Results for “environmental requirements program” — Page 4

DOE OSTI2026

Low-cost, Highly Efficient and Fast Thermally Pressed Scalable Carbon-based Planar Perovskite Solar Cells

This Final Technical Report summarizes work completed under Award Number DEEE0009833, titled "Low-cost, Highly Efficient and Fast Thermally Pressed Scalable Carbon-based Planar Perovskite Solar Cells." The project addressed the central technical problem that carbon-electrode perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) can reduce electrode costs and improve environmental durability, but they have historically lagged noble-metalcontact devices due to poor carbon/perovskite contact, high carbon-electrode resistance, imperfect hole extraction, and insufficient operational stability. The Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO), therefore, required systematic engineering of thermally pressed carbon-based planar perovskite solar cells by improving the carbon/perovskite interface quality, improving carbon-electrode conductivity, and further increasing device stability. The work advanced understanding of carbon-based perovskite photovoltaics by connecting device performance to three coupled mechanisms: interfacial recombination at the perovskite/hole-transport-layer/carbon stack; lateral and vertical transport losses in carbon contacts; and instability driven by moisture, heat, illumination, ion migration, and slow/variable manufacturing steps.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Data for A Hybrid Biophysical-Machine Learning Framework for Diurnal Surface Energy Flux Estimation Using Proximal Sensing

Thermal infrared-based remote sensing of surface energy fluxes has traditionally relied on high spatial resolution satellite data with revisit frequencies on the order of weeks. In this study, we evaluate a biophysics-based analytical surface energy balance model for predicting latent energy (LE) and sensible heat (H) fluxes using proximal sensing observations. The Surface Temperature Initiated Closure (STIC1.2) model has been extensively validated across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales using various satellite-derived thermal infrared data sets. Here we extend this validation by applying STIC at sub-hourly temporal resolution over multiple growing seasons for four distinct agricultural systems. We further develop and evaluate novel STIC variants that incorporate machine learning (ML) techniques to eliminate the need for surface energy balance observations, specifically net radiation and soil heat flux, thereby enhancing model applicability in data-sparse settings. The integration of a ML component to estimate surface available energy is shown to have strong predictive performance for both LE (R2 = 0.81–0.94) and H (R2 = 0.46–0.72) across all agricultural systems examined here, demonstrating the potential of hybrid biophysical-machine learning approaches for surface energy balance modeling with minimal data requirements. This study concludes with a novel application of explainable machine learning (exML) to diagnose sources of model error. This exML framework attributes residual prediction errors to both model input variables and environmental drivers not explicitly included in the simulation experiments. This approach provides a new pathway for improving model design and integrating previously overlooked yet influential variables into future model iterations.

AI/ML↗

DOE OSTI2026

Final DOE-ASR Report for the Project “Using LASSO to bridge the gap between model and observations and to learn about atmospheric convection”

Atmospheric convection spans a wide range of spatial and temporal scales and involves complex interactions with the surrounding dynamic and thermodynamic environment, particularly over tropical continental regions. These processes remain a major source of uncertainty in weather and climate models, including persistent biases in the diurnal cycle of convective precipitation that directly affect estimates of climate sensitivity. Addressing these challenges requires the combined use of high-resolution observations and cloud-resolving modeling frameworks. In this context, the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program’s Large-Eddy Simulation ARM Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) activity provides a powerful platform that pairs comprehensive observations with numerical simulations to enable process-level understanding of atmospheric convection. Within this context, this Research and Development Partnership Pilot (RDPP) project was designed to initiate and expand DOE ARM/ASR research capacity at minority-serving institutions, while advancing scientific understanding of convective processes over the Amazon rainforest. Consistent with the RDPP mission, the project emphasized partnership development, training, and workforce capacity building alongside exploratory research activities. On the scientific side, the project produced two peer-reviewed journal articles, and one manuscript currently under review (see list in section 3.1). Together, these studies combine long-term ARM observations and cloud-resolving and convection-permitting modeling to investigate the environmental controls on the shallow-to-deep convective transition during the Amazon wet season. The results demonstrate the central role of early-day moisture preconditioning and large-scale dynamical forcing in regulating isolated deep convection, provide mechanistic insight into convective evolution, and establish physically informed modeling frameworks for future sensitivity experiments. These scientific outcomes are described in sections 2.1 to 2.3 and were disseminated in 8 conference presentations (see section 3.2) and 5 invited talks (see section 3.3), reflecting broad engagement with our community. Equally important, the project achieved its RDPP capacity-building objectives (see section 2.4). A sustained research partnership was established among the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Morgan State University (MSU), and Howard University (HU), and extended to include collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The project organized multiple multi-day training events focused on ARM data, LASSO simulations, and quantitative analysis methods, directly engaging students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty across institutions. These activities broadened participation in ASR research and led to independent adoption of LASSO workflows by students beyond the immediate project team. Finally, the project successfully positioned the participating institutions to pursue future DOE research. Preliminary scientific results, coupled with strengthened partnerships and technical capacity, enabled the submission of follow-on proposals to DOE ASR funding opportunities. In this way, the project fulfilled the RDPP goal of seeding durable research capacity and laying the foundation for larger-scale, sustained engagement with DOE ARM and ASR programs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition 2025: Rules - Phases 2 and 3

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office's (WETO) Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC, also referred to as the "competition" in this rules document) invites interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate students from a variety of academic programs to solve complex wind energy challenges. Through the competition, WETO intends to offer students direct industry experience, valuable exposure to wind energy career pathways, and greater knowledge of wind energy's potential to contribute to a clean energy future. The competition will select up to 35 teams to start, making them eligible to compete for a cash prize pool of up to $280,000. Each year, the competition identifies a new challenge and set of activities that address real-world research questions, thus demonstrating skills that students will need to work in the wind or wider renewable energy industries. The Collegiate Wind Competition 2025 challenge requires participants to compete simultaneously in four contests: 1) Turbine Design Contest: Design, build, and present a unique, wind-driven power system. 2) Turbine Testing Contest: Test the wind turbine in a competition wind tunnel at the final event. 3) Project Development Contest: Research wind resource data, transmission infrastructure, and environmental factors to create a site plan and financial analysis for a hypothetical wind farm. 4) Connection Creation Contest: Partner with wind industry professionals, raise awareness of wind energy in your local community, and work with local media to promote your team's accomplishments. The competition does not prescribe a power system market or wind regime. It is expected that each team will participate in all four contests.

Collegiate Wind Competition↗

DOE OSTI2024

Inaugural Symposium of the Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment, Virginia Commonwealth University

The Inaugural Symposium of the Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment (ISEE) was held in Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia during April 26 – 28, 2023. The symposium addressed issues and challenges in energy and environment and highlighted the use of clean renewable energy to mitigate the adverse effects of fossil fuels and the greenhouse gases it produces. These issues are complex as the involve educating the public that the climate change is real, it is caused by the use of fossil fuels, it requires scientists and engineers to understand the fundamental science in the production and storage of renewable energy, it requires industries to manufacture and distribute the equipment necessary for commercial application of these technologies, it requires policy makers to put together policies and guidelines to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies efficient, and it requires social scientists and educators to address environmental justice issues and create a workforce to sustain the transition. The symposium considered all the above issues with a diverse list of speakers from the federal and state government, industrial partners, and experts from science and technology to social sciences and public policy. Speakers from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Department of Energy, universities, and non-governmental agencies discussed the challenges and solutions in Plenary as well as Panel sessions. The talks were recorded with permission from the speakers and the panelists and were put in the ISEE website. The participants included students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors from Virginia Commonwealth University and local area Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) such as Virginia State University and Norfolk State University. The $5000 fund awarded by the Department of Energy were used to support the participation of students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty from the HBCU institutions. The technical program the list of participants is provided later in the document.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2024

Genomic prediction of regional-scale performance in switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ) by accounting for genotype-by-environment variation and yield surrogate traits

Switchgrass is a potential crop for bioenergy or carbon capture schemes, but further yield improvements through selective breeding are needed to encourage commercialization. To identify promising switchgrass germplasm for future breeding efforts, we conducted multisite and multitrait genomic prediction with a diversity panel of 630 genotypes from 4 switchgrass subpopulations (Gulf, Midwest, Coastal, and Texas), which were measured for spaced plant biomass yield across 10 sites. Our study focused on the use of genomic prediction to share information among traits and environments. Specifically, we evaluated the predictive ability of cross-validation (CV) schemes using only genetic data and the training set (cross-validation 1: CV1), a subset of the sites (cross-validation 2: CV2), and/or with 2 yield surrogates (flowering time and fall plant height). We found that genotype-by-environment interactions were largely due to the north–south distribution of sites. The genetic correlations between the yield surrogates and the biomass yield were generally positive (mean height r = 0.85; mean flowering time r = 0.45) and did not vary due to subpopulation or growing region (North, Middle, or South). Genomic prediction models had CV predictive abilities of –0.02 for individuals using only genetic data (CV1), but 0.55, 0.69, 0.76, 0.81, and 0.84 for individuals with biomass performance data from 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 sites included in the training data (CV2), respectively. To simulate a resource-limited breeding program, we determined the predictive ability of models provided with the following: 1 site observation of flowering time (0.39); 1 site observation of flowering time and fall height (0.51); 1 site observation of fall height (0.52); 1 site observation of biomass (0.55); and 5 site observations of biomass yield (0.84). The ability to share information at a regional scale is very encouraging, but further research is required to accurately translate spaced plant biomass to commercial-scale sward biomass performance.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Airborne LiDAR to Improve Canopy Fuels Mapping for Wildfire Modeling

Increasing conflict between wildfire and the built environment has increased the need for more up-to-date and finer resolution canopy fuels data to improve wildfire modeling and associated risk forecasts. The US Forest Service and US Department of the Interior’s LANDFIRE product, which provides 30-m resolution canopy fuels data for the entire US, is one of the most widely used sources of fuels data. However, the last complete mapping effort for LANDFIRE is based on 2016 conditions, and subsequent updates reflect disturbances 1-2 years behind the release year. Airborne systems equipped with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors can be deployed to actively sense canopy structure and estimate canopy fuels data (cover, height, base height, bulk density) at finer resolutions. Canopy base height (CBH) and canopy bulk density (CBD) are difficult to measure both in the field and in LiDAR point clouds. Still, they are important for accurately modeling crown fires, which are often intense and difficult to contain. Additionally, point cloud datasets are large, and calculations require efficient utilization of computational resources. To address these challenges, we are working on an approach that uses openly available National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) airborne LiDAR data, with calculations processed in the R programming language and parallelized through the lidR package. CBH and CBD are often derived from tree height, diameter at breast height, and species-specific allometries using the Fire and Fuels Extension of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS). We aim to test if airborne LiDAR can estimate CBH and CBD without the use of empirical equations. Reliable estimates of canopy fuels data directly from airborne LiDAR could streamline quick, fine-resolution updates for use in wildfire behavior models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

Life Cycle Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Clean Fuels with the R&D GREET 2024 Model

This document summarizes research on the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rates from the production and use of clean fuels to support a new version of the Research and Development Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies (R&D GREET) model, R&D GREET 2024 In this effort, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) focuses on clean fuel pathways that are readily available in the market or are emerging in the near term. The selected pathways represent clean fuel technologies that convert biomass- and/or waste-based feedstocks to liquid and/or gaseous fuels for the transportation sector and other potential uses. The pathways are configured in R&D GREET 2024 with up-to-date feedstock-to-fuel life cycle inventory (LCI) data. Additionally, a new tab has been added to R&D GREET 2024 called “Clean Fuels” which allows the user to easily change inputs and access LCA results. Argonne does not warrant that the results presented in this report are consistent with the requirements of any particular regulatory or incentive program. Users interested in specific programs that reference GREET are encouraged to review guidance specific to those programs if and when it is available to determine appropriate means of compliance and contact the relevant responsible agencies for those specific policies or programs.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2024

National User Resource for Biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

The National User Resource for Biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (User Resource) will provide isotopic analysis (primarily radiocarbon or 14C) by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for NIH- funded researchers across the United States and will be the only User Resource of its type in the United States. The User Resource will provide measurement capability and expertise to a research community that requires highly sensitive, quantitative isotope analyses. Since commissioning a new accelerator mass spectrometer in June 2014, we have measured over 4000 samples a year for collaborators and service users. The User Resource will enable us to continue to meet these research needs, as well as provide for new users whose research programs would benefit from AMS as a measurement tool. The User Resource’s forte will be ultra-high sensitivity quantitation of radiocarbon and selected other radioisotopes for research studies where isotopes are required. Radioisotope labeling studies have been and will continue to be an important tool for addressing many complex biomedical science problems. AMS is a specialized and unique type of mass spectrometry that provides absolute quantitation of radiocarbon and other relevant radioisotopes with extreme sensitivity, having limits of detection in real samples on the order of a few attomol/mg of sample at measurement precisions of ~3%. It is the only instrumental method capable of quantifying radioisotope-labeled agents routinely in real-world samples with such precision and sensitivity. The sensitivity of AMS allows for the quantification of radiolabeled metabolites in extremely complex matrices of cells and organisms at very low concentrations and in small samples. AMS allows studies to be conducted without perturbing metabolism leading to more relevant quantification of metabolic rates and pathways. In addition, it enables quantification of pharmacokinetic and metabolic properties of toxicants at environmentally relevant concentrations in model systems as well as the ability to quantify pharmacokinetics and other molecular endpoints directly in humans. Such quantitative assessments can 1) improve risk assessment for toxicants, 2) address safety and efficacy considerations for therapeutic entities, 3) deepen understanding of xenobiotic and intermediary metabolism, 4) help understand the interactions between critical molecular pathways, and 5) improve efforts to model and predict various metabolic and biological states. These capabilities have been applied in a number of areas including research in carcinogenesis, toxicology, nutrition, pharmacology/drug development and basic biological science. As a NIGMS National Resource the National User Resource for Biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry will help NIH funded scientists achieve a deeper understanding of the etiology of human health concerns by (1) enabling the quantification of pharmacokinetics and other molecular endpoints directly in humans; (2) offering the ability to conduct quantitative studies using biologics such as proteins or lipids, and thereby reducing the amount of radioisotope usage in biomedical labs; and (3) enabling more relevant studies of metabolic pathways in health and disease through the use of much lower, more biologically-relevant, concentrations of metabolic substrates in cells and intact organisms. Such studies support NIGMS’s basic biomedical research areas that contribute to the understanding of fundamental cellular and physiological principles and enable research supported by the Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences (BBCB); Genetics and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (GMCDB); Pharmacology, Physiology, Biological Chemistry (PPBC) and Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity (TWD) Divisions.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2025

National User Resource for Biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (Final Report)

The National User Resource for Biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (User Resource) will provide isotopic analysis (primarily radiocarbon or 14C) by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for NIH- funded researchers across the United States and will be the only User Resource of its type in the United States. The User Resource will provide measurement capability and expertise to a research community that requires highly sensitive, quantitative isotope analyses. Since commissioning a new accelerator mass spectrometer in June 2014, we have measured over 4000 samples a year for collaborators and service users. The User Resource will enable us to continue to meet these research needs, as well as provide for new users whose research programs would benefit from AMS as a measurement tool. The User Resource’s forte will be ultra-high sensitivity quantitation of radiocarbon and selected other radioisotopes for research studies where isotopes are required. Radioisotope labeling studies have been and will continue to be an important tool for addressing many complex biomedical science problems. AMS is a specialized and unique type of mass spectrometry that provides absolute quantitation of radiocarbon and other relevant radioisotopes with extreme sensitivity, having limits of detection in real samples on the order of a few attomol/mg of sample at measurement precisions of ~3%. It is the only instrumental method capable of quantifying radioisotope-labeled agents routinely in real-world samples with such precision and sensitivity. The sensitivity of AMS allows for the quantification of radiolabeled metabolites in extremely complex matrices of cells and organisms at very low concentrations and in small samples. AMS allows studies to be conducted without perturbing metabolism leading to more relevant quantification of metabolic rates and pathways. In addition, it enables quantification of pharmacokinetic and metabolic properties of toxicants at environmentally relevant concentrations in model systems as well as the ability to quantify pharmacokinetics and other molecular endpoints directly in humans. Such quantitative assessments can 1) improve risk assessment for toxicants, 2) address safety and efficacy considerations for therapeutic entities, 3) deepen understanding of xenobiotic and intermediary metabolism, 4) help understand the interactions between critical molecular pathways, and 5) improve efforts to model and predict various metabolic and biological states. These capabilities have been applied in a number of areas including research in carcinogenesis, toxicology, nutrition, pharmacology/drug development and basic biological science. As a NIGMS National Resource the National User Resource for Biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry will help NIH funded scientists achieve a deeper understanding of the etiology of human health concerns by (1) enabling the quantification of pharmacokinetics and other molecular endpoints directly in humans; (2) offering the ability to conduct quantitative studies using biologics such as proteins or lipids, and thereby reducing the amount of radioisotope usage in biomedical labs; and (3) enabling more relevant studies of metabolic pathways in health and disease through the use of much lower, more biologically-relevant, concentrations of metabolic substrates in cells and intact organisms. Such studies support NIGMS’s basic biomedical research areas that contribute to the understanding of fundamental cellular and physiological principles and enable research supported by the Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences (BBCB); Genetics and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (GMCDB); Pharmacology, Physiology, Biological Chemistry (PPBC) and Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity (TWD) Divisions. Over the next five years, our goals are to: 1. Improve the efficiency of operation for AMS measurements through installation of new interfaces to our AMS systems, technical modifications to improve gas accepting ion source efficiency and upgrading our data analysis software for improved ease of use and data reporting. 2. Increase the accessibility and visibility of ultra-sensitive 14C measurements for the biomedical research community by training of new investigators and expanding our national user base. 3. Provide high throughput, ultra-sensitive 14C analysis for the NIGMS and NIH user community.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2024

Perform Design Support with MCNP for New Measurements

This report incorporates our work carried out during our 5-month internship at LANL under an internship agreement with EAMEA (École des Applications Militaires de l’Énergie Atomique). After outlining the context in which we worked, we present our work as aid to modeling and predicting the neutronic behavior of nuclear systems, with a view to carrying out criticality experiments qualifying the MCNP code as part of innovative projects. Fourth generation reactors will enable to tackle a lot of issues such as environmental crisis, affordable energy access, and nuclear waste management. They seem to be one of the keys for a sustainable future. Most of the projects that emerge nowadays include the use of HALEU (high assay low enriched uranium) or MOX recycled fuels. Our projects are part of this dynamic and addresses concrete scientific research issues in the nuclear field. Studies of HALEU package are essential to anticipate the need, therefore the Optimus L (OPTImal Modular Universal Shipping cask technology) designed by NAC (Nuclear Assurance Corporation) international but filled with 20 % enriched uranium dioxide (UO 2 ) will be studied to support safe transportation. However, it seems there is no benchmark with a high correlation with the combination of this fuel and this package to validate MCNP simulations. As such, the study will focus on the development of new criticality safety benchmarks for this case. On the other hand, there is a great need for critical benchmarks in the intermediate energy range with MOX fuel. An IER (Integral Experiment Request) has then be requested to answer it through a partnership between French institution IRSN and U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP). This experience planned for 2025 requires to gather calculated data through a MCNP model to be realized safely. Finally, a presentation of our one-week experience at the DAF as part of our discovery of criticality experiments will be introduced in Appendix 1: Week at the DAF (Device Assembly Facility)

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Dataset for scientific paper "Simulated plant‑mediated oxygen input has strong impacts on fine‑scale porewater biogeochemistry and weak impacts on integrated methane fluxes in coastal wetlands", a modeling study based on field observation at the tidal salt marshes of the Parker River Estuary, Massachusetts, United States

This dataset is the raw and processed data for the paper "Simulated plant ‑ mediated oxygen input has strong impacts on fine ‑ scale porewater biogeochemistry and weak impacts on integrated methane fluxes in coastal wetlands". This study investigated how plant-mediated oxygen input affects subsurface biogeochemical reactions of organic carbon degradation and the resulting methane emissions of coastal wetlands by model simulation. We used the subsurface geochemical simulator PFLOTRAN for the modeling, which produced the simulated changes in porewater chemical substances and methane emissions over 10 days under different scenarios of plant-mediated oxygen input.Specifically, this dataset contains: 1) the input files for PFLOTRAN of all simulation runs conducted in this study. Those files are with an extension of ".in", containing information of the biogeochemical reaction network (stoichiometry, reaction rate, Monod constants, etc), fluid flow rate and oxygen concentration in the fluid which together simulated the plant-mediated oxygen input, the configuration of artificial reactions that simulated the methane fluxes, etc. The PFLOTRAN input files are text files, which can be opened by NotePad, but running these input files will require proper installation of PFLOTRAN (instruction: https://documentation.pflotran.org/user_guide/how_to/installation/installation.html). 2) the raw and processed model output from PFLOTRAN of all simulation runs, and 3) the python scripts used to process the raw model output, including random allocation of root cells, converting raw data into organized formats, calculating the methane fluxes based on the model output, data visualization, etc. The raw and processed model output from PFLOTRAN are in .spydata format, which can be viewed with Python. and 3) the python scripts for data processing and analysis are programming scripts, which can be opened with Python.This modeling work, in particular the model parameterization of root density and initial conditions of porewater concentrations of biogeochemical substances, was based on field measurements at the salt marsh of the Upper Parker River Estuary, Massachusetts, United States.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

SARS-CoV-2 wastewater variant surveillance: pandemic response leveraging FDA’s GenomeTrakr network

ABSTRACT Wastewater surveillance has emerged as a crucial public health tool for population-level pathogen surveillance. Supported by funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the FDA‘s genomic epidemiology program, GenomeTrakr, was leveraged to sequence SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater sites across the United States. This initiative required the evaluation, optimization, development, and publication of new methods and analytical tools spanning sample collection through variant analyses. Version-controlled protocols for each step of the process were developed and published on protocols.io. A custom data analysis tool and a publicly accessible dashboard were built to facilitate real-time visualization of the collected data, focusing on the relative abundance of SARS-CoV-2 variants and sub-lineages across different samples and sites throughout the project. From September 2021 through June 2023, a total of 3,389 wastewater samples were collected, with 2,517 undergoing sequencing and submission to NCBI under the umbrella BioProject,PRJNA757291. Sequence data were released with explicit quality control (QC) tags on all sequence records, communicating our confidence in the quality of data. Variant analysis revealed wide circulation of Delta in the fall of 2021 and captured the sweep of Omicron and subsequent diversification of this lineage through the end of the sampling period. This project successfully achieved two important goals for the FDA’s GenomeTrakr program: first, contributing timely genomic data for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic response, and second, establishing both capacity and best practices for culture-independent, population-level environmental surveillance for other pathogens of interest to the FDA. IMPORTANCE This paper serves two primary objectives. First, it summarizes the genomic and contextual data collected during a Covid-19 pandemic response project, which utilized the FDA’s laboratory network, traditionally employed for sequencing foodborne pathogens, for sequencing SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater samples. Second, it outlines best practices for gathering and organizing population-level next generation sequencing (NGS) data collected for culture-free, surveillance of pathogens sourced from environmental samples.

Microbiology↗

DOE OSTI1993

Nuclear Safety [Vol. 34, No. 1, January-March 1993]

Nuclear Safety is a review journal that covers significant developments in the field of nuclear safety. Its scope includes the analysis and control of hazards associated with nuclear energy, operations involving fissionable materials, and the products of nuclear fission and their effects on the environment. Primary emphasis is on safety in reactor design, construction, and operation; however, the safety aspects of the entire fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing, nuclear waste disposal, handling of radioisotopes, and environmental effects of these operations, are also treated. Table of Contents for this issue follows. GENERAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: 1 An Integrated Regional Approach To Risk Management of Industrial Systems, S. Chakraborty and R. Stratton; 9 Annual Technical Meeting of the NRC Cooperative Severe Accident Research Program, E. G. Silver; ACCIDENT ANALYSIS: 13 Deterministic Severe Accident Criteria as Severe Accident Design Criteria and Policy for the New Production Reactor-Heavy Water Reactor, P. T. Rhoads; 20 Proposed Deterministic Severe Accident Criteria for the Heavy Water Reactor-New Production Reactor Containment, K. D. Bergeron, S. E. Slezak, and C. E. Leach; 33 Quasi-Static Core Liquid Level Depression and Long-Term Core Uncovery During a PWR LOCA, Y. Kukita, R. R. Schultz, H. Nakamura, and J. Katayama; 49 LIRA: An Advanced Containment System to Minimize the Accidental Radioactivity Releases, A. Turricchia; 63 Errata to “A Review of Hydrogen Production During Melt/Water Interaction in LWRs,” Vol. 33, No. 4; CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATION: 64 The Nuplex 80+™ Advanced Control Complex from ABB Combustion Engineering, F. Ridolfo, D. Harmon, and K. Scarola; DESIGN FEATURES: 76 A Scheme for Passive Isolation of the Containment of a Reactor, A. K. Ghosh, V. V. Raj, and K. Kakodkar; 84 Utility Requirements for Safety in the Passive Advanced Light-Water Reactor, T. U. Marston, W. H. Layman, and G. Bockhold, Jr.; WASTE AND SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT: 91 Activities Related to Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver; OPERATING EXPERIENCES: 103 Testing Deficiencies in Auxiliary Systems Feedwater Systems, J. D. Kueck; 110 Reactor Shutdown Experience, Compiled by J. W. Cletcher; 113 Selected Safety-Related Events, Compiled by G. A. Murphy; 115 Operating U.S. Power Reactors, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver; RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: 133 General Administrative Activities, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver; 145 Reports, Standards, and Safety Guides, D. S. Queener; 150 Proposed Rule Changes as of Sept. 30, 1992; ANNOUNCEMENTS: 75 Harvard Short Course on Risk: Science, Assessment, and Management; 102 International Conference on Reactor Physics and Reactor Computations; 102 The Fourth International Conference on Nuclear Waste Reprocessing and Waste Management [RECOD ’94]; 132 International Symposium on the Radiological Exposure of the Population of the European Community from Radioactivity in the Mediterranean Sea [MARINA-MED]; 162 International High-Level Radioactive Waste Conference ‘Technology Integration—Above and Below”; 154 The Authors; 158 Indexes to Nuclear Safety, Volume 33.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI1993

Nuclear Safety [Vol. 34, No. 1, January-March 1993]

Nuclear Safety is a review journal that covers significant developments in the field of nuclear safety. Its scope includes the analysis and control of hazards associated with nuclear energy, operations involving fissionable materials, and the products of nuclear fission and their effects on the environment. Primary emphasis is on safety in reactor design, construction, and operation; however, the safety aspects of the entire fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing, nuclear waste disposal, handling of radioisotopes, and environmental effects of these operations, are also treated. Table of Contents for this issue follows. GENERAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: 1 An Integrated Regional Approach To Risk Management of Industrial Systems, S. Chakraborty and R. Stratton; 9 Annual Technical Meeting of the NRC Cooperative Severe Accident Research Program, E. G. Silver; ACCIDENT ANALYSIS: 13 Deterministic Severe Accident Criteria as Severe Accident Design Criteria and Policy for the New Production Reactor-Heavy Water Reactor, P. T. Rhoads; 20 Proposed Deterministic Severe Accident Criteria for the Heavy Water Reactor-New Production Reactor Containment, K. D. Bergeron, S. E. Slezak, and C. E. Leach; 33 Quasi-Static Core Liquid Level Depression and Long-Term Core Uncovery During a PWR LOCA, Y. Kukita, R. R. Schultz, H. Nakamura, and J. Katayama; 49 LIRA: An Advanced Containment System to Minimize the Accidental Radioactivity Releases, A. Turricchia; 63 Errata to “A Review of Hydrogen Production During Melt/Water Interaction in LWRs,” Vol. 33, No. 4; CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATION: 64 The Nuplex 80+™ Advanced Control Complex from ABB Combustion Engineering, F. Ridolfo, D. Harmon, and K. Scarola; DESIGN FEATURES: 76 A Scheme for Passive Isolation of the Containment of a Reactor, A. K. Ghosh, V. V. Raj, and K. Kakodkar; 84 Utility Requirements for Safety in the Passive Advanced Light-Water Reactor, T. U. Marston, W. H. Layman, and G. Bockhold, Jr.; WASTE AND SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT: 91 Activities Related to Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver; OPERATING EXPERIENCES: 103 Testing Deficiencies in Auxiliary Systems Feedwater Systems, J. D. Kueck; 110 Reactor Shutdown Experience, Compiled by J. W. Cletcher; 113 Selected Safety-Related Events, Compiled by G. A. Murphy; 115 Operating U.S. Power Reactors, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver; RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: 133 General Administrative Activities, Compiled by M. D. Muhlheim and E. G. Silver; 145 Reports, Standards, and Safety Guides, D. S. Queener; 150 Proposed Rule Changes as of Sept. 30, 1992; ANNOUNCEMENTS: 75 Harvard Short Course on Risk: Science, Assessment, and Management; 102 International Conference on Reactor Physics and Reactor Computations; 102 The Fourth International Conference on Nuclear Waste Reprocessing and Waste Management [RECOD ’94]; 132 International Symposium on the Radiological Exposure of the Population of the European Community from Radioactivity in the Mediterranean Sea [MARINA-MED]; 162 International High-Level Radioactive Waste Conference ‘Technology Integration—Above and Below”; 154 The Authors; 158 Indexes to Nuclear Safety, Volume 33.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2025

pyTCR: A tropical cyclone rainfall model for python

pyTCR is a climatology software package developed in the Python programming language. It integrates the capabilities of several legacy physical models and increases computational efficiency to allow rapid estimation of tropical cyclone (TC) rainfall consistent with the large-scale environment. Specifically, pyTCR implements a horizontally distributed and vertically integrated model [Zhu et al., 2013] for simulating rainfall driven by TCs. Along storm tracks, rainfall is estimated by computing the cross-boundary-layer, upward water vapor transport caused by different mechanisms including frictional convergence, vortex stretching, large-scale baroclinic effect (i.e., wind shear), topographic forcing, and radiative cooling [Lu et al., 2018]. The package provides essential functionalities for modeling and interpreting spatio-temporal TC rainfall data. pyTCR requires a limited number of model input parameters, making it a convenient and useful tool for analyzing rainfall mechanisms driven by TCs. To sample rare (most intense) rainfall events that are often of great societal interest, pyTCR adapts and leverages outputs from a statistical-dynamical TC downscaling model [Lin et al., 2023] capable of rapidly generating a large number of synthetic TCs given a certain climate. As a result, pyTCR significantly reduces computational effort and improves the efficiency in capturing extreme TC rainfall events at the tail of the distributions from limited datasets. Furthermore, the TC downscaling model is forced entirely by large-scale environmental conditions from reanalysis data or coupled General Circulation Models (GCMs), simplifying the projection of TC-induced rainfall and wind speed under future climate using pyTCR. Finally, pyTCR can be coupled with hydrological and wind models to assess risks associated with independent and compound events (e.g., storm surges and freshwater flooding).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

FEED Study of CarbonCapture Inc DAC and CarbonCure Utilization Technologies Using United States Steel’s Gary Works Plant Waste Heat (Final Report)

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) led this project to produce a front-end engineering design (FEED) study of an advanced Direct Air Capture and Utilization System (DACUS) system that can remove a minimum of 5,000 tonnes/yr net of carbon dioxide from air (based on cradle-to-gate LCA) and utilizing the CO 2 to produce low carbon intensity ready mix concrete. The designed system, if built, would be larger than any currently existing Direct Air Capture (DAC) collector in the U.S. Such carbon capture technologies are critical to meeting the goals of the DOE’s program to accelerate climate-critical technology. In addition to the power sector, industrial facilities for the manufacture of steel and cement/concrete are among the major sources of anthropogenic CO 2 . DAC is a promising new technology for reducing CO 2 , a potent greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere but is expensive, in part due to the energy required to adsorb and desorb captured CO 2 during cycles. By integrating CarbonCapture Inc. (CCI) DAC modules at United States Steel's Gary Works (USS) and utilizing the site's waste heat, energy, and location this project evaluates the feasibility of utilizing the captured CO 2 and the logistics of transportation. CarbonCapture Inc. has developed an innovative DAC system using novel adsorbents to cost-effectively capture CO 2 . The captured, liquified gas will be trucked to ready-mix concrete plants within the region, the closest of which is approximately 3.5 miles away, where CarbonCure will inject it into concrete during the mixing process at the facilities. The carbon dioxide reacts with concrete, mineralizing into calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ), permanently locking the greenhouse gas into the matrix of the building material. This FEED study demonstrated a full CO 2 value chain for DACUS from industrial facilities. It also provided a means for Visage Energy Corp. (Visage) to assess the impact of this holistic approach on job creation, regional economic impact, and environmental justice. The project team also included Sargent & Lundy (S&L) to provide the constructability review and costing of the integration of the DAC with the steel plant. Ecotek Engineering USA, LLC designed the outside battery limit (OSBL) infrastructure to connect the DAC and the plant. Activities performed during the project included: (1) Project Management Plan; (2) Technology Maturation Plan (TMP); (3) Initial Workforce Readiness Plan; (4) Workforce Readiness Plan; (5) Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Study; (6) Project Design Basis; (7) Hazards and Operability (HAZOP) Study; (8) Constructability Review; (9) Project Cost Assessment; (10) Logistics Analysis of CO 2 Transportation to the Utilization Site; (11) Business Case Analysis; (12) Life Cycle Analysis (LCA); (13) Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Analysis; (14) Environmental Justice Analysis; and (15) Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Outcomes Analysis. This report provides a summary of the outcomes and results of the project, which was performed between Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2024.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2025

Sitka Energy Inventory

The City and Borough of Sitka was chosen for an Energy Technology Innovation Partner Project award starting in Fall 2023, the third cohort of the program. The scope of the following work was driven by the city, as well as the city-appointed Sustainability Commission. The community asked for a method to track their reliance on outside fuel sources, as well as the emissions associated with those fuels and other processes in Sitka. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) provided research and methodology in line with this community driven ask. This project is a community wide inventory, requiring methods to estimate the fuel usage and emissions from various industries. For each estimate, PNNL presents methodologies that can be repeated by the community in future years to understand how the city is changing.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗