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At least 649 records · Page 36

Demonstration of object location, classification, and characterization by developed deep learning dust ablation trail analysis code package using plasma jets

Based on deep learning, a Dust Ablation Trail Analysis (DATA) code package is developed to detect dust ablation trails in tokamaks, which is intended to analyze a large amount data of tokamak dusts. To validate and benchmark the DATA code package, 2440 plasma jet images are exploited for the training and test of the deep learning DATA code package, since plasma jets resemble the shape and size of dust ablation clouds in tokamaks. After being trained by 1920 plasma jet images, the DATA code package is able to locate 100% plasma jets, classify plasma jets with the accuracy of >99.9%, and output image skeleton information for classified plasma jets. The DATA code package trained by the plasma jet images is also used to analyze the dust ablation trails captured in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting (EAST) tokamak with the satisfactory performance, further verifying its applicability in the fusion dust ablation investigation. Based on its excellent performance presented here, it is demonstrated that our DATA code package is able to automatically identify and analyze dust ablation trails in tokamaks, which can be used for further detailed investigations, such as the three-dimensional reconstruction of dusts and their ablation trails.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Neural networks for estimation of divertor conditions in DIII-D using C III imaging

Deep learning approaches have been applied to images of C III emission in the lower divertor of DIII-D to develop models for estimating the level of detachment and magnetic configuration (X-point location and strike point radial location). The poloidal distance from the target to the C III emission front is used to represent the level of detachment. The models perform well on a test dataset not used in training, achieving $F_1$ scores as high as 0.99 for detachment state classification and root mean squared error (RMSE) as low as 2cm for front location regression. Predictions for shots with intermittent reattachment are studied, with class activation mapping used to aid in interpretation of the model predictions. Based on the success of these models, a third model was trained to predict the X-point location and strike point radial position from C III images. Though the dataset covers only a small range of possible magnetic configurations, the model shows promising results, achieving RMSE around 1cm for the test data.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Ternary and Quaternary Nickel-Iron-Oxide-Based Thin Films as Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalysts in Alkaline Media

Alkaline water electrolyzers are a promising technology for energy storage and conversion through the electrochemical production of hydrogen, however the slow kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) pose a major challenge. The alkaline environment enables the use of non-Pt-group metals as OER catalysts, in particular NiFe-based materials. In this study, Mn and/or Cr were elementally mixed with NiFe to further improve the OER catalyst properties through a controlled, systematic synthesis process involving thin films prepared by electron beam-induced physical vapor deposition (PVD). By exploring both simultaneous co-deposition and serial deposition of the different metals, the OER performance was investigated as a function of both the location of Mn or Cr in the multi-metal NiFe-based catalysts and the difference between surface versus bulk mixing. The distinct differences in the redox dynamics, surface oxidation, and stability of the seven studied catalysts reveal metal Cr- and/or Mn-overlayers as a promising synthesis approach for fine-tuning of catalyst properties and improving the OER performance.

Alkaline Water Electrolysis↗

CO2-Locate: A Dynamic Database and Tool for Accessing National Oil and Gas Well Data to Inform Carbon Storage Projects

The CO2-Locate Database is a growing compilation of publicly available wellbore resources that have been merged based on common attributes across data sources with an attribute schema developed to be consistent across disparate resources, reduce data gaps, and eliminate record redundancy. The first version of CO2-Locate has been published to Energy Data eXchange (EDX) and includes the integrated public wells dataset as well as additional geospatial summary layers of key wellbore characteristics to protect proprietary resources. Additionally, the CO2-Locate database has been deployed into a web application, enabling easy access, data filtering capabilities, and visualization of U.S. wellbore infrastructure by stakeholders to inform injection site selection and risk assessments.

Dyer, Alec S. [NETL Site Support Contractor, Natio↗

Uncertainty in Reconstructing Paleo‐Elevation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet From Temperature‐Sensitive Ice Core Records

Paleotemperature reconstructions from ice cores are mixed signals of changes in climate and ice‐surface elevation. A common, temperature‐based paleoaltimetry method suggests these signals can be disentangled by comparing two proxy locations with similar climates. The difference between the records is assumed to be due to elevation, which is estimated by scaling the temperature difference by a lapse rate. We investigate the uncertainty associated with this approach using a case study of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum. From an ensemble of climate simulations, we extract modeled temperatures at locations of real ice cores. We find uncertainty on the order of hundreds of meters that results from spatial heterogeneity in non‐adiabatic temperature change, which itself stems in part from elevation‐induced atmospheric circulation change. Our findings suggest that caution is needed when interpreting temperature‐based paleoaltimetry results for ice sheets.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Estimated timescales for wet deposition of organic compounds as a function of Henry's law constants

Atmospheric organic compounds may deposit to Earth's surfaces via dry deposition, driven by concentration gradients, and wet deposition, driven by the scavenging of compounds by precipitation. Their removal by deposition has downstream impacts on concentrations of secondary organic aerosol by removing potential aerosol precursors that would otherwise oxidize to form particulate matter. The impact of deposition processes can consequently be considered as competition between rates of oxidation and deposition, but timescales for deposition are not well constrained. While timescales for dry deposition have been estimated and experimentally validated in the past, understanding of wet deposition of organics is still very limited. In this work, we estimate the wet deposition timescale for gas-phase organic compounds in the atmosphere as a function of Henry's law constants, H, using real-world precipitation frequency and size distributions at five globally-distributed sites. The wet deposition timescale decreases significantly with the increase of H until reaching a stable minimum for compounds with H > 10 5 M per atm. We estimate that the median wet deposition timescale for highly soluble gases is approximately 5 hours during a continuous rain event for all sites. However, median estimated timescales ranged from 80 to 200 hours, depending on location. Timescales are found to depend primarily on the frequency and duration of precipitation events rather than their intensity or size characteristics. Based on these data, we demonstrate that timescales for wet deposition of gases can be estimated at any given location using only basic precipitation information, without detailed or high-precision measurements.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Electrochemical Structure of the Plasma–Liquid Interface

Nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasma in contact with a liquid yields a variety of energetic photons, ions, and electrons, which can be transported into the plasma–liquid interface (PLI). Similar to the electrochemical interface formed between a solid electrode and electrolyte in conventional electrochemical systems, the charge-transfer process across the PLI is able to promote reduction–oxidation (redox) reactions. However, in the case of free plasma jets in contact with liquids, the absence of solid electrodes obscures the spatial locations of the electrochemical half-reactions. Herein, we present a spatial electrochemical measurement technique used to characterize an aqueous solution in contact with an atmospheric pressure plasma jet. The technique is based on measuring the potential difference between two identical Ag/AgCl electrochemical electrodes positioned at different locations within the solution. More specifically, electrochemical maps were made by measuring the potential of one electrochemical electrode positioned at different locations near the PLI with respect to the other electrochemical electrode positioned far away from the PLI in the bulk solution. Regions in the map with negative and positive potential differences between these electrochemical electrodes were used to identify the electrodeless cathode and anode, respectively. Here, visualization of the spatial distribution of molecular colorimetric redox indicators by multispectral imaging revealed that reduction was occurring near the plasma jet centerline while oxidation was occurring further away in solution, which constitutes an independent confirmation of the electrochemical maps.

Absorption↗

Hybrid Power Plants: Status of Installed and Proposed Projects [Slides]

As battery prices fall and wind and solar generation rises, power plant developers are increasingly combining wind and solar projects with on-site batteries, creating “hybrid” power plants. But hybrid or co-located plants have been part of the U.S. electricity mix for decades, with widely ranging configurations that extend beyond pairing a generator with a battery. This new summary tracks and maps existing hybrid and co-located plants across the United States while also synthesizing data from generation interconnection queues to illustrate developer interest in the next wave of plants. The scope is inclusive of co-located hybrid plants that pair two or more generators and/or that pair generation with storage at a single point of interconnection, and also full hybrids that feature co-location and co-control. The focus is on larger, 1 MW+ systems: smaller (often behind-the-meter) projects are also increasingly common, but are not included in the data synthesis. Based in part on EIA Form 860 data, there were at least 125 co-located hybrid plants (>1 MW) already operating across the United States at the end of 2019, totaling over 14 GW of aggregate capacity. Some of the most common configurations include wind+storage (13 projects, 1,290 MW wind, 184 MW storage), PV+storage (40 projects, 882 MW PV, 169 MW storage), and fossil+storage (10 projects, 2,414 MW fossil, 91 MW storage). Data from interconnection queues demonstrates the considerable commercial interest that exists in hybrid power plants, especially solar co-located with storage. By the end of 2019, there were at least 367 GW of solar plants in the nation’s queues; 102 GW (~28%) of this capacity was proposed as a hybrid, most typically pairing PV with battery storage. For wind, 225 GW of capacity sat in the queues, with 11 GW (~5%) proposed as a hybrid, again most-often pairing wind with storage. The proposed solar+storage plants are located throughout the United States, but with California and the non-ISO West being the most prominent areas of commercial interest. Proposed wind+storage and standalone storage plants also center to a degree on these regions of the country.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Male mating season range expansion results from an increase in scale of daily movements for a polygynous–promiscuous bird

Abstract Males of species with promiscuous mating systems are commonly observed to use larger ranges during the mating season relative to non‐mating seasons, which is often attributed to a change in movements related to reproductive activities. However, few studies link seasonal range sizes to variation in daily space use patterns to provide insight into the behavioral mechanisms underlying mating season range expansion. We studied 20 GPS‐tagged male wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo ), a large upland gamebird, during the mating and summer non‐mating seasons to test the hypothesis that larger mating season ranges resulted from male wild turkeys expanding the scale of daily movement activities to locate and court females. We delineated mating and non‐mating seasons based on intensity of gobbling, a vocalization tied to courtship behavior, recorded by autonomous recording units distributed across the study area. Mating season ranges were significantly larger than non‐mating season ranges. Daily ranges were larger in the mating season, as were distances between roost sites used on consecutive nights. Variance in daily range size was greater in the mating season, but low temporal autocorrelation suggested considerable daily variability in both seasons. We found no evidence that male wild turkeys changed how they distributed daily movements within seasonal ranges, or differences in habitat use, suggesting larger mating season ranges result from male wild turkeys increasing the scale of their daily movements, rather than a systematic shift to a nomadic movement strategy. Likely, the distribution of females is more dynamic and ephemeral compared to other resources, prompting males to traverse larger daily ranges during the mating season to locate and court females. Our work illustrates the utility of using daily movement to understand the behavioral process underlying larger space use patterns.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

System-on-chip integrated circuit technology applications on the DIII-D tokamak for multi-field measurements

Several mm-wave diagnostics on the DIII-D tokamak provide multi-scale and multi-dimensional measurements of plasma profile evolution and turbulence fluctuations. Mm-wave fusion plasma diagnostics that adopt system-on-chip integrated circuit technology can provide better space utilization, flexible installation, and improved sensitivity. In order to further extend this technology for additional fusion facilities with a higher toroidal magnetic field, V-band (55–75 GHz) and F-band (90–140 GHz) chips for Microwave Imaging Reflectometer (MIR) and Electron Cyclotron Emission Imaging (ECEI) instruments are developed and tested in the Davis Millimeter Wave Research Center (DMRC). Current measurement data show that correlation between these SoC-based diagnostic instruments with other state-of-the-art diagnostics enables co-located multi-field turbulence fluctuation measurement.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Hydropower Infrastructure - LAkes, Reservoirs, and RIvers (HILARRI), v4

HILARRI is a database of links between major datasets of operational hydropower dams and powerplants, and inland water bodies. These connections are critical for conducting large-scale analysis of hydropower infrastructure and their associated natural and engineered water systems. Features include: – Dams from the National Inventory of Dams (2025) and the Global Reservoir and Dam Database (GRanD v1.3) – Hydropower plants from the Existing Hydropower Assets dataset (EHA 2025) – Power plants that are listed in the 2025 U.S. Hydropower Development Pipeline Data or were listed in previous versions of the dataset These hydropower infrastructure features are linked to several major datasets that provide hydrologic and hydraulic information relevant for analysis of hydropower systems that includes the integral water resources. That information comes from: – Products from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) – NHDPlusV2 Medium Resolution river network flowlines, – NHD waterbodies (limited to lakes and reservoirs), – NHD Watershed Boundary Dataset (HUC12-level for the Conterminous United States (CONUS)) – NHD High Resolution waterbodies – HydroLAKES water bodies (lakes and reservoirs) – LAGOS-US lakes and reservoirs – EPA National Lakes Assessment (2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022) – The Reservoir Sedimentation Database (RESSED) – EPA SuRGE sampling locations Unique identifiers are used to facilitate joining to the original full datasets. For example, characteristics of NHD flowlines such as estimated average flow rate can be joined from the NHDPlusV2 dataset to a dam or power plant listed in HILARRI based on the ID field, “COMID”, that is common to both datasets. HILARRI only includes basic information about identifiers, location, and data quality or usage notes. It does not contain the attributes or time series data associated with these sites. The HILARRI dataset incorporates information from several datasets to facilitate more effective and accurate analysis of hydropower infrastructure and their associated waterbodies. For example, dams were checked against the most recent American Rivers Dam Removal Database to identify and flag facilities that may no longer exist. Additionally, dams that are listed multiple times in the NID are identified and flagged to avoid double-counting when analyzing and summarizing information. Other quality flags include certainty of operational hydropower (i.e., if one or more datasets indicates hydropower at a particular location), whether an associated water body is accurate or composed of multiple polygons, or whether there is a known issue with reported characteristics in one of the underlying datasets. These additional data flags are designed to increase confidence in data usage for individual to large-scale analyses.

Hansen, Carly [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000193280838)↗

Nationwide cost and capacity estimates for sedimentary basin geothermal power and implications for geologic CO 2 storage

Sedimentary basins are naturally porous and permeable subsurface formations that underlie approximately half of the United States. In addition to being targets for geologic CO 2 storage, these resources could supply geothermal power: sedimentary basin geothermal heat can be extracted with water or CO 2 and used to generate electricity. The geothermal power potential of these basins and the accompanying implication for geologic CO 2 storage are, however, understudied. Here, we use the Sequestration of CO 2 Tool (SCO2T PRO ) and the generalizable GEOthermal techno-economic simulator (genGEO) to address this gap by a) estimating the cost and capacity of sedimentary basin geothermal power plants across the United States and b) comparing those results to nationwide CO 2 sequestration cost and storage potential estimates. We find that across the United States, using CO 2 as a geothermal heat extraction fluid reduces the cost of sedimentary basin power compared to using water, and some of the lowest cost capacity occurs in locations not typically considered for their geothermal resources (e.g., Louisiana, South Dakota). Additionally, using CO 2 effectively doubles the sedimentary basin geothermal resource base, equating to hundreds of gigawatts of new capacity, by enabling electricity generation in geologies that are otherwise (with water) too impermeable, too thin, too cold, or not deep enough. We find there is competition for the best sedimentary basin resources between water- and CO 2 -based power, but no overlap between the lowest-cost resources for CO 2 storage and CO 2 -based power. In this way, our results suggest that deploying CO 2 -based power may increase the cost of water based systems (by using the best resources) and the cost of CO 2 storage (by storing CO 2 in locations that otherwise may not be targeted). As such, our findings demonstrate that determining the best role for sedimentary basins within the energy transition may require balancing tradeoffs between competing priorities.

CPG↗

A Cultural Resource Survey of 110.55 Acres at the Coyote Test Field, Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base, Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, New Mexico

This report presents the results of a Section 110 cultural resource survey of Sandia National Laboratories’ (Sandia) 9930 and 9939 Complexes, in the Coyote Test Field (CTF), located on lands permitted to the Department of Energy (DOE) by the Department of Defense (DOD), Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB), Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Sandia Field Office (DOE/NNSA SFO) and National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, in accordance with Section 110 and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its implementing regulations 36 C.F.R. Part 800, states that every federal agency must establish their own historic preservation program for the identification, evaluation, and protection of historic properties and to ensure that historic preservation is fully integrated into the ongoing programs of federal agencies. Sandia’s Cultural Resources Program (CRP) establishes areas of potential effects based upon projected Sandia mission needs. Some of these areas have no immediate undertakings planned but are in areas where undertakings can happen at a future date.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Low-observability matrix completion

An example device includes at least one processor configured to receive electrical parameter values corresponding to at least one first location within a power network. The at least one processor is further configured to determine, using matrix completion and based on the at least one electrical parameter value, an estimated value of at least one unknown electrical parameter. The at least one unknown electrical parameter corresponds to a second location within the power network. The at least one processor is also configured to cause at least one device within the power network to modify operation based on the estimated value of the at least one unknown electrical parameter.

Bernstein, Andrey↗

Design and performance assessment of a dual-mode latent thermal storage integrated heat pump across multiple climate zones

The electrification of space cooling and heating systems risks overloading the existing electrical grid during peak hours. Heat pumps integrated with thermal energy storage (HP-TES) offer a promising solution by shifting peak loads to off-peak hours, reducing grid strains. This work presents the design and assessment of a dual-mode HP-TES that uses a single 22°C phase-change material (PCM) as a heat source or sink in heating and cooling modes, respectively. Performance assessment was conducted using Modelica-based transient models, and full-year simulations were conducted across eight US climate zones using typical weather data. Two HP-TES performance metrics: peak energy reduction and recharge energy increases, were defined by comparing HP-TES energy consumption with base HP peak consumptions. Annual heating demand reductions (40–65%) exceeded cooling demand reductions (15–20%) due to the elimination of peak-hour backup heating. Cooling mode recharge energy requirements (0–10%) were reduced in locations with lower summer nighttime temperatures, while heating recharge requirements were lower than the high base-peak energy demand from backup heating. Simplified rapid methods that were 10 7 times faster than annual simulations were developed to predict seasonal cooling and heating energy reductions, and recharge energy requirements, with maximum deviations of ±2.5% and ±3.5% points. These methods enabled rapid parametric studies that identified optimal location-specific PCM temperatures between 22°C and 27°C, highlighting the need to consider both discharge and recharge energy requirements to achieve sustainable, energy-efficient peak load shifting across various climate zones.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Evaluation of Techniques for Vegetation Removal from UAV-Based Photogrammetric DSM near WIPP Land Withdrawal Act Boundary, NM

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is located within New Mexico's karst landscape and is the United States' only deep geologic radioactive waste repository which isolates transuranic waste from defense activities underground in a bedded salt formation. Characteristic karst topography in this region is made up of material (such as limestone) that can be dissolved by water over a long period of time, and includes features such as springs, surface streams, sinking streams, caves, and sinkholes. Karst features can potentially impact the integrity of the waste repository in the future and compromise WIPP's performance, particularly when coupled with incompatible land-use activities within the Land Withdrawal Act (LWA) boundary as well as increased water withdrawals outside the LWA. In order to better capture the ground surface topography to support hydrology modeling efforts, the U.S. DOE has enlisted FIU to develop a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM). In a previous field study, a high-resolution digital surface model (DSM) of an adjacent representative site, Basin 6, was developed by photogrammetry using aerial images captured with unmanned aerial vehicles. The DSM generated was based on point clouds representing the entire landscapes, including points of terrain, vegetation and infrastructure. These above-ground features need to be removed to create a DSM/DEM with good representation of the bare ground. In recent years, many techniques including both pre- and post-processing of DSMs, were developed for vegetation removal with varied success. This research focuses on applying and comparing various vegetation removal methods using point clouds generated of the Basin 6 pilot study area. The 3D RGB-based point cloud classification using Python scripts was a modification of the procedure by Themistocleous (2019). The method using Liblas classifies the point cloud three-dimensionally, whereas the method by Themistocleous (2019) is two-dimensional. The preliminary result of the method using Liblas, however, still had a large amount of vegetation remaining compared to the Pix4D Machine Learning method. The vegetation layer remains highly visible in the DEMs processed using the vegetation indices as opposed to the Pix4D Machine Learning method, which produces a DEM where mostly bare ground is seen. Further modifications to the input parameters are required to improve the vegetation vs. bare ground classification using this approach. The next step will be to improve the method using Liblas and to also test other vegetation removal methods found in the literature review to compare them against the two described here.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Data-Driven Event Detection of Power Systems Based on Unequal-Interval Reduction of PMU Data and Local Outlier Factor

With the deployment of phasor measurement units (PMU) and wide area measurement system (WAMS), it is feasible to have an insight into the events occurred in power systems based on measured data. Thus, a novel data-driven algorithm based on local outlier factor (LOF) is proposed in this work to detect and locate events in power systems using reduced PMU data. First, the unequal-interval reduction method is presented to reduce the scale of PMU data in sub-stations and reconstruct it in master station of WAMS, which can relieve the burden of communication systems. Then, principle component analysis (PCA)-based similarity search method is proposed to measure the differences of operation state between any two buses. Next, LOF is presented to detect the abnormal events in power systems, and employed to determine the region of the event source. Finally, six cases from the Western electricity coordinating council (WECC) 179-bus power system, a case from the South China power system (SCPS), and a case from the Guangdong power system (GDPS) are utilized to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Overall, the results show that proposed algorithm is effective and can be applied to event detection, event location, and online monitoring, which can enhance the situation awareness ability of power system operators.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

The EGS Collab Project: Learnings from Experiment 1

The primary objective of the EGS Collab Project sponsored by DOE is to increase the understanding needed to efficiently implement enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). One goal of the EGS Collab project is to create a collaborative research environment in which to study stimulation of crystalline rock at the 10 meter scale. Key to this effort is the collection of high quality data to allow comparison to numerical coupled process models in an effort to build confidence in the codes and modeling techniques used. In response to this, the EGS Collab team has created an underground test bed at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead SD at a depth of approximately 1.5 km to examine hydraulic fracturing (Experiment 1). We are currently designing a second test bed aimed at investigating shear stimulation (Experiment 2). At the Experiment 1 location, we have characterized our host rock using laboratory testing and numerous field-based geophysical and geological techniques, and created a well-instrumented test bed to allow us to carefully monitor stimulation events and flow tests. In addition to the installed geophysical sensors, we have used tracer tests, differences in the ambient microbial communities at flow collection locations, and cold water injection to inform us about dynamic flow pathways. In Experiment 1, we have hydraulically stimulated the host rock in a number times at several locations in one well, creating new fractures that connect to existing fractures between the injection and production boreholes. We have performed long-term ambient and chilled water injection tests as an analog to EGS, and have monitored system changes resulting from these water injections through geophysical monitoring, flow and pressure measurements, tracer tests, and microbiology. Here, we summarize the tests performed, issues identified including poroelastic and thermoelastic effects, Joule-Thomson effects, restarting effects, indications of flow channeling, and the primary learnings from Experiment 1.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems, EGS Collab, stimulati↗