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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Clean Energy Technology Applications on US Mine Land: Technical Analysis

As the United States transitions toward a clean energy economy, an opportunity exists for redeveloping the more than 17,000 mine land sites located across the nation with clean energy technologies, which have a combined potential for generating more than 85 GW of clean electricity. This report provides an overview of the potential of demonstrating and deploying clean energy projects on current and former mine land. Clean energy project refers to a project that demonstrates one or more of the following technologies: solar; microgrids; geothermal; direct air capture; fossil-fueled electricity generation with carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration; energy storage, including pumped storage hydropower and compressed air energy storage; and advanced nuclear technologies. The report discusses the following technologies and their potential for creating jobs and generating tax revenue that would result in direct and indirect benefits to the local economy: Solar photovoltaics (PV) is being developed on current and former mine land in various parts of the world, including the United States. This approach is attractive because it requires limited infrastructure investment and would utilize the bare surfaces of mines and tailing ponds. Solar resource availability may be greater in the southern regions, including the Interior and Appalachian Basins and the southwestern United States. However, since some mine land sites include areas of significant change in elevation, the deployment of PV on mine land may require sophisticated planning to account for shading and irradiance, or may require regrading of the areas. PV does not create significant environmental risks and generally does not face public resistance; Geothermal systems are often spatially and genetically associated with ore deposits, and in some cases, they have been discovered while in search for epithermal mineral resources. Numerous diverse geothermal applications have been employed at mine land around the world, including power generation, mineral extraction from geothermal brines, process heating, direct use for other mining operations, and direct use for non-mining operations and subsurface energy storage, including geothermal heat pumps. Case studies highlighting these applications provide key lessons relating to identifying drivers and barriers to geothermal resource deployment and can be used to create screening tools for identifying the types and locations of mine land most amenable to utilizing geothermal resources; Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration technologies include direct air capture (DAC) and enhanced weathering. DAC technologies include air contactors, regeneration systems, and CO 2 compression systems. Captured CO 2 can be converted to valuable feedstocks or possibly injected into abandoned subsurface mines where it would be absorbed by alkaline rock waste and mine tailings or by the porous minerals along the walls of the mine. DAC systems can be coupled with energy sources such as wind, solar, grid, or geothermal. Many DAC systems require a source of water or steam; however, some are expected to be net producers of water. Local impacts of DAC systems are expected to be low, and are related to land footprint, material disposal, and upstream impacts of energy and material production; Compressed air energy storage is an established energy storage technology in salt caverns. It has the potential for implementation in underground mines by pressurizing and storing a large amount of air using electrical compressors when excess electricity is available. When a need for discharge emerges, the air is used to spin turbines and produce the necessary volume of electricity. Abandoned or unused mine openings, including shafts, adits, access tunnels, and mined workings of any orientation, offer potential for vast amounts of compressed air energy storage if the site characteristics meet operational requirements; Pumped hydropower storage can be implemented in surface and subsurface mines. In surface mine applications, both reservoirs may be located in a mine pit or artificial reservoirs made of excavated materials. In subsurface mines, the lower reservoir may be implemented by waterproofing and flooding mine shafts and tunnels. The water is then pumped from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir during periods of low load and high production, and it is discharged through the turbines during periods of peak demand. The potential environmental damages associated with acidity of mine water or the presence of toxic chemicals incentivizes the development of closed-loop technologies, in which water circulates inside the pumped hydropower facility without being discharged into the external water basins; Advanced nuclear energy technologies include small modular reactors, which can be deployed locally to produce electricity and heat. Such units require seismic stability and a supply of cooling water, but population constraints may exist in some areas. Therefore, remote mine land could represent an optimal location for siting advanced nuclear energy technologies.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-xSL NEON North Sterling, CO (STER)

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-xSL NEON North Sterling, CO (STER). This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-xSL NEON North Sterling, CO (STER) produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - The North Sterling site, located outside of Sterling in Northeastern Colorado, is characterized by flat terrain and represents an agronomic site within urban and formerly urban areas. The site is at the edge of a non-tilled experimental field that is used for the long-term sustainable Dryland Agroecosystems Project (DAP), which was initiated in 1985 at three sites in eastern Colorado (Sterling, Stratton, and Walsh) to evaluate the effects of cropping intensity on production, water use efficiency and selected soil chemical and physical properties. The DAP site was established in 1985 and was chosen because of representative soils present in the catena.

Network), NEON (National Ecological Observatory↗
DOE OSTI2021

AmeriFlux US-MWS Michigan State University Campus Site - Spartans

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-MWS Michigan State University Campus Site - Spartans. Site Description - Urban site located above the roof of Baker Hall, on Michigan State University's campus. In general, the campus is a low-density urban setting. Site was chosen to represent suburban areas within the Kalamazoo River watershed, although location is outside of the watershed.

Chen, Jiquan↗
DOE OSTI2024

Cold Climate Degradation: An Analysis of Double-Axis Tracked, E-W Vertical, and Fixed-Tilt Photovoltaic Deployments in Alaska

As countries around the world transition towards renewable energy, there is increasing interest in using photovoltaic (PV) technologies to help decarbonize remote northern communities due to their scalability and affordability. However, a major barrier towards large-scale adoption of PV in cold climates is performance uncertainty under extreme environmental conditions including snowfall, freeze-thaw cycles, and high wind loads. Existing literature on PV degradation rates in the North is relatively limited, with published degradation rates varying between -0.2%/year (Sweden) to -1.3%/year (Scotland). At this workshop, we will present preliminary results on the long-term performance of two diverse photovoltaic sites located in Fairbanks, Alaska at 64.8 degrees N: a monofacial Al-BSF double-axis tracking site maintained by the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC), and a bifacial PERC/SHJ E-W vertical and south-facing fixed-tilt site maintained by the Alaska Center Energy and Power (ACEP). CCHRC data has been collected over a period of 15 years, while ACEP site data has been collected over 4 years. Using the degradation analysis tool, RdTools, we will present annual system degradation rates, seasonal performance ratio, and identify potential cold climate failure mechanisms for commercially available PV technologies. This analysis will add to existing literature by directly comparing the performance of multiple PV configurations in Alaska.

bifacial↗
DOE OSTI2025

Crystal structures of Salmonella enterica FraB deglycase reveal a conformational heterodimer with remarkable structural plasticity at the active site

Abstract Thefralocus ofSalmonella entericaencodes five genes for metabolism of fructose‐asparagine, an Amadori product formed by condensation of asparagine with glucose. In the last step of this pathway, the FraB deglycase cleaves 6‐phospho‐fructose‐aspartate into glucose‐6‐phosphate and aspartate. In homology models, FraB forms a homodimer with two equivalent active sites located at the dimer interface. E214 and H230, two invariant residues essential for catalysis, project into each active site cleft from opposing subunits of the dimer. Here, we have determined six crystal structures of FraB, three of a variant containing an N‐terminal His 6 tag and two mutations needed for crystallization (hereafter referred to as WT′), two with additional mutations to active site residues (E214A and P232A), and one of a variant with C‐terminal residues 313–325 deleted. Surprisingly, in the WT′ FraB structure, the two catalytic residues, E214 (general base) and H230 (general acid), are positioned ~22 Å apart. In the E214A and C‐terminus‐truncated FraB variants, however, a conformational change in the E214‐residing helix brings E214 and H230* to ~7 Å (* indicates residue from the second protomer that creates the inter‐subunit catalytic center). The loop bearing H230 also exhibits significant variation, ranging from being completely disordered to adopting open or closed states, with the nearby P232* residue being eithercisortrans. The C‐terminal residues 313–325 form a flexible “C‐tail” that can be fully disordered, bind in the active site to block access of substrate, or angle across the active site to wrap across the other subunit of the dimer and potentially close over substrate. Collectively, these structures reveal that FraB is a conformational heterodimer with two chemically identical subunits that are constrained to adopt different structures as they come together for catalysis. This plasticity likely involves correlated opening and closure of the two active sites for their respective binding and release of substrates and ligands.

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology↗
DOE OSTI2024

Surface water geochemistry along St. Louis River Estuary (Duluth/Superior, MN/WI)

This dataset is aimed at understanding changes in surface water chemistry associated with urbanization in the Great Lakes region. Surface water chemistry including cations, anions, organic and inorganic carbon, and nitrogen were collected from six locations along St. Louis River – a freshwater estuary entering Lake Superior (Duluth/Superior, MN/WI). The Duluth/Superior, MN/WI metropolitan area is the largest port on the United States side of Lake Superior. Samples were collected near different land uses every two weeks from late July 2023 to the onset of ice cover in November 2023. Water samples were analyzed using In-Situ AquaTroll 500 Multiparameter Sonde with Ammonium Ion Selective Electrode and Chlorophyll-a sensor (unfiltered), METTLER TOLEDO FiveEasy Plus FP20 and METTLER TOLEDO LE407 probe (unfiltered); HACH DR300 Pocket Colorimeter Iron FerroVer (filtered 0.22 μm in field); Shimadzu TOC-L Total Organic Carbon Analyzer with TNM-L Total Nitrogen Unit (filtered 0.22 μm in field); Agilent 8900 triple quadrupole ICP-MS (ICP-QQQ) (filtered 0.22 μm in field); and Dionex ICS-6000 HPIC System (filtered 0.22 μm in field).The data package is comprised of 5 files. dd.csv contains the description of columns in Geochemistry_LSNERR_water.csv and Sampling_sites.csv. flmd.csv contains descriptions of each file in the dataset. README.txt contains description of the dataset structure and file content. Geochemistry_LSNERR_water.csv contains geochemistry data for six sampling locations along the St. Louis River. Sampling_sites.csv contains latitude and longitude coordinates for each of the six sampling site locations along the St. Louis River.This data has not been previously published.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

AmeriFlux US-MWU Battle Creek Area Mathematics and Science Center

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-MWU Battle Creek Area Mathematics and Science Center. Site Description - Urban site located above the roof of the Battle Creek Area Mathematics and Science Center, a regional STEM magnet school. Site was chosen to represent urban areas within the Kalamazoo River watershed.

Chen, Jiquan↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluation of Sites for Advanced Reactor Demonstrations at Idaho National Laboratory

The purpose of this siting evaluation is to identify a list of candidate site locations or areas within INL boundaries for onsite demonstration of advanced reactors. A comparison of suitable advanced reactor sites is provided and includes evaluation of existing buildings, previously developed sites, and undeveloped sites across the INL Site.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Microbial Analysis of 100-N Borehole Samples: Estimation of Diesel and BTEX Degrading Bacterial Populations

Historical unplanned releases at the UPR-100-N-17 166-N Diesel Oil Supply Line Leak waste site located within the 100-NR-1 OU resulted in diesel fuel contamination of the unsaturated vadose zone and site groundwater. Enhanced in situ bioremediation of the deep vadose zone was the final remedy decision for the 100-NR-1 Operable Unit (OU) and the full-scale bioventing demo began in 2012. For this remedy, oxygen is actively supplied to the deep vadose zone to stimulate aerobic hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms to metabolize petroleum contamination. Degradation rate calculations based on vadose zone respirometry measurements, however, have indicated declining activity over recent years, though the precise reason for this apparent decline has not been determined. In this investigation 100-NR-1 OU sediment cores were analyzed for total microbial biomass, as well as enumeration of diesel and BTEX degrading bacteria to determine if these microbial populations have declined relative to previous measurements taken in 2009.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, UMTRCA Title I Disposal Site 35 Years Postclosure (1985-2020) - 20288

The DOE Office of Legacy Management (LM) Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Disposal Site is a former uranium ore-processing site located in the borough of Canonsburg and an important part of US history. For 46 years (1911-1957), the site processed ore, for vanadium, radium and then uranium. Soils and groundwater beneath the site were contaminated by the milling operations. The 15-hectare (37-acre) site is owned by the US government and managed by LM, which serves as the federal land manager and steward of cultural, historical, and natural resources at Cold War legacy sites that have been successfully cleaned up to remedial standards. In 1978 Congress directed DOE to remediate 22 inactive uranium-ore processing sites under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA), in accordance with standards promulgated by the US Environmental Protection Agency in Title 40 CFR Part 192 (40 (CFR 192). Subpart B of 40 CFR 192 regulates the cleanup of contaminated groundwater at the processing sites. The radioactive materials were encapsulated in US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-approved disposal cells, and the NRC general license for UMTRCA Title I sites is established in 10 CFR 40.27. Canonsburg was the first site to be remediated under UMTRCA. From 1983 to 1985, the Canonsburg site underwent cleanup under this US law that provides for the safe and environmentally sound disposal, long-term stabilization, and control of uranium mill tailings in a manner that minimizes or eliminates radiation health hazards to the public. The site is unique in that it is one of only two UMTRCA Title I sites in the eastern half of the United States, the other site being the Burrell, Pennsylvania, Title I Disposal Site, a vicinity property to the Canonsburg site. It has been 35 years since the disposal cell at the Canonsburg site was completed. This paper discusses the many efforts that have been taken to maintain the site and presents some of the lessons learned concerning the long-term care of the site. The discussion includes but is not limited to the following: (1) Preserving site history so the community can better appreciate and understand the site. (2) Community outreach efforts, and the importance of maintaining transparency of environmental monitoring results with the community. (3) Pursuing reuse opportunities that offer the potential for improving the community. (4) Remaining engaged with the local community. (5) Remaining proactive in the long-term care of the site. (authors)

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

Concurrent Cooling Effects of Dynamic Line Ratings on Wind Plant Gen-Tie Lines

This report was prepared for the Wind Energy Technology Office for the FY 2022, quarter 2 deliverable. This details the use of dynamic line rating technology to rate a series of gen tie lines connecting wind plants to the regional transmission lines. This consists of two primary study regions, the first on the desert west of Idaho Falls, and the second in the region east of the Cascades along the Columbia River Gorge. The TREAD program that was developed at INL was used to create generated gen-tie lines based on nearby regional transmission line connections. The capacity availability of the gen tie lines are compared with the power production of the wind farms. Overall, the INL Site location shows a much greater capacity for the gen-tie lines due to the higher wind speeds. Across both locations, the HRRR data shows higher wind speeds than observed at the observational weather stations. For both the Columbia Gorge and Idaho areas, the sites show that a statically rate gen-tie could carry additional capacity far above the rated during periods of high wind due to the concurrent cooling effects.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Algorithms for coordinate reconstruction in position-sensitive virtual Frisch-grid detectors

Arrays of position-sensitive virtual Frisch-grid (VFG) CdZnTe (CZT) detectors provide a cost-effective solution for integrating large-area arrays for gamma-ray imaging and spectroscopy. These detectors employ high-aspect ratio CZT crystals (bars) with thicknesses up to 50 mm and cross-sections of up to 10 × 10 mm 2 . Despite the long drift distances of charge carriers in such crystals, the detectors have demonstrated excellent performance, achieving energy resolutions better than 1 % full width at half maximum (FWHM) at 662 keV and 3D position resolutions finer than 1 mm. The high spatial resolution is a critical feature of these detectors, as it enables correction of response non-uniformities caused by crystal defects, which remain present even in the highest-quality CZT material. Dislocations and dislocation walls are the primary defects responsible for variations in charge carrier losses as they drift from the interaction points toward the charge-collecting electrodes. The mechanism by which these defects affect carrier transport is generally well understood. Dislocations and sub-grain boundaries act as sinks for carrier-trapping centers, primarily impurities and secondary phases such as tellurium inclusions and precipitates. Here, these regions exhibit significantly higher carrier-trapping rates, leading to variations in the μτ-products. Because the locations of these micron-sized regions are fixed within the detector volume, fluctuations in the total collected charge arise from the random distribution of interaction sites. This results in non-uniform detector responses and degradation of energy resolution. However, by measuring the interaction-site locations with sufficient precision, charge-loss variations can be accurately corrected, allowing recovery of nearly intrinsic energy resolution.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

On the uncertainty of estimating photovoltaic soiling using nearby soiling data

The accumulation of dust on the surface of photovoltaic modules can reduce their performance and affect the cost competitiveness of this technology. This phenomenon is known as soiling and can be mitigated through appropriate corrective and/or preventive actions. In order to maximize its effectiveness, it is important to plan the soiling mitigation strategy even before the PV system is operational. This is typically done through a nearest neighbor approach, by estimating soiling using data from the nearest operational photovoltaic system. This work focuses on understanding the uncertainty related to this practice. For this purpose, the semi-variance function is used to study the dissimilarity between the soiling losses of two locations in California depending on their distance. The results show that, when the soiling loss at a nearby system is used to estimate soiling of a site, the uncertainty can be approximated to increase linearly at a rate of 0.08-0.10%/km up to 60 or 80 km. After this distance, the use of a nearest neighbor approach is no longer justified, as it produces an uncertainty as big as the average soiling loss of the sites in the dataset used in this study. In some conditions, uncertainties > 0% are found also for sites located within 25 km, meaning that even close-by systems might soil differently.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

SNF Interim Storage Canister Corrosion and Surface Environment Investigations (FY2020 Status Report)

This progress report describes work performed during FY20 at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to assess the localized corrosion performance of container/cask materials used in the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Of particular concern is stress corrosion cracking (SCC), by which a through-wall crack could potentially form in a canister outer wall over time intervals that are shorter than possible dry storage times. Work in FY20 further defined our understanding of the potential chemical and physical environment present on canister surfaces, evaluated the relationship between the environment and the resultant corrosion that occurs, and initiated crack growth rate testing under relevant environmental conditions. In FY20, work to define dry storage canister surface environments included several tasks. First, collection of dust deposition specimens from independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) site locations helped to establish a more complete understanding of the potential chemical environment formed on the canister. Second, the predicted evolution of canister surface relative humidity RH) values was estimated using ISFSI site weather data and the horizontal canister thermal model used by the SNL probabilistic SCC model. These calculations determined that for typical ISFSI weather conditions, seasalt deliquescence to produce MgCl2-rich brines could occur in less than 20 years at the coolest locations on the canister surface, and, even after nearly 300 years, conditions for NaCl deliquescence (75% RH) are not reached. This work illustrates the importance of understanding the stability of MgCl2-rich brines on the heated canister surface, and the potential impact of brine composition on corrosion processes, including pitting and stress corrosion cracking. In an additional study, the description of the canister surface environment was refined in order to define more realistic corrosion testing environments including diurnal cycles, soluble salt chemistries, and inert mineral particles. The potential impacts of these phenomena on canister corrosion are being evaluated experimentally. Finally, work over the past few years to evaluate the stability of magnesium chloride brines continued in FY20. MgCl2 degassing experiments were carried out, confirming that MgCl2 brines slowly degas HCl on heated surfaces, converting to less deliquescent magnesium hydroxychloride phases and potentially leading to brine dryout.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Integration of Large-Scale Electrical Imaging into Geological Framework Development and Refinement

Geologic framework models (GFMs) are critical to the construction of reliable simulation models of groundwater flow and contaminant transport. To support GFM development, direct information (e.g., core samples, fluid samples, hydraulic testing) tends to be sparse and separated by large distances relative to the spatial scales of aquifer heterogeneity. There are additional challenges associated with highly contaminated legacy waste sites, where drilling is particularly costly, and invasive sampling requires specialized handling and disposal of hazardous materials. At these sites in particular, non-invasive geophysical imaging can play an important role in filling spatial gaps between boreholes and reducing characterization costs by optimizing and minimizing the number of necessary boreholes. Here this paper presents a case study demonstrating the use of large-scale (> 30 km 2 ) electrical mapping to identify hydrostratigraphy and potential paleochannels at the Hanford Site, located in Washington State, USA. In two field campaigns, over 36 line-kilometers of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data were collected along 14 transects. ERT surveys were sited and performed to image critical aspects (e.g., paleochannels, stratigraphic contacts) of the subsurface, demonstrating a general workflow for integrating ERT with GFM development. Inconsistencies between the GFM and ERT were catalogued to provide a basis for future site characterization using complementary geophysical methods and (or) direct sampling.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Unraveling the Structural Sensitivity of Metal Catalysts in Ethylene Hydroformylation: Insights from Theory and Experiments

Here, in this study, we combined experimental and theoretical methods to investigate the structural sensitivity of metal catalysts in the ethylene hydroformylation reaction. Among Rh, Pt, Ir, Ni, Au, Ag, Pd, and Cu catalysts studied using experimental and theoretical methods, Rh showed the highest selectivity toward the C-C coupling product from CO and C 2 H 5 (i.e., C 2 H 5 CHO). The results from DFT and microkinetic simulations revealed that the activation energy barrier for C-C coupling is lowest on the Rh nanocluster, which explains the experimentally observed highest C 2 H 5 CHO selectivity on the Rh catalyst. Furthermore, DFT results demonstrated that the sites located on the flat surfaces of nanoparticles primarily promote the hydrogenation reaction, leading to the formation of undesired C 2 H 6 . In contrast, undercoordinated edge and corner sites of the nanocluster promote the C-C coupling reaction. Thus, our results illustrate that the selectivity toward C 3 oxygenates in ethylene hydroformylation reaction can be steered by tuning the size of Rh nanoparticles (the best-performing catalyst) to optimize the active (edge and corner) sites that preferentially promote the C-C coupling reaction.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Calculated electron paramagnetic resonance g-tensor and hyperfine parameters for zinc vacancy and N related defects in ZnO

Various defects in ZnO, focused on substitutional N O and N 2 in various sites, O-site, interstitial and Zn-site are studied using first-principles calculations with the goal of understanding the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) center reported for N 2 in ZnO and substitutional N on the O-site. The g tensors are calculated using the gauge including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) method and compared with experiments. The g-tensor of the free $N^{+}_{2}$ and $N^{–}_{2}$ radicals and their various contributions within the GIPAW theory are analyzed first to provide a baseline reference for the accuracy of the method and for understanding the N 2 behavior in ZnO. Previous controversies on the site location of N 2 in ZnO for this EPR center and on the shallow or deep nature and donor or acceptor nature of this center are resolved. Here, we find that the N 2 on the Zn site is mostly zinc-vacancy like in its spin density and g-tensor, while for the O-site, a model with the N 2 axis lying in-the basal plane and the singly occupied π g -orbital along the c axis provides good agreement with experiment. For the interstitial location, if the N 2 is not strongly interacting with the surroundings, no levels in the gap are found and hence also no possible EPR center. The calculated g-tensors for N O and V Zn are also found to be in good agreement with experiment. The effects of different functionals affecting the localization of the spin density are shown to affect the g-tensor values.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗