Award Data

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF) recently announced the achievement of fusion ignition for the first time, by delivering 2.05 MJ of energy to the target, resulting in 3.15 MJ of fusion energy output. Further power scaling of the system will require addressing a number of power-limiting technical issues. One such limitation is the anti-reflection co ...

C56-02a-273237 Radiation detection instruments are widely used in industrial radiography, radio spectroscopy, medicine, etc. Typical for these detectors routine calibration procedure uses up to a Category 2 radioisotope source as gamma-ray generator. However, the use of high-activity radioisotope sources (most often Cs-137 chloride) poses a radiological security risk since the sources have the pot ...

C56-40h-273244 Nuclear power plants have historically relied on analog systems for control and operations; however, due to the aging nature of these systems and the fact that many of their components are no longer manufactured, nuclear power plant operators are increasingly replacing these legacy control systems with modern digital operational technology systems. This greater degree of connectivit ...

The technical net power generation potential for the United States from marine energy is 2,300 TWh/year with ~95% coming from regions outside the Gulf of Mexico, the only current large scale supply chain for offshore needs. An additional 4,100 TWh/year of ocean thermal energy comes from Pacific territories. 53% of the United States' technical energy resource comes from wave energy; California, Ore ...

C56-40e-273310 Nuclear microreactors producing < 20 MW of power are being researched for portable and on-site energy production in situations such as disaster relief, mobile encampments, or remote locations where access to the regional power grid is limited or difficult. In order to facilitate this mass production of nuclear reactors, radiation shielding must be produced which is reliable, replace ...

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are promising for heavy duty vehicles, however increasing the operating cell voltage to improve energy conversion and fuel efficiency can lead to electrochemical corrosion of metallic bipolar plates (BPP). Several corrosion mechanisms can occur simultaneously releasing metal ions that poison the membrane impacting the overall performance of the PEMF ...

As we make progress in the design and fabrication of ITER experimental fusion reactor there is new focus on the next generation commercial fusion reactors. Several design concepts have been put forward including the DEMOnstration power station followed by the PROTOtype power station and other concepts for compact reactors. Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) and Electron Cyclotron Current ...

C56-40b-273662Nuclear fission is a proven carbonless technology for electric generation, at present generating approximately 20% of US electricity. The next-generation (Generation IV) advanced reactors will address many of the issues with current and past reactors including improved safety, far better utilization of the fuel, dramatic reduction in high level waste and potentially higher thermal ef ...

The rising demand for renewable energy requires development of innovative energy storage technologies. Hydrogen is a versatile fuel that can be produced using wind, solar, and nuclear energy. Moreover, hydrogen can be stored and transported to provide on-demand access to energy at the point-of-need. However, the domestic hydrogen infrastructure is not yet ready to meet the demands of domestic deca ...

Floating wind platform mooring and cable disconnection and connection operations are extremely costly due to the requirements of multiple large vessels, crews, and lengthy offshore campaigns. The current stateof-the-art disconnection and connection methodologies require anchor handling vessels and tow vessels with extreme bollard pull capacity to handle operations while keeping the platform on sta ...