Award Data

This proposal aims to develop a new, compact reactor for production of ammonia from air and water with renewable electricity. The conversion is carried out in a solid-state alkaline electrochemical cell at temperatures below 200oC and pressures below 10bar. Water vapor and N2 gas are fed into cathode side of the cell to form ammonia and hydroxide ions. As ammonia is produced from the cathode, the ...

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of High Energy Physics Research supports user facilities studying dark energy. The facilities include ground-based telescopes that would benefit from the availability of semiconductor focal planes with sensitivity ranging into the infrared. Greater infrared sensitivity will provide observation of red-shift data on the largest possible number of astronomical ob ...

A new diagnostic is currently being developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) which will be able to provide direct measurements for the energy and density of “runaway” electrons in tokamak fusion reactors with unprecedented resolution. The multi-MeV, runaways pose a serious risk to tokamak reactors; capable of inflicting catastrophic damage to the armor and vessel walls. A proper diag ...

Seawater contains about 3 parts per billion of uranium. With a total ocean volume of approximately 1.3109 km3, there is at least 4.5 billion tons of uranium in seawater which is about 1000 times the amount of uranium known to exist in terrestrial ores. Mining uranium from seawater is economically feasibility if an efficient, reusable and low-cost adsorbent could be developed. In the past year, ...

In most wind turbine cases, in the absence of maintenance and repair the polymer composite blades’ service life can be significantly diminished compared to original estimates, and the overall turbine efficiency can severely suffer. Current repair products such as epoxy-based fillers and/or solvent-based paints have very limited abrasion-resistancecapabilities. In addition, wind protection tapes ...

Small Modular Reactors are one of the most compelling options for meeting the growing clean energy demands of the U.S. While safer and costing less to build and operate than their conventional counterparts, there are fundamental design differences between traditional commercial nuclear power plants and small modular reactors that require the development of new and innovative sensors and measuremen ...

Because it can be used in situ without the need for any sample preparation, optical emission spectroscopy (OES) techniques, such as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) are favored as a spectroscopic tool to remotely detect and interrogate nuclear materials. Although they have been successfully demonstrated in the lab, results taken at test fields are lacking because high laser intensity is ...

There is a clear and unmet need for technologies to improve power generation flexibility to enable cost effective and reliable high renewable energy fractions in modern grids. Specifically, gas turbine generator turndown ratio may be improved by extending combustion lean flammability limits. This project will deliver a prototype plasma reformer system integrated with gas turbine combustors to allo ...

Implementing wireless technologies in nuclear power plants plays a key role in reducing operating and maintenance costs by facilitating a more mobile workforce and enabling wireless equipment condition monitoring for predictive maintenance. However, there are multiple barriers that impede widespread implementation of wireless technologies in the nuclear power industry including electromagnetic and ...

The next generation of cosmic microwave background experiments aim to provide definitive measurements of the early universe by employing large focal plane arrays with ~100,000 superconducting detectors operating at low temperatures ~0.1 K. This creates a requirement for cryogenic cooling systems that are reliable and cryogen-free, and that offer high cooling power, multiple thermal intercepts, and ...