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DOE OSTI2015

Managing TRU waste processing and storage issues/challenges - 15487

Operational events at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility resulted in suspension of disposal operations and waste shipments to WIPP creating significant challenges for the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. The Oak Ridge Transuranic (TRU) Waste Program which was poised to re-start shipping after a 2.5 year suspension of the Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) certification activities which resulted in on-site accumulation of the highest activity contact handled (CH) TRU waste containers. As a result, Transuranic Waste Processing Center (TWPC) is nearing its physical storage capacity for CH waste and has already reached storage capacity limits for remote handled (RH) TRU waste. The TWPC storage capacity for RH-TRU waste is very limited and dependent on real time shipping support to continue RH waste processing activities in the facilities Hot Cell. Additionally, changes in dispersion modeling (i.e., dry deposition factor changes) used in the TWPC Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) present Material at Risk (MAR) management challenges to effectively manage off-site dose consequences. These facts necessitated the identification of alternative waste storage options for both CH and RH waste to continue waste processing operations at TWPC. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2018

ION Advanced Solvent CO 2 Capture Pilot Project

This final report to DOE/NETL presents all the work and tests performed during ION Engineering’s (ION) carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture pilot test campaign: “ION Advanced Solvent CO 2 Capture Project”. This project is comprised of three budget periods (BP): BP1 – Design of a 0.6 MWe system, BP2 – 0.5 MWe National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) Testing Campaign, and BP3 – 12 MWe Technology Center at Mongstad (TCM) Testing Campaign. The program began in October 2013 and continued until December 2017. The campaign at NCCC, which took place from June to August of 2015, resulted in 1,116 operational hours where ~350 tonnes of CO 2 were captured from the 0.5 MWe coal-fired flue gas slipstream. The follow-up campaign at TCM took place from Oct 2016 to April 2017, where 2,775 hours of operation resulted in the capture of 14,820 tonnes of CO 2 , which is a cumulative of capturing CO 2 from the natural gas-fired Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant, and a residue fluid catalytic cracker gas (RFCC) from Statoil at Mongstad. ION has conducted a thoughtful, comprehensive, and successful program in close collaboration with all its partners. CO 2 was successfully removed and captured for extended periods of time using three gas sources (NCCC Coal-fired Power plant, TCM CHP flue gas with and without CO 2 recycle, and TCM RFCC flue gas with air dilution) at various slipstream flows ranging from 0.5 MWe to 12 MWe. The data gathered on its solvent continues to strengthen the development of ION’s advanced solvent and positive track record in executing on-site test campaigns in highly industrialized settings. These existing pilot plants do not include the necessary process modifications that ION requires to obtain the lowest possible regeneration energy; processes such as a cold-rich bypass and intercooling, would allow for lowering the demonstrated specific reboiler duty. The resulting data was also used to validate the process model, and, in the absence of testing on a custom test rig specifically designed for ION’s advanced solvent, the results of the process model have shown specific reboiler duties under 2.5 MJ/kg CO 2 (1075 BTU/lb CO 2 ). When these regeneration energies are factored into the Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA), where ION’s technology is compared to the DOE/NETL BBS Case 12, which integrates a highly optimized and commercially available CO 2 capture technology, ION’s technology shows: 38% incremental reduction in capital cost of CO 2 capture; 28% incremental reduction in annual operating and maintenance costs of CO 2 capture; and $35-44 per tonne of CO 2 capture, which is a 20% to 40% reduction in cost of CO 2 capture. Throughout pilot testing, ION has confirmed its understanding of process improvements and analytics that will enable successful operation of its advanced solvent at significantly lower L/G circulation rates, packing heights and regeneration energies than MEA. ION has identified routes to further develop its technology and is looking forward to testing a fully optimized solvent and capture system in the near future.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

NASA NTRS2009

Sensitivity Analysis of Linear Programming and Quadratic Programming Algorithms for Control Allocation

The Next Generation (NextGen) transport aircraft configurations being investigated as part of the NASA Aeronautics Subsonic Fixed Wing Project have more control surfaces, or control effectors, than existing transport aircraft configurations. Conventional flight control is achieved through two symmetric elevators, two antisymmetric ailerons, and a rudder. The five effectors, reduced to three command variables, produce moments along the three main axes of the aircraft and enable the pilot to control the attitude and flight path of the aircraft. The NextGen aircraft will have additional redundant control effectors to control the three moments, creating a situation where the aircraft is over-actuated and where a simple relationship does not exist anymore between the required effector deflections and the desired moments. NextGen flight controllers will incorporate control allocation algorithms to determine the optimal effector commands and attain the desired moments, taking into account the effector limits. Approaches to solving the problem using linear programming and quadratic programming algorithms have been proposed and tested. It is of great interest to understand their relative advantages and disadvantages and how design parameters may affect their properties. In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity of the effector commands with respect to the desired moments and show on some examples that the solutions provided using the l2 norm of quadratic programming are less sensitive than those using the l1 norm of linear programming.

Frost, Susan A.↗

DOE OSTI2014

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: Digital Architecture Project Plan

There are many technologies available to the nuclear power industry to improve efficiency in plant work activities. These range from new control room technologies to those for mobile field workers. They can make a positive impact on a wide range of performance objectives – increase in productivity, human error reduction, validation of results, accurate transfer of data, and elimination of repetitive tasks. It is expected that the industry will more and more turn to these technologies to achieve these operational efficiencies to lower costs. At the same time, this will help utilities manage a looming staffing problem as the inevitable retirement wave of the more seasoned workers affects both staffing levels and knowledge retention. A barrier to this wide-scale implementation of new technologies for operational efficiency is the lack of a comprehensive digital architecture that can support the real-time information exchanges needed to achieve the desired operational efficiencies. This project will define an advanced digital architecture that will accommodate the entire range of system, process, and plant worker activity to enable the highest degree of integration, thereby creating maximum efficiency and productivity. This pilot project will consider a range of open standards that are suitable for the various data and communication requirements of a seamless digital environment. It will map these standards into an overall architecture to support the II&C developments of this research program.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRS2002

Modeling of UH-60A Hub Accelerations with Neural Networks

Neural network relationships between the full-scale, flight test hub accelerations and the corresponding three N/rev pilot floor vibration components (vertical, lateral, and longitudinal) are studied. The present quantitative effort on the UH-60A Black Hawk hub accelerations considers the lateral and longitudinal vibrations. An earlier study had considered the vertical vibration. The NASA/Army UH-60A Airloads Program flight test database is used. A physics based "maneuver-effect-factor (MEF)", derived using the roll-angle and the pitch-rate, is used. Fundamentally, the lateral vibration data show high vibration levels (up to 0.3 g's) at low airspeeds (for example, during landing flares) and at high airspeeds (for example, during turns). The results show that the advance ratio and the gross weight together can predict the vertical and the longitudinal vibration. However, the advance ratio and the gross weight together cannot predict the lateral vibration. The hub accelerations and the advance ratio can be used to satisfactorily predict the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal vibration. The present study shows that neural network based representations of all three UH-60A pilot floor vibration components (vertical, lateral, and longitudinal) can be obtained using the hub accelerations along with the gross weight and the advance ratio. The hub accelerations are clearly a factor in determining the pilot vibration. The present conclusions potentially allow for the identification of neural network relationships between the experimental hub accelerations obtained from wind tunnel testing and the experimental pilot vibration data obtained from flight testing. A successful establishment of the above neural network based link between the wind tunnel hub accelerations and the flight test vibration data can increase the value of wind tunnel testing.

UH-60A AIRCRAFT↗

DOE OSTI2016

National Hurricane Program Hurricane Evacuation Study Tool End-User Engagement and Usability Analysis

The Hurricane Evacuation Study (HES) Tool prototype is a key component of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Hurricane Program (NHP) Technology Modernization (TM) effort. To ensure the HES Tool captured the necessary capabilities and functionality, engagement with potential end-users and key stakeholders was considered a priority throughout development. Pilot studies with representatives from North Carolina and New York City were done to validate the HES Tool process with their current HES undertaking. These pilot studies let the development of additional capabilities and feedback on the needs of diverse regions. A usability study was carried out with key stakeholders identified by NHP leadership through individualized sessions with identified personnel. The results showed the value of the HES Tool compared to the current process as well as key issues that must be addressed to ensure a final transition.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2019

Integrated Oxygen Production and CO 2 Separation through Chemical Looping Combustion with Oxygen Uncoupling (Final Report)

The project "Integrated Oxygen Production and CO 2 Separation through Chemical Looping Combustion with Oxygen Uncoupling" focused on advancing fluidized bed chemical looping combustion technology to semi-pilot scale. An important aspect of technology scale-up is production of well-performing oxygen carrier materials economically and at a scale sufficient for industrial-scale systems. Under this program, a new technique for oxygen carrier production was developed and a prototype system capable of producing up to 150 lb per batch of oxygen carrier was constructed. Chemical looping combustion testing was performed in a large process development unit designed for operation at more than 200 kW using coal as fuel. Complementary evaluation of carbon conversion pathways was conducted and quantitative analysis of the fate of carbon in a CLOU-based chemical looping system was performed. As an aid for design, optimization, troubleshooting and scale-up, robust CFD models for fluidized bed chemical looping combustion systems were developed.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

DOE OSTI2024

2024 NSUF User Development Workshop on Irradiation Testing

Monday, May 20 – Thursday, May 23, 2024 at Center for Advanced Energy Studies at Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho. This pilot workshop was hosted to expand the NSUF user community and introduce irradiation testing of nuclear fuel and materials to new researchers, and to build long-term relationships between the NSUF program office, NSUF partner facilities, and NSUF university-affiliated users to provide better utilization of NSUF resources in addressing United States energy challenges.

Starks, Alexis↗

NASA NTRS1980

Civil helicopter wire strike assessment study. Volume 1: Findings and recommendations

Approximately 208 civil helicopter wire strike accidents for a ten year period 1970 to 1979 are analyzed. It is found that 83% of the wire strikes occurred during bright clear weather. Analysis of the accidents is organized under pilot, environment, and machine factors. Methods to reduce the wire strike accident rate are discussed, including detection/warning devices, identification of wire locations prior to flight, wire cutting devices, and implementation of training programs. The benefits to be gained by implementing accident avoidance methods are estimated to be fully justified by reduction in injury and death and reduction of aircraft damage and loss.

Tuomela, C. H.↗

NASA NTRS1982

A ground-simulation investigation of helicopter decelerating instrument approaches

In connection with the expansion of civil helicopter operations in the current era, the effect of helicopter flight and control characteristics on the flying qualities for instrument flight rules (IFR) flight have become a factor of concern, and a research program has been initiated to investigate IFR certification criteria. A description is presented of an experiment which is the sixth in a series of ground- and flight-simulation investigations. This piloted-simulator experiment was conducted to examine the influence of stability-control augmentation, display information format, and approach-task effects on helicopter flying qualities for terminal-area operations incorporating a deceleration in instrument meteorological conditions. Simulated test configurations were evaluated for precision approaches with an instrument deceleration from 60 to about 15 knots in both calm air and simulated moderate turbulence and wind shear.

Lebacqz, J. V.↗

DOE OSTI2020

In-Can Incineration and Vitrification Process for the Treatment of Transuranic Wastes - 20035

Technological alpha contaminated wastes are produced by the nuclear fuel cycle management industry, essentially from MOX fuel production units. These Plutonium Contaminated Materials (PCM) contain a mixture of organic, metal and mineral materials, contaminated with uranium, plutonium and americium. One treatment scenario under study is to incinerate the organic materials, melt the metallic fraction and incorporate the mineral fraction (including ashes from organics incineration) into a glass matrix without sorting or pretreatment (grinding for instance). A scale 1 pilot of this PIVIC process (Process for Incineration and Vitrification In Can) has been commissioned in 2018 at the CEA R and D vitrification facility in Marcoule site. A R and D program aiming to demonstrate the feasibility of this process is currently on going. This paper starts with a description of PIVIC process with explanation of the technologies involved. Then, main results of the first year of operation with the technological demonstration goal are presented. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

NASA NTRS1993

NASA advanced design program. Design and analysis of a radio-controlled flying wing aircraft

The main challenge of this project was to design an aircraft that will achieve stability while flying without a horizontal tail. The project focused on both the design, analysis and construction of a remotely piloted, elliptical shaped flying wing. The design team was composed of four sub-groups each of which dealt with the different aspects of the design, namely aerodynamics, stability and control, propulsion, and structures. Each member of the team initially researched the background information pertaining to specific facets of the project. Since previous work on this topic was limited, most of the focus of the project was directed towards developing an understanding of the natural instability of the aircraft. Once the design team entered the conceptual stage of the project, a series of compromises had to be made to satisfy the unique requirements of each sub-group. As a result of the numerous calculations and iterations necessary, computers were utilized extensively. In order to visualize the design and layout of the wing, engines and control surfaces, a solid modeling package was used to evaluate optimum design placements. When the design was finalized, construction began with the help of all the members of the project team. The nature of the carbon composite construction process demanded long hours of manual labor. The assembly of the engine systems also required precision hand work. The final product of this project is the Elang, a one-of-a-kind remotely piloted aircraft of composite construction powered by two ducted fan engines.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2000

First NASA Aviation Safety Program Weather Accident Prevention Project Annual Review

The goal of this Annual Review was to present NASA plans and accomplishments that will impact the national aviation safety goal. NASA's WxAP Project focuses on developing the following products: (1) Aviation Weather Information (AWIN) technologies (displays, sensors, pilot decision tools, communication links, etc.); (2) Electronic Pilot Reporting (E-PIREPS) technologies; (3) Enhanced weather products with associated hazard metrics; (4) Forward looking turbulence sensor technologies (radar, lidar, etc.); (5) Turbulence mitigation control system designs; Attendees included personnel from various NASA Centers, FAA, National Weather Service, DoD, airlines, aircraft and pilot associations, industry, aircraft manufacturers and academia. Attendees participated in discussion sessions aimed at collecting aviation user community feedback on NASA plans and R&D activities. This CD is a compilation of most of the presentations presented at this Review.

Colantonio, Ron↗

NASA NTRS2008

RHSEG and Subdue: Background and Preliminary Approach for Combining these Technologies for Enhanced Image Data Analysis, Mining and Knowledge Discovery

Under a project recently selected for funding by NASA's Science Mission Directorate under the Applied Information Systems Research (AISR) program, Tilton and Cook will design and implement the integration of the Subdue graph based knowledge discovery system, developed at the University of Texas Arlington and Washington State University, with image segmentation hierarchies produced by the RHSEG software, developed at NASA GSFC, and perform pilot demonstration studies of data analysis, mining and knowledge discovery on NASA data. Subdue represents a method for discovering substructures in structural databases. Subdue is devised for general-purpose automated discovery, concept learning, and hierarchical clustering, with or without domain knowledge. Subdue was developed by Cook and her colleague, Lawrence B. Holder. For Subdue to be effective in finding patterns in imagery data, the data must be abstracted up from the pixel domain. An appropriate abstraction of imagery data is a segmentation hierarchy: a set of several segmentations of the same image at different levels of detail in which the segmentations at coarser levels of detail can be produced from simple merges of regions at finer levels of detail. The RHSEG program, a recursive approximation to a Hierarchical Segmentation approach (HSEG), can produce segmentation hierarchies quickly and effectively for a wide variety of images. RHSEG and HSEG were developed at NASA GSFC by Tilton. In this presentation we provide background on the RHSEG and Subdue technologies and present a preliminary analysis on how RHSEG and Subdue may be combined to enhance image data analysis, mining and knowledge discovery.

Tilton, James C.↗

DOE OSTI2013

Fuel Flexible Combustion Systems for High-Efficiency Utilization of Opportunity Fuels in Gas Turbines

The purpose of this program was to develop low-emissions, efficient fuel-flexible combustion technology which enables operation of a given gas turbine on a wider range of opportunity fuels that lie outside of current natural gas-centered fuel specifications. The program encompasses a selection of important, representative fuels of opportunity for gas turbines with widely varying fundamental properties of combustion. The research program covers conceptual and detailed combustor design, fabrication, and testing of retrofitable and/or novel fuel-flexible gas turbine combustor hardware, specifically advanced fuel nozzle technology, at full-scale gas turbine combustor conditions. This project was performed over the period of October 2008 through September 2011 under Cooperative Agreement DE-FC26-08NT05868 for the U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory (USDOE/NETL) entitled "Fuel Flexible Combustion Systems for High-Efficiency Utilization of Opportunity Fuels in Gas Turbines". The overall objective of this program was met with great success. GE was able to successfully demonstrate the operability of two fuel-flexible combustion nozzles over a wide range of opportunity fuels at heavy-duty gas turbine conditions while meeting emissions goals. The GE MS6000B ("6B") gas turbine engine was chosen as the target platform for new fuel-flexible premixer development. Comprehensive conceptual design and analysis of new fuel-flexible premixing nozzles were undertaken. Gas turbine cycle models and detailed flow network models of the combustor provide the premixer conditions (temperature, pressure, pressure drops, velocities, and air flow splits) and illustrate the impact of widely varying fuel flow rates on the combustor. Detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms were employed to compare some fundamental combustion characteristics of the target fuels, including flame speeds and lean blow-out behavior. Perfectly premixed combustion experiments were conducted to provide experimental combustion data of our target fuels at gas turbine conditions. Based on an initial assessment of premixer design requirements and challenges, the most promising sub-scale premixer concepts were evaluated both experimentally and computationally. After comprehensive screening tests, two best performing concepts were scaled up for further development. High pressure single nozzle tests were performed with the scaled premixer concepts at target gas turbine conditions with opportunity fuels. Single-digit NOx emissions were demonstrated for syngas fuels. Plasma-assisted pilot technology was demonstrated to enhance ignition capability and provide additional flame stability margin to a standard premixing fuel nozzle. However, the impact of plasma on NOx emissions was observed to be unacceptable given the goals of this program and difficult to avoid.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2014

Subtask – CO 2 storage and enhanced bakken recovery research program

Small improvements in productivity could increase technically recoverable oil in the Bakken Petroleum System by billions of barrels. The use of CO 2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in tight oil reservoirs is a relatively new concept. The large-scale injection of CO 2 into the Bakken would also result in the geological storage of significant amounts of CO 2 . The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has conducted laboratory and modeling activities to examine the potential for CO 2 storage and EOR in the Bakken. Specific activities included the characterization and subsequent modeling of North Dakota study areas as well as dynamic predictive simulations of possible CO 2 injection schemes to predict the potential CO 2 storage and EOR in those areas. Laboratory studies to evaluate the ability of CO 2 to remove hydrocarbons from Bakken rocks and determine minimum miscibility pressures for Bakken oil samples were conducted. Data from a CO 2 injection test conducted in the Elm Coulee area of Montana in 2009 were evaluated with an eye toward the possible application of knowledge gained to future injection tests in other areas. A first-order estimation of potential CO 2 storage capacity in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota was also conducted. Key findings of the program are as follows. The results of the research activities suggest that CO 2 may be effective in enhancing the productivity of oil from the Bakken and that the Bakken may hold the ability to geologically store between 120 Mt and 3.2 Gt of CO 2 . However, there are no clear-cut answers regarding the most effective approach for using CO 2 to improve oil productivity or the storage capacity of the Bakken. The results underscore the notion that an unconventional resource will likely require unconventional methods of both assessment and implementation when it comes to the injection of CO 2 . In particular, a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms controlling the interactions between CO 2 , oil, and other reservoir fluids in these unique formations is necessary to develop accurate assessments of potential CO 2 storage and EOR in the Bakken. In addition, existing modeling and simulation software packages do not adequately address or incorporate the unique properties of these tight, unconventional reservoirs in terms of their impact on CO 2 behavior. These knowledge gaps can be filled by conducting scaled-up laboratory activities integrated with improved modeling and simulation techniques, the results of which will provide a robust foundation for pilot-scale field injection tests. Finally, field-based data on injection, fluid production, and long-term monitoring from pilot-scale CO 2 injection tests in the Bakken are necessary to verify and validate the findings of the laboratory- and modeling-based research efforts. This subtask was funded through the EERC–U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Program on Research and Development for Fossil Energy-Related Resources Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC26-08NT43291. Nonfederal funding was provided by the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Marathon Oil Corporation, Continental Resources Inc., and TAQA North, Ltd.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2014

Subtask1.10 – CO 2 storage and enhanced bakken recovery research program

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1983

Flight test experience with pilot-induced-oscillation suppressor filters

Digital flight control systems are popular for their flexibility, reliability, and power; however, their use sometimes results in deficient handling qualities, including pilot-induced oscillation (PIO), which can require extensive redesign of the control system. When redesign is not immediately possible, temporary solutions, such as the PIO suppression (PIOS) filter developed for the Space Shuttle, have been proposed. To determine the effectiveness of such PIOS filters on more conventional, high-performance aircraft, three experiments were performed using the NASA F-8 digital fly-by-wire and USAF/Calspan NT-33 variable-stability aircraft. Two types of PIOS filters were evaluated, using high-gain, precision tasks (close formation, probe-and-drogue refueling, and precision touch-and-go landing) with a time delay or a first-order lag added to make the aircraft prone to PIO. Various configurations of the PIOS filter were evaluated in the flight programs, and most of the PIOS filter configurations reduced the occurrence of PIOs and improved the handling qualities of the PIO-prone aircraft. These experiments also confirmed the influence of high-gain tasks and excessive control system time delay in evoking pilot-induced oscillations.

Shafer, M. F.↗