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DOE OSTI2018

Conformable Hydrogen Storage Pressure Vessel

Existing commercially available hydrogen storage technologies are largely based on bulky and costly pressure vessels. These pressure vessels come in various forms, ranging from Type I steel cylinders to Type III and Type IV composite wrapped cylinders with metallic or polymer liners. In efforts to increase the pressure vessel storage density and meet DOE hydrogen storage targets, manufacturers are making incremental improvements. This approach alone is unlikely to meet DOE hydrogen storage targets and increase adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The project team, led by the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) and consisting of High Energy Coil Reservoirs, LLC (HECR) and The University of Texas at Austin's Center for Electromechanics (UT-CEM), has investigated a transformational hydrogen storage technology using high pressure modulus polymeric pressure vessels. These vessels are constructed by overwrapping an extruded thermoplastic elastomeric resin liner with high performance tensile fiber. This technology is used in commercially available compressed air storage for firefighters. The result is a lightweight, flexible, non-explosive, and non-fragmenting pressure vessel that can be shaped (prior to pressurization) to conform to specific applications. Although this project was funded to investigate the potential for this technology for vehicle applications, a potential significant cost reduction allowed with this approach may make it effective for high pressure ground storage as well. As part of Phase I of this project, the research team demonstrated a Kevlar™ over-braid that achieves a burst pressure in excess of 3.1X the operating pressure of 700 bar. The conformable vessel is able to achieve this pressure rating with reduced weight and cost when compared to Type IV vessels. The researchers also identified two potential resins to serve as the liner of the vessel. These resins have excellent hydrogen barrier properties that could enable a liner thickness of 0.06 inches or less; however, difficulties in manufacturing the core due to the extrusion manufacturing processes required testing with prototype resins as commercially available resins were not found that had the required properties. The team was able to build and test a vessel with one such blend, which outperformed the baseline Hytrel resin materials but did not meet the project hydrogen permeability rate goals.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2018

2018 U.S. Utility-Scale Photovoltaics-Plus-Energy Storage System Costs Benchmark

Market growth for utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems has been rapid for several years. Today, with the cost reductions of energy storage technologies, the combining PV and energy storage has become feasible and beneficial, especially for the areas that have only PV standalone systems and need to shift the peak load to meet electricity demand in the evening. Overall, utility-scale PV plus energy storage systems can provide dispatchable energy and reliable capacity. This study details cost factors, including labor costs, material costs, overhead, and permitting costs using a system-level bottom-up cost modeling approach. We use this model to benchmark PV-plus-storage installation system cost and identify the cost difference for AC- and DC-coupled systems and duration variation. Finally, we assess the cost reduction opportunities of colocating PV systems with energy storage systems in order to indicate the possible economic impacts of the PV-plus-storage configuration and help future research and development (R&D) effects in the context of U.S. energy storage policymaking.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2018

2018 U.S. Utility-Scale Photovoltaics-Plus-Energy Storage System Costs Benchmark

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2018

Solar and Energy Storage for Resiliency

Facilitated by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the San Francisco Department of the Environment (SF Environment) is working to overcome regulatory, financial and technical barriers and create a roadmap to build resilience through the implementation of solar with energy storage. One key element of resilience is ensuring the continued operation of shelters and critical emergency management facilities in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake, flood, or other disaster, such as a nearby wildfire. To mitigate interruptions to emergency power at these facilities, the City and County of San Francisco (the “City”) has established “on call” contracts with national diesel generator suppliers. However, relying solely on these suppliers poses significant risks to the City, because the supply of diesel generators in San Francisco may be limited when they are most needed, especially during hurricane season when coastal states face an increased risk of power outages. Furthermore, although diesel generators can provide a few days of power when the electric grid is down, they rely on fuel to do so, and fuel supplies can be interrupted by disasters. To help the City address these challenges, a Resilient Solar and Storage Roadmap study was completed in 2017 that investigated the use of microgrids and standalone solar electric generation with battery storage at emergency shelters. The study identified 67 facilities across the City where solar and battery storage systems could be installed. Out of the 67 facilities, 42 are classified as community shelters, where people can live temporarily and receive medical attention for nonserious injuries, and 25 are libraries where people can gather and have free access to communication/information channels (internet access for communication, news, etc.). At present, none of the emergency shelter facilities have back-up power or generators on site. The Solar and Energy Storage for Resilience project (the “Project) is intended to provide electricity to 67 emergency shelters within the City in the wake of a disaster, by implementing stand-alone solar power generation with battery storage. This report aims to provide an assessment of the economic value and resilience benefits derived from the implementation of a solar and energy storage system at emergency shelters. This assessment is based on quantifiable metrics and grounded in a proven economic benefit-cost analysis (BCA) methodology, which help decision makers assess whether the benefits of a project or policy exceed its total costs from a societal perspective. This is a first-of -its-kind study and it is not meant to be comprehensive. The Project Team hopes that other organizations/municipalities will use this report as a reference and refine it for use in future economic assessments on resiliency at emergency shelters. While the report focuses on a study for the City and County of San Francisco, the methods are applicable to any city or town. The analysis is intended to help the City better prepare for the next large-scale grid outage by weighing the benefits and costs of implementing a solar energy system.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Energy Storage Financing: Operations & Market Strategy

This study investigates the impact that operations and market strategy have on the design and value of an energy storage system on three levels of the facility: the cell level, the system level, and the project level. The study provides insights for developers, capital providers, customers and policy makers into the impact different operational strategies have on effectiveness of energy storage system in today's emerging market. Energy storage systems can be used for a variety of usage profiles, with the choice having a profound impact on their performance, lifespan, and revenue potential. Most evaluations of application stacking only look at the possible revenue potential without understanding the increased costs and potential for major damage to the cells. Evaluating the impact of operational choices is critical to understanding the risk adjusted return from energy storage project investment. This is the fifth study in the Energy Storage Financing Study series, which is designed to investigate challenges surrounding the financing of energy storage projects in the U.S., promoting greater technology and project risk transparency, reducing project transaction costs, and supporting a level playing field for innovative energy storage technologies.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Energy Storage Valuation: A Review of Use Cases and Modeling Tools

An enticing prospect that drives adoption of energy storage systems (ESS) is its ability to be used in a diverse set of use cases and the potential to take advantage of multiple unique value streams. The Energy Storage Grand Challenge (ESGC) technology development pathways for storage technologies draw from a set of use cases in the electrical power system, each with their own specific cost and performance needs. In addition to the need for cost and performance improvements for storage technologies, there a need for robust valuation methods to enable effective policy, investment, business models, and resource planning. There are numerous storage valuation tools available to the public, many of which can analyze the value of an ESS project with inputs and characteristics that reflect a specific storage use case. To effectively reach ESS stakeholders that may be interested in learning about valuation models, this report will draw from publicly available tools developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) and frame their functionalities and capabilities within the context of three distinct use case families. This report examines three of the ESGC use case families in depth and provides a methodology in which interested stakeholders can determine which DOE modeling tool is best suited to value ESS for their specific case. The high-level objectives for this report include: (1) Provide specific sub use-cases for each use case family for further characterization; (2) Provide technical parameters and relevant data for three example use cases that could be used in a valuation tool; (3) Identify a list of publicly available DOE tools that can provide energy storage valuation insights for ESS use case stakeholders; (4) Provide information on the capabilities and different options in each modeling tool; (5) Make conclusions on which are best suited for valuing certain functional/performance requirements and which tools might be applicable to other use cases; and (6) Show the methodology that informs a Model Selection Platform (MSP) framework that educates stakeholders on different DOE models and provides a streamlined way to choose the right model that most closely matches their needs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Compensation for Long-Duration Energy Storage

Rapidly changing power system conditions, driven by decarbonization goals, are leading to significant growth in renewable energy sources, which can be both variable and uncertain. This has been accompanied with increased reliance on and rapid growth in deployment of energy storage technologies. Currently, approximately 90% of installed, utility-scale energy storage capacity in the United States comes from pumped storage hydropower (PSH). However, development of new PSH has been limited and all recent growth in energy storage has come from batteries, , especially as technology costs have decreased over the years. Most of the current deployment still remains in the form of short-duration (<6 hours) energy storage technologies; the average duration of new storage was 3.7 hours for projects deployed in the first half of 2021 (Wood Mackenzie and Energy Storage Association 2021).

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Operations, maintenance, and cost considerations for PV+Storage in the United States

Battery storage systems are increasingly being installed at photovoltaic (PV) sites to address supply-demand balancing needs. Although there is some understanding of costs associated with PV operations and maintenance (O&M), costs associated with emerging technologies such as PV plus storage lack details about the specific systems and/or activities that contribute to the cost values. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the specific factors and drivers contributing to utility-scale PV plus storage systems (UPVS) O&M activities costs, including how technology selection, data collection, and related and ongoing challenges. Specifically, we used semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to collect information and insights from utility-scale owners and operators. Data was collected from 14 semi-structured interviews and questionnaires representing 51.1 MW with 64.1 MWh of installed battery storage capacity within the United States (U.S.). Differences in degradation rate, expected life cycle, and capital costs are observed across different storage technologies. Most O&M activities at UPVS related to correcting under-performance. Fires and venting issues are leading safety concerns, and owner operators have installed additional systems to mitigate these issues. There are ongoing O&M challenges due the lack of storage-specific performance metrics as well as poor vendor reliability and parts availability. Insights from this work will improve our understanding of O&M consideration at PV plus storage sites.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Hydrogen Storage System Cost Analysis (2017-2021) (Final Report)

This final technical report summarizes hydrogen storage system cost analysis results from 2017-2021. Results include onboard hydrogen storage system costs for light-duty vehicles, medium-duty vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, class 8 long haul trucks, and passenger buses. Multiple storage systems are included, primarily focusing on compressed and cryo-compressed hydrogen in Type 3 and Type 4 storage systems. Additional analysis includes large-scale gaseous and liquid hydrogen storage at refueling stations in tube trailers and Dewars; advanced materials-based storage systems such as metal organic frameworks and metal hydrides; and a baseline setting analysis of compressed natural gas storage systems in support of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Initiative (IACMI). Analyses were primarily conducted using a Design for Manufacture and Assembly ® methodology, which is a bottom-up process-based approach to estimating factory costs. Multiple annual production rates are reported to project high-volume costs relevant to mature markets.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2023

Solar+Storage for Household Back-up Power: Implications of building efficiency, load flexibility, and electrification for backup during long-duration power interruptions [Slides]

The study analyzes the evolving role of solar+storage for home backup power during long-duration power interruptions. In particular, it evaluates how required storage sizing is impacted as homes become more efficient, flexible, and electrified. The study relies on NREL’s ResStock building modeling platform to create statistically representative distributions of the existing building stock in ten locations across the United States. It then shows how the amount battery storage required for backup power rises or falls as a series of building envelope efficiency, load flexibility, and electrification measures are applied across the building stock in each region. The study also includes sensitivities to show how backup power requirements are impacted by the timing and duration of power interruptions, and explores variation in backup power requirements across the building stock within each study location. The results demonstrate the value of pairing solar+storage with efficiency upgrades, smart home controls, and (in mild winter climates) efficient heat pump retrofits. That value comes in the form of reducing the amount of storage required and/or extending the range of interruption conditions over which a given system can provide backup power (i.e., more extreme weather and/or longer interruptions). Heat pumps in cold-weather climates can pose a challenge for solar+storage backup power, given the amount of storage required, though are a vast improvement over electric-resistance heating. Retaining existing fossil-based heating systems for occasional use during power interruptions, as either the primary or supplementary source of heat, can mitigate this challenge. Other forms of building electrification (e.g., cooking and water heating) generally have marginal impacts on backup battery sizing, given their relatively small energy demand.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Summary of Consolidated Interim Storage Advantages and Disadvantages from an Integrated Systems Perspective from Prior Reports and Studies

The question of whether centralized storage of civilian spent nuclear fuel (SNF) should be part of the federal waste management system as an intermediate step before permanent disposal has been debated for more than four decades. Centralized storage facilities were included as a potential component of the U.S. spent fuel management system in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), but these facilities were not identified as being essential. When the NWPA was passed, it was expected that a permanent repository would be available around the turn of the century to meet the commitments that were made to start accepting waste by that time. For a number of reasons, a permanent repository was not available at that stage. This report summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of including an ISF as part of an integrated waste management system that have been identified in numerous analyses of the impacts of a consolidated interim storage facility (ISF), previously discussed as monitored retrievable storage, the form of ISF authorized in the NWPA) by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and independent groups. Storing SNF before disposal is a functional requirement for an integrated waste management system. As described below, the studies reviewed in this report have identified a range of benefits that could be obtained by adding a consolidated ISF to the waste management system, including (1) earlier acceptance of fuel by the federal government, (2) reduction in the number of unintended long-term storage sites, (3) added system flexibility and opportunity for better integration, and (4) near-term development and demonstration of institutional and technical infrastructures for large-scale management of SNF. At the same time, these studies have identified potential drawbacks to deployment of an ISF, including (1) potential adverse impacts on development of a repository, (2) additional transportation of SNF, and (3) a large upfront economic investment to establish the consolidated storage capability. In general, the studies that have considered the positive and negative impacts of consolidated storage most comprehensively have concluded that in light of these considerations, the benefits of including an ISF as part of an integrated waste management system can outweigh any real or perceived disadvantages.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2024

Optimizing Alabama’s CO 2 Storage in Shelby County (Project OASIS) Milestone 6.0: Evaluation of Class VI Readiness

Introduction. Project OASIS is approximately 30 miles southeast of Birmingham, Alabama, and approximately 5 miles north-northwest of Alabama Power Company's Plant Gaston. Geologically, the Project area is in the Alabama fold and thrust belt province. This work builds on the initiatives of the Southeast Regional Carbon Utilization and Storage Acceleration Partnership (SECARB-USA, DE-FE0031830) that identified nearly 500 million metric tonnes of CO 2 emitted on an annual basis that is not collocated with prospective storage geology (the Coastal Plain of the Southeastern US in this context). This observation suggests costly investments in connective infrastructure (e.g., pipelines) or exploratory well drilling campaigns to identify CO 2 storage opportunities in under explored areas. While not traditionally thought of for saline storage, these studies suggest that storage prospects in the Valley and Ridge Province occur in relatively flat lying structural panels between thrust faults. For the Project OASIS region, available geologic studies related to hydrocarbon exploration suggest that Cambro-Ordovician carbonates and Cambrian clastic units offer multiple potential storage intervals, and that regional confining systems are present, such as the tectonically thickened Floyd-Parkwood Shale. The Project OASIS surface property is owned by a timber and land stewardship company, The Westervelt Company, Inc., who worked with the Project Team to select and prepare adequate sites for geologic assessment. The purpose of drilling the Westover Stratigraphic Test Well #2 was to collect geologic data to model the feasibility of commercial scale CO 2 injection and storage in an under explored region. This initiative benefits the regions emitters as the data generated from this study can inform their own internal decision making. The field program included geological and geophysical evaluations, reservoir engineering analyses, and risk assessments. This report evaluates existing data, as well as a variety of modeling scenarios to evaluate project readiness. Importantly, the impact of this study is not limited to Alabama as there are numerous large emitters throughout Appalachia, in similar geologic settings, contemplating their decarbonization options.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Optimizing Alabama’s CO 2 Storage in Shelby County (Project OASIS), Task 5.0 Deliverable: Infrastructure Assessment Report

The “Optimizing Alabama’s CO 2 Storage in Shelby County: Project OASIS” CarbonSAFE Phase II Project seeks to build on regional data sets that demonstrate that the subsurface within Shelby County, Alabama has the potential to store commercial volumes of CO 2 safely, permanently, and economically. This work builds on the initiatives of the Southeast Regional Carbon Utilization and Storage Acceleration Partnership (SECARB-USA, DE-FE0031830) that identified nearly 500 million metric tonnes of CO 2 emitted on an annual basis that is not collocated with prospective storage geology (the Coastal Plain of the Southeastern U.S. in this context). This observation suggests costly investments in connective infrastructure (e.g., pipelines) or exploratory well drilling campaigns to identify CO 2 storage opportunities in under explored areas. While not traditionally thought of for saline storage, these studies suggest that storage prospects in the Valley and Ridge Province occur in relatively flat lying structural panels between thrust faults. For the Project OASIS region, available geologic studies related to hydrocarbon exploration suggest that Cambro-Ordovician carbonates and Cambrian clastic units offer multiple potential storage intervals, and that regional confining systems are present, such as the tectonically thickened Floyd-Parkwood Shale. The Project OASIS surface property is owned by a timber and land stewardship company, The Westervelt Company, Inc., who worked with the Project Team to select and prepare adequate sites for geologic assessment.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Optimizing Alabama’s CO 2 Storage in Shelby County (Project OASIS): Task 8 Deliverable 8.0 - Commercialization Plan

The “Optimizing Alabama’s CO 2 Storage in Shelby County: Project OASIS” CarbonSAFE Phase II Project seeks to build on regional data sets that demonstrate that the subsurface within Shelby County, Alabama has the potential to store commercial volumes of CO 2 safely, permanently, and economically. This work builds on the initiatives of the Southeast Regional Carbon Utilization and Storage Acceleration Partnership (SECARB-USA, DE-FE0031830) that identified nearly 500 million metric tonnes of CO 2 emitted on an annual basis from industrial facilities that are not collocated with prospective storage geology (i.e., the Coastal Plain of the Southeastern U.S. in this context). This observation suggests costly investments in connective infrastructure (e.g., pipelines) or exploratory well drilling campaigns are required to identify CO 2 storage opportunities in under-developed areas. While not traditionally thought of for saline storage, these studies suggest that storage prospects in the Valley and Ridge Province of the Appalachian Fold and Thrust Belt occur in relatively flat lying structural panels between thrust faults. For the Project OASIS region, available geologic studies related to hydrocarbon exploration suggest that Cambro-Ordovician carbonates and Cambrian clastic units offer multiple potential storage intervals, and that regional confining systems are present, such as the tectonically thickened Floyd-Parkwood Shale.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Development, Monitoring, and Control of Fracture Thermal Energy Storage in Crystalline Rock Formations (DEMO-FTES) [Abstract]

Approximately half of global energy consumption is used for heating and cooling. Because fossil fuels are used to meet most of this demand, heating and cooling of buildings produces a large portion of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The proposed project seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of a seasonal thermal energy storage concept called fracture thermal energy storage (FTES), which has the potential to dramatically lower energy requirements for heating and cooling and improve the resilience of building energy systems. FTES is a technique for building a highly efficient heat exchanger by creating a carefully designed set of fractures in the ground below a building. This heat exchanger allows thermal energy to be stored over seasonal timeframes—for example, hot thermal energy that is easily captured in the summer or energy from waste heat sources—to meet heating needs during colder months. FTES offers a solution with a relatively small footprint and lower cost compared to currently operating aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) systems and could be used in the many areas without aquifers suitable for ATES. If commercialized, FTES systems could exceed the 2.5 TWh of energy storage per year from the more than 2,800 ATES systems in operation worldwide, which range from 0.1 MW to 30 MW. The savings in CO2 emissions per year are also expected to match or exceed individual ATES projects, with the largest, a 30 MW system used to provide heating and cooling to the University of Technology in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, estimated to save 13,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year. FTES utilizes mature drilling and fracturing technology and therefore has the potential to be rapidly commercialized once demonstrated. The ability to construct and establish flow through an FTES heat exchanger has been demonstrated by a previous project and the potential for efficient, large-capacity energy storage has been shown using numerical models. However, no experimental validation of these numerical estimates of thermal energy storage has been made. The first crucial need to advance FTES technology is to identify the sensitivity of key metrics such as thermal energy storage and production rates, capacities, and efficiencies to design parameters such as the number of fractures, depth/temperature of fractures, size of fractures, and circulation rates. The second crucial need is experimental testing of achievable thermal performance with optimized system design parameters. The proposed scope of work seeks to systematically address these two critical needs through a highly complementary international collaboration spanning theory, laboratory, and mesoscale field evaluation. The proposed work plan calls for using dimensional analysis and existing state-of-the-art numerical simulators to design carefully scaled laboratory and 10-meter-scale field tests of the thermal efficiency of FTES. The existing advanced laboratory and intermediate-scale field testbeds that will be used for this project will allow for detailed monitoring of the system performance during the test and of how the performance changes across time and length scales. These results will determine the feasibility of full- scale FTES systems. If the thermal performance is consistent with model predictions, the results will provide a strong economic justification for rapid commercialization of FTES technology in a wide range of geographical areas.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2019

Environmental Performance Analysis of Cement Production with CO 2 Capture and Storage Technology in a Life-Cycle Perspective

Cement manufacturing is one of the most energy and CO 2 intensive industries. With the growth of cement production, CO 2 emissions are increasing rapidly too. Carbon capture and storage is the most feasible new technology option to reduce CO 2 emissions in the cement industry. More research on environmental impacts is required to provide the theoretical basis for the implementation of carbon capture and storage in cement production. In this paper, GaBi software and scenario analysis were employed to quantitatively analyze and compare the environmental impacts of cement production with and without carbon capture and storage technology, from the perspective of a life-cycle assessment; aiming to promote sustainable development of the cement industry. Results of two carbon capture and storage scenarios show decreases in the impacts of global warming potential and some environmental impacts. However, other scenarios show a significant increase in other environmental impacts. In particular, post-combustion carbon capture technology can bring a more pronounced increase in toxicity potential. Therefore, effective measures must be taken into account to reduce the impact of toxicity when carbon capture and storage is employed in cement production. CO 2 transport and storage account for only a small proportion of environmental impacts. For post-combustion carbon capture, most of the environmental impacts come from the unit of combined heat and power and carbon capture, with the background production of MonoEthanolAmine contributing significantly. In combined heat and power plants, natural gas is more advantageous than a 10% coal-saving, and thermal efficiency is a key parameter affecting the environmental impacts. Future research should focus on exploring cleaner and effective absorbents or seeking the alternative fuel in combined heat and power plants for post-combustion carbon capture. If the power industry is the first to deploy carbon capture and storage, oxy-combustion carbon capture is an excellent choice for the cement industry.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

Learning from Arctic Microgrids: Cost and Resiliency Projections for Renewable Energy Expansion with Hydrogen and Battery Storage

Electricity in rural Alaska is provided by more than 200 standalone microgrid systems powered predominantly by diesel generators. Incorporating renewable energy generation and storage to these systems can reduce their reliance on costly imported fuel and improve sustainability; however, uncertainty remains about optimal grid architectures to minimize cost, including how and when to incorporate long-duration energy storage. This study implements a novel, multi-pronged approach to assess the techno-economic feasibility of future energy pathways in the community of Kotzebue, which has already successfully deployed solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, and battery storage systems. Using real community load, resource, and generation data, we develop a series of comparison models using the HOMER Pro software tool to evaluate microgrid architectures to meet over 90% of the annual community electricity demand with renewable generation, considering both battery and hydrogen energy storage. We find that near-term planned capacity expansions in the community could enable over 50% renewable generation and reduce the total cost of energy. Additional build-outs to reach 75% renewable generation are shown to be competitive with current costs, but further capacity expansion is not currently economical. We additionally include a cost sensitivity analysis and a storage capacity sizing assessment that suggest hydrogen storage may be economically viable if battery costs increase, but large-scale seasonal storage via hydrogen is currently unlikely to be cost-effective nor practical for the region considered. While these findings are based on data and community priorities in Kotzebue, we expect this approach to be relevant to many communities in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions working to improve energy reliability, sustainability, and security.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2026

Mechanical and durability properties of ultra-high-performance concrete of spent nuclear fuel dry storage systems: a review

Dry storage systems are used for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). However, with the growing need to extend the operational periods of these systems, there are concerns about the degradation of their concrete overpacks, which could compromise the system's structural integrity and safety during hazardous events. Traditional concrete mixtures used in SNF dry storage systems have remained largely unchanged since their inception and often use conventional ingredients. These materials are susceptible to degradation mechanisms such as chemical attacks, alkali-silica reactions (ASR), and freeze–thaw cycles, which can lead to a loss of strength and durability over time. To address these challenges, this paper reviews the application of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) as a promising alternative for spent nuclear fuel dry storage system overpacks. UHPC offers superior mechanical properties, exceptional durability, and reduced susceptibility to degradation mechanisms compared to conventional concrete. This paper focuses on the role of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as silica fume, fly ash, and metakaolin in enhancing UHPC performance for SNF storage applications. These SCMs have been shown to significantly improve the material’s microstructure, strength, and resistance to environmental stressors typically encountered in SNF storage environments. Moreover, incorporating SCMs supports sustainable construction by reducing cement consumption and associated carbon emissions. The review brings together existing research and experimental data, providing insights for engineers and researchers on developing UHPC mixtures that meet the rigorous demands of spent nuclear fuel dry storage systems, extending their service life and minimizing inspection intervals.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗