Award Data

A light water reactor is equipped with control and shutdown rods which are inserted into and withdrawn from the reactor core to control reactivity. The positioning of the control and shutdown rods is performed in Combustion Engineering designed plants with the control element drive mechanism system, which includes a number of subsystems and components critical to safe and reliable plant operatio ...

In an effort to development more robust optical system coatings DTRA, in collaboration with Sandia National Labs, is working to characterize the degradation of optical materials for space systems when exposed to high intensely EUV/ cold x-rays. The experiments utilizes the Double Eagle z-pinch facility which generates high current, high voltage arc pinch plasma to produce an intense EUV and cold x ...

Replacing the current lighting with solid-state lighting will lead to energy savings of about 50% in the United States. The success of this SBIR project will greatly improve the efficiency, versatility, and competitiveness of OLED lighting in the market. This new technology could have profound impact on the energy outlook of the nation.

Fast, reliable, real-time control of plasma is critical to the success of magnetic fusion science and is thought to be required for successful deployment of future power producing reactors. The development of efficient and robust solid-state switches for power systems for fast control of large inductance magnetic field coils, pulsed and/or modulated auxiliary radio frequency (RF) heating, neutral ...

This project team will fully develop and test AlphaBear 2, a vocabulary learning game for grade 4 to 7 students. Vocabulary is a prerequisite for academic success, as it is linked to stronger performance across academic subjects and improved reading comprehension. It is more difficult for students to participate in educational activities without understanding the key vocabulary associated with tha ...

Monitoring mercury contamination in groundwater, surface water, and other natural environments is challenging and expensive, and because samples have to be collected in the field and analyzed in a laboratory, there is a long delay before results are available. The expense of monitoring limits the number of samples researchers collect, which can lead to inaccurate estimates of mercury contaminatio ...

Grid modernization requires adoption of modern information technologies in an incremental manner to continue support of legacy assets and use case while enabling seamless integration of and transition to modern paradigms. Empowering domain experts and stakeholders to easily customize modern technologies to the unique needs of grid operation and maintenance is critical. In the Phase I effort Machfu ...

The project will develop methods and technology aimed at facilitating situation comprehension and radically reducing cognitive burden experienced by cyber analysts.

Since drilling the earliest gas and oil wells, migration of hydrocarbons to the surface has challenged the oil and gas industry. With the recent onset of geologic CO2 sequestration activities, it has become even more important to develop well leakage mitigation strategies that can seal even microscopic apertures around injection, abandoned, and monitoring wells—especially in cases where traditio ...

In the Spallation Neutron Source, the mercury in the stainless steel target vessel experiences cavitation due to intense pressure waves produced by the almost instantaneous heating of the mercury following proton impact on the target. To protect the vessel walls from cavitation erosion, helium micro bubbles can be added to the mercury to act as attenuators of the pressure waves and to minimize ca ...