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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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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Preliminary Cryogenic Cold Test Results of the First 9-Cell LSF Shape Cavity

Following successful prototyping and testing of single- & 5-cell LSF shape cavities *, **, the first 9-cell LSF shape cavity LSF9-1 was successfully constructed using an innovative process at JLab with the in-house facilities. The cavity was then shipped to KEK for post-fabrication mechanical adjustment and ILC TDR style treatment and surface processing. Cold testing was carried out at the JLab VTA facility, instrumented with a suite of Kyoto instruments. Favorable values for the bath pressure detuning sensitivity and Lorentz force detuning coefficient were experimentally measured, validating the design improvement in cell stiffeners. Pass-band measurements indicate 4 out of 9 cells reaching gradient capability of > 45 MV/m, including 2 cells reaching 51 MV/m. Cornell OST detectors identified the cell and location responsible for the current hard quench limit. Multipacting-like barriers observed in end cells are investigated both analytically and numerically. The cavity was shipped to FNAL and received a light EP at the joint ANL/FNAL facility for further cold testing at Jlab. Two new 9-cell LSF cavities are being constructed including one made of large-grain niobium material.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fluidization of Group A Glass Particles: Experiments and Preliminary Validation

This work is aimed at providing reliable high-quality data from fluidization experiments. Geldart Group A glass beads are used as bed material. The fluidizing medium is air at atmospheric pressure which enters the system at 40% relative humidity. The air inlet velocity is varied over a broad range from 2 U mf to 26 U mf , where the minimum fluidization velocity, U mf , is 0.608 cm/s. There is not a significant change in the mean values of differential pressure; however, there are noticeable trends in their standard deviation values. Preliminary validation studies are performed using the open-source software Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges (MFiX) developed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The results from Eulerian-Eulerian (MFiX-TFM, two-fluid model) and Eulerian-Lagrangian (MFiX-PIC, particle-in-cell) formulations are compared. The work presented in this report highlights the applicability of MFiX-PIC for large-scale applications, and reveals that PIC simulation offers a suitable alternative to TFM simulation when effects due to multiple components or polydispersity are significant. PIC modeling provides a readily extendible framework for such systems. However, PIC models do rely on an empirical closure for inter-particle stress. Some solution discrepancies were evident in MFiX-PIC predictions which require further analysis. As such, the study underlines the need for a systematic approach to quantify the sources of numerical uncertainty within the PIC model. However, even with known empiricism, MFiX-PIC has demonstrated considerable potential in analyzing gas-solid systems. The results obtained are encouraging and warrant further investigation to improve the predictive capability of MFiX-PIC.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Purification, Crystallization, and Preliminary Crystallographic Studies of Human As(III) S-Adenosylmethionine Methyltransferase (hAS3MT)

Exposure to environmental arsenic is associated with serious of health issues such as cancer, diabetes and developmental delays in infants and children. In human liver, As(III) S-adenosylmethionine methyl transferase (hAS3MT) (EC 2.1.1.137) was proposed to be an detoxification process by methylation of inorganic arsenite into pentavalent methyl MAs(V) and dimethyl arsenite DMAs(V). More recently the first product was shown to be highly toxic and potentially carcinogenic trivalent methylarsenite (MAs(III)). Our studies are designed to elucidate the mechanism of AS3MT and its contribution to arsenic-related diseases. Here, in this paper, we report the first crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of the human AS3MT enzyme. The crystals belong to the monoclinic P12 1 1 space group with unit cell parameters of a = 135.03 Å, b = 260.44 Å, c = 279.03 Å, α = 90.00°, β = 93.36°, γ = 90.00°.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Net Zero World Initiative’s Preliminary Analysis of Decarbonization Pathways for Five Countries

Under the Net Zero World Initiative, the United States is mobilizing the capabilities of nine U.S. government agencies, led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), to partner with philanthropies and multiple countries to cocreate and implement tailored technical and investment pathways to accelerate the decarbonization of global energy systems. In addition, 10 of the DOE national laboratories have built a consortium housed in the Net Zero World Action Center to implement this vision by providing the deep analysis and modeling required to carry out the vision. As a whole-of-government program, the Net Zero World Initiative partners with countries committed to raising their climate ambitions by creating and implementing highly tailored, actionable technical and investment strategies that put a net-zero world within reach. The initiative enables country partners to harness the convening power and technical expertise of U.S. agencies and laboratories, international industry, and technical institutions while providing the United States an opportunity to learn from and deepen U.S. technical cooperation with key countries. This report is the first of a series, with future Phase II work being informed by ongoing consultations with the partner countries to address country pathway analysis priorities. This future work will likely include evaluating detailed technological, policy, and investment options for key sectors and for energy systems holistically. This analysis may examine in greater detail the economic and social benefits of net-zero energy transitions, including quality jobs and health outcomes, the impacts of price and supply volatility on energy investments and decisions, the risk of stranded assets, and related issues.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Preliminary Design of Reactor Cavity Cooling System for a Horizontal Compact HTGR

The Horizontal Compact High Temperature Gas Reactor (HC-HTGR) is being designed by a multi-disciplinary team of nuclear, mechanical, and structural engineers under the support of a DOE-NE Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program’s Advanced Reactor Concepts-20 (ARC-20) award. The objective of this ARC-20 project is to deliver a conceptual design for the proposed MIGHTR in 3 years and support its commercialization as a safe and low-cost HTGR. Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) is responsible for the design and analysis of the reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) as a safety system for passive decay heat removal of the reactor concept. This report documents the preliminary design study of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR. It includes the establishment of the design requirements, a high-level design study by initial scoping calculations, and preliminary performance calculations of the HC-HTGR RCCS design. Design requirements for the HC-HTGR RCCS have been established to guide preliminary design activities and scoping performance calculations. Initial scoping calculations including estimation of the water inventory, estimation of HVAC thermal capability, and a parametric study on loop dimensions by standalone RCCS analysis. Based on scoping calculation results, a set of baseline dimensions of the HC-HTGR RCCS was derived. A water panel modeling approach was investigated to explore various potential design options for the water panel under consideration for the HC-HTGR RCCS using RELAP5-3D. A test case study was performed to assess the prediction capability of two modeling approaches. The results were compared with CFD simulations conducted in constant RPV temperature and heat flux boundary conditions. It confirms the capability of the RELAP5-3D modeling approach to include all important heat transfer mechanisms expected in the HC-HTGR RCCS operation conditions. Then, a reference RELAP5-3D model for the 1/8 th of a compartment of the preliminary design of the HC-HTGR RCCS was developed. A preliminary performance analysis was conducted to evaluate single-phase natural circulation performance with different top tank temperature values and panel conduction performance in various operation conditions. From single-phase natural circulation performance analysis, the system operation mode was investigated in normal operating and limiting design conditions. It showed operation mode in a subcooled state with a proper top tank water cooling system. Parasitic heat loss by both internal air flow and RCCS was estimated, showing it satisfies maintaining below target maximum heat loss of the HC-HTGR RCCS. From the panel conduction performance analysis, two candidate materials for the riser tube such as carbon steel and stainless steel were compared in the thermal performance of HC-HTGR RCCS. From a single water panel test compared with CFD simulation results, it was confirmed that the current capability of the RELAP5-3D modeling approach for the water panel predicts the thermal conduction of two different materials of the water panel. Then, system-level thermal performance analysis was performed for 1/8 th of the compartment of the preliminary HC-HTGR RCCS design. It was first observed that the current preliminary HC-HTGR RCCS design had minimal impact on the overall thermal performance of the water panel by changing pipe material from carbon steel to stainless steel. From Argonne’s effort on the ongoing water-based NSTF testing program, several considerations other than the thermal performance point of view were addressed to be considered in selecting pipe materials.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Preliminary Analysis of Advanced Reactors Storage, Transportation, and Disposal

Based on the higher interest in Advanced Reactor (AR) deployment (e.g., ARDP[1]) for potential new fuel cycles, the Spent Fuel & Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) Program has begun to evaluate the possible implications of long-term management and final disposition of potential Advance Reactor spent nuclear fuels (SNF) that would be generated in potential advanced reactors. Safely managing and dispositioning the potential future AR SNF, and any other associated radioactive wastes, is the primary focus of this initial preliminary assessment of those. This paper summarizes the efforts by the Spent Fuel & Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) in evaluating characteristics and packaging options for advanced reactor spent nuclear fuel forms. The fuel forms were categorized into three types: (1) tristructural isotropic (TRISO), (2) metallic, and (3) fuel salt. This work emphasized TRISO and metallic SNF and waste streams because of the near-term anticipated operation of the Xe-100 and the Natrium reactors as advanced-reactor demonstrations. Preliminary information for the spent-fuel salts discharged from molten-salt reactors (MSRs) is also examined to provide a baseline for future efforts. All calculations and assumptions used publicly available information. The following characteristics are calculated or estimated for use in the preliminary assessments: SNF volume and mass, radiation/activity levels through time, thermal conditions through time, potential radionuclide source terms, chemical interactions and evolutions, disposal inventories, and waste-form lifetime. Using those characteristics, calculations to determine the applicability of existing canister designs were performed. These evaluations included geometric (e.g., dimension, volume) and mass/weight considerations, known operational approaches and loading procedures, physical and chemical considerations/conditions for storage environments, as-loaded radiation, thermal, and criticality analyses to identify constraints for storage, transportation, and disposal. The paper also includes a literature review and analysis on the storage, transportation, and disposal evaluations and experiences from reactors with similar fuel forms. Advanced-reactor vendors cite past experiences with Fort St. Vrain for TRISO and the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) for metallics that have major influences on fuel design. Finally, the paper includes preliminary concepts of operation for advanced-reactor SNF. This encompasses storage, transportation, potential treatment, and disposal activities from both a per-canister and systems-integration perspective.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Margin to onset of nucleate boiling and flow instability studies for preliminary MITR design-demonstration element thermal-hydraulics

This study covers the onset of flow instability (OFI) preliminary results obtained from leveraging correlations, in addition to the preliminary thermal hydraulics results such as pressure, flow velocity, temperature, and oxide layer over the design demonstration experiment (DDE) for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor (MITR). Current computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models in fluid structure interaction (FSI) have added the capability of assessing margins to onset of nucleate boiling (ONB). This study initiates the capability to model the margin to OFI and ONB presented for the MITR. Such study is supportive of the United States High Performance Research Reactor (USHPRR) program. Previous studies provided preliminary thermal-hydraulic and mechanical analyses of the hydrodynamic effects in the MITR DDE under conservative approximations for plate power distribution. In conclusion, this study focuses on providing insights into the OFI future research direction optimizing the transport of thermal energy, mass-flow rates, flow-channel geometries, and boundary conditions.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Rock Valley Accelerated Weight Drop Preliminary P-wave Tomographic Model

An active source experiment using an accelerated weight drop was conducted in Rock Valley, Nevada National Security Site, during the spring of 2021 in order to characterize the shallow seismic structure of the region. P-wave first arrival travel times picked from this experiment were used to construct a preliminary 3-D compressional wave speed model over an area that is roughly 4 km wide east-west and 8 km north-south to a depth of about 500-600 m below the surface, but with primary data concentration along the transects of the experimental lines. The preliminary model shows good correlation with basic geology and surface features, but geological interpretation is not the focus of this report. We describe the methods used in the tomographic inversion of the data and show results from this preliminary P-wave model.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Preliminary Reversible Solid Oxide System Specification

This report presents the preliminary documentation of a 10 MWe DC reversible solid oxide cell (rSOC) system designed to use both electrical and thermal energy from a nuclear power plant (NPP). The system is designed to consume 10 MWe DC in electrolysis mode while producing hydrogen from demineralized feedwater. In fuel cell mode, the same stacks produce 2.37 MWe DC of electricity by reacting hydrogen and oxygen, while generating water as a byproduct which is recycled to be used later in the electrolysis mode. The system detailed in this specification is a high-temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) system when operated in the electrolysis mode. HTSE systems have the benefit of producing hydrogen at a higher efficiency than conventional low-temperature electrolysis (LTE) systems. In this report it is assumed that some of the heat required for HTSE operation comes from an NPP. Heat extraction from an NPP for use in electrolysis mode of the rSOC system allows preheating and vaporization of feedwater before recuperators and trim heaters raise the feed temperature to the approximately 800 °C before entering the solid oxide stacks. The purpose of an rSOC system in a utility company setting is to employ energy arbitrage with a dispatchable demand load which can consume excess electricity generation during times of low grid demand / high generation and can produce electricity for the grid during times of high grid demand / low generation. There is a wide range of energy storage technologies that could be used for utility-scale energy arbitrage (utility-scale battery storage is considered the baseline technology), the object of this work is not to compare and contrast rSOC technology with any of these other technologies, but only to present this preliminary design for consideration and for use in future conceptual or front end engineering design (FEED) work. This document is not meant to be a final specification or definitive description of the rSOC system, but it is meant to showcase preliminary process modeling results, provide boundary conditions and interface requirements such as input feed and utility stream flowrates, temperatures, and pressures as well as thermal and electrical energy requirements, and output conditions in both electrolysis mode and fuel cell mode. These results are intended to inform the future development of a conceptual demonstration-scale study to assess the technical and economic feasibility of a future demonstration of an rSOC integrated project at an NPP.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2023

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor LEU Fuel Element Flow Test Preliminary Design

As part of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) mission to minimize the civilian use of weapon-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuels, the NNSA Office of Material Management and Minimization Conversion Program is collaborating with six U.S. High Performance Research Reactors (USHPRR), including one critical facility, to convert from the use of HEU to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. The conversion objectives for the USHPRR are to develop LEU fuel element designs that will ensure safe reactor operations and maintain the existing experimental facilities performance. The work is being conducted through many interrelated activities that are being completed by stakeholders across organizations. Within the Reactor Conversion (RC) Pillar of the USHPRR Project, four of the USHPRR, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor (MITR-II, also referred to as MITR), have progressed through preliminary fuel element design using the proposed monolithic alloy of uranium- 10 wt% molybdenum (U-10Mo). Preliminary fuel element design and safety analyses have been completed for MITR. This work has relied on preliminary data for properties, performance, and fabrication tolerances for the fuel systems that have been produced by the Fuel Qualification (FQ), Fuel Fabrication (FF), and RC Pillars of the USHPRR Project.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Preliminary Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Sampling Plan for Pantex Plant

Leidos prepared this Preliminary Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Sampling Plan for the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) Pantex Plant Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) Pantex, the operations and maintenance (O&M) contractor of Pantex Plant commissioned the Preliminary PFAS Sampling Plan to evaluate the potential risks at the facility and collect preliminary groundwater data at areas within the Plant with the highest potential for PFAS. This plan presents findings from research conducted to assess past and current use of materials containing PFAS and identify areas where these materials were potentially stored, handled, used, or released at Pantex Plant. Pantex Plant is located in Carson County in the Texas Panhandle (Figure 1-1).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Preliminary Workforce Development and Environmental and Co-use Management Plans for a Floating Offshore Wind Platform - CRADA 609 (Final Report)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) provided technical assistance to Glosten, Inc. and its affiliate, PelaStar, LLC to advance the development of their floating offshore wind (FOSW) platform. PNNL provided guidance and assessment in two areas that are important to address in the development of FOSW platforms: (1) workforce development and (2) environmental impacts and ocean co-use considerations. This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) through Phase 2 of the FLoating Offshore Wind ReadINess (FLOWIN) Prize. It should be noted that the Plans presented in this report are specific to the PelaStar tension-leg platform (TLP) and may not be applicable to all FOSW platforms. Workforce development and environmental/co-use impacts are highly dependent on the geographical region in which activities take place. At the request of PelaStar, PNNL focused on two regions where development may take place: the Gulf of Maine and Northern California. PNNL generated a preliminary Workforce Development Plan for PelaStar, which includes estimated job numbers and skillsets required to establish a workforce to manufacture, install, and operate their platform as part of FOSW projects. The Plan offers methods to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion practices when developing a new workforce and includes colleges and training centers for potential recruitment. Both positive and negative impacts to communities are evaluated, with potential mitigation strategies for reducing negative impacts. The structure of Community Benefit Agreements and Project Labor Agreements are discussed, noting the limitations of the role of a platform manufacturer versus the offshore wind developer. PNNL also drafted a preliminary Environmental and Co-Use Management Plan that serves as a guide to preparing an environmental assessment related to the installation and operation of PelaStar’s unique TLP design, including its potential ecological, socioeconomic, and emissions impacts. The Plan summarizes information on relevant regulatory requirements, potential impact producing factors, monitoring and mitigation measures, and physical and biological resources in the Gulf of Maine and Northern California. One of the primary perceived benefits of the PelaStar TLP is its reduced footprint due to its tensioned tendons versus catenary or taut moorings, but more research must be done as there are no studies on PelaStar’s TLP system to-date. The section also highlights ocean co-use considerations for PelaStar’s TLP system, specifically for fisheries, including existing perspectives, methods, examples, and limitations. The PNNL team established through this preliminary work and review of available literature and resources that there is not yet much research or planning around FOSW. With FOSW being a new industry, many of the findings and planning are adapted from fixed bottom offshore wind, which itself is only just taking off in the United States. More research is needed to establish best practices for workforce development and to assess environmental and ocean co-use impacts and mitigation approaches.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Preliminary Design Process for Networked Microgrids

Changes in economic, technology, and environmental policies are resulting in a re-evaluation of the dependence on large central generation facilities and their associated transmission networks. Emerging concepts of smart communities/cities are examining the potential to leverage cleaner sources of generation, and the potential to integrate electricity generation with other municipal functions. When grid-connected, these generation assets can supplement the existing interconnections with the bulk transmission system, and in the event of an extreme event, they can provide power via networks of microgrids. While the design process for a single stand-alone microgrid is relatively well understood, the process of designing the infrastructure for networked microgrid operations has not been well studied. Because of the wide range of potential operational goals for microgrids, it is typical to follow the engineering process of developing an initial conceptual design, a preliminary design, a detailed design, and then a final as-built design. The conceptual design is typically completed without detailed engineering analysis, and the preliminary design is the first stage that requires it. This paper presents a process for developing the preliminary design for networked microgrids, which can then be used as a basis for the final as-built design.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Preliminary Analysis of Advanced Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage, Transportation, and Disposal

Due to increased interest in advanced reactor deployment and their associated potential new fuel cycles, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) program has begun to evaluate the possible implications of long term management and final disposition of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) generated. Safely managing and dispositioning this SNF, along with any other associated radioactive waste, is the primary focus of this initial preliminary assessment. This paper summarizes efforts to evaluate the characteristics and packaging options for three types of advanced reactor SNF forms: (1) tristructural isotropic (TRISO), (2) metallic, and (3) irradiated fuel salt presented in the report titled “Storage, Transportation, and Disposal of Advanced Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Waste”. TRISO and metallic SNF and their associated waste streams were emphasized because of the near-term anticipated demonstrations of X-energy’s Xe-100 and TerraPower and GE Hitachi’s Natrium advanced reactors. Preliminary information on spent fuel salts discharged from molten-salt reactors (MSRs) was also examined to provide a baseline for future efforts. All calculations and assumptions were based on publicly available information. This paper identifies several different reactors that produce either TRISO or metallic SNF as well as a few of the reactor and fuel characteristics used for the assessments. Based on these characteristics, calculations were performed to determine the applicability of packaging SNF into existing canister designs. The evaluations included geometric (e.g., dimension, volume) and mass/weight considerations, known operational approaches and loading procedures, physical and chemical considerations/conditions for storage environments, and as-loaded radiation, thermal, and criticality analyses to identify constraints on storage, transportation, and disposal. Gaps in publicly available data pertaining to reactor operation and/or fuel composition provide increased uncertainty in some evaluations. Additionally, uncertainty in packaging and SNF management operations provide additional uncertainty. However, preliminary conclusions can still be assessed through this work and are presented in this paper.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Preliminary Design of Critical Experiments Involving Commercially Available B 4 C Neutron Absorber Plates with Low-Enriched UO 2 Fuel

The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) is an initiative to provide high-quality benchmark data in a standardized format for criticality safety analysts to use to validate calculational tools and nuclear data. In the last released 2022 version, the ICSBEP handbook contains over 5,000 critical experiment descriptions, results, and associated models. This paper describes the critical configurations proposed and calculations performed as part of the conceptual design phase of Integral Experiment Request (IER) 554 (IER-554). The goal of IER-554 is to add to the benchmark experiments available to the criticality safety community by designing critical experiments that can analyze how adding commercially available Boralcan plates to an assembly of low-enriched UO2 fuel rods affects the effective neutron multiplication factor (k eff ). Boralcan, a neutron absorber product developed by Rio Tinto, is made of B4C in an Al 1100 matrix and is commonly used for criticality suppression in fuel storage pools. In the current version of the ICSBEP handbook, only a few dated critical experiments involve B4C materials, and none involve Boralcan in a thin plate shape. The experiments designed as part of IER-554 are intended to be performed at the Sandia Pulsed Reactor Facility/Critical Experiments (SPRF/CX) apparatus at Sandia National Laboratories. SPRF/CX is a well-characterized assembly considered trustworthy by the benchmarking community because of the numerous high-quality evaluations with very low experimental uncertainties included in the ICSBEP handbook. Figure 1 illustrates the assembly for a particular configuration from LCT-078, one of the published benchmarks in the ICSBEP handbook. The experiments will be moderated and reflected by light water at ambient atmospheric pressure. Before the plates are inserted in the critical assembly, they will be characterized with x-ray computed tomography (XCT) to identify the sizes and distribution of the B 4 C powder particles inside the plates. The preliminary design calculations were performed with SCALE 6.3.0 using the KENO V.a sequence for the criticality calculations, the CE-TSUNAMI-3D sequence for the sensitivity and uncertainty studies, and the ENDF/B-VII.1 Continuous Energy cross section library. All the calculation results presented have 10 pcm statistical uncertainties. A set of critical experiments with Boralcan plates could increase the confidence of the criticality safety community in its modeling methods when using this type of neutron absorber material. Experiments would also help validate k eff calculations, and the industry could use these validations to change the B loading credit limits from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission standard review plan for dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel. This paper summarizes only part of the analysis documented in the preliminary design report.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Tank 14H Preliminary Cease Waste Removal Sample Analyses

Savannah River Mission Completion Waste Removal and Tank Closure requested that Savannah River National Laboratory perform characterization analyses of Tank 14H in support of closure activities, specifically preliminary cease waste removal. This report provides important characterization of the prepared filtrate and air-dried solids in the January 2026 Tank 14H sample, HTF-14-26-1,2,3,4,5,6, for I-129, Tc-99, Cs-137, and Sr-90. The results reported here were utilized by SRMC to declare preliminary cease waste removal for Tank 14H.

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

Bio-inspired bistable piezoelectric energy harvester for powering animal telemetry tags: Conceptual design and preliminary experimental validation

Here, this paper presents the conceptual design, preliminary experimental validation, and performance evaluation of a novel bio-inspired bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester for self-powered animal telemetry tags. The overall conceptual design, which includes a bio-inspired attachment and a bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester, is introduced firstly with a specific application example of marine fish tracking. The self-powered telemetry tag can be externally deployed on fish (dorsal fin) to monitor fish habitats, population, and underwater environment. Inspired by the Venus flytrap's rapid shape transition, a bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester is developed to scavenge energy from fish maneuvering and the surrounding fluid flow for a sustainable power supply. The bistability of the harvester is characterized by the measured force-displacement curve and double potential wells. A bluff body is integrated to the free end of the bistable piezoelectric energy harvester to enhance the structure-fluid interaction for the large-amplitude snap-through vibrations and higher voltage output. Controlled laboratory experiments are conducted in a water tank on the bio-inspired bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester using a servo motor system to simulate fish swing motion at various conditions to evaluate the power generation performance. The preliminary underwater experimental results demonstrated that the proposed bio-inspired bi-stable piezoelectric energy harvester could effectively convert fish swing motions into electricity. The device collected 17.25 mJ of energy over 130 s under a peak-to-peak swing angle of 30° at 1.5 Hz in the capacitor charging experiments.

Animal tracking↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Structural Design Approach Tailored for the Rapid Preliminary Design of Microreactor Components

High-temperature microreactors can play a role in developing reliable, portable energy sources for off-grid remote locations, microgrid concepts, and industrial process heat. Portability and passive safety criteria tend to skew microreactor structural component designs toward complex geometries, high thermal stresses, and design bases with large numbers of startup/shutdown cycles. Current design rules, as typified by Section III of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code, are less than optimal for these conditions, particularly for preliminary component designs where developers need to rapidly consider a large number of potential component configurations. This paper presents a design method targeted toward rapid, efficient evaluation of preliminary component designs using modern finite element analysis. The new method retains key connections with the ASME Code rules and design data while streamlining the design approach. This paper presents the design method, several verification examples illustrating the similarities and differences between the new method and the current ASME rules, and the application of the new approach to the evaluation of a test article mimicking key features of a heat pipe–cooled microreactor.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗