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Energy and Economic Impacts of U.S. Federal Energy and Water Conservation Standards Adopted From 1987 Through 2013

This paper presents estimates of the key impacts of Federal energy and water conservation standards adopted from 1987 through 2013. The standards for consumer products and commercial and industrial equipment include those set by legislation as well as standards adopted by DOE through rulemaking. In 2013, the standards saved an estimated 4.05 quads of primary energy, which is equivalent to 4% of total U.S. energy consumption. The savings in operating costs for households and businesses totaled $56 billion. The average household saved $361 in operating costs as a result of residential and plumbing product standards. The estimated reduction in CO{sub 2} emissions associated with the standards in 2013 was 218 million metric tons, which is equivalent to 4% of total U.S. CO{sub 2} emissions. The estimated cumulative energy savings over the period 1990-2090 amount to 181 quads. Accounting for the increased upfront costs of more-efficient products and the operating cost (energy and water) savings over the products’ lifetime, the standards have a past and projected cumulative net present value (NPV) of consumer benefit of between $1,271 billion and $1,487 billion, using 7 percent and 3 percent discount rates, respectively. The water conservation standards, together with energy conservation standards that also save water, reduced water use by 1.9 trillion gallons in 2013, and will achieve cumulative water savings by 2090 of 55 trillion gallons. The estimated consumer savings in 2013 from reduced water use amounted to $16 billon.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Energy and Economic Impacts of U.S. Federal Energy and Water Conservation Standards Adopted From 1987 through 2012

This paper presents estimates of the key impacts of Federal energy and water conservation standards adopted from 1987 through 2012. The standards for consumer products and commercial and industrial equipment include those set by legislation as well as standards adopted by DOE through rulemaking. In 2012, the standards saved an estimated 3.6 quads of primary energy, which is equivalent to 3% of total U.S. energy consumption. The savings in operating costs for households and businesses totaled $51.4 billion. The average household saved $347 in operating costs as a result of residential and plumbing product standards. The estimated reduction in CO2 emissions associated with the standards in 2012 was 198 million metric tons, which is equivalent to 3% of total U.S. CO2 emissions. The estimated cumulative energy savings over the period 1990-2070 amount to 179 quads. Accounting for the increased upfront costs of more-efficient products and the operating cost (energy and water) savings over the products’ lifetime, the standards have a past and projected cumulative net present value (NPV) of consumer benefit of between $1,104 billion and $1,390 billion, using 7 percent and 3 percent discount rates, respectively. The water conservation standards, together with energy conservation standards that also save water, reduced water use by 1.8 trillion gallons in 2012, and will achieve cumulative water savings by 2040 of 54 trillion gallons. The estimated consumer savings in 2012 from reduced water use amounted to $13 billon.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Development and implementation of energy efficiency standards and labeling programs in China: Progress and challenges

Over the last twenty years, with growing policy emphasis on improving energy efficiency and reducing environmental pollution and carbon emissions, China has implemented a series of new minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and mandatory and voluntary energy labels to improve appliance energy efficiency. As China begins planning for the next phase of standards and labeling (S&L) program development under the 12th Five Year Plan, an evaluation of recent program developments and future directions is needed to identify gaps that still exist when compared with international best practices. The review of China’s S&L program development and implementation in comparison with major findings from international experiences reveal that there are still areas of improvement, particularly when compared to success factors observed across leading international S&L program. China currently lacks a formalized regulatory process for standard-setting and do not have any legal or regulatory guidance on elements of S&L development such as stakeholder participation or the issue of legal precedence between conflicting national, industrial and local standards. Consequently, China’s laws regarding standard-setting and management of the mandatory energy label program could be updated, as they have not been amended or revised recently and no longer reflects the current situation. While China uses similar principles for choosing target products as the U.S., Australia, EU and Japan, including high energy-consumption, mature industry and testing procedure and stakeholder support, recent MEPS revisions have generally aimed at only eliminating the bottom 20% efficiency of the market. Setting a firm principle based on maximizing energy savings that are technically feasible and economically justified may help improve the stringency of China’s MEPS program and reduce the need for frequent revisions. China also lacks robust survey data and relies primarily on market research data in relatively simple techno-economic analyses used to determine its efficiency standards levels rather than the specific sets of analyses and tools used internationally. Based on international experiences, inclusion of more detailed energy consumption surveys in the Chinese national census surveys and statistical reporting systems could help provide the necessary data for more comprehensive standard-setting analyses. In terms of stakeholder participation in the standards development process, stakeholder participation in China is limited to membership on technical committees responsible for developing or revising standards and generally do not include environmental groups, consumer associations, utilities and other NGOs. Increasing stakeholder involvement to broader interest groups could help garner more support and feedback in the S&L implementation process. China has emerged as a leader in a national verification testing scheme with complementary pilot checktesting projects, but it still faces challenges with insufficient funding, low local awareness amongst some regulatory agencies and resistance to check-testing by some manufacturers, limited product sampling scope, and testing inconsistency and incomparability of results. Thus, further financial and staff resources and capacity building will be needed to overcome these remaining challenges and to expand impacts evaluations to assess the actual effectiveness of implementation and enforcement.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Energy and Economic Impacts of U.S. Federal Energy and Water Conservation Standards Adopted From 1987 Through 2015

This paper presents estimates of the key impacts of Federal energy and water conservation standards adopted from 1987 through 2015. The standards for consumer products and commercial and industrial equipment include those set by legislation as well as standards adopted by DOE through rulemaking. In 2015, the standards saved an estimated 4.49 quads of primary energy, which is equivalent to 5% of total U.S. energy consumption. The savings in operating costs for households and businesses totaled $63.4 billion. The average household saved $320 in operating costs as a result of residential appliance standards. The estimated reduction in CO2 emissions associated with the standards in 2015 was 238 million metric tons, which is equivalent to 4.3% of total U.S. CO2 emissions. The estimated cumulative energy savings over the period 1990-2090 amount to 216.9 quads. Accounting for the increased upfront costs of more-efficient products and the operating cost (energy and water) savings over the products’ lifetime, the standards have a cumulative net present value (NPV) of consumer benefit of between $1,627 billion and $1,887 billion, using 7 percent and 3 percent discount rates, respectively. The water conservation standards, together with energy conservation standards that also save water, reduced water use by 1.9 trillion gallons in 2015 and estimated cumulative water savings by 2090 amount to 55 trillion gallons. The estimated consumer savings in 2015 from reduced water use amounted to $12 billon.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Energy and economic impacts of U.S. federal energy and water conservation standards adopted from 1987 through 2024

This paper presents estimates of the key impacts of U.S. national energy and water conservation standards adopted from 1987 through 2024. The standards for consumer products, commercial and industrial equipment, lighting products, and plumbing products include those set by legislation as well as standards adopted by the Department of Energy (DOE) through rulemaking. In 2024 alone, these standards are estimated to have saved an estimated 6.0 quads of primary energy, which is equivalent to 6.5% of total U.S. energy consumption, and 1.7 trillion gallons of water, which is equivalent to approximately 12% of the annual water withdrawals for public supply in the U.S in 2015. The estimated reduction in CO 2 emissions associated with the standards in 2024 was 270 million metric tons, which is equivalent to 5.6% of total annual U.S. CO 2 emissions from energy consumption. The annual savings in operating costs for households and businesses totaled $\$$105 billion, and the average household saved $\$$576 in operating costs as a result of standards on residential appliances and plumbing products. The estimated cumulative past and future energy and water savings from these standards amount to 307 quads of energy and almost 53 trillion gallons of water. The estimated cumulative CO 2 emissions reduction from the standards come to 10.3 billion metric tons. Accounting for the increased upfront costs of more-efficient products and the energy and water cost savings over the products’ lifetime, the standards have a cumulative net present value of benefit of $\$$3.2 trillion using 3 percent discount rate and $\$$3.5 trillion using 7 percent discount rate when discounting past and future benefits to 2024.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

The Roles of Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification in the NASA Standard for Models and Simulations

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently issued an interim version of the Standard for Models and Simulations (M&S Standard) [1]. The action to develop the M&S Standard was identified in an internal assessment [2] of agency-wide changes needed in the wake of the Columbia Accident [3]. The primary goal of this standard is to ensure that the credibility of M&S results is properly conveyed to those making decisions affecting human safety or mission success criteria. The secondary goal is to assure that the credibility of the results from models and simulations meets the project requirements (for credibility). This presentation explains the motivation and key aspects of the M&S Standard, with a special focus on the requirements for verification, validation and uncertainty quantification. Some pilot applications of this standard to computational fluid dynamics applications will be provided as illustrations. The authors of this paper are the members of the team that developed the initial three drafts of the standard, the last of which benefited from extensive comments from most of the NASA Centers. The current version (number 4) incorporates modifications made by a team representing 9 of the 10 NASA Centers. A permanent version of the M&S Standard is expected by December 2007. The scope of the M&S Standard is confined to those uses of M&S that support program and project decisions that may affect human safety or mission success criteria. Such decisions occur, in decreasing order of importance, in the operations, the test & evaluation, and the design & analysis phases. Requirements are placed on (1) program and project management, (2) models, (3) simulations and analyses, (4) verification, validation and uncertainty quantification (VV&UQ), (5) recommended practices, (6) training, (7) credibility assessment, and (8) reporting results to decision makers. A key component of (7) and (8) is the use of a Credibility Assessment Scale, some of the details of which were developed in consultation with William Oberkampf, David Peercy and Timothy Trocano of Sandia National Laboratories. The focus of most of the requirements, including those for VV&UQ, is on the documentation of what was done and the reporting, using the Credibility Assessment Scale, of the level of rigor that was followed. The aspects of one option for the Credibilty Assessment Scale are (1) code verification, (2) solution verification, (3) validation, (4) predictive capability, (5) technical review, (6) process control, and (7) operator and analyst qualification.

Zang, Thomas A.↗

NASA's Earth Science Data Systems Standards Process Experiences

NASA has impaneled several internal working groups to provide recommendations to NASA management on ways to evolve and improve Earth Science Data Systems. One of these working groups is the Standards Process Group (SPC). The SPG is drawn from NASA-funded Earth Science Data Systems stakeholders, and it directs a process of community review and evaluation of proposed NASA standards. The working group's goal is to promote interoperability and interuse of NASA Earth Science data through broader use of standards that have proven implementation and operational benefit to NASA Earth science by facilitating the NASA management endorsement of proposed standards. The SPC now has two years of experience with this approach to identification of standards. We will discuss real examples of the different types of candidate standards that have been proposed to NASA's Standards Process Group such as OPeNDAP's Data Access Protocol, the Hierarchical Data Format, and Open Geospatial Consortium's Web Map Server. Each of the three types of proposals requires a different sort of criteria for understanding the broad concepts of "proven implementation" and "operational benefit" in the context of NASA Earth Science data systems. We will discuss how our Standards Process has evolved with our experiences with the three candidate standards.

Ullman, Richard E.↗

Spaceflight Human System Standards

NASA created a new approach for human system integration and human performance standards. NASA created two documents a standard and a reference handbook. The standard is titled NASA Space Flight Human-System Standard (SFHSS) and consists of two-volumes: Volume 1- Crew Health This volume covers standards needed to support astronaut health (medical care, nutrition, sleep, exercise, etc.) Volume 2 Human Factors, Habitability and Environmental Health This volume covers the standards for system design that will maintain astronaut performance (ie., environmental factors, design of facilities, layout of workstations, and lighting requirements). It includes classic human factors requirements. The new standards document is written in terms so that it is applicable to a broad range of present and future NASA systems. The document states that all new programs prepare system-specific requirements that will meet the general standards. For example, the new standard does not specify a design should accommodate specific percentiles of a defined population. Rather, NASA-STD-3001, Volume 2 states that all programs shall prepare program-specific requirements that define the user population and their size ranges. The design shall then accommodate the full size range of those users. The companion reference handbook, Human Integration Design Handbook (HIDH), was developed to capture the design consideration information from NASA-STD-3000, and adds spaceflight lessons learned, gaps in knowledge, example solutions, and suggests research to further mature specific disciplines. The HIDH serves two major purposes: HIDH is the reference document for writing human factors requirements for specific systems. HIDH contains design guidance information that helps insure that designers create systems which safely and effectively accommodate the capabilities and limitations of space flight crews.

Holubec, Keith↗

Standards and Specifications for Ground Processing of Space Vehicles: From an Aviation-Based Shuttle Project to Global Application

Proprietary or unique designs and operations are expected early in any industry's development, and often provide a competitive early market advantage. However, there comes a time when a product or industry requires standardization for the whole industry to advance...or survive. For the space industry, that time has come. Here, we will focus on standardization of ground processing for space vehicles and their ground systems. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, and emergence of a new global space race, affordability and sustainability are more important now than ever. The growing commercialization of the space industry and current global economic environment are driving greater need for efficiencies to save time and money. More RLV's (Reusable Launch Vehicles) are being developed for the gains of reusability not achievable with traditional ELV's (Expendable Launch Vehicles). More crew/passenger vehicles are also being developed. All of this calls for more attention needed for ground processing-repeatedly before launch and after landing/recovery. RLV's should provide more efficiencies than ELV's, as long as MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) is well-planned-even for the unplanned problems. NASA's Space Shuttle is a primary example of an RLV which was supposed to thrive on reusability savings with efficient ground operations, but lessons learned show that costs were (and still are) much greater than expected. International standards and specifications can provide the commonality needed to simplify design and manufacturing as well as to improve safety, quality, maintenance, and operability. There are standards organizations engaged in the space industry, but ground processing is one of the areas least addressed. Challenges are encountered due to various factors often not considered during development. Multiple vehicle elements, sites, customers, and contractors pose various functional and integration difficulties. Resulting technical publication structures and methods are incongruent. Some processing products are still done on paper, some electronic, and many being converted in between. Business systems then are not fully compatible, and paper as well as electronic conversions are time-consuming and costly. NASA and its Shuttle contractors setup rules and systems to handle what has produced over 130 RLV launches, but they have had many challenges. Attempts have been made to apply aviation industry specifications to make the Shuttle more efficient with its ground processing. One efficiency project example was to make a Shuttle Maintenance Manual (SMM) based on the commercial ATA (Air Transport Association of America) Spec 100 for technical publications. This industry standard, along with others, has been a foundation for efficient global MRO of commercial airlines for years. A modified version was also made for some military aircraft. The SMM project found many similarities in Spec 100 which apply to the Shuttle, and room for expansion for space systems/structures not in aircraft. The SMM project team met with the ATA and representatives from NASA's X-33 and X-34 programs to discuss collaboration on a national space standard based on Spec 100. A pilot project was enabled for a subset of Shuttle systems. Full implementation was not yet achieved, X-33 and X-34 were cancelled, and the Shuttles were then designated for retirement. Nonetheless, we can learn from this project how to expand this concept to all space vehicle products. Since then, ATA has joined with ASD (AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe) and AIA (Aerospace Industries Association) to form a much-enhanced and expanded international specification: Sl000D, International Specification for Technical Publications. It includes air, land, and sea vehicles, missiles, support equipment, ordnance, and communications. It is used by a growing number of countries for commercial and government products. Its modular design is supported by a Common Source Dabase (CSDB), and COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) software is available for production of IETP's (Interactive Electronic Technical Publications). A few space industry products in Europe have begun to apply Sl000D already. Also, there are other related standards/specifications which have global implications. We have an opportunity to adapt Sl000D and possibly other standards for use with space vehicles and ground systems. Sl000D has plenty of flexibility to apply to any product needed. To successfully grow the viability of the space industry, all members, commercial and government, will need to engage cooperatively in developing and applying standards to move toward interoperability. If we leverage and combine the best existing space standards and specifications, develop new ones to address known gaps, and adapt the best applicable features from other industries, we can establish an infrastructure to not only accelerate current development, but also build longevity for a more cohesive international space community.

Ingalls, John↗

Cryogenic Insulation Standard Data and Methodologies Project

Extending some recent developments in the area of technical consensus standards for cryogenic thermal insulation systems, a preliminary Inter-Laboratory Study of foam insulation materials was performed by NASA Kennedy Space Center and LeTourneau University. The initial focus was ambient pressure cryogenic boil off testing using the Cryostat-400 flat-plate instrument. Completion of a test facility at LETU has enabled direct, comparative testing, using identical cryostat instruments and methods, and the production of standard thermal data sets for a number of materials under sub-ambient conditions. The two sets of measurements were analyzed and indicate there is reasonable agreement between the two laboratories. Based on cryogenic boiloff calorimetry, new equipment and methods for testing thermal insulation systems have been successfully developed. These boiloff instruments (or cryostats) include both flat plate and cylindrical models and are applicable to a wide range of different materials under a wide range of test conditions. Test measurements are generally made at large temperature difference (boundary temperatures of 293 K and 78 K are typical) and include the full vacuum pressure range. Results are generally reported in effective thermal conductivity (ke) and mean heat flux (q) through the insulation system. The new cryostat instruments provide an effective and reliable way to characterize the thermal performance of materials under subambient conditions. Proven in through thousands of tests of hundreds of material systems, they have supported a wide range of aerospace, industry, and research projects. Boiloff testing technology is not just for cryogenic testing but is a cost effective, field-representative methodology to test any material or system for applications at sub-ambient temperatures. This technology, when adequately coupled with a technical standards basis, can provide a cost-effective, field-representative methodology to test any material or system for applications at sub-ambient to cryogenic temperatures. A growing need for energy efficiency and cryogenic applications is creating a worldwide demand for improved thermal insulation systems for low temperatures. The need for thermal characterization of these systems and materials raises a corresponding need for insulation test standards and thermal data targeted for cryogenic-vacuum applications. Such standards have a strong correlation to energy, transportation, and environment and the advancement of new materials technologies in these areas. In conjunction with this project, two new standards on cryogenic insulation were recently published by ASTM International: C1774 and C740. Following the requirements of NPR 7120.10, Technical Standards for NASA Programs and Projects, the appropriate information in this report can be provided to the NASA Chief Engineer as input for NASA's annual report to NIST, as required by OMB Circular No. A-119, describing NASA's use of voluntary consensus standards and participation in the development of voluntary consensus standards and bodies.

Technology Portfolio System↗

Recent Developments and Future Directions in CCSDS Flight Dynamics Standards

Progress by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Standards (CCSDS) Navigation Working Group in developing international standards for use in space flight dynamics operations has been regularly presented at the ISSFD. Since the last update in 2012, the status of several standards has changed relative to previous reports: the Conjunction Data Message has been published and is widely used, the Pointing Request Message is in final prototyping, the Navigation Hardware Message may be cancelled, the Spacecraft Maneuver Message has been discontinued, a new Re-Entry Data Message standard has been started, the Events Message is about to start, and the "first generation" standards (Orbit Data Messages, Attitude Data Messages, Tracking Data Message, NDM/XML Specification) are being revised. Future directions have primarily arisen in the context of "second generation" standards that supplement first generation standards. The need to duplicate common data structures (e.g., an orbit state) commonly arises. Two important objectives of CCSDS international standards are interoperability and cross-support, which makes consistency essential. Still, maintaining consistency from one standard to another is challenging. The related concepts of duplication and consistency have led to the still evolving notion of a "universal, modular message". Recent discussion suggests this concept may be the way forward.

Berry, David S.↗

Evaluation of Aerobic Standards for Lunar Surface Extravehicular Activities

Introduction: As NASA prepares to return to the Moon, astronauts will need to be physically primed to successfully execute Extravehicular Activities (EVA) on the Lunar surface. Compared to past Apollo missions, Artemis missions will include EVAs of increased physical demand, frequency, intensity, and duration, thus requiring adequate fitness to successfully and safely complete mission objectives. The physical demand associated with partial gravity (g) EVAs on the Moon is expected to be greater compared to microgravity EVAs based on initial workload estimation. Currently, aerobic fitness standards for partial g EVAs are not well supported by high-fidelity data and require further research for establishing standards to protect crew health and performance during Lunar surface missions. Therefore, the aim of this investigation is to characterize metabolic data from Lunar analog simulations and in-flight crew population aerobic capacity data to validate the current NASA 3001 standard for celestial partial g aerobic fitness (aerobic capacity (VO_2pk) ≥36.5ml/kg/min). Methods: In order to evaluate aerobic fitness requirements for Lunar EVAs, the following were performed: 1) preliminary analysis of long-duration (6 hr) EVA analog simulations in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) and the Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) to evaluate expected metabolic rates for 1/6 g EVAs (NBL: n=1 female; ARGOS: n=1 male) and 2) assessment of the current NASA 3001 celestial surface EVA aerobic standard (aerobic capacity (VO_2pk) ≥36.5ml/kg/min) with data from an ISS astronaut population (n=30 male + 13 female) captured before and during space flight (flight day 15). Preliminary Results: Average fractional aerobic capacity during simulated EVAs were 33%±7% VO_2pk and 23.3±7% VO_2pk in the NBL and ARGOS, respectively. This was within a previously predicted 30–40% sustainable work rate. Average metabolic rates for some tasks performed in the NBL, such as traverse (40.4% VO_2pk) and ingress (47.1% VO_2pk) were higher than the predicted sustainable work range. In ARGOS, the tasks with the greatest metabolic rates were object relocation (34.2% VO_2pk) and incapacitated crew rescue (27.0% VO_2pk). Characterization of ISS crewmember aerobic capacity determined that the average preflight VO_2pk was 42.1±5.4 ml/kg/min for females and 37.5±5.4 ml/kg/min for males. At preflight, 21.5% of crewmembers were below the 36.5 ml/kg/min in-mission aerobic standard for celestial surface EVA as outlined in NASA-STD-3001. In-flight, both female and male crewmembers experienced reductions in VO_2pk (11.7% and 10.9%, respectively), such that, during the mission, 62% of crewmembers were below the standard aerobic capacity level for celestial surface EVAs. Conclusions: Our preliminary data suggest that while average metabolic rates for simulated Lunar EVA fall within the 30–40% sustainable work range, task specific metabolic rates exceed this range and may indicate that greater fitness is necessary for more strenuous tasks expected to be performed on the Lunar surface. Additionally, deconditioning due to space flight results in most crewmembers falling below the current celestial partial g EVA standard, which may increase risk to crew health and performance and completing mission objectives for surface missions. Further research is necessary in Artemis-specific analog environments to validate the current NASA-3001 aerobic standard for celestial EVAs. Additionally, work is ongoing to validate the current NASA-3001 strength standard for celestial EVAs.

N.C. Strock↗

History and Status of DoE's Standardized Canister - 19657

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for managing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) currently in its possession, as well as SNF that will come into its possession in the future. DOE will rely upon the standardized canister to confine radionuclides and precluding the moderator in order to ensure safe, long-term management and disposition of SNF in its possession. This strategy helps minimize characterization costs (i.e., funds and exposure) and other technical challenges associated with the traditional approach of relying on fuel-specific properties to demonstrate compliance with the regulator. The use of the standardized canister offers the following benefits: - The standardized canister design is complete. It has been tested under a variety of drop and accident scenarios and was subsequently licensed under 10 CFR 72 as a storage system as part of the Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation (FWENC) Facility. It is also part of the license submittal for Yucca Mountain. - There is high confidence that the standardized canister design can be stored within commercially-available storage casks and licensed as part of a transportation-system package. - A robust standardized canister simplifies accident analyses and does not rely on characterization of the contained waste. This simplifies safety analysis, provides a greater level of confidence with stakeholders and reduces cost and risk. - A common design for the associated packaging, closure, and loadout facilities results in significant savings. - The DOE standardized canister would simplify design efforts, procurement, and fabrication. - Standardizing handling activities and associated training, procedures, equipment, and tooling leads to enhanced safety and surety of operations. The standardized canister is the preferred package for these materials. It withstood scrutiny by the Yucca Mountain Repository License Application, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, an American Society of Mechanical Engineers peer review, and the FWENC storage license application. This evaluation summarizes and documents the status of the design and rationale for the DOE standardized canister, and outlines remaining needs before deployment. In addition, it discusses the factors that have the potential to influence storage, transportation, and disposal of DOE SNF. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Evaluation of the Neutron Data Standards

With the need for improving existing nuclear data evaluations, (e.g., ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JEFF-3.3 releases) the first step was to evaluate the standards for use in such a library. This new standards evaluation made use of improved experimental data and some developments in the methodology of analysis and evaluation. In addition to the work on the traditional standards, this work produced the extension of some energy ranges and includes new reactions that are called reference cross sections. Since the effort extends beyond the traditional standards, it is called the neutron data standards evaluation. This international effort has produced new evaluations of the following cross section standards: the H(n,n), 6 Li(n,t), 10 B(n,α), 10 B(n,α 1 γ), nat C(n,n), Au(n,γ), 235 U(n,f) and 238 U(n,f). Also in the evaluation process the 238 U(n,γ) and 239 Pu(n,f) cross sections that are not standards were evaluated. Evaluations were also obtained for data that are not traditional standards: the Maxwellian spectrum averaged cross section for the Au(n,γ) cross section at 30 keV; reference cross sections for prompt γ-ray production in fast neutron-induced reactions; reference cross sections for very high energy fission cross sections; the 252 Cf spontaneous fission neutron spectrum and the 235 U prompt fission neutron spectrum induced by thermal incident neutrons; and the thermal neutron constants. The data and covariance matrices of the uncertainties were obtained directly from the evaluation procedure.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

History and Status of DOE’s Standardized Canister – 19657

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for managing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) that is currently in, or will in the future come into, its possession. The DOE standardized canister will be relied upon to confine radionuclides and preclude moderator in order to ensure safe, long-term management and disposition of DOE SNF. This strategy offers an avenue for avoiding the characterization costs (i.e. funds and exposure) and other technical challenges associated with the traditional approach of relying on fuel-specific properties as the basis for demonstrating compliance with the regulator. The use of the standardized canister offers the following benefits: • The standardized canister design is complete. It has been tested under a variety of drop and accident scenarios and was subsequently licensed under 10 CFR 72 as a storage system as part of the FWENC Facility. It is also part of the license submittal for Yucca Mountain. • There is high confidence that the standardized canister design can be stored within commercially available storage casks and licensed as part of a transportation-system package. • The robustness of the standardized canister simplifies accident analyses and does not rely on characterization of the contained waste. This simplifies safety analysis, provides a greater level of confidence with stake holders and reduces cost and risk. • Significant savings result from a common design for the associated packaging, closure, and loadout facilities. • Design efforts, procurement, and fabrication are simplified • Safety and surety of operations are enhanced by standardizing handling activities and associated training, procedures, equipment, and tooling. The standardized canister is the preferred package for these materials and has withstood scrutiny by the Yucca Mountain Repository License Application, the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, an American Society of Mechanical Engineers peer review, and the Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation storage license application. This evaluation summarizes and documents the status of the design and rationale for the DOE standardized canister and outlines the remaining needs to allow deployment. In addition, it discusses the factors that have the potential to influence storage, transportation, and disposal of DOE SNF.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2013 Preliminary Determination: Qualitative Analysis

Section 304(b) of the Energy Conservation and Production Act (ECPA), as amended, requires the Secretary of Energy to make a determination each time a revised version of ASHRAE Standard 90.1 is published with respect to whether the revised standard would improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings. When the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issues an affirmative determination on Standard 90.1, states are statutorily required to certify within two years that they have reviewed and updated the commercial provisions of their building energy code, with respect to energy efficiency, to meet or exceed the revised standard. This report provides a preliminary qualitative analysis of all addenda to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2010 (referred to as Standard 90.1-2010 or 2010 edition) that were included in ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2013 (referred to as Standard 90.1-2013 or 2013 edition).

determination↗

IEEE 1547 and 2030 Standards for Distributed Energy Resources Interconnection and Interoperability with the Electricity Grid

Public-private partnerships have been a mainstay of the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (DOE/NREL) approach to research and development. These partnerships also include technology development that enables grid modernization and distributed energy resources (DER) advancement, especially renewable energy systems integration with the grid. Through DOE/NREL and industry support of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards development, the IEEE 1547 series of standards has helped shape the way utilities and other businesses have worked together to realize increasing amounts of DER interconnected with the distribution grid. And more recently, the IEEE 2030 series of standards is helping to further realize greater implementation of communications and information technologies that provide interoperability solutions for enhanced integration of DER and loads with the grid. For these standards development partnerships, for approximately $\$$1 of federal funding, industry partnering has contributed $\$$5. In this report, the status update is presented for the American National Standards IEEE 1547 and IEEE 2030 series of standards. A short synopsis of the history of the 1547 standards is first presented, then the current status and future direction of the ongoing standards development activities are discussed.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

New Theories for Physics beyond the Standard Model

The theoretical particle physics and cosmology group at Case Western Reserve University has a great tradition in this field of research. The PI is a new professor at CWRU, and his main goal is to establish a new theoretical effort in particle physics and cosmology. The PI has been working on physics beyond the Standard Model for more than 12 years and have published more than 75 publications in this field. The proposed research project will be crucial for the postdocs and students to understand the different theories for physics beyond the Standard Model and become world experts in this field of research. The main goal of this project is to investigate new theories for physics beyond the Standard Model. The Standard Model of Particle Physics is one of the most successful theories of nature, but it cannot explain many open issues in particle physics and cosmology. In this proposal we propose to investigate new ideas which could lead to a more complete theory. The PI has proposed new theories for physics beyond the Standard Model where the baryon and lepton numbers can be defined as local gauge symmetries spontaneously broken at the low scale. In these theories one can understand the proton stability and one have some interesting predictions for cosmology. These theories have the potential to change the standard paradigm for physics beyond the Standard Model, where one assumes a great desert between the electroweak scale and the scale where one has the possible unification of fundamental forces. In this context one does not need to postulate the great desert, the proton is stable, and one can have the unification of the gauge forces at the low scale. We propose to investigate theoretical, cosmological and phenomenological aspects of the theories where the baryon and lepton numbers are local gauge symmetries. We plan to investigate new possible baryogenesis mechanisms in the case where the local baryon number is spontaneously broken at the low scale. In this case there could be a relation between the baryon asymmetry and the asymmetry in the dark matter sector. In the context of these theories, one has different candidates for the cold dark matter in the Universe and we plan to investigate all predictions for direct detection experiments and the possible signals at gamma-ray telescopes. The different signatures at the Large Hadron Collider will be investigated in great detail. In these theories one predicts the existence of new particle with baryon and lepton numbers called lepto- baryons which can give rise to exotic signatures at the Large Hadron Collider. One of the most interesting aspects to study in this context is the unification of gauge forces. Since the proton is stable in this theory one can realized the unification at the low scale and understand the embedding of these theories in grand unified theories. These studies could define a new way to think about physics beyond the Standard Model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗