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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.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Critical Minerals and Materials Matchmaker-CM3

This is the Critical Minerals and Materials Matchmaker (CM3) survey form. CM3 is an online information resource created to help connect users across the critical minerals and materials supply chain. The survey is designed to allow organizations to self-identify their critical minerals and materials-aligned activities and interests, and an interactive map that displays those on-going activities in a dynamic way. To include your critical minerals management activity or activities in CM3, please open and fill out the Critical Minerals and Materials Survey. If your organization has many ongoing or planned activities that would be onerous to enter in the form, or if your activities are difficult to geolocate (such as a transport network), please email the team at edxspatial@netl.doe.gov. This initiative is aligned with the approach of DOE’s H2 Matchmaker and Carbon Matchmaker. Read more information on H2 Matchmaker and Carbon Matchmaker. Below are some questions to help understand if you should fill out the CM3 survey: Does your company work with elements such as lithium, cobalt, copper, graphite, nickel, rare earth minerals, or platinum group metals? Does your organization have research and development activities related to critical materials or their supply chains? Does your company currently work in the critical minerals or materials supply chain? Do you have prospective work in critical minerals or materials in the next 5 years? Does your company mine, process, refine or distribute critical minerals or materials? Do you want to network with other facilities or organizations working in the same areas? Are you curious about the critical mineral and material activity in your surrounding area? Are you interested in aligning your potential needs across the supply chain to different geographic areas within the U.S? For more information, please see the CM3 website (https://www.energy.gov/fecm/articles/critical-minerals-materials-matchmaker-cm3) or email our team at edxspatial@netl.doe.gov.

CM3↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Kinetic and Product Study of the Cl + HO2 Reaction

Absolute rate data and product branching ratios for the reactions Cl + HO2 to HCl + O2 (k1a) and Cl + HO2 to OH + ClO (k1b) have been measured from 226 to 336 K at a total pressure of 1 Torr of helium using the discharge flow resonance fluorescence technique coupled with infrared diode laser spectroscopy. For kinetic measurements, pseudo-first-order conditions were used with both reagents in excess in separate experiments. HO2 was produced by two methods: through the termolecular reaction of H atoms with O2 and also by the reaction of F atoms with H2O2. Cl atoms were produced by a microwave discharge of Cl2 in He. HO2 radicals were converted to OH radicals prior to detection by resonance fluorescence at 308 nm. Cl atoms were detected directly at 138 nm also by resonance fluorescence. Measurement of the consumption of HO2 in excess Cl yielded k1a and measurement of the consumption of Cl in excess HO2 yielded the total rate coefficient, k1. Values of k1a and k1 derived from kinetic experiments expressed in Arrhenius form are (1.6 +/- 0.2) x 10-11 exp[(249 +/- 34)/T] and (2.8 +/- 0.1) x 10-11 exp[(123 +/- 15)/T] cm3 molecule-1 s-1, respectively. As the expression for k1 is only weakly temperature dependent, we report a temperature-independent value of k1 = (4.5 +/- 0.4) x 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1. Additionally, an Arrhenius expression for k1b can also be derived: k1b = (7.7 +/- 0.8) x 10-11 exp[-(708 +/- 29)/T] cm3 molecule-1 s-1. These expressions for k1a and k1b are valid for 226 K T 336 and 256 K T 296 K, respectively. The cited errors are at the level of a single standard deviation. For the product measurements, an excess of Cl was added to known concentrations of HO2 and the reaction was allowed to reach completion. HCl product concentrations were determined by IR absorption yielding the ratio k1a/k1 over the temperature range 236 K T 296 K. OH product concentrations were determined by resonance fluorescence giving rise to the ratio k1b/k1 over the temperature range 226 K T 336 K. Both of these ratios were subsequently converted to absolute numbers. Values of k1a and k1b from the product experiments expressed in Arrhenius form are (1.5 +/- 0.1) x 10-11 exp[(222 +/- 17)/T] and (10.6 +/- 1.5) x 10-11 exp[-(733 +/- 41)/T] cm3 molecule-1 s-1, respectively. These expressions for k1a and k1b are valid for 256 K T 296 and 226 K T 336 K, respectively. A combination of the kinetic and product data results in the following Arrhenius expressions for k1a and k1b of (1.4 +/- 0.3) x 10-11 exp[(269 +/- 58)/T] and (12.7 +/- 4.1) x 10-11 exp[-(801 +/- 94)/T] cm3 molecule-1 s-1, respectively. Numerical simulations were used to check for interferences from secondary chemistry in both the kinetic and product experiments and also to quantify the losses incurred during the conversion process HO2 to OH for detection purposes.

rate constants↗
NASA NTRS2011

Femoral Blood Flow and Cardiac Output During Blood Flow Restricted Leg Press Exercise

Low load blood flow restricted resistance exercise (LBFR) causes muscle hypertrophy that may be stimulated by the local ischemic environment created by the cuff pressure. However, local blood flow (BF) during such exercise is not well understood. PURPOSE: To characterize femoral artery BF and cardiac output (CO) during leg press exercise (LP) performed at a high load (HL) and low load (LL) with different levels of cuff pressure. METHODS: Eleven subjects (men/women 4/7, age 31.4+/-12.8 y, weight 68.9+/-13.2 kg, mean+/-SD) performed 3 sets of supine left LP to fatigue with 90 s of rest in 4 conditions: HL (%1-RM/cuff pressure: 80%/0); LL (20%/0); LBFR(sub DBP) (20%/1.3 x diastolic blood pressure, BP); LBFR(sub SBP) (20%/1.3 x supine systolic BP). The cuff remained inflated throughout the LBFR exercise sessions. Artery diameter, velocity time integral (VTI), and stroke volume (SV) were measured using Doppler ultrasound at rest and immediately after each set of exercise. Heart rate (HR) was monitored using a 3-lead ECG. BF was calculated as VTI x vessel cross-sectional area. CO was calculated as HR x SV. The data obtained after each set of exercise were averaged and used for analyses. Multi-level modeling was used to determine the effect of exercise condition on dependent variables. Statistical significance was set a priori at p< 0.05. RESULTS: Artery diameter did not change from baseline. BF increased (p<0.05) after exercise in each condition except LBFR(sub SBP) in the order of HL (12.73+/-1.42 cm3,mean+/-SE) > LL (9.92+/-0.82 cm3) > LBFR(sub dBP)(6.47+/-0.79 cm3) > LBFR(sub SBP) (3.51+/-0.59 cm3). Blunted exercise induced increases occurred in HR, SV, and CO after LBFR compared to HL and LL. HR increased 45% after HL and LL and 28% after LBFR (p<0.05), but SV increased (p<0.05) only after HL. Consequently, the increase (p<0.05) in CO was greater in HL and LL (approximately 3 L/min) than in LBFR (approximately 1 L/min). CONCLUSION: BF during LBFR(sub SBP) was 1/3 of that observed in LL, which supports the hypothesis that local ischemia stimulates the LBFR hypertrophic response. As the cuff did not compress the artery, the ischemia may have occurred because of the blunted rise in CO or because arterial BP cannot overcome the cuff pressure. As LBFR(sub DBP) effectively reduced BF and CO with cuff pressures less than systolic BP, future studies should investigate the hypertrophic potential of LBFR at even lower cuff pressures.

Everett, M. E.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Dramatic Slowdown of Bimolecular Reactions of Criegee Intermediates in Organic Aerosols

Although Criegee intermediates (CIs) play a central role in driving the transformation of organic molecules, their condensed-phase reaction kinetics remains poorly understood. While CIs undergo unimolecular decomposition to produce OH radicals, stabilized CIs participate in a host of other bimolecular reactions forming larger molecular weight products, including secondary ozonides (kSOZ), alkoxyalkyl hydroperoxides (kAlAHP), and acyloxyalkyl hydroperoxides (kAcAHP). Here, we demonstrate, using prior literature and new measurements of heterogeneous organic aerosol reactions using O3 or OH radicals, that these condensed-phase bimolecular reaction rate coefficients kSOZ (10-20 cm3·molecule-1·s-1), kAlAHP, and kAcAHP (10-19 cm3·molecule-1·s-1) are 7-10 orders of magnitude slower than analogous gas-phase reactions (∼ 10-10-10-13 cm3·molecule-1·s-1). This contrasts with current evidence that the rate coefficients for unimolecular steps in the condensed phase are similar in magnitude to those in the gas phase. Kinetic models using gas-phase-like bimolecular coefficients consistently overestimate the importance of bimolecular relative to unimolecular pathways while underpredicting the aerosol reactivity by up to 30-fold. The slowing of bimolecular reactivity in aerosols is likely due to solvation effects and the increased steric hindrance of larger molecular weight CIs and their scavengers in the condensed phase. These results challenge the conventional view that the high reactant density of an organic aerosol should favor bimolecular over unimolecular reactions, underscoring the need for more accurate CI condensed-phase rate constants for reliable modeling of oxidative processes across a diverse set of atmospheric and environmental systems.

Zeng, Meirong↗
DOE OSTI2021

Minimizing Oxygen Permeability in Chitin/Cellulose Nanomaterial Coatings by Tuning Chitin Deacetylation

The demand for packaging materials with low gas permeabilities is increasing, but commonly used petroleum-derived single-use plastics are not renewable, biodegradable, or easy to recycle. Nanomaterials composed of chitin and cellulose, which are abundant in nature, have high crystallinities and low oxygen permeabilities (OP), providing a viable alternative. In this work, we explore how deacetylation conditions of crab shell chitin can be used to tune the charge and size of resulting chitin nanowhiskers (ChNWs) and the resulting OP of layered film structures. Three deacetylation factors, the concentration of sodium hydroxide (%NaOH), temperature (T), and reaction time, were explored using a three-factor three-level Taguchi design with an orthogonal array. Furthermore, the resulting ChNW suspensions were sequentially spray-coated with suspensions of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) onto cellulose acetate (CA) films to form a multilayer structure. We show that ChNWs prepared under more aggressive deacetylation conditions inside the original orthogonal array (higher %NaOH, T, and time) had shorter lengths but the surface charge was significantly influenced only by more aggressive deacetylation outside of the original design conditions. With only ~10% decrease in the ultimate tensile strength and no significant loss in failure strain, the ChNW-CNC coating resulted in ~20% decrease in WVTR in comparison to uncoated CA films. The optimization of process conditions resulted in CA-ChNW-CNC films with a 91-99% decrease in OP (132-16.7 cm 3 ∙μm/m 2 /day/kPa versus 1553 cm3∙μm/m2/day/kPa for uncoated CA).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2023

Arctic Warming in Response to Regional Aerosol Emissions Reductions

This study examines the Arctic surface air temperature response to regional aerosol emissions reductions using three fully coupled chemistry–climate models: National Center for Atmospheric Research-Community Earth System Model version 1, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory-Coupled Climate Model version 3 (GFDL-CM3) and Goddard Institute for Space Studies-ModelE version 2. Each of these models was used to perform a series of aerosol perturbation experiments, in which emissions of different aerosol types (sulfate, black carbon (BC), and organic carbon) in different northern mid-latitude source regions, and of biomass burning aerosol over South America and Africa, were substantially reduced or eliminated. We find that the Arctic warms in nearly every experiment, the only exceptions being the U.S. and Europe BC experiments in GFDL-CM3 in which there is a weak and insignificant cooling. The Arctic warming is generally larger than the global mean warming (i.e. Arctic amplification occurs), particularly during non-summer months. The models agree that changes in the poleward atmospheric moisture transport are the most important factor explaining the spread in Arctic warming across experiments: the largest warming tends to coincide with the largest increases in moisture transport into the Arctic. In contrast, there is an inconsistent relationship (correlation) across experiments between the local radiative forcing over the Arctic and the simulated Arctic warming, with this relationship being positive in one model (GFDL-CM3) and negative in the other two. Our results thus highlight the prominent role of poleward energy transport in driving Arctic warming and amplification, and suggest that the relative importance of poleward energy transport and local forcing/feedbacks is likely to be model dependent.

Arctic↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Jefferson Lab Eta Factory (JEF) experiment

The Jefferson Lab Eta Factory (JEF) experiment is an upcoming experiment designed to run in Hall D at Jefferson Lab using an upgraded GlueX spectrometer to study various decays of the ? meson. The GlueX spectrometer consists of a ?2 Tesla solenoid magnet housing a liquid hydrogen target and drift chambers used for tracking charged particles and an array of lead glass blocks (the Forward Calorimeter (FCAL)) downstream of the magnet for detecting neutral particles. The decays of the ? meson can be used to measure the light quark mass ratio via the ???+???0 channel and allow access to higher-order terms in Chiral Perturbation Theory via the ???0?? channel. The decays can also be used to constrain new charge-conjugation violating/parity conserving (CVPC) reactions and to search for signatures of dark matter. In particular, the ???0?? channel can be used to search for lepto-phobic dark vector (B) bosons in the reaction ??B? (B??0?) or dark scalar (S) bosons in the reaction ???0S (S???). Studying the rare radiative decay channel ???0?? requires replacing the 4×4×45 cm3 lead glass blocks in the inner region of the FCAL with 2×2×20 cm3 lead tungstate crystals, which will provide twice better position and energy resolution. This talk will describe the JEF physics program and the upgrade to the FCAL.

Taylor, Simon↗
DOE OSTI2025

Status of the Jefferson Lab Eta Factory (JEF) experiment

The Jefferson Lab Eta Factory (JEF) experiment is an experiment running in Hall D at Jefferson Lab that focuses on studying the decays of the ¿ meson. These decays provide a rich laboratory for searching for new charge conjugation violating / parity conserving (CVPC) processes, looking for hints of Beyond Standard Model physics, and probing higher order terms in Chiral Perturbation Theory. The flagship channel is the rare decay ¿ ¿ p0¿¿, the measurement of which required an upgrade to the existing equipment in Hall D. The experiment uses the GlueX detector, a fixed-target large acceptance spectrometer based on a solenoid magnet containing drift chambers for tracking charged particles and a lead-scintillator barrel calorimeter in the central region and an array of 4 × 4 × 45 cm3 lead glass blocks in the forward region for detecting neutral particles. During the last two years the inner 80×80 cm2 region of the forward calorimeter has been replaced by an array of 2 × 2 × 20 cm3 lead tungstate crystals, which provide factors of two improvement in energy and position resolution. The first round of data taking with this configuration took place this year. A first look at the data will be presented.

Taylor, Simon [Thomas Jefferson National Accelerat↗
DOE OSTI2022

Product distribution, kinetics, and aerosol formation from the OH oxidation of dimethyl sulfide under different RO 2 regimes

Abstract. The atmospheric oxidation of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) represents a major natural source of atmospheric sulfate aerosols. However, there remain large uncertainties in our understanding of the underlying chemistry that governs the product distribution and sulfate yield from DMS oxidation. Here, chamber experiments were conducted to simulate gas-phase OH-initiated oxidation of DMS under a range of reaction conditions. Most importantly, the bimolecular lifetime (τbi) of the peroxy radical CH3SCH2OO was varied over several orders of magnitude, enabling the examination of the role of peroxy radical isomerization reactions on product formation. An array of analytical instruments was used to measure nearly all sulfur-containing species in the reaction mixture, and results were compared with a near-explicit chemical mechanism. When relative humidity was low, “sulfur closure” was achieved under both high-NO (τbi<0.1 s) and low-NO (τbi>10 s) conditions, though product distributions were substantially different in the two cases. Under high-NO conditions, approximately half the product sulfur was in the particle phase, as methane sulfonic acid (MSA) and sulfate, with most of the remainder as SO2 (which in the atmosphere would eventually oxidize to sulfate or be lost to deposition). Under low-NO conditions, hydroperoxymethyl thioformate (HPMTF, HOOCH2SCHO), formed from CH3SCH2OO isomerization, dominates the sulfur budget over the course of the experiment, suppressing or delaying the formation of SO2 and particulate matter. The isomerization rate constant of CH3SCH2OO at 295 K is found to be 0.13±0.03 s−1, in broad agreement with other recent laboratory measurements. The rate constants for the OH oxidation of key first-generation oxidation products (HPMTF and methyl thioformate, MTF) were also determined (kOH+HPMTF=2.1×10-11 cm3 molec.−1 s−1, kOH+MTF=1.35×10-11 cm3 molec.−1 s−1). Product measurements agree reasonably well with mechanistic predictions in terms of total sulfur distribution and concentrations of most individual species, though the mechanism overpredicts sulfate and underpredicts MSA under high-NO conditions. Lastly, results from high-relative-humidity conditions suggest efficient heterogenous loss of at least some gas-phase products.

Ye, Qing (ORCID:0000000337978988)↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nudging allows direct evaluation of coupled climate models with in situ observations: a case study from the MOSAiC expedition

Comparing the output of general circulation models to observations is essential for assessing and improving the quality of models. While numerical weather prediction models are routinely assessed against a large array of observations, comparing climate models and observations usually requires long time series to build robust statistics. Here, we show that by nudging the large-scale atmospheric circulation in coupled climate models, model output can be compared to local observations for individual days. We illustrate this for three climate models during a period in April 2020 when a warm air intrusion reached the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition in the central Arctic. Radiosondes, cloud remote sensing and surface flux observations from the MOSAiC expedition serve as reference observations. The climate models AWI-CM1/ECHAM and AWI-CM3/IFS miss the diurnal cycle of surface temperature in spring, likely because both models assume the snowpack on ice to have a uniform temperature. CAM6, a model that uses three layers to represent snow temperature, represents the diurnal cycle more realistically. During a cold and dry period with pervasive thin mixed-phase clouds, AWI-CM1/ECHAM only produces partial cloud cover and overestimates downwelling shortwave radiation at the surface. AWI-CM3/IFS produces a closed cloud cover but misses cloud liquid water. Our results show that nudging the large-scale circulation to the observed state allows a meaningful comparison of climate model output even to short-term observational campaigns. We suggest that nudging can simplify and accelerate the pathway from observations to climate model improvements and substantially extends the range of observations suitable for model evaluation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1968

Intrinsic Magnetic Properties of the Lunar Body

Preliminary analysis of magnetic measurements by Explorer 35 in lunar orbit suggested an upper limit of 4 x 10(exp 20) gauss-cm3 for the magnetic moment of the moon. A more detailed analysis of a larger body of Explorer 35 data from measurements in the earth's magnetic tail has subsequently been performed. Reversal of the ambient tail field by 180deg when the moon and spacecraft traverse the neutral sheet permits a separation of permanent and induced field contributions to the total field observed near the moon. When compared to calculated permanent and induced field effects, the results of this analysis lead to new upper limits of 102' gauss-cm3 on the lunar magnetic moment and 4y on the lunar surface field. Limiting the moment induced in the moon by the magnetotail field permits an upper limit of 1.8 to be set on the bulk relative magnetic permeability of the moon.

Behannon, Kenneth W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Burn rates of TiH2/KClO4/Viton and output testing of NASA SKD26100098-301 pressure cartridges

The burn rates of the pyrotechnic TiH2/KClO4/Viton with a mass ratio of 30/65/5 have been measured as a function of pressure in nitrogen up to 312 MPa(45 Kpsi). The burn rates were fit to R = a pn, with a = 2.055 cm/sec/MPan and n = 0.472 between 0.15 MPa (22 psi) and 21.6 MPa (3.13 Kpsi) and a = 4.38 cm/sec/MPan and n = 0.266 between 70 MPa (10.15 Kpsi) and 312 MPa (45.25 Kpsi). The decrease in slope at the higher pressures is attributed to a diffusion limited reaction. No acoustically driven flame instabilities or large conductive-to-convective burn transitions were observed. Solid reaction products were analyzed by x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). X-ray diffraction detected only TiO2 and KC1. SEM showed that the particle size of the reaction products increased as the nitrogen pressure increased. There were no anomalous characteristics of the burn of this pyrotechnic that could be interpreted as a cause of the o-ring blow-by problem in the forward shear bolt assembly. Three NASA SKD26100098-301 pressure cartridges were fired into a fixed volume vessel that was sealed with an O-ring. A maximum pressure of 181.7 MPa(26,350 psi) was reached in around 100 ,mu sec for two shots fired into a volume of 16.3 cm3(0.996 in3). A maximum pressure of 33,460 psi was reached for one shot fired into a volume of 9.55 cm3(0.583 in3). The O-ring burned through on one shot in the larger volume and leaked on the other two thereby simulating the effects of an O-ring leak. The results imply that the piston in the shear bolt assembly would receive a large impulse even if there was a leak in an O-ring seal.

Holy, John A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Understanding Shock Dynamics in the Inner Heliosphere with Modeling and Type II Radio Data: the 2010-04-03 Event

The 2010 April 03 solar event was studied using observations from STEREO SECCHI, SOHO LASCO, and Wind kilometric Type II data (kmTII) combined with WSA-Cone-ENLIL model simulations performed at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC). In particular, we identified the origin of the coronal mass ejection (CME) using STEREO EUVI and SOHO EIT images. A flux-rope model was fit to the SECCHI A and B, and LASCO images to determine the CMEs direction, size, and actual speed. J-maps from STEREO COR2HI-1HI-2 and simulations fromCCMC were used to study the formation and evolution of the shock in the inner heliosphere. In addition, we also studied the time-distance profile of the shock propagation from kmTII radio burst observations. The J-maps together with in-situ datafrom the Wind spacecraft provided an opportunity to validate the simulation results andthe kmTII prediction. Here we report on a comparison of two methods of predictinginterplanetary shock arrival time: the ENLIL model and the kmTII method; andinvestigate whether or not using the ENLIL model density improves the kmTIIprediction. We found that the ENLIL model predicted the kinematics of shock evolutionwell. The shock arrival times (SAT) and linear-fit shock velocities in the ENLILmodel agreed well with those measurements in the J-maps along both the CME leading edge and the Sun-Earth line. The ENLIL model also reproduced most of the largescale structures of the shock propagation and gave the SAT prediction at Earth with an error of 17 hours. The kmTII method predicted the SAT at Earth with an error of 15 hours when using n0 4.16 cm3, the ENLIL model plasma density near Earth; but itimproved to 2 hours when using n0 6.64 cm3, the model density near the CMEleading edge at 1 AU.

Space weather forecast↗
NASA NTRS2020

The Eris/Dysnomia System I: The Orbit of Dysnomia

We present new results on the Eris/Dysnomia system including analysis of new images from the WFC3 instru-ment on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Seven HST orbits were awarded to program 15171 in January and February 2018, with the intervals between observations selected to sample Dysnomia over a full orbital period. Using relative astrometry of Eris and Dysnomia, we computed a best-fit Keplerian orbit for Dysnomia. Based on the Keplerian fit, we find an orbital period of 15.785899±0.000050 days, which is in good agreement with recent work. We report a non-zero eccentricity of 0.0062 at the 6.2-σ level, despite an estimated eccentricity damping timescale of ≤17 Myr. Considering the volumes of both Eris and Dysnomia, the new system density was calculated to be 2.43±0.05 g cm3, a decrease of ~4% from the previous value of 2.52±0.05 g cm3. The new astrometric measurements were high enough precision to break the degeneracy of the orbit pole orientation, and indicate that Dysnomia orbits in a prograde manner. The obliquity of Dysnomia’s orbit pole with respect to the plane of Eris’ heliocentric orbit was calculated to be 78.29±0.65∘ and is in agreement with previous work; the next mutual events season will occur in 2239. The Keplerian orbit fit to all the data considered in this investi-gation can be excluded at the 6.3-σ level, but identifying the cause of the deviation was outside the scope of this work.

B J Holler↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effect of Humidity on Charge Decay in Varying Atmospheric Gases

Characterization of surface charge decay for varying materials – PTFE, Acrylic, and metals – of 100 mm diameter, radially symmetric bodies was performed. In a gaseous environment, charged materials will lose their charge depending on gas type, humidity, and other environmental factors. Eventually, the charge will be (1) neutralized by ions or electrons in the surrounding gas (2) distributed by conduction on the material surface or in its volume (3) or neutralized by ions or electrons in the material surface and volume. Metal and polymer samples are charged to a known potential in the tens of kilovolts range, and the decaying voltage is monitored with a non-contact probe until the potential reaches near zero. Humidity has an impact on both groups of materials. As a baseline, in air at 42% relative humidity in an enclosed chamber, a positive charge equivalent to 20 kV potential on a metal sphere of 50 mm radius decays to near zero within 25 minutes. In contrast, the same sphere negatively charged decays slightly faster within 20 minutes. Overall, the humidity has a significant effect on the charge decay time, such that an order of magnitude longer times (hours) are observed at low humidity. Effects of chamber size were also studied, drawing a connection to charge carriers in the air available for decay, with chambers of volume(s): 3.3 105 cm3 and 1.4 106 cm3, respectively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Impact of climate change on water availability and its propagation through the Western U.S. power grid

Climate impact assessment for power systems has tended to focus on the effects of water availability on generation without explicitly considering how these impacts propagate through the interconnected grid to affect generation in other locations. We investigate the impact of projected water availability on the operations of the contemporary Western U.S. power grid, focusing specifically on regional interdependencies. Hydrologic simulations derived from three GCMs (CCSM4, INMCM4 and GFDL-CM3) and two radiative scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) are used to force a large-scale, distributed water management model (MOSART-WM), which translates water availability into power generation constraints at hydropower plants and water-dependent thermo-electric plants. Power system dynamics are evaluated using the production cost model PLEXOS. We find that the inter-regional connections across the Western U.S. electricity infrastructure are key in managing drastic variations in regional water availability. Net generation in the Northwest and Northern California is substantially sensitive to local water availability. Generation from the Desert Southwest emerges as a critical resource to compensate for variations in water availability in those regions. Climate change impacts on Northwestern water availability therefore drive future changes in other regions’ generation and regional power flows. The large inter-annual hydrological variability of Northern California exacerbates grid stress arising from long-term changes in water availability in the Northwest. While the regional power flow directions seem insensitive to long-term variations in water availability, the analysis highlights the need to consider other compounding regional factors such as changes in Southern California net load or changes in regional fuel prices.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Typological representation of the offshore oceanographic environment along the Alaskan North Slope

Erosion and flooding impacts to Arctic coastal environments are intensifying with nearshore oceanographic conditions acting as a key environmental driver. Robust and comprehensive assessment of the nearshore oceanographic conditions require knowledge of the following boundary conditions: incident wave energy, water level, incident wind energy, ocean temperature and salinity, bathymetry, and shoreline orientation. The number of offshore oceanographic boundary conditions can be large, requiring a significant computational investment to reproduce nearshore conditions. This present study develops location-independent typologies to reduce the number of boundary conditions needed to assess nearshore oceanographic environments in both a Historical (2007–2019) and Future (2020–2040) timespan along the Alaskan North Slope. We used WAVEWATCH III® and Delft3D Flexible Mesh model output from six oceanographic sites located along a constant ~50 m bathymetric line spanning the Chukchi to Beaufort Seas. K-means clustering was applied to the energy-weighted joint-probability distribution of significant wave height (H s ) and peak period (T p ). Distributions of wave and wind direction, wind speed, and water level associated with location-independent centroids were assigned single values to describe a reduced order, typological rendition of offshore oceanographic conditions. Reanalysis data (e.g., ASRv2, ERA5, and GOFS) grounded the historical simulations while projected conditions were obtained from downscaled GFDL-CM3 forced under RCP8.5 conditions. Location-dependence for each site is established through the occurrence joint-probability distribution in the form of unique scaling factors representing the fraction of time that the typology would occupy over a representative year. As anticipated, these typologies show increasingly energetic ocean conditions in the future. They also enable computationally efficient simulation of the nearshore oceanographic environment along the North Slope of Alaska for better characterization of coastal processes (e.g., erosion, flooding, or sediment transport).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Comparison of Americium(III) and Neodymium(III) Monothiophosphate Complexes

Mixed-donor ligands, such as those containing a combination of O/N or O/S, have been studied extensively for the selective extraction of trivalent actinides, especially Am 3+ and Cm3+, from lanthanides during the recycling of used nuclear fuel. Oxygen/sulfur donor ligand combinations also result from the hydrolytic and/or radiolytic degradation of dithiophosphates, such as the Cyanex® class of extractants, that are initially converted to monothiophosphates. To understand potential differences between the binding of such degraded ligands to Nd 3+ and Am 3+ , the monothiophosphate complexes [M(OPS(OEt) 2 ) 5 (H 2 O) 2 ] 2- (M 3+ = Nd 3+ , Am 3+ ) were prepared and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and optical spectroscopy and studied as a function of pressure up ca. 14 GPa using diamond-anvil techniques. Although Nd 3+ and Am 3+ have nearly identical eight-coordinated ionic radii, these structures reveal that while the M-O bond distances in these complexes are nearly equal that the M-S distances are statistically different. Moreover, for [Nd(OPS(OEt) 2 ) 5 (H 2 O) 2 ] 2- , the hypersensitive 4 I 9/2 → 4 G 5 / 2 transition shifts as a function of pressure by -11 cm -1 /GPa. Whereas for [Am(OPS(OEt) 2 ) 5 (H 2 O) 2 ] 2- , the 7 F 0 → 7 F 6 transition shows a slightly stronger pressure dependence with a shift of -13 cm -1 /GPa and also exhibits broadening of the 5f →5f transitions at high pressures. This data likely indicates an increased involvement of the 5f orbitals in bonding to Am 3+ relative to that of Nd 3+ in these complexes.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗