Posters 2023

 

"Working in collaboration with Argonne National Lab, other research institutions, and industry partners, the goal of this research project is to use data from operating hydroelectric plants to more accurately predict when parts will fail, allowing plant operators to minimize downtime from unexpected repairs and maintenance while getting the most use out of each component. By analyzing operational data from the Hydropower Research Institute (HRI) database, our team at Idaho National Lab is working to develop mapping between failure-and-degradation models and legacy hydropower models. My contribution to the project was to outline a method for selecting data from the HRI database and create a correlation matrix for sensors in different systems across
the unit, allowing us to analyze how each component responds a particular type of failure
event and identify trends among different systems."

"Ultraviolet-visible-infrared spectroscopy is a method used in a Temporal Analysis of Product catalytic reactor system to examine the changes happening on a
catalyst surface during catalysis. This method was used to examine the Catofin process, which includes propane dehydrogenation with a chromium oxide catalyst.
Propane was pulsed in nanomole quantities hundreds of times over a fresh catalyst, followed by hundreds of nanomole pulsed of oxygen. Experiments looked at
the timing of reduction and oxidation, as well as carbon deposition and removal. Result showed that the reduction of the chromium oxide catalyst occurs very
quickly during propane dehydrogenation followed by carbon deposition. During the oxygen pulse cycle, oxidation happens rapidly and is followed by carbon
removal. This work hopes to bring efficiency to the large-scale industrial process to lower energy needs."

The world needs carbon negative technology as it can offset difficult to decarbonize emissions. Direct Air Capture (DAC) offers a carbon negative solution; however, it is energy intensive and deploying the technology at an impactful scale will require the substantial expansion of energy resources. This poster examines the energy requirements and emissions rates of various power supplies to identify optimal sources. It finds nuclear power, specifically advanced microreactors, to be an ideal thermal energy source for DAC systems based on efficiency and capacity to enable gigaton-scale deployment.

HT-SOECs can produce net-zero hydrogen through electrolysis, providing a potential carbon free fuel source for the future. The reaction is fully reversible and the SOEC can be operated as a fuel cell, using hydrogen as fuel to generate clean electrical power. This poster explores the fundamental thermodynamics of high temperature electrolysis and provides initial results of a 5x5cm electrolyte supported YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia) planar cell.

This poster outlines the current problems with biomass dust in the Biomass Feedstock National User Facility (BFNUF) and a solution of a mobile dust collection booth.

This poster establishes the basics of EFAS sintering and outlines the ways it is being scaled up at INL through the DCS-500 and the CEFAS projects. the DCS-500 has enabled INL researchers to produce samples up to two feet in in diameter while the CEFAS is on track to allow for sintering of strips up to three inches across at a rate of up to 15 inches per minute. These technologies both rely on the small scale testing and characterization preformed using the DCS-5.

Switchgrass is a biomass crop that can grow on marginal land throughout the Midwest and can be used to produce bioenergy. However, the chemical variability of switchgrass causes several issues for the conversion process. Using X-ray fluorescence, this project analyzes inorganic variability in response to several factors, including location, harvest year, cultivar, and nitrogen fertilizer rate.

"The DARPA ReSource Program aims to develop technology that will enable the production of essential items such as textiles, lubricants, oils, and nutrients, from soldier-generated garbage on the battlefield. In support of these goals, INL developed a lightweighted, deployable material collection, cleaning, sorting and preprocessing system to make use of garbage generated by troops on the battlefield. To lightweight these industrial unit operations, new designs and alternative materials were used to reduce the weight, but also maintain the strength necessary for normal operations.
One critical function of this system is the size reduction shredder, capable of shredding garbage to particles < 5mm so they can be fed into cleaning and conversion reaction systems. Shredders are normally made from ferrous metals and hardened tool steels to withstand wear due to torque and abrasion. To lightweight this shredder, many of the metal parts, such as the frame and spacers, were replaced with parts made from plastics and the hardened steel blades were replaced with blades made from hardened titanium. This reduced the weight of the unit by over 75%.
"

The Mo/HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst offers some of the highest selectivity towards benzene from methane within methane dehydroaromatization, or MDA, reactions. Where most research involving Mo/HZSM-5 and MDA seek methods in which the catalyst can be regenerated, typically via removing coking, this research project seeks to track the dynamic nature of catalyst active sites within zeolites using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, or PALS. Although analysis of active sites is not unique in the field of catalysis or within the transient kinetics group, the specific analyses conducted have yet to be completed with PALS.

Tellurium is a metal critical to development of Cadmium-Telluride Solar Panels, but is exceedingly rare in Earth's Crust (~1 ppb). Tellurium can be bioleached from mine tailings, particularly copper and gold, and understanding Te's speciation in these aqueous solutions is important for downstream processes. Previous experimentation found that a Tellurium speciation assay utilizing Ammonium pyrrolidyldithiocarbamate (APDC) is effective in clean solutions, but less effective in complex solutions containing high concentrations of other metals. In this study, I show that Te speciation assays with APDC can be hindered by competing metals in solution, which can preferentially chelate with APDC prior to tellurium.

Transmitting wireless data beneath the thermal noise floor is beneficial for stealth communication. Different methods of spread spectrum can help us achieve the goal of transmitting data beneath the thermal noise floor each having their own respective strengths and weaknesses. Direct sequence spread spectrum is more vulnerable to interference than filter bank multicarrier spread spectrum however the system is much easier to impliment.

Control systems require reliable and safe operation of critical infrastructure. They are cyber-physical systems (CPSs) that combine computational and networking capabilities, which increases the threat of cyberattacks on the physical process. Cyberattacks can compromise the control system and force the physical process into an undesirable state.&nbsp; The goal of this research is to formally prove that mission-critical physical processes will never reach an undesirable state due to a cyber attack.

"As “smart” devices become progressively used daily, the risk for cyber-attacks within a household or organization increases. Appling Zero Trust Architecture, the continual evaluation of trust within the framework of a digital environment, allows for only authorized devices, applications, and individuals to have access to their organization's digital environment and data; thus, decreasing the amount of risk associated with the digital environment. Using Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Zero Trust Architecture can be applied to different devices within a test bed to be further analyzed for a codified model of architecture, threats, and defenses all together for cyber defenders to further protect complex critical infrastructures.
"

This poster shows the process of using machine learning techniques to create data visualizations. The cyber-CHAMP program produces large amounts of data that are difficult to decipher through with only excel. Machine learning allows this data to become consumable information at a rapid rate.

Organizational culture is very important for developing a workforce that is able to adapt to today's quickly changing environment. Culture defines how an employee thinks and behaves within an organization. This affects many things, including cybersecurity. Organizational culture could be the difference between a secure and insecure organization.

The United States has been combating within an ever-evolving threat environment against attacks on cyber and critical infrastructure. The Department of Homeland Security and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have been developing new regulations and cyber security practices to protect the infrastructure of the federal government along with private controllers of critical infrastructure within the United States. President Biden and the recent congresses have made cyber security a priority and have focused efforts on hardening infrastructure. Along side this the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and other executive Departments have refocused efforts to dismantle threat actors both locally and abroad with collaboration with their foreign partners.

As the prevalence of Internet of Things (IoT) devices increases, concerns involving user data collection and penetration points fuels a demand for evaluative processes / standards. This research surveys an array of smart home IoT devices to discover common trends and vulnerabilities. A Critical Product Evaluation (CPE) type process is adopted in performing this analysis which requires device teardown, reference sheet collection, firmware collection, firmware analysis, vulnerability discovery, etc. While incomplete, future work with this project will include further in-depth analysis and a greater sample size.

It is critical for utilities to periodically test incident response (IR) playbooks to ensure their reliability. Liberty Exercise is an annual exercise that provides a no-consequence environment where utilities can do just that. It consists of a Red Team that designs and delivers injects to the Blue Team (utilities). Following this, the Red and Blue Teams work together to determine corrective measures that utilities can use to update their IR playbooks.

Every year cyberattacks targeting industrial control systems (ICS) in the critical infrastructure sectors increase in both number and sophistication. To combat the growing threat, it is necessary to test systems and implement mitigations. Compared to constructing a physical system, which is often expensive, virtual lab environments are safe, ideal for education and workforce development, and can be scaled-up when the number of users increases.

Standards are created in many different fields to make the practice more consistent and repeatable. Cyber security is no exception to the rule with many private organizations and governments coming up with their own standards of what it means for a network or computer system to be secure. However, today there has been a shift in the needs in cyber security, and what is defined as cyber impacted due to the emerging threat actors, technical means available that impact the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT). This change has put more Critical infrastructure at risk causing those developing the standards to adapt in. the approach to what security looks like.

INL’s Information Expression: Discover Tools (IX-Tools) includes a utility to output a Structured Threat Intelligence eXpression (STIX) bundle from a network packet capture (pcap) file. However, it only supports the wired internet protocol stack (Ethernet/TCP/IP). We want to analyze a mesh network home automation system that runs over IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) and IEEE 802.15.4 (low-rate wireless personal area network) wireless protocols, not Ethernet. To this end, we extend the capabilities of IX-Tools to support wireless protocols so that home automation networks can be analyzed for abnormal traffic patterns.

This poster outlines work related to writing guides on establishing a ransomware testbed, experimenting with a ransomware testbed, and forming suggestions for best practices for the nuclear community related to ransomware.

"Zigbee is a popular communication method for mesh networks. Particularly those in the IoT world. However, it is not the easiest to observe over the air as Wi-Fi or over the wire such as Ethernet. This is mostly due to how niche this standard is. But a good zero trust architecture will still have a means of keeping this under observation.
"

In order to reach 100% decarbonized electricity production in the US by 2035, wind and solar generation in conjunction with grid storage capacity must significantly increase to replace carbon-emitting sources. However, many renewable energy projects are waiting to connect to the grid because of congestion, creating a severe hurdle in the way of 100% clean energy. Because of the enormous cost associated with this overhaul, Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs) offer a cost-effective method of optimizing the grid to facilitate more transmission. GETs like Dynamic Line Ratings (DLR) enable grid operators to push more power through lines depending on weather conditions and Power Flow Controllers (PFCs) can reroute power through congested areas, allowing energy to be transferred more efficiently throughout the grid. Both technologies can decrease congestion, allowing renewable energy projects to connect to the grid and lead the US to transition to clean energy.

Throughout this summer interning at INL, I was able to work on a multitude of projects as a marketing business support intern at D520. For my poster, I included three projects that are able to be used this year. The CyberStrike project allowed me to go through a rough draft of a presentation and clean up the graphics, layout, wording, and ensure that the slides were engaging for the audience members partaking in this training exercise. The "Can You Hack It?" Summer Camp gave me the creative freedom to design posters and infographics that would be engaging and informative for middle and high school summer campers. The Wind Threat Assessment Report gave me the opportunity to review and write technical information in a report that will be sent to the Department of Energy. These projects involved creating PowerPoint slides, posters/infographics, and writing reports, allowing me to work with diverse people and software programs. I pushed myself to excel in areas where I was not the most experienced. Overall, my experience at INL provided valuable skills and experience in various areas that I will be able to useful to my future.

The Civilian Conservations Corps, or CCC, conducted several conservation projects between 1933-1942, including the construction of snow fences for grazing purposes. Over a three-week period in the summer of 2023, five known CCC snow fences located on the current INL site were recorded in order to gain a greater understanding of the variation between their construction styles. Responsibilities to perform this project included conducting research on the CCC, visiting and recording information about each snow fence – including measurements, associated artifacts, GPS information, and capturing photos – and gathering several images in order to create structure from motion using Agisoft Metashape Pro. The results of this project demonstrated that there are variations in length, width, and height of each of the snow fences, however they were constructed with similar materials, are located in comparable areas on the landscape, and, while partially collapsed, all still have an effective purpose.

During my internship I took on three projects – Intern Boxes, Food Drive for Kids, and a Pet Supply Drive – with the goal of helping interns feel a sense of belonging at INL and in the community. The projects provided students with a voice and helped them to discover the community. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and different places around the world. Bringing everyone together and helping them feel like they belong – One INL – was a goal during my internship.

As an intern in Policy and Assurance, I was given the opportunity to test internal controls in general accounting and help management implement new internal controls to further protect the INL. This included creating targeted tests on personnel to see if they would catch an intentional fraud attempt, preforming data analytics, and the analysis of documentation. This helped me understand the importance of internal controls in fraud prevention and how vulnerable INL can be without them. In addition, I had to think like a fraudster to identify fraud risks and learned various processes to test vulnerable areas. The assessment resulted in areas of improvement which management will address to strengthen internal controls going forward.

Nearly half of the commercial used nuclear fuel in the US is currently in dry storage at dozens of reactor sites across the country. The Department of Energy is investigating the feasibility of establishing Consolidated Interim Storage Facilities to manage the US used fuel inventory with centralized locations. Siting these facilities will involve working closely with members of the public, many of whom may not be familiar with nuclear waste storage. The purpose of these visualizations is to offer context and a sense of scale in order to enable informed decisions throughout the consent-based siting process.

An arc flash is a potential hazard that can take place in any electrical system. In order to prevent injury of personnel and promote awareness, an arc flash evaluation must take place every 5 years to inform individuals of the proper PPE they must wear before working on electrical components.

"This poster presents a design for a new orifice flow meter to be installed in three experiment loops
at the Advanced Test Reactor. The current configuration of the experiment loop system has an
orifice that is not properly sized to the low flow rates of the degas line of the pressurizer system,
causing inaccurate flow measurements. Under consideration of flow conditions and system
constraints, an iterative procedure was utilized to determine the optimal sizing for a new orifice.
This orifice is designed to accurately and precisely measure the flow rate of the degas line, which
will consequently improve control of the pressure and chemistry of the loop pressurizer system."

We propose a nonparametric bootstrap approach to estimate the mean and uncertainty distribution of nuclear power plant train unavailability. Coverage rates of confidence intervals and goodness of fit of the beta distribution to the bootstrap distribution were assessed using multiple real data sets. Our investigations indicate this approach performs well for highly skewed and zero-inflated data sets and provides sensible confidence intervals for mean unavailability. Also, the beta distribution adequately fits the bootstrap distribution for the majority of the data sets analyzed and provides a parametric uncertainty distribution for unavailability for use in probabilistic risk assessments. The new approach is being implemented in current nuclear industry operating experience data analysis program and will be used in the future parameter updates for probabilistic risk assessment.

In this project a rodlet press designed to press endcaps on used EBR-2 fuel was remanufactured in order to support the TREAT experiments.

While conducting work at HFEF over the summer, we were tasked with support of research and building operations. While working at the world's largest hot cell, we engaged in a variety of projects to keep things running smoothly. This involved working with researchers, operators, and engineers. This presentation is a summary of that work.

"The black-box nature of Machine Learning (ML) models has hindered the wide-adoption of Artificial Intelligence in nuclear operations in recent years. Due to safety concerns and lack of trust in ML models, organizations are reluctant to depend on the ML outcomes for critical operations. To address this problem, I enhanced an explainable AI interface with multiclass classification of “Fault Mode Detection” in Circulating Water Pumps (CWP). Additionally, I have demonstrated how warnings can be incorporated to provide insights on heat pipe failure in an Autonomous Control system.

The Utility, Instrument, and Plant Protection System (PPS) Battery Banks are an essential part of the Advanced Test Reactor’s (ATR) power system. After performing seismic evaluations on these battery banks, the batteries were shown to not meet DOE/EH 0545 seismic qualification. This project is responsible for replacing these batteries for better performance during seismic events.

Defect Evolution in Proton Irradiated Ceria

Software validation of the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) Navier-Stokes module was preformed using the European Research Community On Flow, Turbulence And Combustion (ERCOFTAC) classic collection data base. Validation is the process of checking the accuracy of software systems. Validation efforts consisted of comparing experimental and simulated flow characteristics for ERCOFTAC case 43 and case 80. ERCOFTAC case 43 measured flow behind a square cylinder. Vortex shedding was present for this case. ERCOFTAC case 80 tested flow profiles for heat exchanger geometries. The tested geometries were 36x16 mm staggered, 36x21 mm staggered, and 36x21 mm inline. For ERCOFTAC case 43, the nondimensionalized Strouhal number was calculated based on averaged simulation data. A value of 0.135 was calculated, which was within expected margins. Average velocity difference between simulated and experimental data for case 80 were 6.22%, 4.52%, and 4.04%, respectively. These differences fall within expected margins.

One of the most critical components to ATR’s operation are its beryllium reflectors, which reflect a large portion of the neutrons back into the reactor core. Over time, stresses develop within the beryllium that cause cracking. To ensure safe operation of the reactor, careful inspection is required and performed with a specialty scope utilizing an attached camera and lighted mirror. A new inspection scope design provides optimal maneuverability and camera distance.

TROUT : Topology Refinement and Optimization Utilization Toolkit

Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE)

Design and Fabrication of the Molten Salt Tritium Transport Experiment (MSTTE)

BANR-1 ATR Fuel Test Instrumentation

Verification of HPGe Detectors

Impact of Silicon Carbide Microstructure on Effective Silver Diffusion in TRISO Particles

Solvent Extraction Data From a Multi-Traditional Sensor

Cost effective Thermal Imaging of Solvent Extraction

Fault Detection in the Solvent Extraction Process with Non-traditional Sensors

Unraveling the Mechanics: Computational Modeling of Residual Stresses in U10Mo Fuel with Aluminum Cladding

Focused Ion Beam - A tool for preparing samples with intricate geometries for advanced materials characterization