CREARE LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 04

Description

To monitor for compliance with nonproliferation treaties such as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), several hundred ground stations around the world collect radionuclide aerosols from the atmosphere and measure the isotopic composition to detect, locate, and characterize nuclear events. These stations must process enormous volumes of air to collect minute amounts of the radioactive isotopes needed for detection and analysis. The current approach uses a large air mover and a filter media. It consumes a great deal of power, which presents a significant issue for the backup power systems that these sampling stations must have to ensure continuous monitoring. What is needed is a sample collection system that can achieve the same or greater collection efficiency with much less power consumption. Statement of How This Problem or Situation Is Being Addressed In the proposed project, Creare will develop an alternative radionuclide aerosol collection system utilizing electrostatic precipitation, which promises to require much less power than a filter media-based system because the pressure drop through the system will be much lower for the same air volume and the same system footprint. Samples will be collected on rolls of metallized film and sealed for subsequent analysis. The overall objective of the program will be to develop design tools for our electrostatic precipitator system, conduct laboratory tests to validate those tools, develop an optimized design for a prototype system, and then build and test a prototype system by the end of Phase II. What Is to Be Done in Phase I? In Phase I, we will develop a detailed set of requirements and preliminary design models, and conduct laboratory tests to demonstrate the concept and validate our design tools. Specifically, we expect to validate our design estimates for pressure drop and collection efficiency. We will develop a conceptual design for the prototype to be constructed in Phase II. Commercial Application and Other Benefits The primary commercialization objective is to provide low-power sample collection systems for approximately 350 ground radionuclide sampling stations around the world, which will have the ultimate public benefit of reducing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and provide world leaders with detailed information regarding the capabilities of countries developing and testing nuclear weapons. Spinoff applications of this technology are envisioned for airborne radionuclide collection systems and other industrial and atmospheric sample collection systems. Key Words Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), electrostatic precipitator, radionuclide aerosol Summary for Members of Congress This project aims to improve our ability to monitor and characterize nuclear events around the world to determine compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). We will develop a new lower-power method of collecting the small aerosol particles from the atmosphere that are needed for analysis.