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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

BISON High Burnup Structure Modeling Capabilities Validated with a Selection of the Halden IFA-650 Rods

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS)program aims to develop predictive capabilities using computational methods for the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel cycle systems. This program has been supporting the development of BISON, a high-fidelity and high-resolution fuel performance tool at the engineering scale. This document continues analysis and refinement of capabilities added to BISON early this calendar year in regards to the incorporation of capabilities applicable to extended burnups in response to industry interest. Details are provided on high burnup thermal conductivity models, a refitting of the high-burnup structure (HBS) porosity formation model to include additional data, the coupling of the HBS volume fraction model to thermal conductivity and fine fragmentation models, and validation activities. The IFA-650.4 and IFA-650.9 loss of coolant accident (LOCA) analyses are revisited with the latest developments in this report. A new validation case, IFA-650.14 has also been added to the BISON test suite.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Augmented Reality for Managing Nuclear Infrastructure and Operations - 19605

Emerging augmented reality tools offer great promise for helping manage nuclear infrastructure throughout its life cycle. These tools have the ability to provide operators with actionable holographic information as they work. Perhaps more excitingly these tools also feature sensors that provide the ability to document work at very high spatial resolution. These sensors include onboard cameras as well as active infrared sensors that can capture 3D geometry information on-the-fly. Coupling the visualization and sensing tools provided by augmented reality headsets with computational intelligence opens up many exciting new possibilities for managing nuclear infrastructure throughout its life cycle. In this presentation we show a number of examples of how augmented reality tools can be incorporated into the management of nuclear infrastructure. We show examples of using augmented reality as a human-machine interface for robotic control, and we show examples of augmented reality being interfaced with external sensors. Finally, we show how these sensing and visualization capabilities of augmented reality can be interfaced with intelligent algorithms to help operators perform their work in nuclear facilities. The goal of the work is to spark discussions on how emerging augmented reality tools can help enable the next generation of efficient, high-performance nuclear infrastructure. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evaluating the Impact of Off-Design CHP Performance on the Optimal Sizing and Dispatch on Hybrid Renewable-CHP Distributed Energy Resources

The maturation of distributed energy resources (DER) has prompted the exploration of their deployment in commercial building applications due to their potential to supply energy at lower costs and emissions rates compared to centralized generation. While several software tools exist for evaluating the techno-economic potential of integrated renewable energy and combined heat and power (CHP) systems for distributed generation applications, many suffer from poor accuracy in capturing off-design (part load and changes in ambient air temperature and pressure) performance characteristics of microturbines, combustion turbines, or internal combustion engines. Thus, this paper presents a methodology for integrating these off-design characteristics in the mixed-integer linear program within REopt, a hybrid DER screening tool. The economic impact of the CHP off-design performance is observed through several application studies of various hybrid system configurations in different climates. Each study indicates how CHP off-design performance influences optimal sizing and dispatch decisions and therefore overall system economic value. We observe through case studies that modeling without the off-design effects, depending on the CHP prime mover and site, can result in Net Present Value predictions of hybrid systems that can be overoptimistic in frequently hot climates (up to 52%), too conservative in frequently cold climates (up to 11%), or unaffected (+/-1%) in temperate climates. Cases also highlight several advantages of hybrid systems relative to non-hybrid systems such as total economic value and the systems' ability to mitigate potentially negative consequences attributed to off-design performance.

ambient de-rate↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Integrated Energy Systems Prototype Human-System Interface for a Steam Extraction Loop System to Support Joint Electricity-Hydrogen Flexible Operations

Due to increasing economic competition from renewables and combined-cycle natural gas plants, nuclear power plants are looking toward flexible operations to enhance their cost competitiveness. The Integrated Energy Systems project under the Light Water Reactor Sustainability program of the U.S. Department of Energy focuses on joint electricity-hydrogen flexible operations. Joint electricity-hydrogen flexible operations entail the nuclear power plant diverting thermal energy via main steam to a hydrogen production plant located nearby. The steam serves to enhance the efficiency of the hydrogen production. Furthermore, high temperature electrolysis requires a large amount of electricity, which the plant can also provide. The plant provides steam and electricity to the hydrogen plant throughout the day, but during peak demand hours the nuclear power plant returns to solely providing electricity to meet the high demand. Through this flexible concept of operations, the plant can optimize the thermal energy it produces without having to maneuver the power of the plant. This report documents the human factors process to design and develop a prototype human-system interface for the steam extraction loop that serves as the conduit between the nuclear power plant and the adjacent hydrogen plant. The design process followed the human factors guidelines set by NUREG-0711, Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model (O’Hara, Higgins, & Fleger, 2012), and expanded upon by the Guideline for Operational Nuclear Usability and Knowledge Elicitation (GONUKE; Boring, Ulrich, Joe, & Lew, 2015; Boring, Lew, & Ulrich, 2016). The design process entailed operator interviews to determine the concept of operations for the steam extraction loop, a review and adaptation of digital interface design concepts developed by the team in prior projects, an iterative design process, and reviews conducted by both operators and human factors experts. Several versions of the prototype human-system interface were developed. Operators were interviewed to determine what design features they found useful and would like to see in the interface. The design underwent a review by human factors experts against NUREG-0700, Human Interface Design Review Guidelines (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2019), to ensure compliance with the latest human factors standards for digital interfaces in nuclear applications. The design was then prototyped as a functional windows-based application integrated with the Generic Pressurized Water Reactor simulator modified to include the steam extraction loop. The simulation is supported by the Human Systems Simulation Laboratory at Idaho National Laboratory, which supports operator-in-the-loop testing. This is an ongoing project and the next phase of the project entails performing an operator-in-the-loop usability study to evaluate the interface and examine the proposed concept of operations to extraction steam from the nuclear power plant for delivery to the coupled hydrogen production plant.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Demonstrated Low Pressure Loss Inlet and Low Equivalence Ratio Operation of a Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) for Power Generation

Presentation. An Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) program was funded by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), part of the U.S. Department of Energy, to evaluate the benefits of an RDE in a turbine power plant system. Aerojet Rocketdyne subcontracted a variety of support for the program with efforts in modeling, diagnostic techniques, and test campaigns. Over the span of the program more than 700 hot fire tests were conducted at 4 facilities with 7 RDE assemblies. This presentation will cover results from the final test campaign conducted by Aerojet Rocketdyne.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Preliminary Design of Reactor Cavity Cooling System for a Horizontal Compact HTGR

The Horizontal Compact High Temperature Gas Reactor (HC-HTGR) is being designed by a multi-disciplinary team of nuclear, mechanical, and structural engineers under the support of a DOE-NE Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program’s Advanced Reactor Concepts-20 (ARC-20) award. The objective of this ARC-20 project is to deliver a conceptual design for the proposed MIGHTR in 3 years and support its commercialization as a safe and low-cost HTGR. Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) is responsible for the design and analysis of the reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) as a safety system for passive decay heat removal of the reactor concept. This report documents the preliminary design study of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR. It includes the establishment of the design requirements, a high-level design study by initial scoping calculations, and preliminary performance calculations of the HC-HTGR RCCS design. Design requirements for the HC-HTGR RCCS have been established to guide preliminary design activities and scoping performance calculations. Initial scoping calculations including estimation of the water inventory, estimation of HVAC thermal capability, and a parametric study on loop dimensions by standalone RCCS analysis. Based on scoping calculation results, a set of baseline dimensions of the HC-HTGR RCCS was derived. A water panel modeling approach was investigated to explore various potential design options for the water panel under consideration for the HC-HTGR RCCS using RELAP5-3D. A test case study was performed to assess the prediction capability of two modeling approaches. The results were compared with CFD simulations conducted in constant RPV temperature and heat flux boundary conditions. It confirms the capability of the RELAP5-3D modeling approach to include all important heat transfer mechanisms expected in the HC-HTGR RCCS operation conditions. Then, a reference RELAP5-3D model for the 1/8 th of a compartment of the preliminary design of the HC-HTGR RCCS was developed. A preliminary performance analysis was conducted to evaluate single-phase natural circulation performance with different top tank temperature values and panel conduction performance in various operation conditions. From single-phase natural circulation performance analysis, the system operation mode was investigated in normal operating and limiting design conditions. It showed operation mode in a subcooled state with a proper top tank water cooling system. Parasitic heat loss by both internal air flow and RCCS was estimated, showing it satisfies maintaining below target maximum heat loss of the HC-HTGR RCCS. From the panel conduction performance analysis, two candidate materials for the riser tube such as carbon steel and stainless steel were compared in the thermal performance of HC-HTGR RCCS. From a single water panel test compared with CFD simulation results, it was confirmed that the current capability of the RELAP5-3D modeling approach for the water panel predicts the thermal conduction of two different materials of the water panel. Then, system-level thermal performance analysis was performed for 1/8 th of the compartment of the preliminary HC-HTGR RCCS design. It was first observed that the current preliminary HC-HTGR RCCS design had minimal impact on the overall thermal performance of the water panel by changing pipe material from carbon steel to stainless steel. From Argonne’s effort on the ongoing water-based NSTF testing program, several considerations other than the thermal performance point of view were addressed to be considered in selecting pipe materials.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Technetium Management for Hanford Tank Waste Processing and Disposition - 16399

Technetium-99 (Tc) generated from the fission of {sup 235}U and {sup 239}Pu in high yields is one of the most difficult contaminants to be addressed at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site. Among radioactive constituents in the tank waste, Tc presents a unique challenge in that it is radio-toxic (β = 292 keV), has a long half-life (T{sub 1/2} = 2.11x10{sup 5} y), and exists predominantly in the liquid fraction of the alkaline tank waste, generally in the anionic form of pertechnetate TcO{sub 4}{sup -}, which is highly volatile at low-activity waste vitrification melter temperatures and mobile in the subsurface environment. This makes immobilization of Tc into high-durability waste forms a critical technical challenge for nuclear waste management. The complex behavior of Tc under storage, treatment, and immobilization conditions significantly affects its management options. The overall objective of the Technetium Management program is to provide the DOE Office of Environmental Management with practical solutions to Tc needs encountered in the processing of Hanford tank waste. To reduce the technical uncertainty associated with the long-term environmental impact of Tc, a systems-based approach is needed to address Tc management needs by evaluating and developing science and engineering options for treatment, immobilization, and disposition of Tc contained in Hanford tank wastes. This paper describes major elements of Technetium Management program, including: - Identifying the chemical forms of Tc in tank waste through analytical speciation of low-valent Tc(I) species in alkaline solutions. - Performing proof-of-concept demonstration for detection of low-valent Tc(I) by fluorescence spectroscopy. - Identifying alternative non-glass Tc immobilization methods. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cyber-Informed Engineering Guidance—Implementing CIE in Early Systems Engineering Lifecycle Stages

Traditionally, cybersecurity is not considered in the design process. Design engineers typically focus on building safety and reliability into their products and applications. Security against malicious cyber incidents is often an afterthought, resulting in deployment of security solutions during installation or operation. Unfortunately, waiting to consider cybersecurity until later in the systems engineering lifecycle often results in less effective and more expense security. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) developed the concept of Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) in 2015 to provide a framework that enables cybersecurity to be built into systems beginning at the conceptual design stage. In addition to ongoing research by INL, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response has recently developed a National CIE Strategy document for incorporating CIE into the design and operation of infrastructure systems reliant on digital monitoring or controls. This paper provides a brief review of this National CIE Strategy as well as a roadmap to historical, current, and future CIE research by INL through the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) Cybersecurity Crosscutting Technology Development Program. A near-term focus of the DOE-NE’s research and development is to extend the foundational CIE work into detailed guidance for implementation during initial systems engineering stages in nuclear digital instrumentation and control projects and to demonstrate use of the guidance in an integrated energy systems project.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Global Power System Transformation Consortium

The Global Power System Transformation (G-PST) Consortium, an expert- and practitioner-driven initiative, engages key power system operators, research and educational institutes, governments, businesses, and stakeholders in all regions of the world to accelerate clean energy transitions at the ambitious scope and scale that is required. The G-PST Consortium provides coordinated, holistic support and knowledge infusion for system operators pursuing clean energy transitions, including performing cutting-edge research; providing implementation support for world-class engineering and operational solutions; supporting workforce development; building and disseminating open-access data and tools; and accelerating localized technology adoption, standards development, and testing programs.

consortium↗
DOE OSTI2022

Next Generation System Analysis Model Recently Added Features and Future Plans - Abstract

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA 1982), established the federal government’s responsibility to accept spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from waste owners and generators for ultimate disposition. SNF generated by the current fleet of commercial nuclear reactors is being stored at the reactor sites in spent fuel pools (SFPs) and in dry independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs). The US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) is developing an Integrated Waste Management Program (IWMP) comprising a suite of options and supporting analyses to enable future informed choices. The IWMP is applying integrated waste management system architecture analysis, system engineering, and decision analysis principles to inform potential future decisions regarding potential nuclear waste management system architectures. Architecture analyses of the IWM system are being conducted to support the future deployment of a comprehensive system for managing nuclear waste that considers all major aspects of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle (i.e., transportation, storage, and disposal). The Next Generation System Analysis Model (NGSAM) is an agent-based simulation software tool designed for the express purpose of modeling the IWM system. NGSAM imports data from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Unified Database (e.g., historic assembly information, thermal profiles for assembly heat, at-reactor dry storage loadings) to ensure that the simulation initializes with a realistic representation of the state of commercial SNF in the United States. Recent major enhancements that have been implemented into NGSAM since NGSAM was last presented at the WM2019 conference include: • Tracking of railroad escort and buffer car acquisition. • Addition of heavy haul and barge routes for some sites, as well as support for user-defined inter-modal routes. • Updates to the logic that checks the thermal maps prior to package transport. • Addition of an allocation method that predicts when reactor sites will pack assemblies from their pools for dry storage and allocates packages to those reactor sites in the preceding periods, favoring direct transport packages and reducing the number of packages that reactor sites pack for dry storage at their ISFSIs. • Addition of reactor site family operational limits, which are used to limit the number of loads from the pool and from dry storage at a given reactor site per year. • Support has been added for multiple canister loading maps and packages having multiple compatible transportation overpacks. • Updates in the handling of non-commercial fuel, including a new database containing data to support the updates. • Support for repackaging at reactor sites. • Implementing additional output reports or modifying existing reports. • User edits can now be created and edited via the NGSAM website. • Ability to load packages for dry storage at ISF pools. • Same-type package blending at DOE sites. • Support for multi-mode transloading at reactor sites. These new features have improved NGSAM capabilities and/or improve the user experience with the model and will be discussed in more detail. The initial NGSAM requirements for advanced reactor fuels, reprocessing, treatment, and conditioning are preliminary and are described at a high level in this paper: analysts will provide more specific requirements to the NGSAM team in the future. Additionally, there are many data needs associated with modeling advanced reactors in NGSAM, but many of the data or plans are still in progress and/or yet to be fully defined. However, this document describes an initial exploration of the data relevant to this program. Advanced reactor data will likely require revision as concepts evolve and new considerations are made. This is a technical paper that does not take into account contractual limitations or obligations under the Standard Contract for Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High-Level Radioactive Waste (Standard Contract) (10 CFR Part 961). For example, under the provisions of the Standard Contract, spent nuclear fuel in multi-assembly canisters is not an acceptable waste form, absent a mutually agreed to contract amendment. To the extent discussions or recommendations in this paper conflict with the provisions of the Standard Contract, the Standard Contract governs the obligations of the parties, and this paper in no manner supersedes, overrides, or amends the Standard Contract. This paper reflects technical work which could support future decision making by DOE. No inferences should be drawn from this paper regarding future actions by DOE, which are limited both by the terms of the Standard Contract and Congressional appropriations for the Department to fulfill its obligations under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act including licensing and construction of a spent nuclear fuel repository.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

A SQL to C compiler in 500 lines of code

Abstract We present the design and implementation of a SQL query processor that outperforms existing database systems and is written in just about 500 lines of Scala code – a convincing case study that high-level functional programming can handily beat C for systems-level programming where the last drop of performance matters. The key enabler is a shift in perspective toward generative programming. The core of the query engine is an interpreter for relational-algebra operations, written in Scala. Using the open-source lightweight modular staging framework, we turn this interpreter into a query compiler with very low effort. To do so, we capitalize on an old and widely known result from partial evaluation: the first Futamura projection, which states that a process that can specialize an interpreter to any given input program is equivalent to a compiler. In this context, we discuss lightweight modular staging programming patterns such as mixed-stage data structures (e.g., data records with static schema and dynamic field components) and techniques to generate low-level C code, including specialized data structures and data loading primitives.

Computer Science↗
DOE OSTI2018

High-Efficiency VCR Engine with Variable Valve Actuation and New Supercharging Technology

Higher efficiency engines are needed for full size pickup trucks, utility vans and medium duty trucks. The primary objective of the program was to demonstrate the potential for improving the fuel economy of a full-size pickup truck by 40 percent while producing at least 281 horsepower. Commercialization requirements include: 1. High torque values at low vehicle speeds: This capability is needed for accelerating a heavy vehicle from a standstill, accelerating uphill, towing or any combination of these factors. 2. High power output: This capability is needed for accelerating onto a highway or passing at higher speeds. The vehicle may be carrying a heavy load, going uphill and/or towing. 3. Compliance with tailpipe emission regulations: This requirement must be met, and is difficult or costly to attain with diesel engine technology. 4. Low fuel consumption: This capability is needed both for reducing operating costs and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) vehicle emissions. The capability is also essential for complying with fuel economy standards. 5. Affordability: The powertrain cost must be consistent with mass market pricing. 6. Engine size and weight: The engine must fit in the existing engine bays. Engine weight must also be minimized. 7. Favorable noise vibration and harshness (NVH): The VCR must not present unique NVH challenges. The current program was successful. The efficiency target was achieved and the engine produced 300 horsepower.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2020

BISON Capabilities for LWR Fuel Behavior Analysis During Accident and High-burnup Conditions

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program aims to develop predictive capabilities using computational methods for the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel cycle systems. This program has been supporting the development of BISON which is a high-fidelity and high-resolution fuel performance tool at the engineering scale. Increasing recent interest in applications at extended burnups motivated this study to incorporate more physically based models in BISON. This document details integration of newly implemented modeling capabilities into BISON, which includes (1) new thermal conductivity models that are valid up to 100 GWd/t, (2) models for the formation of the high-burnup structure (HBS), (3) two porosity correction methods beingapplied on the thermal conductivity due to the conducting pores during the HBS formation. BISON's results are verified and validated to test the new modeling capabilities

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Conceptual Design of the Reactor Cavity Cooling System for the Horizontal Compact High Temperature Gas Reactor (HC-HTGR)

Horizontal Compact High Temperature Gas Reactor (HC-HTGR) is being designed by a multi-disciplinary team of nuclear, mechanical, and structural engineers under the support of a DOE-NE Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program’s Advanced Reactor Concepts-20 (ARC-20) award. The objective of this ARC-20 project is to deliver a conceptual design for the proposed HC-HTGR in 3 years and support its commercialization as a safe, low-cost HTGR. Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) is responsible for the design and analysis of the reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) as a safety system for passive decay heat removal of the reactor concept. This report documents the design study to derive a conceptual design study of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR. It includes the identification of the functions and requirements of the HC-HTGR RCCS, design analyses including high-level design consideration and the calculations for optimizing design space of the system with supporting component-level analysis to inform the material selection and performance of the water panel, the description of the conceptual design of the HC-HTGR RCCS derived based on the analyses results, and performance evaluation of the conceptual RCCS for the HC-HTGR. A detailed concept of the RCCS has been identified and high-level system requirements has been developed for the HC-HTGR. Design space focusing on the natural circulation loop portion of the RCCS has been investigated to optimize the system performance. The initial baseline dimensions were firstly derived based on the scoping calculations. A component level design analysis was conducted for the water panel to inform the material selection and to assess its conduction performance. A preliminary system-level performance analysis was performed for the 1/8th of the compartment of the initial baseline design of the RCCS using RELAP5-3D. To improve the system thermal performance, the RCCS design has been updated by exploring various design options by design parametric analyses. Based on the results, the conceptual design of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR has been derived, which satisfies the target performance of ~1 MWt at the elevated vessel wall temperature conditions. Transient simulations were conducted for the conceptual RCCS design for the HC-HTGR under various operation modes and heat load conditions using RELAP5-3D. The system dynamics in different operating states was investigated and the system performance under transients of interest was evaluated. The results demonstrated the overall system feasibility that the RCCS design maintains structures temperatures lower than maximum allowable temperature with sufficient system inventory without any active heat removal in the design process with certain transients addressed. The HC-HTGR RCCS will have additional design updates of subsystems or optimization of the system components during the preliminary and final design phases. Since the entire plant has not been integrated yet, this delivered conceptual design is subject to changes for integration, that require additional conceptual design activities and Quality and Assurance implementation (Q&A). The performance assessment of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR will be then revisited and optimized to finalize the system design, and the RCCS integrated primary system analysis will be utilized to simulate selective accident scenarios of interest where efforts are currently undergoing in the project.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

WRS Capabilities Booklet [Slides]

WRS is the digital backbone of the Weapons Program—delivering trusted data assets, cyber-assured software and systems, and AI-enabling software—that transform insights into decisive action. We empower physicists, engineers, researchers, and scientists to think faster, act strategically, and stay ahead in an ever-evolving threat landscape. Our efforts ensure critical nuclear weapons data remains secure, accessible, and usable—supporting mission-critical work, informed decision making, and scientific advancement at LANL and across the Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE).

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2025

CRADA Number NFE-22-09375 with Vitriform3D, Inc. (CRADA Final Report)

Each year, roughly 8 million tons of glass are landfilled in the United States. Vitriform3D, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory through the Innovation Crossroads program, is developing an additive manufacturing approach to transform post-consumer glass into engineered stone building materials. A custom UV-curable binder jetting system was commissioned to enable recycled glass printing without energy-intensive oven curing. While this printer is still under development, the team pursued a parallel research track using ORNL equipment and a polyethyleneimine (PEI) binder. Printed parts were thermally post-cured and infiltrated with epoxy, with the resulting material exceeding fiber cement board performance. Silane treatment of the glass particles further improved glass–epoxy adhesion, yielding an additional 24% strength gain over the epoxy-glass composite, achieving nearly 3x the fiber cement benchmark. Ongoing research is focused on reducing epoxy content to improve cost and recycled content while retaining mechanical performance. This work demonstrates a scalable, low-carbon pathway to convert glass waste into high-value, locally produced construction materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Human Factors Principles in Information Dashboard Design - 278

Refueling outages remain one of the largest opportunities for improving capacity factor and reducing costs available to commercial nuclear power plants. Although the nuclear industry has made steady improvement in outage optimization, each day of a refueling outage still represents an opportunity to save millions of dollars and each day an outage extends past its planned end date represents millions of dollars that may have been spent unnecessarily. Reducing planned outage duration or preventing outage extensions requires careful management of the outage schedule as well as constant oversight and monitoring of work completion during the outage execution. During a typical outage, there are typically more than 10,000 activities on the schedule that, if not managed efficiently, may cause expensive outage delays. Management of outages currently relies largely on paper-based resources and general-purpose office software. A typical method currently used to monitor work performance is a burn-down curve, where total remaining activities are plotted against the baseline schedule to track bulk work completion progress. While methods like this are useful, there is still considerable uncertainty during a typical outage whether bulk work progress is adequate and therefore a lot of management time is spent analyzing the situation on a daily basis. This paper is a case study of how new technology, in combination with established human-factors and user-centered design knowledge, can be used to support Outage Control Center (OCC) personnel decision making. In particular, we describe recent advances made in developing a framework for the design of visual outage information presentation, as well as an overview of the human factors principles that informed the development of the visualizations. To test the utility of advanced visual outage information presentation, an outage management dashboard software application was created as part of the Department of Energy's Advanced Outage Control Center project (AOCC). This dashboard is intended to present all the critical information an outage manager would need to understand the current status of a refueling outage. The dashboard presents the critical path, bulk work performance, key performance indicators, outage milestones and metrics relating current performance to historical performance. Additionally, the dashboard includes data analysis tools to allow outage managers to drill down into the underlying data to understand the drivers of the indicators. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Grid Engineering for Accelerated Renewable Energy Deployment (GEARED): National Network Administrator (Final Report)

DOE developed the five-year, Grid Engineering for Accelerated Renewable Energy Deployment (GEARED) initiative and provided funding to create four Distributed Technology Training Consortia (DTTC) made up of universities, utilities, and organizations. These DTTCs supported the inclusion of power systems analysis, research and development, into training activities such as curriculum and short course development, internships & coops, and continuing education. Additionally, DOE aimed to build a national framework for power systems training and curriculum that accelerates the growth of power systems programs and human capacity. To that end, the GEARED initiative utilized a National Network Administrator (NNA) to manage and leverage the activities of the four DTTCs as well as that of others participating in distributed technology and engineering through research or practice. DOE chose the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) as the NNA.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗