SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
This annual report highlights program activities for outreach, hiring, and managing the NNSA Graduate Fellowship Program (NGFP) Class of 2022-2023, as well as highlights from NGFP alumni who have gone to serve the national security enterprise in meaningful ways.
The Clear Sky Tampa Bay project was a 15-month collaborative research effort to support solar + storage deployment for community resilience in Florida. The Clear Sky Decision Support Toolkit is a collection of resources designed to support users in conducting solar + storage prioritization and feasibility screening assessments at critical facilities. The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council worked with four local governments in the region to test and apply the Toolkit. This case study series describes how each partner government used the Toolkit and highlights key insights and lessons learned that other users could follow to replicate the process. Hillsborough County used the Clear Sky Decision Support Toolkit to analyze solar + storage as an additional resiliency feature at its Brandon Support Operation Complex (BSOC). During normal operations, the BSOC houses water utility administration services and workspaces for water and wastewater engineers, facilities maintenance, and environmental management staff. During emergency management activation, the BSOC serves as an emergency hub for Emergency Support Function 3 (ESF-3), which includes public utilities, public works, and engineering staff support members. The BSOC is designated as a critical facility by the County.
During Fiscal Years (FY) 2019 and 2020, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed a series of online trainings for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) to support Subgrantee administrative professionals. NREL and its subcontractor developed a series of online administrative trainings for WAP Subgrantees. In total, 29 administrative training courses were developed for WAP Subgrantees, focused on the following job roles: Weatherization Director, Fiscal Manage, Quality Assurance Manager. As of September 8, 2020, 2,840 users in nearly all WAP Grantee jurisdictions had registered with the learning management system and completed over 23,000 courses. This report provides a summary of the development process, rollout, and outreach to the WAP network, user response, and lessons learned.
HyRAM+ is a software toolkit for conducting quantitative risk assessment (QRA) and consequence modeling for hydrogen and other alternative fuels infrastructure and transportation systems. HyRAM+ contains validated, simplified release behavior models, a standardized QRA approach, and engineering models and generic data relevant to hydrogen installations. HyRAM (hydrogen-only) versions 1.0 to 3.1 were developed by Sandia for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO). The U.S. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) contributed to the development of HyRAM+ version 4.0 regarding the addition of methane (natural gas) and propane models. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. SAND2021-10862 O
HyRAM+ is a software toolkit for conducting quantitative risk assessment (QRA) and consequence modeling for hydrogen and other alternative fuels infrastructure and transportation systems. HyRAM+ contains validated, simplified release behavior models, a standardized QRA approach, and engineering models and generic data relevant to hydrogen installations. HyRAM (hydrogen-only) versions 1.0 to 3.1 were developed by Sandia for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO). The U.S. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) contributed to the development of HyRAM+ version 4.0 regarding the addition of methane (natural gas) and propane models. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. SAND2021-10862 O
HyRAM+ is a software toolkit for conducting quantitative risk assessment (QRA) and consequence modeling for hydrogen and other alternative fuels infrastructure and transportation systems. HyRAM+ contains validated, simplified release behavior models, a standardized QRA approach, and engineering models and generic data relevant to hydrogen installations. HyRAM (hydrogen-only) versions 1.0 to 3.1 were developed by Sandia for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO). The U.S. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) contributed to the development of HyRAM+ version 4.0 regarding the addition of methane (natural gas) and propane models. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. SAND2021-10862 O
The Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Sandia Field Office, and National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC (NTESS), the management and operating contractor for Sandia National Laboratories, California (SNL/CA), are responding to the Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) comments dated February 16, 2022 (Enclosure 1) on the report titled Soil Sampling Results for Closure of a Portion of Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) #16 dated January 6, 2022 (Report).
This annual report highlights program activities for outreach, hiring, and managing the NNSA Graduate Fellowship Program (NGFP) Class of 2024-2025, as well as highlights from NGFP alumni who have gone to serve the national security enterprise in meaningful ways.
For almost twenty years, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have been visiting the K-Area Material Storage facility at the Savannah River Site where excess plutonium has been placed under IAEA safeguards as part of the United States Volunatary Offer Agreement. During that time, the mission of K-Area Complex has expanded from storage of nuclear matieral to glovebox operations in support of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Plutonium Disposition program. With this change in mission, it is becoming increasingly challenging to manage facility staff radiation exposure and operating activities during the IAEA’s annual Physcial Inventory Verifications (PIV). This study has identified both near-term and long-term recommendations for IAEA monitoring protocols that would allow the IAEA to maintain effective safeguards of the material while decreasing the impact to the facility. A statisitical analysis has shown that reducing the number of containers measured during an annual PIV from 12 to 4 still ensures a high level of confidence in the confidence while reducing the inspector time in the facility amd with a corresponding significant reduction in personnel radiation exposure. A modified installation pattern of Remotely Monitored Sealing Arrays (RMSAs) is also proposed utilizing only the outer rows of arrays of stored material containers in the Stack Area (SA). The modified RMSA placement will provide equivalent protection, while significantly reducing personnel radiological exposure, manpower requirements and associated costs. With advances in technology, there are additional potential options in containment/surveillance and continuity of knowledge that would allow the agency to be outside of the facility during PIV measurements and have confidence in the accuracy and authencitity of the results.
Fatima Woody was just 17 and a student at Pojoaque Valley High School when she first started her career as a Los Alamos Neutron Science Center receptionist. Now she's in a crucial role that keeps plutonium pit production and other mission processes operating with as little interruption as possible. Over nearly four decades, Fatima has gradually advanced from her initial positions as a receptionist and administrative secretary to become a computer technician, then a computer system professional who specializes in project management. Today, she coordinates the workflow for nearly two dozen deployed information technology technicians who keep the computer systems and networks operating at the high-tech complex that houses the Lab's Plutonium Facility.
Several federal performance and decarbonization objectives are driving the U.S. government to transition to net-zero emissions across the federal building portfolio. The overarching purpose of this Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP)-Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) work is to support federal facilities in accomplishing the administration’s federal building decarbonization goals. Creating awareness of existing geothermal (or ground-source) heat pump (GHP) systems deployed on federal property, implemented using performance contracts and evaluating the energy and environmental impacts of these systems, this work will assist federal facilities in considering inclusion of GHP technology energy conservation measures (ECMs) in future performance contracting project awards. This report summarizes analyses of data from GHP ECMs installed under the DOE ESPC IDIQ contract across various climate areas and geographic locations, agencies, and building use types. Through the analysis of proposed GHP ECMs and understanding key metrics on implemented GHP systems in a variety of applications, FEMP and GTO can further support federal agencies in meeting decarbonization and net-zero building goals by evaluating and incorporating GHP systems into performance contracts and communicate the benefits of this technology.
Concerns about systemic racism at academic and research institutions have increased over the past decade. Here, we investigate data from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a major funder of research in the United States, and find evidence for pervasive racial disparities. In particular, white principal investigators (PIs) are consistently funded at higher rates than most non-white PIs. Funding rates for white PIs have also been increasing relative to annual overall rates with time. Moreover, disparities occur across all disciplinary directorates within the NSF and are greater for research proposals. The distributions of average external review scores also exhibit systematic offsets based on PI race. Similar patterns have been described in other research funding bodies, suggesting that racial disparities are widespread. The prevalence and persistence of these racial disparities in funding have cascading impacts that perpetuate a cumulative advantage to white PIs across all of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The Material Management and Minimization (M3) Program’s primary objective within the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration is to achieve permanent threat reduction by minimizing and when possible, eliminating weapon-usable nuclear material around the world. Under M3’s Office of Conversion, the U.S. High Performance Research Reactor (USHPRR) Project, is pursuing a fuel qualification and licensing effort focused on converting high-performance research reactors in the United States from using highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel to using low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. The body of this document is focused on defining the activities required for generic qualification of high density, LEU fuel that then allows reactor conversions to proceed for the four high-performance research reactors and the critical assembly that will operate using the U-10Mo monolithic fuel design (see Subsection 1.3): MITR, MURR, NBSR, ATR, and ATRC. Fuel qualification in this report means generic fuel acceptance of the U-10Mo monolithic fuel form by the NRC for use in reactor conversions in the United States, which allows the fuel to be used in subsequent reactor specific licensing requests. The U 10Mo Monolithic Fuel Research, Development, and Qualification Plan utilizes the functions and requirements of the USHPRR Project that was established in the Functions and Requirements Document (F&RD) [1] and expands on these requirements to ensure that planned tests have traceable results that will ensure the requirement has been met. The methods by which data will be collected to show that these requirements have been met are described in this document.
Using a projected end-state date of 2065 (SRNS 2015b), the Savannah River Site (SRS) Composite Analysis (CA) modeling for each facility and waste site began on the inventory year assigned to it so that source depletion and radionuclide transport out of the system could be appropriately captured. Some SRS waste sites that have already achieved their end states (i.e. end-state inventories and end-state configuration) are currently contributing to the potential off-site public dose through source release, groundwater transport, discharge to on-site surface streams, and stream transport to the CA point of assessments (POAs). The inventory year assigned to these waste sites is 2002 or before. This means that SRS CA results from 2002 and beyond are a reasonable representation for these waste sites that have already achieved their end states and are currently contributing to the potential off-site public dose. The SRS Annual Environmental Report (AER) monitoring can differentiate and separate liquid pathway data allowing the data representing only waste sites at their end state to be produced. Because the SRS CA has projected reasonable end-state impacts from 2002 and beyond, and the AER monitoring can differentiate and separate operating and end-state contributions to annual liquid pathway release, an opportunity exists to use the AER monitoring data to validate the SRS CA model. The CA model validation program uses a graded and systematic approach for taking corrective action, starting with an SRS established administrative dose limit of 15 mrem/yr, below which no action is required. Based on the location of the 2010 SRS CA POAs, the only potential exposure pathway for the public is through surface water. The completion of the FY2019 CA model validation indicates that the SRS CA projected dose, while generally conservative, provides a reasonable representation of the maximum annual doses. These doses are well below the administrative limit; therefore, no additional action is required.
This Data Management Plan (DMP) describes the processes in place to ensure the integrity of groundwater monitoring information collected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12), Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP). This information includes program plans, reports, and computer systems used to capture monitoring station information and analytical data. The primary computer system used by the GWPP is the Groundwater Information Management System (GIMS). Procedures used to ensure the integrity of the data are included in this document by reference.
Sandia National Laboratories, hereinafter referred to as Sandia, is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. This Annual Site Environmental Report was prepared in accordance with and as required by DOE O 231.1B, Admin Change 1, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting , and is approved for public release. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its management and operating contractor for Sandia are committed to safeguarding the environment, continually assessing sustainability practices, and ensuring the validity and accuracy of the monitoring data presented here. This report summarizes the environmental protection, restoration, and monitoring programs in place for Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico (SNL/NM), during calendar year 2020.
This report covers the inspection findings for the Routine and Nonredundant Steel Tension Member (NSTM) Inspection of the Los Alamos Canyon Bridge over Omega Rd conducted on June 7-9, 2024. The inspections were completed according to the standards referenced in DOE O 437.1 Bridge and Tunnel Management including the National Bridge Inspection Standards (23 CFR Part 650, dated 12/14/2004) and other Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT), and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) codes and standards.
Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS), the management and operating contractor for the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), is currently responsible for the regulatory testing of a new Type B fissile material shipping package called the Defense Programs Package (DPP)-1. The DPP-1 is a drum packaging with an inner liner and a removable lid. Both the drum body and the lid are filled with an impact-limiting, thermal-insulating material that protects the inner containment vessel (CV) during normal conditions of transport (NCT) and hypothetical accident conditions (HAC) as defined by 10 US code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 71. In fiscal year 2021, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Package Testing Program (PTP), located at the National Transportation Research Center (NTRC), conducted Type B performance tests as prescribed in Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 (10 CFR 71) on seven DPP-1 prototype units. This test report documents test unit (TU) preparation, pretest condition, conditioning of each TU, NCT and HAC testing, and posttest measurements and observations made of the damage resulting from these tests.