Award Data

Topic 20c of DOEs SBIR solicitation seeks grant applications to develop technologies for the assessment and mitigation of materials degradation in Light Water Reactors in order to extend the service life including methods that can mitigate or predict irradiation and aging effects An important degradation phenomenon that limits the service life and energy production of Light Water Reactor (LWR) ...

Accelerators used in synchrotron light sources require megawatts of radio-frequency energy. They currently employ vacuum-tube power amplifiers or conventional solid-state amplifiers that are inefficient and therefore consume a great deal of prime electrical power. We will review available transistors, analyze high-efficiency power-amplifier techniques, and experimentally evaluate candidate amplifi ...

Measurement and efficient control of power consumption of High Performance Computing (HPC) and HVAC subsystems within facilities are less than adequate for meeting newly developing and improving efficiency standards. Energy management systems, including sensors, signal processing, feedback and control are needed to increase efficiency, operational cost and intelligence of facilities. Additionall ...

Cast austenitic stainless steel (CASS) can be found in every light water reactor primary coolant loop system in both boiling water and pressure water nuclear reactors. To date, no effective in-service volumetric nondestructive method exists for the inspection of this material even though some components fabricated from CASS are subject to inspection requirements described in the American Society o ...

The need for high stability measurement of temperature is essential for monitoring incore reactor use in planned Gen-IV reactor designs, especially the next generation nuclear plants (NGNP) such as the SFR (Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors). These reactors are planned to operate by means of fast neutron reactions with neutron fluence up to 1025cm-2. These operating conditions lead to material damage by ...

Accelerators used for nuclear-physics research require megawatts of radio-frequency energy. They currently employ vacuum-tube power amplifiers or conventional solid-state amplifiers that are inefficient and therefore consume a great deal of prime electrical power. We will review available transistors, analyze high-efficiency power-amplifier techniques, and experimentally evaluate candidate amplifi ...

Accelerators used for nuclear-physics research require megawatts of radio-frequency energy. They currently employ vacuum-tube power amplifiers or conventional solid-state amplifiers that are inefficient and therefore consume a great deal of prime electrical power. We will review available transistors, analyze high-efficiency power-amplifier techniques, and experimentally evaluate candidate amplifi ...

The development of high-current, short-duration pulses of electrons has been a challenging problem for many years. High current pulses are widely used in injector systems for electron accelerators, both for industrial linacs as well as high-energy accelerators for linear colliders. Short-duration pulses are also used for microwave generation, in klystrons and related devices, for injectors to perf ...

The ITER ECE Radiometer system is envisioned to cover the frequency range from about 200- 300GHz with a set of three high reliability receivers. Each receiver will use a fixed frequency local oscillator source and a very broad IF bandwidth. The primary technical challenges are achieving flat performance across the IF band and ensuring a level of reliability that will assure system performance duri ...

The primary challenges associated with Light Water reactors stem from the degradation of stainless steel structural components during long reactor lifetimes. One problem in particular is the in-situ measurement of swelling and changes in modulus over the core lifetime. Lambda Instruments, Inc. proposes to develop extremely high-temperature, radiation-hardened fiber optic sensors based on their uni ...