallinity in the processed material is a function of polymer molecular weight and thermal history. Producing large billets of Kel-F 800 from solvent extraction is not practical and so a compression molding technique has been used above the melting temperature. This method also removes residual crystallinity from the supplied granules. The molecular weight of a polymer can be estimated by several techniques, the most common being gel permittivity chromatography (GPC), size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and shear rheometry measurements of polymer/solvent solutions. Changes in molecular weight will affect the crystallization rate and the maximum crystallinity reached for a specific thermal history. Both references agree that the new LOT 1 material molecular weight falls within the deviation found from averaging previous historical lots of Kel-F 800.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Reactivity Coefficient Calculation for a Low-Power LEU Research Reactor

Core design studies on a 20-MW thermal power low enriched uranium (LEU) fueled research reactor are underway at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) with the primary purpose of providing quality neutron beams for scientific research. The 'tank-in-pool' design pattern is adopted for the new reactor: A compact core composed of two horizontally split halves are surrounded by a cylindrical D{sub 2}O reflector tank, and the tank is itself surrounded by a large H{sub 2}O pool, which functions as thermal and biological shielding. The split core consists of 18 MTR-type fuel elements which are evenly distributed into two regions. The LEU fuel used in the study is the U{sub 3}Si{sub 2}-Al dispersion fuel with U-235 enrichment of 19.75%, the only NRC certified LEU fuel in the U.S. The core is cooled and moderated by H{sub 2}O, and separated from D{sub 2}O by zircaloy core boxes. Hafnium control blades are utilized as both criticality and safety control elements for the reactor. They are controlled by a mechanical driver located at the bottom of the core but with the fully withdrawn positions at the top of the core. In a standard reactor calculation, it is necessary to evaluate the reactivity coefficient with respect to some physical parameters such as fuel or moderator temperature. For nearly all reactor designs, negative reactivity coefficients are required for safety. As a light-water cooled thermal reactor, the new reactor is designed to work in an under-moderated mode with the most achievable reactivity. The core is required to have negative reactivity coefficients under any normal or abnormal circumstances such as over power transient, loss of coolant or reflector, etc. Therefore the reactivity coefficient addresses reactor safety concerns as well as provides valuable quantitative parameters for reactor safety analyses. In this summary, three typical reactivity coefficients for the low-power LEU core are calculated using the Monte-Carlo code MCNP-6: the moderator temperature coefficient (MTC), the fuel temperature coefficient (FTC), and the void coefficient (VC). A direct perturbation methodology is applied to calculate all these coefficients. The perturbed case is produced by manually perturbing a single physical property with respect to the reference case (the one with normal operational conditions), as the multiplication factor (i.e. k{sub eff}) of the perturbed case is calculated by MCNP. The corresponding reactivity coefficient is thereby determined by dividing the reactivity change over the associated parameter changes. Core design studies are underway at NIST to develop a low-power LEU fueled beam reactor to advance the neutron source capability at NCNR for the next century. The reactivity effect caused by moderator temperature, fuel temperature and void is investigated though a direct perturbation approach using the MCNP code. The MTC, FTC, and VC for a representative startup core is obtained and the negative effect characteristics of these coefficients are observed. The reactivity effects under several postulated abnormal scenarios are also investigated. The overall negative feedback to the reactivity at each situation is confirmed. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Andra's Underground Research Laboratory as a Tool to Prepare Monitoring System of Cigeo Project - 18070

Andra, as French radioactive waste management agency, plans to build an underground disposal facility, named Cigeo, dedicated to high and intermediate level, long lived radioactive wastes. To ensure the safety during the disposal operations that includes the principle of reversibility, the design of the associated monitoring system will be based on specific research and development program and feedback obtained over more than 15 years on tests performed in representative conditions. Andra's Underground Research Laboratory (URL), located at 500 m deep, is excavated in a clay-rich formation. It is dedicated to (i) assess the thermo-hydro-mechanical, chemical and radiologic behaviors of the rock and supporting layers (concrete and steel), (ii) test envisaged monitoring system, (iii) provide feedback on operational organization and safety management and (iv) qualify operating methods (digging, concrete pouring, monitoring system design, etc.) to be implemented in the future disposal. Data collected from (i) characteristics of samples retrieved from boreholes, (ii) experts' observations, (iii) sensors installed in situ and (iv) manual measurements, are integrated in a database. This database is dedicated to samples management (more than 73 600 classified samples), data measurements collection, and conversion to physical values and available to plots or exports. Each day, approximately 1.6 million of values are integrated in the database. Finally, a geo-referenced database is linked to the main database in order to allow the spatial localization, both on the surface or in the underground galleries. All these tools give confidence in Andra's capacity to monitor Cigeo and be ready for the future industrial pilot phase. The monitoring system will also allow, step by step, optimizing the disposal design, performing regular safety control, helping in decision making for reversibility and improving long term safety. (authors)

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

Native Natural circulation in VERA

This work seeks to introduce a native natural circulation solver to VERA's thermohydraulics capabilities. This work begins with initial investigations into the viability of such a solver by determining the fundamental equations as well as necessary inputs. The method was then implemented in the form of a Python script coupled to CTF which was compared to TRACE. Once viability of the natural circulation solver was established, it was then implemented natively in MPACT for use with previously created simplified thermohydraulics solvers. This new implementation of the native natural circulation solver in MPACT is then tested for single physics problems for both a BWR and PWR single channel model and compared to TRACE where it shows an error of about 30% for BWRs and about 15% for PWRs. The solver is additionally tested for NuScale based models where it demonstrates an error to the reported flow rate of about 10%, resulting in an eigenvalue error of only 138 pcm when comparing fixed flow rate multiphysics runs. Finally, the solver is tested in multiphysics systems for a small PWR assembly, a small BWR assembly, and a full core approximate model of the NuScale design. In these multiphysics runs, it demonstrates no impact on multiphysics convergence stability, as well as negligible impact on runtimes. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Creation of hollow silica-fiberglass soft ceramics for thermal insulation

Hollow-structured materials show promise in thermal insulation because the shells encapsulating gaseous voids can interrupt heat transport pathways. Here, in this study, we present two low-cost routes to fabricate hollow silica nanoshells, via gas-phase and liquid-phase methods. The gas-phase synthesis method generates hollow shells by a droplet surface precipitation mechanism in a flame aerosol reactor. The liquid-phase synthesis route forms hollow shells by removal of a carbon template, which is produced by hydrothermal reaction of glucose. Both approaches (gas- and liquid-phase) provide hollow silica with amorphous structure, low thermal conductivity (0.023 and 0.026 W m –1 K –1 ), small particle size (442 and 383 nm), thin shell (35 and 36 nm), and low density (0.015 and 0.033 g cm –3 ). We employed high shear mechanical mixing to fabricate hollow silica-fiberglass composite ceramics. The resulting three-dimensional network provides the ceramics with robust mechanical elasticity and fire-retardancy while maintaining low thermal conductivity, dramatically outperforming an analogous material using commercial silica gel in place of the hollow nanoshells. Our findings provide two practical routes to synthesize hollow silica, either of which can be used to manufacture a class of hollow shell-fiber nanocomposite soft ceramics for energy-saving applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Massively parallel axisymmetric fluid model for streamer discharges

A highly parallelizable fluid plasma simulation tool based upon the first-order drift-diffusion equations is discussed. Atmospheric pressure plasmas have densities and gradients that require small element sizes in order to accurately simulate the plasm resulting in computational meshes on the order of millions to tens of millions of elements for realistic size plasma reactors. To enable simulations of this nature, parallel computing is required and must be optimized for the particular problem. Here, a finite-volume, electrostatic drift-diffusion implementation for low-temperature plasma is discussed. The implementation is built upon the Message Passing Interface (MPI) library in C++ using Object Oriented Programming. The underlying numerical method is outlined in detail and benchmarked against simple streamer formation from other streamer codes. Electron densities, electric field, and propagation speeds are compared with the reference case and show good agreement. Convergence studies are also performed showing a minimal space step of approximately 4 μm required to reduce relative error to below 1% during early streamer simulation times and even finer space steps are required for longer times. Additionally, strong and weak scaling of the implementation are studied and demonstrate the excellent performance behavior of the implementation up to 100 million elements on 1024 processors. Lastly, different advection schemes are compared for the simple streamer problem to analyze the influence of numerical diffusion on the resulting quantities of interest.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Microwave assisted transformation of N,N-diphenylamine as precursors of organic light emitting diodes (OLED)

In this research, study on the transformation of N,N-diphenylamine (DPA) using iodine (I2) utilizing solid state Microwave Assisted Organic Synthesis (MAOS) method has been carried out. The reaction was performed by variations of three parameters namely the mole of reagents, the amount and type of solid support (alumina/Al2O3), and the reaction conditions. Experimental results showed that neutral-alumina was a better solid support than basic-alumina. The optimum temperature for the reaction was approximately at 125-133 °C with reaction time of 15 minutes and microwave reactor power at 500-600 W. The separation of the yellowish green product solution with preparative Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) method using n-hexane:ethyl acetate = 4:1 (v/v) as eluent yielded two fractions (I and II) and both fractions can undergo fluorescence under 365 nm UV light. Based on the LC chromatogram with methanol:water = 95:5 (v/v) as eluent and its corresponding mass spectra (ESI+), fraction I contained three compounds, which were tetracarbazole A, triphenylamine, and impurities in the form of plasticizer such as bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. Fraction II also contained three compounds, which were tetracarbazole C, tetraphenylhydrazine, and plasticizer such as bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. Both FT-IR (KBr disks) and NMR (500 MHz, CDCl{sub 3}) spectra of fraction I and II confirmed the aromatic amine groups in those compounds. The observed fluorescence colors of fraction I and II were violet and violet-blue, respectively. Based on their structures and fluorescence characters, the compounds in fraction I and II have the potential to be used as Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) compound precursors.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Feedback control of stored energy and rotation with variable beam energy and perveance on DIII-D

Design and testing of a new method for real-time control on DIII-D using the new voltage and perveance variation capability of DIII-D's neutral beam injection system is presented. The approach enables control of power, torque, stored energy, and rotation without requiring pulse-width modulation of the beams. Such modulations are perturbative to experiments, can cause beam reliability problems, and could potentially damage or fatigue accelerator grids, especially looking forward to active control of long-pulse devices and reactors. Here, the control algorithm accounts for beam line loss mechanisms and includes approaches that address the complexity of having three manipulated variables for each of the eight beams and compensate for the rate and magnitude limits affecting the voltage and perveance actuators. Results are presented that demonstrate the performance of the approach in the first feedback control experiments to use the expanded controllability of the DIII-D beams.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data-Enabled Fusion Technology (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

Advancing Scientific Understanding in Fusion Energy and Machine Learning This research represented a significant step forward in machine learning (ML) applications for fusion energy experiments. The project integrated advanced data-driven modeling, optimization techniques, and artificial intelligence to enhance the predictive capabilities and operational efficiency of plasma-based fusion systems. Specifically, tasks focused on ML-enhanced diagnostics, operator guidance tools, and predictive modeling helped improve the ability to interpret complex fusion experiments. Key areas of advancement included: 1) data-driven plasma control, i.e., using ML algorithms to optimize experimental conditions and classify plasma behaviors based on historical data; 2) spectroscopy and diagnostics, i.e., applying AI models to extract previously inaccessible insights from experimental spectroscopy data; and 3) configuration mapping and operator guidance, i.e., developing a predictive framework to assist scientists in identifying the most effective experimental parameters, reducing reliance on manual adjustments. By refining these ML-driven techniques, the project contributed to the broader scientific community’s understanding of plasma dynamics and fusion energy viability. Technical Effectiveness and Economic Feasibility The methods investigated demonstrated high technical effectiveness, as reflected in milestones assessing the predictive accuracy, performance, and optimization of fusion configurations. The development of an Operator Guidance Tool (OGT), for example, led to more precise control of plasma conditions by learning from experimental data and offering real-time adjustments. From an economic standpoint, DeFT provided: 1) the ability to reduce trial-and-error experimentation, which lowered operational costs; 2) improved data interpretation methods, which enabled more efficient resource allocation in large-scale fusion research projects; and 3) the automation of key diagnostic tasks, which reduced manual labor and human error, increasing overall efficiency. 13 The final assessments of predictive models and optimization strategies demonstrated that these approaches were scalable and could be implemented across multiple fusion energy research programs. Public Benefit and Societal Impact This project contributed directly to the broader goal of achieving sustainable and commercially viable fusion energy, which had profound implications for clean energy production and climate change mitigation. The integration of AI-driven solutions into fusion research: 1) sped up scientific discovery, accelerating progress towards achieving energy breakthroughs; 2) reduced the cost of experimentation, making fusion research more accessible; and 3) provided a framework for future AI applications in high-energy physics, benefiting adjacent fields like space exploration, material science, and renewable energy. Additionally, by fostering collaborations between AI researchers and plasma physicists, this project promoted interdisciplinary innovation that could lead to broader applications beyond fusion research.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗