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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

TidGen Power System Commercialization Project

ORPC Maine, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ocean Renewable Power Company, LLC (collectively ORPC), submits this Final Technical Report for the TidGen® Power System Commercialization Project (Project), partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-EE0003647). The Project was built and operated in compliance with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pilot project license (P-12711) and other permits and approvals needed for the Project. This report documents the methodologies, activities and results of the various phases of the Project, including design, engineering, procurement, assembly, installation, operation, licensing, environmental monitoring, retrieval, maintenance and repair. The Project represents a significant achievement for the renewable energy portfolio of the U.S. in general, and for the U.S. marine hydrokinetic (MHK) industry in particular. The stated Project goal was to advance, demonstrate and accelerate deployment and commercialization of ORPC’s tidal-current based hydrokinetic power generation system, including the energy extraction and conversion technology, associated power electronics, and interconnection equipment capable of reliably delivering electricity to the domestic power grid. ORPC achieved this goal by designing, building and operating the TidGen® Power System in 2012 and becoming the first federally licensed hydrokinetic tidal energy project to deliver electricity to a power grid under a power purchase agreement in North America. Located in Cobscook Bay between Eastport and Lubec, Maine, the TidGen® Power System was connected to the Bangor Hydro Electric utility grid at an on-shore station in North Lubec on September 13, 2012. ORPC obtained a FERC pilot project license for the Project on February 12, 2012 and the first Maine Department of Environmental Protection General Permit issued for a tidal energy project on January 31, 2012. In addition, ORPC entered into a 20-year agreement with Bangor Hydro Electric Company on January 1, 2013 for up to 5 megawatts at a price of $215/MWh, escalating at 2.0% per year.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2021

Properties, Theory, and Measurements for Understanding the Function of Heavy Elements (Project 20180474CR, Final Technical Report)

The FY18-20 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funded Properties, Theory, and Measurements for Understanding the Function of Heavy Elements Project aim has been to advance heavy element science in a comprehensive project connecting targeted research with Los Alamos mission imperatives. The mechanisms for project implementation were (1) support of a multi-year broad-based postdoctoral fellows project, (2) a summer student fellows research project and two seminar series, and (3) organization of structured workshops and integrated educational and career development opportunities. The project was successfully administered by the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute (GTSI) for Transactinium Science and has shown to be an exceptional investment in supporting the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) mission areas requiring heavy element and actinide science by attracting and funding the future generation of scientists and engineers. This project exhibited its value across the laboratory in heavy element and actinide science areas include materials, material properties, signatures, modeling, predictions, fabrication, detection, disposal, global security implications, forensics, and the specialized science surrounding plutonium, uranium, and their surrogates as fuels for energy and nuclear weapons. In this report, the GTSI project staff documents the “high return on investment” implementation as measured against the successes of previous actinide research and science-based projects and as evidenced by the retention of 30% of G.T. Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellows as permanent employees. With additional funding through LDRD Reserve funding during this project period, the GTSI expanded its support for heavy element and actinide science research with a Visiting Research Seaborg Scholar and a Rapid Response Small Projects call. These innovations have served to advance GTSI pursuits as communicated in our FY21-23 LDRD Proposal Project#: 20210527CR Seaborg Institute: Center for Advancing Actinide Science and Technology at LANL

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

HERO CarbonSAFE Phase 2 Project in the Columbia River Basalt Group

The Hermiston, Oregon Basalt CarbonSAFE Phase II project (HERO CarbonSAFE) seeks to accelerate the deployment of commercial carbon dioxide (CO2) storage projects in basaltic rocks. Basalt CO2 storage has several advantages to conventional saline storage reservoirs including 1. The potential for rapid mineralization of CO2, 2. Associated decreases in pressure and CO2 migration risks, 3. Reduced long-term monitoring requirements with respect to plume tracking, 4. Widespread geographic distribution and, 5. Large storage potential due to thickness, porosity, and CO2 interactions with basalt. And for locations such as the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, Iceland, India and Japan, basalts may offer the only economically feasible option for local CO2 storage. However, there are limited field-scale assessments of CO2 storage in basalt, and current carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) permitting and regulatory frameworks were developed for conventional saline reservoirs. HERO CarbonSAFE is designed to address research gaps and uncertainties associated with basalt storage. Specifically, the project will assess the feasibility of CO2 injection in the deep layered basalts, long-term storage (mineralization), practical approaches for large-scale implementation (50+ million metric tons of CO2 over 30 years), lithology-specific risks, and the technoeconomic potential for CO2 storage in basalts. The HERO CarbonSAFE project will assess feasibility of developing a commercial-scale (50+ million metric tons of CO2) geological storage complex within the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG), a layered continental flood basalt complex that underlies Calpine’s natural gas-fired Hermiston Power Project (HPP) in Hermiston, OR (Figure 1). Under this 2-year CarbonSAFE Phase II project, the HERO team will conduct a data acquisition campaign that includes drilling a stratigraphic well to a total depth of ~1,500 m into the thick layered basalts proximal to HPP. A comprehensive well logging and hydrologic testing program will be augmented with new core collected from flow zones and sealing units, and comprehensive laboratory testing to help refine the kinetic rates of mineralization. The newly acquired information will be integrated with existing data from regional wells to correlate basalt injection zone properties to develop storage hub/commercial-scale models. Using these models, the project team will evaluate injection scenarios to define the technical and economic potential for storing a minimum of 50 million metric tons of CO2 over a 30-year period, along with a robust sensitivity analysis on key parameters governing reservoir viability for sustainable injection over a commercial project lifetime. Specific technical objectives of HERO are: (1) assessing the reservoir response of a series of stacked layered reservoir flowtop sequences occurring in this area of the CRBG to commercial-scale injection volumes; (2) extending prior efforts by the project team to characterize the deep layered basalts encountered in regional studies, to leverage prior investments by U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Carbon Storage program; (3) leveraging DOE’s mineralization characterization efforts to advance model parametrization for commercial scale injection of CO2 in basalts; (4) conducting risk assessments associated with scaling up to commercial storage hub injection goals, while validating DOE’s National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) tools, to identify potential constraints that would prevent the CRBG from serving as a commercial-scale storage complex; (5) developing mitigation plans to address identified risks; (6) developing a commercial-scale injection and monitoring, verification and accounting (MVA) strategy; (7) utilizing computational models to define and minimize, if possible, the Area of Review (AoR) under Class VI regulations; and (8) developing a robust CO2 management strategy for CRBG that also considers a regional source/sink approach that is responsive to stakeholder needs and industrial demand. Specific institutional objectives are: (1) identifying and developing plans to mitigate the nontechnical challenges associated with the build-out of a commercial-scale storage complex within the CRBG with integrated CO2 sources; (2) implementing the community outreach plan; (3) conducting regulatory research, including a survey of issues related to pore space ownership, MVA and long-term assurance of mineralization-based storage, to support an eventual application for a UIC Class VI permit; (4) advancing the project’s plan for CO2 liability management; and (5) continuing to refine and update the project’s economic model. The final objective is the preparation of a comprehensive Site Characterization Plan that draws upon the technical and institutional feasibility assessments to prepare the project for future commercialization efforts.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

LAMP Project Facility and Space Requirements

The project will require significant space over the lifetime of the project to successfully execute design, technology maturation, component testing and verification, and final removal and installation. The types of space required falls into three general categories: office, storage, and laboratory. Figure 1 below summarizes the project space requirements by project lifecycle. The specific color coding indicates the availability (and potential risk to the project) of the particular type of space: green indicates space that is already allocated and in use by the LAMP project; yellow indicates space that is expected to be easily transitioned from its current use to the project; red indicates a space that is use by multiple users or other projects, and will most likely require high-level negotiations and planning to become available to the project. Figure 2 summarizes the LAMP Space Requirements by calendar year and type throughout the duration of the project. As can be seen in Fig. 2, the maximum space needed by the project exceeds 40,000 square feet, with an average space requirement over the lifetime of the project equal to approximately 25,000 square feet.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Projections of leaf area index in earth system models

The area of leaves in the plant canopy, measured as leaf area index (LAI), modulates key land–atmosphere interactions, including the exchange of energy, moisture, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and other trace gases and aerosols, and is therefore an essential variable in predicting terrestrial carbon, water, and energy fluxes. Here our goal is to characterize the LAI projections from the latest generation of earth system models (ESMs) for the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios. On average, the models project increases in LAI in both RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 over most of the globe, but also show decreases in some parts of the tropics. Because of projected increases in variability, there are also more frequent periods of low LAI across broad regions of the tropics. Projections of LAI changes varied greatly among models: some models project very modest changes, while others project large changes, usually increases. Modeled LAI typically increases with modeled warming in the high latitudes, but often decreases with increasing local warming in the tropics. The models with the most skill in simulating current LAI in the tropics relative to satellite observations tend to project smaller increases in LAI in the tropics in the future compared to the average of all the models. Using LAI projections to identify regions that may be vulnerable to climate change presents a slightly different picture than using precipitation projections, suggesting LAI may be an additional useful tool for understanding climate change impacts. Going forward, users of LAI projections from the CMIP5 ESMs evaluated here should be aware that model outputs do not exhibit clear-cut relationships to vegetation carbon and precipitation. Lastly, our findings underscore the need for more attention to LAI projections, in terms of understanding the drivers of projected changes and improvements to model skill.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Climate projections over the Great Lakes Region: using two-way coupling of a regional climate model with a 3-D lake model

Abstract. Warming trends in the Laurentian Great Lakes and surrounding areas have been observed in recent decades, and concerns continue to rise about the pace and pattern of future climate change over the world's largest freshwater system. To date, most regional climate models used for Great Lakes projections either neglected the lake-atmosphere interactions or are only coupled with a 1-D column lake model to represent the lake hydrodynamics. This study presents a Great Lakes climate change projection that has employed the two-way coupling of a regional climate model with a 3-D lake model (GLARM) to resolve 3-D hydrodynamics essential for large lakes. Using the three carefully selected Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) general circulation models (GCMs), we show that the GLARM ensemble average substantially reduces surface air temperature and precipitation biases of the driving GCM ensemble average in present-day climate simulations. The improvements are not only displayed from an atmospheric perspective but are also evident in the accurate simulations of lake temperature and ice coverage. We further present the GLARM projected climate change for the mid-21st century (2030–2049) and the late 21st century (2080–2099) in the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. Under RCP 8.5, the Great Lakes basin is projected to warm by 1.3–2.1 ∘C by the mid-21st century and 4.1–5.0 ∘C by the end of the century relative to the early century (2000–2019). Moderate mitigation (RCP 4.5) reduces the mid-century warming to 0.8–1.8 ∘C and late-century warming to 1.8–2.7 ∘C. Annual precipitation in GLARM is projected to increase for the entire basin, varying from 0 % to 13 % during the mid-century and from 9 % to 32 % during the late century in different scenarios and simulations. The most significant increases are projected in spring and fall when current precipitation is highest and a minimal increase in winter when it is lowest. Lake surface temperatures (LSTs) are also projected to increase across the five lakes in all of the simulations, but with strong seasonal and spatial variability. The most significant LST increases occur in Lakes Superior and Ontario. The strongest warming is projected in spring that persists into the summer, resulting from earlier and more intense stratification in the future. In addition, diminishing winter stratification in the future suggests the transition from dimictic lakes to monomictic lakes by the end of the century. In contrast, a relatively smaller increase in LSTs during fall and winter is projected with heat transfer to the deep water due to the strong mixing and energy required for ice melting. Correspondingly, the highest monthly mean ice cover is projected to reduce to 3 %–15 % and 10 %–40 % across the lakes by the end of the century in RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5, respectively. In the coastal regions, ice duration is projected to decrease by up to 60 d.

Xue, Pengfei (ORCID:000000025702421X)↗
DOE OSTI2025

IM3 + EPRI Data Center Load Projections

This dataset contains scenarios of hourly total electricity demand with and without projected loads from data centers over the period 2022-2040. The root projections without data center demands are identical to those documented in Burleyson et al. 2024. In short, those projections encompass hourly electricity demands for 54 Balancing Authorities (BAs) in the United States across a range of eight of weather and socioeconomic scenarios. Refer to the root dataset and accompanying publication, Burleyson et al. 2025, for information about how those projections were generated. For this derivative dataset we used the base loads from the following scenarios: rcp45hotter_ssp3 rcp45hotter_ssp5 rcp85hotter_ssp3 rcp85hotter_ssp5 The root load projections did not reflect the drastic expansion of data centers that has occurred in the last several years to support artificial intelligence and cloud computing. To reflect growth in data center demand, a second set of load projections were created in which we layered in additional data center load projections based on the data center load growth scenarios described in a 2024 report by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI): "Powering Intelligence: Analyzing Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Energy Consumption". The EPRI projections from the report are included in this dataset (EPRI_2024_Projections.xlsx). That report contained annual state-level data center load projections for four year-over-year growth rates for data center demands: Low (3.71% annual growth) Moderate (5% annual growth) High (10% annual growth) Higher (15% annual growth) To homogenize the load projections with and without data centers we had to get them to a common scale. The first step was to take the EPRI annual state-level data center energy consumption values and convert them to 8760-hr loads for each year. We did that by assuming a flat (e.g., not weather- or time-sensitive) load profile and distributing the data center loads in each state evenly across all hours in a year. From there the loads were downscaled from the state-level to the county-level using 2019 county-level populations as weights. Finally, the county-level hourly data center loads were summed to the BA-level using the county-to-BA mapping underpinning the root load projections. The net result is 16 (4 weather and socioeconomic scenarios crossed with 4 data center load growth scenarios) unique load projections for the period 2022-2040. The file format follows that of the root dataset with a single additional column "Scaled_TELL_BA_Load_with_DC_MWh" that contains the hourly loads with the added data center loads for a given BA-year-scenario combination. Please refer to the readme file in the root dataset for more information on the file format.

Burleyson, Casey [Pacific Northwest National Labor↗
DOE OSTI2012

Project Independence: Construction of an Integrated Biorefinery for Production of Renewable Biofuels at an Existing Pulp and Paper Mill

Project Independence proposed to construct a demonstration biomass-to-liquids (BTL) biorefinery in Wisconsin Rapids, isconsin. The biorefinery was to be co-located at the existing pulp and paper mill, NewPage Wisconsin System Incorporated’s Wisconsin Rapids Mill, and when in full operation would both generate renewable energy for Wisconsin Rapids Mill and produce liquid fuels from abundant and renewable lignocellulosic biomass. The biorefinery would serve to validate the thermochemical pathway and economic models for BTL production using forest residuals and wood waste, providing a basis for proliferating BTL conversion technologies throughout the United States. It was a project goal to create a compelling new business model for the pulp and paper industry, and support the nation’s goal for increasing renewable fuels production and reducing its dependence on foreign oil. NewPage Corporation planned to replicate this facility at other NewPage Corporation mills after this first demonstration scale plant was operational and had proven technical and economic feasibility. An overview of the process begins with biomass being harvested, sized, conditioned and fed into a ThermoChem Recovery International (TRI) steam reformer where it is converted to high quality synthetic gas (syngas). The syngas is then cleaned, compressed, scrubbed, polished and fed into the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) catalytic reactors where the gas is converted into two, sulfur-free, clean crude products which will be marketed as revenue generating streams. Additionally, the Fischer-Tropsch products could be upgraded for use in automotive, aviation and chemical industries as valuable products, if desired. As the Project Independence project set out to prove forest products could be used to commercially produce biofuels, they planned to address and mitigate issues as they arose. In the early days of the Project Independence project, the plant was sized to process 500 dry tons of biomass per day but would generate a blend of synthesis gas for the lime kiln and a minimum of Fischer-Tropsch liquids for sale. This was to be done using a single stage of Fischer-Tropsch reaction at roughly a 70% yield. The capability of the Wisconsin Rapids Mill lime kiln to run on the relatively low heating value of the product synthesis gas was problematic. The design was then changed to maximize Fischer-Tropsch liquids production using a two stage Fischer-Tropsch process. Project Independence progressed with the design of the mill as ThermoChem Recovery International worked on the technical details of the project as well as develop information from their pilot plant. The pilot plant work uncovered several problems with the synthesis gas clean-up that solutions. ThermoChem Recovery International found these solutions and developed a very good path forward on the technical side. The technical solutions were demonstrated in the pilot plant to everyone’s satisfaction. In July 2010, NewPage Corporation had been severely affected by the downturn in the economy and actively went to find a strategic partner. By April 2011 the Abell Foundation entered the picture as this strategic partner. The Abell Foundation would join forces as Project Independence Inc. to build the 500 dry ton per day Project Independence plant. The design of this facility progress even after NewPage Corporation declared Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in September, 2011. This continued until April 2012 when NewPage Corporation determined that continued work on Project Independence Inc. presented too much risk with little reward for NewPage Corporation. The project was terminated at this point.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Quantitative Risk Management - Risk Informed Decision Making on High-Risk Waste Remediation Projects - 19022

For every $1 billion invested in projects, $97 million is wasted due to poor project performance. That means 9.7% of money spent on projects is wasted due to poor risk and uncertainty management. High-risk projects, similar to those in waste remediation, have the most to lose. A solid quantitative risk management program is one of the keys to increasing the likelihood that a project will succeed. A quantitative risk program solves two major problems that challenge the effective management of risk and uncertainty: 1. Risks arise at all levels of an organization; however, not all organizational levels have an effective way to identify and resolve them. This can lead to risks that, even if identified, are not reported. 2. Decision-makers are often forced to operate solely on intuition when implementing mitigation strategies, not fully understanding the effects that certain decisions have on the program's cost and schedule. A quantitative risk program uses a risk register and builds it into the project/program integrated schedule to assess the impact of these risks, typically at the 80% confidence contingency level for specific milestones and/or project completion. Implementing a quantitative risk program drives a forward-thinking, proactive mentality to problem solving into all levels of the organization. A healthy risk program for regular reporting and communication ensures that all members of an organization are thinking about risks and using their communication channels to resolve them. It gives a method of communication and incentive for all levels in the organization and helps to ensure that risks will be reported and resolved. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed tools and methods that provide a level of realism for analyzing different scenarios and estimating contingency that does not exist in the standard industry risk tool kit. These tools and methods provide decision-makers with actionable, quantitatively based information to guide their decision making. The first tool is a probabilistic branching risk model for mitigation strategies. Current quantitative risk analysis tools in the industry simulate two cases: fully mitigated and un-mitigated. In the fully mitigated case, the user assumes that every planned mitigation activity is successful. In the un-mitigated case, the user assumes that none are successful. The truth lies between these two extremes. The PNNL team has developed a probabilistic risk model for mitigation scenarios that includes a probability that a mitigation activity will succeed and a probability that a mitigation action will be funded. These probabilities are elicited from subject matter experts and ensure that the contingency calculations at the specified confidence are approaching reality. The second tool developed at PNNL is the Risk Box, which is a tool that integrates with different scenarios in the risk register. For example, say the user is faced with two different and mutually exclusive mitigation actions to reduce a risk. The Risk Box methodology performs the contingency calculations and then displays them on a time-phased graph that shows how each scenario reduces the risk contingency needed on the project/program. This graph then provides quantitative information to show decision-makers which mitigation action provides the greatest reduction (cost and schedule) in risk contingency for the program. Implementing these and other tools within a structured risk program increases the likelihood that a project will come in on schedule and budget, ensures that all personnel are proactively thinking about problems and resolutions, creates communication channels for all members to submit and resolve potential problems, produces a prioritized list of risk rankings to focus leadership on issues that may cause the biggest problems, and implements processes that drive updates to the risk program as the risk profile changes. PNNL has been developing these methods and using them on projects for over 20 years. They have been successfully applied on waste management projects, high-tech research and development projects, and construction projects, and they continue to be used on a number of U.S. Department of Energy projects today. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2013

Developing Renewable Energy Projects Larger Than 10 MWs at Federal Facilities

To accomplish Federal goals for renewable energy, sustainability, and energy security, large-scale renewable energy projects must be developed and constructed on Federal sites at a significant scale with significant private investment. For the purposes of this Guide, large-scale Federal renewable energy projects are defined as renewable energy facilities larger than 10 megawatts (MW) that are sited on Federal property and lands and typically financed and owned by third parties.1 The U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) helps Federal agencies meet these goals and assists agency personnel navigate the complexities of developing such projects and attract the necessary private capital to complete them. This Guide is intended to provide a general resource that will begin to develop the Federal employee’s awareness and understanding of the project developer’s operating environment and the private sector’s awareness and understanding of the Federal environment. Because the vast majority of the investment that is required to meet the goals for large-scale renewable energy projects will come from the private sector, this Guide has been organized to match Federal processes with typical phases of commercial project development. FEMP collaborated with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and professional project developers on this Guide to ensure that Federal projects have key elements recognizable to private sector developers and investors. The main purpose of this Guide is to provide a project development framework to allow the Federal Government, private developers, and investors to work in a coordinated fashion on large-scale renewable energy projects. The framework includes key elements that describe a successful, financially attractive large-scale renewable energy project. This framework begins the translation between the Federal and private sector operating environments. When viewing the overall

Developing, Renewable, Energy, Projects, Facilitie↗
DOE OSTI2012

Oppenheimer's Box of Chocolates: Remediation of the Manhattan Project Landfill at Los Alamos National Laboratory - 12283

Material Disposal Area B (MDA B) is the oldest radioactive waste disposal facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Operated from 1944-48, MDA B was the disposal facility for the Manhattan Project. Recognized as one of the most challenging environmental remediation projects at Los Alamos, the excavation of MDA B received $110 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to accelerate this complex remediation work. Several factors combined to create significant challenges to remediating the landfill known in the 1940's as the 'contaminated dump'. The secrecy surrounding the Manhattan Project meant that no records were kept of radiological materials and chemicals disposed or of the landfill design. An extensive review of historical documents and interviews with early laboratory personnel resulted in a list of hundreds of hazardous chemicals that could have been buried in MDA B. Also, historical reports of MDA B spontaneously combusting on three occasions -with 50-foot flames and pink smoke spewing across the mesa during the last incident in 1948-indicated that hazardous materials were likely present in MDA B. To complicate matters further, though MDA B was located on an isolated mesa in the 1940's, the landfill has since been surrounded by a Los Alamos commercial district. The local newspaper, hardware store and a number of other businesses are located directly across the street from MDA B. This close proximity to the public and the potential for hazardous materials in MDA B necessitated conducting remediation work within protective enclosures. Potential chemical hazards and radiological inventory were better defined using a minimally intrusive sampling method called direct push technology (DPT) prior to excavation. Even with extensive sampling and planning the project team encountered many surprises and challenges during the project. The one area where planning did not fail to meet reality was safety. There were no serious worker injuries and the minor injuries recorded were those common to construction type activities. Extensive monitoring along the site boundary demonstrated that no hazardous chemicals were released and radiological dose to the public was within administrative limits. More than three years of effort by the LANL project team went into the planning for remediation of Material Disposal Area B. Hundreds of historical documents were reviewed; retired personnel were extensively interviewed and noninvasive techniques were used to characterize the site. The information collected was incorporated into the safety requirements, cost estimate, schedule and primary execution plan for the project. Ultimately the waste volume managed by the project approached 40000 m{sup 3}, more than double the original project estimate. This increase had a major impact on both project cost and schedule. Nuclear safety requirements for the project were based on an estimated MDA B radionuclide inventory of 12 PE-Ci. When excavation was complete over 123 PE-Ci had been removed from the trenches. The radionuclide inventory at MDA B was an order of magnitude higher than estimated. Work at MDA B could not have proceeded without the safety basis exemption from DOE-HQ. The one area where planning did not fail to meet reality was safety. There were no serious worker injuries and the minor injuries recorded were those common to construction type activities. Extensive monitoring along the site boundary demonstrated that no hazardous chemicals were released and radiological dose to the public was within administrative limits. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2014

Assessing corporate project impacts in changeable contexts: A human rights perspective

Project-level impact assessment was originally conceived as a snapshot taken in advance of project implementation, contrasting current conditions with a likely future scenario involving a variety of predicted impacts. Current best practice guidance has encouraged a shift towards longitudinal assessments from the pre-project stage through the implementation and operating phases. Experience and study show, however, that assessment of infrastructure-intensive projects rarely endures past the project's construction phase. Negative consequences for environmental, social and health outcomes have been documented. Such consequences clarify the pressing need for longitudinal assessment in each of these domains, with human rights impact assessment (HRIA) as an umbrella over, and critical augmentation of, environmental, social and health assessments. Project impacts on human rights are more closely linked to political, economic and other factors beyond immediate effects of a company's policy and action throughout the project lifecycle. Delineating these processes requires an adequate framework, with strategies for collecting longitudinal data, protocols that provide core information for impact assessment and guidance for adaptive mitigation strategies as project-related effects change over time. This article presents general principles for the design and implementation of sustained, longitudinal HRIA, based on experience assessing and responding to human rights impact in a uranium mining project in Malawi. The case study demonstrates the value of longitudinal assessment both for limiting corporate risk and improving human welfare. - Graphical abstract: Assessing changes in human rights condition as affected by both project and context, over time. - Highlights: • Corporate capital projects affect human rights in myriad ways. • Ongoing, longitudinal impact assessment techniques are needed. • We present an approach for conducting longitudinal human rights impact assessment. • Our methodology allows distinguishing corporate impacts from contextual changes. • Promptly observing context changes and impacts enables companies to react nimbly.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

A Novel Markerless Technique to Evaluate Daily Lung Tumor Motion Based on Conventional Cone-Beam CT Projection Data

Purpose: In this study, we present a novel markerless technique, based on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) raw projection data, to evaluate lung tumor daily motion. Method and Materials: The markerless technique, which uses raw CBCT projection data and locates tumors directly on every projection, consists of three steps. First, the tumor contour on the planning CT is used to create digitally reconstructed radiographs (DRRs) at every projection angle. Two sets of DRRs are created: one showing only the tumor, and another with the complete anatomy without the tumor. Second, a rigid two-dimensional image registration is performed to register the DRR set without the tumor to the CBCT projections. After the registration, the projections are subtracted from the DRRs, resulting in a projection dataset containing primarily tumor. Finally, a second registration is performed between the subtracted projection and tumor-only DRR. The methodology was evaluated using a chest phantom containing a moving tumor, and retrospectively in 4 lung cancer patients treated by stereotactic body radiation therapy. Tumors detected on projection images were compared with those from three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) CBCT reconstruction results. Results: Results in both static and moving phantoms demonstrate that the accuracy is within 1 mm. The subsequent application to 22 sets of CBCT scan raw projection data of 4 lung cancer patients includes about 11,000 projections, with the detected tumor locations consistent with 3D and 4D CBCT reconstruction results. This technique reveals detailed lung tumor motion and provides additional information than conventional 4D images. Conclusion: This technique is capable of accurately characterizing lung tumor motion on a daily basis based on a conventional CBCT scan. It provides daily verification of the tumor motion to ensure that these motions are within prior estimation and covered by the treatment planning volume.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Spin-projected generalized Hartree-Fock method as a polynomial of particle-hole excitations

The past several years have seen renewed interest in the use of symmetry-projected Hartree-Fock for the description of strong correlations. Unfortunately, these symmetry-projected mean-field methods do not adequately account for dynamic correlation. Presumably, this shortcoming could be addressed if one could combine symmetry-projected Hartree-Fock with a many-body method such as coupled-cluster theory, but this is by no means straightforward because the two techniques are formulated in very different ways. However, we have recently shown that the singlet S 2 -projected unrestricted Hartree-Fock wave function can in fact be written in a coupled-cluster-like wave function. That is, the spin-projected unrestricted Hartree-Fock wave function can be written as a polynomial of a double-excitation operator acting on some closed-shell reference determinant. Here, we extend this result and show that the spin-projected generalized Hartree-Fock wave function (which has both S 2 and S z projection) is likewise a polynomial of low-order excitation operators acting on a closed-shell determinant and provide a closed-form expression for the resulting polynomial coefficients. The spin projection of the generalized Hartree-Fock wave function introduces connected triple and quadruple excitations which are absent when spin-projecting an unrestricted Hartree-Fock determinant. We include a few preliminary applications of the combination of this spin-projected Hartree-Fock and coupled-cluster theory to the Hubbard Hamiltonian and comment on generalizations of the methodology. Results here are not for production level, but a similarity-transformed theory that combines the two offers the promise of being accurate for both weak and strong correlation, and may offer significant improvements in the intermediate correlation regime where neither projected Hartree-Fock nor coupled cluster is particularly accurate.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Statistical CT noise reduction with multiscale decomposition and penalized weighted least squares in the projection domain

Purposes: The suppression of noise in x-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging is of clinical relevance for diagnostic image quality and the potential for radiation dose saving. Toward this purpose, statistical noise reduction methods in either the image or projection domain have been proposed, which employ a multiscale decomposition to enhance the performance of noise suppression while maintaining image sharpness. Recognizing the advantages of noise suppression in the projection domain, the authors propose a projection domain multiscale penalized weighted least squares (PWLS) method, in which the angular sampling rate is explicitly taken into consideration to account for the possible variation of interview sampling rate in advanced clinical or preclinical applications. Methods: The projection domain multiscale PWLS method is derived by converting an isotropic diffusion partial differential equation in the image domain into the projection domain, wherein a multiscale decomposition is carried out. With adoption of the Markov random field or soft thresholding objective function, the projection domain multiscale PWLS method deals with noise at each scale. To compensate for the degradation in image sharpness caused by the projection domain multiscale PWLS method, an edge enhancement is carried out following the noise reduction. The performance of the proposed method is experimentally evaluated and verified using the projection data simulated by computer and acquired by a CT scanner. Results: The preliminary results show that the proposed projection domain multiscale PWLS method outperforms the projection domain single-scale PWLS method and the image domain multiscale anisotropic diffusion method in noise reduction. In addition, the proposed method can preserve image sharpness very well while the occurrence of 'salt-and-pepper' noise and mosaic artifacts can be avoided. Conclusions: Since the interview sampling rate is taken into account in the projection domain multiscale decomposition, the proposed method is anticipated to be useful in advanced clinical and preclinical applications where the interview sampling rate varies.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT: A sensitivity analysis of respiratory signal, binning method, reconstruction algorithm, and projection angular spacing

Purpose: Respiratory signal, binning method, and reconstruction algorithm are three major controllable factors affecting image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT (4D-CBCT), which is widely used in image guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Previous studies have investigated each of these factors individually, but no integrated sensitivity analysis has been performed. In addition, projection angular spacing is also a key factor in reconstruction, but how it affects image quality is not obvious. An investigation of the impacts of these four factors on image quality can help determine the most effective strategy in improving 4D-CBCT for IGRT. Methods: Fourteen 4D-CBCT patient projection datasets with various respiratory motion features were reconstructed with the following controllable factors: (i) respiratory signal (real-time position management, projection image intensity analysis, or fiducial marker tracking), (ii) binning method (phase, displacement, or equal-projection-density displacement binning), and (iii) reconstruction algorithm [Feldkamp–Davis–Kress (FDK), McKinnon–Bates (MKB), or adaptive-steepest-descent projection-onto-convex-sets (ASD-POCS)]. The image quality was quantified using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio, and edge-response width in order to assess noise/streaking and blur. The SNR values were also analyzed with respect to the maximum, mean, and root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) projection angular spacing to investigate how projection angular spacing affects image quality. Results: The choice of respiratory signals was found to have no significant impact on image quality. Displacement-based binning was found to be less prone to motion artifacts compared to phase binning in more than half of the cases, but was shown to suffer from large interbin image quality variation and large projection angular gaps. Both MKB and ASD-POCS resulted in noticeably improved image quality almost 100% of the time relative to FDK. In addition, SNR values were found to increase with decreasing RMSE values of projection angular gaps with strong correlations (r ≈ −0.7) regardless of the reconstruction algorithm used. Conclusions: Based on the authors’ results, displacement-based binning methods, better reconstruction algorithms, and the acquisition of even projection angular views are the most important factors to consider for improving thoracic 4D-CBCT image quality. In view of the practical issues with displacement-based binning and the fact that projection angular spacing is not currently directly controllable, development of better reconstruction algorithms represents the most effective strategy for improving image quality in thoracic 4D-CBCT for IGRT applications at the current stage.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-D-12A-01: An Inter-Projection Interpolation (IPI) Approach for the Synchronized Moving Grid (SMOG) to Reduce Dose in Cone Beam CT

Purpose: Synchronized moving grid is a promising technique to reduce scatter and ghost artifacts in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). However, it requires 2 projections in the same gantry angle to obtain full information due to signal blockage by the grid. We proposed an inter-projection interpolation (IPI) method to estimate blocked signals, which may reduce the scan time and the dose. This study aims to provide a framework to achieve a balance between speed, dose and image quality. Methods: The IPI method is based on the hypothesis that an abrupt signal in a projection can be well predicted by the information in the two immediate neighboring projections if the gantry angle step is small. The study was performed on a Catphan and a head phantom. The SMOG was simulated by erasing the information (filling with “0”) of the areas in each projection corresponding to the grid. An IPI algorithm was applied on each projection to recover the erased information. FDK algorithm was used to reconstruct CBCT images for the IPI-processed projections, and compared with the original image in term of signal to noise ratio (SNR) measured in the whole reconstruction image range. The effect of gantry angle step was investigated by comparing the CBCT images from projection sets of various gantry intervals, with IPI-predicted projections to fill the missing projection in the interval. Results: The IPI procession time was 1.79s±0.53s for each projection. SNR after IPI was 29.0db and 28.1db for the Catphan and head phantom, respectively, comparing to 15.3db and 22.7db for an inpainting based interpolation technique. SNR was 28.3, 28.3, 21.8, 19.3 and 17.3 db for gantry angle intervals of 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 degrees, respectively. Conclusion: IPI is feasible to estimate the missing information, and achieve an reasonable CBCT image quality with reduced dose and scan time. This study is supported by NIH/NCI grant 1R01CA166948-01.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Envision Charlotte Project Final Report

The Envision Charlotte Project (EC Project), supported by partners at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Center for Sustainably Integrated Buildings and Sites and the City of Charlotte, has successfully demonstrated that existing buildings can benefit from operations improvements and low-cost efficiency upgrades, and that behavioral change campaigns can be effectively designed for measurability, longevity and impact. Support from this grant gave Envision Charlotte and its partners the resources and flexibility to demonstrate a variety of approaches to improve coordination with stakeholders in the implementation of programs to reduce the consumption of energy, water and waste. The project team also gained insights into the motivations and abilities that influence stakeholder engagement in sustainability initiatives at multiple levels. Importantly, as this report describes, strong partnerships between nonprofits, industry partners and research institutions can produce tangible impacts and replicable results in building efficiency. Further, building operators working alongside student researchers can form productive relationships that can advance building energy management goals. Key Findings of the EC Project This project focused on advancing solutions to energy efficiency in U.S. commercial buildings. The Building Re-Tuning™ Training (BRT) developed by the U.S. DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL), designed to detect energy savings opportunities and implement improvements with resources and online tools, provided the starting point for the curriculum developed by stakeholders in the EC Project. Although the project partners encountered some issues with data consistency, the overall project outcomes fell short of the energy savings stated in the original proposal, and the total participating building targets were lower than anticipated, important findings, outcomes and lessons learned were achieved. EC Project grantees observed that the PNNL BRT, as currently written, was not compatible with the skills of average frontline mechanical personnel in the Charlotte region where the grant program was performed. Frontline staff are not, typically, energy managers, engineers or building commissioning agents, but they can play a key role in building performance. As detailed in this report, the grantees therefore focused on changes to the BRT that improved the level of training and competency of the frontline workers in this region. Among the technical observations related to improving the BRT that were observed in the EC Project: centralized facilities management often has an impact on building performance; operators can be overly reliant on service contracts; individual behaviors matter, and technology cannot be viewed as a crutch; current Building Automation Systems (BAS) are often too complex to support building efficiency optimization, but BAS coupled with appropriate training can support better outcomes; the “perfectly optimized” building is not a near-term possibility, but better education, especially of executives and managers, on the role of behavioral intervention is a promising direction the building science community can and should pursue; a lack of standards and protocols, and competition between proprietary software from service contracts, remain challenges for this industry. These technical observations, in turn, informed the EC Project’s overall findings, which were: Accomplishing building efficiency is a process of education for all involved in the building design, construction and operation supply chain. Building operators, as a professional class, have an opportunity for further training and education that will lead to better on-the-job performance. An updated Building Re-Tuning™ Training curriculum, based on the findings of this report, could be an avenue for these operators’ professional development.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗