Award Data

The prospect of nuclear power produced with advanced molten salt-cooled reactor (MSR) designs has garnered the attention of the Department of Energy in conjunction with the private sector. Modern designs describe a chemically stable salt such as FLiNaK with a melting point below 500°C, heated by the nuclear reaction to a temperature near 700°C. Continuous operation of MSR heat-exchange loops req ...

The SolarSurveillance project addresses security and reliability issues of string inverters in solar photovoltaic systems. Existing intrusion detection systems have limitations, hindering their effectiveness in detecting potential cyber threats and system failures. The project aims to develop an effective and adaptive intrusion detection system for string inverters, contributing to the development ...

C56-10d-273616To meet the need for more sustainable manufacturing supply chains with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and to remove reliance on foreign supply chains, policymakers and researchers have begun exploring the possibilities of biomanufacturing commodity chemicals and materials. Acrylates are a primary monomeric component in paints, coatings, plastics, and super-absorbent polymer applica ...

Subsurface resources present a tremendous opportunity not only for extraction of oil and gas, but also geothermal resources as well as a reservoir for sequestration of carbon and other wastes. When last studied, experts concluded that as much as 200,000 exojoules of untapped energy is available in enhanced geothermal system (EGS) resources: 2,000 times the annual consumption of primary energy cons ...

Under new federal incentives, sales of small wind turbines for farms and rural homes are increasing exponentially, but the current methods of blade production do not scale well and are limiting manufacturing growth. The current manufacturing method involves hours of hand work and a total manufacturing cycle of several days. Faster and less expensive methods of producing small wind turbines blades ...

High-quality, defect free, and consistent thickness Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) films are required to ensure maximum efficiency and longevity over the life of hydrogen fuel cells or electrolyzers utilizing this technology. The current technologies of PEM film Quality Assurance (QA) and defect detection rely on human inspection, which can be subjective and labor intensive, or measurement technol ...

C56-03a-273587For national security and non-proliferation missions, there is a need for the development of radiation detectors that simultaneously exhibit good energy resolution, high efficiency, high sensitivity, and good uniformity over an area > 15 cm2 without a need for deep cooling. The development of new materials is seen as a leading option for fulfilling this need. In work by other groups, ...

C53-20b-271305The prospect of nuclear power produced with advanced molten salt-cooled reactor (MSR) designs has garnered the attention of the Department of Energy in conjunction with the private sector. The salts are used to transfer heat from the reacting fuel. All designs describe a chemically stable salt with a melting point near 500°C, heated by the nuclear reaction to a temperature near 700 ...

Petrophysical properties such as porosity and permeability are arguably the most important parameters in enhancing geothermal heat production through better completion design and stimulation plan. Collecting well logs are often passive and associated with additional costs. In addition, many logging packages cannot sustain high-temperature formations often observed in geothermal conditions. In thes ...

There are two principal technical limitations and challenges associated with bioimaging. First, depth imaging is limited by light scattering and diffraction in biological tissue. Second, classical high flux multiphoton optical imaging causes photo-damage to cellular viability and perturbations to molecular biological processes. This renders the sample unusable for repeated in situ imaging and proh ...