Impact of nuclear data validation with uncertainty quantification and diverse benchmarks on criticality safety [Slides]
Interview for Scientist 2 position in XCP-7: Radiation Transport Applications
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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A Circular Economy for Solar Photovoltaic System Materials: Drivers, Barriers, Enablers, and U.S. Policy Considerations
As PV capacity increases, owners are also decommissioning older system assets. Estimates based on a 30-year lifetime assumption found that cumulative U.S. end-of-life (EoL) PV modules could total one million metric tons (Mt) by 2030 and up to 10 million Mt by 2050 (Weckend, Wade, and Heath 2016). Beyond maintenance replacements, early retirements that are due to efficiency upgrades and extreme weather, as well as PV deployment beyond earlier expectations, would increase these projections. PV system owners must evaluate equipment management options for used modules and system components retired during maintenance activities, refurbishment, repowering and system decommissioning. PV manufacturers must also evaluate material management options from customer returns, defects, and scrap. Management options for early retired and EoL PV system material include reuse, repair for reuse, recycling-based resource recovery, storage, and disposal. Disposal of PV system material increases the burden on landfill capacity, while reuse, repair for reuse, and recycling-based resource recovery (reuse/repair/recovery) options salvage valuable materials and provide secondary market opportunities and ancillary benefits (Weckend, Wade, and Heath 2016; EPA 2019c; SWEEP 2019). PV system owners may also decide store used modules and components as spares, or in the interim before a reuse or EoL management decision is made. Despite potential secondary market opportunities and the potential benefits associated with the repair/reuse/recovery of PV system material, anecdotal evidence suggests that in the United States decommissioned PV modules are stored, landfilled or otherwise disposed of (Salim et al. 2019; CPUC 2019b; DTSC 2019b; NREL 2019a). Some modules are being disposed of in municipal nonhazardous landfills and federally regulated hazardous treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, and others are being stored in warehouses until economically viable repair/reuse/recycling becomes available (CPUC 2019b; DTSC 2019b; NREL 2019a; Libby and Shaw 2018). As awareness of current practices grows, and the demand for critical PV module material increases, U.S. industry stakeholders, regulators, and policymakers are starting to (1) consider solutions to drive and enable environmentally sustainable materials management decisions and behaviors and (2) identify barriers to a circular economy for PV system materials. Circular economy principles attempt to transition from a "take-make-consume-dispose" linear economic system to a circular system that allows for the long life, and the reuse/repair/recovery of products and materials (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2020). We begin this report by summarizing the drivers, barriers, and enablers to a circular economy for PV system materials in the United States. We then report on our analysis of federal and state regulatory considerations that may impact the repair/reuse/recovery of PV materials, and potential civil and criminal liabilities associated with noncompliance. We then discuss state policies and initiatives in the United States that expressly address PV system decommissioning and repair/reuse/recovery of PV materials. We conclude by providing case studies of U.S. business models for the repair/reuse/recovery of PV system materials. Our results are based on legal and literature-based research and interviews with solar industry stakeholders, regulators, and policymakers.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Study of Additive Manufacturing Applications to Geothermal Technologies Final Project Report
This report summarizes work performed to assess the potential for utilizing additive manufacturing (AM) to substantially improve either the availability, performance or cost basis for tools and components that are required for geothermal energy production. A systematic cataloging of geothermal activities, associated technologies, and current manufacturing methods was first undertaken. This included literature reviews as well as interviews with subject matter experts, service companies and OEMs. An industry workshop was held as part of this portion of the project to obtain input and concerns from a broad range of OEMs, service providers and end users. This workshop was also used to gage the current level of AM activity in industry, receptiveness to the use of AM manufactured parts, and any up front concerns that may exist. A summary of the workshop is presented in this report. Representative components and assemblies and their current manufacturing methods were then analyzed by additive manufacturing experts at a company called Senvol to determine the feasibility and required steps for producing parts by additive manufacturing. A step by step description of conventional manufacturing of the parts was also performed to establish a manufacturing baseline for comparison purposes. This analysis also considered and described the benefits of additively manufacturing the parts in terms of specific AM systems, material availability for AM, dimensional requirements and potential economic advantages. Details of the manufacturability assessment were summarized in a report which is included as a chapter in this document. The analysis of the AM subject matter experts was then be used by techno-economic analysts to perform a comparative economic evaluation of the manufacturing of select technologies by AM and conventional approaches. This activity leveraged ORNL expertise and prior experience in other applications. A framework based on assessing cost, volume production considerations, and time to manufacture was created to more easily discern the advantages or disadvantages of additive versus conventional manufacturing methods. The report concludes with a general assessment of the current applicability of AM for geothermal technologies, AM gaps and needs related to typical geothermal hardware, and the potential benefits and impacts of AM to geothermal energy production.
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
Protocols for Uranium Carbon Analysis
In 1998, MST-6 (now SIGMA) installed a Horiba EMIA-8200 Carbon/Sulfur analyzer to provide the ability to perform in-house chemical analysis on a variety of materials including uranium. While many of the results and procedures were detailed in program files, no compiled record of the overall analytic process was ever published. This retrospective utilizes existing logbooks, operator interviews, instrument manuals, and notes to catalog what is known about the past procedures and protocols for carbon analysis that were established and present the data informing those decisions.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
U.S. ESCO Industry: Industry Size and Recent Market Trends
This study is the latest in a series of LBNL research into U.S. ESCO industry characteristics and market trends. The research is based on interviews with ESCO industry executives conducted during the fall of 2019 and the first half of 2020. Nearly all companies that identified themselves as ESCOs were contacted as part of this project. We find that after a period of little growth (2011-2014), industry revenues reached an estimated $6 billion in 2018, or a 3.4% annual average growth rate from 2015-2018. ESCOs primarily serve the public an institutional sectors (e.g., federal, state, and local governments; university and colleges; and K-12 schools). In 2018, project investments by public and institutional organizations accounted for over 90% of industry revenue, which is consistent with previous industry studies. ESCO activity in the Middle Atlantic, East North Central, and Pacific regions in the U.S. delivered the highest share of revenue in 2018, which is also consistent with earlier research. ESCOs reported that a majority of their customers use energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) primarily for facility capital improvement needs and resilience rather than utility savings. In addition, the importance of non-energy benefits (e.g., water savings, avoided operations and maintenance costs, and avoided capital costs) accounted for in the project savings guarantee reportedly increased in all markets during 2016-2018 compared to previous time periods. The study found that the ESCO industry faces several key challenges, including: (1) increasing project development times due to more complex projects and other factors; (2) difficulty finding qualified subcontractors in some regions, including minority- women- and disadvantaged population-owned small business enterprises; and (3) difficulty accessing project documents and quickly fulfilling customer requests to justify project payments several years into the performance period of a project.
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
CRADA with FedIMPACT, LLC (Project 1): Cooperative Research and Development CRADA Number CRD-17-00713 (Final Report)
The funds-in under the CRADA will fund a team of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers to participate in Energy I-Corps (formerly known as Lab-Corps). Energy I-Corps pairs teams of researchers with industry mentors for an intensive two-month training where the researchers define technology value propositions, conduct customer discovery interviews, and develop viable market pathways for their technologies. FedIMPACT, LLC and its affiliate IP Group, Inc. will evaluate the work completed at Energy I-Corps to determine whether it would like to pursue further commercialization and development of related technologies and background intellectual property.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Investigating User Experiences with Data Abstractions on High Performance Computing Systems
Scientific exploration generates expanding volumes of data that commonly require High Performance Computing (HPC) systems to facilitate research. HPC systems are complex ecosystems of hardware and software that frequently are not user friendly. The Usable Data Abstractions (UDA) project set out to build usable software for scientific workflows in HPC environments by undertaking multiple rounds of qualitative user research. Qualitative research investigates how individuals accomplish their work and our interview-based study surfaced a variety of insights about the experiences of working in and with HPC ecosystems. This report examines multiple facets to the experiences of scientists and developers using and supporting HPC systems. We discuss how stakeholders grasp the design and configuration of these systems, the impacts of abstraction layers on their ability to successfully do work, and the varied perceptions of time that shape this work. Examining the adoption of the Cori HPC at NERSC we explore the anticipations and lived experiences of users interacting with this system’s novel storage feature, the Burst Buffer. We present lessons learned from across these insights to illustrate just some of the challenges HPC facilities and their stakeholders need to account for when procuring and supporting these essential scientific resources to ensure their usability and utility to a variety of scientific practices.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Fission to Fusion: An Island Goes Missing
Hollywood actor Reed Hadley walked the decks of the USS Estes with the practiced ease characteristic of his profession. Stopping periodically to relight his pipe, Hadley narrated an AEC film depicting the final hours and minutes leading up to the detonation of Mike, the world’s first thermonuclear bomb. Hadley’s smooth camera presence contrasted sharply with those of the scientists and technicians he interviewed, particularly Alvin Graves, who came across wooden and condescending. Just after Hadley put on his dark goggles to prevent flash blindness, Mike exploded with a force of 10.4 megatons, completely vaporizing the entire ground zero island of Elugelab. The film made one thing clear – Los Alamos scientists could build a thermonuclear bomb, but they could not act.
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
Advancing Solar Innovation for Low and Moderate-Income Households (Final Technical Report)
The overarching goal of this project was to deepen the understanding of the social and economic aspects of solar adoption, with a specific eye towards any pathways or barriers that could be identified that directly impact low and moderate-income households. Specific objectives included (1) identifying and assessing significant non-economic barriers that complicate the ability of LMI households to adopt and benefit from solar, even under scenarios with low economic barriers; (2) assessing the differential ability of groups to benefit from solar adoption based on their ability to invest in different solar innovations; (3) explaining why some LMI communities nonetheless experience significantly higher rates of solar adoption and benefit than others; (4) developing a methodological model for generating data addressing key issues to the project; and (5) designing and developing an interactive web portal that aggregates existing datasets, provides researchers trend analysis capabilities, standardizes project protocols for other states and communities; provides the opportunities for researchers using the same protocol in other communities to upload their results; and engages with the general public by providing them the ability to upload their own perspectives and stories of solar technology adoption. Through a common framework for conducting semi-structured field interviews. In partnership with cooperative extension services, in conjunction with survey research and the aggregation of existing solar adoption datasets, this study has identified that currently ,there is a strong values alignment and knowledge access challenge that continues to affect solar adoption. Participants in this study – many of whom are either low or moderate-income and/or live in underserved rural communities do not believe solar is an option where they live or believe solar is appropriate for their lifestyle. This perception challenge is further exacerbated by the absolute dearth of adopters in most communities and a total lack of local marketing for solar energy. What marketing that does exist is geared towards audiences other than those in the participant's community, reinforcing a perception that 22% of survey respondents (n = 1,551) have: that solar energy is not meant for them and their community. Overcoming these serious human challenges pertaining to knowledge and marketing are critical to reducing the customer acquisition costs incurred amongst LMI communities and especially those in rural America where the opportunities solar provides to increase local energy resilience, security, all while engaging in personal stewardship of the planet could align with local values. Community-Based Social Marketing, built in partnership with community leaders and geared towards meeting local visions of ideal life, is a near term opportunity to bridge the gap between local priorities and national market and policy imperatives for solar while moving towards the administration's goals for renewable energy as part of a just and equitable decarbonization program. The tools and methods developed for this study can serve as a template for identifying other specific local challenges for solar adoption in other state, and provide the opportunity for a common data framework for understanding system-wide trends and barriers to achieving uptake of residential solar in communities that may, ultimately, benefit the most from the technology.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Impact of Extreme Weather Events on Physical Protection System Effectiveness for a Hypothetical Small Modular Reactor Facility: Systems Analysis and Considerations
This report will summarize the group's work to provide recommendations to secure nuclear facilities before, during and after an extreme weather event. Extreme weather events can have drastic impacts to nuclear facilities as seen by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011. Recent hurricanes in the United States including Hurricane Harvey demonstrate the devastating effects these storms can have on infrastructure and the surrounding communities. The group is attempting to identify the gaps that potential small modular reactor (SMR) facilities will need to address in order to provide adequate site security before, during and after extreme weather events. This effort proceeded in three parts to provide insights and recommendations to secure Small Modular Reactor facilities for extreme weather events:(1) a literature review of academic articles as well as relevant documents including the existing regulatory framework and recommendations from the IAEA, NRC, and DOE, (2) subject matter expert interviews from a wide variety of security backgrounds, and (3) modeling and simulation on a hypothetical SMR facility. Special attention was paid to the interactions between stakeholders and nuclear facility design considerations, particularly the topics of safety and security. Engineering design issues from safety and security perspectives were discussed and included in simulation. Each step informed the proceeding, with the result including full tabletop scenarios of EWE impacts to security system effectiveness on the hypothetical model. This systems-level analysis provides results to inform recommendations to secure SMR facilities.
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
Technoeconomic Analysis of Novel PV Plant Designs for Extreme Cost Reductions
This project sought to gain a deeper understanding of the cost and performance of future solar photovoltaic (PV) plant components, including bifacial PV modules, tandem PV modules, increased plant voltage architectures, and module-level power electronics, and how they may be integrated into new PV plant designs to significantly reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of PV. This was done through extensive modeling of current PV plants and future technologies in three different locations, informed by a comprehensive literature review and informational interviews to develop performance and cost assumptions for these technologies. Sensitivities were conducted to understand tradeoffs between different design options, such as the added energy from increasing row spacing versus additional land costs. An optimization tool was then created utilizing an evolutionary algorithm to determine an optimal PV plant configuration for a given set of technologies that resulted in minimized plant LCOE based upon typical performance and cost inputs.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Makah Tribe Climate Assessment, Adaptation, and Resilience Planning
Our aim was to develop a Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan through gathering community input through personal interviews and individual surveys, building from our Climate Impacts Assessment work completed in 2018. This project has collected traditional, cultural, and local knowledge to support the ongoing multi-departmental environmental planning processes of the Makah Tribe. This information was then used to identify specific human wellbeing indicators to inform and enhance Makah tribal policy, management, and decision-making processes. Combined our tribal environmental planning to include the work of the Tribal Resilience Work Group (TRWG) and Oil Spill Work Group (OSWG), which relied on publicly available Western science-based data. While this information provided a strong basis for tribal environmental planning, it does not capture the unique traditional, cultural needs, and local knowledge and tribal voices of the Makah community.
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
Estimating the Value of Automation for Concentrating Solar Power Industry Operations (Final Report)
This report summarizes findings from a small, mixed-method research study examining industry perspectives on the potential for new forms of automation to invigorate the concentrating solar power (CSP) industry. In Fall 2021, the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) funded Sandia National Laboratories to elicit industry stakeholder perspectives on the potential role of automated systems in CSP operations. We interviewed eleven CSP professionals from five countries, using a combination of structured and open comment response modes. Respondents indicated a preference for automated systems that support heliostat manufacturing and installation, calibration, and responsiveness to shifting weather conditions. This pilot study demonstrates the importance of engaging industry stakeholders in discussions of technology research and development, to promote adoptable, useful innovation.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Idaho Cyber Heroes: Helping Individuals Navigate Career Pathways in Cybersecurity
In 2019, there was a shortage of 3.5 million qualified cybersecurity professionals. Cyberattacks are ever on the rise, making it increasingly important these positions be filled quickly. The purpose of this research, as part of the Idaho Cyber Research Project, was to use information collected from open-source materials to depict the career path issues in cybersecurity for individuals. Interviews with professionals from various industry sectors in Idaho also influenced the course of our research. Early research revealed that one of the main problems is an unclear career path for individuals wanting to enter the cybersecurity workforce. Unclear pathways are defined by of a lack of awareness about a career field, uncertainty surrounding the knowledge and skills taught in college due to a lack of standardization between institutions, high qualification standards in hiring, and a lack of diverse representation in the cybersecurity workforce. Additionally, a platform called CyberKnights was assessed as it applies to the individual and their pathway. However, CyberKnights is not the only solution to this problem, and further research is needed to identify additional solutions.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Influence of Business Models on PV-Battery Dispatch Decisions and Market Value
PV-battery hybrid projects dominate interconnection queues in some regions in the United States, but few projects have been operational long enough to assess how the hybrid capabilities may be used in practice. We interview plant operators and analyze empirical dispatch data for eleven large-scale PV-battery hybrids in three organized wholesale markets in the United States. We use the dispatch data and wholesale market prices to estimate the market value of our sample hybrids in 2020. The empirical increase in market value of a PV-battery hybrid relative to a standalone PV plant varies by project and ranges from $\$$1 to $\$$48/MWhsolar. The premium is driven by market, location, technical characteristics of the PV and battery asset, and battery dispatch strategies. In contrast to the widespread assumptions in the PV-battery hybrid modeling literature, only three of the eleven project operators optimize battery usage for wholesale market revenue as merchant plants. Instead, the majority of operators in the sample have alternate objectives. For example, load-serving entities target peak load reductions, incentive program participants focus on compliance with program requirements, and large energy consumers prioritize resiliency and utility bill minimization. Understanding prevalent dispatch signals and the degree of alignment with system-wide grid needs can increase the market value of PV-battery hybrids.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Using the CYBER-Champ Model to Determine Cyber Competencies and Role Alignment
Cybersecurity roles, tasks, and skills are seen by many organizations as nonessential, abstract, or complicated. Although standards are in place, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-181 document titled “Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity (NICE Framework)” available since September 2012, companies are still showing security vulnerabilities in their cyber networks (Hatzes, 2020). Barriers towards creating a cyber-ready workforce are not always due to a lack of resources, but often caused by organizational structure. The need for cyber-cognizant job postings, improved communication between Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) employees, increases in staffing and funding for cyber teams, and better communication of standards and training can all contribute to increasing an organization’s cyber resilience. Cybersecurity Competency Health and Maturity Progression model (CYBER-CHAMP) is a model aimed at evaluating an organization’s structure and individual employee’s cyber knowledge and helps develop a plan to reach competency. This model was used to engage with organizations to promote proper cyber protocols and policies. The aim of this paper is to answer if it is possible for an organization to build a cyber-ready workforce by providing education and training options for current employees and prepare the future workforce to be ready on day one of employment. Both open source and firsthand interviews with organizations were used to conduct the research contained in this document. Further research may include additional development to the CYBER-CHAMP model and its delivery platform.
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
Nu Tools: Exploring Practical Roles for Neutrinos in Nuclear Energy and Security
For decades, physicists have used neutrinos from nuclear reactors to advance basic science. These pursuits have inspired many ideas for application of neutrino detectors in nuclear energy and security. While developments in neutrino detectors are now making some of these ideas technically feasible, their value in the context of real needs and constraints has been unclear. This report seeks to help focus the picture of where neutrino technology may find practical roles in nuclear energy and security. This report is the final product of the Nu Tools study, commissioned in 2019 by the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (DNN R&D). The study was conducted over two years by a group of neutrino physicists and nuclear engineers. A central theme of the study and this report is that useful application of neutrinos will depend not only on advancing physics and technology but also on understanding the needs and constraints of potential end-users. The Study Approach emphasized broad end-user engagement. The major effort, undertaken from May to December 2020, was a series of engagements with the wider nuclear energy and security communities. Interviews with 41 experts revealed points of common understanding, which this report captures in three Cross-Cutting Findings, a Framework for Evaluating Utility, and seven Use Case Findings. The report concludes with two Recommendations. The findings and recommendations are summarized below. The respective ordering within each category does not represent a prioritization or implied value judgement.
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
Energy I-Corps Electron Beam (EB) Potential for International Trade of Logs
The purpose of this document is to capture the potential from Fermilab’s “Team EB Treement” at the DOE Energy I-Corps program. Energy I-Corps, a key initiative of the Office of Technology Transitions, pairs teams of researchers with industry mentors for an intensive two-month training where the researchers define technology value propositions, conduct customer discovery interviews, and develop viable market pathways for their technologies. The team was composed prior to the Energy I-Corp program; however, the program was a catalyst for education and information exchange between the team members and stakeholders, customers, and regulators. These exchanges were captured in the evolution of a Business Model Canvas (BMC) and a Value Proposition (VP). The BMC and VP underwent numerous transformations based on feedback from the conversations between members of the team and forest or agriculture industry stakeholders and the program instructors.
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗