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17 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

An artificial spiking quantum neuron

Abstract Artificial spiking neural networks have found applications in areas where the temporal nature of activation offers an advantage, such as time series prediction and signal processing. To improve their efficiency, spiking architectures often run on custom-designed neuromorphic hardware, but, despite their attractive properties, these implementations have been limited to digital systems. We describe an artificial quantum spiking neuron that relies on the dynamical evolution of two easy to implement Hamiltonians and subsequent local measurements. The architecture allows exploiting complex amplitudes and back-action from measurements to influence the input. This approach to learning protocols is advantageous in the case where the input and output of the system are both quantum states. We demonstrate this through the classification of Bell pairs which can be seen as a certification protocol. Stacking the introduced elementary building blocks into larger networks combines the spatiotemporal features of a spiking neural network with the non-local quantum correlations across the graph.

Kristensen, Lasse Bjørn (ORCID:0000000239398170)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Backaction-evading receivers with magnetomechanical and electromechanical sensors

Today's mechanical sensors are capable of detecting extremely weak perturbations while operating near the standard quantum limit. However, further improvements can be made in both sensitivity and bandwidth when we reduce the noise originating from the process of measurement itself—the quantum-mechanical backaction of measurement—and go below this ‘standard’ limit, possibly approaching the Heisenberg limit. One of the ways to eliminate this noise is by measuring a quantum nondemolition variable such as the momentum in a free-particle system. Here, we propose and characterize theoretical models for direct velocity measurement that utilize traditional electric and magnetic transducer designs to generate a signal while enabling this backaction evasion. We consider the general readout of this signal via electric or magnetic field sensing by creating toy models analogous to the standard optomechanical position-sensing problem, thereby facilitating the assessment of measurement-added noise. Using simple models that characterize a wide range of transducers, we find that the choice of readout scheme—voltage or current—for each mechanical detector configuration implies access to either the position or velocity of the mechanical subsystem. This in turn suggests a path forward for key fundamental physics experiments such as the direct detection of dark matter particles. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Shot‐Noise‐Driven Macroscopic Vibrations and Displacement Transduction in Quantum Tunnel Junctions

Back‐action is an inevitable result of quantum measurement. Although the microscopic impacts of shot‐noise back‐action have been explored, macroscopic evidence is seldom documented, especially in the field of electrical transport. Tunneling shot‐noise has been shown to excite the fundamental flexural mode of the host crystal using a sub‐GHz lumped‐element radio‐frequency quantum point contact (QPC). Here, in this study, this aspect of shot‐noise back‐action is examined at much higher operational frequencies and wider bandwidths by employing a GaAs QPC integrated into a planar superconducting cavity within the circuit‐QED framework, leading to the observation of the excitation of multiple mechanical modes. The device operates in the shot‐noise‐limited regime. Constructed on a piezoelectric platform, there is positive feedback between the electrical and mechanical degrees of freedom within the QPC. Shot‐noise excites piezoelectric vibrational modes; concurrently the resulting polarization charges enhance tunneling and develop peaks in the shot‐noise spectra at the modal frequencies. The excitation of vibrational modes is a macroscopic demonstration of measurement back‐action, and the amplitudes of the noise‐peaks enable us to calibrate the displacement sensitivity of the QPC‐resonator systems, which is in the range $≈ 35 fm/√ Hz$, making it an excellent sensor for ultra‐sensitive and rapid strain/displacement detection.

Kumbhakar, Prasanta [Indian Institute of Science E↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum metrology of low-frequency electromagnetic modes with frequency upconverters

We present the RF Quantum Upconverter (RQU) and describe its application to quantum metrology of electromagnetic modes between dc and the very high frequency band (VHF) ( ≲ 300 MHz). The RQU uses a Josephson interferometer made up of superconducting loops and Josephson junctions to implement a parametric interaction between a low-frequency electromagnetic mode (between dc and VHF) and a mode in the microwave C Band ( ∼ 5 GHz), analogous to the radiation pressure interaction between electromagnetic and mechanical modes in cavity optomechanics. We analyze RQU performance with quantum amplifier theory and show that the RQU can operate as a quantum-limited op-amp in this frequency range. It can also use nonclassical measurement protocols equivalent to those used in cavity optomechanics, including back-action evading (BAE) measurements, sideband cooling, and two-mode squeezing. These protocols enable experiments using dc VHF electromagnetic modes as quantum sensors with sensitivity better than the standard quantum limit (SQL). We demonstrate signal upconversion from low frequencies to the microwave C band using an RQU and show a phase-sensitive gain (extinction ratio) of 46.9 dB , which is a necessary step towards the realization of full BAE. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Kuenstner, Stephen E. (ORCID:0000000346128846)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Quantum metrology of low frequency electromagnetic modes with frequency upconverters

We describe the RF Quantum Upconverter (RQU) and describe its application to quantum metrology of electromagnetic modes between dc and the Very High Frequency band (VHF) (≲300MHz). The RQU uses a Josephson interferometer made up of superconducting loops and Josephson junctions to implement a parametric interaction between a low-frequency electromagnetic mode (between dc and VHF) and a mode in the microwave C Band (~ 5GHz), analogous to the radiation pressure interaction between electromagnetic and mechanical modes in cavity optomechanics. The RQU can operate as a quantum-limited op-amp, or use protocols from optomechanics to implement non-classical measurement protocols equivalent to those used in cavity optomechanics, including back-action evading (BAE) measurements, sideband cooling, and two-mode squeezing. Furthermore, these protocols enable experiments using dc-VHF electromagnetic modes as quantum sensors.

Kuenstner, Stephen E.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantum-enhanced sensing of displacements and electric fields with two-dimensional trapped-ion crystals

Fully controllable ultracold atomic systems are creating opportunities for quantum sensing, yet demonstrating a quantum advantage in useful applications by harnessing entanglement remains a challenging task. Here, we realize a many-body quantum-enhanced sensor to detect displacements and electric fields using a crystal of ~150 trapped ions. The center-of-mass vibrational mode of the crystal serves as a high- Q mechanical oscillator, and the collective electronic spin serves as the measurement device. By entangling the oscillator and collective spin and controlling the coherent dynamics via a many-body echo, a displacement is mapped into a spin rotation while avoiding quantum back-action and thermal noise. We achieve a sensitivity to displacements of 8.8 ± 0.4 decibels below the standard quantum limit and a sensitivity for measuring electric fields of 240 ± 10 nanovolts per meter in 1 second. Feasible improvements should enable the use of trapped ions in searches for dark matter.

Gilmore, Kevin A.↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Cost of (In-) Accurate Waste Characterization in the U.S. Nuclear Power Industry - 20066

Proper disposal of waste has never been a human priority. Our history is full of examples of throwing away things with minimal effort or thought to consequence. That is until disease or toxicity become apparent and we realize we need to change. Unfortunately, we almost never have all the information we need at the time we make decisions. In addition to the technical and scientific issues, profits and politics are also factors. Newton's third law also applies to politics and so for every policy (action) put in place, there will be (opposite reaction) forces in play to push back against it. These forces are seldom balanced and so the reaction to the discovery of harm is to over-correct and destroy the benefit to be had. This of course causes those who want the benefit, or profit from it, to work to undermine or repeal those measures put in place to eliminate the harm. The issue is exacerbated when the problem to be solved is highly technical and at the edge of our science so that the harm and benefit cannot be easily or accurately quantified. At these times, reason often goes out the window and our decision makers are influenced by either greed or fear as these emotions are much easier to stoke. Those of us in the middle, with the charge to 'do the right thing for the least cost', are therefore frequently constrained and forced into actions that are neither technically the right thing to do and not cost effective. The cost of radioactive waste disposal is based on the concentrations of various radioisotopes in the waste. Some of these isotopes are relatively easy to quantify and some are not. Most laboratory methods for quantification are limited in the amount of activity that can be present during the measurement process. Current nuclear plants were not designed with the idea that taking truly representative waste samples would be important. The limits used to define waste class and therefore cost are precisely defined but the methods for determining those concentrations are far less precise. Improving the accuracy of radioactivity concentrations in waste and having consistent and reasonable oversight can reduce waste costs through active management of the process. So what can we do about it? Science may provide an answer. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

From Count Rates to Quantifying Isotopic Activities – Field Analysis of Radiation Monitoring Data

The Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) provides a comprehensive bicoastal radiological and nuclear emergency response to United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. A major part of the support is to provide systematic radiological search for lost or stolen sources, Radiological search is a core competency of the NNSS with its origin dating back to nuclear weapons test era. Search operations from multiple platforms is the common thread among the various NNSS assets, which include Aerial Measuring System (AMS), Maritime Support Team (MST), National Capitol Response (NCR), National Search Team (NST) and Radiological Assistance Program (RAP). Information collected and analyzed during search operations add to the actionable intelligence for the law enforcement agencies and provide valuable guidance for the tactical resolution of a nuclear or radiological crisis. Search is an intelligence and situational awareness driven operation and most often called upon during a radiological emergency, however it can be brought into play to thwart a potential threat by providing monitoring and surveillance support. The Office of Nuclear Incident Response (NA-84) serves as the technical leader in responding to and resolving nuclear and radiological threats worldwide and integrates its efforts with other NNSA stakeholders (e.g., NNSA office of Defense Nuclear Non-proliferation NA-22). The response includes expertise in the areas of radiological search, render safe, and consequence management. This article will discuss the methodologies, tools, procedures, and techniques to extract maximum radiological characterization information (isotopic composition, activities for individual isotopes, threat assessment etc.) from field monitoring or Search operation data.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Solar cell contacts: quantifying the impact of interfacial layers on selectivity, recombination, charge transfer, and V oc

Interfacial layers (IFLs) are ubiquitous in solar cells, but their precise impact on carrier transfer rates and the relation of these rates to performance metrics and the concepts of selectivity and recombination is lacking. We report the use of a well-defined interdigitated back-contact (IBC) silicon solar cell to determine the precise role of such IFLs. We characterize the action of the common IFL spiro-OMeTAD by making it a third contact to the IBC cell. This architecture creates three solar cells within a single structure that, with numerical simulation, provide the exchange current densities (i.e., charge transfer rates) for electrons ( J 0n ) and holes ( J 0p ) and the quasi Fermi-level splitting in the absorber, which measures the balance of generation and recombination. Further, we describe the relation of V oc to contact recombination, the asymmetry in electron/hole collection rates at a single contact (contact selectivity), and the asymmetry in collection rates of the same carrier at separate contacts (carrier selectivity). Relative to bare gold, neat spiro-OMeTAD reduces J 0n and J 0p (their geometric mean ( J 0n J 0p ) 0.5 decreases by 10 4 ), decreasing contact recombination. Addition of the common dopant Li-TFSI and air increase J 0p / J 0n by 10 6 with little effect on ( J 0n J 0p ) 0.5 , increasing contact hole selectivity. The significant increase in V oc observed by introducing spiro-OMeTAD/Li-TFSI IFLs into the cells studied, however, is due to an increase in the carrier selectivity rather than the contact selectivity or recombination of the spiro-OMeTAD-modified contact. Operando measurements further show voltage-dependent changes in the J 0 s, demonstrating that spiro-OMeTAD contributes to hysteresis. Broader context : Solar cells operate by photogenerating excess charge carriers in an absorber material and, in competition with recombination, asymmetrically extracting them at so-called carrier-selective contacts, one that ideally collects only electrons and the other, only holes. Particularly in emerging photovoltaics such as perovskites, thin layers of organic semiconductors or related materials are introduced between the absorber and contact to improve power conversion efficiency. In terms of interfacial charge transfer, a prevailing view is that such interfacial layers improve performance by helping block the collection of the undesired carrier, considered a form of recombination. We use a novel platform to study the simultaneous impact of spiro-OMeTAD, a common interfacial layer, on the collection of electrons, the collection of holes, and on the recombination of electrons and holes. We quantitatively demonstrate that spiro-OMeTAD layers indeed passivate the contact toward recombination, but that larger improvements in the open-circuit voltage, a key cell metric, can come not only from this but also from increasing the asymmetry of the collection of electrons in the system. Further, operando measurements show transient changes in the properties of spiro-OMeTAD which suggest that it contributes to hysteresis phenomena commonly observed in perovskite and other solar cells.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

International Actions to Reduce Miscellaneous Electrical Loads Energy Consumption

Miscellaneous electric loads (MELs) research dates back over 30 years, with the earliest publications about MELs originating in the late 1980s. As the number and types of MELs have grown during the intervening decades, so has the body of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and regulations put in place to control what is now a significant energy end use in the residential and commercial sectors. In particular, these MEPS are designed to control off-mode, standby, and connected standby power consumption to prevent energy waste. Research on MELs focuses a great deal on analyzing the characteristics of MELs, approaches for measuring their consumption, and at a higher level what constitutes a MEL. Despite these advances, there have been few comparisons of different approaches to curtail MELs energy consumption across regulatory bodies of MELs—both between and within countries—to identify similarities, gaps, and opportunities for crafting common language and standards. This study provides an analysis of international MELs-related voluntary and mandatory MEPSs across 12 economies to address this gap. The analysis demonstrates that although economies may share the commitment to regulate the energy consumption of MELs, there still is no common language for framing MELs, nor is there a shared understanding for harmonizing MEPS for MELs.

Butzbaugh, Josh↗
DOE OSTI2022

International Actions to Reduce Miscellaneous Electrical Loads Energy Consumption

Miscellaneous electric loads (MELs) research dates back over thirty years, with the earliest publications on MELs originating in the late 1980s. As the number and types of MELs grew over the subsequent decades, so did the body of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and regulations put in place to control what is now an ever-growing source of energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors. In particular, these MEPS are designed to control off-mode, standby, and connected standby power consumption to prevent energy waste. Research on MELs focuses a great deal on analyzing the characteristics of MELs, approaches for measuring their consumption, and at a higher level what constitutes a MEL. Despite these advances, there has yet to be a comparison of different approaches across regulatory bodies of MELs – both between and within countries – to identify similarities, gaps, and opportunities for crafting common language and testing procedures. This study provides an international analysis of MELs-related voluntary and mandatory MEPS across 12 economies to address this gap. The analysis demonstrates that even while economies may participate in shared commitments to regulated MELs energy consumption, there remains no common language for framing MELs, nor is there a shared understanding of updating aging test procedures used globally for verifying MELs-related MEPS.

Miscellaneous Electric Loads, MELs, Appliance and ↗
DOE OSTI2021

AGGREGATE: dAta-driven modelinG preservinG contRollable dEr for outaGe mAnagemenT and rEsiliency (Final Report)

The AGGREGATE project team successfully developed and validated various modules for outage management. Brief summaries of each module are provided to showcase their strength for outage management and restoration for a distribution system with a high penetration of connected distribution energy resources (DERs). In recent years, inverter-based DERs have been widely deployed in distribution system. A most of behind-the-meter (BTM) solar power generation is not visible to the utility. The data-driven DER and load estimation modules are using machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to manage this issue, which provides an opportunity for distribution system operators (DSOs) to operate systems and make decisions in real-time for a distribution system with a high penetration of DERs deployed. Also, the estimated DER and true load can be further leveraged in network aggregation and cold-load pick up estimation for reducing the computing complexity and providing for fast restoration. After load demand and DER power generations have been estimated, the information will support topology and state estimation (SE). The topology estimation module demonstrated the viability of mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation to estimate the most likely operational radial topology and outage sections using power flow measurements, historical/estimated load and DERs data and smart meter ping measurements. Formulation includes continuous (power flow, load and DERs data) and binary measurements (smart meter ping measurements) in a single formulation. Errors in continuous data and binary data are modeled as normal distribution and Bernoulli distribution, respectively. In the future distribution grid, the power injection from controllable DERs will be essential for efficient and resilient grid operation. However, determining the optimal DER injections and restoration actions is dependent on knowledge of the system states. State estimation (SE), already the cornerstone of transmission energy management systems, will become commonplace in distribution management systems as more measurements become available from deployment of automated metering infrastructure (AMI). Observability analysis is the first step in SE, as it determines the sufficiency of the available measurements for accurately estimating the current system states. A new type of pseudo-measurement called a Correlational Measurement (CM) is introduced in this module, to enhance the observability of the system to enable more accurate SE. CMs encapsulate knowledge of correlation between demand patterns for similar classes of loads as well as injection patterns for same-technology renewable DERs. During grid contingency scenarios, DERs have been traditionally disconnected, without any fault ride-through capabilities. However, with new regulations and better technology, it is feasible for these resources to contribute to the grid’s restoration after an adverse event and hence enhance resilience. The controllability module proposes a two-step restoration scheme for the power system restoration process by leveraging additional degrees of freedom in power electronics interfaced DERs for mitigating voltage problems. In a resilience mode without the utility system, the distribution grid relies on DERs to serve critical load. In such a severe event with multiple faults on the distribution feeders, actuation of various protective devices (PDs) divides the distribution system into electrical islands. The undetected actuated PDs due to fault current contributions from DERs can delay the restoration process, thereby reducing the system resilience. The Advanced Outage Management (AOM) and the Advanced Feeder Restoration (AFR) modules developed in this project provide improved system resilience with multiple DERs. AOM identifies the faulted sections and actuated PDs in a distribution system with DERs by incorporating smart meter data. The most credible outage scenario including fault locations, PD actuations, and fault indicator (FI) failures is identified by a set of binary integer linear programming incorporating hypotheses. The AFR module serves to restore a distribution system with available energy resources taking into consideration the availability of utility sources and DERs. By partitioning the system into islands, critical load will be served with the available generation resources within islands based on the solution of a MILP. When the utility systems become available, the optimal path will be determined by a spanning tree search algorithm that reconnects these islands back to substations and restores the remaining load. The transmission and distribution (T&D) co-simulation module was used to validate the effect of a control action performed on the distribution side assets as it propagates to the transmission side. This ensures that the control action performed results in a feasible operating point on both the transmission and the distribution system. In addition to validation, the team used the T&D co-simulation module to demonstrate how distribution system assets can be used to mitigate issues on the transmission system. Specifically, the team demonstrated that appropriate switching operations on the distribution side can alleviate the line overload condition on the transmission side without causing new operational constraint violations.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Circular Economy for Photovoltaics in Service of Energy Transition

The challenge of energy transition is immediate and immense; current projections target 75 TW of photovoltaics (PV) capacity by 2050. While any transition to renewable energy technology is preferable to the current fossil-based system, it is ideal to improve the sustainability of PV to minimize negative environmental and social impacts. Circular economy (CE) has been proposed as a method to improve the sustainability of PV, especially for emerging materials like perovskites. CE is a set of actions, principles, and systems which aim to design out waste and keep products and materials in use, to reduce environmental impacts and enable sustainable development. At the most basic level, CE is "reduce, reuse, recycle", the R-actions, in ranked order. CE of a PV technology can be metricized in a variety of ways, such as the Material Circularity Indicator (Smith and Jones, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019) or recycling rates. Unfortunately, standard CE metrics have several shortcomings for measuring renewable energy technologies in the context of deployment for energy transition (Figge 2018, Saidani 2019): 1) Only measure mass flows; 2) De-prioritization of the use phase in favor of mass circularity when scoring; and 3) Tight focus on a single product scale The use phase and energy flows of PV are key to energy transition, and therefore need to be quantified. Additionally, correlating product-scale to system-scale is necessary for quantifying the environmental impacts of energy transition. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can address some of these concerns, but also focuses on a single product scale and has trouble capturing the dynamics of system-scale energy transition, such as the interaction of module lifetime with manufacturing demands for energy transition deployment schedules. Therefore, we developed an open-source Python-based system dynamics model to quantify the mass, energy and carbon impacts of CE R-actions for PV technologies in the energy transition; PV in the CE (PV ICE) (Ovaitt & Mirletz 2021). The tool captures supply chains from material extraction through end of life, incorporating 5 circular end of life pathways. PV ICE takes in any evolving bill of materials, module properties and deployment schedule to support researchers and decision makers with data-backed insights. In this work, we quantify and compare proposed CE sustainable PV module designs and lifecycle management strategies, spanning currently commercialized technologies, government and industry technology targets, and several low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) emerging PV technologies, including perovskites. Our analyses capture the projected evolutions of lifetime, efficiency and material circularity of these PV technologies, as well as their material supply chains. Our analyses emphasize the importance of examining a suite of metrics to identify priorities and tradeoffs, and inform design or lifecycle management decisions holistically. Previous analyses have demonstrated the central importance of PV module lifetime to support energy transition while minimizing impacts. High levels of material circularity (>90%) enable minimizing lifecycle wastes, can reduce virgin material demands if paired with improving efficiency, but demonstrate tradeoffs in energy return on investment. In the fervor of new material and technology development, it is important to remember that CE is not the end goal; decarbonization and energy transition are the end goal. CE should be used in service to improve the sustainability of PV, and R-actions evaluated for their usefulness and efficacy to this end.

carbon↗
DOE OSTI2020

The HRA/Solarium Project: Feedback Based on 20 Years of Experience in Treatment of Medium Level Waste - 20185

Since the 1980's the management of the historical site of Mol has been transferred to the National Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials (ONDRAF/NIRAS). Belgoprocess is entrusted by ONDRAF/NIRAS with the operational waste management and site remediation. One of the major challenges has been the characterization, treatment and conditioning of approximately 200 m{sup 3} of medium level waste. These waste packages were stored in poor conditions in storage vaults ('HRA') or concrete containers ('Solarium'). They have been produced in various research programs and reactor operations at the Belgian nuclear energy research centre SCK.CEN, isotope production, decontamination and dismantling operations from the 1960's up to the 1980's. Despite the limited volume, this historical waste consists of a great variation of waste characteristics and waste configurations. To tackle these liabilities, a new processing facility was built in the 1990's to allow safe transfers, handling, characterization and treatment of these packages. Also some auxiliary facilities have been built to deal with the by-products, like emptied concrete containers. The engineering of the installation, safety procedures and (characterization) methodology that has been developed generically have been proved to be successful. Nevertheless, the specific nature of some items made it necessary to organize a step-by-step treatment in distinct campaigns in which some relevant extra (safety) measures had to be taken into account. This dynamic approach made it possible to process a great variety of waste types in order to to ensure that this legacy is no longer left for subsequent generations. After about 20 years of operations, there has been a great build-up of experience and feed-back concerning the waste management of these specific waste streams. Some cases will be highlighted to specify the approach followed for treatment of e.g.: - Na/NaK containing equipment; - spent radioactive sources; - fuel element residues; - medium level waste originating from activation experiments; - radium bearing medium level waste originating from Ac-227 production research. (authors)

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Personal Resiliency Index

A plethora of information exists in literature focusing on different aspects of personal resilience. There are a number of questionnaires available to measure resilience in different aspects of an individual’s life, such as mental health. However, there is a lack of comprehensive information on the subject of personal resilience to natural and man-made disasters. A Personal Resiliency Index identifying four key areas of resilience related to natural and man-made disasters will help fill this gap by providing individuals an idea of where the stand comparatively to their peers on this topics. As an increasing amount of man-made disasters, natural disasters and pandemics occur, we realize that preparation is key.?“Crisis can be experienced at individual, group and mass levels and at local, regional, national or supra-national levels.” 1? Dr. Ron Fisher, the principal investigator has over 20 years’ critical infrastructure protection including developing vulnerability assessment methodology, risk and resiliency analyses and infrastructure interdependencies. Dr. Fisher and his team will research and develop a voluntary survey which evaluates the user’s personal resilience level to natural and man-made disasters. The research team is focusing on 4 main categories:? financial resilience, cyber security, physical and mental health, and emergency preparedness.?The web based application will?provide a resilience score for each of the categories and also a comprehensive personal resiliency score based on the voluntary survey. The application will also provide feedback to the user on actions to take to become more resilient to natural and man-made disasters. Through this effort, we will also be able to identify the areas where participants are excelling as well as opportunities for improvement in terms of resilience. This information will provide insight into areas of further investigation and identify potential areas of support needed for the general public to adopt strategies to become more resilient. 1 Lynott, William. “Surviving a Natural (or Man-Made) Disaster: How to Prepare for and Bounce Back? from a Crisis in Your Business | 2018-02-01 | NOLN.” Home Page, NOLN, 1 Feb. 2018, https://www.noln.net/articles/2683-surviving-a-natural-or-man-made-disaster-how-to-prepare-for-and-bounce-back-from-a-crisis-in-your-business.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Autonomous Inversion of In Situ Deformation Measurement Data for Injection-Induced Stress Change

Geologic carbon storage (GCS) is likely to play a key part of the global effort to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions and perhaps even reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations through carbon negative operations. A critical part of effort to commercialize and widely deploy this technology is developing the capability to rapidly assimilate real-time monitoring data into a form that will enable site operators to make decisions to manage the safe and efficient operations. Two of the risks associate with GCS are the risk of inducing fractures in the sealing formations that can create leakage pathways and the risk of inducing earthquakes of sufficient magnitude to cause public concern, property damage, or safety risks. To properly manage these risks the site operator needs to know the initial state of stress, the change in stress induced by injection, and the relationship between operational parameters such as injection rate and pressure and the change in stress. Current methods of estimating the change in stress require choosing the type of constitutive model and the model parameters based on core, log, and geophysical data during the characterization phase, with little feedback from operational observations to validate or refine these choices. These characterization methods interrogate the geologic formations using length scales, loading rates or magnitudes that are quite different from those encountered by the actual storage system. It is shown that errors in the assumed constitutive response, even when informed by laboratory tests on core samples, are likely to be common, large, and underestimate the magnitude of stress change caused by injection. Recent advances in borehole-based strain instruments and borehole and surface-based tilt and displacement instruments have now enabled monitoring of the deformation of the storage system throughout its operational lifespan. This data can enable validation and refinement of the knowledge of the geomechanical properties and state of the system, but brings with it a challenge to transform the raw data into actionable knowledge. We demonstrate a method that uses automatic differentiation and a finite-element based geomechanical model perform a gradient-based deterministic inversion of geomechanical monitoring data. This approach allows autonomous integration of the instrument data without the need for time consuming manual interpretation and selection of updated model parameters. Furthermore, only isotropic linear elasticity is considered in this paper, the approach presented is very flexible as to what type of geomechanical constitutive response can be used. The approach is easily adaptable to nonlinear physics-based constitutive models to account for common rock behaviors such as creep and plasticity. The approach also enables training of machine learning-based constitutive models by allowing back propagation of errors through the finite element calculations. This enables strongly enforcing known physics, such as conservation of momentum and continuity, while allowing data-driven models to learn the truly unknown physics such as the constitutive or petrophysical responses.

Burghardt, Jeffrey A.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Vitrification of Hanford Tank Wastes for Condensate Recycle and Feed Composition Changeover Testing

During the vitrification of Hanford Site nuclear waste at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), which is a part of the safe and efficient retrieval, treatment, and disposal mission of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of River Protection, the offgas condensate generated from the waste-to-glass conversion is currently planned to be concentrated by evaporation in the Effluent Management Facility (EMF). This concentrated condensate can then be recycled back to the incoming waste and vitrified. To test the recycle process, an apparatus was designed and built to mimic the EMF evaporator and was then used to concentrate a volume of condensate produced during the vitrification of a sample of Hanford tank 241-AP-107 (referred to herein as AP-107) waste in a continuous laboratory-scale melter (CLSM). The concentrated condensate was added to an additional sample of AP-107 waste, to mimic one round of the recycle process, and the combined solution was vitrified, producing a second round of recycle condensate. In the current study, the EMF test apparatus was used to concentrate the second-round recycle condensate under evaporation conditions (at 45 °C and 1.4 psia) designed to emulate EMF operation. The condensate was successfully concentrated by a factor of ~10 while retaining over 95 % of the technetium-99 ( 99 Tc), Cs, and I inventories in the concentrate. Another portion of AP-107 waste was retrieved by Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS) and transferred to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where it was pretreated and then combined with the second-round recycle AP-107 condensate concentrate and glass-forming chemicals (GFCs) to form the two-time recycle AP-107 melter feed, approximating a second round to the recycling action to be performed at the WTP. A portion of AP-105 waste was also retrieved by WRPS and provided to PNNL for pretreatment and combining with GFCs to form AP-105 melter feed. The two-time recycle AP-107 and AP-105 melter feeds were processed consecutively in the CLSM. The CLSM run proceeded for 13.63 hours, producing 9.70 kg of glass for an average glass production rate of 1464 kg m 2 d -1 during the two-time recycle AP-107 feed charging and 1568 kg m 2 d -1 during the AP-105 feed charging. The rate during AP-107 charging was essentially equivalent to the rate when processing no-recycle AP-107 feed and lower than that achieved when processing one-time recycle AP-107 feed. However, all rates were within the potential range of variability when processing melter feeds with similar composition in the CLSM. Likewise, the rate during AP-105 charging was higher than the previous rate processing AP-105, but within the potential CLSM range. The cold-cap characteristics changed from the typically thin AP-107 cold cap to a foamy-edged cold cap as previously seen with AP-105 shortly after transitioning to the AP-105 melter feed. The glass produced during the CLSM run was within 10 % of its target composition for the primary glass components. The CaO and Li 2 O targets varied by more than 1 wt% between the two-time recycle AP-107 and AP-105 glass targets and it took about 2 turnovers of the CLSM glass inventory to reach a relative chemical steady state in the glass for CaO and Li 2 O after the melter feed inputs were switched. The 99 Tc and total cesium content in the melter feeds were maintained at concentrations expected to be experienced at the WTP. During the CLSM run, while processing the two-time recycle AP-107 melter feed at a relative chemical steady state, the 99 Tc/Cs ratio was 10, and 34% of 99 Tc and 74% of Cs were retained in the glass. These values were higher than those measured in the CLSM run with one-time recycle AP-107 melter feed. After the transition to processing the AP-105 melter feed, when the production reached a relative chemical steady state, the 99 Tc/Cs ratio was 77 while 44% of 99 Tc was retained in the glass. The C's retention during this time frame reached 200% due to the excess C's in the glass after the target content decreased to 15% of its initial level in the two-time recycle AP-107 melter feed to the lower target in the Ap-105 melter feed. While iodine was below inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analytical reporting limits in the melter feed and glass samples, it was detected in quantities above the analytical reporting limits in the liquid and filter samples collected from the CLSM offgas treatment system. The behavior of iodine in the CLSM offgas treatment system followed a similar pattern to those of 99 Tc and Cs.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗