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DOE OSTI2023

Advanced Simulation and Computing: ASC FY24 Implementation Plan

The DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is an integrated technical program for maintaining the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP incorporates nuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. The suite of data analyzed comes from activities including previous nuclear tests, stockpile surveillance, experimental research, and development and engineering programs. This integrated national program requires the continued use of experimental facilities and the computational capabilities to support the SSP missions. These component parts, in addition to an appropriately scaled production capability, enable NNSA to support stockpile requirements. The ultimate goal of the SSP, and thus of the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program, is to ensure that the U.S. maintains a safe, secure, and effective strategic deterrent. The ASC program is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities and computational resources to support the annual stockpile assessment and certification process, study advanced nuclear weapons design and manufacturing processes, analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and provide the tools to enable stockpile Life Extension Programs (LEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This work requires a balance of resources, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions. The ASC program focuses on increasing the predictive capabilities in a three-dimensional (3D) simulation environment while maintaining support to the SSP. The Program continues to improve its unique tools for understanding and solving progressively more difficult stockpile problems (sufficient resolution, dimensionality, and scientific details), and quantifying critical margins and uncertainties. Resolving each issue requires increasingly difficult analyses because the aging process has progressively moved the stockpile further from the original test base. While the focus remains on the U.S. nuclear weapons program, where possible, the Program also enables the use of high-performance computing (HPC) and simulation tools to address broader national security needs, such as foreign nuclear weapon assessments and nuclear counterterrorism. The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) calls for NNSA to “deliver a modern, adaptive nuclear security enterprise based on an integrated strategy for risk management, production-based resilience, science and technology innovation, and workforce initiatives.” Furthermore, “NNSA will establish a Science and Technology Innovation Initiative to accelerate the integration of science and technology (S&T) throughout its activities.” Executing this strategy necessitates the continued emphasis on developing and sustaining high-quality scientific and engineering staff, as well as supporting computational and experimental capabilities. These components constitute the foundation of the nuclear weapons program. The continued success of the SSP and LEPs is predicated upon the ability to credibly certify the stockpile, without a return to underground nuclear tests (UGTs). Shortly after the nuclear test moratorium entered into force in 1992, the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) was established to provide an extensive simulation capability to underpin stockpile certification. While computing and simulation have always been essential to the success of the nuclear weapons program, the program goal of ASCI was to execute NNSA’s vision of using these tools in support of the stockpile stewardship mission. The ASCI program was essential to the successful demonstration of the SSP, providing critical nuclear weapons simulation and modeling capabilities. ASCI officially evolved into the ASC program in fiscal year (FY) 2005, but the mission remains essentially the same: provide the simulation and computational capabilities that underpin the ability to maintain a safe, secure, effective nuclear weapon stockpile, without returning to underground nuclear testing. The capabilities that the ASC program provides at the national laboratories play a vital role in the nuclear security enterprise and are necessary for fulfilling the stockpile stewardship and life extension requirements outlined for NNSA. The Program develops modern simulation tools that provide insights into stockpile aging issues, provide the computational and simulation tools that enable designers and analysts to certify the current stockpile and life-extended nuclear weapons, and inform the decision-making process when any modifications in nuclear warheads or the associated manufacturing processes are deemed necessary. Furthermore, ASC is enhancing the predictive simulation capabilities that are essential to evaluate weapons effects, design experiments, and ensure test readiness. The ASC program continues to improve its unique tools to solve stockpile problems— with a focus on sufficient resolution, dimensionality, and scientific detail—to enable Quantification of Margins and Uncertainties (QMU) and to resolve the increasingly difficult analyses needed for stockpile stewardship. The needs of the Stockpile Management and Production Modernization programs (formerly Directed Stockpile Work) also drive the requirements for simulation and computational resources. These requirements include planned LEPs, stockpile support activities, and mitigation efforts against the potential for technical surprise. All of the weapons within the current stockpile are in some stage of the life extension process. The simulation and computational capabilities are crucial for successful execution of these life extensions and for ensuring NNSA can certify these life-extended weapons without conducting a UGT.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2019

Integrated Safety Management System Description (PG470252) (V.10)

Personnel at Sandia National Laboratories (hereinafter referred to as Sandia) comply with United States Department of Energy (DOE) Policy 450.4A, Chg 1, Integrated Safety Management Policy, and implement an Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) to ensure safe operations. Sandia personnel integrate safety into management and work practices at all levels so missions are accomplished while protecting Members of the Workforce, the public, and the environment. As a result, safety is effectively integrated into all facets of work planning and execution. Thus the management of safety functions becomes an integral part of mission accomplishment and meets the requirements outlined in the DOE Acquisition Regulation (DEAR) 970.5223-1, Integration of Environment, Safety, and Health into Work Planning and Execution, clause incorporated by reference into the Prime Contract. The DEAR 970.5223-1, Integration of Environment, Safety, and Health into Work Planning and Execution, clause requires DOE contractors to manage and perform work in accordance with a documented Safety Management System that fulfills conditions of the DEAR clause at a minimum. For purposes of this clause, safety encompasses environment, safety, and health (ES&H), including pollution prevention and waste minimization.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Five grand challenges of offshore wind financing in the United States

Offshore wind energy has the potential to play a critical role in fostering a renewable energy transformation in the United States. This owes to its massive technical potential, strategic location near densely populated coastlines, and - relative to onshore wind and solar - high capacity factors and consistent production. The Biden Administration's target to build 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 (from 0.04 GW today) requires the creation and swift development of a new industry that interlinks the wind and power industries with the maritime sector. Critical to its success is financing. While financial capital is abundant, deploying it for offshore wind faces major challenges. We identify and describe five grand challenges affecting offshore wind finance in the U.S. Failing to address these challenges may put deployment targets at risk. The challenges include (1) Early years financing: navigating the complexities, timing mismatches, and high costs of projects in the development phase; (2) Policy support for project financial solvency: addressing the uncertainty and systematic transfers of tax credits away from offshore wind, characteristic of the U.S. Investment Tax Credit; (3) Workforce development: building a skilled workforce for an emerging market; (4) Transmission and integration barriers: upgrading the power grid to reliably support large scale offshore wind integration; and (5) Floating wind development: financing the development and scale-up of floating offshore wind technologies. The second challenge has already been solved to a large extent by the Inflation Reduction Act.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS2010

Operational Lessons Learned from the Ares I-X Flight Test

The Ares I-X flight test, launched in 2009, is the first test of the Ares I crew launch vehicle. This development flight test evaluated the flight dynamics, roll control, and separation events, but also provided early insights into logistical, stacking, launch, and recovery operations for Ares I. Operational lessons will be especially important for NASA as the agency makes the transition from the Space Shuttle to the Constellation Program, which is designed to be less labor-intensive. The mission team itself comprised only 700 individuals over the life of the project compared to the thousands involved in Shuttle and Apollo missions; while missions to and beyond low-Earth orbit obviously will require additional personnel, this lean approach will serve as a model for future Constellation missions. To prepare for Ares I-X, vehicle stacking and launch infrastructure had to be modified at Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) as well as Launch Complex (LC) 39B. In the VAB, several platforms and other structures designed for the Shuttle s configuration had to be removed to accommodate the in-line, much taller Ares I-X. Vehicle preparation activities resulted in delays, but also in lessons learned for ground operations personnel, including hardware deliveries, cable routing, transferred work and custodial paperwork. Ares I-X also proved to be a resource challenge, as individuals and ground service equipment (GSE) supporting the mission also were required for Shuttle or Atlas V operations at LC 40/41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. At LC 39B, several Shuttle-specific access arms were removed and others were added to accommodate the in-line Ares vehicle. Ground command, control, and communication (GC3) hardware was incorporated into the Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP). The lightning protection system at LC 39B was replaced by a trio of 600-foot-tall towers connected by a catenary wire to account for the much greater height of the vehicle. Like Shuttle, Ares I-X will be stacked on a MLP and rolled out to the pad on a Saturn-era crawler-transporter. While Ares I-X was only held in place by the four hold-down posts on its aft skirt during rollout, a new vehicle stabilization system (VSS) attached to the vertical service structure kept the vehicle from undue swaying prior to launch at the pad, LC 39B. Following the launch, the flight test vehicle first stage was recovered with the aid of new parachutes resized to accommodate the five-segment-long first stage, which had a much greater length and mass than the Shuttle s reusable solid rocket boosters. After splashdown, recovery divers exercised extra care when handling the first stage to ensure that the flight data recorders in the fifth segment simulator were not damaged by exposure to sea water. The data recovered from the Ares I-X flight test will be very valuable in verifying the predicted environments and models used to design the vehicle. Lessons learned from Ares I-X will be shared with the Ares Projects through written and verbal reports and through integration of mission team members into the Project workforce.

Davis, Stephan R.↗

DOE OSTI2019

2019 Wireless Test Bed Range Manual

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Next Generation Wireless Test Bed (NGWTB) program, is part of the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) initiative. Our nation’s reliance on wireless and Internet technology is rapidly evolving as more corporations and government agencies, employees, and handheld devices include mobile connectivity for both voice and data. The competitive advantage offered by a mobile workforce is leading many corporations to make wireless integration and convergence a top business priority. Similarly, military systems worldwide are rapidly embracing next-generation commercial technologies to accelerate network-centric capabilities and provide enhanced situational awareness. While handheld devices such as laptops, BlackBerrys, and cell phones once had limited mobility and range, they are rapidly incorporating new and multiple protocols such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Satellite, and broadband cellular (3G/4G) on a single platform to increase their effectiveness and agility. Worldwide there is exponential growth in public Wi-Fi and/or Satellite connectivity access nodes, and 3G/4G cellular continues to evolve and expand the range and speed of these devices. Additionally, critical infrastructure networks, previously isolated or connected with dedicated wireline circuits, are incorporating Zigbee for wireless sensor networks, wireless LANs for maintenance functions, and cellular or Internet based backhaul to manage control centers. Yet with all the build-up surrounding wireless technology, few understand the complexities surrounding wireless protocols and security, the risks of converged network infrastructures, need for interoperability of communication systems, or mitigation measures to safely use and improve new technologies in both commercial and military environments. With no single vendor source for all the telecommunications equipment needed for wireless infrastructure upgrades, and no one entity providing end-to-end testing or independent validation, the INL's NGWTB program fulfills a niche for facilitating integrated testing of multiple technologies, across multiple wireless domains, of next generation wireless telecommunications systems. NGWTB engineers and technicians have constructed and operate domain infrastructure in the Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN), and Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWAN). Advantages that make the INL's NGWTB the place to conduct project and programmatic testing include: • NTIA Experimental Station authority • Geographically isolated and low-noise radio frequency (RF) test areas located on a 890 sm DOE reservation • Access to isolated high-speed LAN and FOT networks The rollout of next-generation networks will involve deploying new technologies at every level including new: handsets, frequencies, antenna arrays, cell configurations that are optimized for both data and voice, massive upgrade of cell controllers’ “land-line” phone links from low bandwidth connections to higher capacity fiber or wireless backhaul, and integration of voice switching and Internet/data network protocols (Voice-Over-IP, Web phones). These systems are expected to greatly transform our nation's communications infrastructure and the types of services it provides.

2G↗

NASA NTRS2018

NASA Guidelines for Promoting Scientific and Research Integrity

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seeks to explore and expand human knowledge of the Earth, solar system, and universe and to enable the development of aeronautical and space exploration systems. NASA's ability to achieve these purposes depends on the integrity of the research and technology activities the agency conducts and supports. The NASA workforce - as well as all external entities who review proposals for or receive NASA funding - must maintain the highest standards of scientific integrity. These responsibilities include selecting the most meritorious research activities through open and fair competition, peer review and other appropriate merit review processes, and avoidance of actual and perceived conflicts of interest; avoiding fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results; openly sharing results and methods not subject to classification or privacy standards; disclosing assumptions and biases in sharing and applying scientific information and data; and acting honestly and transparently in using and serving on advisory committees and in engaging in professional development activities.

Guidelines↗

DOE OSTI2022

Immersive Industrialized Construction Environments for Energy Efficiency Construction Workforce

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is actively developing and testing Immersive Industrialized Construction Environments (IICE) for construction automation and worker-machine interaction to investigate possible solutions and increase workforce productivity. At full scope and matured functionality, IICE allows us to accelerate the development of and better explore industrialized construction approaches such as prefabrication. IICE also enables wider adoption of energy-efficient products and Industry 4.0 construction automation through worker-machine interaction pilots. Industry 4.0 and industrialized construction approaches can encourage workforce specialization in energy efficiency construction, address the lack of multi-skilled workers, and increase workforce productivity with construction automation. However, recent attempts to integrate these concepts with the industry have only been moderately successful. To address this, focusing the pedagogy on using a digital twin, its digital models, and virtual reality could make the experience of continuing education on construction automation more affordable, accessible, scalable, immersive, and safer, and could greatly improve the efficiency and robustness of the building and construction industry. IICE accurately represents the realities of construction uncertainties without having to create full scale physical prototypes of machines. In this paper, we address the following research question: How can a digital twin and its models in virtual reality enhance the learning experience and productivity of energy efficiency construction workers to gain the skills in operating Industry 4.0 components such as construction automation and handling energy-efficient products in industrialized construction factories and on-site? We introduce original research on developing IICE and present preliminary findings from time and motion pilot studies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2022

Young Leaders Workforce Training Program Overview and Impact

To support the Government of Colombia's plans to transform its power sector, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has assembled a cross-organizational team to develop and deliver a comprehensive workforce training program for young energy sector leaders in Colombia designed to enhance the efficient integration of growing volumes of variable renewable energy (VRE) to the energy sector. The team - which includes USAID's Colombia Mission, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), USAID's Scaling Up Renewable Energy (SURE) program implemented by Tetra Tech, and the U.S. Energy Association (USEA) - collaboratively developed a series of seven capacity building modules designed to ready Colombia's energy sector workforce to participate in the construction, operation, and grid integration of VRE projects, such as wind and solar. This brochure highlights the program's objectives, results, and impacts to date.

Colombia↗

DOE OSTI2020

Integrated Initiative for Plutonium and Actinide Missions

Recognizing the dynamic environment and challenges facing the plutonium and actinide missions at Los Alamos National Laboratory over the next decade, Laboratory leadership established Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Laboratory Agenda Item 2.6. This agenda item calls for the development and implementation of an integrated initiative for plutonium and actinide missions at Los Alamos. Over the next decade, Los Alamos has been asked to significantly ramp up pit production to help address nuclear stockpile and nuclear deterrence needs, heat source production to support expansion in space exploration, evaluation of stockpile returns, processing operations in support of nonproliferation, and the actinide science to support all of these efforts. All of this must be accomplished while significantly increasing the size of our plutonium and actinide missions workforce and modernizing and updating critical infrastructure. Only through enhanced integration of science, technology, and engineering (ST&E), manufacturing, and mission operations will we enable achievement of these critical missions. An overall summary of the plutonium and actinide missions is included in Figure 1 on Page 3 and Figure 2 on Page 4 summarizes our goals, objectives, FY 2021 recommended actions and internal strategic priorities that are key elements of our integrated initiative.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

DOE OSTI2021

Design of COVID-19 staged alert systems to ensure healthcare capacity with minimal closures

Community mitigation strategies to combat COVID-19, ranging from healthy hygiene to shelter-in-place orders, exact substantial socioeconomic costs. Judicious implementation and relaxation of restrictions amplify their public health benefits while reducing costs. We derive optimal strategies for toggling between mitigation stages using daily COVID-19 hospital admissions. With public compliance, the policy triggers ensure adequate intensive care unit capacity with high probability while minimizing the duration of strict mitigation measures. In comparison, we show that other sensible COVID-19 staging policies, including France’s ICU-based thresholds and a widely adopted indicator for reopening schools and businesses, require overly restrictive measures or trigger strict stages too late to avert catastrophic surges. As proof-of-concept, we describe the optimization and maintenance of the staged alert system that has guided COVID-19 policy in a large US city (Austin, Texas) since May 2020. As cities worldwide face future pandemic waves, our findings provide a robust strategy for tracking COVID-19 hospital admissions as an early indicator of hospital surges and enacting staged measures to ensure integrity of the health system, safety of the health workforce, and public confidence.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

BOPTest As a Platform for Building Controls and Grid-Interactive Buildings Workforce Training

Building automation and controls are becoming increasingly complex with the emergence of Grid Integrated Efficient Buildings (GEBs) as well as new highly efficient sequences of operation and data-driven control schemes. However, there remains a significant gap in hands-on training opportunities for building operators and technicians to gain practical experience with advanced control systems in a low-risk environment. This paper presents BOPTEST (Building Optimization Performance Test) as a suitable platform for workforce training in building controls and GEB technologies. BOPTEST provides a suite of standardized building simulation test cases with a REST API, real-time control interfaces through BACnet, semantic models connecting users to building data, and built-in calculation of control metrics and performance indicators. The platform enables trainees to interact with virtual buildings using industry-standard protocols while learning how to implement and innovate control strategies. The training platform is designed to offer a structured and interactive learning experience for building engineers, helping them effectively develop, learn, and retain skills in fault identification, troubleshooting, and correction. The workflow is divided into three main phases: 1) Setup, 2) Exercise, and 3) Review, each comprising specific activities performed by either the instructor or the student. Initial pilot training sessions have yielded positive feedback from instructors and participants and demonstrates that BOPTEST effectively fills an industry need for a low-risk training resource via simulation of real building control systems, allowing trainees to gain practical experience before working in the field. The platform's ability to provide immediate performance feedback while maintaining familiar industry interfaces makes it particularly suitable for workforce development programs. This work provides a replicable model for leveraging building simulation in control education and training.

Paul, Lazlo↗

DOE OSTI2019

Emergency Management Program Overview [Slides]

The vision is to establish and sustain “world-class” emergency management and continuity programs by applying science and technology to meet the needs of our diverse group of customers in support of the vital national security mission. Our primary mission is to protect the workforce, public, property and critical infrastructure, and environment through integration of preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, and readiness assurance.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2025

BOPTEST as a Platform for Building Controls and Grid-Interactive Buildings Workforce Training

Paul, Lazlo↗

NASA NTRS2014

The Cassini Solstice Mission: Streamlining Operations by Sequencing with PIEs

The Cassini Solstice Mission (CSM) is the second extended mission phase of the highly successful Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Conducted at a much-reduced funding level, operations for the CSM have been streamlined and simplified significantly. Integration of the science timeline, which involves allocating observation time in a balanced manner to each of the five different science disciplines (with representatives from the twelve different science instruments), has long been a labor-intensive endeavor. Lessons learned from the prime mission (2004-2008) and first extended mission (Equinox mission, 2008-2010) were utilized to design a new process involving PIEs (Pre-Integrated Events) to ensure the highest priority observations for each discipline could be accomplished despite reduced work force and overall simplification of processes. Discipline-level PIE lists were managed by the Science Planning team and graphically mapped to aid timeline deconfliction meetings prior to assigning discrete segments of time to the various disciplines. Periapse segments are generally discipline-focused, with the exception of a handful of PIEs. In addition to all PIEs being documented in a spreadsheet, allocated out-of-discipline PIEs were entered into the Cassini Information Management System (CIMS) well in advance of timeline integration. The disciplines were then free to work the rest of the timeline internally, without the need for frequent interaction, debate, and negotiation with representatives from other disciplines. As a result, the number of integration meetings has been cut back extensively, freeing up workforce. The sequence implementation process was streamlined as well, combining two previous processes (and teams) into one. The new Sequence Implementation Process (SIP) schedules 22 weeks to build each 10-week-long sequence, and only 3 sequence processes overlap. This differs significantly from prime mission during which 5-week-long sequences were built in 24 weeks, with 6 overlapping processes.

Vandermey, Nancy↗

DOE OSTI2025

Modernizing the Nuclear Industry and New Ways of Working

Nuclear energy is recognized as the most feasible energy source towards achieving nation-wide net-zero goals (COP 208, MIT). Additionally, the demand for reliable, consistent energy supply is soaring with the construction of energy hungry data centers and AI tools. This means the construction of new nuclear and the continuation of current nuclear are a high national priority. However, this leaves the nuclear industry with a workforce challenge. The rising demand for nuclear power is threatened by an underpopulated workforce. There exist a few contributors to the decreased workforce such as skewed workforce demographics resulting in large-scale workforce retirement. Also, some plants have observed difficulty hiring and retaining skill sets that typically comprise the nuclear power workforce – specifically skilled craftsman. Those who are graduating with desirable skills are seeking employment in sectors that are more modern and culturally more aligned with younger generational values. Lastly, within the nuclear sector, skilled employees will be a competitive commodity as advanced plants come online offering work environments that incorporate modern technologies, skill sets, and opportunities for career advancement. These factors emphasize the need for legacy plants to modernize with a focus on the workplace environment and culture that meets younger generations’ skills, cultural expectations, and desire for advancement opportunities. Nuclear plants are actively engaged in deploying advancements that improve the management of systems, structures, and components as well as process improvements and technologies that can reduce the costs of operation and maintenance. However, the advancements must also be analyzed, reviewed and deployed in a manner that considers the impact on how people within the organization collaborate, communicate, make decisions, and solve problems. Neglecting to consider the cultural impact of modernization risks poor adoption, unrealized opportunities, or insignificant change toward helping attract new employees. The traditional way of working is not necessarily the way new generations want to engage with their employer. For instance, in a survey performed by North American Young Generation in Nuclear the top three reasons for younger nuclear employees to seek other job opportunities was seeking better work-life balance, a lack of advancement opportunities, and work culture and leadership style differences (Smyth et al. 2022). Integrated Operations for Nuclear (ION) is an approach for the nuclear industry to create long-term strategic modernization plans and analyze each advancement for the impact on people and processes and measure how those impacts flow up to support high-level, long-term plant goals and requirements. One principle of ION is to replace the current labor-centric operation style in legacy nuclear plants with data-centric collaborative operation styles. This paper will explain how transitioning operations to leverage centralized skills and responsibility, multi-skilled teams, and collaborative decision making can flatten the hierarchical structure in plants, enable greater individual efficacy while also offering more experiences and advancement opportunities to staff. Adopting the ION way of working shifts the industry mind-set towards more networked, collaborative, and modern way of working that will attract skilled, next-generation workers to operate the legacy nuclear fleet.

99 - GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2026

An Educational Program on Concentrated Solar Power and Heliostats for Power Generation and Industrial Processes

The objective of this project was to design and implement a comprehensive educational and applied research program in Concentrated Solar Thermal Power (CSTP) and heliostat technologies at Northeastern University. In alignment with the U.S. Department of Energy's Heliostat Consortium (HelioCon) goals, the project aimed to expand student and public understanding of CSTP systems while simultaneously contributing to workforce development and the broader decarbonization strategy. A particular emphasis was placed on integrating hands-on student design projects and publicly disseminating educational content relevant to CSTP systems. The project addressed a critical gap in renewable energy education: CSTP and heliostats, despite their importance in utility-scale solar energy, are rarely included in standard mechanical engineering programs. This project established new pathways for students to engage with the topic through the creation of a 4-credit graduate/senior elective course, development of five industry-facing short courses, and the inclusion of CSTP-based capstone design projects. Over two academic years, 36 students across six senior design teams developed and tested technologies such as deformable heliostats, beacon-based tracking systems, and solar-powered pyrolizers for biomass-to-biochar conversion. Concurrently, 30 undergraduate and graduate students were enrolled in the new academic course centered around CSTP principles. To ensure the relevance and accessibility of the short course content, the project team engaged with industry professionals, technical policy stakeholders, and potential course participants through structured surveys and informal consultations. Feedback from 28 respondents guided the structure, length, and delivery format of the courses - resulting in a modular design broken into five workshops. The feedback emphasized the need for flexible, asynchronous delivery and practical case studies, particularly in areas such as heliostat control, thermal storage, and solar fuel production. This engagement helped align the courses with the evolving knowledge demands of the renewable energy workforce and ensured that participants from both technical and policy backgrounds could meaningfully benefit from the material. The research and educational activities advanced the understanding of heliostat control systems, optical performance under misalignment, and thermal system integration in solar-driven pyrolysis applications. Methods and designs explored in this project proved to be both technically effective and economically feasible at the lab scale. Prototypes were constructed using commercially available components and custom-fabricated elements, demonstrating that meaningful performance improvements can be achieved with modest material and fabrication costs, supporting the feasibility of student-led research in this field. The public benefit of this project is twofold. First, it cultivates a pipeline of engineers trained to be familiar with CSTP principles, an essential workforce need identified by the Department of Energy for achieving its 2030 cost and deployment targets. Second, it contributes openly accessible educational materials, course content, and experimental frameworks to the broader community, enabling other institutions to adopt or adapt similar programming. Through outreach activities, curriculum integration, and technical exposure, this project contributes to a more informed and capable renewable energy workforce while supporting innovation in heliostat and CSTP system design. A new technical report is being prepared to document the development of the course and its outcomes, with plans to publish it in the ASME Open Access Journal of Engineering to ensure global accessibility, free of cost.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Integration of Pumped Heat Energy Storage with Fossil-Fired Power Plant (Final Report)

The project team of Southwest Research Institute ® (SwRI ® ), Malta Inc. (Malta), and Luminant Generation Company LLC (Luminant) completed a feasibility study for the integration of a 100-MW, 10-hour (1000-MWh) Malta Pumped Heat Energy Storage (MPHES) system with multiple full-sized fossil-fired electricity generation units (EGU) in Luminant portfolio. MPHES is a long-duration, molten-salt-energy storage technology that uses turbomachinery and heat exchangers to transfer energy to a thermal storage media when charging, and removes the heat in a similar fashion when discharging. With high round trip efficiency (60-65%) and long lifespan (30+ years), MPHES provides economic benefits to the fossil-asset owners that can be scaled to integrate with assets across their portfolio. This technology uses hardware components, workforce personnel, and skillsets similar to those used by fossil EGUs, allowing for synergy when co-locating the two technologies. Luminant has approximately 39,000 megawatts of generation across 12 states, operating in six of the seven competitive markets in the U.S. and powered by a diverse portfolio of natural gas, nuclear, coal, and solar facilities. The DeCordova plant in Granbury, Texas, a simple cycle natural gas peaker power plant, was used as the fossil-fired asset in this project. The local market in Granbury, Texas has many influences, including several nearby power plants, a Luminant-owned nuclear plant (Comanche Peak), and substantial wind energy, which causes both negative pricing at night and high market volatility. Reducing false starts of the DeCordova plant and better responding to market volatility would be an economic advantage. Luminant is currently integrating battery storage plant on site to begin addressing these challenges. Integrating long-duration storage, like MPHES, would expand this capability beyond one hour of storage and have the potential to greatly reduce the total number of gas turbine starts. The MPHES charging requirement could help offset the overnight operating costs of Comanche Peak, which cannot load follow, and the nearby Luminant-owned Wise County combined cycle plant that cycles too often. Following the assessment of Luminant’s ERCOT-based portfolio for integration compatibility with Malta’s PHES system and the project tasks of conceptual study, technoeconomic analysis, technology gap assessment, and commercialization plan, the project team effort has resulted in several key outcomes: (1) Identification of market trends in a high-wind penetration market outside a major metropolitan area; (2) Creation of a dispatching model for the MPHES system and the pairing of Li-ion battery with a gas turbine in a real time market; (3) Revenue and cost estimations for operating MPHES alongside a gas peaker plant with real dispatching considerations and comparison with variations in the Malta implementation, including doubling the storage capacity and using two discharge drivetrains; (4) Potential carbon emission reductions possible by replacing gas turbine operation with Malta PHES operation; and (5) Summary of literature-based future market predictions for Texas.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Supporting Exploration Missions by Enabling Exploration Mission System Software

Future exploration missions will consist of a multitude of data sources, systems, and operators collaborating to complete mission objectives. Presently, NASA is instantiating the contractual mechanisms, such as the xEVAS and HLS contracts, to produce these mission assets. Architectural planning is also underway to establish the networking protocols and infrastructure to digitally create and connect mission elements, such as LunaNET. However, without new horizontally integrated data systems, these advancements will be limited in their ability to get mission data appropriately integrated into the plan, train, fly, explore workflow of the operations workforce. Here we describe several mission system software development efforts underway that are designed to support human spaceflight missions. We describe the current iterations of a suite of tools to support EVA procedure authoring and execution, for both ISS and Artemis missions, as well as a software solution to establish and interact with mission context and data products. These tools have been developed iteratively and continue to be tested in several NASA facilities such as the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL), Artemis field testing, and in present-day International Space Station (ISS) operations on orbit. Our solutions demonstrate how software development can be aligned with ongoing operations development activities to discover the features that best support future human spaceflight missions.

EVA Mission System Software↗