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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.

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At least 253 records · Page 14

The Solar Endowment: A PV Investment Roadmap for Universities and Foundations

The Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) led a diverse group of subject matter experts to define pathways for large-scale PV investments by institutions of higher education and associated endowments and foundations. By leveraging ongoing efforts by Second Nature and the Intentional Endowment Network and applying PV development strategies with four pilot campuses, the MREA defined successful deployment and investment strategies, developed case studies the provide examples of replicable investment models, created a free, online PV financial simulator to compare project finance strategies, and offered an online training to 12 university teams helping them create PV development roadmaps to guide on and off site investments.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Proceedings of the Nuclear Data Roadmapping and Enhancement Workshop (NDREW) for Nonproliferation

On January 23–25, 2018 in Washington, DC, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (DNN) Research and Development (NA-22) supported the three-day Nuclear Data Roadmapping and Enhancement Workshop (NDREW) to enable nonproliferation missions. The goal was to assemble users and producers of nuclear data to provide input to identify nuclear data needs, suggest solutions to address these needs, and rank potential solutions with regard to mission impact. The workshop was organized into 12 discussion sessions which were bookended by introductory and concluding presentations. Eight discussion topics were defined by specific nuclear reaction or data types, while the other four covered infrastructure, benchmarks, uncertainties, and code development needs. Over 110 attendees represented national laboratories, universities, and headquarters, as well as international collaborators and industry representatives. Based on survey results and other feedback, attendees found the workshop valuable since it initiated a new conversation between programs and provided collaborative opportunities across stakeholder groups such as data users and experimentalists/evaluators. The proceedings presented herein summarize the content of the workshop, provide session notes and important highlights, and documents recommendations from the attendees.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

R&D Roadmap for Enhanced Resilient Plant Systems, Metrics, Scenarios, Risk Analysis, and Modeling and Simulation

The nuclear industry and the U.S. Department of Energy are jointly developing accident tolerant fuel (ATF) which has the potential to greatly improve the safety and economic performance of the current fleet of NPPs. The combination of ATF with the optimal use of FLEX equipment (deployed as an industry response to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident in 2012), enhancements on plant components and systems, incorporation of augmented cooling systems or new passive cooling systems, and improvements in fuel cycle efficiency, have the potential to render the NPPs more efficient and resilient to events (both internally and externally initiated) that have the potential to challenge the integrity of the fuel or plant containment. In this report, combinations of these plant improvements are called Enhanced Resilient Plant Systems. In order to accelerate the development and deployment of the components that comprise Enhanced Resilient Plant Systems, a well-integrated toolkit that is fuel/clad-, fuel cycle-, systems-, and scenario-centric is required to provide a ready platform for the analysis of the advanced ATF fuel and cladding materials that are being developed, as well as plant systems modifications to achieve enhanced resiliency. Since the deployment of these enhancements will comprise a risk/benefit tradeoff of their impacts on plant safety and economics, the envisioned toolkit will need to be capable to characterizing the multidimensional aspects associated with these evaluations and provide decision-makers with information that can optimize the technological, economic, and safety benefits that are to be obtained. The Risk-Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway of the DOE Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program initiated several research tasks to develop analytical capabilities to support the industry in the transition to the ATF and Enhanced Resilient Plant Systems. The general idea behind the initiative is the development of an integrated evaluation approach which combines the plant probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) models with Multi-Physics Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty (MP-BEPU) analyses in a seamless fashion. The integrated evaluation framework aims at enabling plant system configuration variations to be studied with speed and precision, including detailed risk and benefit assessments of introducing ATF and Enhanced Resilient Plant Systems into current LWR plants to achieve both safety and operational performance enhancements. The focus of this report is to present an integrated research and development (R&D) roadmap to identify and perform high value evaluations of proposed ATF and Enhanced Resilient Plant Systems concepts to identify both the technical (e.g. benefits to risk, safety, and operational margins) and the economic (i.e. business and cost) elements associated with industry adoption of the technology. The integrated evaluation approach will be developed to support the development, testing, qualification, licensing, and deployment of ATF and Enhanced Resilient Plant Systems technology that is capable of achieving substantial safety and economic improvements as well as timely widespread adoption by the US nuclear industry.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

A safety and licensing roadmap to identify the research and development gaps of commercial molten salt reactors

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) both inherently and through good design possess highly desirable safety attributes. Successful commercial deployment of MSRs is heavily dependent on establishing their safety characteristics in a well-coordinated licensing requirements program. The approach outlined is based on adapting the MSR licensing process to the current LWR–based NRC process that exists today, which has been the traditional approach used by new technologies such as the Pebble Bed Reactor licensing application, the Clinch River Breeder Reactor licensing application, and more recently the NuScale licensing application. NRC has recognized some of the unique passively safe aspects of advanced non-LWR reactors and has introduced an advanced reactor strategic plan which will address policy issues that need to be addressed to accommodate advanced reactor concepts within the existing regulatory framework. Examples of some of these policy issues are the use of functional containment, the use of mechanistic source terms, and more reliance on performance-based and risk-informed regulatory processes, such as the Licensing Modernization Project, which emphasizes the use of risk-informed processes to select licensing basis events, safety categorization of SSC, and well-defined defense-in-depth systems. Applying performance-based, risk-informed regulatory processes is, consequently, vital to substantially decreasing the cost, time, and uncertainty of commercial MSR reactor licensing while providing for the health and safety of the public and protecting the environment. This document is intended to provide a roadmap for the MSR licensing and safety activities necessary to provide a success path to commercialization.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

A Techno-Economic Analysis and Cost Reduction Roadmap for III-V Solar Cells

III-V materials have achieved the highest efficiency of any solar cell technology. They have been commercially available since the 1960s, and have been widely used in space applications where high performance is required. However, prices of III-V solar cells are currently 2 to 3 orders of magnitude higher than other technologies, prohibiting their use in mainstream photovoltaic (PV) markets outside of high concentration photovoltaic systems. In this report, we present bottom-up cost models for current III-V solar cell technology, and explore the reasons behind these high costs. Then, we examine the advances required to drive cost down, and present a roadmap illustrating potential pathways to reach costs that could enable III-Vs to be competitive in broader, terrestrial markets without concentration. We find that cell manufacturing costs of $0.40/W or below could be achieved in high volume production, but that this would require commercialization and scale-up of a low-cost epitaxial growth technique, implementation of alternative, low-cost metallization schemes, and, critically, significant research and development to address the high cost of the substrate.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Roadmap for Wind Cybersecurity

The Roadmap for Wind Cybersecurity outlines the increasing challenges of cyber threats to the wind industry, its technologies, and control systems and presents a framework of activities and best practices that the wind industry can use to improve its cybersecurity.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Integrated Energy Systems: 2020 Roadmap

This roadmap defines potential industrial scale integrated energy systems (IES) and identifies key technology gaps to achieving commercial deployment of such systems. IES under consideration could include multiple energy generation resources and energy use paths, with a focus on low-emission technologies, such as nuclear and renewable generators. Together these technologies provide affordable, reliable, and resilient energy while simultaneously reducing environmental emission of CO 2 and greenhouse gases (GHGs). System design and optimization would consider both technical performance and economic viability within various deployment markets.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Distributed Wind Controls: A Research Roadmap for Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Controls Launchpad (MIRACL)

The Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) project’s controls research area aims to expand the benefits from distributed wind (DW) generation assets beyond solely providing low cost power directly to consumers. To make distributed wind turbines operate more effectively there is a need for more advanced ways to control them, allowing power companies, businesses, and energy consumers to take advantage of the unique characteristics of wind energy. DW can contribute to the safe and secure operation of grid by providing services such as voltage regulation, frequency regulation, spinning reserves, and even black start capabilities. In the larger DER context where much of the research has focused around solar technologies, the inertia available in wind technologies has generally not been considered. For wind turbines to provide these services in an optimal and expanded way, development and demonstration of control methods and communication interfaces within a grid and microgrid framework are required. In this document, NREL led the literature review in collaboration with SNL, of DER controls-focused integration research to establish a baseline for the controls research under the MIRACL project to identify specific control functions to be focused on throughout this project. This literature review focused primarily on the control functions of variable distributed generation, largely pulling from past solar PV and battery controls works, with a specific focus on applicability for distributed wind energy systems. The goal of this document is to identify a research roadmap based on the open literature and past national laboratory works to inform advanced wind turbine and power electronics control functions for four use cases: 1) distributed wind in isolated systems, 2) grid-connected microgrids (wind-hybrid systems and islanded operation), 3) behind-the-meter distributed wind applications in the power distribution systems, and 4) front-of-the-meter distributed wind applications in the power distribution systems.

17 WIND ENERGY↗