Generation

The team led by White River Technologies will deliver an improved capability to reliably detect, locate, and position natural gas distribution mains and associated utilities in pipe corridors. The proposed solution connects elements of positioning and information management and (1) advances core electromagnetic (EM) and data management technologies, (2) establishes a physics-based process for large standoff EM for pipe detection and robot location, and (3) employs mixed-reality visualization.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) will develop a general-purpose mapping system that can integrate with virtually any mobile robot dedicated to pipe inspection and repairs. Confined spaces challenge map creation because they limit payload size. This not only affects the choice of sensor, but how its information is processed because of the space required to store edge computing. On top of that, confined spaces challenge the use of the sensors themselves; most sensors have a lower limit on sensing range, which is often violated in small spaces.

The University of Pittsburg team will pursue a new vision for in-situ repair and rehabilitation of pipelines with value added embedded sensing to complement existing non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and in-line inspection techniques. The team will demonstrate robotically deployable cold spray-based processes for producing a metallic pipe within the original structure and explore the feasibility of embedded fiber optic sensors within the newly constructed internal pipe.

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) will design and build a prototype structure with an array of rare-earth permanent magnets to generate the precise shaping fields of an optimized, quasi-axisymmetric stellarator design. The stellarator is an attractive fusion-energy concept because it has minimal recycling power and auxiliary systems, and no-time dependent electro-magnet systems. Two challenges have delayed its progress: 1) obtaining adequate confinement in three-dimensional (3D) fields and 2) engineering the magnetic configuration with sufficient precision at low cost.

Autonomic Materials, Inc. (AMI) proposes a new category of rehabilitation materials for legacy natural gas pipes. The novel Extruded-in-Place Pipe-in-Pipe (ExiPiPTM) rehabilitation solution for legacy gas piping avoids costly excavation-intense replacement while providing a new structurally independent pipe offering a 50-year life span. This solution leverages frontally cured poly(dicyclopentadiene) as the new pipe material and will feature self-healing and self-reporting functionalities.

The University of Colorado Boulder will lead a multi-institutional team, including Cornell University, Gas Technology Institute, and University of Southern Queensland, to develop a data-driven framework of laboratory testing and modeling. This framework will enable the gas industry to better evaluate products to rehabilitate cast iron and steel natural gas pipes and enhance their performance and longevity. The objective is to validate a 50-year design life for innovative pipe-in-pipe (PIP) systems by developing numerical, analytical, and physical testing protocols.

Moltex Energy will develop a multi-physics plant digital twin environment for its Stable Salt Reactor - Wasteburner (SSR-W). SSR‑W is a low overnight-capital plant design, targeting a <$2/kWe build cost. The first-of-a-kind (FOAK) plant uses contemporary approaches to nuclear power plant design and may be encumbered with conventional O&M obligations. The digital twin will be used to evaluate proposed O&M improvements for the SSR-W and empower the FOAK operator to better predict faults and execute remedial actions.

X-energy’s digital twin project aims to reduce the fixed O&M cost of its advanced nuclear reactor design to $2/MWh. The project will use human factors engineering, probabilistic risk assessment, hazard analysis, and security and maintenance evaluations to identify areas for optimization. X-energy will develop innovative ways to leverage advanced technologies—including automation, robotics, remote and centralized maintenance, and monitoring—to optimize staffing plans while ensuring optimal plant operation.

The team led by University of Maryland (UMD) will employ its patented high-temperature sintering process to rapidly sinter a steel coating layer in pipe-in-pipe configurations. This approach, which uses high temperature (1500-2000 ℃) Joule heating, includes the ability to rapidly sinter alloy powders in ~10 seconds, resulting in a material with high mechanical strength (~400-600 MPa), self-healing ability, and a long lifetime (50 years).

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) will advance the science and technologies of the electron-beam-pumped argon fluoride (ArF) laser as a potential method of improving laser-target coupling, a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for advancing low-cost inertial fusion energy (IFE). ArF’s deep UV light and capability to provide a wider bandwidth than other laser drivers improves the laser-target coupling efficiency and enables high gain at driver energies below 1 MJ.