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At least 469 records · Page 26

Solar For Schools: A Case Study in Identifying and Implementing Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Projects in Three California School Districts: Preprint

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar America Showcase program seeks to accelerate demand for solar technologies among key end use market sectors. As part of this activity the DOE provides Technical Assistance through its national laboratories to large-scale, high-visibility solar installation projects. The Solar Schools Assessment and Implementation Project (SSAIP) in the San Francisco Bay areawas selected for a 2009 DOE Solar American Showcase award. SSAIP was formed through the efforts of the nonprofit Sequoia Foundation and includes three school districts: Berkeley, West Contra Costa, and Oakland Unified School Districts. This paper summarizes the technical assistance efforts that resulted from this technical assistance support. It serves as a case study and reference documentdetailing the steps and processes that could be used to successfully identify, fund, and implement solar PV projects in school districts across the country.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Safeguards Implementation: Establishment of Indonesian Safeguards Laboratory

Under the International Nuclear Safeguards and Engagement Program (INSEP), U.S. National Laboratories support the Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to ''collaborate with international partners to strengthen international safeguards at all stages of nuclear development.'' This engagement in safeguards implementation cooperation is the basis for the security and safeguards arrangement with the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BAPETEN) and includes strengthening of the State System of Accounting for and Control of Nuclear Material (SSAC). There are many components in a robust SSAC. While INSEP carries on its program in a holistic approach, it is more effective and efficient to address individual components, rather than the entire system at one time, with the objective of strengthening the system as a whole. Nuclear material accountancy is one of these components. Nuclear material accountancy necessitates that a State periodically take an inventory of its material and record changes. To better perform these activities, BAPETEN requested assistance with establishing a safeguards laboratory where its staff could perform independent material characterization, maintain nondestructive assay equipment, and facilitate hands-on training of BAPETEN safeguards inspectors. In compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines and safety series documents, INSEP and BAPETEN opened the BAPETEN Safeguards Laboratory in February 2010 to provide these competencies. BAPETEN showcased these new capabilities in July 2010 at the IAEA-sponsored Regional Workshop on Nuclear Material Accounting and Control at Facilities where hands-on activities were held at BAPETEN's Headquarters in Jakarta using the equipment supplied by INSEP. Discussions have begun on the establishment of a security and safeguards laboratory at the BAPETEN Training Center located in Cisarua. This paper describes the many steps involved with the Safeguards Laboratory Implementation Plan from its drafting in August 2007 to the completion of the laboratory in February 2010.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Design, implementation and migration of security systems as an extreme project.

Decision Trees, algorithms, software code, risk management, reports, plans, drawings, change control, presentations, and analysis - all useful tools and efforts but time consuming, resource intensive, and potentially costly for projects that have absolute schedule and budget constraints. What are necessary and prudent efforts when a customer calls with a major security problem that needs to be fixed with a proven, off-the-approval-list, multi-layered integrated system with high visibility and limited funding and expires at the end of the Fiscal Year? Whether driven by budget cycles, safety, or by management decree, many such projects begin with generic scopes and funding allocated based on a rapid management 'guestimate.' Then a Project Manager (PM) is assigned a project with a predefined and potentially limited scope, compressed schedule, and potentially insufficient funding. The PM is tasked to rapidly and cost effectively coordinate a requirements-based design, implementation, test, and turnover of a fully operational system to the customer, all while the customer is operating and maintaining an existing security system. Many project management manuals call this an impossible project that should not be attempted. However, security is serious business and the reality is that rapid deployment of proven systems via an 'Extreme Project' is sometimes necessary. Extreme Projects can be wildly successful but require a dedicated team of security professionals lead by an experienced project manager using a highly-tailored and agile project management process with management support at all levels, all combined with significant interface with the customer. This paper does not advocate such projects or condone eliminating the valuable analysis and project management techniques. Indeed, having worked on a well-planned project provides the basis for experienced team members to complete Extreme Projects. This paper does, however, provide insight into what it takes for projects to be successfully implemented and accepted when completed under extreme conditions.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Challenges in Implementing Methodologies for Nonproliferation Assessments

A handful of models for explaining and predicting States’ development of nuclear weapons programs have been proposed since the 1970s. Despite the array of techno-social variables and computational concepts employed in these models, no model has yet been established as an agreed-upon standard. Likewise, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—one of the main institutions evaluating social, political, and technological information for assessments of States’ current nuclear capabilities—uses only a qualitative framework by which to evaluate such information to assess the correctness and completeness of a State’s declaration. In this paper, analysts familiar with both the development of techno-social modelling and the IAEA’s implementation of a safeguards system that is information driven discuss the challenges faced in the development, implementation, and evaluation of models and methodologies for nonproliferation assessments, based on experiences at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the IAEA.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Design implementation and migration of security systems as an extreme project.

Decision Trees, algorithms, software code, risk management, reports, plans, drawings, change control, presentations, and analysis - all useful tools and efforts but time consuming, resource intensive, and potentially costly for projects that have absolute schedule and budget constraints. What are necessary and prudent efforts when a customer calls with a major security problem that needs to be fixed with a proven, off-the-approval-list, multi-layered integrated system with high visibility and limited funding and expires at the end of the Fiscal Year? Whether driven by budget cycles, safety, or by management decree, many such projects begin with generic scopes and funding allocated based on a rapid management 'guestimate.' Then a Project Manager (PM) is assigned a project with a predefined and potentially limited scope, compressed schedule, and potentially insufficient funding. The PM is tasked to rapidly and cost effectively coordinate a requirements-based design, implementation, test, and turnover of a fully operational system to the customer, all while the customer is operating and maintaining an existing security system. Many project management manuals call this an impossible project that should not be attempted. However, security is serious business and the reality is that rapid deployment of proven systems via an 'Extreme Project' is sometimes necessary. Extreme Projects can be wildly successful but require a dedicated team of security professionals lead by an experienced project manager using a highly-tailored and agile project management process with management support at all levels, all combined with significant interface with the customer. This paper does not advocate such projects or condone eliminating the valuable analysis and project management techniques. Indeed, having worked on a well-planned project provides the basis for experienced team members to complete Extreme Projects. This paper does, however, provide insight into what it takes for projects to be successfully implemented and accepted when completed under extreme conditions.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

The Impact of Wide-Scale Implementation of Net Zero-Energy Homes on the Western Grid

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conducted a study on the impact of wide-scale implementation of net zero-energy homes (ZEHs) in the western grid. Although minimized via utilization of advanced building technologies, ZEHs still consume energy that must be balanced on an annual basis via self-generation of electricity which is commonly assumed to be from rooftop photovoltaics (PV). This results in a ZEH having a significantly different electricity demand profile than a conventional home. Wide-spread implementation of ZEHs will cause absolute demand levels to fall compared to continued use of more conventional facilities; however, the shape of the demand profile will also change significantly. Demand profile changes will lead to changes in the hourly value of electric generation. With significant penetration of ZEHs, it can be expected that ZEHs will face time of day rates or real time pricing that reflect the value of generation and use. This will impact the economics of ZEHs and the optimal design of PV systems for subsequent ZEHs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

SC'11 Poster: A Highly Efficient MGPT Implementation for LAMMPS; with Strong Scaling

The MGPT potential has been implemented as a drop in package to the general molecular dynamics code LAMMPS. We implement an improved communication scheme that shrinks the communication layer thickness, and increases the load balancing. This results in unprecedented strong scaling, and speedup continuing beyond 1/8 atom/core. In addition, we have optimized the small matrix linear algebra with generic blocking (for all processors) and specific SIMD intrinsics for vectorization on Intel, AMD, and BlueGene CPUs.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Solar For Schools: A Case Study in Identifying and Implementing Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Projects in Three California School Districts

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar America Showcase program seeks to accelerate demand for solar technologies among key end use market sectors. As part of this activity, DOE provides technical assistance through its national laboratories to large-scale, high-visibility solar installation projects. The Solar Schools Assessment and Implementation Project (SSAIP) in the San Francisco Bay Area was selected for a 2009 DOE Solar America Showcase award. SSAIP was formed through the efforts of the nonprofit Sequoia Foundation and includes three school districts: Berkeley, West Contra Costa, and Oakland Unified School Districts. This paper summarizes the technical assistance efforts that resulted from this technical assistance support. It serves as a case study and reference document detailing the steps and processes that could be used to successfully identify, fund, and implement solar photovoltaics (PV) projects in school districts across the country.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

An Efficient Implementation of Multiscale Simulation Software PNP-cDFT

An efficient implementation of PNP-cDFT, a multiscale method for computing the chemical potentials of charged species is designed and evaluated. Spatial decomposition of the multi particle system is employed in the parallelization of classical density functional theory (cDFT) algorithm. Furthermore, a truncated strategy is used to reduce the computational complexity of cDFT algorithm. The simulation results show that the parallel implementation has close to linear scalability in parallel computing environments for both 1D and 3D systems. It also shows that the truncated versions of cDFT improve the efficiency of the methods substantially.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Improving Compressed Air Energy Efficiency in Automotive Plants - Practical Examples and Implementation

The automotive industry is the largest industry in the United States in terms of the dollar value of production [1]. U.S. automakers face tremendous pressure from foreign competitors, which have an increasing manufacturing presence in this country. The Big Three North American Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler are reacting to declining sales figures and economic strain by working more efficiently and seeking out opportunities to reduce production costs without negatively affecting the production volume or the quality of the product. Successful, cost-effective investment and implementation of the energy efficiency technologies and practices meet the challenge of maintaining the output of high quality product with reduced production costs. Automotive stamping and assembly plants are typically large users of compressed air with annual compressed air utility bills in the range of $2M per year per plant. This paper focuses on practical methods that the authors have researched, analyzed and implemented to improve compressed air system efficiency in automobile manufacturing facilities. It describes typical compressed air systems in automotive stamping and assembly plants, and compares these systems to best practices. The paper then presents a series of examples, organized using the method of inside-out approach, which strategically identifies the energy savings in the compressed air system by first minimizing end-use demand, then minimizing distribution losses, and finally making improvements to primary energy conversion equipment, the air compressor plant.

Implementation of Compressed Air Reduction Project↗

Radioisotope Power System Delivery, Ground Support and Nuclear Safety Implementation: Use of the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator for the NASA's Mars Science Laboratory

Radioisotope power systems have been used for over 50 years to enable missions in remote or hostile environments. They are a convenient means of supplying a few milliwatts up to a few hundred watts of useable, long-term electrical power. With regard to use of a radioisotope power system, the transportation, ground support and implementation of nuclear safety protocols in the field is a complex process that requires clear identification of needed technical and regulatory requirements. The appropriate care must be taken to provide high quality treatment of the item to be moved so it arrives in a condition to fulfill its missions in space. Similarly it must be transported and managed in a manner compliant with requirements for shipment and handling of special nuclear material. This presentation describes transportation, ground support operations and implementation of nuclear safety and security protocols for a radioisotope power system using recent experience involving the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator for National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Mars Science Laboratory, which launched in November of 2011.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

An efficient implementation of the Chebyshev Rational Approximation Method (CRAM) for solving the burnup equations

The Chebyshev Rational Approximation Method (CRAM) has been recently introduced by the authors for solving the burnup equations with excellent results. This method has been shown to be capable of simultaneously solving an entire burnup system with thousands of nuclides both accurately and efficiently. The method was prompted by an analysis of the spectral properties of burnup matrices and it can be characterized as the best rational approximation on the negative real axis. The coefficients of the rational approximation are fixed and have been reported for various approximation orders. In addition to these coefficients, implementing the method only requires a linear solver. This paper describes an efficient method for solving the linear systems associated with the CRAM approximation. The introduced direct method is based on sparse Gaussian elimination where the sparsity pattern of the resulting upper triangular matrix is determined before the numerical elimination phase. The stability of the proposed Gaussian elimination method is discussed based on considering the numerical properties of burnup matrices. Suitable algorithms are presented for computing the symbolic factorization and numerical elimination in order to facilitate the implementation of CRAM and its adoption into routine use. The accuracy and efficiency of the described technique are demonstrated by computing the CRAM approximations for a large test case with over 1600 nuclides. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Implementation of the Port Hope Area Initiative Biophysical and Socioeconomic Environmental Assessment Follow-up Programs - 13209

The Port Hope Initiative (PHAI) involves the cleanup of historic low-level radioactive waste in various locations throughout the communities of Port Hope and Clarington, Ontario, as well as the construction of two engineered aboveground mounds for safe long-term management. The PHAI is comprised of two major projects - the Port Hope Project and the Port Granby Project. An Environmental Assessment (EA) was undertaken for each project and as a result EA Follow-up Programs were developed and are being implemented addressing both biophysical and socioeconomic aspects. This paper provides insight on elements of the EA Follow-up Program development, and its implementation. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Artificial Neural Network-Based Monitoring of the Fuel Assembly Temperature Sensor and FPGA Implementation

Numerous methods have been developed around the world to model the dynamic behavior and detect a faulty operating mode of a temperature sensor. In this context, we present in this study a new method based on the dependence between the fuel assembly temperature profile on control rods positions, and the coolant flow rate in a nuclear reactor. This seems to be possible since the insertion of control rods at different axial positions and variations in flow rate of the reactor coolant results in different produced thermal power in the reactor. This is closely linked to the instant fuel rod temperature profile. In a first step, we selected parameters to be used and confirmed the adequate correlation between the chosen parameters and those to be estimated by the proposed monitoring system. In the next step, we acquired and de-noised the data of corresponding parameters, the qualified data is then used to design and train the artificial neural network. The effective data denoising was done by using the wavelet transform to remove a various kind of artifacts such as inherent noise. With the suitable choice of wavelet level and smoothing method, it was possible for us to remove all the non-required artifacts with a view to verify and analyze the considered signal. In our work, several potential mother wavelet functions (Haar, Daubechies, Bi-orthogonal, Reverse Bi-orthogonal, Discrete Meyer and Symlets) were investigated to find the most similar function with the being processed signals. To implement the proposed monitoring system for the fuel rod temperature sensor (03 wire RTD sensor), we used the Bayesian artificial neural network 'BNN' technique to model the dynamic behavior of the considered sensor, the system correlate the estimated values with the measured for the concretization of the proposed system we propose an FPGA (field programmable gate array) implementation. The monitoring system use the correlation. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Implementation and Analysis for APR1400 Soft Control System

Due to the rapid advancement of digital technology, the definite technical advantages of digital control system compared to analog control system are accelerating the implementation of advanced distributed digital control system in the nuclear power plant. One of the major advantages of digital control system is the capability of Soft Control System. The design of Soft Control System for Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) plant of Man-Machine Interface System (MMIS) is based on full digital technologies to enhance reliability, operability and maintainability. Computer-based compact workstation has been adopted in the APR1400 Main Control Room (MCR) to provide convenient working environment. This paper introduces the approaches and methodologies of Soft Control System for the Advanced Control Room (ACR). This paper also explains major design features for operation and display of the Soft Control System and its implementation to cope with regulatory requirements. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Implementation and evaluation of a radiological field investigation for real property interests associated with the FUSRAP Maywood Site - 15611

Public streets, easements, and rights-of-way, collectively referred to as Real Property Interests (RPI), pose challenging and complex problems for the FUSRAP Maywood Project Team. RPIs are components of a multi-faceted objective to evaluate all remaining sources of contamination for which the Government is responsible under the Maywood Record of Decision. USACE designed and implemented a MARSSIM-based radiological investigation within sixteen potentially impacted RPIs. These RPIs were not completely addressed on their own or in conjunction with nearby property investigations or remediations. However, these RPIs were investigated based on the potential for or known impact of FMSS contamination as determined through both a historic data review of the transport mechanism (downstream waste deposition) and process knowledge obtained during Final Status Survey of proximal properties. The primary objectives of this investigation were to confirm the presence or absence of FUSRAP contamination within a given RPI, provide sufficient data to release an RPI if contamination was not encountered, and provide sufficient data for either design of an appropriate remedial solution or implementation of Land Use Controls when contamination was encountered. Of additional value, knowledge gained during the RPI investigations will allow the team to share useful radiological data with local officials and utility service providers. This information will support better, more informed decisions by all parties involved in situations such as emergency subsurface utility repairs, roadway improvement planning, or even natural disaster response. Finally, certain unexpected outcomes learned during the final data analysis may lead to refinement of the conceptual site model. Logistical lessons learned and challenges encountered during the Maywood investigation may also be helpful to stakeholders, planners, and managers of similar projects wishing to identify their own potential liability within public streets, easements, rights-of-way, and other types of RPIs. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Implementation and validation of a fully implicit accumulator model in RELAP-7

This paper presents the implementation and validation of an accumulator model in RELAP-7 under the framework of preconditioned Jacobian free Newton Krylov (JFNK) method, based on the similar model used in RELAP5. RELAP-7 is a new nuclear reactor system safety analysis code being developed at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). RELAP-7 is a fully implicit system code. The JFNK and preconditioning methods used in RELAP-7 is briefly discussed. The slightly modified accumulator model is summarized for completeness. The implemented model was validated with LOFT L3-1 test and benchmarked with RELAP5 results. RELAP-7 and RELAP5 had almost identical results for the accumulator gas pressure and water level, although there were some minor difference in other parameters such as accumulator gas temperature and tank wall temperature. One advantage of the JFNK method is its easiness to maintain and modify models due to fully separation of numerical methods from physical models. It would be straightforward to extend the current RELAP-7 accumulator model to simulate the advanced accumulator design. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗