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At least 1,387 records · Page 77

sUAS Support for Mars 2020

The release of airborne radioactive material presents a health risk hazard to many individuals, including emergency responders and the public. Characterizing the unknown radioactive dangers produced during such incidents is essential. An advantage to utilizing unmanned aerial systems in this effort is the reduction of risk to personnel otherwise tasked with characterization, as well as more quickly obtaining data points during cloud immersion. By pairing a continuous air monitor (CAM) and detector with a drone, quantification of unknown material in the plume can be determined, and thus the extent of dose to people in the area can be estimated. A small, low-flow air sampler with a Geiger-Mueller counter may be characterized using experimental measurements of point sources representing a cloud of material and modelled using the Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP), a software package for simulating nuclear processes, to find the usefulness and advantages of the system for detection of nuclides of concern in various nuclear plume scenarios. The flying time of small-unmanned aircraft systems (sUASs) is limited; thus, the minimum detectable activity and concentration rates possible must be determined over the system’s window of operation. While the activity concentrations corresponding to external and internal doses of concern can be detected with certainty for 90 Sr and 137 Cs in a plume, those corresponding to 238 Pu are more difficult to detect. The central principle of employing the sUAS is that the cockpit does not have an operator onboard the aircraft; therefore, control of the aircraft must take place by other means. With a sUAS, command and control can be separated into three distinct methods: (1) ground control or remote piloting, (2) semi-autonomous control, and (3) autonomous control. The isotope 238 Pu is used in the space industry, providing long-lived heat generation for fuel in outer space (NASA 2014). Due to the inherent risks with rocket launches to get objects into space, monitoring for release of these hazardous substances is a major undertaking. The current means is through employment of environmental CAMs. It is conceivable, however, that drone monitoring for release of 238 Pu in the event of a space launch mishap would give a greater chance of detection of plutonium particulate, because the particulate’s diffusion in air upon settling to the ground would make the probability of collecting a particle on a filter in a CAM very low.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

A Collaboration Website for Muon Catalyzed Fusion and Muon Beam Production

This research initiative establishes a dynamic online platform geared towards supporting the burgeoning Muon Catalyzed Fusion collaboration, focusing on the concurrent development of particle accelerators and transport beamlines for muon beams. The central feature of this endeavor is the creation of a multifaceted website comprising both public facing and private sections to cater to diverse user needs. The public segment is meticulously designed to serve as an educational hub, featuring information pages targeted at the general public alongside private pages exclusively accessible to collaboration members. These pages will host an array of multimedia elements, ranging from images and text animations to video lectures, covering an extensive spectrum of topics integral to the science of Muon Catalyzed Fusion. Encompassing areas such as Acceleration, Applications, Instrumentation, Beamline Design, and beam dynamics design codes, the educational content aims to make complex scientific concepts more accessible to a broader audience. Ensuring seamless accessibility across various devices and operating systems, the website incorporates integration with collaborative tools such as Google Docs for document collaboration, GitHub for code repository management, and WordPress for blogging with interactive commenting features. The bifurcation between public and private sections is a strategic approach to maintaining transparency while safeguarding proprietary research and works in progress. The public pages are strategically crafted to disseminate information, showcasing the latest endeavors and achievements within the NK Labs collaboration, including lectures, published papers, and regular blog posts open to public comments. On the other hand, the private section provides collaboration members with a secure space to share unpublished or nonpublic research, fostering collaborative efforts through integrated Google Docs and Python Plotty for shared graphing work. In essence, this ambitious project endeavors to bridge the gap between complex scientific knowledge and public understanding, enhance collaboration among researchers, and serve as a dynamic and inclusive platform for sharing and advancing the state-of-the-art in Muon Catalyzed Fusion and Accelerators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Application of Manufacturing Quality Management Principles to PV System Installations

To help SETO/DOE achieve its goals, the IBTS team proposed a project addressing system reliability by improving installation standards and quality management. The proposed approach was designed to help achieve measurable reductions in installation defect density and improvements in the performance of PV systems by optimizing design and installation of residential and commercial PV systems. This approach addressed the soft costs associated with installations and quality management. The project demonstrated improved system reliability and reduced PV system installation costs. The software developed improved operations, decreased risk, and increased the overall value of PV systems across their lifecycle. The project used several data collection methods, including extensive industry surveys, face-to-face high-level interviews at industry conferences, stakeholder teleconferences, and in-depth interviews conducted by IBTS staff. Results from the research found the industry needs a uniform assessment method for national providers to be more efficient; the software should support both code officials and installers; most industry stakeholders would find value in a centralized software system that allows them to collect, report, and review information on in-process and completed solar installations; and mobile solutions that bridge existing knowledge gaps with inspectors and integrate with existing methodologies (such as permitting software) are of great value. The software solution developed is web-based, allowing for national access, and is built on a Google Firebase platform that can handle significant users and data. It can be used onsite or remotely, allowing for code compliance to continue despite ongoing pandemic related delays or shutdowns for local economies. The information provided by the software tool allows users to uniformly assess a system for compliance and use that aggregated data to identify training topics or create internal process designed to improving issues and reducing occurrence. This solution has multiple benefits in managing quality at time of use and promoting an increase in future safety and quality through education. Perhaps most importantly, this software increases public safety by ensuring compliance of installed systems and allows for local AHJs to remotely engage specialized and qualified solar specific expertise for oversite of the installation in their jurisdictions. Data analysis provides the quality feedback loop identifying the root cause of failure and drives installation practices to improve through training and education, resulting in systems with higher performance, greater reliability, and reduced operations and maintenance costs. With the successful completion of this project, the industry can expect reduced soft costs and increased performance and safety and will ultimately benefit from longer performing systems that cost less to operate.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Shorter function summaries for finite state machine-based high consequence systems using logic synthesis and tautologies (Final Report LDRD 24-1302)

Computer programs are often viewed as collections of functions – each function has parameters (inputs) and computes a return value, and each has potential side effects that modify program state (outputs). In this research, a Sandia symbolic execution tool designed to support “human-in-the-loop” analysis was modified to automatically create “function summaries,” and a new tool, “diaboolical,” was created to support enhancing readability of the summary using a novel approach to bit-vector simplification that leverages logic synthesis and tautologies. For this effort, students at Auburn University created several finite state machines (FSMs) to serve as exemplars for high-consequence systems. Function summaries for each of the machines were obtained, and then portions of the summaries were simplified using both diaboolical and the simplification procedure of a popular SMT solver. A comparison of the results shows that diaboolical can often produce smaller function summaries, with expression length improvements over the unsimplified function summaries ranging from 0% to 90% for diaboolical and 0% to 65% for the SMT solver, though diaboolical had a significantly greater cost in time. Diaboolical was evaluated against a collection of “arbitrary” C-code as well as FSM exemplars, and for both datasets it achieved an approximately 10% improvement in expression length compared to simplifications that could be obtained using existing techniques. Function summaries can assist assurance efforts that evaluate existing systems and their executable code. A smaller function summary is likely easier for humans to understand and could thus increase the ability and efficacy of assurance practices centered around the analysis of executable artifacts.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Subspace-Aware Index Codes

In this paper, we generalize the well-known index coding problem to exploit the structure in the source-data to improve system throughput. In many applications (e.g., multimedia), the data to be transmitted may lie (or can be well approximated) in a low-dimensional subspace. We exploit this low-dimensional structure of the data using an algebraic framework to solve the index coding problem (referred to as subspace-aware index coding) as opposed to the traditional index coding problem which is subspace-unaware. Also, we propose an efficient algorithm based on the alternating minimization approach to obtain near optimal index codes for both subspace-aware and -unaware cases. In conclusion, our simulations indicate that under certain conditions, a significant throughput gain (about 90%) can be achieved by subspace-aware index codes over conventional subspace-unaware index codes.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

EVs-at-RISC: A Secure and Resilient Interoperable SCM Control System Architecture for Electric Vehicle’s-at-Scale (Final Technical Report)

The EVs-at-RISC project was a five-year research, development, and demonstration initiative to create foundational tools for utility-scale fleet aggregation and Smart Charge Management (SCM) of Electric Vehicles (EV), Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI), and related Distributed Energy Resources (DER). Rather than seeking to develop and demonstrate highly perfected SCM algorithms and control strategies, this project instead focused on creating foundational software solutions that enable unprecedented digital interoperability across the communications technologies and vendor platforms used to manage EV , EVCI, and DER, as well as existing energy management infrastructure operated by utilities, grid operators, and aggregators. This project then extends these novel interoperability capabilities to develop and deploy powerful middleware abstractions across grid edge networks and EVCI/DER fleet aggregations incorporating modern software tools and best practices, such as CI/CD, to bring the immense capabilities of infrastructure-as-code and policy-as-code to modern grid edge network environments. This addresses the foremost systemic issues preventing realization of any net operational benefits from scaled deployment of behind-the-meter EV, EVCI, and DER assets in electric power grids and markets today. The results of this approach and project unlock massive potential for new SCM capabilities to be easily prototyped, evaluated, and deployed at-scale within the existing grid edge network infrastructure and EVCI/DER technology ecosystem. The EVs-at-RISC project achieves this by extending Open Field Message Bus (OpenFMB), a conceptual model for digital interoperability and distributed intelligence in traditional front-of-meter utility SCADA networks, validating our hypothesis that OpenFMB could be similarly used to solve systemic digital interoperability issues in behind-the-meter environments and unlock real-world utility-scale SCM capabilities without requiring any new proprietary vendor solutions or significant infrastructure reconfiguration.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

A model for discrete fracture-clay rock interaction incorporating electrostatic effects on transport

Abstract A model based on the code CrunchClay is presented for a fracture-clay matrix system that takes electrostatic effects on transport into account. The electrostatic effects on transport include those associated with the development of a diffusion potential as captured by the Nernst-Planck equation, and the formation of a diffuse layer bordering negatively charged clay particles within which partial anion exclusion occurs. The model is based on a dual continuum formulation that accounts for diffuse layer and bulk water pore space, providing a more flexible framework than is found in the classical mean electrostatic potential models. The diffuse layer model is obtained by volume averaging ion concentrations in the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, but also includes the treatment of longitudinal transport within this continuum. The calculation of transport within the bulk and diffuse layer porosity is based on a new formulation for the Nernst-Planck equation that considers averaging of diffusion coefficients and accumulation factors at grid cell interfaces. Equations for function residuals and the associated Jacobian matrix are presented such that the system of nonlinear differential-algebraic equations can be solved with Newton’s method. As an example, we consider a 2D system with a single discrete fracture within which flow and advective transport occurs that is coupled to diffusion in the clay-rich matrix. The simulation results demonstrate the lack of retardation for anions (e.g., 36 Cl − ) of the contaminant plume within the fracture flow system because they are largely excluded from the charged clay rock, while the migration of cations (e.g., 90 Sr ++ ) is more strongly attenuated. The diffusive loss of divalent cations in particular from the fracture is accentuated by their accumulation in the diffuse layer within the clay-rich matrix.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Microwave Analysis with Monte Carlo Methods for ECH Transmission Lines

A new code framework, MORAMC, is presented which model transmission line (TL) systems consisting of overmoded circular waveguide and other components including miter bends and transmission line gaps. The transmission line is modeled as a set of mode converters in series where each component is composed of one or more converters. The parametrization of each mode converter can account for the fabrication tolerances of physically realizable components. These tolerances as well as the precision to which these TL systems can be installed and aligned gives a practical limit to which the uncertainty of the microwave performance of the system can be calculated. Because of this, Monte Carlo methods are a natural fit and are employed to calculate the probability distribution that a given TL can deliver a required power and mode purity. Several examples are given to demonstrate the usefulness of MORAMC in optimizing TL systems.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Enhancement of risk informed validation framework for external hazard scenario

In recent years, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have developed methodologies to assess the vulnerabilities of nuclear plants against site specific extreme hazards. In many cases, advanced simulation tools are being considered to simulate multi-physics, multi-scale phenomena and to evaluate vulnerability of nuclear facilities. The credibility of advanced simulation tools is assessed based on a formal verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification procedure. One of the key limitations in validation is the lack of relevant experimental data at system-level. This limitation leads to a decrease in the confidence of system-level risk predictions. Therefore, a robust validation framework is needed to formalize the confidence in predictive capability of advanced simulation results. Additionally, this study enhances the existing risk informed validation methodology, originally proposed by Kwag et al. [1] and Bodda et al. [2], by developing additional attributes and a new set of validation indicies for a complete and wider applicability of the framework. In this manuscript, the methodology to identify the critical path that leads to the system-level failure is illustrated. The overall validation is checked for completeness and consistency by comparing the critical path for both the system-level simulation and experimental models. The applicability of the code for an intended application is represented in terms of various maturity levels and helps in the process of decision making.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Experimental demonstration of continuous quantum error correction

The storage and processing of quantum information are susceptible to external noise, resulting in computational errors. A powerful method to suppress these effects is quantum error correction. Typically, quantum error correction is executed in discrete rounds, using entangling gates and projective measurement on ancillary qubits to complete each round of error correction. Here we use direct parity measurements to implement a continuous quantum bit-flip correction code in a resource-efficient manner, eliminating entangling gates, ancillary qubits, and their associated errors. An FPGA controller actively corrects errors as they are detected, achieving an average bit-flip detection efficiency of up to 91%. Furthermore, the protocol increases the relaxation time of the protected logical qubit by a factor of 2.7 over the relaxation times of the bare comprising qubits. Our results showcase resource-efficient stabilizer measurements in a multi-qubit architecture and demonstrate how continuous error correction codes can address challenges in realizing a fault-tolerant system.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Similarity of the coupled equations for RF waves in a tokamak

Here, a similarity relation between RF wave systems in tokamaks is found theoretically by investigating scaling conditions of plasma density and temperature, tokamak size and background magnetic fields, and RF wave frequency and power. The scaling conditions simultaneously satisfy Maxwell's equations, the Grad-Shafranov equation, and the Fokker-Planck equation. The consistency of the scaling with transport equations is examined by several empirical and theoretical scalings for confinement time. The similarity discussed in this paper is useful to explore the possibility of the test system for RF wave experiments and verify the coupled numerical codes for the wave modeling.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

b b ¯ kinematic correlations in cold nuclear matter

Background: The LHCb Collaboration has studied a number of kinematic correlations between B -hadron pairs through their subsequent decays to J / ψ pairs in p + p collisions at 7 and 8 TeV for four minimum values of the J / ψ p T . Purpose: In this work, these measurements are compared to calculations of b b ¯ pairs and their hadronization and inclusive decays to J / ψ J / ψ are compared to the same observables. Potential cold matter effects on the b b ¯ pair observables are discussed to determine which are most likely to provide insights about the system and why. Methods: The calculations, employing the exclusive HVQMNR code, assume the same intrinsic k T -broadening and fragmentation as in prior work. The pair distributions presented by LHCb are calculated in this approach, both for the parent b b ¯ and the J / ψ J / ψ pairs produced in their decays. The sensitivity of the results to the intrinsic k T broadening is shown. The theoretical uncertainties due to the b quark mass and scale variations on both the initial b b ¯ pairs and the resulting J / ψ pairs are also shown, as is the dependence of the results on the rapidity range of the measurement. Possible effects due to the presence of the nucleus are studied by increasing the size of the k T broadening and modifying the fragmentation function. Results: Good agreement with the LHCb data is found for all observables. The parent b b ¯ distributions are more sensitive to the k T broadening than are the final-state J / ψ pairs. Conclusions: Next-to-leading order calculations with k T broadening, as in prior work, can describe all correlated observables. Multiple measurements of correlated observables are sensitive to different nuclear effects which can help distinguish between them.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Numerical Simulation of Measurements during the Reactor Physical Startup at Unit 3 of Rostov NPP

The results of numerical calculations and measurements of some reactor parameters during the physical startup tests at unit 3 of Rostov NPP are presented. The following parameters are considered: the critical boron acid concentration and the currents from ionization chambers (IC) during the scram system efficiency evaluation. The scram system efficiency was determined using the inverse point kinetics equation with the measured and simulated IC currents. The results of steady-state calculations of relative power distribution and efficiency of the scram system and separate groups of control rods of the control and protection system are also presented. The calculations are performed using several codes, including precision ones.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Dwave compatible C to Verilog converter

This software is a C to Verilog converter. However it doesn't just generate any Verilog code, it is intended to generate Verilog code compatible with execution over quantum based D-Wave systems.

Mohamed, Hassan↗

Transient knockdown of Anopheles stephensi LRIM1 using RNAi increases Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite salivary gland infections

Abstract Background Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) sporozoites (PfSPZ) can be administered as a highly protective vaccine conferring the highest protection seen to date. Sanaria® PfSPZ vaccines are produced using aseptically reared Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes. The bionomics of sporogonic development of P. falciparum in A. stephensi to fully mature salivary gland PfSPZ is thought to be modulated by several components of the mosquito innate immune system. In order to increase salivary gland PfSPZ infections in A. stephensi and thereby increase vaccine production efficiency, a gene knock down approach was used to investigate the activity of the immune deficiency (IMD) signaling pathway downstream effector leucine-rich repeat immune molecule 1 ( LRIM1 ), an antagonist to Plasmodium development. Methods Expression of LRIM1 in A. stephensi was reduced following injection of double stranded (ds) RNA into mosquitoes. By combining the Gal4/UAS bipartite system with in vivo expression of short hairpin (sh) RNA coding for LRIM1 reduced expression of LRIM1 was targeted in the midgut, fat body, and salivary glands. RT-qPCR was used to demonstrate fold-changes in gene expression in three transgenic crosses and the effects on P. falciparum infections determined in mosquitoes showing the greatest reduction in LRIM1 expression. Results LRIM1 expression could be reduced, but not completely silenced, by expression of LRIM1 dsRNA. Infections of P. falciparum oocysts and PfSPZ were consistently and significantly higher in transgenic mosquitoes than wild type controls, with increases in PfSPZ ranging from 2.5- to tenfold. Conclusions Plasmodium falciparum infections in A. stephensi can be increased following reduced expression of LRIM1. These data provide the springboard for more precise knockout of LRIM1 for the eventual incorporation of immune-compromised A. stephensi into manufacturing of Sanaria’s PfSPZ products.

Billingsley, Peter F. (ORCID:0000000311424813)↗

SoyFACE Fumigation Data Files

This data set is related to the SoyFACE experiments, which are open-air agricultural climate change experiments that have been conducted since 2001. The fumigation experiments take place at the SoyFACE farm and facility in Champaign County, Illinois during the growing season of each year, typically between June and October. - The "SoyFACE Plot Information 2001 to 2021" file contains information about each year of the SoyFACE experiments, including the fumigation treatment type (CO2, O3, or a combination treatment), the crop species, the plots (also referred to as 'rings' and labeled with numbers between 2 and 31) used in each experiment, important experiment dates, and the target concentration levels or 'setpoints' for CO2 and O3 in each experiment. - This data set includes files with minute readings of the fumigation levels ( "SoyFACE 1-Minute Fumigation Data Files" folder) from the SoyFACE experiments. The "Soyface 1-Minute Fumigation Data Files" folder contains sub-folders for each year of the experiments, each of which contains sub-folders for each ring used in that year's experiments. This data set also includes hourly data files for the fumigation experiments ( "SoyFACE Hourly Fumigation Data Files" folder) created from the 1-minute files, and hourly ambient/weather data files for each year of the experiments ( "Hourly Weather and Ambient Data Files" folder). The ambient CO2 and O3 data are collected at SoyFACE, and the weather data are collected from the SURFRAD and WARM weather stations located near the SoyFACE farm. - The "Fumigation Target Percentages" file shows how much of the time the CO2 and O3 fumigation levels are within a 10 or 20 percent margin of the target levels when the fumigation system is turned on. - The "Matlab Files" folder contains custom code (Aspray, E.K.) that was used to clean the "SoyFACE 1-Minute Fumigation Data" files and to generate the "SoyFACE Hourly Fumigation Data" and "Fumigation Target Percentages" files. Code information can be found in the "SoyFACE Hourly Fumigation Data Explanation" file. - Finally, the " * Explanation" files contain information about the column names, units of measurement, and other pertinent information for each data file. * NOTE: We have identified some files in the “SoyFACE 1-Minute Fumigation Data Files” folder in our SoyFACE data set submission that were not downloaded properly - the files were present in the folder, but the actual files were empty. V3 ensures that there are no longer any empty files in the data set.

agricultural↗

Natural Language Processing-Enhanced Nuclear Industry Operating Experience Data Analysis: Aggregation and Interpretation of Multi-Report Analysis Results

Industry-wide operating experience is a critical source of raw data for reliability and risk model parameter estimations for nuclear power plants. A large portion of operating experience data are failure events stored as reports that contain unstructured data, such as narratives. In current practice, a failure report is usually reviewed and manually coded by analysts. The coding is based on extracting several event characteristics such as system name, component type, sub-part type, failure mode, and failure cause. Event narratives are mostly used to help understand events and extract their characteristics. In this line of research, we aim to maximize the usage of event narratives by leveraging natural language processing (NLP) methods to automatically convert an event narrative to a causal graph. This research has promise to improve physical understanding of failure initiation and propagation and to facilitate use of non-failure data (e.g., near-misses and degradations) to complement the limited data pool of failures. In our previous work, we developed an NLP tool and applied it to analyze a number of licensee event reports submitted by U.S. nuclear power plants to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In this paper, we will report our recent research progress in aggregating the results of multiple reports, developing network model(s), and drawing statistical insights.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Utah FORGE Phase Native State FALCON Model Files

The submission includes FALCON input file and mesh for the an initial pressure-temperature simulation, and a second set for pressure-temperature-displacement simulation. All simulations are steady state. Data and input for the FORGE Phase 2 native state model were compiled from historic and FORGE specific characterization efforts. The simulations look to find the in-situ pressure, temperature, and stress distributions in the vicinity of the Utah FORGE site. The purpose of the native state model was to establish a baseline for all other modeling analyses—so that the whole modeling team can start from a consistent set of conditions which makes for comparison of results more straightforward and meaningful. Requires the FALCON simulator which can be found in the "FALCON Simulator" link in the submission. Instructions for compiling and running FALCON can be found on the FORGE branch of the FALCON git repository in the README.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗